Chapter 15: Obscuro

"...because I can assure you that Harry doesn't miss twice."

Severus was leaning over Moody, his black eyes blazing, seemingly unaware of what he had just said. The one-eyed auror just sneered back up at him, looking pleased with himself to have gotten a reaction out of the normally stoic man,

"So the boy does have a name after all."

"What?" Severus took a step back, his brow furrowed in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

Moody opened his mouth to respond, but Dumbledore cut him off before he could say another word,

"The name of Tom's son. You have just given it to us."

"A rather muggle-sounding name, if you ask me," Moody grumbled, rubbing his chest where Severus's spell had hit him, "Who names a child Harry?"

Kingsley watched the potion master carefully as the man began to realise what he had said. A mixture of alarm and fear passed over his features before Severus's usual emotionless mask snapped back into place and his face when eerily blank.

"I should not have told you that. I am not sure how that managed to get past the charm."

"On the contrary," Dumbledore said gently, "I am pleased that you have told us this as it allows us to call this boy by his true name. A child should never be referred to as a servant and now we won't have to resort to calling him that anymore."

"You can't tell anyone else his name, Dumbledore," Severus said coldly, taking a small step backward, "It will just cause more trouble and heartache and won't help anyone."

Kingsley understood in an instant what the potion master was talking about. Severus was worried about how James and Lily would react to hearing that You-know-who had named his son after their own. The very one that the evil monster had murdered.

"It doesn't matter what you want anymore, Snape," Moody growled, "In fact, if I didn't know you, I would say that it sounds an awful lot as though you are protecting that bastard's son. You know more than you are letting on and you don't want to see the boy in custody."

Severus's eyes flickered at this comment. The man looked conflicted, but his voice was icy and calm,

"Of course, I know more than I am letting on. That's how the Fidelius Charm works, you imbecile. And before you go asking more stupid questions that I can't answer, of course, I am concerned about Harry. He's just a child. He doesn't know anything besides death and pain."

"No. He's an evil boy with a proclivity for black magic and murdering people," Moody smirked, "I can see why you would like him."

"Shut it, Moody," Kingsley barked, unable to stand the auror's snide comments any longer, "If you can't hold your tongue for more than one goddamn second then I will personally remove it for you."

This seemed to work wonders and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. At last, Kingsley sighed and turned to look back at the potion master.

"I have no doubt that you have watched this boy grow up, Severus, but surely even you can see what his existence means for us. If we choose not to act then in only a couple of years, we will be left with not one, but two powerful opponents. It would crush the ministry," Kingsley paused for a brief moment, "You have sympathy for Harry and I understand that, but this is war. War is not won with compassion."

"No," Severus said softly, "But the path of war can be changed with mercy. If you ever see that child, Shacklebolt, I pray that you have mercy on him, because I don't think he has ever received any."

With a quick farewell to Dumbledore, Severus spun around sharply and strode out of the room, his black robes billowing out behind him. As the door clicked shut behind him, Kingsley turned to glare at Moody.

"If you do not watch your temper then I will have no other choice but to suspend you from your appointment in the department," he spat, his own anger rapidly on the rise, "I will not stand for your insensitive comments and rude remarks. Severus is your friend and a trusted ally to the order and you had better start to treat him as such. Now stop acting like an immature child."

Kingsley sank back into his chair, still furious at his fellow auror. Moody simply shrugged at his comments and repositioned himself in the chair. Neither of them said a word but returned their attention to the Griffis map that still lay on Dumbledore's desk. The red auror markings had spread out to various strategic points both in and around the village. No flashes of spells or death eaters had appeared as of yet.

So far everything was going to plan.

Everyone was safe.

As the minutes began to slowly tick by, Kingsley found himself thinking more and more about You-know-who's son. The boy had a name now…a name that he could pair with the angry green eyes he had seen behind the mask.

Harry.

It would only be a matter of time before Moody told everyone in the auror department about this new revelation. Names held power and every bit of information they gathered about this child was a step closer to rescuing him.

Rescuing.

