Reconstruction of a Death Eater

Chapter 40 - Know Thine Enemy

The pub was seedy and run down, the low beams smoke-blackened and time-grimed. The bulls-eye glass in the windows let in a minimum of light made less by the build up of soot and spider webs that may have been there since Elizabethan times when the pub was first built. Unfortunately, Elizabethan rooflines were not made for modern heights and the unwary could easily knock themselves silly, much to the delight of the locals who crouched like trolls over the filthy tables.

Severus was not unwary as he ducked through the low doorway, despite his height, his eyes adjusting readily to the gloom, although his nose protested bitterly. Within seconds he had located his quarry and glided over to the corner table, sliding silently into the seat opposite the slumped bundle of rags. For a moment he wondered if the creature was still alive, but a slow moving hand gathering up the tankard put pay to that question.

"What you want?" the slurred voice asked, a slurping noise indicating there was some sort of liquid in the tankard. The man tried to peer into the depths of the hood concealing the visitor's identity

"You owe me a favour..." The voice was unmistakable!

"Severus? Merlin's balls, you bastard, I thought you were dead."

Severus cursed the fact that Rosier had recognised his voice but did not remove his hood. "Likewise, Dylantin, but no such luck. Now, I want my favour."

Dylantin Rosier pushed back his hood to show a ravaged face, his habits taking a toll of his looks and magic. He snorted bitterly and finished his ale with a gulp. "What do you want? Money, don't have any. A blow job? Usually costs a couple of galleons, but for you.... Potions ingredients? I have none and I don't think my carcass is suitable for processing, too 'polluted', isn't that the Muggle way of saying filthy dirty? Information, who would tell me anything? They think I am not a good security risk. I would shoot my mouth off to the wrong person for the price of a fix. Hell, they only told me the raid on Hogwarts would begin at the next full moon, because they want me to lead the canon fodder to the slaughter. They figure the foreigners would take it better if a few Britishers were in the front lines with them. So we disposable, walking corpses are to go along and make sure the battle gets started. Do you ever get the feeling your life is a waste of time, Severus? Maybe I should have died gloriously instead of Evan, and perhaps then I would have been appreciated at home..."

Severus snorted in disgust, tucking away the titbit of information safely. "No one ever appreciates the living, not if the dead are so safely dead and beyond criticism," he agreed softly.

"Yeah well, there are going to be some very surprised families once the werewolves have finished the first assault, I can tell you, all those precious, saintly dead men walking!" He burst into cackles of laughter at his own witticism. "I have got to see their faces! You don't have a mausoleum, do you, Severus? Snapes don't need one, do they?"

"No, our dead tend to keep playing politics as long as there are warm bodies to feed on, inconvenient for their heirs, but there you have it."

"I knew you lot were vampires! Bet you some of the European ones are friends of yours? Should be a great reunion, for you."

"Well, depending on which families are going to be represented. Any ideas?"

The man scratched his scalp loosening flakes of dandruff and strands of greying hair indiscriminately. "Something like Aaron contract -"

"Aroncontre?"

"Yeah, and the mumblipongos."

Severus bit his lip. "Murem Blipengos?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Humm, probably best if I didn't get too close then, Murem and my Grandmother had a falling out about a hundred and fifty years ago, and vampires take feuding up to an art form."

"Haw! Maybe staying away from the Forbidden Forest would be a good idea then, that's where I am coming from with the vamps and a couple of giants."

Severus snorted and signalled the barkeep to bring another pint for the man. "Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed, and that day would probably be a good one to sleep in on," he mused as the tankard was slopped onto the table, a second dropped in front of him. Galleons changed hands, and Severus sat back pretending to sip the noisome brew. His nose detected a very badly brewed Draught of the Living Dead slipped into the ale, probably with a view to robbery rather than murder. Still, being unconscious in this tavern was not on his agenda for the day. Smiling slightly in the concealment of his hood, he cast a wandless spell at Dylantin, making him forget he had even spoken to Severus Snape recently and rose silently. The interest level in the pub rose dramatically, but no one moved as he made his way outside. By the time they did decide the drug would have worked, he had long Apparated away.

