Chapter 15 - Snape's Rival
Lucius Malfoy stood in the brightly lit parlor of Riddle Manor holding the latest report from the wizard they had sent to the Red Mountain tribe in an attempt to recruit additional giants for their cause. Most people probably imagined the heart of Voldemort's power to be a foreboding place with dark halls, foggy vine filled grounds, and dementors in every cupboard. The expertly maintained grounds and gleaming corridors of Voldemort's mansion were instead the epitome of how wizard royalty should live.
Voldemort himself was also the complete opposite of the way he was portrayed by the lackeys of the Ministry. Lucius had seen an artist's rendition of the Dark Lord in the rubbish rag known as the Quibbler. It was nothing at all like the stately figure of Lord Voldemort, outfitted in the finest dress robes, and considerably more vital looking, especially when he wasn't using his magic. Right now Voldemort was towering over his top expert on potions as they analyzed the latest results of one the countless experiments that had been commissioned to further the understanding of magic.
Lucius scowled unconsciously as he considered the misfits, muggle lovers, and sub-human trash out there trying to foil Voldemort's bright new vision of the future. Voldemort envisaged a world at harmony with magic where real wizards, purebloods, stood as immortals and acted as caretakers everything else. For all of his life he had watched the Malfoy family dwindle down until their heritage hung by a thin drop of blood. He had witnessed other noble families disappear into history without so much as a single tear shed by the larger world.
"Try using a wooden instrument to stir the concoction," Voldemort said at last. Vitter clucked nervously, like some kind of giant hen, and wiped his hand across his sweaty brow.
"Wood is so temperamental though, not to mention the nature of the potion itself. Wood could make it fatal," Vitter replied.
"If you make sure it is properly smoothed the contamination should be minimal, even by the standards of the curse," Voldemort insisted. "It's not like the blood clans we're negotiating with will actually test the potion themselves. Muggles are easily turned and even more easily manipulated."
"Of course, wood then," Vitter said brightly. "Wand wood or regular wood?"
Voldemort considered this for a moment. "Regular first. Non-magical wood should lessen the effects of the curse."
Lucius grinned at the notion of a legion of vampires rallying to their banner. So far the quasi-immortals were afraid to bring down the wrath of the established magical governments or risk angering one faction in the war by siding with the other. If they were too choose the wrong side it would go poorly for them when it came time to live with the winner. However, if Voldemort could supply them with magical cures to their inherent weaknesses, like wooden weapons and blood dependency, then they might be persuaded to join their benefactors.
"Now then, I believe you had something to report Lucius?" Voldemort asked.
"The Red Mountain giants were greatly pleased by the everlasting fire you sent to them as well as the dwarfish metals and fabrics, but they did not send more volunteers. They want you to pay them this time in addition to the freedoms already promised." Lucius explained.
"Fine, give them whatever it is they want," Voldemort replied. "Material things are merely a means to an end. I need time, time enough to unlock the final secrets of life and death. I need the time that only Potter and the prophecy can give me."
"Of course my Lord," Lucius said humbly. He had his own hated memories of the wretched child.
"Now, if there is nothing else I have a little trip in mind," Voldemort said. "I think you will want to be there when our favorite spy wakes up Lucius. You too Vance."
"Oh yes indeed," Vitter said gleefully.
Lucius placed a finger on the skull Voldemort extended toward him and together the three of them disappeared in the cascading light of portkey travel.
Severus Snape had been through many unpleasant experiences during his lifetime. He didn't even want to think about his childhood or his school years. The time he had spent afterwards in the service of Voldemort and then again in the service of Dumbledore were likewise repugnant. Then, the crowning jewel of slow torture, he had spent years teaching the most besotted and annoying urchins that society could produce while his brilliance languished in obscurity.
All these thoughts flashed through his mind in a split second as he suddenly became aware of a sharp throbbing pain in his forehead which was accompanied by a bright white light from all around. Before he could orient himself he felt the rush of portkey travel and then another sharp pain as he landed bodily on a cold stone floor. He tried to recall how he had come to be in this position, but his brain didn't seem to want to work. The last thing he remembered was apparating into one of the few remaining pureblood estates owned by a Voldemort supporter.
