Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed this story!

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The night was a chilly one, especially for autumn, and the gloomy scene did not help matters one bit. Nearly every single lamp on the filthy street was burned out, the windows on the derelict brick rowhouses were for the most part boarded up, and the night sky was black with a new moon.

A Disillusioned Moody led the group, wand out and magical eye spinning faster than Polyxena had ever seen it do. Polyxena and Sturgis, beneath the Invisibility Cloak, followed closely behind him, and Dung, invisible under Moody's spare cloak, brought up the rear, though he rather ruined the effect by muttering incoherently about his Healer and whether the Weasleys made Shield Jocks.

"Another left," hissed Sturgis. "Yes, that's it right there. Number twenty-two, Spinner's Avenue. Snape and Wormtail should both be there."

"Are you sure about this, Alastor?" Knowing that he could see her, Polyxena gazed at Moody with a drawn, anxious face. "There's a damn good chance that Snape will just murder us on his doorstep."

"Four people, including three members of the Order?" scoffed Mad-Eye. "I hardly think Dumbledore would allow him to remain at Hogwarts after that. No, if he wants to stay on as a spy for You-Know-Who, he'll have to keep his cover with us."

Sturgis exhaled a puff of air through his nose. "There's also a 'damn good chance' that Snape is on our side. Would Dumbledore have let him into the meetings if there was any doubt? Not bloody likely. Come on, let's just get it over with." He raised his fist and banged heavily on the door.

A small, sniveling man answered; Polyxena presumed that this was Peter Pettigrew. "W-who's there?" he quavered. "Show yourselves!"

Almost at once, Moody sent out a Stunner that hit Wormtail right in the chest, knocking him clear into the sitting room. After he had bound the Death Eater's feet and hands with thick cords from his wand, the ex-Auror set about searching the small building for signs of Snape. His magical eye revolved slowly, taking in every single room, until its owner finally gave a soft snort of disbelief. "Snape's here, all right," he said with a touch of amusement. "But he's not alone. Come on upstairs, Sturgis. Dung, Polyxena, you make sure that rat bastard doesn't transform."

Polyxena's eyes narrowed. "Oughtn't I to go... ?" she began, affronted.

"You'll stay here," grunted Moody. "Could be any sort of hexes and jinxes flying about once we interrupt Snape and his caller."

"But I know the Cruciatus!" countered Polyxena, pointing her wand at Wormtail. "Watch!"

"You'll stay here if I say you'll stay here," Alastor growled, once again the bivouacking general. "Come on, Sturgis." He and Podmore disappeared from view, leaving the others to stand guard over Pettigrew.

Mundungus was chuckling his wheezy chuckle, and for that, Polyxena scowled at him. "What are you laughing at, you dissipated sneak thief? Engorgio!"

Dung yelped loudly, springing over the couch and landing hard atop Wormtail, who moaned piteously. "No, P'lyx'na, no! Just do th' Cruciatus!"

"Dung, that wasn't my wand, that was a stick."

However, Dung had already forgotten his near miss and was curiously examining one of the many books that lined Snape's shelves. "Bound in dragon hide, th' whole lot," he murmured to himself. "Fuckin' flobberworms, this'd fetch a fair bit down Knockturn... " As he was slipping volume after volume into the many hidden pockets of his overcoat, there came a great scuffle and the sound of incantations.

"Narcissa, stop! Just go; I'll finish them off!" came Snape's agitated voice from upstairs. Within seconds, a half-dressed blonde woman clambered down the staircase and out the door, where she Apparated with a faint pop. "I realize this looks a tad, shall we say, incriminating, but I can assure you, Moody, that my loyalties lie strictly with Dumbledore," Snape continued as he himself descended the stairs, tightening the sash on a shabby green night robe. "Now what is the meaning of this interruption? And in my own home as well." He very calmly took a seat beside Polyxena.

"Avery Harz," thundered Moody, looking appropriately frightening. "It's really Wormtail we're after. Unless of course, you happen to have a hand in it?" His magical eye rested momentarily on Snape's left sleeve, just long enough for him to make his point.

"Auror Moody," Snape replied as sarcastically as he could manage, "my dear fellow, it escapes me why you think you know better than Dumbledore on the question of my allegiance. However, I suppose I must humor you in your paranoid old age and say this: I am not faithful to the Dark Lord any longer. Aside from that, I don't even know who this Harz character is. Not a Death Eater, certainly."

"Yeah, we'd figured that much out, believe it or not," replied Moody just as sardonically. "But I think your associate has a pretty good idea, don't you, Wormtail?"

