Thanks so much for reviewing. You know, the 'hit' count is a great comfort. This story has now had over three hundred hits! Who'd have guessed?
Quite a long chapter this one, but the break happened naturally. Hope you like it. One of my favourite scenes is in this chapter.
Chapter Eight
FURTHER IN
Hermione screamed a scream that filled the cave and rebounded from wall to wall. Her hand was stuck to the skull. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
Colin snatched the wand from her left hand as she struggled to free her right.
"Throw water over her hand!" he yelled at Harry.
Harry did what he was told. Smoke hissed out from the edges of Hermione's hand and with a sudden jolt, she pulled her hand away and plunged it into the water surrounding them.
She was trying to be brave, but Harry could see she was near to hysterics. Her face was streaked with horrible green tears and she was sobbing heavily - her body shuddering with each sob.
Harry waded towards her and put his arms around her. It was the only thing he could think of doing. He hardly noticed the rusty, grating sound of wheels moving. Wheels that obviously hadn't had to work for a very long time.
"The wall! It's opening!"
Colin's voice broke into Harry's conscious and he looked up over Hermione's head.
The wall had split in a jagged line, running diagonally across the wall.
It meant they would be going onwards instead of back the way they came, but it was their only option.
Slowly, slowly the wall parted and the gap widened. Some of the water escaped through the gap and Harry was able to see a ledge they would have to climb over to get through.
Hermione clutched her injured hand to her body.
"Do you think you can climb over?" Harry asked her, gently.
She nodded, unable to speak.
Colin went through first with Hermione's wand, plunging Harry and Hermione into darkness on their side of the wall.
Between them, they helped Hermione through the gap and then Harry followed last.
Yet another cave - bigger than the last, but no stalactites, weed or smell. The only water came from the cave they had just left. It splashed in small puddles through the gap.
The whole place looked as if it had been polished. The walls almost sparkled.
"It's empty," said Colin, holding Hermione's wand high. "Someone's taken the gold already."
Another grating sound and the gap in the wall behind them closed, cutting off the water.
Immediately, flames flared up from torches positioned all around the walls, lighting the cave more than Hermione's wand was able.
"Who turned the lights on!" laughed Colin.
But Harry didn't laugh. Instead he raised his wand and scanned the cave.
His scar burned on his forehead.
He looked around but all was still. The cave was completely empty apart from themselves, and there was nowhere for anyone to be hiding. But Harry felt uneasy.
Hermione was silently nursing her hand.
Colin stared around.
"I thought this was the way out," he said.
"Shhhhhh!" said Harry, quietly.
Hermione lifted her head, instantly alerted by Harry's voice.
"What is it?" she whispered.
"I'm not sure," said Harry, slowly.
His eyes and ears were open to anything, anything at all. There was nothing to see or hear, but still there was a feeling of impending danger.
"Look!" shouted Colin, making Harry jump. "Steps. Can you see? Hidden in the wall..."
Harry reluctantly looked away from the rest of the cave to the right-hand wall where Colin pointed. He wondered if Colin was going mad - there were no steps.
"Yes, I see them," said Hermione.
Harry looked at Hermione, questioningly.
"They're camouflaged," she explained, her voice still filled with pain. "It's like those...Magic Eye pictures in Muggle books. Mum and Dad had one. You have to...look at the picture in a certain way to see the hidden bit."
Harry looked back at the wall. He remembered Dudley had a Magic-Eye book. Harry hadn't been able to see the hidden pictures. He'd have to take Hermione and Colin's word that the steps were there.
Colin began to trot towards the wall.
"Colin!"
Colin stopped and looked back at them.
"Hermione, are you able to use your wand?" Harry asked.
"Of course."
"Colin, give Hermione her wand and come and stand behind us."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it!"
For a moment it looked as if Colin would resist. Then he came back and did as instructed.
"What's up?" he asked, his voice now tinged with nerves.
"It could be nothing," said Harry. "But just in case, we'll make for the steps together, OK?"
They walked sideways, slowly, wands held ready. Harry's eyes flitting in all directions, alert to the smallest sign.
When they reached the wall, Harry at last could see the steps. There were many, many of them, carved from the rock, going diagonally up the side of the cave into the darkness of the corner above.
"Hermione, you go first," whispered Harry. "Keep an eye on the steps ahead. Colin you next. I'll cover our backs."
