Lethal Darkness 2: The Third War

Lethal Darkness 2: The Third War

By Snitch Builder

Chapter Three

First Fight

Harry stood looking at Chu. Her face wore an expression that told Harry that whatever they had discovered on their sweep, was not going to be good news for the mission. He was starting to lose his patience with the whole affair.

'What?' Harry snapped.

'It's easier if you have a look,' Recaro pleaded.

'I'll stay here,' Ron muttered. 'Snape and I shall have a look and see if we can't fortify this place somehow.'

It worried Harry that he had to go out into that cursed street, but eventually, he followed the others outside.

'Do you notice anything strange,' Chu asked in a whisper as they walked across the square.

Harry looked fearfully around. 'No people,' he replied.

'Right. No people,' Chu agreed.

They walked down a side street, passing a burnt out car and a house that had looked as though it had been set on fire. He paused for a moment outside a shop. The front window had been shattered, and the inside of the shop wrecked; blow-flies buzzed angrily in the back of the shop, obviously fighting over something dead.

He turned and caught up with Chu, who suddenly stopped and reached out with her hand.

'Okay,' she said, turning to Harry and letting her hand drop back to her side. 'Turn around and start to walk backwards.'

'Sorry,' Harry exclaimed, thinking this was a stupid thing to do.

'Just walk backwards,' Chu asked more forcefully. 'It will make more sense then.'

Harry let out a big sigh and turned around. Walking backwards very carefully, he was suddenly struck by a strange sensation, like he was walking through a waterfall. What he saw materialise in front of his very eyes made him gasp. Instead of a derelict town, with burnt out buildings, he saw people! Hundreds of them! There was a busy market town, with colourful stalls and sellers yelling out their special offers in their native tongue; their voices drifted around as though blown on a breeze.

'What in the name of all that is holy is this?' Harry asked, bemused.

He glanced at Chu and walked back towards the square. The market dissolved back into the derelict state it was before. When he stepped back, the people reappeared.

'Some charm, eh?' Recaro said with a grin. 'We didn't notice it at first, but it looks like someone doesn't want to see what is going on. Oh yes, watch this. HELLO!' he bellowed, and to Harry's amazement, and old woman who had been walking across the street stopped, and then waved at them. 'This is powerful magic, I can tell you.'

'So,' Harry said, 'if anyone comes along to take a look, they see everyone wandering about enjoying themselves. That's funny,' he went on, and frowned. 'I suddenly feel like I should be somewhere else.'

'That's right,' Chu said excitedly. 'That must be part of the charm. Anyone coming too close would just turn round and walk away. I've see something like this once before,' and she reached out with her hand to touch the edge of the charm, which shimmered when she did, like she was dipping her hand into water.

'So it looks like some wizard could be behind all this?' Harry asked nervously.

'Looks like it,' Chu sighed. 'But why would they want to hide an entire town?'

A cold feeling spread throughout Harry's body, and it wasn't the effects of the charm either.

'You fought with the Order during the Second War, didn't you?' Harry said to Reacro, who nodded slowly. 'Can you remember who Voldemort's commander-in-chief was?'

Recaro rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked towards the sky.

'I know Lucious Malfoy had a hand in much of the killing,' he said slowly. 'He was involved in that massacre at Brigdown Junction. But I can't see him responsible for this.'

'We never did catch him, did we?' Chu asked nervously.

'Not as far as I know,' Harry added. 'Nah. It can't be him. It's too obvious.'

A cold shudder made Harry's body shake for an instant; someone had walked over his grave.

'What if the Death Eaters are reforming?' Recaro suggested quietly.

'But what would they want with the Aliens?' Chu asked and a look of realisation dropped over her face.

'Oh, shit,' Harry said sharply as he saw the look on Chu's face. 'Shit, shit, oh shit! What if they thought they could tame them? Bring them under control and use them as some sort of army? I've seen these bastards up close and they are not pretty. And they don't die easy either. You have to get them in the mouth with a wand-arrow, and they only open their mouths when they are ready to kill. Oh shit! What if they know this? What if they have found a way to protect themselves?'

