Disclaimer: I own all the adventures, actions, etc. in this story. The characters belong mostly to Jo.
Author: zimagesto
Author's Note: Things in life don't usually turn out the way we believe they will. Actually, if they have just two ways of turning out and we choose one of them as being probable, they will turn out in the third way.
Chapter Four"Let the boy stay, Albus."
The chamber was grim, even if sunlight was gently pouring through the window. All the grown-ups were sitting down around a light brown table that was now covered in maps and books. Dumbledore was sitting on his chair at the head of the table, looking around gravely. Severus was at his right, looking tiredly at Harry, who was the only one standing in the room. Harry was half-glaring at McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor, who was glaring back. Next to her, at her left, sat Sirius and Remus. She was on Dumbledore's side also. A bit lower down the table sat Flitwick and Sprout, who looked a bit curiously at Harry.
There were other people in the room also, there was Kingsley Shacklebolt and next to him were Laetius Lovegood and Nymphadora Tonks. Peter Pettigrew was a bit lower down the table, looking fidgety. There were others, who Harry didn't know quite as well and none were too pleased by his being there.
"He has no point being here, Albus!" McGonagall said. "This is a meeting of war! I do not want him running around, trying to join the rescue team!"
"I won't, Professor," Harry sighed. "I wish to stay because Lily and James are like parents to me."
"Let the boy stay, Albus. What harm is there?" Snape asked in his silky voice. "He will pester all of us for information afterwards if we don't let him."
"Very well, stay, Harry." Albus decided and conjured the young man a chair. "So, Kingsley. Tell us what you found out."
"Voldemort has two entrances to Azkaban. One of them is in the place Lily and James were caught and it leads to the entrance of the Maze. The other leads to his quarters in the Maze, but we don't know where it is located in this world."
"So we'll have to go to the one to the entrance of the Maze," Sirius sighed. "I was afraid of that."
"Umm?" Harry said and many eyes turned towards him. "Why don't we contact the elves for some help? Maybe they can lead us through the Maze to Voldemort's quarters or at least show us an entrance close to them."
"We would do that," Severus said. "We tried it. But the elves and dwarves don't have any closer entrances –well, actually, they only have entrances only at the gates of the Maze- and don't know where the quarters are. They also made it clear that they will not aid us. We do not take it personally. The dark elves though are said to know things from inside the Maze even now."
"So?" Harry asked after a moment of pause. "Why don't we ask for their help?"
There was another moment of pause, and then, when it became clear that nobody was going to say anything, Severus sighed and started speaking again.
"There is nobody here to dare side with them, Harry. The humans, the elves and the dwarves may have things in common, although it becomes clear quickly that we are very different, but the dark elves… there is no human or dwarf who feels comfortable in their presence. The elves are alright with them, they are as brothers, but… We cannot have the same ease around them… We cannot accept any help from them."
"Because you are scared of them?"
"If you ever meet one of them, you shall know why, Harry," Severus said sternly. "Bringing the dark elves into this is not in the question."
"Alright, then."
"About what is in the Maze, then." Flitwick said. "There are many types of dark creatures and plants. The plants will not bother us too much, unless anybody tries to eat them or stings himself with a poisonous thorn… Although I heard there are a few plants that are carnivorous and will try to take a bite out of the occasional traveler. The creatures are much more dangerous, from what I have understood. There are the Dementors of Azkaban, some lethal creatures that are very difficultly repelled by a complicated charm, "Expecto Patronum", that requires the one who casts it to think of an extremely powerful happy thought while casting the spell. Unfortunately, said creatures tend to suck all happiness away. There also happen to be hippogriffs, a few wild ones from the lands of the elves, brought long before, escaped into the wild and bred there. And also wild thestrals, from the lands of the dark elves. There are giant spiders and other such creatures, but there are many things that we know nearly nothing about."
"Has anybody been there for the last few hundred years?" McGonagall asked.
"Not many," Dumbledore sighed. "Not humans. There has been an agent of ours fifty years ago, two agents twenty years before that… Only one of the two returned. We don't have many records, they were there for short periods of time only."
"So, we basically have little," Severus nodded. "We know the history, we know it is a deadly place and we know little else."
