Chapter 59:
The AttackThree months later, the call came at last.
During the long time of waiting and worrying, the members of the Order had almost lost hope that their plan would work at all. Although they had received plenty of important information via the bugs in the Death Eater houses and had been able to save several lives, they had never heard of the Dark Lord himself visiting one of these places. Ever since Severus' treason Voldemort had become increasingly paranoid. The negative side to his paranoia was, that he never used the same place for his Death Eater meetings twice. The only positive thing, that he had executed three of his own Death Eaters because he suspected they were the ones giving away this information.
Black was sitting in the kitchen, idly (and not a little annoyed) watching Remus do the usual exercises with Snape. Since a little over a month, the Slytherin had been up and about again and strove with an almost manic energy to recover his old agility and strength. It had worked pretty well for his legs. After Poppy had magically healed the burns and rebuilt the muscle tissue, Snape was once again prowling through the house with a fluidity of movement close to his usual one, more than ever reminding everybody of an overgrown vulture.
His hands were an entirely different story. Although the ugly scars were invisible since Snape always wore black leather riding-gloves, he still had hardly any strength in his fingers. So far, he was merely able to hold a mug with both his hands, but it did not work with smaller objects. Without an enormous amount of concentration and effort, or without help, he hardly managed to close his mostly numb fingers.
Nevertheless, he insisted on practicing holding his wand until his arms were shaking with exhaustion. And no matter who tried to reason with him, he stubbornly refused to take things more slowly. Albus had told them that Snape was dying to take his revenge, and had pointed out that the Slytherin was dead set on participating in the attack against Voldemort. Dumbledore seemed quite satisfied with this, although the idea alone was sheer idiocy in Snape's current condition. However, in Albus eyes, it was exactly how a Slytherin, and most of all Snape, was supposed act.
All the same, and although Sirius had come into closer contact with the Slytherin's acts of revenge himself, he was not convinced. Snape seemed changed. The arrogant and biting sarcasm, which used to roll off Snape's tongue so easily, was barely there anymore, and the vehemence with which he was pursuing his revenge was not normal, either. Snape had always wanted revenge, even as a schoolboy, but he used to be very patient in acting it out, was able to lie in wait like a snake and put away his revenge like you put away some old shirt in a drawer only to get it out again in the right moment.
What really annoyed Sirius, however, was that he and Remus had agreed on spending a quiet weekend in his friend's hut for once. With the emphasis on quiet, which meant most of all 'without Snape'. But the slimy Slytherin seemed to have other plans and refused to let Remus go, snarling at him each and every time he wanted to terminate the training for the day.
And because Remus was such a good-natured person, and because Sirius himself had put this idea about the depression into his head, he could not bring himself to turn down Snape's vehement wish to continue. Okay. Sirius was still convinced that Snape was stuck in a depression, but could the git not be depressive when it did not ruin all the happiness in Sirius' life?
Well, he had no choice but watch Snape's awkward attempts at clasping Lupin's hand and pressing down on it with his fingers.
And then, his boredom and the silence in the room were wiped out at once, when suddenly something within the pockets of his trousers began to emit an unpleasant heat. Reaching inside, he produced a somewhat rumpled phoenix feather. The feather, which usually was of a deep orange colour, seemed to glow softly from the inside. Sirius looked at his friend, who was completely ignoring Snape now and instead was staring intently at the likewise glowing feather he had produced from the breast pocket of his robes.
"The signal," Remus whispered as a highly agitated Alastor Moody hobbled into the kitchen.
"It's finally about to start!" the old Auror roared. "We have localised Voldemort. Tonks just activated the signal and is now gathering the Aurors. As soon as they are here, Albus will give us some last-minute instructions, and then we'll thoroughly kick old Voldie's ass!"
Sirius jumped from his chair excitedly. "Where is he?"
"Malfoy Manor," Moody growled. "And apparently, there are no Death Eaters present except for old Malfoy himself. We heard them both talking to each other through the bug."
"Ha, now we've got him," Sirius exclaimed. "Let's see how powerful he is without his minions at his side. Albus is going to finish him off thus" he snipped his fingers," quickly." Then, he realised what else this news meant. He glanced over towards Snape who was sitting like in shock and seemed to need some minutes to cope with the unexpected news. Yet, he did cope with it, and as if in slow motion, his face turned into a hateful, stony mask, his eyes beginning to glitter evilly.
