Chapter 39

"I was sure you would inform that old fool"

Severus spun around and recognized Malfoy standing in the door. The potion master had thought, he would already be sleep; it was almost sunrise after all and they both had been up all night.

"What are you talking about Lucius?" he said calmly, trying not to give away his desperation.

"I listened to your little conversation, and heard what you told your new friend here. Sorry that I have to be the one to inform you that she is not available for you." the blond wizard sneered. "Prince Gregorian is insisting that she will be presented to the Dark Lord as a present."

Severus chanced a look at the young woman and saw her beautiful face turning ash-grey. Her state will be even worse after the Dark Lord is done with her, he thought. We need to get out of here instantly

His mind was racing; only one path led up to the castle and the gates were locked. He had already examined that during his countless walks around the castle. On the backside of it was an abyss of at least 200 yards with dangerous rocks. Even if they would try to climb out of the window, they would never reach the bottom alive; not with these storms roaring around the castle day and night. This castle was too well defended, to leave or enter it uninvited.

"Severus, this was your last chance to prove your loyalty to our master and you blew it" Malfoy said with mock disappointment.

"Until I receive orders from my master, you will be staying in the dungeons. I trust that will make you feel like...home" with a flick of his wand he bound the potion master before Severus had a chance to do something and summoned his wand.

Celeste waved her hand furiously at the blond wizard and, without even touching him, a big, heavily bleeding gash appeared on his cheek.

Malfoy wiped his face with his sleeve and spat "You'll pay for this bitch"

He towered over the beautiful woman and screamed "Avada ...."

Before he was able to finish the killing curse, Severus jumped forward and his head collided with Malfoy's stomach. With hands and legs tied up, the attack didn't look gracefully but it saved Celeste for now.

"How pathetic, Severus" Malfoy growled when he moved the potion master away from him and got to his feet.

"I just wanted to spare you trouble, Lucius" Severus sneered. "You don't want to deprive our master of his wonderful present, do you?"

Celeste fully understood what dangerous game Severus was playing. He needed to think the other wizard safe that he isn't such a big threat after all.

Malfoy snorted and left the room. Severus feet started moving despite of his will to stay where he was. Struggling hard against the invisible force, he finally had to give up and followed the deatheater. With one last look, he told the young woman to stay where she was. Celeste sadly glared back at him.

They moved down several cold stone staircases and Severus feared that his accommodation would be far from luxurious.

At the bottom of the steps, one of Gregorius' henchmen was already waiting for them. He smiled maliciously at the potion master and led the way down a gloomy, clammy hallway.

Severus recognized a large vault to the left, filled with terrifying instruments.

A sarcophagus, about the size of an average man, with open doors was placed on the left wall. He swallowed hard when he spotted the long metal spikes, which emerged from the inside of the doors and the backside of the iron sarcophagus.

In the middle of the vault, there was a rack and next to it a large wooden wheel and Severus recognized several steel strips, which were obviously used for branding, hanging on the walls.

Although all of these instruments seemed antique, he was quite sure they were still in use.

While they followed the vampire through the dungeons, Severus feverishly tried to come up with a plan to escape Malfoy's clutches.

They reached a small, torch-lit chamber with a chair in the middle, as well as a ragged cot and a footstool along the wall.

"Enjoy yourself, Severus" Malfoy sneered. "I will come back in a few hours and then you better be cooperative. Otherwise I will have to get tough"

The blond wizard chuckled and left the chamber. With a flick of his wand he closed the iron gate and locked it.

---------------

Kelsey, Harry and Ron had informed the girls about the letter from Dumbledore and how Sirius had left to see the former headmaster.

"With his cousin running wild, this will be a very dangerous task" Hermione stated.

"No need to tell us Hermione, we're not totally daft" Ron retorted. "He's getting himself in danger just because of Snape"

"Snape has nothing to do with it. Professor Dumbledore asked him to come"

The two of them went on bickering, until Harry couldn't take it any longer.

"Shuddup you two" he called angrily. "You're driving me insane with that. Why can't you just leave it alone...just once?"

Before one of the other could say another word, he stormed through the portrait hole and was gone.

"See, you've upset him" Hermione called.

"Me? Why me?" Ron shouted back.

"You started arguing Ron, not me." the Gryffindor perfect spat.

