An Alchemistical Solution

"You can only support yourself on something that resists you." (Proverb)

Eleanor tried to stifle a sneeze as she bent over a glass jar filled with finely powdered iron filings. The alchemist's study at Malfoy Manor was reeking with fumes from a bronze cauldron perched over a small, but very hot fire. She carefully ladled three spoonfuls of the iron into a flat porcelain dish and passed them to a tall black-clad man who was busy mumbling to himself and stirring the bubbling contents of the cauldron.

"Careful now, pour them in very slowly. We don't want this to explode. Could take out half the house," warned Severus Snape, not lifting his eyes from his concoction.

She looked at him with raised brows as she carefully added small quantities of the powder. "Thanks for telling me something to steady my hands here," she quipped, but the potions master didn't answer.

Eleanor sighed inwardly. Even though Lucius had left them a little while ago to see off the aurors and last remaining guests and to take his leave of his sister, things between the Malfoys and the Hogwarts professor were still awkward. Severus seemed embarrassed about the confessions he had made under the truth serum, and Eleanor still felt disturbed by the fact that her husband had tried to brutally kill the man a mere few hours earlier.

"Don't burn your sleeve," snapped Snape suddenly, and Eleanor drew back quickly. "Damn stupid outfit for potions-making," he snarled and briefly looked up at her.

She turned away to hide her annoyance and placed the empty dish on a side table. "Well, if you remember, I originally planned to just get handfasted today," she said.

"Yeah, looks like the Dark Lord had other ideas," he replied. A moment later he impatiently waved at her. "Come on, hurry up, I need the melted beeswax and the ground carnelian now!" He obviously enjoyed bossing her around.

She felt too tired to even pretend she took objection to his behavior. All that mattered now was to finish cooking the salve in the cauldron and make plans for their next steps in countering Voldemort's attack and rescuing Draco.

After Lucius had finally been convinced that Severus did not have a hand in the poisoning incident or in his son's abduction he had reluctantly agreed to accept the potions master's offer of help. They had given the teacher a glass of pepper-up potion and Eleanor had used empathicura to counteract some of the aftereffects of the curses. Then they had left the storage room and gathered in the dining hall to discuss their strategy.

Severus had pulled back the sleeve of his robe and had revealed his own Death Eater mark, the dark lines of the design crisscrossed by the jagged white scars of a knife. Eleanor compressed her lips. The cuts still spoke of the vicious determination with which the man had once tried in vain to excise the stain of his allegiance. Strangely, his forearm had a somewhat yellowed and glossy look to it and she reluctantly stretched out a finger to touch it.

"What's this?" she said as she encountered a quite cool, waxy surface instead of the expected warm softness of skin.

Severus had spoken to her rather than to his old fellow Slytherin. "It's one of the strongest shielding preparations known to alchemists. Under normal circumstances the Dark Lord can activate the mark through is will alone, and would immediately know where any of his Death Eaters happen to be. This way he can follow you and Lucius anywhere you go." His hand slid over the mark. "With this, the connection is broken. You could move unobserved."

Lucius leaned back in his chair. "That's helpful, but where would we go?" He looked expectantly at his wife.

"Cologne," said Eleanor with some conviction as Snape covered up his arm again.

The potions master raised an eyebrow at her. "Wermuth practiced in Basel all his life," he said. "Why Cologne?"

Eleanor absent-mindedly picked the remnants of orange blossoms out of her hair. "The more I read about the mirror in Lucius' notes and remembered incidents and stories from my childhood the more I am convinced that the Mirror of Battle left Switzerland with my grandmother."

Now Lucius looked at her in surprise. "You told me once your ancestral home got turned into a museum after your uncle's family was killed. Surely the mirror would have been discovered and inventoried. Its whereabouts would not have been a secret all these years."

The red-haired witch leaned forward. "I thought so, too, in the beginning. So I next assumed that the mirror must have come here with my mother as she was Matilda's only child, but over the last few years I have been searching my old home, my father's bookstore and my vault at Gringotts so many times to locate various things that I would have noticed something like an enchanted mirror. I am sure that the item is still in Germany."

