Chapter Eighteen
A Sneak a Snake and a Rat
Harry's insistence, that the cottage and its surroundings were safe from any apparation other that their own, convinced Hermione, after all she had the banishment of Voldemort to back up this conviction. She was less sure of Harry's unsubstantiated knowledge that Voldemort had actually lost the location, and that no other dark wizard would be able to find. However Harry was sure, and even if he didn't know how this information had come to him, he was so certain that it was correct she had no option but to believe him.
They resumed their daily journey from Godrics Hollow to Hogwarts, but HarryHwith the loss of the convenient access via the Shrieking Shack another means of entrance to Hogwarts had to be devised. For the moment the pair were relying on Harry's faithful Firebolt. He had retrieved it from the Weasley's kitchen at the Burrow and it was now stored with the motorcycle in the garage cave that Hagrid had repaired. A short flight, doubled up on the broom, from the garage to Hagrid's hut was all that was necessary, Harry thought it a perfectly agreeable situation but eventually he sided with Hermione in that they needed to find a more permanent solution that was easier on her nerves.
It was another five days, before the long awaited contact from Remus and Tonks took place. As Harry and Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, with Ron in attendance, the appearance of the werewolf and the Auror at the head table gave them the first inkling that things were on the move again. After completing their assignments, for Professors Flitwick and McGonagall respectively, Harry and Hermione met with their old Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and the Metamorphmagus in the trophy room.
Ron arrived late and out of breath having run all the way up from Hagrid's lesson and nursing a slightly bleeding finger. Although not officially taking Care of Magical Creatures Ron had started attending the lessons so that he could keep in contact with the half giant, and through him in the early part of the school year Harry and Hermione. Surprisingly, now that that situation had changed, Ron had seen no reason to stop going to the classes possibly because he was attending them with the sixth years and it gave him a chance to see Luna.
"Ok Ron?" asked Hermione, Remus and Harry were in deep discussion over the goings on at Spinners end.
"Yeh," he panted, "Flobberworm bite, no too bad though."
"How on earth did you manage that?"
"Don't know," he replied morosely, "lucky maybe."
Hermione laughed, "Here," she said, holding out her hand, "let me have a look."
Tonks sitting on the periphery of Harry and Remus's discussion watched as Hermione used her wand to clean and repair the miniscule wound on Ron's hand. She grinned as Ron winced in imagined pain as the cut was sealed then as he flexed the fingers of his healed extremity she leaned over and remarked to the pair.
"Lucky to have our little 'Poppy Pomfrey' here to fix you up Ron, Flobberworm bites can go septic really fast," she teased. "You could have ended up with a replacement silver hand just like that Wormtail bloke."
It was an off the cuff remark that she could so easily not have made, and equally Harry may not have heard her say it, but both she and he did. Harry instantly broke off what he had been saying to Remus.
"That's it!" an expression of triumph on his face.
"What's it?" asked Remus.
"I'd almost forgotten… well I had until now. It makes so much sense."
"What does?" asked Remus.
The others had stopped what they were doing turning instead to listen to Remus's questioning and Harry's nonsensical comments.
"It's the obvious place, and I watched him make it out of thin air," Harry thought for a second. "But then he couldn't have, like gold it can't be made like that, he must have transformed it."
"Transformed what?" Remus almost shouted, his patience wearing thin.
"Wormtail's hand." said Harry as if there was no other explanation.
"Oh I see!" Hermione exclaimed, as the penny dropped. "You think Voldemort transfigured Ravenclaw's seal or whatever guise it was hidden under into Wormtail's hand, and that is the Horcrux we are looking for?"
"Exactly," said Harry. "What could be better, he gave that hand to help Voldemort come back, he is so frightened of his master that he would never double cross him and Voldemort or that snake are always close to him. It has to be a Horcrux."
Remus was looking thoughtful, "But Harry you said that Dumbledore was sure that Voldemort's snake held the final piece of his soul, do you think he would be careless enough to have the last two Horcruxes in the same place?"
"Well it hasn't done him much good to spread them out," Harry replied. "And tackling Wormtail, the snake, and Snape all in one go, would be a bit of an undertaking."
"Don't forget that Malfoy is with them as well." put in Ron.
