Ferinus Consanguinitas

It seemed like an eternity for Tonks to get back to them, but when she did, the news was not good. It seemed Augusta Longbottom was killed using the Avada Kedevra curse, but she did not go down easy. Surrounding her body were those of five confirmed deatheaters, all taken out by her wand. She fought back valiantly to protect her grandson, but in the end she succumbed to the overwhelming numbers. Neville himself was nowhere to be found, but from the sheer damage in the house, he fought back just as viciously as his Gran had. For now, they believed Neville was alive, but captured. For what purpose was unknown, but Tonks promised Harry that they would do whatever it took to get him back to safety.

*-------*

The room as always was dark, and the low light from the torches cast strange shadows walls. The gathering was small this time, only his most loyal surrounded him.

"Yaxley!" The square faced man moved quickly from the others to kneel on the floor and kiss the hem of his Lord's robe.

"You have disappointed me." The now cowering mass on the floor tried to speak, but was cut off with a Crucio.

"Do not speak until I give you permission. You were placed into the ministry so that you could bring back our captured brothers and sisters. But so far, you have failed me, is there some problem with what I have asked of you?" The fear was palpable in the air as the curse was released, along with the strong smell of rancid sweat and the ever present copper tang of blood.

"No my Lord, I have been able to bring back three of your faithful today my Lord." It amazed him how weak these men could look when faced with the man they very nearly worshipped.

"Really? And what of the others that you were suppose to save from being thrown into the veil, four of your fellows that lost their lives to your incompetence." Harsh breathing, the man that kneeled couldn't seem to catch his breath; the crucio must have been a harsh one.

"My Lord, there was an interruption, someone attempted to stop the execution and they started the proceedings without me there."

"Who was it that tried to stop the executions?" The Dark Lord voice remained unconvinced, his hand twitching on his wand.

"I'm not sure my lord, the aurors said the voice was male, but he was wearing an invisibility cloak and trying to stop them from killing Remus Lupin. He failed though my lord, the intruder and all six prisoners went through the veil before I arrived."

"Remus Lupin? Wormtail! Wasn't he that werewolf friend of the Potters?" The rat like man was triumphantly standing over a body curled on the floor at his feet, his masters words made him cringe in fear.

"Y…yes my Lord."

"LeStrange, you have a family scroll in your home do you not?" The robed man confidently stepped forward and kneeled.

"Yes my Lord, though it is not as extensive as the Malfoy's"

"Is Harry Potter on it?" LeStrange sneered slightly before answering.

"Yes my lord. His blood stains the scroll."

"Check the scroll and return quickly"

"Of course my lord" LeStrange jumped to his feet and ran from the room, the doors slamming behind him.

"Yaxley, you said there were six prisoners?"

"Yes my lord, Jugson, Dolohov, Selwynn, and Rowle were those I knew. Remus Lupin who was accused of using imperious on an auror so she would marry him and the other was a girl who used imperious on a muggle……. My Lord, She also bore your mark on her naval."

"I have not marked anyone on their naval, are you sure of what you saw?” Yaxley’s head nodded quickly as his body shook with the after effects of the earlier crucio.

“Perhaps this girl simply wished to be among our ranks, she would not be the first to falsely mark themselves."

"Yes my lord, though she was unworthy, she was not even fully human."

“Not hum……” The Dark Lords words were cut off as LeStrange ran back into the room, the heavy doors slamming into the walls behind them.

"My Lord, he is dead, Potter is dead." A hushed silence rang throughout the room, no one quite sure if they should celebrate the death of Potter, all knowing that their Lord had wanted to kill the boy himself. The mass at Wormtail's feet struggled to his knees and spoke in a horse voice.

"That’s a lie, Harry can't be dead!" A mocking laughter rang through the room as Voldemort turned towards the speaker.

"Have you finally decided to speak, Mr. Longbottom?"


A sharp pain in his finger woke Harry abruptly from his dream, though the pain now radiating from his scar quickly overrode his senses. He fumbled to open his bedside drawer and downed the bottle of pain potion he now kept in there. Laying his head back down on his pillow, he waited for the pain to cease while he checked on his finger. There were two small puncture wounds, one on either side of his pointer finger. The blood that had been flowing out of them had now congealed, but a quick look at where his hand had been resting on his chest showed that it had bled quite profusely for a short time.

“Meow” There was the culprit, Crookshanks sat on the end of his bed, looking as apologetic as a cat could be. Thankful and annoyed at the same time, Harry motioned for Crooks to come over to him. He scratched behind the mangy animals ears as he curled up on his chest. A quick pull of his own hair and a soft hoot indicated that Hedwig had also been watching over him as he slept, he ran his injured had down her chest, awkwardly trying to pet her while avoiding staining her feathers with his blood. He took silent comfort in the animals as he thought about his vision.

