Lethal Darkness 2: The Third War

Lethal Darkness 2: The Third War

By Snitch Builder

Chapter One

The First Mission

Harry shifted nervously from one foot to the other, kicking some of the dirt from the pavement on which he was standing. Beside him were massive gates guarding the entrance to the grounds of a huge, gloomy mansion. Tall trees that grew from an overgrown garden obscured most of the house, but the tops of sinister looking towers could be glimpsed through the uppermost branches. The wind bit at his neck, so he pulled the collar of his travelling cloak further up, uttering curses under his breath. A crow settled on the top of the gates and gave a mournful squawk while surveying Harry with its black eyes. Harry looked up at the bird and blinked as the rain started. From just behind him, a loud crack! heralded the arrival of the person he was waiting for and the crow took off in fright.

'You took your time,' Harry spat as Ron limped towards him. 'What's up with your leg?'

'It's not my leg, it's my back,' Ron replied painfully. 'Ever since you and Parvati had Lily-Jane, Lavender's gone all broody. We've been at it for months now, like bloody rabbits. But there is nothing happening.'

Harry felt bad for snapping at him and gave him a smile. 'Don't worry about it,' he said gently, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder to comfort him. 'It'll happen eventually. It took us six months to get Lily. It'll come. Trust me.'

Ron smiled back and looked through the gates towards the house. 'Anyway, are you sure Moody has given us the right address?' he enquired.

Harry took out a piece of parchment from his robes and looked at it. 'It's the right place all right. I cant help feeling that perhaps this first mission is a bit too much for us.'

'Don't talk rubbish,' Ron snapped and grabbed Harry by his shoulders, trying to shake some courage into him. 'We have been qualified Aurors for twelve months now, and it was about time that miserable old toad let us out. Hermione always said that the right job would come along eventually. And now it has.'

'Yeah, but she doesn't know anything about being an Auror does she?' Harry said glumly. 'She's waving her wand over patients at St. Mungo's. Some have it easy, don't they?'

'Maybe,' Ron sighed and let Harry go. 'Anyway. How do we get in there? What I don't understand is why we didn't just Apparate straight into the building.'

'This is why,' Harry said and he picked up a stone from the floor.

When he threw the stone over the wall, it exploded in a shower of sparks.

'Ah,' Ron gasped, 'a protective curse.'

'Anyone Apparating into the grounds or even climbing over the wall will end up the same way,' Harry explained darkly. 'I've heard it's not a pleasant way of going either.'

Harry pulled at a padlock, which was attached to a large chain wrapped around the gates. The lock was unusual, as it didn't have a keyhole. Ron looked questioningly at Harry.

'I've tried Alohamora,' Harry said thoughtfully. 'Didn't work.'

'Burn it open then,' Ron suggested, and he reached into his backpack. 'I doubt we would get into trouble damaging the place. I mean, just look at it.'

The backpack looked like a regular one, but it was a vital piece of Auror field hardware. Beneath the flap were three compartments, which were larger on the inside than the outside. One held the Auror's favourite transport (in this case, both of them had brooms within), another was kept cold and held field rations for two weeks, the third held the Auror's dark detectors and defence hardware. From this compartment Ron extracted a small piece of what looked like yellow putty. After moulding it round the lock, he stood back a little, and gave his wand a complicated wave at the lock. The putty started to smoke, and then it burst into flames. Pretty soon, the lock melted and ran down the gate to form a red-hot puddle of metal on the floor, making a hiss as the damp earth cooled it slightly. The chain fell away from the gate, and the gates parted with a nerve-rending squeal.

The two Aurors looked nervously at each other, and Harry drew his wand. The path leading between huge, dark trees was narrow, but as the afternoon was particularly dark due to the rain clouds, the path was as black as night.

'LUMOS!' Harry said and his wand lit the path before them, the rain danced through the beam of light like fireflies.

