The Fat Muggle, Ten Years Later

----------------The Fat Muggle, Ten Years Later, chapter seven,"Confrontation"---------------

Grindle felt his ribs crack just before he was knocked out by a massive tailwhip, that sent him through an oakdoor, leading out into the barn where he landed among a number of haystacks.

Harry stood in the doorway and looked on the same creature(calling Draco Malfoy a human would be inaccurate as he had long since passed the barrier that confines a normal healthy human and most predators would be more human than he was) that had threatened to kill him and his friends ten years ago.

Harry tried to shut the door and hide somewhere to gain some time, but he hadn't gotten more than a few yards when Draco's powerful Basilisk tail shattered the door, sending splinters across the stable like thin daggers.

Harry slipped in the blood and fell face forward and he almost gave in to the fear and panicked, but he didn't.

He got on his feet and turned around and looked at Malfoy.

He looked confused in his Basilisk shape.

Malfoy started to shift back into his human shape and Harry realised he was still invisible, even the blood on his clothes.

But his footprints showed in the pool of blood!

Harry rushed into one of the boxes with the dead horses and sank into the darkest corner and hoped Malfoy wouldn't see him.

Harry heard the footsteps on the wet stonefloor come closer.

He saw a slender hand grip the boxdoor as if Malfoy was caressing it.

Then Malfoy ripped the door from it's hinges and threw it across the stable, causing an incredible crash from the heavy doors impact.

Harry didn't know what to think; how had Draco become so strong?

Then he focused on Malfoy again.

He looked different; his hair was still blondewhite but there where several grey streaks in it and he was even more skinny than he'd ever been.

His clothes where drenched in what must have been the horses blood and his whole appearance was scary.

But his eyes where the most frightening about him; they literally glowed in a green-yellow light as if they were candles in some Halloween toy.

"Who are you? ANSWER ME!!!" Malfoy screamed into the box and as he did so, he tore off a large piece of wood from the boxwall and threw it to the ground.

Harry suddenly felt a low buzzing sensation from his scar; the first one since Voldemort was killed.

Then Malfoy suddenly turned around and ran out to the barn.

Harry knew that if Malfoy saw Grindle, he would be killed instantly.

So Harry gripped his wand tightly and stood up and left the box.

He walked as quietly as he could through the blood and tried not to step on any splinters from the destroyed door, as he closed the distance between himself and Malfoy.

As a result of Grindle casting the invisibility spell on himself and Harry at the same time, Harry could see Grindle, but Malfoy could not.

Malfoy was standing not three feet from Grindle, but if he would take just a few steps to his left, he would step on him.

And, needless to say, kill him, weather or not he could see him.

Harry's heart pounded as he tread carefully through the loose hay on the ground.

He didn't know what spell he should use on Malfoy; a disarming spell might not cut it as Malfoy was much stronger now and what would a full body bind do if he could squirm his way out of it?

Maybe he should use one of the Forbidden Curses?

What would people say about that?

Would he be sent to Azkaban?

Surely he wouldn't, if he just used Imperius.

Ok, Harry thought, Imperius it is!

"IMPERIO!!" Harry shouted and hit Malfoy in the back with the curse.

Ok, Harry commanded in his head, you will do everything I say, Malfoy!

But Malfoy turned his head and looked Harry straight in the eye.

Harry had turned visible again when he used a second spell and Malfoy looked even more horrible than before.

"Potter! Imperius Eh? Useless against me. I have been immune to that curse since I was five," Malfoy said and smiled.

Harry became desperate; he had to defeat Malfoy even if he was sent to Azkaban for killing him.

Harry raised his wand again.

Malfoy moved in what seemed to be twice the speed of even the fastest human.

"AVADA KEDAV..." Harry was knocked out by a particularly sharp elbow to his nose before he could finish.

Malfoy laughed and grabbed Harry by his ankles and pulled him out of the barn.