"Oh I haven't forgotten Draco Malfoy," said Harry with a hard look in his eyes.
Tonks who had said very little gave Remus an uncomfortable look, then caught Harry's attention by grabbing his hand. He turned to her and saw something in her downcast expression that suggested that whatever she was about to say he wasn't going to be particularly keen to hear.
"Err…Umm," was all that she could initially come up with.
"What?" was Harry's succinct question.
"You know that we have both been spending a lot of time watching Spinners End, well perhaps we have spent more than we should." she said.
Remus as well as Harry, Hermione and Ron were staring at her now with uncomprehending expressions. Then she sighed with relief, having made the decision to come clean and tell all.
"Shacklebolt called me to his office the other day; somehow he knew what we were doing…. Not about the Horcruxes, Harry," she hastily reassured him, "but about us watching Snape. It was Snape he was concerned about, I suppose he had put two and two together and realised that you were after him, but he was very specific. 'You tell Harry Potter to leave Severus Snape alone; things are at a very delicate stage. I don't want that young man to go blundering in and ruining everything.' Sorry Harry."
The other just stared but Remus looking a little disappointed said, "Why didn't, you tell me."
"Just did Remus, ministerial order, sorry." and she jumped to her feet and walked briskly from the room.
"Look we'll talk about this later," said Remus getting up and following her out of the door.
There was silence for a few moments following the departure of the Auror and her mate. Then Ron whistled through his teeth, "So what are we going to do now?"
Hermione was watching Harry intently; he hadn't reacted quite the way she had expected to Tonks' news, which when you considered what a majority of the wizarding world thought Snape had done, was quite ridiculous. The Ministry passing up the opportunity of catching a supposed murderer, that didn't make sense, but somewhere deep in her mind a little voice kept telling her it wasn't so daft after all.
And the reason Harry was taking all this so calmly was that a little voice was talking to him too.
"I'll tell you what we are going to do now Ron. Regardless of what Mr Shacklebolt says, we are going Horcrux hunting, and that is not all. I want to find out what Severus Snape is really up to, we are missing something," Harry tapped the side of his head, "I feel it up here, but finding out where he goes, that is going to be the hard bit."
So Harry, Ron and Hermione examined every detail that Remus had told them about Spinners End. That Wormtail patrolled the nearby streets once every night, Draco rarely left the house and the snake had never been seen, but that three times a week Snape would leave the house, walk to the same spot four streets away and apparate. He never varied his actions, he was always away for the same amount of time, returning just before dawn, but there was no way anyone could follow him, they had no idea where he went.
"Well of course they wouldn't know where he goes. There is no way you can tell where someone is apparating, unless they tell you," said Hermione, assuredly.
"Yes there is," Ron contradicted her.
"Pardon," Hermione's voice had taken on that dangerous tone she used when anyone especially Ron disputed what she knew was a certain fact.
Ron, very sensitive to Hermione's moods now, picked up on this change almost immediately; Harry had sensed it as soon as Ron had opened his mouth. Such was the difference in the way the two of them knew the young witch concerned, but Ron was quick enough to react.
"Err… Luna, Hermione …Luna."
"What about Luna?"
"Well when you apparate, you think where you are going, and if she is close enough…."
"She could pick the thought right out of your head." Harry finished for him.
"Err… yes," said Ron.
"Could she do it to someone with a mind like Snape?" asked Hermione doubtfully.
Just then the school bell rang announcing lunch time. "We better go and ask her," said Harry and he grabbed Hermione's hand to lead her to the Great Hall…………
"Ok Harry she can do it, or at least believes she can," said Hermione later that day when they were alone in the library. "So how are we going to play this?"
"Well we pick a night Snape goes away, then catch Wormtail as he comes out of the house, take care of Draco, and the snake."
"Sounds easy Harry but there are a lot of holes in it." said Hermione helpfully, "Snape comes back and finds his house in a state, I am sure he will carry on as if nothing has happened, he could disappear and then we have no way of knowing where he is. And what did you mean by 'take care' of Draco?"
"Ok… ok, it was only a basic idea; we'll have to tackle both parts of the problem at the same time, and Draco well we'll see." he said, becoming serious. "Look this is how we'll do it……."
