Disclaimed

Author's note: Thanks everyone who reviewed!

The Basement

By Marz

Chapter 16: Vendettas

            The stairs seemed to twist down for miles, and the entire way I heard them breathing. The sound echoed off the narrow walls till even our pounding foot steps were drowned out. After an eternity, the steps wore into a gentle downward slope, and the walls and ceiling grew closer. I could reach both walls at the same time, and the ceiling brushed the top of my head. I hoped the Dementors would have trouble running stooped over, but the reverberating sound of their breathing only drew closer.

            Black stopped for a moment and pushed me around in front of him.

            "The tunnel will slope up soon." He said. "It's a straight line to Hogwarts from there. If you get a bit ahead of me don't worry. I'll catch up."

            His "I'll catch up" didn't sound very convincing though. I groped about till I found his arm and pulled him along after me, to make sure he didn't try anything stupidly heroic. As he said, the tunnel began to slope up. The sound of the Dementors began to fade.  The slope grew so steep it was nearly a slide, and I had to brace my hands on the wall to make sure I didn't slip and fall back down into the midst of those things. I could hear Black shuffling after me. I reached the top of the tunnel and felt around, but it just stopped. There wasn't any kind of door or hinge.

            "Black! How do we get out?" Stabbing pains shot through my neck with every word, and my jaw was making funny clicking sounds.

            "You have to tap the roof with your wand…"

            I strongly wanted to punch him.

            "And if I haven't got any?" I growled.

            Black didn't answer. Frustrated, I began to tap at the stone above me with my fingers. There was a loud grating sound and the light poured over my face. A circular hole opened in the stone above me and I scrambled up through it. I looked about and realized I had been inside the hallow statue of a rather hump-backed witch. I climbed down to the floor and Black dropped down next to me a second later.

            I took the map from my pocket and checked it again. Pettigrew was moving, headed towards the Great Hall. Black and I crept along. I didn't have a watch on but I thought it was about seven thirty or eight, so most of the students would be on their way back from dinner. Using the map we completely avoided running into anyone, until we passed the hospital wing.

A dot labeled Minerva McGonagall came out of her office from behind us, and another labeled Severus Snape was already closing in from the other direction. Having no other options, we ducked into half opened door of the hospital. Madam Pomfrey was in her office, the door of which hung open. She was facing away from us, and we managed to hurry past without notice.  I searched desperately for a good hiding spot, as the hospital seemed to be Snape and McGonagall's intended destination, only to notice that Black was wandering away with a very dazed look on his face.

Only one bed in the long room was occupied, and Black headed straight towards it. I tried to indicate, through pantomime, that wandering where he could easily be seen was a bad idea, and that hiding behind the curtains would be smarter, but Black seemed determined not to understand.  He walked to the bedside, and stared down at its unconscious occupant. The Defense against the Dark Arts teacher's face was drawn and gray, but that was normal for him. The raised red lines running down his neck and around his mouth were not.  His breathing was nearly inaudible. Black leaned over the bed and, in attempt to give me a heart attack no doubt, shook Professor Lupin's shoulder.

Lupin didn't wake up, which worried me, but not half as much as Blacks flight from reality. The time for miming had passed, and the time of shin kicking had arrived.

Black grunted in surprise, but sound from the door way prevented him from complaining.

"…on my way to see how Remus is fairing."

Instead of a response there was a strained silence. Black ducked under an empty bed and I ducked under Professor Lupin's. A second later two pairs of feet entered the hospital, and Madam Pomfrey hurried out of her office to meet them.

"How is he Poppy? Any change?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"None I'm afraid. Granger brought him in only just in time. I was barely able to stop him dieing. If he wakes up at all it will be a minor miracle. Do we have any idea who did this?" Pomfrey asked.

"The only suspect so far is Black. Lupin was the only one left. He may have been as much a target as Harry, but we never thought…"

"I have brought the potion, in case he regains consciousness," Snape interrupted. "I would remind you that you have only one hour and twelve minutes before it transforms. I do need time to secure the hospital."

"Of course Professor Snape," said Madam Pomfrey, sounding more then a little strained.

The three of them shuffled around for a moment, and then Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey's feet walked out the door. It swung shut behind them.  Snape walked to the end of Lupin's bed. I thought maybe I should hold my breath, but that just makes me need to yawn. Of course when I thought about needing to yawn I immediately really did need to. Stupid traitorous lungs! If you even try, I'll start smoking! Unfiltered! That thought seemed to get them in line.

