Shadow over the Urals

Author's notes: As always, I thank baghee from Perfect Imagination for the excellent editing, and for knowing my characters even better than I do! This chapter was hard to write, even harder to edit, and I feel a bit daring posting it, actually. It's got to be done, though, so here goes. Hope you like it!

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Chapter Seven - The Betrayal

The school was shrouded in darkness when Secessa opened her door tentatively and peered out into the semi-darkness. Nothing moved in the shadows from the lonely blue torch halfway down the corridor. Quickly, she stepped out and shut the door quietly behind her, clutching her message in her left hand and her wand in her right. The entrance to the turret Owlery was situated not a far walk from her rooms: just down past the Arithmancy classroom with its spectacular view over the Quidditch pitch, past some old storage rooms, and then round the corner to the left. Most of her path was very dark, and Secessa hurried down it as quietly as she could. The castle was as silent as a grave.

The door to the Owlery stayed mercifully quiet when she opened it, but the old wooden stairs creaked alarmingly as she ascended them to the second level, and she clenched her teeth at the noise, praying that Dolohov was far away at the moment.

Odin stayed quiet while she tied the message to his leg, almost as if he understood not to hoot. "Take this to Auror Alastor Moody, England," she whispered, and he nibbled at her finger gently with his sharp beak. Then he was off, flying high up into the starry night.

The trip back to her quarters went equally smoothly, and after quickly and guiltily putting on her nightdress, Secessa exhaled with sharp relief and crept into bed.

There would be no sleep for her, however. The night was very cold, and her room draughty and situated far from the heat rising up from the underground kitchens. Shivering underneath her blanket, she turned over restlessly several times before deciding to brave the chill of her room once again.

She had just put on her dressing gown and slippers when she heard voices in the corridor and, startled, she pressed her ear against the corridor wall. Distant voices echoed through the stones.

"... is absurd," said a firm, rough voice, which she recognised to be Dolohov's. "It is good that you came straight to me. I was highly opposed to the Headmaster employing women in the first place, and this incident proves my point completely. Trying to sneak in foreigners into the school, disregarding the rules on the basis of some foolish notion... disgruntled spinsters, all of them, incapable of rational thought! She will be dealt with, of course, once we have had proper words with her."

"Oh, believe me, I take this plotting against the Headmaster most seriously," came Ursus' irritating drawl, very close now. "My loyalty to the school is absolute, as I have told the Headmaster several times. I was quite -"

Secessa bolted for her wand. For a moment, she was paralysed. Then she concentrated hard, took a deep breath and pointed her wand at herself.

She clenched her teeth hard as her flesh rippled agonisingly, producing hair while joining with her clothes, and pressure squeezed her bones and muscle downward. Her heart rate increased, making her blood pound in her ears as her body screamed with the intolerable pain of shrinking. Bone grew out of her lower vertebrae, tearing out like a knife, and more fur formed.

She stood shaking on all fours, covered in thick, white hair standing on edge when her front door was blasted apart.

With a motion that cut her muscles with searing pain, she snatched up her wand between her teeth, dived into her clothes chest and burrowed down to the bottom, using her paws to cover herself in clothing. Then she lay absolutely still, waited for the creak of her bedroom door, and then held her breath.

Two pairs of boots entered her bedroom and stopped.

"Not here," said Dolohov.

"She's a clever one," said Ursus. Let me just check ... Homenum Revelio"

Magic tingled in the air, making the hairs on Secessa's neck prickle.

"Not here," Ursus said. "Intimus Revelio." The furniture on the room shook and the chest rattled discomfortingly. Soon, she would have to breathe, she thought. She was beginning to feel faint, and her lungs sucked at her throat, demanding air. A fox could only hold its breath for so long. "And she's not Transfigured," the Apprentice continued lazily.

"In the other room?" asked Dolohov, and they stepped out, shutting the door behind them. Secessa, who was beginning to see stars, let the air in through her nuzzle with a half-muffled whine that was covered by the rattling of her office furniture. She panted as quietly as she could and raised her ears.