~~*~~

Knockturn Alley was permanently gloomy, the overhanging buildings pressing down on the narrow, cobbled streets. Robinton The Apothecary had a back door leading straight to the warehouse where people could slip in rather than use the front door and be observed in the course of their business. Severus Snape was a well known customer at both the front and the back door of the shop, the assistant letting him in well after closing time as instructed. Master Robinton came immediately on being summoned and perused the list of ingredients the Potions Master handed him with a knowledgeable air.

"Bulk Wolfsbane potion then," he commented casually and found a long, pale hand wrapped firmly around his throat, his toes barely touching the ground.

"We do not speculate, we do not think, we simply fetch or we do not have a life, never mind a business, is that clear?" Severus murmured in the old man's ear, ignoring his deepening shade of purplish blue.

The old man barely managed to nod, blessed air flooding his lungs as the hand was withdrawn. "Certainly, Sir, no chat, no thought, just fetch."

Some of the ingredients on the list were definitely not for the Wolfsbane potion but Robinton Senior was wise enough to keep that information to himself. He knew there would only be one warning from the gaunt Potions Master, and the Potions Master's Master did not tolerate failure of any sort. Once the order was assembled and packed into boxes, Snape shrank the boxes down to pocket size. He handed over the five hundred galleons without a demure and watched carefully as the potion the money was coated with began to do its work. In seconds the old man had forgotten who had handed him the coinage, and a few seconds later his assistant, who had to put the money into the Gringotts holding vault, had also forgotten all about their late night visitor. Snape slipped away without a trace and Apparated back to the edge of Hogwarts' grounds.

As he walked from the gates to the huge front doors, he surveyed the area by the light of the almost full moon with an eye to concealment and attack. Much as he loved the terraced banks of flowers, and shrubs carved into fantastic beasts and birds, he knew they would give far too much cover to anyone trying to creep up on the walls. He knew there were wards and charms to monitor the progress of an intruder, but they were more or less set to monitor a single intruder. Severus worried that multiple intrusions would overwhelm their defences leaving them vulnerable in a crucial area. Sighing deeply, he slipped into the nearest entrance then realised all the small, side entrances had to be blocked up or at least concealed from casual notice. 'Merlin, it was all too hard, and he was getting far too old for this,' he thought wearily as he entered his dungeon and, leaving the boxes on the table, tossed himself face down on his bed, asleep in seconds.

~~*~~

"Headmaster! We have to face facts, not bury our heads in what we wish was so. If Dylantin is to be believed, we will be facing Inferi as well as werewolves, giants and vampires, probably trolls too. I don't care if only a madman would turn Inferi loose in a school where there are young and helpless children. Do I need to remind you that we are dealing with a bloody raving nutter, in case you have forgotten!"

Snape on a rant was something to behold, even Alastor sat back to watch the great bat swoop up and down the length of the headmaster's study, foam almost flying from his lips in his ire. A vein throbbed in the Potions Master's temple, and a number of the seated watchers wondered if he was going to stamp his feet so great was his temper. Then suddenly the impending tantrum simply disappeared, the usual cold, supercilious mask dropping over his face. "Whether the information is true or false, is not the issue, we need to be prepared in case it is true and that way we will not be caught short if the worst comes to pass."

"Now that was impressive," Ron murmured to Draco as they followed the Potions Master's stalk back to his seat.

"When he has to go into battle, all that repressed anger will come flooding out as useable power, you realise?" Draco muttered back softly.

"Pity Mum never learned how to do that, she just lets fly," Ron replied then sat up attentively as the headmaster began to speak.

"Gentlebeings, while I sincerely hope Tom is not going to bring Inferi to Hogwarts, we will, as Severus suggests, be prepared for the worst. Minerva, the wards need to be altered to alert us to their presence. Alastor, can you teach our trainee Aurors how to defeat an Inferius? What to do if they are confronted by one? Severus, is there any way to 'neutralise' the spells and potions used to create them?"

"It is quicker to completely destroy them outright than try to neutralise them as it takes more power than a simple blasting spell," Severus replied heavily. "Just decapitate them."

"Ah, and the werewolf situation, Remus?"

Remus looked up finally, his face drawn and tired as full moon approached. "Our ladies have discovered there are thirty-two werewolves fighting on the other side. Between eleven o'clock and six thirty the next morning we are all going to be in wolf form and at our most deadly. Is it in any way possible to make enough Wolfsbane Potion to dose say twenty of our werewolves, so that we can retain our intelligence and direct the others in the fight as necessary?"