'Calm down, Potter,' Reacro snapped. 'We're going to have to find a way of sorting this out, and quickly.'

Miranda approached quickly and she was looking very nervous.

'Potter,' she said as she trotted towards them. 'We've found a survivor.'

'Really,' Harry said, feeling like this was at lest some good news for once.

'Yes,' Miranda panted. 'We found him hidden beneath some tarpaulin in the cellar next door. I've left my Babel-Ear with Simpson and he's trying to get any information from he that we can.'

Miranda was suddenly partly obscured by someone walking past her in the Mirage Charm, giving her the appearance of having two heads for a moment. But Harry's mind was on something else and he sprinted back to the house, closely followed by the others. Maybe whoever it was they had found might have seen Hermione. He ran a little quicker.

Simpson looked up as Harry came into the house. Sitting on a chair, sipping slowly at a steaming mug of tea was an old man, who by the state of his clothes and his general appearance, had been living in a most unfriendly way for a while.

Harry waited until the man had finished drinking before asking some questions. He dug out his own Babel-Ear and placed it over his own. Placing his hand gently on the old man's shoulder, he began to ask him some questions.

'Hello,' Harry began, 'I'm Harry Potter, and these are my friends,' and he gestured around the assembled group. 'We're here to help - '

'There's nothing you can do,' the old man interrupted, and a tear ran down his wrinkled face.

'I'm sure there is,' Harry continued tenderly.

'Oh, really? Do you know what happened here?'

'I-I think so.'

'No you don't,' the old man shook his head slowly. 'You've never seen these things before. They came in their dozens. Dragged everyone away, or killed them without thinking. You think you are any match, even with your heavy weapons,' and he pointed at the Kraggle.

'We have powers that you might not understand,' Harry said calmly.

'You're magical people, right?' the old man said.

The statement surprised Harry a little.

'Erm, yes,' he answered. 'How do you know?'

'Who else would use Babel-Ears?'

'He's got a point,' Simpson said in a matter-of-fact way and shrugged one shoulder.

This revelation put a different light on the subject of the Aliens.

'Does the Romanian Ministry of Magic know what's going on out here?' Harry pressed.

'Don't know,' the old man replied and wiped his nose on his sleeve while sniffing loudly. 'I do know that your little girl is missing.'

'You've seen Hermione?' Ron asked excitedly.

'Yeah, if that's her name,' the old man huffed. 'I didn't see her get dragged off though. She might be hiding around here.'

Harry's heart leapt. 'Where was she staying?'

'Over there,' the old man pointed through the wall, 'in the only hotel in the town, across the square.'

Suddenly, the wail of the siren came again and the old man looked fearfully round.

'Do you know what that is?' Harry asked.

'The oil refinery. No one is working on it anymore. Sounds like it's got a problem.'

The inner smile that Harry had slipped away. 'How long?'

'I don't know really,' was the reply, which was not what Harry had wanted. 'The siren's been going off for about a day now and its pauses are getting shorter. I reckon there's very little time left. But I'm a wand-maker, not a scientist'

'Just one more thing. If you are a wizard, then are there more of you about?'

The old man gave a snort: 'I doubt it. There were only a handful of us here anyway. I only escaped because I had an Invisibility Cloak. Seems the lizard things can't see you through it. Funny thing is they don't have any eyes. One came into the cellar where I was hiding you see; got a look at it up close. Hideous thing it were, all dripping slime from its mouth.'

At that moment, the adventurer in Harry rushed forward and he felt the need to have a look at an Alien up close, just to see where it kept its eyes. Not that you would have much of a chance to report back to anyone; a little difficult with most of your head missing, or worse.

Harry placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder and smiled. 'We'll get you out of here soon. Oh, by the way, do you know who has placed the Mirage Charm over the town?'

