Harry turned back to Hermione to ask if she thought it would be nice to arrange for a picnic for the two of them tomorrow, only to find that she had disappeared. Immediately, a feeling of dread settled in Harry's stomach; she would never run off without telling him where she was going, especially since she had been right beside him only moments ago. Ever since LeStrange had attacked Neville and himself, Hermione had made a point of making sure Harry or someone knew where she was at all times, if only to ease Harry's constant worry for her. Harry turned to Neville and grabbed his fellow Gryffindor by the shoulder, frantically near-shouting, "Where is Hermione!?"
Neville looked around, not quite understanding why Harry was so upset, "Uh...she was with us a few moments ago. Maybe she slipped to the toilets or something?"
Harry shook his head, "No, she wouldn't go off without saying anything," Harry was fumbling through his pockets, looking for his father's map. Unless she had somehow been taken out of Hogwarts, he was sure to see her name somewhere in the Castle. He finally found it folded up in his back pocket. Quickly unfolding it and tapping it with his wand, Harry impatiently watched for a few moments (which felt like half an hour) as the lines of ink began to cross and mark the page. Once it was fully ready he started to search for Hermione.
He checked the route to the nearest girls loo, hoping that Neville was right, and that she had not felt it necessary to tell him she was disappearing for a few minutes. No luck. He traced the route back to Hagrid's cabin, thinking that maybe Hermione had forgotten something and doubled back for it. Again he drew a blank.
"What the...? Harry, this map is amazing; where did you get it?" Neville asked, more interested in the map than where Hermione had disappeared to.
"Dad made it," Harry's reply was sharp, but right now he didn't care if it hurt Neville's feelings. He was too preoccupied searching for the most important person in his life. He kept searching and searching through the hundreds of names that occupied Hogwarts, not finding the name "Hermione Granger" anywhere. His eyes searched over the grounds outside the castle. There! Finally, he spotted Hermione's name, right next to the Whomping Willow.
And right next to Bellatrix LeStrange.
"There, there she is! Next to...OH GOD!!!" Harry dropped the map and was off like a seeker who had spied a snitch. He had to get to Hermione, right now. Harry sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him. For once, he was glad of his cousin's pastime of Harry hunting. He didn't think he would be anywhere as fast if it wasn't for how much he used to run from Dudley.
Harry arrived at the Willow just in time to see LeStrange disappear under an immobile Whomping Willow. Harry briefly wondered what the mad Death Eater had done to the tree to make it stop moving, only to decide just as quickly that it didn't matter. Harry sprinted towards the hole between the roots of the tree, the place that he just saw LeStrange disappear into. However, he was so focused on getting to Hermione that he didn't see the tree start moving again. Unfortunately, once he did realise that fact, he wasn't able to move to avoid the flailing branches.
Harry was sent flying when one of the thicker branches hit him, the length of the branch spanning from the side of his head all the way down to the opposite hip. He was lucky the branch had hit him over such a wide area, as the blow was spread out and the injuries were minimal, although his head was ringing from the impact and he was sure his chest would be one large bruise tomorrow.
Harry got up and was just about to try again when someone grabbed his shoulder. Harry turned, ready to fight tooth and nail with whatever was stopping him from going after Hermione, only to find it was Neville.
"Neville, let go of me! I'm going after her!" Harry was again harsh with his friend, but Neville didn't stop from restraining him.
"Harry, wait! You'll never get through just running at it like that. You'll just get yourself smashed to a pulp, and then how will we help her?" It was only then that Harry saw that Neville was holding the map.
"How do I get in then!?" Harry pointed at the entrance to whatever passageway LeStrange had used.
"Give me a minute," Neville asked.
Harry really didn't want to wait but he didn't really have much choice, "Quickly, then," he all but snarled at Neville.
