The car drive was several hours long and Harry soon dozed off, only hoping that he wouldn't have any strange dreams about Voldemort. Vernon would definitely kill him or simply throw him out the car if he spoke killing curses in his dreams.

When they arrived, Harry felt immediately that there was something wrong in this place, something bad.

A tall, balding man lead them to the creepy building which used to be called "Ravenspark Lunatic Asylum" and Harry was sure that this atmosphere was certainly not one in which anyone would get better in.

"We are trying to destroy it," said the tall man. "Four wrecker's companies haven't managed, Mr. Dursley. You are our last hope."

Vernon furrowed his brow. Harry could see that his uncle didn't like this little fact. Something was wrong about this red sand stone building. He could sense dark vibes, as if it had been cursed. It probably was and that was the reason why no one was able to destroy it.

"Some people think the building is haunted and that the ghosts of the inmates don't want it destroyed."

Vernon shook his head. He didn't believe in such nonsense. His drill would beat the wall, of course the building couldn't be cursed because his life motto was: Which must not, cannot be.

Harry could tell the man who said his name was Mr. Lorel that he thought that the people in the town were probably right, but he thought better.

"If you want to destroy it, why drill through the walls before? Surely, the wrecker's ball is the preferred option..."

The man smiled knowingly.

"Have you ever heard of Hooke's Law of Elasticity?"

Vernon nodded and suddenly his face lit up.

"Well, then, Mr. Dursley, you know what you have to do."

"Are the points marked already?" Vernon asked, now forcing a highly professional tone into his voice while he brought out the drill and started assembling it.

"No. It takes a while to calculate. We first need to know if it's possible at all."

Vernon nodded again. Petunia, carrying a large picnic basket, looked around nervously and seemed rather reluctant to go into the building, so Vernon told her that she and Dudley could find a nice place and have a picnic. Dudley must be starving. Harry actually was, but no one spared a thought.

Harry stared at the drill and wondered what on earth was so special about it and why it should be able to drill cursed walls. Before he could think straight, he felt himself wishing that this would be over soon and the drill started glowing. Vernon gasped and stared at it, then at Harry. If Mr. Lorel hadn't been there, he would have hit him, but he was trying to keep up appearances. Harry was terrified. He had no idea what he had done to the drill by the sudden outburst of accidental magic. Usually, this didn't happen as often anymore. Not since Hogwarts. Harry wasn't even sure if he had been the one who made the drill glow. If the project didn't work out then Vernon would lose the offer - he would blame Harry, of that he was sure.

As soon as Mr. Lorel, who looked as if his suit was tailored just for him, was a few meters ahead, Vernon grabbed Harry and hissed in his ear. "If you have done something to my drill with your nonsense, you will have a very... very hard time very... very soon."

Harry shook his head again. "Uncle, I didn't mean to... I don't think I've done anything bad to it..."

Harry had always wondered why the Dursleys treated accidental magic like faecal incontinence. Didn't Dumbledore write them a letter explaining that a wizard at times simply couldn't help it? Especially when not allowed to do any magic at all.

"Spare us your pathetic excuses, boy. Get in."

Hesitantly, Harry obeyed. The red sandstone building repulsed him. He knew that ghosts did exist, and in general, in opposition to the muggles he knew, wasn't scared of them, however, he had no intention of meeting the ones that haunted this place.

Inside, it looked as if people had only left recently. And in a hurry. The registration book was still lying there, open, and one would expect a nurse to stand there taking every visitor's name.

On the floor where hundreds of old keys, more than there were doors in this place. Old entrance signs were scattered on the floor. "Cunninghame Combination Poorhouse" or "Ravenspark Lunatic Asylum".

Definitely not the place you'd want to be in if you had mental problems, Harry thought.

The hairs in his neck were standing and he had the distinct feeling of being watched.

Walking along a corridor that was far too long for being pleasant, Harry heard footsteps right behind him. He turned around but  there was no one there. Vernon and Mr. Lorel were ahead. Something was wrong.

Petunia and Dudley were having a picnic outside, so it couldn't have been them.

He still followed the two men until they arrived in the children's ward. The cots were still there, some had fallen over. All were dirty and they looked like miniature jails. Harry shuddered.

"So, Mr. Dursley. If you manage to drill this outside wall, you have a deal."

The fact that they had come all this way to drill a hole in the wall seemed absurd to Harry. But then, he had never been part of the muggle world. His first ten years he spent mainly in the cupboard, apart from primary school which wasn't exactly life. And then he went to Hogwarts. And the summers he spent in his room. So he didn't know that it was in fact, an absurd thing to do, even for muggles, who did many absurd things. The idea that he was being set up didn't enter his mind. Not yet anyway.

Vernon was very busy assembling his drill. He seemed rather confident after he inspected the wall. The thought that it might have been cursed and that was the reason why no one else could do it didn't come up. Of course not.

Wearing his ‘professional face’ expression and after a lot of tapping and knocking with a little hammer, Vernon pulled up his sleeve to expose a huge arm and enormous muscles under the many layers of fat.

The wall didn't give in and Vernon was confused.

"Do you need electricity?" asked Mr. Lorel.

"No," panted Vernon, "it is fully charged."

It was impossible. He tried again, now at a different angle and with a purple face. It worked. A small hole appeared and Harry let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding in.

"Amazing!" exclaimed Mr. Lorel. "Truly amazing. You have just made the deal of your life."

Happy that it did work, Vernon forgot about Harry and that he was angry and the three of them hurried out. Petunia and Dudley were already waiting in the front entrance, the large picnic basket was now half-empty.

The Dursleys and Mr. Lorel left the building first. Lorel pressed a button on his car key. As soon as he was out the door, a quiet, desperate sounding voice carried through the corridors and in the entrance hall. "Severus... help me..."

Petunia shrieked and her basket shattered all over the floor. Vernon's drill case fell with a loud bang and Dudley dropped his half-eaten sandwich.

In shock, Harry twirled around on his heels to see where the voice came from and made a decision he knew he would later regret. He ran back in.

Someone Harry couldn't see was trying to shove him out the door, too, where the Dursleys had already escaped but Harry managed to break free and keep running.

The doors shut. He couldn't see anybody and decided that the voice had been a ghost and that it was stupid to stay. Bloody instincs. Now panting and clutching his side, he hurried back to the entrance hall and the front door.

It wouldn't open. Harry peeked out the barred window with the glass already broken and saw that the Dursleys were getting in the car, as fast as they could and Harry shouted. But they didn't hear him.

Mr. Lorel watched them, then looked directly in his direction, a distant expression on his face. And Harry realised.

The door didn't open, not with several unlocking charms, not with keys, not with anything. The Dursleys and the obviously imperiused Lorel were already away. The windows were barred. He couldn't even disapparate and every spell he tried felt somehow weaker than the one before.

It was a trap.