Hey guys! I'm really sorry how long it took me to update I was at a sleep away camp and couldn't access my computer to write down the genius.

So last chapter was kinda a cliffhanger, this one will be tying up loose ends and questions from that one. Before I begin though I want to make a few things clear:

1. Hermione will NOT storm in to save Harry like a complete Badass and confess her love... yet ;) However she will play a major role in saving the two boys. I hope this won't turn off some people because I do love a sassy Hermione, but all in due course.

2. Let me say this again since I apparently haven't made it clear, Harry will not be a God with awesome magical superpowers. I am trying to stick to J.K. Rowling's HP Universe as closely as possible (so much that if you look in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Phoenixes are found in Egypt!), and the idea of wandless magic isn't completely AU. I mean in the story Dumbledore moved the tables in the Great Hall with a clap of his hands, and Harry did a Lumos spell in the 5th book when the Dementors attacked him. I'm merely advancing on what I think Rowling meant it to be. Because lets face it, knowing how to summon your wand back to you is practical. Harry's not going to be lifting twenty boulders with his pinkie anywhere in this story. If those are the things you're looking for I'm not your author. Though I'll concede in this chapter his magic might be over the top.

This chapter will be one of the darker ones of the story, with mentions of suicide. So just a fair warning for my younger readers.

Ok well that just about covers it, hope you enjoy!

Part 3: How We Fall Apart

Ch. 14: The Time where Harry Potter Needed to be Rescued.

He knew it was risky. Everything about what he did could ruin his plans, but he had no choice. That boy had to be caught.

The man flashed his eyes around his small, colorless imprisonment; he hated this room. Almost as much as he despised the thick, unbreakable chains around his arms and legs. But they had become weaker, for now he no longer felt paralyzed under their oppressing weight; the man could twitch his fingers, he could feel his magic pulsating again into his veins.

Death was a fool; he didn't know his plans, death underestimated him for thinking he would accept his punishment. No, it would only be a matter of time before he would walk among the living once more.

The man shifted his gaze to his sole companion, his wand struggling to become free from its own prison to rejoin its master. This didn't worry the man though. He made arrangements long ago to ensure the power his wand had would be connected to his own through much more than mere physical touch.

This was why he was able to do what he did. The man wasn't stupid, he knew only his wand could give him maximum power, and that without it he would be almost as useless-he mentally shivered at the though- as a muggle.

And he had needed his full energy to capture the foul beast; anything weaker and the stupid boy would have killed it. Besides, his idiotic servants were having no luck getting past the old coot's wizard defenses.

Now though, the boy just had to be killed, and his plans would fall into place. But deep down, the man felt a feeling he would never, not to the end of time would admit- fear.

Fear that the boy could succeed, could find out about his return. He had seen what the young wizard could do, and what he was capable of in the future; he had to be rid of him now before it was too late.

For while this boy was his beginning, he could also be his end.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The first thing Harry felt once he regained consciousness was blood-lots of it. He groaned, now feeling a massive headache pounding on his forehead, and tried to remember what had happened.

He was with Abe-in the study. And then there was this noise- a dragon, a bloody dragon, had come and taken them. Why it hadn't killed them on the spot Harry wasn't sure, but he was afraid of the answer.

Gaining some confidence, Harry slowly opened his eyes. His vision was fuzzy (Harry didn't want to know where his glasses where) but he could make out the faint outline of a small, pale room lighted by an unseen source; Besides the fogginess and slowed reaction time of his brain, it didn't take a genius to realize he was imprisoned.

Quickly Harry tried to recall his training Abe had given him in case he was ever in a situation like this. First he had to attempt summoning his wand; taking a deep breath, Harry whispered in a hoarse voice, "Accio wand". Nothing happened. This normally wouldn't of bothered him, as it took time for the summoned object to arrive, but he didn't feel the buzzing sensation of his magic leaving his body. The spell hadn't worked.

Confused, Harry did it again, and again, until it became evident to him it wasn't going to work. Then it became clear to Harry what was wrong; he was drugged. Abe briefly spoke to him about a type of potion that could block someone's magical core.

