Disclaimered already!
Warning: This chapter is a bit angst-ridden.
Author's Note: Thank you reviewers! I've never gotten this many reviews this fast. The mind boggles. On with the story.
The Basement
By Marz
Chapter 3: The 5 X 10 World
I'm blaming low blood sugar. And stress, I'm blaming that too, and dark magic is always a possibility. I'm not going to say I fainted. I opened my eyes in complete darkness.
The first thing I was aware of was the bandage on my face. It was just gauze and tape, nothing fancy, but the edge of the tape was stuck to the lower lid of my right eye. Blinking tugged the entire bandage around. It was driving crazy with in two seconds of waking. I immediately went to pick at the tape but my arms caught on something..
For a second I thought I was tied down and I started thrashing like a maniac. Only when the blankets were kicked over the edge, did I realize I was just overly enthusiastically tucked into a very dusty bed. I also started freezing. I crossed my arms only to notice that my right hand hurt very badly and my shirt was missing. The shoulder I'd whacked with the fire-poker was throbbing and so was the spot on my leg where I'd jabbed myself with the razor. I felt at it and found it bandaged, and then noticed my trousers and socks were gone. All I had on were my shorts.
More then a little disturbed I began to feel around over the edge of the bed. I eventually knocked my aching hand into small table and found my glasses on it. I slid them onto my face. Hurray! I can see!
I very carefully put my feet over the edge of the bed, and found the floor with my toes. Nothing tried to take a chunk out of me so I thought it was safe to walk. With a graceful smashing of my pinky toe I located a dresser, and groping around on the surface, I located a candelabra as well. As my hands came in contact with the metal rack, the wicks spontaneously combusted.
It was a little smaller then my room at the Dursley's house. The paint looked yellow, but most paint does in candle light. I saw the door. There wasn't a knob on my side of it and it didn't respond to kicks, pounding or polite requests to open. I searched the dresser, but there weren't any clothes in it, just a couple of old text books; Magical Defense: Level Six and Ptolemy's Quick Potions Reference. They both looked as if something had been gnawing on the covers. I hoped it was only mice.
I set the candelabra on the floor and looked under the bed. I found something very disturbing. At first I thought I had found a cauldron. I pulled it out and inspected it more carefully, only to find an engraving on the bottom.
Canfield's Self Cleaning Chamber Pot, patent # 351.
I dropped it, more then a little disgusted and it landed on my foot.
Figuring that magical pants elves weren't going to bring me anything any time soon I pulled one of the blankets off the bed and made myself a toga. Feeling oddly boisterous I made my self a blanket cape as well. All ready for a night on the town!
I paced the room, trying to think of good reasons to kidnap me. I knew Black didn't plan to murder me right away, as I was still alive, and since he, or someone else working with him, had put bandages on me, I guessed he didn't plan to murder me any time soon either. I wish I watched more T.V. I never did hear who Black murdered. But he can use my wand. And he knew my mum and dad. He was mad that I didn't know something, but what I don't know could fill the Atlantic ocean, so that was unhelpful. I was mulling over possibilities of ransom, I knew the Dursleys wouldn't pay to get me back, when I heard a clanking sound in the hall. I grabbed up the larger book, Ptolemy's Quick Potions Reference, blew out the candelabra, and crouched next to the door.
The door opened and I could see a little bit of light on the carpet in the hall. I stood up and raised the book as high as I could, intending to knock Black on the head with it as he came in. A shadow came in front of me and I slammed the book down. There was a huge clatter and I heard glass break.
I slammed way too early. Black was carrying a tray of food, so all I managed to do was knock it out of his hands onto the floor. The candelabra came on then. Black had my wand pointed at me. He had stew all over the front of his gray robes. It was a petty victory but I'll take what I can get. Black looked rather surprised.
My hand shot out and caught hold of my wand. I tried to pull it away, but his free hand caught my wrist and he lifted me off my feet. I kicked him as hard as I could, and hit him in the knee again. He dropped me, which was good, but I landed in broken glass, which was not good.
I tried to ignore the pain in my feet and I shoved him. He fell over and the wand went off, setting the hall carpet on fire. I dove for the wand, trying again to pull it away. I got it away from him for a second, but took me too long to recall a curse.
"STU…oof!"
He tackled me and my head bounced off the floor. My ears were ringing then. Both of his hands were trying to pry the wand out of mine. I tired to punch him with my free hand, but he just ignored my efforts. He was pulling my fingers loose one at a time, but while he was distracted I noticed a piece of newspaper sticking out of his pocket I snatched it and stuffed it down my toga, then I gave him another punch for good measure. He got the wand back then, and stood up.
I sat on the floor watching him and trying to catch my breath. I noticed he hadn't put a bandage on the cut on his neck I'd given him earlier. It was oozing yellowish fluid.
"Stop…doing…that," he said. Maybe my punching was slightly effective. He seemed to be wheezing as he spoke.
"What?"
"Stop…trying to escape."
And in another of my brilliant moves in this intricate game of chess, I said "No."
Black flicked the wand then. I flinched but he just levitated me in the air. With another flick of the wand the spilled stew and broken glass disappeared. A third wave took care of the growing fire in the hallway. Then he stared at me. I think that was his hobby or something, staring at people. He looked like he was about to say something for a moment, but then he just hit me with a petrifying curse.
