Chapter 32 – Beware of the Things You Set in Motion

Hermione was furious. No, more than furious. Seething with anger. Livid. Enraged. If she could lay her hands on Harry now, she'd probably strangle him. She knew that both Harry and Ron tended to be rash in certain situations, but this topped everything she had ever seen them do. Locking her into a broom closed, for Merlin's sake! It must have been more than half an hour that she was here now, alone with nothing but the stench of Filch's cleaning detergents. All the time she had been yelling and screaming for somebody to free her, banging her hands onto the wooden door which would not yield under her onslaught. But nobody had heard her. Of course not, after all the castle was positively deserted at this time of year. And Harry knew very well that she would not dare to use magic to free herself. It would be easy to unlock the door with her wand, but then she'd have the Ministry after her.

But Hermione was tempted to break that rule, even though breaking rules was never something she liked to do. But this was about what Harry was trying to do. She needed to stop him before he risked his own life. Necromancy. The word alone sent a shudder down her spine. She had not intensely researched the topic, but the little she knew about it was enough to know that this was way out of Harry's league. He'd only get into real trouble. Probably he'd hurt himself, or worse, and if what Ron had mumbled about a blood connection between Sirius and Remus was true, Harry was also endangering Remus' life with what he was about to do.

And she was here. Locked up in a cupboard by the two people she had always considered her best friends. Merlin be with them when Hermione got out of here and could lay their hands on them. If Harry hadn't killed himself with what he was about to do, Hermione would finish the job.

Again, she began pounding her hands against the massive wooden doors. There had to be over a hundred house-elves enslaved in this castle, why didn't a single one of them come by when she really needed them to?

"Help! Help! Let me out! I'm here in the cupboard! Help!"

Hermione screamed until she thought that her voice would be gone soon. This was of no use, she needed to get out of here, and quickly. She could not risk Harry getting a bigger lead then he already had. Blindly, she groped in her back pocket for her wand.

"Help! Somebody let me out here!"

Just as Hermione was about to pull her wand and unlock the door by magic, she heard steps on the corridor. Quickly pocketing the wand again, she pounded her fists again and again at the door, yelling for whoever was out there to free her. The steps approached, stopped in front of the door, Hermione heard a whispered spell and suddenly the door swung open. With a huge sigh, Hermione stepped out into the corridor, blinking against the light after her time in the darkness.

In front of her, none other than Severus Snape was standing, his arms crossed over his chest, still holding his wand in his hand, his worst glare combined with a raised eyebrow and an impatiently tapping foot directed at her. Great. Of all the people who could have let her out of the cupboard, it had to be Snape.

"Miss Granger? Care to explain this? I know that I'm not being informed about everything, but as far as I know, you are supposed to be on holiday. Maybe at Grimmauld Place, but certainly not in a Hogwarts broom closet. What is going on?"

His voice was sharp and icy, but Hermione was too worked up to notice. Let him threaten her if he wanted, see if Hermione cared. There were more important things now than Severus Snape's wrath.

"Professor Snape, good that you came by", she panted. "Is Professor Dumbledore in the castle?"
Snape's glare darkened. "I asked you a question, Miss Granger. I'm not the headmaster's personal secretary. Now, what are you doing here?"

Hermione shook her head. "Harry, he locked me in here. Please, we have to get Professor Dumbledore. Harry and Ron, they…they went to the Ministry. Harry thinks he can bring Sirius back. I tried to stop them, but now they're gone. I just wanted to unlock the cupboard myself to get help."

Snape's face darkened at Hermione's word. Darkened in a way Hermione had never seen before.

"Potter did what?"

"He went to the Ministry. Please, we have to hurry Professor."

Snape's face grew more livid and enraged.

"When did he leave? How did he and Weasley get there?"

"Ron had a portkey to his father's office." Hermione checked her watch. "They left maybe half an hour ago. A little more, probably. We have to hurry!"

"We don't have to do anything. I'd say that you and Weasley have done more than enough today", Snape responded, his voice icy. "You'd best go back to Gryffindor Tower now, you're in enough trouble as it is."

And without waiting another beat, Snape turned around and vanished hurriedly into the direction from which he had come. Hermione stared after him, entirely dazed. She was in trouble? Hadn't Snape listened to just one word she had said? After all, she had been the one to tell him what Harry was planning to do, and she had done all she could to stop him and Ron before they did something this stupid. And still he claimed that she was in trouble?

