Harry Potter and the Return to the Riddle House

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Riddle House

Harry fell out of the fireplace onto a very dusty wooden floor. Was this where Voldemort had been... no, there was a window, with dark curtains hiding it, by the fireplace. Harry didn't know exactly where he was, but he saw, over the mantelpiece, a large and elaborate carving that said 'RIDDLE' in pointed, gothic letters. It started to sink into him that he had thrown a curse at Dumbledore and quite a lot of Order members, but now wasn't the time. As though he had planned it all the while, he tapped himself on the top of his head with his wand and felt something cold trickle down his back--he was Disillusioned. Harry hurried out of the room before anybody came for him.

The hall was shadowy and creepy. He stepped carefully and froze, seeing somebody at the end of the passage, but it was only Snape. Harry crept towards him; if anybody would know his way around the Death Eater's headquarters, it would be him. Harry followed him into another shadowy room, ignoring the whooshing sounds that could only mean more Order members were coming.

Snape moved slowly and cautiously. He obviously did know his way around the house. Harry followed him into another dark room, this one much smaller, and then into another hallway. He stopped. Harry stayed in the shadows, knowing he was not invisible. Snape gently pressed on another door, which opened slowly, creaking slightly. Suddenly, making Harry jump, a bright jet of light soared over Snape's head, followed by a yell in the room.

Snape threw open the door and yelled "Stupefy!" Harry, from behind him, saw one masked Death Eater fly backwards and lay still, but a second one threw another Stunning Spell at them, which Snape blocked with a Shield Charm. He began to cast another spell, but his wand flew out of his hand. The Death Eater laughed, as Snape narrowly dodged his curses. He screamed "Tracto Corpus!" and Snape was thrown down to his knees, and pulled, as though on ropes, to the masked figure. Harry uncertainly pointed his wand in front of him. He did not want to give away his position by saying a spell, but he couldn't let him die.... He held his wand ready; he would defend Snape if he absolutely had to. He slipped into the room, back against the shadowy wall. The Death Eater cursed Snape, but he rolled on his side and barely avoided it. He started to stand but the Death Eater kicked him in the stomach, then yanked him to his feet and held his wand to his throat, laughing sinisterly again. Harry tried to aim for him and not Snape, but it was difficult, from his position.... The man started to speak a deadly curse, Harry could not get a target, he moved further along the wall, but he was going to be too late--until suddenly, the Death Eater stopped. He gasped; he and Snape were both still for a moment. Harry tried to see what had happened. The Death Eater choked, Snape grunted and heaved him off his chest. He lay on the gritty floor, face up. Harry drew a sharp breath, but thankfully, Snape didn't hear him.

The Death Eater had a knife thrust all the way up to the handle just under his ribs. The cloth of his robes was eaten away for a few inches and the skin was turned faintly green around the clearly poisoned blade. Snape jerked it out, panting slightly, and wiped blood off of it on the Death Eater's cape. He ripped the mask off the man's face.

"Mulciber," he muttered. Then he took the wand from his hand and snapped it in half. He stalked over to the other, unconscious Death Eater and did the same. Then he retrieved his own wand, lying by a door, and returned the small dagger to the folds of his cloak. He swept out one of the doors behind the men and Harry followed him down yet another corridor. The house was obviously enormous. They went down a long passage with doors every few yards.

Harry saw a shadow dart on the wall near them; Snape turned with his wand ready--but it was only Lupin.

"Have you seen Harry?" he whispered urgently, in a barely audible voice.

"Potter is here?" Snape muttered, frowning. "Damn..."

"You haven't seen him?" Lupin looked extremely worried. Harry felt a sting of guilt, but sank further into the shadows.

"Send him back to the castle if you do; Portkeys will work... he's in far too much danger..."

Snape gave a short nod and Lupin ran into another hallway. Harry hoped he would be careful.