"It doesn't necessarily remove one's ability to perform magic," he explained to Harry.

"The Conpesco potion merely severs the connection to the mind, meaning its not gone but unresponsive."

"But why haven't I heard of this potion before? Surely someone could've given some to Voldemort then killed him" Harry protested.

Abe sighed and said, "It's not that simple. Conpesco is extremely effective as its simple to make, but only for a short amount of time; the stronger the wizard the faster they can overcome it. Plus after its involvement in Minister Doulob's assassination in 1912, it has been banned from use worldwide. The ingredients required are now only found in wizard black markets, and even then you're stretched to find them! Not to mention it won't eliminate someone's Occulmency shields, meaning it can't be used to pry information out of prisoners and only for short-lived combat situations. You'd be wise to leave it alone, but also lucky to never encounter it."

Luck was never Harry's friend. He wished Abe had gone over how to overcome the potions effects so he could escape. He only hoped his kidnappers were just placing Conpesco in his food thinking him ignorant of its existence instead of force feeding it to him. And at least he didn't need to worry about the group discovering his secrets so easily. As terrible as it sounded, Harry hoped they only wished to kill him, and quickly at that, then at least the death of those he loved would end there and his torture would be minimal.

Thinking of the memory Harry was reminded of the capture of his mentor. He frantically searched around his holding for signs of the old man. "Professor!" "Abe!" he whispered, but no response came.

Harry knew Abe could fend for himself, but he still felt guilt for dragging his teacher into this mess. Abe warned him of the dangers involved in pursuing these ravagers, but he didn't listen.

Luckily for Harry his search wasn't for nothing. For his hands accidentally slipped over a familiar shape which he immediately took for his glasses. Quickly Harry moved to place them on his face silently praying that they weren't broken. To his relief he was met with a clear view of his surroundings. Guess the slimy bastards want me to see my imprisonment he mused. Though once seeing where he was, Harry immediately wondered if blurred vision was better.

Not even twenty feet away lied the same beast that took him captive. The putrid smell of blood he smelled earlier was coming from a long gash across the creatures back thigh. A river of dried blood surrounded the dragon as it tried to tenderly clean its wound to no avail. Long chains much like the ones at Gringotts were strapped around the animal's neck and legs leaving it virtually immobile.

Despite the dragon's role in his capture, Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for the magnificent creature in front of him. It was just as much a prisoner as he was. Sensing the new movement in the room, the dragon quickly spun its head around to face Harry's. In an instant Harry's pity turned to fear. He was barely able to defend himself from a dragon with magic! How was he supposed to do it without?

The beast narrowed its eyes at him and barred its teeth; a low growl pierced the deadly silent room and sent chills down Harry's spine. He prepared for his impending incineration by slowly backing away (which was hard enough with his lack of strength and obviously broken ankle). But to his surprise the beast simply snorted out a puff of smoke annoyingly(but also with a clear longing) and moved itself to face the other direction.

Harry released a sigh he didn't know he was holding in relief to the dragon. Though before he could ponder it any longer, two ruff arms grabbed Harry by the shoulder blades.

Instinctively he moved to get out of the restraints, but their grip was to strong. Harry was forced to watch himself be dragged out of his and the dragon's cell by his capturers, The Shade.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The two burly ravagers unceremoniously dropped Harry in the middle of a large enclosure he recognized to be the one from his dream, but noticeably it lacked the pit of snakes, and in its place was a table full of the snake people he had seen in both dreams and reality; at the end of the table directly facing himself was their leader. Only about 30 of the men sat at the table, and the rest stood pilled around the balconies Harry recalled from his vision.

In a futile effort to escape Harry quickly tried to stand up in hopes of making a run for it (he knew before he did it that it was a stupid idea but at least he could tell Hermione he tried every option). Before he could even hobble a steep the leader maliciously hissed, "Vinculi". His yellow scales seemed to shimmer for a moment before the spell surged forward and wrapped Harry in unbreakable chains; the added weight was too much for his body to handle and he collapsed helplessly to the floor, which caused the whole group to hiss in a way Harry took as a laugh.

