MY ONE MISTAKE

Chapter Five


Severus still lay in bed an hour later, planning on talking with Blaise . . . threaten his life if necessary to find out more on Harry . . . or Ray. He was just buttoning up his shirt when the door burst open and a wand was pointed at his chest from the blonde that he recognized from the night before.

“Where is he?” Axle asked, not glancing behind him when Link and Viper stepped up to his side, their wands raised.

“Where is who?” Severus calmly asked.

“Raven,” Viper replied, “he was portkeyed out of the club, and he was not alone.”

“And who is this Raven?” Severus asked slipping on his jacket.

“Harry,” Axle replied.

Viper saw the confused and concerned look on Severus’s face. “You better sit down,” he said lowering his wand.

“Raven, or Harry as you know him was working undercover for a very elite special ops assignment.”

“Harry is an auror?” Severus asked, sitting down on the bed.

“Yes, the best,” Axle supplied, “for almost five years.”

“So he was posing as a prostitute to get information?” Severus asked, “that’s why the glamour?”

“He had to look unrecognizable, and younger. Did you see him talk or interact with anyone tonight?” Axle asked.

“Yes, he was with Lucius Malfoy, Cornelius Fudge, Karkaroff, and Parkinson. Lucius is on the light side . . . not the others though,” Severus replied.

“Get them and bring them here, as quietly as possible,” Axle instructed to Link and Viper.

Link and Viper soon rounded them up using a whispered imperius curse and brought them to the room . . . all except Parkinson. When the curse was lifted, Karkaroff and Fudge were bound together. Lucius was let free with the aurors knowing his role as a spy.

Lucius had told them of the conversation that they had at the table when Harry was sitting on his lap, relaying the news on the new Dark Lord.

“Where is Riddle?” Link asked, coming face to face with Karkaroff.

“Fuck you,” Karkaroff sneered spitting at Link, then was spitting blood after Link retaliated by punching him in the face.

“I will repeat . . . where is Riddle?” Link asked.

The two death eaters remained silent, glaring defiantly at those around them. The three aurors looked at each other in silent agreement, then grasped Severus’s, Lucius’s, and the bound captives to portkey to their headquarters.

Harry woke up groggy and disorientated, his arms restrained by leather straps above his head. He felt the hard wood beneath him as he looked around the room. There were men chained to the walls or in cages snarling back and forth at each other. He tugged at his arms then looked down in alarm when he couldn’t feel his legs.

He looked up when he heard the heavy door of his cell open to see an older women, her hair tightly bound in a bun at her nape. She was a tall women, her posture straight on her rail-thin body. Her beady amber eyes looked over his body before meeting his.

“So, how are you feeling? Any feeling in your legs?” she asked, poking at his naked thigh.

“What did you do to me?” Harry groggily asked.

“I have been brewing a special potion, and you are the lucky winner to first try it out. It causes paralysis in the legs. Nicholis wanted something to stop the boys running from him, so he requested I brew something to stop them. So . . . no feeling there?” she asked again, poking his knee.

Harry didn’t say anything, but grew alarmed when she picked up a long knife. His arms and upper body tensed as the shooting pain went up from his leg. “Fuck!” he hissed out through gritted teeth.

“Hmmm...you need more I think,” she cheerily said, as she held up a long needle, the syringe full with a black fluid, the knife still embedded deeply into his leg.

She plunged the needle into his thigh, and watched as the black fluid seeped out of the clear syringe. She then left him for about fifteen minutes, then came back to check him. She pulled out the knife from his thigh and plunged it into the other, for him to tense again.

After the fourth time, he finally succumbed to unconsciousness, the hoop in his ear warming as the locator activated.


He hazily came to awareness for a brief time when he felt strong arms holding him close, as he heard fighting going on around him. He let his eyes slide closed as he buried his face in the familiar comforting neck.


He woke up in a room he’s not seen in years, then smiled when Madame Pomfrey came into the room. When he had defeated Voldemort, he had been placed in this private room in the infirmary, to be away from prying eyes, heavily guarded by the stern medi-witch.

