Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, and ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings. Mordecai and Elisabeth are mine, as is Theodora Montgomery.
Chapter 29: Dangers known and unknown
Pettigrew glanced at Severus for a moment and the Potions Master swallowed hard, glad that his mind was blocked off to anyone else's invasion. Voldemort scrutinized Pettigrew with his blood-red eyes. "This had better be important. We were planning the next attack!" he snapped, grabbing Pettigrew by the throat.
"Master, there is a spy among us, sending messages to the other side," he choked.
Voldemort loosened his grip on his neck. "Tell me more," he hissed.
"I was only able to hear a small part of it, but McGonagall and the werewolf were talking and he mentioned her receiving messages," Pettigrew squeaked.
Minerva, what have you done? More importantly, what danger have I just put you in? We are running out of time, Severus realized.
"Is that all? You were supposed to bring back something useful! The feeling that we have a spy in our midst has been with me for quite some time!" You-Know-Who pulled out his want to cast a torturing curse on Pettigrew. "If you cannot tell me something of value-"
"There is a boy at the school related to Snape!" Pettigrew shouted in defense.
Voldemort paused and turned to Severus. "Is this true?"
He adamantly shook his head. "Of course not! He is only saying that so you will not punish him for his insolence."
You-Know-Who hit Pettigrew with the torturing curse and he began to twitch on the ground in pain. "You should know better than to lie to the dark lord, Snivellous! I have seen the boy! Master, I do not lie!"
Stopping the curse, Voldemort used his Legillimens to read Pettigrew's mind. Severus could not breathe. "I have seen this boy that you speak of through Potter's eyes. He is unique indeed." You-Know-Who turned his attention to Severus. "Though there are some definite gaps in dear Peter's story, you have some explaining to do. He looks like he could be your son."
Severus thought quickly. "He is no son to me. I have no dealings with him illegitimate children. The boy was a mistake of youth and has been raised to love muggles. He is not worth my time, therefore I did not trouble you with mentioning him," he said, hoping that his harsh tone along with his words would be convincing enough.
Voldemort hit him with the torturing curse for a minute. "You might not think he should be bothered with, but he is a threat. Considering that he is the last person I saw through Potter's eyes, he is most likely the one who taught the Pain-In-My-Arse-Who-Lives Occlumency!"
The meeting had ended and Severus, while treating his injuries, knew that he had to warn Minerva. It was 2:00 am in the morning when the Headmistress heard the little owl. Something must have gone dreadfully wrong for him to be contacting me like this, she realized. Her hand shook as she read the note:
My dear Aphrodite,
Pettigrew has disclosed the worst and they have linked me to the boy. You must do everything you can to protect him, because he is not safe anymore. My only hope is that this letter reaches you in time. Look after yourself as well; I needed to say that even though I know you will.
Only yours,
Your Black Knight
Not realizing that the owl had not left this time, she stuffed the note into the pocket of her robes and rushed off toward Ravenclaw tower. One of Mordecai's roommates had accidentally left the window open to the March night, though it was cool. Due to Elisabeth's evening visits when she would sneak into his room and drag him off to who knows what over the years, he was a light sleeper and woke to the sound of a bird flying through the window.
He was wide awake, out of bed, and held his wand in his hand within seconds. The bird suddenly transformed into a person wearing solid black robes and a pointed black hat to match, with a grotesque mask that reminded Mordecai of a skull, except that one eye was a solid white to match the mask instead of an open eye-hole. This guy is probably a deatheater, he assessed.
Mordecai did not waist time waiting for the visitor to find whatever was sought. He petrified him just as the Headmistress came through his door. "Mordecai, are you alright?" she asked in a near panicked voice.
The young man nodded and pointed to the visitor. "He had an animagus form of a crow and flew in through the open window, which I'll go shut."
"I'll take him to the Ministry of Magic. Meanwhile, I came to find you to warn you that they know who you are. Let's talk somewhere else," Minerva suggested, glancing at the still sleeping roommates.
