The Hunt

Chapter 52

Stupefy

Ron rushed into the Chamber as soon as Bill opened the doors and mover to his right and sped down along its smooth rock walls until he reached the corner. Stopping only for a moment, Ron looked to his left and his eyes followed Hermione as she went to the opposite side of the chamber. His eyes tracked forward from where Hermione stood and he noted where Harry too was standing. Harry's gaze was focused on the speaker. As Ron watched on strange visions began to fill his head as he too listened to what was being said. A horrible battle filled his minds eye while the speaker cautioned that this very battle once fought very long ago was imminent. It was only a matter of times, days perhaps before this army that he had called the Horde would march on humanity once again and it was the responsibility of all wizards to join in to protect the world. Governments were not listening to the warnings and Ron agreed with what the speaker suggested. Take over the Governments, show ourselves for who and what we are and use our superiority to fight what ordinary muggles would run from if not fall over dead in fright.

Ron was just about to join the speaker on the stage in support of the man when Hermione slipped in behind him and stuffed his ears with cotton balls. Ron looked at her stunned with what he was doing and managed an embarrassing grin, Hermione patted his arm knowingly and moved on to another member of the D.A., who also stood transfixed by Grindelwald's mixture of magic and words and repeated the process. Ron watched her go as she made the rounds to each one of their friends and his brothers and then went back to her position. When his gaze returned to the platform he noticed that Snape was slowly moving away from Grindelwald and he was frowning at Draco Malfoy.

Ron moved forward sparing a glance towards Harry once again and sighed with relief. Harry was not buying what was being said but he had not taken his eyes off of Grindelwald either. Ron had made his decision. Harry had come after Snape and had finally realized who and where the real threat was and so dismissed Snape but he was going to spare Harry from continuing his search if Snape escaped. He was going to follow Snape and arrest him so Harry could finally quit the hunt and come home.

Ron made his way to the platform just in time to see Snape withdraw through an opening in the back. He spared another glance towards Draco Malfoy and discovered why Snape was frowning. Draco stood mesmerized By Grindelwald's words and the vision that was a part of his story so it was not difficult to slip in behind him. The moment's hesitation had cost him. Snape was no longer in sight. Where Ron had entered stood a small circular chamber with a dozen passageways branching off from it. Snape could have escaped down either one of them.

Abruptly, pandemonium broke out in the chamber behind Ron. He turned left down a passageway that seemed to lead directly behind the platform. Instinct and his training told him to proceed carefully but the clamor from the other side hid what noise his careful footsteps might have caused. Hesitantly, Ron crept forward and his ears strained for any sound that would reveal where Snape had gone. A footstep, a swish of robes something that would aid him but whatever was happening drowned out any hope of gaining the upper hand in learning where Snape was. He was thankful for the noise too. The clamor aided in his stealth and hid the thundering sounds of his own heartbeat that must have been ringing off the walls.

A darkened chamber opened at the end of the narrow passageway Ron had been following and to his surprise he could see what was happening out in the chamber. It wasn't pandemonium, it was an outright battle and just in front of him Neville Longbottom was dueling with Malfoy and was gaining the upper hand while steadfastly moving forward with a determined look on his face. Suddenly Draco went down and Neville seemed satisfied and turned to duel with another. Ron stood watching and looked quickly for where Hermione was and was relieved to see Harry just steps away from her with his wand out and sending jets of light to whomever neared Hermione. As Ron looked on he smiled with pride as Hermione cast spell after spell immediately dispatching several witches who had grouped together and was attacking Seamus Finnegan from behind.

Bill, Fred, and George seemed to be holding their own in the battle once Ron was able to locate where they stood. Bill dueled with a practiced hand and Ron found himself very much surprised at seeing how casually Bill moved, no not casual, how fluid his motion seemed. Bill seemed to flow from one duel to the next while Fred and George seemed to make a game out of it. Dancing from one spell to the next side by side but as Ron watched them working together he noted that they seemed to be separating. As the Dragoons managed to slip in between them their dueling looked as if they began to labor. This caused Ron to frown. The twins were at their best when they stood back to back.

From where Ron stood watching the scene play out in front of him a flow of air passed by indicating that the chamber, or was it an alcove that he stood in, held another passageway on its far side. It was time for him to continue on searching for where Snape might have disappeared to. Ron slowly crossed the distance to the other side of the chamber taking one last look at what was going on outside. Dumbledore's Army was doing rather well.