The old man's face turned very frightened. 'What Mirage Charm?'

'It's cloaked the town,' Chu piped up. 'Makes you want to turn around and leave.'

'I knew it,' the old man spat. 'We had a visit last week from one of your ministers. Don't know what his name was. He was very interested in some of the surrounding countryside for some reason. Kept going on how the mountains shield us.'

'What did he look like,' Ron growled; Harry turned to look at his friend's face, which had turned very red.

'Erm, fat sort of bloke. Hair all slicked back and such like. Thought himself a right toff.'

Ron banged his fist on the table, making everyone jump.

'Malfoy,' he spat and hit the table again. 'That little piece of worm-filth is back. And this time... this time he's gone too far,' and he waggled his finger at the door.

'Calm down,' Harry said, trying his best to sooth his friend. 'We don't know that yet.'

'No, that wasn't his name,' the old man interjected. 'No. What was his name...?'

'I'll open the bastard myself,' Ron snapped, seemingly ignoring the old man and drew his wand.

'Perhaps someone has already done it,' Miranda said, looking a bit nervous at the display of raw emotion in the room.

'No,' Ron muttered. 'Malfoy is too slippery. He'd have used a different -'

'Long something,' the man interrupted.

'Who did you say?' Harry said quietly.

''Erm, Long... Long...'

'Bottom?' Ron added and screwed his face up in a puzzled look.

'Who's he going on about?' Tobias asked.

Harry looked at the old man again: 'Not Neville Longbottom per chance?'

'That's it,' the old man exclaimed and pointed his finger at Harry. 'Neville Longbottom. Fat fella, walked with a bit of a limp and had some really strange teeth.'

'Limp in his right leg,' Ron said and looked towards the door. 'That's where I hit him with that Incendio Charm during the war, you remember?' and he spun round to face Harry.

'Yeah,' Harry chuckled. 'Set fire to his trousers from what I can remember.'

'What the hell are you going on about?' Smith asked, sounding very annoyed.

'Neville Longbottom was a friend of ours at school,' Harry explained. 'He was influenced by Voldemort's power during the second war due to a secret he kept. Seems that even though Voldemort is dead, Neville is still doing his work.'

The siren wailed again and everyone looked in the direction of the door.

'Hermione's dead, isn't she?' Ron whispered fearfully to Harry.

Harry couldn't think of his old friend lying dead somewhere. But the one thing he didn't want to do was leave without two answers: is Hermione dead, and who is behind the Mirage Charm. He turned to look straight at Ron.

'I don't know,' Harry replied, but he possibly knew the worst. 'I do know that we have to make a plan. I suggest that we rest for the evening, and make a reconnaissance sweep first light. No good doing it now. It'll be dark soon.'

'That's when they come,' the old man said slowly.

Harry looked around the small group, who had gone completely silent, looking at the old man.

'Right then,' Harry commanded, snapping everyone back to reality. 'Recaro. You take first watch with Smith. Chu, you take over with Miranda at midnight. Simpson, you and Monks will take over at three a.m. We need to make sure they can't sneak up on us. You hear anything then wake us all.'

'Yes, sir,' Recaro snapped and used his wand to open the door.

He and Smith stepped out into the darkened street and started to patrol the area around the square. When the door closed, Harry conjured up a lit oil lamp, which made the inside of the room a little brighter. The old man took off his Babel-Ear and sat down quietly on the floor in a corner of the room. Snape came over and sat heavily on a chair.

'How are you feeling,' Harry asked cautiously.

Snape closed his eyes slowly and then snapped them open again. 'She knows I am here,' he announced in a whisper. 'She will send her troops out to get me. I should go to her. Surrender now before it is too late.'

'You're going nowhere,' Harry said dangerously. 'You're more use to us alive than dead.'

'But I am a danger to the mission,' Snape argued. 'If you allow me to stay, you will all be killed.'

'Then so be it,' Harry said but as soon as he had said it, images of Parvati and Lily-Jane flashed into his mind.

