The Bodyguard
Chapter 32: The Dementor Master
Harry laughed until his knees went weak and he tumbled to his Aunt Petunia's spotless kitchen floor. He rolled there, crying with mirth. "Pissa!" he howled. "Pizza!" He was vaguely aware of Hermione doing the same thing.
"How were we supposed to know it was pronounced 'peat-za'?" muttered Ron.
"We haven't eaten Muggle food before. We're pure-bloods," Draco pointed out, folding his arms and looking irritated.
"I could order a home delivery, if you like, Draco," Harry said, between gusts of laughter. He started to get up. He could see Hermione chuckling and struggling to her feet as well.
"Home delivery?" The Slytherin was puzzled.
"Won't that be very expensive?" asked Ron.
"Expensive?"
"To deliver a home."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and, with renewed screams of laughter, sank back to the floor.
It took a few minutes, before Harry and Hermione regained enough composure to explain what home delivery meant. Then Harry thrust the menu at Ron and Draco. "Choose which pizzas you want, as many as you want, and I'll order them over the phone."
"So they'll actually cook and bring us the food we ask for?" asked Draco. "This is like having a house elf!"
"Except the cook and delivery driver are paid," said Hermione. Draco avoided her glare.
"How much is this going to cost?" asked Ron uncomfortably.
"Not too much," said Harry, slipping his hand into his pocket. The he realised, he didn't have any Muggle money, only galleons. He was about to ask Hermione if she'd brought any pounds, when Draco spoke.
"The Dursleys can pay," he said, holding up Dudley's wallet, which had been lying on the kitchen table. "Not that I usually approve of stealing," he added, in the face of Hermione's obvious disapproval. "But the Dursleys locked Harry in a cupboard for eleven years. A few pissas ... pizzas ... is the least they owe."
"The very least," said Ron.
"Draco," said Harry. "Did I ever tell you I love you?"
oOoOoOo
While they waited for their pizzas to arrive, Harry led them on a tour of the house. It was the first time Draco and Ron had really explored a Muggle home, and they found it fascinating.
"What my Dad wouldn't give to be here," said Ron, flicking a light switch on and off, until the hallway looked like a nightclub.
They prodded at the central heating switches, fiddled with Dudley's computer games, and flicked through his unopened Muggle books.
But the tour came to a sudden halt, when Harry and Hermione, who had been standing in the bathroom explaining to Ron what rubber ducks were for (they weren't quite sure themselves) heard Draco, in Dudley's room, shouting in a rage.
"Think my name's funny, do you? Take that back, or else! All right, I warned you!"
Then came an explosion...
All three raced into Dudley's bedroom, and found Draco standing, holding his wand, with one hand clamped over his mouth in horror. He was staring at the smoking ruin of what had once been Dudley's computer screen.
"I killed the paperclip!" said Draco, his voice muffled by his hand. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I only hit it with Jellylegs!"
"What happened?" asked Harry.
"I was pressing buttons on that board thing," said Draco, sounding overwrought. "Then a cheeky paperclip popped up and asked me if I wanted to change 'Draco' into 'drama'! Well, can you imagine? I wasn't going to stand for that! I told it to apologise, but it didn't, Harry! It just blinked and DANCED at me!"
"Sounds irritating," said Harry cheerfully. "That paperclip deserved to die!"
Draco grabbed him. "How can you say that, Harry? I-I killed it!"
Laughing, Harry replied, "Relax! If only those paperclips were that easy to kill! You only blew up the screen. The paperclip is still alive in there." He pointed at a beige box with flashing lights.
"Oh..." Draco lowered his hands, and his shame seemed to dissipate. He tapped the box with one finger. "Can you hear me, paperclip? Are you sorry now you called me drama?"
"Why should it be sorry?" asked Ron. "Anyone who knows you could see that the word fits!"
Harry and Hermione laughed, and Draco looked sulky. He drew himself up, as if about to yell at Ron, but then the doorbell rang.
"Pissa ... I mean pizza's here," said Harry, relieved. He ushered his friends downstairs, before they could start fighting.
oOoOoOo
"I think I ate too much," said Ron, some time later.
"Me too. I feel sick," groaned Draco. He, Harry and Ron were sprawled over the couches in the lounge room. Open, empty pizza boxes lay all around.
