The Squib and The Death Eaters
Chapter Two: All Cats Are Grey in the Dark
a Harry Potter fan-fic
by Ozma
(takes place in Harry's fifth year.)
"Pain is an excellent teacher." It's something I've often said to the students at Hogwarts, the bad ones and the unlucky ones who find themselves handed over to me for a detention. I make them scrub bedpans in the hospital wing, or polish regiments of awards and trophies. Without magic. Until their nails crack and their skin blisters and their fingers bleed. They wash windows and scrub floors and scour walls with caustic potions and cleansers that leave their hands chapped, red and sore. And all the hard work makes their backs ache and their poor little knees throb for days afterwards. The brats hate the sight of me. I couldn't care less.
I clean everything at the Castle without magic. Every day. It's my job. Don't have much of a choice, do I? The students act as though it's torture. They don't know what real torture feels like. Even if the Headmaster would let me put the brats in chains, the chains would be clean and polished. I wouldn't leave the little brats locked up all alone in the dark, either.
All right, maybe my office back at Hogwarts is rather dark and depressing. It's a dungeon! I can hardly paint the place yellow and plant pretty flowers, can I? But it's a clean dungeon. Not too cold, and it's dry. Not open to the sky, with the snow falling in. It's not like this place.
Cold. I'm so cold. Can't feel my hands or my feet any more. Maybe that's a good thing, considering what's been done to them. I can't feel much of anything any more.
The Headmaster will look for me. Even Malfoy said so. That's some comfort, even though I know not even Dumbledore will be able to find me before I die.
I hope I die soon. They need me alive.They said so. I want to die, just to spite them. Lucius Malfoy. Professor Severus Snape. I trusted the Professor, stupid old fool that I am. Maybe I can hang on long enough to tell the Headmaster what Snape really is.
A Death Eater...
There's some noise from the chamber above me. My captors, Crabbe and Goyle, Senior, went up there because it's warmer than down here. They had a fire, but they still complained about the cold. It seemed like they didn't really want to be here either. Well, sorry, gentlemen, it's been a rough night all around. You will be getting no sympathy from me.
More noise from above. The voices had gotten louder.
"What's that? I saw something moving!" That was Crabbe.
"I didn't see anything." That was Goyle.
"Over there! Something small!" Crabbe said. "Looked like a cat..."
Goyle laughed "Maybe it's the old squib's mangy cat come to rescue him!"
"Not funny. Something else is here with us."
"I don't.... wait, what's that...?"
Suddenly, there was a lot of noise from above. Crashes, thuds, shouts. A flash of light that I saw though my slitted right eye. The unexpected commotion made my heart beat rapidly and the silence, after all the noise finally died down, was eerie.
I heard the sound of soft little feet padding down the uneven stone stairs. It was a familiar sound. Goyle was right, I thought, incredulously. It is a cat. I could tell, even though I could barely see, that this cat was not my beloved Mrs. Norris. But it was another lovely lady I knew.
She stood at the foot of the stairs, where the cat had stood only a moment before. Tall, black haired Minerva McGonagall.
"Lumos!"
The tip of her wand glowed in the darkness.
"Mr. Filch...?" she said, looking at me, her voice full of pity and horror.
I supposed that I must look like something no self-respecting cat would want to drag in.
"Let's get you out of here..." she said, fiercely. The chains remained stubbornly attached to my wrists and ankles when she tried a spell to remove them. Practical as ever, she simply blasted the other ends of the rusty chains right out of the wall.
With my only support removed, I fell forward, the chains still attached to me. She caught me and gently lowered me to the floor. The she sat beside me, rested my head against her knee, and aimed her wand at the wall.
"Destruo!" she said. The power of her spell blew past me like a warm wind. Parts of the wall, specifically the places where the chains had been attached, crumbled. It looked as if the chains had been wrenched out of the weakened wall by simple, brute force.
"There's very little time," McGonagall said. "I've taken care of those two upstairs, but Malfoy could be back at any moment.You will need strength enough to run."
I gave her the most polite look of disbelief I could manage, under the circumstances.
"Don't worry, you won't need to run far. This will help you. Just a sip, now," she coaxed me softly. "Severus told me that a sip would be enough."
