Resurgence of Evil

CHAPTER 9

The next morning, after waking up in one of – actually, the only – spare room in the house, I began to examine the neon green fluid expelled by the mark. I started titrating small amounts with various potions, to collect knowledge of the liquid. So far, the symptoms were vague enough to tell me almost nothing about the substance. Observing the reaction of the substance with Polyjuice Potion, I had just enough time to dive over the opposite side of the bed and cover my head.

An explosion rocked the house, and the walls shook. White dust rained down on me, and the floor shifted. I peered over the side of the bed just as the door flew open, rebounding from the wall and almost hitting the frazzled group of people standing in the hall.

"That was worse than anything Fred and George ever did in here," commented an amused male voice.

"What happened?" The female voice was annoyed. I squinted through the dust. Ah. More red hair. And behind them –

"I suggest that anyone you have who is using the Polyjuice Potion to spy on this new leader leave before they're given the altered mark," I commented, trying to sound casual. The table was nearly obliterated, and there were scorch marks all over the previously pristine walls. My vials, all charmed to be unbreakable, were fine, mercifully. I moved out from behind the bed as words were exchanged among the four.

"We need to talk," said Hermione seriously.

"Fine," I said, picking up bottles. "But I have work to do, so it’ll have to wait."

"It can’t," was the firm answer.

"My work can’t wait," I said, irritated. After all, they couldn’t truly understand the seriousness of the situation. I gathered the remainder of my bottles and moved to the kitchen, returning to my deliberations on the green substance. Steps followed me.

"I expect you’ll want to know everything that happened," I said.

"Yes, we do," came Sirius’s deep voice.

"Alright," I said, ignoring them as I resumed testing the substance. "It began almost three weeks ago. I was meeting with Ed Morrison, in Hogsmeade. He was another former Death Eater. Only joined to save his family. Anyway, both our marks began to glow, and he told me that there was a new leader to the Death Eaters who had found the controller key to the marks and had altered the effect. He knew how to counter it, however. This leader had only told some – the trusted – how to deal with the marks. Ed was trusted because, even after he’d been placed under the Imperious Curse and made to kill his family, he remained with the Death Eaters. Anyway, instead of saving himself, he showed me how to deal with the alterations. He died, a few minutes later.

"Ever since then, this leader has periodically activated the mark. I believe it also allows him to locate me, and he’s sent Death Eater parties to make certain I’m dead. By now he’s aware that I know how to counteract the effect of the mark."

"What is that green stuff?" asked Ron.

I glanced up at him. "As best as I can tell, somehow it produces the same effect as Avada Kedavra. There’s no substance I know of that has any affect on it at all."

"Symptoms?" Lupin inquired.

"For those who don’t drain the fluid, instant death," I said abruptly, placing a cork into the mouth of a bottle and swirling the contents gently. "Survivors experience nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite. It also speeds the metabolism, raises temperature, can cause blood clots, and lowers blood pressure."

Ron’s brows raised. "So is it killing you, then?"

"Don’t sound so pleased," I said dryly. I held the bottle up to the light, noted the color of the resultant potion, and jotted a few notes down. "It’s not, but it could be. And it can, if I don’t drain the fluid off before it enters the bloodstream. Short of amputating my arm, I haven’t yet figured out what to do about it."

"Amputation sounds like a practical choice," said Hermione with a straight face.

I paused in mid-reach, and glanced at her before grasping a flask of water for dilution. I hadn’t been joking.

"How often has this been happening?" she asked, sobered by my lack of response.

"Roughly once a week – this last episode was early, however."

"And this is why you’re drained," said Harry certainly. "Not because you were healing. You lied."

"Yeah," I said bluntly. "I did."

"Why?"

I actually turned around for this question. "You really are a naïve fool." I held up my hand to forestall protests, and continued. "What information could I possibly have given you that you didn’t know already? You knew that there was a new leader to the Death Eaters who was somehow causing his minions to die. There was no reason for me to tell you."

"You had this information weeks before we did," snapped Ron. "Why didn’t you tell someone what was going on?"

"Why should I have?" I demanded. "Anything I would have told you would have resulted in the demand that I take veritaserum to confirm the information. Unfortunately," I said bitterly, "I would be too incapacitated to deal with the effects of the calling as a result."

"The calling?" asked Lupin, who had a strange look in his eyes.

"Yes. The activation of the mark is a call to the faithful. Those who are not faithful die – either at the hand of the new Lord and the Death Eaters, or from the mark’s vengeance."

"But - " Harry was obviously confused, from the bewildered expression on his face. "I didn’t feel anything," he said, absently rubbing at his forehead.

"Why should you?" I countered. "You were linked to Voldemort, not to the Death Eaters, and certainly not with this new leader." I grimaced. "Though now we’re lacking a good warning system."

"What about the mark?" asked Hermione cautiously. "At the trial – you could feel Voldemort."

I shook my head impatiently, eyes on the samples in front of me. "No, this new leader has altered the design somehow. It no longer works that way – instead of the Death Eaters being collectively aware of the Dark Lord, this Lord now keeps watch over the Death Eaters. It’s not a perfected skill yet, but it takes a massive amount of power to just attempt something like this without going insane."

The others exchanged glances, and began talking in low voices. I reached for three different potions, none of which I had tested yet, and began adding small amounts of the glowing green liquid to samples of the potions contained in trays with small wells.

The conversation behind me was cut off by a sudden crash, as I threw myself off my chair. Seconds later, there was an implosion and several bottles exploded, despite my charms. Half the table was in flames.

"What was that?" asked Sirius, coughing as the last remnants of smoke were dispelled.

"Veritaserum," I said grimly, lowering my wand.

With a look of sudden apprehension, Harry went pale, and excused himself to Apparate back to his office.

Looking worried, Hermione suddenly said, "Ron!" She turned to him, and began speaking quietly, urgently, in his ear.

Ron shushed her, holding her close. I picked myself up from the floor, brushing glass from my clothes, and glanced at Black and Lupin, who were talking quietly together. I looked at the second table I’d exploded that morning, and shook my head. A slight ringing split the silence and Ron, Lupin and Sirius looked around, wands out. I said, "Calm down." But I frowned. Who would be calling me now?

I walked out of the room and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. "Hello?"

"Hello, son."