"Feeling sick is a well-known side effect from too much pizza," said Harry, who wasn't feeling too well himself.
"Why didn't you warn me?"
"I forgot. The Dursley hardly ever gave me too much to eat." Harry felt Draco snuggling up to him and leaned his head comfortably on his boyfriend's shoulder.
"I hate those Muggles," said the Slytherin. "I want to keep getting back at them, somehow."
Ron burped so loudly the windows rattled.
Hermione was up on a chair, busily tampering with the Dursleys' curtains.
"What are you doing?" asked Harry.
"Giving the Dursleys what they deserve. I could see your cupboard while I was eating, and it put me off my pizza."
"Lucky you. Wish I'd seen the cupboard," muttered Ron. He rubbed his distended stomach.
Hermione ignored him. "I saved up all my anchovies from the pizza, and I'm putting one into each curtain rod. The Dursleys will never find out where the smell is coming from," she said unrepentantly.
"Brilliant, Hermione!" Ron beamed at her.
"And to think you accused ME of Muggle-baiting," said Draco. "Your kind of Muggle-baiting lasts longer! Not that that's a bad thing, of course," he added, when Hermione sniffed. He yawned and stretched. "Harry, I've got one more memory of Snape you should see. It's about Florence Avery."
"The girl who kissed Snape? Why didn't you show me before?"
"She's only called Avery in the memory. I didn't know her first name was Florence, until I heard your Aunt Petunia. Have a look." He gazed into Harry's eyes.
Touching his wand, Harry thought, Legilimens.
Two robed Death Eaters crouched in a brick-walled sewer. Anonymous in their heavy robes and masks, only their voices made them identifiable.
"Was there a Love Potion in that pumpkin juice you gave me?" demanded Snape. He sounded a few years older than he had in the memory with Lily.
The ugly expression on Avery's masked face was invisible, yet clearly audible. "Took you long enough to guess! I'm flattered," she sneered. "I had to make certain you'd kiss me. I'd already lured that stupid Hufflepuff, behind the greenhouses. It was only fair I gave the fool something to talk about." She laughed - a horrible cackle that made her sound insane.
"Avery..." There was so much pent-up anger in Snape's low snarl, that if Harry had been Avery, he would have turned tail and fled for his life.
But the female Death Eater seemed too careless or lacking in empathy to notice. "Loved the hex you put on the Hufflepuff afterwards, Severus. Sealing her mouth shut ... was that another one of your own inventions?"
Snape ignored her question. "Why did you do it?" he asked, and his voice was softer and more dangerous than Harry had ever heard.
"Orders from the Dark Lord," said Avery carelessly. "He'd heard of your talent for Potions, and he'd seen some of your Dark magic inventions. It was Levicorpus that finally won him over. He wanted you in the family. So Evans had to go, you understand? The Dark Lord couldn't have one of his followers dating a Mudblood." Even Avery must have sensed the menace rising off Snape by now, for she added. "It was for your own good, Severus. Where would you be now, if I hadn't interfered? Probably married to the M-"
The memory ended, but before it faded to black, Harry was certain he'd seen Snape reaching for his wand.
The lounge room reappeared.
"I thought Aurors got the entire Avery family," said Draco.
"I think Snape got that one," said Harry, thinking about what he'd just seen. The ex-Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher had been like a black panther, ready to pounce.
Hermione and Ron were staring at him curiously and he told them what he had seen.
"I'm not looking forward to meeting Snape," said Hermione thoughtfully. "The more I know about Snape, the more I realise how much he must HATE you, Harry."
"Why?" asked Ron.
Hermione flushed. "Think about it," she said. "We still don't know what side Snape is on. Harry's living proof of Snape's failed relationship, and Snape has no duty of care to Harry anymore. He's not a professor; he's not being watched over by Professor Dumbledore. We should be very careful tonight."
"I agree," said Draco. "And Harry attacked Argus Filch, who is Snape's step-father. Snape will be wanting revenge."
"We don't have a choice, then. We should attack Snape first, before he attacks us," said Ron boldly.
"Ron, that's a terrible idea," said Draco, shaking his head.
"Why not? It's not like we're going to hurt him. We only want to disarm him, so we can talk to him safely."
