The Last Sanguimagus

Severus waited impatiently at the table for Lupin to begin the Order meeting. He fought the urge to rub his eyes. This week had been difficult. The potion sample's disappearance, Sarah owling a fetch to Lucius, Narcissa's visit...the last seven days had been filled with tension and worry. He had no news to report, as the next Death Eater meeting would not be until tomorrow evening, and he wished he could have stayed in his classroom.

The Weasley hen finished her Imperturbable Charm, and Lupin finally addressed the Order, looking tired as usual. "Tonight's meeting will be rather short, as we have nothing new to report," he said, looking in Severus's direction. A few made disappointed faces. "Tonight's orders of business will be the legislation that the Ministry has been deliberating on since last week, as well as voting on whether to accept Fleur Delacour as a member of the Order." He paused for a moment. "And I would like to welcome Silas to his first meeting."

"Thank you, Remus," said Silas, standing up and waving dismissively in Lupin's direction.

Severus nearly groaned aloud. Of course Silas would take any chance to grandstand.

"I assure you, your trust in me is not ill-founded." Silas beamed as he looked around the table at the other Order members. Lupin tried to say something, but Silas cut him off before he could begin. "I have been working on a rather detailed analysis of the situation, and have developed a plan which may be of use to us."

Severus sneered at the thought. Moody looked interested.

Silas began to make intricate gestures with his wand. A small stream of sparks flowed from the end, and they coalesced into monochromatic, three-dimensional figures about the size of a quill. Each one looked like a simple line drawing of an Order member. The representation of Tonks was violet; the Headmaster was white, and Silas himself was rendered in orange. Out they came in a steady progression until half of the space above the meeting table was taken up in floating figures.

Silas turned slightly and began new gestures, and a set of black figures, easily recognisable as Death Eaters, obediently drifted into place. Severus watched as his own figure, black along with the rest of them, stood just a little apart, not quite bridging the gap between the two sets. Moody seemed to be paying close attention, his expression serious, while Tonks and Bill Weasley appeared to be trying to cover their laughter.

"Now I was thinking of how a straight-forward scenario would progress," began Silas. "If they attempted a head-on attack, we could quite possibly flank them on one side."

The figures arranged themselves exactly as he had explained, and Severus could see the Dark Lord, outlined in red, surrounded by his loyal Death Eaters, and he felt a slight shiver.

A few more waves, and the scenario began to unfold in earnest, with the Order and the Death Eaters marching determinedly towards each other. Severus recognised Lucius's figure, who was hanging back as if waiting to see who would win. Molly Weasley looked grim and pointed at the Order's side of the table, whispering something in Arthur's ear. The tiny figures noiselessly opened their mouths, and looked as if they were shouting at each other, though they made no sound. Their wands emitted tiny flashes of light. The Dark Lord's spat green sparks, and down went the figures of Tonks and Shacklebolt, who were attempting to flank from the side. Everyone present suddenly became deathly quiet as the scene played out to its end, with the Dark Lord victorious and nearly all on both sides dead or dying.

"As you can see, this is not the best scenario," continued Silas, "though I must say that in my earlier permutation we were a bit more successful." Many of the figures got to their feet--McGonagall taking a bit longer, and being helped by Diggle--and dusted themselves off, waiting. "I've tried a few others. A divide-and-conquer scenario..."

The figures scurried to their positions at a cue from Silas, and everyone watched as the white figure of the Headmaster cut through the ranks, effectively forcing the Death Eaters into two groups. Shacklebolt and Lupin lead one assault, and the Headmaster and the Dark Lord faced off on the other side, with spells flying thickly around the brightly coloured representations. This time the battle was more evenly pitched, though the Order still lost. "You see, the most important portion of the battle hinges on our ability to deal with You-Know-Who. We need to concentrate on eliminating him early in the battle."

Fury exploded within Severus, and he had to fight to keep control. As if they had done nothing this past year, as if the Order didn't already know that the key to the battle was the Dark Lord. Seeing the crumpled figure of the Headmaster was frightening, though he would never have admitted to it. "I should think that was obvious," he hissed.

Moody ignored Severus entirely. "Could you add terrain to this?" he asked, poking at one of the figures with his wand. The Death Eater stood up, looking annoyed, and walked off a few paces to flop back down and play dead again. "A street, or the inside of a building?"

"I hadn't thought of it, but certainly," said Silas. "Any sorts of parameters could be incorporated. Forests, lakes...I was considering adding dragons..."

"Dragons? Interesting thought, that. Brooms, too," said Moody.

"Oh, yes," said Silas. "Brooms can be extremely useful, though it does make a Shielding Charm more difficult."

Severus watched as his likeness slowly inched closer and closer to the other Death Eaters, looking extremely smug. The representation of Lucius shook hands with him, and they began to talk silently, standing shoulder to shoulder.

