Chapter 28
As a rule, Death Eaters didn't knock. Sirius had seen it happen once and heard about it once more, but on the whole, they were more inclined towards barging in and making a mess regardless of whether they had the right place or not.
The line of thought didn't help when there was a rapping on the door of the latest Order safe house.
It caused silence to fall over the group that had congregated there. The noisiest of the bunch had been the twins and Molly arguing hotly over whether or not they should go to the Ministry to fight. Sirius had bowed out of it; they were adults and could make their own choices. He wanted to keep an eye on Harry and that lot, personally. They were just the type to use the argument as a distraction to make a break for it and seek out the fight themselves. Sirius couldn't blame them for that either; he wanted to do the same, but right now, surviving was more important than fighting. He kept periodically looking back at Hogwarts, but it was Ginny and Ron who had the map open and were scribbling down names they didn't recognise. It would be students they didn't know or law enforcement, but if not, they were making their first Death Eater list.
Harry's head had shot up from watching them the moment the door knocked, then winced when it did again. When he opened his mouth, Sirius lifted a finger to his lips and drew his wand. They could have used Moody and his eye, but if Sirius had to guess, he'd joined the foray at the Ministry.
"It's me," Sturgis said.
That wasn't helpful. There was always the chance of Polyjuice – people now knew of Sturgis's affiliation. It seemed overly precautious, but there hadn't been something like a passcode set. They went with the more embarrassing stories that people weren't likely to know the answers to if they weren't there. The problem being, as much as he liked Sturgis, he wasn't close with him and would normally have relied on Emmeline or Remus for something rebellion related.
"What charms did you put on my bike back in the day?"
There was a moment of silence. "None," Sturgis replied. "You'd already charmed it to the nines years before we met."
Someone like Regulus would have known that, but he doubted that either Regulus or their parents had discussed it after he left. Maybe Peter, but the bike had been his, not something he talked a lot about with anyone.
He opened the door with caution and allowed Sturgis to step inside. "Any news?"
"Not really," Sturgis said, surveying the room around him. "They've closed off the visitor entrance. I tried to go and look, but it's in pieces. I tried to look 'round the emergency entrances, but there were Aurors there, and they were looking at me shifty."
"Being an ex-convict really does cause a discretion problem," Sirius said. He was half expecting to explain that yes, he knew what discretion was, but everyone was too worried.
"What about the fire places?" Molly asked.
"Nowt I can tell about them from upstairs," Sturgis replied, apologetic. "Don't suppose you got that map working yet?"
Sirius shook his head, cursing himself for allowing himself a week or two to wallow when they should have been preparing more.
"Any word from inside?" Sturgis asked.
"Not since Emmeline," Sirius replied. "We can monitor the school. Seems like Tonks, Remus, and Regulus have joined with some of the professors, judging by them taking and dropping off people in bathrooms."
"Then we wait?" Sturgis said.
Sirius nodded, exchanging a look with Molly that he hoped conveyed he wanted to do be doing anything but. "Then we wait."
The wait didn't last long; less than an hour later, a whoosh of a bird patronus too small to be Emmeline's flew through the door and perched. "The Ministry is being evacuated," came Hestia's voice. "The Death Eaters have dug in. I'm on hand, but reports are that the Minister is dead."
Sirius swore. There wasn't much else to do at that point, as the bird dissipated.
"But what does that mean?" Harry asked, after a silent beat.
"That they have the Ministry," Sirius said. He could see the worry, but wasn't sure if he could really do anything about it. This was something to worry about. "But practically, just the Ministry – as long as Hogwarts and St. Mungo's hold, they can be thrown out of it."
"The people still in it..." Molly began, without finishing the sentence. Evacuation didn't sound like winning; it sounded like scattering.
"They're out there," Sirius said, firmly. "This is the Ministry offices they want; it's their play for legitimacy, and that's going to be their focus."
"Azkaban?" Ron asked.
"Probably that too," Sirius admitted.
"Malfoy said he'd be seeing his father again..." Harry trailed off.
Sirius followed his line of thought. "I doubt Draco Malfoy helped to instigate a takeover of the Ministry offices. He's still bound by the restrictions of his age. Don't give him so much credit. Besides, he looks like a decent punch would floor him, so you can always try that if you need to."
"He shouldn't go around hitting him," Molly said, with less of a stern tone than he would expect. She was obviously worried about her sons and husband.
"I always advocate giving Death Eaters a good thumping," Sirius replied. "They'll look for wand work, but most don't know how to protect themselves from a decent punch."
"Neither do I," Harry admitted quietly.
"I do," Ginny volunteered.
"GINNY!" came Molly's predictable shriek.
"What?" Ginny shrugged. "I can."
"Perfect," Sirius replied, giving her a lazy thumbs up. "You can show him."
The line of thought was interrupted by a crack of apparition from outside the door. Sirius tried to get a glance, but there was no need. The unmistakable sounds of Emmeline Vance's bickering came out. Something unknotted in his stomach; one more accounted for.
This one, he could do. "Oi, Vance," Sirius said quietly through the door. "Who did you have a crush on when we were young?"
"Piss off," came the answer.
Sirius laughed, more from the nervous shock of it. She always had been notoriously more private about this kind of thing. "There's kids in here," he said, opening the door.
He was ready to give her an earful for not answering when he caught sight of her dirtier than he'd ever seen her, and leaning onto Hestia for support. "You've looked better," he said.
"Thank you," Emmeline replied, her teeth tinged alarmingly red.
"Shouldn't you be in a hospital?" Sturgis asked, striding over.
"I didn't know if it was secure," Hestia admitted. "I have to go back and check, but I thought safety was the priority. How do you feel?"
"Humiliated," Emmeline said, coughing low and deep. "We couldn't hold it."
