Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Harry Potter that will be used, unfortunately.
Summary: Harry was captured by Death Eaters and taken to Voldemort. Can he defeat him and come out alive?
Warning: Torture, Blood, Death, Slash
Title: The end…or the Beginning?
Chapter Two
The members Of the Order of the Phoenix sat or stood around in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. They had gotten back after the attack realizing too late that the attack was really to capture Harry Potter and most likely take him to the Dark Lord. The solemn attitude about the group was tense and pressuring as they waited, for what no one wished to really think about. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Neville and the twins sat together in the corner silent and anxious, Hermione and Ginny flipping through books on tracking charms. Remus, Severus, Dumbledore and McGonagall sat at the table silent as well also searching through books on tracking charms. The other members stood around either talking in low voices or silent.
There was nothing they could do because they had no idea where the Dark Lord's new dwelling was and therefore couldn't go to Harry's aid. It frustrated them all that they were unable to aid their hero and not aware of what was happening at that moment where he was. Wherever he was the place was warded because all of Dumbledore's tracking charms came up with nothing and there was only one other reason for that to happen and no one wanted to think of that possibility.
'This is ridiculous! We have to do something besides sit around here!" Ron exclaimed suddenly standing from his seat. His face was flush and he looked frustrated as he looked around at all of them.
"What do you expect us to do Weasley? We can't find the Dark Lord or Potter so we have no where to start looking," Severus sneered at the red head.
"Well we can't just sit around here doing nothing." Ron yelled glaring at the Potions Master.
"Weasley why don't you sit down and use that pathetic excuse for a brain for once in your life. We have no where to start looking, no where to even consider where the Dark Lord is now hiding out. How the hell do you expect us to find him you rash, idiotic-"
"Enough," came the calm, tired yet commanding voice of Albus Dumbledore. Silence fell and all eyes turned to the old wizened man. "Arguing among your selves won't solve anything. We need to stay calm and figure out another way to find Harry." He continued with a look at both previously arguing men.
Ron looked sheepish as he muttered a "sorry sir" to the old wizard and Severus just remained silent with a curt nod and sat back down. The room fell silent again except for the flipping of pages as everyone went back to searching. Time stretched on in the silence like an eternity. The air was tense with emotions as all sat, some beginning to slowly lose hope that their savior was alive.
Dumbledore sat looking not really at the book but through it. He knew one thing about Harry that the others didn't but he didn't want to get peoples hope up if things took a turn for the worse. He absent-mindedly rubbed the clear crystal between thumb and forefinger that hung on a leather thong around his neck. This was his last piece of hope, his saving grace and he was desperate for the answer he wanted.
As he was turning the page of the book he held the crystal began to vibrate and glow a pale blue. Dumbledore jerked as the crystal vibrated and the ones closes to Dumbledore saw the crystal glowing and looked at it.
"Harry," Dumbledore whispered with a small gasp.
"What are you talking about Albus?" McGonagall asked looking from the glowing crystal to the old face of the headmaster.
"Recast the tracking charm Severus!" Dumbledore said quickly, ignoring McGonagall's question. Severus gave the old man a brief odd look before setting to his task. He quickly cast the charm and waited for the location of Harry's whereabouts to pop up. When the location was given Severus turned to Dumbledore.
"He's in Edinburgh about 25 miles North East of it actually." Severus said slowly, confused with the sudden ability of being able to find the man. "Albus how did you know the charm would work this time?"
"I was the only one who knew this which I will explain later but we set up something dealing with this crystal in the event that this would happen. But we will speak of this later for now we must go to Harry because we don't know which state he may be in." Dumbledore said standing up and with the others following they left the house and apparated to the area that they had come up with.
As they all apparated they looked around them and saw a large Manor house in the distance and all apparated once again to the house. They appeared in front of the dark structure that loomed over them and without hesitation they rushed into the house, wands drawn in front of them. Dumbledore cast a quick charm that would lead them to Harry and the group set off. They were surprised and even more wary when they didn't meet any resistance. Shouldn't there have been Death Eater guards about?
