Disclaimed!
Author's note: Thanks for the reviews people. Please keep them coming, they are my only source of self esteem.
The Basement
By Marz
Chapter 14: The Double Domino Effect
I'd succeeded in beating my credibility to death with a pointy stick. Snape somehow convinced Madam Pomfrey to lock me up in private hospital room, until Professor Dumbledore returned. He took my wand, but fortunately he missed the Marauder's Map. Without the wand it took me twenty minutes of chanting "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" to activate it.
Hermione, Ron, Fred, and George were waiting outside the door of the hospital wing. Pomfrey was at her desk and Snape was back in Dumbledore's office. He was probably stealing quills. There was no sign of Peter Pettigrew. I searched my room, but found no rat holes. I sat on the bed and stuffed the map in my pocket. I didn't mean to fall asleep, but when I opened my eyes again the sun was gone.
Frantic shouting echoed under the door, and a moment later it burst open. Hermione ran to the bed and grabbed my arm. She dragged me out of my room through the hospital. Pomfrey and McGonagall were bent over a hospital bed, where a man was thrashing. I recognized his battered robes immediately. McGonagall moved aside and for a moment I had a clear view of Professor Lupin's face. His eyes were rolled back in his head and gray foam bubbled up through his clenched teeth, then we were in the hall.
Hermione pulled me around in front of her, so she could make an unpleasant amount of eye contact.
"Harry, just listen to me and do exactly what I say. Trust me. Go to the library. I'll already be there. Tell me exactly what's happened. Tell me one turn. Do you understand?"
I was about to say "No, of course not!" when a voice echoed through the hall.
"Potter!" bellowed Snape, as he charged toward me, drawing his wand.
"Go!" Hermione said, pushing me. I stumbled a few steps, and then I was sprinting.
As I rounded the corner I glanced back and saw Snape trip and go flying over Hermione's outstretched foot.
I think I need to get more exercise, I'm good at sprints, but all that distance running was killing me. I charged into the library, and my mouth dropped open. Hermione was already there and she was sitting calmly at a table, reading her Arithmancy book. She wasn't even sweating.
"How'd you get here first?"
"What?" Hermione asked, looking genuinely confused.
Madam Pince shushed us.
"What's wrong, Harry? Why aren't you in the hospital?"
"Why aren't you? I just saw you there!"
"Explain!" she demanded.
So I did.
"…and then you said to tell you one turn."
She seemed stunned beyond words. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the stacks, until we were hidden from the librarian by the walls of books.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" she mumbled. She started tugging at the front of her robes with one hand and put her other arm around my waist, pulling me against her.
"Hermione…er…I don't think we should be doing this. We're in the middle of an emergency!" I said. My face was burning up.
"What?" she said, fishing a tiny hour glass on a chain out of her robes. She looped an end of the chain around my neck and turned the hour glass over. "Hang on tight!" she said. I did.
The library around us vanished and we were suddenly in the hall way in front of Lupin's office.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Time Turner, we've gone back in time an hour," she said, taking back the chain. "What were you say before?"
"Nothing."
CRASH!
The sound of breaking china came from behind Lupin's door.
"Alohamora!" Hermione shouted. The door sprang open.
Lupin leaned against his desk, arms wrapped tight around his stomach. Gray foam oozed from his mouth. He looked at us for half a second before toppling to the floor, amid the shattered remains of a tea set.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione waved her wand, levitating the convulsing professor into the air. We ran for the hospital.
Half way there Hermione wheezed out a question. "Harry when I told you to go get me in the library, were you with me?"
"No."
"Then you can't go there now. Go hide for an hour."
"Why?"
"Because you'll disrupt the time stream and I'll spend the rest of my life in Azkaban. Go!"
I nodded, and Hermione and the floating professor disappeared down the end of the hall.
I went to the owlery. There wasn't anything I could do to help Professor Lupin so I figured I could kill some time visiting with my owl, Hedwig. I hadn't seen her in a couple of months. As I was walking I started wondering about the other me, the one that was still in the hospital wing. I wondered if he, or rather I, would appear on the Marauder's Map in two places. I took the map out and sat down on the stairs. Yes there I was in the hospital wing, and there was Hermione, going into the hospital and sitting in the library. I wondered when she learned to time travel. Maybe I should have taken Arithmancy too.
I looked over the map searching for Pettigrew, but there was no sign of him. Then I noticed a dot on the very edge of the map, darting on and off the page at the edge of the forest. Sirius Black was circling the school. So far he was halfway to being proved right, but he never mentioned knowing my parents or agreeing to hide them from Voldemort.