Ron entered yet another passageway that seemed to surround the chamber where the battle still raged on and continued to follow it in sheer darkness. Time seemed to slow as he continued forward in the darkness and his blood roared in his head with each surge of his pulse yet his hands did not tremble and his knees had not weakened as he pressed onward towards a dim light further ahead. Snape has to be ahead I heard footsteps! Leaning forward, Ron quickened his steps to a near run.

Pulling up short and peering around the entrance into the next chamber, Ron soon realized that this one was exactly the same as the last. Empty. The wall, which separated this chamber from the one where the fighting still raged on, held what looked like a window to view the outside chamber. I don't remember seeing any windows. Ron thought. When he stopped to look once again at what was happening outside of where he stood. He also noted that he now stood on the opposite side of the chamber and near the back corner from where he had first started out. Grindelwald stood facing him with his wand pointed directly at Harry whose back faced Ron. Ron couldn't see where Hermione was but he knew that she was nearby. She had to be nearby. It was not worry that made him reaffirm what he thought it was…, he wasn't going to worry, he just wasn't. Ron was not worried about Harry right now, Harry's own wand was being held in a steady hand and Harry's shoulders seemed squared enough. He looked commanding. Ron couldn't help admiring how his friend had grown.

He had taken all that in, in just a few quick seconds and crossed the chamber quickly knowing that he would find another passageway on the opposite side and entered into the darkness once again. Ron extended his senses beyond reasoning as he stepped lightly down the dark path. He has to be in the next chamber, he thought to himself as he took another step. Ron imagined the chamber in his mind and then imagined these smaller chambers and passageways around that first image into the semblance of a map and he knew that the next chamber would have to be the far corner in the inner chamber. Snape cannot be that much further ahead of me. He just can't be. I was just behind him when …, A sense of dread fell over him as he realized that perhaps he might have chosen the wrong passageway when he had reached the hub in which Snape had disappeared.

Fighting the urge to turn back, Ron continued to press forward. His mental map told him that he should be drawing nearer to the next chamber and he slowed, cautious of making any noise he crept forward step by step, toe by toe. The blackness was now being invaded by a pale light and Ron's heart quickened. Sound had come to his ears. The sound of hard breathing. Ron edged his way forward one inch at a time. As he edged forward with his back pressed firmly against the cave wall, he reached the corner edge where the chamber wall met the passageway in which he now stood. Cautiously, Ron peered around that corner and drew back instantly. Severus Snape stood crouched at the far end of the chamber and his wand stood poised to cast a spell.

Draco had fallen backwards off of the podium in disbelief. Neville Longbottom had pressed him without hesitation and without fear. And the quickness of his wand…, Had Crabbe and Goyle been there it would not have happened. Those two lumps would have made short work of that, that, that oaf. Could these fools not see the danger! Draco gathered himself up when he realized that Neville had thought him finished. Looking quickly around for Snape, Draco sniffed loudly with disdain. It's as it has always been, he runs when there is work to be done. The thought had run maliciously through Draco's head. He took a few short steps and then looked wildly about for his new Master, the one that thought highly enough to place him as the battle leader against the horde. The one who was wise enough to see what was happening in the world. Grindelwald's charm had worked well on Draco, and Draco's only thoughts now were about how to take down this invading enemy who were about to unleash the horde against humanity. Could these fools not see what his new Master was trying to do for them?

Draco sank back into the darkness and entered a passageway that would take him downward into the depths of the mountain, to a sanctuary that he had found where he could gather knowledge and strength to do what he now knew he had to do. As he crept forward not wanting to draw any attention to any noise that he might make, he felt the pressure of the darkness push in on him. The sounds of battle were dimming away from him as he pressed onward. After several long moments his breathing had turned into gulps of air and his foot steps were wavering. Panic was creeping over him and he could barely distinguish between the roar of his rushing blood and the battle that was being fought far above his head. "L-L-Lumos." His wand tip shown with a pale small light as he panted out the incantation for the light spell.

Draco's breath eased and the pressure exerted from the darkness around him subsided as he leaned against the rocky cavern wall.

