Chapter 40

Best Laid Plans

The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had one of the finest Quidditch pitches in all Britain, if not the world. The pitch was a large oval field of amazingly lush grass, with an imprint of the school castle mowed into the dark green blades. At each end of the pitch stood three hooped goal posts of differing heights, silent sentinels standing guard over the grounds. Large grandstands stood in a circle around the pitch, offering spectators breathtaking aerial views of the flying action.

Severus Snape slouched low in the empty grandstands, his feet lazily propped up on a railing. He looked down upon the field, frowning in concentration, for the pitch no longer resembled its usual self. The goal posts were gone and much of the grandstands had vanished, only to be reconstructed near one end of the oval field. The pitch itself was now full of tall hedgerows, taller than three men put together, taller than some giants. The hedgerows formed a maze, convoluted and crisscrossing all over itself. Snape spied Hagrid and his ugly hound walking through the maze, tending to one beast or another within the maze grounds. Alastor Moody limped along the maze perimeter, stopping every so often to poke at a hedge or bark out some order to no one in particular.

Snape saw the Hogwarts castle looming behind the pitch, the Great Lake off to the left, the Forbidden Forest beckoning to the right. He felt much calmer than he had the night before – the maze may be filled with dark terrors of the night, but the Champions would be right in the middle of campus, surrounded by a plethora of wizards loyal to Hogwarts and Dumbledore himself.

Snape spied Minerva McGonagall exiting the maze and turn towards the grandstands, he languidly watched as she slowly made her way up to him.

"What are you doing, sitting up here all alone?"

"Just taking in the sights and sounds of our beautiful campus."

"You get skinnier every time I see you, have you been eating anything lately?"

"I was unaware you'd been promoted to the health and wellness coordinator of Hogwarts, when was the announcement?"

McGonagall ignored the jape and sat down next to Snape, stretching out her legs alongside his.

"I found nothing last night, you?"

Snape kept finding his eyes were drawn to the hunched figure of Moody, who now happened to be waving his arms in a tantrum and screaming something at Hagrid. "Me neither, if Crouch did come back to Hogwarts, he's long gone now."

"You don't believe the children? What cause do they have to lie?"

"I…I don't know what to believe anymore. It was dark, they were near the forest…mayhaps they thought they saw him."

"Someone stunned poor Viktor."

"Yes…someone."

The professors sat together in silence, staring out across the maze, each lost in their own thoughts and worries. After a time, Albus Dumbledore strode down to the maze from the castle, flanked by several teachers. McGonagall put her hand on Snape's shoulder, "He's here."

The pair made their way down the stands to the maze entrance and fell in alongside the other teachers, who had formed a semi-circle around Dumbledore, Moody and Hagrid. The maze entrance was stunning – a golden arch that shimmered magnificently in the waning sunlight.

Dumbledore raised his hands for quiet, and the muttering died down, "I want to again express my gratitude and thanks for everything you all have done to make this tournament a success. I know how much extra work has been piled on you, on top of your already busy schedules, and I appreciate how hard you've worked to keep both the Champions and spectators safe, with nary a word of complaint. Aside from one or two wrinkles," Dumbledore said with a smile and a few chuckles sounded from the group, "it's been rather smooth sailing. One final time this year, I ask you to go above and beyond your normal school duties."

"For Hogwarts!"

"Our pleasure Headmaster!"

"To the Champions!"

Dumbledore beamed, stroking his long white beard as he looked around the assembled group. "The final task is the brainchild of the judges, designed to test the Champions' moxie, inventiveness and overall magical ability. The four must brave this hedgerow maze behind me; the winner will outwit the others, solve complex puzzles and conquer ferocious beasts. Our very own gamekeeper has populated the maze with creatures of all types of ilk and Professor Moody will be overseeing the maze security. Alastor?"

