Chapter 15
Charles and Albus sat in front of the large monitor watching as Voldemort talked with Snape. The potions master had not been allowed to leave Riddle Manor since the night of the Granger attack. He had been tortured for short periods of time throughout his stay—enough to be painful, but not to do and permanent damage.
"Severus, you're very good at occlumency," Voldemort said. "I find it impossible to get deeply into your mind. Are you my good and faithful servant?"
"Yes, my Lord. My only desire is to serve you."
"Then I want you to drop your occlumency shields and give me free access to your mind."
Snape's expression did not change, but the color drained from his face.
"This is not good," Charles said. "We have to get him out of there now."
"Do it, then," Albus said. "We no longer need him to spy. Save him, Charley. If Voldemort gets inside his head, Severus is a dead man."
"I'll get him out, but you'd better meet him in the Safe Haven. With the boys playing war games in the forest, he may think he's under attack."
Albus got up and hurried out of the door they had added to the control room that led directly into what Harry called the Marauder's Tent. He entered the glade and waited only a moment before Severus appeared, looking stunned.
"Welcome, my boy," Albus said, going to him. "Welcome to what we like to call The Safe Haven."
"Albus, what happened? How did I get here? The Dark Lord was about to—"
"I know. I know all about it, my boy. That's why we brought you here. If Voldemort had gotten inside your mind, he would have discovered you were a spy and killed you. If you had refused to lower your shields, I'm afraid the encounter would have ended in the same result."
"But what am I going to do now? If I return—"
"You won't be returning, Severus. We've found a different way to spy on Voldemort's activities. You are free of that monster."
"But he'll find me—the dark mark—"
"As long as you're here, he can't summon you with the dark mark. Severus, I believe that Voldemort's days are numbered. And, I do believe that the number is very small."
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Harry slid behind a boulder where Draco had been hiding. He was panting from his mad dash through the forest. Red paint was dripping down his face. He tried to wipe it off with his sleeve.
"Potter! Were you shot in the head?" Draco whispered furiously.
"No!" he whispered back. "They just grazed me. It's running down from my hair."
Draco was relieved. Greg had already been taken out of the game. Now, there were just Draco, Potter, and Angie.
"Where's Angie?" Draco asked.
"I've got her hidden in one of the trees. I summoned my invisibility cloak, and she's hiding under it."
Draco nodded. "Good. Listen, I've got a plan."
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It had been half an hour since the Red Team had seen any sign of the enemy. Team A, which consisted of Sirius and Gwen, were moving silently from tree to tree. They were on a reconnaissance mission on the north side of the forest. Remus and Vincent, otherwise known as Team B, were on the south side, doing the same. Both teams were heading west to meet and plan their next move.
"Harry Potter," Angie whispered into a mirror from underneath the invisibility cloak. She was perched on a strong branch in one of the trees that Sirius had recently hidden behind. "Two of them just passed by, coming your way."
"Thanks, Your Majesty," he whispered back. "Activate Plan A. Over and out."
"That means they've split up," Draco whispered. "They're planning a surprise attack."
"Look," Harry whispered. "There's Sirius and Gwen heading toward the boulder—"
Draco grinned. "And look to the South, Potter. There's Lupin and Crabbe coming to meet them."
Harry and Draco watched as Sirius quietly signaled to Remus. Between Remus and Sirius, their late team member Greg was leaning against a boulder, talking to someone behind it.
"So, you're both injured?" Greg asked. "You two better separate before they find you, or we'll lose. Leave Angie here with me—yeah, I know I'm dead. I'm not helping you or anything—I know—I'm just sitting here waiting for the birds to pick at my flesh—oh, man! You should have seen this big bird come by and—"
By this time, both teams had crept close enough to the rock to attack from both sides. At Sirius signal, he and Gwen jumped behind the bolder from the north side at the same time that Remus and Crabbe pounced from the south side.
"Hold it right there!" Harry said, the tip of his paint-wand against Sirius's head. Draco had his at Remus's, and Angie had hers pointed at her brother's heart. "Don't anyone move, or this man's brains will be spattered all over that rock."
"Drop your wands," Draco said. "Both sets."
When the wands were on the ground, Angie collected them.
"You are now prisoners of war. Do you surrender, or do you want to go in the hard way?" Harry asked, hoping they'd say the hard way.
"We surrender," Sirius said. "Besides, I'm hungry. Is it time for lunch yet?"
"Prisoners only get bread and water," Draco told him.
"Then I'm not surrendering," Sirius said, grabbing his godson and knuckling his head.
Suddenly, the paint war turned into a free for all. By the time lunch was served, both teams were covered in red and blue paint.
