The Later Years
Part IV
By Sandry
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Ron? What did you DO to her?" asked Harry doubtfully. "I mean, all of a sudden, she had a MAJOR attitude change..."

"Just a simple Attitude Charm/Mind Charm mixed together... Attitude is
Attudiem switimini and Mind is Thinkfurlical Switisamini, so all I did was mutter Thuttudikfurl Switisamini, a combination of the two charms, and I changed her attitude entirely! A rather genious invention, if I do say so myself..."

"I didn't ask you though!" said a ghostly voice. Harry and Ron whirled around, but saw NOTHING... They even felt the air for an invisibility cloak or a invisibility charm.

Harry shivered. His limbs were suddenly stiff. A black shadow drifted over them, and he shouted,"RON! Do the Protectiumus Spell! It'll protec-" His mouth jammed shut, and everything went black.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Everything was blurry. Harry groped for his glasses, and his hand connected with something. Something warm. And squishy. It was a human hand! Darn. It wasn't Ron's. Hmm... Duh, Harry! It was his other hand!!

He found his glasses in a pitcher of Elixir of Death (other wise known as Sleeping Beauty 192. It makes you turn into a ghost for 100 years. THen you come back. As the age you were when you drank it.)

He put them on slowly. He struggled to sit up, and found he was strapped to a board on a table.

He frowned. Who had taken them there, and why did they want him? He had been minding his own business when-

A little man with gold rimmed cresent moon glasses hobbled over to him.

"Sir!" he whispered. "Be careful here! Be on your best behavior, for if the Cheif does not favor you, it is despair for you! BE careful!"

"Dumbledore? Is that you?" asked Harry. "If it isn't, WHERE did you get his GLASSES? You have no rig-"

"SHH!" said the little man. "No. I am not Dumbledore. He is in a holding cell directly below your *bed*. He is weakening, about to tell his secrets. Amazing what a rack can do to a person!" He suddenly looked horrified, and with a final word of "I have said too much! Chief will be angry..." he left.

"RON?" called Harry. "Ron, where are you?
(From some fanfic... Sorry whoever wrote it)

"
I'm here!" called a small voice from somewhere. He didn't know where. It sounded like it was coming from the wine press in the corner of the room. THE WINE PRESS? (sorry avengers fans...) What happened to Ron?

He struggled to pull out his small swiss army knife
(Does he HAVE a swiss army knife? All MUGGLES need one, but do wizards? I don't know! Go ask your dad! *1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish*) , to saw the ropes binding him to the chair, but his hands wouldn't move. Just then he realized he was bound by a SPELL... Uh oh.

He had refused to practice the charm to transfer your magic to your hand from your wand. But, Ron knew it... If only he could get to Ron again. Could Ron REACH his wand?

"
Harry?" called Ron. "I seem to be bound to the wine press by magic... Can you remember the charm to transfer your power from your wand to your hand?"

Harry groaned. Were they in a fix. Any moment now "Cheif" would summon them, and then it would be "Bye-Bye Harry and Ron". Hmmm...

EUREKA! He remembered the Charm:
Powerifiwand Transumini Manos So He WASN'T losing his memory after all... He tried it, and (since you don't need your wand to do it, he had just transferred all his magic to his hands. Then he broke his cables, and explored the room.

Just realizing he only had a little time before Dumbledore broke down, Harry raced to undo Ron. Luckily, the wine press wasn't on, but if it had been, it woulda been "Bye Bye Ron, Hello Mashed Potato Ron..." Bleah.

They raced out of the room, using an invisibility/silencing spell, which meant they could yell and the only person who could hear them was each other, and anyone who knew their password. They dashed down a flight of stairs (this apparently was a mansion) and came into a torture chamber. There was an iron rack, and on it was...

TO BE CONTINUED * * * * * * * *