94 hp Diagon Alley

something happened...

A Snatcher strode forward and shook the iron gate.

"How do we get in? The door's locked, Greyback, I can't--ah!"

He flinched back in fright.The wrought iron is deforming, the abstract curly figure contorted into a hideous face that says in an echoing clang of metal, "Say the purpose of your visit."

"We've got Potter!" Greyback growled triumphantly. "We've got Harry Potter!"

The door opened immediately.

"Come on!" Greyback said to his men.The prisoners were wheeled through the gate and onto the drive, their footsteps muffled by tall hedges.Harry saw a ghostly white shape above his head, and realized it was a white peacock.He tripped and was pulled up by Greyback.Now he staggered sideways, tied back to back with four other prisoners.He closed his swollen eyes, letting the pain of his scar overwhelm him for a moment, wondering what Voldemort was doing now, whether he already knew Harry was caught.

The light shines on everyone.

"What's going on?" A woman asked in a cold voice.

"We're here to meet You-Know-Who!" replied Greyback gruffly.

"who are you?"

"You know me!" said the werewolf's voice with resentment. "Fenrir Greyback! We've got Harry Potter!"

Greyback grabbed Harry and dragged him towards the light, forcing the other prisoners to follow suit.

"I know he's swollen, ma'am, but it's him!" said Scarbio, "and if you look closer, you can see his scars. And here, look at this girl, the one who's been walking with him Mudblood, ma'am. There's no doubt about it, and we've got his wand! Here, ma'am—"

Through gaps in his swollen eyelids, Harry saw Narcissa Malfoy examining his swollen face.Scarbio gave her the blackthorn wand.She raised her eyebrows.

"Bring it in," she said.

Harry and the others were pushed and kicked up the wide stone steps and entered the hallway with portraits hanging on both sides.

"Come with me," said Narcissa, leading them through the hall. "My son Draco is at home for Easter. If it's Harry Potter, he'll recognize it."

After staying in the darkness outside for a long time, the light in the living room was blinding.Although Harry's eyes were nearly closed, he could still see the spaciousness of the room.Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and more portraits hung on the dark purple walls.As the prisoners were forced in by the Snatchers, two figures rose from their seats in front of the ornate marble fireplace.

"what happened?"

A languid voice, eerily familiar to Harry's ears, was Lucius Malfoy.Harry was panicking now, and there seemed to be no way out.

"They said they caught Potter," Narcissa said in a cold voice, "Draco, come here."

Harry didn't dare to look Draco in the eye, and squinted at him: a figure slightly taller than him stood up from the armchair, with a pale, thin, blurred face under pale blond hair.

Greyback turned the prisoner around again, so that Harry could stand directly under the chandelier.

"How about it, boy?" growled the werewolf.

Harry was facing the mirror over the mantelpiece, a large gilt mirror with elaborate scrollwork on its frame.Through the slits in his eyes he saw himself in the mirror for the first time since leaving Grimmauld Place.

His face was huge, shiny and red, all the features distorted by Hermione's spell.The black hair falls to the shoulders, and there is a black shadow around the mouth.If he hadn't known he was standing here, Harry might have wondered who was wearing his glasses.He made up his mind not to speak, for the sound would surely expose him.Draco moved closer, Harry still avoiding eye contact with him.

"Well, Draco?" Lucius Malfoy asked eagerly. "Really? Is it Harry Potter?"

"I can't—not sure," Draco said.He kept Greyback at a distance, and seemed as afraid of looking at Harry as Harry was afraid of looking at him.

"Look carefully, look! Come closer!"

Harry had never seen Lucius Malfoy so excited.

"Draco, if we had given Potter to the Dark Lord, everything would have been forgiven—"

"I hope we don't forget who got him, Mr. Malfoy?" Greyback threatened.

"Of course not, of course not!" Lucius said impatiently.He moved closer to Harry himself, so close was his usually listless pale face that Harry could clearly see the details of that face through the gaps in his swollen eyelids.Harry's swollen face was like a mask, and he felt like he was peering out through the bars of the cage.

