CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE—Scrapes
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On January first, Hermione, Harry and Ron huddled in the foyer of Grimmauld Place. Walburga Black's portrait was screaming at them, enraged that no noise came out of her painted mouth. This was the first time the three of them had been alone in a room together. Bill, in particular, kept a close eye on them and even asked Harry if Dumbledore had given them some sort of 'stupidly dangerous mission.'
Harry had kept mum. Bill did not press the issue but to hover when he wasn't at work.
"Did Dumbledore give you guys presents, too?" Ron asked. He double checked the finnicky latch of his suitcase.
"The Snitch. The first one I caught."
"In your mouth?" Ron snickered. He zipped up his puffy coat.
"It still counted as a win." Harry wrapped his Gryffindor scarf around his neck.
Hermione buttoned up her coat as she said, "He gave me a book."
"Big surprise," Harry said.
"Of wizard fairytales."
"A bit below your reading level," Ron said, confused. "He gave me a Deluminator. Watch."
He flicked open a silver lighter. As he clicked it, the two lights in the hallway popped from their sconces and floated into the Deluminator. The hallway was dark but for the Deluminator's glow.
"Isn't that wicked? But I'm not sure what I'll need it for." He clicked it again. The lights returned to their proper places.
"Very strange," Hermione admitted. She pulled on her knit hat.
Ginny and her parents walked down from Ginny's bedroom, her satchel slung over Arthur's shoulder. Molly looked a nervous wreck. She smoothed Ginny's hair before tucking a hat over Ginny's ears so snugly Ginny grimaced.
Arthur said, "Kingsley and Podmore are on the train. Moody and a few others are monitoring the trail and the gate."
"You two stick together," Molly said. She pulled Ron and Ginny's arms and tangled them up so they'd get the hint to Apparate together.
"We will," Ron promised.
Arthur put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Be careful. Tonks did some…investigating. There are groups that plan on preventing some students from even reaching the gate."
"What do you mean?"
The pitying look on his face meant only one thing.
"To take them to Umbridge's—nonsense."
Hermione shivered. "Groups?"
"Snatchers," he said. "They grab people for Umbridge or You-Know-Who for money."
Molly checked her watch. "Okay. It's time. You have two minutes before you can Apparate there."
Severus had some less than generous words about the plan when he heard all students had to sign up for a time to Apparate to the gate. Obviously no one wanted to get Splinched—but the list could fall into the wrong hands.
Molly and Arthur cast the Disillusionment Charm over them. The cold sensation down Hermione's neck didn't help her tremors.
The students squeezed through the door to the stoop.
Someone—or several someones—watched them. Invisible.
Hermione ignored the tingle of unseen eyes to focus on the metal and stone gate. She heard one pop.
Hermione spun away and landed in the fresh snow before Hogwarts.
Moody's blue eye counted the four of them, once Ron and Ginny arrived. Ginny removed the Disillusionment from all of them.
Another Auror crossed their names off the chart.
Then the curses streaked through the air.
Ron and Ginny bolted towards the gate. Harry spun around to fight. Hermione tried to drag him backwards.
Moody ran towards the tree-line. The other Aurors hopped in front of Harry.
"Harry, please!" Hermione yelled.
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Severus and Albus watched from Albus's window as students rattled up the path in the thestral-drawn carriages.
Aurors, Moody one of them, guarded the Apparation point. Severus would rather he was down there in case anything went pear-shaped, but Albus insisted he stay with him. It wouldn't do for Severus to hurt some of the Dark Lord's peons. But Severus assumed he was summoned to Albus's side to continue their spat from the holiday.
"Are you prepared to become headmaster?" Albus asked.
"No."
The older man tittered from the chair Severus had dragged over to the window. "That is usually how it goes."
"Seems boring," Severus admitted. His fingertips smarted whenever he touched anything. He stood, apprehensive and unable to sit still. Tonks had owled him regarding some Snatchers trying to collect on bounties regarding some Undesirable students. Though she didn't name names, her underlying point was clear—Harry and the two Weasley children, and any Muggle-born students, his wife included, were in danger.
