Chapter 16 - Nothing to Fear
Harry looked around the shattered remains of the once proud Malfoy Estate before glancing balefully at Hermione. She seemed to be fairly surprised by the extent of the damage too. It was one thing to see powerful elemental spells hitting something from a distance away right before fleeing the scene, but something entirely else to be sitting in the middle of the destruction some time later. Harry ran his hand over the loose bits of broken masonry that lay scattered about and realized that the smooth edges were the result of intense heat melting the stone.
"Invisibility charms," Hermione prompted. Harry cast the spell on himself and watched as Hermione's form became washed out. They could see through each other's spells, but just barely.
"We'd still better be careful. There could be avatars here," Harry cautioned needlessly. Hermione, the consummate planner, had already anticipated such things, but Harry realized that even she could overlook things from time to time.
Hermione motioned with her hand and Harry went running out from behind the rubble they had hidden behind toward a burned out wall that was closer to the stairway that led to the dungeons. Harry looked around carefully before motioning for Hermione to make the run past him and one step closer to the stairs. They leap frogged quickly until they were both just outside the stairway.
"I feel anti-apparation wards," Harry said. The wet blanket oppression of the spell was unmistakable.
"They'll have bi-directional portkey dispersion wards too," Hermione said grimly. "We'll have to drag Snape all the way back up here. There's no way we'll have enough time to waste trying to knock the wards down."
Harry considered the dark hole that the stone stairs descended down into with distaste. He had thought that they were finished with this awful place back when they burned it to the ground.
"I wonder how many other places we thought we destroyed are still operating like this?" Hermione mused. Harry shook his head in marvel of her ability to anticipate his thoughts.
"We'll ask Snape," Harry said dryly. He ducked down into the opening and felt Hermione follow closely behind him. The initial entrance was narrow but it soon flared outward into a maze of passages, many of which seemed to be newly constructed.
"This is crazy," Hermione said as they rounded the passage and came to another set of stairs. "Its like they rebuilt the manor below ground."
"Someone's coming," Harry said. He pulled Hermione off into one of the side passages and crouched with her in the shadows.
"Quit yer moanin' Rotherly," the taller of the two wizards was saying. Both of them were wearing black robes and had red tinted eyepieces over their left eyes.
"They're using our equipment," Hermione sputtered indignantly. The Death Eaters had been notorious about stripping dead Light Bearers for their generally superior equipment. Voldemort, for all his ingenuity, was a very traditional wizard when it came to fighting. He might devise clever strategies and tactics, but he was lax when it came to giving his people a material edge.
"You'd bloody well moan too if you'd had your leg nearly blasted off by that Granger girl," Rotherly replied sourly. Hermione looked at Harry and shrugged as if to say she didn't remember the incident at all.
"Just be glad you're off the regular rotations. The next time there's a general call I'll be the one she gets a chance to curse," the tall wizard said. Harry and Hermione waited breathlessly until their voices faded into the distance before emerging from their hiding place.
They walked briskly down the hall, wands glowing green despite their invisibility charms since an unknown number of Death Eaters might all be equipped with Light Bearer eyepieces.
"I think we should go this way," Hermione said as she examined the hall with her own eyepiece. The stone had been enchanted to repel anything that might try to see through it, but Hermione could still get some sense of where they should try next.
"I see it," Harry said. They would need to travel down another level and head toward what appeared to be a large group of holding cells. There were several Death Eaters clustered around the general area, but Harry couldn't determine more than that.
Harry and Hermione ran as quickly as they could down the hall. Their silencing charms built into their boots eliminated the heavy footfalls that would have normally accompanied such activity. Harry gestured violently at the thick door that barred their way and grimaced as it folded in on itself instead of opening.
"Crud, Harry, we're going to get it now," Hermione said tersely. She tried to repair the door, but it melted into a puddle.
"Its bloody tamper proof," Harry said incredulously.
"Run Harry," Hermione commanded. "The first patrol that comes through here will sound the alarm."
Together they raced down the hall, ripped though another door, and then descended a set of stairs. They still hadn't been discovered as they stood panting heavily outside the door to the room that they hoped Snape was being held in.
