Heaven and Hell

11th Chapter - Death Eater Attack

(Halloween, October 1995)

After Jon left the Three Broomsticks, he dashed down the main street as fast as his feet could carry him, paying no heed to his surroundings or where he went. Otherwise he might have noticed the two dark figures that hurriedly squashed themselves into the shadow of a bushy hedge when Jon, rounding a corner, came within sight of them. Not seeing that they slowly followed him after he passed by, Jon mechanically set one foot in front of the other, as if they weren't parts of him, but of an untiring, precise working machine.

Even if Jon was paying no attention to where he was going or what he was doing, his mind was far from being idle. It was repeatedly reeling off the same pictures that had engraved themselves into his memory: his mum looking displeased with Snape's deduction of thirty points from Gryffindor, then Malfoy smirking and suddenly pulling at her sleeve, revealing a burn mark that made all bystanders gasp with surprise and horror.

Jon's first reaction had been shock. He had stared at the Mark for a couple of seconds, unable to conjure any coherent thought.

Then denial. This just couldn't be true. He knew his mum, and she couldn't be a Death Eater. It contradicted everything he knew about her. Jon had felt the strong urge to flee - to leave the pub and never return. If he just kept telling himself this hadn't happened, if he never again saw this place that proved the contrary, he could cling to the memory of her bare, unmarked left arm that he had seen so often. Not recently, though. He tried to ignore that thought, ignore that the Dark Mark must surely have come back when Voldemort returned. If he could just get away from this place - maybe he could deceive himself that he had never seen that Mark.

But this idea was as naïve as it was futile and with every new step this fact became clearer to him. Reality didn't change just because he refused to believe it. There was nothing to be done about it. His mother bore the Dark Mark, which implied that she was a Death Eater, or at least that she used to be one.

Small things that he had noticed but never had taken the time to wonder about suddenly made sense to him. For example, why she always wore long-sleeved clothes since the summer before last. Why the Ministry of Magic didn't trust her to raise Harry properly. Why McGonagall had regarded her with such a disapproving look when they had arrived at Hogwarts. And why his mum was so secretive about her past. He wondered what else she might be hiding from him.

But why from him? He was her son, he ought to know such things, shouldn't he? Even the professors knew it. Neither Snape nor the other teachers had seemed surprised. Malfoy had known it too. Suddenly Jon was sure that the reason for Malfoy's smirk hadn't been Snape's deduction of points, but anticipation of Jon's reaction to the unveiling of the Dark Mark.

According to Harry, Lucius Malfoy had been present at the graveyard on Voldemort's resurrection. So Malfoy was a Death Eater, which made it very likely that he knew Serena. The question was, how much had he told his son Draco about her and how much had Draco made up for the pure sake of aggravating Jon. It had turned out that his mum bearing the Dark Mark was the truth. But did that mean that everything else Malfoy had said was also true?

Part of his mind still refused to abandon all of the trust and faith in his mum that had been gained and repeatedly confirmed over the course of fifteen years. Death Eaters were nothing like his mum, they were Dark witches or wizards, evil to the core, sinister looking... No, stop, that was plain prejudice. He had never stopped to seriously think about Death Eaters. Why should he? Britain had been far away and it didn't concern him anyway. Or so he had thought.

Why would Professor Dumbledore hire his mum as a teacher if she was loyal to Voldemort? To judge from everything Jon had heard about the headmaster, she couldn't have deceived him. Perhaps she had changed sides long ago, like Snape? Or she had been forced to serve the Dark Lord?

The only person who could answer these questions was unfortunately the one who was most unlikely to discuss this subject with him at all: his mum. But now that he knew about the Dark Mark, maybe she would change her mind and talk to him?

'Jon, I can explain -', had been her last words before he had stormed out of the pub.

Jon stopped. He could at least try it. He would return to the Three Broomsticks and ask for her explanation. After deciding what to do next, he filled with new determination. The confusion and the feeling of getting lost in a world that scattered around him dissolved quickly.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Jon looked around. He was still on the main road, which ran the full length of Hogsmeade, but the last houses were already a couple of yards behind him. Dusk had set in, the shadows had grown deeper, and the first stars became visible in the darkening sky.

