𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 •°𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴

[76]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After an unfortunate encounter with other Death Eaters on Tottenham Court Road, a random place where Hermione had apparated them, the four decided they would go to Grimmauld Place to hide since it seemed like the safest place.

Sara clutched Nico's necklace in her hand as she felt the sensation of apparating yet again; she was scared for the Weasleys and for Nico who had been left with them. The girl had no idea if he was alright or if he had been interrogated and tortured, she could hope that nothing bad had actually happened and it was only her imagination which was making the words scenarios pop up in her head.

Seconds later Sara's lungs expanded gratefully and she opened her eyes: They were now standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square. Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side. Number twelve was visible to them, for they had been told of its existence by Dumbledore, its Secret-Keeper, and they rushed toward it, checking every few yards that they were not being followed or observed. They raced up the stone steps, and Harry tapped the front door once with his wand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.

As Harry closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Sara remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase. Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's mother. The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.

"I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.

"That could've happened as the Order left," Sara murmured back.

"So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Harry asked.

"Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?" suggested Ron.

Yet they remained close together on the doormat, backs against the door, scared to move farther into the house.

"Well, we can't stay here forever," said Harry, and he took a step forward.

"Severus Snape?"

Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making the four of them jump back in fright. "We're not Snape!" croaked Harry.

Something whooshed over Sara like cold air and her tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. Before she had time to feel inside her mouth, however, her tongue had unraveled again.

The other three seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation. Harry gasped, Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered, "That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!"

Gingerly Harry took another step forward. Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of them could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust-colored, and terrible: the girls screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; the gray figure was gliding toward them, faster and faster, its waist-length hair and beard streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets: Horribly familiar, dreadfully altered, it raised a wasted arm, pointing at Harry.

"No!" Harry shouted. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you—"

On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust: Sara collapsed right next to Hermione who crouched on the floor by the door with her arms over her head, and Ron, who was shaking from head to foot, patting her clumsily on the shoulder and saying, "It's all r-right...It's g-gone..."