OPTIVUS by: P.P.V.V.

Disclaimer: The Standard Disclaim applies…all original characters/ideas are mine to claim.


AN: I'm back much sooner than I expected. At least this time around I didn't have you wait for half a year. I was really inspired by all your reviews and comments. It is always a pleasure to hear from you! And so, we move onward.


Previously:

As if to ruin the hall's splendor, the flag of Russia was draped over the banister leading to the second floor, covering the crest of the Royal House. It was a symbol and a sign.

Control of the Hold was now under Toma.

Sirius began to feel sick in the stomach at the thought. He ripped his gaze away and mimicked Peter's actions of looking at the floor instead. He would be damned if a mere flag would make him lose his calm.

Down, down, down they went, deeper than even that of the underground passageways of the Academy. Unlike those though, there were no twisting or attached hallways. There was only one way in and one way out of the dungeons as far as he could tell.

And unlike the underground passageways, these dungeons were fully lit, the cells few, and although musty, rather…clean.

Sirius was just eyeing the locks on the cell bars when his attention was caught yet again but this time, by Peter's sharp intake of breath.

Drawn to curiosity the way a moth is to a flame, Sirius cared to look. He saw a figure, standing in the middle of the room, shift and move forward.

Stunned by the sight, Sirius' mouth finally unhinged itself and fell open betraying his surprise and breaking his cool demeanor.

It was Professor Dumbledore.


Chapter 28

- Reversing the Strategies -

"That's foolhardy and you know it," Severus said, heatedly. Currently, he was arguing with the professors and a few of the army heads. "We cannot just think to waltz in there, even if we should have Sir Cyath at the front."

"We can hope that some of them are still loyal to the Crown," Quentin argued. "They would not dare to strike the Commanding Officer."

"And yet they are keeping our students hostage," sneered the Elite in return. Honestly, a more blundering idiot he had yet to encounter. "No, good sir, these men are not going to cooperate as nicely as you please."

Master Edmund broke up the argument by holding up his hands. "I see no need to involve the students if absolutely necessary. I have a duty to the school whether we are within its walls or without: the students must remain safe." He looked over to Sir Cyath, who had been watching the suggestions get passed back and forth, silently. "What do you think is the best course of action?"

Cyath had a faraway look in his eyes but when he blinked, they focused with surprising alertness. "It's as you say, Headmaster. The students must get to safety. The problem is that we don't have enough men to spare to guard them all. The best way to keep them safe is if they are divided." He looked to Severus as if knowing that he objected to this idea as well. "Toma means to divide you to take away your strength in numbers. As it stands, however, you are more vulnerable together. You are like one big sitting target that the Russians are not likely to miss."

All right, he had a point, Severus conceded. He was reminded of earlier in the year when the school had been infiltrated. Lily had come up with a brilliant plan that would separate the Russian army into pockets that would help the students overcome their numbers. Together, they were stronger, divided, easier to contend with.

How he hated having the strategy turned back on him!

Toma Ridel was a worthy adversary indeed when it came to strategic measures.

He caught Lorien's eye, the Ravenclaw Elite as impassive as ever. No doubt the man was just waiting for orders to be issued before he would speak his mind – if at all. Seeing that his fellow Elite would not offer a suggestion, Severus posed his question. "If we split up the students, where shall they go into hiding?"

"They should go back to their homes," Sir Cyath said, decidedly. "The Russian Army will not bother themselves with running after all the Noble Houses. If you remain here, however, it will only lead to Toma's benefit, not ours. He will be able to control all the Noble Houses in one fell swoop if he gets a hold on all its children."

Yes, he was right again. Well, the man hadn't become Commander though his brawn alone. Severus had to remind himself to keep his mind on the conversation because people were talking again.

"We've got wounded men, Sir," Quentin told him. "Dare we wait for them to recover, before we move out?"

"We have no choice," Cyath said. "There are so few of us remaining. We can only hope that others will join our cause or we will be lost."