I peeked out at the bed next to mine. I could just see Black's hand and one of his eyes looking back at me from beneath the over hanging sheet. Snape remained standing where he was. As quietly as possible I unfolded the map to check on Pettigrew. He was moving up the stairs, towards the library. Hermione and Ron were just leaving there.

"This is your last chance," said Snape. After a moment of panic I realized he was talking to Professor Lupin.

 Lupin, of course, didn't answer. Snape's feet went to the bed side table and I heard a china cup clink as it was set down. Snape's feet moved back to the end of the bed. He shouted something in incomprehensible Latin. A blinding light, like a camera flash, filled the room. It faded slowly, leaving only a faint glowing ring on the stone floor around Lupin's bed, and its side table. Snape mumbled something else and smoke rushed up from the floor in thick parallel lines, just inside the glowing ring. After a few seconds the smoke condensed into solid iron. I started to think I had picked the worst bed to hide under.

Snape walked up to the bars. He grunted slightly as he tried to rattle them.  They sounded annoyingly solid to me. Snape turned and walked to the door.  I thought of calling him back to let me out, and then realized how stupid that would be. He went out and locked the doors behind him. Black was at the bars a second later, trying to pull them loose and cursing like a maniac.

I tried to get out of under the bed but the bars were too close. I checked the map again. Hermione, Ron and Pettigrew were together in the corridor in front of the library. I wished very hard that I had warned them about Scabbers.

"Black! Don't worry about me." I held the map out through the bars. "Go get Pettigrew."

Black looked close to panic. "Harry you don't understand. If he wakes up while you're in there…"

He looked as if he'd been hit upside the head.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I have an idea." He turned and ran to Madam Pomfrey's office. Ten minutes later he was back with a large bottle of bright red potion.

"Try not to let any of this touch you," he said, opening the bottle.

"Why?" I asked as he poured it out on the floor, and it started to flow towards me.

"It's wound cleaning potion. It eats away anything that isn't alive, except for its specially charmed bottle anyway."

As he spoke the red stuff melted into the floor and the bottom of the bars attached there. It also soaked into an end of Professor Lupin's blanket that was touching the floor, and started to dissolve that. Then it flowed against the metal legs of the bed frame on the right side. It melted the bed frame much faster then it melted the bars. Black should never have ideas.

 With an unpleasant creak the bed tilted, and I was forced into the small triangular space created by the remains of the frame and the left legs. There was a dull thumping sound and a splash as Professor Lupin rolled off the bed, into the puddle of potion around the bars. Black tried to reach through the bars and lift up the edge of the bed, but it melted away in his hands. He cursed again.

The potion continued to spread across the floor, and I pressed against the opposite side of the little cage. I looked at the map in my hands. Pettigrew, Ron and Hermione were going outside. As I watched they walked up to the Whomping willow, which had attempted to smash in Ron and my skulls last year. They disappeared for a moment, and then I saw them in a tunnel. It led right off the edge of the map, back towards Hogsmead. The tilted bed creaked again, bringing me back to my current situation.

"Black! Come get the map before it melts!" I yelled. Black ran around to my side and I shoved the Marauder's Map into his hands. He stuffed it in the pocket of his robe. My right foot felt suddenly cold and I looked back in horror to see the potion had dissolved most of my shoes and socks. I did a very cramped push up to keep the rest of my clothes out of the stuff. My arms burned and shook. I thought the potion would at least sting, but as it washed over my fingers and toes it only felt slightly warm. It did manage to clean the dried spider guts off my hands though. The potion flowed under me, with out touching my clothes and I started thinking things were going to work out alright. Then the potion ate away the left legs of the bed.

In the good news category, the bars dissolved before the floor did, so Black was able to get Professor Lupin and my self safely away from that area, before the hole formed. Looking over the edge you could see into the potions classroom. Of course I had more pressing things to worry about. The potion had gotten onto my pants and they were rapidly turning into short shorts. I sprinted over to the supply cabinet and found a set of dark blue pajamas that almost looked like real clothes, if you were far away and squinting. The only foot wear in my size was a pair of light pink slippers with teddy bears on them. I hate having small feet.

