Reconstruction of a Death Eater

Nagini slithered silently along the stone flags and carefully coiled around her master's left leg. Her body contracted rhythmically as she circled, climbing higher, and across his groin, stopping to taste the familiar scent before she continued the journey up his torso. As her coil circled his chest, she touched her forked tongue to his lips in a gentle kiss before raising her triangular head to whisper in his ear. "They come, Master," she informed him before continuing her journey over his right shoulder, across his back and down to his waist and hips. Her body was oiled silk as the coils slid across each other with a whisper of scales, her length circling his right leg to pile in loose coils about his feet, guarding him as the three men he had Summoned approached.

"Ah, my trusted servants," Lord Voldemort hissed, a parody of a smile of welcome twisting his face. "Come closer, I have much to say."

Nagini watched with the unblinking stare of her kind as the fat rat approached and flung himself at her master's feet, careful not to touch her body even with his ragged clothes. Her master had promised her that, once the rat has passed his usefulness, he was hers to feast upon, such a delicious thought for the future. She said 'yum-yum' and the rat scurried away from her hissing laughter to crouch where he considered himself out of reach, her master laughed too. She allowed it for the moment.

Next came the pale one, always just that bit withdrawn and watchful. Nagini didn't trust this one; he was a mongoose man, treacherous and swift to dash in, bite and then flees. Of all, he was the least trusted by her, a danger to her master and herself.

"My Lord?" Malfoy murmured, going down on one knee and kissing the hem of the Lord's robes, the scent of expensive cologne and soap emanating from his robes, cloying and suffocating. He almost touched Nagini's coils, but a glance at where her head followed his every movement made him back away, careful not to seem rushed.

The snake came next; this one Nagini liked and wished he could speak the tongue as he intrigued her. He moved like a snake, smooth and powerful, gliding without noise over the flagstones. When he sank to his knees his head was on a level with Nagini and she brought her face close to his, flicking her tongue over his lips, tasting raw meat and wildness. He always smelt of exotic things, often indecipherable but rarely unpleasant. She liked how he did not flinch and she knew that he would fight honourably, should he have to.

"My Lord," he murmured as he smiled at the snake then kissed the hem with no outward sign of distress. He rather liked Nagini, she was so uncomplicated and very prettily marked. A pity she was what she was.

"My faithful servants." It was a smug statement which made Malfoy bristle. "Madam Malfoy brought me the thing I charged you with retrieving for me, Lucius. She tells me she was sent to the right area by your planning, therefore I will not punish you for failing to do my bidding."

"Thank you, Milord," Lucius murmured softly.

"Wormtail, do you recognise this toy?"

"Yes, my Lord, it is the soft toy Sirius Black gave to Harry Potter on his first birthday. I recognise it by the collar around its neck. It has a bell on it, a brass bell. Lily Potter thought it might come off and choke the brat, but the charm on it was particularly baby proof so she allowed her child to keep it."

Severus narrowed his eyes but held his peace. He remembered seeing a whole shelf of the plush toys in Zonko's, a whole rack of bloody Grims when he was shopping for Draco's Christmas present, and he had refused to even consider such a thing for his Godson. If he recalled correctly, every single one of them had brass bells on their collars, so there was a good chance that this was not Harry Potter's toy at all. Tom was speaking again and he returned his attention to the travesty of his ex-lover.

"Severus, I want a potion that will make this toy even more receptive to the sympathetic magic I plan to use upon it, to amplify the effects a thousand fold." The malicious glee washed over Severus in waves as he bowed acquiescence to the order.

"Of course, milord, as you will it," he murmured softly, his mind racing. A generic potion could be used, untailored to any specific person. That way there was a good change that the owner of the toy would be affected, but if it wasn't Harry Potter then two people were in for a surprise, the Dark Lord and the real owner, and neither of them pleasant.

"My faithful servants." Lord Voldemort smiled as he dismissed them without punishment.

~~*~~

Constantine Clearwater accepted the headmistress' hand and shook it gratefully as he took the seat she offered and the tea she poured. It was all very cosy in the Head's study, the portraits of headmasters past smiling or scowling down on him as he sipped his tea sociably.

"So, how are you finding the position as Minister, Constantine?" Minerva asked, remembering Con as the boy who used to torment her and her friends years ago. He had grown up rather well, married a fellow Gryffindor and had gone on to have a number of children and grand children, some of whom were still in school.

"Come now, Minnie, we weren't always so formal," he teased, taking one of the offered biscuits with a sly, merry grin.

Minerva grinned back. "No, especially after the frog incident," she reminded with an equally mischievous chuckle. "You were such a brat!"

