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Well this is the last chapter for a couple of weeks. I, like a lot of people I would imagine, are taking a break to read Harry Potter OoP and I don't plan to be writing in-between that time. I will apologize in advance for the way I end this chapter, but it can't be helped really, and also for the fact that it is most likely poorly written. I struggled to get it out, but I wanted to before it became too late. So I hope you will all continue reading this after. I may take a while to read the book because I will also have school, sports and I have a few social things coming up, so sorry guys, I tried to make up for it all with the length of this and last chapter...
Happy Reading!
A Different Life
Chapter 33 - The Storm
A couple of days after Christmas:
Severus finished bottling up the last potion and turned to place it on his shelf, he took a quick look at his cauldron which had another potion being made, watching as one of the spoons Harry had given him stirred the potion for him. He had to admit it was quite useful.
He continued walking back towards his shelf and just as he went to place the potion in its rightful spot, he felt his dark mark burn, not expecting it he immediately dropped the potion bottle, making it smash to the ground.
He stood there, not making a move to clean up the mess, in fact he didn't move at all. His hand still was in mid air.
Had he just imagined that? Or had his tattoo just hurt... Another sharp pain helped make his decision and without a second thought to cleaning up the potion that he just dropped, he ran, and didn't stop running until he was in Dumbledore's office.
***
"You're sure Severus?"
"Of course I'm sure Albus, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure" Severus snapped at Dumbledore.
"Alright Severus" Dumbledore soothed, trying to calm the tempter in front of him that he could see flaring up.
"So what should we do? Obviously Harry was right, no one but Voldemort could have made my mark burn."
"Yes, well I believe that extra shields shall have to go up around Hogwarts, I'm afraid we haven't been as attentive to them since Voldemort disappeared... and Harry of course will need to be better protected."
"How do you propose we do that? He won't accept more supervision. He dislikes the fact that we keep an extra eye on him, feels we over-protect him" Severus muttered, thinking back to a previous conversation he had had with Harry.
"Yes well he is probably right about that, but what I'm 'proposing' as you called it, is not more watching over him. I doubt that will help any, but more helping Harry to be able to protect himself should the situation arise."
"More defense lessons?"
"Yes, I'm sure Remus wouldn't mind."
Severus sat back and thought about it, it was true. Having Harry be able to defend himself better would be a good idea, especially since he does seem to find himself in trouble a lot.
"Alright Albus, you ask Remus and I'll talk to Harry."
"Good, good. But I would make it soon, the sooner we start this the better."
"I'll go get him shall I?" Just as Severus was about to get up, a tapping at the window alerted them to it, and they saw Owl flapping her wings tiredly, fighting the strong wind and snow that was trying to blow her away.
"Owl?"
Severus let Owl in only to see that she didn't actually have a letter attached to her, Dumbledore also seemed to realize this.
"It seems Owl was able to realize that you were in need of her"
"Well I actually wanted to go see Harry myself-"
"Talk to Harry after dinner, let him eat now. We can eat up here and discuss extra protections on the castle. I believe..."
***
Professor Minerva McGonagall was walking through the halls, and although she was hungry, and the great hall just seemed to be calling her name, instinct told her that the yelling that she had heard moments before, that now ceased to exist was not just made up by her imagination.
As she turned the corner she barely had time to react as two men in black cloaks attacked her.
"Crucio"
The men held it there for what felt like an eternity, her screams never making it to anyone's ears, well no one except the two death eaters in front of her.
It was pain beyond pain, and then suddenly her screams stopped. She lay still on the ground, not moving.
"You-you-killed-"
"Oh shut up will you. You're giving me a bloody headache." The man hissed, kicking the body over with his foot. "I'll dump her body in an empty classroom or something..."
"Why? Can't we just leave her here?"
"No you fool, if someone were to find her then they would know someone was at Hogwarts. And I for one would not like to make our presence known until after we have left. Now you go get Potter, and make sure you don't alert anyone that you are here,"
***
Harry was sitting eating his Dinner when Owl flew down and landed besides him, immediately taking the bacon that he had just placed on his plate.
