Chapter 138 – Some Explaining To Do
The Prime Minister stood stock still at the window, watching the last of the bloody fools who had tried to attack the little village scurry off the field. It wasn't entirely clear to him what had happened – it was mayhem out there, then there was something moving in the middle of the field for a minute. There seemed to be dirt flying in the air, but by the time he'd gotten the binoculars focused, there just appeared to be a muddy patch from which everyone in the area was running. The damn idiots had started to leave before then, but whatever happened in that muddy patch really galvanized them, and they retreated in earnest at that point. Thank God this was over. Now, he needed to understand what happened and how appropriate explanations could be offered.
He saw the school doctor, a wool cape over that extremely old-fashioned outfit she was wearing, and several others in similar garb, take to brooms, large baskets in their arms, and fly on to what had been a battlefield just minutes before. What did they call her? Medical witch? Mediwitch? As he pondered her title, the Prime Minister marveled anew at this flying-on-brooms thing. He'd seen it before up here, but he had to stop and shake his head every time he saw it again.
One member of the small group dropped to the ground in the middle there, where all the ruckus was, and a few others scattered around that vicinity, but the rest went closer to the town. They were going to all the men (and it looked like several women, although long hair was no longer a particularly reliable means of ascertaining someone's sex, he reminded himself) who had been injured, and apparently, disgracefully, left behind by their fellows.
He watched, fascinated, as most of the injured were checked over and with a wave of a wand, those still conscious fell into a quiet sleep and levitated without means of stretchers or stretcher-bearers, moving in a line back towards the castle.
A few of the fallen seemed to be less lucky. The witches and wizards who went out to tend to them spent time, sometimes alone and sometimes in groups, huddled over them, waving their wands and pouring little bottles of who-knows-what on wounds and downs throats. He certainly hoped they knew what they were doing, and were not hurting anyone! At least, not more than they'd already been hurt by all the nonsense that went on out there.
He trained his binoculars on the town, which slowly seemed to be filling with people again. There was a public house just visible down the road into town, and it seemed to be doing a brisk business. There were people now starting to walk on the streets that had been so eerily empty before. Didn't seem to have hurt the town, or its inhabitants, at all.
Martin Entwhistle finally appeared at his boss' elbow.
"Sir, the Minister of Magic has arrived, and would like a word," he said very softly, as the man appeared to be quite absorbed with the events unfolding down on the snowy ground.
"Hmmm," the Prime Minister answered absently, slowly drawing his attention away from the muddy field. "Of course. Lead the way."
X
The line of the dead and injured was not nearly as long as it might have been, and most of the injuries were not life-threatening, at least not in the hands of skilled magical healers. The injured had just been stabilized on the field, and immobilized for their trip to the Hogwarts Infirmary.
The now-unconscious patients hovered in the foyer of the Infirmary, waiting for Madam Pomfrey to triage and assign them as appropriate to the available staff. The Infirmary was currently staffed by Madam Pomfrey and her own nurses, as well as several members of the staff at St. Mungo's who had flooed to Hogwarts to assist. She was not surprised to find the Drs. Granger already there, donning their strange white muggle coats, volunteering to assist.
Cuts and simple puncture wounds from arrows were handled by the Hogwarts nursing staff. Broken bones were quickly fixed by the more junior mediwitches and wizards from St. Mungo's. Several muggles had concussions. It was tricky to arrest brain swelling while repairing bone, and it had to be done fast, so the most experienced practitioners took those. There were a few muggles with damaged or severed spinal cords. Nerve regeneration was particularly complicated, especially when the spine was involved, but Madam Pomfrey had quite a bit of experience with that sort of injury. She took those cases for herself.
There were also three muggles with severed limbs, and one with a gash that nearly severed the poor man's body in two. Those kinds of injuries took a good amount of skill and some time to get right. Plus, when you had several people to work on who had all had limbs severed, you had to be extra careful to get those limbs back onto the right bodies. Fortunately, several of the healers from St. Mungo's had experience reattaching limbs and other body parts, so they worked on those injuries. Those muggles, now with all their original limbs, were soon as good as new.
Michael Granger was explaining a muggle medical procedure to a St. Mungo's mediwizard puzzled by some foreign matter near the heart of one of the muggles. As a dentist, he was certainly not qualified to prescribe or insert a pacemaker, but he knew enough from his general reading to describe what had been done.