Moody limped forward, waving his wooden staff at the small crowd. "It's up to you and me to keep these children safe. Yes children, let's not lose sight of the fact that these "Champions" are mere pups. There'll be real dangers in the maze and we must all stay vigilant during the task! Hagrid, the arm bands, if you please."

Hagrid stepped forward and handed out red and gold arm bands to the teachers. Snape placed his band around his left bicep; the band cinched tight against his skin and sent a warm tingling sensation throughout his body as it magically binded with him.

When Moody was satisfied everyone present had secured their bands he continued, "These will allow you access to the maze at any time, from anywhere, and will render the dangers in the maze impotent."

Moody walked over to hedgerow and tried to force his way through the leaves. After a few seconds of struggling, he made no progress in breaking through and got an armful of thorns for his trouble. He then clasped on an armband and approached the hedgerow again. The thick brush magically separated and formed a human sized hole for him to walk through, allowing Moody to disappear into the maze. A few moments later, a hole soundlessly appeared from within another hedgerow and Moody stepped through, the hedgerow melding back together once he had passed.

Several of the teachers clapped and even Snape had a begrudging look of appreciation on his face. Moody waved a gnarled hand at them, "If any of the children find themselves overwhelmed or in need of assistance they will fire red sparks into the sky," said Moody as he tapped the buckle of his worn belt, causing red sparks to jettison high into the sky from deep within the maze. The red sparks floated higher and higher, until they broke apart in loud sunbursts of red and crimson.

"The teachers who find themselves closest to the sparks will enter the maze and rescue the child. It's imperative we do not interfere unduly with the competition, but we must also err on the side of caution. I'd rather field angry accusations of teacher interference and cheating, than a mother's mourning. Any questions? Good, let's make sure this goes off without a hitch. Dumbledore has put me in charge of security and I'll be damned if –"

"Thank you Alastor," Dumbledore quickly interjected and began to usher Moody back towards the maze. Just as the pair walked through the golden arch, he turned back and exclaimed, "Thanks again everyone. To Hogwarts!"

The teachers cried back in unison, "To Hogwarts," and began to head back to the castle.

Hagrid gave Snape a wink and quickly followed after the Headmaster into the maze. Snape stood quietly, choosing not to walk back with the others, and instead stared at the maze entrance. Everything seemed in order, nothing obvious caused him worry, and yet he could feel a thread tugging at the back of his mind, a worrying itch he could not scratch…

Inside the maze, Dumbledore and Moody were tracing the path to the center and inspecting the obstacles on the way. Hagrid and Fang had raced ahead and their excited shouts and barks echoed back to the wizards.

"The mutt is just as excited as Rubeus."

"They're more alike than not. Where's the center Alastor?"

"Just up ahead," replied Moody and sure enough, after a slight turn in the path, the center of the maze appeared before them. A hundred yards ahead lay a large, alabaster white plinth, shining in the day's last rays of sunshine.

Dumbledore reached into his robes and removed the Triwizard Cup. The cup was made from dragon steel that never dulled, a strong column base, two ornately carved handles and a shining crystal bowl in the center – a beautiful testament to the tournament.

"See this carefully to its new home," said Dumbledore, with a twinkle in his eye. He handed Moody the cup and turned away, disappearing back into the maze.

Moody gently held the cup as he might have held small child, finally reaching the plinth after many ginger steps. He delicately placed the cup on the plinth, lost in its beauty. The cup represented everything to him, a year of hard work and careful planning, it was his chance to achieve ultimate deliverance for this Lord. He stared hungrily at the sparkling treasure, the way a ship wrecked sailor might eye a cup of spring water. Everything was coming together so neatly…

Moody reached into his robes and removed a thin sliver of silver white thread. He wrapped the filament around a gnarled finger and then pulled at it – the string stretched longer and longer. He began rolling the string around in his palms and then intertwined it across all his fingers. He pulled and tugged at the filament, until the silver thread was a hundred times longer than before – a big spider web now lay in his calloused hands.