Harry scowled at the bird but soon forgot as he took the note that was attached to Owl. It read:
Harry, Meet me in my office after dinner, Dad
That was his father, straight and too the point, never bothering with pointless conversation, or in this case, pointless words.
Harry pocketed the note and then grabbed another piece of bacon while pondering what his father wanted. He wasn't at dinner, which Harry didn't find too odd. He often skipped meals for the comfort of his dungeons. Though what worried Harry was the fact that he wasn't the only one missing, Dumbledore was missing as well, which was very strange, as Dumbledore never liked to miss a meal, and McGonagall was missing too. Something was very strange. The table looked incredibly empty missing those three people. Even Remus looked at bit confused as why the three were missing.
"Hey Harry..."
"What?" Harry said distractedly to Draco.
"I got another letter from Father today..."
"Yes, and?" Now Draco had Harry's attention.
Draco shrugged. "He said that my present would be coming tonight."
Harry frowned. "Anything else?"
"Not really, well nothing interesting."
Harry nodded and turned back to his food, only briefly wondering what Draco's father had got him for Christmas that would take two extra days to give?
Finally after playing with his food for as long as Harry could take it, he got up and told Ron and Draco that he would meet them later, and he left, walking out the main doors and heading towards the dungeons.
After he was down the first flight of stairs, he stopped dead in his tracks. Down a corridor he saw two men; all dressed in black and wearing masks, and next to them was a floating Professor McGonagall.
Harry immediately backed up and could hear them yelling. They had obviously noticed him too. A shot of wind that flew past his ear which told him he just missed a curse. He ducked down the corridor and headed towards his father's office.
He threw open the door and frantically looked around, his heart stopping as he realized that it was empty as was the classroom he had just run through.
He was about to run back out the door and into the corridor when he heard footsteps making their way to where he was, and they were running fast. Panicking and feeling that he was trapped, Harry shut the door and locked it using his wand, knowing that it would never be strong enough to stop a fully trained wizard from entering.
Harry ran over to his father's big desk and hid behind it, waiting for the inevitable to happen. He just hoped his father would hurry up, he took comfort in the fact that his father should be there any second. Though another thought nagged its way into his head, maybe the note wasn't from his father?
***
"Come on George, we can set up the Dungbombs here, hardly anybody comes in these classrooms anymore. No one will even know. They wouldn't even think to check here."
"Yes, that's my point, why waste some perfectly good Dungbombs here when it won't affect many people?"
"Because we are only testing these George, did you even listen to me before we came?"
"I still think we should have tested it in Snape's rooms." George said evilly.
"Yeah and not only would we have to face Snape's wrath, but also Harry's. I don't think so. Besides, we don't know the password to get into their rooms."
"We shall have to follow Harry one time and find out what it is."
"George..." Fred said warningly, but then his tone lightened. "That's not a bad idea..."
George smiled at his brother and led him into the closest classroom to him.
"This one will do, come on."
The unlocked the door and stepped through. It looked like just an average classroom, though slightly more dusty then normal.
"The house elves mustn't bother cleaning up these old rooms."
"Well the fact that they are unused probably has something to do with it...Now come on, help me put these around the place."
"How many did you bring?"
"Just one or two or five..."
Fred laughed.
"Well we can't let them go to waste I suppose-"
"Oh Merlin!" George gasped, staring at something behind a desk towards the back of the room.
"What is it George?" Fred walked up next to his brother and he too gasped at what he saw.
Professor McGonagall lay dead still on the floor, blood surrounding her.
"Is she alive?" Fred asked, almost dreading the answer.
George gulped and bent down, bringing his fingers hesitantly to his professor's neck to check for a pulse, all thoughts of using magic to check went out the window. After a couple of minutes he looked back up at Fred, his face was as white as a ghost.
"Go and get Madam Pomfrey, now" Any humor that you could almost always find in his voice was gone.
Fred nodded as he sprinted from the room.
***
"Well Albus, I should be off. I'm sure Harry will be finishing dinner soon and I don't want to keep him waiting."
"Of course Severus." Dumbledore agreed.
Severus nodded at Dumbledore and left, telling a few students that were running through the halls off. He checked the Great Hall on his way back but it was already almost empty, with Harry no where in sight.
