Chapter Twelve
"Harry?" a muffled voice called his name. It came from his palm, which held the mirror. Harry glanced down. A face was barely visible in the dark.
"Ron!" Harry clutched the mirror and glanced at Snape who had his eyes closed. "You've got to come and help me. I have Snape and Cornelius Fudge and your brother. We're somewhere in the sewers."
"You've got to help me find you, Harry," Ron said looking at him from the mirror.
"All right, I'm going to climb up to the street and see where we are. Snape is hurt so you've got to come quickly. Tell Jolie to find a Roma by the name of Marcuso in Knockturn Alley. Hold on now." Harry said quickly, held the wand, mirror in one hand, and climbed. The way became narrow and he struggled to pull himself to the surface as dirt and filth dropped into his face.
He managed the sewer manhole and climbed out onto a cobbled street. It wasn't Knockturn Alley but close to it with the same close, atrocious atmosphere. The streets were, however, empty. Harry glanced around for markers so he could return to Snape. Sticking his head down in the small hole, he whispered down, "I'm going to find Ron, I'll be back."
Harry closed the cover carefully and noted the name of the shop sitting closest to it. He kept his wand in front of him and hurried down the street.
...
An hour later, he found them. Ron and Hermione were with Jolie and Marcuso. They were walking down the street, keeping to the shadows.
"Ron!" Harry hurried forward.
Hermione saw the condition of his face and clothes, "Merlin's beard what has happened to you? Are you all right? I'll go get Dumbledore." She hurried off before he could answer. He was busy talking to Jolie and could not stop her.
"We have to go back this way," Harry was saying and pointing down the street. "I left them in sewer. We can get to them through the sewer hole. There's a ladder; I used it to climb out. Come on!"
Ron and Jolie didn't argue. Jolie had the old Gypsy, Marcuso, by the back of his cloak. They were joined almost immediately by Lupin, Arthur Weasley, and other Roma; Gregor, Pascal and Viktor. They followed Harry to the manhole and watched as he disappeared. One by one, they climbed into the hole
Down in the sewer Harry searched frantically for Snape. Cornelius Fudge and Percy remained where he left them but there was no sign of Snape. Harry hurried back through the tunnel the way they had come in their flight to escape and, Remus and Ron followed.
"Wait Harry," Remus said, managing to grab his robe. "If there are half-breed giants and a vampire ahead of us, perhaps it would be best if you let me go first. Ron, go back and see if Jolie will bring Marcuso here, too. He'll know this place; he's an old sewer rat."
"But they've taken him! We have to go now," Harry argued frantically.
Lupin held onto Harry's shirt stained crimson with his own blood, "He's already gone Harry and you know it." Lupin's face was grim in the half-light, "We'll search and we won't find him. You already know this."
"AArghhh!" Harry grasped his face in his hand and wailed in frustration. Jolie came rushing through the tunnel, with Gregor and Ron behind him when they heard the sound.
"Harry!" Jolie reached him. He was dragging the ragged Gypsy, Marcuso, with him. "Chav, what is the matter?"
Lupin stood with one arm around him clasping him to his chest and remaining silent, while Harry moaned.
The group searched the many halls and even the maze; the rooms were empty.
...
Harry was sitting on one of the fine couches in the large salon when Hermione and Dumbledore entered through the double-wide walnut doors. Harry looked up, read the sadness, and worry on Dumbledore's face. Lupin and Ron sat on each side of him and reached for him when he stood.
"Harry, are you hurt badly?" Dumbledore asked, examining his face and clothes.
"No," Harry said, "But Professor Snape is. We have to find him now! I should never have left him behind," Harry insisted. He was beside himself and Dumbledore laid a hand on his shoulder.
"We must get you back to Hogwarts and clean you up. You need some rest."
"No!" Harry said angrily and shoved the hand off. The people in the room gasped. "I'll go by myself if I have to, but I'm not leaving him in the hands of that monster!"
"Harry, it is too late. They are gone." Dumbledore said calmly. He stood an unmovable statue in front of him. "You're not going anywhere until you have rested."
"Professor!" Harry began to argue, this time the anger was gone and he was pleading.
Dumbledore held up his hand to silence him. "Remus, help me, we need to get him back to Hogwarts and then we need to discuss what to do next." They found a fireplace and three of them shoved him in. He was whirling in the ashes and heat on his way to Hogwarts.
He arrived in Dumbledore's study, his agitation had not abated until he blinked the soot from his eyes and saw Nadya standing before him,. He thought she looked very pretty standing barefoot in her long skirts, the light from the windows shining on her long hair.
"Harry!" she screamed and ran to him, enveloping him in her arms. "Mi dehiba (my love)" He buried his face in her hair and held her unaware of several figures that were materializing from the fireplace behind him.
An hour later, showered and resting in a bed in Madam Pomphrey's hospital room, Harry held Nadya's hand and lay looking at her as he drifted off to sleep. She climbed in beside him and rested her head on his chest. Lupin stood nearby, having forced Harry to take a sleeping draught. After he saw the boy's eyes close, he met Ron and Hermione and the three walked the corridor to Dumbledore's office.
...