They both laughed reminiscently before sighing. "And now we are important, powerful people in our society, and we need to find consensus before the, er, dragon drops its load on us." Con smirked as she chuckled and nodded.

"True, from fifty feet up probably, with our luck. So you do believe Voldemort is behind the Death Eaters, then?" she questioned frankly.

"Let us say that the Ministry, as a matter of policy, is willing to consider the possibility of You-Know-Who's return, but personally, I absolutely believe the red-eyed freak is out there and is as dangerous as he ever was."

Minerva visibly relaxed. She remembered Con had lost his wife to Voldemort's first rampage, and although Sheena had been one of her friends, she couldn't help but be thankful that Con knew first hand how dangerous Voldemort could be. "Then I think we can deal well together," she said softly. "Very well, there is something I have to tell you, but it has to stay between these four walls just at the moment. Albus is alive and well and living in the Room of Requirement at the moment."

"Albus Dumbledore? But ... but how?" Con burst out incredulously.

"You probably heard that Severus killed him but was then cleared through Albus' Pensieve. You probably thought, like the rest of the wizarding world, that it was an elaborate bribery and whitewash scheme, yes?"

"Well... yes, it seemed too far-fetched and blatantly self-serving to be real," the Minister admitted, his head cocked in interest.

"Good, that was the impression we wanted to foster. Severus really did not kill the Headmaster; he merely put his body into a death coma and put his spirit into limbo so the old man could recover from a dreadful curse that was slowly killing him. So, now the Headmaster is all better, we need to keep it very quiet until the right time, or Severus will suffer dreadfully for his deed. Voldemort will kill him very slowly."

"Without a doubt," Constantine mused slowly. "What do you want from me?" he asked, sipping his tea again.

"I want you to verify the headmaster's authenticity, run the exhaustive tests on his magic and his person to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt to all the sceptics he is who he says he is," Minerva stated baldly. "Even more importantly, you have to be able to convince that idiot Scrimgeour of his reality, which I guarantee will be the hardest task of all."

"Yes, Rufus is somewhat pigheaded," Constantine sighed. "Very well, I can do that for you. May I meet the headmaster?"

"Oh, of course. Albus will be here momentarily."

The minister rose swiftly and quickly took the hand Dumbledore offered, shaking it vigorously, a wide grin of welcome on his face. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Headmaster. I was wondering how we were going to be able to prevail against this evil we call Voldemort, but now I see it will be a darned sight easier than I envisioned with your support and powerful assistance," he gushed as they were both waved to chairs by Minerva.

"My dear fellow, you put me to blush," Albus replied with equally fulsome enthusiasm. "I know things are not as salubrious as they could be, but surely they are not as dire as to make the support of one old man so very important?"

Minerva glared as she realised the Headmaster was taking the piss, even if Con did not. "Con has agreed to test you and make sure your credentials are impeccable."

"I will, of course, need a pair of Unspeakables as witnesses, and I will need them to analyse your wand, your magical signature and your personal signature then we will lodge the documented evidence very quietly with the Ministry Keeper of Records. That way, you will be on file without making a great fuss of it."

"That sounds perfectly acceptable," Albus conceded with a merry grin. "So, Minerva, can we warm the teapot, do you think?"

She shook her head in resignation and proceeded to pour more tea.

~~*~~

Severus stared at the Headmaster in dawning horror, realising that this could be his last night on earth. "You want me to take the news of your resurrection to the Dark Lord before it hits the rumour mill or is leaked to the newspaper. Headmaster!" The Potions Master almost wailed as he studied the old man twinkling and smiling at him.

"I know, Severus, what I am asking of you is probably the most dangerous thing I ever have, but I fear the consequences to you if you do not 'come clean' to Tom as soon as possible."

"So, die tonight or die tomorrow, my choice, I take it," Severus sneered furiously, his glare so sharp it was a wonder the headmaster was not cut by the sheer intensity of it.

Albus hung his head before looking up slowly. "We can take precautions; cast protections over your vital organs and retrieval charms on you so that, in the event you are too injured to Apparate under your own power, we can pull you out. Severus, you are very important to us all, and I would no more abandon you to Tom's tender mercies than abandon ... Harry. But, Severus, only you are capable of fulfilling this assignment, only you have the ability to pull it off with any chance of succeeding."

"Flattery, Headmaster? I would not have thought it of you."

"Not flattery, my boy, a simple statement of truth. We all owe you so much that the debt is insurmountable, I fear."