Darkness caught the town quickly, covering the houses with a silvery glow from the full moon that seemed to be laughing down upon them. Outside, all was silent, apart from the odd creak from the leafless trees wafting gently in the cold breeze. There were no other sounds, unlike the night time sounds Harry had experienced when he stayed on numerous occasions at The Burrow. Then there were owls, foxes, and the occasional frog to break the silence. The moonlight seemed far more sinister than it should be due to the town being devoid of any street lighting; the power having given up days ago. It worried Harry that the owl he had sent to Moody had not been answered and he scanned the sky, looking for the familiar shape of the barn owl he had sent.

There was one comforting thought as he shivered when a cold breeze blew around his neck, that if the owl has been intercepted and killed, then they now have twenty-four hours before a search party comes and recovers the bodies. Maybe the oil refinery will blow beforehand and remove all traces of everything.

Taking one last look around the square, he returned to the relative warmth of the house. The front room was now host to a number of sleeping witches and wizards, together with Snape, who was sitting in an armchair, watching Harry with darkened eyes.

Harry's attention was caught by the door opening once more, and Recaro entered after another sweep; small patches of frost had adhered to his cloak.

'I'm bloody freezing,' he announced as he sat down in front of the fire.

He rubbed his hands together and blew onto them, trying to get some heat back into them.

'Did you see anything?' Harry asked nervously.

'Nothing,' Smith added as he too warmed himself by the fire. 'It's totally quiet out there. There's not so much as a cat wandering about. We did find several bodies though. Looks like they've been dead a while.'

Harry turned to the stairs as the sound of thundering feet preceded the arrival of Simpson who had been keeping watch from an upstairs window.

'Potter,' he panted. 'They're coming!'

The group moved as one. Recaro pulled his weapon from his shoulder and flipped the safety catch off automatically, while the others drew their wands. Spreading out across the house, each wizard and witch took up a particular place where they were able to see out from small holes in the walls, and poke their wands out. Recaro had the heaviest weapon, and had access to a hole in the roof, where he rushed to. Harry joined him, as they would have the best view of the surrounding area. Smith had followed them up the stairs and climbed out onto the roof.

'What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?' Harry spat.

'Just watch,' Smith announced and raised his hands in the air.

A rushing wind blew at Harry's face and as he watched, Smith started to change into his Animagus - a huge green dragon, easily six metres in height, with a massive wingspan and a mouth full of teeth. Harry couldn't help being both impressed and a little jealous.

'Don't bite them!' Harry yelled as the dragon stretched its mighty wings.

Smith turned to look back at Harry and winked at him before taking off across to the other side of the square, almost knocking Harry from his feet with the blast of wind from the wings.

From the alleyways, streets, and side roads came dozens of Aliens. Claws clattered on the road as they moved quickly, keeping low to keep a hidden profile. Smith circled overhead; his shadow passed across the roof.

'Wait until you have a clear shot,' Harry whispered as the first of the Aliens appeared.

A monster rushed from an alleyway and sped across the town square. Recaro pulled the trigger and a dozen arrows shot from the weapon, blasting the Alien on its head. The thing was blown off course a little, but resumed its attack. He fired again, but this time, he managed to hit it squarely on its chest and it exploded, throwing the powerful acid across the pavement.

'Shit!' Recaro exclaimed. 'You weren't kidding. These things don't die easy.'

'Here comes another one,' Harry snapped and Recaro trained his Kraggle on the onrushing horror.

But this time it was caught by a peculiar purple light from one of the wands downstairs. The Alien was stopped in its tracks and curled up on the floor, before exploding into tiny fragments.

Smith dived upon a running Alien and gave it a mighty kick with his back leg as he flew over it. The Alien was thrown across the square and smashed through a wall. Almost immediately, the Alien jumped out of the hole, but Smith was ready, hovering just far enough off the ground that the monsters could not get to him, and he breathed fire all over the smaller monster. Caught in the intense heat of Smith's flame, the Alien quickly cooked like a crab in its shell. The result was impressive as the Alien gave a screech and exploded.