He wrapped the webbed filament around the magnificent cup, stretching it taut across every gleaming inch. The silver spider web clung to the cup like a ferocious glue, and then slowly sunk into the cup's surface – within a few moments there was nary a trace of it left.

Moody reached for his ever present hip flask and took a long pull…polyjuice potion never tasted so good.

It was a dark and unforgiving sky, the air hung heavy with cloying dampness yet no rain had fallen. Snape slowly walked around the maze perimeter, running his hand over the wand stowed in his robes – how naked he felt when it wasn't by his side.

The night was dark and full of terrors, thought Snape grimly as strange howls and screams rang from within the maze. Tiny rays of light shown through the tall hedgerows, weakly lighting Snape's way around the edges of the maze. He could see topiary animals through small gaps in the hedgerow bushes, and would catch some of them moving to turn and stare at him as he passed.

A branch snapped from behind, Snape pivoted and dove to his side – when he came rolling up, his wand stretched in front of him, pointing menacingly. He lowered it as the dark shape slowly materialized into Dumbledore.

"Please put that away Severus, I'm just an old man nowadays."

Snape made to sheath his wand, thought better of it, and kept it in his hand. "I've been waiting for over an hour," he hissed.

"Moody's becoming quite a handful lately. Full of nervous excitement, convinced something bad is going to happen tomorrow."

"For once I agree with the crazy lunatic, I feel as though all the strange happenings this year have been building to this moment."

"The maze is in the middle of campus, your fellow teachers will be prowling the outskirts of the maze and I've invited some Aurors to attend the proceedings. What other precautions can I take?"

"You could simply cancel the whole bloody spectacle."

The pair walked on in silence for a time, with only their footsteps and the creepy sounds from within the maze to keep them company. It was Dumbledore who finally broke the silence.

"Odd disappearances marked your Lord's rise to power, and it's happening again."

"A forgetful witch and Barty Crouch?"

"And that caretaker I told you about."

"What does an old muggle man have to do with anything?"

"He was from the village of Tom's parents…"

Snape turned to Dumbledore and asked in earnest, "How could you possibly know that?"

Dumbledore continued on in silence, the darkness of the night creeping blacker and blacker the further they got from the middle of the maze.

"My mark has become so clear, I can now see every scale on the snake. Is He back?" Snape closed his eyes as he walked, afraid of the answer.

"I think not, for you would likely have been summoned to his side at once."

"Shall I go at once? Back to Him when He calls?"

Dumbledore paused a moment, snuck a sideways glance at his Potions Master. "You do not have to go when called, you can stay here with me, pledge your allegiance to the Order openly. You do not have to walk back into the snake pit if you do not want to…"

"But?"

"Let me speak plainly, for our time is short and the night grows even shorter…I'm unsure if Lord Voldemort can ever be defeated," replied Dumbledore, as Snape flinched at the sound of his dark master's name. "Surviving the killing curse…it's unheard of. I work every day to uncover how he achieved that feat, but there are times I feel as though I know less now than when I started out searching for the truth of that night."

"You said you'd speak plainly with me, not in long winded circles."

"I do command you Severus, I do not demand you go back to your Dark Lord, but I don't believe we can win this war if you do not brave death once again. A spy in the Death Eater camp is more than crucial for our cause, I believe it's necessary. I also believe that there's a very good chance I'm asking you to go to your death."

If Snape was scared, he betrayed no flash of it, his face remained a pale mask. "The Dark Lord does not forgive easily. Is there nothing we can do to prevent His return?"

"I always knew Tom would return, but I've never been able to discover how to prevent it. I know he's gathering his strength again, but where and how…this I simply do not know. I ask this great favor of you – will you walk back into the snake pit when the charmer plays his tune?"

Snape gripped his wand tight, his knuckles whitening along the wooden shaft. "I would walk through the seven circles of Hell for her."

