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Chapter Twenty-Nine-Continued Infiltration
"It does seem curious that the Ministry's appointment of Dolores Umbridge was blocked at the last moment."
"It does," Severus agreed, and touched Harry's shoulder for a moment. "You have all your books that you need?"
"Yes." Harry stared up at him with dazzlingly green eyes. Sometimes Severus thought the shadows in the back of them had sunk into his gaze and melded with the green, so that no one would notice that darkness unless they went seeking in the forest of Harry's mind—which he was unlikely to allow them to do. "Do you have everything you need, sir?"
Severus smiled a little tightly. Of course Harry was not speaking about materials.
"Yes, I believe I do." He glanced around Spinner's End once more. "Please give Mr. Nott my regards when you see him."
"I can't believe they fell for it."
Harry's voice was deep with suppressed glee. Severus might have felt the need to repress it further if he had thought it would make Harry careless in front of Albus or other members of the Order, but as it was, he inclined his head with his own thin smile in return.
"I do not believe they expected you to do anything but stay in the house, so the illusion sufficed."
"And those Dementors that sucked out that one Order member's soul?"
Severus was the one who had to struggle with repressed glee this time. In truth, he had never cared for Mundungus Fletcher. "Undoubtedly part of the reason that Madam Umbridge's appointment was summarily blocked."
Harry's smile widened, and then he unexpectedly took a step closer to Severus and stared up into his face. "I said that he would protect us, Severus. He promised."
Severus just nodded, throat tight. It was likely that the Dark Lord had interfered in the Ministry's choice of a Defense professor to get back at Umbridge for posing any kind of danger to Harry, however indirectly.
But Severus was not blind enough to think that the Dark Lord's sheltering hand extended over him in the same way. As soon as he could present it as an accident, or do it in such a way that it did not distress Harry, the Dark Lord would eliminate Severus.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, only thinking of the past," Severus said, and shook himself from the gloom. He must walk the road in front of him. It had been ever thus. "And hoping that the Auror the Ministry does appoint to the Defense position is at least competent."
"Wouldn't it be better if they weren't? I mean, for our side?"
Severus studied him for a moment. "You do not worry for your Defense education?"
"I trust you to teach me."
Severus had to work to swallow back his emotion at that. Do not show it, he reminded himself. Do not encourage him. Eventually, you will die, and Harry will be on his own. It would be better, since his attachment to you has caused so much trouble, if he were to be as free and cold as he can be.
"I am grateful for your trust."
Harry smiled, but kept looking at Severus, as if he could see Severus's caution behind his mask.
Severus was glad to pick up the Floo powder.
"And may I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, John Dawlish!"
Severus applauded politely, although his hands faltered when he saw the Auror look up towards him and give a devilish wink.
That wink belonged to Barty.
How did he get in here? I would have thought Albus would tighten up the wards to sound an alarm in the presence of Polyjuice, but…
Perhaps not.
Severus hid his sigh in his goblet. It wasn't as if he were going to betray Barty, since the vows and oaths he had sworn would not allow him to. But this was a complication to a year he had thought would be free from most drama, since the Dark Lord had blocked the Umbridge woman from being appointed.
Perhaps I should be used to chaos by this point.
"You like it?"
"It is clever," Severus said, and he was even telling the truth. The amulet that the Dark Lord had fashioned for Barty hung around his neck on a simple silver chain. The amulet itself was a bronze disk with symbols of the moon and sun carved on it. It drew its power from those celestial lights, and would always be able to function as long as one of them was shining.
"What will you do on nights of the dark of the moon?"
"Keep to my quarters and plead a headache."
"And you think that will not be noticeable to Albus?"
Barty looked offended. "I didn't say I would adopt the same strategy every time."
Severus held back the temptation to retort that Barty had implied it. He should not let himself become so comfortable with his fellow Death Eater. Precisely because Barty was one, in a way that Severus would never be.
"You're still struggling against it."
Severus thought about protesting that he didn't know what Barty meant, or that Barty was mistaken. But if Barty had noticed it, the Dark Lord would have, and he had deigned to let Severus live in any case.
"I thought I had forsaken that allegiance."
"I know. But now you have it back, and it can offer you so many advantages. If you invent the potion that I know our Lord has you brewing, you'll have money and offers from lots of quarters. Why would you want to resist our Lord's claim?"
Severus studied Barty for long moments. They were in Severus's rooms, where Barty had come almost directly after dinner to show off the amulet and help himself to Severus's Firewhisky. He wondered if the other man was drunk, but Barty was leaning forwards a little, and his eyes were intent and assessing.
"I don't like not understanding things. Help me understand."
Severus half-shrugged. He could believe those words, at least, when Barty had been a Ravenclaw and had the distinct air of someone enticed by "forbidden" knowledge. "I believe our Lord was an island of light in a vast grey sea for you. Someone who gave your life meaning and you a reason to stay alive."
Barty's hand paused for a moment. Then he said, "Yes."
"Lily Evans was that for me."
"But why? You had a terrible fight that ended your friendship—"
"And you spent a year in prison and years under your father's control for the sake of our Lord."
After a moment, Barty's mouth lifted in a wry half-smile. He leaned back in his chair and raised his glass to Severus. "I see. I won't ask anymore."
Severus nodded and went to fetch his own Firewhisky. If it stopped the impertinent questions, he did not mind confessing that to Barty.
Even knowing that the knowledge would soon make its way to the Dark Lord.
He hated to admit it. He did not admit it. When he was outside the lab, he employed Occlumency so that he did not even need to think it.
But the truth burned behind those shields, floating in the center of Severus's mind like a lotus in a fouled pool.
He enjoyed the potion that he was brewing for the Dark Lord.
It was so intricate, as a potion that had to be able to defend an item from basilisk venom and Fiendfyre and the Bone-Melting Curse and other spells and creature byproducts that fit the category of "extremely destructive." It had to be brewed in such a way that it would not melt the cauldrons. The ingredients had to balance each other so that it could also survive an indefinite period of time in storage. If Severus had wanted to create only a potion that would be used immediately, then it would have been a simpler task. But he had to find something indomitable that would, in turn, not destroy crystal or glass.
The challenge intrigued him and allowed him to ignore even Neville Longbottom's ongoing disasters in the Potions classroom and Albus's little hints and insinuations. Of course, the latter could not be ignored forever.
"You seem happier than you have in some time, Severus."
Severus shrugged in response to Albus's insinuation. They were in the room set aside for professorial meetings, and Severus had been able to endure the brain-melting red and gold of the walls by thinking about his potion. "So far, nothing has happened this year to endanger the Potter boy. And nothing happened over the summer, either. I can hope that the agents the Dark Lord has employed to handle the matter are incompetent so far."
"Or biding their time. You must never relax your vigilance—did I say something funny, Severus?"
Severus had actually almost laughed at the imitation of Barty's Moody imitation. "You sounded like your old friend Alastor for a moment, Headmaster."
"Ah. Yes." Albus looked sad, although of course it was impossible to tell whether that was the reality or a well-practiced imitation itself. "A loss that will be felt by us all in the years to come, I am sure, as we continue the struggle against Voldemort."
Severus ignored the burn in his Mark at the name. It had always hurt somewhat when someone spoke the word. Since the Dark Lord had returned, the sensation had changed so that it did not seem to go as—deep. There was no other way for Severus to describe it.
"Ah, Minerva! Come and sit down! We were talking of poor Alastor."
"Yes, I hate to think about him. When I consider that we had an imposter living here all last year and we never knew—"
Barty, in the illusion-disguise of John Dawlish, entered behind her and gave an exaggerated eyeroll.
Severus almost choked.