But then again, this was Snape. Professor Dumbledore would surely sort things out. Harry and Ron would be in real trouble, but she could not help them with that. She had told them over and over again that it was stupid, and as a reward for her trouble she had been locked up in a cupboard. Should they worry where that left them. Hermione briskly turned around and walked down the corridor, back to Gryffindor Tower. She was worried about Harry and Ron, but for now she could not do anything. Hopefully, Professor Dumbledore found them before they started this stupidity.

The Fat Lady was enjoying a glass of wine with the Red Knight from a portrait a few corridors down, and she glared at Hermione as she approached and interrupted them.

"Password?"

Hermione started. She didn't have a password.

"But…I don't have a password. I only arrived today, by floo. You must have seen me coming out of Gryffindor Tower earlier."

The Fat Lady shook her head. "No password, no entry. That's the rules."

"But…"

"No buts, dear", the Fat Lady said, her voice annoyed. "So far, only Mr Potter has been here during the summer, and I can't let anybody else in there without the password. Now, if you don't mind, I have a guest to attend do."

The Fat Lady took another sip of the wine and turned towards the Red Knight again, laughing at something unintelligible which he said from behind the visor of his helmet. Hermione stared at them for another few seconds, but it was obvious that the Fat Lady would not let her in without the password. Well, then she'd just have to find someplace else where she could wait for news. She turned away from the portrait, slowly walking down the stairs while she was thinking about where she could go to. Then she had an idea and her steps quickened as she hurried towards the infirmary.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Snape hurried down the corridors and up the staircases as quickly as he could, using all the shortcuts known to him. Potter again! And this time, he had completely outdone himself. Snape had just come from the headmaster's office where he and Dumbledore had talked about the last details of tomorrow's attempt to cut the connection between Lupin and Black, when that infernal yelling and banging had reached his ears and he had turned towards it to investigate what was going on. He had been surprised to find Granger stumbling out of the closet, and even more surprised at what she had told him. He should have known that Potter wouldn't leave off Necromancy. The boy was just as stubborn, single-minded and rash as both, his father and godfather. And probably that would get him killed, just like it got his father and godfather killed. Not that Snape cared, but again it seemed up to him to save Potter's sorry behind from making an awful mistake. Didn't the boy ever think before he acted? Didn't he ever weigh the possible consequences?

Snape didn't know if Dumbledore was still in his office, he had talked about another appointment he had this evening. It was possible that he had already left, but Snape needed to make sure before he went to the Ministry on his own. In any case, he needed to let Dumbledore know. Finally, he reached the gargoyle that marked the entrance to Dumbledore's office, barked the password – another of those fancy muggle sweets – at it and waited impatiently while the entrance opened and revealed the moving staircase that would take him upstairs. Finally, he reached the wooden door and gave a sharp knock. There was no answer. Snape knocked again, and as there still was no answer, he simply opened the door and entered the room.

"Albus!"

There was no response, and as Snape stepped further into the room, he saw that it was empty. So Dumbledore had already left. Darn. Snape quickly went over towards Dumbledore's desk, pulled an empty sheet of parchment towards himself and wrote a quick message to the headmaster. Fawkes was fortunately not near his burning day, and though the phoenix didn't particularly like being used to deliver mail like a common post owl, this was an emergency and Fawkes would have to comply. Slowly, Snape approached Fawkes' perch.

"I need you to find Professor Dumbledore, Fawkes. It's urgent that he gets this message as quickly as possible."

Fawkes looked at Snape with what the potions master imagined to be disapproval in his eyes, but he didn't make a move to bite Snape as he held the rolled parchment out to him. Fawkes took it into his beak and as Snape opened the window, the phoenix spread its wings and soared out into the night-sky. Snape sighed and closed the window behind Fawkes. That was done, now he needed to get to the Ministry and stop Potter before it was too late. Just what he needed. Today saving Potter's life, tomorrow saving Lupin's. One day, he'd probably receive an award for being a benefactor to the wizarding world. He grimaced, then quickly hurried back towards the door. Now he needed to get to the Ministry.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Hermione knocked on the infirmary door, and as she received no answer, opened it up and went inside. Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, but the curtains were drawn halfway around one of the beds, shielding it from view of those who came in through the door. Hermione stepped up and lightly wrapped against the frame around the curtains before she stepped around.

Remus was sitting up in bed, an odd assortment of bottles and flasks lined up on a table next to the wall. On his bedside table stood a cup of tea, and Remus was leaning back against a pile of pillows, reading a book. He looked up as he heard Hermione's knock, and his expression turned to a wide-eyed look of surprise as he saw just who was standing at the foot end of his bed.

