Lethal Darkness 2: The Third War

Lethal Darkness 2: The Third War

By Snitch Builder

Chapter Four

Hermione's Discovery

Harry and Ron just stood and stared at the macabre tableau that was dimly lit in their wand-light. The reception of the hotel was wrecked, obviously the aftermath of a battle with the Aliens, but one of them was now leaning up against a wall on the far side of the room. But it was the way it was standing made the vision more hideous.

Moving very cautiously, Harry started to make his way towards the Alien, keeping his new found weapon at the ready, together with his wand.

'Harry,' Ron whispered alarmingly. 'What are you doing? Let's get out of here before the fucking thing wakes up.'

But Harry was taking no notice. As he approached the monster, it was more than obvious that the thing was dead otherwise it would have attacked. He squeezed the disc and retracted the blades before putting it in his pocket. Making his wand-light a little brighter, he could see that the monster was held against the wall by something. The Alien's head was bent violently forward down to its chest, and its arms were pinned back on either side of its body; its tail trailed limply across the floor, and its inner sticking jaw hung lifelessly from its mouth.

As he approached, he could make out that the Alien was being held against the wall by some sort of metallic netting that was attached at the four corners by spikes that were driven hard into the wall. The netting had been pulled tight somehow, effectively crushing the Alien to death. Here and there pieces of the netting had been burnt through by the Alien's blood, but most of it was intact, securing the carcass to the wall.

'Bloody hell,' Ron exclaimed, and Harry almost jumped put of his skin as he had not realised he had sneaked up behind him. 'What's that around its neck?'

'Looks like the top of a pitch fork. But it can't be. Look. The Alien's skin has been punctured and the acid has eaten away at the concrete wall, but hasn't touched the metal. But it's this mesh. What is it made of?' and he picked at it, but found it almost like it had been made of solid bars, not thin wire.

'I don't know. But what ever it is has killed our friend here. Lucky it was where it is, otherwise the acid would have eaten the floor away. That floor must be really thick.'

Something moved in the darkened end of the reception, making them whirl round to face the direction of the noise. It made a sort of clicking sound, and then silence.

'I don't like this, Harry,' Ron whispered, his voice trembling. 'We should look for Hermione's room and get the hell out of here.'

'I think on this occasion I have to agree. You keep watch, while I look for the guest book.'

The reception desk had been tipped over, spilling the contents across the floor. Ron continued to keep watch, while Harry searched through the litter. Eventually, he found what he was looking for.

'Here we go,' he said triumphantly, his voice echoing round the room.

'What's that dark stain on the cover?' Ron asked and pointed to the book.

'Don't know,' Harry said. 'Urg! Looks like blood!' His stomach seemed to want to get out of his throat and he gulped the bile back down.

The pages of the book were stuck together with the same substance and it took a little time to peel the pages apart. The latest arrivals at the hotel were at the back of the book, and Harry started to look for Hermione's name.

'There she is,' he announced. 'Room three twenty-four. Third floor?' and he looked questioningly at Ron.

'Only one way to find out,' Ron suggested.

Harry looked back at the book and placed the tips of his fingers over Hermione's name. They were so close to finding their friend, but felt he was going to be too late. Ron tugged at Harry's sleeve and they left the book to find the staircase.

The stairway had been a grand affair, with marble balustrades and plush carpets, which were now scattered all across the floor in large chunks. Ron suddenly stared at the far end of the room, frowning.

'What's up now?' Harry said and gave the dead Alien a nervous glance as he could have sworn it had moved.

'I dunno. Thought I saw something...' Ron said nervously. 'Nah. Must have been a trick of the light.'

'Anyway, looks like they thought they could stop them from climbing the stairs,' Harry noted. 'How do we get up there?'

Ron Disapparted with a loud crack! And when he reappeared, he was at the top of the stairs.

'Aaaaargh!' he screamed and dropped to the floor.

'RON!' Harry yelled and went to Disapperate too.

'DON'T... APPARATE!' Ron screamed and rolled around the floor in agony.

Harry looked around in despair for something that would help him climb to the first floor. His friend sounded like he was dying and there was no way of getting to him. Then he felt really stupid. Using his wand, the conjured up a length of rope, and made it stiff like it was hanging from the ceiling. It only took him a few seconds to scale the rope to where Ron was.

