Chapter Twenty-Nine : Valour

A lone snake slithers through the corridors of what used to be the grand school of Hogwarts. His green scales shimmer silver in the subtle rays of the setting sun as he slides around the boots of three Death Eaters towering over him. They pass, not noticing the reptile beneath them. Vibrations in the stones the snake passes over tell him that another approaches, and he freezes, pressing his thin body against the wall, obscured in shadow. Tears stream down the female's face, and she runs into the bedchambers she shares with her husband.

A tinge of emotional sympathy strikes the snake, but he continues on his way, rounding a corner. The waves of sound pulsate around him as the body heat of two more Death Eaters enters his senses. Curling against the castle walls and pressing his body against the floor, he closes his eyes and prepares to listen to a conversation already taking place.

"I don't understand, Lucius."

"That's because you don't think like a leader, Weasley."

"You may think like a leader, but you don't know what's happening under your nose," Percy retorts, carelessly studying a ripped seam of his black robes. Breaking off a loose thread, he drops it to the floor. It lands over the snake, but his presence remains unnoticed.

Lucius's ice blue eyes scan the dark corridors. He then turns back to Percy when he's ensured that they are truly alone. Lucius's conversations with Percy are always private; they share issues that no other soul is ever meant to hear. "I don't inconvenience myself with trivial matters," Lucius replies airily.

Percy frowns, removes his horn-rimmed glasses, and cleans away the smudges with the sleeves of his robes. Tucking stray red hairs behind his ears, he places the spectacles back on, adjusting them to his liking. "Sometimes the most trivial of matters are the most important," Percy counters.

Percy always thought himself better than the average wizard; therefore, Lucius is anxious to take him down a peg. He bides his time much like Adrian Pucey, and his day will eventually come. "So, enlighten me, Weasley," Lucius snarls.

Inwardly, Percy smiles. "Another of our Death Eaters is going to be a mother."

"Greingrass?"

"No."

"Parkinson?"

"No, Lucius," he barks abruptly, wondering if Lucius is really this removed from the lives of his Death Eaters. Percy keeps open ears to all that happens around him in hopes of hearing news of Penelope, but all he's heard is the business of other Death Eaters. "That's impossible; there's no way Pansy and her lover could ever conceive a child." He pauses, frowning. "It's Rae Landon."

Lucius chuckles mirthlessly, an unnatural sound that shakes Percy to the core. "Marcus Flint will be a father? That's amusing . . . and yet sad at the same time," he reconsiders.

Percy nods in solemn agreement but cannot bring himself to empathise for Rae. He never did care for her, not since she paid Colby Warrington to shove Percy's head into a toilet bowl in his fifth year, after he took points from Slytherin because he caught Rae and one of her boys snogging in the corridors when they should have been in Potions.

"I believe that, in a few years time, we will have to set up an education system."

"Another Hogwarts?" Lucius asks, his interest piqued.

Another frown crosses Percy's lips. Despite the Slytherins who had, in the past, used him as their own personal punching bag and the friends he never really had, Percy remembers his Hogwarts days with fondness. "No, all that made Hogwarts Hogwarts is now gone. The Sorting Hat has fallen off its rocker, and Peeves is imprisoned in a jar. Sir Nicholas was finally granted admittance into the ranks of the Hunt, and the Grey Lady mourns endlessly. Lucrece Lestrange unfortunately, exorcised the Fat Friar. She didn't mean to, of course...I think. I hope."

"You forget my favourite ghost, Weasley."

"Ah yes, the Bloody Baron. He is on his honeymoon with Bloody Besse."

Lucius runs his tongue over his lower lip and presses them together in contemplation. "I can order the release of Peeves, order back Sir Nicholas, and--"

A soft padding sound suddenly reaches the men's ears, and both turn their attention towards the source of the footfalls. A well-built, light-brown canine with large paws comes sauntering through the halls, stopping before Percy and staring up at him with baby blue eyes.

Lucius stares down at the werewolf with contempt, for he reminds him of Lupin.

Rubbing a spot behind the werewolf's ears, Percy hears a low growling from deep inside the wolf's throat. He smirks to himself; the wolf may feign irritation, but Percy knows that if the wolf truly hated this, he'd be missing a few fingers by now. The werewolf's ears perk up as Percy drops to his knees, taking a milk bone from the depths of his robes. The werewolf growls but takes the biscuit before continuing on his way.

There are two types of werewolves in the world: those who are trustable, and those who aren't. Most humans are cynical towards the thought of a decent werewolf and would rather hate something they don't understand than open their minds to new possibilities.