They were interrupted by the sound of shuffling feet. Everyone turned to the source of the sound, senses heightened and on the alert. To their relief, it was only Lily who was supporting James at her side. "Sorry," she said, managing to shrug the one shoulder she had free. "He insisted…"

Severus noted that the majority of the people present at the meeting were giving them disapproving looks. He gave them one, himself. Did James not know when to take a break? The man was pushing himself entirely too much. "You're not a hero," he snapped, before he could stop himself. "Your valiance is quite…"

"I'm not trying to be a hero," James said, evenly, sounding much better and coherent than he had a few hours back. "The Master Dumbledore charged me specifically in protecting the students at this Academy. I know I'm no longer an Elite, nor am I a part of the army," here he deflected a bow toward the Commanding Officer, respectfully, "but I..."

Severus heard the implication for what it was. I would still like to help.

"I haven't been much good so far," James said, miserably, not bothering to finish his first thought. Although he said it softly, everyone gathered heard it. "I've done nothing but make everyone run in a circle and have ended in backing us into a corner."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Professor Slughorn said, sympathetically.

"You did all you could. No one blames you for the situation, Lad," Professor McGonogall added.

James slumped further onto Lily, causing the redhead to almost fall over with the added weight. He murmured an apology that only she could hear. When he had regained a bit of his strength, he tried to straighten up without much success. She put her hand up to his chest to better center him. "James…let's sit," she suggested, changing her sentence half-way through, knowing that James would not want to leave the meeting.

The fact that he did not argue with her told her just how terrible he must be feeling.

"You're most welcome to join the discussion," Master Edmund said. "But while you can, rest easy. You'll need every bit of strength just in case."

James groaned as he was lowered to the ground, falling roughly against the tree's base. A corner of his mouth turned up into a wry smile that was sardonic at best, crestfallen at worst. "You mean, just in case we have another infiltration?" he indicated their surroundings with a weary shake of his head. The joke, while bleak, caused a few of the teachers to titter.

There was nothing left to infiltrate.

Lily smoothly knelt next to him, letting that horrible fact sink in.

Nothing left.

Except…

…That was it!

In her excitement, Lily shot back to her feet, causing the group of leaders, who had been about to converse again, to look at her in surprise.

Courtesies be damned. If she could stomp on them, she would. She glanced down at James for a brief second, torn between wanting to hug him and wanting to force her idea onto the gathered crowd in front of her. Severus' words from the other day came back to her.

Women are not expected to know anything about war and tactics.

Still, she kept her chin held high under their scrutiny: to hell with their pride and egos. So far, strutting about all high and mighty had done nothing to give them a solution to their problems. She didn't care what they thought of her, so she spoke her mind. "This is a suggestion, because we're throwing ideas onto the table, anyway." She met Severus' gaze because it was much easier than looking at Sir Cyath, who, she knew, would shoot down her plan right away. Her speech, compared to everyone else's seemed clumsy and very unrefined. She forced herself to continue, despite it. "I don't know about you, but I am positively sick of being caught by surprise and having to run for our lives. What if there was some way to return the favor? Catch them by surprise and have them see what it's like?"

A soldier scowled openly at her, clearly not impressed by her mannerisms or her complaints. "If there were a way, woman, we would have done so already."

Fire touching her green eyes, Lily turned her gaze full force on him. "I wasn't finished yet," she clipped, annoyed at his blatant display of bigotry. With a huff, she gestured to the rest of the group, as though he were unimportant and didn't belong there. "What I was going to say," she emphasized in a somewhat condescending manner (whether it insulted him or not, she didn't care), "was that we infiltrate the Hold."

There was a moment's silence before the group broke into protests and speculations.

Lily stood to the side, watching them, finally mustering the courage to glance in the Commander's direction. He had regained that faraway look in his eyes, and she had to wonder whether he was seriously thinking about her suggestion or if he hadn't heard it at all.

Quentin, ever high-strung, topped his voice so that it rang above the others'. "And how, my Lady, do you propose to do that?"

She clenched her teeth and fought back a flippant response. All eyes were turned on her again, including, she noticed, Sir Cyath's, all traces of absentmindedness gone. It was almost eerie the way he could focus like that. It was like he could hear multiple conversations and understand them all at once. She was forced to look to Severus again, lest she blush and say something stupid. "Well…I've an idea…" this time she looked toward James and felt a smile tug at her lips. Turning back to the crowd, she continued, "but I can't take all the credit. It's not surprising that it comes from the Marauders because they were always up to no good."

