When Harry regained consciousness he felt his hands tied up behind his back and he heard Mr Burgess’ voice addressing Snape right above him.

“You didn’t feel the need to rush to your protégé’s support, did you, Professor Snape?” Burgess said lightly.

“He didn’t move a finger,” said Lucius.

“Well, he didn’t have a wand, did he? There was nothing he could do. It doesn’t prove anything,” sneered Burgess.

“Potter is no protégé of mine,” intervened Snape in a disgusted tone. “Now when is your leader coming? The resurrected Mr M, if he exists? Or the mysterious Mme H?” Mr Burgess looked at him thoughtfully.

“M will be here in due time. We’ll have to wait,” he said. “Now, Harry Potter vouched for you. That’s interesting.”

Harry sat up with difficulty, but kept his gaze on the ground.

“I told you I would manage to manipulate him into doing it,” Snape said drawlingly, looking at Lucius.

“Why then the charade of us coming to rescue you on the transport to Azkaban?” snapped Burgess.

“That was Lucius’ idea. I wasn’t altogether sure my manipulation had worked until yesterday at the trial. I had to have a spare plan,” explained Snape.

“How did you do it?” asked Lucius with reluctant admiration in his voice.

“He hasn’t manipulated me into doing anything.” Harry could not hold his tongue any longer.

“Have I not, now?” Snape said silkily and looked down at him, unaffected and cold. “You’re so predictable Potter. Put yourself in a desperate situation and he’ll come and rescue you. That’s the thing about Potter - he likes to save people. Makes him feel good and in control of things. ”

“If that’s what you think, fine,” said Harry. “I know why I did it. And as I said at the trial I don’t expect anything in return. There’s no debt, no obligations. I acted out of principle.”

“Oh, but I’m eternally grateful,” sneered Snape and Lucius laughed. “It really facilitated things. And I get the chance to be a spy for the dark side once again.”

“You waste your time if you think you’ll be able to convince this lot,” said Harry and gestured with his head at the members of the Shiftings. Some of them growled at him while others made funny faces. “It was stupid of you to follow Mr Burgess from the start.”

“I tend to agree with Mr Potter,” said Burgess. “I was there at the inquiry. You spoke under a Veritaserum. How do you explain away that?”

Snape looked first at Harry then at Burgess with his cold black eyes and answered in a monotonous voice.

“A Veritaserum which I had been shown the recipe of beforehand. I’m the Master of Potions at Hogwarts - with all respect to Miss Cork’s excellent work this year, of course. Do you really think it was difficult for me to invent an antidote? It only took me a couple of hours. I could take it before the inquiry started and the Veritaserum would have no effect on me. I repeated the same trick at the trial. No one thought of it. And Judge Tempatino took the Draught along with me to help me prove its authenticity – what a fool!” Snape snorted. 

Harry stared intensely at Snape. Was it possible after all? He looked into Snape’s lustreless black eyes and shuddered. What was it that Mrs Steadfast had said? That Snape had plunged deep into Occlumency? It was impossible to tell what the man thought or felt.

“There you are Potter, I guess you misjudged Severus after all?” Lucius Malfoy taunted Harry.

“I don’t believe a word of what he says,” Harry said shortly and looked away. “But if he wants to try to dupe you, I won’t stand in the way.”

“What has he done or said to you to make you trust him, I wonder?” said Burgess and looked so intensely at Harry that he was afraid he would start Legilimency him.

“He saved my life,” he hastened to confess. Burgess looked at Snape.

“It’s true,” said Snape slowly and shrugged. “It was at the end of the summer. The first time you were introduced to us, Mr Burgess, if you remember? Mr Potter was ill and I cured him. A sort of exhortation. I thought it might be an advantage to have him indebted to me. It proved even better. That’s another thing with Potter. He has grown up in a family who didn’t love him and treated him scornfully so he’s extremely sensitive to the least little bit of kindness. Pretend to accord him some and he’ll attach himself to you as a teasel. Why, he has latched on to me all the way here, hasn’t he? He’s done it before, formed unhealthy attachments - I’m thinking of Sirius Black, if you remember? And the meaner you behave to him, the more plaguing you get, the better he’ll like you. Then finally, play hard to get, pretend not to want his help and it’s in the bag. He’ll do whatever you want. That’s how I manipulated him into vouching for me yesterday.” The Shiftings and the Death Eaters listened attentively and laughed at the end of his speech.

“Cunning,” Mr Burgess commented appreciatively.

Tears of humiliation rose in Harry’s eyes as Snape spoke. He turned his head defiantly towards him.

“If it makes you feel better to believe that you tricked me into it, be my guest, I don’t care,” he whispered. He had the impression that Snape flinched the least little bit before he lifted his eyes and stared out in the air as if he had not heard.