* * *
So it was that several days later Harry's plan with a few suggestions added to it from Hermione went into operation. As darkness fell three brooms took off from Hagrid's hut and sped away into the evening sky, in the mirror lined tower room Dumbledore watched the four leave. 'Tonight,' he thought, 'more butterflies would be released to add to the confusion, but perhaps some problems will be resolved.' He would trust Harry to do the right thing he had to, the time was getting close and he had to prepare.
The short flight over, the brooms were locked away in the garage cave and hand in had the four apparated away to appear silently outside 14 Weavers Row, and then seek the added darkness of a nearby alley.
"You clear what you are doing Ron?" Harry asked for the umpteenth time.
"Yes, we go to Snape's apparation spot, hide, we wait for him to come, then Luna picks his brains, and we wait until you signal."
"Right, …you ok Luna?"
""Yes Harry don't worry, I'll make sure he gets it right," she pulled a face at him and crossed her eyes.
"Oh that fills me with such confidence," Harry remarked to Hermione in mock horror as Ron and Luna disappeared up the street.
Hermione giggled, "Just nerves Harry, they'll be fine …come on."
Harry and Hermione snuck through the dingy cut way into Spinners End and found a reasonably comfortable spot behind a low wall. From there they had a good view of the front of Snape's house, but were in turn shielded from it by the deep shadow cast by the bulk of the derelict factory behind them. Half an hour later light briefly shone across the street as a door opened and closed, he was hard to see but they had watched that bat like figure marching through the corridors of Hogwarts too many times to mistake him for anyone else. Snape headed away at a fast walking place his cloak billowing out behind him, he still struck quite a formidable appearance and Harry hoped that Ron and Luna would be ready for him. Now all he and Hermione had to do was get close enough to take Wormtail when he went out on patrol.
The small square formed by the junction of the five roads that all met at the spot Snape had chosen for his apparation point was devoid of comfortable places to hide. A large old fashioned 'home and overseas', double sized, muggle posting box was the only structure that could provide any cover. It like everything else in this area it was disused, its posting slots filled in, and its red paint chipped with rust showing through, but once Ron had opened it, and removed the bins used to catch the letters, it provided just enough space for a witch to hide and not be seen. He hated leaving her on her own but there was simply no other way to get her close enough to Snape so she could skim his mind. Taking the time to give her a hug and a kiss of encouragement, Ron sealed the post box again, and headed to the doorway of a boarded up corner shop. Casting his second "Alohomora" of the evening he was safely in the building and out of sight.
Sitting there in the dark Ron considered the plan again. He knew that Luna would use her special talent to search for Snape's mind, keeping her touch so light that she thought Snape would be unaware of the intrusion. Although he had great faith in his girlfriend's abilities, and Luna had shown no qualms at all when Harry had asked if she thought she could do it, Ron decided that she wouldn't mind if he worried a bit for the both of them.
Fortunately they didn't have long to wait. Ron was able to see the ex-potions Professor through a crack in the boarding. He walked into the junction as if he owned it and marched directly up to the posting box and stopped next to it. The dark cloaked figure turned his head from side to side as he scanned the area to see if all was clear. Ron's heart was in his mouth, did Snape know Luna was not more than two feet from his side? What would he do if Snape turned his wand on her? He slowed his breathing and slipped his wand from his pocket and bunched himself up ready to spring to Luna's defence if necessary. Perhaps that was the reason he jumped far too high when with a CRACK, that broke the desolated silence, Snape apparated and disappeared from view.
Ron waited only the few moments it took him to rub the sore spot on his head, where he had cracked it on the door frame in his surprise at Snape's departure, before rushing over to the post box and releasing Luna from its cramped interior.
"You ok? Did you get it?" he asked all in a rush, and pulling her out crushed her in a fierce embrace.
"I'm fine Ron, and mind my ribs," she said with some difficulty because she was finding it hard to breathe. He let her go and holding her at arms length examined her for any sign that she might not be telling the truth. "I got it, his mind is amazing, he was projecting two completely different destinations, I could read them both but a Legilimens would only have seen the surface one, he was being very careful."
"Where did he go?" asked Ron.