"Oh no, you don't ..." Sirius began. Taking Snape with them in this condition would only hinder them. Yet, he could not even finish his sentence as the door opened once more and three redheaded men and one woman stormed into the room, followed by the shabby figure of Mundungus Fletcher.
"Where is he?" Bill Weasley inquired the instant he entered the room.
Moody, not willing to repeat himself, turned him down. "I'll tell you when everybody has arrived. I've no inclination to explain the same thing over again every two minutes."
It did not take more than ten minutes until the rest of the Order found its way into the (in the meantime pretty crowded) kitchen at headquarters. Only Dumbledore was still missing.
"What's he waiting for?" asked Molly impatiently.
"Surely, he has to get Harry first," answered Moody with a gnashing of teeth.
Molly's face darkened and her eyes flashed angrily. "He truly intends to take a mere boy to battle? How can he?"
"You know about the prophecy," her husband tried to soothe her. "Without Harry, we'll fail."
"I know," she spat angrily, making it obvious that this knowledge did not help at all, she still hated the fact. "At least, he won't drag Ron into this mess too, if he knows what's good for him."
Nobody dared contradict her. Most of them had been present to hear her tirade threatening Dumbledore with the worst tortures of the seven hells if he so much as had the idea to endanger a single one of the 'children' not particularly mentioned in the prophecy. That also was the reason why the twins had only been poorly informed about what was going on. For Molly it was bad enough to know her 'grown-up' sons in danger.
She appeared to be slightly calmer when Dumbledore arrived with a somewhat confused-looking Harry, his hand on the boy's shoulder.
Upon seeing the crowd in the room, Harry stopped short and glanced at Dumbledore. "I don't fully understand, headmaster."
"We finally received the signal, Harry," explained Molly in a soft, compassionate voice which was in startling contrast to her outburst just a minute ago.
Harry's mouth gaped. "You are going to attack Vol..."
"We are going to send him where he belongs: straight to hell," growled Sirius.
Harry's eyes slowly travelled over all those present and then back to Dumbledore. He frowned thoughtfully. "I don't want to complain, Sir. But if this is true, why am I here? Do you think there will be problems and you want to give me the chance to speak with Sirius before the attack. Just in case... But why is Ron not here then? His family is fighting, too."
For one long minute, it was dead silent in the room, but this time Molly was given no time to protest.
"YOU HAVEN'T TOLD HIM?" Sirius shouted. This couldn't be true. The old man had not told Harry about the prophecy! Not a single word.
"Told me what ...?" asked Harry, even more confused than before.
"It was not imperative for him to know in advance," Dumbledore said sharply into Sirius' direction before looking Harry in the eye. "There is a prophecy, you know, and it says that you have to be present in the final battle."
Sirius could see seething anger rise in Harry, anger about once again having been withheld vital information concerning his life, and he could well understand this reaction.
"A real prophecy will always fulfil itself, whether or not the parties concerned know about it," Snape's hoarse voice could be heard from the kitchen table. "However, if we do keep on chatting away much longer, then HE might already be gone when we arrive at Malfoy's."
Sirius glared daggers at the insensitive Slytherin, whereas Snape held his head slightly lowered, his eyes flashing determinedly at everybody from under his short hair.
Dumbledore sighed. "Sadly enough, Severus is right. Harry, we don't have the time to go into detail, and it is sufficient for you to know that you have to come with us. But be careful, and stay close to Sirius and Remus and under their protection at all cost, no matter what's going to happen."
As if he had to specify this, Sirius thought. He would not let the boy out of his sight anyway.
"But shouldn't he know that ..." Charlie started again, but Dumbledore silenced him with one stern gaze.
"At the moment, he doesn't need to know more than he already does."
And suddenly, Sirius understood. Dumbledore wanted to avoid having to tell Harry what was expected of him. That, if everything went according to plan, he would have taken somebody's life before the day was over. Although, you could hardly call Voldemort alive. Kill or die. It was bad enough when you were confronted with this deadly dilemma during a battle. However, it was a decision that had to be made, and making it was easier in the actual situation. Letting Harry brood over it would be even more brutal than keeping him ignorant. They could only hope that they would not have to pick up the shards of Harry's psyche afterwards.