“Hmm, we’ll have to wait for M,” said Mr Burgess. “Settle down, Professor Snape, be our guest... No, Lucius, I won’t give him his wand just yet. Not before M brings his case to a conclusion once and for all. But first we need to eat - we’ve travelled a long way to get here.”

Lucius who had just opened his mouth, shut it with resentment. He muttered to himself as he grabbed Harry’s arm to drag him to the side. Suddenly Snape grabbed the other arm and steered Harry toward the cave and thrust him down beside Healer Frankiss. Harry observed that Burgess, after having accepted a bowl of soup that the pink-haired witch distributed among her fellow Shiftings, retired by penetrating deep inside the cave and sat down with his back to them. Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy and Melanie Cork crouched side by side at the entrance to the cave and seemed to be arguing. Lucius and Snape left Harry and walked out to join the others for food. Harry tried to make out the features of Healer Frankiss in the dark.

“Are you conscious, Healer Frankiss?” he whispered.

The wizard groaned silently. Harry started to struggle with his ropes.

“What are your injuries?” he whispered.

“A broken leg, the left femur,” Healer Frankiss whispered back in a weak voice. “I tried to heal it myself, but did it badly, I was too weak and I had no wand. I’m in pain. They have Crucioed me, tortured me every day since my capture.”

It upset Harry to listen to the frail voice and imagine the suffering inflicted on the elderly wizard, but he tried to calm down. He needed to concentrate if he was to wriggle out of his ropes. They were of a strong material which he would not be able to break by magic, but he felt the knot above his left hand. He might be able to modulate it and undo the knot if he concentrated. It was as difficult as tying your shoelaces with magic. Harry had done that spell at least a hundred times, however, even if it was a slightly useless one in his opinion, when he had practiced doing magic with his feet last autumn. Now, he had to work wandlessly with his hands. It took him several minutes to get free, but eventually he managed.

“I’ll see what I can do for you. I’m not a healer, but I know some incantations and I can always do a Relieving,” Harry whispered as he started to examine Healer Frankiss’ body with hands and magic. Harry was only able to improve him marginally – the healer needed help at a hospital. The torture had broken his magical core down to a critical level. Harry mended what little he could, finished with a Relieving incantation and noticed that the transfer consisted of pain mostly, not so much anguish.

“You’re not afraid of what they’ll do to us?” Harry asked Healer Frankiss.

“What will happen, will happen,” Frankiss answered slowly in a stronger voice than before. “Thank you for taking the pain away, Mr Potter. Whatever comes next, you’ve given me some breathing-space for which I’m extremely thankful.”

Harry noticed that Mr Burgess had disappeared from the place in the cave where he had been sitting in deep concentration. Harry was sure that the traitor had not passed before them to exit the cave. He peered into the darkness - could you go deeper? Was there another exit?

Suddenly Harry heard a tumult outside the cave and turned his head, but the contrast was too strong and he could not see properly against the light. Someone shrieked out there and the talking subsided to silence. There was a figure in the middle of the crowd with thick hair on end who carried himself with self-importance. Draco Malfoy was sent in to fetch Harry who followed him out and looked at the newly arrived wizard with screwed-up eyes. He winced a little at the sight, but as his eyes grew accustomed to the light he stared steadily at the contorted face surrounded by green hair before him.

“You disappoint me, Mr Potter. I thought the shock of seeing me would affect you more. I gave you a fright in Paris after all, didn’t I? I’m your fate, mate. This time you’ll not get away from me.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Mr Burgess. You’re not Machivato,” said Harry calmly.

A dismayed murmur spread among the Shiftings members. The expression on the transfigured and masked face was frozen in a malicious smile, but the green-haired wizard narrowed his eyes and took a step forward menacingly, trying to stare Harry down mutely.

“I saw you transform earlier in the Potions classroom and recognised the similarity of your face and the face of Machivato after I had killed him. You understand, I saw his real face, when he was dead. Who was he - your brother?” Harry tried to speak calmly.

“My brother, yes,” Mr Burgess answered with a defiant look at his supporters who seemed not to know what to think. “We founded this organisation together after Voldemort’s death, although I assumed a more humble and unobtrusive part whereas he was the natural leader. Of course he was the natural leader... He always was! My big brother. It has changed now, however, thanks to you, Mr Potter! It is my time to step into the limelight. Together with little ’H’, of course.”

“Are you glad I killed your brother?” Harry asked incredulously because Mr Burgess had spoken with exhilaration in his voice. Mr Burgess let up a mad laugh.

“I was so excited, Potter, when you came back from Paris and I realised you must have killed him that I could have wet my pants! You actually vanquished him! I would’ve loved to do it myself and I would have done it eventually, but as Professor Snape said before, you facilitated things for me.”

Harry looked disgusted at him. Mr Burgess lowered his voice and hissed at Harry as if he confided something very important in him.