Know what hurts worse then stepping in broken glass and having it grind into your bare feet? Having someone use a summoning charm to get the bits of broken glass out again. I couldn't move while he was doing it, so instead of screaming bloody murder I could only gurgle it. Black put bandages on me then. I don't know where he got bandages, as my eyes were all watery and I couldn't blink, but after he did that he set me down on the bed.
"I'm going for a while," he said. "I have to find Peter, find out who's been helping him. I have to end things. You'll be safe here. Kreacher will bring you food and water. He'll bring your clothes when he's finished getting the blood out of them. I will be back for you soon."
He walked to the door way and flicked the wand, lifting the curse. I shouted "wait!" and dove for the door but he slammed it in my face.
I sat down and looked at the piece of paper I had stolen. It was alarmingly familiar. It was a photo, torn from the front page of the Daily Prophet two weeks ago. I know the date because my friend Ron Weasley had torn out the same photo and sent it to me. He sent it to me because it was a photo of him and his family. He was smiling and waving like a mad man with his pet rat Scabbers on his shoulder. My stomach hurt then as I wondered why an escaped murderer would carry it around.
Kreacher arrived a while latter. He just appeared in the room in a puff of smoke so I didn't get the opportunity to run out the door. He brought me a boiled potato, a cup of water, and my clothes. Apparently he had taken his orders to "get the blood out" literally. The front of my shirt had been cut out and the right leg of my trousers was missing. The socks were alright though, so I put them on and just stayed in my toga. I never did find out what happened to my shoes.
I started a calendar, by scratching a mark in the wall every time I woke up, but I think I started sleeping at odd times, so I decided to account for time by the number of potatoes I was served, I guessed three potatoes equaled a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was sixty nine potatoes later when Black returned. I was pretty sick by then. I smelled bad, my head hurt constantly, my gums were bleeding a lot and I had a loose tooth. I guess potatoes don't exactly make for a balanced diet. I was hallucinating a bit too. I kept thinking the walls were closing in on me and that some one was watching me when ever I turned out the lights. I spent most of my time sitting on the floor in the corner and was doing that when he came back. I saw him walk in the door, but I was feeling too lousy to really do any thing about it.
Black's face was all scratched up, and his nose was bleeding. He limped a bit as he came in the door. I wondered slightly about who he had been fighting with. I tried to ask him but all I managed to say was "What…?" He looked so angry I shut my self up. He pulled out a wand. I noticed it wasn't mine. It looked familiar but I couldn't recall whose it was.
He levitated me and brought me down to a kitchen. He left me on a bench, but my head was spinning so I crawled down onto the floor. Black started cooking something on the stove, his jaw clenched. I stared at the ceiling rather apathetically. A while later Black came over with a goblet full of greenish stuff. He handed it to me and said "Drink."
I got the goblet half way to my mouth but my arm was shaking and I dropped it. Black's jaw clenched again, but he didn't say anything. He just went back to the stove and filled the goblet again. This time he held it to my mouth, so most of it got to my stomach. He made me drink three more goblets full. I fell asleep then.
I woke up in another room in a bed that was just as dusty as the first one. There was a window. It was dark outside and I could see a little sliver of moon above the run down house across the street. I stumbled to it, but it wouldn't open either. I punched it as hard as I could but it wouldn't break. I started crying then. Being in that other dark little room so long must have really messed up my head. I didn't notice Black was there with me until he pulled on my arm.
He brought me to the bathroom and told me I could take a shower if I wanted. He handed me a pile of old clothes; they had name tags in them that said Regulus. When I was washed up and changed I came out of the bathroom. Black was in the hall. I noticed the scratches on his face were starting to scab over. I must have been asleep a while.
Black grabbed my wrist and led me to the kitchen. I thought of making a break for it, but I was sure I'd end up in that little room again if I was caught. I couldn't risk it. He cooked a hug pile of eggs, sausage, and toast and dumped it on a plate in front of me. I had no appetite. I pushed it away. He said some thing and waved that new wand at me. My head got all light and weird, and for a while I felt like I was floating. When what ever that spell was wore off I found my plate empty and my stomach painfully full. Black was sitting across the table staring at me. When he spoke his voice was much less raspy then it had been.
"I'm sorry Harry. I shouldn't have left you here alone with Kreacher. He's been dealt with." As he said that his fists clenched. "I'm sorry, but you need to understand, you're not safe. If I let you go, they'll kill you. You have to stay here until I find Peter, until I kill Peter. Then everything will be right again. I almost had him, but the girl got in the way. It's taking longer then I thought it would but I will bring you back to Hogwarts when this is done. Do you understand?"
"Who's Peter?" I asked.
"You've already seen him."
I saw Black had the photo of Ron and his family in his hands. He must have found it. I'd left it under the pillow in the little room. He set it in front of me and tapped the picture of Ron. My mind seemed to clear then, things started lining up. I realized whose wand it was he had been using. I'd seen it almost every day of school for the past two years. It was Hermione Granger's. She was Ron and my best friend at school. The scratch marks on Blacks face. Hermione wouldn't give up her wand for anything.
I must have had a strange look on my face because Black started to stand, but he wasn't fast enough. I grabbed up my plate and smashed it across his face. I scrambled across the table and knocked him out of his chair.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" I shouted. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE WEASLEYS!?"
I'll pause to add a bit of advice here. If you are trying to over power a maniac, after being crammed full of breakfast, throw up first. It's very hard to over power your opponent while vomiting. Short story shorter, Black had me tied to a chair again with in thirty seconds.
He told me the strangest story.