James was forced to sit in the chair all day. He didn't dare fall asleep. Bellatrix was slowly making the potion. There were other people who came and went, none of which James had ever seen before. It was extremely hot in the room. He was becoming increasingly hungry and thirsty. He leaned back a bit and moaned softly, trying very hard to keep himself awake.

Bellatrix looked up suddenly. "You," she said, pointing to some other death eater. "Get the boy something to eat."

"Why bother?"

"If he starves to death then he won't be much use to us, now will he?" she snapped. The other death eater moved quickly. He poofed a sandwich onto James' lap. James had to bend over to get to it. He just barely managed to grab it with his teeth. The death eaters laughed at him. James eyed them angrily. He sat back up and spit out what he had in his mouth. Bellatrix turned around quickly.

"I'd rather starve than be of any help to you," James said to her.

"Fine then, have it your way." Bellatrix went back to her potion.

James leaned forward and let himself sort of hang from the ropes around his middle. Why hadn't he listened for once? Dad knows a lot about these things. You should have just listened to him. Now you're stuck here and can't get yourself out. All you've proven is that you are irrational, irresponsible, and utterly unable to take care of yourself. What's worse – when mum finds out you'll be scrubbing dishes without magic for a century.

But they'll be coming for me, won't they? They might be mad that I disobeyed them, but they wouldn't let me die…or whatever she plans on doing... right? No, they won't. Dad will be here, and he'll bring lots of other aurors to help. How will he find me, though? A signal, I need a signal. I don't have my wand… and I can't move with all of them looking at me…

The potion suddenly turned green and bubbled up huge smoke bubbles. Bellartix looked very excited. James leaned back against the chair again. Please be coming… please be on your way…

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny snuck up on the Slytherin house.

"This is it?" Ginny asked.

"Yep," Harry said, trying to keep his voice very low. There were two death eaters outside the door. Through one of the windows they could see shadows of several others. "We have to get them away from the door. If they alert Bellatrix, she could take him and leave before we ever get inside."

"We need a diversion," Hermione mumbled. She looked around for a second. "Come with me, Gin."

Ginny nodded and looked at Harry for a second. "Bring my baby back to me," she said to him. The two of them began scurrying off toward the back of the house.

"What're you doing?" Ron asked

"Go with Harry," Hermione hissed. They continued on, and eventually Harry lost sight of them. Suddenly there were different colored sparks flying everywhere behind the house. The death eaters inside, including the ones in the front, ran around to check on it.

Hermione and Ginny were pulling them away from the house. Ron looked upset – the two women he cared about most (other than his mother, of course) were over there fighting alone against all of those death eaters. Harry got up quickly and pulled Ron's arm. "Come on."

They ran to the door and peeked inside. James had been strapped to a table. Bellatrix was on the other side of that table, and another shadow was in the darkness. She was saying something that sounded a lot like a spell. Ron nodded to Harry, looking at him as if to say 'I'm ready whenever you are'. Harry nodded back.

That night, James had nearly fallen asleep on the chair when he was violently shaken. They were untying him from the chair. Between himself and Bellatrix's cauldron was a long metal table, the kind you sometimes see in hospitals. Two death eaters pulled him from the chair and threw him onto the table, strapping his arms and legs down.

James wished very much that he could fight back. It had been nearly three days since he had been strapped to the chair. By now he was extremely hungry, thirsty, and tired. He wouldn't have had the energy to sit himself up, even if he tried very hard. Maybe they want it this way, he thought, so that I can't fight back.

The other death eaters left James and Bellatrix alone. One other was in the shadows, but he wasn't doing anything. Bellatrix stood over him. "Well, here we are boy," Bellatrix said to him. "Enjoy your last few minutes as yourself. Soon you will cease to exist."

She stepped back and stood there as if she were waiting for something. James looked around as best as he could. The only ones in the room were James, Bellatrix, the bubbling cauldron, and whoever that shadow was. Who else does she need?

Suddenly the door to the room they were in creaked open a bit, not wide enough for a person, but maybe for an animal. Bellatrix got excited. James couldn't see what had entered – it was too low to the ground. His mind went over every animal he could think of.

They saved him the trouble of guessing. A huge snake, the biggest one he had ever seen, suddenly came onto the table with him and stood itself up, hissing and showing James its huge fangs. Bellatrix was more excited than ever. "Yes! Yes Nagini! Inject him with your poison to chase that soul out of there, so that I can put a better one inside!"

The snake seemed to understand what it had to do. It gave one last look at James, and then sank its fangs into his right calf muscle. James moaned in pain. Bellatrix laughed. Once the snake was done, it slithered back off of the table. James felt the puncture site get cold. The cold soon spread to his whole leg, then down his left leg, and began working up his torso. He tried to fight it, but he was too weak. It was getting hard for him to breathe and his head was already swimming. James closed his eyes to try to get back control of himself.

Unexpectedly there was a lot of commotion in the room. James tried to open his eyes, but his vision was too blurry to see anything. He tried listening instead.

"You're too late!" Bellatrix was shrieking. "It's already done!"

There were some other voices in the room, but James couldn't really hear them. Someone touched his face. He tried to see who they were. It looked like his aunt. "Come on, James. We have to get you out of here." She whispered to him. "I know it's hard. We'll make you better once you're out of here."

She picked him up off of the table. Another set of arms grabbed the opposite side of him. "It's okay, baby, don't worry. Just keep breathing." It sounded like his mother. James felt a lot better about this situation.

They took him outside and set him on the ground. The cold was now all the way up to his neck. Then he felt it going away. Warmth spread from his chest down through his legs. He took in several deep breaths. His mother pulled him up into her arms. "You're okay. It's all over now."