Disclaimers: Please refer to chapter one for full disclaimer write-up.
When Living is No Longer EnoughChapter Twenty-Five
The following evening proved to be the pivotal point in determining the outcome of their arduous efforts in the creation of the 'reptilian cocktail.'
"Severus!" Hermione exclaimed running from the lab into the potions master's private chambers. "Severus where are you? You have to see this!"
Hearing a commotion from his study, Snape walked out of the bathroom with a wet towel flung casually over one shoulder and a mass of damp raven colored hair that dripped tiny beads of moisture down his back. He smiled when he realized the source of the disruption was the petite Gryffindor charms professor. A young woman that was obviously having a difficult time maintaining her composure as she practically jumped up and down, unable to contain her excitement.
"Severus, it worked!" she shouted running over and throwing her arms about the half-dressed man who gazed questioningly back at her. "The potion worked! Come on, you have to come see!"
Reaching for his arm she began pulling him in the direction of the lab where the irrefutable evidence of the potion's success awaited.
"Hermione wait," he said raising his voice in order to be heard over her excited jabbering. "I just finished showering and I'm not even fully dressed."
"It's just the private lab Severus," she argued with an air of impatience. "Who's going to see you?"
"Besides you?" he answered, gently disengaging her fingers from his arm. "Well let's see, there's always the chance of Potter or Weasley walking in or Albus…"
"Oh loosen up a little bit," she interrupted with an impish smile. "This is more important than misplaced dignity."
"Hermione…." He lectured in a stern voice while rooting his feet to the floor, "This is not about misplaced dignity. This is about propriety and it simply is not proper for a Hogwart's professor to gallivant throughout the dungeons in such a state."
Hermione managed to momentarily subdue her excitement as she deliberately stepped back and took in the sight of his bare torso that glistened with moisture in the dimly lit room. "I don't know Severus," she purred seductively, slowly running the tip of her finger in an imaginary line from the base of his throat and down past his navel to fasten securely into the waistband of his trousers. "I rather like this look on you."
"Hmmm, I wouldn't mind seeing you adopt a similar look yourself," he growled pulling her close and lowering his mouth to capture her lips in a searing kiss that left her sagging against his half clad body in an almost overwhelming mixture of need and desire. "You said you have something to show me?" he questioned, pulling back slightly with a look of challenge on his face.
"Oh I have plenty that I would like to show you professor," she answered, mischievously responding to the unspoken challenge created by his obvious sexual innuendo. She willed her own hormones to calm down and allowed her gaze to connect with his own as a playful idea entered her mind. Licking her lips in a rather erotic gesture, she used her body to lean in close until her mouth was within mere inches of his ear before breathily whispering, "And it all happens to be in your lab at this very moment."
Severus sighed as the young woman stepped back with a fiendish glint in her eye. 'So much for playtime,' he thought ruefully, knowing that Hermione was not about to be deterred from her mission of dragging him to the laboratory. Placing a quick drying spell on his hair, he tossed the wet towel into the laundry hamper and walked to his closet where he selected his usual long sleeved white dress shirt and black frock coat. 'Time enough for playing later,' he told himself as he followed the excited witch to the private lab.
"See?" she questioned while excitedly pointing to the aquarium that housed the infected snake from the previous night. "It works!"
Snape looked from the recently deceased corpse of the snake to the young woman standing next to him and marveled at her youthful exuberance. 'What a beautiful picture she makes' he thought to himself gazing upon her flushed cheeks and victorious expression. 'Her eyes sparkle with a radiance that outshines the brightest of stars. I only hope they retain such youthful innocence after her meeting with Voldemort.'
"See? The snake's dead, the potion worked, and everything will be alright," she assured him as she made a few notes in their research journal.
"Yes, the reptile is dead and the potion, along with the tracking spell, appears to have worked," he agreed cautiously. "However, keep in mind that this creature was comprised solely of reptilian DNA whereas Voldemort's bodily systems are comprised of both reptilian and human DNA. Even if we continue under the assumption that everything performs to plan and you are able to infect the Dark Lord with the potion, we still have to remember that the process may take longer and may in fact, not work at all."
"That's true but these are the most promising results we have seen so far and we are just about out of time," Hermione answered, her practical nature coming forth. "Even if we had more time, we could never guarantee that the potion would work because we can't duplicate the test subject to Voldemort's specifications. It just isn't possible and I, for one, am going to proceed under the assumption that both our potion and our plan are going to work. They just have to."
"Is that Gryffindor logic?" he asked with a mild sneer.
"It's whatever you want it to be," she replied with a serene smile, refusing to let go of her optimism.
