A/N Second Chapter this weekend. Have a good Easter/Passover/Spring holiday!

Twenty-Five

Clues from the Past

It had been several years since Severus had last gone down to visit the mine; and that had involved a brief consult involving some runes that had been rediscovered. At first glance the site hadn't changed at all, for there was a mock archeological dig site scattered around the outskirts of a large base camp that was comprised of both tents and sandstone cabins. The locals quite assuredly saw the dig sites, but the camp itself they never saw, hidden by both its location and a bit of magic that also helped disguise just how many wizards came and went from the area. A modest but effective crew of two dozen wizard miners did most of the excavating, while a half a dozen specialists in different fields were always on hand in case they ran into another interesting charm, curse, scroll or item was uncovered. It was a very necessary precaution, for the mine had once housed the greatest collection of ancient scrolls that had ever been discovered.

"Just this way, Severus," Rinan said when he noticed that Severus seemed lost in thought.

Rinan pulled himself along a bit with his cane, using it to steady his gait over the loose rocks scattered by the winds around the camp. He strode up to one of the sandstone buildings and knocked briefly before opening it, and the two men entered a small room furnished like a simple office with a long table that served as a desk, several chairs. The light in the building seemed to be coming off of the ceiling, which had been enchanted to glow softly on its own.

Behind the desk sat a wizard of small stature but of powerful build; even if the man had not had a short, scruffy beard, Severus would have been able to guess that there was a touch of Dwarven blood in the wizard's veins. The wizard glanced up at them with stone grey eyes, studying Severus carefully before turning his gaze towards Rinan.

"This is Mr. Beryl Silverman, who is the foreman of the mining operations down here. He is in charge of the camp when Stock and Thomas are away," Rinan explained.

"Which is most of the time," Silverman said evenly.

"This is Professor Severus Snape. Thomas has given him permission to get a look at the room those men were found in," Rinan explained.

"Ah, yes. You're the wizard that fixed that Ciardoth mess, right?" Silverman said, sizing him up.

"Not without help, I assure you, although right now I'm more interested in fixing this mess," Severus said.

"You won't hear any arguments from me," Silverman said, getting up and walking them back outside. "Miners are a cautious lot, and sometimes that caution means they prefer to believe any superstitious rhetoric rather than run the risk of discounting one that may catch up with them someday. This silly paw business has had the camp on edge ever since Sam died, and considering what's happened to Scarlet and your wife, they're beginning to wonder if the entire camp is cursed."

"Has anything happened here?" Severus asked.

"Nothing I'd blame on a curse, no, not since Sam died," Silverman said as they walked to the mine entrance. "But that doesn't keep the crew from blaming every accident and equipment failure on this supposed curse. Statistically speaking, we're not really having any more problems than the operation has in any given month. It's the morale that's faltering… which means they've gotten more careless…"

"Which breeds more accidents," Severus concluded. Silverman nodded in response.

"The chamber is a bit far in and a bit low, so mind your heads as we get close. Come along, Scout," Silverman called as they walked down the shaft. It was then that Severus noticed a bright yellow canary perched on one of the supports, twittering merrily. He swooped down the cavern around the heads of a pair of miners who ignored him completely, obviously quite used to the familiar's antics. "You're not uncomfortable with tight spaces, I hope?"

"Not at all," Severus said easily. "I've gotten used to it out of necessity, actually. In fact, I had spent quite some time out here just after my father-in-law acquired the mine. I don't think I've ever gone down this particular shaft, however. I take it this is all new?"

"We've been following this particular gold vein for a few months now, although we haven't been able to mine all of it due to stability reasons. Even rocks as dense as this has its limits," Silverman grunted. "The tunnel we found seems to have been a branch off the original mine. It crossed into the vein we were working on then dead-ended; probably for the same reasons ours did."

"So we're going to the lower end, the Poor Man's section of the mine," Severus ventured.

"Well, yes, although this particular spur didn't seem to connect with that part of the mine. It does run parallel to it in spots," Silverman explained.

"Oh? How close?" Severus asked thoughtfully.

"Fifty feet or so," Silverman mused.

