Smoke

Smoke VIII Friday, January 3, 1997

John Russell turned tiredly around to see who was coming into the tower room. "Good evening, Headmaster."

"Good evening, John," Dumbledore said. "You're looking . . . tired."

"I am tired," Russell admitted.

"You have been 'on the go' since the start of the break," Dumbledore pointed out. "It was good of you to take so many shifts of those Order members who wanted to spend time with their families."

"I'm not as fit as I was when I was fighting vampires," Russell admitted.

"That was forty years ago," Dumbledore pointed out.

"True, but you are in some ways in better shape than I am, and you're ninety years older than I."

"True. Tell me, what do you think of the Death Eater confrontations you have participated in over the last six months?"

Russell thought of that, puffing away on a cherry wood-pipe. "Early last summer," he said thoughtfully, "they were tentative but vicious. In late July and August, as the Dementor and giant attacks were starting to be thwarted, the Death Eater attacks became more precise, but were less vicious. They would go in, make the kill, and run. Since then . . . it's as if there are two different team leaders. One is sloppy and vicious, the other precise. The second team makes the kill and leave it at that. The first group spends time torturing the victim, and try to include peripheral targets -- family and even neighbors. The first group tends to be the one that makes random Muggle strikes."

"Go on."

Russell frowned. "I've come up against both, and it seems that some of the same Death Eaters have been used by both teams. So again, it's the team leaders who make the difference."

"This partially agrees with some of my information. However, there seem to be four team leaders, two precise leaders and two sadistic ones. I have the names of the sadists."

"Bella Lestrange and Greyback?" Russell suggested.

"Exactly."

"And who is the fourth leader?"

"I believe I said I only know two, not three, of the four," Dumbledore scolded gently.

"The third leader is likely Severus," Russell said. "I had thought he merely participated in six of the precise attacks, but that was before you told me there were four attack leaders, not two."

Dumbledore said nothing.

"Is there no way for Severus to get out of these attacks, at least as the leader?" Russell asked. "If anyone else learns of what he's been doing, especially the Ministry people, they will have no doubts he has turned back to Voldemort."

"He is loyal to me," Dumbledore said.

"He is loyal to himself, and perhaps to the idea that Voldemort must be destroyed," Russell retorted. "That is not the same thing, and you should learn the difference."

"He is loyal to me, John, as well as being totally devoted to the destruction of Voldemort," Dumbledore rejoined. "I know you would wish to know why I trust him, but that you will have to trust me for."

"You would want more than a mere assurance from me if you were in my place," Russell reminded his leader. "And remember, I'm not totally sure of Severus, and I probably trust him more than anyone else in the Order."

"I know," Dumbledore said, and added frankly, "and that worries me at times. Still, what is our greatest priority?"

"Defeating Voldemort without becoming as evil as Voldemort," Russell snapped back. "Would it really be a good thing for Potter to destroy Voldemort and in doing so put himself on the path to being the next Dark Lord?"

"Harry will NEVER do that!" Dumbledore shouted. "He is. . . ."

"The next White Warlock?" Russell asked. That set Dumbledore to pacing. "He is not merely the Chosen One, is he? Harry Potter is to be the next White Warlock, the one with the power to defend Light Magic against evil and all the medieval beliefs that go along with the silly title. He's to be a Gryffindor-type Warlock, a warrior and not a Merlin-figure, the wise advisor, correct?"

"I believe so," Dumbledore admitted.

"Then remember, that path is always a razor's edge," Russell warned. "He will be tempted to take short cuts on his way to becoming the White Warlock, and those short cuts can lead to Dark Paths."

"I know," Dumbledore said. "It is Harry's capacity for love. . . ."

"If that were true, you wouldn't have sent him to the Dursleys or at least you would not have kept him there," Russell broke in.

"I did not know it was nearly as bad as it is when I placed him there as I have learned since, and I did not know that he would be the next White Warlock, instead of merely the Chosen One, until he destroyed the basilisk with the aid of Fawkes!"

"So when Fawkes came to him, it didn't just show that Harry was loyal to you, it anointed him in a sense?" Russell was trying to understand.

"Yes!" Dumbledore snapped.

"And that reminded you that like all wizards, White Warlocks have to pass on the mantle?"

"I was never the White Warlock, although I have been called that," Dumbledore said.

"I didn't realize that anything much went with the title, other than the burdens, the legends, and a phoenix," Russell said. "After all, it was Fawkes' relationship to you, along with your power, knowledge, and defeat of Grindelwald that has made most people think of you as a White Warlock. I thought it merely meant Potter would have those qualities, too."

