Companions of the White Warlock

Smoke Year VII - Companions of the White Warlock Chapter XXIX

Ron led his flight on its search mission, and soon spotted a group of several hundred Inferi heading towards Hogwarts, with a wizard in an ill-fitting camouflage cape directing them from the rear. That had been the wizard's mistake -- there was a few inches of snow on the ground, and not only didn't the cape really fit (it was too short), but the wizard was kicking up snow as he walked, leaving a trail behind.

"Attack the Inferi first!" Ron called. Well over 100 feet above the ground, the wizard could not hear him. "Then after firing three missiles each at the Inferi, aim for that wizard kicking up snow at the back!"

"Did we win?" Harry asked Tonks. Harry was sitting on a tree stump, exhausted. Fawkes was still with him, although the other phoenixes had departed.

"For the moment," Tonks said. "The main good news is that we seem to be in control of the Valley. It is possible that there are some of the Walpurgis people in hiding, especially in some of the castles or the woods. All the ones in the compounds have been rounded up and are being moved to various holding facilities around Europe and North Africa."

Harry nodded.

"Obviously, the main thing to do now is to try and secure the place. There will be thirty vampires in here tonight to help out, but it's still a few hours until dusk."

Harry nodded.

"We didn't sustain any more deaths after Riddle disappeared.

Harry nodded.

"Did you know your fly is open?"

Harry nodded.

Harry's head snapped up and his hands went to his crotch. "Hey!"

"I just wondered if you were asleep."

"Not yet."

"Good, because there is one major bit of news for you. One of the Order people, Victor, caught a look at Riddle leaving. He didn't have the snake with him."

Harry managed to think about that for a moment. "So, if Nagini was here at the beginning of the battle, there's a fair chance it's still here?"

"Oh, it's here. We found a kidnaped Muggle-born. The Knights decided her baby wasn't up to their standards and they fed him to the snake last night." Harry looked revolted. "Exactly. Once the vampires show up, we'll launch a major search into the nooks and crannies of the castle."

"Then I'd better take a nap," Harry said.

"You'd better," Tonks agreed. As long and tough as her day had been, Harry had probably done twice as much, even if Tonks had had the extra responsibility of being more in command. "Can you keep an eye on Harry, and wake him in two or three hours?" she asked Fawkes.

Fawkes gave a happy trill, and Tonks moved off. Harry sat on the ground, leaned back against the stump, and fell into a deep sleep, while Fawkes sang him a lullaby.

Although he did not know the wizard directing the Inferi was a member of the Companions of Walpurgis, it made no difference to Ron as he scored the kill. His group had taken out many of the Inferi, and the remaining ones were starting to become directionless by the time the wizard die from the missile attack. Ron therefore left the two Fifth years to begin rounding up the Inferi and push them towards a common area with fire spells. He then took off to check on the other teams.

It was mere chance that took Ron over to the smallest group. While Draco Malfoy had managed to avoid the three missile strikes aimed at him, all of his Inferi had been destroyed or disenchanted. Draco had lost his Invisibility Cloak (the flyers had seen the trail left in the snow by the cloak's dragging) and he was trying to flee from the three pursuing riders, who were instead herding Draco towards the castle. "You two, fly over to the Hogsmeade side and check that out! There must be a group in that direction. Johnson! Fly back towards the first group and help them herd those Inferi!"

As he was giving directions, Ron was landing in front of Draco, who had already been disarmed. "Well, well, look who we have here," Ron sneered. "A disarmed ferret."

Draco had just run over a hundred yards after a short night and a very long, exhausting morning and afternoon. He fell to his knees, panting, but still glaring.

"Nothing to say? How odd," Ron said, coming a few steps closer.

Draco let his spare wand fall into his hand and he tried to shoot a spell off. Ron, however, was much faster.

"BBBLLLLLAAACH!"

"I always wanted to make you eat slugs, Malfoy," Ron gloated as he snapped Malfoy's spare wand. He added another hex, one that Harry had taught him which would keep the spell going until he released it, and then a third that insured that Draco was indeed disarmed.

"BBBLLLEECH!"

"Oh, that was a big one!" Ron said, sending ropes to tie the heaving blond up.

"You bas -- BBBLLLLARRGH!"