He followed Snape for another few minutes, occasionally passing another member of the Order, looking for him and Rachel. It was suspiciously quiet. They turned into a shorter passageway and then went up a long, twisting staircase. Then they followed this new hall and turned a corner. Snape froze. In the shadows of a T-shaped crossway at the end of the hall, Harry could see two figures, leaning close to each other and talking in low, hurried voices. He heard,

"Mulciber's dead and Nott's unconscious, and I think there are more than ten of Dumbledore's damn people--"

But as they rounded the corner, the Death Eaters looked up and saw Snape, and Harry had to throw himself to the ground to avoid the rush of Stunning Spells and hexes. Snape was lucky; he knocked one out and sent the other running down the narrow hallway to his left. There appeared to be something important about the door they were guarding. Snape rushed to it and turned the knob. It opened easily, which seemed to surprise him. He stepped carefully into the room, which was dark and rectangular, narrow but quite long. Harry thought it might have once been a dining room or such, but there was no table presently there; in fact, there was no furniture at all. Suddenly, a voice came from the opposite end.

"Evening, Severus."

Harry had heard that voice before. Two small, wall-mounted torches sprang into life, so there was a smallish, yellow pool of light in the center of the room. He saw yet another masked Death Eater standing near a solitary door across from them. But this time he knew exactly who it was--that voice had taunted him as he had been tortured like Rachel nearly three years ago, and, last summer, laughed as he found that he, Harry, had lead his friends into mortal danger. Lucius Malfoy stood across from them.

"Where is she?" Snape hissed again. Malfoy laughed softly.

"Now, now, ever since the Dark Lord found out about your, ah... double role, shall we say, we haven't hardly spoken," he said, with a taunting voice. "Of course, you were hardly inclined to, since it was I who turned you in.... Really, Severus, who else could have told Dumbledore about that attack we had planned for late last summer? And with his suspicions of you already....You were quite out of luck. What was it you said, when you failed to come to his little rebirthing party? That you were in an audience with Dumbledore at the time? The Dark Lord is not foolish, he understands that sometimes an excuse cannot be made... and then you gave him apparently true information on Dumbledore, well done. But are you sure it was wise to completely forsake your master? After all, had you stayed with us, your girl would be safe in her bed in her old house right now. Seems an odd decision."

Snape's eyes flashed. Malfoy was walking towards him very slowly; they both had their wands raised. Harry kept in the shadows and tried to edge to the door, Rachel had to be close... please let her be alright.... Malfoy was jeering Snape, trying to get him to attack.

"He'll kill you eventually, you know. You must be an excellent Occlumens to lie to the Dark Lord, but you cannot drive out your fear."

But apparently Snape could, his lip curled but he kept circling with Malfoy, trying to get to the door. Malfoy changed tact.

"Of course, she's gone, too. The girl. She's barely breathing now, but we kept her alive so you could see it happen. You can watch the exact moment your daughter's life ends..."

Harry forced himself to keep moving along the wall, not too quickly or too slowly, and to stay in the shadows. Snape would take care of Malfoy, don't curse him, you're nearly there...

"Try it, you son of a--" Snape made a very insulting remark about Malfoy's mother-- "But I doubt he'll let you anywhere near an important assignment just now. You lost Potter and that prophecy last year, then your reputation, which I daresay was very handy to him, when you were locked in Azkaban. Then you failed to capture me just about a month later when my cover was blown, even though you and I were in the same room at the time. You can't bribe your way through the Ministry anymore. And then there's that whole business of saying you were controlled by the Imperious Curse after he fell... the Dark Lord can't be too happy with you." Harry could sense Malfoy was reddening under his mask. "And incidentally," Snape added, his voice even softer, "It is not wise to threaten me when I have a thousand occasions over the school year alone with your own son."

Harry was very close to the door.

