Et Nulli Miseretur

"I can't believe this still."

He closes his eyes. "Regrets?"

She cuddles up to him some more and lets her hand glide through his hair. "I can't believe this either, true, but I'm certainly not regretting anything. Are you crazy? No, I meant that Dumbledore's dead..."

"Me neither... And that Snape - Dumbledore's convinced me, you know? I truly believed that he was on our side."

"Yes! That's what I thought, too! How could he have been so awfully mistaken? I thought he had some sound piece of evidence, something he didn't want to share with us for whatever reason."

They abandon the topic and make love once more; only in the afternoon they come back to it when they're all gathered in the Burrow, around Molly's huge kitchen table. Even though Nymphadora's dead sure that Headquarters are safe as far as the Fidelius Charm is concerned, they also discuss if danger might not be coming from somewhere else. Voldemort might be incapable entering still, but Snape can. Molly's scared that he comes back and finishes the entire order like he's finished Dumbledore, and although her sons, her husband and most of the others aren't quite as frightened - they can overwhelm him together - the point's valid still.

"He's a murderer and a traitor, but he is no fool. He wouldn't dare to show up there!"

"What if he comes and blows up the entire house?"

"He's not suicidal either."

"We must not take any risks. We can't afford to lose anyone."

"But what else can we do? The Burrow has got some protective spells on it, but they won't keep the Death Eaters away for long! Where can we go?"

"Hogwarts, of course," Minerva says, looking bewildered that this should even be a serious question.

Kingsley shakes his head. "We've got to raid the entire castle first. The Malfoy boy made a passage; who knows what or who else got into the school on this way, hiding somewhere now and just waiting for their chance -"

She blanches. "Are you telling me you believe that Death Eaters are hiding in Hogwarts, with almost thousand children in there in this very moment?!"

"I don't believe they're in grave danger - with the exception of Harry, perhaps. We got to search the castle and that will take time. A whole lot of time, and ample of people. Frankly, I think we can't get started before the students have left, it'd be too dangerous."

"We can send them home at once," Minerva says weakly.

"No, each one of them is in greater danger there. Madam Abbott - the Montgomery boy - the Peppers - the Fawcetts - the T-"

"We got the point, Kingsley! Can we please come back to the question where we can go?"

The answer in the end is - well, pretty astonishing. Shocking almost. Arthur has come up with it, and the others agree more quickly than expected. Now all they've got to is persuade the muggles. Well, basically they don't really have a say in it, but it'd be politer to pretend that they do have a chance to choose.

Also, they take their time to interview Harry, questioning him once more about the events on the tower. Minerva, Kingsley, Nymphadora, Arthur and Remus are present, and except Minerva who's got to stay in Hogwarts, of course, they sit down in the Burrow afterwards to discuss the results.

"I don't mean to... Don't get me wrong, but - Snape hadn't got much of a chance there, had he?" Arthur looks around, his face apologetic. Molly is on the verge of exploding, but he gestures at her to be still. "Dumbledore was half-dead already, and even if the Malfoy boy hadn't finished his job, there were three - four other Death Eaters, Greyback one of them -"

"I've thought about this, too," Remus murmurs, looking at his pumpkin juice. "Harry said that he had heard that Snape has made the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa Malfoy -"

"See!" Molly shrieks, slamming her fist on the table. "See?!"

"Dumbledore knew that. Harry's told him. He didn't lose his faith in Snape nonetheless."

"Perhaps Dumbledore has simply erred in Snape's character -" Sturgis, who has joined them, says calmly, but meets with a lot of scandalised glares. It's strange - the evidence for Dumbledore's mistake lies open before them, still it's hard to accept.

"Snape needn't have given that Vow in the first place!"

"True... True. But he did, for reasons unknown to us for the time being," Nymphadora says pensively. "Dumbledore was a great Legilimens - and Snape is good with it, too, right?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"What if they... I don't know - sort of communicated, up there?"

"Not enough time. You've heard Harry, it all happened in a few seconds."

"You truly reckon that Dumbledore hears from Harry - in January! - that Snape's connected to the Malfoys, and doesn't talk to him about it once until the night of his death?"

"What do you try to say, Tonks, I don't -"

She shrugs; but Arthur answers instead of her. "The point is that Dumbledore wouldn't have survived the night, regardless who it was killing him in the end. He must have known that. Snape is no idiot, he must have seen it at once, too. Even Harry has foreseen it... Kind of. - Let me please finish this thought, Molly. Let's say, the Malfoy boy hadn't done it, and Snape hadn't done it either... Greyback would have slain him, most likely. Or one of the other Death Eaters. The Malfoy boy would have been executed straight away, too, most likely, or they'd have finished with him later. And Snape would have dropped dead on the spot, right?"

"And Harry would have been discovered," Nymphadora says. "In the moment of Dumbledore's death, the enchantment stopped, and had the Death Eaters stayed only a few seconds longer - because Snape had collapsed, or to turn to Draco for punishment or so - they would have discovered Harry and taken him -"

"Snape couldn't have rescued Dumbledore. Perhaps he would have managed to overwhelm one or two, even three, but never all of them, and Greyback... No, he couldn't have taken on him," Remus murmurs. "Dumbledore's life was lost this way or that, Harry's life was at stake..."

"You're not seriously trying to justify that murderer," Molly whimpers. She scowls at them all, as if each one of them was killing Dumbledore again with their considerations. "We're all lost - doomed - and you lot -"

"The problem is that we can't say anything for sure," Kingsley interrupts her casually. "For the time being, we cannot say what's been on Snape's mind, where his allegiances lie, what Dumbledore knew or not, if Headquarters are safe... It's good to think about these things, but for now, we ought to stick to confirmed facts and nothing else."