As they proceeded up the path, it seemed as though the trees were trying to fall upon them to crush their bodies with their immense weight. Wind rustled the leaves, making the trees sound like they were alive - a monster breathing and getting ready to pounce. Even though the wind could not penetrate the thick trees, it was strong enough to rustle the leaves violently, making it hard for either of them to hear if anything was approaching. The gloom was so penetrating that it reminded Harry of something he had encountered six years ago in his last year at school.

Eventually a turn came to them, and the darkness started to recede a little. As they turned, Harry stopped as he caught sight of the building itself. It was a massive place, but totally derelict. None of the windows had glass in them, and dead creepers clung to the walls giving the building a crusty, dead-looking skin. However, the front door was still intact and looked very formidable. Harry extinguished his wand-light but kept his wand ready.

Glancing nervously at each other, they made their way up the path carefully, as it was covered in potholes and plants grew thickly from between the paving slabs. When they were halfway to the house, Ron suddenly spun round.

'What's up?' Harry whispered.

Ron had his wand raised and was pointing back down the pathway towards the gap in the trees from where they had just emerged.

'I thought I heard something move,' Ron replied quietly.

After a few seconds he lowered his wand and turned back to Harry.

'Perhaps it was nothing,' Harry suggested, but then the sound of a twig snapping made him turn round and Ron raised his wand again.

The garden was probably very beautiful in the house's heyday, but now it was covered in thick bramble bushes, long grass, and large trees, making it impossible to see anything. A shadow passed across Harry's peripheral vision, making him jump.

'C-can you see anything?' Ron asked, sounding petrified.

'N-nothing,' Harry replied, equally as nervous.

They scanned the garden for signs of anything moving. But then something scurried through the long grass. Harry licked his dry lips and watched in horror as it rushed towards them. Whatever it was, it was low, and very fast. They both got ready to kill whatever it was that was coming at them. Harry held his breath. When it was within a few metres, he let several wand-arrows loose, and Ron did the same. Arrows blew holes in the soil, setting fire to the dead grass. Whatever it was turned and ran to one side. Harry corrected and fired after it. A screech told him that the thing had been hit and they stopped firing.

Cautiously, Harry made his was through the grass to where it lay. Parting the grass carefully with one hand, he kept his wand raised with the other, just in case the thing was merely stunned. He gasped when he saw what he had killed.

'Ron,' he called. 'Get over here.'

Ron came over to him slowly, his wand still raised.

'W-what is it?' he asked.

Harry picked up the body of the creature and tossed it towards Ron, who yelled in surprise.

'You bloody prat!' Ron snapped, throwing Harry a disgusted look.

'It's only a stupid rat,' Harry laughed.

Ron looked at the sad remains of the rat; his expression showing the sight of the dead creature had upset him. Harry saw that his friend was upset and stopped laughing.

'I'm sorry, Ron,' Harry said carefully. 'I just got carried away, that's all.'

Ron just snorted and turned back to look at the front door.

'Okay then,' Ron said when Harry got back to him, 'how do we get in?'

'Why not go through a window?' Harry suggested.

Ron picked up another stone and threw it at one of the windows. Once again, the stone exploded in a shower of sparks.

'I think we should just pop the lock,' Harry said darkly.

The Anti-Lock putty wouldn't work unless the material could be placed around the lock, so Harry decided on a simple Destructo Curse. From his backpack he took a small glass sphere, about the size of his clenched fist, which contained a grey smoke, writhing around inside as though it was caught in a storm. Fastening the sphere next to the lock with a Sticking Charm, he tapped the sphere with his wand and muttered a number. The smoke in the sphere changed from grey to red.

'Come on,' Harry urged, 'I've set it for thirty seconds.'

They retreated to one side of the door as a whistling noise started to emit from the curse. Harry mentally counted down, and when he got to three, the curse exploded, totally destroying the door, and fetching down some of the masonry with it.

'Knock, knock, hee, hee,' Harry said with a grin.

As the dust settled, Ron gave a cough and waved his hand in front of his face to clear some of the foul smelling smoke.

'You were only supposed to blow the bloody door off!' Ron exclaimed when he saw the damage caused by the curse.

'I'll let you choose the next one then,' Harry quipped.