"Severus?!!" My cry was silent, my voice was gone. Weakly, I twisted away from the small vial she had pressed to my mouth. Snape was a traitor. I would not drink anything he had prepared! Had that snake set a trap for her too? My lips moved silently, begging her to run, before it was too late!
"Mr. Filch! ...Argus. Please. There's more going on here right now than I can possibly explain. There's no time. Drink the potion!"
I writhed, nearly wrenching the vial out of her hand.
"Oh, dear. I'm sorry about this, Filch." She pinched my nose, grabbed my chin and forced my mouth open. When she saw the mess left by Crabbe and Goyle's quest for a souvenir squib-tooth she said a word that I didn't think she knew. But she didn't let go of me.
I've always appreciated Professor McGonagall's firm, no-nonsense approach to things. Though I can't say I enjoyed having her use that approach on me very much. In spite of my desperate struggles a few drops of the potion got down my throat. I coughed and sputtered, twisted out of her lap and curled into a ball on the freezing stone floor.
"I can imagine what you must think of him at the moment..." McGonagall said softly, her hand resting on my back. "But try to listen. He is walking a dangerous path, doing his best to get all of us out of this alive. He can be trusted, believe me."
"Maybe Snape wants both of us dead!" I thought miserably. I lay, huddled, waiting for the potion to kill me.
Instead I felt my pain recede. It wasn't gone, it had just become ...unimportant. A thing that could be ignored and dealt with later. Very much to my surprise, I found that I could sit up. In a few moments I felt strong enough to stand. Dazed, disbelieving, I tottered to my feet. I was even able to support the extra weight of the rusty chains that were still attached to my wrists and ankles.
"The effects will not last long. A few minutes only. Severus told me that giving you any more would be too dangerous," McGonagall warned me softly. "When it wears off, you may feel even weaker than you did before. We must hurry!"
Taking me by the hand, she helped me up the stairs. Snape's potion was making me feel very strange. Things seemed to be happening in a dream. I noticed how she moved carefully up the stairs, mindful not to step in any of the snow that had drifted in through the broken roof.
It dawned on me that she was being very deliberate about not leaving any human footprints. Though she had left footprints in the snow when she'd come down to the lower chamber as a cat. And she didn't seem too worried about the bloody footprints that my bare, mangled feet were leaving on stone and snow alike.
"They must not know the truth of how you managed to escape," she whispered in my ear. "In order to keep all of us safe, you must appear to have had no help from any witch or wizard at Hogwarts..."
We'd reached the upper chamber. Crabbe lay sprawled against one wall, and Goyle lay crumpled in front of the fireplace. Both of them had been knocked senseless. Size and strength aren't everything. McGonagall had more power in her little finger than either of those two had in their over-large, brutish bodies.
"Can you stand on your own now?" She asked me. "Do you think you can run?"
I nodded.
"You must follow me across the small clearing, to the grove of birch trees. There's a stream over there. Run to it as quickly as you can. I do not know much longer Severus will be able to delay Mr. Malfoy's return. There are protective spells around this place to prevent anyone from Apparating and Disapparating. But I can take both of us to safety when we reach the stream. Do you understand?"
I'd never heard of anyone being able to Apparate with a passenger. But, though I still wasn't sure if I trusted Snape, I trusted McGonagall completely. I nodded at her.
"Good," she said, approvingly. She looked at me as if I were a comrade in arms, and not just a useless squib who'd gotten himself caught by Death Eaters and needed to be rescued.
In spite of everything I felt a wave of pride when she looked at me like that. As if I were one of her Gryffindors. I did not want to disappoint her.
McGonagall's eyes twinkled. "They mustn't know the truth," she whispered, "but we can leave them an explanation of sorts..."
Suddenly, a tabby cat was standing there. Giving me a look that said "Follow!" she bounded away from the small, ruined tower I'd been imprisioned in.
Maybe it was Snape's potion making me giddy. But the idea that Malfoy would return to find me gone, my chains ripped from the wall and my bare, bloody footprints leading away, led by the prints of a running cat, made me want to laugh. I didn't envy Crabbe and Goyle when they had to explain that their captive had been rescued by his cat!
