Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter. I can only take responsibility for the plot.

AN: Many thanks to my wonderful betas, septentrion and LadySunflower.

Ordinarily, Albus might have directed the Order to split into pairs to search the building. Due to their very own pet Necromancer detecting exactly where the survivors were, that was clearly unnecessary. Jabbing the button to call the lift, Severus helped Hermione into it, ignoring the irritated looks she was giving him. She probably thought that she didn't need quite as much support as he was giving her, a view he corrected by temporarily releasing her until she swayed on her feet.

"Level Nine," Albus ordered. As part of the Wizengamot, the lift was enchanted to allow him access wherever he wanted, regardless of security breaches.

The lift soon arrived at their destination. Most of the occupants charged out to the single entrance of the Department of Mysteries, eager to find the survivors. Hermione didn't move, her head cocked as though she was listening to something above them.

"Did Atropos miss anyone?" Severus asked, guessing that she had sensed some other hint of life.

Lupin, who had been slumped against the side of the lift, lifted his head at these words, but said nothing.

"Not exactly... Headmaster, could you send the lift up? Quickly. Whatever spark of life I can feel is dwindling."

Albus did as she asked. "Say when."

The lift stopped at the top floor, where the Minister's office was located along with the other bigwigs.

As soon as he stepped out of the lift, a low moan rose from the back of Lupin's throat. Nostrils flaring, he staggered into Scrimgeour's office. Keeping his hand under Hermione's elbow, Severus followed, Albus on his heels.

Lupin was crouched on the floor, cradling Tonks's body in his arms, rocking slightly as bitter tears trickled down his rugged features. The Metamorphmagus's hair was limp, mousy brown in colour. Uncomfortable with witnessing this, Severus looked away. It reminded him far too much of his own state whilst bereft of Hermione.

Kingsley lay sprawled on the floor, the unnatural angle of his neck making it clear that he was dead, as if the splinters of a shattered chair impaling him did not.

A pair of wire-rimmed spectacles were also half buried in a pile of ash scattered in front of an ornately carved desk, presumably the mortal remains of Scrimgeour. Opportunistic bastard though the Minister had been, like virtually all of his predecessors, no one deserved to die like that. With the exception of Voldemort, Severus corrected himself.

Shrugging out of Severus's grip, Hermione knelt beside Lupin. She beckoned to Severus and Albus, motioning for them to restrain the grieving werewolf. While they pulled him back, she caught hold of Tonks, gently lowering the body to the floor.

The three men watched Hermione extend her hand, palm down, across Tonks's chest, her eyes sliding half closed. Severus was not surprised to see her irises begin to match the darkness of her pupils.

"What are you doing?" Lupin asked, his voice hoarse. He began to struggle, requiring Albus to magically restrain him.

Ghostly light began to gather between Hermione's outstretched hand and Tonks. A rushing sound much like that of wind through trees rose to audible levels, to the extent that it throbbed through Severus's bones, yet without shaking the building. The wild magic made his hair feel like it stood on end, but there was no sign of the gut-wrenching Dark magic.

Her shoulders tense, outstretched hand shaking, Hermione was clearly approaching her limits. Grunting with the exertion involved, she lowered her hand, shoving the light into Tonks. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Tonks's spine arched off the floor, her eyes snapping open as she sucked in a pained-sounding lungful of air. She flinched, her hair turning white as soon as she set eyes upon Hermione.

Albus released Lupin, watching with a benevolent smile as Lupin virtually Apparated across the room to grab his beloved in a desperate embrace. Severus was more concerned with Hermione, who had backed away from Tonks, her expression shuttered.

Looking behind Severus, Hermione drew his attention to the feline Patronus scrambling through the lift shaft. Padding over to Albus, it disappeared when he touched it.

"Minerva wants to know where we are. The survivors in the Death Chamber are largely Unspeakables, only one of which seems willing to assist us. I suggest we go there now, if you are fit to move, Nymphadora."

"I escape death by the skin of my teeth and you still call me by that wretched name," Tonks grumbled, turning to Lupin. "Make sure that he's gagged at my funeral. That name better be nowhere near my eulogy."

Tonks proved to be even more unsteady on her feet than usual. As there was also the threat of brain damage due to the length of time Tonks had been technically dead, Lupin deemed her unfit to assist them, taking her to be seen to by Poppy, agreeing to meet them in the Department of Mysteries.

'No doubt Lupin intends to come back, but in his place, I would find it all but impossible to tear myself away.'

By the time they arrived at the Department of Mysteries, the survivors had all left, except for the solitary helpful soul, an Unspeakable.

At first sight, Severus thought that Unseeable might have been a better term. A middle aged wizard, Croaker possessed a face and build of such average qualities that he seemed to fade into the background, beneath the notice of any observer.