"Really?" the mediwizard exclaimed. "Why on earth would someone do such a thing?"
As Michael, shortly joined by Anna, provided as much information as they could recall of the procedure to insert a pacemaker and the instances in which such an operation might be performed, the mediwizard used magic to clear out arteries and generally get the muggle's heart back to rights. Actually, Michael would have thought that this muggle's more acute problem was the arrow protruding from his stomach, but the mediwizard fussed elsewhere first. Finally, Anna asked the question Michael was thinking.
"I'm curious about the treatment protocol you follow. Is the arrow in the belly not of concern? I would have thought that was the more urgent issue here."
The mediwizard shrugged. "That arrow isn't a problem. I was curious about the heart, but the arrow injury won't take but a second to fix." To illustrate, he gently pulled it out, cast several spells over the man's belly, and to the amazement of the Doctors Granger, the wound simply disappeared, leaving an almost undetectable scar.
The chatter continued as the group of medics worked. There was some curiosity among the magical medics about what sort of event had occurred that resulted in the assortment of injuries being treated. The Grangers were the only ones in the group who had been watching the battle, and they shared that they saw. Their interpretation of the blackness in the middle of the battlefield caught Poppy's attention.
"It was the oddest thing," Anna began. "In the middle of the battle, it looked like a starling murmuration occurred. We'd watched them back at Oxford – the little black starlings gathered in marshes just a few miles from campus, and we spent many afternoons marveling at the show as the birds flew. But I'd never seen anything like that near here, wasn't even aware that there were starlings about."
Her husband added, "I thought of the starlings myself, straight off. But I never saw a flock gathering. It was as if they just sprang out of the earth or something. But there they were, swooping and moving in that graceful mob, almost like larger creatures themselves, not individual birds. The most amazing thing."
Poppy asked a few questions about this "murmuration" phenomenon, but the conversation quickly drifted back to weapons and the injuries being resolved.
All things considered, it was remarkable that just five combatants were ultimately beyond saving once brought to the infirmary. One had suffered a crush injury to his head; even the best magical healers could not fix a smashed-in head. Madam Pomfrey suspected that the others had illnesses or conditions that rendered them particularly vulnerable to very bad outcomes even before coming to Scotland, because they did not have the most calamitous injuries. It seemed that their hearts had just stopped beating, and could not be revived.
Madam Pomfrey went off to report on the overall satisfactory outcome of the rescue effort to the Headmaster, once her patients were tended to.
X
Albus had waited for at the castle door for the last of the group that had flown out to cast memory charms to return. It was Severus and Harry, which was not surprising because they had made a loop around a small copse of trees that stood a ways back from Hogsmeade. It was a bit off the most likely path of retreat when the muggles left, but a possible path. What was surprising was the looks of distress on their faces.
"My boys, I thought that went very well, until I saw the looks on your faces just now," he began, as he closed the door behind them. "What has you both so upset?"
Severus took a quick look around the foyer, noting that it was rather deserted. "Harry heard something as we were flying back to the castle, Albus. We stopped for a moment, which is why we are late returning."
Both pairs of eyes now trained on Harry, who was worrying his lower lip in concern. "I heard voices speaking Parseltongue. Several voices. The Black Wyrms are here. They've been watching us from under the ground, as they've apparently agreed to be my allies in this war with Voldemort. I didn't know – I had asked for their help, but had no idea they were here, now."
Harry looked haunted, a look that made Severus' heart ache. He'd seen that look before, and had hoped not to see it again. He knew that Harry felt responsible for the action of dragons (that he did not even know were in the area), in killing some muggles (who likely were trying to kill him). They'd spoken about this before, and it appeared that they'd have to speak on it again. That was NOT his fault.
Taking a big breath, Harry pressed on. "The Wyrms saw the battle start, and concluded that their assistance was needed, so they joined in. They told me that they had killed just a few muggles when they realized the muggles are defenseless against them, not able to even really fight. That's when I interrupted them, when we stopped and I spoke to them."
Albus looked shocked, and turned to Severus.
"Did anyone see the Black Wyrms?" he asked softly.
"I suppose the muggles involved in the battle saw them when they appeared on the land. I didn't see them, myself, Headmaster," Severus replied. "Harry spoke to them in the ley lines; that's why he had to land."
