Chapter 5: The prisoner

All but the unspeakable held back a hiccup of astonishment as they discovered the being behind the door. He was huddled in a dark corner of the room, but his emaciated face and dark gaze gave an idea of the distress he was in. His medium-length hair looked gray, deepening his features even more. His skin looked waxy and dry, ready to tear. Slowly, he got to his feet, further horrifying the newcomers. His shirt and pants were in tatters, revealing his anorexic body; all his bones were exposed and Harry could have held his waist between his two bound hands without touching his skin. It was gray and littered with scars, some of them recent. His wrists and ankles were bound to the wall by chains with large iron rings.

"My God, what have you done to him?" whispered Carlisle.

"Is this the vampire you're looking for?" asked Kingsley.

"Yes... how long has it been since he's been able to feed?"

The doctor's voice was broken with pain, anger and incomprehension, but it was nothing compared to the fury that passed into Edward's, who had read the thoughts of the place's tormentor.

"Six months. Carlisle, it's been six months. He's keeping him alive to experiment on him."

"Excuse me?" hiccupped the Minister of Magic.

The predictable argument to come, however, was quelled by a wave of despair that touched them all, but didn't stay. Harry suffocated as this feeling, which was not his own, took possession of his body. He removed his mask and the prisoner's gaze locked with his own. Emotions ran high in the black eyes, where gold flakes danced. Harry was hypnotized by this gaze, and took one step towards him, then two.

"Harry, don't..." began Kingsley.

"Jasper has no intention of attacking him," interrupted Edward, who was monitoring his brother's thoughts.

The prisoner lunged forward to get closer to the young wizard, but ended up on his knees, shaken by a magical discharge that had been passing through the chains since he had tightened them. His cries of agony and the pain he shared with those in the room shattered all Harry's shields as he threw himself to his knees beside him and pushed him back a few centimeters, just enough to stop him being tortured. The vampire remained curled up on the floor, shaken by spasms of pain.

"Carlisle, did you take any blood with you?" asked Harry.

His voice reflected the anger that agitated him, the idea that this man had been held prisoner, starved and tortured for eighteen years pissed him off, not even Voldemort was that inhuman.

"Yes, I've..."

"That's enough, you've seen it, now get out," intervened the unspeakable as he entered the room.

He grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him back. Jasper was on his feet in less than a second, rage pouring out of every pore of his skin. The Ministry employee let go of his grip and fell to the ground, looking miserable, weeping and turning his watch into a knife. Shacklebolt and Flitwick didn't give him time to take his own life. The Minister grabbed his wrists to prevent him from acting, while the Professor erected a shield between them and the now enraged vampire. Carlisle helped Kingsley drag the unfortunate man who had dared to provoke Jasper out of the room, but as soon as he was far enough away from the empath's power, the man struggled and the masks came off. A howl of pain erupted from the skeletal body, and all felt the pain being hurled at them, despite the shield that protected them. Edward lifted Harry and Flitwick effortlessly out of the room at vampiric speed.

Harry stood for a moment in awe of the sequence of events he'd just experienced, something stirring inside him, several in fact, one of which he pushed far back inside himself. He let his empathy for the prisoner guide his choices.

"Professor, would it be possible to secure a room in the square for him?"

"You're not thinking of it, Potter," interjected the unspeakable man.

"Minister," Harry continued, ignoring the man. "Would you mind if we took him out of here and gave him the care he needs?"

The tension in the corridor was high, and Carlisle and Edward didn't dare intervene for fear of seeing the opportunity to leave with Jasper slip away.

"Minister, Potter is surely known for his courage and his big heart, but not for his intelligence or his gift for caring."

"No, indeed," replied Harry. "But I am known to respect all beings equally, whatever their race, and to do the impossible. You, on the other hand, will soon be known as a torturer who has been experimenting on the body of a Muggle vampire for eighteen years."

"Mr. Potter, you're not allowed to talk to the press about the Department of Mysteries."

"Oh, but I don't need to talk to the press, just discuss it with my friends away from prying ears. Rita Skeeter spies on me all the time."

"Stop it! That's enough," intervened Kingsley. "Flitwick, is it possible to make sure this vampire doesn't leave the room without torturing him like this?"

"Yes, the hardest part will surely be getting him there without being attacked."

"Harry should be able to do that," chuckled Edward.

"Yes, how come he didn't react violently against Harry when he took off his mask."

"He's his soul mate," breathed the telepath.

For the Survivor, it was as if he'd just been stabbed; it was the idea he'd been pushing away since he'd got out of the cell, and he really wished he'd been wrong. This information didn't change his plans: get Jasper out of there, help Carlisle nurse him back to health, say goodbye to the clan, resume his London life.

"Filius," resumed the minister. "Can you go to the square with Harry and these two gentlemen and see with them there what can be done for Jasper."

The younger man thanked Kingsley, took hold of Carlisle's arm and moved on. Flitwick and Edward arrived just after them in the renovated living room. Harry showed his former teacher around the house and with his help choose a room where they could put him up, Mrs Black's old room, where Buck had stayed for a while, a room already stripped of its furniture and with only a bed in the middle. Carlisle joined them and, despite the young man's coldness towards him, they discussed what they could do to help Jasper. The first thing was to feed him, so that he could regain his strength and normal appearance; the second and most important thing would be to rid him of the spell that enraged him when the mangemort masks fell off; then they'd have to help him get used to having people around him again, to evolving in society. As soon as the plan of action had been worked out and Flitwick declared that he needed to be alone to put the spells on the room, Harry confronted the Cullens as a whole.

"Did you know?" he asked, his voice laden with anger.

"Alice had seen it," replied Carlisle.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"As soon as we decided to tell you, my visions changed and you refused to help us. Only if you'd already met Jasper wouldn't you leave him there to rot," replied Alice apologetically.

"You manipulated me," he concluded before apparating away.