They began to move. Hermione and Colin facing up the steps, Harry walking backwards and scouring the rest of the cave.
The back of his foot touched the first step. Slowly he raised it, ready to step up.
A gigantic fierce flame suddenly erupted with a roar at the opposite side of the cave. Its force blew the torches on the walls so that the nearest ones to it went out and the ones nearest Harry flickered dangerously, but stayed alight.
Harry heard Colin gasp and slip on the step.
The flame glowed green and yellow and as it flared, filling the cave with a sulphurous smell, a voice echoed around the walls,
"It's way past your beddy-byes time, little Harry..."
The flame began to reduce in height and as it did so, Bellatrix Lestrange appeared. The green and yellow flames danced around her feet for a moment before dying completely.
She was dressed in a floor-length black robe, clinched at the waist by a long silver belt. The two ends hung down from the waist, almost reaching the hem of the garment. On the end of each was a silver snake's head.
Her face was gaunt and framed by her long black hair which hung loosely around her shoulders. She held her wand out in front of her.
"Don't even think about it, Harry," she said, as Harry pointed his own wand at her. "It was pure luck that saved you last time. There's nowhere for you to hide in here."
"Then there's nowhere for you to hide, either, is there?" Harry snapped back, shaking with hatred.
He had run through this moment in his head hundres of times. What he would do when he came face to face with the woman who had killed Sirius. All the hatred and loathing that had been swirling around inside him since last summer now exploded in his head. He was sure he could now perform the Cruciatus curse and mean it.
"Accio wands!"
Colin ducked, obviously expecting the ceiling to start caving in again. It didn't.
Harry and Hermione's wands flew out of their hands. Bellatrix caught them easily with one hand. She laughed a short sharp laugh.
"Children, mere children. Now GET OVER THERE!" She gestured with the wands to the place where they had entered the cave. Harry was tempted to resist, but he wasn't in a position to fight. Slowly they did as they were told.
Still grinning horribly, she came and stood in front of them.
"So! Did you think you would find the Goblin gold single-handed? Something that even your senile friend Dumbledore couldn't do even though it's been right under his crooked nose all these years."
"Dumbledore doesn't care about Goblin gold," said Harry.
"Oh, you're wrong, Harry. Very wrong. You see, whoever retrieves the Goblin's gold for them, gains their support. I imagine Dumbledore needs all the help he can get in his futile plans to fight the Dark Lord." She gave an almost human laugh. "I wish I could be there to see his face when he realises the key to its whereabouts has been at the Castle all these years."
"Well you're out of luck, aren't you, because the gold isn't here." said Harry.
"You are so naive, little Harry. You think the gold isn't here just because you can't see it? You must have heard of a Secret Keeper, Harry. In fact, you were quite close to one in particular, I remember - my dear departed cousin - until my wand slipped and I killed him."
Harry swallowed the bile that had filled his mouth. He felt he could kill Bellatrix without any remorse.
"We're not after the gold. It's cursed," said Colin. "Harry was rescuing me from the Siren."
"How touching. But all you needed to do was wait a little while. I got rid of her for you. She was making far too much noise." Bellatrix looked Colin up and down and sniggered horribly "Really Harry, is this the best you could do? A crippled girl and a donkey boy? I almost feel guilty about killing them, they're so pathetic." She turned to face Harry again. "You, of course, I shall save for the Master. I know he wants the pleasure of killing you himself."
"Oh, he's coming here, is he?" said Harry, sarcastically. "That's good. I'll get my wand back. At least Voldemort was never afraid of afight."
"Do not speak his name with your filthy half-blood tongue," she hissed. "You think the Dark Lord would soil his hands by coming here when he has a loyal servant such as I to do his bidding? Now stand aside while I deal with your little friends."
Harry of course, would have protected Colin and Hermione anyway, but it was hearing the words 'stand aside' that made him even more defiant. They were the words Voldemort had said to Harry's mother. The last words she had ever heard...
He stepped in front of the other two.
"You'll have to kill me first," he said. "Then you're 'Master' won't be very pleased with you, will he?"
"He said I mustn't kill you," she said, her eyes glittering. "He said nothing about causing you pain. Rictusempra!"
The pain in Harry's stomach sent him doubling over, breathlessly.
"That was just a warm-up. We shall proceed through the pain levels, just for my own amusement, until we get to the Cruciatus curse."