Yet another monster rushed the house from the rear, and Recaro caught it with dozens of arrows in its face before its head disappeared in a flash of gore. Harry counted about fifteen or so Aliens prowling around the town square, which all suddenly attacked at the same moment. Wand arrows, Stunners, arrows from Recaro's weapon flashed across the square. Some of the curses hit their targets, while others wrecked buildings and blew craters in the road.

Smith dived again and breathed fire at two of the monsters that were running side by side. The heat quickly melted them together and they fell to the floor, welded hard together. Before Smith could circle round again, the purple light hit the two Aliens and with a screech, they exploded, leaving behind a smoking mess.

An Alien reached the back of the house and leapt up onto the roof. Harry spun round and fired at the Alien's mouth, causing its head to explode at the back, sending the Alien's dead body tumbling off the roof.

A screech from in front of the house was followed by another flash of purple light. Several more Aliens were spotted moving quickly around the edge of the square. Recaro let loose with his weapon and fired upon one particularly large monster. To his surprise, it vanished, and reappeared with a crack right next to him! It lunged at him, but Harry was quick to respond and managed to get an arrow into its mouth. The resulting explosion was enough to drive its carcass away, but some of the acid splashed across Recaro's chest. Smoke started to rise from the burning cloak as he and Harry struggled to release the buttons. Eventually, some of the acid reached his skin and he cried out in pain as the smoking remains of the cloak fell to the floor.

Recaro dropped his weapon as another Alien jump onto the roof. Harry panicked a little as he raised his wand. The other people were too engrossed with their own targets to help and the Alien was approaching unsteadily, but quickly.

A shadow passed over the moon as Smith dived at the Alien, and then grabbed its head with his massive rear claws. The Alien thrashed about and screeched while Smith carried it high into the air before dropping it onto the concrete floor of the town square. Harry watched with fascination as it plummeted rapidly towards the ground, writhing around and trying to grab onto nothing. But following it down was Smith. For some reason he had stopped beating his wings and was coming in too fast. The Alien hit the ground first, and even though it make a crunching sound as it hit, it still managed to get up and run at the house once more.

Smith pulled out of his dive just at the last moment and landed heavily on the roof of a tall building across the road, smashing a small glass structure in the middle of the roof. The dropped Alien was still advancing painfully towards the house but it was caught with the purple light again, which stopped it completely.

Another loud crack was followed by screaming and shouting from downstairs. Harry looked at Recaro; the front of his shirt had been eaten away, together with a large patch of flesh; bone gleamed whitely from the side of his chest. He tried to whisper something to Harry so he put his arm around him and leaned in close to him so he could hear over the noise of the battle.

'J-just p-pull the t-trigger,' he whispered painfully.

'You're going to be okay,' Harry said, but Recaro shook his head.

'J-just get on with it,' he whispered, and went suddenly limp in his arms, his eyes closing slowly.

Another crack came from just across the roof and Harry turned to see a very big Alien make its way unsteadily along the apex of the roof. The Kraggle was right next to Harry's hand and he grabbed it. Pointing it at the monster, he put his finger on the trigger and pulled. The weapon recoiled slightly, but as long as he kept his finger on the trigger, the arrows kept emerging, blasting the monster full in its face. Some of the arrows ricocheted off its armoured skin, but eventually, its head exploded, leaving its headless body to tumble off the roof to land with a sickening crunch on the road.

The first encounter with the new Aliens was over. Harry's breathing was erratic and he was sweating profusely as he scanned the square for more nightmares. A few seconds later, he was aware of shouting and yelling coming from downstairs. He bent down to check Recaro's pulse, and this time he checked it correctly. But there was nothing. Across the road he saw the rounded bulk of Smith's scaly side, which was moving up and down, albeit very slowly.

