A/N: Whew! I really struggled with this one, so thanks to everyone for your patience! Hope it was worth the wait … PepperImp

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. It all belongs to JK Rowling.

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For a few seconds, there was a horror-struck silence in the dungeon room.

"Hello, Bellatrix," Harry finally said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "Nice to see you again. Where's your boss? Hiding somewhere he thinks I can't find him, I'll bet."

"Don't you speak about the Dark Lord like that, you upstart!" she shrieked, almost incoherent in her rage. "You're not fit to lick his boots! Just you wait, Potter – you'll get it this time! Expelliarmus!"

Harry tried desperately to hang on to his wand, but it was impossible. It slid out of his grasp and soared upwards to where Pettigrew deftly caught it, along with Ron's and Malfoy's. That tears it, he thought bitterly. Unarmed and stuck in a dungeon. Now what?

Within seconds, Bellatrix had bound them with magical cords, individually and to each other. As a group, she levitated them through the trapdoor and floated them in front of her as she stalked down the corridor.

"Oh, you think you're so clever, don't you?" she muttered madly, shaking her head and laughing maniacally. "Did you really think you could get away with this?"

"You killed my father!" blurted Malfoy, his usually impeccably coiffed hair falling messily over his forehead and into his eyes. "You'll all pay – I swear it, you WILL PAY!"

For a second, Bellatrix stared at him, her black eyes glittering. "Do you know, Draco, you were my favourite relative?" she mused. "But you are not what I thought you were … and to think, I was prepared to sponsor you for your place amongst our ranks. That would have been a disaster, don't you think? So you've done me a huge favour – I thank you, nephew! For showing your pathetic weakness now, before you could embarrass me in front of the Dark Lord."

"I will NEVER join you!" screamed Malfoy, shaking in fury. "After what you've done to my family …"

"Silencio," spat Bellatrix, and Malfoy was left mouthing soundlessly, his eyes bulging. "Enough of your nonsense, little boy."

She spun them rapidly around a corner, and Ron went pale with nausea. "Ugh – wish she'd slow down a bit," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Harry. "I think I'm going to throw up."

"This is just the start, Ron – brace yourself," whispered Harry grimly. "Her favourite game is Crucio – let's just hope she doesn't decide to play with us a bit. It's damn painful."

Ron went even whiter at the thought. They found themselves being swept up a flight of wooden stairs that creaked and groaned with every step Bellatrix and Pettigrew took. The steps were wooden and rotting, and in some places treads were missing. They rounded a corner and were send headlong into what seemed to be a dining room, where Bellatrix released them from her Levitation Charm and the three of them tumbled to the floor in an ungainly heap.

Harry glared up at her, and then his eyes watered with agony as his scar blazed with pain. There was a soft pop – and Voldemort was with them in the room.

He stared at them through his red, slitted eyes, and slowly a smile began to form on his face. That smile chilled Harry to the bone – it was pure evil, nothing less, and the glee within it made him feel shaky.

"Well, well, well," said Voldemort, moving closer to them and studying them intently. Harry's scar began to blaze with pain, and next to him, he felt Ron gasp as his own scar responded. "This is truly a delightful surprise. Might I assume that you have been unable to overcome your urge to be a hero, and tried to help young Malfoy here to rescue his father?"

Harry glared at him, but held his tongue.

"Not answering back, like you usually do? Hmm. Maybe you have learned something in our recent encounters, Potter?" Voldemort smiled again, and lazily raised his wand. "Maybe if I discuss it with your little red-haired friend here, you might answer? You remember how Crucio feels, I am sure … Still no comment? Well then …"

As he pointed his wand at Ron, Harry shouted. "NO!"

"Ah, found your voice, I see," drawled Voldemort lazily, but still pointing his wand at Ron. "No matter – I feel the need for a little light entertainment. Crucio!"

Ron arched his back and let out a strangled cry, fighting against his bonds. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he struggled not to scream at the pain invading his every pore, creaking down to his bones and stretching his muscles to tearing point.

"That's ENOUGH!" screamed Harry, struggling helplessly against his bonds. "It's ME you want, not him! Leave him alone!"

Voldemort regarded him expressionlessly for another moment, and then raised his wand. Ron slumped against Harry, his eyes glazed and gasping for breath. On the other side of them, Malfoy pushed his shoulder under Ron's arm and straightened up, helping to support him. He glared at Voldemort, his grey eyes ablaze.