"Very well then professor," he said placing the reptilian carcass in a container filled with preservation fluid for further study at a later time. "I would say that our next step would be to inform the headmaster of our success."
Flashing an exuberant smile, Hermione turned and preceded the potions master out of the dungeons and headed for the headmaster's office. She never saw the look of worry that crossed the wizard's face as his worst fears solidified into reality. The potion had worked and in less than forty-eight hours she would leave the safety of the castle and journey, alone and unprotected, to meet with Voldemort himself…
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"Ah Severus and Hermione, we were expecting you," the headmaster acknowledged as the two professors entered his office. Pointing to a couple of chairs, the elderly wizard motioned for them to have a seat.
'How does he do that?' Hermione asked herself, yet again wondering how Dumbledore always seemed to know exactly when to expect someone. Looking around the room she felt a sense of déjà vu as she saw Ron and Harry sitting in the exact same positions they had been seated in nearly two weeks ago when they first arrived at the school.
"I sense you have some good news for us perhaps?" the headmaster said smiling in much the same way a parent might smile when confronted with the accomplishments of a much loved child.
"Yes Albus," Snape answered leaning back a little further into his chair. "It would seem that the latest version of the potion has been a success."
"Indeed?" Dumbledore replied as his eyes twinkled in anticipation behind the rims of his glasses. "And would I be correct in assuming that it will be ready in time for the students' departure day after tomorrow?"
Severus glanced uneasily around the room and noticed that Harry had edged forward a little in his chair as he anxiously awaited the response to the headmaster's question. 'Unsurprising really,' the potions master thought knowing how much Hermione meant to the boy-who-lived. He observed the Weasley boy momentarily and was surprised to see that he had focused his attention on a patch of carpet by his feet, rarely making eye contact with either Hermione or himself. 'He knows,' Snape thought to himself hoping the volatile tempered young man wouldn't create a scene before Hermione departed. Having to worry about petty childhood grudges was the last thing she needed at this particular point in time.
"Yes, we believe that the potion will be ready to be delivered on schedule," Snape replied quietly.
"Excellent," Albus praised, his face a mask of pure pride. "Perhaps we should run through the plan once more?"
Noticing the look of reluctance on her lover's face, Hermione decided to pick up the conversation from that point in an effort to give the man a moment to realign the mask of indifference he usually displayed to the world. She knew that he still didn't approve of her insistence on being the person to deliver the potion but she truly felt it was the best option. Sending Severus would just be too dangerous because, while the polyjuice potion effectively transformed the drinker into another person, she could not be certain that Voldemort's magic surrounding the dark mark would be masked by the properties of the polyjuice. If they were wrong and Voldemort could sense the potion master's deception then he would be killed for certain and that was an outcome she just could not come to terms with. Besides, aside from Snape and herself, she trusted no one else to complete such a task. Well no one else except Harry of course but for obvious reasons that was just completely out of the question.
"Well, the plan is quite simple really," she began, her eyes resting momentarily on each of the men assembled. "I will impersonate Emily Saunton by means of a polyjuice potion for the duration of the Easter holidays. During that time, disguised as Emily, I will meet with Voldemort under the pretense of discussing her admittance into the Death Eater circle at the next initiation ceremony. I have spent quite a bit of time with Emily and I feel confidant that I will be able to pass any scrutiny without too much difficulty. At some point during the party I will get close enough to Voldemort and, under the guise of refreshing my perfume, I will use the atomizer to spray the potion on myself. The potion is designed to attach to only one type of reptilian DNA marker that is indicative to all reptiles meaning it will not harm anyone that does not carry reptilian DNA in their genome. So if other people inhale the potion it will not harm them in any way. After I have sprayed the 'perfume' the potion will enter Voldemort's system by route of inhalation and begin working over an undetermined period of time. I will return to Hogwart's the following day under the guise of continuing to study for my NEWTS and we will then track Voldemort's physical whereabouts and health in order to determine the best time and method of attack."
"It still sounds risky to me," Ron mumbled and frowned when Hermione shot him a venomous glare.
"You are correct Mr. Weasley," Severus told the young man with a slightly bitter tone to his voice. "There is any number of things that could go wrong."
Sensing the potions master's misgivings of the plan to send Hermione into danger alone, and agreeing himself, Harry decided to divert the direction of the conversation onto a more clinical path. "I understand how you will introduce the potion into Voldemort's system but I'm not quite clear on exactly what will happen once he inhales it."