Neville and Seamus came wandering up the street. They had been looking - from a safe distance of course - at the Shrieking Shack that was located a stretch outside the village on a small mound. Now they were heading back, approaching Jon on their way. Soon it would be time to return to Hogwarts, and they probably wanted to treat themselves to one or two butterbeers before.

"Hi, Jon," Seamus called.

"Why are you alone? Where're the others? Did you clash with Harry again?" Neville asked, looking honestly concerned.

"No, no clash with Harry," Jon answered. "Are you two going to the Three Broomsticks?"

"Yes, we are."

"Do you mind if I come with you?"

"Of course not," Seamus said.

They had gone only a few paces when a hooded figure, clad in a black cloak, with wand drawn, emerged from behind a bush beside the street and stepped in their way. Despite the poor light conditions Jon could make out a mask hiding the person's face under the hood. His brain, which had been thinking about Death Eaters a lot today, drew the conclusion at once: this must be one of them.

He didn't have time to wonder what the Death Eater possibly wanted. The man barked three times in quick succession: "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!", pointing his wand at each boy in turn.

Hit by red flashes, Neville and Seamus grew limp and toppled over. The third flare vanished in the dark, just missing Jon as he sprung aside, grateful that they had recently trained their reflexes in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Pulling his wand out of his pocket, Jon did another jump to prevent the Death Eater from taking careful aim and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The figure was a bit too slow with blocking the spell and lost his wand, watching it flying towards Jon's outstretched hand. But before Jon could close his fingers around it, another hand snatched it out of the air, threw it back at its owner and knocked Jon over.

A second Death Eater had sneaked up on Jon from behind. He was huge, in height as well as in width, and strong as an ox. Without much effort he pressed Jon down on the ground, his plate-sized hands holding him tightly until the first Death Eater came over and tied Jon up with ropes that emerged from the tip of his wand.

As soon as Jon realised that he wouldn't be able to free himself from that iron grip, he started to scream for help, but was quickly silenced with a gag.

* * *

Serena was shaken. All those years she had known that someday she would have to reveal her past to Jon. She had known that sooner or later he would see the Dark Mark, be it accidentally or not, and then he would want to know why his mother was wearing Voldemort's sign. But conscious of the fact that she couldn't tell him the entire story, she had never told him about her Mark.

Then she had received Albus' letter. She had written a positive answer, aware that most of the professors knew about her career as a Death Eater, and the likelihood that someone would let something slip to Jon. She decided to inform him before they arrived in Hogwarts, hoping that he wouldn't hate her, although she could only give him the official version of the facts, which lacked the information that she had been a spy and not a faithful servant to the Dark Lord. But then she had seen the deep, unconditional love of a child for his mother in Jon's eyes. At the same time she remembered James' expression after he had heard of her becoming one of Voldemort's followers. Not sure if she could stand such a look in Jon's eyes, she had backed out.

Jon was her family. She loved him more than anything else, and she didn't want to lose her family ever again. So she did everything she could to ensure that he wouldn't cease to return her feelings. Serena just couldn't bring herself to tell him something that would stain her son's confidence, respect, and love for her.

Now she was cursing herself for her cowardice. The professors and even some students knew it; only Jon had no clue. She should have known that Lucius Malfoy would pass on sordid information about her to his son Draco straight away as soon as he learned that Serena was teaching at Hogwarts.

Jon had given her the exact look that James had given her, the look that she had dreaded. It had wrenched her heart to see the disappointment and hurt in his eyes. Would she ever be able to repair this damage? If she tried to explain herself, would he even listen? And believe her? And what about Harry? He was probably also hurt to the quick, believing that she had once been loyal to the wizard who had murdered his parents. Or, and Serena shuddered at the thought, believing that she still was loyal.

Serena sighed, trying to get a grip on herself. Panicking wouldn't help at all. First things first. She had to find Jon, if she wanted to talk to him. She let her gaze wander around, but the streets were deserted. Where on earth had he gone?

