Harry Potter and the Abandoned Mansion

Prologue

The Dragon Hide Book

A thick cloud of fog swirled through Spinner's End and the surrounding streets, so the figures that Tucker Lawrence spotted out of the corner of his eye were vague, looking almost like shadows. Still, he recognized one as a boy of about sixteen or seventeen, and the other as a man. He also, strangely, could have sworn he saw the two of them simply...appear. The man thought nothing of it--the fog was probably playing tricks on him--and continued to rake his yard. The adult turned his head toward Lawrence and raised his hand. Lawrence saw a bright green light shoot out of the man's hand before he collapsed onto the cobbled street, dead. His rake clattered to his side.

Severus Snape lowered his wand and turned back to the door. "When we go in," he told his young companion, "search for a book bound in dark green dragon hide. It should be on the third shelf down, but if I know Wormtail, he'll have misplaced it by now."

"Excuse me, sir, but why do we--...?" Draco Malfoy began.

"Don't ask questions now, just look," Snape interrupted. He turned the knob and gently swung the door open. The two rushed in and ran their fingers along the books on the third shelf down, starting on opposite sides. By the time they met again, neither had found the book. "I knew it. Keep looking." They advanced to the next shelf up.

After searching all the shelves, Snape lost his patience. "WORMTAIL!" he roared. One of the bookshelves swung open and Wormtail limped out, his back hunched as usual. "Where the hell is the book bound with dragon hide?!"

"Sir, I--..."

"If you lost it, I swear, I'll--..."

"I didn't, sir! I knew how important it was, so I thought I'd keep it somewhere safe."

"And if you've read it, I'll--..."

"I didn't!"

"Well, where is it?!"

"I made a passageway from my room."

Snape paused. "What's the title?"

"I don't know."

Snape let out a deep breath. "Lead us to it." Wormtail beckoned the two of them up the stairs that were behind the bookcase. Snape and Malfoy followed.

Wormtail's room was extremely small, and smelled of used socks and rotten vegetables. The floorboards creaked like a woman's scream. The cot had several holes, and the sheets were tattered. Almost no light entered the room. "Where's the passage?"

"Under the cot, sir." Snape tipped the cot over to find a trapdoor. He pulled the door up by the ring and dropped down the hole. The book lay in the middle of the floor. He picked it up, dusted it off, and opened it, spotting wine stains on the page he opened up to. "WORMTAIL!" Snape Apparated back up to Wormtail's bedroom and stared at Wormtail angrily.

"You read the book! You stole it, read it, and spilled wine onto it!"

"Sir, I--..."

"You could have lost some of the most important information in the book! What was in the book was not your business in the first place! How much did you read?!"

"I only read the part about the first Horcrux, sir."

"All of that part?"

"I don't know! Please spare me!"

Snape reached for his wand, but hesitated. Instead, he pushed Wormtail back into the hole and slammed the trapdoor shut. The frame jumped up a little. Confused, Snape lifted the frame to find that the hole was no longer there. "Oh, this is even better."

"What's even better?" Malfoy asked.

"I was planning to lock Wormtail down there, but now I can simply break the door and he'll have no way out." Snape took out his wand, pointed it at the trapdoor, and chanted, "Diffindo." The trapdoor snapped asunder. Snape threw the pieces aside, stood up, and handed the book to Malfoy. "Read this, memorize the information, and return it to me when you're finished," he instructed. Malfoy nodded and collected the book.