Chapter 40
"So do you want to end the pain now or rather suffer a little more?" Malfoy whispered in Severus ear. The potion master pinched his lips together forcefully, holding his head high without replying.
Malfoy's eyes flickered with fury as he called "Crucio"
The pain was indescribable; the torture, which was inflicted from Malfoy's spell in combination with the spikes of the chair, was too much for him to bear. He felt every single spike piercing his flesh, especially in his private parts, and it drove him insane.
His face screw up in agony and his head sank to the side.
Sirius was devastated; after 3 hours of searching he hadn't been able to find the smallest gap in the rock wall, which surrounded the castle. Just as he was about to change back into his human form to climb over the rocks, he heard the sound of hooves coming towards the gates.
He just had the time to push his shaggy dog body in a dark corner, when the gates opened and 4 horses with black hooded riders came through.
When the last rider had passed the gate, Sirius darted through the closing gate and sneaked towards the castle. When he reached the oak front doors, he changed quickly back into his human form and tried the handle. To his delight, the doors opened easily without making the slightest sound. He crossed the huge entrance hall and hid next to a black marble staircase. There he changed into Snuffles to pick up the Snape's scent.
It was after sunset already, so the vampires would be roaming the castle. Surprisingly this wasn't scaring the black-haired wizard at all. During his time as an auror, Sirius had hunted down several vampire groups and now he felt like being back in the good old days, before the betrayal of a friend had changed his entire life.
He decided it would be less dangerous to search in his human form. A man, who's face was so pale like his, wouldn't look as suspicious as a huge black dog after all.
Sirius had just passed the kitchen and sneaked further down the hallway, when he caught a glimpse of a woman with long blond hair. He decided to stay in the shadows and watch the woman. Maybe she could lead him to the potion master.
The woman was pacing back and forth in front of a blue sofa, her eyes wide in panic when he heard a terrifying sound.
A scream of agony, which strongly reminded him of all the sleepless nights in Azkaban, clanged from the depth of the castle.
The blond, graceful woman stopped short, clenched her hands in front of her face and whispered "Severus"
Sirius eyes grew wide in surprise; this beautiful woman really new the man he was looking for. He cleared his throat, trying to get her attention. The girl in the dark- blue dress looked around feverishly, trying to locate the sudden noise. The wizard hurried over to her, clapped his hand over her mouth and dragged her under a staircase. He could feel her body tense in fear, but didn't dare to release her. He needed to make sure she understood he wasn't a foe but here for the rescue.
"Don't be afraid" the black-haired wizard whispered and turned the girl around, still closing her mouth with his hand. He lit his wand and looked in her big eyes, which were full of fear.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I've been sent here to rescue Severus; you know him I trust?"
The young woman nodded slightly, not turning her eyes from the wizard.
"When I release you, will you promise me not to scream?"
She nodded again and Sirius slowly took his hand off her mouth.
"Who send you wizard? I need to know you're not one of those." she whispered.
"Professor Dumbledore sent me" Sirius answered calmly, removing the hood, so that the girl could see his face. "My name's Sirius. I can't waste any time. Do you know where Severus is?"
"The other wizard who was with him..."
"Malfoy" Sirius interjected
She nodded and continued "he took him to the dungeons I suppose"
"Can you take me there?" Sirius asked urgently
The girl looked firmly in the wizard's eyes and nodded. "Severus knew someone would come for his rescue, he just didn't want to keep his hopes up too high. We have to hurry now; I hope we won't come too late" she called.
"How are we supposed to get into the dungeons, without running into vampires?" Sirius asked.
"Just leave that to me, Sirius. My name is Celeste by the way" she answered with a little smile.
Sirius looked in absolute bewilderment at the pretty girl, who could hardly be older than 17, holding up her hands over their heads, palms up, mumbling in a foreign language.
All of a sudden a soft glow emerged from her palms and trickled over both of heir bodies like dew drops.
"What was that" he whispered in awe.
"This was a disguising spell; only our friend will see us now" Celeste explained friendly.
I'm wondering if the Slytherin git is going to recognize me. We're not friends after all, Sirius thought before he stepped back into the hallway.
"Let's go then" she called "We need to hurry, so follow me"
"I should be the one securing our path" the wizard stated.
"I'm impressed by your bravery, wizard, but you don't know the way, do you?" she snickered and walked quickly down the hallway.