"Hermione, that's a surprise. Shouldn't you be on holiday? Do take a seat, won't you? What brings you here?"

Hermione stepped closer to the bed and sat down on the chair that stood next to it.

"We came home early from the holiday. But that's not important now."

Remus frowned, sensing that something had happened.

"What's wrong? Why are you here at Hogwarts?"

"Harry. He and Ron cooked up a crazy scheme to go into the Ministry and bring Sirius back. I tried to stop them, and they locked me up in a closet before I could do something."

Within an instant, Remus sat bolt upright in bed.

"Harry went to the Ministry?"

"Yes, he did. Together with Ron. Ron had a portkey which he took from his father, that's how they got in there. He…he wants to go into the Department of Mysteries, to the archway, to try and bring Sirius back. He wants to use…"

"Necromancy", Remus finished for her as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and started looking through the bottles that were lined up on the small table. Hermione's eyes widened.

"You know about that?"

Remus picked up a bottle, read its label, then drank it in one gulp. "I know that he researched Necromancy", he said as he put the empty bottle away and selected a new one. "I told him in no uncertain terms that it was not the way he was searching for. I made him promise that he'd not pursue this any further."

Remus shook his head and drank the contents of two more bottles. There was steam coming out of his ears for a short moment, and some of the paleness in his features vanished. He got up from the bed and looked around for his robe.

"When did Harry leave?"

"Maybe forty, forty-five minutes ago. Professor Snape let me out of the cupboard, he already knows what happened."

"That's good. I need to find him, maybe we can still stop all this before Harry does something really stupid."

He found his robe on the back lean of another chair and shrugged into it. Hermione stepped outside of the curtains while he dressed, then Remus quickly hurried past her towards the infirmary doors. Hermione followed him as fast as she could.

"Should you be up and about? What Ron said about your condition didn't sound like it."

"The little blessings of modern medicine. There were so many different strengthening potions beside my bed that I could boost myself up to the level of an Olympic runner for a time. Don't worry, I won't collapse. Now I only need to find Severus."

"I think he wanted to inform Professor Dumbledore. We should go up to his office."

Remus stopped and turned around towards Hermione. "Hermione, it's better if you stay here. This is serious, and it's nothing you can help with. Let Albus, Severus and me take care of it."

Hermione was about to disagree, but there was a look in Remus' eyes which made all the protest die in her throat. He was probably right. And even if he wasn't, there was no way for her to change his mind.

"What's the password to Gryffindor Tower?"

"Gillyweed. I'll let you know as soon as there are news, I promise. But for now, just stay here."

Without waiting for Hermione to answer, Remus stormed down the corridor and towards the staircases that would take him up to Dumbledore's office. Hermione looked after him, then she sighed and started back towards Gryffindor Tower.

Remus was feeling better than he had done in days. He knew that this would only last for about three or four hours, and that he'd probably feel even worse after that, but until then they would have hopefully found Harry. Him taking the potions just now had interfered with Snape's plans for giving him the poison tomorrow, his former classmate had been very explicit about that earlier today. Well, Remus couldn't change that now, he'd fight that struggle with Severus when there was time for it.

About halfway up the stairs, he suddenly heard steps coming into his direction. A few moments later, Snape came around a bend and towards Remus. He looked surprised to see his former classmate up and about again, but the look of surprise quickly turned into one of annoyance, as usual when he saw Remus.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hermione told me what happened. Albus is on his way?"

"You shouldn't be here at all. Or are you intending to collapse and get yourself killed?"

"I took a couple of Pepper-Up Potions. And before you start yelling at me, I know very well that this interferes with your plans. But for now, we need to look after Harry. You won't get rid of me, so you can as well tell me all you know."
Snape glared coldly at Remus, then he waved Remus off. "Potter and Weasley went to the Ministry. But I'm sure Miss Granger already told you that. I wanted to inform the headmaster, but he is not there. He had an appointment in Edinburgh, as far as I know, and was already about to leave when I came from his office earlier. I sent a note with Fawkes, and now I'm on my way to the Ministry to stop Potter before he does something he might regret."

Remus nodded and fell into step next to Snape. "All right, I'll come with you. You're intending to use the floo?"

"Yes. There are some things I want to take from the infirmary first, then I'll take the floo from there."