I thought that we were safe.
I should have known better.
We heard the voices before we reached the grove of birch trees near the stream that marked the Apparition point.
Malfoy and Snape. Through the swirling snow they stared at us. Malfoy's face was a study in disbelief. Snape, standing slightly behind Malfoy, wore an expression of dismay.
Perhaps there were things going on here that I didn't understand. But I knew that I wouldn't let them take me again. And there was no way that I would ever let them take Professor McGonagall.
Malfoy's wand was suddenly in his hand, but I was on him before he could do anything. The chains lent me weight and momentum. We crashed together to the frozen ground. I smashed one manacled wrist against his forehead, with all the strength I could manage.
It wasn't enough. He was down, but not out. I'd been warned that the potion's invigorating effect would be a brief one. But, the agony sweeping over me as my wounds made themselves felt once more, was still a terrible shock.
Malfoy's fist slammed against my jaw, on the same side as my missing tooth. This new pain, added to all the others, left me so dazed and weak I could barely move. Everything around me seemed to be happening very slowly. Nearby I could see Snape trying to grab McGonagall. It seemed, for a moment, as if the man and the cat exchanged a glance; an apology given and an apology accepted.
And then the cat yowled like a mad thing, and clawed viciously at his face.
Cursing fit to make a goblin blush, Snape flung McGonagall away from him. He put a hand to his face, feeling the bleeding gashes that raked across his cheek, narrowly missing his eye.
"Having some trouble there, Severus?" Malfoy's drawling voice sounded amused. He got up, leaving me lying very still in the snow at his feet.
"I'm not the one who can't even lock up one old squib properly!" Snape snarled, one hand pressed against his wounded face. "And if the old man's miserable cat could find her way here, can Dumbledore himself be far behind? You've ruined everything! Wait... what are you doing?"
Malfoy's wand was pointing at my head. "That should be obvious. I am disposing of the evidence, Severus. Finding another squib for us to experiment on will be difficult, but not impossible. At least the next one will have a much safer master than Albus Dumbledore. Avad..."
I was grateful that at least McGonagall had gotten away. She would be able to tell the Headmaster what had happened. I gave myself up for dead.
"Wait, Malfoy!" Snape strode over furiously, slapping the other man's wand hand down. "This is not necessary! The scroll will be useless without him! I refuse to wait until we can locate another squib. I have a better idea. Leave him to me."
His tone changed, becoming smooth as black silk. "I already have the scroll. There's no need to waste this opportunity. I will perform a memory charm on the old man. He will not remember a thing. I can bring him back to Dumbledore myself. After he heals I can experiment on him at my leisure."
Malfoy sounded incredulous. "You would conduct those types of experiments? Right under Dumbledore's overly long and crooked nose?"
"Why not?" Snape's eyes glittered. "Do you really want to lose this squib and have to start all over again with nothing?"
"You never cease to amaze me," Malfoy said, sourly. "If I agree to your plan, then I do have nothing. You have your knowledge of potions, the old man and the scroll. Everything! If your experiments are successful then our Lord will be very pleased with you. And I am out of the picture entirely!"
His eyes raked over Snape. "All right, Severus. Well played.You've won. But, beware, for the prize is dangerous. If you fail in this task, you fail alone. I will not stand between you and Lord Voldemort's displeasure."
"That is exactly what I expected to hear from you, Lucius. But I'm not going to fail."
They stared at each other for a moment or two longer. Finally, Snape said "Go. I must take him back to Hogwarts while there's still some life left in him. I will keep you informed of my progress."
"Best of luck, Severus," Malfoy said. He gave Snape a mocking bow and Apparated.
I didn't hurt so much any more. Staying awake was difficult. I could barely see Snape standing over me. My hearing seemed to be deserting me as well, because I thought I heard him sigh and it seemed to be coming from a long way off.
"Filch..." a weary voice that might have been Snape's said, faintly, "you troublesome, old ...git." I was dimly aware of something warm being wrapped around me. His cloak.
"Minerva, take him, quickly. I'll follow you."
It was the last thing I heard.
