Chapter 6 - Thwarting the Dark Lord Again

The next two days passed in a rush of planning. Members of the Order followed the 27 young witches and wizards whose names Snape had provided. Fred and George were covering Percy. Mrs. Weasley had fought this bitterly, of course, but in the end it was decided that, as they were the only members of the family to whom he was speaking, they would serve him best.

Professor McGonagal had arranged for most of the students to return home, or to a friend's house, which brought Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to Grimmauld place.

Christmas Eve arrived. Hogwarts was left with Madam Pomfrey, Madam Hooch, and Professor Flitwick, who presided over dinner, and sent the few remaining students to bed as early as possible. Dumbledore had listened patiently to Muriel when she'd explained her worry for Severus. It was decided that she and Remus would make an effort to capture him. Each witch and wizard was instructed that if Severus should appear at their location, one of them should apparate back to Headquarters.

Mrs. Weasley paced the kitchen, alternately making tea and conjuring snacks to pass the time. She'd long since sent Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to bed, not that anyone thought they were sleeping. Muriel and Remus sat in uneasy silence at the table, watching Molly. They were the only members of the Order not out watching over Voldemort's intended victims. Remus had taken Mur's hand. She was shaking. "I can't lose him, too, Remus," she whispered, not looking at her friend. He didn't answer. In the last two months she had come to Headquarters nearly every evening just to sit quietly with him by the fire. He could tell that she was desperately worried.

George and Fred appeared suddenly in front of them, supporting a very pale Percy Weasley. As Mrs. Weasley helped George take Percy upstairs, Fred sank into a chair at the table. "Avery hit him with the stunning spell before we could get there," he began. The glass in Mur's hand shattered when he spoke the death eater's name, and he looked at her oddly before continuing. "We had to bring him home like that. I hated to do it, because I knew it would upset mum. No sign of Professor Snape, though." Muriel got up to get another glass of water and nearly bumped into Tonks, who'd arrived alone, looking frazzled.

"Come on, you two, let's go." That was all she said before disappearing again. It took Muriel a moment to remember where Tonks had been stationed, then she, too, disappeared. Fred turned back to Remus, but found that he was also gone, so instead he headed upstairs to help Mrs. Weasley and George bring Percy around.

Tonks had been stationed with Arthur, following a young man named Lonsberry. He held the job that Percy had first had in the Ministry of Magic. When they arrived, Remus could see that Lonsberry was dueling with Severus not far from the visitor entrance to St. Mungos. Muriel and Remus rushed to join them, and Tonks looked around for Mr. Weasley. She found him, bound and being transported by Macnair down an alley a block away. "Finite Incantum," she screamed, flicking her wand at Mr. Weasley, whose bonds disappeared as he fell heavily to the ground. Macnair hissed angrily as he raised his wand to meet Tonks, who'd already set her second spell loose. Macnair was just a moment too late to block it, and his wand flew out of his hand. Mr. Weasley had just stood up to face him when Macnair disappeared.

Mr. Weasley and Tonks ran back toward Muriel and Severus in time to see Muriel cast a stunning spell, which Severus deftly deflected in the direction of Lonsberry. Not expecting the attack, he fell, unconscious. Tonks and Arthur reached Lonsberry and brought out a port key to take them back to Grimmauld Place. In a moment they were gone.

Severus looked around anxiously as Remus walked behind him, chanting an anti-apparation spell loudly. He heard Muriel doing the same, and swore. A moment later, she petrified him and stood, smirking over him. "You honestly think you can make a fool out of me and get away with it?" she said angrily. She kicked him, hard, as Remus did his best not to stare. "I TRUSTED YOU, BUT YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN PAPA WAS!" She acted as though she was going to kick him again, but decided against it. "Coward!" she spat. "Serving that filthy upstart mud blood! Get him out of my sight, Remus," she said angrily. Her foot was killing her. You can't hurt a petrified person by kicking him, but you can definitely hurt yourself.

She looked around angrily after they disappeared. There was no one nearby, and she couldn't hear anything. She hoped they'd put on a good enough show, so his cover wasn't blown. Dumbledore had been most insistent about that. Finally, satisfied that she wasn't going to catch any Death Eaters tonight, she disapparated back to Grimmauld place.

