Chapter 16:
As August wore on, the square of unkempt grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place shrivelled in the sun until it was brittle and brown. The inhabitants of number twelve were never seen by anybody in the surrounding houses, and nor was number twelve itself. The Muggles who lived in Grimmauld Place had long since accepted the amusing mistake in the numbering that had caused number eleven to sit beside number thirteen.
And yet the square was now attracting a trickle of visitors who seemed to find the anomaly most intriguing. Barely a day passed without one or two people arriving in Grimmauld Place with no other purpose, or so it seemed, than to lean against the railings facing numbers eleven and thirteen, watching the join between the two houses. The lurkers were never the same two days running, although they all seemed to share a dislike for normal clothing. Most of the Londoners who passed them were used to eccentric dressers and took little notice, though occasionally one of them might glance back, wondering why anyone would wear such long cloaks in this heat.
The watchers seemed to be gleaning little satisfaction from their vigil. Occasionally one of them started forward excitedly, as if they had seen something interesting at last, only to fall back looking disappointed.
On the first day of September there were more people lurking in the square than ever before. Half a dozen men in long cloaks stood silent and watchful, gazing as ever at houses eleven and thirteen, but the thing for which they were waiting still appeared elusive. As evening drew in, bringing with it an unexpected gust of chilly rain for the first time in weeks, there occurred one of those inexplicable moments when they appeared to have seen something interesting. The man with the twisted face pointed and his closest companion, a podgy, pallid man, started forward, but a moment later they had relaxed into their previous state of inactivity, looking frustrated and disappointed.
Meanwhile, inside number twelve, Alicia sat with her Pensieve before her and Ron and Hermione at her side looking over at a sheaf of notes and hand-drawn maps that littered the end of the long kitchen table.
The kitchen was almost unrecognisable. Every surface now shone: Copper pots and pans had been burnished to a rosy glow; the wooden tabletop gleamed; the goblets and plates already laid for dinner glinted in the light from a merrily blazing fire, on which a cauldron was simmering. Nothing in the room, however, was more dramatically different than the house-elf who moved around cooking for dinner. He was dressed in a snowy-white towel, his ear hair as clean and fluffy as cotton wool, Regulus's locket bouncing on his thin chest.
"Mistress Alicia, butterbeer?" Kreacher came up to her.
"Thanks Kreacher, you really have a knack for knowing what's needed." she grinned at him.
The three turned as they heard the door upstairs close and a few moments later Harry appeared, but not before his voice reached them.
"I've got news, and you won't like it."
Kreacher hurried forwards quickly as Harry appeared.
"Shoes off, if you please, Master Harry, and hands washed before dinner," croaked Kreacher, seizing the Invisibility Cloak and slouching off to hang it on a hook on the wall, beside a number of old-fashioned robes that had been freshly laundered.
"What's happened?" Ron asked apprehensively.
"Oh no! Let me guess!" Alicia said
"You wont get it." Harry told her as he had a newspaper in his hands.
"Well let me try, it's been frustrating not having a little puzzle to mum over that didn't involve possible death or imprisonment." she said and Harry looked amused before he offered for her to go.
"Okay, you have a newspaper so clearly big news." she said thinking out loud "Todays newspaper no doubt so it'll have something to do with now… it's the first of September so that means Hogwarts is all going back, which is currently missing—" she grinned and looked at Harry "Snape's Headmaster of Hogwarts. Boom!" she said her hands in the air with glee and Harry stared at her.
"No!" Ron and Hermione said but Harry threw down the newspaper on top of their scattered parchment to prove she was right.
A large picture of a familiar, hook-nosed, black-haired man stared up at them all, beneath a headline that read:
SEVERUS SNAPE CONFIRMED AS HOGWARTS HEADMASTER
"How?" Ron demanded of Alicia.
"Well who else would be better, they're missing a Headmaster, Snape's been there for seventeen years and he's under Voldemort." Alicia shrugged "Best choice that isn't random." Alicia said
"No one else would have put that together." Ron believed
"Well it was Dumbledore's wish Snape protect the castle and it's students once he was gone." Alicia mumbled and then she stopped "I said that outloud didn't I."
"What do you mean Dumbledore's wish?" Harry demanded and she sighed.