Ron was rolling around the floor on his front, and Harry saw what his problem was. From his back, his heart was poking out, pulsing madly, trying to keep the injured wizard alive. For a moment, Harry felt completely helpless, but then he remembered something he had been told a while ago that at the time sounded ridiculous.

'Hold still,' Harry bellowed and uttered a complex incantation while waving his wand over Ron's back.

Ron's heart moved back into his body, and the wound sealed itself. He stopped screaming and rolled over onto his back, panting.

'W-what the b-bloody hell w-was that?' Ron gasped.

'Lucky I read that book on Apparation Defences,' Harry said and knelt down to check that Ron was indeed okay.

'W-what b-bloody b-book,' Ron asked and frowned.

'Hermione was going on about it the other month. It looks like whoever has put the Mirage Charm over the town has also cursed it to stop anyone Apparating out. You only went a short distance, so the effect was not as bad as if you had Apparated out of the town. Lucky you did though.'

'W-what would have happened then?' Ron said as he sat up, rubbing his chest.

'It turns you inside out,' Harry said darkly.

'Urg! How did you repair the curse then?'

'I asked Hermione about it and she showed me a way of repairing a mild injury. I would just love to get my hands round the throat of whoever is behind all this.'

'Time for that later,' Ron said and stood up, rubbing his shoulder. 'My chest feels funny.'

'It will,' Harry commented. 'It'll take a few minutes for things to be put right, but you'll be okay. Come on. We still have a little searching to do. I hope the others don't Apparate. It does give us another problem though, and that is, we'll need some way of getting out of here in a hurry. I have my Tornado X2003 broom. It's more than a match for most things, but I have no idea what the others have.'

Harry helped Ron to his feet and smiled. Ron smiled weakly back and glanced up the corridor.

'We should take the stairs,' he said, gesturing to a doorway a little way down the corridor. 'I have a feeling that the lift won't work.'

They made their way quickly to the third floor. At the top of the stairs, the corridor stretched out to their left, with doors leading off each side. Room three twenty-four was half way down the corridor, and Harry's heart dropped when they arrived at the room as he saw that the door had been kicked in. Ron entered the room first and Harry followed, pausing to look up the corridor when he thought he saw something move in the darkness. The room had a double bed, a large wardrobe occupied one wall, and to the right, a door led to the bathroom.

Harry walked into the small bathroom and he felt a lump come up in his throat. On the counter were Hermione's toiletries, spilled from a small bag bearing her name. A hairbrush with long brown hairs stuck between the bristles, a toothbrush, and several bottles of Muggle shampoo were lying next to the sink.

'Harry!' Ron whispered and Harry left the bathroom to join him.

In the corner of the bedroom, Hermione's empty trunk lay open. Her clothes were hanging in the wardrobe, but it was one particular item that told Harry that she was possibly dead; her wand lay on the floor next to the bed. Ron picked it up and in the light from Harry's wand; a tear glistened as it ran down Ron's face.

'She's buggered without this, isn't she?' he said fearfully.

'Maybe she carries a spare these days,' Harry suggested, hoping, but knowing better, feeling his own eyes prickle.

'That's bullshit and you know it,' Ron snapped.

'Okay, okay. Calm down. We know she isn't here. We should get back to the others and see if Snape has discovered where the nest is.'

Ron looked around the room and his expression changed when he spotted something. He moved a vanity case that was sitting on a book on the dressing table. Harry picked the book up and flicked through the pages.

'A diary?' Ron enquired, looking over Harry's shoulder to get a better look.

'Looks like it,' Harry whispered. 'She's recorded everything about her visit; the weather, what she did, the food, and who she has met. Oh, trust her. She even thinks that bloody House Elves are running the kitchen. When will she ever learn?'

'Any sign that she spotted Longbottom?'

'Not so far... Ah, three days before we lost her, she mentions that she saw someone she recognised, but only caught a glimpse. Then she goes on to say about the bodies, more of them. Mutilations, instant death...'

Harry turned the last filled page and goose-bumps erupted down his spine as he read the words written across the top of the page in large black letters - "ALIENS".

Harry looked at Ron and saw that he was breathing rapidly.

'Oh shit,' Ron said slowly. 'I think we're out of time.'

Ron looked round the table and picked up a small piece of paper, such as used in owl post. Harry took it from his friend and read it out loud:

'Moody. Send help. Aliens are taking Slatina. Will stay until reinforcements arrive. Have an idea which wizard is behind this. Please come qui...'

