Three of a Perfect Pair: Family Reunion
In which we find out that Johnny Slade is not very nice.
The last part is here.
The next part starts right behind the lj-cut:
(UPDATE: Since everybody whined about it being too short, I've added a bit more. :-)
It was the smell of bacon that brought House around. That, and the ever-present pain in his leg. It had been ages since his last Vicodin. Or at least a few hours.
He kept his eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness while he roused his other senses to full alert. He was lying on his back on a bed with a crappy mattress, unable to move but without physical restraints; that probably meant he was under the Full-Body Bind spell Snape had mentioned during his efforts to explain the wizarding world to House. Small room, to judge from the acoustics; probably a spare bedroom in a cottage somewhere. He could hear the clanking of a steam-heat boiler underneath him; it must be an older cottage, then. His nose told him that the kitchen had to be nearby.
There was a voice in his head. House? It's Snape. Can you register me?
Yeah.
Any idea where you are?
In a cottage. In a bedroom. I have all my limbs, so far. There's bacon cooking somewhere.
House felt a slight wave of what could have been horror coming from the potions master. Fuck.
What's up, Snape?
That's almost certainly not bacon. A pause. Have you seen your aunt?
House's stomach did a backflip, one he knew Snape could sense. He could feel another gasp on the psychic party-line; Hermione was listening in as well.
I thought so, Snape thought at him grimly.
There were sounds of someone moving around in the hallway outside the bedroom. House could feel the energy level of the Triad shoot up a few notches.
House, listen, Snape mind-whispered. When he comes in, I want you to look him full in the face. Understood?
Understood. Why?
No time to explain, just do it, Snape replied, just as Johnny Slade stepped into the room, bringing the bacon-smell with him. "Wakey, wakey, Greggy," he said, his mouth full of something. House suspected that he knew what it was...
Quick as a flash, House lifted his head and locked eyes with Johnny Slade.
There was a tremendous rush of power being poured into House's body. His frame stiffened in the Full-Body Bind, but most of the energy passed through him and straight into the wizard whose eyes met his.
Slade's eyes went wide. He made a choking sound, spitting out whatever he'd been eating; the plate from which he'd been eating fell to the floor with a crash. He found himself being shoved against the wall opposite House's bed with tremendous force.
House heard the unmistakable crack of bone against bone. He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that Slade's squama occipitalis had smacked against the C1 vertebra, cutting into his spinal cord. Slade's limbs went slack, and panic set in on his face as he realized that nothing below his chin worked any more, including his heart and lungs.
As he slid down the wall, Johnny Slade opened his mouth one more time: "Gaa-aa-aaa..." House judged he had about five minutes, maybe ten, before he succumbed to hypoxia.
There was another rush of energy, and the double crack and flash that heralded a twin Apparition. Hermione and Snape stood at his bedside, holding hands.
"Let's get you out of here," Snape said, as Hermione cast the Finite Incantatem that freed House from the body bind.
"What about my aunt?" House said as Hermione helped him sit up, though he was afraid he already knew the answer. He could feel the hum of Granger's magic as she touched him, and it was comforting.
"It's too late for her," Snape said, indicating the contents of the fallen plate. "And it's best if you're not found here when the police arrive." He gave House a searching look. "Are you able to stand?"
"Yeah, if I had my cane --"
"Here," said Hermione briskly, pulling a piece of wood from her purse and tapping it with her wand. The piece grew, twisted, changed shape, and became something House recognized very well indeed.
"You'd dropped it when Slade took you," she said. "Here."
With Snape and Granger flanking him, House got to his feet. His hand held the cane with a white-knuckle grip.
"Okay," he rasped. "Let's blow this pop stand."
"Right," Snape nodded.
There was another double crack-and-flash, and the room was empty of all living humans, save one. And he wouldn't be alive much longer.
---------
"So," House said five minutes later, after Granger had put an Anti-Nausea Charm on him, "Slade had some sort of voodoo going to keep you from finding me?"
"Correct," Snape said, between sips of Glenfiddich. He, House and Granger were sitting together on the large sofa in the house in Beare Green, for psychic comfort more than anything else. Though the compulsion of the Triad was still there, simmering...
"He had both anti-tracking and anti-Apparition spells on the cottage," Hermione added; her own tumbler glass was nearly empty, and House refilled it for her before she could ask. "So long as he was alive, or at least able to sustain his own spells with an undamaged brain, we couldn't see you clearly, much less track you and rescue you. If it hadn't been for the Triad..."
"I'd be goulash by now."
"Not yet," Snape said consideringly. "But you'd soon wish you were." He shuddered, despite the considerable amount of Glenfiddich already inside him.
"How did you know it wasn't bacon?"
"Because Slade's own particular quirk as a Death Eater was taking the concept quite literally." Snape found himself shifting closer to Hermione, who was between the two of them. The comfort he was drawing from this astonished him. "He believed in what was euphemistically called 'incorporation'."
"By eating someone, you take on their power?"
"Precisely." Snape shuddered again. "There weren't many adherents of that particular bit of ghoulery, even among the Dark Lord's followers -- Slade, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, McNair, perhaps a few others."
Just as she had in the cab, Hermione reached out to the men on either side of her -- but this time, she gripped their hands. "How.. disgustingly stupid."
"Indeed. Even the Dark Lord himself knew it didn't work. Though he didn't discourage the practice. He thought it useful to humour his minions."
There was a long stretch of time after that where none of the three said anything. They each merely sipped their drinks in silence, digesting -- for lack of a better word -- the events of the past few hours.
At last Hermione set down her glass on the table, looked at the men beside her, and said:
"So what do we do now?"
