Chapter 11- Tasting the Madness
As Harry listened to Lupin describe their travel arrangements, all he could wonder was why the Order needed him to see Mr Ollivander. If they couldn't help him or extract information, how was he supposed to?
"As you know, we can only apparate as far as the outer reaches of the lake," said Lupin with a yawning stretch, "then we take a boat across to the main grounds like you've done before."
Harry was absently nodding at this as his thoughts flew here, there and everywhere. Mrs Weasley, with Lupin's assistance, had explained to her daughter that she could not accompany Harry on the journey. Even though he was expecting to return that night, she was still very upset that she had to be parted from him already. Harry knew her pain, as it was the same that clawed at him as he made his way downstairs with Lupin.
"One, if not both of us will be back before midnight" said Lupin to Tonks and the scattered family members that remained in the kitchen.
Ginny was looking mournfully at the space beside him where Harry stood in his invisibility cloak. Harry sadly watched her mouth the words "I love you," before he disapparated from The Burrow, and in that instant, he could feel his heart breaking in the cruellest way.
The grounds of Hogwarts had always been Harry's favourite scenery to behold. Protected from the eyes of muggles by many complex enchantments, and now secured against all who were not expected, all he wished was that he could be there under more pleasant circumstances. The sight of the vast lake, the forest, and the castle itself had always been such an inspiration, and he couldn't help casting his mind back to when he had first seen it at the age of eleven. Standing at the side of the lake now, his only thought was that this was just one more thing worth fighting for.
He and Remus Lupin watched as a small rowing boat floated purposefully towards them of its own accord. As they carefully stepped aboard it, the sky began to cloud over rapidly, almost as if it were an omen.
They journeyed across the lake in silence. Harry knew there was something he was meaning to ask, but he wasn't altogether sure of the best way to ask it. He decided to make an attempt as they disembarked on the opposite bank.
"Professor, there was something I…" he began, "Er…did Mr Ollivander really escape, or…?"
Lupin knew exactly what he was driving at.
"We don't know anything for sure," he answered grimly, "but we would all like to think that he did escape."
As they walked across the grounds, he turned to Harry with a very foreboding look on his face.
"If he was deliberately released, it's safe to assume that it wasn't simply because Voldemort had no further use for him."
"Why do you think it could have been?" asked Harry.
Lupin was getting increasingly nervous now. He shivered slightly, even though there was hardly a chill in the air.
"Well, like I said, I would prefer to think that he managed to escape," he replied, "but if he was set free, it was almost certainly as a warning of some kind."
They stopped as they reached the main entrance to the castle, and Lupin took a deep breath before speaking again.
"There are some things that will become clear when we get inside. I assure you that you will be told anything that we have found out about this, but only one thing is for absolute certain – the man we brought here is not the wand maker that you knew, or that any of us knew. Something has been done to him, Harry. Something…terrible."
Silence reigned once again, but was broken as they turn into the corridor that led to the Headmistress's study. They then heard the agitated voices of Madame Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and Mad-Eye Moody from the bottom of the spiral staircase.
"But Alestor, he must be taken there as soon as possible, it's the only thing to be done!" wailed Madame Pomfrey.
"Over my dead body!" barked Moody back at her.
"It will be over his if he doesn't get the proper care soon!" she replied.
"Not until I get some answers out of him! If he's taken to St Mungo's, both the press and the Ministry will be on us like locusts on a cornfield within five minutes!"
Professor McGonagall was the first to spot Harry and Lupin, and hurried over to them.
"Oh Remus, thank goodness you're back! Ollivander's been getting worse since you left."
They approached the other two beside the Gargoyle statue that guarded the entrance to the study, and were startled to hear a blood-curdling scream from above. Moody then took a stern look at Harry.
"Well Potter, I just hope that whatever he's babbling about falls into place when he sees you," he growled, "He was muttering enough about you in his sleep, so maybe the sight of you will clear his mind a little."
"I don't quite see how" said Harry.
"Well, he won't be busying himself making wands for a while, not when he's having trouble making sense, so I'd say it's worth a try."
McGonagall stepped forward and addressed the gargoyle.
"Memor vinco" she uttered and the staircase spiralled upwards in front of them.
Mad-Eye Moody led the way up, closely followed by Harry and Lupin.
"They've twisted his mind somehow," said Moody, "Something must have terrified him out of his wits, that's for sure."
When they entered the study, Harry's eyes fell upon a sight that made his stomach turn. Now he could see what Lupin had meant. This was definitely not the Ollivander that he had known before. In place of the calm, wise, and rational old man that he had last met at the Tri-Wizard Tournament nearly three years ago, he was now looking at a deranged lunatic. Mr Ollivander had fallen from his chair, and was now crawling slowly around on his hands and knees, his clothes filthy and torn. There were dark red stains across the carpet around him, where he had been vomiting blood, and both his hands and face were covered in severe cuts and bruises.