They walked to until they came to a large set of ebony wood doors with silver door knobs. Dumbledore turned and looked at the group behind him. "Be careful for there may be Death Eaters beyond these doors." He said and they all nodded clutching wands tighter in hands and looking determined. With a nod to them Dumbledore opened the large doors and stepped into the room to see…
Every Death Eater on the ground possibly unconscious if the slight rise and fall of some of their chests was any clue. Looking around the room he saw the body of Voldemort sprawled on the ground with a familiar figure next to him.
"Minerva, Nymphadora, Arthur, Fred, George, Charlie and Bill could you fan out and check the Death Eaters? Bind them and Kingsley I want you to head to the Ministry and gather some more Aurors to help here. Severus, Remus come with me," Dumbledore commanded as he walked over to the body of the Dark Lord and Harry Potter with a few others following. Severus checked Harry's pulse and gave a slight sigh of relief as he felt it not weak but not strong either. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Dean, Seamus and Neville turned away from the sight of Harry having seen the flesh hanging from his arms and legs and the copious amounts of blood.
"He's alive Albus obviously been tortured though and if memory serves this is Dolohov's work." Severus said pulling out his wand and quickly setting to work on healing Harry, but first he revived him to consciousness. Remus was helping him with the healing also. Harry came too slowly and looked around at all the faces of the people he knew.
"Harry, my boy, its good to see your still with us," Dumbledore said with a small smile looking down at the young man in front of him.
"Well I feel like shit so I don't know how good it is," Harry croaked before downing the vials of potions Severus gave him and grimacing at the taste. "What about the Death Eaters?" he asked.
"I believe they are unconscious from what I saw as I walked over here. You could see the rise and fall of their chests as they breathed." Dumbledore answered.
"So, the spell worked? It only killed Voldemort then?" Harry asked eagerly as the last of the healing was done and he could move though he was still tender and sore. He looked into the eyes of the old wizard as he gingerly stood up.
"As far as I can tell I believe it did," was the reply.
"Harry! Oh Merlin, we were so worried about you but your okay!" Hermione exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Harry gasped as she squeezed him a bit too tightly. She jumped back and looked at him sheepishly with tears in her eyes. "Sorry," she muttered and smiled a bit through her tears. The others greeted him letting him know how glad they were to see him and how they were happy to see him alive. And he smiled and nodded at them letting them know he was happy to see they all okay.
"That's alright 'Mione I underst-" he stopped abruptly as he looked as if something just occurred to him. "Quick Albus you have to search the rest of this place!" he said hurriedly head snapping to look at the man.
"Harry what do you mean?" He asked with a small frown on his face.
"Malfoy! Draco! I had wondered when I got here why he wasn't around since we all thought he'd joined the Death Eater. He's being held prisoner here somewhere," Harry said just as quickly. Albus's look of horror was more than he had expected and for a moment Harry just stared. Just then Kingsley and the Aurors returned bounding into the room. Kingsley was dishing out orders for them to gather the Death Eaters and take them back to the Ministry for holding.
Albus turned to the other students behind him and addressed them first. "Check the rooms down the right hall. Also see if there are any other prisoners here. Severus, Remus, Minerva and Harry come with me and we'll check the rooms leading off from this one on the left." He said looking to the two separate hallways on each side of the room. "Harry you might want to conjure yourself some clothes first." Dumbledore said looking at the almost naked man. Harry looked down at himself, rolled his eyes with a faint blush on his face and flicked his wrist with a snap of his fingers. He was now dressed in black sweatpants and a soft green cotton tee shirt. He shrugged and turned to Albus catching the shocked looks on everyone's faces. Only Albus, Severus and Remus had known about his wandless ability as they had been training him since sixth year.