"Nothing to be said from you, young Malfoy?" said Voldemort, quirking one eyebrow. Malfoy mouthed silently at him. "Lost your voice? Ah, I see. A silencing charm. Finite incantatem!"

"… never should have believed you!" screamed Malfoy. "You're a lying, cheating, backstabbing –"

"Silencio!" said Voldemort, and Malfoy was cut off in mid-sentence again. "How very boring."

He regarded the three of them again, and then with a wave of his wand, removed the ropes binding them. Ron staggered and nearly fell, and only Malfoy grabbing his arm kept him upright. Harry squared his shoulders and turned to face his mortal enemy.

"You and me, Voldemort," he said quietly. "Just the two of us. Let the others go – you know it's down to only us, so doing anything to them won't help you."

"But Potter, you are unarmed," hissed Bellatrix from behind them. Glancing over his shoulder, Harry felt a thrill of fear at what he saw. The room seemed to be filled with hooded figures. The Death Eaters had arrived to see what they believed would be the downfall of the only obstacle remaining to their master. The death of Harry Potter.

"Need an audience, do you?" he said to the evil thing now pacing before him. "You tried that once before, remember? In fact, it was in the graveyard behind this house. And it backfired, and you couldn't kill me. So what now? Should we just go at it, hand to hand?"

Voldemort threw his head back and laughed. "You have a very high opinion of yourself, brat! You can't beat me! I know more curses and hexes than you will ever discover in your entire life!"

"So give me my wand and let's find out who is the strongest – for once and for all," said Harry softly.

For a few fraught moments, Voldemort stared at Harry, then nodded curtly at Bellatrix. "Give him his wand."

"But master …"

"I said, give him his wand," he repeated in a lethal whisper, not taking his eyes from Harry. Bellatrix flinched, then took Harry's wand from her robe and thrust it at him.

"Let them go," said Harry, nodded towards Malfoy and Ron. "They've got nothing to do with this."

"No, Harry!" shouted Ron, his voice stronger than Harry would have believed after suffering under the Cruciatius Curse. "I'm not leaving you here. No way!"

"How touching," said Voldemort. "Very well, Weasley – you can stay. And Malfoy – you might as well see how it will be for you, now that you have chosen the losing side."

Without taking his eyes off Voldemort, Harry moved towards the centre of the room. His knees were trembling, as he remembered the unbelievable display of sorcery that Voldemort had shown when dueling with Dumbledore … and he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Voldemort was right. He could never defeat him by dueling in the ordinary way. He had to use another method, and suddenly, with a blinding flash of comprehension, he knew what it was.

"Ready?" Harry said, with a confidence he truly didn't feel.

"Oh, I look forward to wiping that smugness of your face," said Voldemort, with a flash of fury that Harry felt in his scar. "Diffendo!"

Harry had expected him to make the first move, but the speed of it still startled him. He just managed to throw up a protective shield in time, and the curse deflected towards Bellatrix, who ducked.

He took a deep breath, pointed his wand directly at Voldemort, and shouted "Legilimens!"

Slip-sliding again, across an infinite, polished floor … plunging into coldness and a sick well of memories … A small boy, cowering behind a chair in a stark room as a hugely fat women dressed in grey robes screamed at him … only slightly older, a child with black hair receiving lash after lash of a whip from the same woman … suddenly at Hogwarts, a feeling of relief as the child realized that he truly was different, that he could learn something here … back in the bleak room, an orphanage … lonely, wishing he was back at Hogwarts …

"Get out, Potter! Get out!" shrieked Voldemort in his head, but his tone wasn't one of fury … it was fear.

… meeting an older man, his father … hearing him say the unforgivable words: "You are not my son. You are not a Riddle. You are a thing that has nothing to do with me. Get out and never come back" … a sense of desolation and shame, and abandonment …

Lost in the blackness, Harry suddenly felt a surge of something he had never expected to feel towards Voldemort. Pity. He knew how it felt not to be wanted, to be rejected. He'd been through it himself. Maybe this, this was why Voldemort was the way he was – he'd been rejected by the only family he had once his mother was dead. The feeling of pity intensified, and suddenly Voldemort was backing away into the blackness, cowering away from him. Harry began to feel stronger, and he advanced towards Voldemort in their shared mental darkness. All of a sudden, he heard Ron's voice behind him.

"I'm here, Harry – right behind you." Then Hermione, and Neville, Ginny and Luna – he could feel them there, and a sense of relief and happiness washed over him, and he almost suffocated in it.

"No … no!" screamed Voldemort in the darkness, and he was pulling away, almost flying in his desperation to get away. There was a brief flash of colour, and the connection was broken.

