Rising

By Dimgwrthien

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series, nor do I own the Internet or any of these sites. Deal with it. Please don't sue me because I'm only borrowing these characters without permission.

Author's Notes: Edgar Allen Poe and Dawn of the Dead get a tribute here. Thank you, both of you!

I'm very sorry for the slow updates. Life has been a bit stressful, and I've been busy. I hope you all like this chapter enough to forgive me!

Remus took a moment to recognize the face of the boy who entered the room, coughing violently. The brilliant white-blonde head seemed red from caked blood and mud from a ground he had spent too long on. The robes, brilliant emerald with a silver snake border in honor of his Hogwarts house, had been torn and ripped almost beyond the point of recognizing the boy as the child of a pureblood, an aristocrat.

"Professor Snape," he greeted, coughing a final time and trying to straighten up, though he winced. Remus felt certain that the robes hid broken ribs. "I - I need to -"

Severus' eyes widened and he dropped the small amount of Floo Powder that remained in his hand. "Draco. What are you doing here? What happened to you?"

Draco Malfoy fell against one of the chairs, not even taking the time to make a face at the tattered material. His face remained screwed up in pain. "There's been an accident. Lots of accidents."

Moving forward, Severus grabbed the side of Draco's face and brought it closer to his own, looking him in the eye. Remus remained quiet. Severus seemed to be trying Occlumency, but something seemed to be wrong by the look on his face.

"Did they put any spells on you?" Severus asked quietly. Remus almost pointed out that it seemed obvious by the burns of spells over Draco's face, but Draco seemed to understand what Severus meant. Slowly, he raised a hand to his head and rubbed it. Severus nodded and pulled out his wand.

"I'm going to Stun you for a moment," Severus explained, letting Draco lean into the chair. "Then I'm going to try and remove the spells."

Draco nodded silently and Severus waved his wand slowly, almost gently, so that Draco's eye slid closed.

"Lupin, don't talk," Severus ordered. Remus bit back from saying that he had not been talking in the first place. Instead, he watched as Severus' eyes narrowed over the boy, watching closely, waving his wand and murmuring.

Obviously, Remus realized then, Severus was searching for something like a memory charm or anything that messed with Occlumency. He took a few steps back, not wanting to interrupt.

After nearly ten minutes of trying, Severus leaned back in his chair, sighing. "I don't think it's a common charm. It's not even one I know and I've been studying Occlumency for years."

"Nothing left?" Remus asked quietly. He had to admit, whoever preformed the spell had to be talented to get it away from Severus' knowledge in the subject.

"I'm sure I checked everything, Lupin," Severus muttered, sighing. His voice lost the angry tone he always kept with Remus, but took on a resigned tone. "I'll wake him." Another wave of the wand caused the boy to blink sleepily and stare up at Severus.

"Professor, I don't know what they did -"

"Can you remember anything at all?" Severus asked in a low voice.

"Just a woman," Draco answered, shaking his head. "All I can remember if her face and she sent them to take me out."

"What did they look like?" Severus asked, voice rising as though excited for an answer. Draco said nothing. "Well?" Severus shouted, glaring the boy down.

"Draco…" Remus walked closer to the two and looked Draco in the eye. Severus started to seethe at his side, angry at Draco for not answering. "Do you remember what she looked like? Take your time."

Draco gave Remus a long look, looking at him in distaste. Finally, he answered quietly, refusing to look at Remus' face, "She was - was tall. Black hair, light eyes, crooked nose." He shook his head and let his voice trail off.

Remus nodded and clapped a hand on Draco's shoulder gently. The boy shied away for a moment, wrinkling his nose, but stopped. "Good, Draco. Severus, I think I know who he's talking about."

"Who?" he asked, staring wildly at him. Remus almost laughed at the look on his face. If Draco had still been at Hogwarts, he could only imagine Severus' look at having his favorite student under a spell he could not break.

"Chastity Valentin," Remus answered simply. "She was the one with the werewolves."

"Is she one of them?" Draco asked, looking frightened. His face paled more than ever and he tried to move from Remus, but the grip tightened.

"No. She's just trying to bargain with them." Remus added nothing else, hoping to drive away from the subject. "You remember nothing of what she said?" Draco shook his head. Remus sighed. "Severus, I know that she's up to trying to replace Voldemort -"

Draco let out a small whimpering noise but fell silent only seconds later.

"She's going to try and replace him or something. She said that we'll be loosing this war." Sighing once more, Remus pushed his hair from his eyes. "Can you think of anything?"

"We should just wait it out," Severus responded. "Unless she's very dangerous."

Remus remembered her words and the bitingly cold snow. "A bit," he answered meekly. "I think it would be best to either hide from her or attack straight out."