That is what Kingsley had decided to call the manhunt. He knew what fate could await the boy once imprisoned, but he chose to see it as a mission to free the child…to free Harry. This was what he said to himself to help him to sleep at night. He would make sure that You-know-who lost connection and influence over his son, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

"That bastard named his heir after the dead Potter boy, Albus," Moody said at long last, "Why do you think he would do that? It isn't a very pure-blood name, that's for sure. Almost seems like he's done it out of spite."

"Perhaps," Dumbledore said calmly, "But then again, if it was for spite, why would he keep the child hidden for so many years? No, I have a feeling there is a much different reason behind the name Harry."

Both wizards continued to talk quietly. Kingsley sank back further into his warm seat and closed his eyes, allowing the conversation to stream past him. Dumbledore would be able to help him figure out a way to help Harry. The headmaster always seemed to have some kind of trick up his sleeve. He just hoped he would this time, as well.

"Shit!"

Kingsley's eyes flew open at the loud curse. He reached for his wand, his mind slow and confused. It took only a second for him to recognise that he was still sitting in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts. He must have somehow managed to fall asleep.

"What do we do, Albus?"

Moody and the headmaster were leaning over the desk staring at Kingsley's map.

Shit. Something must have gone wrong. How long have I been asleep for?

The auror quickly pushed himself to his feet and stumbled the short distance to the desk, his body still waking up. He pushed Moody aside to get a better view of the map and what he saw chased any last flicker of exhaustion out of his bones. A huge mass of black had descended into the middle of the village. A pitiful number of aurors were now facing off against the hoard of death eaters, flashes of spells showing that the battle had already begun. Kingsley felt his blood run cold as he saw one flickering red dot in the midst of the black swarm. The first casualty, no doubt.

"How long ago did this start?" he demanded, fingers gripping the edge of the desk with such force that his knuckles were turning white.

"Not long," Moody replied from close beside him, "Two minutes. Maybe three."

"Do we know how many of them there are?"

"Too many to count," the other auror responded grimly, "They seemed to all appear at the same time. I assume they all came by portkey."

A rapid series of light blue flashes caught Kingsley's attention.

Shit. The school children.

"The students?"

Moody pointed to where the last of the purple dots had just vanished in a spark of blue, "Activated their emergency portkeys almost immediately."

Kingsley felt relief rush through him. Good. One less thing to worry about. The auror turned his focus back to the main battle that was happening just a little further up the same street. The Death Eaters seemed to have been paying no attention to the Hogwarts students. Severus had been right about that. The main focus seemed to be on the aurors.

"If you will excuse me for a moment," Dumbledore's deep voice startled both of the men, "I fear that I must go and check in on my pupils. I shall return as soon as I am able to."

The headmaster hurried out of the office with a worried look spread across his face. Kingsley felt the great emptiness of the room as soon as Dumbledore left. He had hoped that the headmaster would've had some great plan or idea for them, but that was clearly not the case. While they had expected an attack, no one had anticipated that it would have been from a force of this size. It was almost as if You-know-who had summoned all of his followers for this one raid. But why?

Beside him, Moody was reaching into his robes. The man pulled out his department-owned portkey.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Moody turned to look at him, his face grim,

"What do you mean? I'm not going to wait around here while the entirety of the auror department is whipped out."

Before Kingsley could protest, the one-eyed man activated the device and disappeared with a sharp snap. A second later a new red dot appeared on the map marking the auror's arrival.

"Shit," Kingsley breathed, realising that he was suddenly completely alone.

He hadn't even brought his monitor with him. He'd left it sitting back in his office at the ministry and without Dumbledore, he couldn't even floo or apparate out of Hogwarts, meaning that he was effectively trapped in the headmaster's office.

With a low growl of frustration, Kingsley had no choice but to watch as the battle grew in ferocity. So many spells were flying from both sides that it made the map look like a small fireworks show.

Kingsley gritted his teeth as he saw one of the red dots flicker and die out. Another casualty. Kingsley slammed his fist into the wooden desk. He should be there. He should be fighting right alongside his men, not sitting in a comfortable chair far away, watching them all be killed.

As the desk rattled from the force of his blow, Kingsley once again found himself staring at the lone, stationary auror. Whoever it was now appeared to be guarded by two death eaters…two death eaters who were subjecting the man to an unknown spell.