"So we get it back," Sirius said, firmly.
"Did you see Bill, or Arthur?" Molly asked, practically vibrating.
"Bill was holding the fires open," Hestia replied instead. "They're trying to cut them off and trap people inside."
"I didn't see Arthur," Emmeline said, apologetically. "When Bellatrix Lestrange showed up, there were fights going on constantly and the ceiling and floor were bending and breaking under the pressure. I fell through mid-duel and landed in Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. I would have gone back up, but I'm seeing stars and less than mobile."
At least that meant she was unlikely to have gone to the Burrow.
"There's something else," Emmeline said, her lips thinning into a hard line. "Dumbledore engaged V-Voldemort and lost."
"Lost as in...?" Sirius asked, his heart in his throat. He already knew the answer.
"I didn't see the killing blow," Emmeline admitted, now sounding a little watery. "But I did see him fall."
There was nothing anyone could say to that.
Silence fell over the room, filling every nook and cranny with palpable tension. The unmistakable feeling of shared loss, to different degrees. Sirius chose not to break the moment; Dumbledore deserved a moment or fifty. They'd never had to do it on their own before, but fuck it, these were good people, the older and newer Order, and he had to believe they could handle whatever was thrown at them.
There was a whole wizarding world depending on them for just that.
The air in the Great Hall was charged with a quiet, nervous energy that tingled in Regulus's fingers as he closed its heavy doors behind himself. McGonagall gave him a curt nod, her eyes keen and uncowed as she secured it tightly in concert with Professor Flitwick, who had stepped inside just behind Regulus himself.
The children had broken into small pods, by this point - a separation by houses, if the occasional scarf was anything to go by. Regulus could see Draco, near his housemates but not speaking to any of them. The brooding expression did not look open to conversation at all, and Regulus thought he probably was not high on Draco's list of desired company, at the moment.
Tonks was overseeing the transfer of their Death Eater prisoners to a secure holding area until word from the Ministry was certain. Hopefully, they had rounded up all of Draco's unwelcome comrades, though it was at least a small consolation that they didn't seem welcome to Draco, either. Regulus could not quite shake the face of the youngest he had faced in that girls lavatory - guilt for leaving him to the Aurors, and guilt for the thought of setting a Death Eater loose without knowing they would do not harm: A double-threat, taking turns bouncing back and forth in his mind.
The spiral was cut short when he heard a knock on the door behind him, which soon revealed a tattered but seemingly unharmed Remus Lupin. Regulus had not realized he was even in the castle. Severus has been around, in passing, though never near enough for Regulus to get a good idea of whether he knew what was going on. McGonagall had reached out to the Order, but most likely, everyone else was at the Ministry. Emmeline was, certainly, and both Dedalus and Kingsley seemed likely, but Regulus's mind soon shot over to Sirius. Surely, he was helping keep an eye on Harry, but Harry had a way of finding trouble, so that was not entirely reassuring.
Meeting eyes with Lupin, they both came to the silent decision to step away from the concentration of teachers that peppered the area near the door. The students had settled themselves on the far end of the hall - a safer distance from any potential intruders - so Regulus and Lupin settled somewhere in between, and safely out of earshot by any reasonable estimate.
"Did the Death Eaters give you any trouble, coming in?" Regulus asked, settling in one of the chairs. They were at the Slytherin table, he suddenly noticed - furthest to the left, close to the wall. How long it had been - and how much emptier it felt now.
"Tonks had most of it in hand," Lupin said, both answering and not. "I, too, know many ways into this castle. I doubt this was their primary target. It's too haphazard."
Regulus made a concentrated effort not to look over at Draco. "No, I imagine it was not. If anything, it seems more like a distraction."
"It wouldn't be the first time." Lupin looked back towards the children. "It could also be motivated by Harry - as I understand it, he does typically remain here over the holidays."
"If that were the case, fortunate that they missed their mark."
"Given who is here," Lupin began, with a wince, "or more specifically, who is not here, I doubt that's why. Did you run into trouble?"
Regulus's mind first jumped to Draco - arguably the larger problem that night - but forcibly shook it from his thoughts again.
"I crossed paths with a few Death Eaters, but nothing too concerning," he replied.
"No one of note," Lupin said. "Odd, for Hogwarts."
"I suppose all the heavy-hitters are at the Ministry," Regulus said, thinning his mouth. "Have you heard any updates?"
"No, nothing yet. The last Tonks heard of anything when I saw her was that it was a full-scale attack." Lupin ducked his eyes. "We weren't expecting one so soon. They shouldn't have had the numbers yet."
Frowning, Regulus felt a twinge of worry. Something on that scale was no minor 'incursion', and however capable Emmeline might be, he did not like the thought of her in the thick of it, even if there were Aurors in the Ministry too. There would be several other Order members working there too, no doubt, even in the later evening - and the possibility of others showing up...
"Recruitment is difficult to monitor," he said, solemnly. "Did Sirius go?"
Lupin shook his head. "If they were attacking multiple locations, the Burrow would be an excellent target. I thought we would have heard something by now."
How exceptionally uncomforting that was. "Sirius is there with Harry, I take it?"
"Given that Harry is likely equally unhappy about not being able to go into the fray, I deeply hope so." Lupin replied.
"Better bored than dead," Regulus said, grimly. "Three locations would be a thin split. Hopefully their ranks are not that full."
"I agree, assuming they stayed where they were supposed to. Historically, it's not either of their best suits." Lupin took a loud, deep breath. "At least he's got the map. They can see what's going on up here."
"I could use one of those," Regulus said with a pressed expression. He did not care for the idea that, anytime he was in the castle, his movements could be watched. It was not a crime to talk to his cousin's child, though it did not help that the child in question was stupidly involved in crime. Regulus had been stupid too, but that only made it feel worse.
