FicWad

Chapter’s way earlier than I expected, but I doubt any of you will complain.

Chapter Twenty Two: Amazing Perils.

Harry sat in one of his many bases of operation, a few days after his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, deep in reflection after the events over the past several years. After the attempted attack on Hogsmeade, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had sufficiently scaled back their operations. In fact, other than the odd attack on a Muggle village just remind the world that he could come back full force at any time, no sign of Voldemort or any of his followers could be found. Rumors reached Harry that Voldemort had taken to recruiting abroad, but attempting to find out exactly where Voldemort was attempting to recruit dangerous dark wizards and other notorious magical fugitives from was a bit more difficult than Harry had ever thought. The Ministry of Magic for the most part seemed content to ignore Voldemort’s existence, providing he did not stage any major attacks that shook the landscape of Wizarding Britain.

Harry looked over to the picture on his desk, with him and Luna sitting by the lake, hanging out, laughing and another problem that was far more complex than anything Voldemort could throw at him reared its head. The internal struggle within Harry, including one feeling that Harry did his best to suppress, for the good of everyone, most of all himself. When he was thrown back at time, Harry knew that nothing could ever be the same than it was before. At his most vulnerable moments, which granted were few and far between, Harry wondered what could have been and what should have been. Harry hated this, it distracted him from the mission, his sole purpose in life, and that was to defeat Voldemort, wipe him out of existence for once of all. He never thought of any life post Voldemort.

Harry would have loved to tell Luna, but he refused to fall into that trap again. Luna was about as close as Harry was going to let anyone get, until Voldemort was six feet deep under and even than, the unique circumstances of Harry’s very existence caused the Boy-Who-Lived feel that he could never have a normal relationship. Harry saw it in his minds eye, should he live to be one hundred, he would be a bitter, crazy, lonely, old man, who yelled at kids and small animals for being on his lawn, because of this wretched time travel thing and whatever remaining fragments of Harry’s own moral fiber existence. Not to the mention that Harry could not bare the same thing that happened before, to happen again. Quite frankly, at the moment, Harry hoped he came across a Death Eater or even some idiot who did not pay his debts when his mob loaned money, because he needed someone to take his frustrations out on.

At that second, the door knob turned on Harry’s door and as it opened, Harry quickly moved up with cat like reflexes, wand drawn, quickly grabbing the person by the arm and flinging her to the ground. Quickly Harry was on top of her, with his wand drawn.

“Harry, wait, it’s just me!” pleased Blaise in a slightly urgent voice and Harry stepped back, still a bit cautious, allowing his friend to pull herself up to a standing position, as Blaise got to her feet with a bit of a smirk on her face. “So do you treat your girlfriend that roughly, Harry?”

“What girlfriend Blaise?” responded Harry in a would be calm voice.

“Harry, it’s obvious, okay maybe not to you, but to ninety nine percent of the world, that you and Luna are all but dating as much time you spend together, it’s just a formality, I don’t know why you don’t ask her out, you have nothing to lose,” commented Blaise, with smug look.

“More than you think,” muttered Harry, as he reflected to the previous timeline, before he responded in a robotic tone of voice. “I like Luna as a friend and nothing more.”

“Right and I’m Voldemort’s secret mistress,” commented Blaise in a sarcastic tone of voice. “Seriously, Harry, you really should have been sorted into Slytherin, you can bullshit with a straight face.”

“Right, and exactly why are you here, Blaise, I hardly believe that this is a social visit and furthermore, exactly how did you find this place in the first place,” replied Harry in an abrupt “I don’t want to talk about this now or ever” tone of voice.

“Well, it wasn’t easy, but Dad found out the location of one of Barone’s buildings, completely by accident of course, I’m not sure he even knew what he came by, but it’s quite fortunate that you were here Harry,” replied Blaise.

“This is the building that’s common knowledge, there are several others better hidden, I just stay here, because I doubt Riddle would think that I would stay in such an obvious place,” said Harry quickly. “Speaking of which, were you followed?”

“No, I don’t think they even saw me, they were just shooting the Dark Mark over the house when I came home and they left,” remarked Blaise, a frantic tone creeping into her voice. “My Dad’s been kidnapped by Death Eaters, why I don’t know, but he was.”