Harry wondered for a moment if the fact that he alone had seen and spoken to the Wyrms was going to be a problem here. He volunteered, "They were the ones who helped me return to Hogwarts after I got lost in the ley lines, back when I cast my spell too hard. When I called out to them, I called through the ley lines and they were there in a second. They were not likely on land for more than minute, maybe two, from when I heard them above ground to when we spoke in the ley lines."
It seemed that both Severus and the Headmaster accepted his explanation, but Albus looked sharply at both of them.
"I think it might be best to keep this fact to ourselves for now. Madam Bones and the Muggle Prime Minister are here, and we will be meeting in the Ministry Annex. These allies of yours might be very valuable in this war, Harry, especially if our magical enemy doesn't know about them. I don't think it prudent to mention this to the Prime Minister, but if you wouldn't mind, stop by the Annex office in half an hour. I believe Amelia should know."
Albus was about to enter the Ministry Annex when he was intercepted by Madam Pomfrey. Albus smiled at her warmly as she took his arm to speak to him. "And how are the injured, Poppy?" he asked.
"All but five have survived this nonsense" she replied crisply. "One seemed to have been crushed by a boulder to the head, no doubt a misdirected launch from one of the trebuchets the muggles had on the field. The other ones who died seemed to have problems with their hearts; their injuries were minor, but their hearts stopped beating and we could not get them to restart. We were able to get everyone else back together, good as new. Three limbs had to be reattached, but that's taken care of."
Albus nodded encouragingly, and she continued. "Some could probably go home later today, but others will need to be watched. Those can leave in a day or two, but there was one man with a completely severed spinal cord – we need to watch that one for a few more days to be sure he's healed."
She thought to add, "The Grangers joined us, lovely people and always so helpful when we find some evidence of muggle medical practice that we don't understand. They were watching the battle, and they described something that occurred in the middle of the battlefield that was very odd, very odd indeed. Anna said it appeared that something she called a starling murmuration occurred. I've never heard that term, but Michael described the birds moving so closely and in such coordination that it appeared they were one large creature, not a flock of individual birds."
Albus was careful to hide his reaction to Poppy's report of what Michael Granger reported seeing. That was how the Grangers interpreted the sight of the Black Wyrms. That they saw this from the castle meant that the ancient dragons were seen by many people, so some explanation would have to be advanced.
"Thank you, Poppy, for the quick report. I have to meet with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic but do keep me updated on any developments with your patients."
Albus joined the Ministers in the Annex conference room, and it was clear that they had been awaiting his arrival. "I apologize for my tardiness," he began. "I stopped to chat with Madam Pomfrey, our school mediwitch, who had a report on the muggles we retrieved from the field of battle this afternoon. All but five have been completely fixed up. One man's head was crushed by a boulder, no doubt launched from one of the siege engines, and four seemed to have pre-existing problems with their hearts. I gather their injuries were minor, but we could do nothing for them."
The muggle Minister nodded. "Heart attacks, no doubt. But just five fatalities? It certainly looked like a rout from the castle, and I would have expected much worse."
Albus realized that some of the injuries that Poppy and her St. Mungo's colleagues could easily repair would, indeed, have been fatal if only muggle medicine was available to them. But Albus knew that was a fact that could not be shared with the muggle Minister. The healing ability of magic, as well as its incredible destructive force, was the sort of thing that muggles inevitably envied and wanted placed in their service. It was that envy and the muggles' efforts to control and then obliterate magic that had led to the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, after all. Albus wasn't entirely sure where this current openness with muggles was heading, but he thought it imprudent to provide any additional information that might rekindle the envy from centuries ago.
The muggle Minister took Albus' silence as agreement at their great good fortune, and he thought to ask, "What happened in the middle of the field there? It was chaos all around, but then I saw some blackness roiling around in the middle, and people were running away with gusto. By the time I got my blasted field glasses focused, whatever it was seemed to have vanished."
Albus acknowledged that he did not know for sure, but thought to offer up the Granger's observation. "Madam Pomfrey mentioned to me that two muggle doctors visiting in the castle, who were helping out in the Infirmary, reported that they saw something odd in the middle of the field. They thought they'd seen a, what was the term? A starling murmuration."
The Prime Minister immediately slapped his knee and nodded his head emphatically.