"Croaker, Unspeakable, at your service."

Feeling his lips twitch, Severus just managed to keep himself from smirking. Croaker lived up to his name, his voice sounding as if he'd gargled gravel his whole life.

Minerva sidled over to Albus, who looked a little lost, having presumably tried to place which year in Hogwarts he had been. "Same year as I was, he kept getting called to Headmaster Dippet's office: the teachers kept losing sight of him, you included," she hissed, on the edge of Severus's hearing. "His first name is also the same as his last."

"Ah! Croaker. I am not surprised that Atropos missed you. But how did the other occupants of the Death Chamber escape her notice?"

"I don't rightly know. But I saw 'er kill the 'ead of Department, then retreated to the Death Chamber along with seven of my colleagues. They didn't want to stay around any longer than necessary, particularly not when they 'eard that you 'ad another Necromancer with you." It seemed that Croaker had a habit of dropping the aitches, which made Severus idly wonder if the man was a more upmarket relation of Mundungus Fletcher. "This Atropos saw the last of us go in, but didn't follow. Pressed up against the door, as I was, I 'eard 'er push at it, then her footsteps rushing away as if she'd been burned."

"Perhaps you can shine some light on this mystery, Hermione. Croaker, if I might introduce..."

"We've met," Hermione said shortly.

Frowning for a moment, Croaker's eyebrows shot up as he recognised her. "Seems that rumours of your death 'ave been greatly exaggerated."

Severus was looking between Hermione and Croaker, wondering when they could have met, when he remembered the single mention of an encounter with an Unspeakable in her diary. At the end of her fifth year, after the battle in the Department of Mysteries, an Unspeakable had been despatched to Hogwarts to remove certain memories of her time there. That Obliviate had not worked due to her eidetic memory, but had caused Hermione considerable pain. Eyes narrowing, hand twitching towards his wand, Severus's belated retaliatory actions were brought up short by an elbow to his side.

"Who will guard the guards?" Hermione murmured reproachfully, guessing what he had been about to do.

Wincing, Severus moved his hand away from his wand. The reminder that he had caused equal pain to her with an attempt at the same spell made it clear that he had no right to exact vengeance. That didn't keep him from doing his best to crush Croaker's hand when it came to his turn to be introduced.

"I hope more Ministry employees managed to flee through the Floo or by Apparition. Nine survivors out all of the occupants of the Ministry is a terrible ratio," Albus mused.

"You found another? I wondered where the four of you had... but where is Remus?" Minerva asked, abruptly noticing that only three people had emerged from the lift where four had gone up.

Potter almost lost his glasses when Weasley whirled around, long limbs flailing as he expressed his surprise bodily, blurting, "Tonks survived?" If they had not been in the company of a Necromancer, Severus might have been more impressed by the correct conclusion Weasley had jumped to.

"Indeed." Albus had obviously decided not to elaborate on the circumstances, not when enough of the Order had already deserted the cause due to fear of Necromancy.

"That's great!" Potter beamed, readjusting his glasses on his nose.

Minerva glanced shrewdly at Hermione, guessing that she had something more to do with Tonks's survival than Albus was revealing. "What should our next move be?" she asked, changing the subject before anyone else less tolerant of Necromancy twigged.

"That depends on what sort of state Atropos is currently in. We cannot delay if she is ready to continue rampaging," said Albus. "Hermione?"

"If how I feel is any indication, she'll be laying low for at least a day or so."

It was on the tip of Severus's tongue to insist that he take Hermione to Poppy, but her earlier refusal made it clear that there would be no reasoning with his stubborn wife.

"Then we have time to ensure that the dead are given the respect they deserve, and somehow secure them so that Atropos cannot easily raise her own army."

The smile slipped off Potter's face. "But the sheer size... how will we find them all?"

Severus tightened his hold on Hermione as he felt her stiffen. If only Potter actually thought before he opened his mouth! It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that with a Necromancer in the search party, they would have no difficulty. Recalling the detrimental reaction Hermione sometimes had when sensing someone dying in the past, Severus resented Albus for his obvious reliance on her.

"It might make it easier to search the Ministry for the cadavers if I retrieve The Map from the 'ead's office. It's an invention of my Department, and it should be possible to modify it to show the locations of the dead," Croaker suggested.

If such a thing was possible, and if it spared Hermione the unpleasantness of sensing every death in the Ministry, past and present, Croaker was Severus's new best friend.

In the time it took for Croaker to find the map – swearing up a blue streak at the chaotic state of his late superior's office – the majority of the Order had returned to the Atrium to begin the grim task of retrieving the dead and arranging them in more respectful positions.