"Time to wake up," a harsh voice intoned from what seemed like a great distance away. Magical strength and warmth flooded into Snape's body from a recovery charm. That soothing feeling was immediately replaced by a hard soled boot toe digging into his shoulder to kick him into an upright position.
"Severus," Lucius acknowledged stiffly as Snape's eyes finally tracked upward to the three men standing over him.
"What…happened?" Snape asked. He had a sinking feeling that he already knew what their answer would be.
"I have finally found the time to give you a proper burial," Voldemort said snidely.
"M-My…Lord," Snape gasped. It wouldn't do to seem too recovered just in case he found an opening to escape.
"Your usefulness is finally at an end," Vitter said, tittering with excitement. "Not that it was much to begin with in the first place."
Snape regarded the short portly man with disgust. "Don't you have things to do Vitter? Like pulling the wings off of flies maybe?" He retorted.
"You were always jealous of me Severus," Vitter said, but his voice sounded hurt. "I succeeded where you couldn't."
"He's right Severus," Voldemort said. "Vance has made many breakthroughs, even one that I myself had been unable to prior to now."
"I don't understand," Snape said delicately.
"Of course you don't," Lucius replied. "Your role was never to understand, but to give us a way to plant damaging information into Dumbledore's plans. Now Potter runs everything and he doesn't care for you or your information very much."
"I have always been loyal," Snape began, though he knew it was futile.
"You have never been loyal…to anyone," Voldemort snapped. Snape's face drained of color and the man looked as if he wanted to break down on the spot. "I was aware of your duplicity all those years ago when you went to Dumbledore for the first time. I told you Severus, I always know. There are other ways than mere legimency to discover a person's true intentions."
"You'll fail, just like you failed the first time," Snape said finally. Malfoy and Vitter both scowled, but Voldemort seemed amused. "I have no idea how he did it, but Potter has transformed himself into someone that even you cannot be assured of defeating."
"Has he really?" Voldemort chuckled. "I'm not sure that your grasp of my power is as complete as you think it is Severus."
Voldemort snapped his fingers and Lucius drew out his wand to point at the prostrate potions master. Voldemort too pointed his wand at Snape and on cue they both cast the torturing curse. Severus had never experienced the Cruciatus curse from two different sources at the same time before. The effect was definitely multiplied instead of added. He felt as if his skin were being turned inside out and melted off of his bones all at the same time. When at last they stopped his every nerve was on fire and his breathing was labored.
"Poor little Snape, still the outcast I see," Lucius sneered. The tall thin wizard was obviously upset that Severus had barely uttered a sound despite the extreme pain. "No one to come running to save you is there?"
Snape felt a variety of pain inducing curses lance through his body. Unlike the purely mental torture of the Cruciatus curse many of the spells Malfoy now used also caused physical degradation.
"You can kill me," Snape wheezed. He realized that his lungs were probably damaged, though hopefully not beyond the ability of magic to heal. "And I'll die smiling Lucius because if Potter doesn't get you Weasley will. I only wish I could be there to see the look on your face when that pureblooded trash ends the mighty line of Malfoy."
Lucius' face twisted in rage and he spat out another Cruciatus curse at Snape's prone figure. Vitter, who was by no means squeamish, nevertheless began to look a little pale. He was used to excesses in the name of magic, but not excess for the sake of excess.
"Enough," Voldemort commanded. "Let him rest for now. I have a feeling that our dear friend Severus will be a very entertaining companion for the next few weeks."
"I look forward to it," Lucius replied. His eyes were filled with a hungry feral glint.
Vitter tittered nervously, but followed the other two dark wizards out of the cramped dungeons.
"Fools," Snape muttered as soon as they were gone. He flipped himself into a position on all fours and began to heave as hard as he could. For several minutes he worked himself up until he was finally able to wretch onto the floor. In the middle of the foul puddle was a small silver object shaped like a diamond. Snape sat down heavily onto the floor and watched as tiny, almost invisible legs unfurled from around the silvery object until it had taken on the appearance of a bizarre spider. He smirked with satisfaction as the thing skittered away and disappeared through one of the many great cracks that lined the walls of the dungeon.
"You're really getting good at that," Harry said warmly as he admired Hermione's penmanship.
