Here you go. Okay, so I lied when I said I wouldn't have much to do so I could write more. I have been working a lot because I am the one that has the most free time.
Thanks to: Marquerida, Emma Ackroyd,Melian Maja, Jeanne2, TheGodfatheroftheBoyWhoLived and Tinks for reviewing
empathicallychosen: Yeah I know. I don't really like her much but hey, every story has to have a character that people hate. At least she's an OC though.
Suddenly, without warning, the shadow shrieked and charged forwards straight into Harry, propelling him backwards. Harry couldn't regain his balance and he carried on going…straight over the edge of the cliff.
"HARRY!" screamed Megan. She was the first to realise what had happened. In the fog she had gotten used to his comforting presence by her side so she had immediately realised what the shadow thing was aiming for.
"HARRY," she screamed again, shuffling forwards to the edge of the cliff.
"Megan. What! What happened to Harry?" asked Remus quickly.
Megan didn't answer straight away, she looked over the edge of the cliff but could barely see an arms width away from her face. She couldn't see her brother.
Megan tried to keep her voice from wobbling as she answered.
"H-Harry. He…it…Oh Remus, Harry went over the cliff." Megan couldn't stop herself. She broke down, tears streaming down her face.
"W-what?" gasped Remus.
"Th-that sh-sh-shadow thing. It, it pushed him over and I can't see him."
There was a loud thump as Ron's legs buckled beneath him and he collapsed on the ground.
"He can't be gone," whispered Ron. "After everything that's happened over the past five years, he can't be gone, he just can't."
Hermione was getting restless. Sirius had been gone for such a long time. She didn't know what was worse, going to see Voldemort or just waiting for it to happen.
"Hermione," said Fred quietly, "What's wrong?"
"I wish Sirius would come back so they can get me over and done with. It's worse just waiting for it to happen."
Fred laughed quietly. "Hermione, I don't think you realise what he can do to you. He's pure evil. It's like he has no conscience, no morals, no sense of humanity."
"Fred, I know perfectly well what he can do," said Hermione, a slight quiver in her voice. "I know. Being friends with Harry, I can't really avoid it."
"Hermione…" began Fred, but Hermione interrupted him.
"Sshh, I heard something."
"Remus, get me out, I don't want to stay here, I've spent too much of my life in prison." The voice was very faint, but familiar, the name was on the tip of her tongue.
"Sirius? SIRIUS, get a grip mate or we'll never find Harry." It was a different voice this time, but still a familiar one. Hermione couldn't quite put her finger on the name.
Sirius? Remus? Harry? Hermione gasped and put her hand over her mouth.
"No," she whispered in disbelief, "It can't be."
"Hermione, one of those voices sounds like dad," whispered Fred.
"So that's who it was. I knew I recognised it."
"B-but what's he doing here?"
"I don't think it's your dad." Her tone told Fred he shouldn't say anything else. "Sirius?" she called.
"Hermione, he's not here," said Fred quickly. Hermione shushed him.
"Hermione?" a voice called back. Hermione grinned widely. She dragged herself over to the other side of the cell, wincing every time that she moved her injured leg.
"Fred, help me push this through," she said pointing to large brick on the wall. Fred didn't understand what was going on but he turned around and painstakingly made his way over to the wall.
Both Hermione and Fred hurriedly scraped at the mortar holding the stone in place. It came away very easily. Within seconds both were covered in grey flakes of the wall. The wall was obviously very old and nobody had thought that there was any need to strengthen it.
"There," said Hermione when she judged the mortar no thin enough to push the brick out. "Push!"
The two companions pushed firmly on the brick. Hermione had misjudged the thickness of the wall, the brick came out much faster than she had thought that it would.
BANG! It fell out onto the stone floor and went spinning away from the wall.
Hermione peered through the small gap. What she saw shocked her. Remus and Arthur Weasley were floating in a golden sphere of light and Sirius was staring at her in shock, but he had a look of disbelief and recognition on his face.
"It is you!" Hermione was positively delighted.
"Oi move out the way, I wanna see him," Fred pushed Hermione slightly out of the way so that he could see through the wall. "Bloody hell, 'mione you were telling the truth."