The Map of the Ministry seemed to be similar to Potter's map of Hogwarts, showing the locations of the living occupants of the building with the curious exception of Hermione. It seemed that Necromancers could not be seen, a flaw that could explain why no one had detected Atropos until it was too late.

The process of modifying The Map involved quite a bit of trial and error, together with the combined expertise of an Unspeakable, a former Death Eater and a Necromancer. However, it did not take long, as Croaker had been part of the team enchanting The Map in the first place. The spells involved were bordering on Dark, to say the least. Severus hoped that Albus would ask no questions, as stretching the truth did get a little tiresome. He also made it clear to Croaker that should The Map require returning to normal, no further assistance would be given from Hermione, who was even more unsteady on her feet due to the amount of her blood required to alter the ink.

Opening his mouth to insist that she go to Grimmauld Place to be checked over by Poppy, Severus abruptly snapped his mouth shut, teeth clicking together, when he looked at Hermione. Her eyes were gradually darkening to the point where even the whites of her eyes were obliterated by the deep blackness of an active Necromancer.

'She's making my own eyes pale in comparison!'

For a moment the daylight streaming in through the magical false window seemed to dim, accompanied by the soul freezing chill Severus associated with Necromancy. He could not help recoiling from the source, berating himself as he did so. Hermione did not stagger, and instead straightened up. The darkness passed, revealing Hermione to have regained her colour and to be steady on her feet without any support from him. Severus thought that by the revolted expression on her face, she looked as though if she could be pale, she would be.

"Hermione?" asked Severus, his voice sharp with concern.

"Remind me never to deliberately weaken myself whilst surrounded by recent deaths. It was as though I just absorbed some of the excess life force in this place like a... a... I don't know...."

"A parasite?"

"Yes. Exactly. What's more, I didn't mean to. I didn't want to." Hermione stared at her scuffed shoes. "Although, it felt...."

"It felt good," Severus stated, unsurprised.

She nodded, her lips compressed to a white line.

Stepping forward, Severus rested his hands on her shoulders, using his thumbs to tilt her chin up so that her eyes reluctantly met his. "Certain aspects of the Dark Arts are like that. It is why they are so addictive. That you were revolted by it means that you should not be overly worried."

Croaker drew their attention, clearing his throat. "This is strange," he murmured, fixated on The Map, having either completely missed or chosen to ignore Hermione's inadvertent usage of her powers. "One of these 'ere names isn't legible. It's as if The Map can't decide whose body it is." He jabbed a finger at the flickering label of a dot in the morgue attached to the Aurory.

There could be no question that The Map was functioning properly, as apart from the unmoving name-marked dots littering the plans of each floor, Hermione's name had appeared. Apparently Necromancers were technically dead as far the magic behind The Map was concerned, despite being otherwise in the flesh.

"I thought as much," Hermione murmured, the twisted smirk on her face matching the grimly triumphant light in her eyes. That light faded as a troubled expression crossed her features. "But why?"

'Why what? I hate it when she does not elaborate on her cryptic remarks!'

Ignoring Severus and Croaker's questions, Hermione left the office. Instead of giving in to his first impulse to follow her, Severus observed her movements on The Map. As he might have guessed, she made a beeline for the mystery body. Within a minute of her arrival beside the body, the name stopped flickering, revealing it to be Voldemort's corpse.

Leaving Croaker to get The Map to Albus, Severus attempted to use his marital branding to Apparate directly to Hermione's side, but it seemed that it only worked to summon the other in dire need. Unless specific phrasing was required... another thing to ask Hermione. Grumbling to himself under his breath, Severus followed in Hermione's footsteps to the Aurory.

When he entered the morgue, the first thing Severus saw was Hermione staggering away from the side of Voldemort's body, snatching her hand back as if it had been burned. He assumed that she had used a variation of her contact Legilimency to find something out from the deceased Dark Lord.

She backed into the nearest wall, sliding down it to sit on the floor, as if her legs were no longer able to hold her up. Her newly regained healthy colouring had faded to a sickly green, sweat beading on her exposed skin. One of Hermione's arms was held to her stomach as she doubled over, the other raised to enable her to cover her mouth as she shook with suppressed retching.

"No argument this time. I'm taking you to Poppy now," Severus said sternly, reaching down to pull Hermione to her feet.

Hermione slumped against him, moaning. "Oh God, I'm going to be sick...."

"So I gathered." Severus made sure that he had a tight hold of her in preparation for Side-Along Apparition.

"Atropos put a Muggle's soul in Voldemort's body." Finally, Hermione was explaining.

Severus delayed leaving for Grimmauld Place until after he had replied. "As despicable as that is, surely you are familiar with worse?"

"She bedded him."

All in all, it was fortunate that Severus did not Splinch them.