Both Lucius and Severus seemed unconvinced.

"That's pure conjecture," said the Hogwarts teacher dismissively.

"Well, there's something I've been meaning to test, I just haven't had the time over the last few weeks," said Eleanor. She clapped, called a house-elf and gave him instructions.

A few minutes later the magical creature reappeared staggering under the weight of a thick, leather-bound volume, which he plunked down on the dining-room table in front of her. Eleanor opened it and turned a few leaves. Eventually she pushed the book over to the two wizards.

Lucius craned his neck and looked at it.

"It's an old photograph of the insides of a wardrobe," he said with a puzzled and disappointed look on his face. "It's pretty untidy and there are two bats in it, fighting."

Eleanor smiled at him. "What can you see on the top shelf?" she asked him.

Her husband sighed, but decided to humor her.

"A wooden chest with some runes carved into it, a pile of books, an old pointed hat, some folded robes and – I guess that's a monkey skull?"

"Severus, what do you make of it?" she asked.

Snape shrugged. "Yep, that's about right," he said, "Though I think that's a kappa skull."

Eleanor's smile turned triumphant. "There is an object there in the left corner that looks like a round hat box with an Eye of Ra painted on it. Neither of you sees that?"

Both men looked again and shook their heads. "No, the corner is empty," said Lucius with conviction.

She pointed at the photograph. "That's it," she cried excitedly. "That's the mirror. The size of the box corresponds with the mirror measurements that are indicated by your research, Lucius. And the blood of kin spell prevents you from seeing it! It's still somewhere in the house, maybe even in this very spot where it was photographed about forty years ago. We just have to pick it up. And now that we are free of Voldemort's surveillance, it should be a walk in the park."

Lucius and Severus exchanged a meaningful glance.

"What!" she asked impatiently.

Eventually it was the blond wizard, who answered her. "Well, for once, the Dark Lord can still track our magic. He is more powerful than you think, and his spell location abilities are great. As soon as we perform spellwork he will be on to us, whether I have my mark covered or not. Secondly, do you think the German Historical Wizarding Society will let us go into a museum and walk out with a proscribed magical weapon, just like that? How do you think we'll even get to Germany without being discovered?"

Eleanor sighed and slammed the photo album shut. "Oh, come on!" she said. "Muggles travel all over the place every day without a shred of magic. We can get to Cologne without a single spell within a day. And what the German Historical Wizarding Society doesn't know can't bother them."

She looked at her husband. "You lot broke into that place six years ago, when George Lepidus tried to find Falco Sartorius' homunculus for the Death Eaters. Don't tell me you've gone all virtuous or something and were going to ask nicely this time!"

The blond wizard shook his head. "I didn't break in," he assured her, then smirked as he remembered. "I have an alibi that involved our bedroom, certain curtain fastenings and some vorax potion, as you may recall." Even Eleanor had to smile now as she remembered their first night together.

Snape cleared his throat, obviously annoyed or embarrassed by their banter. "So, I gather you do want some of the shielding salve?" he asked impatiently.

Both Malfoys turned to him, nodding, and the potions master next rattled off a long list of ingredients that he would need in order to cook up a batch.

So they had split up with Eleanor assisting her former colleague in the alchemist's study and Lucius clearing Malfoy Manor and re-warding the place. The less potential witnesses to their plans existed now, the better.

Eleanor was pulled out of her reveries when the contents of Snape's cauldron started hissing and bubbling rather viciously. "Douse the fire," he called to her, while he continued stirring.

She pulled out her wand and quickly murmured an extinguishing spell.

The noise of a closing door alerted her, and as she turned she saw Lucius stalk back into the room. He looked grim as he approached them and slammed a piece of parchment on the ingredients table.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well, they've made their next move," he said, hatred coloring his voice. "An owl just delivered this."

With some trepidation Eleanor picked up the slightly crumpled vellum and immediately had to bend down as a strand of hair slipped out of it and fell to the floor. She picked up the white-blond tresses and knew as she held them between her fingers that they could belong to no one other than Draco.