“It’s about time you graced us with your presence, Potter,” Pomfrey teased.

“How long . . . ” he began hoarsely, his mouth and throat dry.

“You’ve been out for a week, and no . . . no one knows you are here yet. Your auror unit had requested that you have no visitors. Only ones that were allowed were Severus, Albus, and myself, along with the aurors. They’ve all been quite worried about you,” Pomfrey said, handing him a glass of water.

“Thank you, Poppy,” Harry said, after drinking down the water. He tried to move his legs, and found he couldn’t. He flipped the covers back to look at them. They were still there, now with four new scars standing out brightly against his skin.

Pomfrey touched his legs, moving lower to his feet. “Can you feel anything Harry?” she kindly asked.

“They feel . . . heavy,” Harry sighed, closing his eyes. Pomfrey traced her fingernail down the bottom of his foot. “I can faintly feel that. Good thing I’m not too ticklish, huh?”

Pomfrey smiled in relief and placed the blanket over his legs again. “There is no permanent damage Harry. You are lucky you have gained an immunity to some poisons from the basilisk and snake bite. I am confident you will get feeling in them again and will be walking, but I don’t know how long it will take for your body to purge the toxins that are put in your body.”

Just then the door opened to have his whole unit enter, including the chief. “You know . . . if you wanted a holiday Raven, you just had to ask,” the chief grinned.

“Thanks chief,” Harry laughed. “So what happened? Did we catch the bad guy?”

“Riddle was holed up in an abandoned warehouse in Scotland. There were wards around the place that blocked the locator in your earring so we couldn’t read you right away,” Axle said.

“We’re going to have to improve on that,” Link added.

“We found the place when Fudge gave us the location,” Viper said.

“He was a stubborn bastard that one,” Tabby laughed.

“Was?” Harry asked.

“When we apparated there, we used Fudge and Karakoff as shields in front of us. They were killed by other death eaters when we arrived,” the chief said.

“And Riddle?” Harry asked.

“Dead,” Axle grinned, “he was resisting arrest.”

“They’re not any more Riddles around, are there?” Harry asked. He was quite sick of dealing with that family.

“No, he was the last in line,” the chief replied.

“What about the other men that were taken?” Harry asked.

“There were twelve other men in various stages of experiments. They were quarantined at St. Mungo’s until they can be healed. When the ones in the cages were released, they went after the Russian. It was not a pretty sight,” Tabby stated.

“So what now?” Harry sighed leaning his head back on the pillow.

“You can stay here to recuperate,” the chief said.

“But, Sir . . . ” Harry began.

“That’s an order, Raven,” the chief sternly said, curving the one side of his mouth up to soften the order. “Then you can come back to aggravate me into an early grave.”

“Look forward to it, chief,” Harry smirked.

The others around him talked more of the case, their voices quieting when they saw that Harry had fallen asleep. They stepped out of the room to see Albus and Severus talking with Pomfrey. “He’s asleep,” Axle said to them.

“Albus, it’s good to see you again,” the chief smiled.

“It’s good to see you too, Aiden,” Albus smiled, clasping the other’s hand in both of his.

“Aiden?” Viper asked.

“So that’s his name,” Axle smirked.

“Shut it or I’ll put you on snake duty at headquarters,” the chief warned.

“So he will be staying here?” Albus asked, motioning to the now closed door.

“Yes, he needs to face some of his demons,” the chief said. “Make him listen to you, Professor Snape. He deserves happiness and I have a feeling you can give that to him.”

“Just don’t hurt him again, or I’ll kick your ass,” Axle warned, then left the infirmary followed closely by the others.

Severus stood at the private room door of the infirmary, took a deep fortifying breath, then went through, closing it behind him. He silently went to the bed, looking worriedly at the bruises and abrasions on Harry’s face and upper body. He slipped off his outer robe and shoes and carefully lay on the bed beside Harry, his head resting on his shoulder. He rested his hand lightly on Harry’s stomach, then gave a soft sigh of relief when he felt Harry’s arm go around his back while he slept.


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