END CHAPTER TWO
Chapter Two: All Cats Are Grey in the Dark
a Harry Potter fan-fic
by Ozma
(takes place in Harry's fifth year.)
"Pain is an excellent teacher." It's something I've often said to the students at Hogwarts, the bad ones and the unlucky ones who find themselves handed over to me for a detention. I make them scrub bedpans in the hospital wing, or polish regiments of awards and trophies. Without magic. Until their nails crack and their skin blisters and their fingers bleed. They wash windows and scrub floors and scour walls with caustic potions and cleansers that leave their hands chapped, red and sore. And all the hard work makes their backs ache and their poor little knees throb for days afterwards. The brats hate the sight of me. I couldn't care less.
I clean everything at the Castle without magic. Every day. It's my job. Don't have much of a choice, do I? The students act as though it's torture. They don't know what real torture feels like. Even if the Headmaster would let me put the brats in chains, the chains would be clean and polished. I wouldn't leave the little brats locked up all alone in the dark, either.
All right, maybe my office back at Hogwarts is rather dark and depressing. It's a dungeon! I can hardly paint the place yellow and plant pretty flowers, can I? But it's a clean dungeon. Not too cold, and it's dry. Not open to the sky, with the snow falling in. It's not like this place.
Cold. I'm so cold. Can't feel my hands or my feet any more. Maybe that's a good thing, considering what's been done to them. I can't feel much of anything any more.
The Headmaster will look for me. Even Malfoy said so. That's some comfort, even though I know not even Dumbledore will be able to find me before I die.
I hope I die soon. They need me alive.They said so. I want to die, just to spite them. Lucius Malfoy. Professor Severus Snape. I trusted the Professor, stupid old fool that I am. Maybe I can hang on long enough to tell the Headmaster what Snape really is.
A Death Eater...
There's some noise from the chamber above me. My captors, Crabbe and Goyle, Senior, went up there because it's warmer than down here. They had a fire, but they still complained about the cold. It seemed like they didn't really want to be here either. Well, sorry, gentlemen, it's been a rough night all around. You will be getting no sympathy from me.
More noise from above. The voices had gotten louder.
"What's that? I saw something moving!" That was Crabbe.
"I didn't see anything." That was Goyle.
"Over there! Something small!" Crabbe said. "Looked like a cat..."
Goyle laughed "Maybe it's the old squib's mangy cat come to rescue him!"
"Not funny. Something else is here with us."
"I don't.... wait, what's that...?"
Suddenly, there was a lot of noise from above. Crashes, thuds, shouts. A flash of light that I saw though my slitted right eye. The unexpected commotion made my heart beat rapidly and the silence, after all the noise finally died down, was eerie.
I heard the sound of soft little feet padding down the uneven stone stairs. It was a familiar sound. Goyle was right, I thought, incredulously. It is a cat. I could tell, even though I could barely see, that this cat was not my beloved Mrs. Norris. But it was another lovely lady I knew.
She stood at the foot of the stairs, where the cat had stood only a moment before. Tall, black haired Minerva McGonagall.
"Lumos!"
The tip of her wand glowed in the darkness.
"Mr. Filch...?" she said, looking at me, her voice full of pity and horror.
I supposed that I must look like something no self-respecting cat would want to drag in.
"Let's get you out of here..." she said, fiercely. The chains remained stubbornly attached to my wrists and ankles when she tried a spell to remove them. Practical as ever, she simply blasted the other ends of the rusty chains right out of the wall.
With my only support removed, I fell forward, the chains still attached to me. She caught me and gently lowered me to the floor. The she sat beside me, rested my head against her knee, and aimed her wand at the wall.
"Destruo!" she said. The power of her spell blew past me like a warm wind. Parts of the wall, specifically the places where the chains had been attached, crumbled. It looked as if the chains had been wrenched out of the weakened wall by simple, brute force.
"There's very little time," McGonagall said. "I've taken care of those two upstairs, but Malfoy could be back at any moment.You will need strength enough to run."
I gave her the most polite look of disbelief I could manage, under the circumstances.
"Don't worry, you won't need to run far. This will help you. Just a sip, now," she coaxed me softly. "Severus told me that a sip would be enough."