Albus adjusted his spectacles. "That is a matter of perspective."
"Any advice?"
Albus gave him a surprised look before he pondered the question. "Haggle."
"Haggle?" Albus's surprise met Severus's confusion.
"The school purchases a lot of food; a lot of books; and a lot of firewood. Every price is negotiable."
Severus felt a minuscule grin tick up one side of his lips. "I will keep that in mind."
Albus chuckled. "Try not to threaten our vendors, of course, but they will negotiate."
They peered out the window again. It had stopped snowing around noon. Hagrid was shoveling the front steps just out of view. Fang loped around beneath Albus's window on occasion.
"How is marriage treating you?"
Here we go, he thought. "I thought the Weasley boy would duel me at some point," Severus muttered.
Albus smiled and shook his head. "I think Mr Weasley has more sense than that."
School children began to trickle up from the Apparation point. Severus looked for groups of four.
"I am glad you are not unhappy," Albus said.
"I didn't say that."
"You have never shied away from an opportunity to tell me you are unhappy, my boy," Albus chuckled.
The marriage had not been as intolerable as he had feared. In no way was was he happy about the tense muscles and restricted magic currently plaguing his every movement since he had departed Grimmauld Place.
From this height, they could see the tiny shapes of Moody and his second-in-command at the gate signing children in as they arrived. Four figures appeared. A streak of green flashed above their heads.
Albus made a quick pace to the door. Severus followed behind to ensure he did not fall though his every instinct demanded he run to save Potter's neck once again.
Students milled about in the Entrance Hall. They parted for Severus and the headmaster.
Walter, Aurora and Filius sprinted past them. The doors swung open as they approached, Hagrid soaked from the knees down, on his way to tell Dumbledore of the disturbance.
"Go ahead of me," Albus said to Severus. He struggled down the steps with Hagrid's help.
Severus passed Walter and Filius easily. The adrenaline and facing the cold without his robes and cloak forced shivers through his arms and legs, his hair flying straight back from his skull as he pelted down the half-shoveled path Hagrid had made.
Harry and Hermione dove away from one another as an uprooted tree flew their way.
Ginny and Ron each took cover behind a boar-topped parapet. They Stunned any Death Eater who tried to run up on their friends. The gates clanged shut, locking Harry and Hermione out.
Hermione scrambled out of the snow, jeans now soaked as three pairs of footprints stamped towards her. She Stunned one person and Disarmed the other two but they kept coming. She was tackled onto the ground. The wind was squeezed out of her lungs when her back hit the tamped-down snow.
The wizard cancelled his Disillusionment spell—it was Fenrir Greyback on top of her. Hermione screamed.
He wasn't a werewolf—but he snarled and chomped his jaws at her throat. Hermione kicked and shoved his neck and face away from her, but he was much heavier.
More students Apparated into the fray. They squealed and sprinted past, snow flying into Hermione's and Greyback's faces.
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Severus saw Greyback on top of a student in the snow. The Weasleys covered the Aurors from their hiding spots. More children screamed, trapped outside of the shut gates.
Severus swung his wand up in an arch—the gates sprang open for them. The Creevey brothers and other children flooded in. Ginny and Ron Weasley stayed crouched behind the gates, still flinging curses at the visible Snatchers they could see from their angle. Aurora ushered the children back up the hill.
Potter and Moody dueled with two of Fenrir's henchmen. Where—where the fuck was Hermione?
Severus ran forward with all his might. He had to get them all inside without hurting the blasted Snatchers.
A low wall of ice reared from the snow; Severus tripped headlong over it and into the slush of hurried footsteps.
"Walter!" Aurora shrieked. "What the bloody hell are you playing at?"
Walter ran past. He threw one sneer over his shoulder before he rounded to face Severus entirely. "Stay back—I know you're one of them."
On his hands and knees, he watched Greyback drag the student to her feet. Her hat fell off, Hermione's unruly brown hair fluttering when Greyback jerked her around, dragging her away from the fight.