"I should be, I write all the time and this is the fifth one we've had to make," Hermione replied. She appreciated his compliments, but her hand was starting to ache pretty badly and they seemed to be getting no closer to a proper dementor containment vessel or a spell to kill them.
Their latest attempt at containing a dementor was a series of huge iron cauldrons with extensive silver etching that was designed to act as a partial ward combined with an active spell. Hermione, as the better ward maker and magical scholar, was heading up the containment side of their project. Harry on the other hand, as the strongest of the pair in terms of brute force, was trying to apply what they had learned from their first attempt at creating a dementor to create a spell capable of doing one permanent harm. Hermione's attempt was winning, but not by much.
"Why does this feel like the Sorcerer's Stone all over again?" Harry asked dejectedly.
"Because you've been putting in dozens of hours with marginal payoff…" Hermione replied.
"Yeah…that," Harry said, sighing. At least their work gave them an excuse to stay away from Lippmann. Not that the American wizard ever did much except browse through paper or ask to visit their bases. Surprisingly, he had seemed especially happy after getting back from Middle Yard. Most people found the forbidding black structure to be rather creepy to say the least.
"On the bright side I think that this latest container is about finished," Hermione said. "Now we just need to find a dementor and try to trap it so we can perform our experiments."
After their failed attempt at creating a dementor from scratch had resulted in a near dementor like creature of unusual strength Harry and Hermione had decided that it would be safer to just capture a real one. They didn't dare risk creating an even stronger dementor so they'd just have to accept the risky prospect of obtaining a natural one.
"All right," Harry said with determination. "Let's get to Hogwarts and send out a general summons for the squad leaders to meet with us. We'll organize a dementor hunt."
"Harry, we can't tell anyone about this, remember?" Hermione said.
"We won't tell them why," Harry replied.
Hermione just shook her head. "Too risky, if one of them leaks that we're hunting dementors then Voldemort might figure out why. At the very least he might start using dementor sightings as bait to ambush us."
"How are we supposed to find one then?" Harry asked.
"I thought we'd hang out at a few graveyards to start with," Hermione smirked as she pulled out a map with several red circles on it indicating graveyards that contained primarily wizard burial sites. Dementors were fond of death and decay, but they especially fed off of areas with greater magical content. "Be a gentleman and apparate that cauldron to the northern most location first."
Harry shivered. Apparating the intense magical energies that Hermione used to construct a dementor trap always gave him the chills. He also noticed that there weren't many circles on the map and only a couple had symbols next to them indicating that they were prime targets.
"We've got to hurry and get it set up too," Hermione said, still talking rapidly. "Dementors don't have any aversion to the light, but they prefer the darkness so we can definitely expect them to come out at night."
"Okay, you let Ron and your parents know what we're doing while I get this thing over there," Harry replied. He placed a hand on the smooth, cold, metallic surface and concentrated on the destination. Harry's magic latched onto the powerful device and pulled it along with him through the mysterious process of apparation.
The graveyard was full of tall tombstones that were obviously magical due to things like ever burning fire or moving pictures decorating them. It was already late evening and a fog had settled in. Several ghosts could be seen idling about, some of which were taking interest in Harry and his strange cauldron.
Hermione appeared next to him with a short stack of papers and two thick books nestled in her arms. She sat them down on top of the nearest tombstone and began scrutinizing the layout of the cemetery.
"That looks like a good place," Hermione said, pointing. "Right there where the two paths that lead between the burial plots intersect."
Harry and Hermione both took out their wands. They were so intent on their work that they didn't notice the gathering attention of the ghosts who floated nearby. Harry pointed his wand at the ground and caused a rather large crater to dig itself into the landscape.
Hermione had started to levitate the cauldron to set it into the crater when a blood-curdling howl went up from around them. Harry and Hermione whirled to see a dozen ghosts advancing on them.
"How dare you," one shrill ghost lady wailed. "Defilers, desecraters, debauchers!"
"You do ya think ye are?" a burly bearded ghost asked disdainfully. "This be our lands and ye have no right to be tresspassin' with yer iron contraption and hole diggin' ways."
"We have very important business," Hermione said earnestly. "We didn't mean any offense, really we didn't."
