CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—Hogsmeade
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Hermione yawned behind her hand. She had spent every night after classes brewing with Severus. If she didn't know any better, she'd think Voldemort wanted Severus to drop dead of exhaustion! They had everything on track to hit the Hallowe'en deadline—but he changed his order a week before!
Hermione almost forwent the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, but Ginny convinced her some fresh air would do her good.
"I need to buy slippers," she griped.
Ginny laughed. "I'll bet!"
Ron and Harry had similar looks of distaste.
Lavender did not notice. "Oh, try that store across from Madam Puddifoot's," she suggested.
Neville jogged up to them. "Sorry I'm late, everyone. Where are we headed?"
"Hallowe'en candy," was all Ron said. He rubbed his hands together before pointing at each of them. "Blood pops on me."
"We'll meet you after," Hermione said.
And then something knocked into her arm.
She felt the Bludger-sized pressure before she realized her arm was torn from the socket.
"Get down!" Neville shouted. He jumped in front of Hermione as she buckled to one knee.
Ginny countered a spell.
Lavender stood behind Ron.
Harry ran forward to face down the Death Eaters at the end of the lane.
"Harry, no!" Hermione cried. She barreled after him. The adrenaline throbbed down her arm.
Harry threw up a shield, then an Expelliarmus, a shield, an Expelliarmus.
Ginny threw herself against the corner of a building and flung curse after curse around the wall. Harry took up the same position on the other side at the mouth of the alley.
Severus was uneasy. If the Dark Lord suspected anything was amiss—if he realized the blood replenisher would go off within the next two months, or if he caught wind of the other teachers fortifying Hogwarts, he may just set Bellatrix loose this time.
The Dark Lord held a blue vial up to the light. Nagini slithered about Voldemort's bare feet.
Severus would rather Bellarix than the snake, though.
"The potions in this box need to be stored in the cold, my lord," Severus said, with his hand on the closed crate. "All the other potions need to be stored in a room temperature cupboard." Most of the these potions were perfectly fine—if Bellatrix was to poke around and could find a problem, she would tell the Dark Lord immediately. Severus needed to convince them that all was well before he delivered ruined stock.
"Excellent, Severusss," the Dark Lord hissed. "I expect nothing but the best and you have not failed me."
"Thank you, my lord." Severus bowed. With the Dark Lord's permission, he took a seat.
The Dark Lord turned to the Carrows. "Tell me how Draco is doing." The congenial tone he used with Severus was gone.
"Malfoy has started the first steps of your plan, m'lord," Amycus said, bowling low. "Started with the Hufflepuffs, he did, m'lord. Scared them away from Dumbledore's Army, m'lord."
"Has he recruited any more into my ranks?" Voldemort took a seat and left the Carrows standing. Severus sat next to him; Amycus tried to hide his ire.
"A few, m'lord."
"Seventeen, my lord," Alecto contributed.
Amycus shot her a dirty look.
The door banged open. "My lord!" Gary Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Sr, stumbled into the room, bloody and incoherent.
Alecto covered her mouth.
"What'appened to you?" Amycus asked.
The Dark Lord looked murderous, lounging in his chair. Severus looked on with minimal curiosity.
"We—we couldn't get'em, my lord," Crabbe huffed, tripping and falling to his knees before the Dark Lord. "Potter—the Weasley girl dragged'im off—"
"Then the Aurors showed up, me lord," Goyle wheezed.
The Dark Lord flicked his wand. Crabbe and Goyle fell to the floor, writhing in pain.
Rowle appeared in the doorway, half his face covered with blood, one of his sleeves still smoking. He clung to the doorframe. "M-my lord—"
"I will not tolerate any more bad news, Thorfin," the Dark Lord hissed, his wand pointed towards the newcomer.
"I—I believe I broke the Mudblood's arm, my lord." As Rowle fainted, Severus's eyes grew wide. By the time Rowle hit the floor, Severus looked as he always did when the others took a turn to speak: Bored.
Nott, Sr, came in next, with a female Death Eater slumped across his shoulder. He summoned a house-elf to take the woman before he knelt.