"No, I'm as legitimate and as pure-blooded as you, Malfoy, for what little that matters. You're going to keep belching slugs, too -- yes, just like that one! -- until I remove the spell. Now, since you're here, I guess I'd better go check on your father."

"Weasley! -- ErrrARRRGH! -- get back here and untie me, you prick cock -- BLLLEARRGH!"

"Should you be here, Hermione?"

"I should," Hermione told Tonks. "I've had a couple of hours sleep, and I'm completely healed. Let me take a few people and start a systematic search for the snake. We can enlarge the search later."

"How do you plan to find it?"

Hermione transfigured to large rocks into. . . .

"Mongeese? Or is that mongooses?"

Hermione frowned. "I'm not certain, to tell the truth." She shrugged. "Either way, I can make them search out any snake in the castle."

"Good idea. Get going, and remember not to get into a direct fight if you can help it. That thing is more dangerous than any snakes, except maybe a basilisk."

Hermione shuddered a bit. "Right." She clucked her tongue, and the two animals followed their mistress.

Ron discovered that the main attack was the third one. The attackers had missed hitting Malfoy -- in fact, they had not detected him. They had spent all their missiles, and there were still some 400 Inferi closing in on the castle, for Malfoy had managed to bring over the remaining Inferi frm the original attack group. Three of the flyers had gone back to the castle to reload all their cylinder missile clip with the remaining 30 anti-Inferi missiles they had in stock. "Keep the fire spells going!" Ron called, and he pushed his ill body hard to get back to the castle as quickly as he could, taking one of the flyers with him.

"Load your cylinder with tear gas," Ron commanded as soon as they had landed -- it was a quick flight, because the Inferi were closing in on the castle.

"Why?" the young flyer demanded, while doing as she was told.

"Lucius Malfoy or someone is out there, directing those things," Ron pointed out. "Whoever it is must be invisible or disillusioned, and they've remembered to cover their trail - probably by moving within the Inferi instead of behind them. If they don't have a bubble-head spell on as well, this should get them, and we might be able to see their body moving in the colored gas."

"That's certainly worth a try," the Hufflepuff girl agreed. She loaded up with 12 tear gas missiles. Ron loaded 10, with 2 of the killer missiles.

"You take the right wing and center, I'll take the left. Start just behind the middle of the Inferi and work your way back and around, starting in the center. I'll be starting on the left. Let's try and flush him."

"Ready!" The two kicked off.

By the time they returned, the last of the remaining anti-Inferi missiles had been launched. The two riders with the tear gas then made their runs at the target, and soon the area was filled with pink mist from the anti-Inferi missiles and the light yellow tear gas. The nine flyers, now joined by Hooch and Luna, were circling the parameter, looking for any movement which might give Lucius Malfoy away.

"There!" Hooch called out. More than three quarters of the Inferi had fallen as they had been disenchanted. There were eddies in the misty smoke and it was clear someone was trying to make a run from the scene. Six stunners flashed, but a strong shield deflected them. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" Malfoy called out. "AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The first struck Hooch, while Luna managed to move her broom far enough away from the second that it did not affect her. The Fifth years all shouted out 'Stupify'. The curses passed each other. Malfoy had had to drop his shield to launch the Killing Curse, and he was knocked out. Unfortunately, Ron was tiring, and his reflexes were slowing. He had tried to avoid the third killing curse, but while he avoided the actual Curse, it struck back of his broom, ripping the bristles off.

Ron plummeted off the broom. Luna tried to summons Ron, which should have at least slowed his fall, while one of the Fifth years tried to cushion the fall. Unfortunately, the summonsing charm and the cushioning charm hit and cancelled each other.

Ron completed the forty foot free fall, landing not on the grass, but on a rocky outcropping.

Meanwhile, over half a mile away, Draco Malfoy had tried to stop spitting up slugs. In trying to do so, he inadvertently swallowed one slug while another was working its way out.

Draco started gagging and choking.

Voldemort appeared in the cavern that held the entrance to the tunnel under the lake. He approached the snake guardian on the entrance and commanded in Parseltongue, "I, the Heir to Slytherin, command you to reveal your secret."

"Who are you?" the Green-eyed Snake Guardian demanded.

"I am the Heir of Slytherin! You know me! I have been to this entrance twice before, once on each side!"

"A Parselmouth claiming to be the Heir was here, and you do resemble the one who came to this side," the Snake agreed. "However, we did not test you. Touch the stone near me with your hand."