"That's it, that's exactly it looked like," he muttered. "I never saw a murmuration appear and disband that fast, but now that I think on it, that's what it looked like."
Albus was surprised that this phenomenon of the formation flying done by flocks of starlings was apparently so well known to muggles. His mother had amused him and his brother and sister when they were small by charming flocks of starlings to fly like that. He assumed that other wizarding parents similarly entertained small children with those charms, causing the flocks to fly in remarkably intricate and flowing patterns. Of course, now that he thought on it, thousands of birds would have to fly high enough, and over a large enough span, that it was to be expected that muggles would see. But if this was such a wide-spread phenomenon, it was also possible that someone cast spells improperly that did not wear off. Perhaps the charms drove starling flight long after the one who cast them forgot about it.
It was interesting, and possibly useful, that both the Grangers and the Prime Minister both knew about this phenomenon and agreed that was what they saw on the field. He'd have to discuss that with Amelia, privately, once the Prime Minister had departed and Harry and Severus had arrived.
"Most interesting, and curious, Mr. Prime Minister," Albus began, and then he immediately pushed the discussion in a different direction. "Several of us cast memory charms around the perimeter of the field, so the muggles who departed don't remember much about what they were doing there. We'll cast similar charms on the muggles we brought here to be treated before they leave. I suspect that there might be some among the muggles able to quit the field on their own power who are nonetheless injured. So there will some awareness that something occurred here today, that led to certain injuries, but no clarity as to what that might have been."
"But what of the dead? How do we explain them?" the man asked.
Albus nodded sadly. "Yes, tragically, we do have some dead. And I fear that there might be others we've missed."
Ameila quickly added, "I have already directed that all available aurors are to report here immediately, and they will begin a thorough check. That is rough terrain out there. While it's unlikely that Madam Pomfrey and her colleagues missed anyone, the weather is getting bad and we certainly wouldn't leave anyone outside."
Albus was thinking quickly, and reacted immediately to Amelia's reference to rough terrain. They had to explain the sudden appearance of a huge flock of birds, and account for the few dead whose bodies, he knew, were not going to be recovered. He had an idea, a possible explanation for both situations, and one that certainly worked with her observation. He hesitated for the merest second, because he'd be setting the explanation of this event off on a path here that they'd have to work with for a while. However, it did seem to be the best they had, so he went ahead. "Some of the land around the castle is not stable. There are caves and caverns, impossibly deep. Until we have a closer look at the field where the starlings seem to have appeared, I think we have to assume that there might have been a fissure opened."
Albus cast a quick glance at Amelia, hoping that she'd play along. As she and he both knew, there were open fissures in the land around the castle, over which numerous bridges had been built. That was what she meant by her reference to "rough terrain." They both knew that the land itself, where there were buildings or pathways, was solid. Over the millennium that the castle had stood, there had never been any sort of instability in the land. She gave him a quick, subtle nod, a signal that she would go along with him.
"Mr. Prime Minister, it would be very helpful to determine if anyone from among those who took the field are not now accounted for, either in our Infirmary or back with their fellows. Might you and your police organization be able to determine if there are any missing persons?"
Albus volunteered, "I will secure the names of the muggles we have in the Infirmary and provide that to you immediately, Madam Minister."
The Prime Minister looked at Martin Entwhistle, who had remained quietly in the background. "Entwhistle, can you connect me with the local authorities up here? From all reports, this event seems to have been centered over at Sir Harold Beckwith's estate. Perhaps I can pay Sir Harold a visit with the local constable. My presence might make that interview a bit easier."
A sudden thought occurred to him, however. "Mr. Dumbledore, you said your folks cast some kind of spell to make people forget what happened out there. Will that mean if we speak to Sir Harold or any of his employees, they will not be able to recall who was with them?"
Albus leaned back in his chair and pondered that question. "They will still be with their companions when they pass through our charms, so their companions will be recalled, if not the actual activities in which they all engaged. I don't think that will be a problem. If you feel that someone might have information that would help us but that cannot be recalled because of those charms, Mr. Entwhistle can contact us. If we act quickly, it is often possible to extract memories from behind these charms for a brief while, before the events are completely forgotten."
The Prime Minister and auror Entwhistle departed from the Annex via floo, and before Amelia could even ask a question about the "starling murmuration" and the sudden appearance of fissures in the land around the castle, Severus and Harry knocked and entered.