"Well I told you Dumbledore was dying, he knew he didn't have long, Snape or no Snape and I asked him what would happen to Hogwarts, as I believed Voldemort would nab it the second he could and Dumbledore said to me that the safety of the students of Hogwarts has always been his prime concern, and he had made the arrangements to have it all sorted. I guess Snape and he nodded."
"You think he's acting under Dumbledore's order! He killed Dumbledore, he doesn't care about that!" Harry all but bellowed at her.
"I didn't say that, I said it was a contributing factor to my guess." she mumbled "Stop taking your anger at Snape out on me." she snapped at him making him falter.
Hermione despite the two's squabbles had picked up the newspaper.
"So, who's taking the Muggle-studies and Defence Against the Dark Arts post?" Alicia wondered turning to her to change the topic. Hermione and began to read the accompanying story out loud.
" 'Severus Snape, long-standing Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was today appointed headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. Following the resignation of the previous Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
"'I welcome the opportunity to uphold our finest Wizarding traditions and values —' Like committing murder and cutting off people's ears, I suppose! Snape, headmaster! Snape in Dumbledore's study—"
"Yeah, give him five minutes and he'll know where we are." Alicia said as Hermione looked up at her.
"Merlin's pants!" she shrieked, making both Harry and Ron jump. She leapt up from the table and hurtled from the room, shouting as she went, "I'll be back in a minute!"
"'Merlin's pants'?" repeated Ron, looking amused. "She must be upset." He pulled the newspaper toward him and perused the article about Snape.
"The other teachers won't stand for this. McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout all know the truth, they know how Dumbledore died. They won't accept Snape as headmaster. And who are these Carrows?"
"Death Eaters," said Harry. "There are pictures of them inside. They were at the top of the tower when Snape killed Dumbledore, so it's all friends together. And," Harry went on bitterly, drawing up a chair, "I can't see that the other teachers have got any choice but to stay. If the Ministry and Voldemort are behind Snape it'll be a choice between staying and teaching, or a nice few years in Azkaban — and that's if they're lucky. I reckon they'll stay to try and protect the students."
Kreacher came bustling to the table with a large tureen in his hands, and ladled out soup into pristine bowls, whistling between his teeth as he did so.
"Thanks, Kreacher," said Harry, flipping over the Prophet so as not to have to look at Snape's face. "Well, at least we know exactly where Snape is now."
"And he wont come looking for us." Alicia said
"You don't think can't leave his school?" Ron said "Dumbledore did?"
"He doesn't need to come toking for us, he's got Phineas for that." Alicia rolled her eyes as she was given a bowl of onion soup as well and she spooned some into her mouth.
"God Kreacher this is amazing." she smiled after swallowing.
"Thank you Mistress Alicia." she smiled back and stood another scoop. The quality of Kreacher's cooking had improved dramatically ever since he had been given Regulus's locket.
"What do you mean Phineas?" Ron asked
"Come on Ron you slept in a rom with his portrait how many times?" Alicia asked and Harry stared at her. She rolled her eyes.
"Hermione'll show you." she said "Seeing as your brains are clearly so slow." she mumbled.
"There are still a load of Death Eaters watching the house," Harry told Ron as he ate, changing the subject. "more than usual. It's like they're hoping we'll march out carrying our school trunks and head off for the Hogwarts Express."
"Stupid considering it's long gone." Alicia rolled her eyes.
Ron glanced at his watch.
"I've been thinking about that all day. It left nearly six hours ago. Weird, not being on it, isn't it?"
"It'll almost be at the castle too, were there'll be a feast waiting… well, you'd want to hope that hasn't changed." Alicia said thinking.
"They nearly saw me coming back in just now," Harry said. "I landed badly on the top step, and the Cloak slipped."
"I do that every time. Oh, here she is," Ron added, craning around in his seat to watch Hermione reentering the kitchen. "And what in the name of Merlin's most baggy Y Fronts was that about?"
"I remembered this," Hermione panted.
She was carrying a large, framed picture, which she now lowered to the floor before seizing her small, beaded bag from the kitchen sideboard. Opening it, she proceeded to force the painting inside, and despite the fact that it was patently too large to fit inside the tiny bag, within a few seconds it had vanished, like so much else, into the bag's capacious depths.