"I-I'll just stand here for a m-moment while I, I catch my b-breath." Draco wheezed out while leaning one hand on his knee while the other still held his lit wand somewhat aloft. The rock wall felt sturdy behind him and its solid feel aided him by lending its strength and his panic ebbed away. At least the dream had not come again. He thought to himself. I-I just need to catch my breath. Th-that's all I need. He forced himself to take long and deep breaths slowing them down with each intake and taking even longer to exhale. Calmness slowly began to take the place of his fear and his legs grew steadier. He no longer needed to wall to help him stand upright, but it did feel good to lean against.

Draco remained leaning against the coolness of the cavern wall for a long while slowly catching his breath and regaining his senses. He held out his hand and studied it in the pale light cast from the tip of his wand and was satisfied that it was no longer shaking. Grindelwald's words continued to run through his mind and he wondered why no one would listen to reason. He could tell that time was drawing near. It was as his Master had spoken. The world was at war against itself and the evil swelled. Soon it would be strong enough to call the long forgotten horde back to existence.

"Why can't these fools see it?" He muttered through clenched teeth. "And my father…, Yes he would know how to help the Great Master." Draco pushed away from the wall and took only a moment to orient himself. He was not far from where his father was being held. Why had Severus imprisoned him? Draco wondered. The answer would not come to him. He knew that he had planned to do something with his father but what it was eluded his grasp.

Draco's steps quickened as he proceeded to his fathers cell. There was only one thought on his mind right now and that was to free his father. His father would know what to do right now. Draco no longer remembered what he had been learning over the past week. Though the secret Library was still hidden deeply within his minds recesses, his mind now was set firmly on preventing the image that had permeated his mind and time was of the essence. The fact that Severus Snape had disappeared when those meddlesome people arrived, he thought that he recognized some of them, served only to solidify what his father had been saying all along. Severus Snape runs when its time to fight.

Lucius heard the soft padding of footsteps moments before his son appeared before his prison cell and he rose to greet whoever it might be. The darkness of his cell had served to calm his manner though his rage boiled just beneath his skin. His hands rose to grip the bars that had been magically placed and his knuckles turned white with the fierceness of his grip. As the approaching footsteps began to form into a shadow and further on into the image of his own son, he glowered as he rasped out his greeting.

"Draco."

"Father, you were right." Draco panted out. He was not out of breath but the enormous weight of what he felt he had to do left him breathless.

"Father, I need your help and I've come to release you." There was a sense of urgency in his voice when he spoke.

"My help… My help?" Lucius asked with a bit in incredulity and a hint of sarcasm within his voice. "I do not seem to remember receiving any such help from you when I asked for it," Contempt flowed through his voice as scorn etched the lines of his haggard face.

"Father, I was blinded by the workings…"

"Of, Severus Snape?" Lucius finished the sentence as he watched Draco perform an intricate tap of his wand on the locking mechanism of the cell door.

At the sound of a click within the lock, Lucius seized the door and thrust it open and stepped from his prison. Seizing Draco by his shoulder, he turned him so that they faced deeper into the cavern and proceeded to escort his son deeper into the darkened depths of the passageway. Lucius seemed to remember exactly where he had once set up his temporary residence when he had first arrived. Draco did not struggle and his steps matched with Lucius's firm strides. Neither spoke along the way.

When they reached the chamber that Lucius had once used for his bedchamber he finally spoke. "So Draco, what is this help that you need of me?" The tone of his voice did not suggest any intention to help his son. Lucius sat listening as Draco poured out the recent events and outlined the vision that was now in his head.

"And Snape was a part of this outrageous plan?"

"Yes father, it was his job I think, to prepare me for the Great Master. I was to be the Captain General of his armies."

"And this army was to take over the armies of the World while saving us all from certan darkness?"

"Yes father." Draco replied.

"And just what was Severus to do then?"

"H-he, he was, he was supposed to…, I-I don't really know beyond the fact that he was supposed to prepare me and guide me." Draco stammered out.

"And you say that Severus disappeared and left you where you stood, to fend for yourself eh?"

"I-I don't really know father. He was there standing beside me and then he was gone."

"So, just what was Severus's plans with your mother? Did she know of this as well? Was she to meet with him once all was in order and this Great Master appeared? Was she a part of his plan too?"