"Ron's right," said Hermione. "After all, Harry's the Chosen One. We mustn't risk his life. Severus Snape is one of the most powerful Dark wizards on Earth, and I'd feel a lot more comfortable being in the same room with him, if he wasn't holding his wand."
Harry nodded, despite his strong misgivings. He wondered what would happen if they tried - and failed - to disarm Snape. He could see Draco giving him a worried look, as if weighing up the pros and cons in his mind.
At last, Draco spoke. "All right," he said. "For Harry's sake, I'll do it, as long as we don't hurt Snape once we've caught him." He took a deep breath, and added nervously. "But we have to do this together. Silent Expelliarmus only! And we all have to use Occlumency. Properly this time Ron! Or he'll know what we're planning."
"I WAS using Occlumency properly."
"No, you weren't. I could see your expression changing when you looked at the Dursleys."
"I hated the Dursleys."
"So does Harry, but his face never changed."
"Perfect Harry," muttered Ron.
The Slytherin's expression became dreamy. "You're not kidding."
Ron made a face.
"You're going to say 'too much information', aren't you, Ron."
"Wouldn't dream of it. I'm starting to get used to you two."
Chuckling, Draco snuggled up to Harry again. Harry wrapped his arms around him, feeling sad. Would Draco be talking like that, without the Vow?
oOoOoOo
"Come on, Ron. What's keeping you?" called Hermione.
Harry, Hermione and Draco were waiting in the kitchen, ready to Disapparate to Malfoy Mansion.
Ron came hurrying out of the lounge room, doing up his trousers.
A line appeared between Hermione's eyebrows. "Ron, were you just doing in the lounge room, what I think you were doing?"
Grinning, Ron said, "Draco did promise Harry's relatives we'd have a pissa all over the house. I didn't want to disappoint them."
Harry and Draco burst out laughing.
"Come to think of it, I could do with a pissa myself," said Draco.
"And me," said Harry.
To Hermione's annoyance, they dashed off for a quick, but messy, tour of the house. When they returned to the kitchen, Hermione's expression was thunderous.
"And they say Muggles are dirty. You boys are disgusting," she said, tapping her foot.
Draco just looked at her, out of the corner of his eye, and gave a sharp cough, that sounded like 'anchovy'.
Turning pink, Hermione changed the subject. "If you Apparate inside Malfoy Mansion, Draco, we'll follow you," she said.
"You can't Apparate inside," said Draco. "There're too many wards. The nearest place you can Apparate is twenty kilometres from the house."
"Twenty KILOMETRES!" said Harry.
"Outside the Malfoy estate," said Draco smoothly. "The house is right in the middle and the wards extend all the way across our lands."
"Why didn't you tell us? We're going to be late for Snape if we have to walk twenty kilometres," said Ron.
"We won't have to walk. There will be transportation waiting when we get there."
"What sort of transportation?" asked Hermione.
"Broomsticks?" asked Harry hopefully.
Draco looked particularly pleased with himself. "Not broomsticks. Wait and see."
oOoOoOo
They Apparated on top of a green hill. A high stone wall, made of pale grey blocks, meticulously shaped and stacked together, ran out of sight in both directions. A tall, silver pair of gates, wrought with the name 'Malfoy', towered over them. Spikes lined the top of the gates, but the wall and the gates were not intimidating, but stylish and beautiful.
"Home," Draco said wistfully. "I haven't been back since I fled Hogwarts."
"Won't it be a mess with no one living there?" asked Harry.
"No, the house elves will have looked after it. Stand back." Draco walked up to the gates and touched his wand to the M of Malfoy. He traced the letters, and as he did so, they began to glow with a green light. When he took his wand off the bottom of the Y, the gates opened silently. Draco beckoned them through.
The gates shut with a faint clang behind them. The driveway, lined with pale gravel, crunched beneath their feet.
"Welcome to the Malfoy estates," said Draco.
"Draco, where's your house?" asked Ron. Harry knew he probably didn't mean to sound jealous, but he did. They'd known that Draco's family was rich enough to own a mansion, but they hadn't had any idea they were rich enough to own what looked like half of Britain.
Green woodlands and fields extended to the horizon. So did the driveway. On either side of the gravel, the grass was full of summer wild flowers.
"Malfoy Mansion is a long way off," said Draco. He stuck two fingers into his mouth and whistled piercingly.
There was a distant neigh.
"You've got horses?" asked Ron.