"Here let me show you," and placing her fingers on his temples she transferred the image and Ron felt the picture of a dark wooded spot dribble into his mind.
"Wow that really good, shame we can't tell where in the country it is."
"Well you would have to go there and see if there were any landmarks, but it doesn't matter as long as it gets you there."
It was at this point that an idea crept into Ron's head, usually that wasn't a good place for an idea to be, especially if there was no one like Harry or Hermione around to talk it over with first, but it has to be said that Ron did think about it, for a split second, anyway.
"Right into the shop over there," said Ron pointing out his earlier hiding place, "I won't be long."
"Ron what are you… NO!" cried Luna but it was too late Ron apparated disappearing without making a sound. Luna said a few choice words to the space where he had stood, the great ginger idiot was well aware that Luna was unable to follow him, her divided mind so useful in some ways made it impossible for her to apparate on her own. There was nothing she could do but wait for Harry's signal or for Ron to return………..
Harry and Hermione hid under the invisibility cloak, it would be quicker to shrug off than a disillusionment charm, and Harry held his wand tip just clear of the fine material ready and waiting for Wormtail. Twenty minutes after Snape had disappeared up the road, the front door to his house opened, and Peter Pettigrew stepped out into the cold night air. He may have had the instinct of a rat and have his wand held tightly in is hand but Harry's silent 'Expelliarmus' flying out from nowhere caught him completely by surprise. His wand shot away into the darkness and he was flung against the wall and he staggered collapsing to his knees.
Hermione was out from under the cloak in an instant and in through the front door. Draco Malfoy was sitting in an armchair, reading, when he heard the clatter as Harry's spell effectively disarmed and disabled Wormtail. He had only half risen, when someone, who looked vaguely like Hermione Granger, burst in and without uttering a sound had him in a full body bind. With his arms clamped to his sides, and his legs held together in a vice like grip, he could do nothing but topple backwards, as stiff as a draper's dummy, to end up resting against the back of his chair.
He could move his eyes, but that was all. He saw the girl, glance around the room, then turn back to the door to help someone drag Wormtail's body through and lay it on the moth eaten carpet. This second person had their back to him and at first Draco couldn't tell who it was, but then they turned around and the heir to the Malfoy estate was faced with his second worst nightmare. Harry Potter stood there dressed in black his wand in his hand and a grim expression on his face. Draco tried to tell himself that this was only Harry Potter, the boy he had beaten and humiliated so many times before, but as he looked into hard emerald green eyes he realised that this was a totally different Potter, a competent and confident Potter, and Draco Malfoy began to feel afraid……………
'Ronald Bilius Weasley you have done some bloody stupid things in your time but this on takes the biscuit.' was the thought that ran through Ron's head as he appeared at the spot so accurately described by Luna. But someone had to try it first, and Ron had convinced himself that this was part of his promise to Hermione to watch Harry's back. There was no question that Harry would have tried it and probably just as he had Harry wouldn't have given the dangers a second thought, and Harry would have got himself into all sorts of trouble just as he was going to.
'Bugger, perhaps this wasn't such a smart move after all,' he thought, but so far no one had hexed or cursed him, or walloped him over the head, so maybe he had got away with it. Ron peered about him the trees in this wood were not that densely packed and he could see a lantern bobbing along some distance ahead, in fact he could see several lanterns weaving their way through the trees, all heading towards the same place. Ron carefully picked his way between the tree trunks stumbling occasionally on unseen roots, and as the woods thinned even more he began to make out the destination of these lantern carrying wizards.
An old rambling building quite large and most of it in darkness was set in a clearing in the trees Ron could see the tail end of a group of cloaked and cowled figures entering through the main door. Keeping to the shadows, as best he could, Ron crept forward until there was only a strip of grass about ten paces wide separating him from the outside wall of the building. He had to cross it to get closer, and there was no cover, he had no choice but to make a dash for it.
He ran fast and bent low; everything seemed to be going well but halfway across he collided with an invisible barrier, it didn't stop him or hold him, but for two steps it was like walking in treacle and small golden sparks jumped off his dragon hide coat. Then he was clear of it, he was convinced he had set off some alarm and expected that at any moment wizards would come piling out to apprehend him or worse, but he reached the wall and flattened himself against it, he waited but nothing happened.
