Chapter 31

Timing Is Everything

Issamir and Harry rested in a different storage room after another hour of moving about McNaughton Castle in the body of the serpent. The human slumped against a cold wall, exhausted from the energy required to maintain possession of the snake. The reptile coiled, exhausted both from being possessed and from the physical exertion required to move about the enormous castle. Both additionally suffered from the mental strain of expecting a death eater or troll to be hidden behind every corner.

Yet for their first hour in the ancient structure, they encountered nothing but a few rats and mice. By now, Harry was completely lost. In his own body, he rarely had problems with directions, but he could not orient himself while looking through the ground-level eyes of Issamir. Fortunately, Issamir seemed to remember where they had been, and as far as Harry could determine, they had not been traveling in circles. Given the enormous size of the castle, however, in their hour of slithering, Harry figured they had not seen even one fourth of it. Obviously the inhabitants of the castle must be congregated in another section of it. They decided to take a breather before pushing on.

"What do you think we should do?" Harry hissed to the serpent, the question more rhetorical than real.

Issamir answered nonetheless, "We must cover more ground and do it more quickly. Traveling along the passages is slow going, as we must take great care at every corner and at every door. If we could enter pipes that connect the rooms of the castle, we would be able to check more rooms quickly without the need for so much caution."

Harry understood Issamir's point, but he hardly could be considered an architect. Nevertheless, he intimately knew one medieval castle, familiar with its nooks and crannies. Hogwarts, Harry recalled, contained a ventilation system of sorts, at least for the interior classrooms which lacked windows. The dungeons and certain other rooms were not connected to this system, but probably most of the important rooms were. Perhaps McNaughton Castle contained the same system. He looked all around the dark storage room, lighting his wand to see if any such ventilation passage existed. Unfortunately, if it did exist, this room did not connect to it.

"I understand, Issamir. There is no such pipe here, but we will keep our eyes open for one once we go back out."

Five minutes later, Harry cracked open the door before reentering the serpent's body, and the excruciatingly slow search of the castle resumed. At first Harry thought that the second round would be as fruitless as the first, but within minutes they heard distant voices. Issamir found a darkened corner in which to hide, as the noise approached. Soon Harry recognized the sound of footsteps, and then voices could faintly be understood.

"I don't know. Stop asking me."

"But Malfoy is becoming unhinged. Something needs to be done about him. Someone needs to inform the dark lord."

Harry did not recognize the two male voices, but clearly they must be death eaters, and not pleased with Lucius Malfoy.

"Fine. You go ahead and seek permission to leave this bloody castle to seek an audience with the dark lord. I'm sure Malfoy will be happy to grant you permission." Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"I know, I know," complained the first man, as the two now passed almost in front of Harry/Issamir, "but Malfoy has his own agenda. Since Potter killed his son, he has been hell-bent on revenge. Nothing else matters to him, not even the dark lord's orders. We are all going to pay for his treason." With this comment the two men stopped, about fifteen feet down the corridor, and they looked at each other with worried eyes. They both wore typically black wizard's robes over dark pants. The first man to speak had handsome features, still a young man perhaps in his thirties, with short, well-groomed blond hair. His companion appeared a few years older, with thin black hair hanging freely below his shoulders. Issamir remained motionless, invisible to the two men.

The second man, after checking both directions, finally resumed the conversation in a soft voice, "We need to send word to headquarters. Who can do it without being noticed? It wouldn't be too difficult or take too long. As you know we can apparate out of the castle with the password spell, and he could get to the Ministry. Then he could apparate back up the valley a bit, and we can sneak him back into the castle. You and I can't be the ones. We would be missed within an hour. In fact, we need to be getting back. Malfoy will be expecting us."

"Follow them!" Harry hissed urgently at Issamir, unnecessarily, as the snake had already turned to track them, keeping a safe distance. It captured the scent of the men, so it did not need to keep them in sight. Harry could no longer hear them, but from time to time would just catch a glimpse. Excitement flowed through him as they began the chase.

Ten minutes later, their progress slowed in the populated section of the castle, on the fourth floor of the castle if Harry counted correctly, and many people passed by, mostly men but several women as well. None of them noticed the slender grey snake darting from one dark corner to another. Despite the new scents, Issamir had no difficulty in keeping track of the two original ones, and haltingly they made progress. Finally they reached a closed door.

"The men are behind this door, Harry Potter. I cannot enter while it is so tightly shut. There is not enough room underneath it."