Severus gave him a long look before answering slowly, "We're just going to have to attack, then. I've never approved of hiding." When Remus opened his mouth, he cut over, "No matter what you all believe, Lupin, I never said I enjoy shying away from them. I merely stayed in the shadows."

Saying nothing else, Remus let go of Draco and glanced at the fireplace. Behind him was the sound of cracking.

"Wotcher," came a female's voice. Remus glanced back and saw Tonks staring at Draco. "You're Lucius' son, right?"

Draco stared at her for a moment without answering.

"Aren't you related?" Remus asked quietly, glancing at Tonks.

She nodded. "Yes. Not too closely, though. What's he doing here?"

Remus could easily see the remnants of an old grudge in their family even though they never spoke to each other. "He came here to tell us something. We're trying to figure it out, though."

"Malfoy," she said in a commanding voice, "tell us what you need so that we can -"

Giving her a subtle push, Remus managed to silence her and tried to send some sort of message about how she should not start up an old fight, but knew he failed when she glared at him.

"A spell was put on him and we're trying to break through it," Remus responded. Tonks nodded and turned back to Draco.

"I'm the one breaking through it," Severus corrected, giving Remus a stern look. "I wouldn't trust you with anything relating to the mind."

Remus did not respond to Severus, but glanced at Tonks again. "We're not sure of what it is. However, he seems to recognize the person who put the spell on him."

"Who?" she asked eagerly.

"Valentin, the same one who was trying to rally up Greyback's pack. This is going to end up just like with Voldemort," he sighed. "We have to just keep a step in front of her at all times and that's it."

"It won't be too hard," Tonks added in, eyes growing wide as she checked through her robe pockets until she pulled out several sheets of parchment. "I found a few things on her. She's easy to figure out." Handing one of the papers to Remus, she read off of another one, "'Worked at the Ministry in the Werewolf Registry. Transferred to the Vampire Liaison Office. Soon filed as missing after not appearing in public since a vacation in 1982.'" Tonks glanced up at Remus. "She seems to like that sort of thing. All of her records are in places like the Centaur Office, controlling magical creatures, all of that. She'll be after vampires now."

Remus glanced at the paper he had. The picture on it showed a woman with a fuller face than what he had seen her with. Her eyes looked wide and almost happy, though he could not bring that word to relate to her. A faint smile played on the moving picture's lips as she glanced to the side.

Once he handed it back, Remus said slowly, "She's specializing in Dark Creatures then? Do you suppose they've seen her already?"

"It's a possibility," Tonks answered, glancing at the photograph once more. "She went missing years ago. It's possible she just went off to join the Death Eaters and acted as their grouper."

Severus joined the conversation, voice low and slow. "I've seen her before." Tonks and Remus stared at him, waiting for more. "I've never known her by name, but I know that the Dark Lord knew who she was."

"She must have been a good supporter," Remus muttered. "I mean, she's gotten Death Eaters on her side now."

"They don't like her. They like her views only," Severus answered. He rolled toward them and ripped the photograph from Tonks' hands. "She supports the same thing as the Dark Lord. Her battle plan could not be more different, though. She thinks wasting time on real battling is a dreadful idea. Take the time to plan a good attack and win the first time."

Draco glanced over Severus' shoulder at the picture. His face contorted in an expression near fear when he saw it, and he backed away from the paper. Severus quickly handed it back.

"Don't - don't do anything," Draco pleaded, voice broken. "Please don't. She does horrible things -"

"No one cares what you have to say now!" Tonks hissed. Remus grabbed her by the arm and left the room with her.

Once the door to the bedroom was closed, Remus whispered, "Please, Nymphadora. You're going to have to be calmer with him."

"No," she answered simply.

"I'll leave you in here, then."

"Go ahead and try."

Remus sighed. "Just wait until he's gone, alright? He just needs to recover. She's a horrible woman. He needs time to heal."

She did not answer, so Remus glanced at once more and opened the door, leaving the room. When he entered back to where Severus and Draco where, he found Severus sitting next to Draco, who had fallen asleep.

"Tired?" Remus asked, staring at the boy. He cradled the blanket close to him like a lifeline as his chest rose and fell with deep breaths.

Severus glanced at him. His expression looked softer than ever before, and he glanced back at the sleeping figure, stroking a bit of hair from his eyes. Remus took a step back from them, almost ashamed of being there.

Hours later, Remus found himself sitting at a desk he propped up in the extra bedroom, glancing through every last sentence on the papers about Chastity Valentin. Tonks lay sprawled on the bed, glancing through a book she found on one of the shelves.

"Chastity Simone Valentin. Werewolf Registry. Vampire Liaison Office. Last seen at age twenty-five. Parents died when she was twenty. From what other people put down, she was quiet." He turned back to Tonks. "Was anyone you know working in any of those offices back then?"