“He was my older brother by two years... always ahead of me... physically stronger... hitting me... plaguing me...” The eyes of Mr Burgess glittered as his gaze bore through Harry. “You know what it’s like, don’t you Mr Potter, to have someone near you bully you all the time?”

“Yeah, well, I’d never come up with the idea of killing my cousin Dudley because of what he did to me when we were little, even if the urge to do so might have arisen once or twice at the spur of the moment,” retorted Harry.

“I didn’t kill him - you did,” Burgess said almost absentmindedly. “Our parents - or our French mother I should say, because our British father was almost never at home - our mother did not help me out. She did not separate us, although she could see that M tortured me. She adored him. I existed only as M’s sibling, that’s how she saw it... She let him use me as punching bag.” Mr Burgess’ eyes were glazed. “When we grew older, I became his ally instead of his victim – most of the time. I’d be the one looking for suitable preys to torture: animals, other children... And I’d make sure we did it discreetly not to awaken the attention of the adults. I had more brains than my brother, you see. I planned our actions.”

Burgess laughed his mad laugh again.

“Voldemort saw my abilities,” he hissed proudly at Harry who recoiled. “My brother and I left France for England as soon as I graduated from Beauxbatons, three years ago. We wanted to join the Dark Lord. M had already been in contact with him. We wanted to make use of our proficiencies. Voldemort separated us, however. He saw our potentials individually. M was already a fully-fledged terrorist. He only needed the guidance where to strike and how. Voldemort showed him. I was placed among the Auror apprentices. Voldemort wanted a spy from within, he said. He taught me things...”

“It was no accident then, that you killed that Auror last year?” asked Harry.

“It was my first killing of a human!” Burgess exclaimed jubilantly. “M had not allowed me to do it before. It was wonderful! Had I known the feeling of complete power it generated I would’ve done it sooner. I was so excited afterwards that Voldemort had to keep me isolated for twenty-four hours before I could return to the Aurors. He feared that since I had acquired the taste for killing I would have a hard time dissimulating during battles together with the Aurors. I failed him by showing my true face. He punished me.” Mr Burgess went silent for a while. Harry cleared his throat.

“And you think I’m the one making unwholesome attachments...” he said sarcastically at the address of Snape.

“Voldemort took care of me!” Mr Burgess retorted with his eyes flaring at Harry. “He showed me how to play it with my superiors. I’m good at acting. He came up with the idea that I should stop my career as an Auror to try to infiltrate Hogwarts. He didn’t trust you, Mr Snape. He didn’t trust any of his Death Eaters.” Burgess gestured disdainfully at Lucius Malfoy and Yaxley. “He needed a new generation of followers. But you made him disappear too soon!”

Mr Burgess suddenly raged at Harry.

“He was like a father to us, my brother and I. The day they told me he had disappeared... “ His voice crackled. “We were his successors! Your interference made it all come to a halt. But we’ll bring him back to life again. He had insured himself against death - I just know it!”

Harry shook his head disbelievingly.

“Is this the lunatic you mean to place yourself under, Professor?” he said to Snape who stirred uneasily on the side. Before Snape could reply Burgess had stepped close up to Harry.

“Don’t be condescending with me, Mr Potter,” he roared at him and Harry turned his face away in disgust as he received showers of saliva in his face. “Just because you killed my brother... you’ll not escape me!”

Harry forced himself not to recoil.

“But you’re not nearly as accomplished as your brother, Mr Burgess. You’re an extremely slow transformer, it took you half an hour to assume this shape. When I fought Machiavato he transfigured instantly - that’s what made him so special and so difficult to fight. Are you only a Metamorphmagus at all, I wonder?”

Burgess continued to shout in Harry’s face.

“I am! I am! He was my elder brother and I saw him do it all the time so easily. And I struggled! I struggled to do the same and I learnt... I can assume every shape I want. So what if it takes time? It’s still useful. I spied on you in the dungeons you know. You had no idea.” Burgess walked away jerkily from Harry, speaking with triumph in his voice.

“Yeah, very brave of you to pose like a chair in a classroom, very clever of you to tip your brother off I was going to Paris. Sending him to do the dirty work. Pretending it was too dangerous to attack me at Hogwarts. You had every chance to attack me in the dungeons. You just didn’t have the guts to do it!”

Harry did not know why he wanted to provoke Mr Burgess. Maybe to show Snape the extent of the madness that lay behind that surface. Harry crouched prepared for an attack. Had he courted disaster, he wondered.  Burgess lifted his wand in fury.

“Avada Ke...” he lowered it again. Everyone had drawn their breaths. “No, Mr Potter, no... I still have some use for you and you’ll not spoil the pleasure of killing you by provoking me to do it hastily. I’m going to savour the moment better than that, just you wait and see.”