“Well, I have a theory, considering it’s easy enough to find out we’re friends, Riddle’s captured your father as bait to lure you to him, so he can capture you and use you as bait to me to him,” said Harry slowly. “I know, it’s insane but considering its Riddle, it makes perfect sense.”

“If I had been home, I think he might have just killed Dad and took me,” replied Blaise but Harry just shrugged. “Oh, and something else, I found written on the wall in blood, that hints that if any Aurors get involved my father will be killed.”

“So, I’m sure your father has tons of people who could search for him,” suggested Harry but Blaise shook her head.

“No, the Death Eaters killed all of the bodyguards at the house and the rest are spread too thin as it is, but I thought maybe your guardian would have an idea of where to look,” remarked Blaise as she looked around. “Any idea where Barone is by the way, Harry?”

“I’m afraid he’s out for few days, I don’t know when he’ll return,” replied Harry, who did not wish to reveal his dual identity to the daughter of his mob rival, even if he trusted her one hundred percent.

“Do you have any way to contact him?” asked Blaise in a hopeful voice.

“No, and besides if I could, he doesn’t really like to be disturbed,” said Harry in a tense voice, and Blaise suddenly become rather downtrodden, but suddenly her eyes brightened slightly.

“Well, maybe you can help me, I mean, you’ve fought Voldemort before…” replied Blaise but Harry cut her off.

“And was nearly beaten to a bloody pulp,” said Harry darkly, but he did want to test his skills against Voldemort.

“That was during your first year, you’ve worked hard since, I’ve seen you training, hell, I was stupid enough to agree to duel with you that one time, which I assure you is not happening again,” replied Blaise with a shudder. “Unless you won’t me to go myself…”

“No, I’ll help,” said Harry. “The best thing to do would be to go back to the scene of the crime, perhaps we can find a clue that was left, whether it was accident or Riddle had it planted to lure someone into a trap.”

Sometime later, Blaise and Harry entered the Zabini Mafia headquarters office building, Harry taking extra steps to make sure that no one had left any nasty dark magic surprises. Cautiously, Harry shined a light from his wand over the door knob, but saw nothing that could implicate anyone in the crime. The lock clicked and they entered the office building, as he looked across the window, at the grisly sight of one of Boss Zabini’s bodyguards, hanging impaled on a tree branch.

‘This is where Dad stays, but they must have cleaned up a little bit,” muttered Blaise, but Harry raised his hand, as he looked over to a corner in the office.

“You’re right Blaise, there’s nothing here, I guess we have to go back, and maybe look for something we missed…GOTCHA SCUMBAG!” shouted Harry abruptly as he seemed to grope into thin air and Blaise raised her eyebrows, before Harry cancelled a disillusionment charm, revealing a Death Eater who had been hiding in a corner. The Death Eater raised his wand, but Harry blasted it from his hand, before he stepped on it, snapping it in two.

“Let go of me you nutcase,” begged the Death Eater, but Harry stared in his foe’s face.

“What were you doing here?” demanded Harry, as he held his wand and the Death Eater looked absolutely fearful as several sparks bounced off the wall, burning noticeable holes into it.

“The Zabini girl…I was sent back here…to tell the Dark Lord…if she came back,” stuttered the Death Eater.

“And why did Voldemort take my father?” asked Blaise dangerously.

“You’ll get nothing out of me, you little cunt!” shouted the Death Eater but he paled when he saw the look on Harry’s face.

“Listen to me, I have questions and you better have answers or else,” remarked Harry in his most dangerous voice.

“Or what, Potter?” demanded the Death Eater.

“Well, let’s just say I hope you’ve learned to walk without legs or arms, or a body,” responded Harry, as he raised his arm, pointing his wand right in the man’s throat. “So, you better talk now, where did Voldemort take Blaise’s father?”

“Uh, a maze, yeah, in a park,” stammered the Death Eater but Blaise put her hand on Harry’s shoulder.

