Warnings for this chapter: All the warnings (esp. violence, torture, rape, termination/abortion).
35. AND EVERYTHING COMES CRASHING DOWN
Since it was Halloween, all classes had been cancelled for the day and Holly had also vetoed scheduling another Quidditch practise, even though Ginny and Dennis in particular had wanted to get back on a broom and get a head start on the competition as soon and as often as possible. But their next game wasn't until the end of November and Holly wanted to see how Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fared against each other before she got to invested in formulating their own strategy.
But it was a beautiful, sunny day and most everyone had decided to enjoy the warm weather outside, some of the upper years opting for another trip to Hogsmeade to admire the Halloween decorations and partake of all the special offers while the younger students were strolling around the Great Lake, sitting in small groups on the grass or even daring to go for one last swim despite the already bracing water temperatures.
Hermione had suggested going outside as well – and bringing "just a few books" to keep them occupied – but Holly didn't feel much like company and she knew that Ron had asked Hermione to help him catch up for the two weeks of classes he had missed. She didn't want to get in the way of that.
True to his word, she hadn't seen Tom all day, though that didn't keep him from making appearances in her thoughts, which was another reason why she wanted to be alone. They hadn't talked much more after she had made her request, but Tom had been so sweet and understanding and had kept her wrapped in his arms and in his love while she dozed. It had felt… significant. Their relationship had moved at such a strange pace: much too fast at first, blowing past all her boundaries and forcing her far too far out of her comfort zone, then slowing gradually and meandering backwards through all the usual stages of a relationship. Or what she assumed were the usual stages, such as getting to know each other, learning to trust each other, holding hands, kissing, being intimate.
She blushed at that last thought, marvelling again at how thoroughly Tom had managed to revise her first impression of sex. She had been so worried that he would lose patience with her or that sex between them would always be a disagreeable chore to endure, that it would hurt or at least be uncomfortable despite Tom's best intentions. She hadn't even dared to imagine that it could feel so good, so right. Or that she would ever look at Tom and truly see him as her husband (with an accompanying, possessive twist in her gut that was perhaps even more surprising).
It was kind of nice, truthfully, but she still wasn't sure if she was ready for all the implications. To be a wife. To be a mother. Not that she really had a choice in that. She sighed softly, placing one hand on her belly and trying to send positive thoughts towards the little life she was carrying under her heart, hoping that the baby wouldn't notice how unsure she still felt about all of this.
Tom had embraced her pregnancy with equal parts zeal and pragmatism and there probably wasn't a book on the topic that he hadn't consulted yet. He was always frighteningly well prepared for her check-up appointments with Madam Pomfrey and he had elaborated a rigorous selection process to find her the best possible gynaecologist, not to mention the expansive stockpile of pregnancy-specific healing potions and first-aid materials he had meticulously organised in a secret, magically expanded drawer of his desk.
Holly sighed again, sinking down in one of the sunny window seats on the fifth floor, next to the staircase that led further up to the Astronomy Tower, and staring rather moodily out at her happy classmates. She wanted to be happy, too. Unreservedly happy, without doubts or fears or the crushing weight of the future on her shoulders. It was all just so… overwhelming, trying to live up to everyone's expectations and figuring out what her own might be, now that she was married, with a kid on the way and possibly, very possibly in love with her husband.
She sighed for the third time, wrapping her arms protectively around her middle. "I want you to be happy and to grow up loved," she confessed in a fierce whisper. "I want to be a good mother to you."
It was probably too early to feel the baby's kicking – Tom had a chart for that, no doubt – but she still imagined a small flutter, the wings of a butterfly, and smiled at what she took as acknowledgement of her vow. She breathed out, her heart lighter and filled with a sudden joy for life and an eagerness for the future.
She sat there for a while longer, tilting her face into the sun and absently caressing her fingers over her middle. Finally, she got up and stretched, grinning a little as her bracelet with the charms from her godfathers and Tom jingled happily on her wrist. She wasn't sure if the portkey in the little snake charm would work while she was behind the wards of the school – probably not, but then again, Tom had used a portkey to get her to that graveyard for his resurrection... She pushed away that disagreeable memory, determined not to drift back into a glum mood, and ran her fingers gently over the small, curling snake. Tom had given that to her because he had wanted her to be safe. And because he was an overprotective, paranoid idiot – but he was her idiot, wasn't he? He loved her. And possibly, yes, very possibly she loved him, too.
It made her head swirl a little, but she was getting used to that between her still rather frequent spells of vertigo and the other joys of being pregnant. Maybe it was time to get some lunch, she decided, since she had mostly skipped breakfast and it was early afternoon already.
She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't paid attention to where her feet were carrying her and she suspected that she had fallen victim to at least one of the trick staircases because she was much further down than she had expected. She shook her head at herself and made to turn around when suddenly the world went dark, a feeling of danger and wrongness crashing in on her and stealing the breath from her lungs before she lost consciousness less than a panicked heartbeat later.
§*§*§*§*§
She woke up cold, cold to the bone, surrounded by green-tinged darkness, the sound of dripping water, the soft rustling of something or someone moving around her. Lurking. Biding their time. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to adjust them to the semi-darkness, and shifted ever so slightly in an attempt to test her range of movement without drawing attention to her return to consciousness.
After a few moments, the darkness gave way to a shadowy twilight and she got the impression of a cavernous, all too familiar place; she could make out towering stone pillars, back-lit by torches, the green flames of which reflected in the mirror-glass surface of still pools of water and played over the white, oblong objects scattered around her feet. Holly mused vaguely that they had probably been arranged there for dramatic effect, to scare her, because she didn't think that the bones had been there the last time.
If so, that had been a waste of time because the cold iron manacles that kept her arms stretched above her head, restricting her movements and burning her skin to the point where she could barely move her fingertips, were doing a fine enough job of scaring the shit out of her. She was suspended high enough that her feet just barely touched the ground, icy water soaking through her stockings. Her robes and shoes were gone, and so, surely, was her wand.
"Finally." Holly tried not to jerk, not to show her panic because she immediately recognised that voice, mocking even in that one word, the accompanying rush of hatred and sadistic anticipation. "Aww, don't be like that, little girl, when I took such pains to make you feel comfortable."
