Chapter 16 – At the Gargoyle's Gap
"Harry! Harry," a whisper made his mind return slowly to reality. It was Sirius' voice, waking him from a dream, a nightmare, with Voldemort, in which they both fell twirling into the darkness and he was screaming as loudly as he could ever imagine screaming.
Harry felt no pain in his scar. He was not close. Not yet.
Harry felt his body being compressed, as if he was in the middle of many moving cushions. He opened his eyes and noticed he was just in front of Sirius, but his whole body was held by the cushions, or whatever it was that was grasping him.
"They're rats," said Sirius. "We're in a pool full of rats."
Harry looked around himself. He could not tell where exactly he was, but it sure as hell was a very terrifying place to be. He saw Hermione, then Ron, both of whom were unconscious. He could see the back of Sheeba's head in front of him and just behind Sirius, and she seemed to be unconscious too. And just beside Sirius, there was Severus Snape's rugged and awake face. All of them were inside a pool that was completely full of rats.
"Harry, I need to know something... are you feeling weak?"
"No. I feel pretty much okay. Maybe a little bit dizzy, but besides that, I'm all right."
"Are you wearing the garment Sheeba gave you?"
"Yes."
"Great, now listen to me..."
"Well, well, well. A family meeting," said Wormtail's high pitch voice echoing through the cave. He got near the pool and went on, "really, it was far much more productive than I had imagined it to be. Who could imagine old Wormtail would catch at once two enemies and a traitor? This is my glory day."
"Pity it ain't going to last," said Sirius, looking at him with a provoking stare. "So, your rats keep not working, you see... nothing is happening to me, nor to Harry and Snape. It seems your master isn't going to like this at all."
"Very true, but it seems there are three people here whose lives are beginning to fade away. Look at the little Granger girl... a great mind that is going to think no more."
"No great loss," from the shadows in the end of the cave, a female voice was heard. A shadowy form in blue got closer and it quickly became clear that it was Sybil Trelawney, with her skinny face and dragon-fly eyes. "Hello, Potter. You're my guest; to my initiation. As a matter of fact, you're my special guest."
"Isn't she gorgeous?" Aaid Wormtail, whose shrill voice turned into girly giggles.
He stepped near Trelawney and they kissed each other on the lips. Harry had never felt so much repugnance in his whole life.
"The two of you really deserve each other. You're meant to be."
"This is the end of your era, Harry Potter," said Trelawney between her teeth. "My prophecies finally are going to become true. Dumbledore's golden boy is going to turn into... past."
"Who can guarantee you that, Trelawney? You aren't Sheeba, and you've just guessed two prophecies right until today."
"Who told you that, Potter?" shouted a hysterical Trelawney. "Maybe it was your oh-so-perfect godmother? The one who never fails?"
"She's never failed. You've never hit upon the future, you only had two lucky guesses."
"Lucky guesses? I'll tell you who has only been lucky. I've always been a good student, very efficient, that's what I was. When I went to Hogwarts, I had hopes that I would be able to foresee the future, I've always been fascinated by the arts. My mother was a great seer, she had the Touch of Cassandra. Can you imagine my disappointment when I realized I had born so plain? Without any premonitory gifts at all? When I was invited to Hogwarts, I was told that I was going to study with an extraordinary girl. I was anxious to meet her, but she wasn't extraordinary at all. She was arrogant, distant, and all she did was despise me. I've hated her ever since the first time I laid my eyes on her, and my anger has just increased with time. She was a regarded clairvoyant, and I... well, everybody laughed at me behind my back. So I specialized in Confusion Charms. If I couldn't predict anything, nobody else would.
"But she disappeared, vanished... I thanked the Dark Lord so much; his ruses had kept the enemy away from me. I presented myself as a candidate for the Divination professorship at Hogwarts, which she had refused. Dumbledore accepted me because of my knowledge, but he's never given me the value I've always had. I've been isolated up that tower, until two years ago when I realized I had made a correct prediction. I knew it. I knew they were alive. I decided to stop being the great incompetent and become a Death Eater. I've gone personally to the Dark Lord. I chose a student who had looked for me because of a doubt in my subject, and with a very potent dose of Polyjuice Potion and some Frenzy Fluid, I changed places with her, simulated a sudden illness and she was taken instead of me to St. Mungo's. I'd be there until my Initiation day, then I'd fake my death and hers. It would be a piece of cake. I'd turn myself into a fake dead, like my dear Peter... and you, Potter, would be easily considered guilty for her death, we would make everything up, our plan was perfect. Then, Peter and I would set the rats on London, and we would be the greatest Muggle murderers among the Death Eaters.