Colin helped Harry to his feet. Bellatrix raised her wand ready to strike again.
The flames on the walls guttered as though hit by a sudden draught. It caught Bellatrix's attention. She turned her head to look and in that second Harry launched himself at her, knocking her to the floor. In the mad scramble which followed, she dropped the wands and Colin ran forward and grabbed them.
Harry and Bellatrix fought with their bare hands. Her fingernails aimed at his eyes. Harry had one hand fending her off and the other around her throat. He could see Colin and Hermione pointing their wands towards them, but he knew they couldn't do anything with him in the way.
He was just thinking of leaping up out of the way, giving Hermione and Colin a clear target, when suddenly Bellatrix bent her knees, got her feet in Harry's stomach and gave a mighty kick.
Harry went flying back into Hermione and Colin, sending them staggering backwards.
They rallied and all three swung round to attack, but stopped in their tracks.
Bellatrix was standing, pulling her robes straight and wiping her face on her sleeve. She seemed no longer concerned with them. She was staring fixedly towards the top right hand corner of the cave - the corner where the stone steps ended in darkness.
Her eyes danced with surprise and delight.
"MASTER!" she cried.
Harry stood rooted to the spot. He felt Colin and Hermione move in closer behind him. One of them was breathing rapidly. He thought it was Hermione.
Harry stared up into the darkness at the top of the steps where something moved in the shadows. Straining his eyes, Harry saw the something begin descending the steps slowly.
No one on the ground moved. Harry could feel his pulse pounding hard in his neck.
After what seemed like an age, the figure reached the very edge of the light radiating from the torches on the walls. It was draped in a black cloak. The hood was up and fell a long way forward, hiding the face from view.
Harry heard a little whimper from Colin and then something tapped his arm. Moving nothing but his eyes, he gave a quick glance downwards and saw the tip of his wand resting in the crook of his elbow. Hardly daring to move, Harry took the wand slowly, locking his eyes back to the menacing figure still descending the stairs.
"Master, I have the Potter boy for you," said Bellatrix, her voice raised to carry up the stairs.
Bellatrix, in her eagerness to greet her master, was now standing forward of Harry so didn't see when Harry also took a step forward and raised his wand.
The figure got closer. Harry was reminded of the terrifying sight of Voldemort in the graveyard the night Cedric was murdered. Newly reformed, he had been robed in black then, also; and his red slit eyes had glared out at Harry from under the hood.
Harry swallowed hard and gripped his wand tighter, determined that Voldemort would not see how much he was trembling. He was fully aware that this could be the moment when the prophecy was fulfilled. It was possible that when this night was through he, Harry, would either be a murderer - or dead.
"Put your wand away, Potter," said the cold, almost bored voice from under the hood. "I could disarm you before the words had formed in your mouth."
Bellatrix gave a distraught cry and at the same time Hermione gasped,
"Professor Snape!"
Harry's jaw dropped.
Although coming face to face with Snape was infinitely preferable to having Voldemort standing in front of him, Harry didn't relax.
Twenty-four hours ago, Snape had been at death's door. Now here he was in a cave in the middle of the lake.
Was this really Snape?
And if so, who's side was he on?
Harry's mind went into overdrive with all the possibilities.
He looked over at Bellatrix, hoping her reaction to this appearance would help him judge the situation.
"Severus Snape!" she said with a shrill laugh.
Snape had now reached the bottom of the steps and turned to face them. He lowered the hood on the cloak and gave a curt smile.
"Bella," he nodded a greeting to her.
Harry's heart sank.
'Bella'. Snape had actually called her 'Bella'. That couldn't be a good sign.
"I thought you were dead," she answered.
"My apologies for disappointing you. Our mutual acquaintance seems to have fallen short of the task."
"Lucius Malfoy is one of the Master's most faithful servants," she said, lifting her chin defiantly. "Unlike some who fail to answer the Master's call. Tell me, Severus, does his Mark still burn on your arm?"
"It is not possible to apparate or disapparate inside the school," he answered calmly. "As no doubt you discovered when you first tried to enter this cave. As for the Mark on my arm," his eyes glittered as he stared at her intently. "I think we both know why it is there."
Harry was liking this less and less. The conversation seemed to swing between accusations and friendly chat.
Bellatrix and Snape continued to stare at each other. Harry looked from one to the other, gripped his wand tighter and prepared himself for the worst.
