The Fat Muggle, Ten Years Later

-------------------------The Fat Muggle, Ten Years Later. chapter ten,"Preparations"--------------------

Dudley's heart was thumping as he saw Ron strike down one Death Eater after the other with vicious curses and spells, causing his enemys to explode, burn and even melt the flesh on their bodys, all while Ron looked like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Kill them!!" Ron shouted to Dudley, waking him from his terrible observations.

"Isn't this illegal?!?" Dudley shouted back to Ron who started laughing.

"They are not real Death Eaters, you dimwit! They are just Illusions for training! Now come on!!" Ron said and threw a fireball the size of a small car at three Death Eater Illusions.

Dudley sighed in relief and started running into the fight.

"I'm throwing in double the amount of Illusions for you," Grindle's voice ecchoed and suddenly there were at least twenty Death Eater Illusions running at Ron and Dudley, fireing all types of curses.

Dudley spun around, dodging a flaming disc-like hex, and shot a rain of icey spikes at his opponents, freezing them.

"Nice one!" Ron said and conjured an axe and cut through four Illusions in one sweep.

Dudley tried conjuring a sword, but he only managed to conjure a knife.

Feeling it was useless, he threww it at the already frozen Illusions and made them crack and fall to pieces.

Suddenly he felt a burning heat in his lower back and turned around, seing an Illusion with a small flame at them end of its wand.

It sent out another wave of fire at Dudley.

"Tempus Reducare!!" Dudley yelled and made the Illusion and its firewave slow down enough to bring it to a complete stop, making it easy for Dudley to walk up to it.

He tried the conjuring thing again, this time with more luck!

A Japanese Katana sword appeared in his hand.

He put a musclestrengthening spell on himself and them put his wand in his pocket.

Then he slashed the Illusion into two pieces with the sword as if it had been butter.

He looked over at Ron and saw he was in trouble; at least eight Illusions were surrounding him and he had a hard time keeping them away.

Dudley ran as fast as he could (the spell made him much faster and he could run over twenty feet in less than two seconds.) and halfway there he jumped high into the air and landed on one Illusion, crushing it to the ground, and rolled on the ground coming back to back with Ron, ready to annihilate the remaining opponents.

"Nice sword, Duds!" Ron said and muttered some words, causing a fire wall break up out of the ground and roast the Illusions on his side.

"Easier to handle than having to utter spells all the time," Dudley answered and made three swift cuts against his opponents and then stood still watching them.

"What are you doing? Finish them!" Ron said.

Dudley shook his head and smiled.

"They are already finished! They just haven't noticed it yet," he said and as he did so, the Illusions fell apart in more than two pieces.

Ron laughed and patted his back.

"Beautiful work! Absolutely beautiful!" Ron said.

"That was a good first round, guys! But Dudley was hit once and Ron was hit twice and that is all that is needed to kill you! So let's take a second round against twice as many Illusions untill you get out of it unscathed!" Grindle said from the window in the wall.

"Oh, come on! It was excellent work!" Ron said.

But they soon found themselves surronded with a small army of Death Eater Illusions.

"Stop complaining and let's kick the shit out of these bastards!" Dudley said and raised his sword, ready to go.

Ron sighed.

"Ok, then. Start the slashing!"

Neville had just finished reading every single book containing any information about the root, and the Ministry's expert, Walter Eldrige; an old wizard with a seagreen coloured beard that reached his chest, had just given him a complete record of all of the known cases involving the root.

"Here you go! That's alot of reading for you. Sure you can handle it?" Walter said.

Neville nodded and began reading the first case without lifting his eyes.

"Alright then, I'll be in the recreation room while you read. Just shout if you find something," Walter said and left the small, humid room.

Neville was alone again.

He was strangely used to it by now, but even though he was free, it didn't keep all the memories away.

He remembered the fight he'd had with Dudley four months before he was kidnapped.

It was really stupid when he thought back on it, but back then it felt like it was the most important issue in their lives.

Dog or Cat?

That was what it was about; should they get a cat or a dog for their new house, which they had recently moved into. ( Dudley would sell it only three months after Neville's "death", because of the memorys.)

"A dog is the perfect pet! Man's best friend and all that!" Dudley had shouted to Neville in the kitchen.

"Dogs are dirty animals! They roll in anything that stinks bad enough! Cat's take care of themselves and they are a lot less trouble!" Neville had shouted back.

"But there's no smell like catpiss! If a dog would piss on the carpet it would be easy to get rid of the smell, but if a cat pissed in the very same spot you'd have to burn the carpet to get the smell out!" Dudley shouted and slammed his fist on the table.

