Hey guys! I think that I might have bitten off more than I could chew, trying to post three times a week. School is crazy and I never have time to write. I am going to bring it down a bit and only post of Tuesdays and Fridays. Sorry!
Chapter 11: An Eventful Night
I stopped pacing, eyes wide with disbelief. "N-now? Al-already?"
"It seems so. I should be going now. Please make sure that Harry doesn't do anything to kill himself, Lupin." With that, Snake walked out of the house, cloaks billowing as much as ever.
I sat heavily down on the couch. Harriet was being taken to Voldemort after being abused by a man we thought was Sirius. And here I was, sitting on the couch mopping over it when I should be helping her. Lupin, who had been watching me closely, pushed me back down in the couch when I tried to get up.
"Harry, the best way to help your sister is by sitting here and staying out of the way. If you marched out there and they got you, do you think that they would just let you pick up Harriet and leave? No, we need to wait for Snape to come back with information. Now sit down and be a good boy and I'll get the chessboard and some tea to help calm you down." Lupin said, surprising me a little. I never really expected him to say no to me like that or talk to me as if I was a child.
…
I sat up from the couch where I had been sleeping. I rubbed my eyes. When had I fallen asleep? How could I have fallen asleep when Harriet is still missing? The last thing I remember us drinking tea that Lupin made and playing wizard chess.
"Oh, you're up already. I thought that you would have slept longer. I guess that you didn't drink as much tea as I thought you did. I need to watch you next time because I hate to waste Dreamless Sleep potion." Lupin said while sitting on the edge of the couch.
"Where's Snape? What happened to my sister? Is she okay?" I hurriedly asked. We needed to get her before something bad happened. It's all my fault that she got taken in the first place.
"Snape's right here, Potter." Snape said, referring to himself in the third person, "and your sister is as fine as she can be, considering that she is the Dark Lord's prisoner." I flinched at his words. Harriet was all alone. We had no idea what Voldemort might to to her until he calls his Death Eaters to him again.
"What makes you so sure that she is safe?" I asked unsure.
"I never said that she is safe. She will probably come out with a few more scars than she went in with." Once again I flinched, he was not helping my nerves. "The Dark Lord wouldn't let anybody hurt her too bad because he wishes to use her and to use her, she has to be alive."
"Wh-. H-how does he want t-to use her?" I asked, my voice shaking.
Sighing, Snape said, "In two ways. One, he wants to use her to lure you to him. Two, he wants to use her powers to help him. He is going to make her make spells that can aid him and his Death Eaters in the war."
I heavily sat down on the couch. Well, I say sat. I more flopped down on it. My body was shaking. "She can't control her powers though. She can't make new spells on will." I said. Then a thought came to me. "How did Voldemort find out about Harriet's power? We haven't told anybody except for the people closest to us." Then it hit me. It hit me like a bullet train.
"Sirius," I whispered. We told Sirius, he was one of the first people we told. And if the Sirius that took Harriet wasn't really Sirius, all he had to do was look through her yellow spiral notebook. I looked up. Both the adults were nodding to my guess who told Voldemort.
"Wh- what happened after you left to go to Voldemort?" I asked. When Snape looked like he wasn't going to answer, I said, "Please? She's my sister. I have to know."
Snape sighed once again and started his story. "As you know, the Dark Lord called all of his Death Eaters to come once he had Harriet and Sirius.
"Once everybody was there, the Dark Lord said that he had a pleasant surprise. He had Sirius bring in Harriet. She… She had a few more bruises now than before she left and her lip was bleeding. She limped in, ushered by Sirius, to the wall opposite of everyone so we could all see." Snape paused, as if bracing himself.
"The Dark Lord explained that Sirius was under the Imperious Curse so that Sirius would bring Harriet to him. He said that, with Harriet there, you, Harry, should be coming soon, trying to save her.
"That's when Sirius spoke up. He said that Harriet was useful in other ways. When asked what he meant, Sirius explained your sister's powers and how her body reacted to potions. Eager to see if it was true," he paused again. I didn't like how this was going.
