Chapter Twenty-Two

Jane's Plan

Accompanied by Moody and Kingsley, the three of them made their way silently to the dungeons. Atkins' consciousness was too confused, but Jane was slowly coming to herself. However, when they reached Snape's office, he slammed the door in front of the two Aurors without much ado.

'Severus, are you alright?' Jane asked worriedly. True, the voice was not hers, but her feelings were her own.

'I've been better,' he muttered. 'Finite Incantatem!' and swung his wand in Jane's direction.

She blinked, her gaze unfocused. She liked being herself again, but why did she have to be without glasses?

'I missed you so much!' Jane hugged and kissed him.

'Professor, am I to understand that this is your girlfriend the master is looking for so intensely?' Atkins asked confusedly.

Snape nodded, smiling in his ridiculous way.

'Jane Undead, nice to meet you officially." She held out her hand.

'Desmond Atkins.' He shook it.

'Well, Atkins, if you want us to send you back, we can, but after a memory wipe,' Snape suggested. 'Somehow we'll manage to make you the victim.'

'I'm going nowhere,' the healer retorted. 'How long have I been waiting to get out?'

'Well, Jane, do you see what you did? I lost my assistant because of you,' Snape said in feigned anger but continued smiling. 'I was going to call you anyway.' He waved his hand.

Snape apparently had no desire to discuss the matter, given that all three of them were alive and well.

'By the way, how did you know it was me?' she inquired.

'Since you started arguing with me in my mind. I don't know another Legilimens who would dare to hold such a tone in my own head.' He pulled her close and hugged her.

'You're not going back there, are you?' Atkins asked him.

'Not yet, but I might have to. Things are not going well here.'

'What happened?' Jane was worried.

'We lost. They had too many reinforcements coming –several giants, hordes of orcs, and in the evening we were attacked by vampires.'

'None of our people have turned into vampires, right?'

'As if it happened that easily... No, but many of us were disabled and on the verge of passing out from blood loss. We were forced to leave the position and retreat here.'

'Is the castle completely isolated?'

'No, we still have the owls. And the fireplaces – we are evacuating the students through them.'

'Is it that bad?'

'I'm afraid so,' Snape replied curtly, changing the subject. 'However, a wizard was looking for you yesterday. I think he had come from abroad.'

'Who was looking for me?' Jane was surprised.

'He introduced himself as someone Wayne. He also brought a friend.'

'Frank! Where is he? When can I see him?'

'Calm down, woman,' Snape frowned. 'You'll see them both at breakfast tomorrow. Maybe even sooner if they come this way. They are housed somewhere in the dungeon.'

'Don'tsulk, he's not my ex-boyfriend,' Jane hastened to say. 'Frank was my best friend, we founded the band together. Probably another of the old group members came with him.'

Snape's expression brightened a little.

'If you're tired, I'll take you to the bedroom,' he offered. 'Then I'll send a note to the headmaster that you've come. And I want to talk to you, Atkins. I want to ask you about some things that happened in my absence.'

Atkins nodded.

'I'll wait for you here if that's convenient,' he offered.

'Get settled.' Snape pointed to the upholstered armchair.

Then he grabbed Jane around the waist and gently pushed her towards the door. They walked the short distance to his bedroom where he straightened the rumpled sheets with a wave of his wand and then helped her undress.

'I'd like to test what my wand is capable of tomorrow.' She showed off her new acquisition. 'And I guess I'll have to conjure up some glasses because I can't see anything.'

Snape looked at her and swung his wand again.

'Here you are. If I'm not mistaken, it's Nott's wand. You'll get used to it, he's good at doing magic. Unlike with thinking.'

Jane sat on the bed and pulled Snape closely.

'I just want a kiss, don't worry.' She smiled and after kissing him, let him go.

Snape returned the smile and started for the door.

'I will send you Professor Dumbledore later. He will surely want to know what happened to you.'

Jane fell asleep as soon as Snape closed the door. At some point, Professor Dumbledore came to inquire about her condition and what had happened since her capture. She gave the full report and went back to sleep. Then she was woken up again by Snape, who brought her a potion.

