Chapter 77
The next step in securing his survival involved getting everyone together who would be helping him, as Nightshade so gently put it, fuck up a Death Eater's head. Not that it would really be fucking it up to overlay it with Severus's own memories, but as it would bend the will of said Death Eater, perhaps he, whoever he ended up being, would feel his head was effectively being fucked up. Ah well, he'd not live long to fret over it, if Mag's rune reading was accurate, and her rune readings always were. When it came to saving his own life at the expense of Death Eater scum who truly wanted to serve Voldemort, Severus had no sympathy.
Due to not wishing to draw attention to his activities at this point, Severus chose to meet with everyone in the very late evening close to midnight. He asked everyone to meet at Adler manor, sending all the letters via Nightshade to ensure they weren't intercepted. The owl bitched, because he hated carrying letters and felt such demeaning work should be given to ordinary tard baby owls. Understanding that in this case his help was entirely necessary, though, he took the letters with minimal bitching. Severus wrote to Regulus, Grindelwald and Wolfgang. In Regulus's letter he enclosed a note to Albus, asking Regulus to send it along in case anyone happened to watch for mail leaving Hogwarts and going to Durmstrang for any reason. Being careful and even a bit paranoid these days could only keep one alive if applied properly, Severus thought. He'd asked everyone to meet on a Wednesday night because hopefully nothing would go wrong at Hogwarts while he was elsewhere. Weeknights were relatively peaceful, these days more than ever. No one wished to risk the even indirect notice of Voldemort for misbehaving, after all. Severus decided to take Filius along at the last minute.
He'd planned to leave him behind to keep the shit from hitting the fan if anything went wrong in his absence, but he decided the charms master's help could be more valuable on this project. He had a private word with Flitwick after classes were over that Wednesday and asked him to have Minerva cover for them if necessary. Severus just hoped the woman could be creative if need be. Though she wasn't one of his favorite people, Albus always liked and trusted her a great deal, so he was, not for the first time, betting on the old headmaster's good judgment. He, Mag and Flitwick left Hogwarts half an hour before midnight Wednesday evening, taking one of the castle's secret passages into Hogsmeade to avoid detection.
/You need to sort out the time of your next meeting during this one so I don't have to take more letters,/ Nightshade thought to Severus as they hurried through the dank stone passage.
/But Mag wants you exercising more,/ Severus pointed out, trying not to smirk. /She feels I feed you too much turkey and that you never hunt anymore./
/So,/ Nightshade replied mutinously. /She doesn't fly o her broom much anymore either. She sits in a dragon's cave all day then she comes back and just wants to get into the bed with you./
Severus did finally smirk. /Should I be complaining?/ Nightshade decided to ignore him and preen his feathers from where he sat on Severus's shoulder. The sound of the feathers running through the owl's beak echoed strangely in Severus's ears due to the acoustics of the passage, distracting him from productive thoughts until they were out and in Hogsmeade. The town was relatively quiet. The three of them wasted no time in apparating to Adler manor, where everyone else was already waiting. Wolfgang's little blue kobold opened the door and showed them into the library where Wolfgang, Millicent, Grindelwald, Kreacher, Regulus and Albus were having tea. Seeing Albus seated comfortably in an overstuffed armchair caused Severus to recall just how much he missed having him about in his daily life. "Albus! Thank you for coming," he said, reaching to embrace the older man who returned the embrace tightly.
"Anything for you, Severus, you know that," Albus said. "Besides, it's nice to be out and about a little. What with the me being dead business, I try to stick to Durmstrang as much as possible," he added with a chuckle. "Oh and Bera sends her regards," Albus added, resuming his own seat as Severus settled onto a sofa between Mag and Filius.
As Albus and Filius exchanged greetings, Severus gave a slight frown, recalling the last private conversation he'd had with Ms, Karkaroff. /I'm bloody sure she does,/ he thought snarkily to Nightshade.
When the kobold finished serving Mag, Filius and Severus their tea, he drew in a deep breath an glanced around the room. "Thank you all for being here. I want to say that first. I asked to meet with all of you this night, because I presume all of you would be pleased if I survived these hopefully final days of Voldemort." He let out a breath, struggling through the discomfort gripping him at the prospect of his next words, then pressed on while everyone listened and waited silently. "As many of you are aware, Mag has read the runes for me at my request. I will not survive the entire encounter with Potter and Voldemort if I remain.
This is due to some unforeseen shift on Voldemort's part that her runes say I would not be able to predict or see coming. For this reason, I must leave around midway through if I am to survive. Mag says I will see the proper opportunity to depart clearly. For me to depart successfully without being hunted down by Voldemort or his followers, due to whatever Voldemort will kill me over, another should be there in my stead. Another that Voldemort will believe to be me. This person will die in my stead. I feel a Death Eater is most suitable to fill this role because those people have done such dreadful things in Voldemort's name and loved every moment of it that they deserve to die far more than I."