The teachers glanced at each other, their expressions turning rueful.

Evidently, Sir Cyath knew about them too, because he grinned. She relaxed slightly when he prompted, "Let's hear it then."

Glancing once more toward James, Lily took a deep breath and began to speak.

0-0-0-0-0

Maybe it was habit, or perhaps, ingrained courtesies that had been drilled into them for so long that Dane, Sirius and Lucius moved to hail the man. Seeing them do so made Remus and Peter mirror their actions, albeit a tad later than the others.

"Well met, each of you," Dumbledore said, moving to stand in the lighted area of the dungeons.

As if those words were a cue, the soldiers that had tightly huddled them together, went to take positions around the enclosed area, postures at ease.

Remus turned his head to follow their movements, more than bewildered.

"Master, how good indeed it is to see you!" Dane spoke for all of them, his own bewilderment evident in his voice.

For someone who had been imprisoned for so long, he did not appear emaciated in the least. In fact, Dumbledore looked rather healthy and, for lack of a better word, jolly. Remus had feared to see the man missing an arm or having to use a cane. As it was, he stood on both feet without a struggle which was a relief in and of itself.

Finished with his critical assessment of his elder, Remus thought to ask, "This is where you were being kept this whole time?"

Dumbledore gave them a merry grin, as if he were not standing in enemy territory. He'd always been rather odd that way though, and whether it was because he truly wasn't concerned or if he was trying to put up a brave front for his students, one could never be sure. "In all the confusion of the war, I was brought here, yes."

Dane seemed to assess the man with his eyes, too. "If we had only known…"

"Alas, there was naught you could have done," reassured Dumbledore, "nor was there any way for you to have gotten word." He seemed to think on that a little before adding, "I think it is better that it turned out the way it did."

"There is so much to tell you," Dane said. "I don't know where to begin." For the first time ever, the Ravenclaw Elite sounded lost and desperate. "I regret to put before you that the Academy has fallen." And Remus then understood that it was because the man felt as though his duty towards the school had not been fulfilled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucius' chin drop slightly from its usual, arrogant tilt – no doubt the man was feeling exactly the same.

To Remus' discomfort, Dumbledore nodded. "I've been expecting that for some time now," the Master said.

"Expecting?" Peter repeated. The Headmaster peered over his half-moon spectacles as if that would better help him see the youngest boy.

"Well, yes," was the matter-of-fact answer. "I knew it would happen sooner or later."

Unable to keep silent any longer, Sirius pushed forward. "You knew this was going to happen?" he asked, incredulously.

Another person made their presence known, stepping into the light, a man who had chosen to stand back and let the Master do the speaking. But now, he interrupted the conversation, coming to Dumbledore's defense. "Rest assured, he was not standing idle," he said.

Sirius narrowed his eyes in disdain at the stranger. "Who, pray tell, are you?" and conscious or not of his tone, he sounded just as condescending as any of the House Malfoy could.

The man had dark hair, cropped short on the sides and front, but it tapered at the back in a long, thin tail that ended just past his shoulders. He held it back with a swath of ribbon, the way Remus did, but it did not become him half as handsomely. "I am Eric Stevenson, son of Arthur Stevenson."

The name seemed to ring a bell in Dane's mind. He remembered a conversation within a Dining Hall with a fiery-tempered woman. "You're the Lady Lily's father." It was more of a question than a statement.

Eric bowed slightly in affirmation and the gathered students exchanged glances. "As I was saying, do not presume that the Headmaster did not do his very best to avoid the situation."

Remus, ill at ease, glanced around the dungeon. He'd grown up behind the walls of the Hold; played, learned and performed mischief there. Never had he ventured to the inner parts of the barracks though, nor had he been this far into the main building. He had known they kept a dungeon, but he had never dreamed to be held in it. His world seemed to be slowing while his brain worked overtime, mulling over the words that Sir Eric had said.