'Drink this,' he told her before leaving. 'It will neutralize the stuff Desmond gave you.'

Just as she was wondering what was it that needed to be neutralized, there was a knock at the door. She went to open the door and found Frank and Lloyd, their old bass player, at the threshold.

'Hello, Jane,' Frank called hesitantly. 'We're back.'

Jane wanted to yell at them but desisted.

'I'm glad you came home, boys.' She hugged them one by one and the nightgown fluttered around her legs. 'Come in, come in. Did Severus send you here?'

'If by Severus you mean our lanky classmate with the greasy hair, yes, he was the one,' said Frank.

'Shut up, I won't let you talk about my boyfriend like that,' Jane bristled.

'You are dating him?! When you had such a choice?'

'I still have a choice. But I love him.'

'Alright, alright.' He held up his hands. 'We won't discuss it.'

'And you will do well. Sit down,' she pointed to the armchair in front of the fireplace and conjured two chairs.

'Now tell me,' Jane began, after settling in one of the chairs, 'where have you been all this time?'

'We're sorry we didn't take you with us but we had to leave fast...' Frank weaselled.

'Now you have to tell me why you didn't send me an owl either,' she snapped.

'We were young, dumb, and scared,' Frank said conciliatoryly. 'Is that enough?'

'Quite enough for me. Just so you know, I was scared too. And your leaving without calling didn't make me feel any better. But now you're back, and at a nasty time, so I plan to say no more about your disappearance.'

'I knew you'd understand, Janie!'

'Be quiet, or I'll punch you.'

'There, that's our Jane,' Frank concluded.

'Better tell me, how was the battle?'

'Unpleasant story,' Lloyd spoke up. 'We came on our brooms the second day. Those flying chickens have left us breathless.'

'I got knocked down by a griffin,' Frank chimed in. ' And Lloyd was surrounded just as the orcs and the giants were coming.'

'I barely got away,' Lloyd confirmed. 'Then the vampires attacked us down on the ground,' he shuddered. 'Creepy creatures, they just radiate fear.'

Lloyd fell silent for a moment as he ran the unpleasant events over in his head – Jane gazed into his eyes and saw the picture – the ominous shadows that descended upon them after sunset and crept through the bushes and treetops in search of blood. Then she averted her eyes abruptly because she didn't want to see anything more.

'We found out you've been captured,' Lloyd finally spoke. 'How did they catch you?'

'I don't know either. I thought I'd run away from them and hid in the forest, but they found me again. I must have been tipped.' She left her other guess unspoken.

At that moment, Professor Snape entered the antechamber. He looked as if he'd been chewed up and spat out, and he smelled strongly of potions.

'I'm going to take a shower and then go to bed, Jane,' he leaned down to kiss her hair. 'You can stay here.'

'Alright,' she agreed. 'We will soundproof ourselves so as not to disturb you.'

She looked after him, and when he left the room she concluded, 'His hair is not greasy at all. It only seems that way to you.'

Her friends didn't reply.

They stayed to discuss recent events. At some point, Professor Snape came in again, bade them good night and went to his bedroom. Jane told them about her job at the school. They no longer mentioned the years they spent in hiding as if it had all evaporated without a trace. They talked until the morning. When half of the breakfast time had passed, Jane went to wake Severus and they all went up to the Great Hall together.

She was surprised to see that it was full of people – apparently, everyone on the Order's side had gathered in the school after the end of the battle. The students were gone, so she and her two old acquaintances sat at the Ravenclaw table. After a moment's hesitation, Snape joined them, but throughout he was silent and seemed concerned. There was hardly anyone at the Slytherin table anyway, and most of Severus' acquaintances from that house must have been in the other camp. Jane felt bad for insisting they stayed– she must have been giving him major headaches.

Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody passed their table and the latter asked grumpily, 'Why did you slam the door like that last night? I was this close to breaking it, but Kingsley talked me out of it.'

'I'm not responsible to you,' Snape snapped. 'Complain to Professor Dumbledore.'