"Kingsley's too young. Mad-Eye wouldn't have seen her. Amelia's dead. Only Scrimgeour himself, and I don't think it's a smart thing to ask him about any of this." She shrugged a turned a page. "No one I can think of who's still alive…."

Remus dropped the papers and turned his chair completely to face her. "Could that be it? She could be killing off anyone who remembers her so that no one can recognize her -"

Tonks sighed and dropped her book onto the bed. "Remus, I think you're obsessing too much. Get some sleep and ignore it, alright? We'll get to her when we get to her." Once she saw his face, she added, "It's not that I don't care. God, Remus…." She ran a hand through her spiked hair, raising it even more onto the tips. "God, you have no clue how much I care. It's just -" She hesitated and spoke slowly, as though choosing her words carefully. "It's just that we can wait until - No. With Voldemort, we acted, but we didn't hound him down in minutes after figuring him out, did we? We have to act the same. It worked last time."

Relaxing a bit in his chair, Remus nodded and glanced once more at the papers. Tonks sat up, tossing the book lightly onto the desk, where it hit a corner and fell onto the floor nosily. "We haven't seen each other in so long," she whispered, touching his hand. "And…"

Remus did not need to hear it. He stood up, sitting on the bed with her.

She cried on his shoulder for what seemed like hours. Remus could only sit there, rubbing her head, whispering small things to her. We'll be safe. We can make it through this. She hasn't had as much time as Voldemort. She's young.

By the end, Remus could only assume Tonks had dried out of tears. She clung onto him for a small while and he stopped whispering.

"I wish this damned thing would just end for good," she murmured into his neck. She looked beautiful there, body twisted as she leaned into him, eyes closed and reflecting the light on her eyelids. "Wasn't it enough before? We already lost everyone…."

Remus had no answer to give her. Nothing would comfort either once the thought was spoken. Dumbledore died. Sirius died. Harry died. They strongest protectors and best friends were gone and now it would start again.

Once she let go of him and let herself be tucked into the bed with her book, Tonks continued to read with defocused eyes, so Remus could tell that she was not paying attention to a single word in the book. He walked out of the room quietly, telling her that he would be back in a moment.

He entered the other room, seeing Severus holding Draco up by under the shoulders. His expression seemed rather blank, if not distressed. He shook Draco slightly, muttering under his breath.

"Severus?" Remus asked, moving forward into the light. Severus let Draco slump back onto the chair, laying him out neatly as though he were a rag doll.

"What happened?"

Severus did not answer as he smoothed Draco's hair back again and stopped talking. Finally, he glanced up at Remus.

"He's dead."

"How?" Remus asked, still staring at the boy. He had not yet moved, and he felt sure that Severus was not lying to him.

"He's dead! Isn't that enough?" Severus growled. Remus remained silent. A moment later, he added in a whisper, "I think his lungs crashed down. I can't tell yet. It may have been after effects from the curses."

Remus paused and watched Severus as he glanced back down. He did not appear as depressed as many would, but Remus saw the differences. No biting insults, no angry glint in his eye. Just a normal human, torn apart by a war and a dead child in his arms that he cared for for seven years.

"I- I think we ought to bury him," Remus whispered. Severus moved out of the way, allowing Remus to carry Draco off the chair. The boy seemed surprisingly light and cold in his arms. He could think of nothing to say, and felt almost relieved when Severus broke the silence.

"The spot in the back would work well."

Remus furrowed his brow. "You seem to have chosen the place quickly."

Severus smirked, but not in amusement. It was a sarcastic smirk that he seemed to anger himself with. "Lupin, you would not believe the number of days I've woken to choose the place I want to die in. I think Draco would appreciate this spot."

"Don't talk like that," Remus scolded, but with no real force. It seemed obvious that Severus would do so. His job in the war had been the hardest and he could have died at any second.

"Here," Severus said in a low voice, motioning to an area. Remus pulled out his wand, but Severus set out a hand and pulled his own out, waving it once. A pile of dirt moved to the side, revealing a perfect hole in the ground. Remus glanced at him and gently laid the boy into the hole, careful to keep his limbs in order. He took a few steps back, still staring down.

Draco looked like a sleeping man. He looked as though he could have had a family that cared for him and he had only been too young and in the wrong place at the wrong time. The two older men knew better.

Severus waved his wand once more, letting the dirt settle as though it had never been touched. Before Remus could look at him again, he saw that a gravestone appeared over the dirt.

It looked simple, with only a name and dates on it. Severus scrutinized it once more and added a snake to the top of it, curling around the script of the name. Then, he moved away without saying a word. Remus remained at the grave for a moment, raising his wand very slowly, and added one more line to the grave.

My spirit not awakening, till the beam
Of an Eternity should bring the morrow.