"About two hundred," said Draco. "Granians. My family has bred them for generations."
Hermione's eyes went as round as saucers at the breed name. "Ooh," she said softly.
Draco smirked. "Don't tell me you're one of those girls who love horses, Hermione?"
"Yes! I wanted one so badly when I was ten. But we lived in the middle of London," said Hermione. "I cried for weeks when my parents wouldn't let me keep a horse in our tiny back garden. But those were Muggle horses. Granians are on an entirely different plane."
"Where are they?" asked Ron, looking at the woodland, as if expecting horses to burst out at any minute.
"There, Ron," said Draco, pointing to the sky.
The Gryffindors looked up and gasped.
At least fifty white horses were flying on glistening, feathery wings, through the blue sky towards them.
Draco's memories had not prepared Harry for this. He had never seen anything so beautiful, and judging from Ron and Hermione's indrawn breaths, neither had they.
"Granians are greys, and particularly fast," said Draco proudly. "Ours are the fastest of their breed."
The flying horses were circling down. The afternoon sun, shining on their feathers, was dazzling.
"Draco, they're white, not grey," pointed out Ron. His voice was a whisper, as if he could barely believe what he was seeing.
"White horses are usually called greys," said Hermione, sounding, as usual, as if she'd read up on it. "It's to do with the colour of their skin. Look at their dark noses and hooves. Their coats may be white, but underneath, their skin is black. They're born dark and they lighten as they get older."
"That's true," said Draco. "The foals are chestnut or black. They can't fly, so we keep them near the mansion."
The Granians landed, their hooves thumping on the grass. They trotted towards the quartet, tossing their heads and whinnying. Hermione reached out, and when she found they were tame, started going from horse to horse, patting noses and exclaiming with delight.
"Choose one each and get up," said Draco. "You must get up on their left side or they'll get confused. There's a fence over there, if you can't get up from the ground." He gave Ron, who was still pale and stunned, a boost onto his horse. Hermione managed to get up by herself. She was beaming from ear to ear and suddenly seemed lot more friendly towards Draco.
Harry also managed to get up by himself, and slid on, in front of the wings. His Granian seemed beautifully trained, and stayed very still while he mounted. He pushed himself back and hung on with his legs. It was much more comfortable than sitting on a hippogriff. He didn't have the urge to lean forward and hug his Granian's neck, to stop himself falling.
Draco climbed onto his mount, with the skill of a born horseman. "Follow me!" he called, and whistled again.
The entire herd wheeled around, and galloped back the way they had come. They opened their wings. Harry leaned forward, remembering how the wings of Buckbeak had kept threatening to throw him off, but his Granian's wings were set further back, and after a moment of acceleration, when they left the ground, the ride was very smooth. His mount's skin was soft and pliable, and made a comfortable seat, without the need for a saddle. The wind blew at his hair and the white mane in front of him. Harry started to enjoy himself immensely.
The ground dropped away and he could see for kilometres. Lakes, rivers, forests and fields were all spread out below him, shining in the evening sun. He looked at his friends, amid the flock of flying horses. Hermione was ecstatic, her bushy hair blowing around her. Even Ron had gotten over his shock, and was grinning.
"I want a Granian, Draco!" Hermione whooped.
"Everyone says that!" Draco replied. He was the only one who, judging from his expression, was taking the ride for granted, and hadn't forgotten what lay ahead.
"I had no idea you lived like this, Draco," said Harry.
His boyfriend smiled, and guided his mount closer, so they could talk, though they had to speak loudly above the rushing air and flapping wings. "Do you know you were the first person who ever turned down my friendship?" Draco asked. "I was used to saying my name was Malfoy, and having everybody instantly pay me attention. Because of all this." He waved a hand at the Granians and the vast estate spread below them. "I guess I was a little arrogant."
Harry laughed. "A little?"
"Then a scrawny little boy on the Hogwart's Express looked at me, just me, not my name and my possessions, and told me I was completely worthless. The look on your face, Harry, when you told me I was the wrong sort! I used to have nightmares about it!"
"I'm sorry." Harry reached out his hand, and Draco did likewise. Their hands touched for a moment in midair.
"Don't be sorry," said Draco. "I deserved it. I was so sheltered and stuck up, it took me until Sixth Year to realise Voldemort wasn't a nice person!"