Dumbledore began to answer but was cut off by Severus who snorted. "The potion is already brewing, enough for seventy wolves, thanks to the assistance of Madame Pomfrey, Madam Malfoy and Mister Malfoy. There is also another potion we are brewing, rather experimental, but it seemed to work on the only volunteers the Dark Lord managed to, er, acquire, Fenrir's handiwork, I believe." A shiver went down every spine as the Potions Master looked up. "Oh, don't worry, it was deemed a failure as it did not kill the recipients and thus was abandoned. In fact, there were no after-effects at all; the werewolves came out of their transformation as healthy as they went into it."

"And what potion is that, Severus?" Albus asked softly.

"It prolongs the transformation for up to twenty-four hours after moon set," Severus said softly, staring at Remus who blinked in surprise.

"But why would you want to do that?" Harry asked in surprise.

"I didn't, I was instructed to brew a poison that would cause the werewolves to tear themselves apart when they began to transform, interrupt the smooth flow and cause them to end up a pile of shredded meat instead of either a human or a wolf. As I said, it was a failed potion, unless you want to keep your werewolves at their peak of efficiency and ability to fight. What do you think, Remus? Willing to try it?"

Remus shivered for another reason but then he nodded decisively. "Yes!"

There was a storm of protest from around the table, but the three werewolves present simply sat unmoved until the group settled down again. "If the Potions Blender can give us more weapons to fight this evil, then who are we to refuse? Headmaster Dumbledore, you need every person you can field to try and defeat this evil. If you fail to defeat him then our lives will be a short miserable existence with certain death at the end of a few weeks. At least this way we can be of more use to the cause and perhaps managed to tip the tide into your favour." The Alpha Prime of Great Britain spoke, not merely Jonathon McCarthy, and there was no arguing with his logic.

"Very well, we accept your offer," Dumbledore nodded, "but is there any way to test this potion before we use it, en masse, so to speak?"

"If we had the luxury of time, yes, but we do not. The werewolves willing to be part of the experiment must take the dose this full moon. If the Dark Lord fails to attack then we will have the time to study the effects, or lack of them, more closely," Severus said in measured tones.

"I will call for volunteers," Lypy said resolutely. "How many can you handle?"

"About seventy," Severus stated without hesitation.

"Looks like we are recruiting," Lupin grinned.

"Werewolves, trolls, vampires, giants, has You-Know-Who called up every dark creature he can get his hands on?" Draco asked in amazement.

"Any creature, dark or not, who can be charmed into spilling their life's blood in his cause," Snape said musingly. "He has appealed to the lowest possible levels of all those societies where the disaffected and the discontented dwell and dream of better things given to them without effort on their part."

"'No such thing as a free lunch'," Harry quoted absently, a frown pulling down his brows over his nose. "How do we stop giants and trolls?"

"Oh, we Aurors have a few little tricks and traps that will help take care of those types of creatures," Alastor assured him with a cackle of maniacal glee.

"If it is possible not to hurt the trolls or the giants, I would appreciate it. They are not the most sophisticated of the non-human species and really do not deserve to die for their mistakes," Dumbledore said softly into the silence caused by the old Auror's laughter.

Alastor simply shook his head in disgust before nodding reluctantly. "Are we going to bring up a cadre of Aurors before the attack starts? We may not get a chance once it is begun."

"The Minister has been kind enough to allow a team of fifteen Aurors to be stationed here at Hogwarts on a permanent basis until the crisis is over and on the dates we suspect there will be an attack, he has authorised the addition of a further thirty Aurors. So, we should have a rather well trained unit on hand," Minerva said in satisfaction.

"If they get through in time and if Scrimgeour doesn't do something to screw us up," Harry muttered grimly, a few eyebrows shooting up.

"Why do you say that, Harry?" Remus asked quietly.

"Oh, come on, Remus, Rufus Scrimgeour hates me and will go out of his way to make sure he does me over at every turn, be he Minister or Head of the Aurory. If he could somehow prove I was telling lies at any point, he would toss me in Azkaban, make no mistake about that."

The adults at the table glanced at each other, clearly unable or unwilling to believe the teen, probably putting it down to some teenage hang-up, Harry thought grimly, but Ron and Draco were convinced he was quite right in his summation of the ex-Minister's attitude toward the Boy Who Lived. Wisely, Dumbledore moved the discussion on further before any arguments could break out.