"Phineas Nigellus," Hermione explained as she threw the bag onto the kitchen table with the usual sonorous, clanking crash. Alicia winced as always when Hermione mistreated it and again was glad she had her own.
"Yeah the portrait that was once Headmaster of Hogwarts so he also is in the Headmaster's office." Alicia said.
"Snape could send Phineas Nigellus to look inside this house for him," Hermione explained to Ron as she resumed her seat. "But let him try it now, all Phineas Nigellus will be able to see is the inside of my handbag."
"Good thinking!" said Ron, looking impressed and Alicia rolled her eyes at him.
"Thank you," smiled Hermione, pulling her soup toward her. "So, Harry, what else happened today?"
"Nothing," said Harry. "Watched the Ministry entrance for seven hours. No sign of her. Saw your dad, though, Ron. He looks fine."
Ron nodded his appreciation of this news. They had agreed that it was far too dangerous to try and communicate with Mr. Weasley while he walked in and out of the Ministry, because he was always surrounded by other Ministry workers. It was, however, reassuring to catch these glimpses of him, even if he did look very strained and anxious.
"Dad always told us most Ministry people use the Floo Network to get to work," Ron said. "That's why we haven't seen Umbridge, she'd never walk, she'd think she's too important."
"And what about that funny old witch and that little wizard in the navy robes?" Hermione asked.
"Oh yeah, the bloke from Magical Maintenance," said Ron.
"How do you know he works for Magical Maintenance?" Hermione asked, her soupspoon suspended in midair.
"Dad said everyone from Magical Maintenance wears navy blue robes."
"But you never told us that!"
Hermione dropped her spoon and pulled toward her the sheaf of notes and maps.
"There's nothing in here about navy blue robes, nothing!" she said, flipping feverishly through the pages.
"Well, does it really matter?"
"Ron, it all matters! If we're going to get into the Ministry and not give ourselves away when they're bound to be on the lookout for intruders, every little detail matters! We've been over and over this, I mean, what's the point of all these reconnaissance trips if you aren't even bothering to tell us —"
"Blimey, Hermione, I forget one little thing —"
"You do realise, don't you, that there's probably no more dangerous place in the whole world for us to be right now than the Ministry of —"
"Well Hogwarts probably counts too." Alicia said "But she's right Ron, anyone could come and talk to us and we need to be able to answer the obvious questions."
"I think we should do it tomorrow," said Harry.
Hermione stopped dead, her jaw hanging; Ron choked a little over his soup and Alicia blinked at him.
"What's so special about tomorrow?" she wondered, making Harry smirk as she addressed the wrong question. Hermione however acted as he expected.
"Tomorrow?" repeated Hermione. "You aren't serious, Harry?"
"I am," said Harry. "I don't think we're going to be much better prepared than we are now even if we skulk around the Ministry entrance for another month. The longer we put it off, the farther away that locket could be. There's already a good chance Umbridge has chucked it away; the thing doesn't open."
"Unless," said Ron, "she's found a way of opening it and she's now possessed."
"Wouldn't make any difference to her, she was so evil in the first place," Harry shrugged.
Hermione was biting her lip, deep in thought.
"We know everything important," Harry went on, addressing Hermione. "We know they've stopped Apparition in and out of the Ministry. We know only the most senior Ministry members are allowed to connect their homes to the Floo Network now, because Ron heard those two Unspeakables complaining about it. And we know roughly where Umbridge's office is, because of what you heard that bearded bloke saying to his mate —"
"'I'll be up on level one, Dolores wants to see me,'" Hermione recited immediately.
"Exactly," said Harry. "We know the entire layout and what's on what floor thanks to Alicia's pencieve and us having already listened to the lift recite the floors. And we know you get in using those funny coins, or tokens, or whatever they are, because I saw that witch borrowing one from her friend —"
"But we haven't got any!"
"If the plan works, we will have," Harry continued calmly.
"I don't know, Harry, I don't know… There are an awful lot of things that could go wrong, so much relies on chance…"
"That'll be true even if we spend another three months preparing," said Harry. "It's time to act."
Alicia hummed as Hermione and Ron looked scared, even Harry wasn't completely confident but he had a point.
