Harry groaned in pain as he coughed the last of the goo out of his lungs. He was certain he was going to die when the monster had absorbed him. As it was he was sore and still bleeding from where the tentacles had touched his skin. Harry looked down to see his right forearm covered with blisters and raw skin under the thin covering of black ooze that the creature had left over his body. As he forced the horror of being swallowed alive from his thoughts, his mind quickly flashed back to the image of Remus being swallowed by the same creature. Propping himself up on his arms, Harry looked around the small, dank room, he didn‘t see the creatures that brought him anywhere, but then again, they would all but disappear in the darkness of the room.

Hoping the creatures were gone, Harry took another look around the dark room as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Harry noticed a lumpy shadow in a corner of the room, it was too small to be on of the monsters, but he couldn’t be sure it was Remus either. He shuddered as he recalled his friend’s unconscious form being swallowed by the monster. “Remus? Remus, is that you?” Harry called out softly, “Remus, can you hear me?”

Harry heard a soft groan coming from the corner he had seen the shadow in. “Harry? Are you alright? I don’t think I can walk, something’s wrong with my legs. Can you walk? Or can you at least call out for help?”

“Remus! You’re alive” Harry sighed with relief. He tried to stand up, only to realize that he too was unable to move his legs. “I can’t walk either, it must be this ooze. Do you have any idea what those things were, or where they are now?” he asked as he drug himself towards his friend.

“They are called Sith. Very nasty things, they steal magic and energy from living beings. They’re from your mother’s land. I’m surprised she didn’t tell you about them, they were probably looking for her.”

Using his arms to pull himself along the floor, Harry grew nearer to Remus “But why would they be after her? And why would they come to the dungeon, she hardly ever comes down here unless she’s looking for Snape.” Harry asked as he finally reached Remus.

“She has a lot of enemies Harry, you should know that.” Remus replied flatly as he turned to look at the young wizard.

Harry felt a cold chill pass over his body as Remus glared at him. “Remus, what is it?”

“Don’t you know by now, my little prince….you should always listen to your first instincts. You should have ran instead of asking me why the hall was so noisy when most the students had left. A slight oversight on my part” Remus replied as he grasped Harry’s wrists in a vice like grip.

Remus laughed cruelly as Harry struggled weakly against him, “Feeling a bit weak are we?” he asked, “Poor little prince, and your mother’s not here to help you is she? And after your little encounter with the Sith, I doubt you have the strength to call out for your overprotective vampyre guardian. Tsk tsk, tsk…. I really hate to torture without and audience, it takes all the fun out of it….. Well, not all the fun.”

Harry glared at the man who held him captive, “Who are you? And where is Remus?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” the man taunted “How disappointing. Well let me enlighten you” he said as the room suddenly filled with the light of hundreds of candles. “I’m an old acquaintance of Cash and your mother, they call me Gustavas, but you can call me Gus, it will be much easier for you to scream as I slowly kill you.” he replied as Remus’s face melted away, revealing the true form of the man underneath…..