Ron's Worst Nightmare
A/N: THANX TO chimerical: Yeah, the last chappie didn't do well with me either. Plunk. Demeter: *giggles* Perhaps there IS more to Sevvie/Remmy than meets the eye!
Chapter Fifteen: Bait
"Lucius, your son is inside the Manor."
"I am very aware of that fact, my lord."
"We shall find him now then."
Lucius' lips thinned. "My son knows the passages as well as I, my lord. He will evade any attempts at his capture easily."
Voldemort merely gave his servant a thin-lipped smile. "I have thought of that fact already, Lucius. Bring me the boy."
"As you wish."
Ron stumbled into the room, wild eyed. He shrieked upon seeing the Dark Lord and struggled vainly in Lucius' iron grasp. Voldemort chuckled softly and motioned him forward. When Ron was held helplessly wriggling right in front of him within touching distance, Voldemort drew a jagged, bone white finger down the side of his face and told him airily, "You, my lad, are very lucky that you may be of such use to me." Ron blanched, his face turning green with fright. "What I am about to do to you is let you-" Ron held his breath "-free." Something like a sliver of hope in the brown orbs. "Inside this mansion. But you see, there is a catch. Lucius, I want everyone on alert, for when your son finds this boy here, I will be notified immediately of his presence. You're to be quite a trap," he finished smoothly, speaking pointedly to Ron. The boy felt his knees go weak and would have collapsed had it not been for the hold Lucius had on him. He was to be bait. And when Draco and Harry found him, the Dark Lord would know it - and their location.
"And just to make sure you don't go and yell to your little friends, and warn them before they see you, I'll make a bit of an alteration." Resting his fingers against Ron bobbing Adam's apple, Voldemort hissed, "Silencius."
Ron could not speak. It felt as if his throat had been stuffed with bitter cotton and even as he tried - he failed to make any sound. Silent tears streamed down his face and Voldemort caught one tiny bead on the tip of a sharp clawed finger, holding it up to shine like a precious diamond in the flickering candle light. "Let him run then, Lucius. Let our lad go and find them for us."
The tall blonde man nodded stiffly and started marching Ron towards the opposite wall of flat gray stone. Fleetingly wondering if they were going to bash his head in, Ron threw up his hands just as he was shoved into the wall-
-stumbling straight threw the solid stone as if it were a blanket of mist and into a dimly lit corridor. He whirled around and saw nothing but a plain wall of immobile stone. Striking it over and over with his bruised fists, he elicited nothing but more tears. But he shouldn't stay put like this! He had no time to fret about himself. It was time to run and hope against hope that he would not find his fiends who had come to rescue him before he managed to warn them somehow.
~*~
"Where to now, your royal shortness," snapped Harry wearily, glaring at the blonde with blazing green eyes as he leaned heavily on a suit of armor, chest heaving. From the moment their feet had touched the marble floor, the teens had been running. Skirting guards and servants alike as they went. Now Ginny and Hermione, both pale and shaking, were holding each other up for support and watching Draco grimly. The blonde ignored Harry's comment and peeked around the corner. Harry jealously studied Draco's frame, taught and rigid with suppressed agitation. The boy was alert and barely breathing hard at all. Narrowing his eyes, Harry quieted his breath and pushed himself away from the wall, swaying slightly on his quaking legs.
Draco held up a hand to stop Harry from saying anything more and in the silence that followed, they heard the faint slapping of bare feet on stone.
~*~
"Are you sure you'll be alright, Remus?" asked Sirius, casting a distrustful glance at Snape, who held the smoking goblet of Wolfs Bane potion in a stiff white hand. Lupin took Sirius' chin and gently directed his friend's anxious gaze back to his own calm and resigned one. In answer to the his friend's question, the Werewolf only took a deep breath and pulled a surprised Sirius into a tight embrace before releasing him and walking up to a scowling potions master. He finished off the potion in one swig and and told the two raven haired men to leave while the Change came over him.
