Harry Potter and the Return of Lord Voldemort Part 11
Cornelius Fudge walked to the doors of the Great Hall with Minerva McGonagall and Prof. Dumbledore. It was nearly a month since the death of Neville Longbottom and Fudge was eager and determined to get the truth out of Harry Potter, who he assumed the murderer.
He put his hand on the brass doorknob, but Professor McGonagall slapped it away. "You are not coming," she snapped. He frowned in confusion.
"I'm afraid she's right, Cornelius. If you come, who knows what chaos could happen? Our… murderer could escape." Dumbledore said. Cornelius crossed his arms over his chest and stared bad-naturedly at the pair of them.
"There's no use sulking. You are not coming in with us," McGonagall said and that was that. Professor Luna suddenly came rushing up to them form the dungeons.
"Done, Albus, Minerva," she said handing Dumbledore a bottle of clear liquid. Dumbledore smiled and took it. "Thank you, Alona," he informed her. Professor Luna nodded and opened the door and strode in, smiling at the students. Dumbledore and McGonagall walked in after her.
Fudge tried to get in, but McGonagall put a hand in front of him and said "Ah ah. No following. This is private business, Fudge,"
"Minerva, I am the Minister of…" Fudge started angrily, but Professor McGonagall snapped "You are the Minister of Nothing! You have no business here at Hogwarts, Fudge. And don't take that tone with me. You may be all scary and tough for those who are afraid of you, but I most certainly am not! Now OUT!"
Dumbledore and McGonagall walked in and headed straight to the Gryffindor table where Harry was. "Harry," Dumbledore said kindly. "do you think that you could drink this for a bit?" Harry stared at the bottle of clear liquid.
"Vetritaserum?" he asked uncertainly. Professor McGonagall was about to ask him how he knew, but then remembered that he had witnessed it at work on Barty Crouch Jr.
He took the bottle, stared at it and drank it.
*
- Snape backed away from the advancing Death Eaters. Lucius Malfoy drew out his wand and Snape cornered Snape into a tree. Voldemort smiled cruelly. "Goodbye Severus," he said. "Now! KILL HIM!" he roared. The Death Eaters didn't need to be told twice. Soon all of them had their wands out.
- Snape hit the tree trunk and stared. As the Death Eaters came closer, he disappeared with a pop!
- The Death Eaters and Voldemort stared. A roar of confusion erupted from the Death Eaters. Voldemort raised his skeletal-like hands and screamed for quiet or he'd kill them all. Silence was immediately resumed. "W-what happened Master?" Goyle asked, trembling.
- "That fool! That miserable wretch!" Voldemort yelled realizing what had happened.
- "The Death Eaters stared at him in confusion. "Bastard used the Doubling Charm," the Dark Lord said to his dim-witted followers. The Death Eaters immediately understood. The Doubling Charm was a complex spell which, like the Unforgivable Curses, could only be done by a powerful witch or wizard. The only ones known to have done it were Death Eaters, Aurors, Albus Dumbledore, Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor and Voldemort himself.
- The Doubling Charm created one more person like you which would perform tasks which you asked him to for a certain amount of time. Snape had obviously used it so because he must have suspected something like this to happen.
- "We cannot let Severus escape! I will not have anyone escape me! We shall find high and low for him!" he yelled for the Death Eater to hear. He turned around and turned back to find them staring at him. "Go," he said in an almost whining voice. The Death Eaters left.
- When they were gone, a small rat came scurrying to Voldemort. The Dark Lord smiled. The rat was a worm-tailed rat. He had three legs made of flesh and bone, but one of silvery steel. Wormtail. The rat transformed into a man who looked like a balding baby.
- "Wormtail," Voldemort said looking at his follower. "Did you do it? Did you kill Harry Potter?"
- Wormtail got to the floor and bowed to his Master's feet. "N-no my lord," he whimpered. He had expected Voldemort to hit him or yell at him, but instead Voldemort raised his thin index finger to his chin thoughtfully and murmured "Yes, I didn't really expect you to. Potter is well-protected even without his mother's love. Pity, he would have made a good ally"
- Wormtail sighed in relief. "Come Wormtail. I expect that the Death Eaters must be onto Snape's tail by now. Let's have some fun and watch."
*
- Snape ran quickly, darting from the trees. The Death Eaters were onto him, he knew that. He cursed himself softly for that being the only thing he knew of the meeting his Double had attended. "Damn. I was too far away," he said. He had been standing behind the closest tree in the meeting place, that was the Dark Forest, which held much more danger than the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts.
- There were no centaurs here, no means of anyone good or helpful. Only evil came here, like it was some sort of Hellmouth for the Wizarding World. He thanked God that he still had the Dark Mark on his arm. Since Voldemort was evil, his mark was evil which allowed Snape to actually be able to see the Dark Forest.
- Voldemort was king here at the Dark Forest. He had created it when he had been all-powerful. Every thing here obeyed his orders. Snape knew he could never stay alive for long here now that Voldemort was after him. He ran swiftly looking for the entrance or exit of the Forest.
- Suddenly, a figure leaped in front of him. Snape let out a shout. He came face to face with blood red eyes, and the fur that covered the creature. A werewolf. The werewolf snarled and opened his jaws. Snape gaped and tried to back away, but at that moment, the Death Eaters came running behind him and halted to a stop.
- Snape looked at them and the werewolf, whose saliva was trailing down it's fur-covered chin. He werewolf snapped it jaws again. Snape had no options. The werewolf was blocking his escape and the Death Eaters were blocking him as well. Of course, that didn't matter. If Snape ran to them, they would kill him and if he got past he'd meet Voldemort. He was trapped.