Dedicated to kagomeLove2 for writing to me so much and making the last week happy for me by adding a review just about every day. Crazy as it is, it is still much appreciated!
CHAPTER 52
Harry Potter had never wanted to be the Chosen One; never wanted to be singled out, being pointed at, having to stand on his own in front of everyone to be judged. Except for now.
Ever since landing himself into this mess, his only wish was for the others to be let out - Ron especially - so that he could suffer through this alone. It was his destiny, after all...
The chains rattled next to him; it was Ron again, trying to scratch his nose. He could not tell him not to so that he would not aggravate the injuries on his wrists even more - they all have been silencioed for the whole time they were in the cell. Seeing each other was no comfort then, just another kind of torture. He had no idea of what his best friend was thinking about him, about this, about their prospects. He was probably cursing him in his head all the time, regretting that he had ever chosen a seat in the same train compartment as he had...
He did not even know whether Mr. Ollivander was alive or not - he had not moved for the last several hours, maybe a day. One could never tell the time in here... And the goblin looked so tiny in the huge chains, all beaten up and dirty as they all were. He could not begin to imagine what was happening to Hermione. It just hurt too much...
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to not think about his friends and all the horrible things he had cursed them with simply for staying with him - God, he should have gone alone after the Horcruxes, keeping everything to himself as Dumbledore had told him! - but it was no good at all; the images of his suffering friends only changed to memories of all what happened during his imprisonment here. All the curses, all the blood and all the people who had been ordered to try to kill him... Failing. Getting killed by whatever they had wanted to target him with.
It would never have occurred to him on his own that the Prophecy worked both ways; not only making him hypothetically able to stop Voldemort but also marking Voldemort as the only one with the power to kill him.
...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...
Obviously, he was as immortal as Voldemort was - clinging to life, the curses sent his way by all the other people with various wands and tools always rebounding and backfiring. It was probably his mother's doing, the blood protection. Or something else.
Anyway, the outcome was clear - when it came to light that they could not kill him, they began hurting Ron to torture him. His best friend did not have the same protection and Harry was shooting him glances every few minutes just to make sure he was still alive, breathing...
He prayed that Voldemort would finally stop being chicken and try it himself, killing him and letting everyone else go to celebrate his victory. Or he could get killed like all the others had - then this whole building could maybe shatter and dissolve into a puff of smoke or something, letting everyone go...
God, he could not bare to take yet another wand in his hands. Not after he had been holding Hermione's, the wood both so familiar and foreign in his fingers. He stood no chance of getting out of here even with a thousand of wands anyway...
Bellatrix Lestrange's voice echoed in his ears, laughing and mocking.
"Don't cry, little Potty. That friend of yours is done with anyway. Enjoying her stay here the way you never will be. Having a nice Death Eater lover chosen for her to make her Mudblood cunt useful finally, having little cute babies with him to serve our Lord... If she is lucky, she is dead by now even..."
Lucius Malfoy's grin at that, malicious and knowing.
But it could not be true. They would not do anything like that. Not to Hermione. They were just trying to scare him.
And it is working, he thought as he saw his hands shaking.
It was always Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy who were ever talking to him. It had to be months already since all of them had gotten imprisoned because of him.
It was driving him crazy.
God, he even began feeling like he actually belonged with those monsters! Like he was one of them! Like this all was normal even!
But Ron was alive still, as were all the others in his cell. Barely keeping up but there. There to blame him. There to look at him with that horrible pain in their eyes...
It was only a little girl this time - barely even 12. Her eyes were wide open and scared as her parents screamed at her something in a foreign language - was it German? - from their place at the cold wall, chained to it and helpless.
He prayed too as he always had. She was the 102nd one to be asked to try that. Only this time he prayed she would succeed...
A flash of light.
A thud of a body, hitting the ground.
Agonized screams and cries of the two people who were restrained behind him.
She did not succeed then...
His eyes stung.
Bellatrix's cheerful laughter...
Someone gasped loudly in the hallway. It was muffled somewhat but still very rare to happen; he was not ever taken in that direction when he was being tried or tortured. And the sounds from the room where they had been always lead to never carried to the cell.
Another muffled exhalation and a thud of something hitting the ground. Draft.
