Chapter 25: Seen and Unforeseen

A/N: Okay, so we're nearly at the end of all of this crossover madness. Expect a few more chapters before the end. I plan to have this story finished by the end of this is month, preferably on its one year anniversary. :)

Disclaimer: Twenty-five chapters and I still don't own House MD or Harry Potter. Damn it.

House reached Cameron as quickly as he could with his unaided limp. He bent down, retrieved his cane from where it lay abandoned next to Bellatrix, glanced down at her with a look of strong distaste, and banged her on the head once more with the cane. "Who needs wands?" he said, before bending down carefully next to Cameron and laying a hand on the side of her face. "You okay?" he asked. Moody followed close behind. They had left Fred back in the MRI room with Thirteen and Wilson, not wanting to risk all of them when they heard the worrying noises from the corridor near the radiology lab.

"I'm fine," Cameron said, massaging her neck with a wince. He quickly identified her injuries. Thankfully, the lacerations on her throat and shoulder seemed to be fairly shallow. Moody stooped down next to them, wand gripped in his hand, magical eye whizzing around like mad in its makeshift socket.

"I can heal that for you," he offered roughly, and Cameron nodded, sitting up with House's help. He grazed his wand over Cameron's wounds, a pale light emanating from the tip as Moody muttered the healing incantations. Within a few moments, her injuries were completely gone. House rose slowly, eyes wandering towards Bellatrix's steadily bleeding head, personally congratulating himself for his tomahawk like throw of his cane.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, looking around at the Death Eaters lying prone on the floor, three of them knocked out and a third one slowly bleeding to death. "They came out of nowhere."

"I suspect they probably knocked out any Muggles they came across - or worse," Moody said, taking a draught from his flask. "This won't be the last of them. It's Potter. Voldemort's probably sent his entire force here, they're likely to be somewhere else in the hospital."

"Professor, if that's true, then this is a huge violation of the Statute of Secrecy!" Hermione said. "Hundreds of Muggles will need to have their memories wiped if more Death Eaters are in the hospital."

"Well, maybe that'll finally convince Fudge and his damn cronies that they've got a problem on their hands," Moody growled. "Come on. We still need to get Potter started on his meds. We can't leave, our only option is to stay and hold our ground. I'll contact Grimmauld Place, try and get us reinforcements. If Sirius survived Malfoy Manor, he can put on some kind of disguise and join us."

"Way to be positive there, Mad-Eye," Fred said.

"Really uplifting," George agreed.

"Ron, get to the MRI lab and then help Fred get Potter back to his ICU room. Stay there, watch over him. Take Thirteen and Wilson with you, have them get him on his medicine."

"What do the rest of us do?" George asked.

"You and Granger stay with House and Cameron, go to his office. I'll be searching the hospital. I'm also going to call in an anonymous tip to the Auror office that there are four dark wizards and Azkaban escapees lying here," he said, making his way to each of the Death Eaters and tapping them sharply on the head with his wand. "Should keep them down for awhile."

"Why not just kill them?" House inquired, arching an eyebrow at Moody. Moody shook his head.

"Two reasons - one, the Order isn't properly sanctioned by the Ministry of Magic to take out hits on Dark Wizards, and could end up in Azkaban ourselves if we killed them. Secondly, we're the good side, we're not supposed to blunder around killing everyone we stumble into," Moody growled.

"I can definitely see a few situations where the ability to kill someone with two words would come in handy... like now," House replied with a glare.

"Power comes with a responsibility," Hermione said. "The Unforgivable curses are illegal for a reason. Wizards have to regulate themselves, or we'll only end up at war with one another."

"Thank you, teacher's pet," House told her, and she huffed indignantly.

"Enough," Moody said, cutting off what ever retort was about to leave Hermione's mouth. "Get going, and watch your backs. They could be anywhere."

Ron headed back down the hallway, making his way back to the MRI lab, and House, Hermione, George, and Cameron quickly walked to the elevator, hitting the button for the third floor. The four of them filed in, and he could feel Cameron shaking slightly next to him.

"Don't go all leaf in the wind on me," House told her. "We'll be fine. We've made it through enough already, it'd be pretty anti-climatic if we died now, wouldn't it?" He didn't know what he would do if Cameron suddenly broke down. He was having a hard enough time dealing with the eight hundred ton load of crap that had been dropped on them, and he didn't know what he'd do if she lost it now, when the chances of them dying had been upped significantly.

