Caution: contains character death. As I said in the first chapter, this is a dark story. Don't like it, don't read it!

9. The final attack.  

The Dark Lord never interrupted their research, and thus Severus was surprised when Malfoy entered, late one evening, and told them to report to the sick room that night. Of course, sometimes the Death Eaters who went on the raids did get cursed or otherwise injured, but it had never been part of their duties to look after those. The Dark Lord didn't even ask him to brew the regular healing potions, he had others to do that kind of routine work. That they were called in to assist had to mean something big was going to happen. And there was only one really big stronghold left that he could think of.

Hermione came to the same conclusion. While he opened the cabinets, checking the inventory, she said, "This is it, then."

"It doesn't have to be."

"Oh, name one other place he could plan to attack and expect resistance this serious," Hermione snapped.

Severus sighed. He should've known better than to try and protect her. She was too smart to be fooled, and she was strong enough to handle whatever came. "There isn't one," he admitted. Even the Ministry wouldn't qualify, Voldemort held enough sway with the government he would not need to launch an open attack there.

"So he didn't wait for more people."

"No." That was a surprise to him, he had thought Voldemort intended to gain a good number of Muggle-born wizards, then strike at the school. But of course, that would be what Albus would expect, too. Just waiting long enough for the rumor to get out he was recruiting, then strike, made for a good surprise strategy.

Hermione bit her lip as she checked the beds in the tiny room, then settled down to wait. Severus didn't have that kind of patience, he paced instead.

It wasn't long before the first casualty came in. Terence Higgs, one of his own students just a few years ago. The young man was covered in burns and Severus took a jar of orange anti-burn salve, while Hermione got out a pain-relief potion. It wasn't a curse, these looked like flash-burns from a ward. Flaring up was usually the last thing a ward would do as it went down.

Soon there was no time to think, as several other injured stumbled into the room. All young men; Adrian Pucey, the Derrick boy, Kevin Entwhistle, and Vincent Crabbe. Severus wondered if Voldemort sent the young men ahead as human shields so the experienced Death Eaters would remain unharmed longer, or whether they themselves had been so eager to go up front. Probably some of both; he remembered his own, earlier, stint as a Death Eater and he had been in the front lines then. Although he had been careful, too, and never received a serious injury. Which was more than could be said of these boys.

Still without a wand, there was no instant healing of broken bones, but Skel-Restore worked as well, if a little slower. None remained after receiving first aid, there was no room here. Those who could, walked out, the others were floated to a guest room by one of those who were mobile.

Just as Hermione helped Entwhistle off the bed, Flint arrived with Macnair on a floating stretcher, all the bones in his legs gone. Even so, the man was grinning widely.

"We got him, I got him," he announced. "Ah, Severus, hate to tell you but your good old friend the Headmaster is dead."

Years of practice allowed Severus to keep his expression blank, but inside, he felt a stab of pain. For many years, Albus had been the only one he considered a friend, and the man had done more for him than he could ever repay. And now he had to heal his friend's killer. For just a moment, he was tempted to poison Macnair. It would be so easy. And totally useless. Nothing they could do here would change the outcome for Hogwarts.

Hermione handed him the bottle of Skele-Grow. She had gasped when Macnair announced Dumbledore was gone, but she was also getting good at hiding her feelings, and once again looked calm.

They put Macnair on one of the few beds, and Severus couldn't help but feel some satisfaction when the man was clearly uncomfortable. Re-growing a part of the skeleton hurt, and pain relief potion couldn't be given in combination with Skele-Grow.

For a while, no one came in. Likely, when Dumbledore had fallen the entire school had been taken. Severus glanced at Hermione to make sure she was okay. She looked back with a glance at Macnair. She wasn't, but she would not show anything in front of the man. Suppressing a sigh, Severus started to go through the bottles of potion they had used, putting some back in the cupboards and rinsing the empty ones.

He was almost done when the others came in; those with minor injuries, not severe enough to leave the raid. Draco was one of the first, cradling a burned hand but elated. Severus didn't have to hear the words to know Hogwarts had fallen. Nott, Goyle, Avery and number of others followed, all cheering.

They weren't really needed for this, usually the Death Eaters would help themselves to the potions, but no one had told them to go back to their own quarters, and besides, Severus hoped to hear a little more. Who had been killed, and who had lived. He refused to ask, and the Death Eaters did not volunteer any details. Most made sure to grin at him, but neither he nor Hermione took their bait.