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Severus heard a disturbance in the forest and pulled out his wand. Albus placed his hand on the potion master's arm. "There's no danger here, Severus. Put it away."
Snape lowered the wand, but did not put it away. He watched in confusion as 8 paint-covered creatures came out of the forest.
"Ah! It looks like the final battle was a violent one," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Did we have a winner?"
"Our team won!" said one of the paint-soaked creatures whose voice sounded suspiciously like the Potter brat's. "Draco, Greg, Queen Angie, and I captured the entire Red Team without having to fire a shot!"
"Then I suppose there is some other explanation for all the paint," he said.
"Well, we couldn't end the battle without a good fight," said another creature whose voice sounded vaguely familiar.
Suddenly Snape gasped. "Black?"
"Yeah, Severus. It's me. Glad to see me?"
"But you're dead."
"No. I was dead. I didn't care for it much, so I came back. Now, I'm not dead anymore."
"He got better," Draco said, snickering, and the others burst into laughter.
Severus considered the possibility that the Dark Lord had actually killed him—that he had finally died was now residing in Hell. He turned to Albus for an explanation. "Another time, my boy, another time. Now, let's see what Dobby and Winky have prepared for us today," he said, waving his hand toward the former soldiers who suddenly found themselves free of paint.
They all walked over to the large picnic table and sat. "Narcissa?" Snape asked, surprised. He looked around and saw the Goyles the Crabbes and the Malfoys sitting at the same table with Albus, Potter, Black, and Lupin. He shook his head to clear it. Something wasn't right here, and he was determined to find out what it was.
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In Little Hangleton, the Dark Lord was getting rather annoyed. "Bella!" he shouted, and the woman ran into the room, threw herself to her knees and kissed the hem of his robe. "Yes, my Lord?" she asked, her head bowed almost to the floor.
"Where is Severus?"
"I thought he was in here with you," she said, her voice quivering.
"I want you to have the wards checked," he said. "People are disappearing from my throne room without my consent! Make sure there are wards against portkeys. This never happened when Wormtail was here."
"I'm sorry, my Lord," she said.
"Crucio!" He held the curse for a few seconds, and then stopped it.
"Now, get my lunch. And take it to my room. I'm going to take a nap after I eat, and I don't want to be disturbed for any reason."
"Yes, my Lord," she said, getting to her feet with difficulty and hurrying out of the room. Voldemort left to make his way upstairs.
Charles switched on an alarm button to alert him if there was any activity on the screen, then left to join the others for lunch.
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"Ah, Charley!" Dumbledore said, as Charles came out of the Marauder Tent. "You're going to join us for lunch. Wonderful!"
Charles grinned at Albus and sat down beside his grandson, ruffling his hair before turning to his meal. "Good afternoon, everyone," he said.
Albus turned to Snape. "Severus, I don't believe you've met our host. This is Mr. Charles Potter. Charley, Severus Snape is our potion's master."
"Nice to meet you, Professor," Charles said, nodding to Snape.
Snape nodded in return. "Are you related to Harry Potter?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm his grandfather," he said.
Those at the table who had not been aware of this before looked at him in amazement.
"That's not possible," Hazel Crabbe said. "You can't be old enough to be his grandfather. You don't look a day over 40."
Charles smiled at her. "Thank you. That's quite a compliment. Let's see, it's 1996 now, so I'm actually 60 years old."
Margaret Goyle shook her head. "If you're 60, I'm 100," she said.
"Madame, if you're 100, I want the potion you've been using," he teased.
Mrs. Goyle giggled, blushing like a schoolgirl. "Oh, you!" she said.
Harry leaned toward him and asked softly, "How old are you really, Granddad?"
"Forty-five," he answered quietly. "Just nine years older than my son would be if he were alive."
Harry shook his head. "That's just weird."
"So you're the Granddad Charley that Dobby talks about," Draco said.
Charles chucked. "Yes, but that's better than what he called me before, which was Harry Potter's Granddad Sir."
The others laughed. "I'm not sure," Remus said, "but that might beat Harry Potter's Wheezy, which is what Dobby calls Ron Weasley."
Draco got a mischievous look on his face, and Harry caught it. "Don't even think it, Draco," he said. "Weasel is bad enough."
"I didn't say anything," Draco said defensively.
"No, but you were thinking about it."
"Do you read minds now, Potter?"
"No, but a blind grandmother could have read that look on your face."
"How about a game of quidditch after lunch?" Sirius asked, hoping to stop the fight before it got started. It worked, and for the rest of the meal, the boys talked about their favorite sport.