Harry Potter and the Return to the Riddle House

Chapter Twenty

The Exams

The next day they had their first exams--History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology. Harry, Rachel, and Hermione quizzed each other, while Ron feverishly tried to locate copies of notes from other people in the Remedial History of Magic class, after discovering that Hermione had thrown out all of hers from previous years.

That morning, Harry wished a pale-faced Ginny good luck with her O.W.L. and lined up in front of the History of Magic classroom. They received their papers and presented their quills and ink for Anti-Cheating spells and such. Then Professor Binns turned over the hourglass on his desk and they began.

The first few questions were easy enough. Harry paused at number five (What year did Elessar the Enchanter defeat the goblin cutthroats at his citadel in the Alutrean Forest?). He remembered studying this last night... he glanced out the window... it was before his son was kidnapped by pixies... so, of course, it had to be before he rescued him... after the battle at the South Mountain... had he already signed a treaty with the 'good' goblins? Of course he did, why else would they let a human help them fight? They did live in the Alutrean forest, right? Harry decided to come back to that one.

All in all, the exam went fairly well. Harry thought he had passed, but did not believe he would be in the advanced class next year (and, since glancing at Hermione's notes on the subject, he did not mind at all). After a quick lunch, they were shuffled to their next exam, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The practical exam was simple; Harry Disillusioned his turtle on the first try. The written exam was a bit harder; he found himself gazing out the window as he slowly progressed. Rachel was sitting directly under it. He caught her eye and smiled. She gave him a small smile back. He felt heartened; they were okay. Suddenly, the answer flew into his head as he remembered quizzing her the day before.

He finished his exam a few minutes before the time was up, and double-checked the first few. Then another brief flurry of movement in between classes and he was in a greenhouse, presenting his Panaeolus, the top of which was almost a foot in diameter, a frosty shade of green, and had pods of fruit hanging off the edges. The only one noticeably healthier was Neville Longbottom's.

That night he collapsed in an armchair and went over his Transfiguration and Potions notes. He fell asleep shortly after midnight reciting incantations.

Potions was not as bad as it could have been--Rachel had helped him and Ron study last night. Harry's Truth Tonic (a few levels below Veritaserum) was not the exact water-thin consistency it should have been, but it gave off the perfect misty glow. Snape sneered and criticized the thickness, but could find nothing else wrong. When his back was turned, Rachel gave Harry a thumbs-up under the table.

Transfiguration was alright; Harry managed to turn his ferret into a rather large eagle. McGonagall added points for the size but took off for the color, as it was not supposed to have a pale pinkish tint.

Harry met the others in the courtyard at lunchtime, where they studied Charms and Care of Magical Creatures and quizzed Hermione on her Ancient Runes. Then they began longingly planning an end-of-the-year Hogsmead excursion, scheduled for as soon as the exams were over.

Finally, it was the last day of the testing. Ginny had only her Charms O.W.L., and was confident it would make up for her pitiful Divination score, which everyone assured her did not matter. Harry successfully chased his Nogtail, a piglike demon, away from some real pigs (which was easy, he just chose from the animals Hagrid offered to him a white dog, to chase the spirit away forever), but suffered a Billywig sting, and consequently had to float to Charms.

He hoped his Charms final essay wouldn't be marred by the fact that it was his last examination. After he completed it, he would be basically free from studying, for the rest of the year. He could play Quidditch or Shuntbumps with Rachel, or swim in the lake, or just sleep... Harry realized with a start that a few minutes had passed since the beginning of the exam.

But soon he had finished, and after he made two tiny dolls waltz with each other for Professor Flitwick, he cheered with the rest of the class and went into the Great Hall for dinner. He was suddenly famished. He sat next to Rachel, who was passing Ginny a plate of stew. The atmosphere was happy and celebratory. Even though Harry didn't much like the summer holidays, he could still enjoy the next few weeks (and he would probably end up at Grimmauld Place or the Burrow, wouldn't he?), and felt cheerful and excited. After they finished their dinner, they headed to the main gates, and Filch, the caretaker, waved them off towards Hogsmead.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked Rachel, Ron, and Hermione.

"Actually..." Hermione began. "We kind of wanted to, er... go around alone, at least for a while..." She and Ron looked at each other with shy smiles.

"Oh, okay," Harry said. "We'll meet you here in, what..." he shrugged at Rachel. "Two hours or so?"

They agreed, and waved them off. Harry and Rachel went down the High Street together. The village was packed with students and teachers, lights were shining out of most windows, and happy talk could be heard from all directions. They blended easily into the crowd; Harry wasn't worried about being seen.

"Do you want to get a drink at the Three Broomsticks?" Rachel said. "They have this great lemonade-y thing; I have no idea what's in it. Perfect for a warm night."

"Sure."