Everything was going so wrong.

In fact, everything about this very picture was wrong.

Half of him listened as Dumbledore performed the obligatory introductions, while the other half paid strict attention to the feeling of apprehension that had begun to tug on him yet again. Remus had learned to trust that instinct, however dark it was.

He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard Dumbledore chuckle and Peter's tinkling laughter follow shortly afterwards.

Clearly, he'd missed a joke of some kind.

Somehow, that sound was out of place, considering their surroundings and situation.

Remus struggled to comprehend that but all other thoughts went clear out of his head when it hit him.

Of course.

Of course it all seemed out of place! It was like a dream-turned-nightmare. He turned his gray eyes toward the elder, feeling himself flush with sweat in a panic-driven dread.

Dumbledore was at ease. Too at ease, for Remus' liking. If his thoughts were correct, then…

Do not presume that the Headmaster did not do his very best to avoid the situation.

"Impossible!" the word blurted out of his mouth before his brain could catch up with him. All heads riveted in his direction so quickly that it made him take a step back. Unable to tear his gaze away from that twinkling blue, he took yet another step away, hoping against hope that the conclusion that he'd come to was incorrect.

He had no choice. But rest assured, he was not standing idle.

Those cryptic words made a world of sense now.

"Remus, mate, are you quite all right?" Sirius asked, noting his paling features.

Remus' voice cracked when he accused, "It was you. It was you!" all the time staring disbelievingly at the Master. He felt Sirius' hand on his shoulder which he shrugged off impatiently. He felt a snarl come to his lips as his carefully controlled anger, resentment and fear bubbled to the surface. "How could you? I – we – trusted you!"

Sirius' hand was on his shoulder again, but this time, in restraint instead of in question. It was a good thing, too, because Remus would have flown over and grabbed the man's robes – robes that he now realized were freshly laundered and even fit to size. Robes that did not match a prisoner – and shaken him. His friend seemed to pause before slowly turning to stare at Dumbledore himself, realization dawning on his features.

Peter, not as quick to catch onto Remus' horror, piped, "What? What's the matter?"

Remus wished Sirius would say it, but the man looked too stunned to speak. Grimly, he answered, knowing that every word he spoke was true, "He was the one who sold us out to the Russians. He betrayed us all."

0-0-0-0-0

The plan was surprisingly simple, but in its simplicity, it was perfect.

Lily felt relief more so than she felt pride over the fact that they had actually listened to her thoughts. She'd been expecting them to sneer at it, to question it, but instead, they had been rather impressed, expanding on her idea and fleshing it out. To her delight and surprise, it was going to be carried out immediately.

Or perhaps, it had been because there were no other options that were better.

She absently skirted a rock that had been overturned so that half of it was in the ground while the other was buried in the sand. In doing so, she was unable to avoid a low-hanging tree branch that reached its fingers out to grasp whatever strands of her red hair that it could. She took a moment to untangle herself before resuming her search for Pavel.

The other students by this point in the day had settled down to their evening meals, reminding her of the fact that she hadn't eaten since…well…she couldn't remember. Eating was the last thing on her mind, though, but she filed that necessity away for a later time.

Lily found Pavel crouched down with the children, helping to hand out their rations. They were all smiles, begging him for the chance to ride on his back after their dinners. He returned their smiles with ease and if Lily didn't know better, the younger girls seemed to swoon. She couldn't blame them: she'd always thought him handsome from the very first time she'd laid eyes on him.

Feeling her gaze on him, Pavel looked up and straightened. "Lady?"

She forgot all about courtesies and said, "I've got a favor to ask of you."

Pavel raised an eyebrow, no doubt catching that she didn't mean for the favor to fall on him solely. She may have forgone her manners all together, but he did not, for he swept a bow to all the children and excused himself from their presence, promising them that he would give them a ride when he came back.

Despite herself, Lily felt a smile tug at her lips. As he fell into step beside her, she wasted no time in getting to the point. "We've planned to infiltrate the Hold. We will need you and your Russian comrades to help us out."

"In any way we can," Pavel said, instantly. "Tell us what we must do."