Harry pondered what to do for a minute, checking for some other means of entrance, when for once fortune shined on him. The door opened suddenly, allowing three death eaters to exit.

As they passed, Harry urged Issamir, "GO!"

The snake sprung from its hiding spot and just slid past the door before it closed again, and faster than it seemed possible, Issamir darted under a cabinet to the right of the entry. Harry could only see the bottom, a mere four or five inches above them. Issamir slowly approached the front edge of the cabinet and Harry could see the lower half of the room, including all but the top of Lucius Malfoy's head. The death eater sat in a plain wooden chair, legs crossed, listening disinterestedly to the others in the room.

Harry could not help but feel anger well up inside of him at the sight of the man, and the desire to bring Lucius Malfoy to justice surged, and not the justice meted out by a court of law. Rapid-fire images sped through his brain: Lucius mistreating Dobby, fighting with Mr. Weasley at Diagon Alley, bowing before the reborn Voldemort in the graveyard This man deserved no mercy.

To Malfoy's right Harry spied four death eaters, two seated and two standing (the men they had tracked). To his left sat a sad-eyed blonde woman: Narcissa Malfoy.

Harry had found her. Now what? For the moment, he knew he had to wait.

"Take all night if you have to" had been Hermione's words, and it seemed that Harry may need the entire evening and more. He worried, however, that too much time had passed. The effort to remain within the body of Issamir had taken its toll. Since his last rest, the two had been merged for at least half an hour, and though he felt under control at the moment, what if the conversation dragged on for hours.

Luck blessed him again, however, as within a minute or two, the four men took their leave, passing within a few feet of Issamir's head. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy remained alone, and Harry took a moment to scan the area, a large meeting room of some kind, with a few ancient wooden tables and cabinets standing here and there. Bare stone walls surrounded them, and on one of the tables sat a stack of parchment which the men had just finished reviewing.

Through his serpent eyes, Harry stared at his prey. Narcissa Malfoy looked terrible. She could not have been more than fifty years old, Harry figured, but she looked seventy at least. Her blonde hair had greyed and wrinkles lined her pale white skin. No longer did she move with the bearing of an elite pure-blood; instead, Harry observed her rising from her chair with some difficulty and walking with her back slightly hunched. He could not recall how long it had been since he had last seen her, probably at Diagon Alley the summer before sixth year, but Harry had to convince himself that in fact this person was the same Narcissa Malfoy.

The couple quietly spoke to each other, but Harry sensed no warmth between them. Lucius' eyes shone with zeal, a craziness in them. The gaunt death eater had also aged, but still bore the demeanor of a man of status. It had to be after midnight, Harry figured, hoping they would be retiring to their living quarters. And in fact he overheard them agreeing that Lucius would accompany Narcissa to her room.

"We must follow them, Issamir. She is the one." Issamir tested the air repeatedly to learn their scent, especially when they passed directly in front of the cabinet. The slender grey serpent darted out the door before it closed and into the dim area along the edge of the corridor, and then waited for the pair to move ahead, out of sight. When certain that the path ahead had cleared, Issamir began the slow process of darting along the edge of the passage.

Harry tired again, but adrenalin pumped through his brain. He could not give up control now, and Issamir carefully maneuvered his way down the wide hall, hiding at times when death eaters passed by. Suddenly, the serpent froze, and Harry felt it tense with fear.

"What is it?"

"Wolf."

"Hide until it passes by."

"Wolves hate serpents. It has sensed me. You must protect me, Harry Potter. The wolf will not stop until it kills me. There is no place to hide." Harry had never heard parseltounge spoken in fear; Issamir's hissing had risen two octaves.

Harry unknowingly took control of Issamir's eyes and noticed a row of three suits of armor several feet ahead.

"Get behind one of those," he hissed, taking control. He could now sense the wolf as well, running swiftly. Harry quickly recalled his lessons about magical wolves, that their saliva contains venom that can kill if not treated promptly, and that they are fearless and aggressive. The serpent darted behind the first suit while Harry chose a spot and immediately left Issamir's body, materializing between two of the suits of armor, accidentally bumping into one of them.