Bellatrix cackled madly, making the torches flare brighter with a flick of her wand and stepping close to grab Holly by the hair and pull her head back so that she had no choice but to meet her dark, demented gaze. "But don't worry, I'll let you repay me in kind. Crucio."
Before she had time to brace herself, the curse tore through her veins, tore a scream from her throat that echoed maddeningly through the chamber, a second soundtrack to Bellatrix' crazy laughter. "Ah, brava!" She sing-songed and clapped her hands mockingly. "Honestly, I was expecting you to need a bit more encouragement to reach that vocal range. But then, I always knew you were a squealer. Crucio!"
For a moment, Holly tried to bite back her scream, to not give Bellatrix the satisfaction, but it was no use. It felt like her blood had turned to acid, her bones to fire, her limbs spasming uncontrollably and the iron chains cutting even deeper in her skin as she jerked helplessly in the bonds and her consciousness narrowed down to nothing but pain, unimaginable pain.
"Very good, but pace yourself, little girl. Crucio. We're only just starting, you see, and I had a lot of time to plan this since you started to poison the Dark Lord against me. Crucio."
Holly sucked in a hiccoughing breath when Bellatrix finally let up, hardly listening to any of her words. Her vision was fuzzy, her head felt like someone had taken an axe to her skull and her limbs were still quaking. She tried to block out all of that, to ignore the deep pit of fear in her stomach, and focus on the one thing she had to do: Protect her child and hold on long enough for Tom to come and find her.
§*§*§*§*§
Severus hissed out a curse, barely keeping from emptying the entire vial of manticore venom into the cauldron as his Dark Mark flared with sudden, acute pain. Behind him, Rudolphus echoed his curse, also clutching at his left arm. They exchanged a look full of dark forebodings.
"Something's wrong," Rudolphus concluded and Severus nodded tensely.
"Let's go," he said, vanishing the mostly finished contents of the cauldron and dousing the flames with an abrupt flick of his wand.
They left his lab with quick strides, hastening to answer these unexpected summonses. It had been quite some time since the Dark Lord had used the Dark Mark to call for any of his Death Eaters due to Holly's sensitivity to any use of Dark magic. Severus couldn't imagine any good reason for this aberration now.
When they reached the Dark Lord's chambers, the door had been left ajar and they could hear the Dark Lord's raised voice even before they had entered fully. His back was to them, though, as he shouted at Antonin Dolohov's disembodied head in the fireplace.
Rabastan hastened towards them. "Holly's missing."
"I thought she had told the Dark Lord that she wished for some solitude today?" Severus asked with slight impatience, feeling a rising sense of unease when the younger Lestrange just mutely shook his head.
"Raba?" Rudolphus prompted with unusual sharpness.
"The Dark Lord and Black both put Monitoring Charms on Holly's bracelet and the alarms must have gone off at about the same time," Rabastan explained in an urgent murmur. "Black is checking all the Black properties with Narcissa and Lupin left in search of Miss Granger to see if she knows anything. Lucius is mobilising the Ministry."
"And Dolohov?" Rudolphus asked before Severus could pose the more relevant question.
"He's supposed to check and double-check Slytherin Castle, but he made the mistake of asking whether the Dark Lord wanted Holly to be returned alive…" Rabastan replied, all three of them wincing at so much stupidity.
"Why the Black properties?" Severus then demanded, getting back to the more pertinent issue.
"Because Bellatrix has her," the Dark Lord snapped, cutting the Floo call and swivelling around to face them. "She must have taken her somewhere, knocked her unconscious and now…" He ran a hand through his dark hair and Severus was both shocked and unsurprised to find it shaking slightly.
"What do we know, my Lord?" he asked, commanding himself to focus on the facts, just the facts, removed from any impractical sentimentalities.
"When Holly regained consciousness, I could feel her fear and I perceived some images over our connection – fragmented impressions, not enough to tell me where she is. And now I can only feel her pain and terror. We have to find her."
"We will," Rudolphus vowed, several shades paler than his usual healthy tan.
"What do you need us to do?" Rabastan asked with the same expression of grim determination.
"Check all your properties, anywhere she might have had access to or used in the past," the Dark Lord commanded and both brothers gave a sharp nod and left through the Floo a moment later.
The Dark Lord turned to Severus. "I need you to go to Dumbledore, find out what he knows. I don't care what you need to tell him, what promises or concessions you have to make – just as long as Holly is saved."
"I understand," Severus replied, the urgency and near desperation in the other wizard's deep red eyes doing little to calm his own nerves. "And might I suggest for you to try to reach out to Holly through your connection again, my Lord? She might be able to show you where she is if she knows that your mind is open to her."
The Dark Lord nodded jerkily. "I have been trying to send her a message through our bond, like I did last year, but I don't think it's getting through."
"If Bellatrix has her in her grasp, Holly will be exposed to a considerable amount of Dark magic. It might be creating too much of a counterweight against your own," Severus mused. "It doesn't mean…"
"Of course it doesn't," the Dark Lord snapped. "Holly is strong and she's holding on. But we need to find her."
Severus slipped into a quick bow in lieu of a verbal response, then swivelled around on his heel and directed his long, hurried steps towards the Headmaster's office while at the same time trying to order his mind, prepare for what he had to do. He had long since grown to hate his role as a double agent, the constant, conflicting demands of his two masters. He might have enjoyed it, at one time, enamoured with his own perceived importance and the deciding role he planned to play in the course of history. But both sides had quickly and brutally disabused him of any notion of grandeur, showing him how little value his wishes or even his life had in their schemes.
Severus was a man who kept a meticulous record of all the slights perpetuated against his person, whether real or imagined, but he had suffered so many indignities and failures over the years that even his scrupulous attention was reaching its limits. And they all paled when he thought of Lily, anyway. Lily, whom he had loved; Lily, whom he had betrayed; Lily, who had haunted him for years and was still haunting him now in the guise of her wilful, headstrong, empathic daughter.
He used to tell himself that it was a relief, a luxury even, not to have any stakes in this power struggle between the two powerful wizards, that he had no need to invest personal feelings on the matter because he had put himself in a position where he couldn't lose regardless of which side triumphed in the end. That was convincing enough on paper, but in truth, he knew that he had manoeuvred himself into a position where he couldn't win because the list of people he considered his friends was split evenly between both factions and so short that he could ill afford to lose even one.