"What did you do to him?" Lucius asked Greyback. "How did he do it?"

"We didn't do it."

"It looks like a Stinging Curse to me," Lucius said.

His gray eyes scanned Harry's forehead.

"There's something in there," he whispered, "probably a scar, it's very tight... Draco, come here, take a good look! What do you think?"

Harry saw Draco's face moved up to him, next to his father's.The two faces were very similar, except that his father was too excited to control himself, while Draco's expression was very reluctant, even a little scared.

"I don't know," he said, and walked over to his mother, who stood watching by the fireplace.

"We'd better figure it out, Lucius," Narcissa said clearly to her husband in her cold voice, "before calling the Dark Lord when we're absolutely sure it's Potter... they say it's his— "She was examining the blackthorn wand carefully,"—but it wasn't like what Ollivander described...if we're mistaken, call the Dark Lord for nothing...remember how he treated Rolle and Doro Hoff's?"

"That's not his wand," said Draco, also coldly, from a distance. "His wand needs to be a few inches longer - and it's cheap holly."

"What about this Mudblood?" Greyback growled.The Snatchers turned the prisoners around again, letting the light shine on Hermione, and Harry was almost thrown over.

"I don't know that kind of person." Narcissa narrowed her eyes in disgust, which looked exactly like her son.

But Lucius Malfoy raised his eyelids and glanced at Hermione: "Draco, look, is this Miss Granger?"

"I...maybe...yes." Little Malfoy didn't look up, "I'm not sure, I never deal with them."

"So, that's the Weasley boy!" Lucius shouted, striding around the bound prisoner and standing in front of Ron, "It's them, Potter's friends—Draco, look , isn't he Arthur Weasley's son, what's his name—"

"Well," Draco continued, turning his back on the prisoner, "maybe, I don't know."

The living room door behind Harry opened.A woman's voice raised Harry's panic even further. "What's the matter? What happened, Sissy?"

Narcissa blocked Draco behind, and the boy seemed to be hidden in a dark corner at the moment, unable to see his expression clearly.

Bellatrix Lestrange walked slowly around the prisoners, stopping to Harry's right, staring at Hermione through her swollen eyelids.

"Ouch," she said softly, "isn't that the Mudblood girl? Isn't that Granger?"

"Yes, yes, it's Granger!" Lucius yelled. "We think she's Potter next to her! Potter and his friends, finally caught!"

"Potter?" Bellatrix screamed, taking a few steps back, looking Harry up and down. "Are you sure? Then, the Dark Lord must be informed immediately!"

She rolled up her left sleeve, and Harry saw the Dark Mark burned into the flesh on that arm, and knew she was going to touch it, calling to her beloved Master—

"I was about to summon him just now!" Lucius said, grabbing Bellatrix's wrist to prevent her from touching the Dark Mark, "I should summon him, Bella. Potter is bringing to my house, so I should have the right to—"

"You have rights?" she sneered, trying to shake his hand away. "You have no rights without your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hands away!"

"This has nothing to do with you, it wasn't you who caught the boy—"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy," Greyback interrupted, "but we caught Potter, and the bounty should be ours—"

"Bounty!" Bellatrix laughed, still trying to shake off her brother-in-law, fumbling for her wand in her pocket with the other hand, "Take your gold, filthy scavenger, I want What's gold for? I'm only after honor—"

She stopped struggling, her dark eyes fixed on something Harry couldn't see.Seeing her surrender, Lucius shook off her hand excitedly, rolled up his sleeves——

"Stop!" screamed Bellatrix, "don't touch it, if the Dark Lord comes now we'll all die!"

Lucius froze, index finger hovering over his Dark Mark.Bellatrix strode out of Harry's limited field of vision.

"What's that?" he heard her ask.

"Sword." An out-of-sight investigator muttered.

"give it to me."

"It's not yours, ma'am, it's mine, and I found it."

There was a bang, followed by a flash of red light, and Harry knew the Snatcher had been dragged