Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Severus threw the last of his clothing into the trunk and slammed the lid with a satisfying loud crash. He seized the brass handle on one end and dragged it into Hermione's living room, where it joined a motley collection of other trunks and boxes. "Don't you believe in shrinking spells, Granger?"

She sealed the box of kitchen utensils that she'd been packing, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Not when I don't know how long things are going have to stay packed, Snape." She made his name into an epithet. "I don't want the charm wearing off at some inopportune time."

"I suppose you already packed the tea?"

"Of course. I want to get moved to Hogwarts as quickly as possible."

He bared his teeth at her in a silent snarl, but returned to his room and made a final check for anything he'd missed. After nearly two hours of shouting at each other, they'd been intolerably miserable. She had subsided first, not bothering to return his jibes. He'd stopped soon after. They had an uneasy cease-fire at the moment, and he was concerned about her ability to maintain the deception they were practicing.

Truth be told, he was also concerned about his abilities in this matter. It was quite different from the spying he'd done. There, he'd used his ability to threaten, bluff, and fast-talk to cover any slips. Here, that would not be an option. He dared not slip up.

His room finished, he returned to the living room where Hermione was now putting knickknacks in a small box. That appeared to be the last of the packing. "What next, Granger?"

Again, that raised eyebrow. "We'll be Apparating to Hogsmeade and walking up to Hogwarts."

"And this?" He waved a hand at the boxes and trunks.

She winced. "Minerva is sending two house elves to bring it along."

That made him laugh despite himself. "House elves? You're going to put house

elves to work?"

"They get paid now, you know. It's not like it used to be." Hermione sealed up the box in front of her. "I just need to Floo Minerva and then we can go." She knelt before the fireplace and lit the flames with a quick Incendio. "Headmistress McGonagall's office!"

A few minutes later, two house elves popped into the room. Snape stared at the floor so he wouldn't meet their eyes while Hermione gave them lengthy and detailed instructions. As soon as the elves vanished with the first load of boxes, she came over to him. "Let's go, Grim."

He rose, settling a blank look on his features. She took his arm and Apparated.

~*~

Minerva had given them a suite of five rooms on the third floor, looking out over the Forbidden Forest. She showed them to the door chattering about casual things, carefully not looking at Severus. Once Hermione had set the password ("Invictus!"), Minerva told them she would be by to talk later, and left them to their own devices.

Snape collapsed onto the sofa as soon as the door was shut behind him. "Merlin! I think I bit my tongue a dozen times. Why did you have to start talking about decorating charms?"

Hermione gestured at the plain white walls. "I don't know about you, but these are going to drive me mad if I don't do something with them. Do you have a color preference for your room?"

"If you insist on knowing, ivory with forest green trim," he replied. "When do you think you'll be able to brew the Heliax?"

"This morning. It'll go faster if you help."

He waved a hand expressively. "It will be more dangerous. Remember, I am supposed to be incapable of such things."

"True enough – I'll get started on it then. You'll have to come with me though; if I don't bring you along, Poppy will ask all kinds of uncomfortable questions."

That started a new train of thought. "Speaking of uncomfortable things," he began, "did you take your Nonconceptus potion?"

"Ermm. No – I was distracted last night." She rolled her eyes. "I checked it this morning, and it had begun to separate. I threw it out. I'll brew more today also."

"That potion is only effective within the first forty-eight hours."

"Which means I need to take it by tomorrow morning. Let's see if we can avoid getting distracted again." She blushed slightly as she remembered exactly how she'd been distracted. "Come on, then."

Snape took a deep breath, settled his features into blankness, and followed her out the door and down into the Potions Laboratory. In short order, they had half a dozen cauldrons bubbling happily. Hermione had done the vast majority of the work, only asking Grim to help her retrieve ingredients off the highest shelves. Now he was stirring the Heliax – it required an hour of slow and steady mixing for best potency. Hermione had just finished a fresh batch of the Nonconceptus potion when Poppy came bustling in.

"You're here already! I can't tell you how pleased I am to have you back. And... him too." She cast a fond look at Snape. He ignored her and continued the mindless stirring. "He does look better than the last time I saw him." The mediwitch's eyes fell on the cauldrons. "Are you sure it's safe for him to be doing that?"