Severus was his usual elegant and collected self, nodding austerely at the Minister of Magic as he swept over to a seat. Harry, on the other hand, was busy offering explanations.
"Headmaster, Madam Bones, we waited off the corridor outside, in case the Prime Minister left the Annex. When we heard the floo, though, we realized he was not walking out that way, so we came right over." He had learned the hard way from the Dursleys that eavesdropping was very offensive to some people (although, in truth, they only caught him at it the once), and he certainly did not want anyone to think that he and Severus had been listening at the door.
For his part, Severus had no such scruples. If people didn't want someone listening at the door, they had all manner of spells to block others from hearing, a few of which, at least, he would not be able to penetrate.
The Headmaster explained to the new arrivals how both the Drs. Granger and the Prime Minister had interpreted what they saw on the field that day, when a blackness arrived in the center of the field. Severus quirked his eyebrow.
"And where exactly does anyone think such a huge flock of starlings came from?" he asked, his tone making it clear that he was not entirely accepting that this explanation would work.
"Well," Albus began, still smiling, "I did suggest that the land in this area is riddled with caves and deep fissures. Possibly, a fissure opened up at some point on the field." He gestured with his hands, suggesting that something more could be interwoven with that.
Harry spoke at last. "We do know, of course, what caused that blackness: Black Wyrms materializing out of the ley lines."
Madam Bones gasped at that news.
"They have allied themselves with me, Madam Bones," Harry explained, "and thought this was a battle at which I needed their help. They realized very quickly that the muggles posed no threat, but said they had already killed a few. I called to them probably just a minute or two, if that, after they appeared, so they weren't on the field for long. But they were seen, and there are some deaths as a consequence of their being there."
Madam Bones remembered just a bit about Black Wyrms, from that disastrous interview Fudge had with Harry after Harry had returned from the Winter Lands last winter. Harry had mentioned them as the food source for dementors there, and she remembered that he regarded them as dragons. She had no idea about ley lines. She knit her brow.
"There are dragons here?" was her natural first question. Dragons were generally kept at a far distance from human settlements, for obvious reasons.
"Wyrms travel in ley lines in the earth," Harry explained. "They are pulses of magic in the ground, but can exit the ley lines and materialize on the ground at will. There are sigils all around Hogwarts, so lots of points from which they can exit. So, they can be anywhere, rather quickly, too. I gather there is some debate about whether they are or are not dragons, but they seem to regard themselves as dragons. And they speak Parseltongue, so I can speak to them."
"I didn't know that they had accepted my invitation to be my allies, nor that they were here, now. But apparently they are here, in the ground, watching." Harry repeated again his conversation with them.
"Well," Madam Bones said, with equal measures of relief and concern.
"Exactly," Severus agreed.
"I asked Harry and Severus to join us after the Prime Minister left, because I assumed that you might not want to share this information with the muggle Minister," Albus chimed in. "These allies of Harry's might be very helpful against magical attackers, especially if no one knows of them. That's why I jumped immediately on your observation about rough terrain here. I was so pleased to hear that the muggle observers seemed to agree rather quickly that this starling phenomenon explained what they saw, and fissures might explain both the appearance of the flock, and the disappearance of a few muggles. We need to go with that, I'm afraid. A bit of misdirection, but for the greater good."
X
The small group gathered in Riddle Manor was now smaller by one.
Hiram was describing the battle he had witnessed, as a supposed muggle leader of the anti-magic movement, to his Lord and the other Death Eaters in attendance. By his telling, it was an epic battle, and Adney had died with honor. All seemed to be listening raptly.
Lord Voldemort was listening, but perhaps less raptly than the others. He suspected that there was some embellishment of the story, but he had honed in on a fact that the others likely missed or did not appreciate, and thought it through carefully.
The description of the people who came out of Hogsmeade to defend against the muggle attack was the very first thing that caught his attention. Those were obviously not the locals. From Hiram's description, they sounded like Winter Lands warriors, the Vikings. That might not be surprising, given Potter's little adventure up there last winter, the one that cost Fudge the Protectorate and got so much press coverage. Then Voldemort recalled that the traitor Snape's sister was married to a Viking. It could be the family connection, then; that seemed most likely.