In the end, it wasn't one of the Death Eaters who told them. It was Poppy Pomfrey. All the Death Eaters but Macnair were gone from the infirmary when Malfoy came in, floating a stretcher with Randolph Lestrange on it, with Poppy immediately behind them.

Severus was relieved to see she was alive –after Albus, she was probably the one he liked best, and she had healed him more times than he cared to count, before Voldemort was certain he was a spy. But he was distraught by her appearance.

The older woman wore a torn night shirt, covered with a ripped and bloody cloak. Not her own blood, judging from the way she moved. Her hair was unkempt and her face tear-streaked. She stared in shock when she saw him and Hermione.

"Severus, you're alive," she gasped, "Hermione!"

"Your patient," Malfoy reminded her.

With a start, she turned back to the stretcher. Clearly, Lestrange had been seriously injured in the battle, too seriously to be transported here immediately. Severus wondered how the Dark Lord had convinced Poppy to take care of him, the usual method didn't work well when she had to be able to do her job right then and there. Well, he'd ask her later.

Even as distraught as she was, she was capable. She ran her wand over the still form of the Death Eater, using several spells Severus had never heard before. He wasn't a medi-wizard. He knew everything about healing potions, and quite a bit more than the basic spells that were also used, but nowhere near as much as Poppy. He soon decided Lestrange was lucky she had survived, he or Hermione would not have been able to save him, even if they'd had their wands.

Poppy worked automatically, requesting potions which Severus and Hermione handed to her, then using spells again. For a good half hour, that was all they did. Then, Poppy stepped back from the stretcher and carefully levitated Lestrange onto the nearest bed.

"He will live, but he should not be left alone."

"Good," Malfoy said.

"The others?" Poppy asked.

"Take what you need," Malfoy said, pointing at the potions standing on the shelves, then reaching for her wand. "But I'll hold this when you don't need it."

Poppy nodded and selected some of the healing potions. She didn't clarify and Severus didn't ask, but he assumed this meant there were others who had survived. Some good news, at any rate. When Poppy had what she needed, Malfoy took her out of the room.

They returned about an hour later, and this time Malfoy showed her into the room, waited for her to check on Lestrange, then left her.

As Malfoy closed the door, Poppy stood next to Lestrange's bed, wide-eyed and shaking.

"Severus, Hermione, I still can't believe you're here… Oh, Merlin, he killed them. Albus, Harry, Minerva." She held her head in her hands and started to sob.

To Severus' relief, Hermione put her arm around Poppy and led her to a chair. He could handle Hermione but he didn't think he would know how to console anyone else. So Potter was dead, too. Then there really was no one left to stand in the Dark Lord's way. And Minerva. Sure, they had argued all the time, but he respected her. He would miss their quarrels. He sighed, then set his face in his customary scowl. Lestrange was out cold but Macnair was very much awake and he would not show distress in front of the man.

Hermione handed Poppy a calming draught. She glanced at Macnair and her eyes were only a little moist. Later, Severus knew, she would cry, when they returned to their quarters. He wished they could go there now, and take Poppy along, but they couldn't, not as long as Lestrange needed watching.

"Sh, cry if you need to," Hermione told Poppy, pulling up a chair next to her and holding the older woman. Severus noticed she didn't say it would be al right, or any such nonsense. It wouldn't be al right, but there wasn't anything they could do.

"I can't believe I'm here," Poppy heaved after a while. "I had to help him."

She gestured at Lestrange, then took a deep breath. "They came as most of us had gone to bed. I don't know who woke up first, the wards went off but I could already hear the shouts and the fighting as I ran out of my rooms. Albus hadn't expected an attack so soon, we heard You-Know-Who had started to recruit Muggle-born wizards."

Suddenly she stopped and looked in horror at Hermione. Hermione nodded.

"We'll tell you later."

For a moment, it looked like Poppy would pull away from Hermione, then she gave a helpless shrug and continued. "He'd expected the attack would not happen until You-Know-Who had greater numbers. Of course, we had the usual defenses up, with Sirius and Mundungus watching the wards, but they still took us by surprise. They knew how to get through the wards, somehow. I don't know if we could've stopped them even if we had known they were coming."

Severus heard a chuckle from Macnair. Fortunately, Poppy did not notice. How had the Dark Lord known how to dispel the wards? Severus suspected some of the seventh-year Slytherins, but he had been gone too long to be sure. Of course, this was one thing Poppy would not have an answer to either, so he didn't ask.