It was one of the reasons he had advocated, albeit cautiously, for this peace agreement, and why he had given in to the foolish hope Holly had rekindled in his soul. The Girl-Who-Lived. Who had evidently won the Dark Lord's love when presupposing the non-applicability of any such sentiment had been Dumbledore's principal argument for his claim to the moral high ground.
But whatever version of the truth one was inclined to believe – and Severus was not sure it mattered either way – the ramifications on this fragile peace, on their world, if anything were to happen to Holly now, if they didn't get her back in time, were simply unthinkable. (And so were the ramification on Severus personally if he should fail Holly like he had failed her mother.)
He took the steps up the spiralling staircase to the Headmaster's office two at a time, not pausing before rapping his knuckles loudly against the wood of the door and pushing the handle in the same breath.
§*§*§*§*§
The pain didn't end. But it changed by smithereens from a biting, acid fog to a dense, humming haze of agony, and after a few more moments, Holly realised that Bellatrix had stepped away from her and interrupted her constant attacks.
Holly tried to get her breathing under control, to get at least some air back into her lungs even though they felt like they had been put through a kitchen grinder – along with the rest of her organs – and every inhalation was accompanied by a million needles and several knives piercing her from the inside. She had long since lost her footing and she was in too much pain to figure out how her body didn't just shatter into a million pieces. She still remembered that she had dislocated her shoulder and broken her wrist when she had tried to change into her Animagus form, but it all seemed kind of fuzzy now. She had given up on keeping a log of her injuries or the barrage of Dark curses Bellatrix had used on her.
Her left eye was swollen shut and blood was dripping into her right so that all she could make out were blurry, red-tinted outlines. But she could still hear Bellatrix' voice, slightly farther away now but just as grating, and tried to focus her senses in that direction to be prepared for the next attack.
"… I should have been born a man," Bellatrix was saying. "I could have carried on the Black line, restored our family to its former glory, instead of having to watch as our family clung uselessly to the notion that my idiot cousin could somehow be brought back into the fold! I told Walburga… I told her he would ruin us all. And I was right! But she was too weak to cut him out of the family once and for all, like the festering sore that he was… Regulus was such a sack of damp Floo powder that no-one considered him as a true replacement and of course, us girls were only good as bartering chips."
Holly knew that Bellatrix didn't expect any input from her because she was still under the Silencing Spell Bellatrix had cast when Holly's screams had kept her from enjoying her own voice. Holly had missed most of her earlier orations, but she had caught enough snippets and spewed insults to hazard a guess that Bellatrix had already covered the classics, from her undying loyalty to the Dark Lord and her unquestionable superiority to Mudbloods and Blood-traitors to her unquenchable thirst for revenge.
"… instead I was forced to marry an oafish wizard from a neglectable line, with no ambition and an unhealthy co-dependency with his brother! They would never have seen the Dark Lord's greatness, they would never have had the guts to join the cause, if it hadn't been for me! But I saw our Lord's potential, his power, his vision – I alone never wavered in my faith!"
Bellatrix was bent over something that Holly couldn't make out, near the statue of Tom's ancestor, her back to Holly as she continued to speak.
"But of course, I'm only a woman – more powerful than Rudolphus and his washed-out twin combined and still supposed to walk always just one step behind him. Because women can't be powerful – they're power-hungry, at best, even in the Wizarding world. Ha! Wizarding world! Even in that, I don't feature! And then all these Mudbloods and Muggle-loving fools dare to come here, pretending to be so very enlightened and progressive while trampling on all our ideals and traditions and bringing their prejudices back into our midst!
"The Dark Lord was going to change all that, with me at his side. And then you ruined everything! Crucio!" Holly didn't know if the pain would have been more bearable if she had had more warning, but as it was, the curse made all her nerve endings flare with new pain, tore through her body with excruciating precision. She lost consciousness.
§*§*§*§*§
"Severus! What's the urgency, my dear boy?" Dumbledore beamed up at him from behind his desk, smoothing a hand over his beard and already reaching for the box of lemon drops. "Would you like -?"
"Holly Potter has gone missing," Severus interrupted him coldly, curling his thin lips in a familiar sneer and crossing his arms over his chest. "The Dark Lord claims that she got herself abducted by Bellatrix Black."
The twinkle disappeared abruptly from Dumbledore's eyes as he leaned forward in his chair. "So it has come to pass, after all…" he murmured gravely. "I had almost started to hope… But of course, no, of course, this is what he would do."
"You think the Dark Lord orchestrated this?" Severus asked, knowing that it was expected.
"Bellatrix has always been one of Tom's most loyal – if volatile – servants." Dumbledore sighed deeply. "A word from him, a sign that he's letting her off her leash… there's no telling what she will do to poor Holly to please her Master."
"And to satisfy her own sick fantasies," Severus couldn't help but point out, but bit back on any further comment about Bellatrix' motivations.
Dumbledore inclined his head in vague agreement before standing up and stepping around his desk. "We must find her before it is too late."
"Shall I mobilise the Order, then?" Severus offered with studied indifference. "Black already left for a headless search of all his properties, but unless he stumbles right into Bellatrix' wand I don't see that yielding any appreciable results…"
He added another sneer for good measure.
"There is no time for that," Dumbledore replied, summoning a small figurine from his mantlepiece into his hand and then indicating for Severus to follow him as he hastened from the room, surprisingly spry for a wizard of his age. "We must act now and there's only one place Tom would consider safe enough for such an operation: The Chamber of Secrets."
Severus almost missed a step, hastily reaching out to stabilise himself on the banister as he stared in shock at the headmaster's back, the glittering rainbow stripes stitched into his festive robes only furthering his disorientation.
"The Chamber of Secrets?" he choked out, frantically trying to make sense of how Dumbledore's theory – and the great certainty with which he had presented it – fit into everything he knew.
Severus had no difficulty believing that Bellatrix was behind this, knowing the anger, jealousy and hatred with which she had viewed Holly and how much she resented the Girl-Who-Lived for intruding and interloping in her sycophantic love for the Dark Lord. He would also not discount the possibility that Bellatrix had somehow felt encouraged by their Lord (though, he had assumed that the Dark Lord had cut her as neatly and as thoroughly from his own life as he had excised her from Holly's). But Severus could not imagine any scenario in which the Dark Lord would allow, much less order, Bellatrix to go after his young, pregnant wife only a few weeks after he had rewritten entire sections of the contract to give Holly more freedom, more security, more love.
