Crack

The three of them landed in a heap, none of them having the chance to disentangle themselves during the fall.

Harry knew instantly that something was wrong, the fall had taken far too long to happen and it had felt like they were spinning when they hadn’t been to start with. And it was so quiet! Just a moment ago, voices had been echoing off the stone walls as the professors had shouted at them. He wrestled himself back from the others, pushing Snape’s arm out of the way so that he could see.

The stone walls were gone, Harry thought, looking around. The walls looked like normal plaster instead. There was a couch as well, and an armchair, and a solid looking wooden table, and blood.

Blood?

Harry shook his head, and searched himself for any injuries, it took a moment to realise that it wasn’t him that was bleeding.  Fowley had fallen at the bottom of their pile and it hadn’t ended well. The kid seemed to have hit their head off that solid table on their way to the floor, with the full force of Snape and Harry bearing down on them. Harry had started to scramble his way towards Fowley, when he felt an intense burning in his scar. He stopped where he was crouched, paralysed for a moment by the pain.

Snape stood quickly, in a flurry of black robes. He started searching frantically around the room, pointing his wand where his eyes were looking.

“Snape,” Harry hissed. “What about Fowley?”

“Leave them be, Potter.” Snape shot back, his voice devoid of emotion. Snape came across a bookcase and started pulling out books from the shelves, glancing at each title before throwing them onto the floor. He got through five before spotting a newspaper on an armchair, and heading for that. On his way, he strode past Harry, and pushed him back to the floor impatiently as the boy moved towards the child’s body on the floor.

“Stay back!” He snapped.

There was a thumping noise from outside the room, and Harry glanced up, first to look at the door, and then to Snape, who had dropped the paper and stood with his wand at arm’s length. Harry scrambled to see where his wand had fallen, but it was hard to focus past the pain in his head.

The door burst open, and Harry and Snape stared for a moment at the doorway, waiting for someone to come in. Snape’s wand raised high, and Harry still feeling blindly for his. Nobody came in.

There was a few seconds of silence, before Harry became aware of the tiniest of noises, coming from surprisingly nearby.

Looking down, still slightly worried of looking away from the door, Harry jumped as he saw something furry moving across the floor.

A moment later, he shouted, recognising the large, brown rat. Snape turned to look in time to spot it, trying to fire a red stunner at it.

The rat squealed loudly and somehow managed to avoid the bolt of red light by squeezing under Fowley’s leg.

Harry’s hand shot after it, but was too late to grab what the rat had seen – Harry’s own wand.

In a moment, the rat was upon the wand, contorting around itself, and growing monstrously. Harry lunged forwards, fists flying, but he was sent sprawling backwards.

Harry’s arms were pulled behind his back and he felt something wrap around his wrists, like a rope, keeping them there. With shock, he looked at Snape who was sneering at Pettigrew, wand trained on him. Harry wasn’t certain who had cast the spell on him, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it had been Snape.

“Where is the Dark Lord?” Snape asked, disdainfully.

Harry gulped and took a shaky step away from the man, balance a little thrown off. He watched Peter and Snape nervously, head flicking between the two men, ready to throw himself flat if he needed to dodge any unfriendly spells.

Harry felt slightly sick, his headache was still there, a constant sharp pain from the centre of his forehead. It was the same as first year, the same as his dreams over the summer. And he knew what the pain meant. Voldemort.

“The D-dark Lord is nearby, Snape.” Pettigrew said, trembling. “Give the boy to me you will be summoned when he needs you.”

“If He is here, then I will see him.” Snape insisted. “Merlin knows, he needs a servant who will be of use to him. Not a rat, or an incompetent.” He scowled down at Fowley’s unconscious body, not at all sympathetic or concerned.

Harry’s hands slipped behind him and he felt for the rope around his wrists, trying to tell how loose it was, and whether there was an end to it.

“The Dark Lord does not accept traitors for his servants.” Pettigrew hissed, and Snape’s face turned downright scary.

“That rules you out then, doesn’t it?” Harry interrupted. Pettigrew’s eyes narrowed and he looked at them both with open suspicion. Harry wondered how the man had ever managed to fool his parents.

“Do shut up, Potter.” Snape said, not bothering to turn around.

Harry was tempted to kick him, but Snape still looked pretty fierce, so he focussed on trying to free himself unobtrusively.