Two students came slowly strolling down the main street of Hogsmeade. The emblems on their cloaks identified them as Gryffindors, most likely third or fourth years whose names currently eluded Serena.

"Hey," she called to them, "Have you seen Jon by any chance? Perhaps he ran past you?"

They shook their heads. "No, Professor. We've met no one. Most students are in the Three Broomsticks by now, or on their way back to Hogwarts, I suppose," the smaller of the two boys answered.

Serena gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "Yeah, thanks. Then he's probably gone off in the other direction." Without further ado she grabbed the front of her robes, lifted them a bit to avoid tripping over them, and rushed down the road, not wasting any thought as to what the two students might think of her.

A short, stifled scream made her blood run cold in her veins. This sounded far too much like Jon's voice. Doubling her speed, she followed the road towards the place where the scream had come from. A few seconds later she rounded a hedge and caught sight of a scene that made her temporarily forget all other sorrows.

Two students lay motionless on the road. A few steps beside the road, a hulking great figure held a third, struggling student, while another Death Eater was busy tying the boy up. Serena was still too far away to efficiently hex them, but they hadn't noticed her either.

Serena covered the remaining distance with great leaps, her wand aimed at the Death Eaters. As soon as she was near enough, she twice shouted "Expelliarmus!" Two wands went soaring through the air, aiming for the spot where she had been when she had cast the spell.

Serena ignored the wands, which fell clattering down to the road somewhere behind her. Still coming closer, she could finally make out the student's faces. The confirmation that Jon actually was one of the victims caused her an upsurge of raging fury. A Stunning Spell felled the man next to Serena. In her wrath, she had cast it with so much power that he did two somersaults before he finally landed unconsciously on the ground.

The other man would most likely have met the same fate, if a third Death Eater hadn't butted in. He Apparated directly in front of Serena, who was too fast to stop or dodge him. She ran into him, her momentum knocking both of them down. Before Serena could scramble off of him and onto her feet, the Death Eater seized her right hand and began to crush it in an attempt to make her let go of her wand.

While clutching at the wand as if it was her life, Serena sank her knee down on his other arm, catching his wrist, so that he couldn't use his wand either. Panting and wriggling, each of them tried to free their wand hand and prevent the other from doing so at the same time, which resulted in a temporary stalemate situation.

The second, still conscious Death Eater, watched them hesitantly for a few seconds, then apparently decided that his fellow wasn't in dire need of immediate help and went slowly up the road, searching for his wand. It wasn't easy to find in the growing darkness, and he became slower and more watchful with every step.

Serena knew that she couldn't wrestle with her opponent forever. He had already squashed every feeling save pain out of her hand. If she should ever manage to free it, she would hardly be able to hold her wand to do magic. He was taller and stronger than Serena and only her stubbornness had prevented him from gaining the upper hand over her yet. To cap matters, the other Death Eater was nearing the spot where the wands had rained down. How could she take on two enemies at once, without being able to hex them into the next century?

What she needed was a new tactic. She let go of her wand and changed abruptly into the lynx, letting out a deep, threatening growl that surprised and momentarily disconcerted the Death Eater. He didn't know how to hold her now. The hand that he had been crushing had suddenly become a paw with sharp claws. Serena used his bewilderment to wrest her paw free from his loosened grip. But he recovered from the surprise much faster than she had liked. As soon as her paw was free, he clenched a fist with the hand that had been holding her paw and, in the next second, Serena saw stars exploding in front of her eyes. Yelping, she felt an overwhelming pain blazing in her sensitive lynx-nose.

Summoning all her willpower, Serena refused to give in to the feeling of drowsiness that threatened to take possession of her. Only just in time she bit into his other hand as he raised it to point his wand at her. With an animal feeling of satisfaction she heard the sound of crushing bones and tasted the metallic flavour of blood. Instead of an incantation, a scream of utter pain left the man's mouth, his wand falling unheeded to the ground. Serena lost no time and jumped on his chest, snapping at his throat.