Before he could act, the magical wolf streaked around the corner and attacked Harry viciously, sinking its inch long canines into Harry's left arm. The pain immediately registered in Harry's brain, but he knew that he could not scream. Now he had to act. Having turned to his right to protect his right arm, Harry thrust his wand towards the wolf's mid-section. A moment before it made contact, at Harry's thought, and more importantly at his desire, the wand transformed into a foot-long blade, sharp as a newly honed axe. The yowl of the wolf as the knife thrust into its entrails echoed throughout the wing of the castle. An unearthly, evil howl of pain. The mottled brown wolf, some five feet in length and strong as an ox, released Harry's arm but continued to scratch him with its long blunt claws. Harry turned the blade to the right, and then thrust upward with all his strength, severing vital arteries. The wolf had been mortally wounded. Harry threw the animal to the floor with a thud.

Extreme pain from his left arm radiated throughout his scratched and bloodied body, and briefly Harry wondered how long it would take for the wolf's venom to affect him. He had no time to deal with the wound, however, or even to think about it further. Just a moment after the wolf hit the grey floor, three death eaters ran into view, having not been able to keep up with the animal. Their faces displayed shock at the sight of the mangled creature, and they froze for an instant. Harry knew that he needed to act and act immediately.

The bloody knife had reformed into his wand, and pumped with energy, Harry pointed it and silently thought, Reducto. The blast which followed half a moment later thrust Harry into the wall behind him, the suits of armor crashing to the stone floor. The three death eaters flew through the air. To the left, one man sprung almost straight up, his head crushed by a low beam above him. He fell to the floor lifeless, Harry knew with certainty. The other two, a man and a woman, also crumpled to the floor unconscious, perhaps alive, perhaps not. Harry did not care. He scooped up Issamir, and ignorant of blood, pain and poison, dashed in the direction that Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had been walking.

Noise from the blast most definitely would attract many in the castle, and Harry had no idea what to do. He had just entered the "winging it" part of the plan. Racing as fast as he could, he encountered a man running towards him. The death eater stopped to attempt a spell, but Harry had already flicked a silent "stupefy" at him without breaking stride. His aim true, the man fell to the floor in front of Harry, who hurtled over him.

Issamir continuously tested the air, and as they passed a branch corridor, the snake hissed, "Stop! They turned here. Return to my body. I will take you there." But Harry had had enough of stealth; now he preferred speed.

"Not yet," he responded, and turned back to make the turn he had missed. Ahead he heard noises, so he slowed to a stop, wand trained ahead, back against the wall. Issamir wrapped around his neck so that Harry did not have to hold him.

"Two wizards approach," the serpent hissed.

"I understand," the wizard hissed back, waiting for them to appear. They must have heard Harry just as he heard them, because they did not continue towards him.

"They're waiting for me," he muttered to himself. Should he charge ahead, or should he wait? He felt pumped and ready to charge, but deep in his mind he knew he had to take greater care. He had only one chance. No do-overs. His problems compounded when he heard voices from the other direction, and if he did not act quickly, he could find himself surrounded.

He looked in all directions in semi-panic, when above him he spotted a grate covering an opening. Hogwarts had similar grates, he remembered, part of the ventilation system.

"Up there, Issamir. I will enter you again." Harry jumped with the snake above his head, but they missed the opening, which lay just a few inches too high. "I'm a wizard!" he chastised himself, using his wand silently to float Issamir to the grate, and in a moment it slipped between the bars and into the duct. Harry turned a moment later, a soft crack in the air marking his disappearance.

They looked down to where they had just stood. In a few moments, spells cast from both directions sparked against the walls. Four death eaters entered, dumfounded at the emptiness.

"He has an invisibility cloak," cried one, and immediately he pointed his wand aimlessly and shouted, "Accio cloak." Nothing happened.

Harry and Issamir had seen enough and moved down the air duct in the direction of the Malfoys. Each room on this hall had an opening for the ventilation, and they peered through each grate they encountered.

"Doesn't anybody sleep in this place?" Harry asked himself, for even though the hour had to be well past midnight, they saw no sleeping bodies but a number of wide-awake wizards and a few witches. Finally, at the last grate before the duct ended, Harry spied Narcissa Malfoy, now in a nightgown and crimson robe, preparing for bed. A light in an adjoining room flickered into the main chamber, and Harry took that to mean that Lucius stood out of sight in the antechamber.

"Timing is everything," Dumbledore had advised Harry many times in their recent training, "It can be as damaging to act too early as to act too late." Harry decided to wait until Lucius reentered the room before acting. Mrs. Malfoy sat at her bureau, removing jewelry, brushing her hair, and doing the things that ladies do before retiring in the evening (Harry had no idea about such things).

"Come on!" Harry hissed impatiently, shaking with anticipation, but he then instructed Issamir, "Stay here until I am done. I will be leaving your body soon."