'Harry, get down here,' a voice cried out from below.

After checking the darkened square once more, he ran down the stairs to see Snape hunched over a body lying on the floor, and in the corner, the remains of an Alien hissed quietly as its blood ate its way though the floor.

'Took us by surprise,' Ron said, looking very frightened. 'I can't believe they can Apparate. It doesn't make any sense.'

'Where's the old man?' Harry asked, looking round to see if anyone else was missing.

'Over there,' Bletchley said and pointed at a bloody mess in the corner where Snape was standing. 'The Alien speared him right through his middle with its tail and tore him in half.'

'I've got some bad news as well,' Harry started to explain, but struggled to find the right words. 'Tillet's dead.'

A gasp ran round the assembled group.

'How?' Miranda asked.

'I killed an Alien that was attacking us and when its head exploded, some of the acid sprayed over him. He was dead before he hit the floor.'

Tobias snatched the Kraggle from Harry and checked the mechanism. 'Fucking things!' he spat. 'Tillet was like a brother to me. I say we go find out where they're hiding and splash the lot of them. Blow the whole damn place up if we have to.'

'That wouldn't be a wise move,' Harry said carefully, noticing that Tobias had got his finger on the trigger of the powerful weapon.

'I'd listen to Potter if I were you,' Snape growled. 'You go storming into their nest with that frame of mind and you'd end up and Alien baby-food before you can say come and eat me! No. We should take our time -'

'And what the fuck to you know about it, Snape,' Tobias snapped and went to grab Snape with his free hand.

'Hey, hey! Pack it in, both of you,' Harry yelled and stood between the two men. 'We need to keep together here, right Ron?'

This took Ron by surprise: 'Eh? Oh, yeah. Stay together.'

'No one is going anywhere, you get me?'

Tobias was snorting through his nostrils, making them flare in and out like a bull ready to charge. Snape on the other hand just stared. Tobias gave a grunt and thrust the Kraggle into Harry's chest, and then stomped out of the house. Harry went to go after him, but Chu stopped him.

'Leave it,' she whispered lightly. 'I've worked with this man before. He's a moody git, but he is right. Tillet was like a brother to him. He's lost a lot. Leave him alone. I'm sure he'll be okay.'

Harry had to agree, although he couldn't have another death on his conscience.

'We need to get to Smith,' Harry said urgently, trying to change the subject. 'He's on a building across the road. Monks. You come with me. Ron, can you just make sure that the house is not going to fall over? The rest of you, keep your eyes open.'

The witch followed Harry to a three-story building and they quickly found the front door, which had been either kicked in or blown off its hinges. Inside, the building was wrecked and finding the stairs was difficult, but eventually, they had made their way up onto the roof, where the now human form of Smith was lying on his back in the middle of the flat roof.

'What's wrong with him?' Harry asked as the witch looked Smith over.

'Can't tell really,' she replied. 'His breathing is okay, and apart from him being a bit sweaty, he looks... Oh!'

'What have you found?'

'Look here, on his side.'

Harry looked at a dark stain on Smith's side where a hole was ripped in his shirt.

'Looks like he's been stabbed or something,' Harry commented.

Bletchley put her finger in the wound and it looked like the hole was only just breaking the skin. When she pulled her finger out, it was stained with a peculiar purple liquid.

'I can't make out what this is,' she said irritably. 'It's not deep enough to have done any damage, but why is he still unconscious?' She sniffed her fingers and wrinkled her nose in disgust. 'Urg. It stinks like sick.'

'He did grab an Alien that was thrashing its tail about a lot. Maybe it stuck him with it.'

'Could be. We should get him back to the house and take a closer look.'

Harry used his wand to elevate the sleeping Smith and they got him back into the house. The bodies had been removed and were out the back covered with some plastic sheeting.

'How's the house?' he asked nervously.

'Not too bad,' Ron replied cheerfully. 'There are some holes here and there, but apart from that, we're in pretty good shape.'

