Are they still killing Muggles like that girl? she asked softly, fluffing up her feathers as insulation against the chill breeze. Almost the entire complement of Death Eaters was here this night, which was odd. Snape had explained that on any given night a half to a third would not be present, being busy carrying out their orders across Europe from the Dark Lord.
Not as often, he replied. Not as much time for idle pastimes like that--Voldemort has them on killing crew probably four meetings of five. They're not just fooling around with killing a few random people, Hermione. He's out for blood, and lots of it.
She nodded in reply, grasping the sill tighter with her feet and watching. Voldemort looked towards a small, locked door in the dungeons. "Bring him," he said curtly to two of the minor Death Eaters. They scurried to do his bidding, opening the door to the pitch-black cell. One cast a Lumos and grabbed the figure who tried to rush out of the cell, babbling pitifully.
They grabbed his arms, for it was a man, and hauled him upright, dragging him as he screamed and cried for mercy towards the Dark Lord. "My Lord," she finally recognized the voice of Heathcliff Nott, "I am innocent!" Nott's eyes darted around wildly as he struggled with the two Death Eater pinioning him.
"Laryngius," Voldemort hissed, pointing his wand at Nott. "Silence, you filth. You were seen passing information to Aurors by three of my loyal Death Eaters, and I have long had reason to suspect you. Oh yes, Nott, I have heard whispers from your fellows of suspicion for some months now. Do not deny your treason to me." Despite the Charm on him, Nott was silently still screaming in protest.
What? I thought Nott was one of his most devout followers, Hermione said, confused.
I'll explain, Snape said grimly.
"I leave him to you, my Death Eaters, to exact your vengeance for his betrayal," Voldemort said to the ranks of Death Eaters with a cold, lipless smile.
Half an hour later, Nott could barely stand from the torture he had taken. He was twitching still from Cruciatus as he was lying on the floor, and his dull, unfocused eyes suggested that he had been driven mad by the prolonged bouts. Bleeding, broken, and writhing in pain, he barely noticed when Voldemort carefully stepped around the pool of blood beneath his body and crouched over him. "Thus always," Voldemort said with an unholy glow in his red eyes, "to traitors." He placed the tip of his wand between Nott's eyes and spoke the Killing Curse. "Avada Kedavra!" Nott's tortured body slowly relaxed in death as Voldemort stalked back to his place.
"Let this be a lesson," he said, eyeing each Death Eater in turn. "You do not betray Lord Voldemort and live to tell the tale." He smiled malevolently. "At least, not for long." A nervous laugh went through the ranks. "Now get this filth out of here," he said, gesturing to Nott's body. The Death Eaters hurried to obey.
He called for no deaths that night--apparently the execution of Nott had slaked his bloodlust for the evening, or so she hoped. If there had been orders given at another time to be accomplished tonight, there was no hope of them stopping it. Still, it was awhile before Hermione roused herself enough to fly away, aware of Snape following her. She had seen the death of Perpetua MacIvor in Snape's memories, but if anything, Nott's death had been even more brutal. Hardly a bit of skin had been left unmarked by burns, bruises, and cuts. They hadn't even left him the dignity of dying without being violated--two of them had had seen to that.
Back in her quarters at Hogwarts, they resumed human form and she wordlessly gestured him to a chair upholstered in a cream-and-blue stripe fabric. He settled wearily, and his gaze immediately met hers.
"Nott was innocent," he said frankly. "Of betrayal of Voldemort, anyhow."
"But…what? How, then?" she said, feeling almost incoherent. "How did they see him passing information to Aurors?"
He sighed, smiling briefly when Crookshanks hopped onto his lap, yowling, Well, what's one Death Eater less? Crookshanks turned and settled down, urging Snape to pet him. He obliged.
"Three years ago," he began quietly, "Lucius called Draco home over the Easter holiday to meet the Dark Lord as a prospective Death Eater. That you know. However, while he was home, he managed to secure hair from more than a few of the top Death Eaters." He looked at her again. "Over the past year, he's gotten up the determination to go out under the influence of Polyjuice Potion as a Death Eater and start subtly undermining that Death Eater in the minds of his or her fellows."
"But being caught with an Auror?"
"Once the rumor is widespread, he then makes certain the 'traitor' is caught red-handed. Mister Weasley is very obliging about being in the right spot to meet Draco in disguise and be seen perfectly clearly by the Death Eaters Voldemort has sent to trail and report on what's going on." He smiled wryly. "At the next gathering, the 'traitor' is captured and then executed. No trial, no appeal, no offers to testify under Veritaserum." He raised an eyebrow and studied her. "Does that offend your sensibilities?" he asked quietly.
"It's somewhat underhanded," she said quietly. "But it's necessary. Severus, if we caught any Death Eater, he'd be subjected to the Dementor's Kiss without hesitation--that is the law now, courtesy of Fudge. We both know that. So they'll die," she sighed, "in any case. They are the enemy, after all. And there is a certain irony in making Voldemort deplete his own forces and weaken his cause."
He nodded. "So far, we've eliminated McNair, Avery, and Nott in that manner. Draco is hard at work on the Lestranges and," another wry smile, "Lucius right now. But it'll take more time and evidence to convince Voldemort of their betrayal--they're much more in the inner circle than those three were."