'We did, but he told us to leave you alone.'

'So he told you right.'

The two of them walked past, giving Jane a cursory greeting. Apparently, the principal had explained the situation to them after all.

'Order meeting after lunch, here,' Kingsley announced without looking back.

'What are you going to do after breakfast?' Jane asked Snape.

'I need to restock some potions. I'd ask you to help me.'

'Fine,' she agreed, though she didn't feel particularly good at it.

'Atkins will help, too,' Snape added.

They continued to eat in silence until after a few minutes the real Tonks tapped her on the shoulder.

'Hi, Jane. Professor Dumbledore told me to fetch you.'

'I'll see you later,' she told Snape and left with Dora. As much as she wanted to help Severus, she was relieved she didn't have to start brewing potions right away.

'I want to thank you for enduring the interrogations for me,' Dora said.

'I think I should apologise for using your identity.'

'No, no. That worked out very well. They had me pinned down and were about to capture me when their fellows called out to them to chase you. Then they caught you, and I got away. They probably would come back and capture me, if they hadn't captured you. If you knew how many things I would have babbled if they got me.'

'There was that danger with me too if only they had found out it was me. And as you, I presented myself as someone who knows almost nothing.'

'Exactly. You did fantastic. Only after that, I had to explain to Remus why I had pushed him away. But don't worry, I have nothing to be mad for.'

They had now reached the headmaster, who was sitting at the High Table, and Dora withdrew, bidding her goodbye. As soon as they were alone, he began, 'Jane,' then looked at her over his half-moon glasses, 'I can't afford to lose two Legilimenses brewing potions today.'

She hung her head guiltily, though she didn't think she'd outed herself. He had probably read it on their lips earlier.

'So I'd like to give you another task,' he continued. 'You have until noon to survey everybody and see how their morale is doing. Without going deep, I don't want you to waste much time. Scan only the surfaces of their minds.'

'Yes, Professor.'

'You will report to me before the meeting of the Order, in my office. You are dismissed.'

Jane walked between the tables, putting on a carefree face. Most people weren't in a hurry to leave the hall, they obviously didn't feel like going back to the sleeping quarters, so she learnt a lot in just an hour.

At some point, a panting wizard rushed into the hall and shouted, 'We are under siege! They have surrounded the park!'

Everyone clung to the hall's windows, including Jane, who knew there was nothing to see from there. Then the crowd rushed to the upper floors to try to at least peek at the situation. However, they had to climb all the way to the Astronomy Tower to be able to spot the hordes of Death Eaters that had surrounded the castle fence.

There was no longer any use in searching the crowd's minds because there was only obvious panic everywhere. Jane did go to the principal's office twenty minutes before the meeting, but he sent her away. So she hurried down to the dungeon to fetch Severus.

'Did you hear the news?' she asked him as she entered his office panting.

'Yes, they sent me a note. Desmond, look after the cauldron for a moment,' he ordered, motioning for Jane to follow him.

When they reached his room he ushered Jane in and cast a spell on the door just in case.

'If things go badly for the Order, don't worry,' he said. 'They won't catch us. We will change our identities several times and go to Argentina. I have acquaintances there and I will arrange everything.'

'Don't talk like that,' Jane said dejectedly. 'We still stand a chance.'

'If that's what you think... Come on, let's get Desmond and go to the meeting.'

'Will he participate, too?'

Snape nodded. 'I'm vouching for him. Although, if we have to go, I plan to leave him behind. He'll do much better here, especially if I enchant him and change some of his memories.

They climbed the staircase and entered the Great Hall, where they found a huge mess. People shouted at each other without listening. After poking around their heads a bit, Jane learned that half an hour ago they received a message from Voldemort calling for their surrender. They were promised that if they left themselves at his mercy, their lives and the castle would be left intact.

'What a dirty trick!' Jane fumed. 'Instead of being united and resisting them, he makes us bite each other like dogs for bones.'

'What happened?' Atkins wondered.

Snape explained it to him. There wasn't much time to wonder, however, because Professor Dumbledore entered the hall and called for silence.

