Harry Potter and the Dark Force

     --- Chapter Four ---

     NEWTS

Harry was still very unhappy about looking like Tom Riddle, and started to wear round glasses and rough up his hair to try to be more like his former appearance. This, combined with his efforts to rescue Ron, seemed to have finally made Ginny less hostile to him. She even sat near him at breakfast one morning, and communicated with him via Hermione.

`Did Snape realise that it was Ron when he cast that curse?' she asked. Hermione passed the question on.

Harry tried to remember exactly what had happened when Snape had confronted him. Ron had attempted to stun Snape, but Harry hadn't realised it was him, and neither, he suspected, had Snape. Snape had simply reacted instantly with the strange spell ...

`Perhaps it was something new,' he said, `something he'd devised to use against Voldemort, so it would be almost impossible to counter ...'

He could not spare any more time to wonder about this, however, as their NEWT exams were starting at 9am. Harry and Hermione and the other finalists went downstairs to a large basement classroom, where they waited in nervous silence, broken only by the sounds of Neville's terrified trembling. Only two examiners were present, Professor Tofty and another venerable aged professor that Harry recognised vaguely from his visits to the order of Osiris. Although Hermione had cajoled him into doing intensive last-minute revision, Harry felt completely unprepared for the exams, his mind still preoccupied with worries about Ron and Sirius, who had been out of contact for several days. The first written exam was Defence against Dark Arts, and when it was finally over Harry thought he had managed to write passable answers to most of the questions, especially to the question on Liches, having been rather closer to these monsters than he would ever wish to be again. The practical also went well, but the Transfiguration practical the next day was a disaster, he struggled for five minutes before finally managing to conjure a chicken, while Prof. Tofty frowned in disappointment, especially when the result was a supermarket plastic-wrapped frozen bird, instead of a live cockerel ...

Eventually after two weeks the ordeal was over, Harry hardly had the energy to join in the celebrations with the rest of the Hogwarts students, his brain still pounding with exhaustion, whilst Hermione looked completely shattered by the effort and quickly fell asleep at her table despite the noise of the post-exam party.

The Durmstrang students were still doing their exams, and Harry and Hermione watched in amazement the next morning as the `Magical Combat' practical exam took place as a series of duels on the lawn in front of the castle. It seemed that almost any curse or jinx was allowed, and the results of the conflicts were sometimes so ghastly that Hermione had to avert her eyes until the mess (the defeated party) was cleared away.

Harry didn't tell anyone, but his recurrent nightmares of a descent into hell beneath London had resumed ever since he'd seen the serpent in the forest. He wondered what their meaning was, but there was no-one he could ask for advice and help. He knew it would be unfair to place more worries on Hermione or Mr Weasley, and somehow he didn't feel close enough to Professor Lupin or McGonagall to confide in them. Lupin indeed had become increasingly distant, and Harry wondered if this had to do with Lupin's uncontrolled transformations to a werewolf. Without Snape around to make the wolfsbane potion, these would be a painful and horrific experience ...

Term ended and most of the Durmstrang pupils returned to their homes all over Europe, leaving the Hogwarts students to `enjoy' the furnace-like heat and clouds of foul midges which seemed to be the only weather which the brief Russian summer offered. But the absence of the Durmstrang students and many of their teachers at least reduced the atmosphere of menacing evil about the place. Then one evening in mid June Sirius suddenly re-appeared, grinning cheerfully at their looks of concern as if he'd merely been away for a brief holiday.

`Snape has returned to Hogwarts,' he told them, `and he's still deputy Minister of Magic, along with Fudge, but he's mistrusted by many of the Death Eaters. Malfoy and co are very worried by these rumours that Voldemort has physically survived, while Bellatrix and the other fanatical Death Eaters have rebelled against Malfoy's regime and are trying to find _you_, believing you are Voldemort.'

As they sat down for dinner in the still dark and chilly dining hall, Harry explained what had happened with their attempts to revive Ron, and that kidnapping Snape and forcing him to undo his curse seemed the only possibility remaining.

`Count me in,' Sirius grinned, `Snape has a lot of questions to answer about what he was actually doing and who he was really working for, and I for one will make sure he gives us some answers.'

`But the conflict among the Death Eaters means that he'll be even more paranoid than usual and will have a lot of protection around him in place at the castle, won't it?' Hermione said worriedly.

`I'll talk to Remus,' Sirius said, `I'm sure he'll see the sense in capturing Snape, it'll undermine Malfoy's regime, for one thing.'

The next day Lupin came into the common room and asked Harry and Hermione and Sirius to follow him to McGonagall's office to discuss the idea. Harry could tell immediately that Lupin was opposed to him going.

`I know what the risks are,' Harry told him, `and I know a lot of defensive magic now. Also it's really my fault that Ron is like this, so I have to do what I can to help him ...'