"Could add Dementors, too," said Moody.

"Yes, and giants, I suppose," answered Silas.

"Fine piece of spellwork," said Moody approvingly.

"This could be helpful in developing new strategies," said Shacklebolt appreciatively. The Weasley twins talked in low tones to each other until Molly Weasley gave them a disapproving glance.

Silas beamed. "That is exactly its purpose."

The orange figure of Silas had marched across to the Death Eater side and now had his hands around the Dark Lord's neck, and shaking him vigorously. Tonks giggled.

"The next topic," said Lupin calmly, "is the legislation we spoke about last week. I would like to report that it has, in fact, been put on hold by the Ministry." There was a collective sigh of relief, as the legislation was a nasty bit of work that would require certain groups to submit to a magical "brand" that would alert all other witches and wizards in the vicinity to their presence. Severus personally cared not one whit, but everyone else was worried for Lupin and Hagrid. Silas looked disappointed as he made a final gesture with his wand. The colourful figures dissolved into nothingness.

"There's still a chance that it could pass," said Arthur.

"We'll all have to keep doing what we can about this," said Lupin philosophically. "Our next order of business...Bill, if you could retrieve Miss Delacour and show her in..."

Molly terminated her charm on the door, and Bill vanished for a moment. Moody and Silas continued to argue about various battle plans until Bill reappeared with Delacour. Molly resealed the door and they all sat down.

She smiled at them, her deep blue eyes quite attractive, her beautiful white gold mane of hair shimmering in the light. Severus watched in contempt as Fletcher sat up straight in his chair for the first time ever, his face frozen in what he evidently thought was a charming expression. She thanked them all for extending to her the invitation to join the Order, and Lupin began to ask her questions about her background, and what she would bring to the group, which she answered calmly.

Not that it mattered, as far as Severus was concerned. If they'd take an idiot windbag like Silas, the French girl was guaranteed a spot. Especially since she was the paramour of a Weasley. He knew little of her, except that he remembered her competing in the Triwizard Tournament, and Lucius had some years ago mentioned her family once or twice as a possible match for Draco. He watched her closely as Lupin finished his questions and the rest of the Order was given the opportunity to question her. Emmeline Vance asked her whether she understood the consequences of joining the group, and Moody did his best to outline the frightening possibilities of being in the Order, including a list of those who had died so far, and how. She paled, but still answered that she would consider it an honour. Jones asked what she would do if Bill Weasley was captured, and what would happen if she was forced to make a difficult choice between his life and spilling the Order's secrets. Again, Delacour replied with a small, brave speech, and Severus curled his lip in disgust. She had no idea what it was like to stand in front of the Dark Lord, alone and terrified.

Severus would vote no, of course. Any connection to Lucius, regardless of how tenuous, had to automatically disqualify the girl for him, though he didn't see the point of bringing it up, as it was such a remote bit of information. He would simply mention it to the Headmaster later. Besides, it was obvious that she was a popular choice, considering the looks on the faces of most of the Order.

After ten minutes of questioning had finished, they voted, and it was no surprise that there were many more green votes than red. Lupin announced that the meeting was over, and Severus got up and left immediately, glad to be free of the overly-warm kitchen and the presence of people. No one said goodbye to him except for the Headmaster.

The entryway was cold and musty, and he stared at the scuffed floorboards for a moment. Silas's demonstration made him think again of the futility of their resistance. Severus knew better than almost any of them the true strength of the Dark Lord, the power behind him, and yet again he thought of the chilling possibility that the Order would lose, and that he would end up a false Death Eater for life, trapped in his role.

There was a noise behind him, and he realised belatedly that he should have left and Apparated instead of standing there like a fool. Lupin emerged from the shadows. "I was hoping that you hadn't left yet," he said quietly.

Severus sneered. "Really."

Lupin ignored the sneer and continued in his usual unaffected manner. "I need some help."

"Help?" said Severus, confused.

"I would still like to recruit more people to the Order," said Lupin calmly. "I thought you might be able to provide a name or two."

Severus stared at him for a full heartbeat, his fury spiraling. "I see," he hissed. "You think I do not provide enough entertainment for the Order. You are eager for another turncoat."

Lupin looked angry and sad at the same time. "That's not what I'm suggesting at all."

"It doesn't matter that I put my life on the line at every possible moment for the Order," continued Severus softly. "Because you don't really trust me. You'd rather have--"

"We do trust you," said Lupin. "If we didn't, you wouldn't be here. And I'm not asking you for names of Death Eaters who would turn to our cause, because I'm certain that you would have provided Dumbledore with that a long time ago. I'm simply asking you for help."

"You've run out of friends already?" said Severus harshly. "What a shame." He was surprised to see nothing but pity in Lupin's eyes, and it only made him angrier. "I must be leaving." Pulling his travelling cloak tighter, he walked out the door into the cold night air.