And why would the Dark Lord have given Bellatrix access to his ancestor's secret chambers while at the same time ferrying groups of students down there so that they could serve their detentions? It would have been the height of stupidity and a clear recipe for disaster and the Dark Lord was not fond of either.
"Potter and the Dark Lord are the only two known Parselmouths in the British Isles." Severus decided to focus on the practical issue of what Dumbledore was clearly proposing. "How will we get in?"
"When one gets to be my age and has lived through two wars, one learns the value of taking precautions, my dear boy," Dumbledore commented with an enigmatic smile over his shoulder, still hastening on. "I have been keeping a close eye on Tom's movements since he chaffered his way back into the school, especially since I noticed his worrying reawakened interest in Slytherin's secret dungeon. It always pays off to be prepared, Severus."
It sounded almost jovial, almost smug and Severus instinctively reinforced his Occlumency shields until his mind's was protected by the unscalable walls of an unbreachable fortress. He couldn't slip up now, couldn't depart from his assigned role in this puppet theatre, regardless of who was pulling the strings.
They hastened on through the deserted castle, toward the girls' lavatory and the not so secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Severus knew of the Chamber, of course. He knew that the entrance was hidden behind one of the sinks, that only a Parselmouth could speak the password or command it to open somehow, but he had never entered it. He cursed himself for that oversight now, wishing that he had a better idea of what they would be walking into – if that was indeed what Dumbledore was planning.
There were no signs of a struggle or any unusual disturbance and the bathroom was as quiet and deserted as the rest of the castle. Even the sullen ghost of Myrtle Warren had apparently opted for different haunting grounds that day.
"Ah, here it is," Dumbledore commented, still in that strangely buoyant tone, stepping closer to one of the sinks and touching a small etching of a snake on the tap before extracting the figurine he had summoned earlier from his robe pocket.
"What is it?" Severus questioned, moving closer.
"Oh, just an old keepsake," Dumbledore remarked lightly, holding the small figurine out to Severus so that he could admire it properly: it fit neatly in the palm of his hand, a small, curling snake made of greenish-blue glass that seemed to shimmer with an internal light. "But the simple Recording Charm I placed on it should serve us well now… Let's see."
He took the little snake back from Severus, tapping it lightly with his wand and holding it out towards the sink with a whispered, "Loquere!". The figurine twisted briefly, which resembled a twitch more than the fluid movements of a real snake, and produced a soft, long hiss that sent a familiar shiver down Severus' spine.
The sink started to move, seamlessly disappearing from sight and revealing a large pipe, a dark, tunnelling chute big enough for a grown man – or a grown basilisk.
"Carefully and swiftly now, Severus," Dumbledore said and Severus gave a terse nod. "Bellatrix is a dangerous woman when provoked and Tom probably added some traps for us to stumble into."
Severus hadn't needed the first reminder and he was privately questioning the veracity of the second, but he still nodded again and let his wand slip into his hand before following Dumbledore down the dark chute into the Chamber of Secrets.
§*§*§*§*§
"Wakey, wakey." Bellatrix crowed and roused her with several cheerfully brutal slaps across her face. "It's not polite to pass out in the middle of a conversation… Now, as I was saying, men do have their uses: They have such a natural knack for violence, I always found. Me, I have to make do with spells and curses – not that that isn't fun, of course." She grinned maniacally and proved her point by aiming another curse at Holly that made her blood feel like it was boiling.
Afterwards, Bellatrix gave her a few moments to recover before she continued, "But men… Men are built for torture, the damage they can do with their bodies, that primal fear of having someone bigger and stronger towering over you… ahh, just delicious.
"I had some hopes for my husband in that regard – a young bride's dreams." She laughed again scornfully. "But of course, Rudolphus was a little cry baby about that, too. But not to worry: I came up with a solution, a nifty little spell… Would you like to see?"
Holly's muddy brain couldn't make any sense of what the other witch was saying, much less figure out where she might be going with this. But Bellatrix once again wasn't expecting an answer and after another shrill, cold laugh she took a small step to the side to reveal her next cruelty: Two figures, one broad-shouldered and muscular, the other with a slighter build and darker hair, stepped forward into Holly's line of sight and for a dizzying moment, she felt nothing but hope and relief.
Then, like a series of electrical shocks with gradually increasing voltage, Holly started to register everything that was wrong with this picture, from their cold, vacant expressions and their robotic movements to the absolute lack of recognition and the empathic void with which they greeted her.
She didn't need Bellatrix' gleeful explanation for her momentary hope and relief to change into unadulterated terror.
"Magnificent, aren't they? I call them Ghoulems." Bellatrix' ran her hand possessively over the taller figure's bare chest. "All the physical strength, but none of the ego, perfectly biddable. All you really need is a few assorted body parts and a few drops of blood from the intended target... Rudolphus' was easy to come by, of course; he always bled like a pig so I only had to stop by our old chambers to get what I needed. That was before that old fool approached me to teach you his own lesson – he always liked to play the educator, after all, and he was so very desperate to facilitate…. He offered me the key to this atmospheric little locale and pointed out that you would benefit even more if I added my dear cousin to your curriculum…"
She laughed, even more cruelly than before, something so deeply deranged in her eyes and such a toxic mixture of hatred, bloodlust and contempt for everyone and everything in her heart that Holly felt like she was drowning in that pit of tar. She gagged, tried to scream, to twist away when the two Ghoulems stepped forward on Bellatrix' command.
"This is where the true fun begins, little girl," Bellatrix promised her viciously, lifting the Silencing Spell with a swirl of her wand. "And maybe, if you beg me prettily enough, I might even let you die in your godfather's arms."
§*§*§*§*§
Severus almost pushed past Dumbledore when they finally reached the main chamber after having wasted, in Severus' opinion, an inordinate amount of time with checking all the side chambers and tunnels for traps or ambushes, finding only dripping pipes and old bones from the meals of the previous occupant. He just managed to hold himself back, tightening his grip on his wand as he took in the scene. Bellatrix had her back towards them, but she was in constant movement, pacing and bouncing on her heels, swinging her arms and throwing her head back as her loud manic laughter echoed through the chamber. She hadn't noticed them yet, too focused on her victim, on Holly, who was mostly hidden behind two additional figures. Severus recognized them immediately – those broad, powerful shoulders and that aristocratic, too perfect profile – but… it was wrong, it was all wrong.