It took Neville a few minutes to form a plan, a few absolutely agonizing minutes in which Hermione was stuck by herself with a psychopath. Finally, Neville spoke, "Right, I have an idea. I know a spell that will freeze the willow, but it needs to be cast on the trunk."
"Well, fire away."
"Sorry, but it doesn't work that way; I need to tap the trunk with my wand."
"How are you meant to get close enough to do that?" Harry was exasperated; Neville seemed to be of very little help, and Harry was considering running down to Hogsmeade to try and find Hermione; the map showed LeStrange and Hermione headed that way. It would be better than waiting here.
"I can make it to the trunk if...if the willow is more interested in going after someone else," Neville admitted.
Harry understood instantly. The tree would be far more interested in attacking him than Neville. Harry rushed at the tree, and this time he wasn't worried about trying to get to the hollow between the roots. His focus was in being as close to the tree as he could get without getting himself killed.
As Harry ducked, dodged and jumped, successfully avoiding blows from the willow, all the leaping about was eating into his stamina. He had already run to the tree as fast as he could in an attempt to catch up. Now, without any time to get his breath back, he was providing a distraction by jumping around.
Harry's reactions soon started to suffer the effects of the loss of stamina, and while he was still able to avoid the largest of the branches, which could kill him if they caught him right, he had considerably less luck with the smaller branches, that were waving about like a mass of bullwhips. Harry was lucky in that they caused far more pain than they did damage.
Out of nowhere, as quick as a snitch, a thin branch whipped out at him. Instead of swinging at his chest and head, like all the other blows had done so far, this one swiped at his legs, and suddenly, he was winded, on the ground, with a thick, nobbly branch swinging viciously towards him, trying to crush him between it and the ground below him.
Just before the branch hit him, it, and all the other branches, froze where they were.
"I got it Harry. Quickly, before it unfreezes," Harry got out from under the branch and quickly went over to the hollow at the base of the tree where Neville was standing, "God, Harry, you look like you already lost a fight. Shouldn't we go get Professor McGonagall, or maybe Dumbledore?"
Harry shook his head, "There's no time. McGonagall doesn't listen when I tell her something is happening, and by the time we find Dumbledore, who knows what she will have done to Hermione. I'm going now," Harry's tone said more than his words that he had made his decision.
Harry started to climb down the hole. He was surprised how easily he fit, given how hard the hole was to see from the outside. When just his head was sticking up, Harry looked at Neville and said, "You should go find help while I go ahead."
"No."
"Nev-"
"No, I'm going as well."
"Are you sure? It will be dangerous."
"Am I sure? This is the woman who destroyed my parents. I don't care how dangerous it is or how afraid I am. I have to spend my holidays visiting the broken shells that used to be my mum and dad. House LeStrange owes my House a debt, and as the next Warlock of House Longbottom, I intend to collect it," Neville was a strange mix of trembling fear and sheer determination as he spoke.
All Harry could do was nod in agreement. He hadn't wanted to drag Neville into his mess, but with the reminder of what had happened to Neville's parents, Harry couldn't just send him away. It reminded him of when he went after the stone in his first year. Even though he hadn't expected Voldemort to be there, when he found out, he knew that he had to stop Voldemort from getting the stone.
Harry finished climbing down the hole and found a passage leading away from the castle. The tunnel was high enough that Harry could stand with just his head bowed, but Neville, who had soon slid down next to him, was having to crouch a little. Without a word, the two of them set out to see where the tunnel led. As the two walked on, in an attempt to stop himself from panicking about Hermione, Harry thought about what Neville had said. It reminded Harry of something he heard once. Courage is not being unafraid. Courage was being terrified and not letting it stop you. If Harry had ever wondered how Neville had been sorted into Gryffindor, now he could not see the taller boy in any other house.
The tunnel continued for what seemed like miles, with many twists and turns. Harry was sure the path doubled back on them a few times, which got him completely lost. Well not lost, he knew the way back and he knew the way forward, it was just one long tunnel after all but he had no clue where it led. He thought that it might be going to Hogsmeade, but that was more because it was the only place around Hogwarts to go, rather than some feat of navigation.