'Please come qui?' Ron asked. 'What does that mean?'

'It means she was interrupted,' Harry said.

A crash came from the corridor like someone throwing a dustbin down a flight of stairs.

'What was that?' Ron whispered.

'I have no idea. I think we should go now, before they some back.'

Harry peeked nervously round the corner of the doorframe into the corridor. The source of the crash was a large part of the ceiling had caved in. Ron pocketed Hermione's wand and followed Harry out of the door, leaving the room in darkness once more.

Once back into the reception area, Harry slipped on something in the darkness and he shone his wand-light down to the floor. They had just passed where the Alien was pinned against the wall, but now it wasn't! Ron extinguished his light and prepared to fire, but it was obvious that there was something very wrong with what they were looking at. The Alien was there, but it was now lying on its front on the floor. But even more hideous was the fact that something had sliced open the top of its head and removed its skull; the skin of its head looked like a deflated balloon.

They didn't need much persuading after that to leave.

Harry rushed into the house first, closely followed by Ron, and they nearly had their heads blown off by Chu, who had her wand raised.

'You couple of prats,' she spat.

'S-sorry,' Ron spluttered as he sat down heavily into an armchair.

Harry looked around the room. 'Where's Snape?' he asked.

'Upstairs,' growled Tobias.

'Has he located the nest yet?'

'No. He is just sitting on the roof, ignoring everyone. By the way, did you find out if Granger is still alive? I want out of here as soon as.'

'She has been there,' Ron said gloomily. 'But she left in a hurry.'

'We have found out a couple of other things, though,' Harry said, changing the subject a little. 'The Mirage Charm has a curse upon it that stops you from Apparating. Ron tried to Apparate to the first floor of the hotel and ended up with his heart hanging out his back.'

Ron smiled and rubbed his shoulder.

'The Inverta Curse,' Smith said quietly. 'I've only heard rumours about it. Turns you inside out. So, whoever is behind all this is very powerful. Would your friend have that sort of capability?'

'I would doubt it very much,' Ron snorted. 'Neville was a nice guy, but a complete failure when it came to spells and stuff.'

'Ron's right,' Harry added. 'Neville could be under someone else's influence though. You'd better rest a while, Ron. I'll go and find out what Snape knows.'

Harry put a comforting hand on Ron's shoulder as he passed him on the way to the stairs. The mission was becoming a mess, and with the owl to Moody overdue by many hours now, it won't be long before a rescue is attempted, something that Harry was keen to avoid at all costs.

Snape was sitting cross-legged on the apex of the roof. It was apparent that he had been there a while as the snow had settled on his head and shoulders, making a stark contrast to the black of his hair and cape.

'Any luck with the nest?' Harry asked carefully.

Snape turned his head towards Harry, but then returned to look in the opposite direction.

'No,' he said coldly.

Harry pulled his collar up a little more against a cold breeze that had picked up, blowing the snow into his face a little.

'You have to think. I hate to say this, Snape, but you are the only one that can help us at the moment.'

Snape shifted a little, but remained silent. Harry was starting to lose his temper; a rage fuelled by a lack of food and rest, but he calmed himself, as there was no point in annoying Snape to the point that he could throw himself off the roof at any moment. The refinery siren screamed out again, which was followed by a dull thud as though someone had dropped something heavy onto a wooden floor; a ball of flame erupted into the sky, dimming quickly to leave behind a pall of black smoke that drifted slowly away.

'I have an idea where it might be, Potter,' Snape drawled.

The silence that came afterwards stretched. 'Well,' Harry pressed, 'please?'

Snape sighed deeply. 'She's under the oil refinery.'

'Are you sure?'

Snape turned round to look at Harry sternly. 'Do you doubt me?'

'I suppose not.'

'I have sensed her location. She is starting to move her eggs. There are still some survivors from the village waiting to be implanted. They are left in a sleeping state guarded by drones.'

Harry's spirit lifted a little. 'Is Hermione with them?'

'I can only sense what she sees. I cannot see detail. I cannot tell if Granger is with the prisoners or not.'

'At least we have a motive to go over there now. We don't know how long we have left.'

Harry left Snape brooding on the rooftop and joined the others downstairs.

'Okay,' he announced, 'we now know where they are. They are over at the oil refinery.'