"I will be here, Harry Potter. Good luck in your task. Thank you for saving my life."

Just as Issamir finished speaking, Lucius Malfoy stepped into the bed chamber, still fully dressed. Obviously he did not plan to sleep anytime soon, and probably intended to leave his wife to her ministrations. Harry could have allowed Lucius to leave, but then the death eater would hear of what had happened in the halls. Besides, deep inside, Harry wanted a piece of him.

Lucius turned towards his wife, his back now mostly to Harry, who picked a spot on the floor. With a muted crack he materialized directly on the spot. Though caught unprepared, Malfoy nevertheless reacted swiftly, reaching for his wand instantaneously. He acted too late. Harry's silent "stupefy" hit him in the side, and Lucius Malfoy crumpled to the ground.

"Accio wand," Harry next thought, and the wizard's wand flew into his hand. In the next few moments, Harry froze the incredulous Narcissa Malfoy with a petrificus totalus, applied a locking spell on the thick, wooden door as well as a silencing charm. He hoped he had enough time.

Rapidly he turned Mrs. Malfoy, chair and all, towards him as she sat frozen. He reached into the pockets of her robe and in a moment found her wand. Finding everything to be in order, the young wizard released her from the spell.

"Do not speak," Harry ordered her with an air of authority, his wand pointed ominously at her, quivering in his hand. She remained mute, her eyes wide with fear.

"I did not mean to kill Draco," he spoke, not sure why he felt the need to say this, "We did not even know he was there." This would be the full extent of his apology, and he had no intention of uttering the word "sorry."

"Now I need information from you, and I cannot waste time." He pulled the vial of veritaserum from his pocket (an unbreakable charm had been placed on the vial by Hermione, of course). This part of the plan had in fact been rehearsed.

"Put out your hands," he ordered, and the shocked woman passively held them out. "Incarcerous," Harry muttered, wrapping her hands with rope. There could be no opportunity allowed for escape or resistance.

"Open your mouth." The woman remained motionless, more from fear than any attempt at resistance. Harry stared directly into her eyes, and she saw fury in the green eyes of her captor. "OPEN YOUR MOUTH, I WILL NOT ASK AGAIN."

The mouth opened instantly, and Harry dropped four drops down her throat, and then closed her mouth with his hands, forcing her to swallow. He did not act gently. Glancing at the door, he waited twenty seconds or so until he noted the telltale glazed eyes. He began his questioning.

"Where is the Hogwarts medal that belonged to Lord Voldemort? It used to hang in a frame in your library."

An unusually meek voice answered, "It remains at Malfoy Manor, in storage. It is in a box with other mementos of the dark lord."

"What room?"

"There is a service area in the basement of the manor, two rooms to the left of the basement entryway." Outside, Harry heard movement, and he knew that he had little time.

"How can you apparate out of the castle? What is the password?"

"The password is 'power.' If you say it as a spell, it will allow you ten seconds in which to apparate out of the castle. It is not possible to enter the castle in that way."

He had to move, and move fast, but a sudden thought occurred to the young wizard, a glint of malevolence in his eyes.

"Don't move!" Turning his attention to Lucius, he wrapped ropes around him as well and then pointed his wand at him. "Ennervate." The death eater regained his consciousness and upon seeing Potter, he sneered and opened his mouth to speak when Harry cut him off.

"I have a message for your master, Lord Voldemort." He emphasized the name because he knew it would upset Malfoy. "Tell him that I am coming for him, that he cannot defeat me. He should be worried, very worried. Tell the half blood that he has no secrets from me. Do you understand?" Malfoy did not move a muscle, his eyes full of venom. And with that Harry pointed his wand at the man's head. "Obliviate." The young wizard's eyes glared wildly at the death eater.

Lucius' eyes glazed over momentarily, after which Harry muttered, "Voldemort will have some fun getting that out of your head. Stupefy." Lucius slumped to the floor once more. The wizards in the hall now banged on the heavy wood door, waiting for one of the Malfoys to answer. Soon they would break it down.

"Accio Issamir," Harry called, and his reptile friend flew from the grate into Harry's hand and in a moment gracefully wrapped itself around the wizard's neck. About to leave, he saw Narcissa and realized that he in fact could take her with him.

"You're coming with me," he growled, and for the first time the woman tried to resist, but wandless and bound, she could do nothing. Harry roughly gripped her bony upper arm with his left hand, and with his right flicked his wand while reciting the password, "Power." Immediately he turned and disappeared from the chamber just seconds before death eaters smashed the door to bits.