Dumbledore stepped forward, a wordless spell shooting from the tip of his wand, but Bellatrix twisted away at the last fraction of a second, a furious snarl falling from her lips and a counter-attack hurtling towards them almost in the same moment. Dumbledore threw up a shield, as did Severus though he also ducked sideways behind one of the towering stone pillars, hoping to stay out of Bellatrix' sight, move around her and get to Holly. Get her out. Get her to safety.
There was a reason Dumbledore was still widely regarded as one of the most powerful wizards alive. He could do without Severus' help. Holly couldn't.
He moved quickly along one of the walls, using the pillars as cover wherever possible, stopping or backtracking only when a wayward curse forced him to do so. He kept only a peripheral awareness of the duel between the headmaster and Bellatrix, almost all his focus on Holly and the two incongruous figures still threateningly close to her. Not just threatening.
He stepped forward, raised his wand and blasted the smaller of the two figures with a full-force, but concentrated Confringo, wasting no time on feeling surprised or vindicated when that figure shattered in a violent explosion of blood and bone. The second figure hadn't even turned to acknowledge his presence, still fully engaged in its single-minded purpose of hurting Holly, causing as much pain and damage as possible. He hesitated for a bare second before firing off another Blasting Curse, moving forward before it had even found its mark.
When he reached Holly's side and was confronted with the sheer scale of devastation on her petite form, he had to close his eyes for a moment, had to reinforce his Occlumency shields to try and rein in his emotions. After that brief moment of weakness, he quickly cast a strong Shield Charm around both of them to protect Holly from any misfired spells from the fight still raging on between Dumbledore and Bellatrix behind them. He then carefully, oh-so-carefully reached out to her, tilting her pale, blood-covered face up and calling her name to see if she was in any way responsive.
One of her eyes was swollen shut, her nose very clearly broken, her yaw dislocated and very possibly also broken. There were cuts and bruises on every inch of skin, turning her usually fair complexion into a muddy mosaic of reds and blacks and blues and when he carefully palpated the back of her head his fingers came away red. The destruction on her face continued onto the rest of her body and Severus could see countless broken bones, lacerations and bruises under a thick mess of blood and the few tattered remains of her clothing.
Holly showed no signs of awareness, but he kept up a steady stream of soothing murmurs and promises of taking her to safety as he reached up to free her hands from the cold iron manacles, catching her limp form in his arms before she could crash to the ground. He frantically murmured several spells to try to stabilise her, to keep her heart beating, her lungs from seizing, her body from bleeding out, and then adjusted her carefully in his arms, making sure that he had a safe hold of her and that her head was supported against his chest.
He then allowed himself to take in their surroundings again, finding that Dumbledore had Bellatrix backed into a corner, vines that looked like Devil's Snare wrapped around her ankles and legs, slowly snaking up her torso and twisting around her arms. She was still struggling violently, cursing and trying to aim her wand at the older wizard.
Severus didn't want to break Dumbledore's concentration in this battle of wills and magic, but he knew that Holly needed medical attention immediately and that any second could be the decider between life and death. Judging that Dumbledore had Bellatrix at least approximately contained and deciding that the risk of waiting would be much higher than if he seized this chance, he moved through the magical shield he had erected earlier and darted with Holly in his arms towards the side of the chamber, past what looked like a blood and gore covered altar at the foot of Slytherin's statue.
"It's quite all right, Severus. Bella will not be able to do further harm," Dumbledore called out.
"Holly is badly injured. I need to get her to the Hospital Wing," Severus called back, still keeping cover behind one of the pillars, but freeing his wand hand and conjuring up a stretcher so that he could place Holly down and hopefully move more quickly through the tunnels of the Chamber of Secrets.
He checked her vitals again as he waited for Dumbledore's response, making sure that she wouldn't roll of the stretcher and also conjuring up a light-weight blanket to cover her. He then peered cautiously around the pillar, his wand at the ready, taking a step forward when he found that Dumbledore had managed to contain Bellatrix fully and she appeared to have been knocked unconscious and disarmed.
"Of course, with all haste now, Severus," Dumbledore instructed gravely, looking only moderately dishevelled and winded after what still must have been a fierce fight against one of the most dangerous Dark witches Severus knew. "I will send my Patronus to Poppy to alert her."
Severus nodded sharply, but as he turned around his eyes passed over the altar again and he noted a handwritten journal of some sort. He quickly moved over and reached for the journal in case it contained any information that would be relevant to Holly's treatment and then firmly told himself not to startle outwardly when another object next to it unexpectedly caught his attention. It was unremarkable in and off itself, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, and yet the implications to Severus were staggering.
He bent down lower, blocking Dumbledore's view of the altar and pocketing the small object together with the journal and immediately banishing any thoughts of it from his mind until such a time when he could safely examine them. Holly was what was important now and he hastened back to her side, propelling the stretcher forward with a whispered Perpetuum Momentum.
"I'll contact Shacklebolt to send a team of Aurors," he threw over his shoulder.
"Not to worry, I have her well contained," Dumbledore replied, stepping up to the stretcher and forcing him to slow down again. He reached out, hovering his fingertips over Holly's bruised and swollen cheek. "Oh, my sweet girl, what has he done to you?"
"Headmaster, I suspect internal injuries. I think time is of the essence," Severus said, trying to keep the urgency out of his voice, but all but storming past the older wizard when he freed the way with an agreeing nod.
He hastened out of the main chamber, Holly's stretcher floating ahead of him, then broke into a run once he reached the corridor. He made the journey back through the tunnels and pipes in record time, only stopping once to check Holly's vitals again before he floated both of them up the sliding pipe back to the girl's bathroom. Once in the castle proper, he sped up again, almost blindly sprinting through the halls towards the Hospital Wing with his gaze locked on Holly's limp form.
Poppy met him at the door, two St. Mungo's healers at her side, who quickly transferred Holly's small, injured form to one of the beds and then started working on her with grim, focused urgency. Severus suddenly felt very useless.
"Blood Replenisher," one of the healers, a statuesque woman with ice-grey hair, barked and Severus sprang into action, over to the moveable potions cart and handed over the correct bottle, making sure to select the Blood Replenisher he had brewed specifically for Holly while she was pregnant. He couldn't even think about that now, about if that was even still the case, still a hope.