"It all went so fast. By the time I made it to the Entrance Hall, some of the Death Eaters were already inside. Sirius, Hagrid and Mundungus lay near the front doors, and Argus was down as well. Sirius was moving but seriously injured and without his wand. Filius, Albus, Minerva and Harry were on the main staircase. We managed to take a few attackers out, some went down and others fell back. The rest of the staff joined us, but we could not drive them back out the doors. Then, then…"

Poppy choked and closed her eyes before continuing. "One of them got Albus. I don't know how he got through the shield we had put up. But he did, the shield went down and he shot the killing curse at Albus. Albus countered with a deboning spell, but it was too late."

Severus glanced at Macnair, who, unfortunately, was still wide awake and laughed aloud. He glowered at the man.

This time, Poppy did look up, eyes widening again in realisation. She buried her head in her hands as she broke down crying. Macnair looked smug.

It was a while before she found her voice again. "Seeing Albus fall… it was such a shock. Harry stepped up to the front and we tried to keep going but I think we knew we'd lost already. Filius lost his wand to an expelliarmus spell, and Minerva was hit by a Petrificus Totalus. Then they all concentrated on Harry, and the shield buckled completely. Remus tried to leap in front of him but there were too many of them. They hit Harry and Remus with Cruciatus, then some of the Death Eaters levitated them both forward and took their wands. The rest of us… we didn't last long."

Poppy swallowed hard. "They rounded us up in the middle of the Entrance Hall, all of us who were still alive, stunned or not. Never made it further into the castle, and they didn't have to, they had all of us. You-Know-Who went around, first to Harry. He…" She choked up again before she managed to continue.

"He didn't use magic. He... he cut his throat. He butchered him like a Muggle killing an animal."

Hermione sucked in her breath at this, and Severus, while not changing the expression on his face, snarled inwardly. It made sense, after all the times Voldemort's killing spells had backfired on Potter, but this was still, yes, beastly.

Poppy shook her head and her voice was flat when she spoke again. "Then he went around, simply murdering those he chose. Minerva, Filius, Remus and Tonks. He didn't even hesitate, just picked them out and cast the killing curse. Then he announced that any of the rest of us were welcome to join him, if we wanted to live."

Severus sighed. Filius' ever-present cheerfulness had annoyed him, but it was hard to believe he was gone. And Remus and Tonks, too. He hadn't got along with any of them, especially not with Remus, but he hadn't wanted to see them dead. So many of his colleagues, gone.

"I wish he had killed me then," Poppy managed. "I didn't want to give in, but Malfoy approached me. He'd been checking the dead and the wounded, and found him," she gestured towards Lestrange.

"He told me to heal him. I refused. Then he… he said that if I'd help the Death Eater he'd let me heal the injuries of the surviving staff, and I, I relented." She hung her head as if ashamed.

"We all do as we must," Severus said.

"Please don't feel guilty," Hermione told her.

Poppy looked up, looking at her and Severus. This time she did pull away from Hermione, so quickly the chair fell over as she stood up. "How can you say that, either of you! Severus, Albus always trusted you."

Hermione bit her lip and Severus sighed again. Even after all this time, he was not free of feelings of doubt and guilt himself. They might not have their wands, but he had an entire potions lab. Was he a coward for working for the Dark Lord instead of taking any of the thousands of poisons he had access to, or even blowing up the lab and a good part of the manor? He had considered it, but he never did, and he knew he would not. But even though he recognised the feeling, he still resented hearing the accusation from someone else. With some difficulty, he kept himself from snapping at Poppy, she really didn't need that right now.

Fortunately, Hermione answered. She was better at keeping her anger in check, although she sounded a little strained too. "We didn't submit easily, especially Severus. No one could have held out as long as he did."

Macnair laughed. "Why don't you tell her all about that?"

Hermione flinched and Severus glared at the man. "About how you almost killed me?" he replied coldly. "You never told me what our Lord did to you for messing up like that."

That at least shut him up.

Poppy started to cry again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Hermione got up and put her arm around her again. "I know. It's al right."

Severus looked at the Medi-witch. She was still in the same torn night clothes and cloak she had worn when she arrived, and looked terrible. It was also hours past midnight.

"Hermione, why don't you take Poppy to our quarters so she can clean up a little. And try to get some sleep, both of you. I will stay with Lestrange and I will call if anything happens." He wished he could give Poppy some Dreamless Sleep potion, but if something happened with Lestrange, he would have to be able to wake her.

Hermione nodded, then led Poppy out, leaving him alone with Macnair and the sleeping Lestrange.