Voldemort thought he was dead. Perhaps it would be a good thing to keep up the misinformation. Then Hermoine, Ron and himself could look for the Horcrux’s without deatheaters searching for him high and low. But what about Neville, they had to find a way to rescue him, and quickly. With Harry now “dead”, Voldemort would probably want Neville among the deceased as well, just in case the Prophecy had originally been about him. Another wave of pain exploded from his scar, the pain potions just weren’t cutting it anymore. Voldemort must be really angry this time. Why was this happening in the first place? It had been nearly a month since he took the potion to stop his visions. Maybe it had worn off? He couldn’t remember if Lyra had said wither he had to take it again. He knew there were more doses in the basement lab, perhaps he should go get another.

*-----------*

"What are you doing down here Harry?" Harry startled, dropping the now empty potion bottle to the hard flagstone floor, the glass burst apart, showering his naked feet with shards.

"Don't move, I'll get my wand.' She quickly turned back to the storage closet where she had been while Harry tried to remain still, his brain still trying to pound its way through his skull. He had put on his invisibility cloak and stumbled downstairs when the pain had gotten almost unbearable, determined to get another dose of the potion.

Lyra returned and carefully moved the glass away from his feet into a trash bin with a few shaky waves of her wand. After making sure his feet were clean of glass and had suffered no injury she led him to sit on one of the high stools next to her work table.

"Why did you take another vial?" He didn’t know how long he was sitting there in pain, but from the sound of her voice Lyra had been asking him the same question for awhile.

"I had another vision." Harry’s words were garbled, he felt like vomiting and the cold flagstones looked like a wonderful place to lie down and die. Then like a fog rolling in the pain began to recede, slowly wrapping his head in a blanket of pain free bliss. Lyra had moved away from him and was now flipping through a small tattered black book while muttering to herself.

"That shouldn't have happened, have you taken any other potions lately?" Finally free from pain, Harry took in Lyra’s appearance. Her hair was greasy and lank, the circles under her eyes were prominent and

"Yeah, Draco gave me one, I have been feeling sick lately and it helped with the nausea."

"Nausea? What color was the potion?"

"Its light pink."

"What about the taste?"

"It's almost tasteless, maybe a touch of mint." Lyra walked over to the wall of finished potions and found the shelf labeled P. Harry heard a ripping sound before Lyra walked back over with a familiar bottle of potion.

"Vitamin supplement most likely, does it look like this?" She handed him the bottle for closer inspection, the shape was the same as was the potion color inside.

"Yes, I still have more though. It says on the label to only take a sip every morning, so I have almost the full bottle left." Harry rolled the bottle in his hands, noticing the side without a label seemed sticky.

"So you have just been nauseated, no other symptoms."

"No." She flipped to another page in her book and read a bit more before speaking again.

"No cramping, or magic drain?"

"No."

"Well I don't think the second dose you just drank should harm you in anyway, it will most likely just pass through your system since you have already absorbed as much of the magic you can from the first dose. I'm not sure why you would still be getting visions though, are you sure it wasn't just a dream." She tucked the book back into her robes.

"I'm sure."

"Alright, I'll look more into what would cause it; perhaps with your direct connection the visions simply can't be stopped. Is this the first one since you took the potion?" She picked up a small white cloth and ran it under the tap before raising it to Harry’s scar.

"Yes." The cloth was cool on his forehead, and tinged with blood when she finished wiping the area around his scar.

"Did you want to talk about it?" She rinsed the cloth once again in the cool water and wiped the remaining blood off.

"No, I just want to go back to sleep."

"Alright, I guess I will see you later then." He turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Harry, stay away from Draco, OK? The potion he is taking is really messing with his mind lately, and I don't want you or him to get hurt. And I...... I think Lucius is planning something, not to kill or injure you, but I don't think his intentions are good. He wouldn't hesitate to use Draco to get what he wants."

"What about the potion he gave me?"

"Take this, it’s the same potion, same directions, dump the other stuff out, just in case." She pointed to the bottle in his hands.

"Thanks."

"Goodnight Harry." Lyra turned and walked back to the storage closet.

"Goodnight Lyra." Harry walked out of the room and put on his invisibility cloak before sneaking back in. Lyra was still in the storage closet running her fingers absentmindedly over a small piece of paper. Her hands were shaking again as she stared blankly at the wall. With one last look at the paper she threw it into the nearby trash bin and almost ran into Harry as she left the room. Harry quietly retrieved the small scrap of paper and left the basement lab. He went to an out of the way corner of the next room before looking at what he took. It was a label, probably ripped from the same bottle now residing in his pocket.

“Prenatal Vitamins?”