From inside the building Ron could hear voices, they were chanting but he could not make out the words. He positioned himself close to an unglazed window and very carefully eased his head around so that he could see inside. There were thirty or forty people in there, all dressed in blue robes, both witches and wizards, Ron could tell from the voices, and now he could hear the words, it was a fealty charm, not one he knew, but he recognised it as old and complex, and he could sense the magic of it prickling at his skin.
They were confirming allegiance to something or someone, Ron suddenly felt very cold what if it was to him, to Voldemort, he wished he had waited for Harry now, and with deep trepidation he turned his gaze to the raised dais at the end of the room. A wizard stood on it his blue robes hiding his face, but despite his fears as to who this unknown wizard was, it was not the man that Ron was staring at, because on either side of this wizard were two things that he did recognise. On one side was a large life size painting of Albus Dumbledore, and on the other, a tall perch with a glowing phoenix, resplendent in its gold and red plumage, sitting at its top.
As Ron tried to understand what was going on the chanting ceased, and all the witches and wizards pushed back their cowls. As their faces were revealed Ron almost lost control, he just couldn't believe what he was seeing, and it produced a feeing of such panic that he nearly gave himself away. Then inexplicably a wave of calmness washed over him, and the panic receded. His eyes were drawn once again to the front of the room, to find that both the face in the painting, and the phoenix were staring directly at him. Unnoticed by any of the witches and wizards present in the building, Dumbledore and Fawkes were sending him waves of reassurance. Then very deliberately one amazingly blue eye winked at Ron from behind a pair of half moon glasses, and the young wizard knew it was time to leave……………
"Well there it is Harry," said Hermione pointing at the grotesque silver hand lying in Wormtail's lap. "Do think he knows what it is."
"I doubt it, and it's possible we may be wrong,"
"Not very likely though,"
"No but we need to know where that snake is before we find out. I don't want her on the lose; if Dumbledore was right and she is a Horcrux as well we could have two Voldemorts to deal with, and I don't think that would be a very good idea.
"Perhaps one of these two knows where she is," suggested Hermione, indicating their trussed prisoner, and the unconscious wizard. "Do you want me to release Draco?"
"No," Harry smiled, "I like him like that, let's wake up this one."
Keeping his wand well away from Pettigrew hand Harry let Hermione wake him with a silent 'Enervate'.
Wormtail stirred, then opening his eyes sat up and took in his surroundings; things didn't seem quite as bad as he thought they were going to be, one plus was that he was alive. Then he looked up to see his captors, he recognised them both, and it gave him hope that his survival might continue. Harry had treated him better than he had expected at their first meeting, perhaps he was still so disposed. He needed to be careful however not to antagonise the chosen one or matters could easily change, co-operate and look for the chance to escape that was the way of the rat and Peter Pettigrew was a rat through and through.
"Harry… Harry and Hermione, where is my old master, is Ron not here?" Wormtail's voice was deeply ingratiating, and Harry felt faintly sick at the sound of it.
Harry ignored the questions, and cut to the problem at hand, "Where is the snake Peter," he pointed his wand at Pettigrew's head. The rat faced man lifted his right hand to ward off the wand, and was surprised when Harry stepped back, but then it was his turn to recoil as suddenly Hermione's wand was no more than an inch away from his eye.
"Answer!" the girls command cracked out, and Wormtail realised that she was the one who presented the greatest danger to him at the moment.
He let out a high pitched squeak of fear and stammered out, "In, in, in, the house, it's much to cold for Nagini to go outside."
"That's not very helpful rat man," said Hermione scathingly.
"If she is not by the fire then she will be upstairs, she has a room." Pettigrew said quickly to forestall any unpleasantness.
Harry and Hermione looked around the book lined parlour, "Great, where are the stairs?" asked Harry.
"Behind that book case," squeaked Wormtail, and Hermione raised her wand.
Her silent 'Colloportus' resulted in an odd squelching noise as the hidden door sealed itself. "Should hold her for a while anyway," she added, then through the ceiling there was a soft thump and a dry slithering noise, it was evident that the snake was awake and on the move.