As Percy rises to his feet, Lucius regards him critically. Percy's reply is a mere shrug as he silently refuses to divulge the identity of that werewolf. It's none of Lucius's business, after all. And Lucius doesn't press the issue.

"Tell me, Weasley, was your brother's stay enjoyable? I never knew we were offering vacations at the castle," Lucius says sardonically.

Percy's shoulders drop. He sent Terence Higgs to escort his older brother to the castle this morning, but he couldn't enjoy Charlie's visit while he was preoccupied with thoughts of Penelope. "Charlie was a familiar face," he eventually answers.

"I wouldn't let just anybody bring a prisoner in for afternoon tea. I hope you appreciate the liberties I allow you." Lucius casts Percy a smug smirk, his voice pleasantly cool. The palm of his hand rests on the silver snakehead of his staff, and he draws it closer to his chest in a motion of confidence.

Percy's stomach lurches at the reminder, and a spasm of irritation crosses his lightly freckled face. With seething eyes, he studies Lucius disapprovingly. "And I hope you know I have yet to seriously consider killing you," fumes Percy.

Lucius's smug smirk revolutionises into one of triumph, and he examines his staff as he replies to Percy. "Kill me, and you condemn yourself as well. The Death Eaters would tear you apart; they'd never follow a Weasley, even if he did kill Lord Voldemort."

"How do they feel about following a Puppet King?" snaps an infuriated Percy. Blood surges to his fists as he clenches them at his side, grinding his teeth. "We both have something to lose, Lucius."

Lucius turns a cold eye towards Percy, viewing him disdainfully. "Not all decisions I make are in front of you, Weasley! And, I believe you have more to lose than I--"

Two approaching Death Eaters, messengers from their unit, cut his words short. Both wear the black, sapphire-trimmed robes of the Blue boarder patrol, but the black-haired Death Eater has an emblem of a blue-finned mermaid across his lapel. The other, one with dark blond hair, clutches his chest as he gasps for air, secretly wishing that they could have Apparated into the castle from the grounds.

Benjamin Lestrange jabs his elbow into Seamus Finnigan's side, and the crouched-over Seamus immediately straightens, saluting Lord Malfoy with shaking respect.

"Lord Malfoy," Benjamin greets in serious tones, saluting his superior as well. "Two wizards matching the descriptions of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black have been apprehended South of London. My troop guards them, awaiting your orders, Sir!"

Lucius listens with a grin growing wider every second. He could bring Sirius and Remus in for questioning, but he knows them from old, knows they would rather die than betray their beliefs and friends. They would serve Lucius better without their souls. "Send the Dementors," Lucius replies with a steady and authoritative voice.

Percy's blue eyes widen in alarm, and any words catch in his throat.

From the dark corners of the passageways, the snake's black eyes open, and he uncurls, stretching his body. Seamus and Benjamin's departing footfalls pound through his body as he slithers away, forgetting momentarily about Lucius and Percy.


Severus Snape slithers out the old castle, towards a clearing in the Forbidden Forest where his clothes are safely hidden. Serpent into human is a transformation more painful than beast into human, more hideous then werewolf into human.

And Severus is then lying in his human form on the ground in the foetal position, shaking and gasping for air. Sweat beads on his forehead, runs down his hooked nose, and absorbs into the black robes where he rests his head. Knowing that something more important is happening, he draws the strength to reach for his robes and dons them. Pulling the hood over his head, casting his face in shadow. He quickly flees through the Forbidden Forest, running to the spot of rendezvous with important news about old enemies.

With a quick, deep breath, Severus circles a grove, moving swiftly around the dead trees, hoping that their live branches and roots don't snake out to grab him, dragging him into the ground towards a gruesome end. As he circles, he notices the ground stained with red and silver blood, and two silhouetted female figures appear from the darkness.

"Well?" Elizabeth Morgan exclaims impatiently, her eyes falling upon an unrecognised cloaked figure on the skirts of the grove.

Severus steps through the moonlight into the grove. "Well?" he mimics. "If I were a Death Eater, you'd be dead right now. Don't act like the rookie you are, Morgan. Make sure I am who you think I am."

"Calm down, Severus," Fleur starts, "we're not dead, so we don't 'ave to worry."

Severus removes his hood, his face pale and carved in stone. "You're right. We're not the ones we have to be concerned about. Lupin and Black, the bloody fools, were captured," he says, his voice colder than ice. He never cared for Remus and loathes Sirius with a burning passion, but his commander gave them an order to return alive. "They're set to be executed tonight--Malfoy sent the Dementors."