"But she reappeared... Sheeba. I knew my Confusion Charms were running a great risk, and then I ran away from school, but I was followed by this idiotic Snape. Peter and I thought everything would end up badly, after all, but you, your godfather and those little friends of yours came here for us. You've got yourselves into the wolf's mouth, you imbeciles. Now, you're gonna die."
At this moment, Wormtail invoked, "Oh, my Lord! Your most faithful servant is calling upon thee. Come, come to me, Lord Voldemort, at the edge of the chasm at the Gargoyle's Gap. I invoke thee as a thousand years ago, the ancient lords convoked evil itself."
The word 'chasm' made Harry feel deja vú again. Chasm... what was it about chasms? At this very moment, a piercing and boiling pain hit his scar, makijng it feel as if his face was being torn apart. Just above him, Voldemort Apparated.
It had been almost an year since Harry had last seen him, but he could remember his appearance very well... the same snake looking face, the same lopsided eyes that looked like cat eyes, red and bloodshot. His hands were huge and white. He got near the pool and started laughing, and his laugh got higher and higher as he said who were there.
"Wormtail, I'd never expect such a thing from such an incompetent and lame servant as you are. You've surprised me. Harry Potter himself, my enemy, and away from Dumbledore's protection. Snape, the traitor, Black, the hero... and she, the clairvoyant, the last one... all of them united for the sacrifice... your fiancée deserves what I'm going to give her."
Voldemort stepped closer Sybil Trelawney and, grabbing her left arm, he thrust his nails into her flesh. The woman screamed insanely, and the blood drained through her arm, revealing a mark... a skull with a serpent inside its mouth. The Dark Mark; a Death Eater's identity. Voldemort started laughing out loud, the same laughter that, until the past year, Harry had only heard in his nightmares. The pain in his scar was unbearable. Voldemort got closer to the edge of the pool.
"Black, I've always supposed you'd turn to my side. You've always been rebellious, I thought I'd succeed in making you slip... but you have resisted, haven't you? You've resisted to my call... was it because of her or because of your noble friends? I believe that even you can't tell... If Wormtail's rats aren't able to get rid of you, I myself will throw you out into the chasm, but before that, I'll give you a gift... I'll let you see the woman you love being killed. Not at once, of course, but gradually, suffering. I know she's there for some more time than the others... maybe it won't even last that long... Crucio!"
Harry could see Sheeba's body shaking in pain behind Sirius, and he felt sorry that she had given him that garment. If only the rats could debilitate him, he would be able to die before being able to see all those people he loved being wrecked. It was when he remembered why the word 'chasm' made him feel that way. He decided to risk himself, as there was no other way out and shouted the loudest he could, "what a coward is the Dark Lord!"
"Are you provoking me, Potter?" Voldemort stopped torturing Sheeba and looked at Harry. "I can kill you right from here without even having to touch you."
"Exactly. Very easy, isn't it? No protection, no Dumbledore... even that way, it's still 2x0 for me... even if you kill me now, I've already defeated you twice... I'm starting to think that even if you kill me now, I win."
"But I will kill you, slowly and painfully,"
"And cowardly, am I not right? Defenceless, inside a pool full of rats, you haven't even been able to catch me, Voldemort... you needed an old rat, who didn't even have heart enough to say your name when he was caught by Sirius. Set me free, let's duel."
Voldemort started laughing again, "So you want to die just like your father, don't you? As you wish.... Wormtail, set him free."
Harry tried to ignore Sirius and Snape's identical looks of 'are you crazy, boy?'. He was suspended in the air by Wormtail and fell just in front of Voldemort. It seemed the last time it happened was just yesterday (deja vú again, Harry thought). His scar kept aching.
"Don't you think you're going to use your wand to duel with me, Harry Potter. I'm clever enough to know our wands cannot fight against each other. Give him another wand, Wormtail. Any wand but his own."
If Harry had calculated it right, he would not need a wand... behind Voldemort, a little bit after the pool, a gap was being opened... he was right, it was the Gargoyle's Gap he had studied this exact week at Professor Binns's class. Voldemort had his back turned to the gap, and if Harry was quick enough, he would get what he wanted without needing his wand, or any kind of magic. Only his reflexes, that were really good, after all.
"All right. You may be the first, Voldemort."
Voldemort raised his wand (...what do you see?), Harry threw the wand in his hand inside the rats' pool (..only you and the Dark Lord...) and ran into Voldemort's direction (..fighting?) and jumped, casting all his weight over Voldemort's body. (...no, not fighting... falling...) The Dark Lord lost his balance and the two of them fell into the chasm.