"All White Warlocks have phoenix companions, but not all phoenix companions are White Warlocks by any means," Dumbledore said pointedly. "Being a White Warlock . . . when you are chosen by Higher Magic you feel a power that enters you, enhances you, to some degree."

"Oh, how I hate the idea of 'Higher Magic'," Russell complained.

"Nonsense," Dumbledore argued back. "It is the same Higher Magic that creates Prophecy and Divination, and if you have no problems accepting either, then you should have no problem with the idea of the White Warlock."

"I have a difficult time believing in Super Harry, or Super Anyone," Russell retorted.

"Harry will not be a Muggle super hero. He will not be invincible or all-knowing. He will not always listen to the promptings of Higher Magic, and he will at times mistake his own desires for those promptings. Now I was offered that power, and I ran away from it because it also carries responsibilities I did not wish to entertain at the time. I ran here in 1915, and hoped that Grindelwald would be destroyed by others. Instead, he was merely driven underground for a generation. I thought I might regain that opportunity when I destroyed him, but of course that opportunity only comes once, so I have had the responsibilities I tried to flee without all the extra power and knowledge I could have had to make that burden easier."

"Your fate, if you will," Russell offered, referring back to a conversation the pair had had a few months before."

"Precisely. I struggled against it, and now I find that because I struggled and made the wrong choices, some of what should have been my burden has been fated upon poor Harry instead. Harry, I am certain, will be offered that knowledge and power. It is not a huge amount of either, but it also brings you closer to your own magic. You understand it better, and can manipulate it better. I hope he makes the best choice for him, as I did not."

"Are you certain you aren't one?" Russell asked.

"I felt that power, and it did enhance me slightly," Dumbledore admitted. "If he takes it, it will enhance Harry slightly more. That is all."

"He might turn it down, if for other reasons," Russell pointed out. "When this war is over, he might just choose to go away. I certainly wouldn't blame him if he did."

"We shall see," Dumbledore said. "Now, I shall be talking with Harry soon after he comes back. You have not mentioned, you have not given any information at all, on Horcruxes to Miss Granger, correct?"

"No, I have not," Russell said.

"She will ask for such information next week. You are to deny her," Dumbledore said flatly.

"Why?" Russell asked in the same tone.

"Harry must find certain information out for himself. It is important that Harry do so without preconceptions."

When nothing more was forthcoming, Russell had little choice but to agree to the fiat.

Thursday, January 9, 1997

"I trust you had a good vacation, Miss Granger?"

"Considering how unsettled, how dangerous the times are, it wasn't bad," Hermione said. "Sir. . . ."

"Yes?"

"You know what I'm about to ask, aren't you?"

"Perhaps," he acknowledged.

"What can you tell me about Horcruxes?"

"Nothing."

The abrupt answer made Hermione blink. It took a few seconds for her to recover and think things out. "Is that because you don't know what they are, or because the Headmaster has said you can't tell me anything?"

"The latter." It was clear that Russell was not happy about his answer.

Hermione looked at her teacher for several moments. "Can you tell me why you can't tell me anything, other than because the Headmaster doesn't want you to?"

"Not really," Russell admitted. "We are stuck until Harry finds what the Headmaster wants him to find, I'm afraid, what ever that might be. Now, let's spend some time on Occlumency, and then I want to quiz you on the Tibetan theories on soul magic."

"Yes, sir. . . ." Hermione said, disappointed.

"Is there something else you want to talk about?"

"There's nothing useful in the library," Hermione almost pouted.

"There is nothing which would allow the slightest clue as to creating or detecting one in the library. I believe the Headmaster has removed anything you would find directly useful, until after Harry has accomplished his mission."

"Directly useful?"

"Exactly. Is there anything else, Miss Granger?"

Hermione thought about bringing up the 'Half-Blood Prince', but decided not to. She was not about to bring up Ron Weasley again. It had been embarrassing enough the first time.

As the weeks passed, Russell saw no sign that Harry had gained whatever knowledge it was that the Headmaster wanted him to acquire. Things remained quite tense between Hermione and the Weasley boy, and so Potter was a bit on edge as well. Russell was a bit disappointed as January played itself out that Potter took no further interest in Lovegood. On the positive side, Hermione and Luna were spending a fair amount of time together, Luna coaching Hermione in the finer points of Tibetan and Sanskrit, Hermione teaching Luna the revealing charms and similar magic that Russell had been teaching her. Should something happen to both Dumbledore and himself, Potter would have two friends who could help him find his path.

