Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Eighty-Three

"Let go of him!" I shouted, running after them and raising my wand.

The stranger flicked his own wand at me. "Expelliarmus!"

My wand seemed to jump out of my hand. I charged the man and tried to grab my wand back. Probably the only reason he didn't kill me right then and there was that he was so surprised that I'd do something so stupid that he forgot he had a wand. Instead of cursing me, he hit me across the face with a hand that was missing a finger, and that's when I realized who he was.

Wormtail had a surprisingly strong arm.

I was struck down and hit my head on the corner of a grave on my way. I felt my head where I'd hit the grave and noticed that I was bleeding. I probably had a mild concussion as well.

"Ash!" Harry shouted in alarm.

I decided to pretend he'd knocked me unconscious until I could figure out how to get us out of here. As much as I hated doing nothing while my friend was tied up and gagged by the man who'd made Sirius take the blame for his crimes, doing anything without a plan right now would only make things worse. So as I heard Harry's shouts of protest turn into muffled yelling, I tried to think.

Cedric's body was lying some twenty feet away. Some way beyond him, glinting in the starlight, lay the Triwizard Cup. Harry's wand was on the ground at Cedric's feet, and I had no idea where mine was.

Wormtail had finished tying him up and gagging him; presently he was hurrying off. I doubted a hit-and-run was his plan, which meant he'd be coming back.

The bundle of robes that I'd thought was a baby was close by, at the foot of the grave. It seemed to be stirring fretfully. Harry groaned in pain; I was pretty sure his scar was hurting again.

I also saw a gigantic snake slithering through the grass, circling the headstone where Harry was tied. I shuddered. Snakes were kind of a hit or miss when it came to Apollo. Snakes were used as an early form of healing, but at the same time, his greatest enemy was the giant snake Python. This snake didn't seem friendly at all. I prayed it wouldn't smell my blood and come after me.

Wormtail's fast, wheezy breathing was growing louder again. It sounded as though he was forcing something heavy across the ground. I craned my neck and saw him pushing a stone cauldron to the foot of the grave. It was full of what seemed to be water — I could hear it slopping around — and it was larger than any cauldron I'd ever used in class. It must've been big enough for a full-grown man to sit in.

The thing inside the bundle of robes on the ground was stirring more persistently, as though it was trying to free itself. Now Wormtail was busying himself at the bottom of the cauldron with a wand. Suddenly there were crackling flames beneath it. The large snake slithered away into the darkness.

The liquid in the cauldron seemed to heat very fast. The surface began not only to bubble, but to send out fiery sparks, as though it were on fire. Steam was thickening, blurring the outline of Wormtail tending the fire. The movements beneath the robes became more agitated. And I heard the high, cold voice again.

"Hurry!"

The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now. It might have been encrusted with diamonds.

"It is ready. Master."

"Now ..." said the cold voice.

Wormtail pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them. I couldn't see from where I was, but based on Harry's disgusted muffled yell, it wasn't pretty.

Wormtail carried the thing to the cauldron and popped it in like a potato he planned to boil. I heard its frail body hit the bottom with a soft thud and hoped it would drown.