The Worm That Turned

Chapter 3 - A Ministry Ruse

The day after Lucius returned from his honeymoon, Severus received a message via his Mark to visit Malfoy Manor after work. He felt a sense of relief that things might return to how they had been, before thoughts of Lily kept intruding on his peace of mind. If there was one good thing about being friends with Lucius, it was that it provided plenty of distraction from anything else you might want to do with your life. Malfoy liked having Severus at his beck and call.

Severus went back to the flat to change his robes before apparating to the sleepy Wiltshire lane, arriving outside the familiar wrought iron gates. He crunched along the gravelled drive, noting with pleasure that everything was exactly as it always was. He rapped on the door, already anticipating a pleasant evening sipping expensive liquor and listening to Lucius talk about his honeymoon. But instead of Dobby, the door was opened by Narcissa in person, looking less composed than usual. His mild surprise became alarm when she declared, 'Thank Merlin you're here!'

'What's going on?' he asked, unable to imagine the direness of the situation in which Narcissa Malfoy would be pleased to see him.

'You can talk some sense into him,' she said, pulling him into the house and shutting the door, her voice low. 'I've never seen him like this, I don't know what's got into him. He won't listen to me, so perhaps he'll pay attention to you.'

'Over what?' he started to ask, but stopped when Lucius emerged into the hallway.

'Severus!' He greeted him with a warm handshake and a pat on the back. 'It's good to see you! You're looking... well. Come on, come into the drawing room. I'll bet you haven't drunk anything stronger than pumpkin juice this past fortnight!'

'Well, the odd cup of tea,' he said, casting a look back over his shoulder at Narcissa in the hope of another clue about what was going on.

In the drawing room, Dobby was waiting with two measures of brandy already poured. Maybe it was improving its skills. Lucius took both glasses without a word of thanks or so much as a glance at the elf, and handed one to Severus before clinking it with his own. 'Your good health!' he said, before downing his in one.

'Is something the matter?' asked Severus, who'd never been much of one for beating about the bush.

Lucius held out his glass to be refilled and glanced at sidelong at his friend. 'Well... not so much the matter, old thing. There is something... a little problem, which I thought we could discuss. I thought you might assist me with it.' Lucius indicated a chair, and Severus sat. He was aware of Narcissa hovering in the background, observing them closely.

'What is this problem?' asked Severus, watching as Lucius took a more measured sip of his second glass.

'The Pillar of Storge,' announced Lucius, portentously.

Severus spluttered on his drink. Of all the things Lucius might have come out with, that was not what he'd expected. 'What about it?' he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and eliciting a faint noise of disgust from Narcissa in the background.

'Upon my return, I learned from my sources that the Ministry plans to destroy it!'

He took some time to consider this. 'The Ministry plans to destroy it? Why?'

Lucius rolled his eyes. 'So they can blame it on us, of course. Do keep up, old bean.'

'But... still, why? I mean, the Ministry hardly needs to convince people the Death Eaters are bad guys, do they? Everyone's petrified of us. And I thought they wanted to keep the Pillar safe? What's the point of them guarding it, if it isn't to make themselves look good? If 'we' succeed in destroying it, then won't people just realise how rubbish they are?'

'Ah, that only applies if one thinks domestically,' explained Lucius, his voice taking on a patronising edge. 'Storge is an internationally significant piece of heritage. When the Ministry said we'd threatened it, the international press began to take notice. And when the press takes notice, the politicians take notice. The Ministry realised that if they destroyed the Pillar, they might gain some support from overseas. And let's admit, they badly need it.'

Severus had never understood politics, and he wasn't sure he followed the logic of this. 'But once the Pillar is destroyed, it's a bit late, isn't it? Aren't they just destroying their best bargaining chip?'

'There are other monuments in Britain that would also be missed. Destroying Storge is a bold move, a dramatic move. It will be on the front page of every newspaper in the world! What better way to gain attention and sympathy?' He shook his head. 'It's certainly the best idea they've got at the moment.'

'So the Ministry are going to destroy it. So what?'

Lucius nearly dropped his glass. 'So what?' he repeated in a scandalised whisper. 'So what? So a vital piece of our wizarding heritage will be lost forever! A part of the history of our people, our community! And you ask 'so what'!' Lucius shook his head and turned away in disgust. 'Dobby! I need another drink!'

Now Severus did exchange a quick glance with Narcissa, who raised her eyebrows meaningfully as if to say 'see what I mean?' He looked back at Lucius, who was twisting Dobby's ear painfully whilst the elf poured him another drink. When the glass was full, he gave a last jerk and pushed Dobby away. 'Next time, serve me before I need to ask!' he spat, before returning his glower to Severus.

'Lucius, I'm sorry,' Severus said, in the measured tone he reserved for lunatics and particularly desperate relatives at work. 'I just thought that we were supposed to be ignoring the Ministry.'