Harry and Hermione had decided that they wouldn't have long to talk to Pettigrew and work out how to get the Horcrux from him, or discover if it was indeed possible to separate the hand from the wizard without resulting to some violent action. So following the tactics Harry had seen used on one of the interminable television programs that living with Dudley, a confirmed and fully paid up member of the television appreciation society, had exposed him to, they were going to play 'good cop, bad cop'.
Hermione wasn't sure if this was going to work at all, "I mean Harry films and television are nothing like real life are they?" she had asked when he had suggested the ploy, but never the less she was trying hard to be the bad cop.
"Right let's deal with this little worm then," she said as she returned the point of her wand to poke into Pettigrew's ear hole, and he shrunk away as he felt the wood touch him.
"Thing is Peter," said Harry conversationally, "is that we need to find out about something you have, and what maybe hiding in it."
Wormtail was looking nervously from Harry to Hermione, he was confused and frightened. For someone who spent a lot of his life in the physical appearance of a rodent, those feelings were normal. He did however have another feeling that was rather alien to him, a smidgen of gratitude towards the young wizard who was questioning him. Perhaps he should try and cooperate, as long as it didn't cause any personal danger, what was the harm.
"I don't have much Harry," he swallowed and made a decision, he hoped he would not regret, "But I will help if I can, I owe you that much."
Harry bit back the retort that Wormtail owed him far more than it was in his power to repay, and remained calm as he asked, "Your hand Peter, your silver hand, Tom gave it to you didn't he. Did he tell you what it was or where it came from?"
Peter Pettigrew lifted the shiny hand out of his lap and held it in front of his face turning it this way and that and forming it into a fist, he marvelled at it, it was a very powerful hand.
"Don't even think about it," snarled the girl with the wand in his ear, and the fleeting thought of fighting his way out disappeared as quickly as it had arisen.
Wormtail ignored the girl and concentrated on Harry, "You saw him make it, …that time, …made it out of thin air, and gave it to me." He looked back to the object attached to the end of his arm, and began a thin high pitched giggle. "Made me his right hand man Harry, that's what he did, his right hand man," and his shoulder shook as he laughed at his own joke.
"He made you more than that Peter." The little man continued to giggle in a way that suggested that his sanity might not be all that secure. Harry glanced quickly at Hermione who gave the ear another poke.
"Oww, no need to be rough, I heard, …though how I can with that wand in my ear," Wormtail complained, as the giggling subsided, Harry waved Hermione back. "Thank-you Harry… What do you mean made me more?"
"Your hand is a Horcrux; it carries part of Voldemort's soul, like his old school diary, his award to the school, the ring that Dumbledore destroyed, and the locket. They were all valuable to him all gone now, save your hand." Wormtail's expression was one of incredularity, then he made some connections, and the disbelief began to fade.
"He was so angry with Lucius when he returned the diary," Pettigrew recalled, "all damaged it was with a big hole burned right through it. I remember he threw it to one side and shouted "Useless… nothing left." It seemed quite out of place, we thought it was only an old book."
"Only Tom would have known the significance," Harry told Wormtail. "The loss of the magic held in that diary, was the first in a long line of disasters for him." Harry was trying with all his might to be nice to Pettigrew; if they could get his willing help then it would be so much easier. "We need to get you away from here, somewhere safe where Tom won't be able to find you, …do you see, …we will be able to help you, …break the spell of the Horcrux." Harry felt as if he was talking to a child and in a way perhaps he was.
"Would you really help me, Harry?" The plea from the rat like man grated on Harry's nerves. "Remus and Sirius wanted to kill me, but you stopped them, Wormtail was grateful then and he is grateful now, I will come with you."
Hermione gave Harry a let's get on with this look. She was worried, the changes in Wormtail's speech suggested to her that the man's mind was unravelling, perhaps one too many tight corner to wriggle out of was making him unhinged, and that could make him impossible to deal with. They helped the wizard to his feet and began to lead him to the front door, then there was a loud thumping noise from behind the bookcase, and the shelves themselves, subjected to considerable force from behind them, began to bulge ominously outwards. There was a snapping sound as the wood of the bookcase gave way and Hermione's spell failed, the shelving swung open and in the doorway so revealed the huge snake reared up and filled the opening from top to bottom.
