More to Life

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Chapter Eleven - Halloween

September gave way to October and soon enough it was Halloween. Harry couldn't believe the 31^st of October had crept up on him so fast. Sat in the Great Hall that morning, the Boy Who Lived picked at his sausage and bacon. He always had this sense of forbidding on Halloween, but he knew this year that sense was going to turn into something real. It never had before.

He wondered if it had something to do with the fact that it was on that night, ten years ago, that his parents were killed by Voldemort. He rarely thought about that though. The way he saw it was that he couldn't mourn people who he had never known.

Finally fed up of picking at his cold breakfast, he grabbed the sausage and stuffed it in his mouth whole, only to nearly choke on it. When he stopped coughing, he found Draco looking at him with an amused expression.

"That's what you get for eating too much at once," the blond said smugly.

Harry glared at his friend. "Want to see if the same thing happens to you?" he growled.

Draco held his hands up in surrender. "Touché."

The Boy Who Lived sighed. "Sorry, I'm just really not in the mood today."

Draco gave the dark haired by a nod. "If you keep worrying about tonight it'll make the day go slower."

"As if I can help but worry," Harry snapped.

The blond Slytherin shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Harry just stared at his friend. "You do realise you're a hundred and one percent annoying, right?"

"I know," replied Draco, happily eating a slice of toast.

Harry stared again and cracked a smile. "Git," he said though a mouthful of bacon.

"Harry, don't talk with your mouthful," Millicent called from a few places down the table. Harry directed a half hearted glare at her.

He swallowed. "I will if I want to."

Millicent leaned over and cuffed him around the back of the head. "Will you now?"

Harry did a dramatic salute. "I'll be good."

Draco choked on his toast, which set Blaise off laughing.

*~*~*

The Halloween feast was well under way and against Harry's better judgement, the said boy was wandering around the castle. He really didn't fancy being sat in the Great Hall eating all the sweets he could eat, he already felt sick enough as it was.

The corridor he was walking down was only lit with a few touches. In fact, Harry was pretty sure he had never seen this corridor in his life. Then again there was a lot of the castle he had never seen before. He hadn't really had much time to look around with lessons and homework and all.

He was still worried about Severus. He hadn't seen the man all day. Harry had nearly been on the verge of going to see if Dumbledore knew where he was, but he didn't want to face the Headmaster in fear that he might start yelling at him. Harry had found that most Slytherins didn't trust Dumbledore as far as they could throw him, himself included.

Severus was supposed to delivery him to the Death Eaters in... a little less than two hours. Of course Harry knew that Severus wouldn't do that, but he still couldn't help but think what the Potions Master was going to do instead.

He wondered if the Death Eaters had any idea that Severus would betray them. They did know that Snape had known where Harry was as soon as he disappeared from Privet Drive over two years ago. What if they made precautions and were able to get in the castle?

That thought terrified him more than anything, especially since he was walking around a corridor he had never been down before, alone.

Without his wand.

Harry blinked. He never went anywhere without his wand, but it wasn't up his sleeve like it normally was.

This just served to make him more frightened.

He wasn't normally scared of anything, but this was his life that was on the line. He couldn't help but feel scared.

He couldn't help but wonder where the wand was.

He had definitely had it after his Charms lesson, which was his last lesson of the day. They had been learning the levitating charm that lesson, with amusing results. Vincent Crabbe had ended up levitating his book bag up to the ceiling, only for it to fall on his head. Harry was sure he had had his wand in his dorm earlier that night, but he didn't have it now.

Harry looked up the corridor to see if he could see it anywhere nearby. He couldn't.

He involuntarily shivered. Harry suddenly felt like every dark corner had something ready to leap out at him. He was an extremely jumpy person by nature. Dudley had helped with that. He had always jumped out of the least likely places just to scare his cousin.

Harry started walking back the way he had come, searching the floor for his lost wand. He still couldn't find it anywhere.

The Boy Who Lived heard someone's feet scuffle somewhere in front of him. He hid behind the nearest statue. The statue happened to be of an old wizard, dressed in dark coloured robes with his foot on a pig's back. If this was any other time, Harry would have wondered why a wizard had his foot on top of a pig's back.

Ron Weasley appeared from the darkness. He appeared to be also looking for something. The red haired boy was muttering 'Scabbers' under his breath.

Harry rolled his eyes and walked out in front of the Gryffindor. "Weasley," he greet with no malice at all. He didn't want to provoke a fight; after all he didn't have his wand and couldn't cast any offensive spells wandless yet.

"Potter," Weasley all but spat out. "Why aren't you at the feast?" he said this with an accusing tone.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you?"

Weasley fumbled for a moment. "I asked you first!"