"Even their bloody laugh is unnatural" he grumbled to himself. Soon the hissing ceased and the lead ravager stood from his chair. "Harry Potter..." he hissed in English, slowly making his way towards him, his cape dramatically flapping out behind him. Now seeing him in person Harry judged him to be only a few years older than himself; perhaps twenty-five or so, but for all he knew the half man, half snake creature in front of him was as old as Dumbledore.

"I must sssay itsss an honor to be in the pressssence of The SSSavior", He grinned evilly. "Though I thought it would be harder to capture a wizard who evaded death twice. Guesss your not as powerful ass the world believes."

"Funny that it still took you months to find me, six fully-trained wizards, and a dragon to get me? I'd say that's a victory for me." Harry retorted with more bravo than he felt. He wasn't going to play the incapable child card anymore.

This comment only fueled the Shades' fire as they erupted in even more laughter. Once it died down again the leader replied still chuckling, "You're a fool to think ssoo, Harry Potter. Our master hass powersss you could only dream of-"

"You mean Lazaras?" Harry interrupted causing the congregation to turn a ghostly white (well the closest they were physically able to). "Yeah I've heard of the bloke. Didn't he die a thousand years ago or something like that?"

The leader went from a look of terror to one of fury and in rage yelled, "You are not to utter hisss name! Crucio!"

Harry was hit with the all too familiar curse as his body was hit with millions of individual needles seemingly piercing his skin; he bit down so hard on his lip that he drew blood. This seemed to please the ravager enough to release the curse after a minute (but to Harry it seemed like hours).

"Hopefully that hass taught you some mannerss Mr. Potter", He grinned. Harry spit out blood from his mouth and relied in mock sweetness, "Sorry to disappoint you. Your curse is a stunner compared to Voldemorts." To his surprise, no one flinched at the name.

One of the ravagers at the long table let out a lone laugh and said, "You sspeak hiss name ass if it's ssomething we fear, but you have yet to feel true fear."

"Ssilence Ralof!" the leader snapped. The man, supposedly Ralof, immediately quieted and sat down again. "Now," the leader continued. "Where were we?"

"I think we were at the part where the villain unendingly gloats some more about capturing his target, which might I say, is a waste of useful time spent killing me." Harry answered giving the room a smile. Hermione would kill me for edging them on.

"Oh but you ssee Harry Potter, we have no wissh to kill you jusst yet... There are other matterss that need to be dealt with firsst." Harry made no move to comment much to the ravager's glee and he continued.

"There are ssome questionss that need to be answered firssst. And what better way to find out then by getting our essteemed guesst to help usss."

Harry silently cursed to himself; he was foolish to think they wouldn't want information. He refused to let his friends, no, family, be in any more danger because of him. Harry would do everything in his power to protect them; that's all he did, and all he ever wanted to do.

"If you think I'll give you anything helpful.." Harry said gritted through his teeth. His voice was filled with such malice that it seemed to take the leader a moment to recover before he replied smirking again, "I never ssaid it would be done willingly, Mr. Potter. You are far too noble to do sssuch a thing.

Jafar! Isss the Veriserum in our pocesssion yet?" A small but burly man stood up from the table visibly shaking and reminded Harry much of Wormtail. It seemed to Harry that maybe not all of the men were here by choice.

"No-not yet, Apep. We have had a few-misshapesss procuring it, but it sshou-should be in our hands very ssoon," Jafar stuttered.

The leader, now revealed to be named Apep, narrowed his eyes at his fellow member. "Very well Jafar. You are lucky to esscape this incident unharmed. For if I persssonally know the difficulty attaining it you would find yourself amongssst our-pets- tonight. A look of fear passed over his face before he replied while never wavering his gaze away from the floor,

"Ye-yess Apep. I thank you for your mercy." Apep turned his serpent eyes away from his cowardly brother and returned them to Harry who tried his best to keep the worry of digesting truth serum from his face. Unfortunately he was not successful and Apep took advantage of his opening.