"Fred?" Mr Weasley stared in surprise at his 'sons' battle worn face.
"Hang on," said Remus, "Vanishco!"
The wall vanished.
Fred and Hermione sat there frozen, then, "Dad? How are you…? What are you…? Hermione explain," he demanded. Fred was even more confused than ever now.
"Yes, Hermione please fill us in on what happened. Where's Harry and Ron?" Sirius looked desperately at her, worried at what he might hear.
So once again Hermione recounted her tale.
The girl knew that she had heard something but none of the leaders believed her. She decided to see what had caused the noise. She hurried through the dark passages, her keen eyes adjusted to the gloom. It didn't take her too long to find the place but the girl was unprepared for what she found there. There was a boy lying spread-eagled on the ground. He wasn't moving. The girl moved cautiously over to the boy and was relieved to see that he was only unconscious.
The girl looked closer at the boy, she felt that she recognised him, like a figure from her past but she wasn't sure. He looked several years older than her and she knew she had never seen him before, he just seemed familiar. She knelt down next to him to check his pulse. It was very weak. The girl couldn't quite understand what had happened. From his injuries it looked as if he had fallen from a great height. That was very odd because there was nowhere in this cavern to fall from, it was completely enclosed except for the passage that she had just walked through.
The girl stood up, unsure of what she should do now. She took a step backwards and stepped on something long and thin. She moved her foot and looked down. She gasped and picked the object up for a closer look. It was a wand, she knew from the stories her parents had told and from pictures in books. But…that meant, if it was a wand then the boy was a wizard, there would have been no other way for it to have gotten there.
She was in a bit of a predicament now. If the boy were a wizard then the leaders would want nothing to do with him. The boy was injured and he didn't look much older than her. She wasn't sure if the leaders would allow the boy to be taken to the city but he needed to be healed, she had had enough training to know that the boy was dying and needed medical help. The girl closed eyes and took a deep breath. She made her decision. She turned and sprinted back down the passageway yelling loudly for the leaders and the healers.
Once Hermione had finished her tale nobody was quite sure what to say.
A door behind Remus and Mr. Wesley swung open. Everybody's heads automatically spun towards the sound. Hermione stared at the figure that had now appeared in surprise. A growl emanated from the redhead next to her. Hermione looked at him and was stunned to see such hatred, such loathing on the young mans face. She placed a hand on Fred's shoulder and turned back to the glowing light. Severus Snape was standing there, looking…well not surprised exactly, more kind of …happy? It was not a sight that Hermione wished to witness again in the near future.
"Remus I know how to bring Sirius back," he paused to see how Remus took the news.
"NO!" hollered Sirius, "Harry is trapped here somewhere along with Ron and Hermione, I can't leave until we find them."
"I knew you would say something like that," spat Snape, "but as noble your intentions are, staying there would ruin the cosmic balance and could result in destroying the reality in which your Godson resides." Snape finished, looking shocked. Hermione's mouth hung open. How was this possible? Snape and Sirius talking to each other without trying to kill the other? She would have to remember to tell Harry and Ron.
"What do you mean?" asked Sirius looking worried.
"I mean that if there is more than one version of a person in a reality then that reality could face serious consequences." At their blank faces he elaborated. "Right, I'm only going to say this one, so I would appreciate it if you would all listen." Hermione understood what he was saying, but she daren't interrupt.
"Okay, if there are two Sirius' in the same reality for more than 5 months there will be serious consequences. Both Sirius' would feel as though they are being torn in two and if one of them doesn't leave that reality they'll both be dead within a week." Severus looked around at all the shocked faces, including the ones in the orb.
"Um…" stated Sirius, "that means I have about 2 days to get out of here then, but I would willingly give my life to save Harry's."
"Yes, but would you willingly let another innocent person die just to save your Godson?" Severus asked a troubled looking Sirius, "Besides, from what I've seen of your Godson I believe he can look after himself."
Everybody minus Fred, stared at Severus as if he had just sprouted a second head.
"What?" asked Severus irritably, "Just because I despise the boy doesn't mean I don't realise and admire the resourcefulness he has shown throughout the time I have known him."