"They take time to make," Lupin admitted. "The protection and concealment will be needed if it were to fall into the wrong hands, so even copies of Hogwarts itself isn't as simple as it sounds."
"I know," Regulus said with a sigh, then added pointedly, "but that doesn't mean I couldn't use it."
"No one is stopping you asking Harry for it if you need to either," Lupin said, evenly. "Though I don't recommend using it without the code to open it - most of the directed responses were put in during sixth year and if what happened when Severus attempted to use it without permission is anything to go by, I imagine it'll respond by insulting you in a personalised sort of way."
A few thoughts flickered in Regulus's mind - that he wasn't going to steal it, nor did he need a map of Hogwarts specifically, so much as he had an interest in their concept - but explaining as much without sounding defensive felt tiring, even if it was just Lupin.
The briefest glance over to Draco confirmed that he was still isolating himself, even amongst his housemates. Regulus could only guess at what he was thinking - but at least he was thinking it here, and not at Bellatrix's heels.
There was a sudden thud thundering footsteps by the door. It opened swiftly, only to reveal Tonks looking red-faced and winded. "Where's McGonagall?"
Lupin blinked at her. "Over there. What's going on?"
"They couldn't hold it, the Ministry," Tonks said, breathlessly. She kept walking, banging into the corner of the table with the barest wince as she walked backwards towards the professor. "It's in evacuation."
A cold rush of nerves crashed, and he thought again of Emmeline. If she had stayed in her own department, she could easily blast an assailant into the Brain Room to be absorbed or munched on or electrocuted - or whatever terrible things the brains would do to an intruder. She was highly competent, highly capable...
… But also unlikely to stay in place with a full-scale attack, and that only made the dread grow colder.
"Do we know of any reported losses?" Regulus forced himself to ask.
Throwing a look over her shoulder hesitantly, perhaps aware that she was a spectacle coming bursting in, she mouthed something that looked disturbingly like Dumbledore.
"Let me talk to McGonagall," she said aloud. "I gotta go help the Aurors; the Lestranges are there."
"Am I seeing things, or did she just mouth what I think she just mouthed?" Regulus said with a different sort of unsettled apprehension.
"I don't think she wanted to cause a panic," Lupin whispered in response, wide eyed.
"I assumed as much," Regulus said, watching with a continually sinking feeling as Tonks approached McGonagall. "I was just hoping I might have stress-hallucinated it."
"We'll need to find somewhere to put the captured," Lupin said, already moving to stand.
"Yes, it seems Azkaban is unlikely to remain a secure option at the moment," Regulus replied, dryly, though his stomach felt like it was dropping out. Azkaban would not be secure - it scarcely had been before - and there were several angry people in Azkaban that Regulus would have preferred to stay there. Steeling himself, he stood, mirroring Lupin's movement as he added, "I must admit I'm not familiar with Ministry contingency plans for such things. Unfortunately, all of my properties are all residences. They could be cleared and spelled, but residential areas are hardly an ideal place to store Death Eaters."
"No, I think I'm more familiar with suitable cages than most," Lupin replied, wryly. "However, the Ministry has entertained the notion more than once of shutting the place down, so there have to be other places around. If they go to Azkaban, it will lighten the load temporarily at the Ministry, and they may be able to secure it; but they will need more hands - a lot more - if they return with reinforcements."
"The Dementors are rogue, as you know," Regulus said, his mouth tightening slightly. Brow crinkling slightly, he continued, "Already, there is nothing but the ocean keeping Death Eaters caged right now, and I have a hard time believing they will stay there, with a bold strike like this. Funneling in more prisoners will just give the current ones transport to steal for their own escape."
"I know." Lupin sighed, aloud. "Another solution needs to be met. For now, all we can do is wait."
"Prepare for the worst and hope for something better than the worst," Regulus said with a flattened look.
The conversation was interrupted by Tonks, almost tripping over her feet as she tried to steal another look behind her.
"I'm gonna go to the MInistry," she said, definitively. "I need to know what's going on. Even if Voldemort's pissed off, there's no way he's giving up the Ministry. Soon as I know something, I'll send word. What do you need now?"
"Somewhere secure," Lupin replied.
"McGonagall is on that," Tonks said.
Regulus paused just a beat before adding, "Before you go, have you heard anything about Emmeline?"
"Nothing yet," Tonks said, glancing up and down. "But if there's one department able to withstand the Death Eaters, it's that one."
Finding comfort in anything but 'Yes, she made it out and is doing well' was difficult, if that mouthed news of Dumbledore's death was accurate, but he swallowed the thought, along with a knot of anxious nerves. His mouth was still tightened to a line when he nodded the silent agreement.
"Alright," Tonks said. "I'm moving out. Be careful. Tied up Death Eaters are still Death Eaters."
Regulus nodded solemnly. Unfortunately, that was all too true.
They needed somewhere to go.
The Order safehouse was functional enough for the Order, but St. Mungo's would be impossible to secure en masse, and then there was the matter of secret identities to consider if they were going to mingle as a group. Hogwarts was the last place standing they could use, so the Order (along with Harry and the Weasley children) would relocate there for now. Hestia had already communicated the need for a medical assessment point that the Ministry could use that wasn't immediately beyond its grounds, since no one knew when – or if – the Death Eaters would come out wands aloft and attempt to blaze the lot of them.
So, Sturgis had left to speak to a few friends from magical transportation and had sent only his patronus back with the news that they were going to open some of the fireplaces from a local muggle tavern and redirect them to the Three Broomsticks. Rosmerta had already kindly agreed to let the place become a half-way station for people coming out of the Ministry, while it would be simple enough to get people up to Hogwarts medical wing that required it.