The to M transformed Burgess turned around and set his eyes on Snape. At the same time, without a glance to the side, he flicked his wand towards Harry. A lashing pain seared in Harry’s face and he stumbled backwards. Automatically he lifted his hands to his face and when he removed them there was blood on them. At least there was nothing wrong with his sight, so his eyes could not have been hurt by the invisible whip. Once again Burgess flicked his wand. This time Harry had time to raise his arms in front of his face. The back of his forearms smarted and some of his fingers went numb. He grimaced of pain and shrank back.

“Did you want to say something, Mr Potter? No?”

Harry kept quiet. Mr Burgess frowned.

“Who untied his ropes? Never mind. He cannot do anything. Now, Professor Snape. What an enigmatic man you are. I still haven’t made you out. Voldemort praised you. He lifted you forward as an example when he spoke about the art of deceiving, of spying, of using the gullibility of others... Did my treatment of Potter shock you by the way? You looked a little tense...”

“The arrogance of Potter is exasperating at times. I have experienced it myself. You were right to punish him,” Snape said coldly. The members of the Shiftings hummed approvingly. They did not seem appalled by the violence Burgess had just displayed. Icing shivers ran down Harry’s back as he realised that he was at the mercy of heartlessness and brutality. He looked wonderingly at Snape. Was he prepared to play this game? Surely he was only pretending to go along?

“I’ve tried to approach you this year, Professor Snape. I thought I had much to learn from you. But you’ve been inaccessible, distant, condescending almost...”

“I’m sorry I have given you that impression, Mr Burgess. I’ve had a lot on my mind this term. I was particularly furious over those rumours that Mr Malfoy spread to the papers. It disquieted me. I don’t like the attention. I’m better off in the background, just like you. If you had only let yourself known, told me who you were, that you were one of his servants... We have a lot in common, Mr Burgess.” Harry listened with disgust to Snape’s ingratiating speech.

“I’m sure that we do, Professor Snape. I have longed to find a worthy representative of the Death Eaters. I realise we need to collaborate, and you could be just the link we need to make it smoother. We must work to bring the Dark Lord back to us. And in order to do so we must find his son.”

Snape managed to remain stone-faced when the stupendous statement was thrown challengingly at him.

“I’m sorry about the fuss in the tabloids this winter,” Burgess continued more calmly after having scrutinised Snape for an adverse reaction, but detected none, “...but we had to provoke you. We needed to know whether you or Potter was related to Voldemort. I had high hopes... there was some evidence... Mrs Skeeter... but... alas... she proved wrong... The business seems closed now and we must move on with our search. But firstly we must determine if you are to be trusted, Professor.”

“I sacrificed my life for Voldemort,” said Snape slowly. “I was prepared to die for him. He made a mistake, I’m afraid, at the very end. My last words to him were to beg him let me go and fetch the boy and bring him back to have an end to it, but he judged more important at the moment to attain control over Dumbledore’s wand that he thought I was the master of. He made a mistake and I know he would acknowledge it if he was here, because he was a just and humble, an extraordinary wizard. I let him attack me without resistance, though. I sacrificed myself without protests. And I would have brought him Harry Potter if he had just let me do it.” Snape stared into Mr Burgess’ eyes as he spoke and Burgess stared intently back. Harry realised Burgess was reading Snape by Legilimency and that Snape let him do it.

“He speaks the truth! He’s one of us!” exclaimed Mr Burgess and both Death Eaters and Shifting members cheered loudly. Lucius patted Snape on the back. One of the Shiftings brought Mr Frankiss out in the light. He could walk on his leg now but pulled a wry face and sank down on the ground between Burgess and Snape. Lucius was about to give Snape his wand when Burgess stopped him with a gesture, took it from Lucius and caressed it in a consummate way.

“Only one Avada Kedavra in three years. Now that’s amazing. A pity to sully that clean record. Here, take mine and show us. Kill the hostage - he’s been doomed since he came here anyhow.” Burgess handed his wand over to Snape with a magnificent gesture and Snape accepted it stupefied.

Harry felt his heart accelerate. He didn’t dare say anything but he stared intensely at Snape. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it, he repeated in his head. Like in a dream, he saw Snape position himself in front of Healer Frankiss, just like he must have done so many times when he was a young Death Eater, preparing to give the final curse.

Harry hyperventilated, the sight started to blur before his eyes and he closed them. He leant forward supporting himself on his fists, rocking slightly to and fro and rotating his wrists so that the hard rock beneath his skin grazed his knuckles. He muttered to himself. But he did not hear the sound of an Avada Kedavra. He heard someone let out his breath as if he had held it for hours and he heard a surprised buzz of voices.

When Harry raised his head he saw Snape handing the wand back to Burgess with a resigned expression on his face. Healer Frankiss had crumpled up on the rock, but stirred slightly.