Regulus spoke first, nodding his agreement. "I feed on Death Eaters when I can find them, and evil Muggles when I can not, so of course I support your reasoning. If evil people die so that we can live, I say we're helping the world out...making it a better place." Grindelwald, Kreacher, Wolfgang and Mag nodded their agreement while Filius looked thoughtfully grave and Millicent looked bored. Severus didn't see why she should be present, but she seemed to be nearly constantly with Wolfgang. As the man was helping him, he would not complain even if he may wish to do so. For his part, Albus looked doubtful, but remained silent, so Severus continued.
"Each of you have skills that would help me greatly to succeed in this endeavor. Gellert's elf has suggested the idea of capturing a Death Eater and freezing his dark mark so that it is in a sort of stasis until it is needed. We can link it to mine so he can be summoned when I am which shall make posing as me all the more believable. We can transfigure him into me rather than using Polly juice that could obviously wear off at precisely the wrong time." He looked to Albus. "I was hoping that you would help with that bit, as if anyone's transfiguration can go undetected by even HIM, it's yours."
Albus nodded. "You literally saved my life, so I owe you the same, Severus, even if I disagree with the method used."
Severus knew that right now was not the time to grow distracted or offended, but he couldn't help it. "That's the only reason," he demanded.
Albus's blue eyes softened as he sighed. "Of course not, Severus. You are like a son to me, you know that. I never planned to see you dead at the end of this. Again I am not comfortable with the method, but if it is the only thing to be done, of course I agree that a Death Eater deserves to die far more than you. I just hate that we are burdened with making that decision."
Severus nodded. He was fine with that. In truth he'd expected Albus to protest more, so he was relieved when he did not. "The next step after we have this Death Eater appearing as me on the outside, is having him appear as me on the inside...In his mind," he continued. "Not only that, he will need to either believe it himself or be placed under extremely good compulsion not to reveal that he is not me to Voldemort or anyone else." At this, Severus turned to Regulus. "I was hoping you could handle that bit. I have read much of the hypnotic abilities that come naturally to vampires, and if they're half what they appear to be, we can bend him to our will in any way we like. It's simply a matter of choosing the best method that you feel would be undetectable by Voldemort. So would you recommend that he believes himself to be me or that he is compelled to pretend to be?"
Regulus frowned, considering the question for several long seconds before replying. "Though I am quite certain that I can do either, I would like to see how your memories are to be implanted into his mind before I decide which method will work best."
Severus nodded. "Fair enough."
"Gellert and I have made a great amount of headway on our Death Eater tracking system in Knockturn Alley," Wolfgang spoke up, reaching for a sheet of parchment on a low table beside the chair in which he sat. "Here is a list of names that we have tracked thus far along with their addresses. If any are suitable, we can work on a plan of capture directly."
"Thank you," Severus murmured gratefully, taking the parchment and quickly reading over the three Death Eaters listed on it. ""Boris Bane will do I think," he decided. He is a steady brutish sort unlikely to be missed right away."
Wolfgang nodded. "I have three cloaks of invisibility," the German half giant said. "I could capture him on my own, but as we're being extra careful these days, if you would like to come along with me, Regulus and Kreacher, it could be helpful. We will wear the cloaks and remain undetected. We can take him in the middle of the night so that no one will be in his presence. I usually kill Death Eaters rather than collecting them," Wolfgang said, an amused smile passing fleetingly over his face. "With us keeping this one, if you could compel him to relax, Regulus, things would go far more smoothly and we could eliminate unnecessary use of magic."
Regulus agreed readily. "Of course. Just say when."
Wolfgang smiled. "How is tonight?"
Regulus nodded after exchanging a quick glance with Kreacher. "I think we're free."
"After we have our captured Death Eater, the next step is transferring Severus's memories into his mind in a fashion that makes them appear to be his own," Wolfgang said.
"Making him experience the memories is the best way to accomplish that," Grindelwald spoke up. "I read something once long ago that spoke of connecting one's emotions to a pensieve to achieve this...full experience."
"We have a book in our library at home that addresses that," Mag said. "It's called empathic experience. Some...more progressive countries use it to punish criminals by making them experience the hurt they caused their victims."
"Excellent," Wolfgang said. "Can you bring that book here tomorrow?"
"Of course," Mag agreed readily.
"Good. We will meet here again tomorrow night to proceed if you are all able," Wolfgang said and everyone agreed. Severus was both pensive and relieved now that the process of saving himself had fully begun.