"Much too thick for incorporeal potions or holes then," Severus mused. "What of the cave-ins blocking the entrances?"

"Ten feet on this side, before it reached the dead-end. The other side is blocked by at least thirty to thirty-five feet of rock, although we haven't cleared that end for fear of more instability in that section," Silverman explained. "It's possible some of that could have been more recent, but even had they attempted to get out by trying to go incorporeal through that cave in, you may recall that this entire mine was buried under tons of dense volcano rock on all sides. It wouldn't have done anyone any good to get back into another part of the spur, because they still would have had a problem getting out. Think one of them might have tried it anyhow?"

"In a desperate situation, one might try anything," Severus mused. "However, if so, there is a very high possibility that they didn't make it out alive."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check," Silverman agreed. "We have some Cowl Lanterns in the office. When someone holds the lantern up to stone walls, the light makes them partially transparent… we use it to check for gold veins as well as weaknesses in the rock. They're sensitive enough to see such a disturbance in the rock if there was a corpse or something."

"That sounds like a good idea, at least to eliminate the possibility," Severus said, gazing thoughtfully at the tunnel they had stepped into. It was much cruder than the one they had just been in, and only the supports looked new. Some seemed to be in rather curious angles in effort to support the less stable portions of the passage.

"Here is the chamber," Silverman said, stopping just outside the room and hanging a lantern just inside the door. "As you can see, the remains are still here. Thomas asked us not to disturb them in any way until the investigation has been concluded, although the one that had the satchel was displaced when Sam lifted it to removed it, and Aurelius and Tonks removed the wand for testing."

"And where was it found?" Severus asked. Silverman murmured the footprint spell before walking across the floor to the sitting skeleton to point him out.

"Just over here, on the ground under the arm of this man," Silverman said. "I'm going to go back up to get those lanterns, and perhaps some normal ones for regular lighting in here. Scout will stay while I'm gone in case you need anything." Scout twittered in reply, settling down on one of the supports in the tunnel just outside the room as Silverman excused himself.

At first, it seemed to Rinan like Severus was in no hurry to look at anything. He stood just inside the doorway, studying the room and the skeletons within it without comment or reaction. Rinan gazed at him with a serious but somewhat baffled expression, wondering exactly what Severus was thinking and wondering why he was spending so much time just standing there. But after a few minutes, Rinan was distracted by lamps being passed in his direction. He immediately helped set the regular lanterns around the room, while a pair of wizard miners who raised the Cowl Lanterns next to the walls. Within its direct light, the walls no longer seemed to be stone at all, but made out of something partially transparent like gelatin or murky water.

Severus watched with interest for a while, alert for any signs at all that the wizards might have found something. But once they got around the chamber and began inspecting the tunnel itself, Severus no longer seemed to care. He murmured a footprint spell and stepped in, focusing his attention on the floor around the mangled corpses, kneeling down to inspect the scattered splinters from their wands.

"Where are their non-magical personal effects kept?" Severus asked.

"Harry has them, but there's a list in the office. Scout, why don't you go see that Silverman brings that down as well?" Rinan suggested, and the canary flew out of the room. "Are you looking for something specific?"

"Anything they might have sent out a message with or used to try and call for help," Severus said, frowning as he picked up several pieces of wood to look over. "Are there any larger pieces of these wands?"

"Not that anyone's found," Rinan admitted. "I'm not sure if Harry's even found what components those had in them, but the woods at least are clear."

"Yes, this one is some type of cedar," Severus said, then moved slightly to inspect another. "Oak, I think… the other a dark wood of some sort, walnut perhaps…" he felt something odd beneath his hand and picked it up thoughtfully.

It was a small half circle of lead… perhaps a band off of one of the wands, he mused. He murmured a spell, unsurprised when the ring began to sparkle lightly, indicating it had faint traces of magic residue. But as he felt it, he realized it was rounded on one side rather than flat. Thoughtfully he put it against one of his own fingers and knew it was indeed a ring. He glanced down at his own wedding ring, the white gold long replaced with silver. He pocketed the ring, studying the skeleton he had found it next to.

"This is the skeleton the satchel was found on, isn't it?" Severus asked.