After a couple of more corridors he was stopped by Remus.
"Lupin, I don't have time for this, I'm about to met Ha-" Severus tried to brush him off but he cut his sentence off.
"It's Minerva. Something's happened." Remus said quickly, leading Severus in the direction of the hospital wing.
"What? What happened?" Severus asked urgently, although he never really liked the professor, most likely because she was once his teacher and she was still able to make him feel like a school boy, he felt concern for the woman.
"I'm not sure, I wasn't able to find out much."
They hurried into the hospital wing to see Madam Pomfrey rushing around McGonagall, her wand constantly shooting sparks at the body. Dumbledore was looking grave and upset behind her.
"Albus, what happened?" Severus asked, looking worried at the sorrow he saw in the old man's eyes.
"I do not know. Poppy said that it is the aftereffects of the Cruciatus curse. She's not sure if she will make it..."
"Cruciatus curse!" Severus gasped at the same time as Remus said "Not going to make it?"
"Who would-?" Severus stopped midway as a scream escaped McGonagall's lips, a scream of complete agony.
***
Harry heard the muffled talk behind the door, it was only moments before the door was swung open. He could see through a crack that only one of the men had followed him.
The man slowly stepped in and with his wand raised, he looked over the room, searching for Harry.
"Come out Potter, you'll only make it worse if you hide..."
Harry had no intension of giving himself up, but he knew he had to move as the man was edging closer and closer to his hiding spot.
Without a second thought Harry ran out from behind the desk and wove through the class desks, practically feeling the curses pass him, smashing and breaking things around him. He ran to the end of the room, the man following him and trying to both grab and curse him.
Once Harry had him at the end of the room he made a run for the door, which was now all clear, he was still using the desks as shields.
He gave up hope of waiting for his father to show up and headed in the direction of Dumbledore's office. He at least knew the password and would able to hide there if he found it empty.
So without looking back, Harry ran through the halls of Hogwarts at full speed, barely slowing down to turn corners.
***
Dumbledore ran over to McGonagall's bed only to be pushed away by Pomfrey.
A few seconds later McGonagall was silenced and what looked to be asleep.
"What is wrong Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, trying to sound calm but they could all hear the worry in his voice.
"She should be fine, but if she hadn't been brought to me when she had..." Pomfrey trailed off, tears in her eyes.
"Has she suffered any... any long term affects?" Remus asked hesitantly.
"We won't know until... if she wakes up."
They all sucked in their breath in shock at the news.
"Who would... who would do such a thing?" Remus asked, still in shock.
"Whoever it is, they most likely are still in the castle. A student couldn't have done this." Severus said, only just realizing what this would mean.
"Where is Harry?" Remus asked, looking worried, he too piecing it together.
"He should be in my office. He'll be safe there. I should probably go see him, he might start to get worried and go looking for me, and we can't have that. Once I get him, I'll get any Slytherins in the common room and any stray students I find and we shall meet in the Great Hall."
"Right, I'll go round up the other Professors and get them to help me get all the students in the other common rooms together."
"I'll help-" Dumbledore started to get up but Severus protested.
"Stay here with Minerva, we can handle this. Keep watch over her, if we need you we shall call." Without any other words Severus left, heading towards his dungeons. Hoping that Harry was alright.
That hope was sorely tested as he saw the door wide open, and once inside, he saw the classroom and his office a complete mess. Curse marks were everywhere.
Severus called out Harry's name and searched the room, turning over tables and chairs as he did, but he found nothing. Harry was nowhere to be seen.
He quickly ran back out the door in search of him, his heart squeezing tightly at the thought of Harry being hurt.
***
Harry didn't have time to think, didn't have time to panic because as soon as he turned the corner he felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him.
He fell to the floor and began to cough loudly, trying to catch his breath back.
"On your feet boy." The death eater hissed.
"How did you get there before I did?" Harry asked while standing up, not feeling afraid of the man, whom he then realized that he knew, as his mask had come off he could see the face.
"I am after all, a Marauder, Potter, I have my ways around-"
"Wormtail you idiot, why for Merlin's sake are you over there? It's this way" A voice from behind Harry snarled at him.