'What's going on in here?' he asked with a magically magnified voice.

The wizards started to explain one over the other, but he stopped them with his hand and pointed to one to speak.

'He-who-must-not-be-named offered us to surrender. In return, he will spare the castle and our lives. We are ordinary wizards, we don't care who rules us. We want to surrender.'

'Bollocks!' shouted a wizard from another table. 'We will fight to the end! We will not give in to some Death Eaters born yesterday!'

'Shut up!' called a third. 'You have no wife and no children.'

A few more voices rose to support or oppose him.

'Silence!' shouted the headmaster. 'Anyone who wants to leave will be free to do so. But I want you to hear me first. Tom Riddle, calling himself Lord Voldemort, is not in the habit of being merciful. Therefore, do not believe his promise that he will spare you. It is best to unite and defeat the enemy here on our turf instead of scattering and hiding until he finds us one by one and destroys us. Whoever doesn't want to follow the advice of an old man, let him follow Minerva – she will take you to Hogsmeade, from where you can leave.'

The crowd murmured, and Minerva McGonagall descended from the High Table and stood waiting at the head of the long tables. Soon wizards and witches began to join her. About twenty people gathered, and when no one was getting up to join them, at a sign from Professor Dumbledore she led them to the exit of the Great Hall. After the door closed behind them, the headmaster raised his voice again, 'And now I suggest that the others listen carefully because we will be discussing the castle's defence plan.'

'I want casters in all towers,' he began to order. 'And anyone who owns a broom or can ride a hippogriff, to gather in the Great Hall. We will open the windows from where the aviation will take off. We will barricade the front door, and the wizards in the towers will prevent the enemy from penetrating through there.

The headmaster was talking cleverly, but Jane still looked at him with disappointment. She was almost expecting him to pull some magical solution up his sleeve to turn things in their favour.

'Severus, will you be here?' she asked him.

He just nodded.

Professor Dumbledore continued to explain the details of his plan, but Jane was paying him very little attention. If only they could tip the scales in their favour.

The three of them left the Order meeting in a daze. Snape brewed another potion down in the dungeon but didn't bother for more. It was surprising that Desmond didn't regret his decision to join the Order. He trusted that Snape would get him out if things got too bad.

Jane looked at her lover and used Legilimency for a serious purpose on him for the first time. She wished so badly that he at least had some sort of a plan for how they could win. He let her into his mind just enough to show her she was delusional and then asked her not to pry anymore.

In a completely sour mood, she collapsed on the bed. If only there was somebody who could come up with a clever plan to save everyone.

A thought popped into her head. She wasn't that dumb at coming up with plans either. She just had to think logically. Where to start? Voldemort's organization was strong, but there was one weak spot –Voldemort himself. He was not indispensable, and if he were removed, everything would collapse. And who could remove him? That was clear as day, Professor Dumbledore. And she and Severus could give him access, along with the advantage of surprise.

'Severus!' she called out to the antechamber.'Come here, I want to discuss something!'

He broke off his conversation with Desmond and entered the bedroom.

'Close the door. And enchant it,' Jane ordered.

'What is it you want to tell me that you don't want Desmond to hear?' he wondered, but did as she told him anyway.

'I have an idea how to infiltrate with the Dark Lord and remove him.'

'You're mad!' was Snape's genuine reaction.

'I'm not.' Jane was irritated. 'Listen now. You will take me to your master as if you are betraying me, but you will ask that we be alone. We'll bring Professor Dumbledore in with us, invisible. And while we distract the Dark Lord with talking, Professor Dumbledore will bind or shackle him. Then we'll take him out of there – either through the window, or through the echelon of guards, naturally invisible, under the pretext of moving me. Does it seem doable?'

'I think so,' he said after a moment's thought. 'But it's very risky. Especially for you.'

'You will give me a wand, just before we present ourselves to the Dark Lord. That way I won't be defenceless.'

'Are you sure you want to do it?'

'I'm sure,' she retorted.

'Alright then, let's ask Professor Dumbledore.'

Snape frowned. He didn't seem too happy with her idea.