“Harry, mind if I handle this for a minute?” asked Blaise sweetly and Harry nodded, before Blaise quickly pointed her wand at the Death Eater, slamming him against the wall, before she suspended the Death Eater upside down by the ceiling. “COULD YOU JUST BE A BIT MORE BLOODY SPECIFIC!”

“Godric’s Hollow, it’s Godric’s Hollow, the park, right across from the old Potter place,” stammered the Death Eater and Harry’s expression slightly darkening when it was announced where it is.

“Harry?” asked Blaise in a concerned voice.

“I’m fine,” replied Harry before he turned to the Death Eater. “What’s Voldemort hoping to accomplish with this plan?”

“He didn’t say, well not outright, but he did mention that he would ruin your life, Potter,” muttered the Death Eater, which was of course no news flash to Harry. “No specifics honestly, now let me down and let me go.”

Blaise let the Death Eater down, rather roughly, causing him to crash down hard. Quickly, Harry aimed a spell to his opponent’s throat and the Death Eater clutched his throat, as his windpipe began to close, as the Death Eater suffocated to death. Quite frankly, Harry had little time to think of an elaborate demise for this nameless, faceless Death Eater.

“Now what?” prompted Blaise as Harry seemed to have a rather distracted look in his eyes. “Harry?”

“We go, but tread lightly,” said Harry in a weary voice, thinking that he should have brought some back up, but decided not to dwell on the matter any further. “Blaise, I can’t say enough to be ready for anything and everything.”

“I know, we could be making a mistake but it really should be my mistake to make,” remarked Blaise. “If you want to turn around…”

“No, Blaise, I’m coming, besides I might get a chance to go another round with Riddle,” commented Harry, but a part of him did not want to go to Godric’s Hollow. However, Harry refused to give into it, he would have to face the past, the sight that his parents were viciously murdered.

“You know he did this on purpose,” stated Blaise and Harry nodded. “Are you sure?”

“Positive, I’m not going to let one of my friends walk into a situation alone and get herself killed,” replied Harry in a neutral voice. “Now hold onto my arm, we need to apparate, there and unless you’re withholding something, you can’t do it.”

“No, I have to wait to learn how to Apparate when I come of age like other normal people,” said Blaise, before she grabbed Harry’s arm quickly and the two disapparated from the Zabini mafia headquarters to right outside Godric’s Hallow.

“We’re here and you can let go of my arm now, Blaise,” commented Harry and Blaise quickly let go of Harry’s arm.

“Sorry Harry, I’m not used to Apparating like that,” said Blaise in a neutral voice, as he looked around the village, which had fallen into despair in recent years. “I hear at one point this was one of the most beautiful villages in the entire world, but now, in recent years, it’s turned into a dilapidated mess.”

“Almost fifteen years,” corrected Harry with a far off look in his eyes before he coughed. “The park should be around here somewhere.”

“Up there I think, right across from your parent’s house the Death Eater said,” replied Blaise, as the two walked of the street, most of the homes still looked fairly well maintained, despite the hard times the village went onto but the final home, on the end of the street, was reduced mostly to a pile of wreckage, burn marks on the sections of walls that remained standing.

Harry stepped over, it was surreal, he had not even seen pictures, but he knew this was the place he lived, for fifteen months of his life, perhaps with a few notable exceptions, the only happy fifteen months of Harry’s life. Quickly, he moved over, a silvery glint having caught Harry’s eye. It was a picture frame, buried in the ashes, and Harry bent over to pick it up.

It was a picture frame and inside was a slightly torn picture of a toddler version of Harry, being held by his mother, no doubt not too long before Voldemort come calling. Harry suspected that his father might have been in the torn section of the picture, but that piece was lost in time. He stared at the picture, transfixed.

“Harry?” prompted Blaise as she looked over Harry’s shoulder, but Harry seemed to not hear her, so Blaise leaned forward and caught sight of the picture. “Your Mum, Harry?”

“Mm hmm,” replied Harry in an absent minded tone of voice.

“She’s pretty, she has your eyes after all,” offered Blaise calmly but Harry still seemed to be deep in thought. “And most likely a better mother than mine, as I doubt she would have tried to turn you into a girl.”