"Two guards," Hermione said. Harry forced the door and Hermione leapt into the room. Snape's consciousness registered two flashes of green light as he rolled over slowly and saw the two teens shimmer into view as they dropped their invisibility charms.
Snape coughed sickly, "Y-you came f-for me-e?" he stuttered.
"You should know better than that Professor," Harry said gently as Hermione ripped the cell apart. "We don't leave our people behind."
"Can you move?" Hermione asked. She had vanished the filth from off the abused potions master and conjured fresh robes for him.
"Can you use a wand?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Snape said, coughing some more. Harry pulled a half dozen potions out of his hat and thrust them at Snape. "Drink," he commanded.
"You made these?" Snape laughed hollowly. "Thought you were trying to save me, not kill me."
"Funny man," Harry said, smiling despite himself. "Hurry, we could be found out at any minute now."
Snape tried to drink the potions, some of which tasted foul, but he kept coughing every other moment. Harry started performing a healing charm about the time that everything went wrong.
A crystal at the front of the room next to the entrance suddenly lit up a bright red. A second later they heard shouts come from the halls directly above them.
"Our game is up," Hermione said.
"How strong is this stone?" Harry asked.
"Are you crazy?" Hermione shouted. "This place would fall apart on top of us."
"So glad Granger is here," Snape muttered weakly.
"Do you have a better idea?" Harry retorted.
"These guys are mostly ordinary wizards," Hermione said. "Grab him, we're going."
Harry used the strength of his armored arm to lift Snape up off the ground and carried him like a sack of potatoes as he chased after Hermione. As they went they blew apart furniture, statues, boxes, and anything else substantial enough to potentially block a killing curse. By the time they met up with a Death Eater squad they had a mass of debris swirling around them in a makeshift shield. Hermione also had her armor's shield extended into its maximum configuration.
"Avada Kedavra," Hermione shouted at the first Death Eater that rounded the corner toward them. He collapsed into a heap; surprise etched into his features as his comrades hastily backtracked.
"GOLDEN ROBES," someone yelled with a magically enhanced voice.
"How are you doing down there?" Harry asked. There were more shouts of "golden robes" and he even thought he heard "chosen one" once. However, instead of having wizards converge on them their identification seemed to have the opposite effect. Resistance suddenly melted away from them as they ran back toward the surface.
Snape tried to mumble something in response, but he was just too weak to make himself heard clearly. Harry sent a fireball racing down the corridor to the left as they continued straight ahead just in case it would happen to slow someone down. He also drew up a small ball of black lightening so he would be able to unleash an attack at a moment's notice.
"Avada Kedavra," Hermione yelled again. A short fat man carrying a huge bundle of papers reeled backwards, but apparently he had dodged her attack because the last Harry saw of him was his backside scrambling into the room he had come out of.
At last they reached the final set of stairs that led back to the surface and to the edge of the portkey dispersion field. Hermione dug into her robes and took out a half dozen tiny stone figures, which she flung onto the floor. Immediately their latent spells took effect and they began growing into huge, snarling, red-eyed demon dogs. The dogs raced back down the hall in the direction Harry and Hermione had just come from to create further disruption.
"Halt!" the wizard Harry recognized as Rotherly commanded when they made it to the surface. They were only a few steps away from the edge of the interdiction field now, but six wizards surrounded them in a semi-circle.
"Just quit, you can't beat us," Hermione yelled.
"Maybe not," the man Harry recognized as Rotherly said in a trembling voice. The robes of the six wizards began to fan slightly as they gathered their powers for a final strike. "But we have to try. We won't let a muggle demon like you destroy our families and our heritage. Now men, for Voldemort, last line of Slytherin, greatest wizard of our age, and the noble blood of magic!"
Hermione exploded into a whirlwind of fiery rage that sent the Death Eaters flying back into a charred heap. Harry didn't think that they would survive, but they didn't have time to check on them. The entire area was beginning to ring with the sharp sound of apparation as Harry and Hermione stepped across the boundary of the interdiction field, conjured a special portkey, and escaped away.
"Poppy," Harry called out earnestly as he gingerly laid Snape's wrecked form onto one of the beds.