“Severus, what are you...? For Heavens sake, you just had to do it! It was all set up for you. Frankiss is going to be killed anyway. I don’t understand?” Lucius pleaded bewildered with Snape. The muscles around Snape’s mouth twitched. He suddenly looked exhausted.

“Oh, you know me, Lucius. I always had difficulties with the Avadas,” he muttered. “And unlike what you might think,” he added in an uncertain voice that he tried to make firm, “I do have a life besides the Death Eaters. My staff at Hogwarts... and the pupils... St Mungo’s is an appreciated working place of mine as well… Healer Frankiss is a colleague… and after thorough deliberation… I decided that I could not...”

“That you could not kill a colleague? After due consideration? When the alternative is to die yourself? What kind of Death Eater are you? Don’t you realise, Severus? I have vouched for you in front of these people, you only had to prove to them...” shrieked Lucius.

Snape retorted in a stronger voice and anger mixed with the confusion in his face.

“I haven’t asked anyone to vouch for me. Not anyone. Not here, nor at the Ministry. Leave me alone, will you!”

Mr Burgess did not smile as he tied Snape’s hands up with ropes behind his back and made him kneel down beside Healer Frankiss.

“You almost had me convinced, Professor,” he said disdainfully. “How ridiculous to let it fall with an Avada. And you let your dear friend down, too. Lucius put great hopes in you, Professor. He came here with all his money and threw it at us, thinking he would make himself indispensable. The thing is... the thing is, you see, that my brother and I inherited quite a lot of money when our mother died two years ago. She divorced my father and her entire fortune went to us. Ancient French family. Loads of money. So I really don’t know what to do with Lucius.” He shrugged and started to pace back and fro.

“That’s that, then. Let’s move on. Mr Potter, you’re going to help us. Lucinda, fetch The Book.” The pink-haired witch who had questioned M’s return earlier went inside the cave and came back with a black notebook that looked quite ordinary to Harry at first sight. When Burgess held it up in front of them, Harry saw an engraving of the Dark Mark on the cover, however.

Mr Burgess conjured up a small pillar, about one meter high, with great difficulty it seemed to Harry, upon which he placed the book reverently. Harry looked at Burgess with mixed feelings. Burgess might have the brains and the cruelty to organise attacks and abductions and the insanity and insensitivity to torture people, but his transformations were so tardy, it came out of him so reluctantly that Harry almost saw it as a disease and Burgess must indeed depend on others to execute his plans, or he would not go far.

Harry started to feel the Dark Magic from the black book. Its vibrations filled the air all the way down to Harry who stared at it with apprehension. He cast a look at Snape whose gaze was absent and whose countenance was defeated. Harry frowned.

“The letter,” commanded Mr Burgess. “The note that was attached to The Book. Please, Lucinda, read the words of the Dark Lord,” he said solemnly. Lucinda stepped into the ring that had formed around the prisoners and the book on the pillar with Mr Burgess at its side. She brought out a small rolled parchment and read.

 “I am the Dark Lord of the World. My powers will rule the magical societies in every country. I will fight my enemies until they are all defeated and I will always prevail because I have seven lives. In case I would disappear again, He who speaks the fanged language and is of my own blood will be able to open this book. Find him and I will resurrect.”

“A Parselmouth of his own blood. Do you wonder, Potter, that I hoped you would prove to be the one? I knew you speak the language, I only had to prove the parentage. There still is a chance, you know.”

“I’m not the son of Voldemort,” Harry said very slowly and steadily, looking into Burgess’ eyes.

Deep inside he was shaken, though, because Burgess did not know how right he was. Harry did speak Parseltoungue and even if he was not related to Voldemort, he had, by Voldemort’s strange proceeding when he regained his new body, shared the same blood with him for a couple of years. This same fact was the only reason that Harry had survived the Avada Kedavra that blew away the horcrux attached to Harry’s soul. Harry shuddered.

“Can I see it?” he asked and glanced at the book. Burgess hesitated but took it finally, reverently, and gave it to him. Harry felt the works of Dark Arts even stronger in his hands. It was almost insupportable. What did the letter mean? Was there a son of Voldemort’s? What was this book? Could it be yet another Horcrux? Would the shape of Voldemort emerge if you opened it, just like the memory of Tom Riddle, the young man who became Voldemort, had emerged from the diary that Lucius Malfoy had given to Ginny in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts and who nearly managed to kill both of them.

“You’re going to help me open it,” said Burgess. “It’ll open with a command in Parseltoungue, I know it.”

Harry clenched his teeth. He did not want to open this book. He riveted his eyes on Snape whose listless gaze came around as he met Harry’s reproachful eyes. Snape frowned and Harry made an impatient jerk of his head towards the book.