Sirius sat there dumbfounded. Finally he managed to say, "Thank you Sni…Severus for showing so much faith in my Godson."
Now it was Snape's turn to stare at Sirius. Sirius stared back and Hermione noticed a sort of understanding passed between them.
She broke the silence by bursting into laughter. Almost instantly she wished she hadn't, gasping in pain as her laughing fit had caused her to crack her injured leg against the wall.
"Hermione are you okay?" Remus asked, the concern obvious in his voice.
Hermione looked up at Remus, smiling. "Yeah, I'll be fine, I was just thinking of how Harry would react to hearing Professor Snape compliment him." At these words Remus burst into laughter.
"Shh, "whispered Sirius "someone's coming. Severus I trust you, please get me out of here." With that the orb vanished leaving the three prisoners in the dark.
The footsteps echoed past the prison door. They didn't stop. The carried on past until the sound of footfalls could be heard no longer.
"Hermione," said Fred through gritted teeth, "Why was my father and Remus talking to that bastard?"
"What, Snape? I'll admit he's horrible but his intentions are good. He's on our side. He spies for Dumbledore at risk to his own life. Why? What's the matter?"
"That," said Fred slowly, "is the bastard that killed my little brother."
"What! I don't believe…Maybe yours is here but the one that you just saw, as much as he actually hates Ron, he wouldn't kill him. Heck, it was him last year that told Dumbledore and the others that we had gone to the Department of Mysteries."
"What!" said Sirius in surprise. "H-him? I would never have thought…" he trailed off.
Fred gave Hermione a blank look.
"Long story. Basically Harry thought that Sirius was in trouble and Sirius' House Elf did nothing to dissuade him, even though Sirius was actually upstairs."
"KREACHER!"
Hermione's eyes widened at the venom in Sirius' voice.
"Ssshhh," Hermione's voice fell to a whisper. "He's dead." Sirius looked questioningly at her, or as much as he could in the dark. "Remus," she said quickly. Sirius was stunned. He had never thought his closest friend capable of something like that. "Anyway," she continued, "we went there and Death Eaters turned up. It turned out that all Voldemort wanted was a certain little prophecy…" she trailed off, waiting for Sirius to say something.
"The Prophecy," breathed Sirius.
"We know it now, although, for some of us, it might have been nice if somebody had told us when they first met Harry." Hermione looked pointedly at Sirius when she spoke.
Sirius cringed. He knew that he should have really told Harry, but he had sworn to Dumbledore that he wouldn't tell him.
"You did know about it then," she said accusingly. "You better not let Harry know that, when they eventually decide to come."
Sirius couldn't think of anything to say. Hermione was right though. He should have told Harry. It was his responsibility as Godfather to tell him. He trusted Dumbledore's judgement though. He had deemed Harry not prepared to know the Prophecy and as Dumbledore had known Harry for longer, it was only right to think that Dumbledore knew better.
They three prisoners sat in silence for several more minutes. One hardly able to believe his luck, another hardly able to believe that this man was sitting in front of her, and the other just wanted to go home.
"Umm…I hate to bring this up," Fred said slowly, breaking the silence. "But…er…what do you think the Death Eaters will do when they see that the wall is gone?"
The fog cleared as quickly as it had come, leaving with a faint pop like the sound of somebody apparating. Remus left the two sobbing teenagers where they were and had a quick look around the area. He walked over to the cliff edge and peered cautiously over it. There was no evidence of a murder occurring only hours before. Remus was sure it had been murder as nobody could have survived a drop that high. He couldn't say anything to the two distraught teenagers though because he wasn't absolutely positive, just almost. He sighed and turned around. It was time to go. They still had to rescue Hermione, Sirius and Fred.
"R-Remus, do you think we'll f-find him?" asked Megan between sobs.
Remus wasn't sure what to say so he settled on a lie to make both Megan and Ron feel better.
"We won't know until we look will we? I'm sure we will though." Remus knelt down in front of his charges and looked them both in the eye.