"Yes, you can tell because the dust is disturbed there," Rinan agreed. Severus noted that thoughtfully, glancing around the room. "Everyone has been careful since not to disturb anything unnecessarily."

"Yes, I see that now," Severus said, walking straight over to the skeleton in the corner and kneeling down, fixing his eyes upon the spot where a silhouette of a wand was quite evident in the dust. But that wasn't really what he was looking for; instead, he studied the man's arms thoughtfully and then looked over at a small pile of debris at his side.

"Back, Professor," Silverman said from the doorway. "I have your list."

"Any sort of contact equipment in there?" Rinan asked. "Mirrors or the like?"

"Nothing of that sort. If anything, they seem very unprepared," Silverman mused.

"So they were," Severus agreed, casting a spell to uncover the dust from a spot of ground that was heavily scorched. He gently moved aside a strange, curled black object… the remains of a leather cover off a journal. "But it would seem someone found a means to contact someone after all."

The rogue Bludger struggled against the heavy iron chains wrapped around it, rattling against them as it tried to get above three feet above the ground that Jennifer had set it at. She stood next to Rhett, the two of them still with their wands out after casting identification spells.

"Common protection hex," Rhett said at last. "Quite popular a couple of decades ago against pickpockets. The moment you put your hand in a pocket… you lose your hand," he chuckled. "Moreover, a first year student could even cast that spell if they were inclined to dark magic."

"Yes, but it's not a spell we teach here, so it's hardly common knowledge," Jennifer pointed out. "We only teach dark spells at this school when there are no safer alternatives, Rhett."

"Oh? What about last year when your son taught fourth years the Life Deprivation Curse?" Rhett challenged. Jennifer gave him a dirty look but didn't say anything. "I'd think charm spell linking the curse to the sound of a whistle is much less common."

"Hermione teaches that charm in her fourth year classes as a professional courtesy to me, since my items class covers harmonics. In fact, I don't think I've ever known Hermione to teach any spell labeled as dark to her classes… well, except for that year we didn't choose our own books…" she said, then paused.

"Which year was that?" Rhett prompted.

"Oh, it's a long story, but the year after Ambrose got in, the board decided maybe our standards were too easy and picked our books for us. Dodger, could you go see if you can grab a copy of the old first year charms book? It's the one with taped binding that Hermione wrote 'Never again' on."

"Are you sure there isn't a simpler answer, such as it being someone in your items class? They have access to dark items spells, do they not?" Rhett asked.

"The ones who have taken it more than one year have, yes, but I seriously doubt any of my items majors would ever do such a thing," Jennifer protested. "Not to mention I only have three of them, and I know each of their work well enough to know that none of them would do something like this, let alone would they choose these particular methods."

Just then Dodger came back, and Rhett couldn't help but stare when the owl dropped off a book that looked to be several times its own body weight.

"That was a first year book?" Rhett said. "That must have been some year."

"We only had to deal with them until the Yule holiday, and trust me, that was bad enough," Jennifer said dryly, scanning the index. Finally she sighed. "As I suspected, it is in here. So anyone who's been a fourth year or higher could have potentially cursed it."

"Good evening," Severus said, peering in from the doorway, his eyes fixed on the chained Bludger.

"Oh! Severus, you're back! How was your trip?" Jennifer asked with a warm smile.

"Productive to some extent," Severus said thoughtfully. "But never mind that, I'll tell you about it later. Dare I ask what this is?"

"Someone tried to kill your wife again," Rhett snorted. Severus blinked.

"There's no reason to exaggerate, Rhett." Jennifer scolded. "We just had a bit of a Bludger incident."

"Charmed specifically so that it would come after you," Rhett reminded her. "No one else would have been blowing a whistle during a Quidditch game."

"One moment. You decided to referee the Quidditch game, Jennifer?" Severus asked flatly.

"Why must everyone act so surprised when they hear about it?" Jennifer asked with exasperation. "I may not be the best flyer in the world, but I can do it if I need to, as you know perfectly well. Gloria was sick so I sent Danny home. No one was hurt, Severus. Two students had their bats chomped and my broom didn't survive, but it'd take a lot more than a rogue Bludger to put me down. Besides, this was anything but a planned accident. In fact, Rhett and I have come to the conclusion that it was more likely to have been a student."

