60

Those few Order members who had managed to come to the meeting were huddled around the table in Hermione's tent, anxious but subdued. Gathering the full Order had been impossible; dealing with the immediate aftermath of the battle in Azkaban would take hours, perhaps days, and there were still so many missing and unaccounted for that Hermione had already been forced to start her tracking spell over twice because she kept pausing to wipe away tears. Most of the surviving Order members were helping the surviving Aurors transport the wounded to Saint Mungo's and the captured Death Eaters to Ministry holding cells. Hermione didn't think anyone had even begun to count the dead – or the Kissed. Only Alice Longbottom had joined Hermione, Snape, and James to plan the rescue mission.

Harry should have been there, and Ginny, but they had last been seen flying away from the roof during the fight, and hadn't been seen since. Hermione was trying hard to convince herself that they were just hunting down some fleeing Death Eater, and not captured like Lily and Sirius, like Severus…

Hermione's hand shook, and Snape said sharply, "Every second counts, Miss Granger."

She knew that. She did. Her weakness in this moment was inexcusable. Her friends were in mortal danger, probably suffering torture or death at this very instant, and she couldn't stop crying about it. She had already established that Lily's and Severus's coins had been destroyed – probably discovered when they were captured and, presumably, searched. Harry's and Ginny's coins, on the other hand, were both in the vicinity of Azkaban – though whether Harry and Ginny were still alive and in possession of those coins was unclear.

She just had one coin left to check – Snape's, hopefully still concealed within Bellatrix Lestrange's robes.

Tightening her grip on her wand, Hermione finished the spell.

She knew at once that something wasn't right. The map spread out before her was large, detailed, exactly what they would need to track the exact location of Bellatrix Lestrange, but rather than revealing a pinpoint location, the spell had resulted in a sort of vague scarlet haze over the entirety of Scotland.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

Hermione's hand shook again, but this time it was not from distress. Her spell was incomplete, her magic fighting against a powerful enchantment.

Snape answered for her: "The coin has passed within their wards."

"But shouldn't we still be able to track it? If Voldemort could get into the church because Peter was there –"

"Pettigrew was inside the wards, and called the other Death Eaters in," Hermione said. "If Bellatrix were to send us a message with the coin, then yes, of course we could get her location, but that's not likel-"

"WELL THEN WHAT WAS THE BLOODY POINT?"

Hermione shot him an impatient, anxious look. "I can get through," she said. "It will just take time."

"We don't have time!"

"Would you leave her alone, James?" Alice snapped.

"THEY HAVE MY WIFE! AND MY BEST MATE!"

"And they have her husband, and probably her best mate!" Alice shot back. "Leave her alone so she can figure it out!"

Swearing loudly, James strode away, ignoring Fiend as she hissed at him. Hermione felt an odd twinge in her stomach at the reminder that Severus was her husband, and hoped she wasn't blushing as she gave Alice a grateful look. Alice was too busy glaring at James to notice.

Snape leaned close and said, "They'll have made it Unplottable –"

"– and they'll probably have Dark Mark wards, I know," Hermione said, turning back to the parchment, her own coin, and the map. She was trying hard not to remember that she had kissed this man's younger self less than an hour ago.

Snape's lips thinned, but he said nothing else, watching as she began tweaking the spell matrix she had created to track their coins. Snape's coin was a blur in the matrix, and her Arithmantic training made her scowl at the indefinite lines in disapproval. Without the wards in front of her, she had no way of knowing which exact wards she needed to dismantle. It would be trial and error from here; she would have to remotely modify the coin's tracking spell until the scarlet haze on the map began to narrow.

The Unplottable Charm, though probably the most powerful of the wards Riddle might have cast, was also the broadest, and therefore the easiest to circumvent. After all, though Hogwarts was Unplottable, the Marauders had managed to make a map of the castle itself. Hermione could follow a similar strategy here – adding a spell to the coins that would allow their immediate surroundings, within the wards, to be mapped out. Matching those surroundings to a location somewhere in Scotland would be time-consuming, of course, but unless they were in the middle of some nondescript field or forest, she should be able to derive enough information from the spell to extrapolate a general location.

And if they're dead already?

Hermione steadied herself, pushing the thought away, refusing to acknowledge it. Unrolling a blank piece of parchment, she cast her Mapping Charm and watched as dark lines began to unfold across the parchment, reminding her reassuringly of the Marauder's Map.

For the first few seconds, it was difficult to tell what she was seeing. Then a ridge took form, rising here and there to what might have been peaks (or might only have been protruding boulders – Hermione had no idea of the distances involved). In the very center, where the coin must be, was a cluster of dark lines that might have represented a cave.