"Reassurance isn't a talent of yours, is it?" George piped up.

"No, it isn't," Cameron answered for him. "Sorry, this is just... it's too much. I feel like I should be tapping my toes and thinking of Kansas."

"Why? What's so special about Kansas?" George asked, apparently not catching the reference.

"They're talking about the Wizard of Oz. It's a famous Muggle movie," Hermione explained, and George nodded as if he understood completely.

"Ah. What's a movie?"

"Never mind." The elevator doors opened up to the third floor, and the four of them made their way to his office as fast as they could without looking suspicious. House's destroyed thigh muscle sent an arc of pain up his leg, and he winced as he pressed on. As soon as they were behind the glass door of the differential room, he reached into his pocket and removed his orange vicodin bottle, shaking several pills out and dry swallowing them.

"Should you really be stoned right now, mate?" George asked dubiously as he went about drawing the blinds in both House's office and the differential room. Hermione was roaming the room, muttering indistinct words under her breath as she tapped several things with her wand.

"Might as well go out on a high note," House said loftily, storing the pills back in his pocket. "What are you doing?" he asked, directing the question at Hermione.

"Strengthening the wards on your office," she explained. "I don't know much about warding, but I should make it more difficult for anyone to bust through them."

"Hermione, they don't teach wards until seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I know. I had 1001 Warding and Shielding Techniques for some light reading last year," she explained, and George seemed slightly awed.

"You never fail to impress, Granger," he said, and she almost smiled as she drew her wand across the door in an 'x', a faint blue glow emitting from the end.

"Yeah, well, let's hope your light reading is enough to keep us from getting turned into cannon fodder," House said, sitting down in one of the vacant chairs at the glass table. Cameron sat beside him, and with the way her head was bent and her hands were clasped together, it almost looked like she was praying, even though he knew that the immunologist was an atheist.

If there is a God up there, we could sure as hell use a hand right now...

"Wait, you're telling us that Chase isn't actually Chase!?" Foreman burst out incredulously. They were in the living room of Grimmauld Place. Sirius had met them there, along with Ginny and her mother, after he and Kutner had traveled by Floo powder from the Burrow. Kutner was next to him, freshly bandaged by Molly and nursing a cup of tea. He too seemed floored by what Sirius had just told them.

"No, he's not. He's my younger brother, Regulus. He faked his death almost fifteen years ago, and he's been running around as Robert Chase ever since," he said, pacing the room furiously, having been doing so since he arrived back from depositing Lucius Malfoy's body back at the Ministry.

"And Cameron just found this out, thanks to that Veritaserum stuff?" Kutner asked, sipping at his tea. "That kind of seems like something someone would mention during the almost six years they've known each other."

"Yeah, well, Regulus has never been the most forthright bloke," Sirius said with a shrug.

"And Chase was one the good side? He was fighting Voldemort? He didn't betray the Order and get Lupin killed?" Foreman asked, for clarification. The fact that Chase was actually not Chase, and a Wizard, that, after a certain amount of time and possibly alcohol he could accept. But an evil one? Too much.

"Well, we didn't find that out until now, but yes. He was aligned with the Light. We still have no idea who leaked Harry's location to Voldemort."

"This is insane," Kutner said. "Like really, really insane. I've known Chase for years, there never seemed to be anything magical about the guy."

"He's obviously a good actor," Foreman muttered, running a hand over his head and sighing.

"Listen, Sirius," Kutner began, leaning forward and looking Sirius in the eye. "You were there. The Death Eaters are heading to the hospital. There's got to be something we can do."

"Right now, I'm waiting for some kind of word from Moody or my brother as to whether Voldemort's men actually are there," Sirius said, though Foreman could tell from the expression in the wizard's eyes that he was troubled by the news. If it hadn't been for his status as an internationally wanted serial murderer, he would've been at Princeton protecting his godson.

Suddenly, a silvery burst of light bounded into the room, like an ethereal animal. It stopped in front of Sirius, and Foreman identified it to be a large bulldog, transparent, seeming to be some kind of spirit. Kutner looked as puzzled at the apparition's presence as he felt.

"Send reinforcements, Death Eaters attacking hospital. Emergency," the bulldog spoke in what Foreman recognized as Mad-Eye Moody's voice.