Sirius cheeks showed a slight touch of pink, when he followed her towards the dungeons.
They moved down several staircases and Sirius was more than amazed that, although they encountered a couple of vampires on their way, nobody seemed to notice them.
When they entered the dungeons, she turned towards Sirius and asked "Do you know how you two will get out of here, once we found him?"
He clapped his hand over her mouth again and hissed "Would you keep your voice down please. They might hear us"
Celeste shrugged his hand of slightly annoyed and called "They can't see or hear us, believe me"
Sirius held his hands up in defence and followed her down a dimly lit clammy passageway.
They passed several vaults with instruments, which 'operational area' the wizard didn't even want to find out, when they suddenly heard a dull moaning.
"I assume we've found him" Sirius said gloomily as he peered inside a stone cell.
Celeste touched the lock with her hand and the door sprung open. The wizard was once again amazed about her magnificent talent for wandless magic.
Good Lord, she can do things without a wand most of the people I know can't do with one, he thought when they entered Severus' cell.
Sirius was stunned when he looked at the limp body of the potion master, lying on the floor in front of a pike covered chair.
Severus' robes were drained with blood and his face was as white as death himself. Although Sirius never liked the Slytherin, he never really wanted him to suffer that much.
"They must have tortured him" he growled, while he knelt down and lifted the hurt body on the cot. Relieved he could still feel a pulse, Sirius was still worried about the scorching heat that radiated from Severus' body.
Celeste touched the wizard's face, who was moaning terribly trying, and said sternly "We have to get him out of here immediately. When he doesn't receive medical treatment immediately, he surely will die within hours"
Sirius pulled the phoenix feather out of his pocket and replied "Professor Dumbledore gave me this to take us back to him, but I have no idea if Snape is going to survive the transport."
The potion master's breathing was stagnant and shallow, but the increasing breaks between his breathes were even more terrifying.
Celeste nodded understanding and suggested "I'll try to stabilize his condition until you can get proper treatment for him, but it will only be temporary and I don't know how long it lasts"
"I'd appreciate any help you could give him and I'm sure when the grease git wakes up he will be thankful too" Sirius said and managed a weak grin.
He watched in awe when Celeste placed her hands on Severus head and over his heart. The whole body of the wizard stiffened, but his breathing seemed to be deeper and his face relaxed.
"You have to hurry wizard" Celeste urged. "Do you want to stay here?" Sirius asked hesitantly. "I don't think you belong here"
Celeste looked deep in the wizard's eyes and answered "You're right... I don't belong here"
Sirius recognized the hurt and haunted look in the girls' eyes, which reminded him so much of his own after so many years in Azkaban.
"Can you lock the door so they won't get suspicious?" Sirius asked and Celeste walked over and sealed the door from inside.
"Nobody will recognize it has been opened before they find it empty" she assured
"Then let's go". Without further ado Sirius placed the feather in the potion masters' hand and urged Celeste to touch it as well; then he placed his own hand on it and touched the feather with his wand, signalizing they were ready. He felt the familiar jerk around his navel and everything went dark.
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Kimberly was reading the Potions Almanac in her sitting room at Hogwarts, when she heard a knock at the door."Come in" she called and Remus peeked inside. "Do you have a little spare time for an old friend, Kim?"
By the sight of her fellow teacher she burst out in deafening laughter.
"What the heck happened to you Remus?" she said in between a fit of giggles. Remus' tired face blushed slightly when he sighed "The Weasleys happened to me" Kimberly beckoned him to sit down on the sofa next to her.
"What was that? Looks like you have the measles....but in green?"
Remus flashed her a grin "They call it Explode-a-quill, I suppose. George must have slipped one into my bag at the beginning of our lesson today and when I started grading the homework, all of a sudden there was a flash and my quill exploded. And this -" The wizard pointed at his green-mottled face. "- is the result"
"Then, fortunately, I'm not the only one they pulled a prank on" she snickered.
"Before I started the lesson yesterday, they replaced all the cauldrons with theirs and when the students started with their assignment, nobody was able to heat up the ingredients." The blond witch shook her head as she remembered yesterday's incident. "I checked out one of the cauldrons and the potion was bubbling but when I looked a little longer the potion turned to ice. Lee Jordan was careless enough to stick his finger into his cauldron and it froze, stuck in the potion. It took Poppy a great effort to melt the potion, which turned out to be very resistant, and free the poor boys finger" she chuckled when she saw Remus sigh in exasperation.