Outside of his brief coaching sessions with Hermione, Russell's only contact with any of the trio outside of class occurred Valentine's Night. All the staff were on extra patrols that weekend, as it was a favorite time 'for couples to couple', as Flitwick had put it.

Russell had heard some soft moaning from a deserted alcove. As he approached, he heard a feminine voice coo, "Oh, Won-Won, that feels sooooo good."

Stepping into the alcove, Russell caught 'Won-Won' with his hand well-inside Lavender Brown's robes. He sent Brown running and dragged Weasley around behind him for ten minutes, lecturing him on proper behavior. Since Russell had done much the same thing during his Seventh year (without being caught), he only docked the pair of Gryffindors two points apiece.

Outside of Hogwarts, the terror attacks continued, at the rate of about once every eight-to-eleven days. Most of the easier targets had been hit by now, however, and that meant that the Death Eaters' success rate went down. The Ministry, of course, claimed this showed that their own anti-Death Eater measures were working.

The Order, and the more intelligent members of both the Ministry and the general community, knew that this was nonsense. At some point, either the Order or the Minister would get a lead on a real Death Eater or werewolf cell and attack it, or Voldemort's plan, whatever it might be, would spring into action, perhaps with Voldemort himself leading it.

Until then, the entire community was under stress, waiting for an attack to happen. General crimes, which had at first been down, now crept up, especially burglaries, as the less savory members of the magical community tried to take advantage of the fact that many summer homes had been abandoned by both sides, and a number of families had coalesced from far-flung small units into larger groups of the extended family, again leaving some property vacant.

As February faded into March, everyone was waiting for the next development.

Saturday, March 1, 1997

Russell came to breakfast in something of a daze. He had just come back from a stake-out, protecting a Muggle woman and her magical son. (Although she did not know her ex-lover had been a wizard, somehow a list of such children had been leaked by the Ministry to the Death Eaters the year before.) There had been an attack, but on another target, a Ministry official. The aurors had managed to protect the Ministry worker and her family, with three of the team members being slightly injured. They claimed they had hurt the Death Eaters more than they had been hurt themselves.

Russell enlarged his coffee cup into a triple-sized mug. He added sugar and magically removed a fifth of the water to make the coffee strong enough for what he needed that morning. He added just enough hot milk and sugar to make it drinkable and then sat back. He finally let his eyes roam around the great hall.

It was only then that Russell noticed that he was sitting by himself at the head table. He frowned, and then he noticed that there were some notable empty seats at the Gryffindor table, amongst a number of other empty seats. A glance at the Ravenclaws saw that Lovegood was also missing from her isolated seat at the table. A few notable Slytherins were missing as well.

Russell considered who was left, and then flicked his eyes back towards Ravenclaw. He beckoned Padma Patil up.

"Yes, Professor Russell?" she asked nervously.

"Do you know where the rest of the staff, not to mention all the Sixth year Gryffindors, a fair portion of the other Gryffindors, and Miss Lovegood might have gotten themselves to this morning?"

"I'm not totally certain as to what happened. . . ."

"Give me you best guess," Russell managed to say without barking. He decided he needed more coffee.

"I gather Ron Weasley got himself dosed with some sort of love potion that was meant for Harry Potter," Padma said. "Potter took Weasley to Professor Slughorn, and somehow, he got poisoned."

"Potter?"

"No, Weasley," Padma said.

"So, do you know who Weasley desired?"

"Romilda Vane; I think she's a Fourth year Gryffindor."

Russell frowned. "Why is everyone else gone?"

"A third of the Gryffindors are trying to see Weasley and the other third are trying to support them or helping to yell at young Vane. Lovegood always drifts towards anywhere that Potter, Granger, and Ginny Weasley all are. Professor Snape came and dragged some of the Slytherins away, probably to make certain they have alibis for however Weasley got poisoned. I'm not certain why all the staff went off."

"Well, if they wanted me, they would have called for me," Russell decided. "Thank you, Miss Patil."

"Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Patil?"

"If Hogwarts is closed, will you be offering any correspondence lessons?"

'Spoken like a true Ravenclaw,' he thought. Russell smiled. "If Hogwarts is totally closed down, I doubt if there'll be time for lessons of any kind."

Padma frowned, but said she understood.

Russell finished his triple coffee, and made himself another, wondering who the poison had been aimed at -- Slughorn, or perhaps Potter or even Dumbledore.

At that point, Vector, Sprout, and Flitwick came in, herding all the missing students except for Potter, Granger, and Weasley's sister. "Is the Weasley boy alright?" Russell asked.

"Well," Vector said, "he'll live."

"Things are as bad now as they were in 1978," Sprout said. "Let's hope they don't continue to get worse."