Albania's Black Forest was left behind them like a tattered rag soaked in ink.
Wormtail's lungs burned, every breath carrying the forest's stench of decay.
The thing wrapped in rags in his arms weighed heavily on him-not just its weight, but a terror that drained his very marrow.
He had trudged through this pathless woodland for an entire day, his legs as heavy as lead.
Fortunately, there was Nagini.
The enormous snake moved like a flowing shadow, always weaving through the woods dozens of meters ahead, tasting the dangers in the air with her forked tongue and steering him clear of every possible trace of humans.
Otherwise, it might have taken him two days, or even longer, to carry his master out of this place of despair.
As the horizon swallowed the last ray of twilight, they finally spotted a Muggle road.
Without a moment's hesitation, Wormtail headed straight for the Muggle inn with the crooked sign, the only building along the road with its lights on.
Any gathering place for wizards meant judgment and death now.
The innkeeper was a large, fat Muggle whose eyes were full of suspicion.
Albania's internal unrest over the past few years had made Muggles wary of any suspicious-looking stranger.
"Can I help you, sir?" the innkeeper asked in a rough voice, his hand quietly reaching for something beneath the counter.
Wormtail hunched his back, making himself look even older and more pitiful.
He cautiously slipped out his wand, shielding it with his sleeve as his lips moved soundlessly.
"A... Confundus Charm."
The suspicion on the innkeeper's face instantly melted into an oily sympathy.
"Oh, you poor man. Taking your sick child to see a doctor? It's cold outside. Come on in."
Holding his "child" in his arms, Wormtail lowered his head and hurried