Harry and Neville walked as quietly as they could feeling their way in the dark. Harry wanted to charge ahead as quickly as possible; he didn't understand how but he could feel that Hermione was afraid and he needed to get to her. Neville had disagreed, pointing out that if Harry did that, then he would probably be exhausted when they caught up with LeStrange, and that they were better off without the Lumos charm. If there was a trap waiting for them, it was better if LeStrange didn't see them coming.
Eventually, after what must have been an hour to Harry, they came to the end of the passageway and could see the light shining in the opening. It was a dim light, but after the complete darkness of the tunnel it stood out like a neon sign. The two Gryffindors crept up to the light. It was a small door at the top of a short ladder. and the light was from a small peep hole that was in the middle of the door, putting it at roughly eye level.
Harry who was only 13 and small for his age wasn't quite tall enough so he let Neville look. "No sign of them. It's a room in an old house. Doesn't look like anyone lives here anymore except for a few animals. There are claw marks on everything." Neville whispered to him.
The two of them, wands in hand, slowly opened the door. Harry entered the room first, with Neville trailing behind him. Neville had been right about it looking like a room in an abandoned house. It was very disordered, dusty, and the paper was peeling from the walls. There were stains all over the floor, and every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up, letting in only a little of the orange-tinted setting sunlight. The door to the passageway silently swung closed. This side of the door looked like it was just decrepit paneling; if Harry had not known to look, even now with the house in disrepair, he wouldn't have known it was a door.
The thick dust on the floor showed where someone had been moving about and also clearly showed where someone else (Hermione!) had been dragged along the floor very recently. Harry and Neville started to follow the trail in the dust. It led out the door and into a corridor with a set of stairs at the end, so they cautiously followed it, half expecting to be attacked at any moment.
They were just about to follow the trail up the stairs when they heard the sound of struggling above them, which was followed by Hermione yelling "get the fuck away from me you psychotic bitch!" Harry was relieved, Hermione fighting back meant she was still alive. Then Hermione screamed in pain. Harry abandoned all thought of a careful approach and ran up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him, the sound of his footsteps echoing through the old house. At the top of the stairs he looked around. There were a number of doors off a small landing, with Hermione's now pained whimper coming from behind the nearest one.
He burst through the door to what was once a bedroom and saw a sight that made him as angry as he had only ever been once before. Hermione was lying on an old four poster bed that looked like it should have been turned to firewood a few decades ago. Her arms and legs were tightly bound with rope and she was covered in blood. the red showing brightly on her white blouse. The blood had come from Hermione's nose by the look of it. The sight reminded Harry of his birthday almost a year ago, Hedwig's blood shining on her white feathers, and just like then Harry lost it.
Harry charged at LeStrange, his wand in hand. He didn't know what spell he would have cast, as before he could finish raising his wand, LeStrange had been alerted by his energetic entrance and hit him with the spell she had ready. Harry's wand went flying from his hands, though he didn't try to retrieve his wand or run away or beg for mercy like other Wix that LeStrange had fought over the years. Hiding or trying to get back your weapon were things you did if you were thinking, and right now Harry was acting purely on rage. The momentum he already had closed the gap between the two; LeStrange was caught by surprise and did nothing to stop him as his fist came up and slammed into her face.
There were two pops that were so close together that they merged into one sound. The first was from LeStrange's nose as the cartilage broke and red blood quickly started to stain the convicts' grubby clothes. The second pop was from Harry's hand as his ring finger was dislocated. LeStrange's head flew back from the impact, spraying Harry with a few droplets of blood. Harry stepped forward and hit her again but this time she was already stumbling backwards resulting in a much weaker impact this time. Thanks to the adrenaline shooting through his system, Harry didn't even feel the pain in his dislocated finger
With the second strike being weaker, LeStrange was able to focus enough to get a spell off. The hex sent Harry flying backwards across the room and into the wall, Hermione screaming his name. Harry was lucky the wall was old wooden panels that had not stood up well to time. If it had been the stone walls from the castle, Filch would have needed a Squeegee to clean him up. Instead, it was the wall that broke, leaving Harry half buried in broken bits of wool and old wallpaper.