Dawlish?

Kingsley wasn't sure who else You-know-who would want to capture. Dawlish was, besides himself, the most powerful auror in the department and would serve to be a grand prize for any Death Eater. As this thought began to take hold of his mind, Kingsley saw another red dot suddenly begin to cut around the side of the mass of Death Eaters. This new person seemed to be making a break for Dawlish.

A Death Eater converged on the would-be saviour, but after only a few moments the black dot flickered out of existence. A kill.

As the auror continued to fight his way through around the edge, Kingsley felt a horrible realisation begin to surface. There must be anti-apparation wards set up. He had not seen a single one of his men disapparate, that would mean that the only way the aurors would be able to leave was by activating their own emergency portkeys. That would bring them all back to the ministry. But they needed time to activate their devices…time that the death eaters were not giving them.

Kingsley cursed loudly in the empty room. He should have never suggested that Dumbledore continue planning the excursion. He should have guessed that something like this would happen, but the only thing he could do now was to wait and see if any of his fellow aurors would be able to make it out in one piece.

With a sinking heart, Kingsley watched as Dawlish's saviour somehow managed to reach the captured man. The two black dots remained beside them, but no more spells were being fired. Kingsley suspected, or rather hoped, that they had been stunned or incapacitated in some other way. He wished that the Griffis map was able to show him more detail, like names or exact spells being used. As it was, he was completely in the dark about what was really happening.

Both red dots seemed to converge on either other, allowing Kingsley to breathe a sigh of relief. At least Dawlish would not end up suffering the same fate as Frank Longbottom, not yet at least. Kingsley closed his eyes for a moment and ran his hands over his face. He would find out who had saved his Dawlish and would offer them his thanks when this was all over.

But when the auror looked back down at the map, his face went a deathly shade of white. Both of the dots representing Dawlish and his companion had vanished.

Shit. The death eaters had killed them.

The room that the portkey had deposited them into was unnaturally cold. That was the first thing that Sirius recognised when he staggered to his feet, his hands dirty from the floor. The air around him seemed to bite at his exposed skin, even with his winter robes on. Wand at the ready, Sirius took a step away from James, allowing his friend to struggle to his feet as he looked for any signs of death eaters.

The room was completely bare save for a large, empty fireplace on the wall to their right. Remnants and smudges of soot covered the ground all around, proving Sirius's theory correct. This was an arrival chamber. The auror department had several rooms just like this back at the ministry.

Well, not exactly like this, but they served the same function. The collection rooms at the ministry were much warmer and more well-lit than this was. The current chamber they were in seemed to be more like a prison cell than anything else.

Behind him, Sirius could hear James's heavy breathing as the man tried to stay on his feet. He couldn't help but feel bad for his friend. The effects of the cruciatus curse were nothing short of absolute hell…or so he had been told, at least.

"You alright there, Prongs?"

Sirius currently had his wand pointed at the only door into the room. He didn't want to risk looking back at James and getting blindsided by a death eater storming through.

"Doin' just great," came the response, "Never been better."

Sirius shook his head. He knew that the man must be hurting terribly but James would die before ever admitting it. The stubbornness of Potters.

"So where are we now?" James asked his footsteps shuffling somewhere behind Sirius.

"How should I know? You were the one who decided to grab a death eater's portkey."

"Didn't know it was a portkey," James had now come to stand, unsteadily, next to his fellow auror, "Thought it was something else."

"Like what? A weapon?"

"Something like that," James muttered.

Both aurors remained quiet for a moment. The deafening silence of the room instantly began to press in on Sirius's ears a marked contrast to the chaos and noise they had just come from.

"So what do we do now?" he finally asked, when it became clear that no group of death eaters was about to storm in and kill them.

"Probably need to find our way back to the rest. Shouldn't leave them alone to fight those bastards."

"So you want to die with them?"

"I wouldn't die with them," James protested weakly.

Sirius lowered his wand and turned to face his friend,

"Look at yourself, Prongs. You are in no shape to go storming back into the middle of a battle. You'd be dead in an instant and as much as I love your kids, I don't want to become their substitute dad. No, the only place that I will be taking you is St. Mungo's."

