Chapter Thirteen - Wormtail makes his Grand Appearance.

A/N - Wormtail rocks. Oh, how I love him. squishy hugs for Mr. Rat

'Well, well, well. Oh... my, my, my, my, my.' The sillhouette of Peter Pettigrew appeared over them, distant at the mouth of the pit. His face was twisted into a large grin, and he seemed almost giddy as he danced around the pit.

'Wormtail!' Snape snarled.

The balding, stout man tipped his hat, his grin wider than ever. 'One and the same.' He sang. 'And it looks like i've caught the spider it it's own web.' He laughed unpleasantly.

'How did you get here?' Snape knew the answer as soon as it flew from his mouth.

'Not very smart, are we, Snivellus? Old Mr. Potions Master getting a bit slow these days, isn't he? I followed you here, Snivvy. It seems there are so many rats in the castle of Borthwick Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland, that one can so easily slip in amongst the crowd un-noticed. Wouldn't have been so easy if I were a wolf, or a dog, or a stag. Or a goat. Although, I must admit that I am rather fond of goats.'

'What are you blabbering on about?' Snape's eyes blazed with rage. 'Oh well, never mind that. You will now help us out of the pit, or I will-'

Before he could touch his wand, Wormtail pointed his own wand at it and it flew out of the pit. Wormtail then pointed his wand at Bellatrix and the shards of her wand flew into his hand. He seemed puzzled for a moment, then let out an unpleasant howl of laughter.

'Did you land on it and break it with your fat rump, woman?' He giggled, sneering at Bellatrix.

'Look whose talking!' She retorted angrily. But if she was angry, Snape was furious.

'How dare you think you can snatch my wand from me, you little git!'

Wormtail bent over, his hands on his knees, humour diminished from his face. 'I just did, Snivvelus. You doubt my powers, you always have, and It will be your downfall! Do you not remember that it was me who was responsible for the simultaneous killings of over 13 muggles before my dissapearance, nearly two decades ago? Oh yes, I have been waiting, biding my time to strike both you and the Dark Lord! And now it seems I have my chance! I will take this Horcrux and destroy it! I will destroy you both! I will have my revenge!'

He reached over to where Bellatrix had left her sweatshirt, the Horcrux wrapped in it. Unfolding it, he was struck dumb for a moment, gazing at the swirling beauty of the two entwined snakes on the armband. His eyes watering with emotion, he held it up, before thoughtlessly sliding it onto his own right-arm.

A mere second passed before his long, pain-filled shreik echoed through the chamber, and the smell of burning flesh met thier nostrils. Writhing in pain, Wormtail waved his arm in attempt to be rid of the Horcrux. Missing his footing, he fell heavily into the pit, squashing Bellatrix under his fat body. He continued to writhe and thrash about, until Snape snatched his wand from him and pointed at his chest.

A blazing light issued from the tip of the wand and hit Wormtail square on the chest, his thrashing stopped as if in freeze frame, but the blackened and burned skin continued to fizz and crackle, spreading from his arm to his shoulder.

Wrenching off his jacket, Snape covered the glowing horcrux with it and pulled it from Wormtail's arm. The fizzing and crackling of his skin suddenly stopped, although the damage had definatley been done to Wormtail's body.

With the Horcrux smothered in his black jacket under his arm, Snape prised Wormtail from Bellatrix and helped her up. She kicked Wormtail angrilly and turned to Snape. 'Did you finish him?' She asked hopefully.

Snape shook his head. 'He is merely stunned. I think I would prefer to leave him here, stuck in a deep pit in this torture chamber, to spend the rest of his shortened life crying in lament over his own stupidity. They may find his corpse in a few hundred years time. They may not.'

A cruel smile spread across Bella's face. 'Brilliant.' she hissed.

Snape nodded boredly. 'Alright then, enough fooling around. It is about time we left this Godforsaken place.' With several flicks of his wand and a long, drawled incantation, Bella felt her body become as light as a feather as the floated from the deep, dark pit and landed softly on the ground above. Snape followed, landing beside her, breathing heavily, a bead of sweat trickling over his forehead.

She looked sideways at him. 'You could have done that earlier.' She muttered.

Snape nodded. 'Yes, I could have. However, The anti-gravity spell is a tricky incantation which requires a lot of concentration. Oh, and I wanted you to plead.' A smirk passed his face. Passing her Wormtail's wand, he picked up his own wand where Wormtail had left it.

They then left the chamber, Horcrux tucked safely in the jacket under Snape's arm.

PR&R/rigamortis.