Lupin sighed, noting the fierce determination in Harry's eyes, `I understand why you want to go, Harry, but it does seem a needless risk. While the Death Eaters believe you are dead you are safe, but once they realise you are alive they'll dedicate themselves to killing you in revenge for Voldemort's destruction ...'

They reached McGonagall's office and went inside. A large portrait of Albus Dumbledore now hung on her office wall, and it regarded Harry thoughtfully. `Welcome to all of you,' the portrait greeted them, `I feel I should apologise to you, Harry, for not telling you more before the final contest with Voldemort. I knew, once you told me that he had taken blood from you to return himself to life, that the connection between you had been sealed and made unbreakable. This seemed to offer the best chance to defeat him, as you discovered, with help from Sirius. But I did not want to risk voicing this knowledge, in case Voldemort discovered what we knew ...'

`Did you know that you would die also?' Harry asked.

`Yes, I always thought that was quite likely, but it could not be avoided. I played my part in his destruction, and so did you, so there is no need to reproach yourself with regrets. Now, for your present problem, Headmaster Severus Snape ... my portrait also hangs on the wall in his office, so I know that he has many devices to warn of attempts to enter the castle, by portkey or any other means, and that he still retains your marvellous Map,' Dumbledore continued, smiling slightly at Lupin and Sirius, `on which he will be able to see immediately any attack.'

For a moment no-one spoke, Harry felt hopelessness rise in his heart as the task began to seem impossible.

`I know!' Hermione said suddenly, `what about the rapidus potion?' She looked at Dumbledore, who nodded, smiling.

`Yes indeed, Hermione, I think that may be the only solution, but remember that great care must be taken with it, otherwise the consequences may be quite terrible, as you may remember.'

`What is the rapidus potion?' Harry asked.

`It accelerates the mind and body a hundredfold,' Hermione explained, `one minute of ordinary time will seem like a hundred minutes to someone who drinks the potion, so we could get into the castle before anyone realises we are there. But if it goes wrong ... a Slytherin student tried to use it last year to cheat in their NEWTS, and found themselves living at one-hundredth normal speed, instead of one hundred times faster ... they're probably still in St. Mungo's, eating and speaking very very slowly ...' She shook her head sadly.

`Timing is critical,' Dumbledore's portrait emphasised, `Professor Snape always leaves for his second year class at 2pm and returns to the headmasters' office at 3. You should intercept him on his way back, so that there will be no risk of him detecting you on the Mauraders Map, which is always kept in the office. I will tell you once he has left. If you take a portkey to the outer edge of the forest you should avoid detection, and then you will need to walk into the castle and return with Severus. It should take perhaps half a minute of normal time for you to cover that distance, and you will be moving too fast for anyone to see you.'

`How long does the potion last?' Sirius asked.

`Only a minute of ordinary time, but that's nearly two hours to anyone using the potion, so it should be good enough,' Hermione explained.

It took most of the morning next day to gather the ingredients and prepare the potion. Professor McGonagall had to ask the Durmstrang headmaster, Maxwell Pendragon, for permission to use their school's potion ingredient stores for some of the more obscure components of the mixture, and then Hermione spent several hours distilling and combining the ingredients until it was ready.

`Are you sure you've made it correctly?' Harry asked Hermione worriedly as she brought in the still broiling mixture and decanted it into four glasses for them.

`Of course I did!' she snapped, picking up her own glass with a look of grim determination.

The potion was a poisonous vivid blue colour, giving off noxious fumes which made Harry choke as he raised the glass to his lips. It smelt as if it would instantly dissolve his mouth and throat. `Down in one, Harry,' advised Lupin with a small smile, picking up his own portion. Harry pinched his nose shut and hastily swallowed the vile-tasting mixture as the others reluctantly gulped down their doses.

At once the light in the office suddenly dimmed and Professor McGonagall seemed to freeze in mid-movement as if she had been transfigured into a waxwork statue of herself. Harry noticed that the room seemed abruptly colder and his body felt heavy and sluggish. When he tried to speak, the words came out slowly an octave lower than his normal voice, but he knew they would still sound like a momentary buzzing and chirruping of insects to McGonagall. He could see the candle flames slowly moving, weaving back and forth, but all else was still, Lupin and the others were also paused in suspended animation with their glasses at their lips. Then first Hermione and then Lupin and Sirius came out of their trances and joined Harry in the strange accelerated time frame.

`It's working,' Lupin said, beckoning them forward to touch the portkey, an empty tin of Ginger Newts.

After a brief delay they were swept up into the usual spinning blur of colour that Harry was familiar with from previous portkey trips, but now this seemed greatly prolonged, to several minutes instead of the usual few seconds, until finally they materialised at the outer edge of the forbidden forest. They quickly moved deeper into the forest, which appeared desolate and empty of life. Beneath the trees the light was so dim that they all lit their wands to see the path ahead. Even the air seemed thicker than normal and hard to breathe. Eventually they reached a clearing and Lupin and Hermione abruptly halted. `Oh no!' Hermione cried in horror, putting her hand to her mouth.