"I didn't want to go," Harry said just to shut the other boy up. "So why aren't you?"

Weasley glared at Harry for a good few minutes before he sighed. "I'm looking for Scabbers."

"Scabbers?" Harry asked in an amused tone.

"My rat. He ran off while I was at the feast and now I can't find him." Weasley started glaring at Harry once more.

"Why the name 'Scabbers'?" Harry asked.

"I didn't name him, Percy did," the redhead mumbled. "Not that it's any of your business."

Harry sniggered. "I can't believe you named a rat Scabbers."

"I just told you I didn't, didn't I?" Weasley snapped.

"Keep your knickers on. I'll help you find him I have nothing better to do," Harry offered.

Weasley looked at Harry in disgust. "Why would I want your help?"

Harry ignored this as he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He saw a shabby looking rat stood stock still, as if it was scared stiff. "Is that him?" Harry pointed to the rodent.

He heard Weasley sigh in relief. "Scabbers!"

It was then, right in front of his eyes that 'Scabbers' transformed into a ragged looking man, only about a head taller than Weasley was. His small, watery eyes darted between the two boys for a moment. He then pulled out his wand and yelled 'stupefy' fast than Harry could think. It was then everything went black for the Boy Who Lived.

*~*~*

The Halloween feast was coming to an end in the Great Hall. Most of the students had already disappeared back to their dorms. All but one of the Slytherin first-years were still clumped together around the numerous Toffee Apples that were left on a plate in the centre of the table.

Draco made a grab for one but was beaten by Gregory. He tried again and was beaten by Millicent. He got lucky the third time. He sighed, taking a huge bite out of it. "Why can't we have Toffee Apples more than once a year?" he complained.

"Wouldn't be as special then, would it? It's like saying we should have Christmas every day," Millicent argued.

Draco looked at the Toffee Apple then at Millicent. He took another bite of it. "Suppose not."

Pansy looked at both of them with a disgusted look. "How can you eat them?"

"Easy," Millicent said. "You just open your mouth and-" she took a bite out of the apple. "See?"

Pansy scowled. "Shut up Millie."

"Make me and for Merlin sake have some fun for once." Millicent grabbed the final Toffee Apple and shoved it into Pansy's mouth. All the Slytherins started laughing, with the exception of Pansy, who just glared at Millicent more than ever.

Draco noticed the head of Slytherin house talking with the Headmaster. He noticed the small flash of worry that crossed Severus's face. Leaving the rest of the Slytherins to laugh at Pansy's misfortune, Draco walked over to Severus. He waited until the dark haired man noticed him.

"Yes, Mr Malfoy?" Severus asked tiredly.

"I noticed you were... worried about something..." Draco trailed off.

"Have you seen Harry?" Severus asked, tapping on the table.

"Not since before the feast. He said he didn't want to come," Draco explained.

Severus looked at the rest of the Slytherin first-years before looking back at Draco. He sighed with frustration. "He's missing."

*~*~*

Harry came to all of a sudden. He could only assume that someone had used a spell to awaken him. His forehead was itching like mad. Scratch itching - it was burning. It took him a while to realise it was his scar that was in fact burning. He gave it a rub, hoping it would go away. It didn't.

It didn't hurt that much. It was more irritating than anything else.

He heard someone snigger behind him. Harry pushed himself up onto his hands and knees quickly and spun himself around to try and find the person he had heard. He didn't have to look far.

Directly in front of him was the person - Harry couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman - dressed in black robes, a mask in front of their face.

A Death Eater.

Harry groaned out loud.

"Well, well, Mr Potter. You've gotten yourself into a spot of trouble this time, haven't you?" the person asked. From the voice, Harry was almost certain the person was in fact a man, a man who sounded remotely familiar.

Then it came to him.

Severus had told him his name was Avery.

The man he accidentally rammed into a tree two years ago.

He just hoped the man wasn't after too much revenge.

"It's a pity for you that I happen to like trouble," Harry said before he thought it through.

Avery just grinned at him. "Witty even when your life is on the line." The man spun around and looked behind him into the darkness. "Pettigrew," he said in an unfriendly tone.

The man who Harry had seen in Hogwarts earlier that evening, the one who changed from Weasley's rat into a man, walked forward. Harry noticed that the man didn't seem very confident. The Boy Who Lived swore he knew the name Pettigrew.

He nearly gasped out loud when it came to him.

Peter Pettigrew, his parent's secret keeper. He had framed Harry's godfather and had gotten him locked up in Azkaban for nothing. He looked into the eyes of Pettigrew and gave him a look of utter loathing. He saw Peter flinch.

"You scum," Harry said in a deadly whisper. "You complete, utter sc-"

"Shut up if you know what's good for you!" Avery snapped, his wand pointed at Harry.