In this moment the other Death Eater had finally found his wand. Pocketing the wand of his unconscious fellow, he straightened up and aimed at the lynx. Then he shouted "Crucio!"

Serena leaped aside with feline rapidity and the curse missed her. It hit the Death Eater instead, on whose chest she had stood only a moment ago. He began to scream again, doubling up with pain.

When the first Death Eater recognised his mistake, he revoked the curse hastily. In the meantime, Serena turned towards him because he was the greater danger now. When she moved in for the kill, he Disapparated in the nick of time and she jumped through thin air.

He reappeared next to the Death Eater who was still out cold and disappeared together with him a second later, this time for good. The third Death Eater, who had stopped screaming, grasped his wand, wearing an expression of considerable pain and Disapparated too.

Serena took a short breather and changed back to her human form. Her nose still hurt, but a human nose wasn't as susceptible to pain as a lynx nose, and therefore much easier to ignore. She picked up her wand and hurried over to Jon. His eyes were open, but he avoided her gaze. Concerned, she knelt down, bent over him, and undid the knot that kept his gag in place.

When she reached for the gag to remove it, a threatening voice commanded, "Get away from him!"

Serena's head spun around. The Death Eaters hadn't reappeared as she had feared, but instead she found herself facing Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They had their wands trained on her and they didn't look pleased.

"If you hurt Jon," Harry growled, "you'll be very sorry."

Serena shook her head. "But Harry, I would never do any harm to Jon. What on earth makes you think that?"

"You're a Death Eater! How am I supposed to know what's going on in your head!"

Hermione uncomfortably added, "We heard screams, horrible screams. And then we found Seamus and Neville, unconscious, and you bending over Jon, tying him up. What do you think that looks like?"

"It's not what you think -" Serena commenced, when Jon spit his gag out and interrupted her.

"Harry, she didn't tie me up. She's the one who saved me. There were Death Eaters attacking us and she drove them away. Please, let her take off these ropes, I can hardly feel my limbs anymore!"

Harry stood unmoving, trying to decide if Jon's answer was the truth or the result of a spell that Serena could have cast on him.

Hermione revived Seamus and Neville with Ennervating Spells. They confirmed that they had been stunned by dark, hooded figures with masks, apparently Death Eaters. Harry finally lowered his wand, allowing Serena to untie Jon. But he still scrutinised her with a distrustful gaze.

In order to not worry Harry, Serena didn't use her wand, but undid the ties with her left hand. The right one felt terrible. The Death Eater had doubtless broken a few of her wrist-bones. Serena knew only one man who had such an iron grip: Lucius Malfoy. Which would mean that the other two were his sycophants Crabbe and Goyle.

"Jon, are you all right?" she asked when the last piece of rope fell to the ground. "Did they hurt you? Are you injured?" Again, she looked concerned at him and began to examine him for wounds.

"No, I'm ok. You came just in time."

Serena hugged him, relieved. "Oh, that was a close call. Too close for comfort. Thank Merlin that nothing's happened to you." She snivelled and tightened the hug. Her face showed mingled emotions: hatred for the attackers, rage about the attack, and overwhelming relief that no one had been seriously hurt.

Jon suddenly stiffened. Serena noticed the change in Jon's posture and let go of him. His expression spoke volumes: he had just remembered that there was still an unresolved issue standing between them and he wasn't willing to simply drop the matter, even if his mother had just happened to rescue him from a bunch of rampaging Death Eaters.

"I'm sorry," she said with a guilty look in her eyes. "I know I should've told you ... at least something." Sighing, she added resignedly, "I'm a coward. But I'll make up for it. I promise."

A few seconds of awkward silence followed. Serena got up and went over to Seamus and Neville. After Hermione had revived them, they sat on the grass, a few feet away from Jon, and recovered from the effect of the Stunning Spell. Serena checked them briefly for injuries, produced some chocolate from a pocket of her cloak and made them count the number of fingers she was showing them. Satisfied with the result, she helped them to get up at last.