Wormtail whimpered.

"That's what I thought." He raised his wand. "Would you like to tell us where the wandmaker is or should I hex it out of you? Unless, of course, anyone brought any Veritaserum?"

"I used mine up on Harz's bloke. Snape seems to have some, though. Accio!" Polyxena flicked her wand at a crystal phial that rested on the table of a small, makeshift Potions laboratory. "You're being a really good bad cop, Alastor!" she praised. "Have you tuned in to Aurors lately?"

Ignoring her, Moody turned to administer the potion to their captive. "Where is Avery Harz?"

"In the caves outside Hogsmeade," replied Wormtail tonelessly.

"What's his real name?"

"Lucretius Thurkell."

"Does he have the wandmaker, Ollivander? Where is he?" demanded Polyxena.

"Yes, he does. The wandmaker is with Harz in the caves, making the special Darks for the Dark Lord." Wormtail looked as though he was imparting this news with particular loathing. "Harz does not know that."

"What do you mean?" Sturgis furrowed his brow. "Then how the hell do you know?"

"I work for Harz. He gives me Galleons. I also work for the Dark Lord. I came upon the wandmaker imprisoned in one of Harz's rooms. I put the Imperius on him. I forced him to make wands."

Polyxena arched a brow. "Why was Ollivander going to the Death Eaters in the first place?"

"The Dark Lord didn't know it, but Nott put the Imperius on Ollivander. He forced him to write a letter to the Dark Lord offering his help. The letter was a binding magical contract. Ollivander had no choice."

"Take us to Harz," growled Moody, seeing that the Veritaserum was losing its effect. "Now."

Mundungus was just as wary as Wormtail, if not more so. "Harz's lot," he muttered apprehensively. "Near killed ol' Will las' year. Nickin' silver from th' wrong bloke, know what I mean? An' they know 'bout th'... th'... " he swallowed convulsively.

"Get a grip on yourself, Dung... I didn't mean that literally," amended Sturgis when Dung clasped his hands over the zip of his trousers. "We have five good wizards... and witches," he added with a nod to Polyxena.

"But th' special Darks." Dung crept back beneath the Invisibility Cloak. "I saw what P'lyx'na did with them. Harz's lot could... " Unwilling to finish, he shook his head grimly.

"We're wasting time," snapped Moody impatiently. "Snape, come here, I'll Disillusion you."

Snape sneered haughtily. "This is your affair, Mad-Eye. I'm of half a mind to just stay here and read one of my... " With a glance at his shelf, he whirled around to face Mundungus. "Kindly return my books, you smelly, light-fingered... "

"Do you want the special Darks to fall into Death Eater hands?" snarled Polyxena. "Perhaps you'd like the Dark Lord to have a wand like that. Or Harz and his merry band."

Reluctantly and with a very pronounced grimace on his sallow face, Snape went to change into his robes. Upon his return, Wormtail burst out,

"Severus, the Dark Lord will know that you've been working against him! I'll tell him you've been consorting with the Order and that you've stopped him having the special Darks. Bellatrix was right; you can't be trusted!"

"Bellatrix was mistaken." Snape's eyes glittered dangerously. "By working with Harz, you are guilty of treachery to the Dark Lord, and he'll not have any qualms about my throwing you to Azkaban. As for the Order, by eliminating Harz, they are doing the Dark Lord a favor, are they not?"

Polyxena had to admire Snape's logic. Though he had not quite convinced her or for that matter Alastor on his allegiance to Dumbledore, she realized just how good a double agent he was. Clearly, Severus Snape could justify himself to either side with equal ease, and that impressed her, though she was still not quite sure what to make of him. And the fleeing blonde Death Eater had borne no resemblance to Snape's bushy-haired snogging partner of before. "Right, well," she said. "I'm in no hurry to do the Dark Lord any favors, but I would rather like to stop my father supplying legions of criminals with dangerous Dark wands. Lead on then, Wormtail." She spat the last word contemptibly. "We haven't got all night."

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The six of them had Apparated from Spinner's End to Hogsmeade (though Moody had Side-Alonged Wormtail just to be sure) as soon as they were beyond Snape's ward, a Stealth Sensoring Spell that even Moody grudgingly approved. With the tip of Mad-Eye's wand shoved into his back, Wormtail led the party away from the village and toward the rocky ledges beyond, where Sirius Black had hidden years before. From inside the cloak, Polyxena looped her arms around one of Moody's and felt Dung clutching the back of her robes in fright. Both Disillusioned, Sturgis and Snape flanked them, wands out, but otherwise perfectly calm.