Lucius was forming the images in his mind as he asked the questions. So Severus and Narcissa had been planning their reunion for some time then have they? He wondered to himself. Why did I not see this before? It must have been occurring right under my very nose and Draco was a part of this too. Lucius's eye's had taken a far off look as he mused tod himself fitting the pieces of his puzzle together.

"Draco give me your wand." He said firmly and held out his hand. "You will stay here in safety and I will do what must be done. When I return, you and I will settle our differences."

Draco handed over his wand as his father had asked, no, he commanded it and then stared bleakly at his father before asking his question/

"What are you going to do father?"

"I will find Severus and take care of him, and then I will find this Great Master. If he was master to the Dark Lord then I will offer my allegiance and if not…,"

Lucius tapped his wand to a candle which immediately sprang into light and stepped outside the chamber closing the door behind him. Draco did not hear the click of the lock nor the added spell which would prevent his escape.

"Stupefy."

The word hissed from Severus Snape's mouth as Ron peered around the wall that hid him from view. The jet of red light erupting from Snape's wand was thicker that any Ron had ever seen before and he gulped down his fear. This is for Harry!

Ron looked in horror once his eye's beheld the scene in front of him. Time slowed almost to a stop. His eye's followed to where Snape had aimed his curse out of pure instinct and saw his own daughter. All three and a half feet of her; standing in front of Hermione, brandishing her wand against one of the Darkest Wizard's of all time, as if to protect her mother. As Severus's spell raced past Molly's shoulder, her own spell left her tiny wand and added to that of Severus's. At the same time a green jet of light left Grindelwald's wand tip. Ron wanted to scream but his throat was closed. Seconds seemed like hours and his body frozen in time forcing him to watch what was happening in front of him.

Harry leapt forward, dobby leapt forward, and Hedwig raced downward, all trying to intercept Grindelwald's spell, but they were too late. Ron did not see the Arch being delivered directly behind the Dark Wizard, his eye's were fixed on the minutia of what was happening to his daughter. Harry's body slammed into the Dark Wizard at the same time Dobby the House Elf, and Hedwig, Harry's pet owl, intersected with the Wizard and the four of them fell through the Arch and disappeared from view.

Ron watched as Missy Molly fell slowly backwards landing nearly in Hermione's lap and then time unfroze and sound exploded into his ears. His heart wrenched itself from his own chest as he watched it being ripped in half at the mournful peel that came from no other than Hermione.

"RO-ON! OUR BABY!"

The sound of Ron thudding to his knee's in his despair caused Severus Snape to whip his head around. His rock hard features softened slightly at the pain he knew he was witnessing. He did not hear the foot falls that were rushing up towards him as his own steps thudded onto the rock floor as he crossed the small chamber towards Ron. Pure hatred replaced the lines on his face but the hand that was placed on Ron's shoulder was light, almost caressing.

"I was too late. I – I'm sorry." Ron heard the words from a thousand miles away. They were soft and caring words, and he felt the hand leave his shoulder only for a moment's time only to return to his shoulder.

When Severus looked up he was staring into the eyes of Remus Lupin whose hand had replaced that of Snape's. The two looked into each others eyes for a long moment and then Remus nodded and then turned his head away as a note of unspoken understanding passed between them. When he looked back Severus Snape was gone.

Lupin knelt and gathered Ron up in his arms and lifted him to his feet. "You must go to her Ron. You'll be needing to be strong for the two of you."

Remus's voice cracked as he spoke but his arms and hands were firm and his step sure as he guided Ron back down the passageway from which he had just come down.

Lucius Malfoy worked his way along the maze of corridors and passageways oblivious to whomever he may come into contact with. He had already left several people lying on ground unconscious, having either jinxing them or hexing them with various curses and spells. He had only one purpose in mind and that was to find Severus Snape and kill him.

"Stupefy!"

Another unsuspecting Wizard fell as the jet of red light lanced outward from Lucius's wand tip. He had just turned off from the main passageway into another smaller corridor that led upward towards the great Chamber. His sense of direction seemed uncanny and he reasoned that Snape would not follow the larger corridors. It was his nature to just disappear when things got tight. Lucius had known him for years and when there was fighting to be done…, Snape could be found resting comfortably under the noses of those that would protect him.