Neville almost laughed when he thought about it; such a stupid thing!

But he would have given in to Dudley eventually.

He always did.

Why would you fight the person you love?

He kept on reading, finding nothing useful.

After an hour or so Hermione came into the room and asked him how it was going.

"Nothing helpful yet. But it has only taken a day, so there's a lot of time left," Neville said and tried to sound optimistic.

Hermione sat down in the chair next to him and looked at the pile of books infront of them.

She looked at Neville and smiled, slightly wet-eyed.

"I still can't believe your'e alive!" she said and started crying.

Neville hugged her.

"It's ok! I find it hard to believe myself," he said.

"I can't even imagine how Dudley must have felt when he found you," she said and looked at him wiping her eyes.

"I think I know. My heart was empty all the time while I was in that basement. But the second I saw Dudley, I....My heart was filled so fast it overflowed and I almost didn't believe my own senses! I thought it might be another sadistic trick from Wormtail's side," Neville said.

"But when I touched him, when I smelled him, I knew he was real and I almost died. My heart ached so much from the void. And when it was filled it was almost to much for me to handle," he continued.

Hermione sat up and took out a handkerchief.

"You must be happy beyond everything now?" she asked.

"Yes! But what about you?'' he said.

"What happened to you and Ron? You were so perfect for eachother," Neville said.

Hermione looked at the floor.

"He blamed me for the death of Tristan, I guess. I was the one that allowed the strike on Voldemort's castle, but he refused to let me send in your whole team," Hermione said.

Neville nodded.

"I know. I remember how furious he was when we were just outside of the castle. And when he transformed into his Werewolf shape I was almost scared. But even if he blames you, you shouldn't take that blame! You couldn't know what was going to happen!" Neville said.

Hermione laughed a joyless laugh.

"How couldn't I? You were up against Voldemort! The Dark Lord himself! It would be easier to remove a mountiain by pushing it."

"We both knew what to expect. It wasn't your fault! If it was anyones fault it should be Ron's. He let his emotions cloud his mind and you know just as well as I do, that he was the best Auror there was and he got himself knocked out easily! He should have known better," Neville said.

Hermione shook her head.

"Your'e right. But what can I do? He's still so bitter!" she said.

"You must go to him. And tell him how you feel! Why should you both be miserable? This is the only life you've got. Don't waste it by feeling miserable and not telling the one you love that you still want him!" Neville said.

"I know what I'm talking about. I had a lot of time to think about it during my years in the basement and If I were you I'd run to the training room right now and tell him!" Neville continued.

Hermione looked at him.

"Don't waste your life! What is the point? What do you gain by suffering? You gain heartache, that's what!" Neville said.

"You're right. But it feels hard," Hermione said and stood up.

"Just go. Don't listen to those feelings, they are only misleading you," Neville said.

Hermione nodded and opened the door.

"Thank you."

Harry's stomach was empty and it was hurting.

His head was pounding in a migraine because of the lack of food and water.

It was difficult to transform in this weak condition, but it was the only chance he would get.

Draco had been away for an hour since his last beating.

He hadn't said a word then; just punching and kicking.

Harry was bleeding from several wounds and his left eye was swollen so much he couldn't see through the swelling.

The taste of blood hadn't left his mouth for two days.

But now it was time to escape!

Harry got up on his knees and elbows and closed his eyes, trying to focus on transforming.

He made his head shrink and change shape, his legs grew fur and transformed into wolverine legs, followed by his upper and lower body.

The hands remained.

With a last strain of his mind, Harry turned his hands into paws and pulled them out of the huge chains.

They were sore, but he was free!

The door wasn't locked so escaping should be fairly easy if he didn't run into Draco.

Harry pushed the door open with his nose and heard a dripping noise to his right.

It was a water hose, hung up on a hook on the wall, but it wasn't properly turned off.

Next to it was a bed.

Draco was lying on it, fast asleep.

Harry ignored to sorely needed water and walked the other way, in search of an exit to this damned pit of agony.

There was nothing but another room to his left and there didn't appear to be any hidden passages or doorways anywhere.

He looked over to Draco again and noticed a door behind the bed.

The one way out!

He looked closer and saw that the door opened outwards, away from Draco's bed.

Could he sneak past Draco and escape?

Or would he wake him up and be beaten to death?

Harry decided to try.

So he transformed into his human shape again and walked up to the bed, looking Draco in the face.

He looked at the doorknob.

And he reached for it.

-----------------to be continued in chapter eleven, "Forgiveness"-------------------------