Potter screamed, "Let her go!" and redirected his attention to Greyback, leaving himself open for Rowle's spells. Severus saw the flash of green—that fucking fool was going to kill Potter—
But Moody jumped in the way, dropping dead at Potter's feet.
Hermione reared back and elbowed Greyback in the nose. He yelped and backhanded her—but her wand arm was free again.
Filius fended off the other Snatchers trying to surround Potter and Hermione with wandwork that would have been dazzling if the situation had not been critical.
All of this happened behind Walter within seconds, Severus's pulse pounding in his ears. His black wand lay in the snow between them.
Aurora yelled at Walter to "Knock it off! We have actual problems at the door at the moment!" as she stomped past. Spell after spell shot from her wand.
More children arrived. Ginny and Ron joined Hermione in a vicious round of hexes, forcing Greyback to retreat as Hermione put herself bodily between the smaller children and the Snatchers.
Severus nearly let a yell rip from his throat—but Walter decided to advance, now looming above Severus's wand. He pointed his own wand to Severus's forehead.
"I don't trust you."
Severus didn't take his glare off of him again. If anything happened to those blasted foolish children or Hermione, he would end Walter in ways only the Lestranges could imagine.
But—this did prevent him from injuring any of the Dark Lord's forces.
That was the only reason Severus didn't cut Walter's flesh to ribbons.
Ginny and Hermione physically dragged Potter from the fight. He was incensed—enraged that Moody had died on his behalf.
Aurora held her wand and other hand aloft, ready to blanket a defensive charm around their perimeter as soon as everyone was inside the gate.
Ron blasted a Stunner away from Aurora as she worked; it rebounded and hit Walter in the leg. He went down and Severus took his opening. He snatched his wand from the snow and ran towards the gate. Walter's haphazard hex missed him by millimeters.
Severus countered hexes sent Aurora's way. She gathered her energy again for the defensive spell.
Potter finally came to his senses and sprinted towards the gate with the others. The remaining Aurors felled two more Snatchers. Greyback and his core crew Disapparated.
Miss Weasley was the last through the gate, her hat sizzling into embers. Her brother slapped it off her head and into the snow. Aurora cloaked them all in a shimmering orb the size of Hagrid's hut.
Potter panted at the edge of the orb, body tensed to spring back into the dwindling battle.
Filius looked at Hermione's chin. "Just a bit of bruising, dear."
His wife shook. Her hair was a mess. Her clothes were soaked through.
Albus arrived, Hagrid at his side to assist him.
Walter struggled back onto his feet.
He took aim at Severus again.
"Everyone, inside," Albus ordered from the other side of the bubble.
"All of us, Albus?" Walter countered.
"Now," Albus demanded. "Severus—please help the Aurors move Alastor's body inside."
Weasley grabbed Potter by the coat and physically pointed him towards the castle.
They each gave Walter and Severus a perplexed look but remained silent.
"C'mon," Ginny urged Hermione. His wife didn't want to leave.
Filius had his hands up as he stepped between his two colleagues. "Now is not the time nor place," he said to Walter.
Aurora, exhausted, stood near Hagrid. "Hex him or don't—but do it when we're not all getting our arses handed to us." She, too, returned to the castle.
Hagrid helped Albus hobble back up the hill.
Filius threw up his hands in disgust. "This is unbecoming of us!"
"He's a Death Eater, Filius," Walter hissed. "Him and those dastardly Carrows! They orchestrated this whole mess!"
"I won't be party to this!" Filius snapped. He stomped away.
"You should be ashamed," Walter spat once they were alone. "You've taught that boy for seven years."
If Walter wanted him to be the Death Eater—he'd be the Death Eater.
"I did not kill Horace." The two were locked in a stare down, Severus now centimeters away from the end of Walter's wand, his own wand down at his side. "But I won't be able to say the same of you the next time you attempt to get in my way."
Severus turned on his heel and went to gather Moody's body.
Walter did not waylay him again.