"Harz's lair is just up ahead," grumbled Pettigrew reluctantly.

His lair, thought Polyxena in disgust, that's a new low. Even Voldemort just calls Riddle House his 'headquarters.' "What is it exactly?" she hissed. "A cave or a house inside a cave with Michael Crawford playing the pipe organ and the whole bit?"

"The largest cave has several rooms," replied Wormtail. "The wandmaker is in an anteroom, but Harz doesn't know about the special Darks. That's our little secret."

Polyxena snorted. To her mind, Pettigrew looked and sounded just like the creepy pedophiles on the Muggle news, right down to the watery smirk of a smile.

"This is it," he said in his high-pitched voice. "Harz's lair."

"Go on in," growled Moody, "and distract Harz. We'll search the antechambers for Ollivander." Pettigrew gulped fearfully at the thought of speaking with Harz, but nonetheless did as Mad-Eye bade him, evidently more afraid of the ex-Auror than of the criminal overlord.

"I have stolen the gold you asked me to from Snape's safe," they heard Wormtail say to an unseen figure.

The knuckles gripping Snape's wand became whiter, and he muttered dangerously, "That useless traitor... "

"This way," growled Moody, magical eye whirling. "I've checked the doors; we need the third one on the left. That'd be the wandmaker."

Polyxena let out a hastily stifled gasp, and the entire cluster of wizards moved across the cavern to the makeshift door of the chamber.

"This is almost too easy," whispered Sturgis hoarsely. "And I can't say much for this headquarters. No totes and fruit baskets here, I'd wager."

"A place like this ought to have a fair number of Intruder Charms or at least a good Foe-Glass," put in Moody as they edged through the rough-hewn wooden door. "If I were Harz, I'd have put up a solid wall of wards around this entire cave."

"Curious, very curious. Ten and a quarter inches, inflexible... birch and unicorn hair... Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken," was the muttering that came from deep within the pitch-black room.

"Lumos," hissed Moody, illuminating the space so that the wandmaker was clearly visible, huddled on a thin pallet, clad in a ragged robe, and minus a ring finger.

Polyxena shrugged aside Moody's Invisibility Cloak. "Papa?" Squinting in the weak beam of light, she eyed the aged wandmaker with a cool sort of interest.

"When its brother... why, its brother gave you that scar," continued Ollivander in hushed tones.

"Poorly performed Imperius Curse," Alastor growled. "He'll go to St. Mungo's, then."

"Ah, how well I remember... Dear me, the hair from the head of a veela."

"Fair plan," agreed Polyxena. "Silencio!" She jabbed her wand at the muttering old wizard and dragged him beneath the cloak with her. "Shall we?" Hastening back across the room, they joined Snape and Sturgis, who had been keeping guard at the door.

"What of Wormtail?" queried Snape. "I won't have him taking the story of this escapade to the Dark Lord. And, Moody, I'm surprised at you. A known Death Eater in your midst, and you're ready to leave him here with Harz?"

"I have a known Death Eater in my midst at every meeting of the Order," growled Moody. "And of course we're taking Wormtail... "

"... to Azkaban!" interjected Polyxena. "But I don't fancy being hexed in the process. Or Killing Cursed."

"Harz doesn't use Dark magic," grunted Dung. "He kills with knives like a Muggle. Cuttin' off fingers and the like."

"Exactly," agreed a low, harsh voice from the corridor. "Ah, Mundungus Fletcher. It's been ages. I don't think I've seen you since Dumbledore saved your worthless skin from a few of my business associates."

Dung yelped and jumped beneath his Invisibility Cloak, but Moody's hand twitched instinctively, sending out a beam of light from his wand that trapped Harz against the cave wall.

"You had your lot kidnap the wandmaker. Why?" he snarled. "You didn't even make use of the special Darks. In fact, you didn't even know that Ollivander was creating them."

"I didn't make use of the special Darks." A self-deprecating smile appeared on Harz's weasel-like face. "I tried to stop the special Darks being made ages ago. What use have I for a special Dark?"

"What use?" cried Polyxena in outrage. "What use? Have you seen what one of those wands is capable of? You could torture someone into insanity in half the time it takes with a normal wand."