Beside Severus, Fleur's face becomes a mask of terror, and she gasps, cupping her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound.

"We have to save them!" Elizabeth's heart soars, but her hands shake with fear. With maniacal hazel eyes, she glances from Severus to Fleur, and then back to Severus again.

"And how do you purpose we do that, Morgan?" snaps Severus, his words lashing against Elizabeth. "Walk through the front gates and beg Malfoy to release our comrades, spare their lives? They'd kill us before we even set our eyes upon a Death Eater. No, we're going to help them the only way we can."


Dementors feed on the life force of living souls. The fear that they inject into humans is mind numbing, like a cold fist closing over one's heart. When one sets their eyes upon a Dementor, they only have damnation to look forward to.

Dementors once guarded the Fortress of Azkaban, but now they guard those who once controlled them. The first, last, and only attack that the demented creatures have is known as the Dementor's Kiss, where they literally suck the soul from the human, leaving an empty, soulless shell of a body near death.

Elizabeth was in her fourth year when an army of Dementors was placed at Hogwarts, but they were never close enough to affect her. Elizabeth was born to a Muggle man and a Squib, and her mum used to tell her the horrors of Dementors as bedtime tales. Missus Morgan told her daughter how Dementors could drive one insane in a single evening, and the victim eventually becomes as the creatures--the epitome of every horrible memory and dream known to them. But none of her mother's words could have prepared Elizabeth for the pain and fear that the Dementors inflict on her.

Elizabeth's skin begins to itch, and it seems as though thousands of bugs crawl under her skin, biting and nipping at her soft flesh. Cold chills creep up her spine as a warm breeze blows in her face.

Darkness doesn't enter her being; rather, everything that was ever joyous and radiant quickly flees on the wings of darkness. No matter how desperately she grabs onto everything, trying to keep it in her soul, the more she loses. And she wonders if she'll ever get it back.

Being veela means being everything that's beautiful and good in this world. Since Dementors are everything that's dark and evil, they are as two negatively charged particles. They'll never attract each other. But Fleur Delacour is only part veela. Although the veela in her is unjaded, the human in her is fleeing for her life, leaving a battle to be fought between her two heritages. A battle that cannot be won by either of them.

Her breathing comes raggedly and rushed, and her knees begin to shake, threatening to collapse. Beside her, Severus extends an arm to support her trembling form. Fleur leans against him, hoping to bury her fears in the rough fabric of his robes. She squeezes her eyes tightly shut to block the unsightly and loathsome creatures, and images of deceased, decaying loved ones begin to dance across her closed eyelids.

Severus has become used to the Dementors. And perhaps that is the saddest of all. They still affect him, though, still suck every decent fibre from his being. There are not many decent fibres anymore, but they are still there.

Many years ago, when he first encountered a Dementor, he ran. And he promised himself that never again would he flee at the sight of one of these unholy creatures. He's forced himself to conquer those fears.

The three watch in a heavy silence from opposite the castle grounds as two rows of six Dementors float from the castle. Two Death Eaters lead the way; Severus recognises them as an old friend and a student. Both walk with their heads bowed, their pale hands flexing at their sides, trying to bring in heat. They inwardly fight a battle with their worst nightmares.

As the sun sets, the Dementors are draped in a welcomed darkness. Their eyes, which are sunken in their flesh, flash white, and their skin is marred grey, rotting and falling from their bones. Their mouths are permanently frozen open, awaiting their next meal, and black robes swing from their skeletal bodies.

As quickly as they came, they disappear into the night, and life resumes normally, as if nothing in the last five minutes ever happened.

Severus shakes the feeling of dread, turning to his companions. "You, don't do anything stupid. Fleur, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Don't act until I do. And, I almost forgot, they're taking a train, so get on it."

Yet again I have to make sacrifices, Severus thinks. You dolts for being captured, forcing me to do something I don't enjoy doing. Playing with the lives of people I actually like just to save the likes of you two. You bloody dolts.

Severus growls deeply from his throat and begins his transformation into his Animagus-self. As Severus is crouching on the ground in foetal form, the last thought that runs through his mind is, I look like Voldemort with no arms.

Severus knows these grounds from the days he snuck away from the castle in his student years to escape his tormentors. And later on, when he became the Potions Master, he used this knowledge to get onto the train to keep an eye on the young Harry Potter.