When I returned from my dressing expedition, Black had taken off his robe and wrapped the still unconscious professor in it. Lupin's fall didn't seem to have harmed him, except for his pajamas.  Black carried him to the private room where I had been quarantined. He left Lupin in there and shoved a chair under the door knob. Black's trousers had holes in the knees, but he had other wise escaped the potion.

"Where is Pettigrew?" he asked me.

"He and Ron and Hermione went through a tunnel under the Whomping willow. They went off the map," I said.

There was a sudden clatter from the hole in the floor. I looked over the edge.

"Potter!" roared Professor Snape, glaring up at me.

Black grabbed the back of my pajamas and tugged me backwards, just in time to avoid the stunning curse Snape fired at me. We ran again. It wasn't until we were crouching behind the green house that we discovered our new problem.

"Harry, is there anyone following us?" Black asked.

"What?"

"Check the map," Black hissed urgently.

"I gave it to you!"

Black looked as if he was about to argue, but then he slapped himself in the forehead.

"It's back in the hospital with Remus. We can't go back for it. It doesn't matter. That tunnel only goes to one place."

"Where?"

"The Shrieking Shack."

We sprinted out across the dark lawn toward the writhing form of the Whomping Willow. No one fired a curse at us, so I guess that proved no one was following. I was wondering how we were going to get under the flailing branches of the possessed tree, when a dark orange blur passed us. The tree froze, and as we got close I could see Hermione's cat standing on a large knot on the trunk. It mewed loudly, and then darted down a hole, that was almost invisible among the twisted roots. Black followed as if this were completely normal. I followed as if it wasn't, so he got a bit ahead of me in the low earthen tunnel.

It was completely dark, and neither of us had had time to grab a torch. I was finding my way by feeling the walls. I don't know how Black was handling this.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I was about to call out a warning to Black when something tapped me on the shoulder. I whirled. There was a sound, like canned whipped-cream spraying into a dish, and then ropes were cocooning me. I got out one strangled cry before they covered my face and gagged me. I tipped over and fell on my face. This didn't do my injured jaw and neck any good. A long fingered hand grabbed my shoulder and rolled me onto my back.

"Harry?" Black called back. "Harry, are you alright?"

I tried to yell and warn him, but a wand pressed against my throat, and I heard whispering. Then I couldn't speak at all.

"Help!" My voice called from someone else's mouth. "There's a hole. My foot's gotten stuck."

I heard Black running towards me. I tried to roll away from my captor, but he just put a hand down in the center of my chest so I couldn't get any leverage. Black's foot steps were very close.

"Sirius please hurry!" my captor called.

I heard Black skid to a stop and I would have cheered if I had my voice back. I've never called him Sirius.  I didn't know what Black could do though. The tunnel was so narrow that there was no room to dodge if a curse was fired. But instead of cursing, my captor said "Lumos."

A soft blue light filled the tunnel and I looked up at the sneering, sallow face of the Potions Professor. His focus was completely on Black.

"How nice to see you again," Snape said with my voice.

Black didn't transform, but the low growl coming from his throat might just as well have been from a dog.  He stalked toward Snape with a crazed look in his eyes that I'd only ever seen him use regarding Pettigrew.

"I'd stop there, were I you," Snape continued in his own voice.

Farther down the tunnel I heard Hermione's cat yowl in agony, but the two men seemed deaf to it. I wiggled around trying to get their attention, but I was invisible to them.  Black stopped a few feet from Snape, still growling.

"It's not that I haven't come to expect monumental stupidity from you Black, but why did you return?" Snape asked. "Even if you've gained the use of Potter, you'd never be able to get to Dumbledore.  You will not bring the Dark Lord back."

"How dare you," Black choked out. "I'll kill you…"

The rest of their conversation was lost to me. In the small sphere of light created by Snape's wand I saw the rat creeping forward, from behind Black. The rat and I looked each other in the eye. I didn't know rats could smile.

Black lunged at Snape, and a red light blasted Black in the chest. He slammed into the side of the tunnel and slumped to the ground, limp. Snape walked by the rat without even glancing at it. I thrashed around but Snape wouldn't turn. Snape kicked Black in the ribs, maybe to check if he was awake, maybe for spite. It didn't matter.

The rat crept slowly into the center of the tunnel. With a soft pop it was replaced by a man. Snape turned then, but it was too late.

"Stupefy!" cried Peter Pettigrew in a high squeaky voice.

 After a brief flash of red, there was no light.