'Well, that's not good news then,' Smith quipped.

'I do have an idea, but I will need to make some sort of reconnaissance of the area, to make sure we know exactly where we are going.'

'You will have to do it soon,' Ron said. 'It looks like we don't have much daylight left.'

'Right. This is what we'll do. Ron, you follow me to the refinery. We will do a run round and see if there is any way we can get into it without being too obvious. We should try tonight. Maybe the cover of darkness will be beneficial. For now we should rest a while. Try and get a little sleep.'

The others in the room muttered in agreement before Smith had a suggestion: 'I'll keep a watch for a while. If anything changes, I'll let everyone know.'

'Good idea,' Harry agreed. 'I think a couple of hours should be more than enough.'

'I'll come with you,' Tobias added and collected the Kraggle from the corner of the room.

Harry had not meant to sleep as long as he did, and he woke with a start. Ron had taken his Firebolt out and was checking it over.

'How long have I been out?' Harry asked sleepily and rubbed his eyes.

'About three hours,' Ron said quietly. 'Everything's quiet out there. You should get ready though. I'm just about done.'

'Make sure the cushioning charm is properly fixed this time,' Harry said, pointing at Ron's broom.

'It's fine,' Ron said. 'We should take our backpacks. Perhaps we can leave a few of them some little surprises of our own.'

Harry smiled and threw his travelling cloak about his shoulders.

'You ready?' he asked.

Ron smiled back nervously and Harry opened the door with his wand. The wind had picked up quite a bit, and snow blew into the room. When they were outside, Tobias sealed the door. Harry mounted his broom, and after waiting for Ron to do the same, he kicked off the ground and soared into the air.

The wind bit at his face and the snow felt like he was being pelted with bullets, but something about being off the ground and into the air made him feel relaxed and he cleared his mind.

Wiping the tears from his eyes caused by the rushing wind, he turned in the direction of the oil refinery. Navigation was difficult, given all the snow that was falling, but the dark towers and bright flames stuck out starkly against the darkening sky.

As they approached the refinery, they dropped their height a little and slowed down to give their eyes a chance to recover. The refinery was massive, with huge cooling towers and chimneys, with masses of pipe work snaking around the site. Circling high above the installation, they peered through the snow to see if they could spot anything. Flames were coming from various parts of the structure that were obviously on fire and beyond the control of man. An explosion blasted flames high into the air, causing a hot blast like a desert breeze; the snow instantly melting into rain.

Harry pointed toward the ground and they descended a little more. Once they were just a few feet above the ground, a large service entrance opened up into the side of the building, with rows of emergency lights shining dimly along the length. In the snow, footprints snaked along the floor and as Harry got closer, he could make out the familiar shape of Alien claws, some of which had been dragging something behind them judging by the wide tracks.

Hovering just in front of the service entrance, the two wizards peered into the gloom. Nothing could be seen moving in the darkened depths, but another explosion made the steelwork of the building creak noisily.

'We should go in here,' Harry yelled over the wind.

Ron just nodded a little and squinted his eyes at the freezing wind.

'We should look round and see if there is anyone else about,' Ron suggested.

Harry was freezing and he had almost lost the use of his hands, but he had to agree that if there was anyone left alive, they should get them away from here as soon as possible.

'Okay,' Harry shouted, and glanced fearfully around in case someone - or something - had heard him. 'You go round to the left, and I'll go the other way. We'll meet up round the other side. If you see anything, signal using some wand-stars.'

Ron gave a limp salute and raced off. Harry gained a little height while scanned the ground carefully but saw nothing but broken machinery and smashed windows. He was almost at the top of a tall office block when suddenly the ear-splitting noise of the siren ripped the air. Harry's ears sang and he took his hands off his broom to clamp them over his ears. The siren stopped, and for a moment or two, Harry couldn't hear a damn thing. But even though his hearing had been impaired, his sight was as keen as ever. He had drifted closer to the ground than he had anticipated and now he was looking through a shattered window into an office. Across the back wall was a dark stain that looked like blood. His heart suddenly pounded hard as someone put thin fingers over the edge of the windowsill. Thinking that someone might still be alive in the office, he urged his broom forward.

It took a few seconds to realise that the fingers had no fingernails, and that they were a sickly cream colour; the colour of a facehugger. The monster leapt at Harry with amazing speed, but Harry was quicker. He pulled his broom round in a tight arc to avoid the flying monster as it whipped through the air, its tail spinning wildly as it tried to get a grip on its victims face.

