Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter is not mine.

AN: Thanks to septentrion and LadySunflower for the stunningly quick beta.

The next day, Severus left Hermione going through his books at Spinner's End. They had been eating breakfast and commiserating over the loss of Hogwarts' library and Room of Requirement when the same idea seemed to strike both of them at once.

"Do you still have a Pensieve tucked away in your Welsh getaway, Albus?" Severus demanded the moment he was in the former Headmaster's company.

Brows furrowing, Albus thought for a moment, his expression clearing as the relevant memory came to him. "I had forgotten about that. I take it you would find one useful?"

"Invaluable, actually." Severus smirked. "Hermione can remember reading books that contained all there was to know about Necromancers, but she cannot remember the contents."

A remnant of his famous twinkle returned to Albus's eyes. "And a Pensieve would provide the necessary focus. Very well, I will retrieve it."

Severus was waiting for Albus to return with the Pensieve, when he heard raised voices abruptly cut off mid-word, as though someone had belatedly remembered to cast a Silencing Charm. His curiosity roused, he padded through the corridors to where the racket had originated from. The door to the study was only pushed to, allowing Severus to peek inside. He observed Moody and Lupin in the midst of an argument...a surreal sight due to the wildly gesticulating arms and flapping mouths with no sound reaching his ears. Unfortunately, before Severus could manage to make use of his lip-reading skills, Lupin threw up his arms in exasperation, storming away. Moody cancelled the Silencing Charm, growled something vicious under his breath and stumped off. Both of them left through the second door into the room, a shortcut to the library.

Moments later, Albus was calling Severus from the Entrance Hall. Putting aside contemplation of Moody and Lupin's quarrel until he could discuss it with Hermione, Severus made his way through the dilapidated house to collect the Pensieve.

Flicking another silver gossamer strand of memory into the Pensieve, Hermione frowned at Severus. "What could rile Lupin enough so that he would raise his voice? He's always so soft-spoken."

"Whatever Moody was yelling about, Lupin obviously... disagreed."

"I somehow doubt either of them would admit what they were arguing about. You can forget about Veritaserum, too." Hermione gave him a knowing look. "Don't try to deny it; I saw that glint in your eyes."

"My only supplies were at Hogwarts," Severus said mournfully. He frowned at the swirling memories in the Pensieve. "I should make myself scarce, knowing how dangerous even memories of that book were to non-Necromancers. Albus should have something for me to do."

Engrossed in finding the right part of the memory, wand twirling above the stone basin, Hermione nodded distractedly. Severus leant down across the Pensieve, tilted her chin up and slanted his mouth over hers, kissing her thoroughly.

It was late afternoon when Severus returned to Spinner's End. Hermione was eating a late lunch. She offered some tidbits to him when she looked up from the pages of notes spread around her. Hungrily, he dug into them. He waited until after they had finished eating before explaining where he had been.

"I was sent to the Weasleys' home with Moody and Lupin, to recover the bodies."

"Harry and Ron didn't go?"

Severus shook his head. "Albus forbid it. He thought that they would have enough problems with post-traumatic stress disorder as it is."

Hermione snorted. "It will be a miracle if everyone doesn't suffer from that by the end of this. Presuming that anyone is left alive...." She shook off the grim train of thought. "When will the funerals be?"

"Memorial services, on the whole, actually. The only funeral can be for Ginevra."

"What?" Hermione asked, looking sickened. "Let me guess, she stole the bodies." She turned away, pacing across the grubby tiles of his kitchen. "I hope I'm wrong about what she's done with them... what else is that monster going to do?"

"Also of concern is what Atropos has already done. Before I left Grimmauld Place, I overheard Tonks reporting to Albus about the Ministry's Dark Detectors. The last annual maintenance check shows that they were tampered with at some point last year. What is more, the Dark Detectors were reset then." Severus rolled his eyes. "The Ministry's dug their own grave with their lax security," he spat contemptuously.

"Just as well that I found something in my memories of The Book. It's guaranteed to find her." Hermione seemed strangely reluctant to speak.

"Let me guess: there is a snag. Just like with the last spell from that accursed book. No, Hermione. We will find another way."

"Actually, this spell isn't like that one, darling," she said, mock-sweetly, a saccharine smile plastered across her face. "It's been tested. It won't kill me to use it."

"Then why do you seem hesitant to use it, dear?" Severus didn't even attempt to copy her expression, unsure whether his facial muscles could pull it off. Instead, he glowered down at her, arms crossed over his chest.

"Because the process is not terribly pleasant. Well, that and attempting to find a Necromancer is dangerous even for me; especially when the Necromancer in question is more powerful than I am, older and therefore more experienced."

