Dumbledore had just sat down in his office when an owl flew through an open window and circled his desk, dropping a letter right in front of him. He picked up the letter and looked at the seal; it was from the Ministry. Dumbledore opened it and scanned the letter. His eyes widened as he read the note at the bottom.

“Oh no.”

Dumbledore dropped the letter and stood up. He started to pace around the room.

“What should I do? Voldemort probably has the potion by now and there’s no doubt that he is going to use it on Harry.”

For the first time in his life, Albus Dumbledore felt completely helpless. All he could do now was wait.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Severus Snape had woken up to the sound of rustling in the trees nearby and voices. He swore when he realized that he wouldn’t be able to move Harry out of the way in time.

‘Well, if I’m caught too, that wouldn’t do either of us very good,’ he thought. He tried to quickly move behind the boulder he was leaning against. This, of course, wasn’t very easy due to his injuries.

He had just managed to pull himself out of view when a group of Deatheaters burst through into the clearing. He immediately recognized Lucius Malfoy and his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle Sr.. His heart started beating a little faster when he saw that there were six Deatheaters in all and they had noticed Harry.

Snape couldn’t make out what they were saying. He decided to peer out from around the rock. He saw Goyle pick Harry up and throw him over his shoulder. The group started to walk away into the forest, but before they were completely out of view, Snape managed to catch Harry’s eye.

Snape sighed and leaned back against the rock. He would have to follow them somehow. Of course he should have realized that Voldemort would call a Deatheaters meeting when the Occisor had failed to bring Potter back.

Snape sat for a few moments. Suddenly his eyes widened and he grabbed his sleeve, jerking it up. His eyes widened. The Dark Mark on his arm was no longer black, but instead it was red.

‘That’s why I didn’t feel anything when Voldemort called. He knows I’m a traitor!’

Snape swore again, but was cut off by rustling in the bushes. He peered slowly around the rock and was just in time to see the Occisor creep off in the direction Harry had been taken.

‘The Occisor must want to be the one to bring Potter back to Voldemort. Well, that’s one more set of tracks I can follow.’

Snape slowly got to his feet and started off into the forest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry awoke from unconsciousness just in time to hear a shout from somewhere behind him. He tried to see what was happening, but it was hard to tell because he was still groggy. From what he could make out, something was attacking the Deatheaters. Goyle Sr., who was still carrying him, had started to run. Harry realized that only Lucius Malfoy and Goyle had managed to get away from whatever was attacking the group. The rest of the Deatheaters were scattered around the forest floor.

Harry looked around, trying to find the attacker. He let out a shout as a dark blur came out of nowhere right behind them. It was quickly gaining on them and there was no way that they could escape.

Suddenly Harry was flying through the air. He landed hard on the ground a few yards away. He looked to see what had happened and saw that Goyle Sr. had tripped over a tree root. He had apparently hit his head on something because he wasn’t moving. It was then that Harry realized that Goyle was dead, the Occisor hunched over him.

Harry urgently looked around in search of Lucius Malfoy. He was nowhere in sight. Harry scrambled back against a tree ignoring the pain in his shoulders. He looked around desperately, trying to figure out how to get away. The Occisor was closing in and was only a few feet away.

Harry shut his eyes. He’d rather not see himself be torn apart. He tried thinking of all the happy times in his life. He lost his focus as he felt the Occisor’s breath on his face.

‘Well, this is it,’ Harry thought, ‘this is how it’s going to end. After all my narrow escapes, I’ve seemed to run out of luck.’

Harry took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Severus Snape was making slow progress. His back was hurting more then ever and he didn’t think he’d be able to get to Harry in time.

“Just like Potter to get himself captured,” Snape muttered. “Why couldn’t he have just kept himself out of trouble for once!”

Snape sighed. He trudged along following the set of tracks. He looked up at the dense branches.

“I can’t even tell if it’s night or day!”

Snape’s foot caught on something and he just barely kept himself from falling. He looked down to see what had tripped him. He was thankful that it wasn’t Potter this time. It seemed that the Occisor had already gotten to the Deatheaters, four of them to be exact. Now he just needed to find out where the other two had gone.

Just then he heard a shout from ahead. ‘Definitely Potter,’ Snape thought.

He quickly moved towards the direction the shout had come from.

“Off to save Potter again,” Snape growled under his breath.