Remus of course noticed that Severus was still talking about I, but as long as he didn't actively try to stop him, Remus didn't quite worry about in which person the other was talking. He needed to get to Harry now, needed to stop him before he unleashed something that was too much for him to deal with.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry pulled and tugged on his cloak, but it was caught in the elevator doors and he could not free it. Frantically, he tugged and pulled, but the elevator was restlessly moving upward, pulling Harry's cloak with him.

"Ron, help me!"

Harry wanted to free himself, the movement of the elevator was pulling him upward as well. He already had to stand on tiptoe when Ron stepped up to his side and started to pull on his cloak. Together the two of them pulled with all their might, but the cloak stayed lodged in the elevator door.

"Harry, let go!"

But Harry shook his head and continued to pull. He would not give up his father's cloak, not here, not now.

"No. Pull!"

The elevator continued to move, but both Ron and Harry did not let go until the elevator pulled both of them off the ground. As their combined bodyweight was hanging from the cloak, there was the sound of tearing fabric, and a moment later, they were lying on the floor of the corridor, the cloak lying crumpled between them, still tightly in Harry's grasp.

"Man", Ron panted. "That was close."

Harry nodded, then he quickly remembered where they were and looked up sharply. In front of them, there was the familiar corridor that led into the Department of Mysteries, and he breathed an audible sigh of relief as he found it to be empty. There was nobody around who could have seen their little stunt with the invisibility cloak, nobody who could not stop them from what Harry intended to do. He scrambled up to his feet and looked at the damage that had been done to his cloak. There was a huge tear in the fabric, about twelve inches long, but otherwise the cloak seemed a bit rumpled, but not damaged. Maybe the torn pieces could be sewn back together. Next to Harry, Ron slowly got back up as well.

"What do we do now?"

Harry breathed in deeply and looked down the corridor. The torches were throwing only a dim light, but it was enough to see the dark door at the end of the corridor.

"Now we go in", Harry said and draped the cloak back around them. He had to pay attention to the tear in the fabric, but that could not be helped now. It was possible that somebody saw their legs, but there was no turning back from here now for Harry. Torn invisibility cloak or not.

They continued down the corridor towards the door.

Harry was sure that they were still invisible for the most part, yet it seemed as if the door somehow knew that they were there. Just before they reached it, it soundlessly swung open and revealed the circular room behind. Harry looked down at them, but didn't see any trace that their cloak was not covering them right now. Maybe there was some sort of spell on the door, like those muggle devices that automatically opened the doors when somebody was approaching. Maybe one didn't need to be visible for this to work. Maybe Harry just didn't care about why the door opened, for as long as it did open for them. They stepped into the room, and Ron closed the door behind them. Harry felt a shiver run down his spine. The room was still the same. Circular, with about a dozen doors, and small blue torches throwing a very dim light against the walls. Harry suddenly remembered what would happen next, and he quickly pulled a piece of chalk from his jeans pocket and turned around, marking the door that was the Exit with a white E. It was a good idea to take a leaf out of Hermione's book, because as soon as the door was closed, the room slowly began to rotate around them.

"Not that again", Ron whispered, a tiny notion of fear in his voice. "Do we have to try all the doors again until we find the right one?"

Harry shrugged. Actually, he had not thought that far. But Ron was right, there was no way of telling which of those doors would lead them to the Death Chamber. He pulled out his wand with his right hand and shifted the piece of chalk to his left hand.

"I guess we'll have to."

He strode over towards the door straight ahead, pulling Ron with him. Again, the door opened as soon as they approached, and Harry and Ron stepped through.

They found themselves in another dark room, a huge, eerie looking aquarium covering its entire left side. Strange creatures were moving in the dark water, but Harry didn't pause long enough to took a closer look.

"That's not the one, let's try another."

They went out, and before the room could rotate and confuse them again, he marked the door with a large X in chalk. The door closed, the room rotated around again, and Harry and Ron tried another door. They had to try three more doors before they found themselves in the Death Chamber, standing on the top tier of the stone benches that led down towards the archway which stood on its platform, the veil fluttering slightly as if there was a draft of air in the huge room. Harry breathed in and stared down at the archway for a few moments.

The Death Chamber. The place where Grindelwald had disposed of his political enemies. The place where the Dementors had come into the wizarding world. Cold sweat was running down Harry spine as he thought of all the things that had happened in this chamber before, but he forced himself to remain calm.

"What now?", Ron asked next to him. Harry breathed in deeply and turned to face his friend.

"I have to do this alone, Ron. You're in enough trouble as it is, staying here would only pull you deeper into this." Seeing that Ron was about to disagree, Harry shook his head. "No, Ron." He took his backpack firmly in one hand and held the invisibility cloak out to Ron.