"What business could wee kids like you have ere besides bein' lil' vandals?" the burley ghost asked.
"Er, can we tell a ghost?" Harry asked, worried that they might be working for Voldemort.
"It's not like they won't be able to watch us," Hermione said. Not to mention that ghosts usually didn't care about the affairs of mortals in the same way that they did when they were alive.
"We're trying to capture a dementor," Harry replied. Rough laughter broke out amongst the pale ranks.
"You don't "catch" a dementor," a third ghost in fine dress robes told them haughtily. "Best be trotting back to your safe little school before you become one of us."
"Just leave us alone," Hermione said briskly. "We're sorry we disturbed you all and we promise we'll fix everything back like it was when we leave."
"You don't dismiss us lassie, we dismiss you," the second ghost said indignantly. As if on signal the ghosts closed in on them with malicious intent. Harry wasn't entirely sure what all they could do. He had never paid that much attention to ghosts. However, he had paid attention about how to fight them.
"Auch, what is this?" the second ghost moaned. He, along with all his comrades, suddenly found themselves pinned to the ground beneath very fine mesh silver nets.
"Honestly," Hermione sniffed. "Did you think we'd come here after a dementor and be helpless against a common ghost?"
"Oi, where's your respect for the dead?" the ghosts started complaining. Some of them began making spooky noises and others just glared at them as sullenly as was possible for a ghost.
"We'll never catch anything with this din going on all night," Hermione groaned.
"Look, guys, please be quiet," Harry said.
"We'll banish you from this place if you don't leave us alone!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry glanced at her questioningly since such a process was both time consuming and rather harsh. Most ghosts would go crazy if they were barred from their choice of haunting grounds.
Everything got very quiet, even for a cemetery. "Let us talk this over with each other," the first ghost said finally.
"Fine," Hermione said impatiently. The silver webbing disappeared and the ghosts all congregated in one corner of the grounds well out of earshot.
"Let's hurry and get this trap set up," Hermione said to Harry once they were alone. Together they finished levitating the cauldron into the hole before opening its double hinged lid. The lid was designed like the doors on a storm shelter so that they could be easily closed, but would lay flat on the ground in an unassuming manner when the cauldron needed to be open.
Harry had never heard of anyone even attempting to capture a dementor before so he didn't think that they needed to be overly concerned with camouflage. Of course, dementors didn't have particularly good senses in any event so the likelihood that the creature would figure out the danger was remote. The real problem would be herding a dementor close enough to the cauldron that they could drive it inside without causing it to fly away first.
They had just completed their preparations when the ghost committee returned with its decision. Harry idly wondered why ghosts seemed to always be forming groups for activities, decision making, and other things that one usually associated with the living. It was particularly puzzling since ghosts didn't seem to have any means of coercion over each other except for mere social pressure. Then again maybe they did since, after all, the Bloody Baron always seemed to terrify the other spooks back at Hogwarts.
"We recognize the markings on your robes as belonging to those people. You may stay for one night and attempt this foolish endeavor, but you must restore the grounds to their original condition like you promised," the third ghost said pompously.
"Thank you," Hermione said politely, then added questioningly to Harry. "Those people?"
"I don't think they're going to give us a better explanation. The way they said it didn't sound so bad though," Harry replied.
Harry sat down on the cold ground next to where Hermione had settled herself so she could look at the papers she had brought along. He took out his magical flask and drank one of the warm contents since they didn't want to use magic that dementors might sense.
"Cold?" Harry asked when he saw Hermione shiver. She had put her books away after the darkness had completely fallen. They were both wearing the special red tinted eyepieces that allowed enhanced vision, including the ability to see in the dark.
"Maybe a little," Hermione replied. She snuggled closer to Harry until they were flush against each other with their noses touching. Harry gingerly leaned in and kissed her pouty lips. They were cold initially, but he really didn't care. He pulled back slightly after a minute and examined Hermione's flushed face.
"We should be watching for dementors," Hermione said softly as she captured Harry's lips in another deep kiss.
"I'm saving up some good patronus material," Harry replied cheekily.
"Mmm, good idea," Hermione said. She shifted slightly so they could continue to cuddle in a more comfortable position, but still watch their surroundings.