Dumbledore nodded, "What we do for love…"

Snape put an arm on Dumbledore, signaling a stop to their nighttime stroll. "I'm not afraid of dying, truly. I've been living on borrowed time for years, I know this. But I am afraid of dying for no reason, without servicing a purpose. He'll read my mind, ferret out my inner thoughts and feelings. He'll know the truth of me as soon as He walks through my house."

"But of course."

"You must try again to force yourself into my mind, a true Legilimency attack. I'm unprepared to face Him like this."

"We've tried Severus," said Dumbledore and then he smiled a tired, sad smile. "I'm no gifted Legilimens and cannot truly read you, you're more powerful than you know." Dumbledore held up his hand to stop Snape from interrupting. "It's the truth my boy, you're much stronger at Occlumency than me."

"For God's sake, can you stop playing the humble servant for one minute?! You're a terribly powerful wizard! Any type of practice is worth something! I cannot face Him without practice!"

"Assaulting one's mind has never appealed to me – I'd rather convince than coerce, motivate rather than threaten."

"This is no time for one of your "moral" speeches. I need your help or I'll fail…I'll die for nothing."

"We've tried, I went through your house as forcefully as I dared. I could barely sense your concealed doors, could never hope to penetrate them."

"Push through, try to break in."

"That would risk harming you permanently. I cannot."

"The Dark Lord does not care about inflicting everlasting pain."

"I know Severus, I know," Dumbledore said. In the waning moonlight he had never looked as old to Snape as he did right now. "But if I didn't think there was a real chance you could convince Tom, I'd never ask you to go."

"Is that so? Sometimes I wonder…"

Dumbledore did not rise to the bait, rather, he turned and continued along the edge of the maze and, after a time, Snape caught up to his long strides.

"It would be…the truth is, if you can get him to trust you again, the information would be invaluable. You would become the greatest weapon the Order would have. Countless lives would be saved from certain ruin."

"I will try."

"You're the most powerful Occlumens I've ever known. Your thoughts slip into the ether where even I cannot trace them. I believe Severus."

"Could you track me? I could signal for help?"

"The risk would be too great, he'd be wary and would be alert for a trap. He'd know at once you are no longer his and your life would be forfeit."

Snape looked slightly paler than usual, and his cold, black eyes glittered strangely.

"How am I still alive? I once saw a man, a wizard you had sent to us, take the Dark Mark and it burned him alive from the inside out. His blood turned to lava, his organs to ash, his breath to black smoke. The Mark knew he was false and judged him so. How can I still carry the Mark and the Breath of your Phoenix, all at once? How can this be?"

"When you took the Mark you were consumed with misguided hate, frustrated at life, but one can never lose their true inner essence. I don't know of anyone who is such a balance of light and dark. I don't know how you can carry the Mark and conjure such a corporeal patronus. There are some things even I cannot comprehend Severus."

Snape's words were tumbling out of him now, a gushing torrent flowed as his guarded walls were lowered. "He'll ask many questions of me, most of which I've got no good answer for. Where was I when He fell? Why didn't I search high and low for Him? What've I been doing lo these years? Why did I help keep the everlasting stone from His grasp? And why, oh why, is the Potter boy still drawing breath?!"

Dumbledore stared hard at his heaving Potions Master. "You're more powerful than you know…"

"Yes, yes, you've said that! You think I can beguile and hoodwink Him? Fool the Dark Lord, the greatest dark wizard to ever live, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen?"

"Tom Riddle is not and never will be the greatest wizard to ever live, much less the most accomplished. He is weak and fearful, terrified of things he cannot ever hope to understand!" Dumbledore rose taller, his words echoing off the large hedgerows and the cold night air.

"He's afraid? Of what? Of nothing!"

"Of me. Of the Order. Of humanity and empathy and love. But He's most afraid of death and the long unending march of Father Time. Even as a little boy, the spectre of death preyed upon his dreams, it became a deep seated fear that took hold of him and never let go. The things he's done, the reason he was so restless and never sated, even at the height of his power – it's this unquenchable desire of his to conquer death. He names you Death Eaters, he uses murder and the threat of death as his main weapons…why do you think that is Severus?"

