Chapter 29: Slime of the Sewer

"Snape!" Avery snapped, his voice breaking the eerie silence of Severus' cell. "Snape! Wake up!" He ordered, kneeling down beside him. Snape eyes opened blearily and his heart sank at the sight of a Death Eater so close to him. What did Voldemort want now?

"Can you sit up?" he asked, looking far too concerned for Snape's liking. Snape gave no answer, and instead rolled over and pressed his hand to his forehead. "Drink this," he said. Snape opened his eyes again and looked dubiously at the bottle being held out to him.

"What is it?" he rasped, rudely.

"Something to make you feel better."

Snape snorted and immediately wished he hadn't. A nasty pain seared through his temples and he felt himself tilting towards unconsciousness again. The prospect was actually quite appealing, but Avery wasn't that sympathetic.

"Don't faint again!" he barked. Snape had just enough sense left in his mind to register that Avery sounded far more feminine than usual. Probably meant he was about to go out cold again. Curse this place. Curse Voldemort. Curse the Order. Curse the whole bloody world. He wanted to die. "Listen to me. Please."

A Death Eater remembering his manners? What was the world coming to? Snape thought, smirking bitterly.  "I'm trying to help you out of here. Would you drink this before you fall unconscious again?" he said angrily.

Snape blinked. This was extremely odd behaviour for Avery. Granted, he sometimes came into his cell without his fellow Death Eaters – but only to taunt him. 'I'm trying to help you out of here'? What?!

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice scratching in his throat.

Avery twisted his head to check the cell door and paused before answering. "Tonks. Now drink this, you fool."

"What?"

That was about the only thing he could manage right now. His mind was spinning and his stomach was threatening to heave again soon. Tonks? Either he was delirious – dreaming – or this was some strange trick.

"Nymphadora, twit, do you want to get out of here or not?"

Snape narrowed his eyes and studied the person in front of him. Avery was Tonks? This was making no sense. His jaw fell open as the face before him started shifting and melting into another. He dragged his arms from above his head and pressed them hard against his eyes. I'm hallucinating. When he opened them again he was greeted with the scowling face of the last person he expected to see – it was indeed, Tonks.

"I – why – wha-" he slurred. Tonks smiled.

"Yes. It's me, ok, and you're being rescued. Drink this now we don't have long!" she snarled, looking fearfully at the corridor beyond the cell entrance. There was a moment's hesitation before Snape lifted his feeble arms out to her and curled his fingers around the potion bottle. Warmth spread through his body as the potion trickled through his veins. His vision began to clear and the pain started to seep away. It was the best thing he'd felt in weeks.

"Good," she whispered, taking the bottle from his hand and pushing it into the folds of her robe. "Now listen to me carefully. I'm going to disillusion us both. We go to the basement –through the sewers – and then take the ship I got here on. Clear?"

He nodded and pushed up on his arms. Tonks pulled him up to his feet and took her wand out from her robes. She tapped him sharply on the head and did the same to herself. "Be quiet. Let's go."

There was no-one about for several corridors and Rodolphus walked straight passed them without suspecting a thing. They were slowly descending a large, slippery staircase when Tonks held out her arm to stop Snape. She hissed for silence, and listened carefully. When she was satisfied that it was her imagination they continued climbing down, Tonks gripping onto the wall for fear of skidding.

The basement was very large and even darker, and there was a very disturbing smell coming from the waters. Snape tried to steer his mind away from the idea, but there was no denying it smelt like rotting bodies. There was a very large hole at the far end of the sewer, though it was impossible to see from this distance. Tonks felt her hand around for Snape and tugged on his sleeve, indicating which way for him to turn.

Snape, as a Potions Master had experienced some very foul sights, some incredibly disgusting liquids and some terrible awful smells – but none came close to walking, ankle-deep through the sewers of Azkaban. He tried is best not to think what the squishy ropes or sponge-y substances he stood on were.

It wasn't just the ground that was sickening; occasionally a dribble of slime would detach from the ceiling and slither down their neck. The smell got worse as they walked on, and there was still no sign of the opening, though that wasn't very discouraging, seeing as down here, there was no sign of anything until it was a metre in front of you.

Almost a minute later, Tonks stopped and held out her arm again. Snape walked into it and stopped beside her, frowning. "What?" he whispered, but she gave no answer. The smell was so repulsive right now, that Snape was positive they were very close to a decaying body, as much as he tried to ignore the thought. Tonks looked at the oily, black water around her feet, squinting her eyes at a strange figure looming out of it. The longer she stared at it, the clearer it seemed to get. She had a terrible feeling in her stomach and it was spreading to her chest too. Somehow, she knew that she did not want to see whatever this was. But her eyes wouldn't let her look away.

