{Disclaimer:  The Harry Potter World was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to, Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books.  I, therefore, own no parts of this except for Andromeda McGee and Wyvern, who are parts of my twisted imagination.}

Chapter 32

No, To The Pain!

**"No!  To the pain.  And I'll explain.  I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon.  To the pain means the first thing you lose will be your feet below the ankles, then your hands at the wrists, next your nose.  I'm not finished.  The next thing you lose will be your left eye, followed by your right.  Your ears you keep!  I'll tell you why.  So that every shriek of every child who sees your hideousness will be yours to cherish.  Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, "Dear God, what is that thing?" will echo in your perfect ears.  That is what "to the pain" means.  It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever."  Westley, The Princess Bride**

By the time the party was over, most of the team was rather unsteady.  The only exceptions were Remus, whose curse somehow gave him high tolerance and Snape, who chose not to drink much.  The rest of them, on the other hand, were more than a few bubbles beyond tipsy.

Andy had started off sitting with Snape, attempting to convince him that people weren't all really that bad and he should get out more.  That had become a lost cause after a while and she ended up playing drinking games with Sirius and Remus.  After a few drinks, any hatred she had disappeared.

"And then he said 'That's not a broomstick, it's a bloody mushroom!" Sirius was laughing before the end of his joke.

Andy chortled.  "Ay, that was a good one!  Did you hear this one before?  A warlock and a hag walk into a bar…"

"Alright, that's enough.  You two are coming with me," Remus pulled both of them aside.

"Hey, what's this for?  I'm in the middle of telling a story!  So the warlock goes to the hag 'Can I buy you a cup a tea?"

The werewolf took two vials from a pocket in his robes and handed them to his inebriated friends.  "Drink up."  They did so, having no other choice.

"What the hell?" Sirius looked at the vial.  "Moony!  Why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly good intoxicated day?"

"Because, if you weren't too drunk to notice, the entire town of Hogsmeade is staring at you."

"We weren't being that disruptive!"

"No, you weren't," he admitted.  They had done much worse before.  "I didn't want things getting any worse than they were."

"Come on, Moony, what about the time we got completely smashed and danced through the streets of London singing Beatles songs at the top of our lungs?"

"That's exactly what I didn't want to happen."

"Hey, we are not the only ones that had a few too many.  How about the rest of the team?"

"When they drink, they go quiet.  When you two drink, you have problems."

"So?  What's wrong with that?"

Remus didn't see a point in arguing.  "Nothing, nothing at all.  Come on, we should get back to the castle."

"Remus," Andy asked cautiously.  "We didn't hurt anybody, did we?  Or break anything?"

"No."

"Oh, good."

Sirius watched his shorter counterpart with a sad smile.  He wanted her back.  He wanted her to be 'his' again.  He missed holding her close in his arms.  He tentatively reached down and took hold of her hand.  He squeezed it gently.  Andy felt a nervous breath catch in her chest.  Why? The little voice inside her head screamed at her.  He hurt you!  Let him go!  Yes, he had hurt her.  She wasn't ready for anything yet.  The wounds needed to heal before they could restore what they had before.  She forced his hand away.

"No, Sirius, not yet.  I'm sorry, just give me time.  I'm not ready for anything."

"Alright," he wasn't thrilled that she still wanted nothing to do with him, but he respected her enough not to force her into anything she didn't want to do.  "Let me know when you are.  I'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks."  It was a beginning.

Snape rushed into the school, long legs carrying him easily down the familiar halls to the dungeons.  He hadn't wanted to go to the party, but it would have been suspicious he decided not to attend.  He wanted to know what Malfoy was plotting.  All he knew was that the Death Eaters were going to do something to Hogwarts maybe involving the sleeping potions that he brewed.  He pushed open the door to his room.  Another letter with the Dark Mark emblazoned on it sat innocently on an ebony end table.  The seal was broken with a crack of his knuckle.  It had only for words printed in a spidery scrawl that caused his normal frown to deepen.  We attack at eight.  He looked at the clock.  It was 7:42.  He had eighteen minutes to convince Dumbledore that this was really going to happen.  The letter burst into flames killing any evidence he would have had.  Snape swore to himself as he jogged up to the Head Master's office.