"Oh gracious heavens, what has happened to him?" Poppy asked hysterically as she bustled out of her side office.
"He's been tortured by Death Eaters," Hermione said briskly. "He's got trouble breathing and our potions didn't help him much."
"That's not good," Poppy said worriedly. Harry and Hermione might not be trained mediwitches but they were incredibly powerful so their healing spells still worked fairly well, not to mention their potions.
"Will he be okay?" Harry asked.
"Shoo, shoo," Poppy said as she continued to rush about. "I haven't the faintest idea, now get away so I can work."
Hermione noticed that Harry's face was looking fairly drawn and her eyes flitted down to his arm. He was still wearing his armor and that wasn't a good sign.
"Come on Harry, let's get back to Grimmauld Place," Hermione said. Together they activated their portkey bracelets and an instant later they were standing in the entrance hall at the old Black family house.
"I know your arm is hurting," Hermione said softly as she steered Harry toward the kitchen. "Let's get you something warm to eat and I'll take a look at it."
"It's like its aged," Harry said through gritted teeth as he retracted the segmented armor that had been covering his wounded arm. "I think all that running about may have broken the bone."
Hermione sighed and tried to make her head stop spinning. She had just gone through another horrendous battle, killed who knows how many people, and suddenly she just didn't care anymore.
"I don't even feel anything," she whispered suddenly. "I killed them like I was swatting flies and I just didn't feel anything."
Harry twitched, not because of what she had said, but because of what this war was doing to her…what he was doing to her…no, what Voldemort was doing to her.
"I think you did feel something or else you wouldn't be upset now," Harry said gently.
Hermione nodded sadly as Harry folded her into an awkward embrace. "I'm sorry Harry," she said as she tried to refocus herself. "Let me look at your arm."
Harry laid his arm out on the table and rolled up the sleeve. Hermione began performing a healing charm and Harry could feel the bone strengthening itself under her spell's guidance.
"We just can't think about it right now Hermione," Harry said heavily. "I don't feel it anymore either, the death, the innocent people who are caught up in this mess, but I do see it. I see them in my nightmares dying, begging me to help them, over and over again."
"Even Snape," Hermione said sadly. "I never thought I'd feel so much pity for him as I do right now. No one deserves that, even him."
"No," Harry agreed. "That's why we have to keep this up, even if it means…swatting flies."
Hermione gave him a small sad smile. She thought back to all those times that she had told Harry that nothing must keep him from destroying Voldemort. "Don't make me live though this war alone," she thought silently to herself.
The door to the kitchen opened and Harry felt pain shoot through his arm as he attempted to thrust the sleeve back down over it. Arthur stepped through and slowly took his usual seat at the table across from where the young couple was sitting.
"I delivered that abomination to the cave," he said idly. "I hope you two can do something useful with it."
"Uh, yeah, me too," Harry said nervously.
"It's okay Harry," Arthur said solemnly. "I saw it earlier."
"I guess you did," Harry sighed. He rolled his sleeve back up and set his arm on the table. "Any suggestions?"
"I was just wondering how much more this war is going to take from the both of you," Arthur said sadly. "I know you both try to hide it, why I can't imagine, but I can tell. Moody was the same way back when his prime started to fade. He didn't move quite as smoothly except in the heat of battle."
"I'm the bloody "Chosen One" Arthur," Harry said. "If I start falling apart then people will lose hope and we'll be finished."
"Let me guess, you're Hermione Granger the greatest witch of this age and so you can't be seen falling apart either?" Arthur said dryly.
"Something like that," Hermione said evasively. "Are you trying to say something Arthur?"
"Just don't let people forget how much this has cost," Arthur cautioned. "We made that mistake in the last war. When it ended people were out in the streets celebrating, getting drunk, going crazy. No one stopped to consider all the people who were dead, all the lives that were ruined, or that their victory had just been bought with the blood and destruction of an entire family."
Harry didn't know what to say to that so he said nothing. Arthur's sudden arrival and strange speech apparently unsettled Hermione too.
"The world of magic didn't earn its last victory," Arthur continued. "It isn't going to earn this one either, assuming we can even get it. I wish there were something I could do to lift this burden from you Harry."