Masonry blocked the doorway partly, so they carefully climbed over the large lumps of stone. Once into the entrance hall, it was obvious that whoever was living here was someone who enjoyed living in dereliction. Cobwebs hung in large curtains from rusting light fittings, the wind howled through the glass-less windows, bringing with it rain that ran into puddles in hollows in the floor. Plaster had fallen from the walls, leaving large holes exposing the stone. Harry lit his wand again and the light cast eerie shadows across the walls. Grotesque shapes materialised as the light caught broken fixtures and crumbling plaster.

In front of them was the main staircase. Its banister was long gone, and some of the steps had fallen away. At either side of the entrance hall were two doors, leading to the rest of the house.

'What is this place?' Ron asked quietly as they crept across the ruined hallway.

'This used to be a safe house used by the Ministry,' Harry said in a hushed voice. 'From the outside it should look derelict as it does, but inside, it used to look normal. I believe the place hasn't been used since the second war though...'

Harry heard something. He spun round and shone his light into the corners of the entrance hall. From the stairs, something was moving. A nasty cackle rang out, echoing round the hallway. Harry wiped some sweat from his forehead and scanned the stairs. The wind rushed in through the open windows, blowing in dead leaves where they settled in corners.

'Harry!' Ron whimpered.

'Shh,' Harry snapped. 'I'm trying to see where that came from.'

It was more than obvious that the laugh came from the top of the stairs, so Harry moved carefully across towards the crumbling staircase. Climbing the stairs slowly, they adopted a two-point approach: Harry looking forward, with Ron walking backwards directly behind Harry. To perform this sort of attack takes a lot of trust from both parties, and Harry trusted Ron implicitly.

Upon reaching the top landing, Harry looked to his left. The ceiling had caved in, blocking the landing completely, so they only had one choice and that was to go right. The sounds of footsteps running away from them rang out down the darkened corridor, followed by a door slamming. Harry's breathing quickened, and his heart started to race. Strange scratching sounds could be heard from behind the walls, distracting his attention from the corridor.

Lightning flashed across the corridor from the rooms on either side, blocking Harry's vision for a second. The clap of thunder that came almost immediately shook the entire house. The corridor that stretched out in front of him had several doorways off each side.

'See anything,' Ron whispered, turning to face the same direction as Harry.

'Nothing,' Harry replied. 'There's lots of rooms to hide in. We'll just have to pick each one and hope for the best.'

They started to move slowly down the dark corridor to the first door on the left side. Harry moved to one side of the doorway and flattened himself against the wall. Ron came up alongside him and crouched down. This allowed him to peer into the room. Harry glanced up and down the corridor to make sure no one could sneak up on them. Ron pointed him wand into the room and fired a couple of Stunners. All that happened was some more plaster ended up on the floor.

'Clear,' Ron whispered and moved across the corridor to the next door on the opposite wall.

It was Harry's turn, but this time, he found that the door was still intact. When he tried the doorknob, he found the door to be locked, jammed, or maybe jinxed in some way.

'Pop it,' Ron suggested.

'Nah,' Harry said back and gave the door a mighty kick with the bottom of his boot.

The door crashed in to the room, after being fetched completely off its frame. As the door fell off, Harry flattened himself against the wall on the opposite side of the doorway from Ron. Together they pointed their wands into the room and fired several Stunners. This time something did get hit: another rat lay dead.

'This is getting stupid,' Ron spat as he checked the interior of the dilapidated room.

The cackle rang out again.

'Perhaps we should just drop a Destructo in each room,' Harry said jokingly. 'That should sort this problem out.'

'Yeah,' Ron snorted. 'Just think of the deep shit we would be - '

He was interrupted by a wand-arrow that missed his head by a hairs-breadth to dig a hole in the crumbling wall.

'Shit!' Harry yelled and flung himself to the floor.

Ron jumped into the side room and fired several Stunners down the darkened corridor. The cackle came again.

'Missed again, Weasel,' growled a familiar voice.

'Give it up, Snape!' Harry shouted. 'We've got our orders to take you in, dead or alive. Your choice.'