I thought now was as good a time as any to ask him what the heck was going on. There was one big problem though. Snape still had my wand, and if Black was a stooge of Voldemort's, then I'd be dead. I couldn't think of anyone who would lend me a wand either, as I had been renamed Mad Potter some time in the past few days. I improvised.
The house elves were willing to lend me a couple of steak knives that I said I needed for a muggle studies class. They seemed to have forgotten my odd behavior the day before. I was really after one of those big, scary looking meat cleavers, but the elves didn't have any. I thought of stopping by Hagrid's hut, to barrow his crossbow, but he'd probably make me go back to the hospital wing. I couldn't risk going back to my dorm for my invisibility cloak, as that's where people would look first. Instead I took one of the secret passages on the map, that lead from the second floor to a hidden door behind the greenhouses.
I should have gotten a torch or something, as it was night outside, but then people could find me much more easily. I waited for my eyes to adjust and after about ten minutes the going was not that bad. The moon was nearly full, and everything had a strange blue white cast to it. I had to hold the map right next to my eyes though. Black was still circling slowly. I checked his last location and made some estimates, then I stuffed the map in my pants pocket. If Black was nutters, I didn't want him to have unlimited knowledge of where everyone in the school was at any time.
As I got to the edge of the forest I sorely wished I had a coat or at least my school robes, but they were probably still on the Floor of Dumbledore's office. Trousers and a dress shirt and tie are not exactly the wardrobe of choice for late October in England. The light of the moon seemed to just stop as the trees started, in a wall of absolute darkness. I had to go in though. If someone looked out a window on the north side of the castle they could probably see me.
"Hey! Black!" I hissed. "Black I need to talk to you!"
I tried to keep my voice as low as possible. The giant spiders lived much further into the forest, but I didn't want to run across the intrepid one. I stumbled across roots, and once across something small and moving that hissed at me, but I didn't run into anything big enough to eat me.
"Black! I know you're out here!" I said a bit more loudly. "I need to talk to you!"
I heard foot steps then, and very faintly, panting. I saw the outline of the dog in front of me, with the tinniest hint of light reflected off its eyes. It walked up to me and sniffed at my hands. A popping sound filled the air and Black stood over me.
"You smell…you've touched the rat! Where is he?" Black grabbed my shoulders. "Did you get him? Does Dumbledore know?" He sounded half way between enraged and hopeful.
"Er…I did find him, but there are some problems."
"What? What?"
He started shaking me around. I don't know why people always do that. I'm not a damn ketchup bottles. Shaking doesn't make the answer come out faster.
"He got away down a hole. I went to get Dumbledore but he wasn't in his office, but Snape was, and then I saw a rat under Dumbledore's desk and I caught it, and while I was trying to catch it I sort of kicked Snape, and he takes everything personally. I got the rat, but then the spell didn't work, then I noticed I had the wrong rat. Snape thought I'd gone crazy and they took away my wand and locked me up in the hospital wing."
"What is Snape doing at the School?" he demanded.
"He teaches potions. Well he yells at us and deducts points while we attempt to assemble potions in his classroom, he's not much of a teacher, more of a…"
Black cut off my rambling with another shake. "Peter is still in the school then? Why aren't you looking for him? Why are you out here?"
"Because you need to explain."
"Explain what?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were my godfather? You didn't say you knew my parents!"
"I…I meant to…I didn't…"
"FREEZE! STEP AWAY FROM THE BOY AND PUT YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD!"
As the voice echoed all around us a blinding light flashed on and Black staggered, throwing his arms over his eyes. A red light flew at him and I knocked Black aside just in time. We went tumbling down into a dry creek bed.
"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! DO NOT MOVE!" I recognized the voice as Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Another jet of light flew at us and this time it was Black who pulled me out of its path. We ran. The search light cut through the forest around us. Black pulled us behind a tree and we were hidden for a moment.
"Give yourself up and go back to the school, Harry. You'll get hurt out here," Black said.
"No, you haven't told me…"
The same instinct struck us both. We dived forward just in time to avoid a bolt of blue light. I started to get to my feet but Black pushed me back to the ground.
"Stay there and wait for the Aurors!" he commanded, and then took off into the woods, down a path I remembered.
"NO! Don't go that way! Aragog is down there!" I got up and sprinted after him. Stupid people with long legs!
Aragog is the head of a family of giant spiders. My friend Ron and I were nearly eaten by his children last year, so I didn't think Black's choice of direction was particularly smart. I ducked under another red light and tried to hurry. Black disappeared past a clump of trees.