The evening had deepened into night when the graveyard began to take on an ominous feeling. Harry and Hermione stayed perfectly still as they used their eyepieces to scan the surroundings for any dementor activity. Harry saw the ice beginning to form on the gravestone they were leaning against a split second before the dementors came into view.
They had swooped down from the worst possible angle in regards to Harry and Hermione being able to spot them ahead of time. There were also considerably more of them than they had ever expected would ever come to such a small graveyard.
"What should we do, we're sitting between them and the trap," Harry said.
"On the count of three get up and run toward the trap. We'll cast our patronus charms to scare some of them off and hopefully the rest will chase us," Hermione said.
"Okay then, One…" Harry drew his wand out and began to focus on the happy memory of their kissing only a few moments before.
"Two…" Hermione said, her own wand out and looking rather frosty in the icy aura given off by the dark creatures.
"Three!" They said together as they jumped up and let loose with their patronus charms. Immediately the dementors scattered in all directions, but two of them came straight for Harry and Hermione. The two young mages quickly directed their patronus charms to herd the rest of the dementors away while they fled toward the area of the trap.
Harry felt his chest constricting painfully and terrible memories began to replay in his head. His mother's voice sounded right before a green flash sealed her destiny. Sirius' long graceful fall behind the deadly veil followed quickly by Hermione's prone form laying on the floor after she had been struck down in the Department of Mysteries. Harry summoned his mental strength and threw those horrid memories away.
He looked around wildly and noticed that tears were streaming down Hermione's face, but thankfully she was still in possession of her wits. "Get ready Harry. When he glides over the trap we've got to force him down into it." She said.
Harry activated his armor, but he was unsure of how useful it would be if it came down to a physical confrontation with the dementors. He certainly had never heard of anyone punching one out before.
Hermione twisted her wand and sent a great puff of super dense air against the dementors as they crossed the space where the cauldron opening lay. The dementors lashed out at the invisible attack and though they doubled over they resisted being pressed into the cauldron.
Harry flicked his wand and executed the only attack they knew of other than the patronus charm that had even the slightest effect on the dark beings. Thin beams of white light impaled the dementors from all directions making them look like gruesome pincushions. Hermione renewed her attempt at forcing them down inside, but they backtracked rapidly from the pain of Harry's spell.
"Don't attack them like that Harry, you'll scare them off," Hermione chided. "Try to add your force to mine with an elemental spell."
Harry summoned up a quantity of dense air and tried to work with Hermione to buffet the dementors back into place.
"It's not working and the other dementors are coming back," Hermione said worriedly. Sure enough, dozens of dark shapes were heading toward them from all directions.
"Get ready to cast a patronus if I get in trouble," Harry instructed. He sent out a tendril of fire and tugged one of the dementors into a position more or less over the opening to the cauldron. "We've got to hurry this up."
Hermione nearly bit her lip in two as she watched Harry run toward the dementor and then use his wand to perform an unnatural leap toward it. She gave a silent plea for him to be safe and charged out after him with her own armor activating as she ran. Harry had thrust his armor covered arm elbow deep into the dementor's strange shapeless form and was wresting it toward the cauldron.
Hermione slid to a halt between him and the second dementor to keep it away from him. Immediately she felt an acute coldness radiating out and her darkest memories threatened to overwhelm her for a second time that evening. A thin silvery patronus mist sprayed out from the tip of her wand and caused the dementor to glide backwards slightly. She didn't want to risk driving away the dementor Harry was fighting with by summoning a full patronus.
"Her…my…on…nee," Harry wheezed, "-elp."
Hermione spun around and saw Harry attempting to force the dementor down into the cauldron. "Harry!" she yelled as she ran toward him.
Hermione sent out a rapid series of air gusts that succeeded in getting the dementor below the mouth of the cauldron and then she followed up with a thick patronus mist to keep it in place. Harry yanked his arm out and fell backwards onto the ground. Hermione quickly slammed the lid into place and summoned her patronus to defend them from the rest of the dementors.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked frantically. Harry groaned and cradled his arm whilst rocking slightly in place. His armor had frozen solid and shattered away leaving his arm exposed to the unknown interior of a dementor. It looked to be severely withered and frost bitten.
