"You have over a week before the Potion assignment is due and less than two days before your History test," Snape pointed out with maddening logic. "Therefore, you should spend tonight with Miss Granger, studying History. There are still several hours before curfew, and with Miss Granger's help, you will be able to make inroads into the material and atone for your previous sloth."
Harry opened his mouth to argue further, but there was a rush of flames in the fireplace, and Lucius Malfoy's voice spoke. "Severus, it's Lucius. May I come through? It's about Draco."
"Just a moment," Snape called. Malfoy might have switched sides, but that didn't mean he wanted him around Harry any more than he could help. He turned to the boy. "This discussion is over. Take your things and return to the Tower."
Harry grumbled, but he knew better than to argue with his da when he used that tone. Besides, his da was more than capable of scolding him in front of Draco's dad, and that would be mortifying, especially since Draco said his father was a real stickler for manners.
Harry hurried to his bedroom to collect his satchel, but as he approached the door to the corridor, his curiosity made him hang back and listen. He wasn't exactly eavesdropping, he reassured his conscience. Mr Malfoy had said it had to do with Draco, right? So wasn't it important for him, as Draco's friend, to find out what was going on? If Draco was in trouble or something, what kind of friend would he be not to bring him a warning? And if it was something, well, personal or embarrassing, then Harry would just keep his mouth shut and let his da handle it as Draco's Head of House.
He heard the roar of the floo, and then Mr Malfoy's cultured tones. "Severus. Thank you for allowing me to come through."
"Sit down, Lucius," Snape invited. "You said it had to do with Draco. Is there a problem? Something to do with Bellatrix's death perhaps? I did speak with the boy and I assure you he's fi-"
"Stupefy!"
Harry's jaw dropped as the shout rang out. He heard a heavy thump, as of a body hitting the carpet, and he froze, hoping against hope that it was just his da diving for cover. But no noise of a duel broke out тАУ no spells and counterspells shouted back and forth тАУ just the roar of someone using the floo again. Harry started to creep forward, wondering if Mr Malfoy had left already, when two strange voices frightened him badly.
"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" the first one sneered. "And he's supposed to be so great at DADA."
"Hurry up," ordered the other. "I can practically smell the stink of Dumbledore. Every minute we're here makes it easier for him to figure out we're in his precious castle."
"Relax. All we need to do is Enervate and Imperius him, then once he retrieves the Malfoy brat, we take the both of them back to the Dark Lord, and тАУ"
Harry had heard enough. Those were Death Eaters, and they were after his da! Harry bolted around the doorframe, yelling, "Expelliaramus!"
He knocked one robed figure flying, and the other one's wand flew out of his grasp, but Mr Malfoy just stood there like a mannequin. Harry spun to confront him, and that allowed the second Death Eater time to retrieve his wand. "Diffindo!"
"Protego!" Harry deflected the curse, but then the first one had his wand too, and a snarled Stupefy sent Harry crashing to the ground next to Snape.
"Oi, is this the Malfoy kid?" one Death Eater asked hopefully.
"You idiot. Look at Malfoy. You've seen his wife. Do you really think two platinum blondes would have a dark haired kid?" The other Death Eater flipped the unconscious boy over and whistled softly. "I'll be damned. Look at that scar тАУ it's Harry Potter."
"Oh," his partner replied in disappointed tones. "I guess we still need to Imperius Snape then, huh?"
The first Death Eater gripped his wand tightly and struggled for the patience not to hex his erstwhile colleague. "I know you were in Azkaban a long time, LeStrange, but do you think you can try to get your brain to work? Who do you think the Dark Lord would rather get his hands on: The Boy Who Lived or Malfoy's brat? We can always grab Malfoy's kid at a later time тАУ it's not like they've got special wards to protect him. We need to get out of here with Potter and Snape before someone figures out what's going on. Get out that portkey. Malfoy! Come here!"
##
Snape groaned and grabbed his head. What in Merlin's name тАУ ? The last thing he remembered was talking to Lucius Malfoy and then suddenly his head had exploded. He tried to grip his temples and realized that his wrists and ankles were bound, and he was lying on dusty earth. A groan from a few feet away caught his attention, and he squinted towards the sound. Harry!
What was Harry doing here тАУ and where exactly was here? The boy should have been up in his Tower, studying History with the know-it-all, not here withтАж Snape looked around and froze.
They were outside, in a graveyard to judge by the broken headstones scattered around. That was bad. What was infinitely worse was that they were sprawled in the center of a ring of robed and masked Death Eaters, their faces weirdly lit by the blazing bonfire off to one side. But much, much worse than that was the fact that sitting on a throne, beaming down at them like some perverted monarch, was Bellatrix LeStrange, her eyes glowing red and her features oddly distorted into a horribly familiar leer.
Snape almost didn't need the tingling in his left forearm to know who was gazing down at them.
"Da?" the voice was weak, but steady.
"Harry!" His head snapped around. The boy was pale, but he had a resolute look on his face. Snape had never been prouder of his son's Gryffindor nature than he was right then. "Are you all right?"
"My head hurts," Harry admitted, looking around. "Are тАУ are you okay?"
"Ah, sssuch heart-warming father-ssson bonding," the Dark Lord smirked from his throne.
Harry squinted up at the form. "Who are you?"
"Do you not recognize me, brat?" Voldemort snapped. "Your parents thrice defied me, and you have come close to that already."
Harry's eyes widened. "You're Voldesnort? But you're a girl!"
The Dark Lord looked disconcerted. "I have merely possessed one of my servants until my new body is prepared," he explained defensively.
Harry wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, but a girl? I mean, don't you still have to тАУ y'know тАУ and all that as a girl?"
There was a hastily choked off snort from the ring of Death Eaters, and Voldemort's features twisted with fury. "Crucio!" he shouted, gesturing wildly in the direction of the snigger, and several of the Death Eaters shrieked and fell to the ground, twitching.
"Don't upset him!" Snape hissed at Harry before the boy could say anything else, and Harry gulped and nodded.
"My Lord," Snape began, hoping desperately that he could find something тАУ anything тАУ that might convince the Dark Lord to let Harry go. "It тАУ"
"Ah, the traitor speaks." Voldemort stepped down off his throne and stalked over to where Snape lay. "Will you plead for your life, traitor? The way your good friend has done?" A sharp gesture had two Death Eaters throw a bound, battered, and bleeding Lucius Malfoy down next to Snape.
Snape glanced at him, his mind working frantically. Obviously the fire at Azkaban had been to cover an escape, and somehow Malfoy had been or become involved. He tried desperately to formulate some sort of planтАж
"I was Imperiused, Severus," Lucius panted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His once-handsome face was now disfigured with slashes and burns, and his wand hand had been flayed to the wrist. "I swear тАУ I didn't mean toтАж"