Severus shivered down to his bones as he waited in the dank, dirty antechamber, formally a withdrawing room in the old Riddle house. Getting an audience with the Dark Lord was not something arranged lightly, and it had taken Lucius' intervention to actually make the appointment. Finally, the great doors opened and the fat rat beckoned Severus forward into the august presence of their Lord. As Severus approached the dais, he stared at the Lord, a shudder of distaste making him wonder where his head had been all those years ago and where his Tom had gone. This creature looked like nothing so much as a bloody Dementor. Still, conventions needed to be satisfied and Severus dutifully fell to his knees on the hard slated steps before his master.

"So, my Ssseverusss, you request an audience with me. What do you think is so important that you must attempt to order your Master around?"

"My Lord, a potential disaster, I fear, may be brewing. It is rumoured that Albus Dumbledore has been brought back to the land of the living. That the reason his tomb was desecrated last month was because the Order of the Phoenix discovered a method to bring him back from the dead!"

"You assured me you had disposed of the headmaster using Avada Kedavra, my Severus, did you not? Do you now have the audacity to tell me you lied to me?" Tom rose to his full height, glaring down at the Potions Master, his wand twitching in his hand. "You have failed me, my Ssseverusss! Crucio!"

Severus writhed on the ground, a world of agony enfolding him until he felt his head was about to explode. A curl of something rebellious moved in his mind and he forced himself to seek beyond the pain, to wrap his mind around the solid core of strength and stubbornness left to him. He was not an animal to crawl and mewl at the feet of his master while losing control of his bodily functions and his dignity. He realised the curse had been lifted, and Tom was furiously hexing and exploding everything else he could reach in his ire. Fumbling in his robes, he found a potion and drank it down, gathering his legs under himself and slowly levering himself up into a kneeling, then sitting position before the Dark Lord realised he was conscious again. Even as Tom swung on him, wand extended, Severus had had enough and without thinking he cast Silencio on the Dark Lord, much to his shock.

"That is enough, Tom, casting Crucio on the messenger is not going to resolve anything. Do you want to know how they did it? They used his pet phoenix's eld to grant him renewed life, blood of the son, flesh of the servant, hair of the brother, a similar formula to the one you used to recreate the body you are using at this moment. Instead of protesting what cannot be helped, I would suggest you start planning what to do about it," Severus snapped then lifted the hex, expecting to die in a few seconds.

The Dark Lord raised his wand but then sighed, sounding rather like his old self for a second. "Blasted old bastard, he's as tricky as a fox and as slippery as a snake. I sometimes wonder if he is really a Slytherin, rather than the Gryffindor he pretends to be. Still, he is but one man! Carry on with your assignment, my Severus, this changes nothing!"

Severus blinked then bowed to hide his shock. His shoulders never stopped expecting a killing curse as he made his way out of the presence and managed to apparate away safely.

~~*~~

12 Grimmauld Place was humming with activity, everyone there except Professor Snape, who had locked himself in his potions laboratory and refused to come out except for teaching, or so the rest of the world was informed. The Order knew he was doing his best to avoid having to report anything to You-Know-Who. As it was a general meeting, he had to avoid being seen by the general members too, since his role was a secretive and dangerous one.

Remus surveyed the fifty or so members gathered in the ballroom, the hospital cots pushed over to the side of the walls for the moment. He nodded to various people, acknowledging their greetings as he took his place before the temporary lectern and called for attention. The audience settled to a dull hum as he pulled up the first item of business.

"We have a number of new members tonight, as you can see. Each of the new members has sworn their loyalty to the Light and their willingness to join the fight to keep our world from plunging into the shadow of Dark Magic. After a great deal of discussion and soul searching, every single one of you has decided that we, the Order of the Phoenix, need a tangible and indelible mark to identify fellow members. There was a large measure of angst generated by this suggestion, after all a certain other cadre of antagonists mark their members with the indelible symbol of ownership and many of us were wary about, er, infringing copyright?" There were a couple of barks of laughter and some outright giggling at his droll expression.

"We gotta be more tasteful than that really bad copy of a Gothic tattoo," someone from the body of the hall commented loudly, causing even more laughter.

"Yes, I think we have come up with a much more tasteful design," Remus promised them when the laugher died down a little. "Filius Flitwick has designed the charm that will be used in conjunction with the transfiguration spell used to create the actual tattoo. Our own potions expert has formulated the ink and the headmaster's phoenix has donated the tears to make sure the potion is the best and highest quality of light magic we can muster. Everyone has had a chance to vote on the design and the number three design received the most votes. So, tonight, each person will receive their phoenix in the place they designate it, preferably on limb or neck. The charms make the tattoo invisible to the general eye unless you decide to make it visible. The spells and charms guarantee it will tingle in the presence of a Dark Mark and thus warn you of the presence of evil. When two phoenixes are together, it will feel pleasant and warm and thus you will know a fellow member. However, it will grow uncomfortable and prickling in the presence of a fake or danger. So, are we all agreed in this resolve?"