"I shall search the castle for her," said Dolohov. "I'll have her by the morning, no worries."

Wood rattled aside as they both exited through the remnants of her door.

"Actually, I have seen Apprentice Laburova with Apprentice Krotova on several occasions," Ursus said. "Perhaps in her quarters?"

"We shall see," said Dolohov. "It would certainly concur with young Krotova's suspicious behaviour of late."

"If not there," Ursus said helpfully, "then, the library is another option. Mr. Cherniak is also a friend of hers."

Secessa seethed, and could not stop a quiet growl from rising in her throat while she listened as the steps turned the corner and grew fainter. There was no time to lose; she jumped out of the chest, spat out her wand and shrugged off some lingering pieces of clothing. She closed her eyes, and focused her will.

The second transformation was even worse, and Secessa let out another small whine as all her body parts grew with intolerable haste, a thousand knives stabbing her bones, her skin and muscle on fire as they stretched beyond their natural pliancy, and then she collapsed onto the floor, her legs shaking. Her breathing fast, she picked up her wand with one feeble hand. Cursing at her weariness, she sat up and wiped her damp forehead with the other hand, struggling for strength from some unknown place. The hand was soft, unusually so.

Looking down at her hands, she noticed her fingers were covered in sleek, shiny, white fur. Exactly what her teachers had warned her might happen. Cursing to herself, she tried to get up. She had to get down to the library! Her legs protested.

The pounding of a door echoed through the corridors. Clenching her teeth and feeling them ache all the way to her brain, she got up and slowly walked to the hole in the wall where her door had been. Her body protested again, but she overrode it, and tightened the belt of her dressing gown while carefully side-stepping the wooden splinters on the threshold. Her door, she noted, had flown across her study and lay blasted in half by the opposite wall.

"Yes," said Elena's frightened, sleepy voice from far away, and Secessa peered out into the semi-darkness. No one there.

Dolohov's rough voice echoed distortedly through the abandoned corridor. "... looking ... Laburova ... seen her?"

She could not make out Elena's reply.

"You don't ... I suppose?" asked Ursus' oily voice, muffled by the distance.

"... suppose ..."

Secessa stepped carefully over the wooden splinters, and walked jerkily up to a dark and shabby part of the corridor wall nearby. She had observed Khuditski as he was opening the door to this secret staircase several times on his way back from the staff room. Now, how had he opened it? she wondered, and tried to think. A vague recollection fluttered before her eyes.

Tentatively, she tapped her wand on the wall in a diamond-like pattern. It shimmered slightly, but did not open.

The screeching sound of moving furniture echoed through the corridor. Secessa anxiously tried the pattern counter-clockwise. The wall shimmered again, but would not budge. She cursed to herself; she had been fairly sure of the pattern. "Open up!" she growled quietly and glared at the wall.

"Legilimens!" Dolohov suddenly bellowed and then there was silence.

Secessa's heart nearly stopped in her chest. Desperately, she rapped her wand at the wall, hissing, "Open up!" Four stones shimmered briefly, and then dimmed again.

"Thank you ... Krotova." said Dolohov snidely, and a door slammed shut. Secessa tried to recollect her conversations with Elena, and felt her panic rising. How much had he found out?

"I shall ... Cherniak ...," said Dolohov, his boots resounding on the marble steps of the main staircase. "Thank you ... Apprentice Ursus..."

"...time ... Mr. Dolohov... tomorrow then."

Would Ursus take the quickest route to his rooms, or walk by her quarters to inspect the damage with glee? In answer to her question, she heard footsteps approaching. Her heart pounding wildly, Secessa tapped the stones, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise, and then, irritably, across horizontally and vertically. Suddenly, there was a door before her; it swung open, and she stepped through, shutting it quietly just as Ursus' footsteps turned the corner.

Standing on top of the secret stair, her blood pounding in her ears, she rested her forehead against the cold stone that had been the door as Ursus walked by outside the thin wall. He sniggered to himself, probably at the sight of the blasted door, and Secessa felt her anger grow, energising her. Her legs now feeling fairly stable again, she turned and broke into a run down the dangerously dark, winding staircase, thinking only of Vladimir and what Dolohov might do to him.

