The Last Sanguimagus

"She must have gone somewhere else," said Ron, shrugging his shoulders.

Harry looked around Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, still surprised that Hermione wasn't there. "Maybe the passageway behind the mirror?"

Ron nodded and they began to walk down the hall. "Too bad we had Quidditch practice last night," he said. "Or we could have at least talked to her about--"

"Looking for your Mudblood girlfriend, Potter?" asked Malfoy loudly, accompanied by a few of his friends.

"Out of the way, Malfoy," said Harry.

"I'd look in the kitchens," he drawled. "She's probably helping the house-elves with lunch."

"Shut it, Malfoy," said Ron, his face flushed.

Pansy smirked and hummed "Weasley is our King," and the others laughed and continued their way down the corridor.

"Let's go find Hermione," said Harry, trying to ignore the now-echoing rendition of the Slytherins' song.

Ron said nothing as they clambered up the stairs towards the fourth floor. The mirror slid aside, and they stepped into the small passageway. Hermione looked at them expectantly.

"You should have left us a note," said Harry.

"You did nick the potion," said Ron in a tone that was part awe and part horror.

Harry looked at the table next to Hermione. It was set up with small bottles and a cauldron, and several books were haphazardly strewn about.

"I've been analyzing the potion sample," she said breezily, as if she had purchased it in Diagon Alley. "Last night and this morning. It's amazing."

Harry was torn between a desire to shout at her for doing something so dangerous, and curiosity at what the potion was for. Curiosity won out. "Well? What is it?"

"I don't know," she admitted. Ron looked as though he was about to say something. "I've tried everything I can think of to find out what it does, but I still don't know exactly what it is. Though perhaps..."

"What did you think it was for?" asked Harry.

She chewed on her lip for a moment. "I thought...well, I thought it was something...a Dark Magic potion. Something Tanner had asked him to brew...maybe she wants to exchange it for something from Voldemort."

"I don't think she's a threat, or in league with Voldemort," said Harry.

"I think Professor McGonagall is suspicious of her," said Hermione. "And so am I."

"Dumbledore trusts her," said Harry.

"What makes you think that she is in league with Voldemort?" asked Harry.

"When the Death Eaters abducted her, she said something about Poland. And then Ron said that she made some sort of deal with them...and now she's back at the castle! People don't just walk away from Voldemort. She had to have made some sort of...arrangement with him in person!"

"The deal she made," said Ron quietly, "was for our lives." Harry and Hermione looked at him. "She didn't want them to hurt us...she said that she would come with them voluntarily as long as they left us alone...and she said she'd hurt them if they tried to get out of the deal." He swallowed nervously.

"Oh," said Hermione, looking surprised. "I didn't know."

"You were hexed," he said.

"It still doesn't change the fact that she is a blood witch," said Hermione, though she had an expression of doubt on her face. "Professor McGonagall says that blood witches--"

"McGonagall knows?" interrupted Harry in disbelief.

"Well, yes," said Hermione. "She told Dumbledore not to hire her, that Tanner would be trouble. You wouldn't believe the stories...Tanner was right about their history. The Sanguimagi were horrible. They sacrificed animals...wizards...babies..." She shook her head. "She comes from a long line of evil, terrible wizards. We need to watch her closely."

"She hasn't made any attempt to wrap me up like a present and give me to Voldemort," said Harry hotly. "She hasn't even attempted to talk to me since she gave me the amulet. She's had a month's worth of chances to do something, and she's done nothing. She could have just let them take us to the Death Eater meeting, but she didn't. Tanner isn't a threat to us...she's even teaching us defensive talismans!"

Hermione suddenly looked uncertain. "McGonagall says..."

"People said I was crazy," said Harry, anger rising. "But I'm not. Tanner isn't aligned with Voldemort. She's not evil. Just because she comes from a line of evil wizards doesn't make her evil too." He laughed humourlessly. "I'm bonded to Voldemort, the most evil wizard anywhere, but you still trust me and you're still friends with me."

Hermione bit her lip. "It's just...she's so...cold. And she...well, she just feels Dark somehow."

"What made you break your promise?" Ron looked at her, mystified. "Why'd you tell McGonagall?"