"So, in our team we will finally have Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Angelina Johnson."
Harry looked around to see who Angelina Johnson was –he always mistook her for Katie Bell, not because they looked alike, but because they usually traveled in a pair and everybody whom he asked told him the two were, of course, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson. But which was which, nobody told him that. Not that he'd ever asked.
"Angelina is young," McGonagall pointed out.
"So am I," Tonks replied. "Well, a bit older than her, yes, but we're about the same age."
"Tonks is a metamorphmagus and good at sneaking around and Angelina is very good with fighting skills," Severus said. "They are coming. A team of five, we hope, is enough to rescue Lily and James. If it isn't enough… Well, we can't have too many. The more, the bigger the target and the elves did warn us that it would be wise to travel in small numbers and have the people prepared for the worst."
"C-could I come?" Pettigrew asked, stuttering slightly. "Lily and James have been my friends since… since forever and Sirius and Remus are going, too…"
"Are you sure?" Remus asked his old comrade. "You are not as well-prepared as…"
"I can handle it, Remus. I need to do this," Pettigrew answered, squirming.
"You don't need to if you don't want to. And it would be better if you didn't come anyway, there is nothing to prove…"
"I need to come," the rat-like man sniffed. "I must. You do not understand, I have a great role to play in this, I can feel it."
Harry stared at his uncle's friend. He'd never really liked him, he was a bit of a coward, even if he was a Gryffindor. Harry didn't really see what was so great about Peter Pettigrew, but if his uncle trusted him and Dumbledore trusted him and everybody seemed to trust him –even if they didn't think much of any of his skills or personality-, then he'd make an effort and try to trust him, too. Right now, he did seem very agitated, but he also appeared to be telling the truth. Dumbledore lowered his glasses and looked fixedly at Peter, who seemed to be begging. Finally, the old man put his glasses back on and sighed.
"Very well, Peter. You will go also. You will leave the day after tomorrow and try to rescue James and Lily Potter."
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The room was somber. The ones who would leave in Azkaban were there, along with three others who would bid them farewell and wish them a safe return – or rather, to return at all. Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching the team get ready to leave and, although they didn't usually get along very well, they settled to a truce of ignoring each other and concentrating on those who were leaving.
"See you soon, then," Ron said and Peter grinned at him a grin that held no humor or happiness.
"Yes, yes, soon!" he fidgeted.
"Goodbye, Angelina," Hermione said, hugging her friend. "Be safe!"
Harry watched the two say farewell to the others and then shared a look with Snape. The older man's dark eyes lingered on the boy for a few minutes before they both nodded in farewell. It did not take more than that for the message to be passed between them and to be understood. Harry felt for the small vial of smoke-making potion, the last potion he'd made and sighed thinking that Severus had not yet had the chance to see it. The older man would have been proud: it was perfect. But now the vial would have to wait… Harry sighed to himself. In the meantime he would get a lot of practice… he swore he would.
"Bye, Harry," Sirius said, hugging Harry. "Take care and don't kill your parents while I'm gone!"
Harry smiled palely at the attempt to lighten his mood and tried to return it.
"Don't bring down the Maze, who knows when the elves will need it?…"
Unfortunately, nobody was in the mood for laughing.
"All together now, we must touch this portkey!" Peter Pettigrew said and everybody gathered around.
"Bye…" Harry whispered weakly. Then, the portkey was activated and all disappeared.
He was shocked out of his mind for a few moments, seeing the world flashing before his eyes in a blur of colors, soundless, yet deafening. After that, he realized with horror that he was traveling along with the rescue group and Ron and Hermione. It would not be until later that he would understand that the portkey had not been one designed in the normal way, but one that captured every living being on a radius of a few minutes and sent it to the destination. And only much later would he find out that in fact Voldemort had designed the portkey himself, while trying to get a hold of Dumbledore.
Right now, though, after a ride that seemed incredibly long, he ended up on a stone floor and his feet flew from beneath him, bringing him crashing down. The momentum had been very large and he could see that the others were also trying to disentangle themselves. And he also noticed that Pettigrew had taken his wand out, a bit too quickly maybe, and was stunning those around him.