She stifled a surge of despair as she contemplated matching this indefinite ridgeline to an actual map.

"They're in the mountains," Alice said, tugging the map, still glowing with a red haze, toward her, folding it at the border between England and Scotland so she could get a better look at the north.

"But which mountains?" To Hermione, the series of peaks looked very much alike, and she wasn't even completely certain they were peaks – at least not named ones. She doubted Riddle's wards would have covered an area any larger than the Hogwarts grounds, and the area might in fact be much smaller. It was difficult to imagine there would be too many peaks contained within those bounds.

"Maybe –"

A sudden series of cracks brought them all to their feet, wands raised and pointed at the entrance to the tent. They heard several crunching footsteps in the snow, then the tent flap was pulled wide to reveal Ginny, Harry, and, to everyone's shock, Sirius.

"Padfoot!" James exclaimed.

Sirius looked the worse for wear, even after only a few days in Azkaban. He embraced James quickly, glancing around at the rest of the tent's occupants. "They told us Voldemort took Lily," he said, looking back at James in concern.

"And Snape," Alice said.

Harry's gaze met Hermione's, and she saw her own terror flash over his face. Of course, it would be worse for him – Lily was his mother, the mother they were supposed to be saving.

James was still looking at Sirius. "Where've you been?"

"We were helping Cousin Cissy," Sirius said, scowling. "Turns out she's pregnant."

It took Hermione a half-second to realize he was talking about Narcissa Malfoy. Images of a baby Draco Malfoy popped involuntarily into her head. She could see by Harry's expression that he'd had the same reaction.

It was Snape who said, "Then why was she in Azkaban?"

"Apparently her petitions for release got denied. The Aurors wouldn't even talk to her."

"You mean Crouch wouldn't," Alice said.

"Where is she now?" Snape asked.

"With Regulus," Sirius said. "He's switched sides, supposedly."

"Where?" Snape asked. "If the Dark Lord has Summoned him, he might know where they are."

Harry, Ginny, and Sirius exchanged a quick look.

"Er," Ginny said, "he's probably halfway to France by now."

"Narcissa wanted to leave the country," Harry explained. "And seeing how she's pregnant –"

"– and the Aurors might just hand her back to the Dementors –"

"– we let her go," Harry finished sheepishly.

There was a disappointed silence.

Ginny looked around the tent. "Where's Dobby when you need him?"

"At Azkaban, assisting with the wounded," Snape said. "His ability to Apparate within the wards has been essential in transporting the most critically injured to St. Mungo's. He has been reminded to listen for Lily and Severus, in the event that they are able to summon him, and to alert us immediately if that occurs. Lily in particular was instructed to call him if in danger, but she may be unconscious, or Silenced, or otherwise unable to do so at this point. That may change, however, and sending Dobby after Regulus would only delay him if he is called. I suggest we send Regulus a message through the coins instead –"

"I can't send one just to him," Hermione said. "Because his coin was never linked to the parchment. I'd have to send the message to everyone –"

"– and the coin with Lestrange would burn," Alice said, with a muttered, "Damn."

"The coin with Lestrange?" Ginny asked.

"Prince stuck one in her pocket," Alice said. "So we could track her."

"Only we can't track her," James snapped. "Because she's inside the Death Eaters' bloody wards!"

Ginny had caught sight of the map. "Is that what that hazy bit is?"

"Yes," Hermione said, sitting down again. "I did manage to get a map of the immediate vicinity…"

They all crowded around the table again, comparing the sketchily inked out map to the landscape beneath the frustrating red haze.

"Maybe there –"

"Or that – no, damn, there's a river there."

"What about –"

"Definitely not that. What's the scale on this, anyway?" Every face turned to Hermione for an answer.

"I don't know!" she said helplessly. "The spell isn't that specific – it's just whatever's within the wards."

They all looked back at the sketch.

"I think we can rule out most of this area," Snape said, circling a section of the Highlands with his finger. "The Dark Lord would not have wished to draw too near to Hogwarts."

"He wouldn't be too near towns, either, I bet."

"Which Death Eaters live in Scotland? Maybe he's staying with one of them -"

"That's not a house in the sketch, that's a cave."

"Well, do we know of any caves?"

"The Dark Lord would not have used a known cave, and, in any case, he could just as easily have blasted apart the mountainside."

"Well, we know it's probably nowhere near Muggles."

"What if we use a smaller map?" Sirius suggested. "Or cut this one into pieces? Even if it's Unplottable, the haze might be stronger on the map pieces that are closer to the actual location. If the map piece doesn't even have the location on it, the spell's not likely to light up as much, is it?"