They had spent the previous four weeks taking it in turns to don the Invisibility Cloak and spy on the official entrance to the Ministry, which Ron, thanks to Mr. Weasley, had known since childhood. They had tailed Ministry workers on their way in, eavesdropped on their conversations, and learned by careful observation which of them could be relied upon to appear, alone, at the same time every day. Occasionally there had been a chance to sneak a Daily Prophet out of somebody's briefcase. Slowly they had built up the sketchy maps and notes now stacked in front of Hermione.
"I gotta admit, I am sick of sitting around planning and waiting. I'd much rather be doing something. I mean four weeks we've been here with knowledge we're close but unable to proceed. I gotta admit I'm getting antsy." Alicia said
"You're not worried enough." Hermione snapped at her.
"Worry's only gonna weight us down. I've got a wand and I'm already wanted. Not much else can go wrong." she mumbled
"All right," said Ron slowly, "let's say we go for it tomorrow… I think it should just be me, Alicia and Harry."
"Oh, don't start that again!" sighed Hermione. "I thought we'd settled this."
"It's one thing hanging around the entrances under the Cloak, but this is different, Hermione." Ron jabbed a finger at a copy of the Daily Prophet dated ten days previously. "You're on the list of Muggle-borns who didn't present themselves for interrogation!"
"And you're supposed to be dying of spattergroit at the Burrow! If anyone shouldn't go, it's Harry, he's got a ten-thousand-Galleon price on his head —"
"Fine, I'll stay here," said Harry. "Let me know if you ever defeat Voldemort, won't you?"
As Ron and Hermione laughed, pain shot through the scar on Alicia's neck making her pause in eating her onion soup. She scratched the spot as Harry's hand jumped to his forehead, though he moved to brush it through his usual untidy hair as Hermione's eyes narrowed.
"Well, if all three of us go we'll have to Disapparate separately," Ron was saying. "We can't all fit under the Cloak anymore."
"Well we know we can get in and out from the front step." Alicia said thinking "I don't think that'll be too difficult. If anything we can go in pairs." she offered. Harry beside her had stood up and Kreacher had hurried forward at once.
"Master has not finished his soup, would Master prefer the savoury stew, or else the treacle tart to which Master is so partial?"
"Thanks, Kreacher, but I'll be back in a minute — er — bathroom."
"Oo, I'll have some of that tart." Alicia smiled and Kreacher hurried away instantly to so do as Harry left the room.
"His scar hurt didn't it!" Hermione said instantly
"You realise if you'd stop badgering him about Occlumency he'd just talk to you outright instead of running away." Alicia said annoyed
"He has to shut him out!" Hermione said
"He can't! Occlumency isn't strong enough!" Alicia snapped and Hermione looked at her surprised
"You don't seem to have an issue."
"I do whenever Harry's emotions are so high and I feel his pain. Harry is drawn into his mind when Voldemort experiences things like that as well, and it's not his fault, it can't be helped."
"Dumbledore wanted—"
"Dumbledore was only half away of their connection at that point." Alicia said and the two looked at her.
"What do you mean—" Ron's voice was cut off as shouts sounded from upstairs.
At once all three of them were on their feet and running up to the bathroom on the first landing.
"Harry! HARRY!" Hermione pounded on the door which was locked. "Harry, open up!" she demanded.
Harry unbolted the door and Hermione toppled inside at once, regained her balance, and looked around suspiciously. Ron was right behind her, looking unnerved as he pointed his wand into the corners of the chilly bathroom.
"What were you doing?" asked Hermione sternly.
"What d'you think I was doing?" asked Harry with feeble bravado.
"You were yelling your head off!" said Ron.
"Oh yeah… I must've dozed off or —"
"Harry, please don't insult our intelligence," said Hermione, taking deep breaths. "We know your scar hurt downstairs, and you're white as a sheet."
Harry looked at Alicia and she shrugged.
"What did you see?" she asked tentatively and Harry sat down on the edge of the bath.
"Fine. I've just seen Voldemort murdering a woman. By now he's probably killed her whole family. And he didn't need to. It was Cedric all over again, they were just there…"
"Harry, you aren't supposed to let this happen anymore!" Hermione cried, her voice echoing through the bathroom. "Dumbledore wanted you to use Occlumency! He thought the connection was dangerous — Voldemort can use it, Harry! What good is it to watch him kill and torture, how can it help?"
"Because it means I know what he's doing," said Harry.
"So you're not even going to try to shut him out?"