Grindle was still unconscience and invisible.

Dudley woke up slowly.

It was dark and it smelled horrible; something of an mould/excrement mixed with something really foul!

There was one single, thin, ray of light shining in through the dirty window almost at the top of the wall.

He felt something warm next to him.

He put his hand out and touched what ever it was and identified it as someones face.

It was a male face as it had a fullgrown beard and long, dirty hair hanging down to this persons chest.

Dudley felt something around the mans neck; a necklace.

He pulled it off and held it up to the light.

He dropped it when he saw the inscription on it.

"Love you forever, Nev," Dudley whispered the inscription out loud and touched the mans face again.

He couldn't bare to look at him in fear of it being some horrible mistake.

He felt his nose, his eyebrows, his lips.

"Are you awake?" Dudley whispered.

Silence.

"Yes."

Dudley started crying.

It was the voice of his first and only love, his husband and soulmate.

"Neville?" Dudley said with a choked up throat and turned to look on his face.

"Dudley!" Neville's face emerged from the darkness, eyes wet with tears.

Dudley embraced Neville and gave him a deep kiss and hugged him so hard it hurt them both, but neither would let go.

"They took me!" Neville said through the tears.

"Who took you?" Dudley barely managed to ask.

"Wormtail and Lucius Malfoy!" Neville said and broke the embrace.

He wiped his tears and tried to bring himself to explain.

"That day when me and Ron faced Voldemort...that's when they did it," he said.

They heard a moaning in the darkness.

Something was moving around.

"Who's there?" Ron's voice broke through.

Dudley and Neville sighed with relief and moved closer to him.

"Ron! Look! Neville's alive!" Dudley said and shook Ron's arm.

"Whu..?" Ron said, still groggy from Lucius attack.

"He's alive!!" Dudley almost shouted.

Ron finally woke and looked Neville straight in the face.

"Neville?!? How?...What..?" Ron tried.

He hugged him tightly and cried.

"You died! I saw you die!" Ron said.

"How did you survive?" Ron asked and looked into Neville's tearfilled eyes.

"Wormtail had put a levitating spell at the bottom of the pit and it saved me!" Neville said.

"I put a binding spell on Tristan's throat, but..."

"Tristan made it?!?" Ron said and gripped Neville's arm.

"I don't know. Wormtail took him and I haven't seen anyone else than him and Lucius since that day," Neville said.

"When Voldemort's castle was destroyed, he was already in the dungeon and put me under Imperius," he continued.

"He transported me to this place and he's kept me in this hole day and night, feeding me nothing but leftovers from his dinners," Neville said with disgust.

Ron and Dudley couldn't believe their ears and they were silent for a while.

"We've got alot of catching up to do when we get out of here," Ron said.

"There is no way to escape. The only way out is through the door and the window is too small," Neville said.

"What kind of spells are there on the door?" Ron asked.

"A whole bunch! Mostly repellant based ones, but there is at least two stunning spells too," Neville said.

"So in other words, this will be a piece of cake!" Ron said and took off his boot.

"What are you doing?" Dudley asked.

"Getting us out of here, that's what," Ron said and opened a small hatch at the back end of his boot and shook it.

Out came a small wand!

"A wand!" Dudley and Neville said in chorus.

They got on their feet and Ron pointed the small wand at the door.

"Now stand back," he said and mumbled several counter spells and curses while green, purple and blue light streamed at the door.

"Now, to protect us!" he said and waved the wand over them.

"Tempusitos Accelerate!" he said while his wand was pointed at Dudley and he felt that everything around him slowed down.

"Evasioner Totalus!" Neville felt light and agile at the same time as the spell hit him.

Then he threw a spell on himself.

"Corpus Metallicus!"

Ron's body turned into steel and he shone in the little light there was.

"Now, let's kick some Dark Wizard ass!!" Ron said and kicked the door wide open.

-----------to be continued in chapter eight, "Escape"------------------