Harry looked past her and made out dozens of large pale forms laying scattered over the ground. He could see the air was thick with flies, moving slowly towards the bodies of the centuars, about which clouds of the black insects already hung. He felt his stomach recoil in disgust as he registered the smell of putrification.

`Let's get away from here,' Lupin muttered grimly, and they took a different path past the clearing, hurrying to leave behind the foul stench of rotting flesh.

Moments later Hermione gave a shriek of fright as they almost ran into a pair of towering hooded figures, two Dementors, motionless and apparently unaware of their presence, but Harry quickly pulled Hermione away and they took a detour around these sinister guards.

Finally after twenty minutes they reached the edge of the forest where it opened out onto the school lawns. As soon as he emerged from the trees Harry saw the time-frozen figures of Draco Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle, suspended in mid-step as they patrolled the edge of the grounds. He could see a `Head Boy' badge prominently stuck on Malfoy's robes. With difficulty Harry resisted the temptation to hit Malfoy with some unpleasant curse, and ducked back into the forest to emerge behind the Slytherins.

A strange spectral sunlight lay over the castle and the grounds, much dimmer than ordinary daylight, even though the sun was still high in the sky. Harry didn't pause to wonder about this but followed Sirius and Lupin as they moved quickly towards the castle.

Several groups of students were sitting along the bank of the lake or walking across the lawns, final year pupils who had already finished their last lessons, but Harry and the others moved swiftly around these bizarre figures, frozen in mid motion or speech, their faces contorted into odd expressions.

Everything was silent and still, it was as if they were in a different world. But suddenly Harry halted in shock as he saw something moving rapidly towards them across the lawns. It was not like any other kind of creature or being he'd ever seen before, a weaving wraith of grey mist, flickering back and forth as it sped across the ground almost too fast to see. Instantly it was upon them and then had moved past, and Harry felt a momentary sharp chill as if a Dementor had just come near him. He looked round at the others. Hermione and Lupin seemed completely mystified and startled, but Sirius was looking at the thing with stark horror. There were more of the creatures, Harry realised, all making for a group of students by the lake where some sort of fight appeared to be taking place. The wraiths were congregating there like flies around a corpse.

`How can they be here?' Sirius muttered incredulously, staring at the mob of creatures, who were still moving back and forth around the students so fast they would be invisible to them except as a shimmer of summer heat haze.

`What are they?' Harry asked, disturbed by these strange creatures and by Sirius's reaction. Lupin prompted them to continue moving up to the castle.

`They're creatures from beyond the veil, they infested the world of the dead and made that purgatory a hell for many ...' Sirius said slowly, tearing his eyes away from the scene by the lake.

Harry had never heard Sirius talk about his time beyond the veil before, only briefly, as a realm of limitless desolation and darkness in which time seemed suspended. He had told Harry that existence there was so different in kind to the world of life that no words were able to describe it.

`Some called them phantoms, or demons. Others thought they were a kind of dark angels, agents of judgement or punishment, but I thought they were more like scavengers or parasites, feeding on whatever cruel and malign acts we had committed in our pasts, making us endlessly relive these in our minds, until some succumbed and closed themselves away completely into their own self-imprisoned hell.' He shuddered and turned back to where the creatures still clustered at the lakeside. `I never expected to see them here, outside, in the world of the living.'

`If they live in a different stream of time then perhaps they've always been here, all around us, and we would never have noticed,' Hermione said, very nervously.

They reached the wall of the castle and moved around until they were near the main doors. Harry recognised Theodore Nott entering the castle, looking very shifty and malevolent as usual. `Snape should be on his way back to the office now,' Lupin said, checking his watch. Harry noticed that less than a minute had passed in real time since they'd arrived in the forest.

They entered and climbed the marble staircase to the second floor and walked along the corridor until they reached the gargoyle doorway leading to the headmaster's office. But there was no sign of Snape at all.

`We should get the Map, Remus,' Sirius said, `that will tell us where Snape is, and we should take it back anyway, it's too useful to leave here.'

Lupin gave the password to the gargoyle, and the doorway slid open with agonising slowness. After five minutes the entrance was wide enough for them to slip through and climb the apparently motionless spiral staircase, although Harry knew it was also moving upwards like an escalator.

They reached the heavy oak door to Snape's office. Harry noticed that the griffon knocker had now been replaced by a serpent. They raised their wands and said `Reducto!' together, and the door blew apart with the force of an explosion. Inside were the same portraits of former headmasters and mistresses that Harry remembered, with the addition of a large painting of Dumbledore, directly behind Snape's desk. The mysterious instruments that had occupied the office in Dumbledore's time had vanished, along with Fawkes' perch, but the sorting hat and Gryffindor's sword still remained. Snape had also introduced the ghastly arrays of specimen jars and pickled animal parts which had previously decorated his office when he was potions master.