The pounding of footsteps in front of Lucius Malfoy caused him to pull up short and withdraw into the shadows of the walls and he held his breath and waited as a smile curved his lips. It was a man coming towards him that he was certain of. The sounds of the foot steps were heavy and yet there was the hint of caution in them as well. Who ever it is, they do not want to be heard. He thought to himself as he pressed further against the shadowed wall at his back.

A shadowed moved into Lucius's view and he knew that it could be none other than Severus himself. The figured had slowed and was looking all around. He knows. The thought sang in Malfoy's mind and he nearly chuckled aloud with the very thought that he had not been seen yet Snape still knew that danger lurked nearby. Lucius held his wand ready and the curse waited patiently at the tip of his tongue. There would be no words between them, no duel. There was honor in a duel but what Snape had done to his family deserved no honor, what he and Narcissa had done while he sat in Azkaban deserved no chance, no honor, no…,

"Avada Kedavra!"

Severus Snape's eye's widened in the split second that it took for the green jet of light to sweep over him. He felt his body lift into the air as his feet left the ground. When his body hit the ground, Severus felt no pain. He was dead before his body fell to the ground and the slight look of surprise was permanently frozen on his face.

A cackle of laughter disturbed the silence as Lucius stood over his victim and a twisted look of glee paled against the laughter as he stared downward at the lifeless body of his one time friend, Severus Snape. "I don't think you'll be working behind any one's back again." Lucius laughed again as he felt mirth in what he had just said. "And now, for my loving son. We'll see just how much he is willing to pay for turning against me." The cold smile that was now on his face spoke volumes of what he intended had anyone been thee to see it.

Dean Thomas woke to find himself lying in a small hollow in the cavern wall. He was awake but his wits still had not fully returned to him. He crawled out from where he had been unceremoniously stuffed and looked about seeing no one in sight he began to wander back down the passageway in the same direction he and the others had originally 5taken when they ran across the guards that had blocked their path earlier before. He did not remember any of that of course nor did he notice the huge doors to his left that led into the great chamber where an ugly scene was taking place. He was alone and he felt pulled to continued to follow the path that he was on deeper into the depths of the cavern.

When he arrived at a crossroad in the path he shrugged his shoulders and turned left into a smaller corridor that led deeper still. He did not notice the sounds of running foot steps of Ministry Aurors that went rushing down the main passage just after he had turned off the path only seconds later. His head felt heavy and dizzy and it was hard to focus on what he was doing but the walk seemed to help as his thoughts were slowly sorting and assembling themselves into something coherent. It was quite down here and it helped to think.

Nearly thirty minutes had past since he awoke and he had made several turns; each time following a path smaller and darker that the last. The air cooled his head and the muddled thoughts from before were coming clearer. He now had his wand out and his hearing had picked up. He still had no idea where he was going but something tugged at him to continue on deeper into the dark. He had not lit his wand yet.

Just in front of him a shadow moved into his path from a side passageway and turned down the path that he was on. Whoever it was, was talking to himself half giggling and half fierce. It seemed as if the figure was making plans and then laughing at the ideas. Dean sped up now completely alert and his head now completely clear. He strained his eyes in the dark and caught the sheen of white blond hair and instantly he knew who it was.

"Lucius Malfoy!"

The figure in front of him spun around with cat like reflexes wand in hand only to hear the single word "Stupefy"

Dean had cast his spell right on the heels of calling out Malfoy's name and then dropped to the ground. Malfoy's surprised image had been illuminated in a ghostly red light as the spell struck him squarely in the chest and he fell backward still clutching his wand. Dean Thomas wasted no time in what he did next. Scrambling back to his feet, he immediately went to the unconscious form and removed the wand from Malfoy's hand and then pointed his wand and uttered another spell and watched as golden ropes sprang forth and began wrapping themselves tightly about Malfoy's still form. He had captured Lucius Malfoy who was supposed to still be in the wizards prison, Azkaban.

As the adrenalin rush ebbed from within himself, Dean finally realized he did not know where he was and he stood there in the dark and laughed at himself.

"Mobilicorpus"

Dean pointed his wand as Malfoy's body rose about six inches from the ground and then pointed it in the direction Dean knew he had just come from and stood aside as the floating form passed him by and then began to follow as it bumped along the ground.