“I will take the boy to Him. You will leave, and return when He summons.”

Snape shook his head. “If one of us goes, both must go. You recall the proximity spell, I suppose? I assume your little spy told you about that?”

Pettigrew frowned, twisting Harry’s wand in his hand, “That is easily fixed.”

“Do you truly believe you could best me in a duel, you worthless waste of fur?”

Pettigrew made a strange hand movement and then shrugged. “Maybe I can’t, Snape.”

“Stupefy.” A deep voice called, and Harry and Snape flinched back as a bolt of red appeared from the doorway.

Turning to look, and struggling to free his hands totally, regardless of who saw him doing so, Harry saw another man standing in the doorway, in darkness.

Snape disarmed Pettigrew with a silent Expelliarmus, and Harry’s wand flew across the room. Snape ignored it, distracted by Pettigrew pulling another out of his robe pocket.

Harry chased after his wand, ducking behind a sofa which let out an eruption of stuffing as it was caught by a nasty cutting curse. His hands pulled free finally and he put up a shield charm so that he could peek out from his hiding place.

The room was in chaos. Fowley was still lying on the floor, and had started twitching in an odd, uncoordinated way. Snape was battling both Pettigrew and the man at the door, who seemed to have very slow reactions, he didn’t even flinch as one of Snape’s curses caught him in the face.

Harry wasn’t sure what Snape’s role was in all of this. Harry had started to really trust the man over the past few days, but here he was talking about the ‘Dark Lord’, and taking Harry to him. Harry realised with a start that if Snape wanted to take him to Voldemort then there was very little that Harry could do about it. All Snape would have to do was to walk himself to wherever Voldemort was and Harry would be dragged along regardless.

The man by the door advanced into the room, and Harry was finally able to see him. Harry’s jaw dropped in shock, because he recognised him, and it was almost the last person he would have expected.

Looking totally different to the last time Harry had seen him – at the kerfuffle which was the end of the Quidditch World cup. Mr Crouch was pale as – well, as pale as Snape. He had a deep cut on his temple with blood streaming down to the corner of his mouth, and down to drip from his chin onto the carpet. His wand was gripped tightly in his hand. Harry watched him, confused, trying to figure out what he was doing.

The man was a ministry official, so it was possible he was here to arrest the two wizards, but at least one of those curses had been aimed very near to Harry. The boy dropped down again to renew his shield charm.

Peering back over the couch, Harry was shocked to see that Crouch was aiming for him, and approaching fast.

Strangest of all, his eyes were totally blank.

Harry stared for a second before panicking and searching for any kind of exit. Even as he was looking, Crouch lifted his wand and the couch caught fire. At the same moment, Snape dodged too far to one side and Harry was tugged out into the open by the proximity spell. He swore loudly.

Crouch stared at the sofa for a moment, smiling vaguely. It suddenly hit Harry that he knew why the man was acting like that. He had seen so many people acting the same way – his entire Defence class. Mr Crouch was under the Imperius Curse.

Harry sent a quick look over at Pettigrew who was trying desperately to avoid being hit by Snape’s endless barrage of curses. 

“Sorry, Mr Crouch.” Harry muttered, feeling in his pocket. He pulled out one of the marble blocks and hoped this wouldn’t hurt the man too much. With a quick throw, a bit like a shot-put, Harry launched the ball at the wizard, whose reflexes were too dulled to dodge it. Harry grimaced at the impact of the ball into the man’s stomach, and from the noise of the stone dropping to the floor.

He followed it up with a stupefy, as the man stood, dazed for a moment. Crouch wavered on his feet for a long moment, eyes blank, before falling, boneless to the floor. There was a frustrated shout from the other side of the room as Pettigrew noticed his ‘ally’ had collapsed.

There was a loud scraping noise by the doorway, and Harry span to look, recognising the sound. He fought the urge to close his eyes as tightly as possible, knowing that it couldn’t be a basilisk, but the noise being so similar.

“What is happening? You have awakened my master.”

Harry gulped at the size of the snake which made its way into the room. It was probably second in size only to the basilisk, many times larger than the snake harry had seen in the zoo.

“Snake.” Harry said in a small voice, somewhat shocked. It headed directly for Fowley, and its tongue shot out to taste the blood coming from the child’s head.