She nearly fell several times on her way down, only just catching herself on the thin, steel rail. Her feet had taken a severe pummelling by hard stone by the time she finally reached the bottom of the staircase. Feeling slightly dizzy, she tapped the wall with her wand and it became a door that swung open. She emerged at the end of the kitchen corridor, the library antechamber just ahead. Exhaling with abrupt relief at her accurate guess, she hurried down to it.

"Crucio!" yelled a rough voice, and she fell, slamming down onto the cold floor of the chamber, her body rigid from the sudden, unbearable pain. Fire burned her skin raw while her insides were torn apart, her vision distorted. All she could see was red pain, and she screamed, her own voice sounding muffled to her ears. She thrashed on the floor, her fingers tense and stretched with anguish, vaguely aware of no longer holding her wand.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Miss Meddler," came Dolohov's cold voice from far away, and she gasped with shock as a merciless boot stepped down hard on her wand arm. It snapped like a twig, and she screamed even shriller with the agony overload.

Suddenly, the pain went away, except for her arm, which throbbed dully, and she realised Dolohov was leaning over her. She panted hard. Her slippers had fallen off her feet, and the floor was very cold.

"There are so many ways to hurt you," he whispered in her ear. "Now, which shall I choose first?"

He stepped down on her broken arm again, she let out another, wretched scream. Then, a few feet away, the library door opened. She was immobilised immediately by a Body-Bind Curse, her body flung roughly at the wall to her right. Her head slammed into the hard stone, and stars floated before her eyes as she was fastened against it, a few feet over the floor. Helpless, all she could do was to watch the situation unfold.

"Mr Cherniak," Dolohov said, and strolled up to the centre of room. Secessa blinked. Vladimir stood before the closing library door, tall, dark and hooded, his wand out and his clear blue eyes flickering from where Dolohov stood, and then to her.

"The instigator, I believe?" Dolohov continued, and then he turned and rapidly brought up his wand. A silver light shot out at Vladimir, who quickly deflected the spell. It hit the corridor wall with a resounding crash.

Dolohov studied his opponent with thinning eyes. Secessa 's eyes darted between the two wizards, not quite believing her eyes. How come Vladimir had not told her about his Dark Arts abilities? He seemed to have told her chosen titbits of his life while she, desperate for companionship, had spilled all her secrets to him. The thought of her own stupidity made her face burn. Suddenly, Vladimir's unwillingness to send the owl gained a whole new meaning. What if all he had said was all a lie? Had he meant to hang her out to dry?

"A squib you are not. But a wizard?" Dolohov leisurely flicked his wand again, and a new spell flew at Vladimir, who started and parried at the last moment. The curse hit the wall next to Secessa with a terrifying, sizzling sound, leaving a crater in its wake.

Vladimir stood absolutely still, his wand at the ready, carefully watching Dolohov. The librarian's eyes were darkening, and his mouth twitched.

"It's your turn now, whispered Dolohov. "Or perhaps you haven't got the nerve?"

In quick succession he cast, one, two, three spells. Vladimir deflected them, they hit the walls, and this time, they drove up a cloud of stone dust. Dolohov raised his wand and cut through the thick air with a slashing movement; a purple flame flared towards Vladimir's chest. He instinctively jumped aside. The spell tore through his robes and pulverised the library door. With a snarl, Vladimir turned on his enemy and flicked his wand. The door splinters shot out at Dolohov, who set fire to them, sending them back. Vladimir Vanished them in turn, and suddenly, spells were flying wildly between them, crashing into walls and making stone splinters and dust fly in the air. And in the midst of it was Vladimir twirling on the spot in some sort of insane death-dance to avoid the onslaught of curses ...