She levitated the petrified deatheater into the common room and Mordecai glanced over his shoulder at his dormitory. "My roommates could sleep through a war," he commented wryly.
Minerva gave him a small smile, glad that he could still make light of an awkward situation. "I shall return shortly. Why don't you wait in the study?"
He noticed that she still could not bring herself to call the former Headmaster's office her office, or his study her study. "Alright," he agreed.
She found him waiting for her half an our later. "The man who came through your window was Walden Macnair, a deatheater who had disappeared from Azkaban and was thought to be dead."
"What can we do now?" he inquired, hoping that she had an answer.
"You will stay with Fiona for a while. It is the safest possible way to still keep you in school," she advised.
Mordecai sat for a minute, deep in thought. If I'm no longer safe, what horrible things are they doing to Professor Snape because of me? But I'm not the only one at risk. "Mum," he said after a while, "what will you do to keep yourself safe?"
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. My animagus senses allow me far better perceptiveness than most humans. Now, let's get you to Fiona," she remarked.
He stood, but stopped before they reached the door. "What about Lisa? Will she be alright? Tell me that they wouldn't use her to get to me," he requested. There was a pleading in his eyes that greatly distressed the Headmistress.
She wrapped her arms around him and held him in a motherly embrace for a while. "I'm so sorry that I can't promise anyone's safety anymore. I will try to see that she is protected, even to the point of letting her stay with me."
When they parted, he nodded in understanding. They walked through the halls and knocked on Fiona's door. A few minutes later, a groggy woman in her bathrobe and nightgown, resembling Fiona answered the door. "Minerva, Mordecai, what are you two doing here? It is 2:45 in the morning and I must look dreadful."
"Can we speak inside?" Minerva insisted. Fiona noticed the worry in her cousin's eyes and let her guests in, closing the door behind them. "A deatheater tried to attack Mordecai and he needs a place to stay for a while."
"Of course," Fiona said immediately. Then comprehension of the weight of what she had just heard began to register. "They know, don't they? Oh Minerva, you're in trouble too. Will you be alright?"
Minerva nodded and prepared to leave. "I will be fine. Don't worry about me, just see that Mordecai is safe here." She left and Fiona transfigured the couch into a bed for Mordecai. Though he had experienced a troubling night, sleep came upon his exhausted form quickly.
Severus could only wish for sleep as the deatheaters continued moving through the night to one of the other Malfoy estates. There was a field blocking any apparating within five kilometers of it, so they were forced to walk for a while. Since he had sent his owl to Minerva to wait until it was summoned, Draco had begun sending messages to the Order. Voldemort could not see much of a use for the young man and therefore left him to look after his mother most of the time, reasoning that just killing him would be a waste of time.
The meeting began when they were all standing in the parlour. You-Know-Who got right to the point. "Our kidnapping attempt as failed. I knew Macnair was an idiot! He should not have let himself be captured."
Severus inwardly smiled before the dark lord spoke again. He had an uncomfortable feeling about what would happen next and transfigured his wand to blend into his right forearm. "The question is, whom shall we send now?" one of the others asked.
"Master, why not send Snape?" Pettigrew inquired. Severus noticed the snide look the rat was giving him. He's up to something.
Voldemort walked over to Severus and shook his head. "He would draw far too much attention to himself after what happened last summer. No, it would be too great a risk," he paused and his red eyes flashed. "It would be a risk not only to the mission, but also to our side. He may go running back to the very people he was spying on for me and try to convince them that he has changed. It worked once, why not try again? No, I will not give any one of you an open chance to betray me."
"Why should you think that I would betray you, milord?" Severus asked.
The dark lord glared at him vehemently. "How dare you question my judgment! Tell me, Severus, who is the boy's mother? Tell me and I shall never question your loyalty again. Well? If you do not tell me, then I will assume that you are protecting someone and have betrayed us already!"
Severus appeared to be relatively calm, locking his mind away as tightly as possible. I am condemned if I do not tell him and I condemn Minerva if I do. What on earth can I say? Think, whom did I go to school with that is definitely dead? I know. "Theodora Montgomery. She was a Hufflepuff who was good at Potions. She's been dead though for several years. I think she was killed in one of the attacks nearly sixteen years ago."