Disoriented, Harry opened his eyes and found himself facing Voldemort once more. But this time it was different. Voldemort had his hands to his face, and when he pulled them away Harry was horrified to see blood pouring from his nose, eyes and mouth. There was a shout of shocked disbelief from the Death Eaters behind him, and they rushed past him to get to their master, Bellatrix in the lead. Voldemort crumpled to the ground, where he writhed in agony.

Turning, Harry saw Ron and Malfoy staring in amazement at the scene of chaos before them. The Death Eaters were shouting, milling in confusion, and some were Disapparating away.

"Come on!" hissed Harry, beckoning to them. He grabbed Ron's arm, and they slunk towards the door. They managed to slip outside, and Malfoy signed frantically to Harry, pointing to his mouth.

"Oh, right," said Harry, and performed the counter-curse to remove the Silencing Charm.

"What the hell just happened, Potter?" said Malfoy breathlessly, as they hurried along the corridor and down the steps.

"I don't know, but I hurt him somehow," Harry hissed back. "We'll worry about it later, Malfoy – we need to get out of here."

There was a loud crack, and the tread behind him disintegrated into rotted planks – and to Harry's horror, Ron slipped through it. He grabbed frantically at the banister, which tore away in his hands … and Ron fell, flailing, to the ground a storey below. He landed with a sickening thud, and lay there, not moving.

"Ron!" Aghast, Harry shot down the remaining stairs, and crouched by his friend. "Ron, are you OK? Wake up! Ron?"

But Ron was out cold, and as white as a sheet. His arm was lying at an unnatural angle below him, and his face was badly bruised and beginning to swell.

"Let's get out of here, Potter!" spat Malfoy, staring up the stairs in a panic. "They'll notice we're gone any minute now!"

"Not without Ron!" shouted Harry, all pretenses at silence now gone. "Help me, Malfoy!"

He tried to get his arms under his friend's shoulders, but realized suddenly how much Ron had grown in the last year and that he'd never manage it alone. Looking up at Malfoy, he opened his mouth to shout at him again to help him, when saw a Stunning Spell that hit Malfoy directly in the chest. The blond Slytherin crumpled to a heap on the floor beside Ron. Harry stared up frantically into the darkness, wand ready, trying to see who had sent the spell. He caught a glimpse of a silver hand.

"Pettigrew – help us!" he said furiously.

"Why would I help you?" smirked Pettigrew, descending the stairs slowly with his wand held out. "I can do so much more by imprisoning you, oh yes …"

"You'll help us because you owe me your life!" shouted Harry. "Dumbledore told me that once a wizard saves another's life, that there is a debt and a bond created. You owe me! I stopped Sirius and Lupin from killing you – you need to repay the debt!"

For a second, Pettigrew hesitated on the stairs, face working in confusion.

"Come on!" Harry said impatiently. "If you get us out of here, consider the debt paid – and no-one will ever know about it. I'm sure your boss wouldn't be happy if he knew about it, would he – and I'll make sure he finds out if you don't help me now." He touched his scar and looked significantly at the small, chubby man.

Pettigrew hesitated for a moment longer. "The debt – will be repaid? In full?" he whispered eagerly, as if coming to a decision.

"You get us out of here safely, and it's history," said Harry firmly. "But you betray me in this, and I swear, Voldemort will know what you owe me. I promise you that."

Galvanised by fear, Pettigrew nodded. "What do you want?"

"A Portkey," said Harry. "Get us back to Hogwarts – in the Hospital Wing. Get on with it, Pettigrew – we can't wait. Ron's hurt and we need to get out straight away."

Indecisively, Pettigrew cast around for an object to use.

"NOW, damn it!" barked Harry, his nerves growing all the time. "Here – use my wand!" Impatiently, he tossed it over.

"Portus!" said Pettigrew, and the wand glowed blue for a second, then returned to its normal state.

Quickly, Harry tried to figure out how he could use the Portkey while transporting two unconscious individuals. He turned Malfoy over with his foot and sat on him, grabbing Ron's unhurt arm with one hand while reaching out for his wand with the other.

"It's over, Pettigrew," he said grimly, staring at the man who was responsible for the death of his parents. "But I still owe you for my Mum and Dad, so you'd better make sure you stay out of my way. Next time, I might not be so kind …"

The last thing Harry saw was Pettigrew gulp and grow pale, and then he grabbed the wand, felt the hook behind his navel, and he, Ron and Malfoy were jerked forwards, back to Hogwarts and safety…