Unlikely Partners
Chapter 22
Severus stepped out of the shower, his thoughts in overdrive about the coming days and weeks. With the discovery of Narcissa's correspondence with Bellatrix, the Order was going to have to step up its offensive action. Under no circumstances could the Order let Narcissa return to Voldemort and succeed in winning his favor. Lives could be lost if they failed in stopping Narcissa from getting back to her lord and master.
But was the Order ready for such action?
Though Severus wasn't exactly a pessimist, he seriously questioned the Order's efficacy at preventing Narcissa from gaining the upper hand.
"Damn," he breathed, his voice less than a whisper.
If only there was more time.
But the fact of the matter was that there was precious little time to prepare. And no amount of wishing would change the situation.
Severus supposed that if the Order truly put its best effort into the operation, Narcissa would no longer be a threat.
Severus wrapped his towel around his waist and moved to the tall cabinet across from the mahogany queen sized bed. He opened the cabinet's doors and gazed at its contents mounted on brackets in the back wall.
A hunter's crossbow lay against the dark wood. The weapon was crafted out of ebony, and was powerful enough to punch a hole through a sheet of steel.
Severus's eyes drifted to the right of the crossbow where a slim black leather quiver held two expensive crossbow bolts, their ends capped in diamonds. Severus reached into the cabinet and lifted the quiver from its hook. He turned the quiver over and tilted the bolts into the palm of his hand.
They had cost him a good bit of coin, but he'd willing paid the rather exorbitant price. He dropped the quiver on the floor and lifted the deadly arrows to his face, so that he could closely examine their mercilessly sharp ends.
Fired from the crossbow with a true aim, one of the short silver arrows would end a life. And Severus was quite adept at shooting when he needed to be.
Though technically only a single diamond tipped bolt was needed to kill the phoenix Fawkes, Severus was taking no chances. He'd ordered a pair of bolts just in case when using the crossbow on its intended target the first shot went wide.
Not that he thought that was likely, but Severus was a man who made a point to always be prepared.
For lack of preparation could easily prove fatal. And Severus Snape had no intention of losing his life for lack of judgement.
The Order had no idea that he had the crossbow.
They all thought that he was going to bet their lives on his experimental power weakening potion and young Potter's ability to throw a good Avada Kedavra.
Severus snorted derisively.
He'd do nothing of the sort.
The truth was, Severus knew potions weren't going to be the key to Voldemort's downfall. And yes, he'd lied to the Order and Hermione about his efforts in preparing a potion that would weaken Voldemort.
He'd lied about all the work he'd done in developing the formula for the potion. The ingredient information pages he'd written were something required of every potions master in Britain prior to the last examination to gain a master status.
It wasn't the most honorable thing he'd ever done, but then Severus wasn't exactly known for his outstanding moral scruples.
And he hadn't done it without having his reasons.
There were too many factors that could and would stand against him if he divulged the entire truth.
It wasn't productive to have the Order in an uproar about his proposed plan, the only plan, in his opinion that would guarantee the end of Voldemort's reign.
He had lied to maintain peace within the Order. He could not afford for the Order to stand against him. Right now they suspected nothing out of the ordinary and Severus fully intended for things to stay that way.
Remus and Minerva thought they'd found something useful in the ancient Roman text on how to indirectly destroy a Horcrux. Severus knew that for the potion Remus had read about to be effective, the potion had to be made within hours of the Horcrux being destroyed.
Severus wasn't sure why that specific fact hadn't been mentioned in the text Remus had been reading. Perhaps what had been considered common knowledge in wizarding Rome was considerably different than what it was in modern wizarding Britain. Certainly, certain written information could have been lost over the centuries. Severus had only known about this fact because Albus had imparted it to him before he died. Where the headmaster had learned of it, Severus could only guess.
Albus had told him many things before that fateful night at the Astronomy Tower. And Severus didn't have to be told twice about the merits of keeping certain information a secret to prevent certain Order members from going at his throat.
Their trust in him was shaky enough as it was. The last thing he needed was to rock that boat hard enough to make it capsize on him.
He could only imagine Minerva's reaction if he told her that Fawkes had to die to make Voldemort mortal. She believed in Harry. She had the utmost faith in the boy. She would never concede to Severus forcing Harry to live without magic.
Hell, forget about Harry, she'd never give her blessing to Severus going out to kill Albus's beloved familiar. He knew she'd try to stop him, forcibly if she had to.
Mad-Eye would certainly be more than happy to help her.
But regardless of all the arguments against Severus's plan to kill Fawkes, Severus was firm in his opinion that it was the only way that Britain could be saved from Voldmemort's brutality.
And if the Order knew what he'd been doing to search out the magical bird's location all of its members including Remus and Nymphadora would immediately lose what little trust they had in him.
After all, performing the dark form of scrying with the intent to kill an innocent was a crime with only one punishment: a Dementor's kiss and solitary confinement in Azkaban. For this dark magic was considered by all to be one of the most evil.
In invoking this kind of dark scrying spell, not only was the blood of the caster required, but also the lifeblood of an innocent.
Severus had peformed the spell half a dozen times already before Hermione had come to him and each time he'd performed the ritual he'd killed a rabbit he'd trapped in the surrounding forest.
Rabbits were the most intelligent animal he had easy access to, and for the spell to work the blood of a mammal was required.
There was something painfully ironic about needing to kill a rabbit for the scrying spell.
Lily.
I do this all for you.
