AN: I still don't own anything.
CHAPTER 27 - Press for answers
"I stabilized her internal bleeding," said Madam Pomfrey lowering the latest vial from the unconscious girl's lips and waving her wand in a complex pattern over her patient's chest "But we need to bring her to , Albus."
"I feared as much," commented the headmaster staring at the destroyed building, for once not sounding like his usual jolly self "Can't you do anything, Severus?"
The younger man shook his head but didn't move his gaze from where he was magically extracting a dark green substance from Chandra's largest wound, the one they had to remove a snake's head from.
"Not without knowing which poison this is," he added guiding the liquid into a glass vial "I doubt the Dark Lord used something that can be healed by a simple bezoar. Knowing his mindset, it would probably kill her faster."
"Do your best. Once she's fit to travel, I'll create a portkey to ," said Dumbledore walking closer to the rubble "Meanwhile I'll-"
Whatever he had meant to say was cut when a wave of cold air surged into the clearing, heralding the arrival of a purple-clad woman, who appeared out of thin air in a shower of dark sparks.
"This is not the castle," said Liliana letting her gaze wander around the clearing before stopping on the headmaster "Unless you let Chandra revamp the place, that is. What happened?"
"Ah, Miss Vess. Miss Nalaar was helping me retrieving an extremely important artifact, but things didn't work out too well..." was his somewhat bitter reply.
"Nissa left just the other day, we can't leave this girl alone..." muttered the planeswalker with a groan before stepping closer and giving a prolonged clinical glance at the downed pyromancer "I can neutralize the poison, but I need you to keep her stable. Get ready."
She knelt down and placed a finger in the flow of poison coming out of Chandra's shoulder, then channeled her mana into it. With a purple pulse directed downward, the fluid began turning a rusty color before essentially dissolving into nothing. When the pulse reached the unconscious planeswalker's shoulder, she gasped for air as her muscles locked up and her eyes flew open, although they remained unfocused. Madam Pomfrey cursed, grabbed a new vial of some potion from a pocket and passed it to Snape while chanting and waving her wand above Chandra's chest. The man said nothing but dropped his wand and forced the redhead to drink. After a couple of very tense moments, Chandra's eyes closed as her muscles relaxed visibly and her breathing evened out.
"She's stable," muttered Madam Pomfrey letting her last diagnostic charm fade "The poison is gone, but she needs to rest now."
Liliana ignored the withering glare the woman sent her way and got back on her feet, dusting off the ash from her gown.
"I'm guessing that you were looking for the vile feeling thing buried in those ruins, right?" she asked the headmaster sauntering over to him "One of those phylacteries, if I had to guess."
"Yes," replied the old man while enchanting a loose piece of rubble into a portkey for the matron "It is still intact after all of this destruction?"
"Don't worry, it won't be for much longer..." darkly commented the necromancer as her skin flared to life in her usual purple array of runes.
Peace in the castle lasted for a grand total of two days, then Chandra was released from the infirmary. It wasn't that the redhead herself brought chaos purposely, but troubles just seemed to follow her. Case in point, she was questioned about her injury by professor Umbridge during launch the very same day she got released; Liliana, who had been talking with the pyromancer and who hadn't had the dubious pleasure of meeting the pink-clad witch, asked her sort-of-friend why there was a human-anurid hybrid at the table.
Things only escalated after professor Umbridge stormed away in obvious rage. The squat woman tried every trick in the book to have the necromancer removed from the castle grounds: complaining to Dumbledore and Fudge didn't yield any worthwhile result, even if the minister promised to think on it, while her anonymous tip to the aurors was ignored, and trying to trip the planeswalker on the stairs could have done the trick if only the Gray Lady hadn't intervened to steady the necromancer.
The only positive to the whole story was that the pink-clad witch forgot about questioning Chandra. She was still a pain to have around.
While the completely one-sided and unseen war was taking place, Chandra went back to her normal teaching schedule while also meeting up with Dumbledore about their common side job. With the ring, the locket and the diary they had already taken care of three horcrux but had little more to go on: the headmaster's investigation had identified two more suspicious objects but not their location, and they had no way of knowing how many of the deranged things Voldemort had created. The second problem was more easily solved than the first, so they focused on it.
It took Dumbledore two weeks but he finally tracked down one of his former colleagues: Horace Slughorn, the only person with whom a young Voldemort had spoken of the horcruxes. Chandra and Liliana were more than happy to investigate for the elderly headmaster. The fact that they could both use the chance to vent away from the senior undersecretary had nothing to do with it.
As soon as word had come around that Voldemort had returned –even just as hushed whispers in dark corners and conspiracy theories– Horace Slughorn had dropped out of the public scene, disappearing completely almost as if he had left the country. Unfortunately for him, all his skill in hiding didn't keep him from the incredibly resourceful headmaster of Hogwarts.
Chandra and Liliana cared little about all of that: Dumbledore pointed them at the cookie-cut house in the anonymous-looking suburb, and they simply gained entrance –the owner of the house would have to replace the molten lock– and searched for the potion master by means of summoned shades that scoured the property.
The pyromancer had never been a great fan of undead in general, and incorporeal ones in particular, but she was forced to admit that they were efficient if nothing else.
Soon enough they heard the frightened screams of a man and went to face him. He had transfigured himself into an overly stuffed armchair –which didn't look so grand of a feat for a person of his mass– but had dropped his disguise as soon as what he thought were dementors entered the room. He wasn't particularly tall nor terriby short, but he was certainly corpulent and started showing signs of advanced age. The two planeswalkers shared a look, nodded and, while Liliana dismissed her summons, Chandra got closer to the man.
"Horace Slughorn?" she asked the shaking wizard in a tone meant to reassure him.
"W-who wants t-to know?" he asked back staring warily at Liliana.
It wasn't a yes, but the redhead didn't count it as a no either.
"I'm Chandra Nalaar, but you might know me as Rose Potter," explained the pyromancer in the same calm tone before pressing on "Dumbledore needs your help."
"I won't come," he hissed trying to scuttle backwards "It's not safe!"
Unfortunately for him, his back was already almost against the wall, so his retreat did actually very little.
Also, Chandra had gotten all the confirmation she needed, so she simply punched him between the eyes and he flopped down unconscious.
"Dumbledore can pick his brain himself, let's go back," she commented dusting herself "Summon something to carry him, would you? He looks terribly heavy."