Wormtail screamed in fear and Harry took an involuntary step backwards. The similarity was astounding; apart from her smaller size Nagini was the Basilisk that had haunted Harry's dreams on and off since the end of his second year. He remembered well the words he had heard that no one else could hear, and now they were here again, the hissing speech of the snake was unintelligible to the others, but it made perfect sense to the young parslemouth.
"You will not take the rat Harry Potter, my lord and master sent me here to watch him and keep him safe, and that I shall do even if I have to bite you all."
"We have a bit of a problem here," said Harry to the others, "Nagini doesn't seem to want you to go Peter, she was sent to watch you and she will try to kill us if we leave."
"You can understand her?" Pettigrew was amazed and searched his pocket for the scrap of parchment; he read the words and looked fearfully from Harry to the snake.
"What is that?" said Hermione sharply and snatched the parchment from the wizard's hand the words were fading from it but without hesitation she screwed it up and lobbed it towards the fire place. "Don't think we need that anymore, Harry can translate for us; can't you?"
Harry nodded understanding Hermione's actions in getting rid of the enchanted parchment, there was no way they wanted Wormtail to know exactly what was going on, then he turned back to the snake swaying dangerously in the doorway.
"I don't think Tom would like it if you destroyed what Wormtail is carrying," Harry told her in parsletongue.
"My master lives in me, he has chosen me, nothing is hidden," Nagini hissed, "I know that whether the rat is alive or dead the Horcrux will remain whole. Yes boy I know what the Horcruxes are and I also know that only when the snake splits asunder will the last one be released, and that will not happen this night." Nagini moved forward into the room, Harry and Hermione with Wormtail between them backed out of the front door and into the road. "When I bite you boy you will not die, not here, and my master's victory will be complete. The chosen one will give up the secret in the end and my master will be victorious."
The words rasped out into the chill of the night, and made Harry stop and think. Perhaps Dumbledore had got it right; the snake had said as much and confirmed that she was the final Horcrux, but would the soul fragment Nagini carried die with her, if Tom was not around to gather it up? She also appeared unconcerned that whenever it happened she would die when it was released, but then maybe as a snake she did not feel the way people did, could her loyalty to Voldemort be that strong. There was no way they could let her get back to Tom; Harry knew that he and Hermione would have to stop Nagini tonight.
Harry and Hermione kept Wormtail held tightly between them and the snake as the reached the middle of the small dark street. The small fat man was wriggling in their grip and gibbering with fear as Nagini with only a brief pause in the doorway and a testing flick of her tongue to sample the coldness of the air slithered out and onto the pavement, the snake hissed again at Harry.
"What is she saying?" Hermione whispered.
"Just threats," Harry replied, "She doesn't want to kill me, but she isn't so fussed about you two."
"That's comforting," said Hermione dryly.
"Isn't it though," Harry was trying to remain calm and dispassionate about the proceedings, while frantically trying to work out how to deal with this reptilian monster sinuously weaving its way toward them. "She only wants to bite me and take me to dear old Tom, certainly looking forward to that… not."
With the inane banter behind him and the shadow of Nagini getting closer and closer in front Peter Pettigrew decided he had had enough of the whole affair, with a shriek and the use of strength that surprised both Harry and Hermione he wrested himself from their grasp. They were thrown a couple of steps back and Pettigrew was alone in the middle of the street Nagini not ten feet from him. The man who had spent so long as Scabbers did not do as Harry expected, he did not run but shaking from head to toe he stood his ground.
"Peter she will kill you, she knows what your hand is. Quickly get back here!" Harry yelled.
But Wormtail either couldn't or wouldn't hear Harry's advice to retreat. He was more frightened of this snake than he was of anything even The Dark Lord. Voldemort may hurt him but he was useful to him and let him live, this abomination did not care, if he ran she would try to kill him if he stayed she would try to kill him. 'I only have the one advantage,' he told himself, 'my hand.'