"Take the cloak and go out again. Mark the door that leads to the Death Chamber with a small mark, wipe off all the Xs, and mark the exit with a smaller E. In case somebody comes down here, our marks are far too obvious, they'll know immediately that somebody was in here. I don't know how many Unspeakables there are, but I don't want to take chances. In case somebody comes, you need to make sure that I don't get disturbed."

Ron looked slightly pale, but his hand numbly closed around the piece of chalk Harry handed him.

"But what am I supposed to do if somebody comes in here?"

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. Think of something. I don't think that anybody will come here in the middle of the night, but if somebody does, they can't come into the Death Chamber."

Ron still looked uncomfortable, but he slowly nodded. "All right. How long do you think this will take?"

Harry shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea Ron. I don't hope it will take too long."

Ron nodded again and made a step towards the door, but turned again. "All right. Good luck then."

"Thanks."

Ron looked as if he was about to say something else, but then he only smiled shakily and left through the door. Harry waited until the door was closed behind him, then he turned around towards the archway again and slowly began to descend the stone stairs. The closer he came to the archway, the taller the structure seemed to become. Now he could see the engravings Dumbledore had spoken about days ago, when they had talked about the archway and the Death Chamber. They were so faint that they looked like cracks in the stone, but once Harry knew what they really were, they actually seemed like writing. Though not in any language Harry knew. Harry shuddered at the thought that those writings bore the formula to draw power from the witches and wizards which had been thrown through the archway. The veil was still fluttering ominously, and for a moment Harry contemplated whether he would end up where Sirius was now, if he simply stepped through it. Immediate death, Dumbledore had said. Well, Sirius was not dead yet, and with that firm thought, Harry ore himself out of those stupid musings. He had a lot of things to do. Quickly he put his backpack down onto the ground, pulled out the candles, a piece of chalk, his knife and the book Dobby had stolen for him, as well as the notes he had made while reading the book. His hands were shaking slightly as he opened up the book and unfolded his parchments. He re-read a certain passage, then he picked up a piece of chalk and began.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Remus knew that Snape was angry, and he could sympathise with him. They had flooed to the Ministry Atrium, the only fireplace in the Ministry of Magic where one could floo to without using a password. And there, their quest to reach Harry before something went wrong had come to an untimely end. They had already stormed towards the elevators at the far end of the Atrium when the watchwizard had jumped up from behind his desk and stopped them. Remus had left the talking to Snape, mostly because he and the watchwizard were already both talking and shouting at each other and no matter what Remus had said he wouldn't have been heard, anyway. Besides, Remus thought that Snape did quite a good job in explaining to the watchwizard that they were here to prevent possible disaster down in the Department of Mysteries, but it was as if the watchwizard didn't hear what he said at all. He insisted on them having their wands recorded and get official visitor's badges before they moved anywhere, much less to the Department of Mysteries. In the end, Remus cuffed Snape harshly in the ribs to make him shut up.

"I know he's annoying", he whispered, "but we'll be a lot faster if we let him have his way now."

Snape glared at him and didn't seem convinced, but nevertheless he handed his wand over to the watchwizard. The man flashed a triumphant grimace at Snape, then began noting the specifics of his wand. Five minutes later, the watchwizard was finally satisfied, Remus and Snape both had a visitor's badge flashing from the front of their robes, and Snape was as angry as Remus had ever seen him. Remus knew that probably Snape was adding up all inconveniences and annoyances of the day, only to let Harry feel the full force of his accumulated wrath. Remus could sympathise with Severus' feelings. First of all, they were here because Harry was about to do something completely stupid, something both Snape and he had told him explicitly not to do, and now they also had to struggle with those petty Ministry bureaucrats. That didn't exactly help to lighten one's mood, Remus knew that. They pressed the button and waited for an elevator to come.

"What did you write to Albus?"

Snape grunted. "I told him what Potter is about to do, and that he should come immediately. I imagine he might inform other Order members, if he thinks we're in need of reinforcements."

The statement made it clear that Snape was not here for chit-chat, so Remus shrugged and turned back towards the closed elevator doors. Of course, he was angry at well. If he had Harry standing before him right now, he'd probably yell at him with all his might, though yelling was normally not something he resorted to. But right now he felt like yelling. Just how stupid an idea was it for an underage wizard with no talent whatsoever to perform Necromancy to try using a necromantic rite to bring his godfather back? On top of Remus' personal list of stupidities, this scheme came on place two directly after sending a classmate down the Whomping Willow Passage on a full moon night. And Merlin, had he been angry when that had happened. He'd make sure that Harry got out of this all right, and then he'd give him a piece of mind about what he'd done. Snape was not the only one who could get angry.