"You've already done more than I could have ever asked," Harry replied sincerely. "You've given more to defeat Voldemort than I have. I never knew my parents, but you…"
Harry trailed off as he had come uncomfortably close to Ginny's death. Arthur gave him a tight smile and nodded sadly. In many ways he had become a changed man after that day. He had requested slots on patrols with more frequency whenever he could get away from his Ministry duties.
Over the next several days Harry and Hermione withdrew to the cave near what was left of Hogsmeade so they could study the dementor more closely. With an actual specimen on hand they seemed to be making more rapid progress toward their goal of finding a way to kill the dark creatures. They also spent a lot of time trying to devise a new way to get a spy into Voldemort's ranks. The problem was that they didn't know of anyone who they could trust to do the job who also had a reputation sufficient to enable them to join the Death Eaters without arousing suspicion. Short of another Snape style turncoat they were simply out of luck.
The fighting had been sporadic as both sides had retreated into their safest hideouts and refused to do anything on a large scale. Harry and Hermione always got nervous around each full moon, but Voldemort seemed content to have his werewolves attack individually. They could only surmise that Voldemort wanted to convert more people so he could recruit them into his forces. Werewolves relied on numbers when fighting against wizards.
Rumors had also begun to fly around the wizarding world and through the ranks of the Light Bearers that Harry had been seriously wounded. He had kept his aged hand hidden for the most part, though the Grangers and Dursleys had eventually been told, but that didn't keep rumor down. Hermione was angry with the squad that had helped Arthur move the cauldron for undoubtedly spreading the rumor, but there was nothing to be done.
Even worse, in Harry's eyes, whenever Hermione taxed herself too much the old curse wounds she received prior to the battle of Hogsmeade would resurface. The first time it happened was when she was practicing a patronus variant spell she had reworked in an attempt to kill the dementor. Harry had turned his back for a second and found her lying in a quivering heap on the ground covered in bleeding cuts. They had gone back to Bill Weasley, but he was at a loss to explain why it was still happening. The only thing he could attribute it to was the power of Voldemort's magic, even through one of his avatars.
Harry adjusted the beam of bluish-white energy coming from his wand so it would stay aligned with Hermione's identical beam. Where their powers intersected a small crystal was slowly forming as each new layer of corporeal magic was applied.
"That should be big enough," Hermione said finally. "If this is going to work that will do it."
She reached up and plucked the crystal out of the air so she could examine it more closely. Satisfied by some criteria Harry didn't quite understand Hermione turned and slipped the crystal into a little chamber that was suspended above the cauldron that contained the dementor. This way they could transfer items into the cauldron without risking the dementor getting free.
Harry adjusted his eyepiece so he could watch through the metal as the crystal landed in the cauldron with the dementor. The creature shrieked, but the crystal couldn't dissolve its darkness. The dementor was in pain, but it slowly won the battle against the crystal's bluish glow until the tiny shard was drained of energy and shattered.
"Just as I thought," Hermione said. "Anything short of an actual spell isn't going to work."
"I thought you already said charms wouldn't work either?" Harry said.
"No, they won't," Hermione said. She shuffled through a stack of parchments. Each page was covered in her tiny neat script. "I've got some ideas, but they need more work. We need to check up on Snape too just in case he's well enough to talk."
They still hadn't been able to get a coherent story from the injured professor and Poppy refused to allow them to withdraw a pensieve memory while he was recovering. Hermione hoped that Snape had been held at Riddle Manor at some point and would be able to lead them to it or at the very least provide enough information to break the secrecy charms protecting Voldemort's stronghold.
Harry felt a tug on his emblem and saw a flash of vibrant crimson colored robes float in a magically induced vision before his eyes. He turned to Hermione and saw that she had received the same summons. They didn't have to say anything before apparating away to one of their besieged safe houses.
The first thing they saw when they arrived was the unconscious form of a middle aged man and several broken crates of potion supplies that Harry recognized as being captured from Voldemort's werewolf army.
Hermione dropped down next to the man and administered an enervation spell. "What has happened here?" she asked once he came around.