'Good,' Harry said, feeling a little more pleased. 'I think we should wait a while before we do anything else. Make sure no more of them come back.'

He turned to Bletchley who had placed Smith onto the table and was checking him over with the help of Tobias.

'Any news?' Harry enquired.

'Not really. He's stable, but his wound keeps seeping that purple stuff.'

'Keep an eye on him. I'll go upstairs and make sure we don't get surprised again. The rest of you get some rest. Snape, come with me.'

Snape rolled his eyes and got up out of his chair to follow Harry to the hole in the roof.

'I want you to be straight with me,' Harry said forcefully when they got to the roof. 'Firstly, what are you seeing at the moment?'

Snape closed his eyes. 'She is not pleased. She is throwing drones about the egg chamber and stomping about like a spoiled child who has had her dolly taken from her. She wants me and she wants me dead.' He stopped breathing suddenly and started to sweat. When he started breathing again, his breath came in short gasps. 'One of the drones picked up an egg. She is tearing him to pieces. The other drones are backing away.'

He opened his eyes slowly and Harry felt pity for the man standing next to him; it couldn't be pleasant dealing with such visions.

'What about the purple light?' Harry asked carefully.

'What about it?'

'It's powerful enough to kill these bastards. What is it?'

The corner of Snape's mouth curled up a little. 'It's just something I have been... well... developing,' he said in a matter-of-fact way.

'A new spell?'

'More a curse than a spell.'

Harry lost his patience at that point. 'Stop pissing me about, Snape! We're all in danger here. What do you need to cast the spell?'

Snape stopped sneering and leaned in close, so that Harry could smell his stale breath and greasy hair. 'There are some things that should never happen, Potter. One of them is that two species from across the galaxy should never mix. Since I was impregnated, I have developed some interesting powers. Some of which you could possibly remember from your time at school.'

'I don't think I need reminding of that. What's that got to do with the curse?'

'Some of my magic is stronger in some respects than they should be. The curse I use is the Cruatius Curse. That's all. But when I use it on the Aliens, it changes it. Makes it more powerful, but only against them. To perform the Cruatius Curse, you need to hate. Hate the thing you are looking at with every fibre of your body. The result, well, you've seen it for yourself.'

'So, we could not use it for ourselves?'

'No. Not unless you have had your life-force mixed with that of a developing Alien. But the curse seems to get weaker as time progresses. I have no idea if it is a short-term thing, or if the power will recharge after a while. We will just have to wait and see.'

'Shit.'

'Not a word I would have used, but pretty much it. Now. If you're done, I'd like to get some rest.'

Snape turned and walked briskly back down the stairs, leaving Harry in a most perturbed state. Snow began to fall silently across the town, settling quickly. It was a few minutes before he realised that the Sun had started to rise above the horizon.

The house had been slightly damaged in the attack, and where the Alien's remains were, a large hole had now appeared where the acid had eaten away the floor; the Alien's remains had dropped through into the cellar.

'How's Smith?' Harry asked as Bletchley sat down in a chair next to the table.

'He's alive, if that's what you mean,' she replied slowly. 'He is breathing a little quicker now and it shouldn't be too long before he comes round.'

As if on cue, Smith started to moan.

'Ooh, shit,' he exclaimed and tried to sit up, but he dropped back down again, banging his head on the table.

Miranda came over with a glass of water, which Bletchley took from her. 'Here, drink this,' she said and held the glass up to his lips.

Some of the liquid poured out of his mouth and onto his chest, but the rest went down.

'How are you feeling now?' Harry asked, concern spreading throughout him as he couldn't afford to have any more casualties.

'Like I've been kicked in the head with a train,' Smith replied. 'Aw, shit! My side hurts.'

He rubbed the wound, and grimaced.

'You'll be okay,' Ron said, moving over to have a better look.

'What did the thing feel like when you picked it up?' Harry asked, a morbid fascination growing inside.