"Quite sure," Hermione answered. "It's only slow stirring. I wouldn't ask him to do anything too complicated."

"I should hope not." Poppy's eyebrows rose as she saw the Nonconceptus potion. "What in the world do you need that for?" She stared at Hermione and then at Severus, and then back at Hermione.

Hermione began ladling the potion into a vial. "It's not what it looks like." She took a long breath. "I'm experimenting with the recipe – to make it last longer so I can brew it up ahead of time like I do for a lot of other potions. You can't tell me you won't need it. This batch," she held up the vial, "is my control."

"Oh I see!" Poppy looked relieved. "How clever! I thought..." she trailed off.

Hermione didn't dare meet Snape's eyes. She'd break into hysterical laughter if she did. "Oh! Nothing like that! I mean, how could I?"

"He's still... whole, isn't he?" The mediwitch twisted a hand nervously in her apron. "They didn't... hurt him while he was in prison?"

"Not like that, no."

"I think he should be given a thorough exam, dear. Just to be sure. I appreciate your efforts, but I am a trained professional after all."

"Really, Poppy, he's fine." This had gone beyond funny.

"It won't be any trouble. Just bring him up to the Infirmary when you're done here. Shall we say in about an hour?"

"More likely two or three hours. I'll have to clean up down here when I'm done, and then it will be time for lunch." And that will give me time to talk to Minerva and see if she can get Poppy under control. Worst case is, Severus takes a double dose of Heliax before the exam, and we pray.

"I'll see you after lunch then." With a cheery wave, she vanished – presumably to get ready.

~*~

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Hermione said as she made a final pass with her cleaning rag over the countertop. Severus was decanting the Heliax potion into vials; they'd made enough to hopefully last for the term. "I like Poppy, but she's not a member of the Order."

He set the cauldron down in the sink and turned on the tap. While it filled, he picked up one of the vials and held it up to her in a mock salute before drinking it. Tranquility settled over him like a warm and comforting blanket – a wall around his mind, but this one soothing and protective. The caged panther settled down in the heat and dozed.

She saw the tension drain out of his muscles, out of the fine lines of his face. Subtle changes, and all of a sudden he was Grim again, not Severus.

His reply came slowly. Softly. "We need to tell Minerva sooner rather than later." He began rinsing the cauldron out.

"Agreed. I'll tell her at lunch that I need to talk to her immediately – and with any luck, that will let us put Poppy off again." She looked around the lab to make sure that everything was tidied up.

He turned the cauldron upside-down to drain, and they left the lab and made their way up to the Great Hall.

Minerva was the only one seated at the high table when they arrived, for which Hermione was grateful. She sat down with Grim between them, offering him a buffer from the rest of the faculty. Minerva gave her a raised eyebrow.

"Problems, Hermione?"

"I need to talk to you right after lunch, Professor."

"Certainly. I hope you haven't changed your mind about working here."

"Not at all!"

"So you did take the job!" Hermione turned and broke into a smile as Harry walked up to the table. "I'm glad of it." He gave her a hug and whispered, "How'd it go?"

"It worked – tell you later," she replied.

Harry took a seat on her left. "It's good to be back."

As the other members of the faculty trickled in, they discussed class schedules, curricula, and other professional matters. Hermione's ownership of Grim was public knowledge, and there were surprisingly few questions about his presence.

"I'm very interested in the structure of the Soulstriking spell," Liam Carpe said in his gruff baritone. "It must be quite a powerful Charm! I'm sure it's classified though." He twirled his wand in one hand.

"You probably wouldn't want to examine that spell too closely," Harry replied, flashing a quick grin at Hermione before looking directly at the Charms professor. "Just think of all the trouble it would cause if someone at the Ministry thought you were trying to break it."

"Errm, yes." Carpe subsided, much to Hermione's relief.

When lunch was over, Minerva rose. "Professor Granger, I need a word with you in my office. Mr. Potter, please join us. The rest of you, please Floo me your course plans by this evening. Other than that, enjoy these last few days of calm before the students arrive."