The second thing that sprang into Voldemort's mind was the fact that the Vikings, while extremely large and physically strong humans, were notoriously weak magically. He knew a bit about them, but had never considered them as potential allies. They were not as big as trolls or giants; if you were interested in beings with physical strength, you could do better. If they did not bring physical strength, their value was down to their magic, and that, too, was lacking. He saw no particular value to them in a battle, and it was curious that they participated here.
And why was that? Why did Potter or Dumbledore not send out strong witches and wizards to obliterate the muggle army trying to attack them? What did this tell him about their allies?
Voldemort hoped this meant that there were no particularly strong magical allies, but knew in his heart that was not the case. Dumbledore was always close with the Ministry of Magic, and even if he wasn't personally up to the task of gathering a magical army, surely someone at the Ministry could do it.
He thought bitterly on that for a minute. Back in the days when Snape and Malfoy were still loyal to him, this was the sort of thing they could resolve in a heartbeat. Snape's cunning mind could sort through details and inevitably discern the hidden patterns. And Malfoy's political connections enabled him to know what the Ministry of Magic was doing even before the Minister had been briefed. As he looked at his followers listening raptly to Hiram's story, he knew for a fact that he alone was pondering the implications behind the things being described. Yes, this group was loyal and enthusiastic, but dim.
With a silent but deep sigh, Voldemort abandoned that line of thought. So. For whatever reason, the Light did not put magic on the field to defend against the muggle attack on Hogsmeade. They used allies who could not use magic in battle, but who were strong enough to defeat an unorganized muggle mob with their physical strength. There was something here that did not make complete sense to him, but he had to admit, that was often the case when considering Dumbledore's approach to the world. Perhaps the old fool was just protecting his precious muggles again? That was as likely as it was appalling.
He allowed Hiram to finish his story before revealing his magnificent final plan, the one for the battle that would put an end to Dumbledore, the Ministry, and Potter, once and for all.
X
Harry nestled into Severus' warm embrace in their bed a few hours before dawn on New Year's Day. After the excitement of the afternoon's battle, the Headmaster had asked the house elves to prepare a celebratory dinner and then an evening for all to enjoy in the Great Hall to count down to the new year. It had been a very pleasant way to spend the evening, with all the families gathered together. The Weasley twins provided an amazing display of magical fireworks to welcome the new year. The students enjoyed butterbeers and pumpkin juice, and the adults some fine vintages from the Headmaster's private cellar. Harry had noticed that even Severus seemed to be enjoying himself after dinner. On second thought, though, he realized that he'd seen the Headmaster at dinner but could not recall seeing him after. His last thought as he drifted off to sleep was that he'd have to ask Severus about that in the morning.
Severus had forced his breath into a pattern that suggested that he was sleep, after he and Harry had enjoyed a very intimate New Year's celebration of their own before settling in for the night. His mind was racing, but he did not want to disturb Harry's rest.
He knew exactly what Albus had been up to all afternoon and evening, and he wasn't sure yet what to think of it, let alone how to share it all with Harry.
The Headmaster had proposed a dinner and evening celebration to detract attention from the dozens of aurors who had been coming and going all afternoon. Several teams of aurors had combed the field where the "battle" had occurred. Not surprisingly, the ground was just as solid as it had been for the last thousand years, and they were relieved to conclude that there were no injured but as yet unfound combatants, from either side. They then conducted a careful search for any items left behind, and that yielded a most interesting discovery. In addition to a quantity of muggle wallets and key chains, some boots and an astonishing quantity of muggle liquor bottles, half of a magical wand was found in the center of the field.
Before anyone could be dispatched to find Mr. Ollivander to identify the owner of the wand, Poppy Pomfrey had reported finding a wand carefully concealed in the clothing worn by the putative muggle with the smashed-in head. The Infirmary staff made a second (very thorough) search through the possessions of the muggles brought there for treatment, but that was the only magical item.
The aurors were lucky to reach Mr. Olivander just as he was about to leave his home to spend the evening with his daughter and her family. Always willing to help the Ministry, he accepted the wands they offered. He immediately recognized the complete wand; that belonged to Adney Higgs. This was not a surprise to the aurors, as Severus had identified him as a Death Eater when he saw his face in one of the muggle photos. It was assumed, and was now confirmed, that he was one of the "Riddle cousins" identified by the muggle authorities as being involved in the anti-magic movement.