On their way back to Hogwarts, Serena urged the students to hurry up every now and then. Unable to hold her wand with her crushed hand, or to do decent magic with her other, non-wand hand, she explained to Hermione how to cast a magical field around the group that would alert them if anyone came within a radius of a hundred yards. Hermione mastered the spell at once, for which Serena awarded twenty points to Gryffindor, but the gratitude was limited. The students suspected bribery and refused to rise to the bait.

Even with a magical ward surrounding them, Serena didn't dare let her guard down. The Death Eaters could return at any moment. Searching out the tiniest movement, Serena squinted into the darkness, her eyes raking over the roadway that led to the castle, and the dark overgrown ditches that lay either side of them. It was not until they passed the gates of the Hogwarts grounds that she visibly relaxed and lowered her wand, which she had been holding in her left hand all the time despite its little use.

"If you're still interested in hearing it," she softly said to Jon, climbing the steps to the great oak portal, "I'll tell you how I got that damn Mark."

"And Harry," Jon demanded, while Ron opened the heavy door.

She nodded. "Yeah, you and Harry."

Seamus and Neville entered the castle. Before he followed, Harry said, "And Ron and Hermione. I'd tell 'em anyway."

Serena sighed, shaking her head. "I knew you'd say that," she mumbled quietly. A bit louder, she answered, "I guess, I can't do anything to prevent you from telling Ron and Hermione whatever you please. Ah well, so be it. But you mustn't let anyone else in on it, is this clear? But first we'll inform the headmaster of the attack."

* * *

"Blasted idiots!"

Lucius Malfoy boiled with rage, pacing up and down and wrapping a cloth around his bleeding right hand. He would need the help of a healer to get this damage undone. Shouting at subordinates didn't really help, but he shouted anyway.

"You've messed everything up. Two adults aren't capable of kidnapping a fifteen-year-old boy! Not even when I intervened to keep his mother away from you!"

The two Death Eaters whom the yelling was directed at stood in front of him, eyes cast down. Both of them were heavier than Lucius, and in a fist-fight he would hardly have stood a chance against either of them. But despite their advantage in physical matters they were profoundly intimidated of Malfoy, fearing his wrath and his hexes.

"Instead," Malfoy continued to yell, "you hit me with the Cruciatus Curse, you blundering oaf!"

He punched Crabbe with his unhurt fist hard in his face. Immediately Crabbe's nose started to bleed, but Crabbe didn't dare to take a handkerchief and wipe the blood off his face as long as he was in the focus of Malfoy's fury.

"Why did you take Goyle with you, instead of the boy?"

"Goyle... was unconscious," he stammered. "The Stunner hit him quite hard. I... I thought it'd be better to take him away... you know, so that she couldn't find out who attacked her."

Malfoy rolled his eyes, silently asking why he was cursed with such incompetent morons.

"You should better leave the thinking to people who are capable of it and simply do what you're told, blockhead. Unlike you, Serena Potter isn't stupid. She's doubtless noticed that it was Death Eaters who attacked her son. She'll easily draw the conclusion that the Dark Lord is behind that assault. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already identified us despite our masks and cloaks. And now she's warned. She'll see to it that her son won't leave Hogwarts grounds any more. It'll be nearly impossible to reach him there. She'll now protect him with all means at her disposal. I should've done it alone, without you berks ruining everything. Our master will be anything but delighted."

Malfoy snorted in dismay. It was his unpleasant task to explain Crabbe and Goyle's failure to Lord Voldemort. Angrily muttering a few expletives under his breath, he paced up and down the room.

At length he pulled himself together, and knocked at a closed door opposite the entrance. Wormtail opened and waved him into Voldemort's room.

Malfoy entered, walking tall and unafraid, even if he didn't feel like it. But he would never show it in front of that snivelling worm. He would certainly receive punishment for his failure. At least he already had a new plan. He had to get Serena out of the way. The fact that she was an Animagus and that he hadn't seen her name the last time he had looked up the Animagus register could prove to be extremely convenient for him. For being an unregistered Animagus, he would cause her a lot of trouble. While she was busy coming to terms with the Ministry, he would see to the boy. He hoped this new plan would soothe the Dark Lord and lessen his punishment.