The death eater, Pettigrew glared at the second Death Eater, and then turned that glare straight on Harry.
"Come on Potter" Pettigrew pushed him from front of him and in the direction of the other Death Eater, his wand pointed straight at Harry's back.
Once they were past the death eater he spoke while walking in the other direction, the one Harry and Pettigrew had been going before. "You go ahead; I'll make sure no one follows us."
***
Severus was running wildly down the corridors, not knowing which ones to turn down. If he had been thinking straight he would have gone straight Gryffindor tower and grabbed Harry's map, but he was too worried to think about small details like that.
Just as he turned the next corridor he saw him, but he was not alone.
"Harry!" Severus shouted but he was knocked in the head from behind, and was out cold before he hit the floor.
***
Harry's breath quickened as panic started to overtake him. Another Death Eater, the one who had just hit his Dad stepped over him and then turned back around to face the fallen body. He pulled his foot back and gave one large kick. A crack was easily heard and Harry felt tears falling down his face.
"Dad!" Harry tried to run over to him, tried to make sure that he was okay, but Pettigrew grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let him budge one bit, not that Harry didn't try to get free though, he was sure that after, Pettigrew was sure to have quite a few bruises. He was kicking and punching, but he was still unable to get away.
The Death Eater who was still standing over his father then looked over and with menacing steps, he stalked towards Harry and Pettigrew.
"Shut him up" The Death Eater sounded as though they were very close to losing his temper, and before Harry could comprehend what was happening, he felt himself being struck from behind. He immediately fell to the floor and hit it hard.
He could feel the cold metal of his father's necklace hitting his chest, the one Remus had given him. It was an odd comfort.
He stayed there for a few moments, not wanting to move. Feeling the world was spinning around him. All he felt like doing was sleeping, but he wasn't given the chance as he was roughly picked up and brought to his feet.
"Stand still" Pettigrew hissed at him as he started to sway.
Harry forced himself to try and focus, he had no desire to do as Pettigrew asked of him, but he didn't want to make him angry either.
Pettigrew didn't seem satisfied that Harry would be able to keep standing so he grabbed his arm in a bruising grip to keep him up.
Harry shook his head to try and stop the panic from rising in his chest, but he discovered that was not a good idea at all as everything began to spin again. He looked down at where he had fallen before he was pulled up, he could see blood.
Looking around slowly for a way out, he could see none. So instead he focused on his father, he looked at his chest, willing with all his might that he would see it raise and fall. He almost sighed with relief when he saw that his father was in fact breathing.
But it seemed that Pettigrew followed his line of sight and he too saw Severus.
"What should we do with him?" Pettigrew asked, not sure what should be done to Harry's father.
"I'll handl-" The Death Eater, who Harry then realized was Lucius Malfoy, started to say but he was cut off as someone else spoke from behind Harry and Pettigrew.
"I'll deal with him. You to get Potter out of here before anyone else stumbles across this area and sees us."
Harry then realized that it was the same person who was in his dreams, the same voice that he still couldn't place. He listened carefully to see if he could figure out who it was and why it was so familiar to him.
"Now you fools" He hissed at them as they hadn't moved one bit since he last spoke.
Pettigrew grabbed Harry and they started to head off in the same direction he had been trying to take Harry down earlier.
Harry struggled, and with one solid kick he was able to get free from Pettigrew, but only to be pushed into the wall by Lucius Malfoy, and then without being able to balance himself, he fell again onto the hard ground, again.
"Idiot boy" Lucius hissed at him.
Harry ignored him and took this chance to look at his father, so he turned his face to where he his father's body was still at, he could see the Death Eater crouched over him, he watched as he saw the Death Eater took his mask off, and for the first time since his dreams started, he got a good look at the person's face.
Harry gasped, but any further reactions were lost as he was roughly grabbed by the hair and literally dragged back up to his feet. Then ropes appeared from his waist up and right up to his shoulders, his arms were completely hidden. He would have yelled but his voice seemed to have no volume, almost like it had been put on mute.
But Harry was still in shock at who he had seen back with his father. How was it possible?