'That was before! It was one thing to ignore them playing games, pretending to protect things that didn't need protecting. That was beneath our notice. But this... this is completely different. We can't sit back and let them destroy something so important. We have to protect it.'

Severus took this in, and then nodded. 'OK. But why are you telling me this? What about the rest of the Death Eaters?'

'They're not involved,' said Lucius shortly. 'Is that a problem?'

Narcissa interrupted. 'Of course it's a problem. Severus, none of the other Death Eaters would agree to this. He's already been to the inner circle. Like you said, the Dark Lord had told them not to be distracted by the Ministry, and they have the sense to follow His instructions. But for some reason Lucius is determined to carry on-'

'Some reason?' yelped Lucius. 'That reason is our heritage, our birthright! The very things that I joined the Death Eaters to protect! If the Dark Lord were here, He would agree, I know He would! Why do you think we never attack Hogwarts?'

'Because the Dark Lord is scared of Dumbledore,' said Narcissa boldly, causing a gasp from both Lucius and Severus.

'Don't say things like that!' squeaked Lucius, looking around frantically. 'If you had any idea of the risk...'

'You lecture me about risk, but you're quite happy to take on the entire Ministry single handed?'

'I'd rather take on the whole Ministry than the Dark Lord, yes! And I won't be single handed, will I? I'll have Severus.' Lucius glanced at Severus, who avoided his friend's eye.

'Oh well, that's all right then,' snapped Narcissa, also looking at Snape. 'Well? What do you think about all this?'

Severus looked from one to the other, stunned by this sudden fanaticism from Lucius. Finally he said, 'Perhaps we should summon Him, ask what He wants?'

Lucius shook his head. 'I tried, but He must be out of range. Either that or He doesn't want to be distracted.'

Surprised that Lucius had even gone as far as to risk trying to summon Voldemort, Severus realised just how serious his friend was. Lucius continued, 'Come on, Severus, you know this is what the Dark Lord would want. He cares deeply about magical artefacts and objects-'

'No Lucius, you care deeply about magical artefacts and objects,' shouted Narcissa. 'If this was what the Dark Lord wanted, Bellatrix would be all for it! Bella will always do whatever it is that He wants...'

'Bella?' Lucius made a rude noise. 'Bellatrix cares for nothing but torturing and killing. She might think she knows the mind of the Dark Lord, but she's deluded. Come on, Cissy, you can't like the thought of the Pillar being destroyed?'

Narcissa refused to give any ground. 'No, but I like the thought of my husband being destroyed even less!'

'I'm not going to be destroyed, don't be so melodramatic! They've only got a few people 'guarding' these things - not even Aurors. They'll probably run away screaming at the sight of real Death Eaters! All we have to do is hold them off until He gets back. I bet if we create enough of a scene, they'll not even attempt it. Honestly Cissy, you don't really think I'd do anything that dangerous, do you?'

'I don't know what to think,' she said sullenly. 'You're acting completely unlike yourself. The Lucius I know stays in the background. He doesn't take stupid risks. What are you always telling me? I'm not front line, Cissy. Well, this sounds pretty 'front line' to me, and you know you're hopeless at duelling.'

'I'm not hopeless!' said Lucius, stung. 'I can duel perfectly well, I just chose not to.'

'Exactly, you choose not to, because you know you're far better at getting results through diplomacy. Or failing that, Imperius. Why would you suddenly change a winning formula now?'

'It won't work - don't you think I haven't thought of that? If I had more time, then yes, I'm sure I could. But I don't. They've had this in mind for two weeks now; it's gained too much momentum to turn around quickly. Too many people are involved. The Ministry is completely bowled over by its own cleverness on this - they're so delighted with the idea that a charging erumpent wouldn't make them change course at this stage. Diplomacy is slow, Cissy.'

Narcissa turned away from her husband to appeal to Severus, opening her blue eyes very wide. 'Severus, for goodness sake, tell him how stupid this is.'

Severus looked from one to the other, thinking hard. He knew Naricssa was trying to charm him, which after eight years of antagonism was unlikely to cut any ice. But she did have a point. On the other hand, Lucius was probably right as well. He knew better than anyone the strengths and limitations of diplomacy.

'What do you actually propose to do, Lucius?' he asked, buying himself some more time.

'Get in between them and the Pillar and create a scene. Fight them off, if we have to. The Pillar could not be destroyed by magical means, they will have to physically remove it somehow. My Ministry contact mentioned some Muggle substance that causes explosions. They will send hired heavies, not Aurors. They'll probably run away at the sight of real Death Eaters. All we have to do is buy time, Severus. It won't be long before the Dark Lord realises what is going on, and returns. And when that happens, He will take care of it.'

'You hope,' muttered Narcissa.

'Severus?' Lucius asked again, and Severus waited for him to remind him that they had a deal. But he didn't. Instead he said, 'You're my best friend. Please?'