"You worked it out eventually."
"I just wish the cost hadn't been so high," said Draco grimly. Harry could tell he was thinking of his family.
Far ahead, Harry could see a broad, shining lake. Behind it, visible through the trees, was a white mansion.
"We're nearly there," said Draco. "Harry, whatever happens with Snape, I want you to know I wouldn't have missed being with you for the world. I love you." He frowned at Harry's reaction. "Stop making faces! One of these days I'm going to prove it, and then you're the bottom!"
They were losing height, spiralling down around the stately home. Like the Granians, seeing Malfoy Mansion in Draco's memories was no preparation for how gorgeous it was in real life. The roof was dark grey, with chimneys sprouting up everywhere. There were elegant, white plaster patterns of leaves and flowers on the white walls and the entrance was behind a row of columns. The lines of windows shone.
"I'm surprised the Ministry hasn't taken your house and money, Draco," Hermione shouted, so she could be heard above the flapping wings. "Muggle law has a thing called 'restitution'. The government takes the money and property of convicted criminals."
"The Ministry wouldn't DARE to take the Malfoy gold," said Draco scornfully. "It's in Gringotts. When the owner isn't around to claim their gold, the goblins consider that it belongs to them, and anyone stupid enough to steal goblin gold deserves their sudden, painful death. And as for Malfoy Mansion," he stared down at the magnificent building. "It's Unplottable. The Ministry can't even FIND it if the owner doesn't want them to, let alone steal it."
"How did the Ministry manage to raid your house then?" asked Harry.
Draco frowned. "Father kept the wards loose, before he was put in Azkaban. It was all part of looking like fine, upstanding citizens, instead of Dark wizards. We could have kept the Ministry out, but then wizarding society wouldn't have had anything to do with us. Of course, when Father was arrested, Mother and I tightened the wards as far as they could go. No more Ministry raids, but we suffered social death."
"How can Snape get in?" asked Harry.
"Relations, and friends of the family can still enter, even if they stop being our friends. That's why I haven't been home. It wasn't the Ministry I was worried about, but Death Eaters. Malfoy Mansion could be swarming with them."
Harry thought of Draco's Aunt Bellatrix and shuddered.
They landed on the pale, gravel driveway with a shower of stones, galloping and gently losing speed, until they stopped in front of the huge front doors. Ron slid off his Granian like an old sack. The others got down with more grace. Hermione couldn't leave her horse, until she'd patted its nose and Charmed some sugar.
They crunched over the gravel and Draco flung opened the doors. The entrance hall of Malfoy Mansion was vast. A glittering chandelier hung overhead. The floor was chequer board black and white tiles. A grand staircase swept out of sight in two directions.
"Wands at the ready," said Harry. For all he knew, Bellatrix was waiting just inside.
But she was not. A line of bowing house elves was.
"Master Draco, sir. Good to see you again!" they chorused. All of them were wearing clean pillowcases and beaming smiles.
Harry saw that his boyfriend wasn't daring to look at Hermione.
"Aren't you going to introduce us, Draco?" asked Hermione coldly.
Draco introduced Panky, Hanky, Manky, Perky and Slinky. "Don't say the names of the first two in the opposite order, or they'll giggle all day," he said.
Very solemnly, and to the house elves' complete surprise, Hermione went down the line, shaking their tiny hands.
"Master Draco, sir. Severus Snape is waiting for you in the study," said Perky, when she had finished. Hanky was looking at his just-shaken hand, if as he'd never seen it before.
The quartet glanced at each other nervously.
"Father's study is up the stairs," said Draco, and set off. The others followed him.
Malfoy Mansion wasn't at all what Harry expected of a Dark wizarding home. After living at Grimmauld Place, he'd expected a grim, dark, haunted manor. But the building was light and airy, and gave little clue that the owners were Dark. A stuffed Antipodean Opal-Eye dragon, with iridescent eyes, was the most off-putting thing Harry saw. He guessed that all the incriminating Dark objects had been hidden away from Ministry view. Or perhaps the Malfoys simply had more taste than the Blacks?
Portraits of white-blond people chatted and gossiped around them. None of them screamed, but were they paying particular attention to Hermione and Ron? Harry studied the portraits as he went past, and wondered.