Harry had an eyepiece on and was looking around the large building for signs of the attackers. "It was aurors," the man replied. "They surprised us and destroyed most of our stocks before apparating away again. They killed a couple but I only got stunned."
Harry felt the tug on his emblem again and sought Hermione's eyes out with his own. "We're under attack somewhere else," he said.
"I'll be fine, just go get'm," the man said hurriedly. "They must think we're Death Eaters
or something."
"Not likely," Hermione said grimly as they apparated away. They appeared in the middle of a firefight between three Light Bearers and a half dozen aurors.
"Its Granger," one of the aurors yelled to his comrades. "And Potter!"
All six aurors spaced themselves out rapidly and raised their wands in perfect synchronization as they prepared to attack. Harry flicked his wand and summoned a barrier shield around himself, Hermione, and the three remaining Light Bearers. Six beams of purple light impacted against the barrier, but they were unable to penetrate it with only one volley.
"Stop," Hermione called out frantically. "We're on the same side."
"If you know who I am then you know we mean you no harm," Harry added. He watched as a hail of conjured projectiles came at them and was amazed at how feeble they seemed. He waved his wand casually and scattered the attack like flower petals being dispersed by a strong wind. "You also know that you can't defeat me. Leave us alone."
"I don't want to fight these people," Harry said as the aurors continued their assault. The spells were disappearing a few feet in front of him as they impacted an invisible barrier. From an observers point of view it appeared as if the spells were being swallowed up like pebbles tossed into a pond leaving only ripples behind.
"I'll grab the wounded and get everyone else to portkey out of here," Hermione said.
Harry heard the aurors shout out something unintelligible, but when he dodged two flashes of green light he realized what they had said. He raked the aurors with a low powered blast of lightening to get them off balance and hopefully disrupt another round of killing curses.
"Everyone's safe," Hermione's said a few minutes later. Harry felt her presence disappear a split second before he activated his own portkey back to Hogwarts. Hermione was waiting for him when he materialized outside the medical wing.
A knot of third years that had been standing nearby looked simultaneously terrified and curious at all the strange happenings. Harry was amazed at just how much Hogwarts had been spared from the war despite Hogsmeade. They especially seemed curious about the two Head Students who were rarely around and were always in the newspapers. Harry grinned at them and they ran away with flushed faces.
He shook his head and levitated the two people nearest him so he could take them into the medical wing. Most of the seriously injured people had already been taken into treatment so there was no great need to hurry. Hermione insisted that everyone be inspected though, no matter how slight their injuries seemed, just in case they had been affected by some kind of slow acting spell.
"He's awake," Hermione said as they walked past the bed where Snape was still resting. The two teens approached their enfeebled school nemesis and just looked down on him for a moment as he tried to pretend to be asleep.
"Professor, we really need to talk to you," Harry said softly. Seconds ticked by with no response.
"Come to gloat have you, Potter?" Snape asked roughly.
"We need your help," Hermione said before Harry could respond.
"I think I've "helped" enough, don't you?" Snape bit back.
Hermione chewed her lip anxiously. "Some of the details of your imprisonment that we're aware of doesn't make any sense. You were held for several weeks, yet you were kept unconscious for that entire time. There's no evidence that you were fed or anything. That's simply not possible, you would have starved to death."
"Clever girl, do you have a point?" Snape asked with a sigh.
"We're hoping you were kept some place other than the dungeons beneath Malfoy's old mansion," Hermione explained. "If you would give us your memories of everything that happened we hope that an inspection of them could give us clues about what actually happened to you. We were hoping to maybe even find Riddle Manor."
"We're really appreciative of everything you've done," Harry said suddenly, feeling his pride lodge in his throat.
"Flattery Mr. Potter," Snape said derisively. Harry began to berate himself for what Snape must have considered to be an exceptionally transparent ploy until Snape continued. "I'll cooperate all I know how if you'll do one small thing for me."
"What?" Harry asked suspiciously.
Snape pointed at Harry's armor, "Deactivate your little toy there."
Snape grinned feebly as he watched Harry's reaction. "So its true then," Snape said. "What the rumors say, that is. You have been wounded."