“Potions.” It hissed, disdainfully, withdrawing and casting an eye over towards Crouch.

Snape pushed Harry out of the way roughly to combat the new threat. And Harry found himself face to face with a bleeding, but smirking Peter. Harry felt the resolve settle in his chest as he looked at the man who had betrayed his parents. Harry raised his wand and cast, exactly at the same moment as Peter raised his.

“Expelliarmus”

“Vincire”

Harry’s red spell collided with a sheet of blue light from the wand Pettigrew held, and instead of the ricochet Harry was prepared to dodge, the two lights merged into one. The two colours condensed into a thin band of silvery light, connecting the two duellists across the room. Harry’s wand grew warm in his hand and he started to feel it pulling him up, unable to let go of the wand. A glance at the man on the other side of the room showed Harry that he was having the same problem. When Harry was about 5 feet off the ground, the ascent stopped and small balls of light appeared all along the silver band.

A web of light grew from the centre of the one connecting Harry and Wormtail, spreading out to fill the room. An astonished noise came from below them and Harry looked down to see Snape standing directly below him, staring up at the scene, one hand grasping at his arm.

Snape was covered in blood, but Harry couldn’t tell whose it was from his awkward position.

The beads of light on the chain had started to move without Harry’s noticing, and had grown closer and closer to his wand. The wood started to heat up under his fingers, and instinctively he tried to force it away from himself, thinking a frantic push.

That seemed to work and the beads flew along the chain to Wormtail’s wand, and the wizard shouted as it burned him, unable to let go. Flashes of light started to appear from the tip of Wormtail’s wand, mostly the muted flicker of what looked like spells, which had no effects. Then something strange started to happen- what looked like a hand started to appear from the tip of the wand, a kind of grey shadow, a bit like a ghost. The hand was followed by an arm, and a head.

The three wizards watched in shock as what looked like an old man in muggle clothes pushed itself out of the end of the wand, and landed on the web of light, stretching itself. Wormtail looked petrified, and just stared as the old man turned and spat at him, before turning to look at Harry, who felt like he kind of recognised the man.

“They killed me, boy. Don’t let them get you.”

The man started pacing around the web, and more ghostly spells appeared from the wand, before another body started making an appearance. This time it was a woman who appeared, a tall, black witch in her forties with a sulky expression, whom Harry had seen in the papers.

She ignored Harry to berate Pettigrew instead.

“I always knew you were a little…”

Pettigrew was clearly trying to ignore her, staring petrified at the end of his wand, where something else was starting to emerge. Harry tried to work out if he should let go. Maybe while Wormtail was distracted, it would be the best time to leave? He shook his wand experimentally.

“Potter-“ Snape said, diverting Harry’s attention. Harry looked down at the man, distrusting. Snape simply stared up at him, expression unreadable. “Hold on for a minute.”

Harry had forgotten Snape, and that any escape would have to be co-ordinated. He groaned, he had forgotten Fowley and Mr Crouch as well.  

“Check Fowley.” Harry called down to Snape.

Harry was fairly sure that the man cared about his little student. Snape looked over at the kid, and glanced back up at the web, reluctant. After a long moment, he tore his gaze away and rushed to the Slytherin’s body.

“Incarcerate. Ennervate.” Harry watched him in shock as he first tied up and then awoke Fowley, who looked deathly pale, and horrified to see Snape standing over them. Snape pulled the kid’s hand straight while they were confused and pulled at the ring on their finger with a handkerchief. “Legilimens!”

“Harry, my brave, clever boy.”

Harry’s head whipped up, and he stared at the woman in front of him. His heart leapt painfully in his chest.

“Mum?”

And there she was. Right there, in front of him. Well, almost. A shadow of her, like the others had been. She was staring down at him, nodding and smiling sadly, her eyes full of love. Harry was struck by how young she looked. Harry knew students who had been at Hogwarts when he was a first year who must be older than she appeared. He thought about how old she had seemed in the Mirror of Erised years ago- the age she should have been, she was barely older than him now.

“Your father is on his way, love, he can’t wait to see you.” She smiled sadly, glancing back at where yet another body had jumped down from Pettigrew’s wand.

Peter looked like he was going to be sick, and then promptly was as James Potter turned around to look at him with pure loathing. James didn’t say a word to him, and instead practically ran over to join his wife.