Within a pentagram drawn in her own blood, Hermione stiffened. Her eyes rolled back in her head, only the whites visible. His misgivings, returning full force, made Severus itch to step forwards and drag her out of the perceived danger.

"Whatever you do, don't move beyond the line of blood. If anything goes wrong, Vanish the blood." Hermione's earlier instructions rang through his head. "I know that it's counterintuitive with the normal usage of pentagrams, but attempting to manually wipe it out or otherwise interfere with it will suck you drier than a vampire could manage."

Just as he was about to Vanish the pentagram, Hermione's reproachful look just before she 'drew' the pentagram swam before his eyes. She would have his head for interfering on little more than a hunch.

Moments later, Severus was wishing that he'd acted on his instincts. Although the pentagram prevented any sound from reaching his ears, Hermione was clearly screaming in agony. His attempted Vanishing Charm failed. Severus was about to risk his life to get Hermione out when she slumped down. One of her hands crossed the blood. Sparks flew as the pentagram vanished, leaving the tiled floor singed.

The next thing Severus knew, he was kneeling beside her, holding her trembling body close. She was still conscious, although her eyes were staring at nothing, wide and terrified. Severus almost couldn't recognise her. He tried calling her name, shaking her, even Legilimency, but nothing worked to draw her out of the stupor she was in.

"Nothing else for it," he muttered, hating himself even as he drew his hand back. The harsh crack of his palm striking Hermione's face hard enough to snap it to the side seemed to echo through the room.

Gasping, Hermione blinked, her eyes focussing on Severus. She raised a shaking hand to her undoubtedly stinging, reddened cheek. To Severus, her stricken gaze looked accusing, causing the leaden weight in his stomach to sink further.

He almost choked in surprise when she grabbed hold of him in a desperate embrace, resting her head on his shoulder, tears dampening his robes. Gradually, she stopped trembling and pulled away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

She tried to say something, but grimaced, rubbing her throat. She'd screamed herself hoarse.

"Poppy should be able to restore your voice. Albus needs to know about whatever happened to you, too."

Hermione shook her head, scrambling to her feet and backing away, when he made to take her to Headquarters using Side-Along Apparition. She pointed towards her cheek, marked by his hand.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry about that. I just needed to snap you out of it, nothing else worked."

Exasperated, eyes rolling towards the ceiling, Hermione grabbed his wand and attempted to heal her cheek herself. Comprehension dawning, Severus repeated the charm with considerably more success, although the same charm did nothing for her voice.

The long-suffering Poppy healed Hermione's throat with no problems. "There are times when I might as well be your full time Healer," she grumbled under her breath, returning upstairs to tend to Hagrid.

"Severus tells me that you attempted to find Atropos using blood magic described in a Necromantic manual. Did you find out where she is?" Albus asked.

Hermione laughed mirthlessly. "No. Suffice to say that she doesn't want to be found."

"That much is obvious." Albus sighed heavily. "She had laid low since her mischief with poor Ollivander, apart from stealing the Weasleys' bodies. Can you try to find her again?"

Severus opened his mouth to put his foot down, only for Hermione to lay her fingers across his lips, the unspoken message being that she could speak for herself.

"Frankly, it would risk my sanity to do so. Do you really want two insane Necromancers on your hands?"

"I take it that the method is dangerous, then," Albus stated.

"Screaming myself hoarse should give that impression! The method involved a pentagram drawn in my own blood, as Severus probably told you. That pentagram nullified most forms of magic, including my Occlumency. I touched Atropos's thoughts."

Concerned, Albus asked whether Atropos was an Occlumens too.

"And a Legilimens. The bitch detected me before I could find out where she was. Her mental attack was... well, she tried to twist my mind so that it reflected hers."

Both listening practitioners of the mental arts winced sympathetically.

"It would have worked, too, if Severus hadn't snapped me out of it."

The thought of what could have happened to Hermione if he hadn't acted turned Severus's insides to ice. He bent close to whisper in her ear, "That blasted book of yours is nothing but trouble."

"I did learn something useful before she detected me. We have about a week before she makes another move."

"Indeed?" Albus thoughtfully stroked his beard. "Why is that?"

"Even Necromancers need to rest. She can't keep up continuous attacks."

Indeed, Atropos laid low for the rest of the week. Numerous alternative attempts to find Atropos's hiding place failed. Severus narrowly avoided losing his fingers when the crystal ball he was using to scry with split cleanly into two, clearly showing that any attempt to scry was doomed to fail. Hardly surprising, considering that both Necromancers were technically the same person.