The dark haired boy stayed silent, but carried on glaring at Pettigrew. Avery gave Peter a grin.

"He doesn't like you much, does he?"

Peter didn't answer.

Harry couldn't see anymore Death Eaters. "This it?" he asked. "Only took two of you to come and get me? I wouldn't under estimate me if I were you."

Avery crouched down in front of Harry. "Why would I be afraid of an eleven year old?"

"A-Avery?"

"What Pettigrew?" Avery said with annoyance.

"Shouldn't we be t-taking him to o-our M-Master?" the man stuttered a little.

"We wouldn't want to anger him, would we?" Avery said. He hauled Harry to his feet and shoved something into his hand.

Harry felt the familiar tug behind his navel as the portkey dumped him onto the floor. As far as Harry could tell, he was in the forbidden forest. The burning of his scar was steadily getting worse. He heard Avery and Pettigrew apparate nearby. He then felt himself being dragged to his feet again. Harry tripped a good dozen times before he was thrown to the floor, straight into a wet patch of leaves.

Harry pulled a face. "You couldn't have thrown me into a nice dry patch, could you?"

Avery didn't answer him. The man was now stood nearly stock still. So was Pettigrew. Then as if on cue, they both bowed right to the floor, on their hands and knees. Harry heard a stick snap in front of him. He looked up sharply.

The man in front of him was stood with his back to Harry. At least Harry was sure it was the back of a man, but the back of his head had a face.

"Harry Potter," it whispered.

The face was truly hideous. Glaring red eyes were eyeing Harry was fascination. Its face was nearly pure white, with only slits for nostrils. Harry would have said it look very like a snake, but then that would be insulting to snakes.

His scar burned even more fiercely now. Harry winced and put a hand to his forehead, giving it another rub.

"See what you have made me become?" it said. "Not even able to live unless I share another's body, but this is where you come in Potter. You see, you are going to help bring me back to my original self."

Harry sat frozen on the spot, as if he had been petrified. He wouldn't scream. He wouldn't give the man - thing - in front of him the satisfaction.

The face laughed. "Do you not remember me Potter? After all, the last time you saw me you were a year old."

Realisation dawned in Harry's face. The man stood in front of him was none other than Voldemort himself. At least the voice was.

The face then lost all humour and it growled at the Boy Who Lived. "You see Potter," it began. "There's a potion and it requires your blood."

That was all Harry need to snap him out of his fear. He jumped to his feet and ran off, faster than he had ever run before. The two Death Eaters were shocked at the sudden movement and just stared after the boy.

"Idiots!" Voldemort snarled. "After him!"

Avery jumped to his feet first. "Stupefy!" he roared. The curse missed Harry by inches.

The dark haired boy sped up, not knowing if he was going deeper into the forest or was running closer to Hogwarts.

"Stupefy!" the curse came again, this time missing Harry by miles.

Harry kept running. He was thankful for all the practice he had gotten from running away from Dudley now. He could finally thank his cousin for something. Harry saw the distant lights ahead of him and pushed himself harder.

"Crucio!" Avery yelled.

Harry stopped at the sound of the curse and spun around. Lifting his palm out in front of him, the curse hit the blue shield that had formed and bounced back towards Avery. The Death Eater jumped out of the way and rolled to the ground. Avery yelled the same curse again as Pettigrew did at the same time. Harry held out his hand again, but as the first curse bounced off the shield, the blue magic disappeared, letting the second curse hit him.

The Boy Who Lived had never felt so much pain in his life. It felt like his very bones were on fire. Everything hurt as if someone was ramming millions of knives into him. His head felt like it was going to split open at any moment. Then it stopped. Harry noticed that somehow, during the last three seconds, he had ended up on the floor and he couldn't bring himself to get up.

Harry heard Avery laugh. "What does it feel like to lose, Potter?"

Harry gritted his teeth and looked up. "Who says I've lost?"

Avery growled and spat out, "Abscindo!"

Harry felt something sharp cut his cheek. He then felt something drip down his face. He rubbed a hand against his cheek then looked at it. His fingertips were lined with blood. He gave Avery a glare.

Pettigrew came up beside the other Death Eater and gave the boy a smirk. A smirk that didn't really look like it should belong on his face. "You can't resist the Dark Lord. Your parents tried and look what happened to them."

"Bastard!" Harry spat out. Harry rarely swore, but he felt the moment called for it.

Harry heard rustling behind him. A voice shouted 'stupefy' and Avery went down. Pettigrew turned back into his rat form and scuttled away. Harry didn't have time to catch a glimpse of his rescuer before he surrendered to unconsciousness.

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Abscindo - means something along the lines of to cut.

Leatrix Malfoy ~ 15^th November 2003