Emmeline herself was greatly irritated by the fact this included her, if only because she wanted to be mobile enough to check her own library. As it was, she'd borrowed some parchment from Harry and was already trying to capture the details enough that they'd be able to go over it afterwards. By the time she had taken up one of Rosmerta's chairs and washed some of the plaster and dried blood from her face and knees, she needed only to keep her legs elevated for a few hours to ensure proper healing, and at the very least, writing things kept her busy.
Some people came in one at a time, others in clumps. Molly had taken to writing names down for people trying to find each other, using the upstairs fires to check people's homes to see who had simply gone home, thus could be checked off as fine. Hestia herself had gone to St. Mungo's, but she had since returned with supplies and had a list of her own, which glowed and updated now and then as people came in. Horrible invasion of privacy, but whether someone has done something embarrassing really wasn't a priority.
There were too many people unaccounted for. Tonks had gone back to the Ministry to try and round them up, but giving up wasn't in Mad-Eye's bones, and he was at the top of the list of who she worried would not make it back alive. The next being Dedalus, whom she hadn't seen since leaving him at the lift to get staff out of the mess, and Kingsley, who had his hands full, to say the least. Both Bill and Arthur hadn't been flagged down yet, but the twins, Fred and George, had slipped out to help with the evacuation effort, and she imagined they'd hear something of them soon.
Personally speaking, she wanted to know where Severus was and what the hell was going on with him. At the moment, his lack of informative response was ranking higher than Regulus's, but this was down to Sirius already confirming that it had been a skeleton crew attack at Hogwarts, which they had been able to quash, and that both Regulus and Remus were visible on the map. They might come down when things were more secure, but frankly, had she been a little more mobile and Hogwarts not quite so difficult to do anything but walk to, she would have gone up by now.
Hogwarts without Dumbledore felt vulnerable, regardless. It didn't feel quite real yet.
"S'cuse me...coming through..." A blonde head emerged from the increasingly crowded inn, inching his way around an older witch who looked ready to smack him with her umbrella. "Pardon me."
"News?" Emmeline asked.
"Still some fightin' going on," Sturgis said. It had been hours; people would become tired and sloppy. "Saw some people from the media offices say a bloke in a top-hat sent them out not fifteen minutes ago."
Something like relief blossomed in Emmeline's chest. "I'm increasingly thankful that he's very distinctive. Moody?"
"Someone says they reckoned they saw him in a three-on-one in Robards offices," Sturgis said. "But can't corroborate it. You ready to get a move on?"
"I've been told walking up to Hogwarts is against Healer advice."
"You're going to listen to Healer advice?" Sturgis asked.
"Unless you have a way to get up to Hogwarts that doesn't involve hobbling up to the school," Emmeline replied.
Sturgis threw her something, and it clattered to the ground. The two old friends looked at each other for a beat, Emmeline indicating her bandages before Sturgis moved to go and grab whatever he had thrown ('It's a bad enough day without idiots throwing things!' came a growl from a wizard only a few feet away... it really was getting horrendously crowded.) This time, he held out his hand, and she instantly forgot about telling him not to throw things if she's injured. It was a portkey, looked rather like the old ones they used to carry on them back in the day, set for a last minute jump out when required.
"There are people who need to go up more than I," Emmeline admitted, even if she wanted to go up.
"Aye," Sturgis said. "I've made them something bigger than a charm on a chain, and sending them straight to Pomfrey. Except for Harry. I think they're going to take a tunnel up."
"Where am I going?" Emmeline asked, picking up the chain.
"Kitchens," Sturgis said. The confusion must have been evident on her face because he went on. "Rosmerta's been great, but people are scared, worried and hurt. The elves'll help on the food front since they can apparate in and out where no one else can."
It was a reminder of another elf Emmeline wondered about, if someone had checked there.
"Alright," she said, wincing as she stood up, and sharp pains slammed through her ankles. "I'll be your less than mobile waitress and messenger for the evening."
"I'll see you up there, once we know anything."
Truthfully, Emmeline had given very little thought to the house-elves of Hogwarts. Not unlike the Department of Mysteries, their best work was the work you didn't notice and took for granted. It didn't take long to whip up a frenzy in the kitchens, with more elves than she had ever seen in one place and knowing a little of their life spans, they must have been here through generations. The last war, Grindelwald before that, the dragon pox epidemic before that, there was no telling how much these beings had seen but had never really been noticed. With some pang of irritation at herself, she realised that she, too, had overlooked the same resource that the 'Dark Lord' had, and as per usual, Regulus had noticed a quiet presence and acknowledged it.
"Excuse me," Emmeline said, stopping one of the elves in their tracks. "Would someone mind dropping me with everyone else? I'll only get underfoot here."
The house-elf nodded, ears twitching. Perhaps castle-elf would be more appropriate for these particular elves. They relied on the sanctity of the school as much as any other creature. It was a great pity they could not recruit the giant squid to the Order. Hogwarts was home to more than just witches and wizards, after all, and she'd quite like to see what would happen in a Death Eater on Giant Squid battle.
Pushing the thoughts aside, she took their hand and felt a jerk as the kitchen blurred into the Great Hall. It was an embarrassing sort of scene, since this did not in any way constitute keeping her legs elevated, and as such, she had to grab onto the table for support. She turned to say thank you, but the elf had already gone. Perhaps they were shy; she had certainly garnered some attention.
Ah. In response, Emmeline pressed her lips together and gave a wave to the remaining students, the faculty and sundry helpers.
Regulus was near the wall, sitting near to Slughorn at the Slytherin table - a far throw from the students at the other end, though Regulus had appeared to be looking towards them. The crack of apparition must have grabbed his attention, because not even a beat passed before he shifted his attention her way. Tension was melting from his face as he stood to walk over.
"I don't suppose you want to sit down over here?" Emmeline said, looking at the table and then back to Regulus himself as he approached. "I've had a disagreement with a former employer, and my mobility isn't what I'd prefer."
