Chapter 13
Waking up in the darkened holding cell for a second time was almost as bad as spending the night in Dumbledore's office, Severus decided as he slowly drifted back into consciousness. Some strange light filtered in through the iron bars but he could not say what time of the day it was. He had fallen asleep after the last beating, unable to to anything else. Slowly he forced himself to open his eyes. Even the muted light hurt.
"Merlin's balls..." the battered mattress creaked as he sat up, each movement stiff with pain. Another glance around proved his suspicions wrong. They had not moved him while he had been unconscious.
"Get your fucking ass up, death eater!" the voice of one-eye suddenly interrupted him, accompanied by the clanking of metal. "Time to go to Askaban."
Severus stood paralyzed, all of his weight on his uninjured foot as he watched a procession of aurors file into his cell. How could the small room hold so many of them? There were even more of them than whe he had been interrogated. Were they planning something? He drew himself upright, forced himself to stand up straight.
"You cannot take me to Askaban," his voice only wavered once. "I have seen neither judge nor trial."
"We don't need trials for the likes of you," the auror closest to him snarled. His grin was more than just malicious. "You're going straight to Askaban."
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His mind was still numb as he stared helplessly at the cruelly-wrought stone wall in front of him. Shadows flitted over the gaps and spots of moss that grew between the rough blocks of stone. The whole wall seemed to be in motion, giving the building an eerie life of its own. Or maybe it was just this cell. Severus' lips quirked. Perhaps it was just some strange ministry way of breaking the prisoners.
He could sense that the cell had been enspelled, had been permanently altered by magic but he could not determine of which nature these spells were. He could only sense the magic of Askaban dampening his own. The spells around him did not block his magic completely, however, they kept him from doing anything but cleaning and warming himself.
Severus' smile was humourless. And of course the spells did not stop him from attacking the other prisoners. It fit the so-called light wizards. Stop the evil, dark wizards from breaking out, but why stop them from cursing and hexing each other? No, just let them kill each other. After all, who'd mind a few dead death eaters? Surely no self-respecting light wizard would. He knew that there were three kinds of cells in Askaban; each kind had a different set of security spells and functions. He knew that he was not even close to the true high-security cells.
Severus grimaced. He had still not been allowed to see or fire-call a defense lawyer, or anyone else for that matter, even though the law demanded it. Maybe that was why he was in this sort of cell.
Sighing he forced himself to his feet. Pain flared through his left knee. He needed to remain active. Not knowing what time it was, was awful in its own right but just sitting around and staring holes into thin air was even worse.
Stones charred his skin as his hands scraped over the cold wall, explored the chiselled surface. Askaban was cold. The emotional coldness the dementors carried with them had seeped into the very stones of the building, had even managed to penetrate into the earth beneath the prison. Shivering he reached out with his magic. The cold of Askaban was already getting to him. Soon he could see the stones in spite of his closed eyes, a glowing net of dark brown with light ochre spots surrounded him, only tainted by the artificial black glare of the iron bars that made up the door to his cell.
Black hair obscured his face as he concentrated and finally found the warmth within the stones. A smile lit his face as small flams sprang up in the web of stones. A wonderful prickling of warmth seeped into his fingers. Severus almost crawled into the wall, clawing at the now-warm stones as he tried to soak up as much of the warmth as he could. Luckily he could sense that the wards were unable to notice the subtle changes he had made. They were not set to recognize elemental magic. Severus grimaced. At least he hoped it.
His face twisted into a mask of pain for just a second, but as soon as he had settled down in a semi-sitting position the pain in his leg abated. Sighing he settled back against the wall, wrapping his arms around himself and staring suspiciously at the door. He knew that they would be back to interrogate him. A shiver cursed through him as he relaxed further against the wall. Strangely enough the temperature in the room was still dropping. Maybe it was just another attempt to break him. Sighing he tried to sink back into the warmth the stones offered him.
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Her eyes were still slightly glazed as the vacant expression finally left them. Blinking a few times she readjusted her sight, pushing her glasses up her nose in an automatic gesture. A brilliant smile lit Trelawney's face as she recognized the man in front of her.
"They will fail, love," she informed the black-haired man. "Severus will survive."
"I am glad to hear that," the man smiled in response, offering Trelawney his hand. "Will we inform Dumbledore of this developement?"
Sybil's black robes somehow managed to entangle themselves in her lover's legs. "We will," she decided after a while. "He still trusts Severus. And we need to find the traitor who sold Severus out to the ministry."
"We do indeed," a dangerous glint appeared in the man's eyes. "And we have to make sure that he receives the punishment he deserves."
"Where is your owl?" Trelawney quickly crossed the luxuriously decorated room, paying no heed to the lavish paintings and heavy brokade curtains. "I also wish to inform the headmaster that I will be away from Hogwarts for a while longer."