"Blood Pops," he took the stairs two at a time.  The griffin knocker was ignored as he banged his fists on the door.  There was no answer.  He turned the knob, wand raised and expecting the worse.  All that came was dead silence.  "Albus?"  His voice almost seemed to echo.  Candles sputtered dim shadows over the room.  Snape could make out the shape of a person sprawled over the desk.  "Albus?"  He spoke again, a little louder than a whisper.  There was no response.  He picked up a limp wrist, checking for signs of a pulse.  It was there, though faint.  The Head Master was obviously asleep and not planning on awakening soon.  "Enervate."  The spell had no effect to break the slumber.  Snape vehemently cursed Malfoy.  So this was what the bastard was planning.  They had no chance.  The Slytherin walked out of the office locking the door behind him.  There was nothing he could do.  No spell he knew of would remove the effects.  A revival potion would take too long to brew.  He supposed he should go find his robes and mask.  It would be to his benefit if he at least looked like he was playing the part.  Why?  That's all he wanted to know.  Why Hogwarts?  The only thing he could think of that they would want was Potter.  The cursed boy was a Gryffindor.  He knew where the common rooms were, but did not know the password to get into them.  There was someone who might know.  "McGee."

"Oh, hey, Sev.  Do you know if Dumbledore's in his office?"

Snape did a double take.  Where the hell had she come from?  "He's there but he's in no condition to talk."

"They got him too?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was just in the library.  Students are out cold on the tables and Pince is snoring at her desk.  I tried to wake them, but nothing worked."

"I know.  Enervate is useless."

"So what happened?" Andy asked, knowing that he would know more than anyone else.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet."

"All I got is that it's something that knocks people out, either a potion or a spell.  Since it's all over the school, I'm guessing who ever did it used the ventilation system."

"It's a potion."

She nodded thoughtfully.  "Death Eaters?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Eight."

She looked at her watch then back at Snape.  "We're screwed."

"I thought you were an optimist."

"That is being optimistic.  It is 7:58.  In two minutes, this place is going to be crawling with your Death Eaters.  We have a grand total of six people to defend the castle if they haven't already succumbed to it already."

"Six?"

"Me, Sirius, Remus, Hooch, Vector, and Sinistra.  You have your own battle, so that's six."

"Do you have any plans?"

"Originally, I was planning on making a cup of mint tea and soaking a lavender bubble bath for a while, but that's not going to do any good now.  We'll make it up as we go along."

"You do realize that the fate of the world rests upon your shoulders?"

Andy shrugged.  "That's for Fate to decide.  I have a few ideas."  She paused hearing something.  "Oh, shit, they're here.  Come on!"  She grabbed a handful of his robes and dragged him into a seldom used broom closet.

"I didn't imagine your plan to involve broom closets," he snapped, not appreciating the fact that she had pulled him in with her and knowing very well what some of the broom closets are used for.

"Oh, is that what you want?  I suppose we could arrange that.  I know a waitress in the Three Broomsticks that's looking for someone."  She tapped her wand on an old hook.  The wall swung open, revealing a dimly lit passage.  "Follow me.  I suggest you stay close.  There are side tunnels going off of this one and it's pretty easy to get lost.  I'm not turning on any lights.  I don't want the Death Eaters to sense the magic."

"Where does this take us?"

"It should end underneath the tapestry just outside your room.  We have no time to waste.  Let's go."  She started down the passage, Snape following close behind.  The wall creaked shut; looking like it had never been a doorway.

He lost all track of time as Andy led him through the darkness.  It could have been a few minutes or a few hours for all he could tell.  He hoped she knew where she was going.  He felt himself collide with her as she suddenly stopped.  "We're going to get you brake lights, McGee."

"Shh!"  Andy pressed her ear against the wall.  "I don't hear anything.  They probably haven't gotten this far yet."  She stuck her head out the door to check her prediction.  Snape leaned over her shoulder.  She had been correct; the passage had ended directly across from his rooms.  She looked up at him, his natural pallor almost white in the dim lights of the hall.  "You go, I'll keep you covered."

"You're just going to let me go?"

"Sev, I trust you enough to let you do what you need to do.  I know what you are."

Snape nodded.  "I suggest you get into the Gryffindor Tower and get Potter out of here. They'll be looking for him."