Harry pushed the small triangular piece of metal from which the entire armor originated and was rewarded by a mechanical sliding noise. Each segment of the armor retreated into the previous segment until all that was left was the tiny triangle attached to Harry's shoulder like a decorative medal. He shoved his sleeve up and thrust his aged arm at Snape.
"There, are you happy?" Harry asked sullenly.
"Come now Mr. Potter," Snape said dryly. "Did you really think I just wanted to revel in your misfortune? Oh, don't look at me like that."
"Will you help us now?" Hermione asked.
"I would have helped you anyway," Snape replied. "Surely you realize that I have just as much at stake here as the two of you?"
Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, clearly unconvinced. Snape sighed and looked away, but his normal icy demeanor seemed to lift from him somewhat.
"Lucius laughed at me when he was torturing me," Snape said distantly. "He mocked me, told me that I had no one who cared to rescue me, that all my efforts over the years were utterly worthless. Even though we haven't been on the…best of terms…you still came for me. You proved him wrong. I appreciate that."
"You've risked a lot in the fight against Voldemort over the years," Hermione said diplomatically.
Snape bristled at the use of Voldemort's name, but didn't reprove her for it. "You don't understand why I turned against the Dark Lord or why the Headmaster trusts me." It wasn't a question.
"Does anyone need a reason to do what's right?" Hermione asked rhetorically.
"Yes, often," Snape said in a soft, nearly defeated voice. "Not many people know why I left the Dark Lord before his fall. The truth is that I'm ashamed by how pathetic my reason is. I believe Mr. Potter knows part of it."
Harry pursed his lips together and decided to stay silent since he really didn't have any idea what the professor was talking about.
"I see Mr. Potter is at a loss," Snape said airily. "However, during one of our many tedious sessions of study Mr. Potter caught a glimpse of one of my childhood memories."
Harry recalled a scene where a young Snape was being violently reprimanded by a man who was presumably his father.
"Despite my parent's volatile attributes when it came to my discipline they were staunchly against the Dark Lord and everything he stood for," Snape said. "They believed that the natural superiority of purebloods made it unnecessary for a war against lesser wizards and frankly I believe they recognized that such an endeavor was ultimately futile."
Snape leaned back on his pillow and took a deep breath as if he were becoming physically exhausted.
"I hated them and I hated anything I thought they believed in," Snape continued. "I was eager to join the Dark Lord and put an end to upstart mud…muggle born wizards who were over running society. When my parent's loyalties became known I was given the duty of killing them to prove my own conviction and I did so without hesitation."
"So that's why?" Hermione asked.
"That is not why," Snape said dangerously. His old annoyance of being interrupted showing itself again. "At least not at first. My parents were traitors and they deserved to die a traitor's death. My friend on the other hand, he did not."
"Your friend?" Harry prompted when Snape paused.
"You know him," Snape said heavily before continuing in measured tones. "Or at least you know of him. Regulus Black and I became like brothers through our acquaintance with the Death Eaters. I was not one to…question…things during that time in my youth. Regulus on the other hand began to notice some inconsistencies in the Dark Lord's rhetoric and his actions. When he became skeptical the Dark Lord killed him. He just turned around one day and killed him for speaking out about the wrong thing. Insignificant thing."
Snape looked away suddenly and Harry felt a great wave of pity wash over him.
"I began to rethink everything when I saw a man as dedicated as Regulus, who came from impeccable pure blood, killed out of hand like that. I realized that the Dark Lord didn't care about people, let alone the noble houses of wizardry." Snape said. "I loved Regulus like a brother…not long after the Dark Lord's treachery I turned to Dumbledore; you know the rest."
"I'm sorry," Harry said softly. Hermione nodded, reverent toward Snape's obvious pain.
"Give me a wand," Snape said after a few moments. Hermione passed him hers and he used it to draw out a silvery drop of memory from his head. Harry quickly conjured a vial to hold it temporarily until it could be placed into a pensieve.
"I have one more thing," Snape said as they started to leave. "Go to my dungeon office and look in the third book on the bottom shelf. You'll find inside its hollowed out middle something quite useful. I wasn't able to perfect it, but it should work for your purposes with no accumulation of side effects."
Harry started to thank him again, but Snape flipped over on his bed so that he was no longer facing them at all in a gesture of clear dismissal.