To say that the changes to the Hogwarts Express haven't been exceptionally noticeable would be a lie. The colour is no longer a cheerful, cherry red; it has darkened to the shade of dried blood. Holes caused by rust eat away at the once beautiful sight; it'll never be the same. Once, countless cars connected it into what resembled a large red snake, but now cars lay on the side of the track, tipped over from the carnage of the war. With skulls of giants decorating the remains cars, the feelings of dread, sorrow, loss, and pain makes a meal of what was once magnificent.

The Dementors, Benjamin, and Seamus aren't the only ones reaping the benefits of the Hogwarts Express. This evening, young Stewart Ackerley and his mentor Travis Nott escort Charlie Weasley back to Camp Alpha. They believe that Charlie was brought up for questioning, though what answers Percy and Lucius sought, they don't know. They're oblivious to the fact that Charlie and his younger brother semi-enjoyed each other's company over the span of the day.

"Why are you bringing those fuckers on the train?" Travis exclaims, cocking his head towards the Dementors.

"Fuckers? What the hell are you talking about? They let you on here, didn't they?" Benjamin retorts, cutting his junior down to his kneecaps, his rightful stature.

The Dementors are placed in the last two cars, while the Death Eaters occupy the first one, putting as much space between them and the creatures as possible. The doors close with a hiss, and slowly the Hogwarts Express begins to turn its wheels, noisily and sluggish at first. Black smoke billows into the cars and the air as it gains speed and loses its chimney.


As the Death Eaters enter the train, Severus detaches himself from Benjamin's robes. He finds a quiet spot to transform before the train begins moving and resumes his post at the entrance, out of the sight of prying eyes. He waves furiously for Fleur and Elizabeth to come.

Dolts, Severus muses as he watches Elizabeth and Fleur run to catch the moving train. As the train starts speeding up, he wraps his slender hands around Fleur's wrist, pulling her up with all the strength he can muster.

Damn she's put on weight! he curses mentally. And I thought veela were supposed to be light.

As Elizabeth reaches her hand up to be helped onto the train, the chimney topples from above, hits the ground, and flips over several times, smacking her on the shoulder with a loud crunch! Her shoulder snaps as Severus reaches down, grabbing her around her mid-section in a bear hug, whipping her onto the train.

Severus surveys the damage done by the smokestack as best as he can as black smoke begins to fill the cabin. "Fleur, can you mend this? I'm more of a Potions Master than a doctor."

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything," Fleur responds as she frees her wand, giving Elizabeth's shoulder a quick tap and incantation. "We'll 'ave the nurse take a look at it back at 'ome, but this'll do for now. I-I 'ope."

"Here's the plan," Severus begins, making his voice louder than the whimpers coming from Elizabeth. "Morgan, you're with me. No more mistakes--as you can tell, they're painful. Fleur, I want you to detach the cars with the Dementors. Then hurry up to the front. By then, the rest of the plan should be completed. I won't tell you what I'm going to do in case you get captured."

Fleur gives Severus a pained look, hurt that he'd think something like that.

"Let's just not have a repeat of World War II, Fleur," He gives her a dry smirk. "I'm going to kill some Death Eaters. Morgan can come for the ride."


Fleur starts through the cabins unimpeded, heading towards the section where she believes she can detach the Dementors without coming in contact with them. As she enters the middle cabin, she catches a glimpse of a shadow she hoped she would never have to see up close again. Freeing her wand from the inside of her black robes, she directs it towards the approaching shadow. Only one spell comes to mind, and an elven fireball explodes from the tip of her wand.

At the thought of her job being completed, she turns to leave, but a cold hand lands on her shoulder, spinning her around. She screams, jumping back, as she comes face to face with a dreaded Dementor.

The Dementor closes ranks with her, sticking his face closer to hers. Like two magnets with the same charge, electricity surges through them, blasting them away with such velocity that could never be again matched.

Soaring through the air, Fleur blacks out for a fraction of a second. The red and grey-striped bench she flies through shatters into thousands of splinters, and Fleur moans, cracking open a crystal blue eye. Her wand still clasped in her hand, she remembers her mission and completes it this time.

With the feeling of crawling skin where the grey hand touched her, Fleur passes gratefully into unconsciousness, dropping her wand in the explosion.


The explosion and jolt created from the detachment of the cars and the sudden death of the Dementors slams Severus and Elizabeth through the door, right into the first car of the Hogwarts Express, right into the laps of the shocked Death Eaters.