I don't know how long it took me to catch up with him again, I lost track of the time dodging curses and jumping hurdles. The only good thing about running into the spiders' territory was that most other dangerous magical creatures stayed clear of them. When I found Black he was a dog again. He was whining terribly. Of course I'd whine too if I was caught in a giant spider web.
The gooey strands had sunk deep into the dog's fir, and his mouth was coated in them. I guess he had tried to chew his way free. He writhed miserably.
"Hold still!" I hissed, and he obeyed.
I took the steak knives from my pocket and began to cut him loose. House elves sure knew how to keep kitchen wear sharp. I'd freed his head and right front leg when I heard the clicking.
I didn't want to look. The clicking wasn't that close, and if I saw the spider I knew I'd panic. I freed his left leg and he sagged forward. His front feet touched the ground and he started to pull himself forward.
"No! Hold still. You'll just get tangled again!"
He wasn't listening though. Through the mass of spider webs on his face I heard muffled, strangled barks. The clicking was much closer. Left hind leg free. I felt foot steps shake the ground behind me. Right hind leg free. Black tried to pull away but his tail was still stuck. With a final slash, I cut the last strand holding him. He lunged forward, covered in gooey lines of web, but free. I turned.
The good news: there was only one spider. The bad news: it was the size of rhinoceros.
I racked my brain for ways to get rid of a giant spider with two small steak knives. I wished I smoked then, because if I smoked I'd have a lighter, and since spider webs are flammable I could've at least distracted the creature towering over me, maybe even caused it to combusted. I also wished I went to church, because then I'd know some better prayers. All I could come up with was "Our father who art in heaven, please don't let a giant spider eat us!"
This was the one time in my life I wouldn't have minded an appearance from the Chamber of Secret's monster, as it was the thing most feared by the spiders. A thought occurred to me then and what the heck? It was worth a try.
"LOOK A BASILISK!" I shouted, pointing.
To my amazement to spider actually turned to look behind it. I was very glad Hagrid had taught those horrible monsters English.
Black and I ran, ducking under the spiders grasping legs. We charged into the under brush, trying to put some plants between us and the arachnid. The spider leapt into the trees, trying to get above us. I couldn't find the path back to the school, and Black kept lagging behind. He struggled to breathe and I could see some of the spider webs were clogging his nose, but if we stopped we were dead.
Pop!
Black returned to human form, not even missing a step as he ran. He tore at the webs on his face, gagged, and spit. His face and clothes were still coated in goop, but he seemed able to breathe again.
"This way!" He steered us down a very unpleasant looking trail.
"Wait! Where are we going?"
"The devil's garden," Black wheezed.
"What's that?"
I got my answer sooner then I expected. We came to the edge of a ravine. It was a twenty foot drop and below us thousands of tentacles snaked and waved around in the fading moon light. I'd never seen that much devil's snare in one place. Twigs snapped and we whirled around. The spider landed with eerie grace on the path behind us. Its pincers clicked triumphantly in the air. There was no way around it. The spider charged.
Black grabbed me and stepped off the edge of the ravine.
It was a short fall. I barely had time to shout before we slammed into the writhing mass of vegetation. I lost track of Black. The air was forced out of my lungs, and as the spider jumped after us all I could do was gasp and try to breathe. The spider landed right on top of me. It pincers clicked a foot above my face and one of its legs slid under my back, pushing me up toward its mouth. I tried to find the steak knives but I'd dropped them somewhere in the fall. I threw my arms over my head.
The spider hissed in surprise and I risked looking. A thick tentacle of devil's snare had grabbed the spiders left pincer and pulled at it. The spider slapped the tentacle away with one of its legs, but more rushed up to replace it. The spider struggled, but that only drew more of the plant to it. Unfortunately in all its thrashing and kicking it didn't let go of me and, as the vines looped around it, I was crushed against the spider's underside. More vines joined in, pinning us more tightly together, until I felt my ribs cracking. I couldn't call for help. I had no air. Something popped.
I don't know if I blacked out. Maybe there was so much devil's snare wrapped around me I just couldn't see. After what seemed like forever, the constriction stopped, but something heavy was lying on top of me, so I still couldn't move. To add to the unpleasantness, I was also soaked in some viscous fluid that smelled like vomit mixed with lawn clippings. If that wasn't bad enough, more of the fluid was pouring down on me and it was all I could do to keep my mouth clear of the stuff. If a miracle didn't traipse by sometime soon I was going to drown.