Well this is the last chapter for a couple of weeks. I, like a lot of people I would imagine, are taking a break to read Harry Potter OoP and I don't plan to be writing in-between that time. I will apologize in advance for the way I end this chapter, but it can't be helped really, and also for the fact that it is most likely poorly written. I struggled to get it out, but I wanted to before it became too late. So I hope you will all continue reading this after. I may take a while to read the book because I will also have school, sports and I have a few social things coming up, so sorry guys, I tried to make up for it all with the length of this and last chapter...
Happy Reading!
A Different Life
Chapter 33 - The Storm
A couple of days after Christmas:
Severus finished bottling up the last potion and turned to place it on his shelf, he took a quick look at his cauldron which had another potion being made, watching as one of the spoons Harry had given him stirred the potion for him. He had to admit it was quite useful.
He continued walking back towards his shelf and just as he went to place the potion in its rightful spot, he felt his dark mark burn, not expecting it he immediately dropped the potion bottle, making it smash to the ground.
He stood there, not making a move to clean up the mess, in fact he didn't move at all. His hand still was in mid air.
Had he just imagined that? Or had his tattoo just hurt... Another sharp pain helped make his decision and without a second thought to cleaning up the potion that he just dropped, he ran, and didn't stop running until he was in Dumbledore's office.
***
"You're sure Severus?"
"Of course I'm sure Albus, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure" Severus snapped at Dumbledore.
"Alright Severus" Dumbledore soothed, trying to calm the tempter in front of him that he could see flaring up.
"So what should we do? Obviously Harry was right, no one but Voldemort could have made my mark burn."
"Yes, well I believe that extra shields shall have to go up around Hogwarts, I'm afraid we haven't been as attentive to them since Voldemort disappeared... and Harry of course will need to be better protected."
"How do you propose we do that? He won't accept more supervision. He dislikes the fact that we keep an extra eye on him, feels we over-protect him" Severus muttered, thinking back to a previous conversation he had had with Harry.
"Yes well he is probably right about that, but what I'm 'proposing' as you called it, is not more watching over him. I doubt that will help any, but more helping Harry to be able to protect himself should the situation arise."
"More defense lessons?"
"Yes, I'm sure Remus wouldn't mind."
Severus sat back and thought about it, it was true. Having Harry be able to defend himself better would be a good idea, especially since he does seem to find himself in trouble a lot.
"Alright Albus, you ask Remus and I'll talk to Harry."
"Good, good. But I would make it soon, the sooner we start this the better."
"I'll go get him shall I?" Just as Severus was about to get up, a tapping at the window alerted them to it, and they saw Owl flapping her wings tiredly, fighting the strong wind and snow that was trying to blow her away.
"Owl?"
Severus let Owl in only to see that she didn't actually have a letter attached to her, Dumbledore also seemed to realize this.
"It seems Owl was able to realize that you were in need of her"
"Well I actually wanted to go see Harry myself-"
"Talk to Harry after dinner, let him eat now. We can eat up here and discuss extra protections on the castle. I believe..."
***
Professor Minerva McGonagall was walking through the halls, and although she was hungry, and the great hall just seemed to be calling her name, instinct told her that the yelling that she had heard moments before, that now ceased to exist was not just made up by her imagination.
As she turned the corner she barely had time to react as two men in black cloaks attacked her.
"Crucio"
The men held it there for what felt like an eternity, her screams never making it to anyone's ears, well no one except the two death eaters in front of her.
It was pain beyond pain, and then suddenly her screams stopped. She lay still on the ground, not moving.
"You-you-killed-"
"Oh shut up will you. You're giving me a bloody headache." The man hissed, kicking the body over with his foot. "I'll dump her body in an empty classroom or something..."
"Why? Can't we just leave her here?"
"No you fool, if someone were to find her then they would know someone was at Hogwarts. And I for one would not like to make our presence known until after we have left. Now you go get Potter, and make sure you don't alert anyone that you are here,"
***
Harry was sitting eating his Dinner when Owl flew down and landed besides him, immediately taking the bacon that he had just placed on his plate.