"I think he used up all seven years worth of kindness he had in him for me all at once," Harry said dryly as they left the hospital wing on their way to the dungeons.
"Harry," Hermione said reprovingly.
"I know," Harry replied, "But honestly, even if he had his reasons and even though I do feel bad for him, he has been less than friendly to us over the years to put it mildly. We might understand him better, but he's still the same person."
Hermione didn't reply to that, but she recognized the truth in Harry's words. The dungeons had a less foreboding air about them as a result of Dumbledore's extended administration of the potions classes. Snape's office on the other hand had apparently been left relatively untouched and as dank as ever. Hermione easily found the hidden book that Snape had told them about while Harry stood looking on curiously as she scrutinized the papers recovered from the hiding place.
Harry was startled by Hermione's sudden sharp intake of breath. "Oh my gosh, Harry, this is the magical enhancement potion for muggles that we discovered, but Snape has altered it somehow. According to this is acts like a magical supercharge that can give an individual as much as twice their normal amount of power."
"What?" Harry asked, stunned. "Twice our usual power?"
"Yes, look here," Hermione said excitedly as she pointed at the parchment. "According to this it won't build up negative affects like the potion I tried to use. Its basically magic in a bottle."
"Do you think that this is what Voldemort was trying to do? Maybe the notes you found were just a piece of the process and this potion was the ultimate goal," Harry speculated.
"It would make more sense than just having some nutter wizard experimenting on muggles," Hermione said. She folded the paper delicately and tucked it into her robes. "Come on, let's get back to the war room and look at Snape's memory."
They endured the usual amount of gawking as they made the short trip to the Light Bearers' headquarters at Hogwarts. Hermione retrieved her pensieve from where it was stored when it wasn't being used as a training tool. She poured the contents of the little vial into its magical basin that somehow allowed the process to work.
"Okay, now once we're inside be sure to pay attention to his surroundings," Hermione said briskly. "Every detail could potentially be the clue that tells us where he's being held."
Harry touched the shimmering surface an instant after Hermione did and immediately found himself arriving at an unknown place. The scene turned to blackness, as Snape was presumably rendered unconscious by a sneak attack. Next, the memory exploded into a blinding white light that lasted for several seconds before Snape was dumped onto the floor. There were voices in the background that even the pensieve couldn't recover and then the sensation of Snape being levitated through a passageway.
Clearly, the professor had been nearly unconscious for the entire trip and doubtlessly without the aid of the pensieve the memories they were now viewing would have been utterly unrecoverable.
"Do you recognize any of the architecture?" Harry asked Hermione as she floated nearby him.
"It's very old," Hermione observed. "It looks to be pre-Roman wizard construction at the very least. It's possible that Riddle Manor was built on top of such a thing incidentally."
"This place seems to be very purposeful," Harry reasoned as he observed the utilitarian structure unfold before them. "Do you think that Voldemort could have constructed it himself based on some kind of past buildings?"
"I suppose its possible," Hermione said.
"I mean, we did something similar ourselves," Harry added, referring to Middle Yard. The great fortress was in fact a relic from an ancient past that no one precisely knew about in minute detail.
"You think he constructed his own version of Middle Yard beneath his home?" Hermione asked.
"Well, that would make sense as to why he moved Snape," Harry said. "He must have suspected the possibility of a tracking charm that even he couldn't detect. One that could be activated by Snape whenever he wanted to."
"There's still too much that doesn't add up," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Like how did Voldemort keep Snape unconscious for all that time? How was he not fed?"
"I suspect it has something to do with that bright light," Harry said. "Maybe it's a new kind of spell Voldemort has invented."
"It doesn't seem his style though," Hermione countered. "Voldemort spends his time devising new ways to defeat his enemies, not hold them in suspended animation."
"Some kind of advanced freezing charm could be useful in combat though," Harry replied.
"Ugh, this is getting us no where," Hermione said with frustration.
"Wait, they're nearing the surface," Harry said quickly. "If he saw anything at all we can use to identify where they're at…"
They slowly emerged onto the surface a few hundred feet away from some very familiar looking stones. Harry felt his jaw drop as he realized what it was.