They went into the pub and found a table in the back. Harry got the drinks. As he walked back to the table, he saw light from one of the candles glint off something around Rachel's neck--she was wearing his necklace again. He smiled and edged into the chair beside her.

"How did your exams go?" he asked her.

"Pretty good. You?"

"Oh, the same."

They both took a sip of their drinks. Rachel was right; it was delicious. It was as cooling on the humid summer evening as butterbeer was warming in the winter.

"Hey, after this, do you want to go take a walk by that road?" Harry asked. "I bet the view is great."

Rachel smiled. "Our secret road?"

Harry sort of liked that. Their road.

"Yeah. It's a bit crowded in here..."

They chatted and laughed until they finished the lemonade and made their way to the front door. They passed Ginny and Neville; Ginny gave them a conspiratorial little smile and directed Neville's attention to the window in the opposite direction. Harry muttered 'Thanks' in her ear.

He and Rachel took an alleyway towards the post office. Harry was just looking for the gate that lead to their lane when Rachel let out a sympathetic little noise behind him.

"What?" he said, turning around. He saw Sprite wandering in front of some bushes and mewing.

"Poor thing," Rachel said. "She probably followed us all the way from the castle..."

She set towards her, calling her name, and glanced back at Harry, adding

"I'll just take her to the front gate, Harry. Sorry for the holdup..."

"No problem," he replied. The kitten, oddly, started walking away from Rachel, but paused and cried loudly over her shoulder. Harry noticed she had gotten out of her collar. And had she always had such dark fur?

"Sprite," Rachel said, annoyed, as she kept doing this until they were halfway down the street. Harry jogged to her, intending to help her grab the cat. She darted into another narrow path. Harry turned the corner after Rachel and stopped. He saw the kitten near a dull gray boulder, yowling louder than ever. She was a few feet from Rachel, who stood about twenty yards in front of Harry, calling her name with an irritated voice.

"Sprite--Sprite!" There was a pause, and her tone changed to bewildered. "Sprite?" Harry stared in confusion. The little cat had stopped and was literally evaporating into thin air. Harry blinked hard. Suddenly, Rachel let out a cry, but was cut short; Harry yelled also and ran forward, drawing his wand.

A man had leapt out of the bushes just next to her, and had one arm around her waist and the other over her mouth. When he turned to Harry, he saw, with a dart of terror, that he was wearing a black, shapeless mask with slits over the eyes, and was holding a small stone in the hand around her midriff. When the man saw Harry, his eyes widened and he lunged further, taking his other hand off Rachel's mouth. Harry heard her cry his name, her voice cracking with panic, and felt the man's fingertips brush his chest before he disappeared with her. The realization that the rock the Death Eater held in his hand was a Portkey was the only thought Harry had for a moment, as he stood, stunned. Then he turned and raced down the path, far too many horrible ideas dashing through his mind.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ransom

Harry sprinted the entire length of the road and up the path leading to Hogwarts. He passed between the stone boars that flanked the gates and stumbled, panting, up the steps to the castle. He flung open the great oak doors and did not stop running until he reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's study.

"Move, move!" he shouted to it. "Cockroach Cluster!"

But the old password no longer worked; the gargoyle was stubbornly remaining stone.

"Uh--F-Fizzing Whizbee... um..." Harry cursed and pounded on the door. Dumbledore did not seem to be in his office anyway. He turned on his heel and dashed back down the hallway, turned at a suit of armor, and ran up a flight of stairs, skidding to a halt in front of a door marked 'Teacher's Lounge', bordered by two more gargoyles. He pummeled it, too, but there was no answer.

"Is it urgent, again?" said one of the gargoyles.

"Where are the teachers?" Harry asked it insistently.

"No idea," said the other gargoyle. "We just keep students out of here. They're probably celebrating the end of exams with everybody else."

"You should go make merry too, sonny," said the first one.

And they turned unhelpfully back into granite.

Harry supposed the teachers were all in Hogsmead. But for heaven's sake, there had to be somebody watching the students to young to go, where was everybody? Harry was panicking, where was Rachel, she could be miles and miles away... she probably was... he did not want to think about what would happen to her. He struck the door again, but did not expect anybody. What would he do...? Suddenly, a thought hit him--Snape. Harry paused. He hated the idea of going to him for help, and he still did not want to forgive him for last year.

"What the hell am I doing?" he thought to himself suddenly, wildly. Rachel was in the hands of Death Eaters, and he was standing here! There was no question; Snape was his last chance--again. He immediately flew back down the stairs and headed to the dungeons. Please let him be there... Harry did not want to think about how long it would take to go back to Hogsmead and locate a teacher, one who was in the Order. He found himself in of Snape's cold stone corridor. He nearly fell down the stairs and hurried across the classroom to his office.

"Professor!" he shouted, banging on this door as well. "Professor!"