They rode the spiral staircase to Minerva's office in silence. Once there, the Headmistress shut the door and warded it with a series of strong privacy spells. Then she turned and studied the three other occupants of her office with a severe expression. "Well then. If this is Order business, we should be holding this meeting at Grimmauld Place."

"It doesn't concern the entire Order yet," Harry said.

"It does now, Harry. But Minerva – I... we need your help, and it can't wait." She took a deep breath to begin, but was interrupted.

"She's trying to tell you that she broke the Soulstriking," Snape said, rising to his feet. His lips twitched at Minerva's shocked expression. "Only she'd take three hours to get to the point."

"Severus!" Hermione didn't know whether to be outraged or not.

Minerva folded him into a bony hug. "I'm glad you're back, you sarcastic, wonderful bastard."

"And I'm glad to be back – you frightful, marvelous harridan."

Hermione cleared her throat. "We need sanctuary here, obviously. We want to get the conviction overturned, but that's become more complicated than I thought."

Snape turned serious and resumed his seat. "Hermione is right. Shall I summarize?"

"Please do," Harry said. If there was a trace of sarcasm in his voice, Snape chose to ignore it.

Minerva summoned parchment and quill to take notes. "Let's do this in an orderly fashion – Severus will summarize, then we will discuss."

He began.

~*~

"We don't want to get you in trouble with the Ministry, Minerva," Snape finished finally. "But Hogwarts is, frankly, safer for me than anywhere else."

"It's not that we don't trust the rest of the Order, it's just that – the fewer people who know, the easier it will be."

"I'm aware of that, Professor Granger," the Headmistress studied her notes. "I think you are right – we must solve the puzzles you mentioned and collect more information. I don't see any reason why Severus' restoration can't remain secret for the time being."

Harry was still wrapping his mind around the idea of Fudge as a Death Eater. "I agree," he said slowly. "But we will eventually have to let everyone know."

"So, a brainstorming session on the puzzles – tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Yes – if you can make enough copies for everyone, that might help."

"Where are we going to meet?"

"The Room of Requirement, at 7pm" Minerva replied, "and I will see if Bill Weasley can join us. As he is already privy to much of what's been done, I believe he will be more of an asset than a liability."

"Except, if he is seen, explanations will be required."

"I'll make sure he isn't seen," Harry replied. "I'll lend him my cloak."

~*~

Severus and Hermione reached the Room of Requirement somewhat earlier than anyone else. This was mostly due to their desire to avoid a run-in with the school mediwitch. Poppy had been affronted by Minerva's politely phrased order to cease and desist. Despite the calming influence of the Heliax potion, Severus' fingers had twitched several times during that confrontation as if he wished to cast a spell. Matters reached a head when Poppy turned to Hermione and offered to buy Severus outright – though it was hard to say who was more offended.

They entered together and found seats at the big round table that took up the middle of the room. Hermione passed around the copies of the three puzzles, putting one of each at every place. "There. Now..."

Harry came in casually folding up his cloak. "Hello, Hermione. Hello, Professor." He took a seat. "Bill will be here in a moment."

"Bill is here," Bill said, walking into the room. "Hello Professor. It's good to know that you're back."

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley." Severus inclined his head. "I do appreciate your efforts on my behalf. And yours also, Mr. Potter."

Bill gave Hermione a hug, "Good to see you also. Who else is coming?"

"Just Minerva. We had to let her know."

"Makes sense," Bill said. "And she may have some new ideas for these puzzles." He picked a chair and sat down heavily. "Nice setup here." He gestured at the sideboard laden with coffee, butterbeer, tea, and a wide assortment of snacks. "Let me guess – Hermione summoned the room?"

She grinned, and resumed her seat. "Yes – I tried to make it comfortable."

Minvera strode in, gave the room a once-over and immediately went over and poured herself a cup of tea. "Very civilized, Professor Granger."

"Professor?" Bill asked.

"Harry and I are teaching at Hogwarts now," Hermione answered. "That's one of the reasons we're meeting here."

"So – let's get started," Minerva said. "There are five of us and three puzzles. Any suggestions for how to divide them?"

"The list of names is, perhaps, the lowest priority," Severus answered. "The other puzzles are more likely to contain useful information."