"Do you think that wise?" the man's footsteps were soft on the plush carpet as he followed her. "After all you left Hogwarts without giving him any notice."
"He will have to deal with it," Trelawney flicked an unruly strand of hair back. "I have no desire to play the stupid bat who prophecies everyone's death again," she paused, pursing her lips briefly. "And I have no desire to pretend that I am too stupid to pick clothes that actually match."
She glared at her lover's chuckle.
"Dumbledore will at least have all the information I can give him at this point, even if he has to find a substitute teacher for a few days. Maybe he'll even be able to get his potions master back."
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No. Severus stared at the three figures, who had just entered his cell. This simply could no be. Even the ministry could not be this cruel.
"What do you want?" he whispered, not even expecting an answer. Leather boots taped ominiously on the suddenly ice-cold stone floor as the three skeletal figures in torn, black robes came closer and closer.
"Stay back," his voice sounded awfully raspy. "I won't go down without a fight." Severus shuddered. He could have sworn that at least one of the dementors had smiled. If these things could smile at all. He gulped down the painful lump in his throat, his still tingling fingers searching for his wand. It was gone -confiscated.
The three were coming. Sharp stones dug into his back as the wall stopped his retreat. The wards would not let him cast patronus in here.
"No," he whispered again. Screams rose around him, pierced his ears in a deafening cacophony of pain. He knew these screams, had dreamt of the, too often. He closed his eyes, shaking his head. Blood dripped from his broken fingernaisl as he clawed them into the wall. He saw everything again.
Saw the werwolf tear his mother's throat out, saw his father torn to piees. The train rattled on, blissfully unaware of the massacre going on inside. The steam engine roared in his ears like an angry lion, threatened to tear his eardrums apart.
The screams became his own, as he saw Lupin leaping towards him, fangs bared and blood lust in his yellow eyes. He knew he was going to die this time. Th wolf had finally managed to get him.
No. He shook his head in a desperate attempt to clear his mind. Tears stung his eyes. Where was the sobbing coming from? He had to stop this; could not allow this to happen again. Again? He was confused. Why again? Had this happened before? Already shaking with the cold of death he chanelled all the magic he could gather through himself through his body, pushed out against the dementors in front of him. Vicious nothingness glared at him from three empty hoods. There was nothing there instead of faces. The warmth of the earth magic flowed through him, burned angrily in his veins as he lashed out at the dementors again, not even bothering to use a spell.
A red-golden flash of heat suddenly appeared by his side, launched itself at the three hooded figures and exploded in a fiery blaze of light. Severus yelped wit pain as he collided with the wall. He whimpered as he landed on his right arm. The sickening crack of a braking bone echoed through his ears.
After an eternity he pushed himself up onto his left arm, finally daring a look at where the dementors had been. Severus' surprised gasp bounced eerily of the walls. He knew the phoenix that was hovering in the air.
"Fawkes..." But how could that be? How had the bird even entered the prison? And why had Dumbledore's familiar chosen to help him?
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"How could this happen?" Podmore's face was as dark as a thunderstorm. "I ordered you to arrest him, not to have him killed!" He stopped his frantic pacing, glaring balefully at the auror squad in front of him. "How could they attack Snape? Who ordered that? And how did he manage to fight them off?" Podmore's voice had launched itself into a screaming rage. "Prisoners aren's able to attack the guards! No matter which! The wards won't let them!"
"We don't know, Sir," the one-eyed auror shifting quickly on his feet, hoping that Podmore wouldn't notice the nervous gesture. "All we know is that the dementors refuse to give us a reason for their attack. They won't tell us who gave them the order."
"Which means," Podmore gave the auror a sarcastic grin. "That all we know is that we know nothing."
"Well, we do know that the dementors never attack without reason," a rather small auror interjcted. "Someone must have ordered them."
"We'll have to transfer Snape," Podmore sighed deeply. "He's not safe in Askaban. And we still need him to give us the name of the other death eaters." His bue robes flared angrily out behind him, as he snatched the box of floo powder from his desk. "I am going to inform the minister of these developements." he glared at the aurors again. "Make sure that at least two guards are always with Snape while I'm gone."
An angry hiss of green flames swallowed Podmore's shape, leaving a rather subdued squad of aurors behind.
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"Minister Fudge," Podmore nodded politely at the man behind the enormous oak desk as soon as he stepped out of the swirling, green flames. He was glad that he had learnt to hide his disgust of the man. "We have managed to capture Severus Snape."
Fudge's head shot up. "Snape? Where is he?"
"In Askaban," Podmore seated himself in the stuffy armchair without waiting for the minister's invitation. "However, we have to get him out of there."
"Why?" Fudge seemed truly surprised. Maybe he had still not got over the fact, that Snape had really been arrested.
Podmore suppressed an exasperated sigh.