The sound of a door slamming shut cut through the commotion, and Secessa tried to look down the corridor leading towards the staircase to the Entrance Hall. From her angle, she saw nothing. Neither of the wizards acknowledged the noise. Instead, stones flew through the air, only to be cast aside, a snake hovered briefly to strike over Vladimir and Secessa held her breath as he encased it into ice, which Dolohov turned into falling gravel. She stared at Vladimir in horror as he, dishevelled, parried spell after spell, but he was slowing, faltering...

"Stop it! Please stop!" came Elena's panting voice from halfway down the corridor, where she suddenly had emerged into view, running towards them. "You've got it all wrong -"

"Stay where you are!" Vladimir shouted as he stopped momentarily, and Elena froze, nearly toppling over. Secessa winced.

Dolohov turned slightly, leering widely as he threw a dark green jet offhandedly at Vladimir, who chose to jump aside, and another, sizzling crater formed in the wall behind him. "I will deal with you as well, not to worry," the caretaker taunted in Elena's direction before casting a swarm of daggers at Vladimir, who sent them to the floor with a heavy wave of his wand. Secessa noted worriedly that Vladimir's skin seemed to carry a dark glow, his skin rippling slightly in places. His blue eyes had darkened considerably now, and seemed cloudy. As Dolohov attacked again, Vladimir parried each spell sent at him increasingly wildly; one of them singed his robes and Secessa's breath caught in her throat again.

Suddenly, a flash of yellow light lit the chamber. Dolohov's eyes widened and he brought his wand around but it was too late. The spell hit his side and his large body fell heavily to the floor.

Vladimir sunk to the floor, too, his chest heaving. Secesssa looked around wildly, trying to assess the situation. Dolohov was down, but for how long? Was Vladimir injured? The air smelt acrid; clouds of smoke twirled through the room and slowly began to dissipate. Elena, slowly walked into the antechamber, her wand sweeping the room shakily. She wore tea-stained robes over her nightdress, and her hair was a black tangle.

Secessa tried to catch her eye, imploring her to help her down, but Elena's gaze was fixed on Dolohov's body, her trembling wand aiming at his chest. There she stood, as if in a trance.

Then, Vladimir lifted his wand slowly, sending Dolohov's wand sliding across the floor, out of reach. Dolohov himself did not move. Vladimir closed his eyes, shaking slightly, too, and then looked up at Secessa. The darkness in his opalescent eyes terrified her at the same time as the pain in her arm demanded her attention. She looked away, toward Dolohov. Had he acted on his own, or, perhaps, sent an owl to the Headmaster first? Would Karkaroff come himself or send someone? Could she trust Vladimir, now, knowing that he kept secrets from her? She gritted her teeth. What on earth had she gotten herself into?

Worst of all, here she was, hanging from a wall, completely outmanoeuvred. It was simply too humiliating.

As if sensing her thoughts, Elena suddenly said, "W-we must get her down." Vladimir was now looking at his hands. They were slowly losing their dark tint.

"Quickly, before he wakes up! I've only stupefied him." Elena's eyes darted nervously to the limp caretaker. "Oh, what will he do to me?" she moaned.

"You do it," Vladimir said hoarsely, and Elena hesitated before timidly raising her wand, sending Secessa gently to the floor, and then abruptly releasing her limbs. A small groan escaped Secessa's lips as her arm impacted with the cold stone.

"My arm," she said tightly. "It's broken." Elena walked up to her, briefly hesitating and sending Dolohov another frightened look before crouching down. She shakily traced her wand along the injury. Then, she took a deep breath, and gave it a flick. The bones fell into place and connected, and the pain lessened. Elena probed Secessa's arm with trembling fingers, from the elbow and up to the hand. When she reached it she paused, and stared at the sleek fur.

"This is not the time nor the place," Secessa said tiredly. "Thank you. Now, please, go back to Dolohov. We need to deal with him, and quickly!" Elena jumped up nervously, turning her wand on the caretaker.

Vladimir looked up, his eyes clear, but dark. He saw the hand, and gave a small start.

"Somehow I don't think you make a white rabbit," he then said lightly before slowly getting to his feet. He closed his eyes momentarily, made a vague attempt to brush some dust off his robes, and briefly lost his balance.