Harry turned as the thing dropped to the ground and it landed with a splat into the soft snow. He sat motionless on his broom, panting, watching the fallen monster get up and scurry across a car park into a clump of bushes. But then, he suddenly realised he was now sitting right alongside the building. A sound like someone ripping cloth caused him to turn and look through a dirty window. Behind the window, an egg had just opened exposing its occupant. The facehugger didn't hang around and wait for an invite, and it leapt from its egg to smash straight through the glass. Harry turned his broom away from the building at the same time and pulled away in a steep climb, but the monster had grabbed onto the bristles of his broom.

No matter how much Harry weaved, climbed or dived, the monster continued its slow progress up the broom's bristles. Harry started to panic and thought about jumping to the ground if he could get close enough. He pulled steeply up and the monster slipped a little, but then got a tighter grip.

Harry took his eye off the monster for a second as he raced across the top of the refinery. A tall chimney loomed out of the smoke and Harry turned violently to his left. As he turned, he glanced back and the facehugger had reached the shaft of the broom, but seemed to be struggling with the shiny racing varnish that covered the wood. He pulled upwards and performed a loop to try and shake the thing off, but all it did was cling on tighter.

The creature had gotten a good grip now and was starting to heave itself towards Harry, and he panicked, turning hard to one side, almost hitting a radio mast. He had to try and use his wand, and he reached carefully into his wand pocket. He took his eyes from facing front for a split second and glanced down. The monster had made good progress and was getting ready to pounce. It had wrapped its tail around the broom and was able to lift up two of its front fingers, looking more like a massively deformed praying Mantis. Harry screamed and grabbed the end of his wand, but with his leg bent backwards trying to keep it away from the monster, it was impossible to pull his wand out. He was going to have to fire it from within his trousers.

He gritted his teeth to get ready for the pain of the wand-arrow that would possibly take his leg off, but then wand-arrows erupted from no-where, missing Harry by a hairs-breadth. He swung round to the right and saw Ron coming at him with his wand draw, firing furiously. Harry looked back just as the facehugger leapt from its position at Harry's face. But Ron succeeded in blasting it with several arrows and it exploded in mid-air, leaving a smoking corpse to drop back down onto the refinery below.

Harry felt sick, cold, and more than ready to leave, but there was a mission to complete. Ron pulled alongside him, and Harry was only dimly aware of his presence as he fought to remain conscious.

'You okay?' Ron asked.

Harry turned to his friend and upon seeing Ron's cheesy grin, he suddenly felt like bursting into tears at the thought of how close he had come to being the next victim.

'That was a b-bit close,' Harry stammered as he struggled to keep the contents of his stomach down.

'I couldn't see anyone,' Ron explained, 'and when I saw you pulling aerobatics, I thought you'd got a problem.'

Another explosion threw a ball of fire into the air and Harry turned to watch a chimney tilt slightly to one side, groaning as it did.

'There is no way anything is going to be found alive down there,' Harry shouted above the din, starting to get his composure back.

'Are you kidding?' Ron exclaimed. 'Hermione could be down there, unconscious but alive. We have to try. Even if it is to be sure.'

Harry couldn't find anything to say to this, but they might have a few hours left before they are either eaten by the locals or turned into dust when the refinery finally gives up its battle to stay alive.

It seemed to take forever to get back to the house, but even though it was full of holes, damp, and stank of rotting Alien carcass, it was the best and safest place Harry had even known. Ron slammed the door of the house shut behind him when they rushed into the house.

'Well?' Smith asked without getting up from the armchair.

'The refinery is just a short jog away,' Harry explained nervously as he removed his travelling cloak.

'And then what?' Miranda asked nervously.

'We just wander in and collect Granger,' Tobias said sarcastically.

'That would be so simple if it weren't for the locals,' Smith pointed out. 'You think we should just walk into their nest as ask if we could look around? That is one conversation I don't want anything to do with. I say we pull out now. Get the fuck out of here and let the refinery do its job. It'll fry everything within a ten mile radius.'

Harry suddenly felt very sick and this time could not stop him self from retching. When he had finished, he looked around the group to see that they were all watching him with disbelief.

'You okay now?' Smith asked sarcastically.