He reappeared with Mrs. Malfoy slumped at his side to the spot he had left Ron and Hermione hours earlier, but to his surprise, his friends had moved. In a moment he knew why, for he felt the cold penetrate his body and his soul. He knew the creatures hovered behind him, and as he whipped himself around, he saw his best friends in the world battling a group of some two dozen dementors. They had retreated from their initial hiding spot when the dementors had approached, and their weak, ill-formed patronuses served only to detain the lifeless entities. Harry could see that his friends had weakened. Under the effects of the dementors, they would be unable to apparate, and within minutes their bodies would be soulless shells.

Rage pulsed through Harry's already energized body, and without having to think of anything more than his two friends, he shouted with power and authority, "EXPECTO PATRONUM." As the sound of the spell echoed off the valley walls, the giant stag, last exhibited in the Blood Pub, charged the hundred yards to the pack in a blur, illuminating the entire section of the valley. The dementors had never experienced a force such as this, and they slowly floated away, but the stag raged with the fury inside of Harry, charging into the creatures incessantly, completely disintegrating several which did not move quickly enough. In a minute the valley returned back to normal, and the stag cantered back to Harry's side, briefly bowing its head before being reabsorbed back into the darkness. They stood blind in the darkness until their eyes readjusted. Harry grabbed the stunned Narcissa Malfoy by her arm and practically dragged her across the rough ground to his friends. They had not yet recovered, but Ron shakily helped Hermione to her feet.

"Harry," Ron cried, and he helped Hermione walk a few steps towards him, "I've never been happier to see you. We almost . . ."

Dropping Mrs. Malfoy unceremoniously to the ground, Harry first placed an antiapparation spell on the dazed woman to prevent her from leaving, and then he helped Ron move Hermione to a small boulder where she could sit, but before they could do so, she wrapped her arms around Harry's back and squeezed as hard as her trembling body would allow.

"Are you two all right? Why didn't you apparate before they came so close? I couldn't believe it when I saw . . ."

Hermione cut him off, "You did it, Harry. How did you get her out of the castle? You did it!" Her voice shook and contained equal parts disbelief and admiration. Ron and he finally managed to sit her on the ground with her back against a smooth rock to allow her to recover, and then Ron sat down heavily beside her. Harry's question had not been answered, but it would have to wait.

"It's a long story. We need to get out of here. Can you apparate yet?" Ron and Hermione had more or less recovered their senses and indicated that they could.

"All right then. Let's go directly to the hostel room. We'll grab our things and leave right away." Harry felt light-headed, but he again grabbed Mrs. Malfoy, and after waiting for his friends to leave, he followed. The four of them, plus Issamir still around Harry's neck, reappeared a moment later in the comfort of their room. Harry took one look around, stepped forward, and collapsed on the bed. In the safety of the room, the pain from the wolf venom in his arm returned with a vengeance, not to mention the scratches on his other arm, neck and face.

"HARRY!" Hermione yelled upon seeing him for the first time in the light. She rushed to his side, forgetting the effects of the dementors when she saw the blood all over his left arm and the scratches on his face and neck. "What happened to you?"

"Wolf bite. It wanted Issamir."

"Oh no! We have to get you back right away and find Madam Pomfrey. The saliva from magical wolf bites can be deadly if not treated within a few hours. Come on, let's go. Can you apparate?"

"I think so. Grab our bags. Can one of you take her?"

After allowing Harry to take a few deep breaths, Ron helped Harry to stand, Issamir still coiled around his neck.

Ron calmly instructed him, "Take your time, Harry. Once you're ready, go."

"Right," Harry agreed. As soon as he could stand solidly, he nodded. Ron carried all three of their rucksacks, Hermione grasped Mrs. Malfoy's arm, and in a moment they turned and reappeared across the street from Number 17 Grimmauld Place. The effort cost Harry all the energy he could muster, and he crumpled to the ground on the spot. Nobody walked the streets so early in the morning, but Ron did not pause to check for muggles. He dropped the bags, and with a strength he did not know he possessed, he flung his seventeen year-old friend over his shoulder, the serpent hanging on tightly, and rushed him across the street and into the house, yelling, "Dobby."

Hermione followed a few steps behind with Mrs. Malfoy, whose glazed eyes betrayed her disbelief at what had happened. Harry Potter, the boy who killed her beloved son, had just kidnapped her. Could life be any worse?

The question for Harry Potter was: Would he have any life at all?