The Traitor's Blood

CHAPTER FIVE

Harry blinked. Everything was blurred. He tried to focus on his surroundings but someone had removed his glasses.

"Harry."

It came from somewhere across the room. Harry sat up. It felt like he was on a mattress of some kind. He realised his legs had been bound together at the ankles. He looked blindly around the room, but as soon as he moved his head he felt a sharp pain cut across his skull. Then he remembered being hit on the head with something hard. He instinctively went to feel his head with his hand and realised that his hands were tied behind his back.

"Harry."

It was Ron's voice that penetrated the silence.

"Ron?"

Harry tried to focus on the ginger blur sitting several metres in front of him. There was a window behind Ron, through which Harry could tell it was daytime.

"Keep your voice down," hissed Ron.

"Where are we?" Harry whispered.

"Dunno," mumbled Ron, "some kind of warehouse I think."

"How did we get here?"

"Well, this fat git knocked us both out with a wooden bat. I think he's a muggle, though, because he hasn't even thought to take my wand. It's still in my pocket.

"How long have we been here?" Harry asked.

"All night. The fat guy seemed really concerned when you didn't wake up. He must've hit you pretty hard. But at least you got to lie down. I've been tied to this stupid wooden chair all night."

"Can you reach your wand?" Harry asked. "I dropped mine outside the Leaky Cauldron."

"If I could reach my wand, do you really think I would be sitting here staring at you all night?" Ron replied sarcastically.

"Sorry mate. Of course not."

Harry was struggling to think straight through the pain throbbing on the back of his head.

"Where is this guy?" Harry asked.

"He's in a room just over there," replied Ron. "I don't think he's quite all there, if you know what I mean. Seems a bit stupid to me."

"We need to think of a plan..." mumbled Harry, more to himself than to Ron.

"I'm dying to go to the toilet," Ron groaned in reply.

They both sat in silence for several minutes. Harry racked his brain for an idea. It could not be that hard to fool a muggle. Especially if he was as dumb as Ron said he was. And Ron had his wand ...

"That's it," said Harry suddenly, "you can call the guy in here and tell him you want to go to the toilet. When he unties you, pull out your wand and stun him."

"I guess it's worth a try," replied Ron. "HEY! HEY YOU, GET IN HERE!"

A door opened on the other side of the room and Harry heard heavy footsteps echoing across the room. The blurry outline of a very tall, heavily-built man came into view. Harry began to doubt Ron's ability to stun such a large man.

"You're awake," came a deep, grunting voice.

Harry felt a large, thick hand on his face. The man pushed Harry's eyelids up into his head as if checking his eyes for signs of damage.

"Um, yeah," Harry replied uncertainly.

"Hey, I need to go to the toilet," Ron cut in.

"No," came the simple reply.

"OK, then what do you suggest I do," said Ron in a mocking voice, "go all over the floor?"

Harry could tell that this had challenged the man. He could almost hear the guy thinking it through.

"Alright," he said finally.

He strolled clumsily over to Ron and began untying him. This seemed to take him an extremely long time. Finally, Harry saw the blurred figure of Ron rise from the chair. Ron whipped his wand out of his pocket and shouted:

"Stupefy."

A jet of red light shot out of Ron's wand and hit the muggle square in the chest. The man's feet left the ground and his body was thrown across the room. Harry was so taken-aback by Ron's perfect use of the stunning spell, he realised far too late that he was sitting right where the man was about to land. Harry began in vain to scramble to his feet, but it was only seconds before he was flattened between the muggle and the mattress.

He began trying to wriggle out from under the man. Ron scrambled over to them and began heaving at the muggle from the other side. The man began to stir; the spell was wearing off fast.

"Avada Kedavra."

Another voice echoed through the room. A familiar voice which Harry thought he recognised but could not quite place. For one terrible second, he thought the death curse had hit his best friend. Ron had flattened himself to the ground behind the muggle's large torso to avoid the green light which shot across the room at him. The curse hit the muggle instead, who continued to lay stiff as a board on top of Harry.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

Harry felt the tremendous weight of the muggle being lifted off him. He rolled over to see the dark outline of a Death Eater standing just metres away. The Death Eater flicked his wand and the large body of the muggle crashed to the floor in one corner of the room.

"Stupefy."

It was Ron's shaky voice that resounded across the room. He stood over Harry, his wand held weakly in front of him. But his stunning spell missed. The red light shot across the room and hit the chair by the window, smashing it into tiny pieces. The Death Eater laughed. A high, cold laugh that echoed eerily throughout the room.

"Expelliarmus."

The Death Eater's disarming spell shot across the room and knocked Ron's wand clean out of his hands. Harry heard it hit the wall and smash. The force of the spell knocked Ron off his feet. Harry looked around to see Ron sitting helplessly beside him on the floor.

The Death Eater strolled casually across the room and bent down over Harry. He reached down and grabbed the neck of Harry's t-shirt, dragging him to his feet in one swift movement.

"Well, well, well. It's the famous Harry Potter," the Death Eater spat Harry's name in his ear. "We meet again."

Harry could not think where he had heard that voice before. The Death Eater tugged at the back of Harry's t-shirt, making it cut into his neck. Harry looked down and saw Ron still sitting motionless on the floor. The door was not too far from where Ron was sitting ...

Harry rolled his eyes from Ron to the doorway. He had no idea if Ron had understood him, but he had to do something.

The Death Eater tugged harder at Harry's t-shirt.

"Time to clear things up here, I think ... aargh!"

Harry had summoned all of his energy and pushed backwards into the Death Eater as hard as he could. It worked. The Death Eater was taken by surprise. He stumbled and fell backwards, dragging Harry to the ground with him. Harry landed on top of him, pinning him to the floor.

"Run," Harry hissed at Ron. Ron did not move. Harry was struggling to keep the Death Eater trapped beneath him. "Run now, you idiot! Get help!"

Something seemed to click inside Ron's head. He scrambled hastily to his feet and taking one last worried look at Harry, he ran towards the door.

The Death Eater finally managed to free himself, and threw Harry onto the hard wooden floor. Harry hit his head on a floorboard. The pain was excruciating. The wound on his head, which was still so fresh, seemed to open again. He felt warm blood trickle down the back of his neck. Small stars started to dance across his vision.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again to see the Death Eater now standing over him, his wand raised. It suddenly occurred to Harry that this Death Eater had probably been sent to kill him. There was no escape. He could not move. He tried to focus on the black figure above him. He did not want to show any signs of fear. After what seemed like an eternity the Death Eater opened his mouth:

"Stupefy."