Voldemort did not feel well enough to be arguing, so he did as directed. He cursed when the Snake bit him! "What did you do!"

"I tested you; I tasted you. You are no Heir to Slytherin! There is not a drop of his blood in your veins!"

Voldemort reared back, about to unleash his temper, when he suddenly realized something.

His blood was Harry Potter's. His bones here his father's. His flesh was Wormtail's.

He truly no longer was the Blood Heir of Salazar Slytherin! Voldemort smiled grimly. If he couldn't get at the Cup, neither could anyone else. "Very well," he told the Guardian, knowing that any attempt to force his way past the magic might destroy the Horcrux. And with that, he left the cavern.

"Wizards have gotten sloppy over the centuries," the Green-eyed Guardian said.

"True," said his Red-eyed counterpart behind the entrance. "He also said nothing about us testing any other Parselmouth that might happen along."

"And the Master said we should trust any Parselmouth who did not arouse our suspicions."

"I'm not at all suspicious about that nice green-eyed wizard," Red stated.

"Nor am I," Green agreed. "I have given the message to fifteen snakes. They will seek the nice Parselmouth in the spring."

"He reminded me of the Master when he made us, not like he was at the end."

"And he commanded us at the beginning."

After a moment of silence, the Red-eyed snake wondered, "Do you think the nice Parselmouth would set us someplace else, someplace where I can see the sun and speak?"

"If that is what you truly desire, perhaps you should ask."

"You wouldn't come with me?"

Green paused. "I will consider the idea."

The two guardians went back to sleep.

"Wake up, Harry."

"Why?" came the mumbled response.

"Because it's well after dark, and Hermione has located Nagini."

Harry sat up. "Really? Where?"

"It crawled behind a fireplace in the kitchens or something, where it could be warm," Tonks said.

Harry stretched, trying to work the kinks and aches out of his back and shoulders. "Is she active?"

"The snake? No," Tonks answered.

Harry stood, still working on his neck. "I suppose everything else is going according to plan?"

"As well as can be expected," Tonks agreed. "I mean, this is the largest military exercise in the history of magic in some ways. We're all improvising more than we'd like to be."

"That's true," Harry said. "Are you coming, or should I just apparate over?"

"Apparate to the back courtyard, if you remember where that is," Tonks suggested. "There should be someone waiting to guide you."

"Do you want to come along, Fawkes?" Harry asked the bird, which was perched nearby. Fawkes sang a short affirmative.

Harry said his goodbyes, and disapparated. He found his guide at the castle courtyard, and he followed her into the castle, Fawkes perched now on Harry's shoulder.

In less than ten minutes, Harry was with Hermione at a broken grate. "The castle has some hidden passive heating built into it," she said. "These areas circulate air heated by some of the larger fireplaces and cooking areas to the upper residential rooms. As best I can tell, the snake is about twenty yards in, after a left turn. This is the closest opening, but I have no idea which end is facing this grate."

"Thanks, Hermione. Do you have a location for the other end?"

"I have sets of four people at four other openings," Hermione answered. "There could easily be others."

"I shouldn't think so," Harry said. "If there are too many openings, they would lose the heat too fast."

"Maybe, but this is the only real exit," Hermione explained. "The other four openings are under the fireplaces. There must be at least one on the roof, but it might be too small for the snake."

"We'll have to smoke her out if she won't come voluntarily," Harry commented. He knelt near the opening and called in Parseltongue. "Nagini! Can you hear me?"

There was a long pause, and then, "Not the Master," the snake finally hissed. "The enemy of the Master."

"That's right. The enemy of the Master, not the enemy of Nagini," Harry called back. Harry could hear Nagini making little hisses, which he thought was the snake equivalent of 'H'mmm.'

Finally, after some five minutes (for chilly snakes do not think quickly), Nagini said, "The Master has made me powerful and fed me well. What do you offer Nagini?"

"You must give up that source of power," Harry said sternly. "You will be fed well, and you will be housed better. If you do not yield the jewel he had you swallow, we shall have to destroy you. I would prefer not to seek your end."

"Brave words, young wizard."

"Do you seek for me to prove them true?"

There was another long pause. Finally, she said, "Yes, young wizard. If you can drive me from these tunnels, I shall yield my power to you in exchange for my life, on the terms you named."