The next minutes, hours, passed in a dizzying, frustrating, exhausting fluctuation between paralysing inaction and frantic action, with Severus trying not to get in the healers' way and jumping to hand over potions, answer their questions as much as he was able and leafing through Bellatrix' journal in search of the answers they needed.
In one of his moments of uselessness, he finally contacted the Auror Department over Poppy's Floo, not caring overly much that neither Shacklebolt nor Tonks were in and that the eager, baby-faced Auror that responded to his call and immediately promised to grab a couple of his colleagues to arrest Bellatrix was in no way affiliated with the Order. Instead, he also unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeve and pointed his wand at his Dark Mark with an unspoken Morsmordre and only one clear thought, "Infirmary." Severus knew that if the Dark Lord had followed his suggestion and opened his mind, he would doubtlessly receive his message, and in fact only a few minutes later, he had to help Poppy ward the doors when a panicked, horror-stricken Dark Lord tried to reach Holly's side.
An incalculable time later, Severus, too, was shooed from the infirmary, another St. Mungo's healer having arrived who seemed to be an expert on reversing and treating curse damage. The group of people he found waiting outside the Hospital Wing included not only the Dark Lord, but Holly's godfathers, Holly's two best friends, the Lestrange brothers, Lucius and Narcissa and even Minerva, who had probably been alerted either by Lupin or by the troop of Aurors come to arrest Bellatrix. They all immediately swarmed around him, demanding answers that he wasn't sure he could give. He just shook his head, then reached up a hand to push his lank hair back out of his face, staring in uncomprehending shock at the red coating his fingers, caked under his nails. He wordlessly pushed past Black, past the Dark Lord and fairly collapsed on the floor, turning his eyes away from everyone and turning his thoughts inward to try to wrangle the chaos in his mind.
He tried to block out everything else, the various stress reactions from Holly's friends and family, their questions and worried pacing, the outbursts of anger and even tears. He still noticed when Rudolphus sat down next to him and wordlessly reached for his hands to spell them clean of Holly's blood. He let it happen, even while he couldn't help but remember what damage those hands had been able to inflict.
When the door to the infirmary finally opened again and Poppy stepped out into the corridor, he got to his feet and turned towards her with everyone else.
"We managed to stabilise her," were Poppy's first words and it would have been a relief if Severus hadn't felt that there was a but coming. "We have put her under a medical stasis for now, but there're some decisions… I need your decision on how to proceed, Professor Riddle."
"Shouldn't these decisions be up to Sirius?" Minerva interjected rather pointedly. "Miss Potter is still a minor and Sirius is her official guardian, after all."
But to Severus' surprise, Black shook his head, looking by now so wrung out by worry and panic that Severus' almost felt a smidgeon of sympathy for him. "Holly didn't want… she didn't want to put that on me. She knew it would tear me apart to have to…"
Lupin put his arm around his lover before addressing Minerva again. "We talked about it and we agreed that, if necessary, I would make any medical decisions for Holly. But in view of… recent developments Holly decided that Professor Riddle should be more involved. I'm assuming this relates to that, Poppy?"
"Yes, it does. Perhaps we could speak privately for a moment?" Poppy replied, directing the last to the Dark Lord, who nodded immediately.
"Of course. But I think Sirius and Remus should come with us. And Severus, as well since he was the one who found Holly," the Dark Lord replied and Black immediately nodded, pushing forward without even objecting to Severus' proposed involvement.
Poppy sighed, but then acquiesced and led them to an adjacent room, explaining that Holly was still in too fragile a state and that they couldn't risk any magical or non-magical interference at this point so that they couldn't use her office. Severus followed them, too tired to argue, and closed and warded the door behind himself.
"How is she? What happened?" Black demanded almost before the door was fully closed.
"As I said, she's stable for now and my colleagues from St. Mungo's are still monitoring her and providing further treatment where possible," Poppy explained.
"Where possible?" the Dark Lord demanded predictably. "How bad is it? Will she recover? What about the baby?"
"She suffered a lot of injuries, both magical and physical," Poppy explained with a soft, tired sigh. "She was exposed to Dark magic, some of which has been difficult to reverse, though Healer Hickory is cautiously optimistic in that regard. She has also suffered bruises, contusions, burns, luxations and broken bones as well as internal injuries, and unfortunately most of those we have not been able to treat yet."
"You've been in there for hours!" Black accused incredulously, shrugging off Lupin when he tried to calm him. "What the hell have you been doing?!"
"Saving her life," Poppy replied very gently and Black deflated, allowing her to explain. "Most healing magic and many healing potions work on the concept of stimulating a witch's or wizard's self-healing powers, or in other words, their own magic. That's why magical exhaustion is so very dangerous, though, we believe that Holly still has some magical reserves left. Only that she's not focusing them on responding to our magic."
"Because she's focusing all her magic, all her energy on protecting the baby, on saving our child." The Dark Lord didn't make it a question, his voice full of that stark realisation, of understanding and exasperation, love and admiration.
Poppy nodded and Black cursed and started pacing again, like he had done out in the hallway. "So what does that mean? Are we just going to watch her die?!"
"Of course not, Sirius," Poppy rebuked him rather gently. "But Holly's in very critical condition and her body is failing. That's why we had to put her under a Stasis Spell."
"You said that there was a decision to be made?" Lupin asked hesitantly as if he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to put the question out there.
Poppy looked like she didn't want to answer, either, but of course, she was too much a professional to withhold information. "Because Holly sustained so many injuries and because her vitals are failing, her body can no longer support the baby. Holly is compensating for that with her magic, worsening her own condition, which in turn means that she needs to burn through more of her magic to save her child.
"It's a vicious cycle and there're only two ways we can address it: Either we keep Holly in a medically induced coma and try to make her as comfortable as possible, until the baby is viable, hoping that her magical reserves will be enough to supply the baby with everything it needs to grow and develop. Please be aware, though, that with how severe Holly's injuries are and how early it is in her pregnancy, the chances of the baby being born healthy or even alive are very, very slim. Or we can terminate the pregnancy to give Holly a chance at survival."
He should have expected it, Severus realised. He was a logical man, after all, and he knew enough about healing to understand the underlying concepts that Poppy had referenced. And still, it came as a shock, not just to him, but to everyone in that room. Black collapsed into Lupin's arms, dragging both of them to the floor, and started to shake violently, while the Dark Lord grew absolutely and unnaturally still only his clenched fists betraying his inner turmoil.