"My lord, I apologize for Crabbe's failure. I should never have followed his lead. Ambushing them might have worked, if they had lured them into seclusion first, my lord."
The Dark Lord lay his wand across his lap. "Give me a full report."
"Goyle and Crabbe went after Potter. Reebes went down. The rest of us tried to get Granger and Weasley. Weasley will be wearing an eye-patch for a while, the little blood-traitor. The Mudblood's arm is either broken or dislocated—she could barely hold her wand without crying out, my lord."
"I see." the Dark Lord sneered down at the three fainted Death Eaters. "Where are the rest of my minions, Theodore?"
"In the hallway, my lord. Shall I fetch them, my lord?"
"Yes. Now." His red eyes darted to Severus. "You three may return to Hogwarts, for another month. Continue to please me, Severus."
Severus nodded. He and Amycus ignored the next round of Death Eaters to limp into the dining room. Alecto gave them a pitying look. Amycus jerked her by the arm into the foyer.
The professor didn't bother to wait for his two colleagues. Those who entered the room began screaming their apologies as they were Crucioed.
Severus Apparated to the back gate of Hogwarts and threw them open. He nearly ran through the dungeon corridors. Students milled about the Great Hall, restless after the debacle in Hogsmeade.
He stopped outside the doors to the hall. He caught Minerva's eye. She sent him a curt nod; so the warding had been completed. He turned on his heel and swept up the marble staircase.
The door to the infirmary was open. Poppy had drawn several of the white curtains, to try to shield whoever was injured, but it looked as if she had done so in a hurry. Severus could hear voices.
Miss Lovegood paced back and forth, chewing on the end of one of her pigtails. Potter sat in the chair, glaring, at the foot of Mr Weasley's bed. Mr Weasley was asleep—he had bandages wrapped around his flaming hair, covering his left eye. Miss Brown sat next to him, sniffling.
"Shoo. I need to set Miss Granger's arm, and your hovering helps no one." Poppy shuffled Miss Weasley and Longbottom away from the bed on the other side of the room.
Severus could see Hermione once Poppy helped her sit up.
"Are you ready, dear?"
Hermione opened her mouth but didn't speak. She closed it, and nodded.
Severus knew what was coming.
"This will only hurt for a—"
Pop!
"—bit."
Hermione squeaked. She sat back against the pillow as Poppy put her in a sling.
Severus saw a bruise around Hermione's eye, and a long cut across her cheek. Her lower lip was split and puffy on the same side. All of the students were scratched or roughed up in some way.
Once he ascertained Potter had not died, he left the room, as quietly as he had entered.
At eight o'clock, Madam Pomfrey allowed Hermione to leave the infirmary. She stayed until ten, at Ron's side with Harry, Ginny, and Lavender. Madam Pomfrey assured them that letting Ron sleep for the weekend would enable his eye to heal faster.
Hermione slouched into her bedroom, too exhausted to be angry and too bruised to want to stay awake.
When she flipped her hair out of her face, she could hear her curls slap against the plaster on her cheek. She looked in the mirror.
"It's a good thing I'm already married," she grumbled, knowing that hidden beneath the bandage was a deep scar in the making.
She flicked her fingers at the door to Severus's room. She grabbed a nightgown and slumped through to the dungeons.
The flame in the lamp sputtered low, and light spilled in from the open door to the sitting room. Through the door, she could see Severus working at the coffee table. Hermione sat on the bed to toe off her shoes. She pulled the sling up over her head so she could unbutton her shirt. She was too tired to care if the professor saw.
Not that he's interested anyway, she griped.
Her bra was an absolute nightmare. She had to use her wand to get the thing undone. She kicked off her jeans and struggled into her Weasley Wizard Wheezes t-shirt. When she tossed the sling onto the bedside table, she heard something rattle.
A vial of pain reliever she had brewed last week. She set her wand next to it and turned the lamp low.
From here, she could see Severus flick his long, black hair out of his face. He cracked the knuckles on his left hand while he marked papers.