"Severus?!!" My cry was silent, my voice was gone. Weakly, I twisted away from the small vial she had pressed to my mouth. Snape was a traitor. I would not drink anything he had prepared! Had that snake set a trap for her too? My lips moved silently, begging her to run, before it was too late!
"Mr. Filch! ...Argus. Please. There's more going on here right now than I can possibly explain. There's no time. Drink the potion!"
I writhed, nearly wrenching the vial out of her hand.
"Oh, dear. I'm sorry about this, Filch." She pinched my nose, grabbed my chin and forced my mouth open. When she saw the mess left by Crabbe and Goyle's quest for a souvenir squib-tooth she said a word that I didn't think she knew. But she didn't let go of me.
I've always appreciated Professor McGonagall's firm, no-nonsense approach to things. Though I can't say I enjoyed having her use that approach on me very much. In spite of my desperate struggles a few drops of the potion got down my throat. I coughed and sputtered, twisted out of her lap and curled into a ball on the freezing stone floor.
"I can imagine what you must think of him at the moment..." McGonagall said softly, her hand resting on my back. "But try to listen. He is walking a dangerous path, doing his best to get all of us out of this alive. He can be trusted, believe me."
"Maybe Snape wants both of us dead!" I thought miserably. I lay, huddled, waiting for the potion to kill me.
Instead I felt my pain recede. It wasn't gone, it had just become ...unimportant. A thing that could be ignored and dealt with later. Very much to my surprise, I found that I could sit up. In a few moments I felt strong enough to stand. Dazed, disbelieving, I tottered to my feet. I was even able to support the extra weight of the rusty chains that were still attached to my wrists and ankles.
"The effects will not last long. A few minutes only. Severus told me that giving you any more would be too dangerous," McGonagall warned me softly. "When it wears off, you may feel even weaker than you did before. We must hurry!"
Taking me by the hand, she helped me up the stairs. Snape's potion was making me feel very strange. Things seemed to be happening in a dream. I noticed how she moved carefully up the stairs, mindful not to step in any of the snow that had drifted in through the broken roof.
It dawned on me that she was being very deliberate about not leaving any human footprints. Though she had left footprints in the snow when she'd come down to the lower chamber as a cat. And she didn't seem too worried about the bloody footprints that my bare, mangled feet were leaving on stone and snow alike.
"They must not know the truth of how you managed to escape," she whispered in my ear. "In order to keep all of us safe, you must appear to have had no help from any witch or wizard at Hogwarts..."
We'd reached the upper chamber. Crabbe lay sprawled against one wall, and Goyle lay crumpled in front of the fireplace. Both of them had been knocked senseless. Size and strength aren't everything. McGonagall had more power in her little finger than either of those two had in their over-large, brutish bodies.
"Can you stand on your own now?" She asked me. "Do you think you can run?"
I nodded.
"You must follow me across the small clearing, to the grove of birch trees. There's a stream over there. Run to it as quickly as you can. I do not know much longer Severus will be able to delay Mr. Malfoy's return. There are protective spells around this place to prevent anyone from Apparating and Disapparating. But I can take both of us to safety when we reach the stream. Do you understand?"
I'd never heard of anyone being able to Apparate with a passenger. But, though I still wasn't sure if I trusted Snape, I trusted McGonagall completely. I nodded at her.
"Good," she said, approvingly. She looked at me as if I were a comrade in arms, and not just a useless squib who'd gotten himself caught by Death Eaters and needed to be rescued.
In spite of everything I felt a wave of pride when she looked at me like that. As if I were one of her Gryffindors. I did not want to disappoint her.
McGonagall's eyes twinkled. "They mustn't know the truth," she whispered, "but we can leave them an explanation of sorts..."
Suddenly, a tabby cat was standing there. Giving me a look that said "Follow!" she bounded away from the small, ruined tower I'd been imprisioned in.
Maybe it was Snape's potion making me giddy. But the idea that Malfoy would return to find me gone, my chains ripped from the wall and my bare, bloody footprints leading away, led by the prints of a running cat, made me want to laugh. I didn't envy Crabbe and Goyle when they had to explain that their captive had been rescued by his cat!