Harry heard nothing and started to leave, his panic near breaking point, but the door swung open.

"What?" Snape said in an irritated tone, looking at Harry with distaste. Harry had no time to be angry with him. He tried to speak, but could barely breathe for all the running.

"I was at Hogsmead... and Rachel was there... and she went after her cat... and she disappeared... the cat, I mean... and there was a Death Eater... he grabbed her... took a Portkey..."

Snape frowned; he looked concerned, but did not spring into action like Harry had hoped.

"I thought I told you to empty your mind," he said softly. "But when did you dream this--"

"It wasn't a dream!" Harry cut him off. They were taking much too long, what was happening to Rachel? "I was standing right behind her, a man jumped out of some bushes and made off with her, and he was wearing a mask!"

Snape stared at Harry intently and his hand went to his wand.

"Where--"

But he was cut short again, as the classroom door burst open and Lupin stood in the frame.

"Severus! Dumbledore's office, quick! It's Rachel!"

Without a word, Snape swept past Harry and went with Lupin down the hallway and back to Dumbledore's study. They, too, were running. Harry followed. Lupin shouted "Acid Pop!" to the gargoyle, which leapt aside. He, Snape, and Harry hurried up the spiraling staircase and reached two highly polished doors. Lupin seemed to just now notice him.

"Harry--go back to your common room..." But Harry was not leaving. Lupin's order was lost in the clamor of voices in Dumbledore's office that reminded him of the night he had first seen Rachel. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dumbledore were behind his desk; McGonagall was by the fireplace talking breathlessly with Fred and George Weasley, Tonks, and Mad-Eye Moody. Harry noticed a mirror, about four feet tall, behind Dumbledore, that he had not seen before.

"What happened?" Snape asked Dumbledore urgently. His black eyes met Dumbledore's light blue ones. There was silence between the two of them.

"Where is she?" Snape hissed. He seemed very pale. Dumbledore shook his head gravely.

"That's what we're finding out."

He saw Harry.

"Potter says he saw it happen," Snape said, noticing his glance.

"Harry, do you know where Rachel was taken?" Dumbledore said, his deep voice slow.

"No," Harry said, his throat tight. "I just..." But he didn't get to tell Dumbledore what he had seen. Something had appeared in the mirror behind him.

Harry's heart didn't bother with pounding or leaping. It simply stopped. Ice flowed through his veins.

The mirror had become like a window (his mind flashed briefly back to the one Sirius had given him last year). He could see a shady room and the edge of an empty fireplace. Standing in the gloom, pale and terrible, was Lord Voldemort, wearing a very sinister, delighted smile. To his side was a short, balding man called Peter Pettigrew, and behind him were two Death Eaters in masks, holding Rachel between them. Her hands were tied behind her back and she seemed almost as white-faced as Voldemort. Harry could not speak. Dumbledore turned around and George Weasley gasped. The room grew silent. The Dark Lord let it build for a moment, and said,

"You saved me time bringing Potter here, Dumbledore, I thank you." His voice was cold and high. A chill went down Harry's spine.

"Let her go, Tom," Dumbledore said. His voice was calm, but Harry could feel the power radiating from him as it did when he was angry.

"Now, Dumbledore, Wormtail here was working all last year to find out who my leak was, and then find some way to get to him. Then it took weeks just to figure out how to acquire our... guest. Do you really think I'll just hand her over to you? Why, it would waste all of my friend's hard work." He turned to face Harry. "We were hoping your dear professor here would crack after a bit,"--he motioned to Snape, whose fists tightened at his side-- "...and bring you to us, but as I made certain we had the right person, I came across something very interesting." Voldemort paused and his smile widened. "Can you imagine what I saw in this girl's mind, Potter?" he continued softly. Harry froze--they had Rachel because of him. Voldemort laughed.

"Yes, he can see why we don't need to bother Snape... I can get straight to him. You've made this very easy for me, Harry. So I'll make it easy for you." Snape shot a heated, puzzled glance at Harry, but looked back to the mirror. Voldemort pulled something out of his pocket. Harry couldn't see what he was holding, but he tapped it with his wand. Something glowed on Dumbledore's desk, and suddenly Harry could see a small, serpentine ornament. It looked like it came off the end of a banister.

"This is a Portkey, Harry. But it is like no other Portkey you have ever used--it will only work for you." He smiled and added softly, "We spent several weeks developing that, as well." Fred Weasley suddenly reached forward and took the snake, and he was thrown backwards into the wall. The three Death Eaters laughed, and Voldemort said in an amused voice,

"Fool. Now that we have proved it will indeed only work for Potter, we can get to business. I'll make this very simple, Harry. Take that Portkey and you will be transported to me. I will send the girl back immediately; I have no use for her other than this. We will duel. And," He turned to Dumbledore again. "Don't bother trying to find me, Dumbledore. I am hidden very well, and even if you could stumble upon us, we are not connected to the Floo Network and the place has a most powerful Anti-Apparation Jinx."