'I don't know really,' Smith said. 'I know it was bloody heavy. Sort of... clammy. Cold, with a sticky sort of feeling. I tried to crush its skull, but all it did was thrash about.' He suddenly laughed. 'Couldn't get away from my fire, though, could they?'

The door opened a little and Tobias came sheepishly back into the room.

'You feeling better?' Harry asked compassionately.

Tobias smiled: 'Yeah. Had another look around, but can't see anything else going on. Sorry about earlier. Its just... well, you know.'

Harry was glad Smith and Tobias were feeling better, but he had more pressing things to do.

'Don't worry about it. We're all a little tight at the moment. Anyway, Ron,' he said, turning to his friend, 'we should go over and check the hotel out, see if we can find any trace of what Hermione was up to.' He turned to the group. 'The rest of you, keep your eyes open. Snape. Can you see if you can locate the nest? It might give us a head start on them.'

Harry peeked round the door and when he was satisfied the square was clear, he beckoned to Ron to follow him. Across the top of the trees, black smoke belched high into the sky from tall towers in the direction of the refinery and Harry wondered how long they actually had.

The trip to the hotel was done in a matter of minutes and Harry slammed himself against the doorframe of the main door. The door itself was lying flat on the floor, obviously been kicked in by someone, or something. Harry scanned the square for any signs of movement, while Ron checked the inside of the hotel foyer.

'Clear!' Ron whispered and they moved inside the hotel.

The foyer had been badly shot up with what looked like more shotgun damage and some heavier explosives had been used, judging by the holes in the walls. Around the doorway was a tangle of metal, desks, and other office equipment.

'Last stand?' Ron said. 'Looks like they tried to barricade themselves in.'

The sight of the pathetic barricade made Harry feel a little more disappointed that maybe their search was going to be in vain. He lit the end of his wand and made his way through the debris to the reception desk.

'What are you looking for?' Ron whispered nervously while he looked around the room, his wand raised.

'The guestbook,' Harry replied. 'It might tell us what room she was staying in.'

Ron joined Harry in the search for the guestbook by rummaging around in a pile of paper and other office equipment that was piled along the wall behind the reception desk. Harry had no idea what he was looking for when Ron gave a yelp.

'Ow,' he whimpered and held out his hand to see what was wrong.

In the light of the wands, blood started to drip from a deep cut on the back of his hand.

'Keep still,' Harry snapped as he took Ron's hand to get a better look. 'It looks clean enough. Shouldn't take too much to fix it.'

Harry extinguished his wand-light and waved his wand over Ron's injured hand. The wound immediately stopped bleeding and began the heal itself.

'What did you cut yourself on anyway?' Harry asked.

'I dunno. Something in that box,' and Ron pointed to a large cardboard box that was on its side; its contents were spilled out across the floor.

Ron pulled the box away from the wall, and behind it there was something embedded in the plaster. A disk about four inches across was surrounded by several long very sharp blades, a couple of which were embedded in the concrete wall.

'What in Merlin's name is that?' Harry gasped.

'I have no idea. See if you can pull it out.'

Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief, but he too was curious. Placing his wand between his teeth, Harry grabbed the object and pulled on it. It was jammed fast, but with a little wiggling from side to side, the device came free. When it did, the blades retraced smoothly back into the disk.

'Well that's useful,' Ron commented.

Harry smiled a little and turned the disk over. It had strange markings on either side, and from where the blades came from, there was no sign. He pressed the disk a little and as he did, the blades erupted from the disk with a metallic clang. It was a good job he was holding in a little carefully as the blades only just missed his fingers.

'I've never seen anything like this.' Harry said as he inspected the device a little more. 'It's a shame we've lost Tillet. He might have been able to shed some light on it, being a Muggle weapons expert.'

He pressed the disk and the blades retracted again. Harry expected some sort of response from his friend, but when he looked up, Ron was staring and pointing at something across the hallway and Harry followed his frightened gaze to a sight that caused his heart to stop.