"I killed him," she said, breaking the heavy silence. "I killed Black."
"Congratulations. Then you did us both a favour..."
The attack came instantaneously...
Bellatrix had barely lifted her wand before she was sent spiralling backwards through the air by Snape's spell. She landed in an ungainly heap on the ground.
Snape had reacted so fast, his wand seemed to have appeared from nowhere. In spite of himself, Harry had to admit he was impressed.
Quickly he, Hermione and Colin flattened themselves against the wall ready for a counterattack.
"Should we be doing something?" whispered Harry.
"No," Hermione whispered back. "I get the feeling this is personal."
Snape stood on the steps as calmly as if nothing had happened. Bellatrix got up from the ground and snarled through the strands of hair that now hung across her face.
"Still jealous of him, Severus, even now he's dead?"
Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What's the matter Sev?" she said, taunting him. "Frightened these children will learn your secrets?" She hooked her hair with her finger and dragged it from her face. "Still hurts, does it? That I chose him over you?"
"You have a very high opinion of yourself, Bella." Snape sneered. "Do you imagine I bother myself with such childish anxieties from the past?"
Bellatrix gave a snort.
"But since you raised the subject," Snape continued. "I should inform you that my interest in you was merely due to your connections with the dark side. I also seem to recall," (Harry saw the malicious glint in Snape's eyes that he knew so well) "that Black was rather more fond of a certain Muggle woman than of you."
Bellatrix gave a hideous banshee wail as she raised her wand high ready to strike, but once again Snape was too quick and sent her flying backwards.
"He tried to kill you," she screeched. "That's how much Black liked me. When he found out I was seeing you, he tried to kill you by taking you to the werewolf." She got to her feet clumsily and staggered towards him. "Were you really in danger that night, Severus? Can your sort be killed by werewolves...?"
"Enough!" Snape advanced on her, his wand pointing at her head, his face full of fury. "You wish to reminisce over your adolescence, then let me help you. It may provide a few answers of my own...
"Legilimens!"
Bellatrix gasped and staggered backwards.
Harry could see Snape squinting at her as though peering through a letter box. So this was
how it looked when Snape was teaching him Occlumency.
Bellatrix buried her hands in her hair.
"NO!" she cried and straightened up. She had obviously managed to block the spell.
"What an enchanting little girl you were," said Snape sarcastically.
"I'm warning you, Severus..."
"And it would appear that your dear cousin, in fact, wanted nothing to do with you. He lured me to the werewolf for his own sadistic pleasure and not because of you."
Bellatrix barred her teeth like an angry tiger. She raised her wand and this time managed to
get a sound out of her mouth before...
"Legilimens!"
Again Bellatrix staggered. It looked to Harry as if she were putting up a strong fight against
Snape's intrusion into her mind. The whole top half of her body seemed to expand before a
frightening roar exploded from her mouth.
Snape gave a gasp and grabbed his left arm where Harry knew the Dark Mark was burned into his skin.
At the same time, Hermione gave a sharp cry and cradled her injured hand closer to her.
"HAH!" cried Bellatrix triumphantly. "One thing from your past that still hurts, eh, Severus? The Dark Lord still has a hold on you after all."
"You!" spat Snape, staring at her.
"What's the matter, Severus? Found a memory of mine that didn't agree with you?"
"You are responsible for the Mark on my arm!" he said, still grimacing with pain.
"Oh, come now. Are you telling me you wouldn't have become a Death Eater anyway, without my help?" It was Bellatrix's turn to sound sarcastic. "I just helped you make up your mind."
"By putting my life in danger," he snarled. "Forcing me to accept the Dark Mark to escape death..."
Bellatrix raised her wand. Snape was still clutching his arm and was too slow to block her
spell this time; but instead of pointing her wand at him, she waved it around herself.
"Alvinaria!"
Bellatrix disappeared.
Snape stood up straight, brandishing his wand in front of him. He turned slowly in a circle, his eyes searching the cave.
Harry had the same sensation as when they had first entered the cave. He knew now that Bellatrix had been here all the time, probably watching as they had climbed in through the gap in the wall. Like Snape, he too began searching the cave with his eyes. A feeling of impending danger charging his senses.
A sudden explosion of light came from somewhere on their right and Snape was blasted through the air, landing with a smack against the wall.
"He can't see her!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Of course he can't, she's made herself invisible," said Harry, wondering why Hermione was suddenly so slow on the up take.