* * *

After Serena, Jon, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Seamus had returned to the castle, they spent a whole hour in Dumbledore's office. One after another, they gave a report of their view on the attack. Dumbledore made a serious face, but didn't comment until each of them had given a full account of what they had witnessed.

Finally he nodded and thoughtfully stroked his beard, as if it would help him to concentrate.

"This is a serious incident, but I won't say that I haven't been expecting something like this to happen. It would be foolish to assume that Lord Voldemort would lie low and wait for us to make the first move. I'm afraid we'll have to cancel all further Hogsmeade weekends until the situation has eased."

A collective "Oh no!" escaped the boys while Serena nodded in agreement with the headmaster.

"Well, it is necessary. No one can guarantee our safety in Hogsmeade, am I right?", Hermione assented to the headmaster's decision. She earned an annoyed look from her fellows for her logical view of the matter.

"But don't worry now," Dumbledore continued. "Be assured that the staff is doing everything in its power to find a more convenient solution. For now, you should put it aside and look forward to the Halloween feast, which is about to begin in a good hour." With an insistent gaze at Neville, Seamus, and Jon, he added, "I would feel calmer if I knew that you had a quick check-up by Madam Pomfrey, to make sure that you aren't suffering any after-effects of the assault."

When the students filed out of the office, Dumbledore gestured to Serena to stay put, waiting until they were alone. Then he said with a stern voice, "Serena, of course you weren't obliged to inform anyone about the range of your magical powers, but I would have welcomed it if you'd told me about something that important. Knowing you, I suppose you didn't become an Animagus the official, sanctioned way."

Serena shook her head. "No, I didn't. I neither applied at the Ministry for an official Animagus course, nor took lessons with a registered instructor."

Dumbledore sighed unhappily. "And the attackers now know about your ability. They certainly won't hesitate to use this knowledge for their benefit."

"If they want to report me to the Ministry -" Serena shrugged her shoulders, "- they may very well do so. They'll find that there's nothing illegal about my skill."

"Nothing illegal? Didn't you just confirm the opposite?"

Serena gave him a Mona-Lisa-smile, odd and unfathomable. "Not really. I've been living in America for the last sixteen years. There's no law over there that demands registration of Animagi. The first thing I did back in London was to go to the Ministry and register." Her smile brightened. "I thought I should do that, just in case."

"Oh, then you became an Animagus in America?"

"I didn't say that. But then, no one can prove otherwise." Serena took a deep breath, her smile vanishing. "But there's another problem. There was a struggle in the Three Broomsticks, in the course of which Mister Malfoy Junior managed to expose my Dark Mark."

"Who saw it?"

"All the bystanders. Professors, students, other guests of the pub. And who hasn't seen it will soon learn it by word of mouth, I suppose. Tomorrow, at the latest, I expect the first letters to arrive, from concerned parents, who don't want their children to be taught by a Death Eater."

Dumbledore again stroked his beard, deep in thought. Finally he looked at Serena, his expression much less serious than she had expected it to be. "Well, this is not nice, but no reason to fret. The Ministry dropped all charges against you, after all. I will point the concerned parents to this fact and I will emphasise that the Ministry doesn't do anything without reason."

Serena let out a short laugh, which sounded anything but amused. "The reason was that they miraculously lost all evidence and couldn't find anyone to testify against me."

"This may be true, but who knew this in the first place and still remembers it? There shouldn't have been a charge against you at all, but we cannot tell them that. You will continue as before. You do not owe an explanation to anyone. If you should, however, feel the urge to explain some details to certain students, I will understand. And I will not try to hinder you."

Serena nodded and got up. "Thank you for your understanding."

When Serena passed the stone gargoyle, she found Harry, Jon, Ron and Hermione waiting for her.

"Yes, I know, I promised you an explanation," Serena beat them to any remark. "Would you like to accompany me to the infirmary? After Poppy has seen to Jon and healed my wrist, I'll be yours, ok?"