Regulus was nearly to the Gryffindor table when he nodded in response, and by the time she had eased herself from a lean against the table to a settled seat, he was slipping into the chair beside her.
"How bad is it? Should you be moving around?" he asked, giving her a once over before looking at her face again, brow furrowed slightly. "I trust you left him worse off."
"I've already seen a healer," Emmeline replied, waving off the question before it got any more in depth than that. She was glad to sit, however. The dull ache in her ankles was deeply unpleasant, but she didn't fancy dulling her senses until she could be sure the danger had passed. "I left once I realised I would be more of a hindrance than a help. There are others worse off being evacuated to the hospital wing as we speak."
"Seeing a healer doesn't answer my question, and I did notice that, but I am going to let it slide for the moment," he said, slipping a hand in hers. "Among those numbers, are there any of ours?"
"No," Emmeline said. It sounded like it should be good news, but it wasn't - if they were unaccounted for or still in the foray. She smiled thinly, squeezing his hand lightly. She lowered her voice this time, "I last saw Kingsley fighting, reports of Moody doing the same, and Dedalus has been defending the floo so people can get out as has Bill. Molly is trying to track people as they appear; Hestia is attempting to do the same from St. Mungo's, but some people will have gone home, so there is no telling for sure if everyone is accounted for. There is something else - He, you know, he stormed off immediately afterwards, so we have no idea where he is right now. Except that he isn't here, since he didn't appear on the map."
"Hogwarts doesn't seem to have been a primary target," Regulus said, grimly. In a lower tone, he added, "I would call it a half-hearted, disorganised distraction - but the Divination professor was caught in the crossfire, it seems. I don't think they have told the children yet."
"Trelawney?" Emmeline asked, feeling her forehead crease. He likely had no idea of her role in the chosen prophecy, so of course it would look like crossfire. "She was the origin of Harry's prophecy, so it's not unlikely she would be a target."
A beat of stillness passed before the tension tightened his mouth and brow again. "I see."
"I know you don't think much of divination, but...she had her moments. It's very sad. Dumbledore always believed in her." A terrible thing to happen, regardless, but a double blow for the loss of the information.
Regulus nodded, expression solemn as his eyes flicked down to the table. "My opinions on divination are irrelevant to the matter. She still lost her life. I simply did not realise the connection."
"I wasn't dismissing it. Just pointing out why the blind spot likely existed," Emmeline replied. "I don't suppose you have any idea what it is about killing Dumbledore that would have made - you know - so angry, do you? By all accounts, they were winning."
"That does seem strange." Regulus frowned at the table, brow furrowing a little deeper. "He just… killed him, then left angrily?"
"Yes," Emmeline said. "Well, no. He was looking at something, and then stormed off as if the whole business at the Ministry was immaterial."
The pensive expression on his face pinched further, and for a stretching moment, Regulus didn't say anything. The frozen look soon started to peel away, leaving something uncertain and no less tense.
Meeting her eyes, he lifted his free hand between then, speaking even more quietly. "Is it possible he was looking at…?"
"The thought had crossed my mind," Emmeline said, wincing at the thought more than any physical discomfort. "I think we need to face the possibility that we are running out of time."
Regulus's expression tightened a little more as he nodded. "Inevitable, I suppose, but… a troubling thought."
"A day for them," Emmeline huffed. Confusion, frustration and irritation were swirling around like a mental vortex and getting on her last nerve. "I hate sitting around while the fight is ongoing, knowing that there's nothing I can reasonably do to help yet. I want to start trying to find out exactly how they expanded their numbers to that level without us knowing. I want to know where he went because following him now could be the biggest clues to the other locations. I want to know where Severus is because what on earth is the point of him if not this, and I want to know if it's safe to mourn one death for now without waiting to see if it will be multiple deaths in a few hours."
"I do too," Regulus said, shaking his head.
"I am glad you're alright," Emmeline added. "That probably ought to have been said before I started expressing that amount of frustration."
"It has been a difficult night." He squeezed her hand. "Frustration has a place in it. I'm glad you're alright, too."
"What's going to happen here?" Emmeline asked, glancing around to the scattered hall. "You don't think they'll close the school, do you?"
"It's hard to say," he said with a frown. "McGonagall is likely thinking it over, as the… Headmistress, I suppose she will be?"
"The better question is if it's safe for them," Emmeline replied. For years, Dumbledore had kept the Death Eaters at bay, but that was no longer an option. That fact would have to begin to feel real at some point, wouldn't it? "It shows where children will be, and if the children are targets..."
Regulus shook his head, slowly. "I don't think it's safe, no. If they can get in once, they can get in again."
"When I'm able to walk at a semi-normal pace again, do you want to go and raid the books?" Emmeline asked. It was almost funny, or would have been if she'd been two decades younger. Perhaps not; he would have been embroiled in the Death Eaters, and she would be about to join the Order, but if they hadn't, if there had been a shred of normalcy about their teenage years, it could be something she could have done, asking him to join her to retrieve books. Probably not the same books - these would be books they might need, or that they'd prefer Death Eaters not have access to - but there was some humour in looking back two decades and remembering they'd both been in the same place but different people on the surface.
"Of course." Regulus lifted up the corner of his mouth just a little and nodded. "If there is anything you would like for me to fetch for you in the meantime, I can relate to the perils of limited mobility."
"Not until people are accounted for," Emmeline said. Once that had happened, they could move forward with planning the next move but they were scattered to the four winds. "Harry is coming here. If there's ever a time to go hunting for a missing link here, I think this might be it so we ought to at least wait for him."
"At least there is something potentially useful to come of this horrible night."
"Perhaps," she replied, distantly. It was hard to think that way at the moment. Too much was uncertain. "If he knows, you ought to check on Kreacher."
