Chapter 55 – Evidence and Action
Severus looked at the scroll before him and then back up at the man who was his lover.
"You're sure?" He asked quietly.
"I wouldn't have brought it to your attention otherwise, Severus," Kingsley answered, wrapping a warm brown hand around his shoulders.
Severus put his head in his hands for a brief moment, before pulling himself out of it.
"Let's go find them," he said in a cold voice as he stood up.
"What about Minerva? She should be involved as well."
"Fine," Severus answered gruffly.
Kingsley rubbed a hand over his face tiredly as he looked back over the information on the scroll, where it clearly read:
Magical Signature Matches - 99.99% positive:
Marcus Flint
Ashton Warrington
"Damn," Kingsley said softly, throwing the scroll back down on the desk lightly.
Silently he gathered the slightly smaller man next to him into an embrace; knowing all too well of the havoc that this was going to wreak on them over the next twelve hours.
He didn't say anything as Severus leaned into him, before finally letting go of his supposed dignity long enough to cling to him; shaking with a mixture of both anger and regret for what had happened, but also for what was about to happen.
"Shh," he whispered finally as Severus began to grind his teeth in frustration over the situation that they now found themselves in.
"Severus," he said then, as the nervous tension continued unabated. He took the man's face in his hands and turned it towards his own. Severus's face was filled with pain as the various warring emotions took turns flitting across his features.
"It's not fair," Kingsley said in an affirming tone of voice; saying the words that he knew Severus would never allow himself to speak.
"And you're right; Slytherins do get the short end of the deal more often than not," Kingsley added; speaking the words he had heard Severus growl out on more than one occasion.
"Always," Severus growled in a low voice.
"No," Kingsley said, causing Severus to shoot him a dark glare in response.
"What about Lee?" He asked so very, very softly.
He watched Severus flinch as though he had been slapped, and although Kingsley regretted his words, he knew that he would not take them back. His lover needed to be able to see this angle if he was ever to grow past the grudges he still carried with him.
"They're—they're just children, Kingsley," Severus said weakly after a moment of painful silence. "All of them—just children," he whispered, his eyes closed tightly within his pained face.
"Sometimes I wonder if any of us really grow up at all," Kingsley said, before pulling Severus back into his arms and kissing him soundly.
"I just love him so much," Severus whispered helplessly after they had finally parted once more. Kingsley didn't bother to ask whom he was talking about.
"I have to keep him safe; I have to protect him. I promised him that," Severus continued; his forehead resting on Kingsley's shoulder.
"Then let's do that by putting these two away," Kingsley whispered more forcefully.
"They're not the only ones involved; they can't be. There are others still unaccounted for, correct?" Severus asked him in a dull voice.
"There are others," Kingsley agreed.
"And we've been through the whole of Slytherin?"
"Yes."
In front of him, Severus sighed before pulling himself upright and looking Kingsley straight in the eye. All traces of weariness and sorrow were now gone, leaving his lover's face now tinged only with hard determination.
"Let's get Minerva."
. . .
The students that they were retrieving from Slytherin were Marcus Flint and Ashton Warrington—a 7th and a 5th year, respectively. It had not escaped Severus's mind that the magical signatures on the charmed scroll found within Blaise's obliterated body might well have been forged. However, wizarding blood being what it was, he knew that such a premise would be almost impossible to prove, let alone explain.
Deep in his heart though, he felt it more likely that the magical fingerprints were legitimate, just given the natures of the two older Slytherins.
As Severus had considered the intricate nature of the plot at hand, he had come to realize that whoever was behind this would have had to have been cunning, thrifty but above all else, intelligent.
Flint and Warrington, while excellent Quidditch players, were not exactly what one could define as being particularly known for their intellect; leaving him to suspect that these two were being thrown to the wind by whomever was the real mastermind.
All in order to throw us off the track, he thought bitterly.
But they're still involved; they've chosen their own paths, his mind said quietly. They turned their backs on the house of Slytherin when they knowingly allowed members of their own house to be abducted for the purposes of rape and torture. We owe them nothing. I owe them nothing.
With a full on snarl, Severus made his way into the Slytherin common rooms first, followed closely by Minerva, Kingsley and two of his handpicked aurors. Outside the door stood Hagrid and Poppy; Hagrid there mostly to get in the way, and Poppy present in case anything should go wrong.
Severus had argued adamantly against her being there, but she had shot every one of his concerns down easily, before finally shoving in a clincher.
"This is my house too, Severus!" She had said, speaking in a harsh whisper; her eyes glinting dangerously at him.
He hadn't said anything more to her after that about it, but he had issued her a warning against foolhardiness before leaving her in the hallway with Hagrid.
"Only if you agree to the same, Severus," she had replied in an icy tone of voice, eliciting a small smirk from him in return. He could tell that she was frightened about how that day would turn out—and not only for him. There were innocent children involved here.
Are any of us really innocent?
The question refused to leave his brain, no matter how many times he tried to will it away.
However, the matters at hand were what he had to focus on, and they were grave ones indeed. Primarily: finding Flint and Warrington, and getting the other Slytherins to safety; preferably to their rooms, which were warded against dangers of this kind.