Another arrow blasted down the corridor and nicked Harry's shoulder. The pain was incredible, even though it was only a flesh wound.

'Right, that does it,' Harry barked and started firing arrows down the corridor.

Ron came out of the room and kicked him in his side. That stopped him.

'What are you doing?' Ron snapped and dragged him into the side room. 'We need him alive. Don't forget we are under orders.'

Harry winced and held his shoulder. The arrow had cut the strap on his backpack and now it dangled uselessly to one side, so Harry threw it to the floor; blood trickled from the open wound.

'Come and get me, Potty,' Snape drawled from somewhere in the darkness.

Harry fixed his backpack with his wand, but declined an offer from Ron to fix his shoulder. He had seen the state of some of Ron's Medi-magic before and he felt inclined to keep his arm at this stage. Instead, he settled for a simple dressing to at least stop the bleeding until he could fix it himself. The pain was subsiding, but increased when he put his backpack on.

'Okay, this is what we'll do,' Harry said quietly. 'I'll distract him and try to draw his fire. You wait until I get into one of the other rooms down the corridor - '

A Stunner hit the side of the doorway and bounced into the room, missing Ron, but only just.

'Bastard,' Ron spat as they both dived to the floor.

'As I was saying,' Harry continued, 'I'll get to the next room and see if I can flush him out.'

A yellow ball of flame hit the doorframe and set it on fire.

'Right, on my count,' Harry said sharply. 'One... Two... Three...' and he dived from the room.

Ron moved into position where he could see down the corridor while Harry rushed across to another room. Arrows flashed past to explode further back down the corridor. Harry rolled across the floor and into a room further up the corridor, where he barrelled into something soft and wet. When he got up, he looked at what it was, and felt sick. It was the body of a person who looked like they had been shot in the head; part of the head was missing, making identification difficult. That bought the total of kills by Snape up to four in one week. What was it with this man?

'Come out, come out, where ever you are,' Snape cackled from up the corridor.

With great care, Harry moved to the doorway and carefully looked out into the corridor. Snape could be seen crouching down in another doorway at the end of the corridor. But behind him was a door that led to a set of stairs. If he managed to get to them before he was captured, they would be back to square one, and Moody would not be pleased.

'Snape!' Harry yelled. 'Give up now before it's too late.'

To give Ron a chance to see where Snape was hiding, Harry conjured up a replica of his own head and moved it out the doorway slightly. It was enough and Snape fired at the head, which let Ron see where Snape was hiding. Four Stunners flashed past and Snape cried out, then silence descended on the corridor.

For a few seconds, Harry remained hidden before he shoved the replica head out of the doorway again. Once he was satisfied that Snape had been immobilised, he emerged from his hiding place and looked down the corridor. Snape could be seen lying flat on his back.

'Well done,' Harry said as Ron came up to stand next to him. 'Four was a bit harsh, wasn't it?'

'I dunno,' Ron replied nervously as they made their way towards where Snape lay. 'I just thought I had to be sure.'

It was important that Snape was bought back alive, and Harry panicked when he couldn't feel a pulse in Snape's wrist.

'You've killed him,' Harry whimpered and he suddenly felt light headed.

'Give it here,' Ron muttered and took Snape's wrist. 'I haven't. You were checking it wrong.'

'I think the pulse on the body in that room I was in doesn't need checking though,' Harry said and shot a frosty glance down the corridor.

'W-what body?' Ron stuttered and dropped Snape's limp arm.

'Someone's had their head blown off,' Harry said darkly.

'Could Snape had done it?' Ron asked nervously.

'Possibly,' Harry replied. 'I think Moody said someone had discovered where Snape was hiding and tried to arrest him, but then they disappeared. I think we may have just found them.'

Snape moaned, and it snapped Harry back to reality.

'Lets get them back to the Ministry,' Harry suggested. 'Then I'd like to know what the bloody hell is going on here.'

After Disapparating back to the Ministry of Magic, they placed Snape in a holding cell and reported back to Moody. The body of the unknown wizard was placed in St Mungo's mortuary.

'Found him okay then,' Moody growled with a big smile across his battle-worn face. 'What's up with your shoulder, Potter?'