Draft!
Door being closed hastily, footsteps.
The Order, please, let it be the Order!
A Death Eater approaching his cell, unlocking it with the keys as usual and acting calm as if nothing was wrong. A guard who came to give them food or heal them.
The bubble of hope in his chest ruptured at that and he nearly started to sob then.
He closed his eyes and could hear the man casting a diagnostic charm and placing various potion bottles on the ground. It was the healing time then; Voldemort had probably decided he was not so much fun when on the brim of death again. Hopefully this one would heal the others too...
He did not fight the potions any more, nor the spells. He had learned long ago that it was of no use - they would get their way anyway, making him accept it by magic. It was only protracting everything and hurting more when he had tried to...
This set of potions was different, though. Different order. Different tastes. Different spells...
"Potter!" the Death Eater barked at him and made him jump, startling him.
WHAT?!
No one besides those three talked to him. Ever. He had even started doubting other people could speak at all...
He stared at the man, his eyes wide and his heart beating erratically.
"Potter! Can you stand?"
Why was he asking that? Why did it matter? He was always carried everywhere anyway!
"Potter, wake up finally! Do you understand me?"
He didn't. But still he nodded. Maybe he would catch up later...
Then he noticed the chains around his wrists and ankles had vanished. Ron was standing next to him, a baffled expression on his face. Nothing was making sense.
The man was now crouching next to the goblin, whispering something. He saw the little man nod twice, saying something in response. Afterwards, the man said something to Mr. Ollivander who was leaning against the wall, his watery blue eyes wide and shocked, his skin a shade paler than usual.
Then even the goblin stood up, free from chains. No one attacked the Death Eater for some reason. Not yet, anyway.
"Potter, stop gawk around and stand up finally! I need to talk to you!" It was an order; the voice of the man was deep and hoarse.
What the Hell was happening?!
He head spinning, he tried to stand up. Surprisingly, he managed that on his first attempt. He even felt somewhat healthy and in no big pain...
A Muggle bag and a wand was pressed into his hands. A wand. Again!
"Now, disarm me!" the Death Eater ordered, confusing him even more.
"Potter, don't prolong this. Just do what I say!" he was prodded.
Stunned, Harry obeyed, submitting to the commanding presence of the man on instinct. It was so eerily similar to what Voldemort and the other two had been making him and the others do over the last weeks... There seemed to be no harm in this though - the disguised man would surely not die because of this. Damn, how he wanted to understand this! Hermione would know immediately for sure...
The man's wand flew into his hand and he put it into the torn pocket of his dirty jeans. The masked stranger nodded approvingly.
"As soon as you exit the cell, the alert will be raised. Never talk about this to anyone. Don't ask or question anyone. Not even the House Elves."
What House Elves?!
"I don't know what's happening!" he stammered, his voice rusty and weak as it had been not used for weeks.
"You are not supposed to. You will be moved away as soon as you exit the door. Then I expect you to do what you are meant to do, as soon as possible. Do try to not get captured again."
WHAT? WAS HE SETTING THEM FREE?!
His mouth hung open.
Someone pushed him from behind, ushered him to the door.
No, he couldn't. Not without Hermione...
"I can't. I must free one of my friends first. A girl. Hermione Granger. She is somewhere here too. I know she is alive..."
The Death Eater froze at that for a second.
"She was taken care of already," he answered then, his tone very different suddenly.
It all seemed so mad...
But he had no other choice than to trust the man. He was probably a disguised Order member...
He was pushed out of the door then. Several limp and black clad bodies were visible as they were haphazardly spread on the floor further along the corridor.
Dobby and Winky materialized next to him then, shocking him even more.
"Master Harry Potter, Sir!" the elf squeaked happily and gripped his and Ron's wrist even as Winky took hold of the goblin and Mr. Ollivander.
He did not even manage to say the "Thank you" he had wanted to say to the strange man before he disappeared from his vision, watching him intently through the holes in his Mask.
Well, so that was the surprise POV and my theory of what would happen if anyone else than Voldemort tried to kill Harry... Can't wait to hear your thoughts about this! Please? O:-)
The next one will be told by Severus and appear in a few days :-)