James glared back, even as his body continued to spasm randomly with the after-effects of the unforgivable. Sirius rolled his eyes before grabbing ahold of the auror and preparing to apparate. Both aurors spun on the spot, but instead of the rush of magic that came with disapparation, both men ended up in a heap on the floor once more.

"Shit."

"You can say that again," James groaned, "Guess we've got no other choice but to use the portkey again. Unless you have spare floo powdered stashed somewhere in your pockets."

Sirius growled in frustration and quickly helped his friend to his feet. They were both covered in soot and dirt now.

"I guess the Death Eaters don't have any house elves," the auror said as he helped James walk over to retrieve the portkey that lay in the shadow of the fireplace, "This place is disgusting."

James didn't say anything as Sirius reached down and wrapped his fingers around the portkey.

But this time, it did not activate instantly. The cool metal ball just sat in his palm, glistening tauntingly in the dim light.

"Portus," Sirius spat, taping the orb with his wand, his irritation growing tenfold.

However, nothing happened. The portkey continued to sit in his hand, not responding to the activation spell in any way.

Just my luck, the auror thought, What the hell are we gonna do now?

"I guess we're stuck here then," James said with a heavy sigh, "What is Lily gonna say when she finds out about this…"

Sirius took a deep breath to try and calm himself down before he pocketed the orb. They were effectively trapped in whatever place the portkey had brought them to. It would only be a matter of time before the death eater would return and they needed to be long gone from that room when they did.

"Come on, James. We'd best get going."

"Going to where?"

"To find a way out of here," Sirius put his arm under his friend's shoulder and helped James hobble over to the large, wooden door, "Unless you'd rather stay put and wait for the death eaters to find us."

James grumbled something but didn't protest.

Both men held their breath as Sirius put his sweaty hand on the doorknob and turned. To their surprise, the door swung open without a sound revealing a long, empty hallway. Several closed doors lined the corridor and at the end, Sirius could just make out the beginnings of a stairway. The pathway was dimly lit, like the chamber they had arrived in, with several quivering torches.

Neither man spoke as they closed the door softly behind them and began to make their way down toward the staircase and, hopefully, freedom.

The air seemed stagnant and heavy, causing every noise they made to sound muted and dull. This was a blessed relief to Sirius, particularly when James kept stumbling on every imperfection in the stone floor, of which there were many.

After what felt like hours, the two aurors finally reached the end of the corridor and the stairs. The stone steps twisted up in a spiral pattern, disappearing into the darkness above them. Sirius took one last look behind them before starting to push James up the stairwell.

By the time they reached the last of the steps, James's legs were shaking from the exertion and Sirius was panting quietly. His friend had put more and more of his body weight onto him throughout their way up and James was by no means a light man. The stairs had seemed as though they would never end and Sirius was exceedingly relieved when they came to the end of it, finding themselves in another hallway. But to his great disappointment, this corridor looked no different from the one they had just come from.

Fuck.

"Where do we go from here?" James asked his voice shaking slightly.

Sirius nodded toward the far end of the hall where the start of yet another staircase stood,

"That way seems good."

James grumbled something that sounded like a curse, but Sirius just ignored him. They needed to keep moving if they wanted to have any chance of getting out of this place alive. They must have just been further underground than he had thought initially.

As both aurors continued to stagger deeper and deeper into the manor, neither one of them noticed a small creature watching them with wide eyes behind a cracked door.

When the men disappeared up the staircase, the house elf whispered softly,

"Intruders. Master Harry must be warned."

A second later, it vanished with a soft pop.

James had a headache.

Well, he had more than just a headache, in fact, his entire body was aching. The pain just seemed to be originating in his head. The tremors in his arms and legs had, thankfully, died down slightly but his fatigue was growing by the second. He now understood why the Cruciatus Curse was used so frequently by the death eaters. It was extremely effective and the pain it caused seemed to be never-ending.