'Snape almost got the drop on me,' Harry explained and rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder, which started to bleed again.

Ron appeared at the end of the office and limped up towards them.

'What's all this?' Moody laughed. 'Potter's got a hole in him, and Weasley's got a limp. We're employing a right load of cripples.'

'You should talk, Moody,' Ron snapped.

Moody just laughed and clumped off, kicking a waste paper basket with his wooden leg.

'Snape awake yet?' Harry asked as Ron gingerly sat down.

'No,' Ron replied glumly. 'They want him to stay comatose until someone can interview him. I did hit him pretty hard though. Any harder and it would have killed him.'

'And I thought you didn't care,' Harry chuckled, and then he frowned. 'It is strange though why he went off the rails like that. I mean, he hates kids, or rather he hates talentless potion mixers, but there is no need to kill them. I always thought he would go mental at some point, but why wait until now?'

'I dunno,' Ron sighed. 'Perhaps it all got too much for him.'

Harry turned when he heard someone approach. Kingsley Shacklebolt stood behind him, carrying a roll of parchment.

'Congratulations on your first arrest, guys,' Kingsley said with a huge grin. 'I hear he didn't give up without a fight though. And you bought back Anderson. Shame he died how he did. He was wasted on a low life like Snape.'

'Too right,' Harry replied and rubbed his shoulder.

'You should let Hermione have a look at that,' Ron suggested.

Kingsley's expression turned very dark.

'I have another job for you, that I think you will be interested in,' Kingsley announced. 'Follow me and I shall fill you in.'

Harry and Ron followed Kingsley down to the far end of the department where the door to an office was located. When they entered the small room, Harry and Ron took chairs in front of a large desk; Kingsley sat in his chair on the opposite side.

'Now, we have some information to tell you,' Kingsley began. 'It concerns your friend, Hermione.'

Harry gripped the edge of the chair a little.

'What?' he asked nervously.

'She offered to do a job for us four days ago,' Kingsley said darkly. 'The Romanian Ministry of Magic wanted a talented Healer to go and help with a number of strange illnesses that had struck people living near a small town called Slatina.'

Harry's stomach did a flip. 'What sort of illnesses?' he asked cautiously.

'People and animals had been found unconscious with no apparent explanation,' Kingsley explained. 'The Muggle government works quite closely with the magical community and they asked for some specialist help. When the Ministry first looked at the problem, they thought it might be some sort of virus, but it was resisting all treatments, so they asked for help. Hermione was all up for the challenge and went without any argument. We lost contact with her two days ago.'

'Did she say what she had found?' Ron asked with a worried tone.

'She did,' Kingsley replied. 'She sent over this photograph of a body she found near a massive oil refinery. She did say that she had seen more in the same condition, but this one is of particular interest.'

He passed Ron a wizard photograph of a man lying in a pool of blood; his chest looked like it had exploded from inside. Harry's insides felt like they had been plunged into an icy river.

'Do you know who this is?' Harry asked quietly.

'We do,' Kingsley replied. 'It's Thomas Wickett.'

Harry took a deep breath. Memories flooded his mind.

'I remember him,' Harry whispered. 'The last I saw of him was when he Disapparated with a big bag over... his... shoulder...' His voice trailed off as something hideous swamped his mind.

'We have a more immediate problem though,' Kingsley interrupted, 'and that is Snape. I would like you to interview him (Harry looked at him in surprise). See what it was that led him to kill those students and why he had to kill Anderson.'

'I have to ask something,' Ron said. 'You told us that Snape had killed some students, but you didn't say when.'

Kingsley shifted slightly in his chair. 'It was six days ago.'

'And when did Wickett die?' Harry asked.

'According to what Hermione said, the day before,' Kingsley replied slowly.

'So,' Harry suggested, 'the two events could be linked?'

'We don't think so,' Kingsley said carefully. 'But maybe you can find out more when you speak to Snape.'

'Okay,' Harry said quietly. 'I don't mind. It'll be good practice anyway. In the mean time, Ron, you can go over to St Mungo's and speak to her friends over there. There might be some clue as to what could be going on.'

