Wormtail's Debt

Spinner's End had hardly ever been as busy before; not until last year had Snape allowed uninvited guests to enter his household, and since then apparently he had relaxed his policies by giving stay to the very unwelcome Draco Malfoy.

"You must eat," Snape ordered. "You are growing thinner and paler each passing day. What will your mother say when she sees you like this? She will think I abused you!"

"She wouldn't be far off," Draco spat back. In just the short period of time since they had escaped from Hogwarts, Draco had lost all fondness for Severus Snape. Draco had refused all offers for rations, better clothing, a comfy bed - they were excellent temptations: the finest delecacies and wines, expensive garments and all the stops - but Draco knew that they were mere plays.

"Do you think I like you staying here? You failed to fulfill your master's orders. If it wasn't for me the situation could have been disastrous, yet here you are, protected in my house. You are lucky the Dark Lord has spared you, so far."

"Fine. If you don't want me here I'll just leave." He tried to move, but Snape pulled out his wand and forced Draco back into his chair without speaking a single incantation. He continued, by forcing the chair against a wall, and pressing a table to Draco's chest, completely restricting his movements. He then levitated a large platter containing his dinner along with a glass half-filled with wine. Draco couldn't do much to defend himself, as he was not allowed to hold his own wand.

"If you continue to behave like this I cannot be held responsible for my actions. Perhaps the Crucio curse would teach you to act more accordingly." Draco glared, and with one swoop of his arm, sent his dinner crashing off the table and onto the carpet. He dared Snape to do as his words intended, but there was no Crucio curse.

"Wormtail!" Snape barked. "Prepare our guest another dinner. You will do a better job this time, and then you will clean up the mess on the floor after you are done."

"Yes, master," Wormtail obeyed shakingly, then scurried into the kitchen.

"Your mother will be here tomorrow morning," Snape reminded, returning his anger to Draco. "I do not want her to see her son in such a state, as scrawny as Harry Potter. You will do well to eat your dinner, comb your hair, and change into cleaner clothes."

"What? Do you have a crush on her or something?" Draco mocked. "Think you can order me around like a father? Is that why you made the unbreakable vow?"

"You will not speak such nonsense in front of her!" This time Malfoy was nearly afraid of how angry Snape looked. "I am very careful in choosing who I love."

"Of course. I know all about you. You-"

"Don't say it!"

Wormtail reappeared with the new dinner. He placed it on Draco's table carefully, quickly scooped the remains of the previous meal into a bag and tried to leave the room immediately, but Snape gave him another order.

"Get the mail," he commanded.

"The mail?"

"You heard me." This was the first time Wormtail had ever been ordered to get the mail. He was under the impression that nobody wrote to this house. "Hurry! Narcissa may have changed the scheduled pick up time."

Wormtail hurried to fireplace (the only way letters could enter was trough the chimney) and discovered that the letter was neither from Narcissa nor was it even addressed to Snape; it was sent to him! He checked behind his back nervously, but Snape wasn't looking at him as he was still busy trying to force Draco to eat. Slowly, he opened the letter and read it, which didn't take long as it was quite short:

I saved your life.
It's your turn to repay your debt.
Tell me how to get to Godric's Hollow.

Harry

"What's taking you so long?" Snape shouted. Wormtail fumbled the letter in his hands, and without much time to think of what to do, he stuffed it in his mouth and chewed it down his throat in a very ratlike fashion. He then quickly returned to the room where Draco was eating.

"There was no letter, master," Wormtail reported quite unnaturally, being careful not to let pieces of paper slip from his mouth.

"Really? I am sure I heard an owl."

"You are mistaken... master." Snape glowered at him, almost causing him to shrink.

Draco suddenly interrupted defiantly, "I heard no owl either. Must have been your imagination." Snape seemed confused, not sure with whom to be more furious with; it was quite a dilemma. Eventually, he gave up and retired himself to bed.

Draco was still awake when a grandfather clock sounded to indicate midnight. He listened to the sound of a new day, a day that would relieve him of Snape's punishment and send him to his mother's, and then Voldemort's. He was afraid at first, but with time, his fear of death subsided, because he knew very well that there was nothing he could do. It was obvious that Voldemort would extract as much useful information as possible from him, and then use the unblockable killing curse. His only concern now was making sure he didn't kill his mother as well.

