Chapter 24: But a fool

"Where are the others?"

Mr Weasley's whispered question made Harry flinch. He was momentarily confused, torn between the scene on the Hogwarts grounds and the reality at Grimmauld Place. With some effort he drew his gaze away from the bubble and looked into Arthur Weasley's eyes.

"Hmm?"

"The others."

"I … I don't know", Harry lied. "Probably still upstairs, trying to catch some words. They didn't think it wise to come down here."

That answer seemed to satisfy the man who had acted as an uncle to Harry over the last years. The thought that his children had neither the nerve not the guts to act against his explicit orders seemed to be reassuring to him.

"Listen, Harry", he went on in a low voice, "I know how you feel and I know it's a ghastly thing to do. But we really have no means to stop this. I mean, Albus Dumbledore cast the spell and I don't think anyone in this room is capable of matching up to his powers."

Gingerly he rested a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"The only thing we can do now is watch and wait – and maybe alter our perspective on the grounds of what we learn."

That didn't feel at all reassuring. In his mind Harry started searching for a possibility to break that spell. He wished he had paid more attention to Snape's lessons. He wished he had studied more in general. He also wished that Hermione was a little bit closer to him right now.

A door was flung open violently and in stormed two hooded figures. Narcissa Malfoy staggered down the stairway, her hair tousled, her nightgown in disarray. Her body was rounded slightly, showing signs of her being with child once more. She had reached the entrance hall in time to see her husband fling his mask to the side with violence.

"Damn! That should not have happened!" he yelled.

Behind him the other man closed the door quietly before taking off his own mask. Carefully Snape placed it on a small table and turned towards the young pregnant woman.

"I'm sorry, Narcissa. Our entrance was perhaps a little over-dramatic. Just go back to bed, we will tell you everything in the morning."

His words had sounded kind, his eyes, however, showed signs of anger as a flashed an angry look towards Lucius. The young Lord had stormed on into the parlour and was just pouring himself a large drink.

"How could they escape, Severus?" he yelled through the open door at his companion.

"Five of them! How could that happen?"

Narcissa touched the dark haired man shortly on the arm before joining her husband in the adjacent room. Taking a deep breath Snape followed her.

"Has the Muggle-hunt gone wrong, dear?" the young Lady Malfoy asked while stifling a yawn. One hand on her tightening belly she gently lowered herself onto a couch near the fireplace. A swift swish of her wand set the logs aflame.

Lucius was pacing up and down in front of the window now.

"This had nothing to do with Muggle-hunting", he spit out through gritted teeth.

"This was much more important. We needed to get rid of these Ministry people, quietly and yet finally. How else are we going to get our own people in? How else are we going to gain enough power to do away with the Ministry all together?"

He stopped his pacing in front of Snape.

"Five, Severus! Even one would have been too much, but with five of them on the loose there is no chance this will go unnoticed. They will warn the others."

Sighing heavily he sank down beside his wife.

"Until now no one has been able to track us down. Nobody who saw us lived to tell the tale. This is serious, eagle nose."

Snape walked carefully across the room and sat down on a small bench in front of the fire.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked quietly.

"Do we pack the whole plan up and run for cover? Do we lay low and hope they won't find us? What, Lucius?"

The voice that answered him did not belong to Lucius Malfoy.

"We will do nothing of the sort, my dear Severus."

Snape jumped up and twirled around to find Lord Voldemort staring at him from the doorframe that led to the entrance hall. After a moment's hesitation he sank down on one knee, trembling slightly.

"Master", he muttered.

Lucius had dropped onto his knees as well, pulling the slightly unwilling Narcissa with him. She kept her balance with difficulty and placed one arm protectively across her belly.

"Tonight's failure", Voldemort put an irate stress on the last word, "is most unfortunate, yet by no means fatal. We will simply have to alter our strategy."

Casually he gestured at Narcissa to get up from the floor and sit down again on the couch. One hand grabbed Lucius' chin and raised the blond man's face towards him.

"If we can't do it subtly, we will do it spectacularly. From now on the most powerful wizards will be our prime targets. We will attack one at a time with our full force instead of getting drawn into little battles all over the place. And once we have eliminated foes like Albus Dumbledore, who is going to stop us?"

Snape stirred uncomfortably and tried to get a better look at Voldemort's face, but his own hair kept blocking his view.

"What about the prophecy, my Lord?" Lucius whispered. His body was shaking slightly, though there was no way to know if this was due to thrill, fear or revulsion. When Voldemort released his grip on him he kept looking up at his master. The Dark Lord smiled.

"Don't worry about the prophecy, Lucius. I am very close to a solution for this hitch and once I have worked out the details I will ask you for whatever help you will be able to provide."

Finally the blond young man lowered his gaze and Voldemort strode lazily over to the fireplace where Snape was kneeling. He sat down on the bench the young man had occupied moments earlier, thereby positioning himself behind his servant's back.

"And now, Severus, tell me: How could those five witches and wizards escape? From what I have heard they were almost all on the side of the building you were guarding?"

There was no anger or threat in the voice, still the dark haired young man trembled a little.