"This is it," whispered Draco, when they reached a closed wooden door. "We have to be very close to Snape when we do it. Expelliarmus, all of us together. On my signal." He pushed open the door.
The study looked like a library. The walls were lined with books, from floor to ceiling. Most were leather bound, and some looked ancient and precious. All sorts of treasures lurked in glass cases.
But Harry's attention was drawn to a winged, green leather chair near the unlit fireplace. A black sleeve and a long-fingered hand, holding a glass of red wine, rested on the chair arm.
Harry nodded at his friends and gestured to the chair. They raised their wands and silently crept closer.
There's something wrong, Harry thought. He wasn't sure what. All he knew was that his skin was crawling, as though unfriendly eyes were watching him. He quickly turned his head and scanned the room, but it appeared to be empty, apart from Snape, who was in the chair, still mostly hidden from view.
As they moved to the front of the chair, Snape gave a great start, and drew out his wand, as quick as a snake.
"Now!" cried Draco, and they all fired off silent Expelliarmus spells.
But even as Harry fired off his, he knew they had made a terrible mistake. Snape's wand did not fly out of his hand. Instead, shockwaves rippled all over his body, from where the spells struck him, and he vanished, in a puff of smoke.
Before Harry could react, a great jet of light shot out, not from the smoke-filled chair, but from behind them. The quartet's wands flew out of their hands and over their heads. They wheeled around, as a familiar, sarcastic voice spoke.
"Tut, tut. How very disappointing! The Gryffindor heroes and their new ... friend ... cannot recognise a simple Simulacrum Spell when they see it."
Snape was standing beside a glass case, filled with Neolithic wands. He held the quartet's wands in his left hand and his own in his right. The cold smile on his face told Harry they were in very serious trouble.
"So, you tried to ambush me, Draco," said Snape. His voice was little more than a whisper, but it could be heard around the room.
"I'm sorry, Severus. We weren't sure what-"
"Traitor!" Snape cut him off. Draco's eyes widened. His old Head of House had clearly never spoken to him like this before. Snape glared at him disdainfully. "I would have expected a bit more gratitude from a boy I worked so hard to help. A few days spent with Gryffindors has made you as foolish as they are! I trust, Draco, that this ridiculous attempt to ambush me wasn't your idea?"
"It was my idea," said Ron bravely. "Draco didn't like it, but we convinced him. We just wanted to talk to you safely. We weren't going to hurt you."
"As if you could if you tried!" said Snape scathingly. "Your mind is an open book, Mr Weasley, and your reflexes are slow, Miss Granger. As for you, Mr Potter, you doubt your own instincts too much to heed what they are telling you. I, Severus Snape, will not be disarmed by a pathetic gaggle of teenagers!"
"I thought you were calling yourself the Half-Blood Prince now?" said Harry. From the moment his wand had left his fingers, he'd fought to maintain his Occlumency. It was agony. Sweat was trickling down his face. But he kept the majestic, tranquil image of Dumbledore in his head, and his mental shield stayed in place.
Snape's black, penetrating eyes looked into his and he felt the panther claws of Legilimency tear at the icy shield in his mind. But the shield held. To his joy, he saw Snape frown.
"Potter, you're keeping me out without a wand."
"Draco taught me," said Harry, not breaking eye contact.
"He didn't teach you that! The only other person I've ever seen, who could maintain Occlumency without a wand was-"
"Lily Evans?" said Draco suddenly.
Snape's head snapped around to look at him.
"I'm right, aren't I? Lily Evans could do Occlumency without a wand," said Draco. Snape's face didn't move, but Draco nodded with satisfaction. "It was an easy guess," he added, in answer to Snape's unspoken question. "Harry's got his mother's eyes. It makes sense that he's exactly like her-"
"He's NOTHING like her," snarled Snape, and the sudden venom in his voice made Draco take a step backwards. "He's just like his filthy, bullying father!"
Harry bristled. "Don't you dare insult my father," he snapped.
"Bullying?" Draco looked confused. "Harry's no bully."
Snape's eyes flicked towards him. "How can you say that? You were Potter's main victim," he said. "In fact, he nearly killed you!"
"I shot first that day in the bathroom," said Draco matter-of-factly. "I was going to use Crucio. Harry didn't know what that cutting spell did, and he's since apologised to me. And as for all the other times we fought, I started them too. All I had to do was insult Harry or his friends, until he snapped. He's got a terrible temper. Did his mother have a bad temper too?"