Voldemort scrutinized him and then shot the torturing curse at him. "That is for having any sort of relationship with someone outside of Slytherin," he sneered.
"Milord, I told you it was a mistake in my youth," he choked, coughing on blood slightly.
The curse ended. "So you did. While you are down there, it is a pity that I never could break into your mind." He then looked up at the others. "It would seem that part of the problem in our quest for power will prove to be Hogwarts' new Headmistress."
Severus, stomach tightened as he sat up and he felt a wave of nausea. "Master, what will you do to her?" Pettigrew squeaked.
"We must get rid of her somehow. She is proving to be too much trouble and must be taught a permanent lesson. I don't think we should kill her though. First we will bring the boy here, then we will kidnap her. I will make her watch him die if he does not wish to join us, and then she can be tortured to death."
You psychotic bastard, Severus thought angrily, being careful not to think too loudly. However, Voldemort could sense a change in his mood. "You know Severus, I know where your pint-sized owl has disappeared to. Tie him up, and leave him here, I won't take any chances!"
The last thing Severus saw was Pettigrew's malicious smirk. Then everything went black. When he woke, his hands and feet where tied with magical rope and he was on the floor of the kitchen. Why of all places would they leave me in the kitchen? He suddenly had his answer when he realized that the floor was enchanted only to allow a Malfoy to cross it. What had at first appeared to be a black-and-white tiled floor was actually made of precariously sturdy white squared and black square pits with cobras.
He had been left on a landing near the stove. Fortunately, though his hands and feet were bound, he was able to get to his wand. He used it to sear the bonds and then carefully stood, not quiet sure how to exit the room. At first glance it appeared as though all one had to do was step on the white squares. He put one foot out on a square to try it and a cobra shot up from a black square and almost bit him. Quickly he jerked he foot back and looked around the room.
Then he realized that the kitchen had an old fireplace. Noticing that he could reach it by crawling along the countertop, he pulled himself up and moved toward it. He lit the old wood with his wand and checked one of the inner pockets of his robe for the floo powder he always carried. He cast a spell on the fire so that it would put itself out as soon as he was gone.
Now I can warn Minerva. Without knowing whether or not she would believe him, or that she had believed him, he entered the floo and called out, "Minerva McGonagall's rooms at Hogwarts."
Minerva had reached her quarters and decided to contact Harry, since she knew he had been at Grimmauld Place for the past week. Harry had just stepped into the living room as Ron and Hermione went to bed. Minerva's face appeared in the coals and he rushed over to the fireplace. "Professor McGonagall, what's wrong?"
"I'm sorry if I woke you, but cannot disclose much here. Come by floo and I will explain," she stated before disappearing.
He appeared in her quarters a few moments later, brushing the soot off him. "I never can clean up well after traveling by floo, and you didn't wake me."
She offered him a seat in one of her chairs while she took the other one, after handing him a pensieve. "Have you found any more Horcruxes?"
He raised an eyebrow as he eyed the pensieve. "The three of us found four, so a total of six have been destroyed. We just have no idea where to look for the last one."
"I will tell you why I've asked you to come after you look into the pensieve," she mentioned.
Nodding, he began to view the memories. In it Minerva had stored the memory of her seeing two Severuses, Mordecai's telling her of the polyjuice flask, and a few notes from Severus. After viewing the memories, Harry glanced up at his former teacher. "So he is innocent?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes," she affirmed. "Tonight You-Know-Who sent someone after Mr. Maddock. Though the man was unsuccessful, I suspect that they will try again."
"Is this because he taught me Occlumency?" Harry asked with worry.
She sighed. "Partly."
He knew she was being slightly evasive, but let it pass. "It sounds as though Voldemort is deciding to strike early on in the year."
At that moment, the second-to-last person Minerva expected to see came through her floo, the last being You-Know-Who. She stood up and rushed over to him, but he stepped out so quickly, removing the soot with a flick of his wand, that the two nearly collided. He gently grasped her upper arm to steady her and she found her voice.
