CHAPTER XVI

Harry paced up and down in front of Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore observed him from behind his desk, his faced masked in calm. Ron and Hermione sat anxiously in chairs on one end of the room, and Snape was reclining on the armchair in Dumbledore's office, applying an herb soaked cloth to his neck, where Harry's teeth had left several marks. As usual, he was scowling.

"I was beginning to wonder, Severus, whether or not I should send a rescue team in for you," Dumbledore told him. "We lost contact there for, how long was it?"

"Sixth months," supplied Snape, in a hoarse voice.

Harry almost felt sorry for him. Six months in the presence of that many deatheaters. Harry focused his magical vision on the pale man. He detected a thick deposit of malevolence coating Snape's body: the remnants of too much cruciatus curse. Harry shook his head.

"I'll be right back," he said. He disappeared and reappeared in Professor Jeanne's office. She looked up from grading papers.

"Not at the ball Professor?" asked Harry jokingly.

"No, I am not very fond of zees kinds of gazerings," she told him. "May I help you?"

Harry nodded.

"Uh yes, do you happen to have any concrucia root? And maybe peppermint leaf?" he asked hopefully.

Professor Jeanne looked at him curiously. She put down her pen, and stood up, walking over to her back storeroom. She unlocked it, and entered, walking to the far end of the room and rummaging over a few shelves. When she returned, she help out two little bundles wrapped in dragon hide and tied with twine.

"Zees two are very powerful togezzer Mr. Potter, I would use caution," she told him slowly.

Harry nodded.

"I'm familiar with the effects," he told her. "I won't use them improperly."

Professor Jeanne nodded.

"I am not accustomed, Mr. Potter," she pinned him with her beautiful stare, "to seemply dispensing my rarest, most eexpenseeve, and most dangerous eengredients." She clasped her hands in front of her. "I give zese to you because I trust you and your potion-making capabilities, I hope you won't take advantage of zat trust," she stated.

Harry nodded in understanding.

"You have make thanks," he told her.

She nodded. Harry returned the gesture, and vanished.

When he reappeared, Snape looked not in the least bit surprised. Harry assumed Dumbledore had already informed him about everything. He didn't ask where Harry had gone either. Ron and Hermione, however, were shifting in their seats, looking as though they were trying very hard to restrain from bombarding him with questions. Harry walked over to Dumbledore's fireplace, and took the kettle sitting on a stand next to it. He whispered a spell, filling it with water, and hung it on a hook over the flames. Dumbledore watched curiously, but did not comment.

"I guess I should have told you guys about the animagus stuff," stated Harry.

"Damn right you should have," came Ron's voice.

Hermione tutted (although Ron was sure she was thinking the same thing), Snape glared, but Dumbledore merely looked as though he was repressing a smile. Harry took an empty seat and placed his elbows on the arms, steepling his fingers.

"The potion was ready much earlier than I had expected," he told them. "I really have no idea how that came to be, but I assumed that it would not be a good idea to leave it cooking when it was ready, so I performed the spell and drank it."

He grimaced, "It is possibly the most vile thing I've ever tasted."

Dumbledore chuckled, but his face then became serious.

"As much as I'm sure you have many other questions for Harry," he said to Ron and Hermione, "I'm afraid we should address the matter at hand."

Harry felt his heart drop into his stomach and sink there. To keep himself from brooding, he got up and went to stoke the fire to heat the kettle faster. He pulled the packets of herbs out of his pocket.

"Dumbledore, you don't for some strange reason, happen to have a mortar and pestle in here? If not I'll have to go borrow one from the potions master."

Snape perked up slightly at the name potion's master', then scowled, and leaned back in his chair gritting his teeth in pain as he did so.

"As a matter of fact, I do Harry. You'll find it in that cupboard over their," said Dumbledore sincerely, as though is wasn't perfectly normal to store such utensils in your office. Harry grinned, and crossed the room, pulling out a small black one from the cupboard. He placed it on a side-table, and emptied half the contents of each packet into it. He set about grinding it into a fine powder while listening to Snape speak. With difficulty, the man related to them, the happenings of the past six months. How he had been informed of the plan to kidnap the Weasley's to provoke Harry, and how displeased Voldemort had been with this failure.

"By this time, I was considered one of the inner circle again. He trusts me as completely as he trusts anyone," he told Dumbledore in a scratchy voice.

"I was chosen to accompany the party to kidnap Ginny Weasley. Voldemort had received word that this would be an effective way to grab Potter's attention."

Harry almost growled, and ground at the herbs harder. Ron's eyes narrowed just barely, but Hermione saw it, and pinched him hard. He yelped. Snape gave him a peculiar look before continuing.

"I planned to pretend to be unconscious in the case of a fight, or find a reason to stay behind after they had taken then girl, and thus help you, while giving the impression that I had been taken hostage" his nostrils flared. "As it is," he glared at Harry, "I need not have pretended. Boy you have always been my least favorite student, and I resent that right hook of yours."

Harry paused in mashing his herbs. Had Snape just made a joke? He turned around and looked incredulously at the frail man sitting in the armchair. His face was impossible to read. Harry shook his head, not responding, and took the fine powder he had created over to the fireplace, where the water was now boiling. He conjured a wooden bowl, and dumped the powder into it. Levitating the kettle (there was no oven mitt available, Harry doubted that Dumbledore was that domestic) he poured the boiling water into the bowl, over the herbs. I instantly turned a benevolent canary yellow, the color that made you happy to look at it. Harry picked up the bowl and blew on it carefully letting it steam for a few seconds. He then carried it over to Snape, who was regarding him with a certain amount of suspicion.