With a grim expression she studied the curled and frayed ends and shook her head. "They were ripped out rather than cut off," she said and felt Lucius' hand on her back as he leaned in.

"Prisoners of the Dark Lord are not treated with consideration," he said flatly and touched the proof that his son was now in the hands of his worst enemy.

She next concentrated on the note that had contained the hair.

"To the warlock who has betrayed us,

As you must know by now, we have something you value, just as you have acquired by handfasting the right to something we value. We therefore propose an exchange: the Mirror of Battle against your only son and heir. Once the mirror is in your possession we will contact you to arrange an exchange. If you wish to behold Draco again in your life, you and your wife will comply. Do not believe you can betray us again. Our eyes and ears are everywhere.

L.V."

Eleanor looked to the side to catch a glimpse of her husband's face. She felt troubled by the fact that nowhere in the note could she see the promise that Draco would be returned to them alive. However, she refrained from voicing that concern to him when she saw the mix of impotent anger and anxiety in his pale grey eyes.

His arm tightened around her. "I know," he whispered hoarsely, seemingly heaving read her mind. "He doesn't promise he will keep him alive. – But I have to believe…"

"As long as he is unsure of us, he won't kill him," she reassured him. "He knows that once he's destroyed our hope of getting him back alive we will not give him what he wants. I'd rather break the mirror into a thousand pieces than let him have it if he murders Draco."

Snape joined them holding out a small flat container filled with a thick, honey-golden substance. It smelt vaguely of beeswax and pine resin.

"There's the shielding salve. Be careful when you apply it, it's still quite hot. Make sure you cover every bit of the dark mark, and refresh it regularly. You'll find that it holds up to water quite well."

Lucius took the vessel and sniffed it. "For once you've actually cooked up something that doesn't have an infernal stink to it, Severus. I'm impressed." he said.

The potions master turned away without a comment and busied himself with the ingredients that he had used, re-corking bottles and putting the lids back on jars and boxes. Eleanor joined him. "Thank you for this," she said, and finally managed to catch his eyes. He looked grim.

"Just get him back," he replied, his voice still somewhat rough. "He shouldn't be made to pay for Lucius' mistakes. You better be right about the location of the mirror – and you better be fast. The Dark Lord is not very patient. Any error on your part and Draco will die for sure."

He scraped the rest of the salve out of the cauldron and into a large glass jar. His normally fluid movements seemed rough and jerky to her. "Try to get word to me when you have retrieved the mirror," he said. "I may be able to help you."

"Help us, how?" asked Lucius, his voice still tinged with suspicion.

"I believe the Order would come to your aid in this," Snape said calmly.

"Dumbledore!" hissed the blond wizard dismissively.

The next second Eleanor staggered back in surprise as the Hogwarts teacher suddenly whipped around and grabbed his former schoolmate by the lapels of his robe.

"Listen to me, Lucius," he snarled. "One time in your life listen to me! Get it into that arrogant, stubborn, aristocratic head of yours that the Order of the Phoenix are probably the only people these days that are standing between you and annihilation!

If Draco really does die, do you want to be able to tell yourself he died despite the fact you did everything you could, or that he died because of your damn pig-headed pride!

I swear to you, if I find that you didn't do everything in your power as a father to save the life of your son, I will ask Lord Voldemort for the privilege of torturing you to death. And if everything in your power means asking Dumbledore's aid, then you will get on your knees and beg him, even if I have to hold you down myself, so Merlin help me!"

Lucius jerked himself out of Snape's grip, his mouth twisting in fury. He took a step back and laid his hand on his cane. "Take care now, Severus," he threatened. "If you think that losing Draco has weakened me, or that accepting your help has put me in your debt, you are mistaken. You should remember who you are talking to. You should remember your place."

The dark-haired man laughed mirthlessly. "My place? I know my place, but I doubt you still remember yours. Come and find me in my place when you are prepared to face reality." He paused and made ready to leave, but in the door to the laboratory he turned back to them once more.

"Do it for Draco," he added, his voice almost pleading with them now. "For once, Lucius, do the right thing."