"I was planning on doing that.  Don't get yourself killed."  Andy vanished down a side tunnel, leaving the Slytherin standing alone.  He looked down the dark opening where she had gone.  She was a peculiar little person.  She said she trusted him despite who he was.  He didn't comprehend any reasoning behind it.  A smirk echoed on his lips as he crossed the hall to his room.  Andy would put up one hell of a fight.  He pitied any Death Eater that got in her way.

The dark hooded robes and mask hung under an invisibility spell in his closet.  He put them on, not wanting to, but seeing no other choice.  He left his place of safety to join the rest of the Death Eaters.

Andy hurried down the side tunnels, not worrying about what Snape was going to do.  Those were his problems, not hers.  She figured that she would have to confront Sirius again, as much as she didn't want to.  It was her only choice.  It didn't matter to him.  Sirius Black had been a sweet person when she knew him, but he was never very empathic.  He knew what he wanted to do, but not what any one else wanted.  They had been friends, and later lovers.  She probably would have married him eventually, if both of them hadn't been shoved into their dark cells in Azkaban.  Now things were different.  He didn't understand how badly he had hurt her.  Andy had never been a very trusting person.  After what her mother had done to her as a child, she had no reasons to trust people.  They would only hurt her.  She had trusted Sirius, but the trust had disappeared.  It would be a long time until things were back to the way they were.

The passage ended at a blank wall.  She placed her palm on it.  "In the names of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, I, Shadow, command you to open."  The panel slid to reveal an entrance into the hall across from her rooms.  The Marauders had keyed the door only to open with the incantation.  Obviously, no one had changed it in all the years that had passed.  She stepped quickly across the hall, banging on Sirius's door.  With in a few moments, it opened.

"Hey, Andy, what's up?" Sirius looked surprised to see her at his door.

"Nothing much other than the fact that a herd of Death Eaters has infiltrated the castle."

"What?"

"Just let me in and I'll explain everything."

"Okay," he ushered her inside, still confused over what was going on.  "So what's going on?"

"While we were out partying, they some how pumped a knock out gas through the ventilation system.  The rest of the school is out cold.  It's only the team awake and the Death Eaters got here at eight."

He looked at her closely.  "You're sure of this?"

"Of course I'm sure!  I was in the library in few minutes ago.  I couldn't get Pince or the students up and Sev says that Dumbledore's the same way."

"Since when are you two on a nickname basis?"

"Since we wanted to be."

Sirius decided that she was doing this just to be infuriating and ignored it.  "So what's the plan?"

"We need to get Harry out of here.  They'll be after him."

"Let's go," he turned toward the door.

Andy put a hand on his arm.  "No, you're going.  You know him the best.  I'm going to round up the rest of the team."

"You want to go alone?  Is that safe?"

"Yeah, I work better by myself.  It'll be easier not to get seen with only one person.  I'm going to try and get a defensive started."

"Alright, I'll get Harry to some place they won't be able to find him."

"Thanks, Sirius.  Buena suerte."

Sirius smiled.  Andy tended to lapse back to Spanish when she got nervous and right now, she had a wonderful reason to be that way.  He didn't know more than a few phrases she had taught him years ago.  He remembered 'buena suerte' translated to 'good luck.'  "Good luck to you, too."

Andy returned to the passage she came from.  Thankfully, he had not tried anything and had listened to her.  It had gone well, in her opinion.  She shook her head, following the familiar dark tunnels.  He next stop would be the Defense rooms.  Remus would know what to do.  He always was able to plot and plan with the best of them.  Something collided with her as she turned a corner.  In a flash she pulled out her wand pointing it at who ever was there.  "Don't move," she hissed warningly.

"Calm down, Andy.  It's only me."

"Jeez, Moony, what the hell are you doing down here?"

"Probably the same thing you are.  There are Death Eaters in the castle."

"I know.  I've seen them.  They knocked out the rest of the school.  It's only the seven of us."

Remus peered into the deep shadows surrounding them.  "Where's Sirius?"

"I sent him to find Harry.  They'll be after him."

"Smart decision.  What's your plan?"

"Why does everyone think I always have plans?"

"You happen to take charge of the situations very easily, that's why."

"Oh," Andy thought for a moment.  "I haven't gotten much farther than we need a defensive going to distract the Death Eaters away from the Gryffindor Tower and some one needs to owl the Ministry."

"I'll get Hooch, she should be down here any way and we'll get a fight going.  You find the other two and get a message sent out."