"Good for them they didn't do it in Snape's class. He would have fed them to the dragons" he laughed.
"But nevertheless I had fun. Fred and George might be audacious, but they're brilliant inventors"
"I'm happy you're enjoying your position at Hogwarts. Did you have any other problems with the students so far?" Remus asked his old school friend.
"Except of Malfoy? No. I just had to make clear that I'm wearing the pants in my classroom" Kimberly laughed.
"Yes Mr Malfoy can be quite defiant" Remus chuckled. "I can't recall that we marauders ever were that bad"
"You were funny and daring, although I remember that Sirius could be very defiant, especially when Slytherins were involved" Kimberly countered.
"Yes old Padfoot caused more than one of my grey hairs" the werewolf laughed and put another log into the fireplace.
"What is Sirius doing now anyway? Albus told me that he was in the Shrieking Shack before the ministry sacked him" the blond witch asked curiously.
"Sirius was there, but Harry told me that he received a letter from Albus and left in a hurry" Remus frowned "All I know is that it has something to do with Severus. I haven't received any information from Albus on that matter and I doubt not even Minerva has heard from him"
The potion instructor got up from the comfortable sofa and walked over to a closet next to the entrance door. She retrieved two bottles of butterbeer and handed one to her fellow teacher.
"Do you think Severus is in trouble?" she asked anxiously.
Remus sighed and took a sip from his bottle before he answered. "I'm sure he's in a hell of a lot of trouble, when Albus gets Sirius involved in that."
"I don't think that this will turn out well. Severus is too proud to accept help from somebody let alone a Gryffindor and Sirius was just the worst choice. They despise each other and I doubt that Sirius will take this mission seriously" Kimberly exclaimed thoughtfully.
"In this case I suppose Sirius was the only choice, my dear. He couldn't send one of the other Order members; they're all engaged in other missions and it would be highly suspicious if more teachers or ministry employees were missing." Remus retorted before he emptied his butterbeer in one large gulp.
"I assume you're right. I just hope they make it home safe"
It Thursday afternoon and Harry was sitting with Ron and Kelsey in the common room over some homework. Hermione was studying in the library and Kayla was tutoring Neville in potions with Ginny's help.
The dark-haired boy looked up from his astronomy homework and sighed "Has anyone of you asked somebody out for the ball yet?"
Ron and Kelsey looked just as uncomfortable as e felt. "No not yet.... I'd rather wait a little longer. I don't want it to be such a flop as last year" Ron said hesitantly.
Harry frowned at his friend's statement and replied "You know that it was such a flop just BECAUSE we have waited too long"
Ron turned crimson "I just don't know whom to ask, but I don't want to end up with Padma again either. Who are you going with?" he asked Kelsey, desperate to divert the attention from himself.
"I thought about asking Zara. It can't be that hard! It's just a silly school dance after all. Maybe I should ask her right away" he called and rushed out of the common room and up the steps to the boys' dorm.
"Damn... I wish I could do it just like that" Harry growled. "Have you thought about asking Hermione, now that Krum is out of the way?" he asked his red-haired friend.
"Of course I thought about it. She looked really good last year and at least I wouldn't have to jump through hoops when she's going with me. Who would you like to go with?"
Harry didn't know what to say. He really wanted to ask Ginny out and his cousin had encouraged him in doing so, but he couldn't tell Ron. She was his little sister after all and his offer from last year might just have been out of despair. Dang, I'm a Gryffindor! he scolded himself What can he do to me? Kill me? Not very likely
"I thought about asking Ginny to go with me" Harry said firmly, his eyes riveted on his friend.
Ron's jaw dropped to the floor, while his eyes grew wide in shock and his ears turned fiery red. "You're joking, right?" he gasped.
"No I'm deadly serious." Harry stated.
"You're deadly serious about what" a female voice startled the black-haired Gryffindor. When he turned around he looked straight into Ginny's eyes.
"Yes go ahead and answer my sister's question" Ron smirked as he watched his friends' face turn crimson.
"I don't have to answer anything" Harry shouted angrily and jumped up from his armchair. "I say what I want to say to whom I want to say it when I want to say it" and with a final snort, he stomped through the portrait hole.