"I wasn't arguing. Harry is just overreacting. If he was a girl I'd guess he suffers from PMS..." Ron retorted, his ears red of excitement.

"Sometimes you two are really annoying and even worse than PMS" Kayla scolded when she got up to follow Harry.

She caught up with him halfway down the hallway, where he was stomping along, without a certain destination.

"Harry, please wait" she called and her cousin turned around.

"Are they still quarrelling? Harry sneered.

Kayla giggled and shook her head in mock desperation. "Yeah, now they're fighting about who has upset you more"

Harry was breaking into a fit of laughter when he looked at his cousin and said "They will never change"

"Have you decided who you're going to take to the Yule Ball yet?" Kayla asked him.

"I don't think I'm going at all" Harry sighed. "You have no idea how much stress it was to ask somebody out last year, and finally the girl I fancied already had a date"

"Yes Cho Chang. I've heard about her. Do you still like her?"

Harry felt quite uncomfortable discussing his love life with his cousin.

"Ehm...dunno" he mumbled, looking at his shoes to hide the fact he was blushing.

They silently walked side by side and had just reached the 7th floor, when Kayla thought desperately Dammit,I need a nice and quiet place to talk to him.

At this moment, she recognized a door just opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Has this one always been there?, she wondered.

While Harry was tying his shoe, she opened the door a little and peeked inside.

That's exactly what I was looking for; she thought happily and grabbed her cousin's arm.

"Care for a friendly chat?" she said and pulled him inside.

They sat down on squashy armchairs, two cups of hot chocolate already waiting for them on a little table.

Harry looked around in bewilderment until it hit him. "I've heard about that room before." he called. "Dumbledore mentioned it to me. He found this room when he was in need of a bathroom and found it full of chamber pots."

"So you mean just because I wanted a comfortable room to talk ... it just appeared?" Kayla asked.

"Guess so" Harry shrugged. He grabbed his cup, took a sip and asked "So what do you want to talk to me about?"

"So you really don't want to go to the ball?" she asked cautiously.

"I wouldn't mind, but I just don't know who to ask." Harry answered. "I'm definitely not going with one of the Patil twins, Cho has turned me down last year already and I'm not going for a repetition."

"Is there not anyone else you would like to go out with?"

"There is somebody, but I don't know how to asked" Harry whispered, blushing furiously.

"What about Ginny?" Kayla suggested airily.

Harry put his cup back on the table and stared at his cousin "She might go with Neville again"

"No, most definitely not. Neville already has a date" she stated.

Harry's eyes grew wide. "Who's he going with?"

Kayla smiled wickedly and answered "Me! He asked me during our first tutoring and I accepted. He's a nice guy and quite handsome"

Her cousin's jaw dropped to the floor and he gasped "You're going with Neville?"

"Yes and why is this such a big deal"

Harry didn't answer. It was beyond him that Neville AGAIN had a date before him and had actually had the courage to ask his pretty cousin out.

Kayla looked at the gloomy expression on her cousin's face and sighed in exasperation. "Harry, dammit! You're a Gryffindor after all. Just go and ask her!"

"What if she says no?"

Kayla laughed heartily and squeezed Harry's hand "Trust me...she sure as hell won't"

-----------------

Sirius arrived at the little Transylvanian village in the late afternoon. The sun was already standing deep behind the gloomy castle, which towered on a humongous rock.

He quickly changed into Snuffles and ran along the edge of the dark forest towards the castle.

Although he had no idea how he would be able to find Severus once he got there, he ran with full speed. He would deal with this problem when it occurred. If he would be able to roam the castle as a dog, the greasy scent of the Slytherin would be hard to miss.

As he reached the castle, he wanted to scream. A huge iron gate between two towers blocked his way and Sirius couldn't see a way around it. The watch- towers merged into solid rock that fully surrounded the castle.

Why can't I be a squirrel, he cursed when he walked along, trying desperately to find a loop hole.

Severus sat on the cot in the dimly lit oubliette and stared at the chair in the middle of the room. It was covered everywhere with metal spikes and he didn't want to think about how it must feel like to actually sit on it. He had no idea how much time had past since Malfoy had locked him in this cell. It was only lit by a small torch and not even a tiny window allowed the sunlight to enter his prison. He supposed that several hours must have past since the iron gate had closed behind him.