A cold voice gave a signal for attack and Harry sprang to his feet, wand in hand, his training suddenly manifesting itself. He took in everything in record time, seeing that there were black-cloaked people attacking the rescue team and who were also starting to attack the three teens.
"Oh, shit," he muttered and looked for a way out. The rescue team had emergency portkeys towards various safe-places, but he sure as hell didn't have any!
"We must go forward!" Angelina shouted.
"Too many! Retreat!" Sirius shouted back.
Nymphadora Tonks jumped towards the three teens, seeing them when none others did, ready to share the portkey with them. Ron and Hermione rushed towards her and Harry searched for a way out of the room, so he could find the portal –or "window"- towards the other world and save his aunt and uncle, since it could be the only shot to see them again, unless this Dark Lord wanted them for some other plan of his.
He soon saw it and used a quick spell to open it, while erecting shields against curses now directed at him.
"Harry!" Tonks cried.
The other rescue team members disappeared. And then Voldemort used a spell to cut out all possibility of escaping through means of portkey. He ran towards Tonks, grabbed her hand and could see she had tears of fear in her eyes. And then he felt for the smoke-making potion he still had and soon got it out of his pocket. He threw it towards Voldemort and the self-named Dark Lord raised his wand and laughed darkly, shooting down the vial and making it break into a million pieces. Which suited Harry even better than the idea of just throwing it in Voldemort's general direction.
"Quick!" he whispered and dragged Tonks after him, as Voldemort cursed and urged his minions through the smoke towards them. He hoped she'd had the sense to drag Hermione and Ron behind. But if she didn't… they'd be mourned later. Now was the time to run. He reached the door and threw himself through it, closing it after the last person was out. Some smoke had got out, but it was nowhere near as dense here. He then looked around and saw that he could either go left or right on the corridor. For some reason, he chose right and started running in that direction. Ron and Hermione were being dragged by Tonks, which was a very good thing.
"Do you know where we're going?" Tonks asked, a bit out of breath.
"I have no clue!" Harry answered. "Did Pettigrew betray us?…"
"He did. Damned bastard!" Tonks swore.
"Never mind, we need to run!"
They tried a few doors in their way, then climbed some stairs. "Which is good", Harry said. "The worst thing that could happen would be to wind up in a tower, but we can levitate down."
They went up, ended up on another corridor, opened a few doors searching for windows and… Harry gaped when he entered a room. There was a strange stone arch in there, engraved with runes, with a six-point-star shaped base and with a blue swirling sort of fluid in an oval shape inside the arch. It was a bit like a vortex, with fluid swirling around slowly in it.
"It's the entrance to Azkaban!" Harry breathed.
"How do you know?" Hermione asked.
"What else could it be?"
Harry circled it slowly and saw it looked the same from behind and sides. He then turned towards the other three with a strange look in his eyes.
"I'm going through."
"Isn't that stupid?" Ron asked, looking at the fluid with distrust.
"Probably. But I'm going through anyway."
"I'm with you," Tonks sighed. "This is not the team I thought it'd be, but come on! Before they find us!"
Ron and Hermione never had a chance to comment as they were pushed through the arch by the two. And running up the stairs was Voldemort with one of his minions, who were still searching for the ones who'd escaped. He wouldn't realize too soon that somebody had passed through his arch. And when he would realize it, it would be too late.
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Sirius had portkeyed to his own safe spot, a small church near a monastery in England. It was a sad and gloomy place, but it suited his mood. The others had other safe places, so that it would be much more difficult for somebody to find the havens and ambush all of them. And he wanted to be alone anyway.
He walked towards a small icon and sat in front of it without realizing what he was doing. He held his head in his hands and gave a long sigh. He'd heard Voldemort shout out the spell. He knew that the four would probably be trapped there.
He shifted so his long black robe would let him kneel better and put his head back in his hands. They were trapped there.
"Aw, man…" he said in a painful way.
"Amen indeed, brother," he heard and turned his head to see an absent-minded black-robed monk walk past him.
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AN: Sorry for the long wait! Didn't mean to keep you so long, but hey! You don't mind, do you?
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: aperfectattitude, donstu82, Butterfle, Hunter0309, Lady-Serena-Snape