Sirius started to protest, stepping forward, but Remus cut him off with a wave of his hand, now beginning to quiver. Snape slipped past Sirius and out the door, gliding. Before he walked away, he assured Sirius, "You wouldn't want to see it, Black."
"Remus, please! Look at you," a soft note entered his tone as he took Lupin's hand and stroked the palm with his thumb, outlining the stark blue veins, "Your shaking all over. Let me stay with you. Moony, I've seen it before."
Their eyes locked in a fierce battle of wills, Remus still being concerned of his friend's welfare around him in wolf form. Deepest black beat over blue and the DADA professor sighed heavily and allowed Sirius to push him back into a chair. Just as Sirius reached over and brushed his face, Lupin went rigid and a low moan issued from between his lips. On instinct, Sirius transformed into Padfoot and nudged Lupin's shoulder comfortingly as the man fell from his chair, writhing on the floor in painful spasms.
From the doorway, Snape watched the two animals, his lip curled. The sight of Lupin writhing on the floor amid his change brought back painful memories for the man. He shut his eyes tightly, lost in the past momentarily as Remus screamed.....
..... In Potter's third year, during the first change Lupin had at Hogwarts teaching, Snape had stayed with him on the full moon. The sight of the feeble young man huddled in an oversized armchair, shivering from cold that only he could feel, somewhat melted the ice around the potion master's heart. He had even gripped Lupin's hand as the first stage of the change hit. When the man was on the ground, he had him in his lap, rocking the violently thrashing figure back and forth and murmuring comforts into his pain deafened ear.
Lupin had ground his teeth together, thrown back his head so that his beautiful neck arched in the moonlight and blue eyes burned with a ferociousness that no one could think the mellow man capable of. Snape had stroked his brow and once even kissed the clammy forehead. Panic had clenched his chest as he leaned back from kissing the other man, for Lupin's eyes were open and calm for a few seconds in lingo between the bursts of switching. He reached up and held Severus' face in a gentle hand soaked with sweat. He had guided the sharp face down so that their breath twined together. He had captured the severe lips in a soft kiss.
Snape had kissed back gently, helped by the pressure of Lupin's thin hand on the back of his head. Then, as he parted his lips, Lupin had jerked wildly beneath him and the beautiful blue of his eyes were drowned in blood shot white. The soft mouth was twisted and formed into a snarl of rage. Snape fell back, watching in horror as the fair man before him changed slowly, painfully, horribly into the monster he was.
Afterwards Snape left the lone wolf to himself as the creature gazed at him with mournful eyes, now dull and empty. The door shut behind him and the wolf let out a terrible wail of loneliness. He stole quickly through the passageway, robes billowing behind him and the sound of a violent storm going on above his head helping somewhat drowning out the howling of the Werewolf.....
..... Snape shut the door behind him and heard nothing but silence. Imagining the two giant animals in the room, standing close together, a sneer whispered over his lips and died out. Black was there for Lupin when Severus wasn't and that was how it would always be. Starting down the hall, hunched into his bulky cloak, he decided he would allow Lupin to have a time to rest and recuperate. Then they would head for Malfoy Manor.
~*~
Ron stumbled past the same tapestry for the fifth time and questioned his very sanity as he stared at the elegant piece of cloth hanging from the high vaulted ceiling. He silently sobbed in frustration, the pains from his earlier torture coming back to haunt him. Then came the memory of soft fingers dancing pleasurable warmth over his gritty skin, firm strokes of the cloth wiping away his hurts. Pale eyes boring into him as he found himself at Lucius Malfoy's mercy.
Shaking his head fiercely to rid himself of the thought, Ron gritted his teeth and staggered onward, his vision blurred by stinging tears and throat rasping with the silence of his breath. He had twisted his leg skidding around a corner, careening into a sharp elbowed suit of armor, one of many that littered the castle halls. Chest heaving with exhaustion, the redhead slid down the wall and pulled his knees up to his chin, laying his head down on them and closing his eyes. He needed to think. How could he warn Draco and the others not to approach him?