The sight of their head of house in such a mood sent many of the meeker Slytherins to their rooms immediately, but some of the older ones hesitated, looking at him and the others questioningly.
"Sir?" Slytherin's Quidditch captain asked him.
Severus spared a glance at Montague, first making sure that Flint and Warrington were not in the vicinity, before answering him.
"As we've practiced Mr. Montague; we need to lockdown the Slytherin dorms for a period of time, only this time, it is not a drill," he said, speaking in a low voice.
He noticed Minerva shooting him a confused glance, but he ignored her in favor of the more dangerous situation at hand.
Montague, for all of his supposed stupidity, was actually quite intelligent when the situation called for immediate action in what was likely a dangerous set of circumstances.
"Take charge of the 4th year dorm, and pass the message on to the younger years. I'll take care of the 5th years and up," Severus said quickly, concisely.
"Yes sir," Montague said; his eyes wide with understanding. Quickly he turned and then made his way to the assigned rooms.
Severus knew that his message would have been well received by Montague and the other Slytherins present, if not Minerva and the other aurors. And Kingsley?
Well, Kingsley knows how Slytherins' minds work, he thought with a small smirk.
The message he had passed along to his Slytherins was quite simple: 'Stay away from the upper level rooms until this is over.'
He had told his house during their safety drills that he would only ever get personally involved if there was something serious going on. It was for that reason that all of the other drills had been conducted using only his prefects.
Severus waited for a minute or so to allow the younger years to fully engage their dorm wards, before making his next move towards the 7th years' dormitory. As he had told the others before going in there, if they were lucky, they might catch the two of them together. Of the two boys, Flint was easily the more dangerous, and it would be best to get him into custody first.
He had told them that so that in hopes that Flint and Warrington would think the same. He had made Warrington out to be a lackey in hopes of ensnaring him when he least expected it. While it was true that Flint was the more dangerous of the two, Warrington was easily the more cunning.
That's why Minerva was going in with him, and Kingsley was covering his back using a disillusionment spell. Using the spell in conjunction with Kingsley's dark skin and black robes, his lover blended nearly perfectly into the shadows of the Slytherin dormitory.
Virtually invisible, he thought with a discreet, but pleased nod towards the other man.
. . .
Minerva had looked at Severus questioningly when he had mentioned that they were not there for a "drill." Sometimes she found herself wondering if she really understood anything at all about the dark haired man who had adopted the ex-Harry Potter.
Drills? She thought in mystification to herself. And the way that Montague had picked up on the scheme so quickly--almost as though Severus had been speaking in some kind of code, she thought with some mystification.
She shook her head slightly, and vowed to ask him about all of this at a later date—provided that they all came out of this together.
. . .
Severus—followed by Minerva and the two aurors, their backs covered by a hidden Kingsley—made his way cautiously into the 7th year dormitory. Two rows of four beds each met his eyes, their headboards against the outer stone walls of the room; leaving a pathway down the middle only large enough for two grown adults to walk side by side.
The room was strangely still and quiet, and Severus was immediately put on guard by it. He knew from his previous visits to this dormitory that Flint's bed was the farthest back, on the right. Thus, he took the right side of the path, and motioned silently for Minerva to fall in to his left, not quite beside him. One of the aurors guarded the entrance and the other followed the two professors at a distance.
The beds, with their ornate coverings and dark green curtains, were perfect hiding places for would be assassins. Severus spelled each open as he passed; noting with approval as Minerva did the same, while the lone auror watched their surroundings.
Severus could feel the hidden force of his lover's eyes on his back, but would have been hard pressed to pinpoint his location then, as his focus was usurped by the search for the guilty boys.
Halfway down the aisle, Severus's delicate hearing picked up on a sound, and he halted, barely aware of the others doing the same around him. Crouching down, he inched his way forwards, trying to get closer to the sound he had heard.
The room had two fireplaces, but both fires had been banked for the evening, hardly illuminating the far wall at all. The torches between the beds were lit, but the light barely made any dent on the darkness in the middle of the room where Severus and the others were now crouched.
Something rustled in the back corner on Severus's right side. Minerva glanced at him, indicating that she had heard it too that time. He had told them before going in that the only familiars his 7th years had were owls; so there were no animals in that room that could have caused the sounds.
Severus inched yet farther on, past the second set of beds just in time to see Flint jump out the far shadows and begin casting curses at them. Severus dove out of the way behind the third bed, barely cognizant of Minerva having done the same, only across the aisle from him. He could only assume that the auror had done the same, but he had no time to dwell on it as Flint continued to fire upon them.
The scowling boy was partially hidden behind his bed, two beds from Severus, and many of the curses he was firing at them were dark ones not taught by Hogwarts faculty. The black haired potions master barked out a binding spell, followed by a disarming spell shortly after, missing the mark only by a fraction each time. He could hear the others fighting back in similar ways now, and he knew it could only be a matter of time before Flint was brought down.
Unfortunately for them, they needed Flint alive, and were forced to only use spells with limited damage to a person's mind and body. Flint, and Warrington—wherever he was—were not limited to such rules.
