Chapter Fifteen

Harry regained consciousness slowly, the first thing he was aware of was the tight bonds that encircled his wrists and arms. He wiggled to test the strength and found the bonds tightening around him. "Hello, Potter." A sibilant voice greeted him from the darkness. "I didn't expect you here, but I suppose it is better for my plans."

Harry snorted. "Didn't you bring us here?"

The dark figure who had captured them cackled. "No." Voldemort denied. "You came all by yourself. Tell me, are you so eager to die?"

Green eyes flashed. "You're lying. We already know that you ordered Black to kidnap us, probably another stupid plot to regain power." He watched as his comment hit home. "I'm not going to let that happen!"

"Tell me, Boy," The man laughed. "How are you going to stop me?" In the darkness red eyes glinted maliciously, "you are all tied up, and helpless against anything I do. I do admit, I find a sort of nostalgia at your presence, but I certainly did not order you brought to me. Black isn't even one of my servants."

"You lie!" Harry yelled. "I know about how he was spying for you, that he turned against my parents, following his family."

At this the figure in the corner cackled loudly. "Very amusing tale, Potter." Voldemort hissed, "and it would have been brilliant if I had chosen to go that route. However, my actual plan was a much more subtle one. No, Black was never my servant, Peter Pettigrew was quite quick to turn to my way of thinking."

Harry shook his head wildly. "No, Black was the Secret Keeper- everyone knew it! He was the one who killed Peter Pettigrew, only a finger…" Harry trailed off.

Voldemort nodded. "Yes, only a finger was found. Pettigrew had a very important trait that made him valuable for my plan. Do you know what an animagus is?"

Harry did, Snape had gone over it in class. Or well, almost did. Harry only remembered the lesson because of Hermione explaining everything to him and Ron during lunch, but he wasn't going to explain that to Voldemort.

The man hummed and continued on as if Harry had answered. "Peter was a rat, quite appropriate. He staged the entire thing so that Black was blamed, it was truly a brilliant plot."

It was obvious to the boy that the only reason that he was receiving the answers to his questions was because Voldemort thought to kill him afterwards. It was like what had happened in Second Year, in the Chamber, when Tom Riddle boasted about his previous killings. It was the only thing that convinced Harry that the other was telling the truth, there is no reason to lie to someone who is going to die.

"So why are you here?" He asked, changing the topic. It was a good question. From everything he had learned about Voldemort in the magic community, during the busiest years of his life he stayed mostly in Europe. There was never any mention of him going to Egypt, and given what he knew about goblins he doubted that they would want to share their interests.

Voldemort was silent for a long moment. Harry almost thought that he was not going to answer. "Did you know that the Egyptians had their own type of magic?" The voice hissed.

Harry shrugged, glancing at Hermione instinctively to see if she knew the answer. She was nodding her head as frantically as she could in her bonds. Really, he shouldn't have expected anything less- Hermione would always be focused on gaining knowledge, even from someone who was an enemy.

"The ancient Egyptians had a form of magic that was very powerful. I came across it when I was traveling the world looking for ways to regain my body. I finally was able to create this," here one of the cloaked servants moved forward bring with them a tiny bundle revealing a horribly misshapen creature. It looked like it could have been a child, but something had gone terribly wrong, and it held only the faintest of resemblance to anything human.

The creature nodded to Harry's grimace. "This is not what I wanted. So, I continued to travel the world until I eventually found a book on ancient Egypt. The book told a story of a great power hidden in the depths of pyramids, sealed away by an ancient pharaoh. Just imagine the power that would be at my fingertips if I gained such power? So many doors would be opened. So, I decided that I would find the power. Eventually, my search sent me here."

A frigid wind seemed to sweep through the room. Harry shivered as he considered what Voldemort could do with an ancient power that no one understood. It would be devastating. But it still didn't answer one important question…

"Why did you need him?" Harry jerked his head towards Haru; the man was still unconscious, as the physical harm done to his body had finally took effect. Harry felt a sliver of sympathy for the man, he remembered how difficult it was for him to accept the idea of magic and his introduction was much friendlier.

"Ah, yes." Voldemort said. "I was getting to him. Unfortunately, for the magic to be unsealed a certain bloodline needs to be used."

Harry gasped as the understanding hit him. Haru was the sacrifice.

"No!" He denied, watching as one of the cloaked figures moved from the shadows toward the bound man. Harry struggled fruitlessly against his bonds as he watched as the unconscious professor was dragged toward the middle of the room, away from his line of sight. Harry twisted, craning his neck to see where they were going.

In the center of the room there was a large ornate alter. The dark slate stone gave away its origins; it looked more like something that would be found in a Hogwarts classroom, then an Egyptian pyramid. Harry could just make out the thin decorative snakes that swirled their way up the legs of the table. It screamed of something a young Tom Riddle would have been interested in.

The Death Eater had used a levitation charm, not the wingardium leviosa charm he knew from school, but another one to lift the man onto the table. Harry squinted at the captive, looking for any sign that the man was aware of what was happening. He repressed his gasp as he noticed the right eye twitch.

Meanwhile, the Death Eater had moved away from the table-like altar to retrieve a bright gold knife. It glinted with a wicked light in the dim lighting. Slowly, the Death Eater raised the knife above their head, aiming at the heart. As the knife came down, Harry saw Haru open his eyes.

A/N: Alright, another short chapter. I finally have a plan for the rest of the story that will tie all the loose ends together, so the chapters should be churned out pretty quickly. School starts in the next couple of days, but I don't think that it will hinder my updating schedule much.

Thanks to ultima-owner and Blitza for reviewing on the last chapter.

I hope you enjoyed it and if you have a few seconds to spare, please leave a review telling me what you thought.

a aiming ermione was AA