Jack and Daniel had barely made it out of the airport and into their hotel in London when they saw the owl seated just outside the window. Shaking his head Daniel went and opened the window and the little creature hopped inside dropping small envelope on the desk beside Jack
Jack,
I'm not certain this letter will make it safely to you, but I've heard news that the dementors have been granted permission to use the Dementor's Kiss on Black as soon as they find him. I know he was your friend, and with all of the bustle going on at Hogsmeade and the school, I'm certain he will be caught quite soon, though I hope it is before he does anything to the boy. I must keep this short in case it is intercepted. Take care. Keep in touch if you can.
Ollivander
Daniel watched as Jack's expression change as he read the letter. The older man sighed heavily and then sat down on the edge of the bed with the letter still in hand.
"What is it, Jack?" Jack sighed heavily and handed the note to Daniel. As the younger man read it he raised an eyebrow curiously. "What exactly is the Dementor's Kiss?"
"It's when they suck out your soul."
"They kill you?"
"No, you can live without a soul, it just isn't much of an existence." Jack looked up at Daniel who was now standing mere inches from him. "I've seen it happen once..."
...Flashback...
"Calm down, Severus. There's nothing we can do to stop this. Just get a hold of yourself." Jack brought his hands up to rest on Severus' shoulders and the younger man took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"This just isn't fair, Jack. How can all this be happening? I thought those bloody creatures were..." His voice trailed off and Jack shook his head.
"They're not on anyone's side. They want to survive as much as any other creature out there. If helping Voldemort achieves that goal, that's exactly what they're going to do. There's nothing good about a dementor."
Severus nodded and then lowered his head. "What are they going to do with the Longbottoms and Dearborn?"
"If I know Bellatrix, she'll torture them a bit longer and then let the dementors have their way with them."
"She wouldn't let them..." Severus paused, not wanting to say what he was thinking.
"You know that witch as well as I do. She would, and she will." Jack was about to say more when a familiar voice made them both turn.
"She'll what?"
Both men cringed at the sight of Rudolphus Lestrange standing in the doorway with a maniacal grin on his face.
"Just commenting on your dear wife's vicious side. She has quite a knack for brutality." Jack smirked as he tightened his grip on Severus' shoulder.
Rudolphus smile grew wider at the mention of his wife and he nodded. "Yes, it's quite lovely isn't it?"
"That's one way to describe it." Severus had to take another deep breath once the words left his mouth and Lestrange turned to leave.
Jack waited until Lestrange was down the hall and then carefully closed the door to the small room he and Severus were in. "That man is almost as bad as his wife."
"No one is as bad as Bella, she probably makes the Dark Lord himself cringe." Both laughed, but it was defeated sounding laugh, and it stopped abruptly as they heard another scream coming from down the hall.
They knew she was torturing their prisoners, and the thought that they could do nothing to stop it sickened them both.
"No one should have to go through that."
"There has to be something we can do."
"Without risking both our lives? I highly doubt it." Severus jerked away from Jack and slammed his fist against the wall. Gently, Jack rested his hand on Severus forearm and turned him back around to face him. "Maybe there is something."
Severus could tell the wheels were turning in Jack's head and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Jack didn't speak, but he pulled the other wizard by the arm and dragged him out of the room and down hall away from where Bellatrix was torturing her victims.
"What are you doing, Jack?" Snape whispered as they moved through the dark corridors.
Jack motioned for Severus to quiet himself and the two kept moving. Casting a glance over his shoulder, Jack stopped in front of large oak door and hefted it open with Severus' help. Once inside Jack scanned the room and then began to speak.
"Do you trust me?"
"Of course I do. You're my brother. What does that have to do with anything?"
Jack let out a shaky breath. "I have an idea, but you'll have to trust me. Neither one of us wants to help Voldemort, but you have a better chance of getting information to Dumbledore so we can stop this damned war."
For a moment Severus thought about what Jack was saying and then vehemently shook his head in disagreement. "I can't believe you're suggesting this!"
"Dumbledore can keep you safe. If you give him the right information, we can end all of this."
"How are we supposed to accomplish this?" Snape growled as he continued to shake his head.
"You're going to help the Longbottoms and Dearborn escape, while I cause a distraction."
"What sort of distraction? If they catch either of us, we'll be killed."
"I'm a sneaky bastard, remember." Jack smiled deviously and Severus frowned in confusion.
A few minutes later both men left through the heavy oak door, Jack went to the left and Severus went to the right, back towards Bellatrix and Rudolphus. Slowly he made his way to the door where the two death eaters were and he eased it open.
Frank was gritting his teeth in pain as Alice cried and begged the Lestranges to stop. The sight made Severus want to vomit but took a breath and went inside, making them turn as he shut the door behind him.