"A fox," Secessa said. "Winter coat. Saved my life." She did not meet his eyes.

"Can we please deal with Mr. Dolohov?" Elena said. She turned to Vladimir, taking care to keep pointing her wand at the man on the floor. Her arm was still trembling. "What are we going to do? He's the caretaker!"

"Memory Charm," he said. "It is the only way. He will cause too much trouble, otherwise."

After browsing the floor and finding her wand, Vladimir hoisted Secessa up from where she sat like a limp puppet. She flinched involuntarily at his touch, but he appeared not to notice.

"Can you walk?" he said. She nodded, and he let go of her. Then she wavered, and he caught her arm again. His mouth twitched, and then he turned toward Dolohov's lax body. His sooty hand was warm, and she steeled herself against the conflicting feelings rising within her.

"You know how to cast a Memory Charm, don't you?" Elena asked him hopefully.

"It is not a thing I have bothered to learn," Vladimir said grimly. "My self-tuition has been restricted to necessary survival skills, that is, transfiguration, curses and counter-curses. The Disillusionment Charm alone took me six years to master, and I still can't Apparate. So, do you?"

Elena nodded. She stepped over to Dolohov, raised her wand and closed her eyes, looking nauseous. The she opened them and quickly said, "Obliviate!" A bright, yellow light shot out from her wand and hit Dolohov's forehead. His head trembled slightly with the impact. Elena shuddered. Then she looked up at Vladimir and Secessa.

"That will probably erase a couple of hours," Vladimir said. "But we still need to get in touch with those English Aurors. Who knows whom Dolohov has been talking to. The quicker he is removed, the better."

Elena was looking at him, wide-eyed.

Secessa managed a casual shrug. "Well," she said, "if Karkaroff is not back yet, which I highly doubt, his fireplace will be unguarded ..."

A slow, stony smile formed on Vladimir's dusky face. "Then we will take Mr. Dolohov there. Let us hope his reinforcements will be a while, yet."

The Entrance Hall was predictably deserted when they emerged at the top of the library staircase. Secessa hobbled along on bruised feet inside comfortingly soft slippers, feeling her strength slowly returning and keeping her face carefully blank. Vladimir supported her on her left, and she tried to move her aching wand-arm as little as possible. If he sensed her reticence, he showed no sign of it.

A few paces behind them, Elena walked, trying to look unconcerned as she carefully floated Dolohov's Disillusioned body ahead of her. It was practically invisible in the dim, flickering torchlight. Their shadows danced an odd-looking dance on the stone walls.

Nervously, they walked up the marble steps of the Main Staircase, but no sound could be heard except for their shuffling feet. Most of the statues had decided to nap a little where they stood, and gave off soft little snores. However, Wilhelm Durmstrang, the 6th century Dark Arts legend and honorary school founder, was awake as always and watched their progress with thinning eyes, but when Vladimir nodded at him, he nodded back and did not make a sound.

The walk up the two flights was brief in the end, and then they stood by the wooden sofas and the small table in the tiny relaxing area outside the entrance to the Headmaster's waiting room. In the absence of the Headmaster's torch, the darkness was deep and the outlines of the plain wooden furniture just visible.

Vladimir stepped tentatively up to the door, opened it a fraction, and peered inside. He entered, pulling Secessa with him and motioning for Elena to follow. When she had closed the door behind them, he tapped the brass handle that lead to the Headmaster's office. Nothing happened.

"It seems I will have to ask for your assistance yet again," he said lightly to Elena and nodded at the door. "For now, I cannot seem to focus properly." Secessa gave him a sharp look and noticed that the circles underneath his eyes were very deep.

Elena lowered Dolohov's body to the floor and walked up to the door. After a sequence of tries that Secessa watched with nervous impatience, she managed to open it, and they hurriedly went inside.