"I don't know if healing charms will fix this one," Harry said between gritted teeth. His robes and dragon hide had also been reduced to powder by the dementor.
"Come on Harry, it'll be all right," Hermione said reassuringly as she probed his arm gingerly with her wand. Harry grasped his wand and produced another patronus to patrol with Hermione's silver otter while they attempted to heal him. Their healing charms succeeded in restoring the proper color to his limb, but it continued to look aged.
"Guess they really do suck the life out of you," Harry joked wryly as he flexed his arm. It felt about the same, but he doubted it was as strong as it had been before. He quickly repaired his robe and made a mental note to get Charlie to procure more dragon hide clothing.
Hermione gave him a withering glance and Harry immediately sobered when he saw wetness glistening around her eyes.
"What is that noise?" Hermione asked suddenly. Harry held his breath for a second and listened. He looked up toward the source of the sound, which turned out to be a tiny silvery bird shaped messenger charm.
"Of all the bad timing," Hermione said grouchily. Their dementor project was not finished by a long shot. They still needed to transport the thing back to one of their makeshift laboratories outside of Grimmauld Place, make sure the containment spell was holding, and that there was no chance of it breaking free.
Harry reached up and snatched the charm out of the air. He unrolled the conjured parchment and grimaced visibly.
"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked when she saw his reaction.
"It's from Dumbledore," Harry replied. "All it says is "Snape captured." We've got to get back."
"Right," Hermione agreed. Snape might not be high on their friend's list, but he was still one of them. If he had been captured then the dementor project would have to wait. "The trap should be able to hold the dementor while we're gone."
"What about the ghost's time limit?" Harry asked. "They only gave us one night to do this remember?"
"It can't be helped. We'll just have to try and get back before they get impatient, or if worst comes to worst we'll just have to force them," Hermione said tersely. The cauldron's lids clanged slightly, but it made no other protest as Hermione used magic to cover it up with dirt. They didn't want anything messing with it while they were gone.
Harry and Hermione apparated into the middle of the main room at Grimmauld Place and were surprised to see that Dumbledore was already there. Several other people had arrived too, including Ron and several squad leaders that he had called.
Arthur greeted them with a warm smile. "Ah, Harry, Hermione, good to see you again. The Minister just got through putting me up to guard Madam Bones since she's been trying to return to work. Personally, I think it's just an excuse to get me killed."
"Anyone want to tell me what this is about?" Ron grumbled. Luna was sitting next to him looking as unconcerned as ever, although Harry thought she looked as impatient as he'd ever seen her.
"You will have plenty of time to spend in the library with Miss Lovegood later," Arthur replied teasingly. Whereas Molly had become and emotional train wreck Arthur seemed to be trying to deal with his grief by lavishing attention on his remaining children. Ron blushed and Luna tilted her head sideways with a confused expression.
"We weren't in the library," she said innocently. "We were going to head up to-"
"The common room," Ron interrupted nervously. "Up to the common room because the library was too noisy…I mean, not noisy enough. You know me, I can't study with all that deafening silence. Now can someone please tell me why we're here and why I had to call in so many people at once?"
"Ah, yes, now that we're all here I'm afraid that I have some very troubling news. Professor Snape's extended absence has in fact been due to his status of spy being discovered by Voldemort." Dumbledore explained.
"How is that possible?" Harry asked.
"I'm afraid we don't know any of the details around his discovery and capture, only that he needs to be rescued," Dumbledore replied.
"Hold on just a minute," Ron said incredulously. "First of all, how do we even know that this isn't some kind of ruse to lead us into a trap? We still haven't heard a good reason about why he's trustworthy."
Dumbledore looked conflicted. "Voldemort asked Snape to do terrible things to prove his loyalty and devotion. When he came to me…there was no doubt about what his true intentions were."
"He did tell us about the impending attack on the dwarves too," Hermione added.
"Yeah, which turned into a disaster because the real target was Hogsmeade," Ron growled. "He probably did it on purpose."
"Ron does make some good points," Harry said finally. Hermione didn't look as if she was entirely convinced but she didn't protest. "I think its time you told us exactly why you trust Snape so implicitly."