But while he was saying this, Harry was focused on Rachel. She was looking at him meaningfully, and her lips were just barely moving. She shot a fleeting look at the Death Eater to her left and tried again. Harry could not understand her, but shook his head, trying to make her stop. They could kill her.... But Rachel took one last glance at her captors and shouted, just as Voldemort finished,

"He's at a house by a graveya-- " Her words were cut off as the fist of one of the Death Eaters slammed hard into her cheek, knocking her to the ground. Voldemort gave a quick, angry look to his followers, but held up a hand when one nodded and pointed a wand to her throat.

"No--I told you not to silence her... I wanted him to hear her scream." He turned back to Dumbledore.

"You're using your father's house, Tom?"

Harry was confused, but didn't care.

"It is no matter. You cannot get to us." Tonks muttered something in McGonagall's ear and slipped out the door.

"Harry, look at me. I've told you that if you touch that snake, I will let her go. And I will--she is only in the way after I have you. But if you don't..." He stepped back and pointed his own wand at Rachel.

"I will convince you."

Harry couldn't think, he heard Dumbledore say, "Harry, don't," in a dangerously grave voice, but before he could say anything to Voldemort, the horrible smile split his face again. He pointed his wand at Rachel and said, in almost a whisper,

"Crucio."

Rachel's screams filled Harry's ears; the Death Eaters dropped her to the ground and Snape made an impulsive move toward the mirror. Voldemort lifted the curse and the men in masks roughly picked Rachel up from the dusty floor.

"Well?"

Harry tried to say something; he glanced at the silver snake. Voldemort cursed Rachel again and she fell back to the ground, crying and shaking in pain. Harry felt his own eyes water; he could remember the inexpressible torment caused by the curse. Moody swore behind him.

"Answer me, Potter."

"I--I..."

"Crucio!"

"Wait--"

"Crucio!"

Harry reached for the snake, he couldn't take it anymore, but Lupin grabbed him from behind. The twins had identical looks of horror. Snape's knuckles were white around the handle of his wand.

"No, Harry!"

"Let him take it! Crucio!"

Voldemort lifted the curse more quickly this time and stalked over to Rachel, whom the Death Eaters had not bothered to lift. He grasped her upper arm dragged her up, but she could not support her own weight. Her head was bowed. Voldemort grabbed a handful of her hair with his other hand and jerked it up so Harry could see her face. It was wet with sweat and tears, her eyes were closed, and she was pale as a sheet. Her breath was coming in short gasps.

"Look at her, Potter. She can't survive much more of this," he said softly, in a vicious voice. Harry was horribly sure he was right. Voldemort's voice grew louder, and crueler. "I can kill her right now. Do you think I won't?" Harry looked briefly up at the ceiling, and then to the headmaster, his throat now burning.

"I am very impatient."

What was wrong with everyone, they weren't doing anything...

"Let me take the Portkey and fight him!" he shot at Dumbledore.

"No, Harry," he said. "Listen to me, we'll--"

"There's no time! Let me go and get her, I've beaten him before, we have to get her back!"

But Voldemort had waited long enough. He threw Rachel to the ground and said thunderously, "Potter, touch it now!"

Harry tried to wrench his arm away from Lupin, but he held fast. He whipped around and saw Voldemort yell with anger. He thrust his wand at Rachel.

"Crucio, Crucio, CRUCIO!"

Rachel screamed piercingly for a few seconds and her body convulsed horribly, but suddenly, she rolled on her side and lay facing away from the mirror, silent and deathly still. Voldemort gave his worst smile yet and went slowly over to her; Harry yelled and struggled harder. Snape's jaw was clenched, his arms were folded tightly and his eyes were closed, his face turned to the stone wall. Suddenly, the door flew open and Tonks burst into the room, shouting,

"Gallagher's broken through! We can use the Floo Powder!"

Without hesitation, Snape swept across the room, grabbed a fistful of powder from an ornate jar on Dumbledore's mantle, and threw it into the fire. He stepped in and shouted "The Riddle House!" and was gone before Harry could blink. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, Voldemort cursing and leading the Death Eaters quickly out of the room, while Wormtail threw a cloth over the mirror. One of them was carrying Rachel. Moody clumped past the mirror just then, right on Snape's heels, but Harry finally broke out of Lupin's hold and darted in front of him. He felt Moody take a hold of him too, and heard Dumbledore's spell. Something powerful dragged him backwards, but he pointed his wand behind his back and yelled wildly, "Reducto!" He heard crashes and cries of surprise, and leapt into the fire, feeling the green flames licking his body. He said, "The Riddle House!" as Snape had, and before anyone could grab him again, was spinning in the smoky emerald glow.