With Severus keeping his head throughout the whole incoherent incident, he bodily grabs the first Death Eater he sees--Stewart Ackerly--by the collar, whipping him towards a window surrounded by holes of rust, expecting it to hold. But of course, glass breaks. Law of nature. And Stewart tumbles through the air, landing in a Whomping Willow planted next to the tracks. The last sound he ever hears is the noise of his head collapsing from Whomping Willow blows.

Severus isn't the only one keeping his head. Before Travis realises what is happening, Charlie's chains are choking his life out of him. Travis's eyes bulge forward, and he scratches desperately at the chains before his whole body goes limp.

"Severus." A gloating smile.

"Benjamin." A pang of regret.

They gape at each other; Elizabeth and Seamus wordlessly question their superiors. Benjamin and Severus stare endlessly at each other and slowly, as though reading the other's thoughts, they lower their wands. They order Elizabeth and Seamus to do the same.

"It seems that a Death Eater's worst fear is another Death Eater." Benjamin smirks, his dark eyes aflame with vivacity. He licks his lips slowly, studying Severus.

"The only thing a Death Eater should fear is death. Today is not your day to die. I have a message for your Lord: the Last Alliance is an approaching storm and cannot be stopped. And that should put the fear of the Gods in you," Severus rasps, shuddering beneath Benjamin's flaming gaze. The eyes of the Lestrange twins were something that he could never get used to. It's said that to look into someone's eyes is to look into their soul and know who they truly are. When one looked into the Lestranges' eyes, you saw not your reflection in the depths, or any type of comfort. Rather, you saw death and decay, sometimes your death and decay.

"Noble words coming from someone who used to be like us," Benjamin comments, a fondness in his voice. He smirks, a fringe of black hair falling before his eyes, wispy as the morning rain.

Severus shrugs. "Not really, just the truth. Send my regards to Lucius."

"And send mine to Igor."

Elizabeth uninterestedly watches the exchange between the old friends, idly scratching her forearms through her black robes. She turns, sees Seamus cupping his hand over his mouth, yawning, and remembers him from Hogwarts. She never liked him, though; his Irish voice annoyed her. She shifts on her feet, suddenly tripping over air, accidentally smacking into Benjamin.

All Benjamin feels before being shoved through the already broken window is something heavy and clumsy striking him on his back. He screams, having collided with a telephone pole, breaking his left arm.


Fleur wakes up to the sound of screams. Remembering where she is and what she's supposed to be doing, she staggers to her feet. With blood trickling into her eye from a gash received from the fight with the Dementor, she moves forward to the first cabin where her comrades wait, supporting herself against the dirty walls and broken benches. She slams the door open, hearing a constricting thud! as a response.


Seamus takes careful aim towards Charlie, his wand hitting him on the bridge of his nose. "Avada . . ." he begins, smirking at the sure victory. That smirk is replaced by a look of pure befuddlement as the metal door slammed into the back of his head, sending him forward into unconsciousness.

Charlie, who should be thanking his saviour on his hands and knees, is doing just that. Only, he isn't thanking Fleur, he's asking her to marry him, hearts in his eyes.

Severus glances around the train, ready to disappear.

"Are-are they--the Dementors--dead?" Elizabeth asks, shaking uncontrollably. Their mission, although filled with dumb-luck, is successful. The Dementors that were being sent to kiss Sirius and Remus are now dead, their bodies smouldering coals among the ruined Express.

Severus nods, stepping over Seamus's body. "They are for now. But no one can kill Dementors. Someone will come along to harvest their functional organs and magic life back into their bodies," he begins, turning to Elizabeth. "Dementors aren't created or born, they are reaped from their dead."

"Ewww . . ." Elizabeth shudders, her breathing becoming natural, her heart slowing.

"Meession accomplished?"

A smile creeps over Severus's thin lips. "Yes. Mission accomplished. As long as those dolts don't blow what we small chance we gave them." He grabs Seamus by the collar, tossing him through the window and off of the train.

Fleur exhales in relief. "Good. Charlie 'ere 'as asked me to marry 'im five times, now. It's starting to look appealing."

Severus smirks, mildly amused with Charlie. "The perk of veela blood." He removes a crushed coke can from his pockets and taps his wand against it four times, and then three times. A bright light is released from the can, and Severus holds it out for the other three to take.

"Let's go home."


At his home in Marseilles, the leader of the Last Alliance notices a red sky at night and remembers something told to him ages ago, an old superstition. A red sky symbolises blood being spilt that day.

"I hope the price was worth it," he says to his missing comrades.