Last time:

And yet things were not to stay quiet for long, and on the day of the last Hogsmeade visit before Christmas, something unexpected happened that would turn Harry’s life upside down.

In years to come, Harry would look upon this day as both a curse and a hidden blessing. He had gone down to the Potion Master’s office to attend his last Occlumency lesson before next spring, when a terrible surge of pain attacked his scar. Even when he rammed up his Shields, he was not able to block of the feelings of anger that flickered at him from his forehead. Once the pain ended, however, he moved much more swiftly to the office; only to find that the Professor was reading himself to leave the castle, dressing in his Death Eater garb.

Severus would never understand what possessed the young man to attempt to either go with him at least to Grimmauld place, or to attempt to protect him in asking him not to go at all. Both scenarios were shot down as gently as could be, given the fact that both of them were in growing agony. At the end though, it was a sharp ‘No!’ that ended the argument. Afterwards he Flooed to Headquarters to give the message to the Order that the skirmish they had been waiting for had finally started, as well as to go join the Death Eaters in the attack (though not to fight on their side).

After Snape left, Harry stalked off, his mind awhirl in anger, and resignation that he was helpless to help anyone. He murmured to himself under his breath “You had better come back, Severus.” So distraught was he that he hadn’t even noticed that he called the man by name in voice and in his head. All he could see was the need to do something, anything, to keep himself busy. He then decided it was finally time to get out from under Scare.

Once he had finished telling his ‘employer’ that he was ready to do the collection run, and stuffing the new cloak in his bag, he went to find Luna. Draco mentioned that he had seen her in one of the classrooms just outside the Great Hall, reading a book and looking like she was waiting for someone. Making a beeline to that classroom, he wasn’t disappointed as he did indeed find Luna there.

As he entered the room, she looked up from her book, and smiled that beautiful smile of hers. The way she acted always made him feel as if she was waiting for him. Walking over to her on silent feet, he says softly “There is something I’ve been meaning to give you for a while now, if you will consent to take it?” He waited for her answer while fending off Draco’s curious probes. He needed to do this, for her protection as well as his own peace of mind.

Luna tilted her head, looking at him curiously. She smiled again, and agreed to accept whatever it was that he was going to give her. However, it came as a surprise when he pulled up his left sleeve, undid the catches on his bracer, and removed it. He asked her to pull up her right sleeve, and bear her wrist for him. She did so, still somewhat stunned (though her serene face showed none of her inner feelings). He closed the bracer gently over her wrist, and then shut the clasps.

“While the bracer is important to me, it is even more important that you have it. Please stay safe, Mothwing.” he murmured. She smiled at his pet name for her, and accepted his gentle peck on her cheek. As he left her, she looked in wonder at the bracer, and wondered what the significance was that he had given it to her.

***

An hour later

Harry growled softly to himself, pacing the length of the alleyway a tenth time. His partner had never come, leaving the teen high and dry in the cloak that signaled he was collecting. Sighing with frustration, he began the Run alone. Most of the customers knew him, though he was usually delivering the drugs, not collecting the money. Thankfully, though, up until the last one cooperated in giving the money.

As he neared the last house, he had to grab hold of the wall as a dizzy spell hit him, and his eyes began seeing crawling things. Thankfully it was weaker than it had been months ago, when Snape had taken away the alcohol. Drying up had been harder than the drinking, and Harry was somewhat proud that he had managed to make it four months without the stuff.

Once the spell ended, he continued to make his way to the last house. He suspected that this one wasn’t going to be easy, as his luck never continued to run smoothly forever. He happened to be correct this time, as the last holdout happened to be a man that didn’t appreciate a shrimp of a boy demanding money for a product he had bought months ago.

The ensuing fight, however, was brief, and Harry collected the money with minimal bloodshed. He had managed to leave the man alive, if a little beat up. However, once he entered into an alleyway to return to the allowed paths of students, he was confronted by his contact. Surprisingly, the contact was angry that Harry had not killed, and demanded to know why. The answer of not wanting to kill wasn’t taken well either.

Turning to leave with a sneer, Harry began to walk down the alleyway again. He was stopped by several cracks, however, as he found himself surrounded by no less than five Death Eaters. It became all too clear that his contact had sold him out, perhaps even Scare.

Try as he might, Harry was no match for five Death Eaters, and was taken down after ten minutes of hard battling. Though the commotion likely drew attention, by the time anyone reached the alleyway, he had been taken away from there. Within five minutes he was facing the creep lord himself, Voldemort.

The man was disturbingly happy to finally have ‘the Potter boy’ under his roof. However, when he noticed that Harry was in no shape to be in his presence, he demanded that the teen be placed with the other prisoner until he had recuperated from the hard battle. Thus, Harry was dragged away only to be tossed lightly into a cell within a cell. As he heard both the cell door shut, and the entrance door locked, he moved towards a wall to curl around his knees and preserve warmth. He barely noticed that there was a window high up, and it was one of the barred kind that can never be shut.

His concentration on how cold it was was broken when something stirred in the other corner. A familiar voice stated in an almost mocking voice (though it was more the accent of a rich person) “So, He finally caught you did He? We are all doomed then.” Harry’s brilliant green eyes gazed in horrified wonder at the sight before him. What had once been a properly groomed gentleman was now a ragged, grimy mess. But the cold gray eyes gave no doubt as to the person’s identity, even if the once white-blonde hair was nearer brown with caked on filth. Harry dreaded to think what he would look like, if as proud and rich a man as this one could be brought down to such a state.