"You annoying fucking half blood, I have had enough of you!" screamed LeStrange. "You burn me, you cut me and now you punch me like a filthy discussing Muggle! I'll kill you. AVADA-"
A red beam of light shot from the doorway and struck LeStrange before she could finish her spell, causing her wand to go flying out of her hand. In all his anger at what was happening to Hermione Harry had forgotten about Neville. "Ge-Get away from them!" Neville waved his wand again saying 'Petrificus totalus,' only this time the spell didn't work. It wasn't that Neville had cast it wrong, and LeStrange wasn't blocking it somehow. For some reason, the spell fired off perfectly and hit it's target, only for some reason it just didn't do anything.
With the bitch currently wandless, Harry had enough time to pull himself out of the half rotted wall. Harry looked around quickly to see where his and LeStrange's wands had fallen. His was across the room from him, half hidden under an old set of drawers, while hers was nearer to him on the floor between them. LeStrange dove for her wand, only Harry was faster; it helped that Harry didn't try to pick up the wand. Instead, he brought his foot down on the wand as hard as he could, and with a snap the wand was broken into three separate pieces, only a few foul smelling bits of green stringy sinew connecting them.
"Harry look out!" Hermione was trying to free herself from the ropes, but they kept magically re-adjusting to hold her as she tried to escape. However, she could see what was happening and saw that Harry was too focused on the now-broken wand to notice that LeStrange was now charging at him instead of trying to reach the wand.
Hermione's shout was enough to get Harry to see the convict charging at him, her eyes filled with a mad fury. He didn't have any time to react or defend himself before she was on top of him, Harry now on his back while slaps, punches and claw-like nails rained down on him. Between LeStrange's insane screams about unworthy blood and trailers to the magical society Harry could hear Neville trying spell after spell to try and help Harry. The problem was that none of them were affecting the witch. Harry didn't know if it was Neville's skill with magic, or if it was just that his spells were for some reason not working on LeStrange, or just really bad aim but Harry could hear Neville casting spells that Harry was sure Neville knew and nothing was happening.
Harry fought back and gave as good as he got. He may have been small for his age and too skinny to be considered completely healthy, but his time at his relatives was matched by LeStrange's time in Azkaban. For every scratch, cut and bruise that she inflicted on Harry he gave her something in return. LeStrange tried to punch Harry again but slipped a little when Harry blocked the blow. Harry took the opportunity and flipped them so he was on top and started raining punch after punch on the prone psychopath. Hermione was shouting something at him but he wasn't listening.
If Harry had been paying attention he would have noticed that the flashing of spells from Neville's wand had stopped and Neville had fallen face first, arms at his side and legs completely straight, as he was hit from behind with a full body bind. His wand rolled until it came to rest near the two rolling on the floor. Suddenly, the room was lit by a shower of purple sparks. The parks reminded Harry of his eleventh birthday in Ollivander's when his wand had bonded with him. Neville's wand had rolled into LeStrange's hand and connected with her.
The next thing Harry knew was LeStrange had pointed the wand at him and everything went dark.
---ϟϟϟ---
The first thought that went through Harry's head when he returned to consciousness was ' ow. ' The adrenaline he had been running on since seeing Hermione's name next to LeStrange's on the map had worn off, and he could feel the effects of everything that he had gone through in the last few hours. His legs felt like he had run a marathon, his ring finger on his right hand was throbbing in sync to the beat of his heart, his nose felt like someone had smashed it with a cricket bat, and he ached all over from bangs and scraps caused by both the Whomping willow and his tussle with the psycho who had kidnapped Hermione.