Even if Nagini knew it was a Horcrux perhaps she did not know the physical strength of his silver hand, he had crushed stronger things than a snake's neck with it and that is all she was… a great big snake. His fear left him cold and empty and for the first time in his life his thoughts slowed from the break neck speed that made being a rat so natural to him. He saw Nagini draw back and begin her strike, for her size she was remarkably fast, and Pettigrew only had the time to raise his silver hand and thrust it forward. As his hand passed into her mouth Nagini's natural reflexes caused her jaws to snap shut and her fangs to bite deep into the living metal.
Wormtail screamed once and then appeared to freeze in place. Nagini for her part clamped her jaws tighter and tighter on the silver appendage, then as the dark coloured poison from her fangs seeped out and dripped to the ground, her body stiffened and she could not let go.
Harry pulled Hermione back to the other side of the street, neither of them had a chance to fire at the snake before she struck, because Wormtail was in the way, now it looked as if nothing could save him. The tableau spread before them was strange to behold, both combatants frozen in place only the drip, drip of the black ichor from the snakes mouth providing any movement. Harry followed the trail of fluid to the ground and saw the puffs of vapour rising from the road surface as each drip hit it and he realised that Nagini had more in common with the Hogwarts' Basilisk than even he thought. Her venom was equally as deadly; and what had Harry done with the Basilisk tooth but destroy the Horcrux that held the sixteen year old Tom Riddle, it looked now as if Wormtail's hand was about to suffer the same fate.
Dumbledore so far was the only wizard to witness the forced opening of a Horcrux and he had lost his hand to it, by what means Harry didn't know, only that it was a powerful enchantment. Now here were two Horcruxes and if they were heading towards destruction, this was the last place on earth that Harry and Hermione wanted to be.
It started with a low rumbling noise that shook the ground and dislodged fragile panes of glass from the windows in the surrounding houses. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and the two of them retreated further down the street, but they could not draw their eyes away from Wormtail and Nagini locked together in stasis. The shaking subsided, and a thin keening sound began which grew as a vortex appeared above the snake and rat, it was as wide as the street and revolved slowly at roof height. There were colours in the swirling tides of whatever it was that formed the vortex. Purples and yellows twisted and turned together, orange and darker reds intermingled then flashes of bright white light sent forks of power from one side of the vortex to the other and down to touch the houses and the surface of the road.
In the street Nagini's coils unwound until she was stretched out in an impossibly long straight line her body stiff and glowing electric blue. Wormtail his arm straight out in front of him his hand still clamped in the snakes jaws, was arching backwards his legs and back straining to perform feats they were never designed for. His head was thrown back so that his face was pointing straight up he was staring into the vortex his mouth open in a silent scream and then his sparse covering of hair began to spark and smoke and his body burst into flame.
The vortex turned faster now and it began to reach down to pluck at the flames which in turn were reaching up from Wormtail's body. The air in the street started to move with the vortex and the wind picked up small pieces of rubbish from the road and pulled at Harry and Hermione trying to draw them in, they found shelter by a low brick wall and watched in horror as the enchantment increased in violence. The noise from the wind reached to an insane level then suddenly it was cut off, the wind still turned and the flames still consumed Wormtail, and the lightening still struck, but in total silence. Only the sound of their own heavy breathing, as they huddled in the shadow of the wall, told Harry and Hermione they had not gone deaf, and then in the unnatural quiet that surrounded them the moaning began. Harry peered over the wall the scene was much as before but the Horcruxes were giving up the pieces of the dark soul they carried and the shade of Voldemort gathered over Nagini's head. It was impossible to tell if there was just one shade or two, as the shadows whirled with the rest of the flame and smoke, but it was the shade or shades that were moaning, and it certainly sounded as if there was more than one.
Then Nagini and Wormtail or what was left of them started to turn with the wind faster and faster they revolved until their forms were lost in the blur of motion slowly rising upward until they touched the bottom of the vortex there was a vast sucking noise, a very loud BANG and a blast of brilliant white light and the vortex, Nagini and Wormtail and the shadows of Voldemort's soul vanished.
Harry sat down on the ground and leaned against the wall, "Blimey!" was all he could come up with. Hermione plopped down beside him and took one look at his wild and dishevelled appearance and began to giggle, it was only the release of nerves but the giggle became an infectious laugh and Harry had to join in.
* * *