"Drink that," Harry said. "I promise it will make you feel much better."

Snape accepted the bowl, but did not drink. He eyed it with trepidation. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Snape, you think I can't tell that they've been torturing you non-stop for the past twelve months?" Snape came as close to looking shocked as his face, long hardened from showing lack of emotion, was capable of displaying on suck short notice. Harry continued.

"The marks are all over your body, your seething with it and the light is blinding me, so drink the damn tea. You'll thank me later."

The man obeyed.

He drank, and an expression of respite crossed his features. This was the reason that Professor Jeanne had warned him. The potion was incredibly strong and provided almost complete relief in the most dire of circumstances. It therefore was very tempting to people, and too much would be fatal. Snape sighed. His posture relaxed, the tension in his face faded, and Harry could see that the remnants of the crutacious were dispersing.

"That's a nice little trick Harry," said Hermione, "What is it?"

Harry smiled, taking the bowl from Snape and placing it down by the fire.

"It's concrucia root, and peppermint leaf. The concrucia counters the lasting effects of the cruciatus curse, but not for effects so large as Snape's here. The peppermint masks its bad taste, and reacts with it. It increasing the potency of the tea."

Hermione looked impressed.

"Look enough talk," Ron broke in desperately, "can we start talking about my sister now?"

Harry sighed and nodded.

"Why don't you tell us what you know Snape," he said.

***

Ginny woke up, with her face pressed against hard cold stone. She pushed herself up. It was pitch black, not a ray of light anywhere, and there was a faint sound of dripping water. She felt groggy and disoriented, groping around the walls with her hands. When she swept a hand over the stone, it would come back wet with some sort of muck stuck to it. Ginny coughed. Where the hell am I? She didn't remember very well what had happened. She'd been walking with Colinbut why? An image of the great hall, filled with students in dress robes flashed through her mind. The Ball!

"Oh I've been keeping busy. I've had a lot of work lately," Ginny said.

She walked beside Colin, the train of her dress whispering along the ground. Colin could smell a light flowery scent. His heart pounded.

"Hmm, me too," agreed Colin. "They say it gets harder."

There was a scuffling noise, but Ginny and Colin dismissed it for an animal, or another student hiding in the bushes.

"Urg, don't remind me," groaned Ginny.

Colin made a sound of agreement.

"Are you going home for break?" he asked casually. There was a blank silence. Ginny grimaced painfully and didn't answer for several seconds.

"My parents aren'tavailable," said Ginny at last, in a slightly strained voice.

Colin began to apologize for prying, but words were replaced by a yell, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Ginny whirled, to find that she was completely surrounded by sinister looking people in black clothing. She screamed with all her might and tried to run, but one of them grabbed her arms and twisted the sharply behind her back. She yelped. There was a yell, and someone exploded from the bushes, knocking down death eaters in a furious frenzy, moving so fast she could barely perceive who it was. The next second she felt a tug behind her navel, and she was rushing to a different place

She couldn't remember anything past that. Ginny scratched at a bite on her arm. She shivered. Her shoulders were uncovered, except for the thin silk straps that help up her dress. It was probably filthy by now. Ginny found herself not really caring. Her brain was still frozen up in a daze, and she was having trouble thinking clearly. Her head ached. Ginny coughed, the room was musky and damp and slimy under her fingers as she crawled over to a corner, trying to figure out what shape the room was. She made a complete tour of the room, leaving a stone in the spot she had started so she knew when she was back in her original place. The room seemed to be hexagonal in shape. She had found one corner with a small patch of moss growing out of a crack. Ginny curled up in the corner, resting her head on the moss, and cried.

***

Harry stood in the dormitory, throwing things moodily into a military looking bag. It was waterproof, and resistant to pretty much anything. In went some tough jeans, two clean shirts, socks, invisibility cloak, and dark detector and other necessities. He was packing as lightly as possible for a long trek through muddy wilderness. The second Harry had listened to Snape's account of the situation he had left and headed straight for Gryffindor tower. No one would know about this until it was too late, except Ron. Harry had told him, leaving him as substitute captain of the Quidditch team, with the responsibility of training up the reserve seeker Jill Green, and reserve chaser Tina Thorton. School wasn't a problem, he already knew everything that they had been learning all year. Harry slipped into his trench coat and pulled on his boots. He stuck his wand through it's holder.

***

Ron had been just as reluctant as anyone would have been if they knew, but he also was desperately worried about his sister, and her knew that Harry would be the best person to rescue her. He didn't think auror's had enough subtlety for this kind of mission. They would try and storm Azkaban, and Ginny would be dead before they breached the first wall. Harry planned to do the whole thing without being seen for as long as possible. He shook his head and watched his friend sling his bag over his shoulder.

"Right," said Harry quietly.

Ron looked at him. He held out a hand. Harry gripped it, and pulled him into a brief hug.

"Bring her home for me mate," said Ron.

Harry knew that Ron was irritated that he couldn't come with. He nodded.

"I promise."

Harry smiled, and dissaparated away from Hogwarts.