"Alright.  See you later, Moony," she continued her way up the corridor.  The Astronomy Tower was closer from her current position.  It was the logical place to go first, though she did know how Sinistra would react.  The hall was happily deserted.  The Death Eaters wouldn't have found much up there.  Andy knocked lightly on the door.  After a few moments, Sinistra opened it.

"Yes?" she sounded puzzled.

Andy took a deep breath.  "I thought you should know that there are Death Eaters attacking the castle."

Without a sound, Sinistra's eyeballs rolled up in her as she fainted to the stones below.

"Well, that didn't go as well as expected," the Gryffindor muttered to herself.  She pulled the other woman inside her room with a flick of her wand.  She cast a quick spell so that the Astronomy professor would forget any mention of the Death Eaters when she awoke.  Obviously, they were Sinistra's weak spot.

Andy hurried down the back stair case to the Arithmancy room.  She hoped Vector would have a better response.  The door was slightly pushed open.  With her wand held out in front of her, she kicked it.  It swung back with a muffled thud, revealing an empty room.  She stepped inside, seeing Vector's body on the floor nearby.  "Oh, shit.  What the hell happened here?"

A few muffled syllables came from the gagged mouth.  Andy gently untied it.

"Thank you," the other woman was obviously shaken.  "They came in here, demanding to know where the Gryffindor tower is.  I told them I didn't know.  They didn't believe and tied me up.  They left me here."

Andy finished untying the woman.  "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I think, except for my right wrist.  I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"That's not good," she pointed her wand at the limb.  "Ferula."  Bandages shot out of the end of the wand to wrap around the injury.  "I think that should do it.  I need you to send something to the Ministry telling them that we need all the help we can get.  I'd suggest going directly to Arthur Weasley.  He'll be the one that would listen to us and get things done."

"Would Floo work?"

"Yes, if you could."

"Fine, I can do that."

"Then just hang tight until the Aurors get here.  I don't think fighting would be a smart thing to do with a break."

"I was never good at fighting any way.  I would be more of a hindrance than anything else."

"That's alright.  You Floo and we'll get the counterattack going.  If they come back, don't be afraid to stun them."  Andy walked away, letting Vector get to the Flooing.

{Author's Note:  I'm stopping there just because things are going to get more complex as this builds to the final conclusion.  If I continued this thread here, I could probably get at least twenty some odd pages and still not be done.  I'd suggest that you ignore my Princess Bride quote.  A bit of it is skipped, but I found the whole thing on a monologue web page and excerpted it from there.  I have a slight obsession with that movie.  I have seen it so many times, it's not even funny.  I have no clue what the next chapter will entail.  All I know is that eventually Andy kicks some butt, Snape gets pissed, and Sirius, well, I'm not exactly certain what Sirius does, but he does something.  I finally finished writing this whole damn thing!  Yea!  It is 34 chapters incase anyone was wondering and then I started on the sequel, which is to be called Into the Flames, after an AP Physics test.  I know, I need a lot less free time than the minimal amount I already have.

Dy (I don't feel like writing your whole pen name any more so do you mind if I call you by your other name from now on?)  Yes, go Harry.  I just did that to piss Snape off.

Ignominia:  Does it now?  I agree completely with you.  Mine is "Flying is only falling and missing the ground."

VMorticia:  Of course I have seen Robin Hood: Men In Tights!  The sequel is being written right now.  I have ideas and few basic plot bunnies.  I am a science fanatic.  That's the whole reason Andy does Potions.  I am about a year ahead in science in my high school, since we had advanced science programs in the other district I went to before.  Its one of the few classes I like.  As for math, I am being forced to take Pre-Calculus this year.  Ick.  I'm not too bad in math, but I don't like it.  I make no sense at any time, so its perfectly acceptable.

Hikahi:  Actually, at one's of my friend's school they did the same thing and showed it in Social Studies.  I agree.  Snape does need to get bullied more often and this is actually working better than I expected.  She'll forgive him eventually, maybe within the next three chapters (i.e. the ending of this story and parts of the sequel).  I don't remember what I wrote, so I can't tell you exactly.

Atheis Gainsborough:  Hey!  You have returned!  Yippee!  You shall find that out in the next chapter.  He is evil and does deserve to die.  He might die eventually.  I killed him in one of my other fics.  Well, actually, Harry killed him, but same difference.  There is not another Quidditch match in this story, maybe in the next one.

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream, Nataly Ravenlock}