During the futile search, Albus spared an hour to take Hermione on a walk into wizarding London, under Potter's Invisibility Cloak of course. The infuriating old man just gave Severus an enigmatic wink when he asked where he was taking her.

Tugging Hermione aside when they returned, Severus's questions were answered by the brand new wand in her hands.

"Dumbledore took me to Ollivander's shop. He thought I could contribute more to the search in conventional ways if I had a replacement wand. I'm glad he did, I felt like I was naked in public without one."

Examining the wand, Severus was surprised to see that, unlike her previous wands, it was not vinewood. Frowning slightly, he realised that he had seen a wand made of this type of wood before. An infamous wand....

"Yew and phoenix feather, according to the label on the box. Dumbledore said that's the same combination as Voldemort's was." Hermione rubbed at the back of her neck, clearly uncomfortable with the similarity. "When I got my last wand, Ollivander wanted a feather from Fawkes in exchange."

Lips twisting, Severus handed the wand back. "I would not be surprised if that feather is the core of your new wand."

"Nor would I."

"With Ollivander dead, who did you pay?" he asked, wondering who the next proprietor of the famous wand shop was.

"No one was manning the shop. Dumbledore put some Galleons in the till, though. We were hardly about to help ourselves!"

When it was clear that Atropos could not be found unless she came out of hiding, Albus called a council of war. "It is a blessing that the students were evacuated to their homes. At least that way, there is no big target for Atropos like Hogwarts was."

"But then why did she attack my family?" Weasley asked, the dark circles around his weary eyes testament to his living nightmare. "We were hardly a big target. Come to that, she said that you'd be able to explain, Hermione."

"She lied," Hermione said shortly. "Understand this, Ron: she's insane." She thought for a moment before continuing. "I suppose it's also possible that she had some sort of grudge against you."

"Me? What have I ever done to her?" Weasley squawked.

Hermione couldn't answer, frowning as though she knew the details but couldn't recall them.

Calling the meeting to Order, Albus steepled his fingers. "It is obvious that we have to wait for Atropos to make her move. When she does, our best chance of dealing with her is to capture her as killing her would also kill Hermione. As I said before, Cutting Curses will cause blood loss, weakening our enemy enough to bring her into our custody. Is that clear?" At the general affirmative, Albus narrowed his eyes at Moody. "Alastor?"

"Crystal," the veteran Auror muttered, his magical eye fixed on Lupin's back.

On the morning of Thursday, 25th March, Tonks had Flooed to the Ministry for her next shift when she staggered back through moments later, breathless.

"What is it, Nymphadora?" Albus asked. For once, Tonks ignored the usage of her given name.

"The Aurory has found Voldemort. Cornered him, too. Every Auror available, even those still in training, has been requisitioned." Tonks explained, her hair flickering every colour of the rainbow, seemingly out of her control in her excitement. "Come on, Harry!"

Potter jumped to his feet, eyes wide behind his glasses. He followed Tonks, only to knock her into Lupin's arms, when the werewolf stopped his lover in her tracks.

"Please be careful, 'Dora."

Suddenly noticing Hermione's absence by his side, Severus didn't notice Tonks reassuring her furry boyfriend, sweeping past her upstairs.

He couldn't see Hermione, but the general lack of light in the hallway, coupled with the chill, made it obvious that she was there. Knowing that Lumos would not work, he groped around in the dark until his fingers touched her rigid back.

"It's not him," she said, her voice strangled with emotion. Rage or fear, Severus did not know. "It can't be him."

Stepping forward to put his arms around her, Severus felt helpless. Useless. He had no idea of what to say.

She shrugged out of his embrace. From the movement of the air, she had whirled around to face him. "I did not die for no reason!"

The light gradually returned, revealing Hermione standing in front of him, her face a rictus of fury, eyes only just starting to fade from black to brown. Blood trickled from her clenched fists. Severus gently pried them open, to see that her nails had dug deeply into her palms. He was about to cast a healing charm when Poppy opened the door, scowling at the sight of Hermione bleeding. Tutting, she whipped her wand out, healing the torn flesh before her patient's eyes had finished returning to their normal hue.

Albus had followed Poppy out. "Tergeo," he murmured, removing the bloodstains from Hermione's hands. "Even if Voldemort's soul has found a way back from the void, you are not to blame. You did everything in your power to stop him..."

"Just as she did everything in her power to bring... him... back...." A strange expression flitted across Hermione's face. "Unless..." She shook her head. "Moot point, anyway, now that the Aurors have been called out. He's probably already dead."

"Would it kill you to explain?" Severus asked, frustration bleeding into his voice.

Hermione's reply was interrupted by a voice from behind them. "You four, kitchen, now. Potter's back," Moody growled.