Severus moved his hand up the arrow shafts and ran his fingers over the blood red fletching. The crossbow bolts had been made by a master craftsman as was to be expected for their price. Everything about them was perfect. They had exquisitely balanced shafts, there weight substantial in Severus's fist.
Sighing, Severus returned the bolts to the quiver and replaced the quiver at the back of the mahogany cabinet.
Severus had last performed a dark scrying spell exactly a week ago. He turned his left hand over and gazed at the heel of his palm.In the flesh was a white scar healed by magic in the shape of an upside down V. He ran his thumb over the mark, feeling the slight ridge left by the scar tissue.
He had tried six times to locate Fawkes, and six times he'd failed to see the magical creature in the blood inside the onyx bowl he used for his dark spells.
It wasn't that the spells weren't working, he had seen blue sky and clouds and what appeared to be some kind of mountain meadow. But he had no idea what he was looking at, or where exactly that mountain meadow was. Every time he'd tried the spell, he'd seen the same setting.
The only thing he knew for sure was that since it was broad daylight in the scene, Fawkes was somewhere across the world where the sun was up when it was dark in England.
But given the size of the Earth, that was a startlingly broad area to search through.
It could have been Japan, China, Fiji, Papua New Guinea.
Australia, New Zealand.
That scene really didn't give Severus anything to go on.
The strangest thing of all was that each time Severus performed the spell the scene stayed the same. Wouldn't the phoenix be moving around even if it had somehow managed to turn itself invisible to magical spying? Severus was even skeptical that it had done that much.
Unless Fawkes was using magic to evade him because the bird knew that he was searching it out to kill it.
Somehow Severus didn't think that was a very likely possibility.
Severus had entertainedthe idea of going to Remus and forcing the werewolf to help him in his task to find Fawkes. But the idea of blackmail didn't sit right with him.
Remus would hate him for it and Severus preferred not to incurthe werewolf's anger. Besides he didn't want to be that cold and callous.
It was a damn shame that the other Order members were much too narrow minded to jump off the We're-Trusting-Harry-To-The-End bandwagon. Trying to change their minds on that particular subject would be like trying to move an elephant into a box.
They just could not see that the boy was not the answer to destroying Voldemort. They all deeply believed that he was the only one who had a hope of making Voldemort mortal and finishing him off.
How can they be so blind?
Severus thought he could guess the answer to that question.
They don't realise the depth of Voldemort's power. They don't realise how much more powerful he is now than he was the first time he rose to power.
Severus wished he knew how much time was left before Voldemort grew strong enough to go out in the sunlight. He'd replenished his collection of Horcruxes weeks ago. Severus doubted that it would take much longer than a month for Voldemort to become powerful enough to kill Harry.
There was no time to properly train Potter so that there was even a remote chance that he would survive a duel with the Dark Lord. And if the Order was going to survive they needed to place their lives on more than just a remote chance.
Severus had tried a time or two to get the Order to listen to his warnings. None of them had given his words a second thought, Minerva especially.
She seemed to resolutely believe that Harry had no chance of failure.
Severus's lip curled in aggravateddisgust, her words to him during their last conversation burning in his mind, Harry will do what needs to be done.
To hell with Harry.
If it was left up to the boy to decide the future of wizarding Britain, Voldemort would most assuredly win.
None of them understand the nature of the prophecy.
Albus was the only one who believed the truth.
Would they turn on me if I told them what really happened on the night the prophecy was made?
They probably would.
People tend to fear what they don't understand and cannot control.
Severus exhaled slowly, running his hand through his wet hair. He then looked back down to the scar on his hand.
I'll find the phoenix. No matter the price, I will find the phoenix and I will end its life.
It is the only way.
Severus was brought out of his thoughts by a soft noise at the chamber door.
He went perfectly still, listening hard for another sound.
"Snape?"
Hermione's voice. It sounded rather uneasy.
Fucking hell.
Severus immediately wondered if her amulet had lost its magic.
Not caring that he was only wearing a towel, Severus went to the door and opened it.
"Your amulet . . ." he said without preamble, letting the words hang in the air.
He tried to avoid looking into her eyes by staring at a spot just above her eyebrows.
He noticed that Hermione seemed to have stopped breathing at the sight of him wearing his towel.
As if she were unable to speak, Hermione slowly shook her head.
"I told you not to disturb me unless it was an emergency." he told her.
Hermione swallowed.
"Why are you here, Miss Granger?" he asked in a soft, menacing tone.
"I . . . I came to ask if you had a dreamless sleep potion on hand for me to take, sir."
"I don't."
Hermione visibly paled.
"Oh. Right. Forgive for bothering you. I'll go now."
"Wait."
Hermione shut her eyes as if she were afraid he might physically strike her.
"Yes, sir?" she asked hesitantly.
"Tell me why you wanted the potion."
Hermione opened her eyes and chanced a glance at his face. She then quickly looked at the floor.
"I think that is better left unsaid."
"Something is clearly upsetting you."
"I'm fine."
"Do not lie to me Hermione."
She actually flinched at the sound of her name coming from his lips.
"Please, just let it go. Forget I came to you."
"No. Tell me what brought you here."
He watched Hermione take in a deep breath and then breathe it out silently. Gathering her resolve, she slowly raised her head to look at him. There was a perfectly miserable expression in her eyes.
"You." she told him, her voice a ragged whisper. "You're the reason I wanted that potion. I can't seem to
get you out of my head."
A/N: Next chapter up within seven days. If I get a lot of reviews I might even give you a nice ripe lemon in the next chapter. Hmm, what will happen? And come on, you gotta let me know what you thought of Severus's little secret. Can't wait to read your opinions on this one.