"It does sound like something a student would do," Severus mused.

"Yes, but one trying to harm a Professor, and this may have not been the first time. The student could be behind one of the other incidents as well," Rhett pointed out.

"No, this seemed more to me like an isolated incident, Rhett. Whoever did this was quite bold about it, although I really don't know who might have been angry with me. I haven't put anyone in detention lately," Jennifer said, readying her wand. "I'm sure I can figure it out during Potion's class."

"Even if it is an isolated incident as you believe, Jennifer, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it," Rhett argued, readying his wand as she began to dispel the curse on the Bludger. "You can bet that the papers won't."

Severus himself wasn't surprised any more than Rhett had been when the next day Oracle's headline read, Deadly Curse Strikes Hogwarts Again, Endangering Students. And although he couldn't help but scowl when he read the section stating that board governor Coventry was 'going to look into the matter,' Severus had no intention whatsoever rising to the bait of what was obviously a public smear campaign. Severus frowned at that, wondering if that meant what he thought it meant. Deciding to put the matter aside for now, Severus glanced at his watch and walked down to the Potion Lab.

Jennifer was standing over her desk, stirring a small cauldron.

"Isn't it a bit cold for every window to be open?" Severus said with a sigh as he walked in, waving several of them closed.

"I was using the brisk air to help myself wake up. It smells like it's going to snow, doesn't it?" Jennifer asked as she used a syringe to capture some of the cauldron's contents and putting it into a test phial. She then dropped in some metal shavings, nodding to herself at the results.

"Have you found out anything yet?" Severus asked impatiently when she didn't comment right away.

"Well, I'd say your guesses about the ring you found were right, Severus," Jennifer said, holding up the half-circle thoughtfully. "This ring was definitely gold at one point and transfigured into lead, although I can't say for sure yet if it was Gringott's curse or something else. There are a couple of other curses that can be cast that can turn items into lead, and one potion. I'm testing for the potion now, but I think I'm going to be able to safely eliminate that one with a couple more tests. Do you suppose it was someone's wedding band?"

"I believe it is, although really it's only conjecture at this point. We know from the article that Harry and Alexandria found that Perrell had been married, and Stonewall was not according to the Archives. Of course, I don't know if the unidentified men in the room were or not, so that might eschew might theory, and yet… if that paw still had a wish left, they wouldn't entrust it to someone else, would they?" Severus said.

"I'm not sure I follow you, Severus," Jennifer said.

"I believe that the man who was carrying the satchel was probably Perrell himself. But if that is so, why was it that the man in the corner had Perrell's wand instead of his own?" Severus asked. "It looked as if all the other wands were destroyed in the same curse that killed those three men."

"What sort of curse was it, Severus?" Jennifer asked.

"One of anguish and rage… perhaps a vengeance curse of some kind. Other than the shattered wands and their positions that obviously show they were in pain, there are no other telltale signs. I suppose the only one who may have a clue is whomever the last person the last man contacted," Severus said. "And I believe that last person must have been Stonewall, for he was the only other person in the room whose personal effects seemed even remotely prepared to handle their environment. The other two men had nothing more than a pocket watch, a pair of quills, and a handful of Galleons between them. Not to mention that the corpse in the corner had a journal. Unfortunately he burned it, both to send a message and to hide what was in it, if I'm not mistaken. Something like that would have smoked terribly, and I have little doubt at all the smoke from that fire probably contributed to his death. He may have fallen unconscious in the process of sending the message and never had the opportunity to refresh the air… or he simply decided it was pointless to live any longer, considering he had no way out."

Suddenly all the windows he had closed snapped violently back open again as Jennifer folded her arms tightly against herself.

"Sorry," Severus murmured, helping her put away her equipment.

"I don't suppose we can have breakfast on the Perch?" Jennifer said, apparently oblivious to both the cold air and the blustery wind that came with it.

"Very well, but at least grab your cloak," Severus said, regretting even more that he had said anything as the two of them went into her office.