Finally, an elevator arrived and Snape stepped in before the doors had even opened fully. Remus followed him and pressed the button with the number nine on it. He noticed that Snape had his wand out and resting beside his leg, as if he expected having to use it any moment now. Remus felt his own heart beating fast in his chest. They had lost a lot of time. Harry and Ron had probably left directly after they had locked Hermione in the closet. Of course the two teenagers might not have been able to get directly down into the Department of Mysteries, but Snape and he had lost at least an hour on them. First Hermione had been locked up in the closet, then they had informed Dumbledore and prepared to leave. Snape had insisted on taking some potions from the infirmary with them, and then the watchwizard here had cost them at least ten more minutes. And they weren't even in the Department of Mysteries yet. Of course, if anybody had seen Harry and Ron, they would have stopped the two teenagers. But Remus didn't delude himself. Harry had James' old invisibility cloak, and he'd bet everything he owned on it that the two teenagers had been sneaking around here under its protection.

After a long ride that seemed to stop at every level, they finally reached level nine and got out. The watchwizard had told them in no uncertain terms that visitors were not allowed below level eight, but personally Remus thought that if they didn't want people to go down there, then they should post a guard down in the corridor. But there was no guard, just like there hadn't been a guard a bit less than three months ago when Remus had been in the Department for the last time. Interesting how little the Department of Mysteries seemed to care about protecting its secrets. Not Remus' concern though, he needed to find Harry and Ron. Snape was storming down the corridor as soon as the elevator doors opened, and Remus quickly followed him.

There was nobody in the corridor with them, so they ran towards the door that would lead them into the Death Chamber. As they were halfway down the corridor, however, something moved to their right and suddenly Ron was standing there. As Remus had guessed, he was holding Harry's invisibility cloak in his hand. The teenager was pale as a wraith and he was staring at Remus and Snape with wide eyes. No wonder, Remus thought with a mirthless internal chuckle. After all, Ron had certainly never been a member of the Severus Snape-Fan club, Snape could be very intimidating on a good day, and he guessed that they both were looking rather angry now. And with their arrival here, Ron knew that he and Harry were definitely caught now.

"Where is Potter?", Snape had barked out even before he had stopped running. Ron paled even further, and Remus imagined he was probably thinking about his mother's reaction when she got to know about this. Remus wouldn't want to face Molly's wrath about that stunt, but then again Ron had brought that upon himself. He had gotten himself into that mess, he'd have to bear with her now.

"Weasley, where is Potter?", Snape repeated when Ron didn't immediately answer. Weakly, Ron raised a hand and gestured towards the door.

"In…in there. He's in the Death Chamber."

Snape let out a loud curse upon hearing that. "For how long?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. Twenty, twenty-five minutes maybe. I was slowly getting worried that something has gone wrong."

Snape glared coldly at Ron. "You can be glad if he's still alive. I highly doubt it", was all he said, then he stormed towards the door, which opened as soon as he approached. Remus wanted to follow him, but then he saw that Ron also made move to come along and stopped again.

"You stay here, Ron. Professor Dumbledore should be on his way, wait here for him and tell him what happened when he arrives."

Ron didn't look too pleased at the prospect, but Remus didn't wait for him to agree. He was already storming after Snape.

"I've marked the right door with an X in the lower left corner", Ron called after him. Remus nodded, though he could not immediately make sense of his words. Which door, and why marked it? Absent-minded, he nodded his head at Ron while he was trying to catch up with Snape. The door at the end of the corridor glided open as the two wizards passed it, and Remus pulled it close behind himself.

"Lumos!"

The light from Snape's wand illuminated the circular chamber they now were in, and upon seeing the room again, Ron's words suddenly made sense to Remus. Of course, the teenager would not know that to a fully educated wizard, there were other means to find the right door on the first try. The chamber rotated around them and Snape was already pointing his wand, but then Remus saw the small white X in the lower corner of one of the doors and pushed Snape's arm down. Snape immediately withdrew his arm as if Remus' touch was transferring something contagious.

"That's the door", Remus said, and made a step forward to open it. Snape made a grunting noise in the back of his throat, but he followed Remus as the other wizard stepped out into the Death Chamber. As Remus stepped out onto the top tier of stone benches and took a good look around the Chamber, he had a hard time not to cry out in frustration.