"What are you doing here, Snape? Come to watch a true master at work?" Bellatrix shrill voice echoed off the walls as she pointed at the two wizards in pain in front of her. "Crucio!"
Again Frank was racked with pain, and Severus stifled a groan of disgust. "You do enjoy your work, Bella."
"Of course, Severus. Pain is beauty. It is an art few understand fully, but I do." Bellatrix laughed as she pulled her wand away and watched as Frank slumped over, his knees touching the ground.
"Care to try, Snape?" Rudolphus asked, but Severus shook his head.
"No, I think your wife is doing a superb job." For a moment that was nearly his undoing, Severus glanced over at Frank and Alice Longbottom and the horror on their faces made him blink.
He turned away just as the Lestranges raised their wands for one final attempt at using the Cruciatus Curse. The Longbottoms screams pained him, but he held back waiting for Jack's distraction. Severus cringed as their faces contorted and their shouts began to wane, until finally Alice closed her eyes, and Frank let out a blood-curdling scream that made Snape fall back against the wall.
Finally, an alarm went off throughout the corridors and Snape readied himself to free the Longbottoms.
"What's going on?" Rudolphus shouted as he looked away from the Longbottoms, and allowed the curse to stop.
Bellatrix did the same and turned first to Snape and then to her husband. "Someone has triggered the alarms. Perhaps one of their friends is trying to rescue them."
She pointed to the two prone figures on the floor and her husband grabbed her by the arm and she reluctantly followed, telling Severus to keep an eye on the prisoners. Once the Lestranges were far enough away, Severus moved towards the still unconscious couple. Frank opened his eyes briefly and instinctively and protectively reached for his wife.
"I won't hurt you or your Alice. I'm going to get you out of here." Seeing that neither was in any shape to move, he used his wand to levitate them and pulled them along behind him as he slipped out of the room and back to the heavy oak door where Jack was waiting for him.
"My God! What did that bitch do to them?!" Caradoc Dearborn's voice echoed through the room as he saw his friends being levitated into the room.
"It doesn't matter. We have to get all of you out of here." Jack brought his hand up to silence Dearborn as he shut the door behind Severus and locked it tightly.
"What are we going to do now?" Snape asked as he set the Longbottoms' bodies on the nearby table.
"There's a passageway behind that wall hanging." Jack pointed to a large tapestry coving half the wall behind them and went over and yanked it down to reveal a doorway. "I remember Narcissa showing it to me when we were children. It goes all the way out of the property and comes out a mile past the gate." Jack fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a wand. He thrust it into Dearborn's hand. "Take this. Severus go with them. You two can get the Longbottoms to safety and I'll tell the others that you were taken as a hostage."
"You can't be serious. That'll never work. How are you going to convince them of that? Are you going to tell them you let us get away?" Caradoc's words made sense and Jack shook his head.
"I don't know, but I'll think of something. Just get going. We don't have time to argue."
"I'm not leaving you here, Jack. I won't." Severus pointed his wand at Jack, and the other wizard smiled.
"Hex me."
"Are you mad?!" Severus practically shouted and Jack dropped his wand to the floor.
"Do it! They'll never know I let you get away. Use a curse, a hex, something. Incapacitate me and they'll think that one of them did it to get away." Jack pointed to Dearborn and the Longbottoms.
Severus paused a moment and Dearborn groaned in disgust. "If you won't, I will."
Caradoc raised the wand in his hand, but Severus reached a hand up to stop him. "I'll do it."
With the wand in his left hand opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped when something hit the door. "Damn! They found us!"
"Caradoc, get Frank and Alice out of here. Sev, hurry up and do something, so you can follow them."
Severus tried to speak, but couldn't find the words. Finally, Dearborn shoved the other wizard aside and pointed his wand at him. "Imperio!"
"No!" Angrily Severus raised his wand to Dearborn and the other wizard shook his head.
"I'll not hurt him too badly, now take the Longbottoms through the passageway. I'll follow you."
Reluctantly, Snape glanced at his brother and then at Dearborn and solemnly nodded, as he turned to the two bodies still unconscious on the table. "Mobilicorpus."
With the incantation, the bodies lifted and he moved them through the passageway and followed them.
"Sorry about this, lad. You did a good thing letting us go." Caradoc's voice was all Jack could here and he nodded. "Now when those Death Eater's come in here we're going to fight them off so that Frank and Alice have a chance to get to safety."
"Yes." Jack's voice was hollow and forced as he bent down and picked up his wand. Caradoc used his wand to put the tapestry back in place and seal the doorway. A moment later the door came crashing down and Dearborn and Jack fought side by side as the death eaters surrounded them.