The last part is here.
The next part starts right behind the lj-cut:
(UPDATE: Since everybody whined about it being too short, I've added a bit more. :-)
It was the smell of bacon that brought House around. That, and the ever-present pain in his leg. It had been ages since his last Vicodin. Or at least a few hours.
He kept his eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness while he roused his other senses to full alert. He was lying on his back on a bed with a crappy mattress, unable to move but without physical restraints; that probably meant he was under the Full-Body Bind spell Snape had mentioned during his efforts to explain the wizarding world to House. Small room, to judge from the acoustics; probably a spare bedroom in a cottage somewhere. He could hear the clanking of a steam-heat boiler underneath him; it must be an older cottage, then. His nose told him that the kitchen had to be nearby.
There was a voice in his head. House? It's Snape. Can you register me?
Yeah.
Any idea where you are?
In a cottage. In a bedroom. I have all my limbs, so far. There's bacon cooking somewhere.
House felt a slight wave of what could have been horror coming from the potions master. Fuck.
What's up, Snape?
That's almost certainly not bacon. A pause. Have you seen your aunt?
House's stomach did a backflip, one he knew Snape could sense. He could feel another gasp on the psychic party-line; Hermione was listening in as well.
I thought so, Snape thought at him grimly.
There were sounds of someone moving around in the hallway outside the bedroom. House could feel the energy level of the Triad shoot up a few notches.
House, listen, Snape mind-whispered. When he comes in, I want you to look him full in the face. Understood?
Understood. Why?
No time to explain, just do it, Snape replied, just as Johnny Slade stepped into the room, bringing the bacon-smell with him. "Wakey, wakey, Greggy," he said, his mouth full of something. House suspected that he knew what it was...
Quick as a flash, House lifted his head and locked eyes with Johnny Slade.
There was a tremendous rush of power being poured into House's body. His frame stiffened in the Full-Body Bind, but most of the energy passed through him and straight into the wizard whose eyes met his.
Slade's eyes went wide. He made a choking sound, spitting out whatever he'd been eating; the plate from which he'd been eating fell to the floor with a crash. He found himself being shoved against the wall opposite House's bed with tremendous force.
House heard the unmistakable crack of bone against bone. He guessed, correctly as it turned out, that Slade's squama occipitalis had smacked against the C1 vertebra, cutting into his spinal cord. Slade's limbs went slack, and panic set in on his face as he realized that nothing below his chin worked any more, including his heart and lungs.
As he slid down the wall, Johnny Slade opened his mouth one more time: "Gaa-aa-aaa..." House judged he had about five minutes, maybe ten, before he succumbed to hypoxia.
There was another rush of energy, and the double crack and flash that heralded a twin Apparition. Hermione and Snape stood at his bedside, holding hands.
"Let's get you out of here," Snape said, as Hermione cast the Finite Incantatem that freed House from the body bind.
"What about my aunt?" House said as Hermione helped him sit up, though he was afraid he already knew the answer. He could feel the hum of Granger's magic as she touched him, and it was comforting.
"It's too late for her," Snape said, indicating the contents of the fallen plate. "And it's best if you're not found here when the police arrive." He gave House a searching look. "Are you able to stand?"
"Yeah, if I had my cane --"
"Here," said Hermione briskly, pulling a piece of wood from her purse and tapping it with her wand. The piece grew, twisted, changed shape, and became something House recognized very well indeed.
"You'd dropped it when Slade took you," she said. "Here."
With Snape and Granger flanking him, House got to his feet. His hand held the cane with a white-knuckle grip.
"Okay," he rasped. "Let's blow this pop stand."
"Right," Snape nodded.
There was another double crack-and-flash, and the room was empty of all living humans, save one. And he wouldn't be alive much longer.
---------
"So," House said five minutes later, after Granger had put an Anti-Nausea Charm on him, "Slade had some sort of voodoo going to keep you from finding me?"
"Correct," Snape said, between sips of Glenfiddich. He, House and Granger were sitting together on the large sofa in the house in Beare Green, for psychic comfort more than anything else. Though the compulsion of the Triad was still there, simmering...
"He had both anti-tracking and anti-Apparition spells on the cottage," Hermione added; her own tumbler glass was nearly empty, and House refilled it for her before she could ask. "So long as he was alive, or at least able to sustain his own spells with an undamaged brain, we couldn't see you clearly, much less track you and rescue you. If it hadn't been for the Triad..."
"I'd be goulash by now."
"Not yet," Snape said consideringly. "But you'd soon wish you were." He shuddered, despite the considerable amount of Glenfiddich already inside him.
"How did you know it wasn't bacon?"
"Because Slade's own particular quirk as a Death Eater was taking the concept quite literally." Snape found himself shifting closer to Hermione, who was between the two of them. The comfort he was drawing from this astonished him. "He believed in what was euphemistically called 'incorporation'."
"By eating someone, you take on their power?"
"Precisely." Snape shuddered again. "There weren't many adherents of that particular bit of ghoulery, even among the Dark Lord's followers -- Slade, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange, McNair, perhaps a few others."
Just as she had in the cab, Hermione reached out to the men on either side of her -- but this time, she gripped their hands. "How.. disgustingly stupid."
"Indeed. Even the Dark Lord himself knew it didn't work. Though he didn't discourage the practice. He thought it useful to humour his minions."
There was a long stretch of time after that where none of the three said anything. They each merely sipped their drinks in silence, digesting -- for lack of a better word -- the events of the past few hours.
At last Hermione set down her glass on the table, looked at the men beside her, and said:
"So what do we do now?"