Suddenly, he heard whispered down the length of the hall. People approaching. Craning his neck, ears piqued, he heard distinctly the sound of Harry's soft, urgent words and Draco's lilting voice. Oh Merlin, Hermione and Ginny, too!? Ron scrambled to his feet and raced away from them, coming to a door and pushing through into an empty study, filled with books of all types. Across the quiet gloom of the room sat a beautiful stained glass window of a dragon rearing up and blowing a huge burst of black flames from its mouth. He lunged for it and attacked the latch on the side in a blind panic for his friends safety, managing to swing open the glass panel.
He pulled himself onto the sill, the wind stinging his eyes and tearing at his clothes and hair. As he looked down the stories and stories to the ground, a terrible fear clenched within him. But when the voices grew closer, and he could hear them above the wind, he knew that his life would not matter when it saved his friends, who could amount to great things in the Wizarding world. He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, leaning forward..... he was falling...... his feet just leaving the stone....... not quite airborne...... almost free.....
~*~
"Are you ready?"
The wolf did nothing but lean against his leg. Sirius scratched it behind the ears and followed Snape and the two Weasly brothers out the door. Iris came behind him, pulling her hair back into the tight bun she always wore. Their mouths, save Lupin - who's steaming red tongue was lolling out - were set into grim lines. Snape was sobered greatly by witnessing the change of Lupin and when they reached their broom sticks (not being able to Apparate to Malfoy Manor, lesser so with a Werwolf along) he reminded them of the blood, and decided to apply it now.
Each one of them in turn let Severus take their faces in his cold fingers and steady them while he dripped the blood into their eyes as a sheen. Somehow, the blood stayed in their eyes and they mounted their brooms, Snape leading the way and Sirius last, carrying Moony in a huge gunny sack hanging from his broom.
Iris had never been fond of flying, and would've much preferred Apparating. She clutched the handle with whitened knuckles and clenched her jaw, flying a little ahead of Sirius between Bill and Charlie. The young men flew easily and Charlie did a flew corkscrews to loosen himself up as Bill relaxed into the broom. Up ahead, Snape road his broom stiffly, but expertly, avoiding the icy clouds dotting the sky and weaving in and out of tall treetops. Sirius relied on Iris to shout at him if he were to crash, for most of his attention was focused on a squirming Moony, who was becoming restless confined in the sack.
When they reached the Manor, tinted in red, Snape began flying low until they reached the cobblestone road leading past the great house. He leaned his broom up against one of the great stone Dragons standing regally on either side of a spiny gate. Beyond they saw a graveyard, ghostly and magical, shining in mist, and beyond that - Malfoy Manor in all its morbid glory. Sirius shuddered and let Moony free from the sack, holding tightly onto the shaggy scruff of his friend's neck as Snape inspected the gate.
"He should be able to fit through," he stated, careful not to touch the dragons or the gate itself. He motioned sharply for Sirius to come forward with Moony. The Werewolf sniffed experimentally at the gate. His eyes focused on the Manor and he back away, whimpering. Sirius whispered into his long pointed ear, stroking his sides. The wolf looked at them all with greatly intelligent eyes, only dulled by the potion controlling his rage. Then, with a quick, reasurring dart of his tongue across Snape's hand, he slipped through bars and padded through the murky tombstones on silent paws. The others watched him with baited breath until his slender form disappeared into a cloud of mist.
"Now all we do is wait," said Snape wearily, running a hand through his hair. But no one heard him. The two redheads were standing together closely, heads bent in thought. Iris was rubbing circles over Sirius' hunched back as the gaunt faced man stared fixedly at the house above their tiny figures. Snape sighed exasperatedly. These people really had no idea. What were they so worried about? The situation could be a thousand times worst. So, deciding they would wake him if anything happened, Snape leaned back and closed his eyes, visions of Lupin plastered to the back sides of his lids.