"Eager to see if it was true," he started again, "he told me to give Harriet a healing potion. She started struggling as I came nearer and Sirius slapped her to get her to stop and he held open her mouth so I could pour in the potion. I gave her the weakest healing potion I had on me, hoping that her body wouldn't react quite as bad.
"She reacted enough to convince Voldemort. She didn't react too bad so I hope that means that it didn't hurt as bad as it would've if I had given her a full strength potion. It seemed like it still gave her a fair amount of pain, however.
"I sat back down and the Dark Lord wanted to see if Harriet actually had another power. Sirius handed the Dark Lord Harriet's yellow notebook. The Dark Lord was impressed, to say the least, as were many Death Eaters. He was disappointed, however, that there weren't very many offensive spells.
"First, the Dark Lord wanted to see if the spells she made actually worked. He walked up to her and sent a Crucio Curse at her. She was strong. She fell down instantly but didn't cry out. Eventually the Dark Lord got tired of just watching Harriet lie on the floor so he made the spell more powerful. She held on as long as she could but as soon as she let a whimper out, she started to scream." It was Snape who flinched this time.
"The Dark Lord lifted the curse and he was upset that she hadn't protected herself. When asked why, she said that Sirius had taken her wand and that she wasn't very good a wandless magic. She was lucky that the Dark Lord was happy that he had her because, if I remember correctly, she was fairly decent at wandless magic. If the Dark Lord had cared to look in her mind and saw that she was lying, he wouldn't have been very happy.
"He made Sirius give her back her wand. Harriet had snatched the wand away from him and glared at Sirius so she got herself a slap. Now armed, the Dark Lord tried again. She managed to stop it and flicked it away. She wasn't too happy when she found out that it hit someone. The Dark Lord, on the other hand, was ecstatic. He thought that she did it on purpose. Purposely tried to defend herself and harm others."
"Harriet would never do that. She hated it when others got hurt. Almost more than me." I had stayed quiet until then. Harriet had been through so much and I wasn't there to help.
"Yes, I know. Even when it puts her in danger she thinks of others first. Must be a Potter gene brought out more by being a Gryffindor. Don't interrupt again, I'm almost done." Snape said. I didn't know if I was relieved or not. The story was almost done so that meant that not much more could have happened to Harriet. But it also meant that we don't know what happened to Harriet after the story.
"The Dark Lord wanted to see if she actually could make the spells that she used." Snape continued, "He had someone bring up one of the other prisoners, a blood-traitor I believe. Harriet was to protect the prisoner with a new spell, it couldn't be one she made before. They would check the spell with her notebook to make sure she made a new one. If she didn't make a new one, she would have to kill the prisoner. If the prisoner died, Bellatrix would get to punish your sister anyway she thought fit." At those words I thought that I was going to be sick.
"Snape, maybe you should stop. I don't think Harry wants to hear the rest right now." Lupin suggested, comfortingly putting a hand on my shoulder.
"No. I have to know what happened. Continue, please." I said, nodding to Snape. Snape nodded and continued.
"Harriet didn't want to do it but she got into position and after a little bit, nodded to the Dark Lord, showing that she was ready. The Dark Lord sent an Avada Kedavra curse to the prisoner, which Harriet blocked and destroyed before it could bounce off and kill someone else.
"The Dark Lord was pleased. He knew that the spell she used was one she made and, after asking her, he learned that she had just made it up. He was upset the the spell didn't rebound like the Crucio Curse.
"He had everybody but Harriet, Sirius, and Bellatrix leave then. I don't know what happened, but from outside the Manor, we could hear screaming and laughter." Snape looked slightly unnerved by this. He had looked that way through the whole story, really.
"Professor Snape?" I asked unsure, "Why do you look like that?"
"Did you expect me to be jumping up and down with a smile on my face? No. Harriet is one of my students. A very bright one at that. Just because I seem harsh doesn't mean that I wish others to be the Dark Lord's prisoner and, essentially, play toy. I take protecting my students very serious. Even if they are a Potter and a Gryffindor." With that, Snape got up and went into his room.
"Want a sandwich?" Lupin asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'd love one,' I tried to joke back and smile but I could tell that the smile didn't reach my eyes.