Harry scowled at the bird but soon forgot as he took the note that was attached to Owl. It read:
Harry, Meet me in my office after dinner, Dad
That was his father, straight and too the point, never bothering with pointless conversation, or in this case, pointless words.
Harry pocketed the note and then grabbed another piece of bacon while pondering what his father wanted. He wasn't at dinner, which Harry didn't find too odd. He often skipped meals for the comfort of his dungeons. Though what worried Harry was the fact that he wasn't the only one missing, Dumbledore was missing as well, which was very strange, as Dumbledore never liked to miss a meal, and McGonagall was missing too. Something was very strange. The table looked incredibly empty missing those three people. Even Remus looked at bit confused as why the three were missing.
"Hey Harry..."
"What?" Harry said distractedly to Draco.
"I got another letter from Father today..."
"Yes, and?" Now Draco had Harry's attention.
Draco shrugged. "He said that my present would be coming tonight."
Harry frowned. "Anything else?"
"Not really, well nothing interesting."
Harry nodded and turned back to his food, only briefly wondering what Draco's father had got him for Christmas that would take two extra days to give?
Finally after playing with his food for as long as Harry could take it, he got up and told Ron and Draco that he would meet them later, and he left, walking out the main doors and heading towards the dungeons.
After he was down the first flight of stairs, he stopped dead in his tracks. Down a corridor he saw two men; all dressed in black and wearing masks, and next to them was a floating Professor McGonagall.
Harry immediately backed up and could hear them yelling. They had obviously noticed him too. A shot of wind that flew past his ear which told him he just missed a curse. He ducked down the corridor and headed towards his father's office.
He threw open the door and frantically looked around, his heart stopping as he realized that it was empty as was the classroom he had just run through.
He was about to run back out the door and into the corridor when he heard footsteps making their way to where he was, and they were running fast. Panicking and feeling that he was trapped, Harry shut the door and locked it using his wand, knowing that it would never be strong enough to stop a fully trained wizard from entering.
Harry ran over to his father's big desk and hid behind it, waiting for the inevitable to happen. He just hoped his father would hurry up, he took comfort in the fact that his father should be there any second. Though another thought nagged its way into his head, maybe the note wasn't from his father?
***
"Come on George, we can set up the Dungbombs here, hardly anybody comes in these classrooms anymore. No one will even know. They wouldn't even think to check here."
"Yes, that's my point, why waste some perfectly good Dungbombs here when it won't affect many people?"
"Because we are only testing these George, did you even listen to me before we came?"
"I still think we should have tested it in Snape's rooms." George said evilly.
"Yeah and not only would we have to face Snape's wrath, but also Harry's. I don't think so. Besides, we don't know the password to get into their rooms."
"We shall have to follow Harry one time and find out what it is."
"George..." Fred said warningly, but then his tone lightened. "That's not a bad idea..."
George smiled at his brother and led him into the closest classroom to him.
"This one will do, come on."
The unlocked the door and stepped through. It looked like just an average classroom, though slightly more dusty then normal.
"The house elves mustn't bother cleaning up these old rooms."
"Well the fact that they are unused probably has something to do with it...Now come on, help me put these around the place."
"How many did you bring?"
"Just one or two or five..."
Fred laughed.
"Well we can't let them go to waste I suppose-"
"Oh Merlin!" George gasped, staring at something behind a desk towards the back of the room.
"What is it George?" Fred walked up next to his brother and he too gasped at what he saw.
Professor McGonagall lay dead still on the floor, blood surrounding her.
"Is she alive?" Fred asked, almost dreading the answer.
George gulped and bent down, bringing his fingers hesitantly to his professor's neck to check for a pulse, all thoughts of using magic to check went out the window. After a couple of minutes he looked back up at Fred, his face was as white as a ghost.
"Go and get Madam Pomfrey, now" Any humor that you could almost always find in his voice was gone.
Fred nodded as he sprinted from the room.
***
"Well Albus, I should be off. I'm sure Harry will be finishing dinner soon and I don't want to keep him waiting."
"Of course Severus." Dumbledore agreed.
Severus nodded at Dumbledore and left, telling a few students that were running through the halls off. He checked the Great Hall on his way back but it was already almost empty, with Harry no where in sight.