He followed Severus back inside to find him already missing from the room. Not bothering to look for him, Remus returned to where Tonks was and told her the news.

Saying nothing, Tonks leaned into him again. "It's alright," he whispered. "It's from the last battle. I promise - he's the last one."

He could not quite bring himself to believe his own words as he whispered them over and over again to her.

Remus and Tonks saw nothing of Severus for the rest of the day, but only muffled sounds filtering through the door. Ginny left the house often in the time that she was awake and feeling well after the poisoning in order to visit Ron and Hermione in St. Mungos, where both moved either for treating or visiting. It had become like a second home to her.

Neither of them objected to the absence of their guests any more than they usually would have. The two of them spent their time together, either digging up information on Valentin or sharing more intimate moments.

One night, the two of them sat outside, ignoring the papers on the desk for once, and sipping cool draughts of wine that Tonks had picked up earlier. Both stayed close under a thick blanket and watched the starlit sky, the large and waxing moon spreading a light over them.

"One more night," Tonks whispered, looking toward the horizon rather than the moon.

"I know," Remus muttered, taking a sip of wine. His head had hurt for most of the day from the oncoming transformation.

"Are you going to be alright?" Tonks asked him. Remus nodded and said nothing. "Alright." She sighed and glanced up again. "It just seems too peaceful tonight for that to happen, you know."

"I've experienced that more times that you would have thought." Remus' eyes swept around the landscape, seeing the snow, glancing around the stars, until he saw Draco's grave again from the corner of his eye. Something seemed different about it, but he dismissed it as the snow.

Tonks seemed to have noticed, too. "Remus, was Malfoy's grave like -" She broke off. The air seemed suddenly cold as she whispered, "Why has it been dug up?"

Pushing her off of him, Remus stood up and glanced over at it. The dirt had been thrown over the grave, spreading in uneven piles as though the person who dug him out had been in a hurry. The footsteps onto occurred to Remus once he broke his gaze.

"Get in!" he yelled at Tonks, pushing her to the door. She hesitated and only moved when Remus forcefully shoved her into the door. She grasped the handle with shaking hands and opened it, still staring out at him.

Something grabbed Remus' back and he turned in time to grab the hands, twisting them enough to stop the person from moving.

Draco.

The boy's eyes seemed blank, filmed over with white, and the hands felt unnaturally cold and thin. Remus tried to say something, but his breath caught when he heard the strange grumbling and moaning sounds from Draco.

The Inferius version of Draco grabbed Remus' throat blindly, and Remus could feel every last freezing bone as he tried to break away. In desperation, he grabbed his wand and cast a quick charm that let out a small amount of fire near Draco's face. The Inferius threw himself back, making odd sounds of distress.

Tonks opened the door again, eyes widening as she saw the sight before her. "Remus! Get in here -" She reached out to grab him, but Draco beat him to the door, managing to grab Tonks, breath on her shoulder as he reached to bite.

Throwing himself into the Inferius, Remus stopped Draco from biting her just in time. Severus entered the room, wand out, wheeling himself as quickly as possible. "Draco -?" he tried to asked, but Draco bowled himself into Severus. Tonks whipped out her wand, aiming a spell at Draco, but not before his teeth dug into Severus' flesh.

Remus managed to get his arms over Draco, securing his jaw so that he could not bite at him. Tonks cast another quick spell, freezing the Inferius so that he fell limply from Remus' arms.

"What should we do about him?" Tonks asked, looking frightened. Remus traced his gaze to no Draco, but Severus, who was clutching his shoulder and wincing in pain.

"Kill me," Severus muttered through a tightly shut mouth. "Now. I - don't want - to become - one of - them."

Glancing back at Tonks, Remus found that her look was as blank as his own.

"Now!" Severus hissed, opening his eyes for only a moment. "Do it!"

Tonks shook her head and moved backwards into the wall, eyes still wide. Remus moved forward to Severus, touching his hand on the injured shoulder, whispering, "We can still try to heal it, Severus - There's always a cure to these. It just takes time -"

"Kill me!" he hissed again, and Remus saw that his eyes already started to frost over with the blank whiteness that took over Draco's eyes. "I don't want time. Just kill me and burn us! Serving that monster is worse than death could ever be!"

Murder seemed so much more difficult than Remus could have ever imagined. All he comprehended was the sound of the last breath escaping Severus' lungs and the stifled sob from Tonks.

Then there was the sliding of the bodies as they moved them outside. Remus could say nothing more when he watched the bodies burn, never to be controlled by Chastity Valentin again.

Ginny stopped by later, asking what happened to Severus. Remus said nothing, but merely stared at the floor, still in shock. Tonks managed to choke out a reply, keeping her voice as even as possible as Ginny's jaw dropped.

The story seemed much less emotional from her point of view, Remus considered.