Harry ran a hand through his hair, marvelling at how similar it was to his father’s.

“At least he didn’t get your hair.” James said, putting an arm around Lily, who laughed breathily.

 “He looks just like you,” Lily said.

“No, his face is all yours.” He replied, squeezing her close, and smirking. “Apart from the chin, that’s that Potter curse.”

They came in closer, faces turning serious. Harry could see the two other shadows behind them suddenly converge on Wormtail, who cringed back from them in fear, causing the entire web of light to shake.

“We have to be quick, Harry- there isn’t much time. You need to get out of here as soon as the connection breaks. Try to take Mr Crouch, but you must have Snape, trust him- otherwise you will both be trapped.” James spoke urgently and quietly. “He has called some of his followers, so you need to get out of here, and don’t let Snape come back.”

“Leave Peter.” Lily said, ignoring the Look on James and Harry’s faces. “I know how much you hate him, Harry. But he will not survive the war that is to come, and he owes you a life debt, he will not be able to satisfy that debt and serve Him.”

“Severus.” Lily called down. Snape’s head turned towards them, and his eyes rolled in his head, appearing totally white for a moment until the black pupils came back into focus. He stared up at the Potters with what looked to Harry like fear. He dropped Fowley unceremoniously to the floor and the body hit with a dull thump.

He stood, unspeaking, and came as close as he could.

Lily’s voice dropped very low. “Severus, there’s nothing you can do about Him right now. Get yourself and Harry out of here, before anyone else gets here.”

Snape simply nodded up at her, “I’m sorry.” He said, stiltedly.

“We forgive you.” Lily said, reaching her hand out to her husband. “Keep looking after our boy, he needs you. Be good, Harry.”

“We love you, Harry.” James said, running a hand through his fringe with his other hand. They turned together and walked straight for Wormtail.  There was the sound of thumps from the ceiling above them.

When his parents reached Wormtail, Harry heard Snape say. “Now, Potter.” And tore his wand away, breaking the web of light, which vanished.

Harry fell to the ground, where Snape helped him stay on his feet. The man pulled him along to the insensible Mr Crouch, over the body of the huge snake, unmoving. They crouched next to the man, ignoring the shouts of a terrified Wormtail, and the sound of feet on a set of stairs.

Snape produced the handkerchief with the ring inside and held it over Crouch’s arm, taking hold of the man with his other hand.

“On Three.” He said to Harry, locking eye contact, “One, Two, Three.”

They all touched the ring at once, Harry saw masked faces appear in the doorway in time for them to recognise each other. There were only about four of them, pressing forwards, all dressed in black robes and gruesome silver masks.

They tumbled back into existence in the corridor they had left not so long ago, giving Professor McGonagall a fright as she jumped up from a chair she had presumably conjured for herself. She hurried to her feet to check them over, before conjuring three tabby cat patronuses which streaked off in different directions.

“Are you alright?” Snape stood, ignoring Mr Crouch, in order to check Harry for injuries.

“You’re the one that’s bleeding.” Harry pointed out through heavy breaths, waving at the blood that was covering an entire side of Snape’s black robes.

“It is mostly not mine.” Snape shrugged.

“Nevertheless, you are both coming to the hospital wing.” McGonagall said bluntly. “We shall have to take the stairs, I am afraid – if you can both manage?”

“We could take the floo from my common room.” Snape said, puzzled. “It is far closer.”

McGonagall huffed. “And that would be faster- had your students not barricaded themselves inside.”

“They did what?”

McGonagall looked at Harry, “Whatever instructions they received from Professor Snape, they have obviously taken to heart. They have not allowed anyone entry. Professor Dumbledore is attempting to gain access via the floo grate in his office as we speak.”

“That’s… both sensible of them and a bit melodramatic.”

“That is Slytherins, Mr Potter.” McGonagall started to lead the way up the staircase, checking that they could both keep up without any difficulty. Snape sighed and conjured a floating stretcher for Crouch.

Harry and Snape flinched as there was a sudden flash of gold and a feather appeared, floating down from the ceiling, the same thing happened in front of them, as one appeared in front of Professor McGonagall.

“The headmaster knows we’re home then.” Snape said, watching Harry catch it out of the air. "Come along, Potter.”