Harry was astonished to find he was waiting for Snape's answer with baited breath. He knew so little about his mother. Remus and Sirius had been his father's friends, not his mother's. As far as he knew, none of his mother's magical friends were still alive...
...except for the man in billowing black robes in front of him.
"Yes," said Snape very slowly, rubbing his chin. "Lily Evans had a terrible temper."
"Professor Snape," piped up Ron. "Will you give us our wands back?"
Snape's eyes, which had been unfocused and staring into space, abruptly focused on the quartet and narrowed. "No," he said. He flicked his wand and Harry felt invisible bonds go around him, and saw them going around the others. With another flick of Snape's wand, they rose half a metre into the air and hung there, struggling. "Potter attacked my step-father this morning. I don't trust any of you. But there is something I need to show you. In the cellar..."
"Put me down! There's nothing in the cellar but wine," said Draco, fighting and wriggling as though trapped inside an invisible cocoon.
With a thin smile, Snape said. "My ... workshop ... is there now." He raised his wand and walked towards the door. The quartet was pulled after him, still bound up and floating above the floor.
oOoOoOo
Snape wasn't very careful about guiding Harry around obstacles as he dragged them down to the cellar. When the Gryffindor's head bumped against a low ceiling on the stairs, Draco remonstrated loudly with his ex-Head of House.
"Be quiet, Draco," said Snape.
"I won't be quiet! Stop bashing Harry against things! I won't stand for it! It's not fair ... AH!" Draco's voice went from petulant, to a stifled yell of pain.
The Gryffindors stared at him. "What did Snape do to you, Draco?" asked Harry. Snape had flinched at the same time Draco yelled.
"My Dark Mark just burned black."
"The Dark Lord is calling us," said Snape, pulling them down the stairs.
Harry's lip curled in disgust. "Well, hadn't you better be going, then?"
Snape looked at him coldly. "Not yet, Potter. I already know what the Dark Lord is planning. The Death Eaters will be splitting up into three groups tonight. One will be taking hostages at the Ministry of Magic, another at St Mungo's, and the third group will go with the Dark Lord to Hogwarts and help him take down the wards."
"They're taking over Hogwarts?" said Harry incredulously.
"Indeed. They will all be meeting, with the hostages, in the Great Hall at midnight. The Dark Lord is claiming Hogwarts as his new headquarters."
This news was too terrible for Harry to grasp right away. He stared at Snape in horror.
"V-Voldemort is taking over Hogwarts? But he can't!" gasped Hermione.
"This is partially your doing," said Snape. "The Dark Lord always planned to claim Hogwarts at some point. But the killing of Nagini has forced him to do it now."
"How can killing Nagini have made Voldemort want to take over Hogwarts?" asked Ron scornfully.
"It is due to the ... interesting ... effect Potter's blood," said Snape. Now he was dragging them down a long corridor. "That blood has run in his veins since he used it to recreate his body and it contains a quality he hasn't experienced before. Love."
Harry remembered the sudden, weird expression of triumph on Dumbledore's face, when he learned how Voldemort had revived himself. Didn't that mean that his blood was bad for Voldemort? Snape was talking about it as if though it were good.
"The Dark Lord loved Nagini, thanks to Potter's blood. Now he is broken hearted over her death, and desperate to claim the only other thing he ever loved - Hogwarts. I must admit, I rather encouraged it."
"You encouraged Voldemort to take over Hogwarts?" Harry was beyond furious. He felt he was stuck in a waking nightmare. He imagined Voldemort sitting behind the Headmaster's desk, where Dumbledore had sat, and where McGonagall should have rightfully have been sitting. He imagined the helpless horror on the faces of the portraits of previous headmasters, as Voldemort used the enrolment system to track down every single Muggle-born in the world, bring them to Hogwarts, and kill them.
Snape didn't even look at him. "And speaking of claiming." Nagini's body flew out of Harry's pocket. Harry wriggled, but he couldn't stop it. Snape opened the bag and gazed inside. The foul smell of rotting snake filled the stairwell. "Excellent. The Dark Lord has been searching far and wide for his dead pet," he said with satisfaction, closing the bag and tucking it into his robes.
"Don't give her to him!" cried Draco.
