Author's Notes: Wow! Has it really been that long since I posted an update? Life just sort of happened, and time got away with me, and days turned into weeks, and then to months. The story is close to completion, and no matter how long it takes me, I will finish it and not leave readers hanging.
I apologize to all who have waited so patiently for an update.
Chapter 64: Planetary Alignment
Hogwarts exploded with anxious chatter as students woke and the adults hurried towards Gryffindor Tower. They found Harry Potter, lying tangled in his sheets, delirious with fever. His scar was inflamed and raw like a fresh wound. He was whisked away to the hospital ward, and Madam Pomfrey set about lowering his fever. The Headmaster sent the heads of household to tend their students and resume their patrols. Once all of his students were administered a calming draught and sent back to bed, Professor Snape locked the dormitory door behind him and set out to find Headmaster Dumbledore.
He found the old wizard standing outside the hospital wing, absentmindedly twining his beard between his long thin fingers.
"It's Potter, isn't it?"
Dumbledore looked up, his eyes revealing a complex emotional state, and gestured for the professor to follow him into the ward. He walked to the bed where Harry lay, and smoothed the damp hair off of the boy's forehead.
"He's sleeping peacefully now. Poppy managed to bring the fever down, and he shouldn't have any lasting effects from it. He never truly woke up, but kept mumbling: "Not dead anymore" over and over again."
Professor Snape watched Harry for a moment and then turned to the headmaster.
"Something happened to me in the dungeons, which must be connected to Harry's night terror. We have to talk, but not here in the open."
Dumbledore nodded and folded his robe around himself and led the Potions Master up to his chambers. He started a fire in the fireplace, and poured two tall goblets of brandy. Dumbledore listened as the professor described the pain in his arm, followed by the brief inflammation where his dark mark had once been. The headmaster took in the information and assured the potions master that an elite group of veteran aurors was watching the Malfoy estate, and keeping him informed of every development. Until more was learned, the professor was to go about his normal routine and leave the investigation to Dumbledore and the aurors.
At midnight, the aurors working surveillance on the Malfoy estate felt a rush of dark magic sweep out from the manor house. Within seconds, cloaked figures stumbled out from the back entrance and began to disapparate as soon as they reached the garden. None of them bothered to summon their portcarriages. Something frightened them and put them on the run, and the aurors all agreed that it had to be very bad. After a quick discussion amongst themselves, they decided that it was time to pull a raid on Malfoy Manor. In the confusion, nobody had re-activated the security wards and the Aurors were able to charge in without any impediments.
They found no Death Eaters in the house. Just Narcissa Malfoy, her handmaiden, the cook, the groundskeeper, and a healing wizard. To their deep chagrin, the Aurors were informed that Lady Malfoy was experiencing a troubled pregnancy, and their unwarranted harassment could very well cost her the baby. Narcissa and her servants stood by the story that she was awakened at midnight with a pain in her belly, and fearing a miscarriage, she summoned a healer to her home. There were no cloaked wizards in the vicinity save the Aurors themselves, who were lurking in the woods, harassing a sick pregnant woman. With vehement threats of lodging a complaint of harassment with the ministry, the Aurors had no choice but to leave empty handed. Given the level of clout still carried by the Malfoy name within the wizarding world, the Aurors were recalled to the Ministry of Magic at dawn for an inquiry, giving Lucius a chance to slip back into the house undetected.
While it was a close call, Narcissa did not miscarry. Her womb was strong, and the pregnancy sound. The child survived the transfer of Voldemort's spirit, and would be born before winter's end. It was decided that with aurors snooping around the country estate, the household would relocate to a secret flat Lucius kept in Knockturn Alley. Flat was a misnomer. In reality, the secret residence took up the entire upper level of a large building, which housed several shops at street level. After delivering the Malfoys and their personal servants to their new hideaway, the groundskeeper returned to the country estate where he and the cook would remain until further notice.
Following an embarrassing public inquiry regarding the reported stalking and harassment of Narcissa Malfoy, the team of aurors was reprimanded and forced to carry out their investigation in deep secrecy. They were instructed to act if and only if they spotted Lucius himself. Narcissa was to be left alone. The word of her pregnancy took the gossips of the Wizarding world by storm. Could she really be carrying the child of her dead husband? Had she remarried or taken a lover? With pregnancy altering potions, it was indeed possible to slow down and speed up gestation to a more convenient timeframe, but most knew the risks of such tampering. After the botched raid, Narcissa had seemingly disapparated into thin air. Not even the sharpest gossipmongers had information on where she had gone. The consensus was that she had fled to her ancient family lands, where she had sent her son, Draco, to live.
Albus Dumbledore had spent sleepless nights going over the list of facts gathered about the recent incidents in the Wizarding world. He had a very good idea of what Narcissa and Lucius had attempted the night of the planetary alignment. But had they succeeded? That he could not determine. It all hinged on whether Narcissa's pregnancy would come to term. The couple was playing with tremendously dark and complicated magic and there was no way to predict the outcome.