"Very well – I suggest that one of us work on that puzzle, one on the short puzzle, and the other three on the poem puzzle."

"I'll work on the short puzzle," Harry said. "I haven't seen it yet."

"I'll take the Invisible Idiots," decided the Headmistress. "I'm a fair hand at cryptic crosswords, so perhaps that will help."

"Let's get started then."

Bill pulled his chair over next to Hermione and Severus. "So we get the poem puzzle." He studied it for a moment.

"We think that the poem is a set of instructions for another way of breaking the Soulstriking," Hermione said. "And I've no idea about the rest of it."

"A mnemonic of some kind?" Severus asked. "Look at it. Every line has the same pattern – several groups of 5 letters, and one of 6."

"Let's take the verse out of it." Hermione waved her wand at the chalkboard, and the letters began forming there in block letters.

Lpegh bijwl mwrzm dcpfr aseim vpvra ssnpsa

Aozri eceau aeaao raeio uamga iaiad eeaeil

Wleel lhrlc rtscr asrld gnoor nnknr vprtrb

Rlkgd laedi mhtht ctcbo udrrt cstdi etceiu

Euige abmeu aeaai ooiel sayki eyoaa riirus

Nxeob toins drbrm mrvrp trman nprln umspsd

Crlyr rdamm ubaie arath urarp taklp susebu

Eowla ijhaa kynar lolmu socka crrbu ssatlm

Nsien xuscl eslhg fswus rsnar rkuuc ngmtab

Oiljd lglnf htewa oiell oiark aimle araicl

Tekrt esoao eesir yeace oeioi bn1sy palgke

Tre1a sopiy rbtlr 1rsis krrfn bs1t eyfr1d

2s1v tner rbrke 2lbt w2fs eo1r 1loe1o

4e r1r iiaet 2eer o3o sn1o 1eyw1r

4r a onnst 2yra o3n r2d 5e

4y n tsg 4n d 3e 5 6

5 g 2e 4g 5 5 5 6

5 e 5 4e 5 5 5 6

"I didn't know what to do with the numbers, so I left them there." Hermione

said.

Severus stared at the board. "Oh, Merlin," he whispered. "Oh my dear Merlin."

Bill

and Hermione whipped around to look at him. The former Potions Master had gone

absolutely white. "Severus? What is it?"

"Look ye down on Magic's Verse," he rasped. "Read down the first column."

Hermione looked. "L, A, W, R, E..."

"Lawrence Nott." Bill said. "But..."

Severus had sunk into his chair. "Now the last column."

"A, L, B, U, oh my GOD!" Hermione's near-shriek brought Harry's and Minerva's heads up. A quick explanation later, and Bill began writing down the decoded puzzle. After the first three names, it was obvious that this was the proper solution.

"Lawrence Nott, Pollux Rosier, Ezekiel Wilkes, Greg Goyle, Jr. – no surprises there." Harry said.

"Hildebrandt Avery, Bellatrix LeStrange, Ichabod Jugson – ditto," McGonagall contributed.

"Jeremiah Sloper, Walden MacNair, Lucius Malfoy, Marmaduke Herriot. Didn't realize Herriot was a Death Eater." That was Hermione.

"Wetherby Stebbins, Rastaban LeStrange, Zachariah Wilkes." It had almost become a chant.

"Mortimer Garrett, Draco Malfoy, Castor Rosier, Percy Weasley..." Bill's voice shook just slightly on the last name.

"Filbert Mulciber, Rodolphus LeStrange – there's the last of that family," Harry muttered. "And good riddance to bad rubbish!"

"Augustus Rookwood, Sandar Rosier, Emory MacNair – figured he'd be in there too." Hermione again.

"Igor Karkaroff, Martin Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe, Sr. – more bad rubbish." Minerva had caught up with them.

"Pansy Parkinson, Viktor Krum, Randall Bulstrode, Adrian Pucey – that's the one we couldn't remember," Harry said slowly.

"Severus Snape, Septimus Grayle, Narcissa Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew – not sorry to see him on the list."

Harry went white as he read off the next-to-last name. "Sirius Black," he whispered. "Oh god, no!"

With a shaking hand, Bill wrote the final name on his list. "Albus Dumbledore."