"How can I decide between letting my wife die or killing our child?" he finally asked in a pressed whisper after a long, tense silence.
"I understand that it's a horrible, impossible choice, and from a healer's standpoint I wouldn't even ask… But Holly was adamant that you should have the final say in all matters relating to the baby," Poppy replied, her voice full of sympathy and thick with tears when she normally kept her emotions behind a tight screen of professional pragmatism. "And I need a decision, Professor, because neither will live for much longer while the other survives."
Black made a choked noise in the back of his throat and Lupin shushed him, holding him even closer. The Dark Lord closed his eyes, squeezed them shut.
"Save Holly," he then commanded, his voice breaking on her name.
Poppy nodded, resting her hand briefly on the Dark Lord's shoulder, before hastening towards the door. "It will be at least a few more hours, but I will let you know as soon as Holly is out of the woods."
The Dark Lord watched the nurse leave, but when the door clicked shut behind her, he suddenly spun around, away from all of them and punched the wall with a wordless scream, hitting it over and over again.
"Hey!" Black scrambled up from the floor, Lupin remaining firmly anchored to his side as both Gryffindors approached the Dark Lord, as usual disregarding all common sense and warning signs. Black reached out and pulled on the Dark Lord's shoulder, tugging insistently until he actually turned to face him. "I don't think that's helpful."
"Holly will never forgive me for this," the Dark Lord whispered, rubbing his bruised knuckles. "I killed our child."
"You know that's not true," Lupin replied with quiet force. "As Poppy said it was an impossible choice and you decided to save Holly."
"It was about time that someone put her life first," Black added gruffly. "So thank you."
"I appreciate that," the Dark Lord said dully before seeming to make an effort to pull himself together and turning his focus abruptly on the Potions Master. "Severus, I need you to tell us what happened."
It was a clear order with no room for prevarications and Severus knew that he had run out of time, that the Dark Lord would not suffer any more excuses or delays and neither would Holly's godfathers, who had both turned to him as well. He started slowly, choosing his words carefully and still trying to order his thoughts. He related his conversation with Dumbledore in his office, not leaving out the fact that Dumbledore had immediately concluded that the Dark Lord was behind whatever ill play might have been afoot. But the Dark Lord merely rolled his eyes and motioned for Severus to continue, though not before casting a quick, furtive glance in Black and Lupin's direction as if to make sure that the two former Gryffindors wouldn't start lobbing similar accusations at him. Not that either of them seemed inclined to do so with Black staring fixedly at a point just above Severus' shoulder and Lupin taking everything in with a lightly furrowed brow and clenched fists.
Severus continued, giving the bare essentials of their journey into the Chamber of Secrets and the fruitless search of the side tunnels and chambers before they had reached the main chamber and found Holly and Bellatrix. He freely admitted that he had left Dumbledore to deal with Bellatrix and that he had no details to give about their duel or how Dumbledore had come to disarm her in the end. The three wizards had listened so far in near silence, not interrupting with any questions, but when he described the scene he had encountered, Holly's injuries and what he had had to do to get to her, Black jerked as if struck and Lupin took an almost threatening step towards him, a soft, unconscious growl issuing from his throat.
"It must have been a spell, one of Bella's own creation," the Dark Lord murmured pensively. "I vaguely remember… You're saying they looked like them?"
Severus nodded, pulling Bellatrix' journal from his robe and opening it to one of the pages he had marked earlier. "She referred to them as Ghoulems in her writing, a type of golem created not from clay or mud, but from human flesh and the blood of the person they were intended to resemble. Soulless creatures that can be commanded to perform any desired atrocity."
"But… no! That's not possible! No part of me would ever hurt Holly!" Black barked, rubbing harshly over his cheeks. "No! It's not true."
"Sirius, no-one's saying that you hurt Holly. You were with Narcissa and Rudolphus was with his brother. And as Severus said he had to cut down the Ghoulems to free Holly," the Dark Lord offered, but Black waved him off.
"That's not what… Does Holly know? Does she know it wasn't me?" he demanded instead, focusing on Severus with a desperate pleading in his eyes.
"She was unconscious, Black. I don't know," Severus admitted.
"Holly knows how much you love her and I'm sure… I'm sure she understood that something was wrong, that it couldn't have been you," Lupin tried to reassure him, but Black hardly seemed to pay attention.
"How long… Do you know how long she was at the mercy of… those monsters?" he pressed out. "What did they do to her?"
"I don't know that, either, Black," Severus admitted tiredly, thinking it unwise to voice his suspicions. "Just… I think both you and Rudolphus – and probably Rabastan as well – need to be prepared for the possibility of Holly having a negative reaction to you when she wakes up."
Black slumped, tugging on his hair in frustration until Lupin made him stop and pulled him back into his arms, shushing him and whispering reassurances.
"What about her injuries?" the Dark Lord asked, so much tension in his posture and in his pressed voice that Severus knew he was already compiling a mental list of all of Bellatrix' most hateful methods of torture and vindictive curses. Severus reluctantly started talking again, even though he doubted that knowing about Holly's many injuries would be of any comfort to them. It certainly hadn't been for him.
"She was in bad shape," he concluded finally, closing his eyes for a long moment and trying to clear his mind of those images again. "Dumbledore had disarmed Bellatrix by then and he sent his Patronus to alert Poppy. I took Holly up here. Later, when the healers took over her care, I Floo-called the Aurors and alerted you, my Lord."
The Dark Lord nodded in vague acknowledgement, placing one hand on Severus' shoulder. "Thank you, Severus. Whatever happens, know that I am deeply grateful that you found Holly."
"It was the headmaster who knew to look for her in the Chamber of Secrets," Severus replied uneasily when Lupin also offered his thanks.
The Dark Lord furrowed his brow. "That Bellatrix would be so bold, so foolish to abduct Holly and take her to the heart of the school… And how did she even get in there? Severus, I don't think you mentioned how you were able to enter the Chamber."
It was one of the questions he had dreaded the most, for all the implications of its answer, but he still replied, slowly reaching into his robe pocket for the small object he had taken from Bellatrix' altar down in the Chamber. "The headmaster informed me that he had felt it prudent to monitor the entrance to the Chamber with your renewed interest in it, my Lord, and that he had used a Recording Spell to capture the password in Parseltongue. When we reached the entrance, he opened it with a figurine like this. Loquere!"