"The Alvina spell makes her invisible to males," she replied. "I can still see her." Hermione lifted her wand.
Harry grabbed her arm and brought it down.
"What are you doing?" he said.
"I'm the only one who can see her..."
"You're injured, remember? She'll wipe the floor with you."
Snape was lifted from his feet by another spell and went sprawling across the floor.
"I've got to do something!" Hermione cried, struggling to get her arm free from Harry's grasp. "She's going to kill him!"
"Since when do you risk your own life for Snape?" hissed Harry, incredulously.
Hermione's eyes flashed at him, full of anger and tears.
"Since I realised we have this in common." She thrust the palm of her injured hand close to Harry's face and he stared at it, horrified.
Hermione's palm was covered in ugly red welts and blisters; but scorched into the skin, instantly and repugnantly recognisable, was the Dark Mark.
Harry was so shocked he released his grip on Hermione's arm without even knowing it. She pulled away from him and instantly sent a spell flying across the cave.
It hit the wall on the other side, sending shards of rock flying everywhere. Harry realised Hermione had missed.
"Oh, the little girl wants to play, does she?" came Bellatrix's voice from somewhere to the left. "Come on then..."
Harry saw a swish of Hermione's hair as she turned aside just as a blast of red light hit the wall beside them, missing them both by inches. Bits of rock sprayed out at them and scattered over the ground.
"Miss Granger, stay out of this!" bellowed Snape, getting to his feet.
"Yes, Miss Granger," said Bellatrix in a hideous mocking voice. "Do what the teacher says, or we'll have to confiscate your wand. Accio Wa..."
"Protegio!" yelled Hermione at the same time and managed to snatch her wand just before it flew out of her grasp. "Impedimenta!" she shouted quickly, and there came a cry and a crash near the steps.
Hermione had hit her target.
Almost immediately, Hermione screamed and went somersaulting backwards through the air, landing at Colin's feet.
Harry and Colin helped Hermione to sit up, but not before Bellatrix had yelled "Accio Wand!"
Hermione's wand flew from her grasp, disappearing as the invisible Bellatrix caught it.
"Are you OK?" asked Harry, thinking she didn't look OK.
Hermione ignored him and instead focused on the room.
"Straight ahead of you, Professor!" she yelled.
Snape pointed his wand ahead of him, but the spell went sailing through the air, hitting nothing but the wall beyond.
"It's no good," groaned Hermione in despair. "She's moving as soon as I tell him where she is. She'll always be a moment ahead of him." Then she gasped "Harry! I've got an idea. Give me your wand, quickly!"
"Wha...?" said Harry, reluctant to give up his wand while a battle raged in front of him.
Without waiting, Hermione snatched his wand from him and waved it in front of her, muttering something as she did.
She advanced into the room, Harry's wand held up in front of her.
Feeling very vulnerable, not to mention useless, Harry stood next to Colin and watched, intrigued. He didn't know what Hermione had just done or what she had planned, but she had a new look of determination about her.
Harry could see her mouth moving as if she were chanting to herself. Snape, who had his back to Hermione, spun round and stared at her with a look of astonishment.
Then, with just a moment's pause, Snape and Hermione suddenly turned in the same direction and sent spells shooting through the cave at the same time and towards the same point.
Bellatrix screamed.
It was then that Harry realised what Hermione was doing. She was using one of Professor Flitwick's Whispering charms. Only Snape could hear Hermione as she whispered to him the exact whereabouts of Bellatrix.
Hermione continued whispering as she moved slowly and carefully towards Snape. Both of them were following a moving target with their wands. It was as though Snape could now see Bellatrix as clearly as Hermione did.
"You'll never escape him, Severus." Bellatrix's voice moved around the room. "Do you have any idea what the Dark Lord does to those who betray him?" she laughed. "Shall I give you a taste of what your future holds...?"
"NOW!" Hermione yelled and she and Snape fired their spells towards the corner of the cave, cutting short the blast of green light which had obviously been fired by Bellatrix.
"You'll never be accepted by followers of Dumbledore." screeched Bellatrix. "You have the Mark. People will hate and fear you, no matter what you do. You'll be an outcast!"
"Thank you for your concern, Bella," said Snape, his lip curling as he spoke. "But I can assure you I am well accustomed to being an 'outcast'."