"Look, I know that you won't want to hear this, but Harry could be anywhere. We know where the others are though. We should go and rescue them. I don't know how much longer they'll survive, especially Hermione…"
"Hermione'll be alright. She's had stuff like this happen to her before. She'll be okay. We need to go and rescue her though because it's not fair to leave her while we look for Harry when he might not even be alive."
"Ron…" began Remus.
"No, Remus, I'll accept that we might not find him. Besides, Harry's perfectly capable of looking after himself. After having to grow up with the Dursley's he needs to be." Ron smiled sadly at Remus. He wasn't lying though. Ron had gotten used to bad things happening to him and his friends and he knew that Harry always managed to get himself and his friends out of life or death situations.
"We should go and rescue the others. I dunno what Hermione will say when she finds out we left Harry.
Ron stood up, letting Remus help Megan to her feet. She was still sobbing. Ron couldn't quite understand why. She had only known him for a few days, not very long at all. Hermione got like this sometimes for really silly reasons. Ron supposed it was a girl thing. He never understood girls.
Ron started walking back down the side of the mountain. Remus followed, half-carrying, half helping Megan. They set a very slow pace, much slower than on the way up. So slow in fact that it took until nightfall to get back down to the bottom.
The girl was very pleased with herself. After explaining to the leaders the state that the boy was in, with a little bit of whining, they had agreed to let the healers take him on the condition that she organised the twenty-four-hour guard around the hospital ward and that she keeps his wand. It was also up to her to talk to the boy when he woke up and find out everything she could. The healers had argued saying that she was too young and had no experience, but the leaders just laughed and said this was a good way to get experience.
Whilst the healers took the boy to the hospital, she quickly scurried around the city to find people that would help her and guard the hospital ward. It took her several hours but she eventually coerced and convinced a few of the fighters to help her.
When she returned to the hospital, she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting but it certainly wasn't what she found. The boy was in a hospital bed surrounded by several hospital staff. The girl moved closer and saw that the orderlies were trying to restrain the boy. He was unconscious and barely breathing but he was thrashing his arms and legs around. The orderlies weren't having much luck in restraining him. Every time they got hold of a limb, he pulled something else out of their grasp. He was a lot stronger than his skinny frame gave away.
One of the orderlies looked up and saw her standing by the door.
"Daisy. Go and get your mother."
Daisy just stood there, reluctant to leave her charge.
"Daisy! You're mother. Now!"
Daisy jumped as if shocked and scurried off to find her mother, curious as to why she would be needed in the hospital. She was in charge of the cleaning staff after all.
Daisy hurried back into the hospital ward half an hour later with her mother close behind. She was relieved to see that the thrashing boy had been restrained. He looked relatively calm and peaceful. She looked at the orderly who spoke to her earlier.
"How did you get him to calm down? It didn't look possible earlier."
The orderly sighed. "In the end Joy gave him a sedative."
"That's not so bad."
The orderly raised his eyebrows.
"No? We gave him enough sedative to knock out an army, and even that nearly wasn't enough. I don't what it is but there's something inside that boy fighting whatever we give him." Then, as if noticing Daisy's mother for the first time, he said, "Oh good. You came."
"Yes. I was curious as to why you wanted me to come."
"You asked to hear about any strange cases since you had some uh, experience with them. Well, this boy is a strange case. Daisy found him several hours ago. He was lying as if he had fallen from a great height and his injuries were consistent with that. He also barely responds to any medicine that we give him. He was thrashing around violently even after he was given a huge dose of sedative."
Daisy and her mother moved cautiously over to the bedside of the boy. Daisy gasped. She was surprised at the extent of his injuries. It had looked bad in the cavern but now…. Daisy's mother's breath caught in her throat. Daisy looked at her in surprise. Her mum obviously recognised the boy as well.
"James," she whispered. "Lily."
Most of you were right, that man was Snape. Now guess who the woman is. I left a few clues but you only notice if you are looking. There will be more clues in the next chapter about who she is. Ten points to the first person who gets i and a special mention in a future chapter.
On a different note, I need a bet. Anybody up for it. I want to post on fictionalley as well but it keeps getting returned. As you know they are sticklers for grammer. The other TWO betas I got failed to return the ammended chapters so I gave up.
Please read and review, only a few words will do to tell me whether you like it or hate it.