"Er, what about spies?" Alastor Moody asked, scratching at an old scar.

"Our spies in his camp will be marked but in a slightly different way. Filius has managed to... well, that is not important. Their spies in our camp will be unable to stand the penning process so we will each of us know if we are truly of the Light tonight. So, I will go first. As a Dark Creature, it should be interesting. Alastor, if you would be so kind?" Only a very few of his closest friends noticed the irony in his voice.

Alastor nodded and pulled out his wand, dipping the tip in the batch of glowing, opalescent potion Minerva held out. The spells were complex, but both Alastor and Minerva had learned them off by heart, saying them quietly and carefully as Alastor held his wand tip to Remus' biceps. The tattoo drew itself, absorbing the paint and the charms and glowing softly in the dimly lit ballroom, and then it disappeared. The skin remained smooth and unmarked except for a couple of scars. The susurration of speculation swept the hall as Remus peered at his own shoulder then rolled his sleeve back down with a pleased smile.

"Thank you, a perfect job, who is next?"

Minerva offered her hand and nodded approvingly as Remus said the charms in accompaniment with Alastor's wand work. The actual magical expenditure on each tattoo was not great; it was the complexity of the spells working in conjunction with each other and with the phoenix tears potion that gave such potency to the new badge of Light. Even so, the markers were growing very tired by the time they had marked everyone in the hall. Some tattoos were large, covering a shoulder or a thigh; some were tiny, on the back of a hand or on a cheek, but each was as potent as the other, indelible, incorruptible and incapable of being counterfeited.

Giving everyone time to admire the beautiful, glowing phoenixes they now sported, Remus finally called for order. "To show the tattoo, use the spell manifesto fulgoris while thinking of the marker. To hide them, think at the picture and say abdo fulgoris, this will make the tattoo disappear." As he spoke, Remus made his new tattoo glow and then disappear. The radiance for the phoenix even shone through his black Muggle-style tee-shirt very successfully. He almost burst out laughing as the crowd before him began to flash on and off like American lightening bugs. "Alright, people. Someone whom you do not know has agreed to assist us with the next part of the demonstration. None of you are to react in any way as this person is putting their very life in our hands to assist us at this point and if they are discovered, they will be killed instantly. Come in, please."

There were a few concerted gasps as a Death Eater entered the hall and glided smoothly down the central aisle, no movement betraying even the slightest clue to who it might be. Mounting the podium, he held out his left arm and rolled up his sleeve to reveal the Morsmordre in dead, living black on his forearm. Remus moved the bottle of potion near to the mark and the Death Eater hissed as the potion glowed white hot. Remus scratched his tattoo as it too began to react to the presence of the Dark Mark. He also noticed quite a few of the front row squirming as their newly created markers began to react.

"Potent, isn't it? It will cause you a bit of discomfort if I mark you now, you know?" he added quietly.

"Just do it, can't be much worse than this one anyway," the shrouded figure grunted.

"Where? Right hand? Ready, Alastor? Here we go."

It was not an effortless process for the Death Eater, a muted grunt of pain making the audience wince in sympathy as the phoenix was incised into the back of his right hand. They had to stop a number of times as the potion burned and bubbled in the presence of evil. When it was finally over, Alastor and Minerva had to catch the black robed figure as it slumped. Remus found a reviving draft and poured it into the white mask with a sympathetic expression. "Will you be alright now?"

"As long as the masking spell works, I should be, but I tell you now, the Dark Mark senses it. Others in the Dark Lord's society will know there is something up. May I suggest you do not mark anyone of a higher rank than I?"

"Suggestion noted. Sorry to ask this of you, but would you mind leaving while we make the next announcement?"

The mask nodded and the Death Eater moved away to the shadows at the back of the stage area. The crack of apparition sounded even as a door opened at the other end of the hall and another person came in. The whispers were not so contained and held no fear as an all too familiar figure wandered down the central aisle, nodding a greeting , shaking a hand or simply grinning as he passed. Tentative clapping broke out and grew stronger as the old man mounted the podium and was drawn into a tight hug by the headmistress.

"We have some good news," Remus began but the cheers and clapping from the hall drowned him out as the headmaster raised his hands and waved for silence.

"Now, now, people, listen to Remus. There you are, my boy, try now," he added as a modicum of silence fell.

"Thank you, Albus. As you can see, the headmaster is back from his long and most needed rest. The Ministry has confirmed he is who he says he is, magically, physically and spiritually. Now he is back, may the war begin and may the Light drive the shadows away from the wizarding world once again."

The cheering rocked the old hall as Remus spoke to the headmaster under the cover of the cheering. "I always wanted to say that!" he laughed in relief.