After a couple of more corridors he was stopped by Remus.
"Lupin, I don't have time for this, I'm about to met Ha-" Severus tried to brush him off but he cut his sentence off.
"It's Minerva. Something's happened." Remus said quickly, leading Severus in the direction of the hospital wing.
"What? What happened?" Severus asked urgently, although he never really liked the professor, most likely because she was once his teacher and she was still able to make him feel like a school boy, he felt concern for the woman.
"I'm not sure, I wasn't able to find out much."
They hurried into the hospital wing to see Madam Pomfrey rushing around McGonagall, her wand constantly shooting sparks at the body. Dumbledore was looking grave and upset behind her.
"Albus, what happened?" Severus asked, looking worried at the sorrow he saw in the old man's eyes.
"I do not know. Poppy said that it is the aftereffects of the Cruciatus curse. She's not sure if she will make it..."
"Cruciatus curse!" Severus gasped at the same time as Remus said "Not going to make it?"
"Who would-?" Severus stopped midway as a scream escaped McGonagall's lips, a scream of complete agony.
***
Harry heard the muffled talk behind the door, it was only moments before the door was swung open. He could see through a crack that only one of the men had followed him.
The man slowly stepped in and with his wand raised, he looked over the room, searching for Harry.
"Come out Potter, you'll only make it worse if you hide..."
Harry had no intension of giving himself up, but he knew he had to move as the man was edging closer and closer to his hiding spot.
Without a second thought Harry ran out from behind the desk and wove through the class desks, practically feeling the curses pass him, smashing and breaking things around him. He ran to the end of the room, the man following him and trying to both grab and curse him.
Once Harry had him at the end of the room he made a run for the door, which was now all clear, he was still using the desks as shields.
He gave up hope of waiting for his father to show up and headed in the direction of Dumbledore's office. He at least knew the password and would able to hide there if he found it empty.
So without looking back, Harry ran through the halls of Hogwarts at full speed, barely slowing down to turn corners.
***
Dumbledore ran over to McGonagall's bed only to be pushed away by Pomfrey.
A few seconds later McGonagall was silenced and what looked to be asleep.
"What is wrong Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, trying to sound calm but they could all hear the worry in his voice.
"She should be fine, but if she hadn't been brought to me when she had..." Pomfrey trailed off, tears in her eyes.
"Has she suffered any... any long term affects?" Remus asked hesitantly.
"We won't know until... if she wakes up."
They all sucked in their breath in shock at the news.
"Who would... who would do such a thing?" Remus asked, still in shock.
"Whoever it is, they most likely are still in the castle. A student couldn't have done this." Severus said, only just realizing what this would mean.
"Where is Harry?" Remus asked, looking worried, he too piecing it together.
"He should be in my office. He'll be safe there. I should probably go see him, he might start to get worried and go looking for me, and we can't have that. Once I get him, I'll get any Slytherins in the common room and any stray students I find and we shall meet in the Great Hall."
"Right, I'll go round up the other Professors and get them to help me get all the students in the other common rooms together."
"I'll help-" Dumbledore started to get up but Severus protested.
"Stay here with Minerva, we can handle this. Keep watch over her, if we need you we shall call." Without any other words Severus left, heading towards his dungeons. Hoping that Harry was alright.
That hope was sorely tested as he saw the door wide open, and once inside, he saw the classroom and his office a complete mess. Curse marks were everywhere.
Severus called out Harry's name and searched the room, turning over tables and chairs as he did, but he found nothing. Harry was nowhere to be seen.
He quickly ran back out the door in search of him, his heart squeezing tightly at the thought of Harry being hurt.
***
Harry didn't have time to think, didn't have time to panic because as soon as he turned the corner he felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him.
He fell to the floor and began to cough loudly, trying to catch his breath back.
"On your feet boy." The death eater hissed.
"How did you get there before I did?" Harry asked while standing up, not feeling afraid of the man, whom he then realized that he knew, as his mask had come off he could see the face.
"I am after all, a Marauder, Potter, I have my ways around-"
"Wormtail you idiot, why for Merlin's sake are you over there? It's this way" A voice from behind Harry snarled at him.