"I'll explain later, lets get going." Harry said to a shocked McGonagall and his friends. They all nodded and the six Gryffindors went to check the right hall as Harry, Severus, Remus, Minerva and Albus moved off to the left hall. "I had got the information from Zabini with use of my legilimency because I was curious as to where he was since Lucius was here." Harry continues as they walked down the torch lit hallway.
"Yes I had also wondered what had happened to him since he disappeared like the rest of the Slytherins after school but I didn't see him at many meetings after his initiation, only a few and always in the company of either Lucius or one of the other Slytherins from your year." Severus said looking briefly at Harry as they came to the fist door and opened it. The room was opulent, decorated in greens and rich cream colors and black with a small bit of silver here and there. But other than that room seemed empty. Severus looked in the room some more and noticed two other doors and walked into the room.
"Remus check this room with him and we'll continue on to the next." Dumbledore said the other three continue down the hall a bit to the next door. This room was mostly barren with a sparse bit of furniture but they could clearly see that no one was there.
They moved on to the next door as Harry moved further down the hall, a feeling inside of him calling to him and he followed his instinct and this feeling. He walked to the end of the hall that veered left and turned to walk down it. This bit of hall was shorter than last and Harry noticed only four doors down this one; two on one side and one on the other with a door at the very end. He felt that feeling calling to him again and walked to the lone done at the end of the hallway and with a brief pause opened the door. This room was as opulent as the first done in dark purples, black, silver and white. He noticed what he walked into was like a sitting room and noticed that there were three doors in this room. Following this guiding feeling of his he walked to the door on the right. It was closed and with a deep breath to steel him self for whatever he may see behind it he opened the door and walked in.
The second he opened the door he noticed the metallic smell of blood mixed with the smell of piss and vomit and shit. Pulling his shirt over his nose he looked into the room and almost gagged at what he saw. The room had four stone walls with stone floor and no windows. There were torches bracketed on the wall lighting the room and the room was splattered with blood on the floor and walls. But what really shocked him was the chained figure in the corner. Draco Malfoy was chained, naked, by his wrist with manacles that were attached to chains that were attached to the wall and his ankles were in the same state but to the floor instead. There was a least eight feet of chain for each set of manacles that held him. The once milky white skin was mottled with bruises, cuts and lacerations of all kinds, fresh and old and some still bleeding. The once immaculate blonde hair was tangled and in disarray streaked with blood and dirt. This wasn't the Draco Malfoy Harry remembered, this was a broken version of him.
Rushing over to the boy Harry checked his pulse and sighed in relief when he found it there, weak but there. Standing back up he rushed out of the room and into the hall outside of it. "Severus! Albus! I found him, come quickly!" He yelled and heard the rushing footsteps pounding on the stone floor. He ran back into the room himself and looked over Draco. There was so much wrong with him, obvious torture. He knelt down and began healing what he knew he could as the others came into the room.
He heard a sharp intake of breath, a muttered "Oh Merlin," and gasps as he worked. Severus came over and started helping Harry, working with feeding potions to the unconscious blonde as Harry worked on healing the rest.
"He'll have to go to St. Mungo's there's just too much damage for us to heal ourselves." Severus muttered pulling another vial and feeding it to Draco. Harry nodded absent-mindedly and summoned a soft blanket to put around him when they were done.
"I'll create a Portkey for you to take him there immediately. The others left with a few other prisoners earlier. We found three other people here," Dumbledore said as he picked up an empty metal bowl and muttered under his breath. The old wizard had a sad look in his eyes as he looked down on the blonde.
"Alright we've done as much as possible, Albus the portkey?" Harry said as he wrapped the blanket around the still unconscious blonde and lifted him into his arms, noticing how light he felt. Dumbledore passed the metal bowl to Severus who held it out to Harry while grabbing the blanket and pulling out the blondes hand to set on the bowl. Harry nodded at Dumbledore, Remus and McGonagall and touched the portkey feeling the tug behind his navel as the world swirled around him and the stone room splattered with blood disappeared.