She was surprised to hear about Draco's actions. Though if she had cause to be burning with the eagerness to get out there and help eliminate the evil, he must have at least as much, if not more. "I'm sure his knowledge of them," she nodded, "allows him to be convincing playing their parts."
"Very much so. He considered becoming a spy as you and I have, but figured that this was as helpful. And truthfully, it's good to have somebody else working in another area: three spies is good, but we do need people doing other things." The corner of his mouth lifted for a moment and he chuckled. "And I personally don't think he'd want to go through the Animagus transition and find himself a ferret."
She laughed outright at that. "Speaking of, if he's working closely with the Aurors to set up traps and such, how is he working with Mad-Eye Moody?"
"Oh, it took about six months for him to trust Draco, but he's grown quite fond of him since Draco handed over Avery." At her questioning glance, he sighed, looking down at Crookshanks for a moment. "He had personal grief against Avery," he explained shortly. "His daughter was Gerald Meridius' wife. And when he heard what had been done to her before she died, and found it was Avery that had done it…" He was silent for a moment. "He tried to attack Avery directly at a Death Eater gathering right after he found out. That was when he lost his eye."
"I see," she said, heart going out to the gruff old Auror she had come to know during her year at Baker Street. "He works a lot with Ron?"
"Indeed. Once Mister Weasley became convinced that Slytherins don't eat small children for breakfast, he's proved to be quite helpful to Draco. He still doesn't know about you and I…the less an Auror knows, the better. Even the strongest will can't stand up to Veritaserum if Voldemort were to capture them."
She nodded, secretly glad that Snape approved of Ron though. "And Harry?" she said with a sigh. "Has he shown any signs of interest?"
"Not a one." He petted Crookshanks idly, looking away for a moment out the window. "But had I been touted as the savior of the wizarding world since I was eleven years old and been expected to kill Voldemort the moment I was out of Hogwarts, I too might have thrown that burden off my shoulders and run like hell as he has." He shook his head. "I just hope he comes to his senses," he murmured. "I don't think we can win without him. All we are doing is holding on, day by day, and waiting."
She wasn't actually surprised at that admission, now that she had seen behind his acting. "What does Professor Dumbledore say to that?" she said softly.
"He keeps blaming himself for putting too much upon Mister Potter," Snape sighed. "He merely says that when Harry has grown into his role that he knows he will resume it." He smiled wearily. "Fond of comparing Mister Potter and I. After all, for three years after I was out of Hogwarts, I was a Death Eater before I realized what a wrong turn I had taken trying to escape their image of me…rather the same, he says."
"And you came back to your senses," she reminded him. "Their image of you?" she queried carefully, wondering if he'd tell her about his past.
"That's enough for tonight," he said brusquely, perhaps realizing that he had maybe said too much. "Good night, Hermione." With that, he headed for the door as she lifted the ward with a sigh, knowing she'd get nothing more from him.
After he was gone, she went to the tin of Floo powder on the mantle and used it to call up Draco Malfoy's room and stepped into it. She apologized hastily and averted her eyes from him, as he was clad only in a towel. She noticed he had gotten a tan from his hours working outside. "I came to tell you," she said, staring out the window, "that they executed Nott tonight."
"They caught him?" Relief was palpable in his tone. She let her eyes go to the Snidget in a cage beside the window, smiling at its melodic chirping. The room was full of magical creatures, suited to his teaching position. "Good…Weasley and I had to really act up. I was one step short of shouting loudly that I wanted to pass over vital information to the Aurors so those idiots hiding in the trees would hear and understand. All right, I'm decent."
She nodded, turning to him as he shrugged on his robes over his shirt and trousers. "Severus says you're setting your father up," she said quietly.
He grimaced. "Don't make me sound like some sort of Oedipus, Hermione. Did you know that I was conceived at a Death Eater gathering?" he said shortly. "A ritual to create a child destined for darkness, and of course I was to be used to springboard Lucius to greater glory. I owe him nothing."
"And your mother?" she asked.
"She's sent me an owl or two in secret, telling me to keep safe. She hates him. Arranged marriage between them," he said, taking the Snidget from its cage and idly petting it. "Thank you for telling me," he said quietly.
She nodded and exited his room, heading back towards her own. As she was stripping off her robes, there was a sudden knock on her door. She took off the ward and answered, and found Callisto Mycenae standing there. "Professor Dumbledore's called all the staff for a meeting," she said, turning on her heel and hurrying towards the meeting room. Hermione reset the ward and chased after her.
Dumbledore, Draco, Snape, and Sprout were already there. Over the next five minutes the rest trickled in, tiny Flitwick being last. Dumbledore cleared his throat and held up a piece of parchment. "This was delivered to me about twenty minutes ago. There has been a coup at the Ministry. Cornelius Fudge has been deposed and sent to St. Mungo's for treatment." A sigh of relief ran through the room. Fudge's neurotic actions were worrying almost the entire wizarding public these days.
"Who is the new Minister of Magic?" Sprout spoke up.
Dumbledore was silent for a few moments. "They have declared Arthur Weasley for the job," he said quietly. "I will make the announcement tomorrow." There was a cheer for that. Weasley had been working behind Fudge's back for years in helping the resistance, and his new position lent a great deal of aid to the war. But she could have sworn there was an odd look in Dumbledore's eyes when he said it, and the image stayed with her even as she fell asleep in her bed an hour later.