Regulus nodded stiffly, a frown creasing his brow. "There's a decoy in place, but I cannot guarantee that decoy will fool him - or that the magic has held for, what, seventeen years? Seventeen and a half? That's almost as long as I had been alive at the time." He shook his head. "I can't leave Kreacher there, no. Not with things as they are."
"I know it was uncomfortable, but my door remains open." Discomfort came before potential death, after all.
"I appreciate that." His mouth curved up in something like a smile, though it wasn't exactly a happy one, given the circumstances. "I will talk to him about the options. He won't like any of them, but until it's safe, the house just isn't one of them, blood wards or not. We can't rely on enemy ignorance anymore."
"Perhaps tell him Sirius isn't there. Small victories," Emmeline said, returning the vaguest smile.
"An effective motivator," Regulus replied, his own smile lightening a little.
"Until then, I suppose we wait for Harry." Not ideal at all, with a battle still going on, but if there was a way to strike another blow today, they should take advantage of it. When she was wobbling less. Out of the corner of her eye, Professor Slughorn was eyeing the two of them. Perhaps he wanted news, but she wasn't quite so distracted as to not notice the staring lingered. "Did you happen to tell Slughorn something about me?" she asked, noticing then that the man was already moving to get up.
His eyes flicked over to Slughorn. "Ah… yes. The patronuses came while we were having tea, and I favoured that facet of the truth over the vigilante one. I do hope you don't mind."
"Which facet of truth is that?" Emmeline asked, despite the precious little time before an entirely too social Slughorn arrived within earshot.
"The 'us' facet."
"Miss Vance, I assume!" Slughorn said by way of introducing himself. "I thought you looked familiar."
But not quite important enough to address without being brought up first. Same old Slughorn. "That could be who I spent time with at school as much as anything else," she commented, even if she doubted he actually did find her at all familiar.
"Oh?"
"I spent a considerable amount of time with Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald, and Lily." There was no point in explaining which one. "I was always a little more unobtrusive and little less noticeable."
"An excellent trait in an unspeakable," he replied.
Emmeline shot Regulus a look at that. He was usually the soul of discretion, but she supposed she hadn't explained that she didn't often tell people her line of work. Then again, she could be fired right now. Something told her the only severance that Death Eaters tended to give involved that of limbs. "It has its advantages," she said, finally.
"Advantageous, indeed," Regulus added, mildly. "In many aspects of life, I've found."
"I can imagine so!" Slughorn declared. "Difficult times, difficult times. I'll let the two of you have a little...privacy."
You could practically hear the wink, wink, nudge at that. If she hit her head repeatedly on the table to hide the irritating blush, would that be considered rude?
Regulus pressed an embarrassed smile as he waved off their old professor, waiting until Slughorn was likely out of earshot before clearing his throat. "Sorry about that."
"I was going to tell you not to tell anyone what I do," Emmeline replied. The entire thought was redundant, wasn't it? It was better to be a little embarrassed about having a relationship than to deal with their current reality.
Regulus lifted his brow. "I didn't specify beyond the general department. I didn't realise that part was a secret - partially because if someone asks, and I can't tell them, that is probably a bit of a tip." A but more lightly, he added, "Unless your occupation was just something really embarrassing, I suppose."
"I know. I hadn't explained myself," Emmeline replied. It wasn't his fault, after all. "Usually, I don't volunteer even that much, but you weren't to know that. We haven't really interacted beyond friends and family and people who have no idea who we are."
"Things have been rather isolated, it's true," he replied, thoughtfully. "Regardless, I will keep it in mind for the future."
"If there is one," Emmeline added, miserably. That could really go for either a self-indulgent look at their terrible odds or in respect of her vocation, couldn't it? "Because I might get fired - but I think already have been, haven't I? I think getting the sack is probably worse than a gossipy potions master."
"Perhaps you could think of it more like quitting - temporarily vacating your position in protest of a change in oversight conditions." He squeezed her hand again, gently. "Quite frankly, Voldemort's regime doesn't deserve you."
"As if any self-respecting unspeakable has ever served at a Minister's pleasure." Emmeline sniffed at the idea.
He bumped her shoulder. "Then they can't sack you, can they?" Regulus said, tipping his head and raising his brow. "So my point still stands. Besides, not serving at a Minister's pleasure doesn't mean he couldn't find a way to misuse your brilliant work."
"He couldn't understand my brilliant work," Emmeline more mumbled than spoke. "Or he'd probably be stuck in a loop of getting killed by someone who isn't yet toilet trained instead of...this."
"That is not actually a terrible plan. Let's tuck that one away, just in case the current one doesn't pan out."
"I recommend something that doesn't involve Harry," Emmeline replied. Not a terrible idea, on the whole, but best to use them in a way that doesn't involve others in case Harry is accidentally erased from existence. "I don't usually set them up at all - it's quite illegal, you know."
"Of all the things we do to stop him, how many of them are legal?" He pressed his mouth into a pointed slant, before adding matter-of-factly, "Furthermore - let it be on record that I was only referring to the time-loop, not to trapping Harry in it too."
"In general, we don't have very legal lives." Even without Voldemort's involvement. "I suppose I have time to practice. It's very tricky. The eternal downside of time travel - it's like trying to take aim with a live bumble bee."
"I have the utmost faith in you," he responded. "We will keep on our search, but it never hurts to have a backup plan."
"You've become quite the optimist," Emmeline said. It ought to grate, but she supposed worrying wouldn't change the situation.
"Perhaps. Alternately, I may be trapped in a state of willful denial, born from decades of exhausting paranoia," he began, a bit wryly, "but 'optimist' does sound more complimentary, by comparison."