The little snake figurine, shimmering in deep violet and gleaming gold, twisted and issued a long hiss that made both Lupin and Black jerk.
"It's Nagini's voice," the Dark Lord muttered, reaching for the figurine and carefully turning it between his fingers. "Dumbledore gave this to you?"
"No," Severus corrected, swallowing against a suddenly dry throat. "I took that one from the altar where I also found Bellatrix' journal."
The Dark Lord jerked, pulling himself up to his full height, his entire demeanour changing from worried and pained to furious and battle-ready in the blink of an eye.
"You found that in Bellatrix' possession?" Lupin asked into the tense silence. "And it resembles the one that Dumbledore used?"
"They're identical, except for the colours," Severus confirmed softly, instinctively clasping his hand over his left forearm when his Dark Mark flared with a violent charge of the Dark Lord's magic, flooding his body with adrenaline and surplus power, boosting his own magic in a way he hadn't felt since the height of the war.
Much had been made of it when some careless testimony during the Death Eater trials had revealed the Dark Lord's ability to siphon off the power of his followers through their Dark Marks. There had been outrage, horror, schadenfreude and a lot of judgement from the so-called Light for the blind faith and sheer stupidity they assumed had compelled so many powerful, well-connected witches and wizards to sign over their lives and magic to a power-hungry sociopath. They had never seemed to understand, or want to understand, that the power dynamic actually went both ways and that the Dark Lord was far more likely to share his immense magical resources with his followers than to draw on their power.
It wasn't selfishness, Severus well knew. It was calculation and incentive, both, and a quite simple and effective way the Dark Lord had found to handle and use his vast magical potential to his advantage without risking the frequent outbursts of accidental magic to which Holly was so prone. Yet still, Severus felt his exhaustion and weariness wiped away by the sudden influx of new, burning energy, his mind clearing with a new focus. His fingers itched with the desire to go down to his potion's lab and start brewing healing potions for Holly's recovery.
Black's loud cursing called him back to the here and now, angry sputterings, mostly, interspersed with colourful curse words and belligerent growls. Severus had the uncharitable thought that Black clearly didn't have the brain capacity to deal with this like a sensible adult, conveniently overlooking that he himself had sat out in the corridor for several hours, refusing to talk to anyone as he had struggled with what this all meant.
"But that would mean…" Lupin murmured, a rumble in his voice and his eyes flashing a warning yellow.
"It means that Bella indubitably had help – inside help," the Dark Lord offered, only the dangerous fire in his red eyes and the storm of his magic that Severus could still feel rushing through him betraying his emotional state. "Holly and I are the only two known Parselmouths; I am Slytherin's heir and Bellatrix was one of my most prominent supporters so it's clear how this was meant to look."
"You wouldn't have had to make a recording, though, my Lord. You could have just ordered Nagini to wait for Bellatrix to arrive or even opened the passage yourself," Severus pointed out. "And if I may, sending Bellatrix to the Chamber, with all the factors you just pointed out, then raising the alarm about Holly's disappearance and hoping to convince everyone that this was a ploy to lay the blame at your feet… well, that would have been a convoluted plan indeed."
"That fucking bastard!" was Black's valuable contribution, followed by another string of curses. "That utter fucking bastard!"
"Sirius…"
"No, Moony, no! Holly doesn't deserve this! And I'm done sitting by and trusting that Dumbledore is watching out for her when clearly he's doing anything but!" Black retorted angrily, jerking away when the werewolf tried to reach out to him with a calming gesture. "I promised Lily and James! I promised them I would protect their daughter. And I'm done breaking that promise and letting her make my excuses! I'm done, Moony, I'm fucking done!"
"I made that same promise," Lupin reminded him, finally managing to wrangle him into a hug and squeezing the smaller man's neck with a half-soothing, half-warning rumble.
"I didn't mean…"
"I know, Padfoot, I know," Lupin assured him, pulling him a little tighter. "And of course you're right, but beating ourselves up about this or giving in to our anger, won't help Holly. And that's what we need to focus on right now, okay?"
Black mumbled something, burying against the werewolf's chest.
"I share your anger," the Dark Lord spoke up, sounding almost calm again. "But we should not fall into the trap of letting this distract us from what's most important: Protecting Holly, keeping her safe and helping her heal and recover from…. She will need you for that, Sirius, because you have often been the only one from whom she was willing to accept help. So be her godfather, keep your promise – and leave Bellatrix and Dumbledore to me."
"Give me your word," Black demanded, pulling away from Lupin and turning to face the Dark Lord with a clenched yaw. "Give me your word that this is not your doing."
"I swear on my magic that I did not have a hand in this. I neither planned, nor instigated, nor condoned in any way Bellatrix' attack on Holly and if I had known, if I had had even a hint of what she was planning, I would have put a permanent stop to it," the Dark Lord vowed with quiet insistence, no trace of hesitation in his voice or words as he squarely met Black's stormy eyes.
Black was silent for a long moment, but then nodded with a deep sigh. "I think Holly would believe you so… just don't let her down."
"I will do everything in my power never to do so again," the Dark Lord agreed solemnly before adding his own sigh. "We should go back and wait for news from the healers. And as I said, we should not risk provoking a confrontation with Dumbledore – at least not until we know that Holly is safe."
Black and Lupin exchanged a look, perhaps still uncomfortable with this almost order from their long-time enemy, but then nodded and left the room to re-join the others in the corridor.
"Severus," the Dark Lord called him back once more before he could follow them. "Bellatrix will probably be questioned under Veritaserum, but I think you should also share your account with the Aurors."
"Of course, my Lord," Severus answered, surprised when the Dark Lord shook his head.
"I think you of all people have earned the right to call me by my first name, Severus," he corrected with a small smile that grew incrementally when Severus was momentarily lost for words.
"I… thank you, my… I'm mean to say, thank you, Tom. I'm honoured," Severus finally answered. "And if I might ask for a small favour?" The Dark Lord – Tom – nodded immediately. "Could you wait a little until you offer the same familiarity to Lucius?"
Tom flashed him a brief smirk, inclining his head in easy agreement, before he grew sombre again and followed Black and Lupin out of the room.