Severus looked up and saw that one of Flint's spells had caught the curtains of one of the beds on fire; making it burn with an unearthly bluish-green light. It also served to illuminate the spot that Flint was hiding in just that much better.
He quickly ducked back behind his cover as Flint cast another curse, and heard a pain filled cry in response behind him.
One of the aurors, no doubt, he thought idly. The cry had briefly distracted Flint and he was able to spare a few moments of strategic thought to the furnishings around him.
Making a quick decision, he pushed himself under the bed he was crouched behind, and slid on his belly under the frame, pulling his legs and feet in sideways, so that his entire body was hidden from view. Then, he maneuvered himself to the farthest side from the wall, before parting the hanging cloth just enough to see the very edge of Flint's torso, standing not five feet away.
"Petrificus totalis," he whispered, and then allowed himself a short breath of relief as the spell hit dead on, quickly dropping the board-like figure to the ground with an audible crack against the hard stone floor.
Silence once again reigned in the room, broken only by the harsh crackling of the magical fire on the bed across the aisle from him. Carefully Severus pulled himself from under the bed, coming out on the side closest to Flint only after casting a quick scan over that area.
Now free of the dark bed hangings, he surveyed the room and its occupants, mentally tallying the damage as he did. Minerva, although still crouched carefully behind a bed, was for all intents and purposes still as haughty and regal looking as ever. He looked farther on and was met with the sight of Kingsley bent down over the other auror, who was lying nearly halfway in the aisle of the room, two beds back.
Kingsley glanced up at him, catching his eye with a sharp look, before shaking his head swiftly and somberly.
Damn, Severus cursed to himself; yet another dead at the hand of one of his Slytherins.
At least this one was grown, his inner voice added bitterly.
A second later and Kingsley was gone, the auror's body with him.
Carefully, Severus made his way to where Flint was now laying, his body frozen, while his eyes continued to glare upwards; fixing the Slytherin head of house with a look of pure venom.
Severus, for his part, sneered cruelly back down at the traitor of the Slytherin house; not allowing himself to give voice to the anger he could feel rushing through his heart and gut at seeing him in such a position.
They searched the rest of the room, but to no avail. Warrington was not there, and apparently had not told his co-conspirator his whereabouts either; as Severus came to find out through a touch of illegal legilimity.
They had just started to move Flint out to the common room as Warrington finally made his appearance. As Severus had suspected, the boy had been hiding in the 5th year boy's dorm room, which was located at the end of the hall, more than thirty feet from where Severus now stood.
For a moment, there was completely silence, and then they both reacted, pulling their wands and casting different spells towards each other nearly simultaneously.
"Incendio noxum," Warrington shouted calmly at his head of house.
"Stupefy," Severus growled towards the Slytherin, only a split second after.
Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw a black blur coming at him, hitting nearly the same moment as Warrington's spell did. Pain shot through Severus's left arm as the curse hit, and then spiked as they hit the floor; forcing a low grunt of pain from the otherwise stoic man. Thankfully—for his dignity—Kingsley fell atop of him, muffling the sound as he did.
Warrington had dodged Severus's curse, and now, instead of cursing them back, surprisingly had put his wand up to his own temple.
Severus, fighting to remain conscious amidst the burning pain in his arm and to a lesser extent, the rest his body, looked up in horror as Warrington obliviated himself right in front of them.
"No!" He indistinctly heard Minerva shout as Warrington slumped to the ground, a disturbingly blank look on his young face.
Severus fought against the desire to moan; his arm literally feeling on fire. His whole body felt heavier, even as Kingsley lifted himself off of his chest. He began sweating fiercely, even though the Slytherin rooms had never been anywhere close to hot. He could feel his heart racing, and he could hear his breaths wheezing in his lungs as Kingsley peered down to look at him.
His lover's face was tight with concern, but Severus's vision had begun turning black, and he could barely see the other man through the darkness.
Abruptly, a memory of his son pushed its way through his addled mind, giving him something to grasp onto, if only mentally.
It was from the day that he had gotten hurt after the boy had mastered the mind hold spell and kicked him soundly in the knee. He had finally gotten through assuring the boy that he had no reason to be sorry for hurting him, when the child had poked him in the ribs.
"Ow," he'd said; only to be rebutted with a stern eyed glare from the small boy.
"That didn't hurt," the child had argued seriously.
"How do you know?" He had asked, trying to sound incredulous for his boy's sake.
"Because my dad's tougher than that," Lee had said with finality, before dropping his head back down on Severus's shoulder once more.
Severus was barely aware that Poppy was now beside him as well, force-feeding him potions. He was occluding in an effort to keep the pain at bay, but that was an automatic reaction; one borne from his years of service as a Death Eater. Currently, it was the only thing that was keeping him from screaming aloud; dignity be damned to hell.
"Severus? Can you hear me?" Poppy was asking him now, but reality was quickly slipping away from him, like water through a sieve.
Finally, Severus's last thought—before slipping completely into unconsciousness—was to wonder whether or not his son was still safe.