“No she wouldn’t have,” replied Harry coolly, as he placed the photo in his pocket. “The past, it’s the past…”

“Harry are you okay?” asked Blaise in a concerned voice but Harry shook his head. “You should have never come here, it’s my fault.”

“No it isn’t,” argued Harry, the urge to dig through the rubble for more links to the past very tempting, but Harry decided against it. Only fools dwelled on dreams. He would not be ruled by any emotion. “Let’s go.”

Harry walked towards the park, as if nothing had happened, with Blaise following closely behind. Blaise felt Harry could give most of the Slytherins a lesson on how not to show any emotion, as he walked through the gates and at that moment, a scruffy looking young man with a gun rushed up towards Harry and Blaise.

“You two, don’t move and give me all your money!” shouted the mugger but Harry just raised his eyebrow in amusement, before he withdrew a larger gun and pointed it at the mugger.

“Mine’s bigger,” commented Harry before he shot the mugger right in the chest, dropping him dead. The mugger hit the ground, as Harry levitated the criminal up into the air, before dropping his body over the fence on the other side of the park, complete with a conveniently placed sign that said “BEWARE: ROTTWEILERS”. Harry dropped the would be criminal over the fence and the sound of ripping flesh could be heard.

“Remind me to never piss you off,” said Blaise as her eyes widened as she heard the fate of the mugger, as Harry put his gun away. “Now, we need to find my father, that maze should be around here somewhere I’d imagine.”

“You’d be right, Blaise,” answered Harry, as a large maze was in the center of the park, the only thing in the park that had not looked like it had degraded past the point of repair, but Harry stepped forward, in an attempt to open up the entrance of the maze, but it remained shut, even in an unlocking charm proved useless. Harry was about to shoot the door down, but a cold high voice that seemed to come out of nowhere, projected through the air around them.

“You will find that only I can allow you access to the maze,” commented Voldemort. “Years ago, the Ministry of Magic had tentative plans to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament but those plans were shelved once the Goblet of Fire was stolen. Now a maze was to be the final task, but as you’ll find out soon enough, I’ve made some rather notable improvements. Now while the Triwizard Cup was in the center of the maze, a much different prize is in the center of the maze.”

“Dad,” whispered Blaise in a terrified voice.

“Indeed, your father put up quite the struggle, he had a few defenses around his building that proved to be a minor setback, but even a paranoid delusional crackpot such as him could not even keep Lord Voldemort out,” taunted Voldemort in his most chilling voice. “You two will enter the maze and test out all the additions I’ve put in than. Thanks to Barone, I can ill-afford to send any Death Eaters to do so, because of the lethal complications within.”

“I’m no lab rat Riddle!” shouted Harry and Blaise nodded in agreement, as she refused to be manipulated to do Voldemort’s dirty work.

“Actually I insist, you two will run the maze or I trust you, being among the top students of Hogwarts, are familiar with the dark beast called the Nundu,” commented Voldemort.

“A dark creature that resembles a leopard that’s breath has been known to wipe out entire villages,” answered Blaise.

“Ten points to Slytherin, Miss Zabini,” hissed Voldemort softly. “Now, I’ve synthesized a mixture that is quite similar to the breath of the Nundu. It’s just as lethal but the misery is a bit more prolonged.”

Voldemort paused, to let the full nature of his scheme set in to the two teenagers outside.

“Of course, there is no need for you to run the maze Potter, Miss Zabini can do so on her own,” replied Voldemort. “Of course, she won’t get too far, as I believe we may be among the few alive who are capable of succeeding the perils within alone.”

“Fine Riddle, I’ll play your game, for now,” replied Harry in a defeated tone.

“There was no doubt in my mind that you would Potter,” replied Voldemort nastily. “Now before you enter the maze, I need you to place your wands down and leave them outside the maze.”

Blaise and Harry looked at each other, it was obvious that Voldemort was trying to stack the deck as much as possible.

“Remember the Prophecy Riddle,” warned Harry.

“I do, I’m utterly confident of your abilities to survive, Potter, but whether it’s in one piece, it remains to be seen,” commented Voldemort in a chilling tone. “I feel that the assessment of how well my additions for the maze will work would be best without wands, so drop them, or Boss Zabini dies a slow and agonizing death.”