Dumbledore wasn't sure how much his Potions Master had figured out on his own. The Headmaster reminded the professor that he was not to attempt to root out the Malfoys on his own, and made him pledge his word that he would not go looking for them when he made use of his weekends away from the school. After a few terse words about being left out of the search, he did give his word, albeit begrudgingly.
But, Dumbledore needed only to ask the students for their opinion on the professor's recent mood to figure out that something was troubling him deeply. Tensions were so high in the Advanced Potionmaking class that an argument over which lab partner botched the brew degenerated into a hexing match between two Slytherin girls. Which, to the groans and complaints of the class, resulted in extra homework for all. Harry and Ron both wondered why on Earth they had let Hermione talk them into signing up for the class. Who in their right mind would come back for more potions lessons after completing the basic requirements?
The incident at the beginning of the term brought the three friends back together. Ron, Harry, and Hermione seemed to forget the tensions and complications that strained their friendship. Everybody was on edge, not just because of Harry's nightmares, but because there was a general feeling of unease in the air. The conservative wizarding press refused to publish any speculations about dark magic reports. But, people all over wizarding Britain spoke in hushed voices about seeing evidence of dark magic or hearing of Death Eaters coming out of hiding. Even the seers were starting to speak openly about dark omens in teacups, cards, and crystal balls.
Professor Snape's first weekend away from Hogwarts had been spent renovating his new home away from home. At first, Mira was appalled at his choice but figured that a tower was better than a dungeon; at least it had windows and light. And really, it only rose a little bit above the neighboring buildings. It wasn't as if the place stood out like a beacon. The renovation proved to be tonic for both of their souls. Mira got to spend some time away from her cousin's home and the tailor shop, and the professor had something to take his mind off of the Malfoys.
The living area of the tower was a large rectangle approximately twenty feet wide by thirty feet long. A brick wall nearly bisected the open space, connecting both halves with a large arched opening. Wooden panel walls further separated the space into functional rooms. At one time it had held a small faction of pre-Auror warrior wizards who stood watch over the area. The largest room served as a barracks, the next largest served as a storeroom, and the two smaller rooms served as a kitchen and bathroom. With only minor renovations and modernizations, the watchtower was transformed into a spacious flat. A staircase wound its way in a tall spiral up the central core of the building, and chimneys secured with iron grates vented smoke away from the four large fireplaces. There was only one obvious way in and out of the tower; a pair of massive wooden doors hung with heavy iron straps. It was solid and secure, and the professor felt almost as safe there as in his dungeon quarters back at Hogwarts.
Aside from the few heirloom pieces of furniture and chest of household goods kept in storage in his vault at Gringott's, the professor had nothing to outfit his weekend home with. He adamantly refused to let Mira wander Diagon Alley alone, and insisted that he simply did not have the time to accompany her on the errand. Instead, he sent a firetalking message to a local furniture dealer who arrived early in the afternoon with a leather case in his hand. Mira sat fascinated at the makeshift worktable, while the merchant wizard removed what looked like dollhouse furniture from compartments in his case. She mistakenly believed them to be sample goods, and was taken by surprise when the professor picked out several pieces from the collection, and paid the man in gold coins. After the merchant bid them both a good day, the professor went from room to room, situating the miniature pieces of furniture and then re-sizing them to their natural size.
"How else would a wizarding furniture salesman do it?" She remarked to herself, stepping out of the way so that the professor could work.
As the weekend drew to a close, the professor stood back and evaluated his handiwork. The tower was as secure as he could make it. Only a massive onslaught would be able to penetrate the layers of security wards. And after that, there were always the booby traps set to snare anybody clever enough to actually make it into the building. And just in case, there was always the hidden trapdoor in the ceiling of the kitchen storeroom that led to the roof and an easy escape by broomstick.
While Mira dismissed his preoccupation with security as a touch of paranoia, the professor took the omens and portents of dark magic very seriously. He'd decided not to tell her about the fleeting stab of pain in his arm, where the dark mark had once been. She was already upset about the limits imposed upon her freedom, and the professor saw no reason to upset her further. When whatever was in the works actually came to pass, he would make sure she was brought to safety. Until then, he was content to enjoy his first steps towards independence, even if it was only for two days out of the month.
Not far from the ancient watchtower, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy spent their days cloistered away in a secret flat in the heart of Knockturn Alley. At night, when the healer came to administer potions to his wife, and monitor her pregnancy, Lucius put on his hooded cloak and visited the back alley pubs where former Death Eaters were known to congregate. Even those who dismissed him as a madman took him seriously those days. All had felt the burning of the mark, all had felt a connection with their master the moment his spirit entered the body of Narcissa's unborn child.
Lucius explained his plan to all who would hear him. The child would be born soon, and with the extensive use of age accelerating potions and by sheer force of the Dark Lord's will, he would develop in a mere fraction of the time it took a normal child to grow from infancy to adolescence. It was Lucius' job to gather all of the remaining Death Eaters together and recruit Voldemort sympathizers into a new army of wizards who would stage a coup on the wizarding world as soon as the child came of age. In the meanwhile, they were to bide their time and remain underground. In order for the plan to go off without a hitch, the uprising must come as a total surprise. That meant, no muggle-baiting, and no public use of dark magic.