Sirius looked immediately concerned. "Molly!" he called as the spirit bounded out of the room. Molly poked her head into the living room, having been in the kitchen with Ginny.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm leaving for Princeton," he said, determination burning in his eyes. Turning away from Foreman and Kutner, he faced Molly. "Mad-Eye called for reinforcements. If anyone from the Order comes by, send them there. I'm leaving now, Moody says it's an emergency."

"Sirius, you can't leave the house, someone might recognize-" Molly immediately began arguing, but before she could finish, Sirius was headed towards the fire place. She moved forward to stop him, but he grabbed a handful of Floo powder and tossed it into the flames crackling there.

"Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital!" The next second, Sirius was gone, and Foreman hoped to hell that he knew what he was doing.

Regulus had Apparated and appeared in a corner of the hospital's parking garage, not wanting to surprise any passing Muggles by coming out of nowhere. He winced as he began to feel the Polyjuice potion wear off, feeling as though his skin was bubbling like boiling water. He laid a hand against the concrete wall in an attempt to steady himself as the transformation took place. He felt his hair grow shorter, his height diminish, and his shoulders and chest become broader. After a long moment, the potion completely wore off, and he was back to himself.

Good. He imagined that Moody would curse first and ask questions later if Lucius Malfoy strolled into the hospital. He quickly made his way to the elevators that led to the lobby, stepping inside and hitting the button, his hand deep in his pocket, gripping Lucius' wand tightly. His magic would be weakened by the use of another wizard's wand, but it was certainly better than using wandless magic like he'd been doing since his fake death. Magic was always far more powerful through a conduit.

The elevator dinged and opened up to reveal PPTH's lobby, bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight. It was deathly silent. Regulus swiveled his head around, looking for any sign of... well, anybody. His eyes landed on the bodies scattered around on the floor, still and unmoving. Nurses, doctors, civilians, janitors - all laying face down on the cold linoleum. For several horrifying seconds, he thought that they might all have been dead, but he spotted the rise and fall of their almost still bodies after a moment.

He heard a high, cold laugh from behind him, sending a shiver arcing through his chest. "Regulus Black," the voice said smoothly, hissing on the 's' at the end of his first name. He turned, a pit forming in his stomach, knowing who was waiting for him. "It's been a Dark Age since our last encounter. I thought that your death seemed suspicious, and now... here you are. Interesting."

The Dark Lord looked just as he remembered him. Eyes like a snake, blood red in their color, and looking at him as though he knew everything that made him who he was. In most cases, he did. His skin was stark pale, almost like there was no blood pumping through him at all. His nose was gone, replaced by two slits. He was barely a man, more of a demon, really.

Regulus threw up his Occlumency walls, trying to swallow his fear. "You," he breathed, backing up slightly. Voldemort glided forward, a serpentine smile spreading slowly on his face.

"Yes, me. Surely you didn't think that I would let my followers have all the fun in leveling this Muggle establishment?" he asked, gesturing around him at the slew of unconscious bodies.

"If you do that, the Ministry will know that you're back. I thought you were trying to stay under the radar?" Regulus inquired, walking backwards until his back was against the glass wall of Cuddy's office. He assumed the administrator was knocked out like the others on the ground floor. He was trying to stall for time, trying to think of how to stop Voldemort. Obviously, with the horcruxes, he couldn't completely eliminate the Dark Lord, but if he killed his physical form, he might just be able to save everyone in the hospital.

"Oh, I fully intend to. When the bodies of Mad-Eye Moody, the Weasley filth, Potter and the Mudblood are found in the wreckage, along with the information I'm going to have leaked through my contacts at the Ministry, it will seem as though Albus Dumbledore has finally lost his sense and reunited the Order of the Phoenix to wage a war on an invisible enemy, and they foolishly followed." The Dark Lord's feral grin grew wider. "Dumbledore, champion of the Muggles, murdering hundreds of them. The irony is palpable."

Voldemort was only about a yard away from him now, and he could sense the aura radiating off of him, just as sickening and malicious as it was when he had been a teenager working under him, trying to cause the downfall of the most powerful dark wizard in history.

Things hadn't changed much, had they?

"You'll never get away with this," Regulus said in a deadly whisper. "I'll kill you myself, first." An empty threat, maybe, but one he felt needed to be said.

"What a brave little ant you are. You can't stop me. I am the greatest wizard who has ever lived." Voldemort lifted his wand to point directly at his throat, the long phoenix feather wand grazing his jugular. "Goodbye, Regulus. I'll be sending that Muggle female of yours after you soon enough."