He smiled slightly, when his thoughts wandered to his daughter at Hogwarts. He had had no idea that she existed, until he had spotted her among the first years at the beginning of term, 4 years ago. Behind a boy, which could only be the wretched Potter, he had recognized a girl which looked so much like his younger sister. He knew it couldn't be a child of hers, because she had died before she even had the chance to become a woman. He had loved this little girl so much, which never had been very strong and so the life had faded from her every day of her short life and nothing could have been done about it.

And here he saw the exact image of his late sister, without having a clue if this was just coincidence.

As far as he knew, he had no more living relatives. His sister Susanna had died in his 5th year at Hogwarts. His father had never been interested in his family and every day that passed without a whipping Severus had considered a good one. In his last year at Hogwarts, their old house-elf had found his father dead on the lawn one morning, obviously murder, but his death could never be solved.

His mother was sent to St. Mungo's not long after for her husband's death. She just couldn't take the loss of husband and daughter and committed suicide just one week before Severus' graduation.

Then McGonagall had started calling up the students for the sorting and he had been eager to hear the name of the girl, which looked so much like Susanna.

It had taken him all his strength not to lose his composure when the girl stepped forward for the sorting. Her last name rang a bell, but it just couldn't be. She would never have kept it from me, he had thought.

After the end of the feast he had owled his former love immediately and a few days later he had his answer. He actually had to sit down when he found out that the girl, who would soon be attending his classes, was indeed his daughter.

Severus knew that nobody would ever be safe again when they wouldn't be able to stop the Dark Lord this time. He just had to get out of here; losing his patience, he jumped up from the cot and started pacing in the little room with his hands folded behind his back.

All of a sudden he heard footsteps and the flickering light of a torch lit the hallway in from of his cell.

"Did you enjoy yourself my old friend?" Malfoy sneered, when he unlocked the gate and entered.

Severus didn't answer; afraid he wouldn't be able to control his temper, he just stared at the deatheater with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"I have some questions for you Severus and it would serve both of us best, if you would answer them fast and correct" A malicious grin crept on the blond wizards' face as he continued "It would spare me a lot of problems and guarantee you a quick and painless death"

Severus laughed loudly and sneered "You do not honestly think that I would even tell you what time it is, do you?"

Malfoy's face darkened angrily as he said with a gloomily low voice "As you wish"

Then he turned around to the vampire, which had guided him and called "Let's test our little toy here"

With a flick of his wand, he forced his former companion on the spiked chair and the vampire fastened the metal bands around Snape's chest, arms and legs.

Severus face twitched in pain, when the metal spikes bore into his flesh, but he didn't make a sound.

Malfoy paced back and forth in front of his victim and said "I know I could use the regular methods to make you talk, like Verita serum or the Cruciatus curse, but this here will be more enjoyable."

When he turned to face Severus, his lips curled into an evil sneer as he flicked his wand at the potion master once more.

A small groan of agony escaped Severus' lips as an invisible weight was pushing his body harder against the spikes. He recognized several small, but steady streams of blood, flowing down the arm- and leg-rests, when the metal invaded his flesh.

"What exactly did you tell Dumbledore?" Malfoy growled as he leaned forward, now face to face with Severus.

The potion master swallowed hard, the pain in his back and thighs increasing steadily, as he tried vainly to shift his bodyweight. As he looked into the steel-grey eyes of his opponent, he managed a provoking grin, but didn't say a word. He felt weaker and weaker with every minute that past, making him feel like he was sitting there for hours. The loss of blood made him dizzy and he was afraid he would lose full control of his body.

"You fool" Malfoy spat "You want it the hard way, I suppose"

When the deatheater pointed the wand at him this time, the pain was so intense that Severus screamed terribly but didn't answer any questions.

"I thought you intercepted my letter, Lucius. So why are you asking me this silly question" the potion master said with a weak and hoarsely voice.

"We couldn't get a hold of it, my friend" Malfoy growled. "This girl must have done something with that letter"

Severus silently praised Celeste for her foresight and remembered how the letter has glowed before she had thrown it into the fireplace.

"So do you want to end the pain now or rather suffer a little more?" Malfoy whispered in Severus ear.