Harry never liked the dungeons at the Ministry, but maybe that was a good thing that kept him out of trouble. As he made his way to the deepest part, he could hear the screams from people who were "answering questions" and occasionally, someone would thump the back of a door and demand to be released. The deepest part of the dungeon was reserved only for special customers and the cell he now stood outside of had a large metal door, with no handles or visible locks. The prison warden tapped the door with his wand, and it went as clear as glass. Snape was shackled by the wrists and hanging from a hoop on the far wall with just his toes touching the floor. He was still out cold.

'You wanna go in there?' the warden asked in a rasping voice.

'Y-yes,' Harry stuttered and clutched his wand.

'Very well,' the warden said and tapped the door.

It swung open and turned back into the solid metal it was before. Harry walked over to Snape as the door clanged shut behind him. Snape seemed to be snoring with long, slow, deep breaths. With his hands shaking, Harry took his wand and touched Snape's forehead with the tip.

'Ennervate,' he whispered and Snape's eyes snapped open.

Snape looked frantically around and then thrashed about, obviously trying to get away. Eventually, he calmed down and a look of realisation spread across his face. He looked slyly at Harry who was putting his wand away.

'Well, well, well,' Snape drawled. 'You managed to get me. Oops, sorry. It was the Weasel, wasn't it?'

Harry was in no mood to play games.

'You killed three students at Hogwarts. Why?'

Snape gave Harry a look that made him feel threatened.

'They were up to no good,' Snape growled. 'You see, they were messing about with things that they knew nothing about.'

'What sort of rubbish is that?' Harry snapped.

'Rubbish that would make your blood run cold, Potter.'

'Just get on with it, Snape, before I lose my temper.'

Snape smiled and shook his head slowly.

'You don't get it, do you?' Snape said dangerously. 'You are dealing with something here that is far beyond our capabilities.'

'You're not making any sense, Snape,' Harry said threateningly.

'They were trying to discover it,' Snape whispered.

'It?' Harry asked, getting really annoyed now.

'Yes. It. You see, they were messing about with that damn tunnel again.'

Harry suddenly felt light-headed, and his bowels turned to a jelled lump.

'You mean they had opened up the tunnel again?' Harry said nervously.

'No,' Snape spat. 'I stopped them. Dumbledore would not listen. Always on the side of the snivelling little brats. I tried to reason with them, but oh no. They knew better.'

'What happened?'

'I saw them outside the tunnel entrance. The silly little first-year girl was starting to say the spells that would have bought the creature back to life. I hit her with the Killing Curse. She was dead before she hit the ground. The two stupid seventh years got the same.' He smiled. 'It was quite pleasurable, in a perverted way.'

Harry lost his patience and slapped Snape hard across his face. Snape instantly turned his face back to Harry and smiled, a mean, thin smile. A trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.

'Is that the best you can come up with, Potter?' he whispered.

'Try this one,' Harry continued, as if he hadn't heard him. 'What makes you think there is another monster in the tunnel?'

'There isn't,' Snape said back with a chuckle. 'I just wanted an excuse to kill something. It's a strange feeling I have never had before. Perhaps it's just another trait that is building up for something.'

'Like what?' Harry snapped, feeling anger rise from deep within him.

'Like I am changing,' Snape replied, and started to laugh. 'Something is happening to me.'

Snape continued to laugh. He was laughing hysterically, fit to burst. Tears streamed down his face, but then, suddenly, he stopped laughing. A dark patch appeared on his shirt in the middle of his chest, spreading out like it had been dropped on water. Harry took a step back. Snape's face twisted in agony. Harry raised his wand. Snape's face then relaxed, but the bloodstain on the front of his shirt continued to grow.

'You see, Potter,' Snape said quietly, 'I am involved in more ways than you can imagine. Open my shirt. See for yourself.'

Harry couldn't think of anything more hideous than undressing Snape, but he moved closer and grabbed either side of his old potions master's shirt. He ripped it open and looked. What he saw gave him the shock of his life!