A big part of Harry wanted to just lay down and go to sleep but that just wasn't going to happen. For one, he was hurting too much to sleep, and two, he couldn't lie down anyway. Harry opened his eyes to look around and was dismayed by what he saw. He, Hermione and Neville were all wrapped up in ropes and tied dangling from the exposed beams that used to hold up the ceiling.
LeStrange was lounging in an ornate silver snake-themed throne that definitely wasn't in the room before, while she idly spun Neville's wand around her fingers. Next to her stood Draco Malfoy, wearing the same smug look that he always wore. "Ah, it looks like little baby Potter has finally woken up." The merry tone of Bellatrix's voice did nothing to hide her vindictive personality. "Now that you are awake we can start getting tonight's entertainment ready."
Harry realized what must have happened, Draco must have followed them. When he saw what was happening he had attacked Neville from behind and LeStrange had gotten her hands on Neville's wand.
She turned to Malfoy and continued talking. "You see, nephew, we used to do something like this back during the day. When we went out on a raid, whether it was slaughtering mudbloods, cutting down the blood traitors and the unworthy, or even if it was just a spot of Muggle hunting, we would capture one or more of the trash and bring them home to entertain the faithful. It was always different. Sometimes we would use fire, sometimes ice. One time the Dark Lord used the Imperius to force a mudblood to eat her child, while her blood traitor of a husband was forced to watch. The trick is to make it slow, to draw out the fun." LeStrange was almost giddy with excitement as she recalled the memory.
Harry was feeling sick at the evident glee LeStrange got from those memories. He could hear Neville sobbing and Hermione was losing what was left of her lunch. Even Draco looked a little green.
"Tonight we will be using that." She waved her hand to a corner of the room behind Harry where he couldn't see.
"Why don't you tell Potter what came in after he was unconscious, mogblood." Draco sneers at Hermione.
"Leave Hermione out of this! You jumped up, inbred, daddy's little bitch!" Harry shouted at Malfoy.
"Not a chance." Malfoy spat out though the sneer. "The jumped up mudblood who has the nerve to look down on me is going to get exactly what it deserves. Now tell him or I'll cut your tail off before the rest of the fun starts!"
Hermione looked over at Harry for the first time since he had regained consciousness. The blood from her nose had dried on most of her face except where tears had trailed down her cheeks. The right side of her face was one big bruise. The worst part though was the look in her eyes, Harry couldn't see any of her usual determination, her fire. Hermione looked like she just wanted to curl up and sleep.
"Professor Lupin came along the tunnel." Hermione's voice was flat, without any inflexion.
"And the rest, pretty kitty." LeStrange prompted.
"Professor Lupin is a werewolf. I think that's where your father and his friends came up with the nickname Moony." Hermione finished.
The image of the stuffed animal that Harry remembered when he asked Lupin what he had called him when he was a kid flashed through his mind, and he thought Hermione was right. Uncle Moony's condition was probably well known to his parents and the other Marauders. Harry was a little hurt that he hadn't been told but was more worried about the fact that he, his girlfriend, and his friend were hung from the ceiling, obviously waiting to be fed to a werewolf.
LeStrange flicked her wand at Harry and with a slight sting Harry was spun around, so he could see Uncle Moony gagged with his feet and arms bound. He was struggling against the bonds trying to free himself but it wasn't helping. Harry could see what would happen. Once Lupin transformed his limbs would be thinner and the ropes holding him would slip off easily. Then, the kind professor who took the time to tell him about his father and to teach him and Hermione the Patronus Charm would be gone, and an animal driven by nothing but the instinct to kill and eat would take his place.
LeStrange started laughing as she watched Harry realize what was going to happen. "Come Draco. This will get messy, and Cissy will never forgive me if you get bitten. I just wish we had the time to set up somewhere to watch." With that she led a still-sneering Malfoy from the room.