"What happened is private," Dumbledore replied. "However, I assure you, you can trust his motives. Severus was compelled by his conscious to rejoin our side."
"Do we dare trust Dumbledore…again?" Harry asked.
"I don't know about Dumbledore, but I think Snape has always been acting in good faith," Hermione replied. "Even if his information on the attack against the dwarves was less than helpful it may have been because his status as a spy was already compromised."
"Dobby," Harry called out. Immediately the little elf appeared and began bubbling over with offers to help in any way he could. "I wondered if I could ask you about your time at Hogwarts?"
"Harry Potter is wanting to know about Dobby's old job?" Dobby asked with surprise.
"I wanted to know how you felt about Professor Snape," Harry said.
"Harry Potter is wanting my opinion on something?" Dobby asked gleefully. "Dobby is so happy to be helping Harry Potter-"
Dobby broke off his chatter and eyed Dumbledore apprehensively, but the old grandfatherly wizard just nodded at him to continue.
"Dobby wasn't liking him, he was a nasty mean wizard that was cruel to Harry Potter sir," Dobby said eagerly.
"Dobby," Harry said patiently. "I know that Professor Snape and I have had our differences, but I want to know how you feel about him, not how you think I feel about him."
Dobby's ears drooped, but he spoke again in a softer, slower tone. "Professor Snape was harsh to Dobby from time to time, but he didn't hate Dobby like Dobby's old masters did. Sometimes he would be making antidotes for butter beer so Dobby could be helping Winky."
"Thank you Dobby," Harry said kindly. Dobby beamed up at him in response to the praise. Everyone gathered in the room except Dumbledore, Luna, and Hermione appeared to be mildly shocked. Ron's mouth was nearly grazing the floor he was so shocked to hear anyone, especially a house elf, speak favorably of Snape.
"I'm glad we finally got that settled…for the moment," Hermione said dryly. The ever-continuing debate over Snape had begun to tire her some time ago. "Unfortunately, all this may be moot unless we actually know where Snape is. He could have been moved a dozen times by now."
"Yeah, how exactly did we find out he was captured anyway?" Ron asked. All eyes moved back to Dumbledore.
"We know he was captured because he sent us this," Dumbledore said. He placed a silver diamond shaped object on the table. "It is a piece of a tracking charm that was devised during the first war by myself and Nicolas Flamel. Professor Snape hid it, uh, on his person so that in the event of capture it could tell us where he was being held."
Hermione's eyes narrowed. "How does it work?"
"Very simply you just take this string," Dumbledore said as he took out a long silvery thread, "and let it attach itself to the top of the tracker."
The long thin thread attached itself effortlessly to the tracker and as it did so all the little spider-like legs melted back into the object's surface. Next, Dumbledore produced a highly detailed map of England and spread it out on the table.
"You're going to dowse for him?" Hermione asked.
"It isn't really dowsing," Dumbledore replied. "The tracking spell is just enchanted to display where its immaterial half is located whenever it encounters a geographical representation. The string is to allow it to move freely, but it isn't necessary. We could simply push it around the map until it got close enough to Professor Snape's location to gravitate to it on its own."
Dumbledore let the newly completed pendent swing freely over the map. As it began to move toward a specific location the map magically zoomed in on the location. Each time the map refocused itself Dumbledore would give the pendent another swing so it could find the next place for the map to focus in on until they had finally gotten down to a point where they could make a precise determination of Snape's location.
"Malfoy's mansion?" Harry asked incredulously. "We destroyed it without a trace. There was nothing left but…"
"The dungeons," Hermione finished. "There may be hidden dungeon passages that go deeper into the ground than the ones we explored."
"Okay, Ron, why don't you go out and take a look," Harry said. Ron's animagus wolf form would allow him to get close and if spotted still not raise suspicion hopefully. Also, wards that detected people were usually fooled by animagus wizards due to the completeness of the transformation.
"Be careful Ron," Hermione added. "Don't try to get too close, just see if there is a visible presence. Voldemort is probably leaving the place completely unguarded and trusting that we'd never suspect it since we've already been there, but there's no point in taking that chance."
"Maybe I should go too." Arthur said hurriedly. Ron frowned, but Harry interrupted before the youngest Weasley could say anything.