"Forgive me, my Lord. I don't know how it could happen. Nobody got past me and I didn't see them flee. They must have found another way."

With a quick movement Voldemort grabbed a handful of Snape's black hair and pulled his head back painfully. Still sitting on the low bench he brought the young man' face close to his own, forcing his servant's spine to bend and twist in a most uncomfortable way.

"And I assume I just have to believe you, don't I?"

Still the voice was calm and even, almost casual, like he was talking about nothing more important than the latest Quidditch results or an article in the Wizarding Gazette.

"Whichever way my Lord wishes to pursue to verify my words is surely the right one", Snape managed to say even though his current position apparently didn't leave him with a lot of breath.

"Good boy", Voldemort said softly.

A wand appeared in his hand as if from nowhere and he whispered "Legillimens". Snape tensed up, drawing a sharp breath. It only lasted a couple of seconds. Voldemort nodded and released the strand of black hair, patting the shaken Snape patronizingly on the shoulder.

"I appreciate your trust and devotion, Severus. I will find out who messed up this operation and then you will have the honour and the pleasure of joining me in his punishment."

"Thank you, my Lord", Snape whispered, his eyes fixed on the carpet under his knees.

And once more Snape was staring down, at his feet, at a slightly worn rug. A fire crackled once more in the background and a voice asked. "Is that all?"

Snape nodded and looked up at Dumbledore who was standing beside his desk, stroking Fawkes' feathers and munching on something that might have been a sherbet lemon.

"So, I am a prime target", he chuckled.

Snape frowned.

"This is not funny, Albus. It has been pretty bad so far and it will get a lot worse very soon. Too many things are happening at the same time and I am not involved in all of them. I will do my best, but there will be so many things that I don't know."

He sounded frustrated and threw the headmaster an angry look. Dumbledore smiled his benevolent smile and rested his back against the tabletop.

"Nobody expects you to know everything, Severus. You deliver invaluable information as it is. And you saved the life of people that are very dear to me."

The smile disappeared and the twinkling in the shiny blue eyes intensified.

"Don't think I don't know about the risks you are taking. Almost I feel grateful for your early Occlumency lessons, otherwise there would be no way for you to get through this alive. However, I still think it would be safer if you tried not to get involved any further in this. You could get enough information just by staying at Malfoy Manor and …"

Snape practically jumped out of his chair and faced the older wizard, fire in his eyes.

"No! Lucius must never know. Whatever information I get and give to you, it must not be traced back to him or Narcissa. We agreed on that. Albus, you promised me that!"

Dumbledore sighed quietly as he took a careful step towards the younger man, guiding him back to his chair with a gentle hand.

"I promised that and I will keep my promise. But you cannot save him, Severus. Once the end comes you will be on different sides and only one of you will be on the winning team. Don't be fooled into believing that his connection with Voldemort has gone unnoticed. Many people suspect him. And you, by the way."

If this last statement had been meant to provoke a shocked reaction, it was unsuccessful. Snape merely smiled dryly.

"It has been a while since I felt anything else but a fool, Albus."

Harry quietly etched his way back towards the staircase. Mr. Weasley had rejoined his wife at the other end of the room and was staring into the bubble with a fascination that was shared by everyone present in the room – except Harry.

When he had the feeling that he was close enough for the others to hear him he whispered over his shoulder:

"There should be books in Sirius' room still, also some on Dark Arts. Try to find something to break that spell."

He heard muffled voices as the others seemingly discussed who would have to miss out on what was happening and check on those books. To Harry it was pretty obvious who would lose that fight and after less than a minute, as expected, Hermione crawled out from under the cloak, threw him a nasty look and tiptoed carefully up the stairs and out of sight. Harry dared to draw a very relieved breath.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Snape was fuming with anger. His fists were clenched into Lucius' cloak as he held his friend pressed against a wall in what seemed to be a library. The blond man didn't do anything to defend himself and merely faced the other one with eyes that seemed to regain a little of their old warmth.

"That was not the way it was planned. It got out of hand. You know Bellatrix …"

"Out of hand?" Snape yelled. "She was … they were tortured into insanity, Lucius! And for what? They didn't know anything of value to us."

Lucius sighed.

"I knew that you and she were … something … of an item in school. That's why I didn't say anything. Severus, they both are … were close to Dumbledore. It's him we are trying to get. Sacrifices have to be made for the higher purpose; you know that as well as me."

For a moment it looked like Snape was going to hit Lucius. His hands released the other man's garment and clenched into fists that trembled dangerously. Lucius still didn't try to get away or protect himself.

"I tried to stop her, but I was too late. I'm sorry, Severus."

Finally Snape's hands sank down and rested at his side limply. For a moment he looked as though he was going to cry. Lucius pulled his friend into a tight hug and whispered into his ear:

"I made sure that they were found as soon as possible. She will live."

With that he released the other man and walked past him. In the doorframe he stopped once more and said quietly, without turning around:

"I am truly sorry, Severus."

Somewhere outside a baby cried and a female voice started singing a soothing lullaby.