Taken aback by his willingness, she peered up at him. "Shouldn't you run this by them first?"

"We have disgraced ourselves," Pavel told her, bitterly. "We have been treated with nothing but respect in your midst and yet…"

She put her hand on his arm to stop him. "What your country did is not your fault. Don't beat yourself up about it."

He paused, seeming to drink in her words, unable to look at her because of his shame. Without saying anything, he resumed his pace, making her skip to catch up with him. "So," he kicked at a pebble, causing dirt and grass to be displaced, "how can we be of help?"

"As a ruse. Some of the Army have been wounded and we wanted you and your friends to lead them into the Hold on that excuse. If we had a few Russian Soldiers with them, it would look more convincing that they've turned Traitor."

Pavel's brow furrowed as he pondered her words and, understanding the meaning behind them, kicked his pebble so that it flew off into a bush. He made no move to try and retrieve it. "But we are no soldiers, Lady Lily."

"They don't know that," Lily said, mischievously. "If we dress you in the Russian Army's uniform, they would be none the wiser."

Pavel still did not look convinced.

"From what James told us, the King's Army has been split into factions and forced to do whatever the Russians say." As Lily rationalized aloud, she found yet another pebble and began to play with it in much the same fashion as Pavel had. "I'll bet you they don't keep a listing of every soldier in each group. I doubt they know every soldier by name, let alone face."

He conceded the point with a reluctant nod of his head. "So we play dress up?"

"You play dress up," confirmed the redhead. She stopped for a moment, drawing them both short when her pebble got lodged in the dirt of the forest floor. She toed at it until it became loose and began to walk again, skipping the small stone ahead of her a few paces at a time. "But playing the part is the most important thing or else the others will catch on to what you're doing."

Pavel let himself be led as he pondered the plan. "It might work. During the last infiltration, we dressed up as soldiers and no one thought twice about it. Prince Aleksey acted so convincingly that even Sir Lucius had his reservations." He couldn't help but smile at the memory despite how tragic that time had been. He glanced to his companion, who was once again toeing her pebble out of the dirt. "How will a handful of us be able to take on a whole army if we manage to infiltrate?" he asked.

Lily's motions stopped. "James once told me that the element of surprise is a great offensive weapon if used properly." Her green eyes sparkled in determination. "We have to keep them guessing, catch them unaware." She glanced around the glade of trees and lowered her voice as if to stop them from hearing the rest of the plan. "That's where the students come in."

"The students? You're involving them?" disapproval colored his tone.

. "Whoever wants to," she amended.

"Why do I get the feeling that this part of the plan wasn't agreed upon?"

When she gave him a stubborn look, he sighed and said, "All right then. What are they to do?"

A grin that the Marauders would have approved of stretched her cheeks. "They climb."

0-0-0-0-0

"I'm convinced that you're either crazy or ridiculously mischievous," James followed Lily as she moved steadily toward the soldiers. He was still having trouble wrapping his head around her plan, not to mention the fact that she was going with them. She had just started learning how to use the sword, for heaven's sake! "Or…just incredibly insane."

"Insane and crazy fall under the same category," she told him, over her shoulder. Dried branches and leaves crunched beneath her feet as she trod over them. "I never thought I'd ever see the day you went about calling a woman names."

He let out a sigh, and she could practically see his exasperated pout in her mind's eye. When he grabbed her hand and spun her to face him, she raised an eyebrow. "Look, Lily, I just…"

"James, I know. I know. You're worried. We all are. But it's just like Sir Peter said, sacrifices need to be made."

"Sacrifices," James all but spat the word as he repeated it. "You don't have to - "

"-I don't, but I will," Lily cut him off. "It's my job, James. That's what being a Philologus is all about. It's about doing what's right for the good of the people." Before he could argue with her, she ploughed on, "It's about setting an example."

"You aren't a Philologus yet! You don't have to throw yourself into the battle to make people accept you," James had to fight to keep himself from shouting at her but he was failing miserably. Around them, a few students had stopped whatever they were doing to look on in interest, but neither he nor she paid any attention to them. "People will respect you for the decisions you make because you know you've made the right ones."