"If you hurt anyone, the deal is off," Harry warned.

"We shall see, little wizard," Nagini dared.

Harry stood and turned to Hermione, whom he had been translating Nagini's speech before this. "I don't know if smoke alone will drive her out," Harry said.

"Oh, this smoke will," Hermione said with a grim smile. "I came prepared." At Harry's surprised look, she said, "Harry, Nagini was one of the main objectives of this invasion! Of course I came prepared!"

"With what?"

Hermione held up a small vial. "This, added to a fire, will generate a smoke which will drive any reptile, especially snakes, away. The wizarding equivalents of exterminators use it."

"Then go to it," Harry said, impressed.

"Well?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Is there any good news?"

Moody spoke first. "we've disenchanted all the Inferi. The Ministry people are going to burn the bodies a bit south of the train platform. The prevailing winds should take the stench away from both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade."

McGonagall nodded. It took a fair bit of Dark magic to create an Inferi, but it was far too easy to reanimate one. Therefore, all had to be destroyed, rather than buried. "Anything else?"

Moody shook his head. "If there were any more than those three controlling the Inferi, they're well away without any sign."

"Very well. Madam Pomfrey?"

"All of the students are upset, of course," the Infirmarian said. "The flyers are especially upset. Just encountering that many Inferi would be enough to give most people nightmares. Hot chocolate should suffice for most of the students, but the flyers might need more professional help than we can give."

"What do you suggest?"

"St. Mungo's has a councillor the aurors use," Moody pointed out.

"Exactly," Pomfrey agreed. "I do, however, need permission from you to contact her."

"You have it, of course," McGonagall said.

Moody stood. "If there's nothing else, I should be going."

"Where are you going, Alastor?" Pomfrey asked.

"Romania," he replied. "I'm escorting Miss Lovegood. We need to make a report to the White Warlock, and I for one would prefer not to do so."

"I don't envy either of you the task," McGonagall agreed, "but I have to tell Arthur and Molly."

It had taken a much longer time and a great deal more potion that Hermione had expected to use (since a few drops were normally more than enough), but after nearly two hours, Nagini slowly emerged from what passed for an air system in the castle. Harry kept up a conversation with the huge snake, now over thirty feet long.

Getting Nagini to give up the Ravenclaw jewel was a great deal more difficult. The only thing Harry ever said about the process was one mumbled, 'I had hoped she would cough it up.' Hermione never said anything at all about the recovery; she merely wrinkled her nose at any mention of it.

When the whole process was over, with Nagini being shipped off to a magical zoo in Tunisia (one of the North African wizards in the occupying forces had connections there) and the jewel successfully destroyed, it was just before midnight.

Harry and Hermione searched out Tonks and Remus, anxious both to report their success and to receive any news. What they had not expected was to see Mad-eye Moody and Luna waiting for them instead.

"What happened?" Harry demanded.

"Voldemort ordered an attack on Hogwarts today, using somewhere between seven and nine hundred Inferi," Moody said. "Those anti-Inferi missiles disenchanted most of them. Without 'em, we would have been hard pressed to defend against that many."

"So they were all destroyed?"

"If not, they were disenchanted and have now been destroyed," Moody agreed. "Lucius Malfoy, his son, and one of the Walpurgis wizards commanded the Inferi. Weasley led the flying squad, and they did almost all of the actual fighting. He caught the Walpurgis wizard with an anti-personnel missile. . . ."

"Dead?" Hermione asked, which made Luna flinch.

"Dead," Moody agreed. "He and young Malfoy apparently fought it out, and Weasley immobilized him with some sort of slug-puking hex." Harry and Hermione smiled at that, until Moody added, "Malfoy fought against it instead of letting it work itself out. He choked to death on one."

"Draco . . . choked to death on a slug?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Aye," Moody agreed. "Now Lucius fought back hard, although he is under arrest at the Ministry. He caught Hooch with a Killing Curse. He shot one at Weasley, but it only came close. However, it did knock Weasley off his broom from about forty feet."

"Is he dead?" Harry asked.

"He died instantly," Luna answered.

Hermione teared up, but was watching Harry as his jaw set. "Look after Hermione," he told Luna, and then disappeared.

Luna and Hermione embraced, both now crying. No one asked where Harry might be going.

They all knew.