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Severus closed his eyes, waiting for the feast to begin. He knew what would happen. He'd seen rats devour the flesh of one of the Death Eater's captives in Malfoy's dungeon. Just as he felt the first small creature jump on his blood-soaked clothes, there was a loud CRACK, and the rat flew off of him. Severus opened his eyes to see all the rats lying dead and Bellatrix Lestrange apparated into the room.
"What the HELL is going on?!" she yelled, looking back and forth between Severus and Peter.
"Pettigrew, have you completely lost your mind, you pathetic rat? Voldemort would murder you if he knew you'd tried to kill Severus."
"But he's a traitor! A spy!" Pettigrew argued.
"Shut up, Peter. Severus, are you okay?"
"He's put a binding spell on me." At that, Bella recited the spell's reversal and offered Severus her hand to steady him as he stood up.
"Don't help him, Bella! He's spying for Dumbledore." Pettigrew pointed his wand at Severus, ready to finish him now, regardless of the consequences.
"I said 'Shut up!'" With that, a blast of yellow light shot Pere's wand out of his silver hand. Bella immediately followed with a silencing and binding spell on Peter, so he stood completely still and silent, with a panicked expression across his face. As she did that, Snape walked around the kitchen until he found his wand. He pointed it at himself and muttered two spells: one to stop his bleeding, and one to replace his ruined robes. While Bella was still preoccupied, Severus quickly glanced at the map again, to make sure he had read it correctly. It read the same. His heart beat sped up at the thought of what Malfoy could possibly be doing to Harry.
Bella, satisfied that Peter couldn't kill anyone at the moment, turned back to Severus.
"Again, what the hell is going on here?" She asked, her patience growing thin.
"I've been trying to find where Malfoy took that Potter brat. I want to be there when Lucius gets his revenge for being sent to Azkaban."
"And Pettigrew here flipped out because.....?" Bella asked, eyebrows raised.
"For some reason, he thinks I've betrayed our Lord."
"Okay. Deal with it later. Right now, Voldemort wants you, Pettigrew." Bella informed the fearful mass standing statue-still behind her. "I'm going to take the spell off and we're going to return to him with no trouble. Got it?" Pettigrew whimpered a reply she assumed was 'yes'. Pettigrew knew there was nothing he could do about Severus now that he'd lost the element of suprise. He was going to have to trick Snape into slipping up.
Suddenly Severus drew in his breath silently, as the familiar burning engulfed his arm.
"He's calling me, too. I'll meet you there." With that, Severus dissaparated, leaving Bellatrix and Peter to follow.
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As the dry heaving subsided, Harry thought about the moments leading up to now. He had been taken from his room on Privet Drive, left in an empty dungeon room for a countless number of days, and then brought to the house his parents had been murdered in so he could join them in the grave. He had no way to escape due to his broken leg and absent wand. That left him cold, hungry and too weak to pick up his wand even if he did have it. His magic was useless. But Sirius had said help was on the way. At this point though, Harry wasn't sure if it had really been Sirius, or just a very sick trick of his mind. He was beginning to believe it was the latter.
"Oh Harry. Don't look so bleak. The real fun hasn't even begun yet." purred Lucius, with a very demented glimmer in his eyes. "We have a lot of games planned for you. You do like games, don't you? What boy wouldn't?"
Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling as the group moved around to the back of the house.
"Leave him there." instructed Lucius, pointing at a tree stump. Crabbe dropped Harry on it and cast a binding spell on him.
"Don't want you wandering off before the festivities begin." He added. The three Death Eaters walked around the backyard, readying items and spaces. They moved stoned here, gathered wood there, and worked in silence quite diligently. Harry was truly afraid to make any sound, almost relieved their attention was elsewhere. He looked all around for some sign of his help, but there was none to be found. After a short while, Lucius stopped, looking quite pleased with himself. He turned towards Harry, smiling. Behind him lay what looked like the preparations for a bonfire. Many logs and branches were stacked neatly and in good preparations for burning with a ring of stones encasing it in order to keep the fire from spreading.
"Have you guessed yet, Harry? Our game is going to be a bit of a history lesson for you. We're going to have a good, old-fashioned witch burning." With that, Lucius projected the Dark Mark high into the sky.
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"It's ready." announced Molly Weasley. She had taken the job of finishing the Locator potion so she could feel productive and useful. Just waiting was driving her mad. Immediately, the remaining Order members rushed into the kitchen. The group consisted of Hagrid, Tonks, Kingsley, the entire Weasley clan, Hermoine, Remus, Minerva, and of course, Albus Dumbledore. The other members had left to either assume posts assigned to them by Dumbledore, or wait for an update from the Order in less crowded quarters. While the entire room held its breath, Albus placed Harry's wand in the bubbling cauldron and recited the Locator Spell. Immediately, the potion began churning. After a few minutes, a swirling, orange mist rose above the cauldron. The swirls grew larger and more exaggerated until the middle cleared into a picture. Gasps were heard around the room as a house with a large Dark Mark hovering in the sky above it became clear amidst the mist.
"Where is that?" Hermoine asked as she saw recognition register on many of the Order member's faces.
"It's Lily and James' house." Replied Remus. "That's where Voldemort killed them."
At that, Dumbledore swished the potion and the room cleared.
"We must act quickly. It appears as though Lucius has already called Voldemort to the house. That means time is running out for Harry."