Blaise pulled out her wand and let it drop to the ground. Harry briefly considered telling Voldemort where he could stick that demand, but he removed his wand, letting it linger between his fingers, before letting it drop to the ground. He already regretted doing so, but Voldemort held all the cards and if Harry wanted to find out what he was up to, he had to play the game. Harry was thankful the he knew enough wandless magic to hold his own, along with a few other tricks, but Blaise always seemed to struggle with wandless magic, the others had caught on quicker and it took her much longer to learn each spell.

“Now you may enter,” prompted Voldemort, as the doors vanished, and Blaise and Harry walked inside, the door vanishing behind them. “Oh and did I mention you only have thirty minutes to locate Boss Zabini?”

Harry ignored Voldemort as he looked around, it was obvious that this was nothing like the maze that Harry had to run in his fourth year the first time around.

“All these doors, and how do we know we’re not going to go around in circles?” asked Blaise.

“We can’t,” said Harry darkly.

“Well, we can’t just stand around here bitching about it, let’s try the scientific process to pick which door to choose,” replied Blaise. “Eenie, Meanie, Miney, Moe.”

Blaise pointed to the door, and Harry motioned for her to step aside, so he could move through first, walking down a large stone corridor, where he did not know. She followed close behind, as Harry tensely stopped, before he bent down and removed his shoe. Quickly Harry tossed the shoe forward and several dozen darts shot from the wall, as Blaise let out a breath she had been holding in.

“Exactly how did you know?” asked Blaise but Harry just walked forward and picked up several of the darts, before pocketing them.

“Explain later, need to move forward,” said Harry in one breath as he moved forward, with Blaise following him. “Let’s try this way.”

“Works for me, I have no better ideas,” replied Blaise, as she followed Harry down the corridor that seemed deserted. As they stepped inside, Harry was lifted right off the ground and found himself suspended in mid air. Blaise was also pulled off the ground as both of them were spinning out of control in mid air. “Now what?”

“Anti-gravity charm, combined with a vacuum spell,” explained Harry as his eyes grew wide, as there were sharp looking knives that were spinning at an insane speed in mid air, right towards where Harry and Blaise were being sucked right towards.

“REDUCTO!” shouted Blaise, as Harry did the same thing silently, but the magic just seemed to be absorbed by the knives and rather caused them to spin faster, creating a larger vacuum effect.

Harry reached forward, in an attempt to grab onto the wall, but it heated up, blistering his hands, as he saw that Blaise was just inches away. Quickly, Harry pulled out his gun and shot at the rotating knives, blasting them back into the wall and causing them to spin through the wall. An exit was created, as Blaise disappeared through, with Harry following, and seconds later, they hit the ground with a thud. Blaise pulled herself up, her hair looking even more messed up than Harry’s.

“Good thing you thought to shoot those things out, rather than use magic, otherwise Voldemort would have to be scraping us off the wall,” said Blaise, as she stepped forward, before cringing at a sign over three doors. “Great, hieroglyphics, I suppose you don’t know how to read this, Harry?”

“No, but I do know a good translating spell,” answered Harry as he waved his hand, a circular golden orb appearing over the Egyptian script, rearranging it into English letters. “We’re on the right track and one of these doors is the shortest way to the center of the maze, the other two have mortal peril behind him.”

“Yes but which one is it?” asked Blaise and Harry shrugged, but took a few tentative steps towards the center door, with Blaise following behind him, as the door swung open, allowing them entrance and quickly, the door shut behind them. “That door shut too abruptly for my liking.”

Harry looked down, as they were on a large plank over a body of water, the plank vanished bit by bit, as they saw what lurked below. A pair of jaws snapped from below, as several crocodiles swam below.

“What kind of nutcase puts crocodiles in a maze?” asked Blaise in a mortified tone of voice.

“Voldemort,” answered Harry casually, as he looked down, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cubed shape object, that quickly enraged to reveal a broomstick, and as the platform was halfway vanished, before Harry mounted it as Blaise stood there, dumbstruck. “Well, what are you waiting for? Climb on”

Blaise did as she was told, as she mounted Harry’s broomstick, grabbing onto the back of Harry’s neck for leverage, as Harry rose up, just as the platform completely disappeared, as Harry ducked his head slightly.