The rythmic tolls of the grandfather clock slowly quietened, then disappeared like a baby lulled to sleep. He nearly fell asleep himself, but two new sounds alerted him: an owl and a voice. Slowly and carefully he opened crept out of his room and followed the noises to the fireplace, where Wormtail was trying to climb up the chimney while holding an envelope in its teeth. He barely had begun when he lost his grip and fell, and would have caused a great deal of noise had Draco not caught him.

"What are you doing?" Draco hissed. "Snape could wake up any time now!"

"It is most important!" Wormtail insisted with a blend of determination and fear. "The boy's owl, awaits at the top of this chimney for this letter. Potter - he must at all costs receive this letter! No one else must read it!"

"Potter?" As little as Draco enjoyed the thought of helping Harry Potter, he was not about to let a chance of defying Snape slip from his fingers. "And this letter... it will help him stop Voldemort?"

Wormtail flinched upon hearing the name, but answered, "Yes! It will! It surely will!"

"Give it here. Go back to your room. I don't care if I'm caught. Voldemort's going to kill me anyway."

"Oh, thank you. You are very kind, sir. You'd best be careful." Wormtail didn't argue, and quickly scrambled back to his room as Draco had suggested. He looked up the chimney, and found that it was unimaginably tall and at the very top was a small slit where he could slip the letter through to where Hedwig was waiting.

The only way to make it up was to use both arms and legs, each pressed against a different side of the inside of the chimney, and slowly move upward with the envelope clenched between his teeth. He inhaled deeply then began his ascent. By the time he reached the point where Wormtail had fallen, his entire body was aching, and he also realized why Wormtail had fallen. Not only was the chimney entirely vertical, tall, and nearly impossible to climb, there were magic jinxes and traps there to stop him as well.

Water began seeping through the walls, and he could feel his grip slipping. He dug in deeper, clawing directly into the brick walls, causing his fingers to bleed. He passed the first obstacle, only to realize that there were many more, and he was now handicapped, as the liquid from before was not water, but some sort of poison, causing his hands to burn. He ignored the pain and climbed onward, passing jabbing spears, wasps, and several snakes, one of which had bitten his left wrist.

He was almost there now, only a few more feet, but his next step, however, triggered a thin wire causing another trap to spring: the fireplace automatically closed and the same burning liquid from before reappeared, but this time it came gushing in, filling in the chimney, threatening to drown him.

Just a little more, don't worry about the liquid, he told himself, but he could not move. He was frozen with fear, as a boggart, who happened to live at the top of the cramped chimney, had transformed into a horribly bloodied corpse of Narcissa Malfoy. Draco was crying; one of his feet slipped from the wall and was nearly followed by the rest of his body.

The corpse wiggled toward him, not at all resembling a human, and in a disgusting voice purred, "Join mother... join mother..."

The corpse suddenly yelpt in pain, and Draco snapped out of his fear, and regained his balance. Hedwig had managed to stick one talon through the slit and had attacked the boggart. Draco climbed again, the liquid now burning through his socks, and extended his arm, urging it to reach higher. The boggart disentigrated as soon as it touched the liquid.

I'm a wizard, he told himself. I come from an entirely pure blood family... I was selected into the proud house of Slytherin...

It was only a matter of mere inches, but the gap seemed as wide as the Grand Canyon to the outstreched Draco.

"Fly!" he cried desperately at the letter. "Please! I'll pay more attention to Pansy... I won't call anyone mudbloods anymore... I'll..."

Something had done the trick. The letter floated gently, looking like it might fall, but at last it gained enough altitude to reach Hedwig's talon who quickly flew into the night air, leaving behind a soft hoot as if to express gratitude.

Draco let himself fall into the liquid. The burning was terrible; he felt like his body might rip apart. Every second the pain grew worse until someone ripped open the chimney door and Draco tumbled onto the floor, gasping for air.

Snape glared at him ferociously, not saying a word. Silently, he pointed his wand at the suffering Draco, then spoke the incantation, "Crucio."