Heat, Light and the Properties of Plants

Chapter 17 Betrayal

With a whirl of coloured lights, Hermione and Ron fell onto a grassy bank, Draco Malfoy\'s phallic Portkey between them. Ron had his hand on the balls and Hermione clutched the cock. They hastily let go of it as soon as they landed and it fell heavily to the ground. Hermione picked it up without comment and stuffed it into her bag.

Ron glared at her. \"Thinking of giving it back to him, are you?\"

\"Well it is his,\" Hermione said calmly. \"Anyway, where are we?\"

They scrambled to their feet and looked around. They were standing on the side of a hill, overlooking a small valley. The hill was quiet and peaceful, nobody else in sight. In the valley below they could see a small wood, a cart track, and a dilapidated huddle of buildings. One building stood a little apart from the rest, a lazy column of dark smoke rising from its chimney and hanging in the still air.

\"That looks like a pub to me,\" said Ron, squinting down at it. \"Yeah, look, they\'ve got a post with an inn sign on it. Can\'t read what it says, though. Wish I\'d brought my magic spyglass.\"

\"No need for a magic spyglass,\" said Hermione, groping in her bag. \"I brought these ... \" And she pulled out a small pair of binoculars. \"My Dad gave them to me; he\'s a keen bird watcher and he\'s always trying to get me interested too.\"

\"What on earth do Muggles watch birds for?\" Ron asked blankly. \"It\'s not like they can tell the future from them or anything.\"

\"Oh, never mind,\" said Hermione. \"It\'d take too long to explain.\" As she spoke, she lifted the binoculars and focussed on the sign below. \"Yup, it\'s the Silent Witch alright.\" She passed the binoculars to Ron.

\"Oh yeah,\" he said, and chuckled. \"That\'s quite good, really, calling it the Silent Witch, what with that picture of the headless hag.\"

\"Yes, very funny,\" Hermione said sarcastically. \"But the thing is, where\'s Harry? We\'d better not just go blundering into the pub, we\'d probably do more harm than good.\"

\"We could just keep an eye out from up here,\" Ron said. \"We get a good view of the pub, we\'d be able to see people coming and going.\"

\"Ye-es,\" said Hermione. \"But we\'re a bit far away up here. And a bit exposed, come to that. I think we\'d be better off trying to get down to that little wood there,\" - she pointed - \"then we\'d be closer, and able to spy on the pub without being seen.\"

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Down in the wood at that very moment, Harry was still huddled miserably behind a tree, thinking about Snape. The possibilities were churning round and round in his head: Had Snape betrayed him? ... Was Snape just trying to flush Fenrir Greyback out into the open? ... Did he care whether Harry got hurt? ... Had Snape ever cared for him? ... Had Snape betrayed him ...

Harry shook his head in irritation. This was doing no good at all. \"He must care for me. The way he touches me ... the way he licks me ... the way he kisses me ...\" Harry shivered. His hand fell to the rapidly-growing bulge in his jeans.

\"The way he strokes me ...\" Harry groaned, unzipping his fly.

\"The way he squeezes me ... \"

Harry freed his hardening cock and grasped it firmly.

\"Uuurgh ... the way he ... arggh ... licks my arsehole ...\"

Harry began urgently tugging at his cock.

\"Aaaaaaaah ... the way he .... oooooh ... sucks my cock\"

Harry was now pumping desperately.

\"Unngghhh ... way ... he .....fucks .... AAaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!\"

Harry came.

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\"Bloody hell, Harry, what were you thinking, we could hear you a mile off!\"

Harry blushed. He\'d more or less recovered his composure - and, thank goodness, he\'d zipped up his jeans - but he certainly hadn\'t expected Ron and Hermione to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

\"Sorry,\" he muttered. \"I hope nobody else heard.\"

\"There doesn\'t seem to be anybody else about at the moment,\" said Hermione, looking amused. \"Fortunately.\"

\"Anyway, what are you two doing here? I didn\'t want anyone to follow me - I thought Snape was in danger, but - \" Harry laughed bitterly \" - turns out he\'s quite all right, thank you very much, and among friends!\" He spat the last word out with such venom that Ron and Hermione were startled.

\"You didn\'t expect us to let you go rushing into trouble on your own, did you mate?\" asked Ron.