The fog shifted slightly again, and the figure was unmistakeable. A half rotten skull, attached to a mangled and bleeding body was lying in the water. The eye sockets stared out creepily. There was a second's realisation in her mind, before her breath caught in her lungs and her legs gave way. Suddenly, her knees were coated with the grime and her eyes were centimetres from the putrid face. The smell was appalling and her stomach was rolling, her throat burning.

All Snape heard was a squelch, some ragged breathing and then retching. He bit his own lip and closed his eyes in attempt to stay in control of himself. She was pale and dizzy when she stood up again, groping for Snape's hand.

"How far is this exit? Someone will have heard that," Snape hissed. Tonks took a deep, shuddering breath and pulled on his arm. It turned out that the opening was only several paces away, much to the relief of both. Tonks pulled out her wand and touched it to the lock on the circular, barred gate in the wall. Using the first unlocking spell that came to her head, she whispered "Alohomora". To her surprise the grate creaked and slid open slightly. Slowly, she eased it open, every centimetre it groaned or squeaked, until finally it was pushed all the way open. Tonks climbed into the tunnel first and Snape followed.

It was both wide and tall enough for a grown man to crawl through easily. Snape considered for a second, whether he should close the gate again or not; but decided it would create far too much noise for their safety. After a minute of crawling, they were nearly out, it was almost over. They were so close to succeeding, and so far nothing had gone wrong. He didn't know why, but Snape was sure something was about to. His doubt faded though, when he saw a tiny chink of light in the distance. It had been so long since he'd seen daylight – that even a pinprick was enough to relieve him considerably. 

Minutes later, they were both emerging into the sunlight, covered in the most disgusting things imaginable, but to Snape, that didn't matter.  But, his heart plummeted when he saw nothing but ocean stretching in front of them. "Where is it?" he murmured.

Tonks was standing stock-still, staring disbelievingly at the spot where the ship had been moored. "I don't know," she answered.

"I do," came a cold sneering voice from behind them. Both Snape's and Tonks' blood froze instantly in their veins. "It was a good plan," Lucius drawled "Until I heard it all, and took care of it."

*

Harry walked through the Room of Requirement, checking everyone was having success with the jelly-legs curse. He walked past Lavender and Parvati just in time to catch Lavender as her legs sprung her from the ground, sending her jumping backwards. "You're holding your wand wrong," he explained to Parvati. "Twist your wrist to the left, yea that's good and tilt it up more. There you go, try again. You ok, Lavender?"

She nodded, getting unsteadily back onto her feet. "All right, let's see you try again."

Looking slightly embarrassed Parvati recited the incantation and jabbed her wand in the direction of Lavender's legs. This time her knees and ankles shook and her eyes widened, before she lost all balance and toppled sideways into a pile of cushions, her legs still convulsing. "That's better," he grinned. "You can do the counter-curse?" Parvati nodded and promptly freed Lavender.

He turned to see several other people wobble over and then he caught Lupin's eye and received an encouraging smile. 10 minutes later he blew a whistle for attention and told everyone that he thought they'd grasped the curse quite well and should move onto another one. By the end of the meeting they'd covered 3 in total and Harry was more pleased than usual.

Once most people had left Neville approached him and said, "Hey, Harry – I've tried to do them curses before and I never could but I managed all three today so I just want to tell you I think you're doing really well and stuff – and the DA's awesome."

Harry grinned. "Thanks Neville. It's not all me you know, you're brilliant too, I've seen how much better you are at spells this year."

Neville blushed, "Only a bit."

During dinner that evening, Harry and Hermione each received mail form the Burrow. Ron had written Hermione several pages, which evidently she enjoyed, judging by her slight smile and flushing cheeks. Harry's from Ginny was similarly satisfying, even if it held little news. It was filled with expressions of affection and the occasional joke or tease. The words echoed with her spirit and Harry found himself staring at her perfect inky swirls long after he'd finished reading it.

It took Seamus knocking over the bowl of potatoes to draw him back to the Great Hall and the meal before him. Hermione was folding her letter away, her eyes bright with pleasure, though shaded with hints of buried sadness too. The pair finished their meals in silence and returned to the common room for a game of chess, which they abandoned half way through due to lack of heart.

Meanwhile, in the staff wing, Remus Lupin was lying on his couch, trying hard to ignore the awful churning in his stomach. It was something to do with the pull of the waxing moon, but in the final days before his transformation, he always felt ill. Sighing, he lifted his mug of hot tea up to lips and tilting his head just enough that the liquid wouldn't spill, he drank it, searching his mind for something to do.

He was saved having to think much longer when he heard a knock at the door. He rose off the sofa and walked across the room, twisting the handle and opening the door to find Talia standing facing him.

"Hi, Remus," he smiled. "I've got your Wolfsbane," she said, handing it to him.

"Thanks," he said taking it and setting it on the cabinet beside him. "Do you want to come in? I've just made some tea," he offered.

