Chapter Four – The Potion
It seemed to be an age until the guards finally changed. Harry had been sure that they would sense his eager anticipation as he awaited their changeover. As the time finally arrived, Harry curled up on his side, facing away from the two new guards, and let himself relax again. It took him a long time to calm his heart beat down enough before he could even begin. When he thought he was ready, he began to feel with his magic.
He forced himself to move slowly, unhurriedly towards where he had sensed the alarm. Terrified that he would be found out, yet excited that he might finally be able to escape, this painstaking process was difficult to maintain. Eventually he felt something, a spell on which to take a handle hold; the alarm. Now he was posed with a problem; how did he turn it off? "Use your enemy's weakness…" the words of Hugh McMan drifted through his mind and, in a moment of blinding realisation, he knew what to do.
Absorb the magic. Its simplicity was great yet even better was the knowledge that he would grow stronger. He reached into the ether, the colourless glow of raw magic ahead, and slowly, he pulled. The sensation was similar to the ones he had experienced the previous year, when Dumbledore had given him his Legilimancy and Occlumancy skills, and also when he had been inside the golden room in the department of mysteries, but far less intense. He felt a small flow of energy throughout his body, which slowed to a halt fairly quickly.
Harry was buzzing with excitement and fresh energy, looking around for a suitable test. His eyes fell on a small loose stone just in front of him, and he focussed his thoughts on it.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" It was less than a whisper, but it was enough. Harry watched euphorically as the pebble rose into the air, before he softly set it back again. Harry felt ecstatic as hope was rekindled inside him, and he could start to plan a way of escape. There was one plain fact which Harry knew had to be included in his plans: he had to rescue Neville too. He settled back in his cell to think, closing his eyes, he plotted their escape plan.
*
Within a few hours of his small triumph, Andromidus and Regalus, returned to his cell. Harry considered using wandless magic silently against them, but decided against it. Not only was he not as powerful magically as his two captors, Harry was pretty sure he could not over power Andromidus alone, even with the element of surprise. Harry did not know what it was, maybe that he rarely spoke, or that Regalus, despite being Number One, always seemed to defer to him on decisions and opinions, but Harry was extremely wary of Andromidus. Like Dumbledore, he seemed to exude power and confidence, radiating strength, except without the benevolence and kindness of the Hogwarts headmaster. Either way, the outcome was that he did not risk trying to overcome his interrogators.
They had not arrived unaccompanied. Two death eaters followed them into the room, carrying a large cauldron between them that was brimming with some sort of potion. The surface of it fizzed and hissed, a thick haze of glittering green smoke swirling in an unnatural way above it, forming coherent shapes (often images of snakes and of very small children), before melting back into a shapeless mist. The two death eaters placed it into the middle of the room before exiting, to be replaced by a further three death eaters. The first conjured a small table before placing a stone basin that Harry recognised as being a pensieve on top of it. The other two were holding Neville.
He looked utterly woebegone. His haggard face bore all the hallmarks of both magical and physical torture. His black eyes focussed blearily on Harry, his weary head barely supported by his battered body. Harry suspected their captors had woken him to torture him, allowing him no let up from this waking nightmare. His lips twitched into what Harry interpreted to be an attempt at a smile. Harry felt furious, boiling rage flooding through him. He looked up at Regalus and Andromidus, breathing heavily.
"I swear," he said through gritted teeth, "if you hurt him anymore, I will kill you both. I will watch you die as I watched Voldemort die. I will kill you."
"Crucio!" yelled Regalus, but Harry, who had been expecting it, did not flinch. He felt the usual hot stabs of pain, but did not move, glaring furiously at Regalus who released the curse, and Harry was happy to see he looked thoroughly perturbed. Andromidus raised his eyebrows slightly with what seemed like a hint of respect, but said nothing. He turned to Regalus, before they both turned to face the cauldron.
Harry seized the opportunity. Focusing his energy at thought projection, he locked eyes with Neville. "Neville," he said softly, "don't react. It's me. Give me a small nod if you can hear me." Neville slowly inclined his head in a gesture of assent, and Harry continued. "We haven't got much time. I've managed to switch the alarm off, so I can perform magic. We can escape if we work together." Harry took a deep breath, both mentally and physically.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to use the time when you're being... interrogated." Neville nodded again. "I'm going to try and get them to use my wand on you, so when I come and get you I can get it back again. When you're next being... interrogated, yell out the words "LET ME GO!" as loud as you can. Then I'll stun the guards, use the disillusionment charm, take their wands and come and get you. Nod if you understand." Neville nodded slightly, his previously dim eyes alight with hope.
It was at this moment when Regalus and Andromidus turned to face Harry again. Harry noted, with a feeling of dread in his stomach, that they too had a light of fervour and hope in their eyes, and Harry couldn't help the flow of apprehension rippling through his body.
"At last," Regalus murmured excitedly, his hand clenched on Harry's wand. "At last we are ready!" He started to stir the cauldron with Harry's wand. Harry took a chance.