"I'm surprised anyone with rabid curiosity such as yours can handle willful denial," Emmeline replied. He did, though. She had seen it both first hand and heard of it more than once. Talk about being a walking contradiction. "Let's stick with complimentary. If we must wait and worry, let's not do it upsetting ourselves."
"I can agree to that." He tipped a small nod. "And when you are feeling better - may the search resume."
"If you don't mind letting me borrow your shoulder, we can go and take a look now. I'm sure Harry knows well enough where to find the research contingents when he arrives." Pressing her feet to the ground, they felt unsteady and sore, but not to the point that she could keep sitting there if there was something else they could be doing. Still, it wasn't exactly comfortable.
"If you feel you can do so without causing yourself more harm, then my shoulder is available to you," he replied with a little nod, though he was still eyeing her, as if to make sure.
With a swift look up and down him, Emmeline pushed herself up. "You look sturdy. As long as we don't try any turrets, I think I'll manage."
Standing up, he offered an arm. "Let's get to it, then."
Thankfully, Emmeline took his arm. If little else, it would get them out of the Great Hall where there was quite literally nowhere you could be discreet, and she could at least pretend they were doing something that mattered.
Perhaps they were.
When Harry, Ron, Ginny, Sirius, and Mrs. Weasley had arrived at Hogwarts, they'd all gone to help as best they could.
The hospital wing was chaotic, with people being brought in by house-elves who disappeared again just as promptly. Ron had the map open beside him, which had gotten no real reaction from Madame Pomfrey, so Harry reckoned she'd seen it before. Every time someone appeared in the hospital wing, he wrote down names as Molly went to find out if they knew of other people within the Ministry that may still be unaccounted for on her list. His hands were tapping, probably trying to distract himself from the fact his brothers or father still hadn't surfaced. The Department of Law Enforcement and the Minister's offices – both the places you'd be most likely to find them – were the most badly hit. Mrs. Weasley was obsessively going through checks of names, trying to reassure people when she could, but the nervous energy coming from her was hard to ignore. Ginny had gone to tell Professor McGonagall what they now knew, which she must have reached by now.
"Ginny in the hall?" Harry asked Ron, who almost jumped. He nodded, then pointing to her name.
There hadn't been a lot for Harry to do. People kept telling him to sit down, to try to relax, but how could he with all of this going on? Sirius had disappeared about ten minutes before. He wanted to ask Ron to check where he was, but he also couldn't tell him not to watch Ginny in case something happened. There were still Death Eaters there, even if Hagrid was standing guard.
"Oh, that explains all of it!" came the voice of a man who must have been apparated in. "Harry Potter, of course."
Harry flushed, a little with anger and a little with embarrassment. This hadn't been down to him. He'd been nowhere near the Ministry.
"You should try blaming Voldemort and not the underage wizard that bought you a decade without this shit." Sirius must have come back in unnoticed; it was funny how he could somehow make his presence completely known and unignorable at times and others, he just seemed to slip out and back.
There was a noticeable, near universal flinch that usually accompanied saying Voldemort's name.
"Mr. Black!" Madame Pomfrey's voice cut through the air.
"Everyone's just scared," said one of the witches a few beds away. "He doesn't mean it."
"Welcome to the programme," Sirius said. There didn't seem to be heat to it, though. "Better late than never. Come give me a hand, Harry."
Harry was so relieved to have the chance to do something other than hang around the increasingly crowded hospital wing making a nuisance of himself that he didn't even think to ask what exactly Sirius had been doing until they were already in the corridor.
"Checking the entrances," Sirius said. "It might be some of our lot, since we know the way in, but thanks to Wormtail, could also be reinforcements."
Harry's heart beat a little faster. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't raised the idea in the hospital wing. He didn't think Mrs. Weasley would approve of him going to potential Death Eater entry points. It wasn't as if Harry really wanted to fight either, but if he could help defend Hogwarts, he would.
They checked the statue, the clock, the one-eyed witch, and even checked the mirror, even though it was caved in. There wasn't anything there. They'd have to go out to the Whomping Willow, so they slipped out into the grounds as quietly as they could.
"What about the cloak?" Harry suggested.
"You'd see the footprints," Sirius said, pointing to the snowfall. "We could vanish them, but may as well do it on the way back."
The insides of the tunnel felt a lot smaller than they had three years ago. Harry put his hand up and realised he could practically touch the ceiling. They didn't light the tunnel in case someone was inside it, but when they reached the other end, there was no sign anyone else had been back there. Harry wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or disappointed.
Since there was no reason not to, they lit the tips of their wands and began to walk back. About halfway up the tunnel, Harry couldn't take it anymore. He had to ask.
"Do you think Voldemort's coming here?"
Sirius slowed enough to look back. "No."
"How can you be so sure?" Harry asked.
"You heard Vance," Sirius replied, looking forward again as he took a few steps. "Something caught his attention and now he's left the Ministry to his followers to deal with. Since he didn't show up at the Safe House, Grimmauld Place – by now, that bloody elf would have shown up if he had – or your aunt and uncle's, it's nothing to do with you."
"Then...what did he want?" Harry asked.
"Dunno," Sirius replied.
"Azkaban?" Harry asked.
"Because he's so terribly devoted to helping the idiots who follow him?" Sirius asked.
That was true, but..."He does need more followers," Harry said. "He's been pressuring people into it."
"There's different kinds of following," Sirius said, gesturing. "There's the Death Eater kind, the hangers on, and those he just wants to know if they'll let him do what he wants, either because he's clinging to a thread of legitimacy by preying on the prejudice and fear of losing magic, or just because he can scare or torture them into submission. The Ministry gives him the latter – he used to just send people to do it."
Harry remembered hearing something the same about Slughorn. "He sent people chasing up Professor Slughorn – like that, you mean?"