The three of them were left tied up and hanging from the ceiling, slowly spinning. None of them talked and for a few minutes the only sounds were the grunts and scuffles as Lupin fought in vain to break free of his bonds. "Professor, have you taken wolfsbane?" Hermione asked, the urgency back in her voice. Their professor shook his head and tried to say something but the words were lost in his gag.
The full weight of what was about to happen pressed on Harry and he felt responsible for what was about to happen to Hermione. "Hermione. I'm sorry. If only we weren't… then LeStrange would nev-"
Hermione cut him off. "Don't you dare Harry James Potter. Don't you dare apologize for being my boyfriend!"
"But."
"No buts. The only thing I regret about our relationship is that we didn't get together sooner…" Hermione continued talking but Harry had stopped listening. Not because what she was saying wasn't important. In another situation, it would be the most important thing in the world to him. However, as he hung his head and slowly spun around, his eye settled on an old chest of drawers, and poking out from under it was Harry's wand.
The wand that was still wearing the summoning ring.
Harry had been completely stupid he had completely forgotten about his summoning rings when he was disarmed. He had devoted almost an entire year to create a solution to that exact situation and he had forgotten about it. He wriggled his hand and freed it a little from the ropes that held him and fed a small trickle of his magic into his ring. His wand came shooting across the room and into his hand.
Hermione had stopped talking now and there was a rattling at the window. In the sunset light Harry could see Hermione's wand bouncing against the windowpane, trying to get in. Harry started trying to use the severing charm to cut the ropes holding him but the angle made it difficult. After a few small cuts to himself and dropping his wand and having to resummon it twice, he was finally able to free his arm, and then it was a fairly simple matter to free himself and the others.
Hermione went straight to the window and opened it retrieving the wand that was still trying to get in. Neville looked around, still not saying anything. Professor Lupin, however, began to speak quickly. "Listen up, we don't have a lot of time before I transform and you three need to be gone before that happens. There is a little more happening than it appears, someone sabotaged my wolfsbane today, which means that there was someone at the school who was in on this little plot. The three of you need to get back up to the school and get to safety."
He picked up his wand from where LeStrange had left it and quickly cast a few spells. There was now a thick ring of metal around his neck that was attached to a chain, the other end of which was secured to the same support beams that the three teens had been hung from only minutes before.
"Here, take this." Lupin held out his wand to Neville.
"I can't take your wand." Neville shook his head, refusing to take it.
"I won't be able to use it tonight and my wolf form would probably use it as a chew toy anyway." He pushed the wand at Neville. "As your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, I'm telling you you don't go without a weapon when a murderer is after you, if you can help it. And as your professor it is my duty to do what I can to keep you safe, so you will take my wand and give it back to me tomorrow." The tone the professor used was enough to get Neville to take the wand.
Professor Lupin looked out of the window at the setting sun and winced. "You three need to go now. There are only a few minutes left until the moon rises. Don't take the passageway back, it's too narrow to avoid any spells that are shot at you."
"But we don't know where we are!" protested Hermione.
"We are in the Shrieking Shack. Now, out the window, go!"
The three teens opened the window and found a convenient tree there for them to climb down. "At least this tree isn't trying to squish me," Harry whispered as he led the way down. Harry had been worried about Neville climbing down as his roommate tended to be quite clumsy at the best of times; however, maybe as a result of his interest in herbology, Neville had the least trouble of the three of them climbing down the old oak.
They had just reached the road that led down to the village when they heard a howl from the shack telling them that Lupin had transformed. They started to walk quickly down the old unkempt road when Hermione stopped them. "How long do you think it will take for them to realise that we escaped when they don't hear our screams?"
"Bloody bollocks! We need to get off the road and run!" Harry's tone left no room for arguments and the three of them started off towards the castle as fast as they could, taking a much more direct route than the road.