A/N: *cackles insanely* I am so EVIL!! Hahahahahaha! Ooh, what's gonna happen next! *giggle*
~*Villain*~
A/N: THANX TO chimerical: Yeah, the last chappie didn't do well with me either. Plunk. Demeter: *giggles* Perhaps there IS more to Sevvie/Remmy than meets the eye!
Chapter Fifteen: Bait
"Lucius, your son is inside the Manor."
"I am very aware of that fact, my lord."
"We shall find him now then."
Lucius' lips thinned. "My son knows the passages as well as I, my lord. He will evade any attempts at his capture easily."
Voldemort merely gave his servant a thin-lipped smile. "I have thought of that fact already, Lucius. Bring me the boy."
"As you wish."
Ron stumbled into the room, wild eyed. He shrieked upon seeing the Dark Lord and struggled vainly in Lucius' iron grasp. Voldemort chuckled softly and motioned him forward. When Ron was held helplessly wriggling right in front of him within touching distance, Voldemort drew a jagged, bone white finger down the side of his face and told him airily, "You, my lad, are very lucky that you may be of such use to me." Ron blanched, his face turning green with fright. "What I am about to do to you is let you-" Ron held his breath "-free." Something like a sliver of hope in the brown orbs. "Inside this mansion. But you see, there is a catch. Lucius, I want everyone on alert, for when your son finds this boy here, I will be notified immediately of his presence. You're to be quite a trap," he finished smoothly, speaking pointedly to Ron. The boy felt his knees go weak and would have collapsed had it not been for the hold Lucius had on him. He was to be bait. And when Draco and Harry found him, the Dark Lord would know it - and their location.
"And just to make sure you don't go and yell to your little friends, and warn them before they see you, I'll make a bit of an alteration." Resting his fingers against Ron bobbing Adam's apple, Voldemort hissed, "Silencius."
Ron could not speak. It felt as if his throat had been stuffed with bitter cotton and even as he tried - he failed to make any sound. Silent tears streamed down his face and Voldemort caught one tiny bead on the tip of a sharp clawed finger, holding it up to shine like a precious diamond in the flickering candle light. "Let him run then, Lucius. Let our lad go and find them for us."
The tall blonde man nodded stiffly and started marching Ron towards the opposite wall of flat gray stone. Fleetingly wondering if they were going to bash his head in, Ron threw up his hands just as he was shoved into the wall-
-stumbling straight threw the solid stone as if it were a blanket of mist and into a dimly lit corridor. He whirled around and saw nothing but a plain wall of immobile stone. Striking it over and over with his bruised fists, he elicited nothing but more tears. But he shouldn't stay put like this! He had no time to fret about himself. It was time to run and hope against hope that he would not find his fiends who had come to rescue him before he managed to warn them somehow.
~*~
"Where to now, your royal shortness," snapped Harry wearily, glaring at the blonde with blazing green eyes as he leaned heavily on a suit of armor, chest heaving. From the moment their feet had touched the marble floor, the teens had been running. Skirting guards and servants alike as they went. Now Ginny and Hermione, both pale and shaking, were holding each other up for support and watching Draco grimly. The blonde ignored Harry's comment and peeked around the corner. Harry jealously studied Draco's frame, taught and rigid with suppressed agitation. The boy was alert and barely breathing hard at all. Narrowing his eyes, Harry quieted his breath and pushed himself away from the wall, swaying slightly on his quaking legs.
Draco held up a hand to stop Harry from saying anything more and in the silence that followed, they heard the faint slapping of bare feet on stone.
~*~
"Are you sure you'll be alright, Remus?" asked Sirius, casting a distrustful glance at Snape, who held the smoking goblet of Wolfs Bane potion in a stiff white hand. Lupin took Sirius' chin and gently directed his friend's anxious gaze back to his own calm and resigned one. In answer to the his friend's question, the Werewolf only took a deep breath and pulled a surprised Sirius into a tight embrace before releasing him and walking up to a scowling potions master. He finished off the potion in one swig and and told the two raven haired men to leave while the Change came over him.