The two wizards fought for several minutes until Caradoc fell to the ground after being hit by Bellatrix' Cruciatus Curse, thus breaking the Imperius Curse he held over Jack. Jolted from Dearborn's loss of control, Jack stumbled forward into the Lestranges.
"What the hell!?" He shouted as he tried to gather himself enough to stand.
"They escaped! How could you let this happen, Corrigan?!" Bellatrix' voice made everyone cringe but Jack stood his ground and glared at the woman.
"I'm not bloody invincible. That one cursed me before I had a chance to react."
"Where's Snape?" Lucius Malfoy asked as he entered the room slightly out of breath.
"The Longbottoms took him."
Bellatrix nearly screamed as her fists came down across the table beside her. "Impossible!"
"Bella my love-"
"Shut up, Rudolphus! Those two were barely alive when we left. How could they have walked out on their own? It's not possible!"
Jack shook his head. "Maybe you're not as good as you think you are?"
"Maybe you'd like to find out." Bellatrix' voice was full of venom and the others in the room backed away from her except for Jack.
He stood nose to nose with her, almost daring her to try something. Finally her husband took her by the arm and led her out of the room, leaving Jack to watch the others take Caradoc Dearborn away, until Lucius and Jack were the only two in the room.
"You really must be a fool to challenge Bella."
"No Lucius, I just don't take kindly to being told I'm responsible for things I'm not. So her little torture monkeys got away, it's not like she won't find more." Jack snorted and shook his head as Lucius motioned for him to go out the door.
"I do wonder about you sometimes, Corrigan. You are truly damaged."
"No, I'm just a bit insane." Both men laughed as they exited the room, and walked down the hall. "What will they do with Dearborn?"
"The dementors will have him of course." Lucius grinned and Jack feigned a smile, as the other wizard rested his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Care to watch?"
Reluctantly Jack nodded and they began to move towards the cell where the Longbottoms had been held. Once inside, Jack saw Caradoc being restrained against the far wall. The wizard gave him a knowing stare that Jack couldn't help but turn away from. A moment later the door opened to reveal two dementors inching their way towards the helpless Dearborn. Jack tried to take a breath, but the lump in his throat prevented it, and he looked back at Caradoc.
"Do you think I'm afraid of these creatures? If you do you're wrong. They can't hurt me, no matter what they do."
"Oh I highly doubt that." Lucius' smirked as he stepped aside to let the dementors pass him.
As they got closer to him, Dearborn kept his eyes focused on Jack and Lucius. When they could no longer see Dearborn's face for the dementor in front of him, Jack let out a sigh and lowered his head. Then a shout made him start and he watched as the dementor lifted his hood. The howl that Caradoc Dearborn let loose was deafening, and then he made no sound at all. Jack watched as the dementor stepped away and a sick feeling overwhelmed him as he saw Dearborn's soulless body lying limp against the wall.
"Too bad Bella missed this. She would have enjoyed it." Everything in Jack wanted to reach out and strangle Lucius, but he took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Are we just going to leave him here like this?"
Lucius paused as if thinking the matter over and then shook his head. "The dementors will dispose of him."
Jack bit back the horror at that thought and slowly followed Lucius out of the room, casting one last glance at Dearborn's body and then shook his head in disgust at himself.
Shaking himself from his memeories, Jack sighed inwardly as he watched Daniel's reflection though the darkened window. "I've never been able to get that image out of my mind, or the sound of him screaming. It was almost inhuman the way he just wailed."
He trembled slightly at the memory as Daniel nervously fidgeted with the button on his shirt. "That sounds awful."
"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it since. No one should ever have to go through that." Jack sighed and leaned back on the bed. "I'll never forget the way Severus looked while he was watching Bellatrix torture the Longbottoms. He had no idea I was there. I could see everything through the opposite wall, where I was freeing Dearborn. That damned woman is the only one I'd actually like to see..."
His voice trailed off shakily and he looked up to see Daniel with his arms wrapped around himself. "What does this mean for Sirius?"
With shake of his head Jack stood up and walked to the window. "I know Sirius cares about Harry, but he's risking everything. If they catch him, I doubt anyone could stop the dementors."
"He feels responsible for what happened, doesn't he?"
"He's not he only one. Harry is my-" Jack paused realizing what he was about to say and then spoke again. "I feel just as responsible as he does."
Daniel raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Your what?"
"What?" Jack smiled and Daniel shook his head as if to say 'I'm on to you.'
"You were about to say something. What was it?"
"Nothing."
"You started to say that Harry was something to you, what is he?"
Jack balked. "He's just important to me that's all."
Daniel wasn't ready to give up on this, but he could tell Jack wasn't going to give in, so he lowered his head and sighed. "Fine. Don't tell me, but you know I'll figure it out eventually."
Jack just smiled and shook his head. "Whatever you say Dr. Jackson."