James groaned as Sirius finally brought them to an abrupt stop at the top of yet another set of winding stairs. He had lost track of time, but it felt as if they had been wandering aimlessly around the manor for ages. At this point, he was starting to doubt that there actually was a way out. There were still no windows and no way to know if they had finally made it above ground or not. It was all James could do to keep himself calm in the suffocatingly narrow corridors. He wanted out of this cursed place.

"I'm sorry, James," Sirius said after the man caught his breath, "I am lost. I haven't a clue how to get out of here."

"Well, you had me fooled," James snorted, grimacing as it sent a spike of pain shooting through his skull.

He felt his friend's grip around his torso loosen. James understood that Sirius was probably as exhausted as he was by now and tried to remove as much of his weight off of the other man as he could. His knees shook slightly, but he managed to stay standing, nonetheless,

"We can't just keep wandering around like this, Padfoot. The death eaters will be swarming this place at any minute."

"You think I don't know that!" Sirius spat back, suddenly angry.

James's eyes widened in surprise at the violent reaction.

"Sorry, sorry," his friend quickly apologised, "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm just stressed is all."

"It's fine," James said with a slight shrug, "I'm the one slowing us down anyway."

Both aurors once again fell into silence as they assessed their current situation. They had just reached the top of yet another flight of narrow stairs and had found themselves in a long hallway. This one was darker and colder than the previous few they had encountered.

What the hell? Surly they had to have already passed a clear exit…surly…

"Are you sure that one of the other floors didn't have a way out? I feel like we have to be above ground at this point."

"You are…four floors up to be exact."

Sirius yelped in surprise at the new voice. The man lost his grip on James, who stumbled into the nearby wall, hitting the solid stone with a grunt. Both aurors turned to stare down the hallway. Not ten metres in front of them stood a death eater. The man's white mask was the only thing James could clearly make out in the dimness of the corridor. The only thing visible was a long, slender, wand pointed directly at the two men.

All the air seemed to be sucked out of James's lungs as he fumbled for his own wand, finding it in his pocket only a second later. By this time, Sirius was already standing in the middle of the hallway, looking ready to attack at any moment.

"Stay where you are, Death Eater. I will not hesitate to stun your brains out," Sirius's loud voice echoed down the corridor.

"Stun," the figure laughed, the voice sounding unusually young in James's ears, "How very scary."

"Shut up," Sirius growled, "You are hereby under arrest by order of the Minster of Magic."

"Oh really? And what do you expect me to do? Surrender and let you take me away? Unlike you, I am not so easily scared by the likes of any stunner" the voice replied, "I know where I would end up if I surrendered to you and I don't think that would be in my best interest, Black."

James couldn't help but flinch slightly at the venom in the man's words. The Death Eater was young. That, he was certain of. Perhaps too inexperienced for You-know-who to want to take him out on a raid…too young…too-

"Sirius," James hissed at his friend, as he realised who the Death Eater was, "Lower your wand."

"What the hell are you talking about? Why in Merlin's name would I do that when he's got a wand trained on us."

"Just lower your wand, Sirius. We aren't going to need them. Not yet, at least."

James watched as his friend slowly brought his wand down to his side, his gaze still fixed on the Death Eater. The figure had not moved, but James noticed that the teen's hand seemed to be quivering slightly as he tried to hold his wand steady.

"And what exactly do you expect to happen now?" Sirius growled back at James, "How the hell are we supposed to get rid of him without our wands?"

"It would be unfair to use magic in this situation," James replied as he slowly pushed himself back off of the wall and began to slowly inch his way toward the figure, "Not when our opponent isn't capable of using any at the moment."

James watched as the teenager visibly stiffened at this comment. Green eyes flashed before the boy hissed,

"What are you talking about, auror? Of course, I can use magic. You're just scared of what dark magic I can use on you."

"Then why haven't you used any yet?" James came alongside Sirius, hoping that his friend would understand what he was getting at, "We have lowered our wand. So why don't you hit us with your best curse? Come on. We won't defend ourselves. It'll be an easy shot."

The young Death Eater took a slow step backward, clearly at a loss of what to do in that situation. Sirius snorted loudly,

"Not just a child, but a coward as well. I would have thought the Dark Lord would have raised his son better than that, or am I mistaken, boy?"