I thought that we were safe.
I should have known better.
We heard the voices before we reached the grove of birch trees near the stream that marked the Apparition point.
Malfoy and Snape. Through the swirling snow they stared at us. Malfoy's face was a study in disbelief. Snape, standing slightly behind Malfoy, wore an expression of dismay.
Perhaps there were things going on here that I didn't understand. But I knew that I wouldn't let them take me again. And there was no way that I would ever let them take Professor McGonagall.
Malfoy's wand was suddenly in his hand, but I was on him before he could do anything. The chains lent me weight and momentum. We crashed together to the frozen ground. I smashed one manacled wrist against his forehead, with all the strength I could manage.
It wasn't enough. He was down, but not out. I'd been warned that the potion's invigorating effect would be a brief one. But, the agony sweeping over me as my wounds made themselves felt once more, was still a terrible shock.
Malfoy's fist slammed against my jaw, on the same side as my missing tooth. This new pain, added to all the others, left me so dazed and weak I could barely move. Everything around me seemed to be happening very slowly. Nearby I could see Snape trying to grab McGonagall. It seemed, for a moment, as if the man and the cat exchanged a glance; an apology given and an apology accepted.
And then the cat yowled like a mad thing, and clawed viciously at his face.
Cursing fit to make a goblin blush, Snape flung McGonagall away from him. He put a hand to his face, feeling the bleeding gashes that raked across his cheek, narrowly missing his eye.
"Having some trouble there, Severus?" Malfoy's drawling voice sounded amused. He got up, leaving me lying very still in the snow at his feet.
"I'm not the one who can't even lock up one old squib properly!" Snape snarled, one hand pressed against his wounded face. "And if the old man's miserable cat could find her way here, can Dumbledore himself be far behind? You've ruined everything! Wait... what are you doing?"
Malfoy's wand was pointing at my head. "That should be obvious. I am disposing of the evidence, Severus. Finding another squib for us to experiment on will be difficult, but not impossible. At least the next one will have a much safer master than Albus Dumbledore. Avad..."
I was grateful that at least McGonagall had gotten away. She would be able to tell the Headmaster what had happened. I gave myself up for dead.
"Wait, Malfoy!" Snape strode over furiously, slapping the other man's wand hand down. "This is not necessary! The scroll will be useless without him! I refuse to wait until we can locate another squib. I have a better idea. Leave him to me."
His tone changed, becoming smooth as black silk. "I already have the scroll. There's no need to waste this opportunity. I will perform a memory charm on the old man. He will not remember a thing. I can bring him back to Dumbledore myself. After he heals I can experiment on him at my leisure."
Malfoy sounded incredulous. "You would conduct those types of experiments? Right under Dumbledore's overly long and crooked nose?"
"Why not?" Snape's eyes glittered. "Do you really want to lose this squib and have to start all over again with nothing?"
"You never cease to amaze me," Malfoy said, sourly. "If I agree to your plan, then I do have nothing. You have your knowledge of potions, the old man and the scroll. Everything! If your experiments are successful then our Lord will be very pleased with you. And I am out of the picture entirely!"
His eyes raked over Snape. "All right, Severus. Well played.You've won. But, beware, for the prize is dangerous. If you fail in this task, you fail alone. I will not stand between you and Lord Voldemort's displeasure."
"That is exactly what I expected to hear from you, Lucius. But I'm not going to fail."
They stared at each other for a moment or two longer. Finally, Snape said "Go. I must take him back to Hogwarts while there's still some life left in him. I will keep you informed of my progress."
"Best of luck, Severus," Malfoy said. He gave Snape a mocking bow and Apparated.
I didn't hurt so much any more. Staying awake was difficult. I could barely see Snape standing over me. My hearing seemed to be deserting me as well, because I thought I heard him sigh and it seemed to be coming from a long way off.
"Filch..." a weary voice that might have been Snape's said, faintly, "you troublesome, old ...git." I was dimly aware of something warm being wrapped around me. His cloak.
"Minerva, take him, quickly. I'll follow you."
It was the last thing I heard.
END CHAPTER TWO