\"But how did you manage to find me? And where are Remus and Tonks, didn\'t they come with you?\"

\"Tonks is at the Ministry of Magic, keeping guard on Draco Malfoy,\" said Hermione. \"He\'s the one who made a Portkey to get us here.\" Ron glared at her. Hermione went pink, but continued: \"And Remus is sleeping off the effects of the new Wolfbane potion, I think we must have made it too strong or something.\"

\"We\'d better check with Snape - \" Harry began, then stopped and laughed ruefully. \"No, of course, we can\'t. It looks like he lured me here to hand me over to Fenrir Greyback. That\'s what the other Dark wizards in the pub think, anyway.\"

Ron looked horrified. Hermione frowned. \"Are you sure that\'s what he\'s doing?\" she asked. \"I mean, we have been wrong about him before ...\"

\"Oh, I know,\" Harry said. \"I\'ve been thinking of nothing else. Either he really has betrayed me, or he\'s pretending to, and means to grab Greyback when he comes out of hiding.\"

\"But it\'s really dangerous for you, either way, Harry,\" said Hermione, looking worried. \"Unless Snape\'s got a really good plan to protect you ...\"

Ron snorted. \"The only person he\'ll have a good plan to protect is himself, if you ask me. You\'re expendable, Harry.\"

Harry nodded. \"Yes, maybe.\"

\"So what are you going to do?\" asked Hermione.

\"Well, I got here using this - \" Harry picked up his backpack and rummaged around until he found the parchment. \"It showed me how to Apparate to this wood. Here - \" he held it out to show the others. \"I\'m supposed to wait until there are further instructions - \"

\"You mean like these?\" asked Hermione, pointing to another line of Snape\'s writing taking shape at the bottom of the parchment, faint at first then darkening so it could be read.

\"Come to the Silent Witch at dusk tonight and show this parchment to the barman. He will tell you what to do next.
Come alone

\"So what are you going to do?\" Hermione asked again.

\"Simple, really,\" Harry said briskly, suddenly realising that it really was, after all, quite simple. \"I\'ll go.\"

The others stared at him.

\"And that would be because ... ?\" asked Ron.

\"Because I\'m going to trust him. And if I\'m wrong, and he really has betrayed me, it won\'t matter. Because then I wouldn\'t want to carry on living anyway.\"

Hermione choked, and hugged Harry tightly. \"Oh, I hope you\'re right about him,\" she whispered.

\"He doesn\'t deserve you,\" said Ron, looking angry. \"Well, we\'re coming with you.\"

\"No,\" Harry said firmly. \"He says come alone. And I intend to. If he has got a plan, I\'m not going to spoil it. And if he hasn\'t ... \" his voice faltered. \"Well, I don\'t want you two getting caught as well.\"

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. \"Alright, Harry,\" Hermione said gently. \"You go alone. But if we don\'t hear from you pretty soon, we\'re coming after you.\"

\"And what do we do now?\" Ron said restlessly. \"It says go to the pub at dusk, but it\'s only the middle of the afternoon. We\'ve got a few hours to kill.\"

\"Well, I don\'t know about you, but I\'m hungry,\" said Harry. He felt a lot better now he\'d finally made up his mind what to do. He unzipped the side pocket of his backpack and pulled out the sandwiches he\'d made - was it only this morning? - it seemed a lifetime ago. He held them out. \"Want any?\"

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At last dusk fell. The friends had spent a surprisingly peaceful afternoon together, considering the circumstances. They\'d divided up Harry\'s provisions - although Ron and Hermione made sure Harry got the lion\'s share - and laughed over Harry\'s wizard photograph from Quercus Studios. Then Ron and Harry settled down to a game of wizard chess with Ron\'s battered old travelling chess set, while Hermione idly searched the surrounding countryside with her binoculars.

After Ron had beaten Harry three times in a row, Harry gave up and settled down for a snooze, catching up on the sleep he\'d missed the night before. He felt happy with his friends, his mind at rest. Even if this was to be his last afternoon on earth, it had been a good one. He was glad that they were there with him ...

Harry woke to the sound of Hermione quietly calling him. \"Harry. It\'s dusk. It\'s time.\"

He stood up, picked up his backpack and straightened his shoulders. \"Right then. I\'m off.\"

\"Aren\'t you going to wear your Invisibility Cloak?\" Ron asked.

\"No ... \" Harry checked his backpack, making sure he had the parchment he was to show the barman. \"No, I want them to know I\'m following instructions.\"

He slung the backpack over his shoulder and smiled at them. \"Well, goodbye Ron, goodbye Hermione. I\'m sure I\'ll see you soon.\"

Hermione hugged him tightly, unable to speak. Ron punched him on the shoulder, muttering \"Take care, mate.\"

They accompanied him the short distance to the edge of the wood, then stood quietly together, holding hands, watching Harry as he walked slowly down the cart track towards the Silent Witch.

A flock of crows flew up as he walked, and wheeled overhead, cawing loudly ...