The partial wand took the old wandmaker a few minutes to identify, but he was true to his boast that he remembered every wand he ever sold. He looked immensely puzzled as he fingered and sniffed the three inches of polished wood that ended with a clean break. "I sold this wand to Cornelius Fudge sixty years ago. Willow with mermaid scales, eight and three-quarter inches. Isn't he in Ministry custody? How did the wand get sawed apart like this? This is not a snapped wand – wands don't want to be snapped and there is always some evidence of the wand trying to remain whole. This wand has been cut."
The aurors had mumbled something official-sounding and reported immediately to Madam Bones. They had suspected that the Charles Frost known to the muggles was the missing former Minister of Magic, and now that had also been confirmed.
The Prime Minister paid a visit to Sir Harold Beckwith, accompanied by a very nervous-looking Deputy Chief Constable, standing in for the Chief Constable himself who was out of town. Entwhistle's report of the interviews that ensued made it clear that the Prime Minister was very right to suggest that he participate. Sir Harold was properly indignant at the announcement of visitors on the afternoon of New Year's Eve at his home, although he backed right down when he realized that one of his visitors was the Prime Minister himself. The Deputy Chief Constable was utterly cowed and quite useless, but between the Prime Minister and Entwhistle, appropriate questions were asked.
Severus himself had been asked to apparate to the Manor for an hour in the late afternoon, to use his skills as a Legilmens to secure information obscured to the muggles by the spells he and the others had cast around the field earlier. Entwhistle had identified three men in the group who he suspected had information they needed, although they could no longer recall it, and he had slipped a mild sleeping potion into the brandy that was poured for the men. Severus was able to probe their minds while they nodded in armchairs and on a leather sofa.
Severus quickly learned that Reginald Mason had witnessed the death of Adney Riddle when an errant boulder from a trebuchet landed on him. Mason wasn't sure what happened to Hiram Riddle. Severus knew that it was important to know if Hiram, who he assumed apparated away, did so before or after the Black Wyrms appeared. It took some effort, but finally Severus was able to determine that at least several minutes passed between Mason's realization that Adney had been killed, and his horror at seeing the Black Wyrms on the ground before him. From Severus' personal knowledge of Hiram, he would have been looking for a chance to get away as soon as there was a problem, and if Mason was absorbed in trying to report Adney's death, he wasn't watching him. Hiram was likely gone before the Wyrms appeared. Thus, it was not likely that anyone reported the appearance of Black Wyrms at the battle to the Dark Lord.
Severus looked into the mind of Sir Harold, but frankly found nothing of any interest there. The gentleman with the military bearing, identified by Entwhistle as "The Brigadier," was another story. He had been appalled at the conduct of the muggles during the battle, and his disgust was evident. Severus saw his plan to deploy several of the senior members of the anti-magic movement as observers, to feed information to him as the battle unfolded. He saw Mason and the two Death Eaters positioned on a low rise off to one side, and Fudge and Dursley on another rise opposite.
Severus had already learned that Mason had heard Dursley reply to his plea for help after Adney was killed, and he assumed Frost was with him. From Entwhistle's diagram of the battle, if those two were attempting to return to the Brigadier to leave the field (which seemed likely, from what he knew of them), they would have stepped right into the area where the Wyrms appeared. If Severus was a betting man, he would wager that the first two men killed by the Wyrms were Fudge and Dursley.
The local authorities began canvassing the muggles still in the area as they prepared to leave, and by early evening, there was a list of thirty missing battle participants, including the two Riddles, Frost and Dursley. Madam Pomfrey had treated or recovered the bodies of all but two of the others. The Wyrms had gotten two combatants as well as Frost and Dursley, before Harry called to them.
Madam Bones had set herself up in the Annex, and received reports from her own auror teams as well as the muggle authorities through the evening. Albus left the Annex only to kick off the festivities in the Great Hall and then he rejoined his old friend. Severus had reported in after his visit to the Manor, and had been there when the Prime Minister arrived. He left as the three leaders (for he regarded Dumbledore as just as important a leader in the wizarding world as the Minister of Magic) were discussing how this debacle would be revealed to the world, and to the families of those killed, on New Year's Day.
As Severus lay still beside a sleeping Harry, he knew in his heart, as surely as he knew his own name, that there was another battle coming, the one that would decide it all. At some point before dawn, Severus finally did join Harry in sleep, still not entirely sure how to share all this with the younger man.