The death eater, Pettigrew glared at the second Death Eater, and then turned that glare straight on Harry.
"Come on Potter" Pettigrew pushed him from front of him and in the direction of the other Death Eater, his wand pointed straight at Harry's back.
Once they were past the death eater he spoke while walking in the other direction, the one Harry and Pettigrew had been going before. "You go ahead; I'll make sure no one follows us."
***
Severus was running wildly down the corridors, not knowing which ones to turn down. If he had been thinking straight he would have gone straight Gryffindor tower and grabbed Harry's map, but he was too worried to think about small details like that.
Just as he turned the next corridor he saw him, but he was not alone.
"Harry!" Severus shouted but he was knocked in the head from behind, and was out cold before he hit the floor.
***
Harry's breath quickened as panic started to overtake him. Another Death Eater, the one who had just hit his Dad stepped over him and then turned back around to face the fallen body. He pulled his foot back and gave one large kick. A crack was easily heard and Harry felt tears falling down his face.
"Dad!" Harry tried to run over to him, tried to make sure that he was okay, but Pettigrew grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let him budge one bit, not that Harry didn't try to get free though, he was sure that after, Pettigrew was sure to have quite a few bruises. He was kicking and punching, but he was still unable to get away.
The Death Eater who was still standing over his father then looked over and with menacing steps, he stalked towards Harry and Pettigrew.
"Shut him up" The Death Eater sounded as though they were very close to losing his temper, and before Harry could comprehend what was happening, he felt himself being struck from behind. He immediately fell to the floor and hit it hard.
He could feel the cold metal of his father's necklace hitting his chest, the one Remus had given him. It was an odd comfort.
He stayed there for a few moments, not wanting to move. Feeling the world was spinning around him. All he felt like doing was sleeping, but he wasn't given the chance as he was roughly picked up and brought to his feet.
"Stand still" Pettigrew hissed at him as he started to sway.
Harry forced himself to try and focus, he had no desire to do as Pettigrew asked of him, but he didn't want to make him angry either.
Pettigrew didn't seem satisfied that Harry would be able to keep standing so he grabbed his arm in a bruising grip to keep him up.
Harry shook his head to try and stop the panic from rising in his chest, but he discovered that was not a good idea at all as everything began to spin again. He looked down at where he had fallen before he was pulled up, he could see blood.
Looking around slowly for a way out, he could see none. So instead he focused on his father, he looked at his chest, willing with all his might that he would see it raise and fall. He almost sighed with relief when he saw that his father was in fact breathing.
But it seemed that Pettigrew followed his line of sight and he too saw Severus.
"What should we do with him?" Pettigrew asked, not sure what should be done to Harry's father.
"I'll handl-" The Death Eater, who Harry then realized was Lucius Malfoy, started to say but he was cut off as someone else spoke from behind Harry and Pettigrew.
"I'll deal with him. You to get Potter out of here before anyone else stumbles across this area and sees us."
Harry then realized that it was the same person who was in his dreams, the same voice that he still couldn't place. He listened carefully to see if he could figure out who it was and why it was so familiar to him.
"Now you fools" He hissed at them as they hadn't moved one bit since he last spoke.
Pettigrew grabbed Harry and they started to head off in the same direction he had been trying to take Harry down earlier.
Harry struggled, and with one solid kick he was able to get free from Pettigrew, but only to be pushed into the wall by Lucius Malfoy, and then without being able to balance himself, he fell again onto the hard ground, again.
"Idiot boy" Lucius hissed at him.
Harry ignored him and took this chance to look at his father, so he turned his face to where he his father's body was still at, he could see the Death Eater crouched over him, he watched as he saw the Death Eater took his mask off, and for the first time since his dreams started, he got a good look at the person's face.
Harry gasped, but any further reactions were lost as he was roughly grabbed by the hair and literally dragged back up to his feet. Then ropes appeared from his waist up and right up to his shoulders, his arms were completely hidden. He would have yelled but his voice seemed to have no volume, almost like it had been put on mute.
But Harry was still in shock at who he had seen back with his father. How was it possible?