If there's any situation bound to lead to depressed thoughts of mortality, this had to be it. I started wondering who would come to my funeral. I didn't think the Dursley's would. Most of the school would be there, as it would probably end up being a major social event. I bet there would plenty of fake crying, especially from Lavender and Parvati. Just as I was wondering who would give my eulogy, I heard a faint snuffling sound.
I tried to call for help, but it came out more like "HAL!" then I had so much ooze in my mouth I couldn't force any more sound out. He heard me though. It seemed like forever again, but Black finally pulled me out.
For the first few minutes I couldn't do anything but lie there and cough. Black was trying to wipe the slime off my face with his sleeve, but as he was still coated in giant spider webs all he managed to do was get his arm stuck to my forehead, and then pull out most of my left eyebrow getting it free again.
My glasses had gone missing, but I could see the still form of the dead spider lying next to us. The devil's snare had cracked the spider's exoskeleton, and its yellow-green guts were pouring out, and pooling around it. Black helped me sit up and I saw that same yellow-green guck was all over me. The sky was turning red at the far eastern edge. I looked at the ground and saw it was covered I bits of bone and gore, but the devil's snare was no where to be found.
"Where's it go?" I asked, between coughs.
"The devil's garden disappears at dawn," Black said. "The plants retreat underground to avoid sunlight. Are you alright Harry?"
I nodded.
"We'd better get moving then. We're too visible here," Black said.
He helped me to my feet, which didn't want to hold me up, and ended up half carrying me. As we crossed the empty devil's garden I saw something shiny, and staggered away from Black to look more closely. The left lens was cracked, but my glasses were otherwise fine. Maybe I had finally used up all of my bad luck.
We got into the trees just in time. Black heard them first and dragged us under some shrubbery. Several wizards on brooms landed in the clearing behind us. I saw Shacklebolt among them. They wandered around for several minutes, inspecting the dead spider. If they found our foot prints we'd be in trouble, but after brief search they took to the air again. Black pulled me to my feet and we started walking.
Here's a fun fact. Despite the disgusting smell, giant spider guts are very good insulation. I was nice and warm, and as we marched along I fell into a bit of a stupor. I didn't pay much attention to anything until we got to the edge of the forest again, and I recognized the hills behind Hogsmead.
"Where're we going?" I asked.
"Hogsmead. You're going to go into the Three Broom Sticks tavern and ask Madam Rosmerta to call the school. They'll send someone down to get you."
"No." I said.
Black glared at me. "What do you mean no? You're going to do what I tell you."
"No!" I was mad and exhausted, so it was very hard to articulate what I meant. I started pointing my finger at him, as if that would clarify things. "You haven't told me yet, and your plans are stupid and you aren't listening!"
"Harry, stop shouting."
"You stop shouting! It's not starting over again! There're rats everywhere and the rooms are all too small and no one believes me! You stop shouting!" I started poking him in the arm as I spoke. I felt dizzy and tried to sit down but Black grabbed my arm.
"We can't stop here. It isn't safe." Black's voice was strained. I guess he was pretty tired too.
"It's not any where safe. I mean it's not safe anywhere."
Black started walking again and as he was still holding onto my arm I went with him.
"There's one place we can go. It's not that far from here."
It was that far, but by the time we got there I was too tired to contradict him. We had circled around the town and climbed up to the base of the mountains on the other side. Black led us to clump of prickly looking bushes.
"Crawl through," he said, "There's a cave on the other side."
I did, and a there was indeed a small cave. I moved to the side and Black crawled through right after me. He began inspecting the cave, looking in the little crevasses and fissures in the uneven walls. I'm not sure why. While his attention was elsewhere, I took the opportunity to fall asleep.
When I woke up the sun was fading. Black was curled up next to me as a dog, snoring loudly. The spider guts had dried into an unpleasant and booger like consistency, though on the plus side the smell had vastly diminished. I tried to scrape the stuff off with my finger nails, but it didn't want to go.
My head hurt badly, I was thirsty, and I was getting cold. It seemed like a fairly reasonable time for Black to wake up too, misery loves company and all that. I put my hand on the dog's shoulder, intending to shake him awake. Unfortunately that particular area was still coated in spider webs. Needless to say, pulling out a big patch of fir is an effective wake up call.
The dog yelped and jumped to its feet. It gave me a very betrayed look and then, with a pop, turned into Sirius Black.
"What is it?" he asked me as I tried to get the dog fur off of my hand.
"You owe me some answers."