What to think about this? Was it dangerous? Could you risk opening it? Would Snape at least try to help out? But Snape seemed unable to bring himself together. His hands were tied behind his back and he could not touch the book. He merely shrugged imperceptibly and shook his head. Harry took it as he would prefer if they did not open it. Not very satisfied, Harry gave the book back to Burgess who placed it again on the pillar.

Suddenly Harry felt himself stand up and move a step forward and open his mouth. He frowned and forced himself to take two steps backwards. He looked inquiringly at Burgess.

“Are you trying to Imperius me?” he said with slight disdain. Mr Burgess fought some more time to make Harry do what he wanted, but now that Harry was prepared he had no difficulties to resist the curse. Interestingly, Burgess mastered dark spells with much more ease than simple transfigurations.

“Ah...” Burgess finally gave up. “You need to sneak it upon strong wizards like yourself when you’re not aware of it. I managed to put my brother under the Imperius curse a couple of times, so I’m rather good at it. He was so furious when he found out though...” Burgess shivered at the memory.

“Open the book, please, Mr Potter. Give it a command in Parsel tongue!”

Harry stood impassive. He dreaded that book and what might come out of it.

“Do it!” Burgess took a step towards him menacingly and whipped with his wand in the air.

Harry looked silently at him.

“Don’t make it difficult, Potter! I have a feeling it might take some time to torture you into doing it and I don’t want Mrs Steadfast to have the time to find us while we’re at it. Now, here’s what we’ll do instead. Death Eaters cover your ears!” commanded Burgess.

Lucius, Yaxley, Draco Malfoy and the other three Death Eaters directed Muffliato spells at themselves. Harry looked bewildered at Burgess who leeringly begun to recite the Strangling Incantation used by the intruders at Hogwarts in September. Snape started to cough and struggle to draw his breath.

Harry’s eyes widened while Snape rapidly grew bluer in his face. In panic, Harry turned to Burgess and opened his mouth, but in the corner of the eye he caught Snape shaking his head at him. The man wanted him to resist. But what should he do? He could not let Burgess strangle Snape to death in front of him, all the same. It seemed to Harry that Snape’s eyes had started to protrude from their orbits. It was terribly agonising to watch. Those powerful Parsel noises made Snape choke. Parsel - Harry knew Parsel, did he not? He was the expert in this area actually. More so than Burgess, in any case.

Instinctively Harry began to time in counter commands to the Parseltongue noises of the incantation. Almost immediately, Harry was relieved to see that it did seem to work somewhat.

Snape did not become bluer in his face, although he still rattled rather badly. He met Harry’s eyes and they seemed to tell him to go on resisting. They continued for a while, Burgess reciting and Harry muttering silently while he monitored Snape closely so that he would not deteriorate. Burgess grew more and more impatient. Finally he realised what Harry was doing, stopped his incantation and lashed at him angrily again. He directed his wand at Snape with fury.

“I’ll kill him right now if you don’t open that book,” hissed Burgess. Harry deliberated a second. Would Burgess do it? Probably...

“Avada Ke...”

“Stop, I’ll do it,” Harry cried stepping forward in panic. Burgess lowered his wand.

“Not ready to sacrifice this guy either? Good to know. Not that I doubted, you did vouch for him after all.” He made a gesture with his hand for Harry to step up to the book.

Harry looked at it with mounting apprehension and his breath quickened. He did not even have a wand if something... if Voldemort was to emerge from there. He looked desperately at Snape who had his head bent down with hair covering his face. Burgess brandished his wand towards Snape again. Harry drew his breath and opened his mouth.

“Open,” he hissed in Parsel tongue. Nothing happened. His heart raced. “It doesn’t work,” he said to Burgess.

“Don’t try to fool me, Potter. You make it open, or I’ll kill Professor Snape. He’s doomed anyway so I might as well kill him right now. It doesn’t matter if you fail from lack of trying or if you fail because you can’t. I’ll kill him regardless. If you want to buy him some time, try again. Try harder.” Harry turned to the book and told it to open in a number of different ways without effect. He thought desperately. The note had clearly indicated that the book was intended for a Parselmouth of the same blood, a son.

“I shared the same blood with you, Voldemort,” said Harry with difficulty, “Speak to me.” It grew darker as if a thick cloud had suddenly passed before the sun and a swirling wind made the book open and the pages flap. The voice of Voldemort, unpleasantly familiar to Harry who felt cold shivers run down his back, spoke in a strange echoing way in Parsel tongue.

Harry crouched a little and could not help his face from grimacing out of discomfort and fear. Some of the Shiftings and the Death Eaters seemed to be in raptures over what they heard and the transformed Mr Burgess sank to his knees and lifted his head as if he expected Voldemort to appear somewhere above them. Several others followed his example and prostrated themselves in sign of veneration. Snape’s face was grim and filled with hatred.