Sirius tried to open the draws of the desk, but these seemed very resistant and hard to move, and Harry had to join him before they could force them open. The Mauraders' Map was in the second draw they tried and Sirius quickly tapped it to show the layout of Hogwarts and the position of all the occupants.

Harry could see that the blob marked `Severus Snape' had just entered the second floor corridor on its way to the gargoyle entrance. He was also relieved to see that he was himself marked on the map as `Harry Potter'. Looking back along the corridor on the map Harry suddenly realised that Snape was moving at a normal speed -- the effect of the potion had clearly worn off and he had returned to the normal rate of time. Beside him Sirius was still an indistinct blur of accelerated movement, as was Lupin, but Hermione had also dropped back into the slow time frame and was staring at Harry in surprise. Moments later Lupin and Sirius materialised as well. `I must have mis-calculated the dose, sorry about that,' Hermione whispered.

`Never mind, we'll just have to take Snape by surprise,' Lupin muttered, moving to the door and making its thousands of fragments fly back together with a `reparo' spell, until it looked undamaged. They waited behind the door, watching on the map as Snape reached the entrance to the stairway and began to ascend. The door opened and for a split second Harry saw Snape's expression of astonishment at seeing him, before the four of them shouted `Stupify!' and Snape was thrown against the wall of the office by the force of the combined stunning spells. Harry noticed the portraits on the walls watching them with interest, mostly with apparent approval, except for the former Slytherin master, Phineas Nigellus.

Lupin took the portkey from his cloak pocket and set it on the desk and muttered `Portus' to re-energise it for the return journey. They all reached out to touch it, Sirius forcing Snape's inert hand against the tin, and abruptly they were swept away from Hogwarts and landed after a moment back in McGonagall's office.

It took Lupin and McGonagall some time to revive Snape, but when he finally came round he reached automatically for his wand, which Sirius had taken the precaution of removing. He snarled in anger and strained violently against the magical bonds fastening him to the wall.

Sirius advanced on Snape with his own wand pointing directly at Snape's face. `Well, good evening Severus,' he said with mock politeness, `we've invited you here to answer some questions about your conduct in the last few months, especially your apparent desertion of the Order, of which you were supposed to be a loyal member. If you fail to provide adequate answers, I for one will ensure that the consequences for you are as unpleasant as possible ...'

`How brave of you, Black,' Snape sneered, `to threaten me when you are armed and I am not, and when I am held prisoner by your minions'. His eyes narrowed in disbelief as he noticed Harry.

`I don't need to prove my courage to _you_, Snivellus,' Sirius said furiously, `you are the one who seems to know no principle except to be traitorous and cowardly, to betray anyone foolish enough to place their trust in you ...'

`Sirius, that's enough.' Lupin stopped him, `Severus, we've also brought you back in order that you can undo the curse you placed on Ron Weasley. If you succeed in releasing him, then we will consider returning you to Britain.'

`There is no known counter-jinx,' Snape explained with grim satisfaction, `it was designed so that even the Dark Lord would be unable to escape from its power. Of course I will try, but the chances of success are very low.' He shrugged negligently.

`Severus, you must decide where your loyalties lie,' Dumbledore's portrait told him gravely.

`As you know, my loyalty was always to yourself, Professor,' Snape said, turning to face the portrait, `when you were alive. Perhaps if Potter and Weasley had not interfered when I was going to your aid, you would still be alive.'

`Harry did the best that he could, and defeated Voldemort in a way that no-one else could have done. My own sacrifice was necessary.' Dumbledore explained to Snape what had actually happened. Snape stared at Harry with incredulity and loathing.

It suddenly occurred to Harry that Dumbledore had been witholding knowledge of the prophecy from Snape, so he had not known that it was his own, Harry's, fate to engage in the final battle to the death with Voldemort. Dumbledore had let Snape believe that it was possible for himself, Snape, to obtain the glory of defeating Voldemort.

`Unfortunately Potter's stunt did not leave any proof that the Dark Lord had been destroyed,' Snape said, `which has encouraged his followers to continue to believe and act as if he is still alive ...'

`How dare you criticise Harry when you've been conspiring with Death Eaters and doing their bidding!' Sirius interrupted vehemently, raising his wand again towards Snape.

`Lucius Malfoy is no longer a Death Eater.' Snape said calmly, `As I'm sure you're aware, those who still follow Voldemort's aims and methods have turned against us and are now as much our enemies as they are yours. If you were capable of rational thought, Black, you would be asking for my help in negotiating with the Ministry of Magic. Perhaps an amnesty could be arranged, for some of you at least ...' He sneered nastily at Sirius.