"Scared Potter?" He taunted.

"You wish"

Apep broke out into a devilish smile and continued, "Wrong ansswer. You should be terrified. Sscared of us breaking you? Killing you? No? Well maybe ssomething elsse then. How about your friendss? Afraid you will fail them, or get them killed? Ssurley it wouldn't be the firsst time."

"Stop-" Harry mumbled, now hanging his head, trying to keep the images of his fallen friends at bay.

"Hmm sstruck a nerve have I? Do you fear usss finding them, torturing them, and only giving them death until they beg for it. And in the end tell them it'ssss all because Harry Potter ratted them out to sssave hisss own sskin."

"That's Enough"- "And what about that ssilly girl who comesss to ssee you sso often? Iss that your girlfriend? Ssomething tells me sshe knowss of uss just as you and the old man do; she would need to go assswell. But ssurely ssuch a pretty thing could give usss some-fun- before she joined you both. And it would all be because of-"

"I said that's ENOUGH!" Harry screamed in pure anger. Past feelings of pain and weakness were forgotten as all Harry could think of was hurting the thing threatening Hermione. Suddenly a yellow ring of magical energy formed around Harry and shot out heading towards any other life form in the room. It traveled through the ravagers like a strong wind, and the force was enough to knock many down and even extinguish the enchanted candles.

For a moment the only thing that could be heard in the room was Harry's ragged breathing, and the moans of a seriously injured member.

Apep relight the candles in the room with a flick of his wand and shakily stood up from the place he had fallen just seconds ago. Hiding his humiliation he turned to look at his fellow men to see how many were affected by the boy. Only about forty remained unaffected, and barley at that. Once they all saw the rage in their leader's face they quickly returned to their former positions.

"Minsey! Parker! Get Potter back to his cell!" he screamed, refusing to meet anyone in the eye. Two men stood from their spots at the table and quickly moved to grab Harry from the floor, who was fighting just to stay conscious after his magical backlash.

The two men had no trouble grabbing him this time, but they had to levitate him to his cell instead since the chains still around Harry proved to be too heavy. Just before the elevated body of Harry Potter disappeared from view of the crowd, Apep yelled to the men, "Brotherss! I think it'sss time Mr. Potter" he sneered.

"To have ssomething to eat. And make sssure to give him extra. If we're lucky more-primitive-means might prove to get what we needz"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

If Harry was honest with himself, he would admit that the next few days were just short of hell; he wasn't even sure if it had been a few days, things were always dark and dreary. No light dared to enter the Shade's main headquarters. Every second felt like a minute, a minute an hour, an hour a day, and so on until Harry felt he had aged 100 years when in short it had been 4 days.

Since the ravagers didn't have their veriserum yet, they spent most of their days torturing him; mentally and physically. The main difference between muggle and wizarding torture Harry found out was that if the prisoner was on the edge of death, they could merely heal him and repeat the pain. He had his fair share of slaps and spankings at the Dursley's, but nothing compared to the weapons, and dark magic the Shade had in their possession. Some scars Harry was sure would stay with him just as Voldemort's did.

The silver lining for Harry though was that none of the men could penetrate his Occulmency shields, even in his starved and half-dead stance. He was glad he had taken Abe's advice and hidden his vital memories in his mental landscape so well. But they found other ways to drive him to insanity. One particular favorite activity for them was performing the Supressio spell on him to make him fall unconscious in a restless, nightmare plagued sleep. So once again every night Harry was forced to watch the ones he loved died, sometimes the dream selves taunting him, going as far as to wish him dead. Once awake Harry knew these were only dreams, but while living them it seemed just as real as the sky and the trees; quite frankly he wished to go die or go insane so he wouldn't care anymore.

Harry found himself waking up from one of these occurrences and woke up gasping for breath, tear marks evident on his cheeks. It took a few moments for Harry to compose himself and be able to differentiate reality from his imagination. Still visibly shaking (from both fear and the cold) Harry moved to reach for a glass of water on a plate of food to soothe his burning throat.