"Hermione, I can't. You know I'm lousy at Occlumency, I never got the hang of it."
"You never really tried!" she said hotly. "I don't get it, Harry — do you like having this special connection or relationship or what — whatever —"
She faltered under the look he gave her as he stood up.
"Like it?" he said quietly. "Would you like it?"
"I — no — I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean —"
"I hate it, I hate the fact that he can get inside me, that I have to watch him when he's most dangerous. But I'm going to use it."
"Dumbledore —"
"Forget Dumbledore. This is my choice, nobody else's. I want to know why he's after Gregorovitch." "Who?"
"He's a foreign wandmaker," said Harry. "He made Krum's wand and Krum reckons he's brilliant."
"But according to you," said Ron, "Voldemort's got Ollivander locked up somewhere. If he's already got a wandmaker, what does he need another one for?"
"Maybe he agrees with Krum, maybe he thinks Gregorovitch is better… or else he thinks Gregorovitch will be able to explain what my wand did when he was chasing me, because Ollivander didn't know."
"Well clearly he's after some kind of information on Wands. And if Ollivander doesn't know and he's after Gregorovitch it mustn't be a very common answer." Alicia shrugged
"Harry, you keep talking about what your wand did," said Hermione, "but you made it happen! Why are you so determined not to take responsibility for your own power?"
"Because I know it wasn't me! And so does Voldemort, Hermione! We both know what really happened!"
"You weren't there Hermione." Alicia said "And you don't know everything about wands. Honestly it's disconcerting how you keep acting like Harry's making it all up. Bit insulting really."
Hermione looked at her stunned.
"N-No that's now why — it's got nothing to do—"
"Drop it," Ron advised her. "It's up to him. And if we're going to the Ministry tomorrow, don't you reckon we should go over the plan?"
"And finish that soup, I hope Kreacher hasn't put it away." Alicia grinned.
Reluctantly, as the other three could tell, Hermione let the matter rest for the moment, likely to attack again later. In the meantime, they returned to the basement kitchen, where Kreacher served them all stew and treacle tart.
They did not get to bed until late that night, after spending hours going over and over their plan until they could recite it, word perfect, to each other.
The four had managed to get comfortable enough in the house that Alicia was now sleeping back in her old room and Harry was up in Sirius' room. Not long after their arrival had Alicia noticed that all the rooms had been torn apart and uprooted as if someone had searched them. Harry had found something adorable in Sirius' room, a note from their mother to Sirius as well as a half torn photograph.
Alicia had read it several times until she could recite it;
Dear Padfoot,
Thank you, thank you, for Harry and Alicia's birthday presents! It was Harry's favourite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Alicia had demanded a go and she had Harry chasing after her as she zoomed around. She had much more control over it than Harry and managed not to smash anything. Of course, James thought it was so funny, says both are going to be a great Quidditch players, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when Harry gets going.
We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us and who dotes on Alicia and Harry. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and the twinsare not old enough to know it's their birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell — also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.
Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore
She had assumed that her parents knew a few of the secrets of Dumbledore's past. But she'd loved that Sirius had given Harry his first broom and that even at a year old she'd been better at flying than him. She'd made sure to rub that in as a good sister should when she'd read it.
Harry had questioned her about what was she'd said about Dumbledore but Alicia didn't know. She assumed it was to do with all the rumours Rita was sending out, but what was true and what wasn't she was unaware of as of yet. It seemed to bug Harry terribly that he'd known none of all these.
The letter had been torn off at the bottom and so the rest was missing. Harry had found a picture that was also torn, where a black-haired baby was zooming in and out of the picture on a tiny broom, roaring with laughter, and a pair of legs that must have belonged to James was chasing after him.
She hated that Sirius had never shown her such a thing when she'd been here but loved that Harry had found it. She also hated that someone had ripped it as they tore the house apart. She wondered if it had been Snape, but why tare off the bottom of the note?
Perhaps he wanted mums signature? and maybe she and Lily had been in the photo too, and Snape had taken only that of Lily who he cared about. She didn't know but as she turned over to fall asleep, it laid there in my dreams, as well as the possibilities of how they'd had a cat and that Bathilda had doted on her. Perhaps if they went to Godric's Hollow after all, Bathilida could explain to them as well the stories of Dumbledore?