The Headmaster's office was tidy, warm and partly lit by a couple of tiny, blue lights. Vladimir deposited Secessa in the chair by the desk, immediately walked up to the fireplace, and started gently tracing the mantelpiece with both wand and hand. Elena, her jaw set, firmly threw some locking charms on the door and started walking about the room, mumbling and waving her wand over the walls and the windows. Feeling superfluous, and unable to sit still, Secessa started going through Karkaroff's desk, a task that soon proved not to be worth her while. Nervously, she limped up to the window and peered out over the grounds.

*

It took a long time for Vladimir to figure out how to open up the Floo. Headmaster Gregorovitch had shown him ages ago how to do it, which meant he vaguely remembered how, but it was a trial and error process. Too tired to do it himself, he had to employ Secessa's not-so-steady wand-hand repeatedly in trying to lift ward after ward. At one point, Dolohov began to twitch, but Elena went deathly pale and quickly flung another Stunning Charm at him, which again knocked him out.

The moon had travelled some distance over the sky when they finally pried away the last blocking ward wearing Gregorovitch's signature.

"There," Vladimir said breezily, and blinked a few times. "It should work, now. The Headmasters set up this communications channel ages ago, but I think it is still sound. I will try it out, I think. Keep an eye on Dolohov, and on the grounds; this might take a while considering the distance. If we receive any visitors, kick at my legs and throw as many curses at the intruders as you can."

He looked from one girl to the other. Elena stood erect, her wand out while she watched Dolohov intently. Secessa, sitting in the window, did not look very well; her back was a bit sunken and her gaze expressionless and hollow.

He gave them a half-smile. "If you feel restless, see what you can think of concerning those furry hands. They might be hard to explain to the nurse, never mind tomorrow's students."

Secessa did not stir, but Elena nodded, not taking her eyes off Dolohov.

"I won't be long," he said and turned, bent down on his knees, threw some Floo powder onto the fireplace and stuck his head into the green flames. "Headmaster Dumbledore's office," he said, and his head started spinning wildly.

*

The floo-connection between Durmstrang Institute and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a communications floo only - considering the great distance, anything else was quite out of the question, despite the fact that it only connected two fireplaces. Even to use them for that purpose took time (though it was considerably faster than to travel - something to do with magical momentum, apparently), and hence, Vladimir grit his teeth and held his eyes shut throughout the ordeal, knowing that the combination of spin and ash would otherwise make him vomit into the fire that projected him. Not a grand entry, for sure. When his world slowly stopped spinning, and he realised that he had arrived at his destination some time ago, he cursed the insipid way of communication with a heartfelt "Chyort!".

"Now that," said a cheerful voice in English, "I must admit was quite unexpected. Let me see ... ah, yes ... Vladimir, I believe?"

Vladimir opened his eyes, and saw an old, tall, thin wizard with a long, white-streaked, auburn beard, sitting in a plush armchair straight in front of him, fingertips together, watching him. He was wearing a nightcap and slippers with a starry evening robe, and behind him, all around the room, an astounding array of silvery instruments, neatly ordered on shelves between large portraits and heavily draped windows, made soft clicking noises and sent off small spouts of smoke. The room was just as he remembered it. The man was not.

"Headmaster Dumbledore?"

The wizard smiled. "Age, I'm afraid, changes all men," he said mildly. Clear blue eyes scrutinised Vladimir. "Though some appear to change less than others. I would offer you tea," he indicated a teapot and cup standing on a table next to him, "but then, sadly, you are not really here...you must come in person, you know, and try my lemon sherbets. I assume the Deputy Headmaster sent you?"

"Why so?" said Vladimir, frowning.

"Then you do not know that the Aurors have arrested Headmaster Karkaroff for crimes against the British wizarding community?"

It took a few moments for Vladimir to compose himself. "That is complete news to me. I am here because we have had a little skirmish at Durmstrang between some teachers and our caretaker, who seems to have criminal connections."

"That is unfortunate. I suppose you are here because some of them are British?"

"It appears most of them are. He belongs to a group of wizards calling themselves Death Eaters."

The Headmaster straightened, his eyes sharp. "Now that is news," he said softly. "What is your caretaker's name?"

"Mr Antonin Dolohov."