"Silence!"
They entered the cellar, and Snape closed the thick, wooden door behind them. The pale, grey stone lining the room was scorched and eroded. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up. He sensed vast amounts of magic had been expended in this room. What had happened in here?
Was this a torture chamber?
"You'd better join Voldemort soon," Harry stated, with a boldness he didn't feel. "He won't appreciate it if you're late."
"He'll forgive me, when I bring him the Chosen One, his two friends, and the traitor," said Snape, with a smirk. "Or what's left of you."
The quartet shivered.
Hermione whimpered.
"No!" cried Draco. "Don't do this! Severus! Please! Let them go, you can kill me instead..."
"Silencio!" said Snape, and suddenly Draco was swearing, and begging, but no sound came out.
"Take that off him!" shouted Harry. "Are you afraid to hear what he says?"
"You are here to listen and watch. Not talk. There is something you must all see." Snape made a summoning motion with his wand.
Harry felt a coldness come over the room, heard screaming in his mind, and he knew what had been summoned, even before he heard the hollow, rattling breathing.
The Dementor appeared in the cellar, threadbare robes fluttering. The living nightmare Harry was suspended in grew worse. He KNEW this Dementor. Its eye sockets were hollow and empty. Its mouth was a wasted, lipless sucking hole. But blond hair still clung to the skull and the face was still recognisable.
It had once been Barty Crouch Junior, the Death Eater who masqueraded as Mad-Eye Moody, and had been Kissed.
Snape looked caressingly at the Dementor. "Tonight you will feast," he told it. "Your favourite food - human soul."
The Dementor breathed faster.
Ron moaned. Draco shouted and yelled silently.
"I am the Dementor Master," said Snape, smirking at the quartet. "The Dark Lord offered me a reward, for killing Dumbledore and this is what I chose. To control and guide all the Dementors in Britain."
The Dementor that had once been Barty Crouch Junior turned its blind face towards Harry and raised its wasted arms hungrily.
"Fascinating pieces of Dark magic, Dementors," said Snape. "New ones are created by taking a person, who has suffered the Dementor's Kiss, and soaking them in a lake. The water steams. That is why it is misty when Dementors are being made. The body, which still breaths, despite not having a soul, is drowned. It is left to rot, then rises from the water, a new Dementor."
"You're teaching us," said Harry incredulously. "You madman! I can't believe you're teaching us at a time like this. Why bother? We're about to have our souls sucked out, and I always hated your lessons anyway-"
Snape stared at him coldly. "Silencio!"
Harry opened his mouth and no sound came out. He swore at Snape, hoping he could lip-read; then he looked desperately at the others, struggling in their invisible bonds. I'm sorry, he mouthed.
"And now we shall begin," said Snape.
oOoOoOo
Author's Notes: The End.
I kid, I kid! There's more! But how's Harry going to get out of this one? I've got to think of a cunning plan. Encourage me with reviews, please!
I based the outside of Malfoy Mansion on Kenwood House, on Hampstead Heath, in London.
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Thank you to the following people for reviewing: NinjaoftheDarkness, precioussring, telleo, Anissina June, Kit turned Mighty, oli, Gryffindorgrl86, PENGUiN2006MASTER, ThePotionsMiss, DBZfanalways, FALLINA, AngelLuva, Jakar, InTheTelling, Silver-Tiger-Fira, bellajen94, HecateDeMort, Muchacha, Riku-Rocks, kozie, Potter's Wifey, fufu.a.k.a.speechless, rekahneko, thrnbrooke, LunaSky, miss brownie, Your Mom Is My Heart., Yellowwolf, NATWEST, Anon, dracoizumi, draconian snowangel216, GreenEyedCatDragon, Willow26, CatWriter, and keske.
Moyima: Thanks for your review. The last chapter was my "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". It nearly got left out, because it didn't advance the plot, then it ended up being the most popular chapter. Forty-five reviews in three days! I'm gob smacked.
Fmh: Thanks! Maybe you wish Snape WASN'T in this chapter now? ;-)
ProperT: Thanks for voting for The Bodyguard in the quilltoparchment dot com competition!
Yueli: The Bodyguard takes place instead of Deathly Hallows.
Norwegian MoonShadow: Thanks for your review. I hope I didn't scare you away with Snape and Lily! ;-)