Sirius started to protest, stepping forward, but Remus cut him off with a wave of his hand, now beginning to quiver. Snape slipped past Sirius and out the door, gliding. Before he walked away, he assured Sirius, "You wouldn't want to see it, Black."
"Remus, please! Look at you," a soft note entered his tone as he took Lupin's hand and stroked the palm with his thumb, outlining the stark blue veins, "Your shaking all over. Let me stay with you. Moony, I've seen it before."
Their eyes locked in a fierce battle of wills, Remus still being concerned of his friend's welfare around him in wolf form. Deepest black beat over blue and the DADA professor sighed heavily and allowed Sirius to push him back into a chair. Just as Sirius reached over and brushed his face, Lupin went rigid and a low moan issued from between his lips. On instinct, Sirius transformed into Padfoot and nudged Lupin's shoulder comfortingly as the man fell from his chair, writhing on the floor in painful spasms.
From the doorway, Snape watched the two animals, his lip curled. The sight of Lupin writhing on the floor amid his change brought back painful memories for the man. He shut his eyes tightly, lost in the past momentarily as Remus screamed.....
..... In Potter's third year, during the first change Lupin had at Hogwarts teaching, Snape had stayed with him on the full moon. The sight of the feeble young man huddled in an oversized armchair, shivering from cold that only he could feel, somewhat melted the ice around the potion master's heart. He had even gripped Lupin's hand as the first stage of the change hit. When the man was on the ground, he had him in his lap, rocking the violently thrashing figure back and forth and murmuring comforts into his pain deafened ear.
Lupin had ground his teeth together, thrown back his head so that his beautiful neck arched in the moonlight and blue eyes burned with a ferociousness that no one could think the mellow man capable of. Snape had stroked his brow and once even kissed the clammy forehead. Panic had clenched his chest as he leaned back from kissing the other man, for Lupin's eyes were open and calm for a few seconds in lingo between the bursts of switching. He reached up and held Severus' face in a gentle hand soaked with sweat. He had guided the sharp face down so that their breath twined together. He had captured the severe lips in a soft kiss.
Snape had kissed back gently, helped by the pressure of Lupin's thin hand on the back of his head. Then, as he parted his lips, Lupin had jerked wildly beneath him and the beautiful blue of his eyes were drowned in blood shot white. The soft mouth was twisted and formed into a snarl of rage. Snape fell back, watching in horror as the fair man before him changed slowly, painfully, horribly into the monster he was.
Afterwards Snape left the lone wolf to himself as the creature gazed at him with mournful eyes, now dull and empty. The door shut behind him and the wolf let out a terrible wail of loneliness. He stole quickly through the passageway, robes billowing behind him and the sound of a violent storm going on above his head helping somewhat drowning out the howling of the Werewolf.....
..... Snape shut the door behind him and heard nothing but silence. Imagining the two giant animals in the room, standing close together, a sneer whispered over his lips and died out. Black was there for Lupin when Severus wasn't and that was how it would always be. Starting down the hall, hunched into his bulky cloak, he decided he would allow Lupin to have a time to rest and recuperate. Then they would head for Malfoy Manor.
~*~
Ron stumbled past the same tapestry for the fifth time and questioned his very sanity as he stared at the elegant piece of cloth hanging from the high vaulted ceiling. He silently sobbed in frustration, the pains from his earlier torture coming back to haunt him. Then came the memory of soft fingers dancing pleasurable warmth over his gritty skin, firm strokes of the cloth wiping away his hurts. Pale eyes boring into him as he found himself at Lucius Malfoy's mercy.
Shaking his head fiercely to rid himself of the thought, Ron gritted his teeth and staggered onward, his vision blurred by stinging tears and throat rasping with the silence of his breath. He had twisted his leg skidding around a corner, careening into a sharp elbowed suit of armor, one of many that littered the castle halls. Chest heaving with exhaustion, the redhead slid down the wall and pulled his knees up to his chin, laying his head down on them and closing his eyes. He needed to think. How could he warn Draco and the others not to approach him?