"As Hermione mentioned earlier the potion will enter the Dark Lord's system and attach to a specific reptilian DNA marker. Over a period of time the potion will react with the marker to begin breaking down his immune system and vital organs by lowering his internal body temperature to a point just below freezing. This in effect will shut down the reptilian systems and since his human systems are co-dependent on the reptilian ones the result should be massive system failure throughout his body," Snape replied in a tone of voice that reminded Harry of potion class lectures.
"We've also managed to place a tracking charm into the potion that utilizes ancient magic. In order to make it undetectable to Voldemort, we broke the charm into several smaller parts and imbedded them into the potion at key points in the brewing process. Individually these spells will do nothing but collectively they will join to track not only his whereabouts but the status of his physical health as well. The problem lies in the fact that since Voldemort has such mixed DNA, we aren't exactly certain how long the process may take," Hermione concluded looking to the potions master for silent confirmation that she had not omitted any relevant details.
"The entire process occurred in just under twenty-four hours on the test subject," Snape remarked. "However since the subject was quite different in body mass and comprised exclusively of reptilian DNA, it is near impossible to predict appropriate timeframes with any clear degree of accuracy. We may see a significant difference in as little as three days or in as many as three weeks."
"So basically," Ron said popping a lemon drop in his mouth, "you're going to freeze He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from the inside out?"
"Yes," Hermione and Severus answered at the same time.
"But won't he know that something is wrong with him?" the redheaded man asked.
Snape began shaking his head in an affirmative gesture while giving the young man a small nod of approval at the question. "Yes, he will realize that something is wrong but by that time it will be too late. His systems will have begun shutting down and he will most likely conclude that he's contracted nothing more than a virus at the onset of the symptoms."
"Professor?" Harry asked and proceeded with his question once he saw the other man's head nod indicating that he should continue. "If the potion is going to cause Voldemort to become cold then couldn't he just cast warming charms on himself?"
"Or use a blanket?" Ron chimed in.
"No because warming charms are designed to warm the skin from the outside as would a blanket," Snape answered sending a small smirk toward Ron. "This particular potion, to quote Mr. Weasley, 'freezes' the Dark Lord from within."
"And what exactly is the reason that you want to 'freeze' him again?" Ron asked.
"Because reptiles cannot function in freezing conditions," Hermione replied. "Their systems slow down, their digestive functions are compromised and their immune systems become impaired. In short, their body shuts down on itself."
"Blimey, it sounds like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is in for a very bad time," the young man remarked after hearing Hermione's answer to his question.
"One can only hope Mr. Weasley," the headmaster solemnly replied. Looking over to Snape he asked, "Severus is there anything else we need to consider?"
"Emily Saunton will need to remain in hiding while Hermione is impersonating her. Some of the children are staying at Hogwarts over the holiday and it wouldn't help our cause if one of them reported to their parents that Emily had also remained behind" Snape replied.
"I will see to that particular matter myself," Dumbledore assured him. "Anything else?"
"Yes, I have modified the polyjuice potion so that it only has to be ingested once every six hours as opposed to every hour," he replied and turned to face Hermione when he heard her gasp of surprise.
"But how?" she asked in astonishment.
"It is a detailed process which I will explain to you later," he assured the young woman.
Nodding her head in agreement, she sat there looking at him with a mixture of surprise and awe. 'Will this man never cease to amaze me?' she silently wondered.
"Very well," the headmaster said rising from the overstuffed chair behind the massive desk. "Severus and Hermione, please finish your final preparations. We enact this plan on Saturday morning with the departure of the Hogwart's express."
"Yes headmaster," they both replied in unison taking their queue to leave while Ron and Harry also rose to make their exit.
Albus Dumbledore watched thoughtfully as the wizards and witch made their exit. He shook his head tiredly and walked over to stand by Fawkes. "What do you think my friend?" he asked the phoenix while stroking the bird's magnificent crimson colored plumage.
Hearing a series of squawks from the bird, the old wizard slowly shook his head as if acknowledging the magical creature's opinion. "Yes it is a very ingenious, not to mention ambitious, plan indeed. I only hope that Professor Granger will remember to exercise the utmost of caution in her dealings with Voldemort. It would be a terrible loss to many were she to perish as a result of this mission and an inconsolable loss to one in particular."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
TBC
Author's Note: I realize this chapter was primarily a recap of the impending plan however, considering that the plan has been discussed in small bits over a long period of time, I felt that it would be a good idea to recap before jumping into the mission itself. Also, I will be out of commission for a week or so while I tend to some medical problems. I hope to keep this story updated once a week as usual but if I miss next weekend's posting please be patient. Rest assured that I have every intention of continuing the story but it might be a week and a half or so before the next chapter comes out. As always, thank you so much for the reviews. They have been very helpful and they are a wonderful motivation to continue writing.
~Jules