Lily scoffed, "And be like an Optivus?" A pained expression crossed his face at her sneer. She shook her head in an effort to lessen the blow of her disdain. "No, James. I won't be the one who moves the pawns into position and sit back and watch as it's played out. For me, it's about leadership in a different form. It's responsibility in a different light. That's the way you believe it to be, too."

Damn it, she knew him all too well. He'd spent hours recounting what had happened at the Academy, how he'd felt so discouraged by Moody's actions. How he'd never felt so useless – and used – in all his life. It all boiled down to getting things done no matter what how dirty his hands got in the process.

Abruptly, he remembered the thousands of soldiers that he'd poisoned and the sickly feeling rose up in his gut again.

Had he already begun to fall into the trap of using others?

"I…I…that's not it," James felt his cheeks light with shame. "I just don't want you to get hurt. It's not right that you have to do this."

"Because it's a man's job, right?" Lily asked, calmly, her cheeks also gaining a pink hue.

No, this was wrong.

They weren't supposed to be arguing.

"Lady, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" Lily asked, eyes flashing. "Are you no different from the rest of them?"

James paused, and ran a hand through his hair. When he made no response, she sniffed and turned to march away again. He caught her hand before she could do so, though, and she turned slightly, a disappointed look on her face. He found himself begging, "Please…please, my Lady…don't hate me…"

Her glare softened slightly into a look of pleading. "When you told me that there was no one else, for me not to turn back for you, for me to let you do your duty despite how dangerous it was for you, I respected your choice," Lily told him. She remembered how painful it was to watch him walk away with the fear that it would be the last time she ever saw him again. She remembered the crushing elation she'd felt when she saw him standing by the river's edge, her heart beating to the point where she thought she'd die of relief.

When had she come to care for him so much?

Softly, she said, "You have to let me go."

He stared at her for a long time, before doing as she asked, slowly releasing his grip on her wrist. She felt her stomach plummet at the action, her heart twist when he took a step back.

She expected him to argue again. She expected him to walk away. She did not expect him to smile the way he did, now. "Did I tell you that you're also incredibly stubborn?"

Despite herself, she laughed. "So are you." Sobering, she bit back the last of her giggles. "James…"

He nodded once, and the words died on her lips. "I understand, my Lady. It's your duty." His eyes sparkled in amusement. "You do so like to do things out of convention."

She suddenly remembered the Legend of the Deathly Hallows that Severus had told her about. Glancing around at the other students who tried to make it look like they hadn't been eavesdropping, she said, "Somehow I get the Noble System a little better now, thanks to you."

"Hm?"

Lily smiled wistfully. They would not be able to get anywhere if they allowed their emotions to dictate their actions. No wonder the Noble Houses did not marry in love. If they did, they would not be able to pursue their ambitions relentlessly. Try as she might to overcome that social barrier, she'd just integrated herself further into it.

She shook her head. "Never mind."

He looked like he wanted to press her for answers, but instead he shrugged and hurried to walk next to her. "I've been raised in the ways of the Noblemen so you must forgive me," he said. "I don't mean to dictate your actions…but I…" he clenched his hands into fists.

Lily reached out to touch them. "Thank you for worrying," she said. "And thank you…for keeping your promise."

James relaxed slightly. "Will you make me the same promise?" he asked, and his voice was so imploring it made her want to take back her choice of leaving him in the first place. But she wouldn't, and he knew that. Instead, the echo of the words he had spoken what seemed like a lifetime ago rang between them again.

I will return to your side.

"I promise."

His grin made her feel as though she had given him the best gift in the world. Not needing any more words of reassurance, he suddenly yanked her forward, dropping a kiss onto the corner of her mouth, sealing the deal.

To be Continued…


AN: The calm before the storm yet again. I'm really hoping I'll have the time to sit back and write something before the year ends. I make no promises but it really does depend on inspiration and opportunity. The story will wind to a close soon and I have a lot to ponder on. Give me your thoughts in the form of a review and I'll do my very best to see you all soon in the form of a new chapter.

Thanks for reading,

-P.P.V.V.