"And where is he now?"

"He is lying stunned on the floor of the headmaster's office."

"Guarded, of course?"

"Yes. I know this is very untoward, but I was wondering if we could perhaps come to an agreement to circumvent the national regulations. Only the Headmaster can dismiss him, and we only have until morning before our stunning spells will have done permanent damage, if they have not already done so. Considering his psyche, he will most likely become very violent when he wakes up. We are afraid for the children."

Dumbledore suddenly stood up, his face serious. "I will see to the matter immediately," he said briskly. "Fawkes?". He flicked his wand, and a quill and a piece of parchment suddenly appeared on the table next to him. At the same time, the same beautiful, crimson, golden-tailed phoenix that Vladimir had so admired on his previous visit many years ago, came soaring down from what must have been a perch out of sight. The Hogwarts headmaster wrote some words down, folded the parchment neatly, and gave it to the bird. It disappeared in a flash of light. "I am sorry that our national difficulties have reached this far," he said. "The reply won't be long. If it is one thing we have learnt in these troubled times, it is to act quickly."

*

"You could just stun him again, you know, to be on the safe side."

Elena gave Secessa a shocked look, and then nodded before flicking her wand at the immobile body. The spell hit it with a dull thud, and she gave another shudder.

The wait turned out to be rather long, just as Vladimir had said, and Secessa was feeling extremely uneasy. Tired as she was, she kept imagining shadows running amongst the valley trees, only to identify them as animals and leaves in the wind. Flexing her hand for focus, she noticed that the pain of her broken arm was fading already.

"You'll have to have it checked up in the morning," said Elena, breaking their silence again after flinging another spell at the unconscious Dolohov. "I could have missed something."

"It doesn't feel too bad," Secessa said. "Just throbs a little."

"Mending bones is not that hard. You could have ended up with ruptured blood vessels and tendons, though, and that, I'm afraid, is beyond me."

"To be honest, I'm more worried about the fur. I was told about these sorts of accidents in class; they can be tricky to remove."

Elena managed to pull her gaze away from Dolohov. "Oh, that? Well, how about trying to shave it off for now? If it's not too deep, the furry skin will eventually fall off as your own skin rejuvenates. If it doesn't, just go the nurse one day and say you've been hexed. There must be some good potions around."

Secessa smiled thinly. "Sounds like a plan, I suppose."

"Shaving Charm it is, then, Elena said, and shot another, reluctant spell at Dolohov before stepping up to Secessa and nimbly shaving off the sleek fur with a series of quick wand movements while Secessa kept an eye on both Dolohov and the forest.

When briefly she looked down to examine her hand, the skin underneath looked far too soft and pink, and the nails were deformed and yellow. Elena's doubtful expression mirrored her own. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Thank you," Secessa said quietly to her, and returned her gaze to the grounds. "It's okay. I'll just put on some gloves. The school's certainly cold enough."

"I suppose it is," Elena replied timidly, and walked over to Dolohov again. Secessa looked back at her friend thoughtfully and saw for the first time how pale her face was, how straight her back and how thin the line of her mouth. What she had taken as sudden confidence was in fact a shy girl on the absolute edge. The notion calmed Secessa slightly; if Elena was still a coward, she thought, her world might still go back to normal. How else would she find the courage, she thought, to do what she had to do in the morning?

Then, suddenly, something inside her snapped open, like the unfolding of an ugly, twisted knot. Her eyes felt unusually wet as she looked at her friend, seeing things she had never seen before. Elena's courage tonight, she suddenly realised, had been extraordinary. She was not alone.

"Thank you, for coming."

Elena looked up, and gave her a slow, tremulous smile, which she returned with a small one of her own.

*

The moon had almost passed all the office's angled windows when Vladimir suddenly pulled his head out of the ashes, making the women start. He had a disoriented look around the room, and then put two hands to his forehead.

"I feel sick," he mumbled. His hood had slipped off, and Secessa stared at the white hair that framed his face in big chunks, glowing unnaturally in the moonlight.