Hermione glanced at Snape, who looked thoughtful. "Unplottable spells vary in intensity and specificity," he said. "It may be worth an attempt."

Alice slid her wand across the upper right-hand corner of the map, slicing off the Isles of Shetland.

They stopped glowing at once.

"Yes!" James and Harry both cheered at once, while Ginny grinned in a fierce way.

"Brilliant, Sirius," Alice said.

"Try again," Hermione said, wringing her hands. "The Orkneys –"

Quickly, Alice cut off first the Orkneys, then the Outer Hebrides, then the Inner Hebrides. They all held their breath as one after the other of the map fragments went dark.

When Alice started on the mainland, Hermione had to resist the urge bounce up and down on her heels. Coastline after coastline got stripped away, then the entire south, before Alice finally tried to cut off part of the east and ended up with two glowing sections of map.

"Is that it? Right where you cut?"

"Not necessarily," Alice said. "We don't know how narrow it'll let us get – let's try the north –"

She cut off another section of map, which stopped glowing, then the west, which stopped as well.

"All right, so it's in the east," Alice said.

"The Cairngorms, maybe?"

"Can you narrow it down any more?"

Alice tried cutting around the edges of the two glowing pieces she had, but each piece she severed continued to glow.

"I think that's as close as we're going to get."

They all surveyed the significantly smaller, but still intimidatingly large sections of map they were going to have to cover. Hermione felt a horrible sinking sensation. How could they ever hope to search that whole area in time to save Severus and Lily?

"What about the other wards?" James asked. "Can't you get through them, give us a better location?"

"I can try," Hermione said. "It'll take time, though – maybe a lot of time – there are thousands of wards they could have used."

Another grim silence followed her words.

"Very well," Snape said finally. "We shall begin searching the area manually – on broomstick. Miss Granger, if you manage to isolate the exact location, you will communicate that to us at once. I shall need another coin –"

"I have a few extra," Hermione said, feeling wretched. "Here, let me link you to the parchment…"

She tried to suppress the tears stinging her eyes as she handed him a new coin. She knew it wasn't her fault that Voldemort's wards were blocking her tracking spell, but she felt useless, and the disappointment in the others' faces was seeping into her.

Snape, perhaps sensing this, gripped her hand as she held out the coin. It wasn't like him to offer reassurance, but he said, "Do not give up."

She nodded, sniffling a little despite her best efforts.

"How many brooms do we have?" Ginny asked. "We brought three back with us – what about you two?"

"And does anyone have a spare wand? I just have Bellatrix's," Sirius said in disgust. "And it doesn't really work."

Hermione thought of the spare wands Ron had stolen from the Snatchers during the war, but those were long gone. When no one else miraculously pulled a second wand out of their robes, Sirius's face fell.

"We have brooms," Snape said. They had, after all, flown past Azkaban's wards before they could Apparate here. "But no wands to spare."

"Guess I'll just make do," Sirius said, grimacing.

"Or," James said, "maybe you could switch wands with Harry. Since you're, er, probably a better flyer."

If the situation hadn't been so dire, Hermione would have laughed at the way Harry's eyebrows shot up into his hair. Ginny, despite the circumstances, did grin.

"I have a better suggestion," Snape said, and Hermione knew from the way he said it that James and Sirius weren't going to like it. "Regulus remains our best chance of finding the Dark Lord's location. As you, Black, are not only lacking a proper wand, but are also the only one among us with a chance of locating your brother, I think you would be more useful elsewhere."

"How am I supposed to find him?" Sirius asked, clearly resistant.

Snape's expression settled into his familiar you-utter-dunderhead look. "Dobby may be unavailable to us, but I believe your house-elf is more than capable of finding your brother."

Sirius's expression darkened. "He's not my house-elf –"

"He belongs to your family."

"He doesn't even answer when I call him! Look! Kreacher!"

In the silence that followed, Hermione found herself wondering uneasily how Sirius had known Kreacher wouldn't answer him. She couldn't imagine any noble reason he would have tried to summon him before.

Snape was undeterred. "Then you shall simply have to go find him."

Sirius looked furious. James was evidently torn. It was Harry who said, "Sirius, he's right. It could take us days to search this area, and if Hermione can't break through the wards –"

"All right, all right!" Sirius said. "I'll do it." He glared at Snape. "You'd better be right, Prince."

"He usually is," Harry said.

"I doubt that," James said.

Snape shot him a sharp look, but the sight of Harry rolling his eyes at James seemed to convince him no response was necessary.

"Shall we?" Alice asked.

Harry, Ginny, and Snape cast Hermione a few last looks and "good lucks" before following the other three through the tent flap and out into the night.