“An echo. He won’t appear.” Snape made himself heard above the rumbling hissing sounds of Voldemort’s. Harry felt comforted by the dry statement, straightened up and forced himself to listen to the words. Voldemort had started off with an introduction of his own greatness which was quite uninformative. His voice changed and became more personal although more threatening at the same time. Harry no longer had the intuition of the language but had to listen carefully and translate to himself as the speech went on. He moved his lips silently and everybody had their eyes riveted upon him now.

“You are my son. I did not believe the wretched woman who told me at first and you were not able to prove yourself to me before I spoke to you in the fanged language and you answered me. Although you resisted me foolishly at first, I forced you to test our blood and magic, and the relationship was proven. You saw it too. I did not want you, but now that you exist I have decided to use you. You are sluggish and lazy. Your powers are uneven. I can see some things in you, but you are still young and you have had no education. Your mother has raised you poorly. By the time you listen to this, I will however have taught you to obey my orders. To rule the world I must conquer Harry Potter. In case fate will thwart me on my way to victory again, I give you this mission. I do not intend to wait for thirteen years before I come back this time. I have made myself immortal. If you have been given this book it means that I have disappeared. I command you to bring me back. You will not be able to escape me, even if I am not near you. I have preconditioned you and while you listen to my words right now, a curse is placed upon you. If you don’t resurrect me within a year from now on you will die a plaguing death. Here’s how you’ll proceed...”

Harry listened in bewilderment. Voldemort continued to explain to his son about the Horcruxes and enumerated them one after the other with detailed instructions how to find them and retrieve them without damage. He mentioned the diary that was no more, he spoke about the Gaunt’s ring that Dumbledore had destroyed and that had hit him with the curse leading to his death. Voldemort mentioned the locket, the goblet, the diadem and spoke about his snake, Nagini. And that was it. Harry lifted his head triumphantly but his eyes widened when he heard Voldemort go on and teach his son how to bring life back from a Horcrux. There was so much Dark Arts involved, so much sacrifice of good, so many appalling actions to perform that Harry could not endure to listen any more.

On an impulse, he commanded the book to shut. It was easier than to make it open. He looked at it in shock. It contained absolutely abhorring magic. Without really knowing how he did it, acting on magical instinct, he managed to send the book flying into the fire. Mr Burgess leapt up, shouting, and suddenly several persons tried to summon the book out of the fire from different directions with the effect that it stayed in the fire until Mr Burgess roared at them to stop and pulled it out himself. It was at most a little scorched at the edges but had resisted well. Harry took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I don’t know why... That book is useless anyhow. It won’t bring Voldemort back.”

“You’re lying!” hissed Burgess. “If we give it to his son, when we find him, he will use it to make him come back. I had hoped he would say something in English... But you’ll tell us what he said or I’ll kill Mr Snape and Mr Frankiss.”

“I’d leave the son of Voldemort alone if I were you. If he had wanted to join you, he would have come forward by now,” said Harry.

“He’ll want to bring his father back! And we will help him!” Burgess stared affronted at Harry.

“I’m not so sure he’d want his father back. Voldemort was very condescending towards him. Apparently they did not know of each other for very long. And Voldemort was prepared to curse him with a mortal curse if he did not do as he said. Some way to treat his offspring, don’t you think?” asked Harry.

“Sometimes fathers need to be firm with their sons, punish them even,” said Burgess.

“Insulting them and commanding them? Threaten them to death? I would not want such a father,” Harry cut short.

“We don’t care what you want or not,” Burgess shouted at Harry. “Tell us what he said. What is he supposed to do to resurrect him?”

“If you give that book to Voldemort’s son it will kill him,” said Harry calmly and told them about the curse.

“So, what,” Burgess replied daringly. “It will force him to find the Horcrux. It’s a Horcrux isn’t it, that will make him come back? How exciting! I’ve read about it. What an amazing wizard, Voldemort is. He will come back to us!”

“He will not come back,” Harry could not hide the jubilation in his voice. “There are no Horcruxes left! We’ve destroyed them! We’ve destroyed them all! They were all gone before he was killed. He didn’t have any others. He enumerated them in this echo, one after the other, and we got them all. Dumbledore was right!” Harry looked daringly at Burgess who had begun to tremble from top to toe.

“You’re lying!”he shouted. “Liar!”

Harry regretted that he had spoken so triumphantly, because the next moment excruciating pain convulsed his body. He lost track of time and space, and found himself lying prone on the rock when the pain was finally lifted away. He was only allowed to breathe a couple of breaths before Burgess launched another Crucio at him, and another, and another.

The next time he was released, Burgess stood over him craving a word by word translation of what Voldemort had said. Harry did his best to comply, while trying to crawl backwards from Burgess. He noticed that Snape lay prone on the rock as well. It looked as if he had been stunned. Had he tried to intervene in Harry’s favour?