'You'd feel sick if you'd just been attacked by another monster,' Ron growled.

'We have to be sure,' Harry said and coughed as a lump of something stuck to the back of his throat. 'Even if we don't find her dead, then we can be sure we have tried.'

'Well you can count me out,' Bletchley snapped. 'I've had enough.'

'W-what about your bonus?' Miranda said quietly.

'Fuck the bonus,' Bletchley said sharply, making Miranda jump a little. 'What's the good of being rich when you're having your arse bitten off?'

'You are free to leave as soon as you wish,' Harry said dangerously. 'Can I ask what form of transport you have?'

'I can Apparate,' he replied, but then his face dropped as the words he had just spoken hit him with the force of a tornado. 'Oh shit,' he said quietly and dropped glumly onto a chair.

'Precisely,' Harry said. 'If any of you wish to leave, then you have at least a two hour walk to be sure you are out of reach of the Inverta Curse before you can Apparate. Those of you with brooms and suchlike can leave now. But those on foot will have to watch your backs for the locals.'

He found he was panting heavily and sweating as he looked around the group. No one said anything, but he realised someone was missing. 'Where's Snape?'

The group looked at each other. 'No idea,' Smith said.

'He was upstairs the last time I saw him,' Miranda added.

Harry rushed up the stairs and all the while he hoped that he would find Snape sitting on the roof as before, maybe covered in a little more snow. When he did get to the hole in the roof, Snape was still sitting motionless, complete with quite a covering of snow.

'Did you see what happened to me,' Harry asked cautiously.

'The Queen knows,' he replied in a low voice. 'She also knows I can read her thoughts. She has adjusted her plans. She is making ready to move out as she knows the plant is ready to explode.'

'Then time is running out. We have to move now.'

'So it seems,' is all the reply was.

They turned to the stairs as Smith approached, holding something behind him. 'Potter, Monks has just done a sweep and has found this,' and he threw a crab-like creature by its scaly tail onto the floor in front of them.

'I recognise that,' Ron said, his voice full of fear and backing away slightly. 'I saw one attacking Harry earlier.'

'Where did you find that?' Harry asked and gave it a kick with his boot; the creature contracted its fingers across its body causing everyone to back away and draw their wands.

'Monks found it across the square,' Smith explained. 'I think its dead. Has anyone any idea what it is?'

'That,' Snape suddenly said, turning round so he could look at the monster, 'is a facehugger.'

'A what?' Smith asked before Harry had a chance to say anything.

'A facehugger,' Snape repeated. 'They are what comes out of the eggs. They implant an embryo into a paralysed host.'

'So that's how Winky got infected,' Harry whispered as he put his wand back into his pocket.

'Who?' Smith snapped.

'She was a house-elf at Hogwarts,' Harry said nervously, staring at the underside of the thing. 'She died... died... died when...' Bile rushed at the back of his throat when the memories came to the surface of the event of the house-elf's death.

'The embryo hatches by bursting from the host's chest,' Snape continued apparently ignoring Harry's current condition. 'The birth is usually fatal to the host.'

'Usually,' Harry said quietly. 'But you survived.'

Smith raised his eyebrows. 'How? You never said you'd been infected?'

'I was operated on,' Snape said slyly. 'They managed to remove the embryo before it could mature.'

'Yeah,' Harry snapped. 'The fucking thing grew and killed a few people before we could get to it. We should have killed it on sight.'

'And that's what makes the bigger monster?' Smith asked, seemingly ignoring Harry's anger.

'The creature that hatches is the second stage,' Snape said. 'It then matures into the creatures you have seen so far.'

Harry blood was boiling at Snape's apparent indifference to the deaths at Hogwarts, and also the destruction of an entire village. He hadn't been watching the Sun, hazy through the dense smoke that was now pouring from the stricken refinery, but he was suddenly aware of how much darker it had become. A loud thud echoed from the plant and a ball of fire erupted high into the sky and the group all looked round.

'We should make some sort of an attack tonight,' Harry said quietly, finally coming back to his senses. 'I don't know how much longer we have before...'

Something made a sound; a sort of scratching sound from the edge of the roof. Smith looked down the slope of the tiles to the rain-gutter that ran along the length of the building. A frown fell across his face and Harry followed to where he was looking. Over the edge of the gutter came a sickly cream coloured finger.

'Oh shit!' Harry yelled and drew his wand.