Suddenly, he heard whispered down the length of the hall. People approaching. Craning his neck, ears piqued, he heard distinctly the sound of Harry's soft, urgent words and Draco's lilting voice. Oh Merlin, Hermione and Ginny, too!? Ron scrambled to his feet and raced away from them, coming to a door and pushing through into an empty study, filled with books of all types. Across the quiet gloom of the room sat a beautiful stained glass window of a dragon rearing up and blowing a huge burst of black flames from its mouth. He lunged for it and attacked the latch on the side in a blind panic for his friends safety, managing to swing open the glass panel.
He pulled himself onto the sill, the wind stinging his eyes and tearing at his clothes and hair. As he looked down the stories and stories to the ground, a terrible fear clenched within him. But when the voices grew closer, and he could hear them above the wind, he knew that his life would not matter when it saved his friends, who could amount to great things in the Wizarding world. He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, leaning forward..... he was falling...... his feet just leaving the stone....... not quite airborne...... almost free.....
~*~
"Are you ready?"
The wolf did nothing but lean against his leg. Sirius scratched it behind the ears and followed Snape and the two Weasly brothers out the door. Iris came behind him, pulling her hair back into the tight bun she always wore. Their mouths, save Lupin - who's steaming red tongue was lolling out - were set into grim lines. Snape was sobered greatly by witnessing the change of Lupin and when they reached their broom sticks (not being able to Apparate to Malfoy Manor, lesser so with a Werwolf along) he reminded them of the blood, and decided to apply it now.
Each one of them in turn let Severus take their faces in his cold fingers and steady them while he dripped the blood into their eyes as a sheen. Somehow, the blood stayed in their eyes and they mounted their brooms, Snape leading the way and Sirius last, carrying Moony in a huge gunny sack hanging from his broom.
Iris had never been fond of flying, and would've much preferred Apparating. She clutched the handle with whitened knuckles and clenched her jaw, flying a little ahead of Sirius between Bill and Charlie. The young men flew easily and Charlie did a flew corkscrews to loosen himself up as Bill relaxed into the broom. Up ahead, Snape road his broom stiffly, but expertly, avoiding the icy clouds dotting the sky and weaving in and out of tall treetops. Sirius relied on Iris to shout at him if he were to crash, for most of his attention was focused on a squirming Moony, who was becoming restless confined in the sack.
When they reached the Manor, tinted in red, Snape began flying low until they reached the cobblestone road leading past the great house. He leaned his broom up against one of the great stone Dragons standing regally on either side of a spiny gate. Beyond they saw a graveyard, ghostly and magical, shining in mist, and beyond that - Malfoy Manor in all its morbid glory. Sirius shuddered and let Moony free from the sack, holding tightly onto the shaggy scruff of his friend's neck as Snape inspected the gate.
"He should be able to fit through," he stated, careful not to touch the dragons or the gate itself. He motioned sharply for Sirius to come forward with Moony. The Werewolf sniffed experimentally at the gate. His eyes focused on the Manor and he back away, whimpering. Sirius whispered into his long pointed ear, stroking his sides. The wolf looked at them all with greatly intelligent eyes, only dulled by the potion controlling his rage. Then, with a quick, reasurring dart of his tongue across Snape's hand, he slipped through bars and padded through the murky tombstones on silent paws. The others watched him with baited breath until his slender form disappeared into a cloud of mist.
"Now all we do is wait," said Snape wearily, running a hand through his hair. But no one heard him. The two redheads were standing together closely, heads bent in thought. Iris was rubbing circles over Sirius' hunched back as the gaunt faced man stared fixedly at the house above their tiny figures. Snape sighed exasperatedly. These people really had no idea. What were they so worried about? The situation could be a thousand times worst. So, deciding they would wake him if anything happened, Snape leaned back and closed his eyes, visions of Lupin plastered to the back sides of his lids.
A/N: *cackles insanely* I am so EVIL!! Hahahahahaha! Ooh, what's gonna happen next! *giggle*
~*Villain*~