Malfoy clicked his tongue in mock scolding. "Now, there's no need to get nasty." He was attempting his cool, spiteful tones, but his voice was thickened with anger. "And you're in no position to intimidate, yourself. Draco can be pulled from school anytime, but unless I am very much mistaken, the girl is in this very house." Malfoy paused, and Harry thought he was smiling. "Rachel, isn't it? How sweet... she is a pretty one. Maybe we won't get rid of her--right away... "

That did it. Snape yelled in fury and a flash of light exploded from his wand, but Malfoy was ready. His Shield Charm glowed and Snape's spell bounced off it. Harry took the opportunity to race to the door. He grabbed the handle, intending to wrench it open and run before Malfoy noticed (if he even did; he and Snape were dueling ferociously) and slam it shut. He wouldn't be able to stop him, anyway. He turned the knob and tugged at the door--and then tugged again. It was locked! Harry had to stop himself from swearing out loud. He took out his wand and was about to try an old charm when a spell from either Malfoy or Snape whizzed by him, narrowly missing his ear. He turned around. -Snape was dueling in a way quite unlike his usual shrewd, calculating manner; he was firing off spells almost without pausing. This seemed to throw Malfoy off. Harry leapt back into the shadows just in time to avoid another Stunning Spell. Malfoy was breathing heavily, having to duck and weave to avoid Snape's curses. Suddenly, he was thrown backwards into the wall; one of them had gotten through.

Snape kicked him in the ribs as he passed. He tried the door like Harry, and, when it wouldn't unlock, stood about two feet away from it and shouted "Reducto!" like Harry had in Dumbledore's office. The door flew into the hallway with a bang.

Harry found himself in yet another corridor. Snape set off to his right, and Harry followed, when Snape abruptly paused. He was standing in front of a seemingly blank stretch of hallway, at a rotting wooden beam. He took a breath and went a few steps, slowly. Harry didn't understand. He set towards Snape, who was walking quickly again; when suddenly, he felt like an electric jolt had shot through his body. He yelled and flew backwards, landing hard on the grimy floorboards. There was a sharp pain in his back. Snape whirled around, his wand automatically held in front of him. He looked straight at Harry and growled, "Potter!"

Harry scrambled up off the floor. He was dizzy, and put a hand on the wall to steady himself. He noticed that he was no longer Disillusioned.

"What happened?" he said shakily.

"Anti-Secrecy Hex," Snape said shortly. "You need to get back to the school. Now."

"I'm going to help."

Snape looked furious and yelled,

"Potter, now is not the--" he was cut off as Lupin rounded the corner.

"Harry!" He looked very strained. "What are you doing here? Get back to the castle, now!" He looked back to Snape. "Dumbledore got everybody he could, and Thedon's sent a lot of Ministry Aurors, but we're scattered. There have been a few short clashes, but it's much too empty for comfort." He pushed a small bag into Harry's hands. "Harry, go back into that room you just came out of, there's a fireplace and you can use this Floo Powder..."

"Have you seen anyone more--superior?" Snape asked Lupin.

"No, nobody, that's what worries me, too... Harry, what are you waiting for? Go!" It was just like the summer before last, and, also like the summer before last, Harry wasn't in the least bit inclined to obey.

"Rachel's hurt because of me, and I'm going to help her!" he said furiously. Snape paled with anger and opened his mouth to say something, but was yet again interrupted, this time by shouts coming from the dining room. It sounded like Moody, and sure enough, they presently heard a familiar clumping sound.

"Lupin? Lupin!"

"Over here! We've found Harry!"

Tonks and Mad-Eye emerged from the room behind Harry, followed by a fair-haired man Harry did not recognize, and Sturgis Podmore.

"This is the best re-group I think we're going to get," said Lupin. "Harry, go back already, you'll just put yourself in more danger, and possibly her, too. We need to go."

Harry did not want to fritter away time arguing with Lupin, but was not about to just sit in the castle. He was about to say this when Snape said angrily,

"I'm not going to waste time trying to talk sense into him, I'll be up this corridor if you ever manage to." He turned on his heel and stalked on, Moody said, "I'll cover you. Harry, get back to the damn castle, you're just in trouble here," and staggered after Snape. Lupin turned to Harry and put a hand on his shoulder, kindly but firmly, but before he could speak, there was a flash of light and a yell from Moody. Harry whipped around and saw Snape lying against the wall, unconscious, while Moody threw spells down the adjacent hall.