Wiping away her tears, Hermione turned back to the map and the black sketch of the cave where Severus and Lily had been taken.

Barty Crouch, Jr. awoke in a haze of pain and confused whisperings, the burn of some healing potion slicing across his back like a knife.

"It's not working –"

"Nothing's working, I've never seen this spell –"

"I have." That voice was Lucius's, unmistakable even with the hoarse echo of Azkaban. "Snape used it against me when I captured him –"

"When he turned you over to the Aurors, you mean –"

"I thought I heard Bella yelling about Snape after it happened, it must be the same curse –"

"That wasn't Snape, it must've been his father –"

"His father's a Muggle, and anyway, he's dead –"

"An uncle, then, what does it matter? It's the same curse –"

"But how do we fix it? We're almost out of Blood Replenisher."

"Allow me."

Barty felt a cold thrill as the Dark Lord's voice seemed to slide into him through his gaping wound. In his half-conscious state, he felt as though the voice had entered his bloodstream, awakening and terrifying him.

"Cauterizo!"

Barty screamed, his voice responding even before his mind consciously understood what was happening. Blazing pain seared across his back, fusing his flesh in unrelenting, red-hot agony. When the spell finally ended, he still felt as though he was on fire; what was worse, he could smell his own burning flesh. He choked and gasped, then felt the Dark Lord's cool fingers touch the back of his neck, both soothing and frightening.

"There, now, is that better, Barty?"

"Yes, my lord," Barty forced out, still gasping against the pain.

"Good." There was a dangerous edge to the Dark Lord's voice that, even in his compromised state, Barty could not miss. "I wish to speak with you… alone."

He heard the whisper of robes as the other Death Eaters left him there, their footsteps echoing against what must have been the walls of the cave.

"You rescued many of my servants tonight," the Dark Lord said.

Barty, shaking beneath the Dark Lord's cold fingers and the ever-increasing waves of pain, was suddenly aware that the Dark Lord's touch was meant to hold him in place, face down on a makeshift cot, with his naked, mutilated back exposed. He resisted the shivers that fought to break out of him. "Yes, my lord."

"And yet Bellatrix tells me you Obliviated her."

Barty, so vividly aware of danger a moment before, could not stop himself from relaxing in sudden relief. "I did not Obliviate Bella."

"No? Why would she invent such a tale?"

"She was torturing her cousin, Sirius Black," Barty said. "I left her – there were still Death Eaters to free, and she was wasting time – and when next I saw her, she had been Obliviated and Disarmed. She believed I was responsible… presumably because I was the last person she remembered, prior to the Memory Charm."

"Or perhaps because she killed your mother."

"I would not seek revenge against your loyal servant," Barty said at once.

He felt the pressure of Legilimency against his weary consciousness, and allowed the Dark Lord to enter his mind. Snippets of his conversation with Bella outside Sirius Black's cell, and of his subsequent efforts to free the Dark Lord's servants, flashed through his mind.

"Yes," the Dark Lord said. "I see that you are innocent. Bella should not have accused you without proof."

Barty could not wholly suppress his satisfied certainty that Bellatrix would soon be suffering.

"But how could Sirius Black have Obliviated Bellatrix? He did not have a wand." The Dark Lord's footfalls, almost too quiet to hear, moved away from Barty's prone form. "And the Dementors warned me of treachery, as I was leaving their fortress. Treachery and divided loyalties… loyalties to family…"

Barty struggled to remain conscious, the pain eating away at him, the Dark Lord's musings washing over him in echoing confusion.

"Lucius was unable to recover his wife… or did he aid her in her escape? Snape is a traitor, and some member of his family was present during the raid, by all accounts… but who? He told me his family was dead, and I am certain he was not lying… But then, I was certain he would not betray me… Yet I already knew of his treachery before tonight, and required no further warning. The Dementors knew this. They would not have warned me about him. There must be another traitor… One of the Lestrange brothers, perhaps? Was Bellatrix betrayed by her own family? And where is Regulus?"

Barty could not reply. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, though he knew doing so could be a deadly mistake in the Dark Lord's presence.

Yet the Dark Lord's thoughts were otherwise occupied. "But of course," he murmured, "there may be no need to wonder… I have one traitor here already, and the woman he betrayed me for…"

Against his every effort, Barty slid into a dream. Dementors glided past him, their icy power so cold that his spine seemed to freeze within him. He fell into a swirling fog, pierced here and there by silver Patronuses that he both loathed and longed for. In the distance, he could hear screams – from Azkaban, he thought at first, before he remembered he was not in Azkaban, he was in the cave, and there were no Dementors or Patronuses here, no fog or ice. There were only screams.