"You have been more than lucky to arrest Snape without Dumbledore interfering. Why should we risk sending Snape to another prison? And Askaban is the safest of all our prisons."
"Because Snape's not safe in Askaban."
"Of course he isn't," Fudge agreed at once. "He's a prisoner and a death eater after all."
"No," Podmore shook his head. Sometimes these discussions were like talking to a child. "Three dementors tried to kill Snape today." There was no need to mention the phoenix. Which may or may nog have been sent by Dumbledore. At least the headmaster's damned pet had not been in the office when they had arrested Snape. "We have to transfer him to another prison. One without dementors. He's of no use to us, if he's dead."
"Of course," Fudge smiled. "How muchlonger till Dumbledore makes an appearance?"
"I don't know," Podmore shrugged. "I don't think he'll make his move too soon. He'll probably try to get the board of governors onto his side. He has been quite careful in his dealings with us lately."
"Very well." Fudge's nod was clearly satisfied. "As long as you have enough to gain Snape a life sentence or the kiss."
"I have," Podmore assured him, inwardly rolling his eyes. "He won't be able to slip through our fingers again."
"Good," Fudge waved absentmindedly at Podmore, already returning his attention to one of the scrolls on his desk. "Transfer him to where ever takes your fancy. Just make sure you don't lose him."
"Thank you, Minister." Podmore nodded curtly, robes wished as he stood up. Soon Fudge was alone again, a worried line etched into his forehead. This was definitely not good.
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"I do hope that you have a good reason for making me break the rules again." Hermione said as she mock-glared at her two best friends.
Harry smiled sheepishly as he dropped the invisibility cloak.
"Nice," Ron commented. "How did you make the room look like this?"
"Honestly Ron," this time Hermione did not refrain from rolling her eyes. "It's the room of requirement. We needed a place where we'd feel comfortable while talking, so of course it looks like the common room."
"Yeah, well," Harry tried effortlessly to tame his sleep-tousled hair. "There are some things I have to talk to you about. And before you say it," he held his hands up defensively, settling down on one of the red sofas. "I know I should have said something sooner, but it was all so weird and I didn't know how."
"Geez, mate," Ron shook his head. "That sounds pretty serious."
"It is serious," Harry smiled gratefully at Hermione, gladly taking the proffered hand. "I've been having dreams again. And visions." He squeezed Hermione's hand, trying not to look to scared or worried.
"Look," he tried to explain. "It's not that bad. I haven't seen any murders or so, it's just that there's someone new in my dreams and I think she could really help us get rid of Voldemort once and for all."
Both Ron and Hermione winced simultaniously at the name. Harry sighed.
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It took Harry the better part of two hours to tell his friends everything he knew about the Morrigan. Which was not exactly much, he noticed, as he tried to answer their questions. Especially Hermione seemed more than just sceptic.
"And she really said that she could help you?" A deep frown was etched into her face. "Did she say how? Or what she expected in exchange for her help?"
"Yes, no and no," Harry blushed, secretly glaring at Ron. Why wasn't he helping him? The redhead seemed unnaturally quiet and thoughtful. "I think we should believe her." Harry finished a littel lamely.
"Why?" Hermione was quick to answer. "Has she done anything to prove that she is who you think she is?"
"She seems sincere," Harry shrugged. "And Snape hates her. That has to mean something."
"But not necessarily something good," Ron interjected, absenmindedly scratching his chin.
"Ron's rigth Harry."
"Harry stared helplessly at his best friend. "Since when are you defending Snape?"
"I'm not," Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "I merely think that you should be a bit more careful with that Morrigan. You don't usually trust that easily."
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"But what if someone catches us?"
"Oh, shut it Herm," Ron hissed, silently cursing the invisibility cloak. It was too small for three people.
"No one's going to catch us. Snape's gone, remember? He's not stalking the hallways anymore."
"Quiet." Harry pulled ar Ron's pullover. "We could still disturb a house elf or something."
"Yes, yes, yes," Hermione huffed indignantly, pulling the others towards the history section. "Which book are we looking for, Harry?"
"The Almighty Almanach of All Avalon-related Actions," Harry whispered back. "I found the information on that raven priestess in there."
"And the chailce?" Hermione ellbowed Ron, pointing at the book she wanted him to get. "Was there anything about the chalice in there?"
"No," Harry frowned. "I don't think so. But there has to be some information somewhere. This is after all one of the biggest wizarding libraries in England."
"But the book we need might be in the restricted section," Hermione's look was almost enamoured as she stroked the cover of the Almanach.
"Then we'll have to find a way in there." Harry said resolutely, immediately causing Ron to groan. "Sweet Merlin," the redhead yawned wildly. "That almost sounds like work."
Two pairs of eyes, one intense green and one smouldering brown, immediately turned to glare at him.