The wall opposite Harry began to move. Just as with the last cave, the groan of unoiled wheels echoed around the walls and a jagged line began to open diagonally through the rock.
Harry looked over at Hermione, hoping to get a clue from her reaction as to what was going on. Hermione continued whispering her running commentary.
As the wall continued to part, Hermione and Snape advanced towards it, slowly.
It gave Harry an extremely odd feeling to see Snape, a person he loathed, working as a team with one of his best friends. And such an impressive team. They were as synchronised as the most professional dancers. Snape had put himself totally in the hands of Hermione's instruction, and together they looked invincible.
Never in a million years did Harry envisage himself cheering Snape on - but they HAD to win, for all their sakes.
Snape and Hermione raised their wands in unison and fired their spells towards the gap in the wall, just as a jet of light flared from the opposite direction.
Bellatrix's scream filled the cave, echoing around the walls for longer than Harry thought possible. She reappeared just as she fell across the parted wall and landed, unmoving, in a heap on the ground.
Hermione had been sent spiralling towards the steps. Harry's wand flew out of her hand and went clattering to the floor a little way from them.
Harry ran to Hermione. She was gasping with pain and trying to reach her shoulder with her injured hand.
"Hermione!" cried Harry as he reached her. He went to help her sit up.
"STAND AWAY FROM HER, POTTER!" came Snape's command.
Harry looked up, unsure what was about to happen and wishing he had his wand with him; but Snape strode over, his wand and that of Bellatrix's at his side.
He took one look at Hermione and said,
"One of her more successful spells, and one which she used on myself only recently. We must move Miss Granger by stretcher or we will cause further damage."
Snape waved his wand and a stretcher appeared, floating in mid-air. With a swish, it glided effortlessly underneath Hermione and gently lifted her off the ground. Snape waved his wand again, and Hermione's head nodded to one side, her eyes closed.
"Wha...what have you done!" demanded Harry, alert to the slightest threat from Snape.
"Merely put her into a light sleep until she is back in the castle," he replied, simply.
"Here's your wand, Harry," said Colin in a small voice.
Harry took his wand, feeling a lot more comfortable with it back in his possession.
"And this fell out of Hermione's pocket," said Colin.
Harry looked and saw that Colin was holding the Scribe's Crystal. He held out his hand to take it, but then Snape's hand appeared next to his own, palm upwards.
Colin looked nervously from Harry to Snape, finally deciding to put the Crystal into Snape's hand.
Harry watched as Snape turned it over and examined it closely.
"Do you happen to know how this came to be in Miss Granger's possession, Potter?"
"Yes. I gave it to her." "Sir." he added quickly.
Snape was silent for a little while. He continued to turn the Crystal over and over in his hand. His greasy black hair fell in front of his face so that Harry couldn't see his expression.
"And would I be correct in assuming it was given to you by Black?"
"No, Sir."
Snape looked up at him quickly, his black eyes piercing into Harry's. It was clear Snape didn't believe him.
"My aunt gave it to me," Harry answered, defiantly.
Snape's lip curled.
"Ah, yes," he smirked. "The delectable Petunia Evans."
Harry's heart skipped a beat. How on earth and why on earth did Snape know his aunt's name?
"'The Muggle who loved Sirius Black'" quoted Snape, his eyes glittering with malicious amusement.
Harry didn't like the way this conversation was going.
"I didn't realise you read 'Witch Weekly', Sir," he said sarcastically.
"One sees these things left lying around the Staff Room," said Snape "This crystal was stolen from me in my last year as a student at Hogwarts. I always suspected Black but could never prove it. Thank you for finally doing so, Potter."
Harry was stunned.
"This...this is yours? How do you know?" he demanded. Surely there were more of these things around. Sirius wasn't a thief.
"Simply because the handles are fashioned in the shape of two S's - my initials. It was made for me and the design is the only one of its kind."
Harry stared down at the Crystal. Snape's? He knew Sirius had hated Snape, but stealing his things? Harry couldn't believe it.
But then Harry remembered something Luna Lovegood had said to him at the end of last year. That people often took and hid her possessions simply because they thought she was odd. She also knew they called her 'Loony' and Harry had felt ashamed to be one of them. If he was capable of that, then surely Sirius was capable of being the same with Snape.
"However," said Snape, breaking into Harry's thoughts. "Black may have done something useful at last. By the sheer coincidence of this being in our possession we can use it to transport Miss Lestrange back to Azkaban."