They discussed provisioning and the evacuation of the castle, how the teams of Aurors, trainee Aurors and werewolves could be best used, who might come in from Hogsmeade if they were called and how many ordinary citizens were likely to step up if a general call for help was issued. Even if general citizens did come forward, were the defenders willing to allow them into the castle in case they were agents for the Dark Lord and how could they reliably test for such traitors amongst the rank and file.

"There's a lot more involved in planning a defence than I even dreamed about," Ron commented as they broke for a cup of tea and a snack. "I never even thought about drinking water; it just comes in a glass, doesn't it?"

"Right up until the opposition poisons the reservoir," Snape commented, picking up a small salmon and cucumber sandwich and devouring it in two bites. "Food, too, has to be carefully conserved and stockpiled in case no more can be brought in or in case the current provisions are contaminated in any way. Food poisoning has put pay to more very good defences than siege or bombast ever did. Good sandwiches, by the way, do try some." He wandered off, leaving a smirking Draco in his wake, Ron simply staring with his mouth hanging open until Draco shut it with a finger under his chin.

"You really are going to have to stop looking like a fly trap, Weasel," Draco commented, taking one of the recommended sandwiches and avoiding Ron's half-hearted slap.

~~*~~

Having the four Elements at his beck and call was a truly soul satisfying feeling for Lord Voldemort. Anything he wanted was his for the asking, or the taking. A Muggle village displeased him and a sea of mud engulfed it, a half-blood family defied him and lightening destroyed their homes, their lives. Power lay at his fingertips, more than he had ever controlled before, intoxicating in its siren song of glory. Still, he was wise, using the Elementals sparingly, knowing they resented the harnessing of blood and ritual he had cast upon them. If they saw a weakness, they would exploit it and so Lord Voldemort hid himself away in Little Hangleton and plotted, planned and waited, making sure he had every aspect of his campaign mapped in his head, if not confided to his minions.

Over the years he had created Horcruxes to hold fragments of his soul, to guarantee immortality, but various pieces had been discovered and liberated. Most had dissipated and gone harmlessly away; a few small soul fragments had returned to him, limping and weakened, but not all! There was still one fragment out there which would anchor him in case of the unthinkable happening, his 'hole-card', he sniggered. Still, when he faced the brat last time, there had been one fatal flaw in his great working, a weakness that had been turned against him and exploited by whichever guardian spirit followed the boy. To eliminate his last weakness, he called upon the Elements and drew from them the very heart of the land, smelted and moulded it with the fires of heaven, filled it with the breath of the skies and quenched it in the tears of the earth. No pathetic wand would he take into battle to turn and betray his hand, never again would the weakness of wood twist against him as he faced his puny foe and strike at his success. Never!

Thunder and lightening, wind and tremor danced and jerked to the force of his vow.

~~*~~

The final plans were not complete in any shape or form, merely an outline of what could happen if the Dark Forces did this or that. The school had been sectioned off and a solid core of fighters assigned to each section, a floating force ready to move to any section that needed reinforcing throughout the encounters. As Draco pointed out most astutely, a heavily planned reaction would only be a disadvantage as their opponents would actually dictate the shape of their defences. The werewolves would be the most heavily engaged group having been assigned to the main defence of the grounds.

Harry protested about exposing them to needless danger only to be gently curbed by Remus, who pointed out that werewolves were creatures of shadow and movement more suited to roaming the grounds and attacking anything that moved. Confine them to the narrow corridors and hallways of the castle's interior and their effectiveness would be blunted or totally lost.

If the Dark Lord brought in the inferi, then the werewolves were to keep clear of them unless they had a real chance to tear the bodies apart. Jonathon McCarthy was somewhat reluctant to expose his people to the dangers inherent in sinking their teeth into what was in reality dead flesh animated only by magic. Remus looked a little green at the thought, and Lypy quietly disappeared into a corner and vomited into a wastepaper basket before returning a little pale and shaky to their discussions, her determination to fight unshaken. The rest of the war council were amazed and somewhat humbled by the resilience and determination of the werewolf contingent and were determined to do no less for the war effort. A resolution was passed to set the werewolves at the trolls and giants to help keep them safe from the Inferi who would need magic rather than raw physical strength to bring them down.