"We need you and Harp's squad to come with us to help with our special project," Harry said.
"Special project?" Arthur asked quizzically.
"Yes, the one you guessed earlier…" Hermione said.
"Right, of course," Arthur replied hurriedly.
"Dobby, could you get brooms for five people?" Harry asked.
"Right away Harry Potter sir," Dobby replied cheerfully.
"Brooms?" Arthur said.
"You'll see why when we get there," Hermione explained shortly. She pointed her wand at him and his clothing switched into a Light Bearer uniform complete with face masking scarf.
"We're going in first to make sure its safe, we'll use the emblems to call you in a moment," Harry said. Ron had already left so he and Hermione didn't hesitate. They needed to wrap up before Ron came back with intelligence on the Malfoy estate.
There was deep fog in place all around the cemetery, but the dementors seemed to have fled for the night after the earlier commotion. Harry sent a jolt of magic through his emblem and a moment later four wizards in the disguising Light Bearer uniforms arrived.
"We forgot that Arthur doesn't have an emblem," Harry said dryly.
"You forgot dear," Hermione said laughingly. Arthur appeared next to her a second later holding the map Hermione had given Harry earlier.
"Okay everyone, two people to a pole," Hermione said. She conjured up two metallic poles and tossed them to the squad. Next, she pointed at Arthur but avoided using his name since the squad they had summoned didn't know him. "You know what we're dealing with so you're in charge. We're taking this cauldron to Special Service Site Seven."
Site Seven was actually just the cave near Hogsmeade that Sirius had hidden in during his time as a dog on the run from the Ministry. Fred and George had taken the site over after Hermione finished warding it and set up a makeshift laboratory. Now it would make the perfect location to work with a dementor since the newly destroyed village no longer had any human inhabitants.
Hermione unearthed the cauldron by vanishing all the dirt that had been heaped around it until it was fully exposed with enough open space around it for everyone to stand next to it. Hermione pointed out where the rods were supposed to be mounted so the cauldron could be easily carried.
"Okay, good, good," Harry said. The four carriers had activated their armor so they could make use of its enhanced strength and were steadily lifting the cauldron out of the hole.
"Careful," Hermione exclaimed when the side nearest Harry began to tip.
"Something's moving inside there," one of the carriers shouted. "It's trying to knock us over."
Harry rushed forward and threw his arms up against the cauldron to steady it. He heard the wizards nearest him gasp and realized that without his dragon hide armor on the loose sleeve of his robe had ridden up to reveal his ravaged arm. He quickly finished righting the cauldron and moved back as if nothing had happened, but he could see that Arthur had spotted his infirmity too.
"Don't worry about it," he whispered to him as he approached to take over what Harry had been doing.
The two teens watched as everyone mounted their brooms and lifted off slowly with the giant metal pot slung between them. Arthur waved once before heading off after the others.
"Let's get back," Hermione said quietly. She vowed that this would be worth it in the end. Nothing would stop her from finding a way to destroy dementors…and fix Harry's arm.
There was a twirl of robes and a second later the young couple was back where they had started. They'd not been gone too long, but Ron had already returned and was making marks on the map, which had been updated to show the topography of the rubble that had once been Malfoy Manor.
"Did you see any guards?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, but I didn't go down into the actual dungeon passages so there could be a whole army of them hidden for all I know," Ron replied.
"We should probably create as much disruption as possible," Harry said. "What targets do we have that we know Voldemort will try to defend?"
"Nothing certain," Ron replied. "Both sides have gone into very deep cover right now. In fact, the most visible target is actually one of us, Madam Bones, since she started going back to work."
"What about the remaining purebloods?" Hermione asked. "Some of them should at least be related to Death Eaters."
"I'm probably related to a Death Eater," Ron retorted. "All the purebloods are interrelated to some extent. It just won't work."
"Attacks might only serve to warn Voldemort that we were up to something," Dumbledore cautioned. "I believe stealth is more important for this mission."
"Very well," Hermione said, nodding resignedly. "Harry and I will get Snape."
"Arrive at this spot," Ron said as he jabbed at the map. "You can use the rubble to hide your approach."
The two teens nodded, activated their armor, and then vanished away.
-->