Headquarters was fast filling up with injured witches and wizards. Several had already made their way to Hogwarts, and the rest were getting ready to go. She looked around for Remus, but Tonks told her he'd already been sent out to help someone else. "I think Snape is upstairs, though," Tonks said wisely. She had been only a 1st year student when Muriel and Severus had that awful row in Hogsmeade, but the third years had come back that day full of stories. People had gossiped about it the next year as well.

"Thanks, Tonks," Mur said quietly, mounting the stairs. Remus had taken Sev to his own room and left him on the bed. He was just beginning to move when she came in.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, sitting on the bed. His hair was in his eyes, and she reached to push it away, knowing he couldn't. He hissed at her, causing her to raise an eyebrow. She pushed it away anyway, smiling sadly.

"Couldn't blow your cover, you know." She noticed his fingers moving, and took his hand. He managed to narrow his eyes. She knew he would pull his hand away the moment he was able.

Severus looked up at her, unable to glower at her the way she deserved. She had managed to say the one thing that would hurt him most. She was disappointed in him, just like she'd been disappointed in Papa. More than anything he wanted to be back in his quarters at Hogwarts, alone, and with several impressive locking charms on his door.

"I can't tell what you're thinking. You'll have to put it into words if you want me to know," she said sadly, pushing at his hair again. She knew he ought to be able to talk by now, but he just lay there, looking up at her with his cold eyes. She waited, and finally he sat up, grimacing. He didn't want to have this discussion right now.

"I need to get back to Malfoy Manor. Macnair is going to take a lot of heat for losing our quarry and letting me get captured."

"Macnair? Him too?" Muriel said, distracted. Severus nodded, and stood up abruptly. A moment later, they were both gone.

He was glowering angrily at her when she appeared beside him. Muriel only smirked and performed an illusion charm on him, to make him appear to have been badly injured. He found as he strode into the manor, that he was limping. He also noticed that he suddenly appeared to be alone. Shaking his head, he made his way upstairs, following the sound of his one-time dorm mate's screams.

Muriel found Lucius drinking heavily in the downstairs parlor. She stunned him, broke his wand, and took him to the ministry. She left him bound on the floor for the Aurors to find, smiling humorlessly to herself. He probably wouldn't be held long anyway, and she had to be sure no one showed up and let him free. Maybe he'd forgive her for it later.

When she returned to Malfoy Manor she didn't bother with her invisibility spell. She had heard that Riddle could see through them anyway. Macnair's screams had stopped, and the house seemed to be awaiting her. She was pretty sure that was a bad sign. Perhaps rescuing Macnair by themselves had not been the wisest course of action? If only Sirius was with them – she didn't allow herself to finish that thought. She hadn't seen Sirius in over 15 years. She wasn't going to mourn anymore, and she sure wasn't going to lose this fight because she was distracted.

When she reached the top of the stairs, wand raised, only one door had light underneath. She bypassed it. As a child she had played hide-and- seek in these rooms, and she knew there was a better way into the spider web than the way Riddle had provided for her.

She mouthed a silencing charm on the bathroom door before she pushed it open. Light streamed into the room, and she took in the scene. Riddle was waiting tensely, his wand already in the air. Severus stood beside him, his eyes downcast. Macnair was coughing, and Mur could see blood on the floor in front of him. Riddle was staring at the partially opened door, his back to her. She smirked. "Accio wands," she said forcefully. All three of their wands flew into her hand.

"Well, well, well," Riddle said, turning. "The blood traitor returns to the fold."

"Hardly." She kept her tone mild. She knew she couldn't kill him, but he couldn't do much without his wand, now could he? Putting the others' wands in her teeth she deftly snapped his in half and pulled out a mangled phoenix feather. She watched his foul red eyes widen in anger. The broken wood clattered on the tile floor beneath them as Muriel smiled. She raised all three of the remaining wands and pointed them at the feather. "Incendio," she whispered. Before anyone could blink, the phoenix feather was reduced to ashes, falling on the wand fragments below.

"You're outmatched, Riddle," she said quietly. "The Prophesy says I can't kill you. It doesn't say I can't hand you over to the one who can with a big purple ribbon around your ass."

Severus hid his shock well. Muriel had just destroyed the wand of one of the most powerful wizards the world had ever seen. The import of this was obviously not wasted on Lord Voldemort, who hardly spared a moment to sneer at her before he disapparated.

Muriel apparated to Hogsmeade, followed by Severus, who was carrying a very weak Macnair. They levitated him up to the hospital wing, which was in the worst state of disarray that anyone had ever seen it.