Prologue
The flames flickered in the fireplace in the parlour. The fire didn't seem to be making any difference, as the room was cold as ice. A black chair sat in front of the fireplace, its back to the door. The room was tastefully decorated, green wallpaper with silver sponge effect. On the wall were sinister paintings, paintings whose eyes seemed to watch you evilly… Either the person who lived there was crazy, or there was another, much more sinister reason.
On the woven green hearthrug, a small man dressed in a tacky tweed suit, his eyes darting shiftily around, lay. His name was Wormtail. Next to him was a massive snake, green coils wrapped around itself in a chilling embrace. It seemed to be asleep, but who knew when those thin eyelids would flicker open…
"Ha, ha Wormtail. I have finally got rid of you, you and your pathetic little friends. All of them. If only I had known the truth from the beginning, I should be that much stronger… But yes, Potter, Black and Lupin aren't here for you now, are they? ARE THEY? No, they deserted you long ago." The man in the armchair spoke into the silence, a thin, rasping voice, almost comical had the situation not been so bone-chillingly unnatural.
The small man by the fireplace took a ragged breath.
"You didn't get rid of all of them…" he said, a mad gleam in his eyes. The snake stirred slightly in its sleep, and Wormtail edged away from it, a terrified look in his small, ratty eyes.
"SILENCE!" roared the man in the armchair. "ENOUGH! I am tired of this game. Avada KEDAVA!" And his evil eyes glittered, and the chair swung round to reveal a terrifying, horrifying sight…
Back in the real world, both Harry and someone else woke with a start.