"You'll never use my wand for evil!" he proclaimed loudly. "You'll never get it to cause pain."
Regalus considered Harry for a moment as he stirred the cauldron, before an ugly smile crept across his face. "Stevens," he said, addressing the death eater behind him, "next time Longbottom is visiting the room upstairs, use this wand against him." He looked malevolently at Harry, who hid his satisfaction behind a mask of rage. Regalus continued. "You can take him when we're finished here."
Harry did not get a chance to let out a growl of hatred, as Andromidus stepped forwards with a small knife. Without any ceremony or warning, he plunged it into Harry's arm, Caught off guard, Harry let out a shout of pain, which he quickly repressed. With a sneer that reminded Harry forcefully of Snape, he withdrew the knife, replacing it with a small vial. Harry's blood trickled into it and, when it was full, he poured it into the cauldron. The potion rippled ominously and Andromidus turned again, yanked a hair off Harry's head and added it to the potion, which turned a blinding white colour.
Andromidus took a glassful and offered it to Harry. "Drink." he said simply. Harry hesitated, and Regalus hit Neville from behind with the Cruciatus curse.
"Stop, stop!" Harry yelled as Neville writhed in agony. Harry raised the glass to his lips as the curse was lifted, and drank the entire glass.
At first, Harry felt nothing at all. As the potion seemed to seep through his body, he became aware of the fact that he had slumped to the floor. However, as before when he was reaching out for the alarm, his consciousness seemed to remain. It was at this point, without any lead up, that his consciousness floated out of the room.
Harry managed to recover his senses quickly enough to observe the outside of his cell. It reminded him of the chasm of life, a chamber created by Godric Gryffindor that Harry had visited in his sixth year. He floated through stony corridors, speeding up all the time, zigzagging left and right, and Harry found it difficult to memorise. He thought he saw a dining room off to one side before, a few moments later, he emerged into blinding sunlight.
He was over a vast moor. He felt himself zooming off to one side, gathering pace at ever second, towards the edge of the moor. He saw giants patrolling the outside perimeter and Dementors floating through the sky like flocks of birds, except with an air of cold cruelty and malice. Harry raced straight through them and onwards, over small towns, his flight tracing the coast line before diving in land, following a small river. Eventually he started to slow as he reached a city of creamy stone, curving through a wide valley. He moved past a great abbey before settling on a long street of terraced houses. Harry thought he caught a glimpse of Aaron Shacklebolt casually leaning against a wall further down the street in jeans listening to an ordinary CD player, but before he could check he'd turned to the left hand side of the street. Without hesitation he entered house number thirty, climbing some stairs before stopping in a small bedroom.
In the middle of the room, a blonde lady was leaning concernedly over a small toddler, who was banging his tiny fists against a bed lying against the wall. He turned to face the blonde lady, obviously his mother, his own brilliant blonde hair, almost white in fact, swirling around with his every movement. Harry let out a gasp. The angry face that he was looking upon was contorted beyond a childish tantrum, but looked borderline livid. For a moment his eyes, a vivid green, seemed to connect with Harry's, as if he could see him. Harry felt a brief slice of pain across his forehead and he woke up in his cell.
"Voldemort!" he said quickly, before he could stop himself. Regalus and Andromidus came into his blurred vision, exchanging a gleeful glance. They advanced on Harry and, as Andromidus held him still, Regalus placed a wand against Harry's temple. Harry felt a strange sensation inside his head as if all his thoughts had gathered at one side of his brain where Harry's wand was being held, before one was filtered out. He briefly saw a glimpse of the long terraced street before the sensation stopped.
Regalus removed the wand from Harry's head, a silvery strand attached to it. Andromidus relinquished his hold on Harry and the two of the proceeded to place Harry's vision into the pensieve, glancing tremulous looks at each other. After taking a deep breath, both plunged their heads into the shimmering substance.
Harry and Neville watched in trepidation, Harry's mind racing. That was the reborn Voldemort, of that Harry had no doubt. Could they bring him back? Could Aaron protect him, or Dumbledore for that matter? Harry mentally related what had happened to Neville, and just as Neville's mouth was dropping, Regalus and Andromidus emerged from the pensieve looking excited.
"Finally..." said Regalus, his eyes on Andromidus, who reflected Regalus' look of triumph. "Finally we know. We know where he is. We've done it! Imagine how we will be rewarded should we succeed!"
"He certainly has not lost any of his temperament has he?" Andromidus let out a bark of laughter. "Even for one so young he feels full-blown rage! But enough time wasting, we must act at once." He turned to Harry. "I assume you understand the implications of what you just saw? Soon you will feel the vengeance of the Dark Lord and, believe me, he will show no mercy. Death will not be enough for him!"
Then, laughing, he handed Harry's wand to the Death Eater named Stevens and left the room with Regalus, Neville being dragged behind them, leaving Harry in a state of complete, devastated shock.