Harry woke when it was dark and a single lamp lit the end of the room. He recognized where he was and he felt the weight of Nadya's head on his chest. She had fallen asleep with her arm thrown over him.
"Nadya," he whispered. She woke and opened her dark eyes. She smiled when she saw him looking at her. "I didn't think a Roma girl would ever come inside Hogwarts," Harry said and kissed her on the lips.
"I have come because my man is here," she said smiling. She raised herself on her elbow and looked into his bruised face. Madam Pomphrey had reset and fixed his nose but the bruising remained. "Why have you done this thing?"
He propped himself up on the pillow and looked at her. "You know I must fight the Kalo Beng someday. It is my obligation."
She sat up and looked at him firmly, and said, "Va, I know this. But you walk into the devil's nest. Why do you do this? You want this devil to kill you so soon?"
"Nadya," Harry sighed, "I grow tired of waiting for it. I want it to end, I want some peace and I don't want to have to worry about people that I love getting hurt." He choked. "I always seem to do the wrong thing and now Snape is probably being tortured and I can't do anything about it." Harry tossed the covers back to climb out of bed. "I left him!"
"Harry!" she exclaimed, and was up and around to his side of the bed. She was looking angry and he saw a fire in her eyes that been there only once that he could remember. She gave a haughty but firm look him. "We can find this Gadjo who was with you, this- Snape- the one who was at the wedding. We can do this." She raised her finger and pointed it at his face, and said emphatically, "You will not do this alone. I have met your friends and they love you as much as I do. We do this together. Do you understand you are not alone?" She was speaking in Romani and the fire in her voice was unmistakable.
"Nadya," he began, thinking he would argue with her.
She cut him off. "Nah, Harry!" She shook the magnificent mane of curly black hair and frowned, "You are my little boy." She kissed his cheek and smoothed his hair, looking deep into his eyes. He frowned at her use of words and she smiled back. "You do not understand. We stand together or we stand apart. I took you as my husband, I will never abandon you. I know you would leave me; stay apart from me out of your fear for me and for the others." Harry began to protest, and she shook her head, and went on, "I know what is in your heart. If you want your freedom from me, I will give it, for there is nothing that a Roma desires more than his freedom, but you cannot ask me to let you go in my heart. That is long been given to you"
"If you were to get hurt…" he began, choking back the feelings threatening to overwhelm him.
"Is it less for me to suffer when you hurt? We suffer! The Roma have known suffering, I tell you. Today we suffer in the rain, tomorrow in the heat. We suffer when those we love die and when they are born. Agh!" she threw up her hands and spun on her heel. "I tell you my love; you cannot take it from me. You cannot take my pain. It is mine to bear! If we are together or apart, it will be there. Someday you will have to stand and watch me suffer and you will do it because there is no other way."
She waved her hand like a whip in the air and turned back to him. "When I took you as my husband I knew there would be long times between the days we would be together. I knew the Kalo Beng might kill you and I would not see you again. I knew this and I chose you anyway. Harry, what I tell you is this, I would be with you one minute or a thousand, it does not matter. I love no other." He stood watching her and the line of her straight shoulders, and her head held high in stubborn defiance.
He held his breath as her words sunk in and then said softly, "I couldn't stand it, Nadya, if I were responsible... the cause of something happening to you."
"You do not choose the path I walk, or the road I travel," she snapped in anger. "I choose this myself!"
"Snape came after me…" Harry began, "to protect me. And now he's been caught, I…"
She interrupted and once again pointed her finger at him. "What you cannot stand is being afraid!" she said raising her voice.
"Nadja!" Harry slipped off the bed barefoot to the cold floor, facing her in his pajamas. "I'm not afraid." He was growing angry.
"Yes. I did not think I married a coward!" she said. There was a piercing look in her eyes. "You fear to take the dragon by the tail." She walked slowly towards him making no sound in her bare feet. She was speaking slowly, earnestly, the candlelight playing over her face. "My love, you have the power, the magic in you, to make a desert bloom… but in doing so… you also fear you might empty an ocean. You stand frozen, unable to act because of what your actions bring." She was nose to nose with him and he was staring down into the pools of her dark eyes. "Do you not think we all face this? This Gadjo- Snape- he knew what he was doing. It was his choice and he may die for his choice. But you- you're afraid to make choices and live with your choice, right or wrong."
Harry gazed into her face stupefied and stunned by her words.
"Your friends will follow you into battle, die for you, because they want to. It is their choice. I will die for you, proudly." She stared back, and said coldly, "but no one will follow a coward."
Harry held onto the bed and gaped at her, shaking in disbelief.
She kissed him on the lips delicately and turned to walk to the door saying as she went, "I will wait for you. If you want to find this old Crow, I will help you; Jolie will help you as will the others. You know where to find me." Then she left.
Harry was dressed and out the door with Madam Pomphrey fast behind him sputtering, "Now Mr. Potter, you must go back to bed and rest!"
"No, Madam Pomphrey," he said as he moved, I'm not going to rest just yet." He left her in the dark hallway and headed to Dumbledore's office. Students stopped to stare at him as he walked. He had forgotten he was supposed to be dead to most of them. He had forgotten Jeremy Potter had removed the disguise he wore.
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