"Yep," Sirius replied. "Slughorn's no Death Eater, but he was a formidable bloke in his day, and he's got influence. He wants his support. He tried the same twaddle with most people I know – Andromeda, she got the bad end of a few curses for refusing to be scared. Your mum and dad, too."
Harry stopped in his tracks. "What? But my mum was muggleborn! She couldn't have been a Death Eater."
"You don't think having an insider to the muggleborn community would have been more useful than people who dress up in stupid masks?" Sirius gave a humourless laugh. "Like I said, he doesn't just want Death Eaters, but he wants people he can use outside of that. You know that blood doesn't mean anything to him. They were talented and well-liked. Your family name still had a lot of sway in neutral circles. He wanted them for the same reason he wants Slughorn – because they'd be useful if they could be pushed into accepting him."
That somehow made it feel worse. "And they said no?"
"With gusto," Sirius nodded. "That pissed him off, couple of eighteen-year-old kids telling him where he could shove it. See? Voldemort's been underestimating teenagers for years."
"Were you asked?" Harry asked.
"No!" Sirius laughed, this one more real. "I never was. Remus, he got them calling, talking about joining with werewolves and a better life for them, like that was really going to happen under Voldemort. He doesn't care about any of that. He just wants power."
They made it back to the entrance hall in time to see the clock entrance open. Harry's heart skipped a beat, and he reached for his wand, seeing Sirius do the same. However, the sight of bright pink hair caught his eye before he even registered who was coming out of it.
"Give us a hand," Tonks said. She and Bill, both half-covered in dirt, soot, and what Harry feared was blood, were almost carrying Percy. Harry wasn't even sure if he was conscious.
Sirius conjured the stretcher right away, "How's it looking back there?"
Tonks took a look at Harry and shook her head.
Irritation overtook worry. "I want to know."
"We should get Percy to the hospital wing," Bill said, his voice hoarse.
"Where's Fred and George?" Harry asked.
"Fred and George were there?" Bill looked panicked, head turning from Harry to Tonks. "I've got to go back."
"Here," Sirius said, fishing into his pocket and pulling out something on a chain. "Click the switch. It'll portkey you to the safe house when you find them."
Bill nodded, already half-running back into the passageway. Harry was still watching him when he heard Sirius speak.
"Casualties?" his voice was low, but not so low that he could expect Harry not to hear. He turned back in time to see a sharp nod from Tonks. "Any of ours?" Again, another sharp nod. She then looked to Percy, and Harry's breath left his lungs – was he dead and Harry hadn't even noticed?
"I think he must have been trying to get his kid out of the way of the blast," Tonks said, tightly.
Percy didn't have any kids. Did he? No, someone would have mentioned that, that would mean...no...Mr. Weasley wasn't with them, Bill had gone back for Fred and George but not for their father...
Harry was broken out of his horror by the feeling of Sirius squeezing his shoulder hard enough that it hurt, a little. He snapped his head around to look at them. "Ginny's in the Great Hall," he said, because it seemed important to say where they were.
"Okay," Sirius said. "Do you want to go get her?"
Harry's throat felt tight. "You want me to tell her –?"
"No! No, I just think it'll be better for her to be with her mum for this, most people would want their mums for this," Sirius said, looking to Tonks as if that was a question. Thinking back to Grimmauld Place, maybe it was a question. "You don't have to, we can all go down there right now."
"I don't...know," Harry said. His entire throat was dry. His eyes burned and itched under his glasses at the thought of it, the memory of Mr. Weasley being attacked brought fresh to his mind.
"I'll bring Percy down to the hospital wing now," Tonks said. "It can't wait."
"We'll be along in a minute," Sirius said, quietly. He gave Harry a small push to the stairs and automatically, Harry sat down on them.
There were a few moments, maybe more than that, where all Harry could feel was his heart hammering in his chest. "I should owl Hermione," he blurted out, not even sure where the thought had come from.
"You can," Sirius said, without elaborating.
"I should go down to Ron, he –" Harry stood up, then stopped. What could he do about it? Maybe they didn't want him there, intruding on that moment. "I don't know what to say."
"I think it's probably more important to just be there in case he has something he needs to say," Sirius said, still eerily even for there being two dead people in the Order today.
Two of the first people who were ever kind, and interested, and didn't treat Harry like a freak...
"But what about – "
"I'll go to the Great Hall," Sirius cut him off. "You should be with your friend."
Harry nodded jerkily, then ran.
When he reached the hospital wing, he realised he must have been sitting with Sirius longer than he thought. Percy was awake, talking in a low voice as Mrs. Weasley held him close around his shoulders. Ron was sitting next to the bed, white as a sheet and his eyes glassy. He turned when Harry burst in. Maybe he was expecting Ginny, and instead, it was just Harry...
"What's happening now?" Ron asked, shakily.
"Bill's gone to get Fred and George," Harry said, unable to think of a single remotely helpful thing to say.
Ron nodded, sitting back down without another word. Harry joined him, the chaos of the hospital wing seeming far away now as he could really only hear the low whispers between Percy and Mrs. Weasley.
"We're going to kill this bastard," Ron said, looking to him suddenly. "Right?"
Harry thought of everything he'd seen and heard today; of the deaths, of the fall, of all of the injured around them and the dead he didn't know. It seemed like the kind of thing that should make him say that he didn't know, or that they would try, but he didn't say that. They knew how Voldemort was staying alive - he was using horcruxes, and it was long past time that Ron and Hermione knew that too. They would find them and destroy them and be rid of Voldemort and his followers for the last time. They had the Order. They had the DA. They could win this. Taking one more look around the room as yet more injured were being brought from the Three Broomsticks, Harry thought, we had to win this.
"We'll stop them," Harry said, as fiercely as he could. As fiercely as he could mean it. "Once and for all."