“Brace yourself,” cautioned Harry, as bolted forward at the speed of light, causing Blaise to scream and instantly, Harry managed to crash through the wall, right back into the corridor where they had come.

“Never do that again without warning me!” yelled Blaise, as she dusted herself off, pulling herself to her feet.

“Hey, I told you to brace yourself,” remarked Harry.

“Fifteen minutes,” announced the voice of Lord Voldemort mockingly.

“Left door?” suggested Harry and Blaise nodded, still looking a bit annoyed at the stunt that Harry had pulled involving crashing at the wall. He could have broken every bone in his body, but the left door swung open, as they walked down the corridor but Harry stopped as they reached other set of doors that forked off. “Blaise, don’t talk for a minute, I need to concentrate, try something different.”

Blaise looked curious, forgetting her earlier annoyance but said nothing, as Harry closed his eyes, concentrating, hoping this would work.

“Left,” said Harry abruptly, as he turned, with Blaise following him down the corridor, surprisingly meeting nothing, as they reached another set of doors, four of them, with roman numerals etched on the top of them. “Door number three.”

Harry led the way, with no questions from Blaise, as they were running out of time to save her father. They went through several more sets of doors, with Harry calling out where they should go and luckily, they met nothing other than a few randomly placed curses that Harry was able to counteract with no problem at all. At the end, they skidded to a stop, in front of a large Golden Sphinx, one thing that remained consistent.

“Greetings, you dunderheads have nearly reached the center of the maze,” commented the Sphinx dryly. “But to move further, you must answer my riddle, answer wrongly, and you shall be destroyed.”

“Give me the riddle,” prompted Harry.

“Three men are on a boat with four cigarettes, but no matches,” said the Sphinx mysteriously. “How do they smoke?”

Blaise motioned Harry over, before she suggested her guess to him in a hushed voice.

“It’s obvious, if they were wizards, they would have used a fire spell to light them,” suggested Blaise, but Harry shook his head in disagreement, wishing that Hermione was here.

“But what if they’re Muggles?” asked Harry. “Wait a minute, I get it now, it’s a play on words.”

Harry turned to the Sphinx, who stood there, with a bored expression etched on its face.

“They threw one cigarette overboard to make the boat a cigarette lighter,” replied Harry and the Sphinx stepped aside, allowing both Blaise and Harry access, but Blaise wrinkled her nose up.

“I get it now, that was an absolutely cheesy play on words,” said Blaise as they moved forward, through one final doorway, but on a small table, there were four cigarettes. “Cute.”

At that moment, the cigarettes magically lit and a sinister orange light began to fill the chamber.

“Not cute,” commented Harry darkly as the cigarettes began to morph into what could only be described as fire demons. “Voldemort doesn’t do cute.”

Harry dodged a jet of fire from one of his newly found foes, it scorching the ground beneath him.

“Okay Harry, you’re smart, what are those blasted things?” demanded Blaise as she managed a weak wandless water charm that had little effect on her opponent.

“Heliopaths!” yelled Harry suddenly, as he sent a water charm of his own at one of the fire demons, achieving a slightly better result than Blaise.

“You mean one of those lunatic things that Luna was going on about that her father writes about!” shouted Blaise, as she just barely avoided having a hole burned right through her both by the heliopath and the stern look that Harry was giving her. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Luna, but she’s a bit out there at times…”

“So?” asked Harry defensively, as he managed to maneuver himself to allow two Heliopaths to shoot fireballs at each other, a stupid move in hindsight as it only seemed to strengthen the power of the Heliopaths. It was only by luck that they managed to dodge the assaults of their super powered dark foes, who seemed to only feed off the heat in the air, growing stronger yet.

“One minute!” announced Voldemort, that high cold voice taunting both of them.

“Blaise put a bubble headed charm up, I have an idea,” said Harry suddenly, kicking himself for not coming up with this solution sooner and Blaise hastened to do so, as the Bubble Headed Charm was one charm that she managed without a wand.