"Severus, what- how-" seeing the look of utter shock in her eyes he decided to interrupt her.
"I don't know how much time I have to explain. Voldemort is coming here with the other deatheaters, not only to take Mordecai, but you, and I'd be imprisoned in Azkaban before I'd let that happen," he conveyed.
Only looking in each other's eyes, a thousand words swirled in pools of green and obsidian. As they embraced, the sound of someone clearing his throat brought them back to reality. "Snape, if you're here warning Professor McGonagall, then do they know you've been working as a spy?"
Severus spoke to Minerva. "I sent my owl to stay with you so that I would not be exposed. He has yet to prove that I am a spy, but he and the others no longer trust me. They left me tied up in a kitchen full of snakes. Fortunately I was able to reach the fireplace."
"We should probably summon the Order," Harry recommended. Minerva nodded and parted from Severus reluctantly.
She contacted the other Order members while Severus and Harry talked about what had occurred. After messages had been conveyed and the Order members decided to arrive by floo within the hour, she turned back to Severus. Harry raised an eyebrow as he took her hands in his.
"Why did you let me come back instead of trying to hex me?" he asked quietly.
"I saw two of you that day and then Mordecai found a flask of polyjuice. I believe that you are innocent and," she paused and kissed him softly, "I forgive you."
"How did Mordecai know that it was polyjuice?" he inquired.
She sighed. "He tested it on himself."
"I would have thought he had learned his lesson from the last time," Severus grumbled.
"He also found out who his father is by doing that," she added in a near whisper.
"Does he hate his father?" Severus questioned.
Minerva smiled. "He is trying very hard to prove his father's innocence." Suddenly she heard a noise from the fireplace. "You have to hide for a while."
He stood quickly and headed off toward her bedroom. She and Harry greeted the Order members as they arrived and the group began to set up a defense perimeter around the castle. Severus followed them at a distance, remaining in the shadows. A few moments later You-Know-Who appeared with the other deatheaters, marching across the field.
A battle began as soon as one of the deatheaters spotted the order members and fired a curse before he had been ordered to. Smoke rose, creating a lack of visibility again. Severus found his way into the battle and fought against the deatheaters. Voldemort realized this and spoke to him as the groups battled.
"So you've escaped. Have you figured yet what side you're on?" the dark lord sneered.
"I'm always on the side that proves to be the most advantageous," Severus retorted.
"I could almost believe that if you were fighting on my side. Do you really expect them to take you back? Do you really think that you can stop me?" he retaliated.
"You will be your own undoing," Severus predicted.
The Order succeeded in driving the deatheaters off, realizing that the time for the long sought after battle had not net come. Minerva rushed Severus over to the shadows before the other members noticed her absence. "They do not yet know of your innocence," she relayed.
He kissed her forehead. "And I cannot stay to let them find out. I'm going after Pettigrew."
"Until the next time then," she stated. They kissed tenderly and he raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that there will be a next time?"
She smiled knowingly. "Because that has been one of the few constants in my life through the years. Somehow you always come back. If you had an animagus, I think it should be some sort of feline."
He smirked. "Perhaps, but I really must be going. Until we meet again," he said as he suddenly dashed off toward the nearest fireplace.
She had turned around to rejoin the others and bumped into Harry. "Professor McGonagall, we were looking for you."
"I'm right here, what is it?" she inquired.
"We've discovered why the deatheaters could gain access to the grounds so easily the last few times. When Umbridge was here she weakened the security wards that usually protect the grounds. The other Order members are trying to restore them," he conveyed.
"Then let's give them a hand. I've already been up all night anyway, so a few more hours will make little difference," she remarked. They walked out to join the others, hoping that they would be sufficiently prepared for the final battle when the time came.
(My thanks to trulyamused, Annette-Rose, cricketsong (), Kimmy Malfoy, Motet, artemissan09, Leta McGotor, and excessivelyperky for reviewing :D)