Harry, on the other hand, did not seem to particularly like this, and he was about to protest, but Dumbledore turned around demonstratively and looked at Snape.
"Severus, you know Malfoy best. We found out all about the usual wards around the mansion long ago and are able to avoid them. Is it probable that he has strengthened the wards while Riddle is present?"
Snape shook his head. "I don't think that likely. If it was a planned visit, there would certainly be more Death Eaters around. And Malfoy and the dar... Voldemort are too arrogant to even think of the possibility of being attacked during a spontaneous visit. At least they used to be."
Dumbledore nodded. "Good. Then Bill will break the wards at the same moment as I will try to cast an anti-apparition spell on the mansion. You'll have to act quickly, before Voldemort gets the idea to use the Floo to escape to the safety of another Death Eater's house." He sighed deeply. "I know, my friends, this plan has many 'ifs' and 'buts', but at least, we have the element of surprise on our side, and this might be the only chance to attack without risking a terrible bloodshed."
"There are many secret passages into the mansion. I know one or two of them. If we make it to the stables unobserved, I may be able to lead a small vanguard to the main building unnoticed," said Snape.
Dumbledore nodded again while gazing intently at the Slytherin from over the rims of his glasses. "This would be splendid. You could give us detailed directions where to find this secret passage through a mirror."
Snape jumped from his chair at the implication of Dumbledore's words. " A mirror? What are you getting at? Of course, I'm coming with you!"
"Of course, you won't!" Sirius retorted with annoyance in his voice.
"You'll bloody see that I will, mutt," snarled Snape, his eyes flashing furiously.
"Sirius, Severus. We don't have the time for your childish quarrelling," Dumbledore said sharply.
"Albus, he cannot even hold his wand. He'll only hinder us," Remus cautioned. "It'll be enough trouble already to look out for Harry. Sirius is right. You know he is."
"Damn werewolf!" Snape shouted. "I won't let you take my revenge from me!"
Although Sirius had been glad at first to see his friend take his side, he now felt somewhat guilty at hearing the almost desperate undertone in Snape's voice. Snape wanted, no, he needed this revenge. Sirius was not sure whether or not the others had realised this, he rather doubted it. Only Dumbledore seemed to be an exception. For some moments, he surveyed the Slytherin, who was quaking with badly suppressed rage, weighing his decision.
"Severus ..." Albus began.
"Perhaps we could tie his wand to his hand?" Sirius interrupted the headmaster.
"Severus' magic hasn't by far reached its usual standard yet," lectured Albus carefully. "He could not even defend himself properly."
"Will you stop talking about me as if I wasn't in this room at all?" hissed Snape. "I will come with you, and I will confront Malfoy. It doesn't matter to me whether I get killed in the process. You don't need to worry yourselves about my safety. It doesn't concern you in the least. It's my life, and I have every right to risk it whenever and wherever I choose." He looked Albus straight in the eye. "Or do you deny this right to me now, after having asked the very same thing of me for years?"
Dumbledore stiffened visibly. "Severus. You are going too far. I never forced you. It has always been your decision."
Snape relaxed slightly. "Indeed, precisely as it is now. Only that this time I'm doing it for my sake and not for the sake of others ..."
The two of them glared at each other for some more seconds before Albus finally nodded. "Very well then. Kingsley, help him secure his wand around his wrist and keep an eye on Severus when we are there." He gazed sternly at the Slytherin, challenging the younger wizard to disagree.
Snape did not.
ooooooooooooooooooo
Sneak-preview Chapter 60: Malfoy Manor: Will the Order-vanguard led by Snape arrive at the Manor unnoticed? Will they find Voldemort and Malfoy alone? Quarrels and battles ensue, ending in a deep fall. But whose?
(Find out next week, same day, same time on Killers and Traitors)My Beta Sadistra put that one in and I think it was so cute, I had to leave it in:-D
First of all, let me tell you all how sorry I am to not have updated for so long. I've been finishing a Snape-fiction-challenge about a 'Blinddate'. Not that easy, since I don't consider Snapey dear as the romantic sort in any way:-P But I managed.
Persephone Lupin will not have time to translate another chapter until Easter, I'm afraid, but I will try to do some translating myself, so you don't have to wait that long. It will be easier for her, to only look it through, than to write it all herself.
Translated by Persephone Lupin