"Oh, ok," she agreed stepping in and looking around at his quarters. The fire was crackling feebly and lined along the mantelpiece above it were dozens of photo frames. Remus was leaving the room, towards the kitchen and on closer inspection, Talia realised the photos were of Lily, James, Sirius and baby Harry. She took a step closer and peered at the beaming faces of James and Sirius as the two pushed and shoved each-other playfully, attempting to get the most space on the photo, then across to a beautiful looking Lily cradling her baby son in the next. There was not one photo that didn't feature one of the Marauders or Lily.

The largest photo, hung on the wall behind all the others was a beautiful shot of the lake and 4 figures, grinning at the photographer. On the left was Sirius, his head cocked jauntily to one side and his hand on Remus' shoulder. Remus was beaming, the sun on his golden hair and his eyes looking to his right at something above James' head. Leaning closer, Talia saw it was the golden snitch flittering around impishly. Her eyes fell onto James' laughing face and across to his hand, ruffling Pettigrew's hair affectionately.

She stared at it for a while longer, marvelling at how they all looked exactly as she remembered them in her fifth year. A strange feeling settled in her stomach when she looked again at their care-free, jovial expressions. Not one of them new the horrible fate they would be faced with in less than 5 years from the day of that photo. Not one of them knew that the mousey boy on the far right would betray them all. Shaking her head slightly, Talia straightened up and looked towards the doorway, just as Remus walked in with a steaming mug.

"You can sit down," he said, indicating to the sofa. Talia obliged, by settling herself onto a pile of cushions and sipping from her tea. Remus sat down and grabbed his own mug and drank, giving his mind time to think of something to say.

"Remus, you can drink your Wolfsbane in front of me you know," she said sternly.

"What?" Remus frowned

"You don't have to be embarrassed. I don't care that you're a werewolf, you know that."

His eyes flicked over to the flask on the cabinet and then into the leftovers of his tea. "Sorry – I just try not to drink it in front of people. It makes them uncomfortable."

Talia blinked. "Oh. Look, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been so rude. I didn't really think before saying that-"

"No it's perfectly ok," Remus dismissed, as he rose to fetch the potion she had brought him. "Don't worry," he smiled, sitting back down again and unscrewing the lid.

Talia drank from her tea again, eyes peering at her surroundings over the top of the mug. Pulling a face, Remus gulped down several mouthfuls and screwed the lid back on. "Eurggh," he grimaced, wrinkling his nose. "If only they could make a nicer tasting potion for me."

"If there was anything I could do to change the flavour I-"

"I'm not blaming you, Talia. I'm really grateful that you make this for me. With Snape gone I was nearly doomed to full-on, monstrous transformations. This foul taste is better than the agony I'd get otherwise."

She smiled weakly and nodded in agreement. "Um – if you ever need to talk," she started feebly, "About, er, what you're going through you can come and get me … because I know what it's like to have a curse that you can't do anything about," she said, smirking sorrowfully.

"A curse? You call your ability a curse?" Remus asked.

"It's hardly an 'ability'," she complained. "It can be useful for some things, but in general it's a nothing but a terrible pain. If only I could just look at someone – one person – without breaking into their minds and being drowned in their essence, it would be a miracle. People don't realise how important it is to look at someone. They do it all the time without realising, and I can never do it. I don't even know what other people's eyes really looks like.  I only get a flash of it, before their pupil expands and engulfs my entire vision. It's awful."

Remus looked at his flask again and started unscrewing the cap to drink some more. "I see. Well then; I can't decide who's worse off, me or you."

Talia laughed, "I'd say we both got an equal dose of rotten luck."

"Mmm. Odd that."

"Odd?"

"I don't know. Never mind," he shrugged.

Talia finished drinking her tea and placed the mug down on the table in front of her. "That was wonderful, Remus – I haven't tasted such good tea in a very long time. I might just pop by especially for some, if you tell me when you're making it."

Remus chuckled, "I make it most nights – and you're most welcome to pop by."

"Oh well thank you. I'll make sure I do," she grinned. "But right now I'll have to leave; I've got a potion brewing in my room for my 7th year class tomorrow morning," she smiled, rising from the couch.

"Of course," Remus said, standing up as well and walking to the door with her. "It was great talking to you. I'll see you sometime tomorrow no doubt."

"At dinner if not before," she nodded. "Goodnight, Remus."

"'Night, Talia. Pleasant dreams."

After closing the door, Remus walked back to the couch and sank his weight into it, allowing his mind to wander, as he relaxed. He could feel the influence of the moon tugging at his body as he lay, lost in thought, drifting somewhere near sleep. An hour later, once he had finally finished his Wolfsbane and there was no more tea, he pushed himself up and walked into his bedroom, where he undressed and crept between the sheets, his heavy eyes and weary body welcoming sleep instantly.

Harry Potter on the other hand, was having a much less peaceful slumber.