"It's almost morning," she said after a while, having sent another glance out the window. "No visitors yet. What shall we do with Dolohov?"

He began to wipe soot off his face. "There will not be any visitors, from what I have heard. Apparently, they do not communicate except personally to their leader, and for that, Dolohov had no time. An Auror is coming to pick him up. I've made it clear to them that he must not know he's been betrayed. You two can go back to bed; you might still get a few hours' sleep." He slowly got up and carefully walked up to the desk. "I'll need that chair."

Secessa got down from the window ledge, her legs a little shaky with relief. One threat at the school, she thought, was more than enough. "What about Ursus? He intercepted the owl."

"Is he a threat?"

"He might become one."

Vladimir sat down with a sigh. "I suppose I could convince our guests to pay him a visit. Unless Elena here could break into his room and throw a Memory Charm on him in his sleep?"

Elena quickly shook her head.

"Very well, then. I'll speak to them. The Auror I spoke to seemed rather positively inclined. Now, if you could just apply another Stunning spell...?"

Elena did so, and he smiled weakly at them both. "Oh, and by the way, Karkaroff's in Azkaban."

*

An hour later, Vladimir had safely seen off a rough-looking Auror with only half a nose and the unconscious Dolohov (now bound and gagged) to the Apparition spot closest to the castle. The night was starry and very cold; his breath made clouds of smoke in the air as he walked back through the powdery snow. Vladimir was shivering when he entered the front gate.

"Good night, Mr. Cherniak," said one of the lynx statues, and he gave it a nod in return.

As it was late in the year, dawn was still far off and the corridors pitch black. It paid off, Vladimir thought, to have staff mostly comprised of old men who never left their rooms.

No caretaker would be there to light the torches in the morning, and from what Vladimir had heard from the Auror, there would be no Headmaster coming back either. He was not sure Heidrich Kohler would be very pleased to find out he had new responsibilities to deal with. As Deputy Headmaster, his position so far had been comfortably meaningless. Now he needed to take up the Headmaster's duty until Karkaroff resigned and left a letter of succession, which, considering he had no access to quills or visitors, would never occur.

Sighing, Vladimir opened the door to the library staircase. The school suffered from its old ways. He was not sure if it would recover.

There was one last thing to do. The library was, of course, deserted, when he entered. Secessa and Elena would be sleeping heavily by now, which was what he had intended. He walked up to the panel in the wall and drew the opening rune on it with his wand. The panel slid aside, and he removed the wards.

For a long moment, he stood staring at the scroll. Ancient preservative magic made it untouched by time, and no dust had settled on its top. He tapped a stone beside it, and it moved aside, revealing a small, grimy vial, which he took out and unplugged. Standing as far away as he could, carefully not to spill a drop, he slowly emptied it over the scroll, which sizzled, blackened, and then disappeared with a resounding crack and a flash of blinding white light.

*

Secessa slept restlessly. Confused dreams intermingled with each other, voices held conversations in her head and bright images flickered before her eyes in rapid succession.

A blinding flash of light on the insides of her eyelids woke her up abruptly, and she sat upright in her bed with a sharp intake of breath. She quickly got up, wavered for a moment with sudden dizziness, then recovered, grasped her robes and pulled them over her head.

"Mizil," she said, and lit her wand at the same time as her elf arrived with a polite crack. His black tea towel was immaculate as usual, and he bowed low.

"Mizil is most happy to serve Mistress," he said, "and is honoured to be called personally. Does Mistress wish for some elf-made cakes?"

"Actually, Mizil, I was hoping you could get something else for me, something from the house ..."

*

The darkness of night had just started to give away to the beginnings of greying dawn, and she could hear the doors slamming in the nearby Direwolf dormitory when Mizil arrived back, bowed again, and turned over a small package. A few minutes later, Secessa was standing outside the door of her dreams, her heart pounding. She knocked.

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Author's notes: As always, comments are very, very welcome. Might even make me hurry up with that last chapter... ;) . Any guesses on who's behind that door? I have given you clues, but did you notice them?