"Could I?" replied Harz mildly. "Somehow I doubt that. I've collected, shall we say, 'fees' from the wandmaker's shop for years. Protection from the Death Eaters, in fact, but one of them managed to slip by and Imperius old Ollivander into helping He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named with his wand troubles. Naturally, I couldn't have that, Death Eaters running 'round with Dark wands, so when Ollivander was leaving his shop, two of my men intervened and brought him here. I didn't permit him to make wands, of course," he spat, a look of fury coming into his beady eyes. "Nothing I hate more than a bloody wand."

Sturgis raised an eyebrow. "A wizard who hates wands?"

"A wizard?" replied Harz. "No, I don't think so."

"A Squib?" exclaimed Polyxena. "But you have wizards working for you. Very poor wizards, though, I must say."

"Half my associates are Squibs," he jeered. "Surely Wormtail has told you my true name?"

"Thurkell." Snape's dark eyes were shrewd. "Of course. A relation of Thaddeus Thurkell, no doubt, a family famous for producing Squibs. But for a load of Squibs to cause such trouble for the Dark Lord... "

Even Dung slipped out from beneath his cloak. "Harz's lot's a bunch of Squibs?" His bloodshot eyes lit up. "I'll be a son of a Bludger. But why th' name 'Avery Harz'? Sounds like th' Death Eaters t' me."

"Of course it sounds like a Death Eater's name. Who do you think gets credit for most of my schemes? Florean Fortescue, Octavius Pepper, all my work. Gives You-Know-Who a bit more publicity than he'd like at times, and helps my lot avoid detection."

Moody's eyes narrowed. "We should take you straight to Azkaban," he said in a low voice. "But, as Snape said, that'd be doing You-Know-Who a favor. We'll just be taking Wormtail, then, but if I hear you've started consorting with Dark wizards, I know where to find you."

"I'm as eager to see You-Know-Who gone as anyone else, Auror Moody," replied Harz sincerely. "But I have a business to conduct." He gestured to the main entrance of the cave, and the group of wizards hastened outside and back into Hogsmeade.

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The tiny St. Mungo's tearoom was filled with members of the Order. Shacklebolt and Tonks had joined Moody, Polyxena, Dung, Sturgis, and Snape after carting Wormtail off to Azkaban, and now sipped tea and Firewhisky with the five wizards who had rescued the wandmaker.

"I can't believe Mad-Eye here let Harz off with a warning," said Tonks with a flash of her old humor.

"Maybe you really are getting soft in your old age," Polyxena teased gently. "Though I found Harz rather personable for a dangerous criminal overlord. As long as my father doesn't attempt to do anymore work for the Dark Lord, I think we're well shut of Lucretius Thurkell."

Dung chuckled, still overcome with delight that Harz and most of his minions were Squibs. "An' worryin' about Harz's lot doing th' Engorgement Charm? That lot can't even do a bloody Levitating Spell." As though to reassure himself, he took out his own wand and made his teacup soar high into the air.

"Why would you worry about someone performing an Engorgement Charm?" began Snape, until Polyxena murmured,

"Don't ask."

Focusing his magical eye on Tonks, Moody muttered sheepishly, "Well, Harz isn't a Dark wizard, and if he's helping to keep You-Know-Who in check, then I wouldn't be the one who chucks him into Azkaban."

"Well put," agreed Sturgis. "So, Polyxena, I suppose this means you'll be leaving us? You and Hecuba have been living in Kenishara, haven't you?"

Polyxena's face clouded. "We have. I work for... well, I'm not sure now; I've taken so much time off... but I supposedly still work at Bicorn Advertising Agency. It's not such a brilliant job, though; I was always in a foul mood working there. The Canadian wizards are a lot like Muggles. Work is at such a hectic pace, and they wear the most hideously uncomfortable things, besides."

"You staying then, P'lyx'na?" Dung seemed hopeful. "You could join th' Order!"

Moody's normal eye narrowed. "She'll do no such thing. The Order's work is too dangerous for... "

"Someone who was in the lairs of both Harz and the Dark Lord and lived to tell the tale?" snapped Polyxena.

"What's it t' you, anyway, Mad-Eye?" queried Dung slyly.

Polyxena beat him to it. "Because we're in love."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," growled Moody, looking shiftily at Polyxena, who gave him a skittish glance in return. The flesh beneath the ex-Auror's scars was tinged pink. "Now enough with the questions."

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A/N: I really had fun writing this, more so than other fics I've done. I've already written pieces of stories that aren't exactly sequels, but feature these two characters (though other pairings will be the main focus.) Next up: Snape and Hermione! I'm tempted to put the summary for it, but that sort of self-pimpery would be going a little too far. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed reading this fic! Thanks again to those who did.