Once he had placed a bubble headed charm on himself, Harry waved his wand, a black circle around the chamber they were battling, as the Heliopaths stopped in their tracks. An inhumane scream could be heard, as the flames of the Heliopaths began to extinguish, as they regressed back to their cigarette forms.

“One question, how?” asked Blaise wordlessly as Harry slumped forward, weakened by the highly advanced wandless magic he did, but he managed to stand up by the sheer force of will.

The door sprung open, leading the way to the center of the maze, as Harry turned to Blaise.

“I used a spell that removed all the oxygen from this room,” said Harry in a weak voice, as he held onto the wall for support, as he regained his bearings, before they moved inside and Blaise saw her father, chained to a chair, looking rather weak and Harry’s eyes widened, as his hand looked rather rotted, as if had been dead for quite some time.

“Daddy!” yelled Blaise as she rushed forward, but Harry had grabbed her arm, as the door slammed shut behind them.

“That’s not him,” warned Harry, as the chest of the faux Boss Zabini burst open, filling the chamber with a sickening yellow vapor.

“Impressive detective work Potter, Miss Zabini would have been vaporized on impact had she touched my transfigured Inferius booby trap,” commented the cold voice of Voldemort. “Of course, your Bubble Headed charms will last but only for mere moments, before my synthesized Nundu breath eats right through them and then causes your lungs to spontaneously combust.”

Harry was already light headed, but something that Voldemort said had given him a back handed clue, in his own egotistical way. Quickly, Harry levitated the body, motioning for Blaise to stand back and Harry banished quickly right into the wall, completely vaporizing the four walls around the center chamber of the maze. Quickly, Harry leapt over where the wall once stood, careful not to touch any part of the floor that the wall once stood. Blaise copied his movements and once again, the high cold voice of Voldemort taunted them from afar.

“Quick thinking Potter, it is a shame that you did not join me when I gave you the chance,” remarked Voldemort. “Of course, perhaps you are much older and wiser now, you can see the benefits of joining me, in fact both of you would be useful to the right cause.”

“Go suck a lemon!” shouted Harry and Blaise in unison, before they looked at each other and looked amused in spite of the situation.

“So be it,” replied Voldemort coldly and the next thing Harry and Blaise knew, the floor vanished. Quickly, they slid down a large incline that seemed to stretch for several miles below ground.

Quickly, they landed in a large dungeon that was covered in immense amounts of fog. Blaise pulled herself up followed by Harry and the means which they had arrived vanished as soon as they hit bottom. Harry tensed up suddenly, he could feel them, they were near.

“They’re coming,” whispered Harry in a hushed voice and certainly enough, several Dementors made their way down the hallway, gliding right towards the group, their skeletal hands outstretched, their rattling breath taunting them, as really bad memories came up in Harry’s mind and to say that the Dementors had a lot to work with now was an understatement to stay the least. “Blaise…Patronus…before…we…collapse.”

“Expecto Patronum!” yelled Blaise weakly, but only a few light strands of vapor appeared, before she collapsed to the ground, as Harry dug for a happy memory in his mind, one that he tried to keep buried deep inside, as he felt by bringing it to his consciousness, he would be getting his hopes up.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” yelled Harry as a large bright silver stag burst from midair right at the Dementors, backing them off ever so slightly but wandless magic was not without a price, as Harry collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted from doing so much high powered wandless magic in too short of a time and the Patronus slowly vanished, allowing the Dementors to slowly advance forward.

Harry looked up weakly. He heard her screams just before she was murdered before his eyes in his mind, before Harry collapsed to the ground from overexposure to the Dementors.

Voldemort stepped into the picture, as he looked at the unconscious form of Harry Potter, as he gave a slight shudder, but offered no further movement. The boy needed to be prepared for the next phase of the plan that would systematically destroy his reputation, along with putting Voldemort in full power of the Ministry of Magic and before too long, the world.

And that ends that earlier than expected chapter, with three more to go. I have no clue when the next chapter will be. My schedule will be rather wacky for the next couple of months, but I’m aiming to get this story done by the end of June. And yes, there is a slight chance there will be a sequel, the premise that might be slightly disturbing to some readers, but you won’t see one word of it until it’s completely written.