"I didn't tell McGonagall," said Hermione. "Besides, what we swore was that we wouldn't tell anyone her secrets. McGonagall already knew because Dumbledore told her. She told me to be careful around Tanner, and I asked why, and she told me some stories about the Sanguimagi." Her eyes strayed to the cauldron on the table, and she took a deep breath. "Well, one thing's for certain. This potion isn't Dark Magic at all."

"It isn't?" asked Ron.

"It's some sort of attractant," she said, picking up one of the bottles and examining it closely. "It has qualities that would lend it to drawing another potion, I think. I can't tell what potion it draws, or why this would be necessary." She put the potion sample back on the table. "It is quite complex, though, and some of the ingredients are frightfully rare and expensive."

"And you're certain that the greasy git brewed it for her," said Ron.

"Absolutely," she said. "We watched him make it in class once. Or at least I did. It's very complicated and I doubt more than a few wizards could brew it, honestly." She looked like she wanted to try as she stared longingly at one of the vials. "I wonder what he uses it for, or what she uses it for."

"I wonder how she's paying him for it," said Ron thoughtfully.

"What?" asked Hermione, surprised.

"I mean, if it's got all of these expensive ingredients in it, how can she afford it?" he continued. "She's not well-off, from the look of her."

Harry thought back to her mended robes, and her shabby, second-hand office furniture. "Could she be trading something? Maybe she's making him an amulet in return with blood magic."

"He could really use a defensive amulet," said Hermione. "Something for when he's at Death Eater meetings...or in the Forbidden Forest..."

There was silence for a moment as they all stood, lost in thought.

"Are you going to continue working on the potion?" asked Harry finally.

She looked at the table. "No...I have a bit of research to do in the library."

"We'll join you," said Harry. "There's that Potions essay due Monday..."

Ron groaned and followed them out of the secret passageway.

***

Severus sat perfectly still at the table, arms crossed in front of him. He was well aware of the sour expression on his face, and refused to change it, despite the looks he had received from both Moody and Minerva. It was bad enough that he was here again, in the Black house, listening to Silas's "presentation".

It was preposterous that Silas was even there.

He mentally cursed Lupin again for coming up with this addled idea. The Order certainly needed new members, but to invite them to Grimmauld Place, to ask them to present their story, and ask the Order members to vote on them...it was ridiculous. And to think that Lupin's first choice was Silas, of all people. It grated tremendously on Severus's few remaining nerves.

Silas, of course, was in his natural element, pontificating with elabourate hand gestures as if he was being considered for the Grand Wizengamot instead of their tiny resistance movement.

"Of course, I had to win over the students," he said grandly. "So I arranged for a half-giant to visit on the second day of class. It worked beautifully. Children are in school for the sole purpose of broadening their minds, after all, and despite the discouragement of the staff, I was determined to show them any and all magical creatures possible." He beamed at the rest of the table. "That is, of course, how the best teachers teach. By example. I take the students on field trips. I show them the Dark Arts at work in the classroom and the countryside. They need to experience everything in order to develop a proper framework within which to carefully place the various stimuli that they receive in life. The wrong teacher"--here he glanced at Severus--"brings about stress and erodes self-confidence."

If Severus noticed one more disapproving glare from Silas he wasn't going to be responsible for the hexes that would result.

"Well," said Lupin, sensing a good moment to break in, "I think you've done an excellent job in explaining your background and what you'd bring to the Order."

"Shall we vote, then?" asked Minerva, looking around.

Lupin passed around a low round tin filled with vote marbles, and each member took one. They reminded Severus of Sarah's Painstone, though smaller. He resisted the urge to look at the time, though he did need to get back as soon as possible to check on her.

"Remember, green is for yes, red is for no," said Lupin. He poked his wand at the marble in front of him, and it flashed white briefly.

Severus did the same, emphatically commanding it red and hoping that everyone was doing the same.

The tin was passed around and the marbles retrieved. Lupin swirled them around once, and then pointed his wand at it, murmuring "Aparecium." Immediately the marbles turned red or green, depending upon the vote cast upon them.

There looked to be the same number at first, but, with growing dread, Severus watched as Lupin carefully counted them, and announced that there was one more green than red, and that Silas Marten was now a member of the Order of the Phoenix. There was a smattering of applause, and several members stood up, congratulating Silas and then making their farewells to the rest of the group as they left.

Severus sat, glowering, as Silas smiled at him triumphantly.

***