"That's bloody Stonehenge," Hermione exclaimed.
"It's also within the area where we think Little Hangleton is located," Harry exulted. "There's no way to tell how long they were in those passages from Snape's memory. Voldemort probably has an escape tunnel that goes to the edge of his wards as a contingency plan."
"Which means we can also use it as a point of entry," Hermione said. She opened her mouth to continue when her image flittered abruptly.
Harry felt himself wrenched back out of the pensieve and found himself looking up at a disturbed Ron. Hermione was breathing rapidly from her own experience after having been forcibly expelled from the memory.
"What is it Ron?" she asked in a slightly agitated tone.
"There's been another attack, a big one, on one of the places we thought was secure," Ron said. "But that isn't the part you need to hear. They stole something that we had taken from Malfoy's mansion, some kind of trinket that we had labeled as decorative."
"I still don't see the big deal," Harry said.
"Wait, what was the item again?" Hermione said worriedly. "We didn't know what half of that stuff was. If they went to all of that effort to steal it then we seriously need to know more about it."
"No one even bothered to make a sketch," Ron said. "Fred told me that he remembered looking at it and thinking it was some kind of amulet, or maybe a medal. You know, the kind of self aggrandizing stuff that rich purebloods always have tons of."
"Voldemort did seem to be using Malfoy's house as some kind of research facility," Harry said thoughtfully. "Maybe it's some kind of prototype device that they needed to recover in order to keep from having to start over. We did demolish a lot of notes and journals."
"There was also one other thing," Ron said nervously. "The man who led the attack…one of our people said that he had a silver hand."
"Wormtail," Harry breathed through gritted teeth.
"Now this really doesn't make sense," Hermione said skeptically. Ron looked at her as if to say "how so."
Hermione shook her head exasperatedly. "Just think about it. Pettigrew is about the weakest, most inept, incompetent wizard Voldemort has. There's absolutely no way he'd send him on a critical mission to recover something valuable."
"Right," Harry said as his brain started to function again as his initial rage at hearing about Pettigrew faded. "So if the recovery of the amulet wasn't the mission then what else could he have been doing there?"
"Maybe he's some kind of decoy?" Ron suggested.
"There's certainly few other Death Eaters out there that we have as big a grudge against as him," Hermione said.
"This is starting to get murky again," Harry said darkly. "The last time events started spiraling out of control like this we all nearly ended up dead."
"Voldemort is trying to play us again," Hermione concluded finally. "This time we won't fall for it. Ron, recall all the patrols and start setting up wards at all our safe houses to prevent incoming portkeys and apparation."
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "But what will we do if they fall under attack? What if we need to evacuate people to them?"
"Grimmauld Place will have to do as an evacuation point," Hermione said. "Overflow can come to Hogwarts if necessary but hopefully it won't come to that. If the safe houses get attacked then use portkeys to abandon them."
"But without the safe houses we'll lose control over territory," Ron countered. "We'll be leaving all those muggles undefended, not to mention wizards loyal to our cause."
"We've just been handed three defeats in the last few days, two of them at the hands of the Ministry," Harry said. "We're out of people."
"Fred and George are still trying to recruit," Ron insisted stubbornly.
"How many people?" Hermione asked.
"We're down to about one fifth strength from our peak not counting members still in school," Ron admitted. "We're even worse off than that when it comes to people who can actually fight. We've got Harp and about half of Neville's original team, but they can't replace their losses with equivalent wizards at this point."
"We can't hold territory anymore," Hermione said sternly. "I'm beginning to think it was almost foolish to try. Nothing has turned out like we anticipated when we started this nearly a year ago. Voldemort is going to win the war of attrition."
Harry jerked slightly. "Hermione, what are you saying?"
"We can't win like this," Hermione said bitterly.
"Then what can we do?" Ron sputtered.
Unconsciously, Hermione's hand brushed up against the pocket where she had placed the improved potion that Snape had devised. "We think we know where Riddle Manor is and our anti-dementor spell is nearing completion," she said grimly. "We'll rally the forces we have left for an all out assault on Voldemort and bring down the final battle. We're going to end it, one way or the other."
-->