"I've no time for your lessons Dumbledore! Where was I when He fell so many years ago?!"

"Why, you were by my side, where he'd ordered you to be. You were gaining my trust, noting my tendencies, gathering invaluable information for him."

"Why did I not search for Him, try to rescue Him over these past years?!"

"Because you believed him dead. You were not privy to his innermost powers, and your meager faith wavered. You doubted his strength, his resolve, like a fool you doubted his awesome power. You're a coward and care only for your own skin. The meek always flock to the bold, and when he fell you found another protector – no matter how distasteful you found the life raft of Hogwarts, you jumped on and set sail."

"Why've I never left you, if I haven't truly forsaken the dark?"

"Because you're a spineless sell sword and run wherever the weather is warmest. You decided on the easy road and chose to play my pet – you've gone to sleep on a full belly, lined your pockets full of coin, and the only dangers you've had to face are unruly school children. The other road, the road of a true and faithful servant of his, would've had you face Aurors, Azkaban and Dementors. Quite a simple choice really, for a coward such as yourself."

"But some of my brothers and sisters did try to find Him. They went looking and never forsake Him, they paid the cold island price."

"Tis true Severus, others paid the devastating price borne from their unwavering loyalty. But you're a snake, and snakes do not stay about when there's danger lurking, they slither away and find a hole in the ground. You must beg for forgiveness and pray he sees value in what you've to offer."

Snape's black pools flashed purple as digested all that had been said, committing it to memory, and looked as though he was about to wretch.

"And of course you didn't help him recover Flamel's stone. You don't possess true deep magical prowess and were unable to sense who Quirrell truly was, so you continued to play jester to my king. And why should he have revealed himself to you? You've clearly proved to be unworthy of his secrets, unworthy of his trust and respect."

"Why have I let Potter draw a single damned breath?"

"Come now Severus, such a silly question that you've got no answer for? There are many reasons. A mere child defeated a terrible and great dark wizard, perhaps Harry would grow up to be worthy and lead a new legion of Death Eaters into the future that was promised. Perhaps you were waiting to see how he turned out before decided the best course of action," Dumbledore sneered, reminding Snape of a night on a hilltop long ago. "But I think it might've raised my suspicions if the child I've spent my entire life protecting was attached by one of my teachers."

Dumbledore seemed to grow as tall as one of the hedgerows they stood alongside, tall and terrible and fierce. Snape shrunk down into a little ball, truly afraid of the power emanating from the Headmaster.

"Besides, you're a coward Severus, and you feared the fate that awaited you if you were cast outside the gates of my school, were scared to face the cold, hard world."

"Bu – but…how could such a worthless half-blood trick you? The great and powerful Albus Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore chuckled, allowing himself a sardonic rictus of a grin. "You didn't fool me, rather, I chose to believe in you. I desperately needed to save one of my wayward sheep, and you simply played into my greatest weakness. I've the capacity for love, for trusting in others…and for forgiveness. I gave one of my lost flock a road back home into fold."

Snape's left forearm prickled and he began to rub it in earnest, "Shall I…shall I go if summoned?"

"Yes, you shall go when called. Tell your Dark Lord all you've learned of me over the years, tell of how you've earned my complete trust by going back to him on my orders…tell him my plans for the Order."

"You want me to tell Him?"

Dumbledore scowled down on Snape – showing disappointment at his slow student.

"Yes, for I'm obsessed with the Dark Lord and crave to know how he cheated death that fateful Halloween night. I've tasked you with discovering his great secret and bringing it back to me as payment…payment for the life debt you owe."

Snape shrunk away from the words, closed his eyes and rubbed at them with white balled fists. The sounds from the maze sounded more terrible than ever, the wind whipped at his robes with alarming vigor and the cold night air felt frostier than the depths of a long winter.

"For even cowards must repay their life debts Severus…and you will make good on what you owe me!"