Harry endeavoured to speak as slowly and in as much detail as possible to give himself time to think. He had adopted a monotonous voice without emotion to avoid provoking Burgess. The unstable, green-haired wizard managed to work himself up on his own, however. If he had not been so brutal, he would have been ridiculous, copying his brother’s monstrous disguise, which had been terrifying and effective in the dusk of a night club, but which was only bizarre in the clear daylight.

Snape came around as Harry spoke. Harry met his eyes. They looked pained and confused. Harry frowned at him, tried to infuse some resistance, but Snape only stared listlessly back. They must fight - did not Snape see that? They must find a way to get out of here. He needed Snape’s help. Couldn’t he come up with something? They needed their wands, Harry had time to think before he was assailed by convulsions and pain again. Harry’s concentration on Burgess had failed a few seconds and it was enough for the crazy wizard to lose his temper and attack.

Last year I managed to play dead while Bellatrix Crucioed me, Harry thought when he was released. He started to be desperate. He was quite resistant to physical pain but he would not stand this curse forever.

“I’ll torture you to insanity, Potter, that’s what I’ll do. You’ll end up at St Mungo’s - not as a healer but as a patient alongside Neville Longbottom’s parents! Then you’ll talk no more nonsense. Voldemort will come back. He’ll be back. Say it!” New waves of pain.  Harry tried to be limp and stay silent during the curse. It was much harder than he remembered.

I must have been extremely motivated to pull through the pretence, Harry thought. The pain was so great now that it did not really leave him between the attacks. His gaze directed at Snape was pleading, but Snape had shut his eyes.

“Ahh...” Harry’s bawl pierced the very marrows of the wizards and witches present at the next attack. Burgess started to laugh loudly.

“Of course there’s a Horcrux left. You didn’t listen to the end, did you? And there’s Voldemort’s son. He will help us.”

I must escape, I must get away from this, Harry thought. What sort of magic can I do without a wand?

The next time Harry was prisoner under Burgess’ wand with excruciating pain piercing his body, jerking seemingly uncontrollably in the air, he suddenly disappeared. The audience drew their breaths and Burgess stopped his curse momentarily. Most of them saw nothing, but a few persons, among them Snape, observed that a small snake wriggled for a second in the air and landed on the ground with a faint thud. It winded away rapidly toward the cave and disappeared. A shocked buzz mounted among the audience. Burgess was enraged.

“Where did he go? Did he transform? A snake you say? I saw no snake? A snake – are you sure? Then he is the son of Voldemort, he must be, he’s fooling us! Find him!” The next moment Burgess was disarmed and they all saw Harry Potter step out of the cave with his wand in his hand.

***

Harry transformed back to human shape lying prone on the floor of the cave with his hand in Miss Cork’s bag where she had stuffed her cloak and gripped his wand with relief. At least he would be able to put on a fight now. He freed Healer Frankiss in the cave from his ropes, hissed “Hide or flee” to him then turned to launch an Expelliarmus at Burgess.

Harry Charged up. He needed to do several things at the same time. He drew up a protection shield to the left, where Mr Burgess, Miss Cork and Draco Malfoy and the older Death Eaters stood. He pushed the heap of Shifting members on the right backwards with a strong Protego spell. Then he made the gravel and the small rocks on a slope above the cave move and roll down over their heads and they became busy protecting themselves.

He had taken them by surprise. All this was done within seconds. Some of them would soon recover and start fighting. Harry removed Snape’s ropes and sent Snape’s wand over to him with a swift reverse Accio spell. Snape had risen and gripped his wand but only stared at Harry.

“Fight! We must fight our way out of here!” shouted Harry. His protective shield on his left was subject to attacks. It would not hold longer. He used it a last time to knock them all off balance, removed it and disarmed at least two of them, Yaxley and Draco Malfoy he gathered, but was not sure. All happened at once. He stunned a Shifting on the right who was aiming at Snape. Several persons were now aiming at him and Harry Apparated from the entrance of the cave right to the brim of the opposite ledge. Several curses exploded where he had just stood.

“Fight! Come on!” Harry punched Snape with an invisible pole on his left shoulder and Snape doubled up in pain and looked up furiously at Harry. Suddenly Snape’s face changed expression and his eyes widened with fear. He lifted his wand to defend Harry but it was too late. Someone had launched at Harry obliquely from behind. Harry did not see him until he was close upon him.

It was Draco Malfoy, without a wand and with his face contorted by hatred. He pushed Harry hard in his right backside, Harry lost his balance and flew out over the edge. Harry’s left hand fumbled in the air for something to grab but he was too far out. Malfoy vacillated on the edge over him, waving his arms not to lurch forward. Someone grasped his robes from behind and pulled him back. Harry’s right hand clasped his wand tightly. Hold it, don’t lose it! he had time to think before he started to fall.