"Huh?" said Harry, dumbly.
Harry and Colin watched as Snape eased a fingernail between a thin line that ran around the top edge of the Crystal. The edge split and opened on a tiny silver hinge. Inside was an equally tiny stopper.
"Potter, hold this upright," said Snape, removing the stopper and handing Harry the Crystal. "And be warned, there will be some force. Under no circumstances do you drop it."
Harry held the Crystal firmly, wondering what was going on. Snape stood upright and walked over to Bellatrix's body lying across the opening in the cave. He stood there for a few moments and Harry thought he saw a look of smug satisfaction cross Snape's face.
"Ready, Potter?"
Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to be ready for, but he gulped and said,
"Yes, Sir."
Snape lifted his wand.
"Vapour Incarcerare!"
A dazzling white light streaked from the wand.
Bellatrix's body seemed to shimmer and shift like a thick liquid in a glass bottle and then a kind of swirly mist began winding its way from her midriff, rising up and spiralling round in a tall thin column.
Colin gave a cry, and Harry wasn't quite sure if he could believe his own eyes.
Bellatrix's body was dissolving into a kind of shaped steam. As the steam rose up, so Bellatrix's body seemed to evaporate into it until her head and toes met in the middle and were sucked up into the mini tornado. The last things to disappear were the two snakes heads on the end of her belt.
Snape, who had kept his wand pointing towards Bellatrix's body during all this, suddenly snapped his wand in Harry's direction as though it were a whip and the swirling mass flew towards Harry, who instinctively stepped back.
"DON'T MOVE, POTTER!" ordered Snape.
Harry anchored his feet to the spot and held the Crystal as steady and as firmly as he could.
The tail of the tornado reached the Crystal and began disappearing inside. Like some kind of backwards kettle, the steam was sucked into the Crystal's inner chamber, jolting and jostling until Harry found he needed all his strength just to hold it steady.
After what seemed an age, the final whisps funnelled through the hole with a plop and Snape hurried forward and replaced the stopper.
Harry then realised he had been holding his breath during the whole process.
"What was that!" he gasped in awe.
"Imprisonment by vaporisation," said Snape, taking the Crystal and placing it carefully in a pocket inside his cloak. "It is a restricted spell so extinguish any ideas you may have of using it yourself, Potter."
"Restricted to who, Sir?"
Snape narrowed his eyes at Harry.
"Those who are authorised to use it," he replied, through barely moving lips.
Harry realised he was in dangerous territory, but he couldn't ignore this little nugget of information.
Snape was authorised to use a restricted spell? That suggested he had an official position or something.
"And who would that be, Sir?"
"That," snarled Snape "Is none of your business. Now I suggest we leave."
Harry noticed Snape kept glancing over to the gap in the wall where Bellatrix had fallen. It was as though he expected someone to appear at any moment. Everytime Harry noticed Snape doing it he automatically looked as well.
It was difficult to see what lay beyond, but it looked to Harry more like a corridor than another cave. He would like to have asked, but Snape wasn't the kind of person you asked idle questions.
It was as they were preparing to go up the steps that Hermione's arm flopped over the side of the stretcher and dangled in mid-air. Snape was closest to her and was lifting the arm back impatiently, when he froze.
Looking down at Hermione's hand, he slowly turned it over.
Colin and Harry watched in silence as Snape stared at the Dark Mark burned into Hermione's skin. His mouth opened slightly, but no words came out. Then he looked up sharply and his eyes met Harry's.
"How did this happen?" he demanded.
Harry explained about being trapped in the previous cave with the water level rising and finding the Dark Mark on the wall instead of the sickle. How Hermione, before they could stop her, had put her hand on the Mark in order to open the wall to the next cave so they could escape.
Harry finished, expecting Snape to say something. It looked for a moment as though he would, but changed his mind.
He secured Hermione's arm back onto the stretcher took a brief glance at Hermione's face and then said,
"We must get her back within the Castle walls immediately."
Thanks so much to:
FemmeLoki - Thanks for your review. Good to have you back. I hope you continue to read.
Emma Barrows - Well, time will tell for Hermione. Thanks for your review
Thouandl - Australia? Are you serious? That's quite a move. Are you OK about that? And as for a leak...funny you should say that...hehehe.
kuidhf - Thanks so much. More soon.