Immediately after taking a sip he spit out the liquid; he recognized the slight taste of the Conpesco potion. The ravagers had been placing the potion in the rations they gave him, which sometimes made it hard for Harry to not eat anything. Just to keep from fainting he conceded to eat and drink amount to sustain himself, there was no other way around it. Harry actually found himself thanking the Dursley's for conditioning his stomach to go large periods of time without food, or he was sure he would be dead by now.

Sighing, Harry took it upon himself to look for his glasses; not that it matter, there was not much more to see other than darkness, and a dragon of course. Still the sight of the giant creature unnerved Harry, especially since it to an inkling to stare at him after every nightmare. He had a feeling he wasn't the quietest while under the spell's effects.

Though he was surprised to see the beast look at him in pity, no longer curiosity and annoyance, and moved slightly (chains jingling) to the left to reveal his water bowl which was a size of a bath tub. At first Harry was wary and slightly confused; was it trying to help him. But he decided to try and move to it once the saw the look in its eyes; it read, Well go ahead. Your thirsty.

After a few minutes of half dragging half lipping he finally collapsed in front of the water basin out of energy and breath. How can something so easy and menial now leave me exhausted? Looking down into the small pool, Harry saw his reflection, but it was not the one he had just days before.

The lack of food made his cheeks protrude more from his face, and dark bags lay under his eyes; his lips were cracked and bloody, and his glasses were bent in one direction and barely remained in one piece, but all he noticed was his eyes. The eyes he got from his mother weren't his or hers at all.

They were beyond the contentment and joy he previously had, and even far from the pain filled eyes he had on the Horcrux hunt. No, these eyes, were dull and lifeless, the eyes of a dead man. Well, I am as good as dead.

There was no way he could escape in the condition he was in, and even is he was better there was no way out from what he had seen. It seemed, ironically to him, that it was one of the rare times he needed saving, but he didn't dare dwell on the possibility of a rescue. He was beyond saving. He would probably be dead before his friends even noticed his absence.

Harry could only hope that Abe was in safety now and could tell Hermione their discoveries, and then they could continue the journey he began. He almost smiled at the idea of Hermione; she would be yelling at him right now to get his head out of his arse. Hopefully she would accept his passing in time.

Looking back down at the water, Harry thought of ending it right there and then. Wasn't it better to go on his own terms? No dark lords trying to kill him or endanger his friends. No prolonged suffering or insanity at the end of the road. It would be over in a few minutes.

Yes, that was the only way he would go. If he was going to die here he was at least going to give the bastards one more slap in the face and not give them the satisfactory of the murder. Before he could change his mind, Harry took a deep breathe, one he thought to be his last, and submerged his head. The water was a bitter cold to his already sensitive skin, but he hardly noticed.

Images and moments of his life seemed to pass through his head as the minutes passed. He saw himself facing Quirrel at the Mirror of Erised, Riding the Hippogriff with Hermione, playing Quidditch with Ron and Ginny, and Embracing Sirius in Grimmauld Place. Harr never realized how short his life had truly been.

Just as Harry was on his last bit of air, he heard a faint sound. It slowly began to raise in sound and he recognized it to be the song of a phoenix. The song continued to become louder and louder until it was the only thing Harry could think about. Any prior thoughts of pain, regret, and death were replaced with ones of healing, love, and strongest of all, hope.

Urged by the song, Harry reemerged from the pool gasping once again for air. Though the song disappeared with the water, its effects lingered. Harry felt fully refreshed and well for the first time since being here. He was filled with a new sense of determination and will; a will to live, a will to conquer, and one to see his family again.

He would find a way out of this. Harry would try all he could to return to his friends. To play with Teddy again, to joke with Ron, and to embrace Hermione. If it was going to lead to his dead, so be it. But he wouldn't go down without a fight.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There's Ch. 14! I made up a couple new spells in this chapter. All of the names come from Latin; if you have any questions about them just ask me and I'll answer. Once again I'm sorry for the delay but I hope it was worth the wait.