As he gazed vacantly around the room, rambling inarticulately, his eyes fell on Harry, and he suddenly stopped short. When he spoke, there was a murderous desperation and rasp in his voice.
"You are….here," he said simply.
Harry was nonplussed.
"Mr Ollivander?"
"He…has seen you," was all the reply he received.
"What do you mean?" cut in Moody.
Harry jumped as Ollivander exploded in a ballistic rage, and once again coughed up a mouthful of blood. His voice violently reverberated around the room as he continued to dribble blood down his front and on to the carpet.
"CHARLATONS!! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!! YOU SPEAK OF SO MUCH, AND YET YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!"
No one dared make a sound until Harry finally stepped forward.
"Mr Ollivander. What happened to you?"
Although the man still bore a furious expression, his voice quietened.
"Like scurrying, sightless rats…like blind men in the darkest of caves we are…"
Harry decided he was asking the wrong question.
"Where did he take you?" he asked, concluding that he had spoken of Voldemort.
"He…he promised me…promised he would…kill me. Why would he lie?" Mr Ollivander replied, looking somewhere between helpless and catatonic.
Moody then began furiously whispering to Lupin.
"I know he's still being vague and all, but why didn't he speak a word of this before?"
"Sshh," gestured Lupin, "Maybe it's just the sight of Harry, like you said."
Harry was now determined, though he could make little sense of the answers he was given.
"What did he want from you?"
"The light…that shows him the way…" came the reply.
"The way to what?"
Silence. Harry turned to the others.
"Is there nothing that can be done for him?"
"He's been infected with some kind of dark magic and none of us can break through it" said Lupin, shaking his head.
As he tried to help Ollivander to his feet, Harry felt the man's now piercing stare and was suddenly frozen to the spot with fear. He saw a cold bleak darkness in his eyes and began to feel the same kind of terror and agony that he had felt in his dream the night before. Breaking out into a heavy sweat, he began to breathe as if he had been thrown into an ice-cold bath and was unable to let go of Ollivander's arm.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Moody.
But Harry couldn't speak. He couldn't even move. Avoiding the dark stare, Lupin strode forward and prised Harry away from Mr Ollivander, at which point, the wand maker collapsed to the floor once again. Harry was shaking.
"Are you alright?" asked Lupin, ushering him towards the door with great concern, "Look, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. Go downstairs and see Madam Pomfrey, she'll give you something to calm you down."
Suddenly, Harry tore himself away and faced the crumpled man lying on the floor.
"No!" he cried, "I MUST talk to him!"
Stooping down and checking that he was still conscious, Harry questioned him again.
"Mr Ollivander, What happened? Please try and think!"
Ollivander struggled to raise his head, never looking Harry in the eye.
"He…wanted the answer…to the riddle," he said breathlessly.
"Why did he need you?" asked Harry insistently.
"I needed him to kill me!" he shrieked, tears mingling with the blood on the carpet.
"But what did he want with YOU?"
Mr Ollivander paused to wipe his eyes before answering.
"A…wand," he breathed, before hastily adding "I gave him nothing. I begged him to kill me!"
There was terror in his voice that Harry had never before heard. There was the truth in there somewhere, but it seemed almost like working through a maze in pitch black darkness. He persevered.
"What did he tell you? What was he doing when you were there?"
The wand maker shook himself, as if he too were trying to uncover the answers.
"The Dark Lord…..so many things…wanted to know why his wand….I…he was angry…so angry…"
Harry stayed silent, as it now looked as if the desperate man before him was just trying to find the words.
"So much time…darkness…no light….pain…"
"Go on," said Harry encouragingly.
"I hear voices…voices in the dark…He ….sought the….the Coven."
Both Moody and Lupin were listening intently now. Harry ventured a guess, as though blindly fitting a piece to a jigsaw puzzle.
"The…Serpent's Coven?"
Ollivander looked up in wide-eyed surprise, rose on to one knee and shivered as he nodded.
"Of his ancestry…he…would take it…can't let him! Can't let…!"
And with that, he made a desperate lunge forward like a plea for help, and puked blood on Harry's shirt as he fell to the floor. A little stunned at what had just happened, Harry wiped the stray blood off his hands before feeling Moody's hand clamp down on his shoulder.
"I need a word with you, Potter. Downstairs, right now," he said in a very grim tone.
As the three of them made for the door, they heard Mr Ollivander gasp, and turned around.
"He has…seen you…Harry Potter," he croaked, seemingly too weak to open his eyes, "He…has also…seen…HER."