Such a heartfelt plea finally swayed him. 'All right,' he said, ignoring the explosive noise from Narcissa. 'I'll do it. But we must keep trying to contact Him. And we need an escape route.'

Lucius' face broke into a smile and he jumped to his feet, clasping Severus' shoulder very tightly. 'I knew I could rely on you.'

'I cannot believe you're going through with this,' whispered Narcissa, pale with rage. 'You're underestimating the Ministry. You'll both be killed, or caught, and if you're not, He'll do it when He gets back and finds you disobeyed His orders. You're going to leave me a widow before we've been married a month!' She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

'Oh dear,' Lucius sighed, glancing ruefully after his new wife. 'But she'll come round eventually. Now, we don't have much time. The Ministry plan to act very soon. We'll pack up a couple of broom bags with some essentials. We can apparate partway and then fly the rest. Once we're there we can firm up the rest of the plan.'

'All right,' Severus agreed, deciding not to point out that there wasn't much of a plan to 'firm up'. 'I'd better floo in sick to work.' He saw Lucius' look of incomprehension. 'Some of us have jobs, you know. They expect you to turn up every day. We don't want anyone asking questions.'

'Well, do what you need to do, but do it quickly. I'll handle the packing. Dobby! Get here now!'

*****

The moors were windswept despite it being summer. The sky was a watery blue, the air thick with pollen. A speck appeared, travelling too fast to be a bird, but too low to be a plane. It resolved itself into a cloaked figure on a broomstick. It circled several times, before returning the way it had come, zig-zagging lazily. Another speck appeared, flying slower and more erratically, eventually joining the other.

They loomed larger, spiralling gradually down, before landing on the heather. The first was graceful, coming to a standstill with barely a sound, catching the end of his broom in a single smooth movement. The second landed with a flump, ran a couple of paces, got his leg caught in some bracken, and ended up sprawling. His companion laughed, and eventually offered a hand.

'It's not funny! You said it was your slow broom!' exclaimed Severus, brushing bits of bracken off his robes.

'It is my slow broom.' Lucius retrieved a small bag from the back of his broom, and reached inside. He withdrew two Death Eater hoods, which looked too large to have possibly fitted inside the bag. Of course, few of Lucius Malfoy's possessions weren't enhanced by various forms of expensive magic, and he would have turned his nose up at any bag without extension and weight-minimising charms on it. 'Get this on,' he said, tossing a hood at Severus, who fumbled the catch and dropped it. 'We don't want to get recognised.'

'Are you sure about this?' asked Severus for the fiftieth time, pulling the hood over his head and waiting for the mask to mould over his face. 'People see Death Eaters, they cast to kill.'

'Or wet their pants and run away. You're seriously overestimating the people that the Ministry will employ. I told you, they won't waste Aurors on this. They don't expect anyone to be there. Now, the Pillar is in that direction. Come on.' Lucius slung his broombag over his shoulder and began to walk. Severus stood staring after him, before picking up the brooms and jogging to catch up.

'We're walking?' he asked incredulously. 'Since when have you walked anywhere?'

Lucius ignored this and pointed ahead of them. 'We'll head up there, then crawl through the undergrowth. It should give us a vantage of the area around the Pillar. We can check out how the land lies and work out our next move.'

Already hot and sticky in the hood, Severus grumbled along in Lucius' wake. 'You do realise that the Pillar casts a powerful thaumic forcefield, I suppose? We'll have to take that into account in any plans that we make.'

'Yes, yes, that's why I've brought you along. I'm sure calculating a thaumic forcefield is child's play to an egghead like you,' said Lucius airily. 'Come on, get down.' He dropped onto his front and began commando crawling on stomach and elbows towards the top of the ridge. Severus followed in deepest disgust. He had a strong suspicion that Lucius was enjoying himself.

The hill top did give a good vantage point. The ground beneath them fell away into a very wide, deep valley, with gently sloping grassy sides. It would have been unremarkable, were it not for a steep hill that arose at the very bottom of the valley. The mound looked odd and out of place, as though it had been transplanted there from some other landscape. It sat there, rising about two thirds of the height of the valley sides, an isolated peak.

At the very centre of the top of that hill was an object that gave off a strange light. It was about five metres tall, and roughly rectangular. The light seemed to come from within, glowing outwards. Colours played across the surface, and cast strange shadows on the grass around it.

Severus felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He could feel the magic coming from it. 'The Pillar,' he breathed, impressed despite himself.

'It's amazing, isn't it?' said Lucius, smiling behind his mask at Severus' reaction. 'Now do you understand why I can't let it be destroyed?'

A cordon surrounded the base of the hill, where the ground first started to slope upwards. There seemed to be signs dotted along its length. Severus activated the binocular vision on his mask and zoomed in. They read in large black capitals, 'Warning! Thaumic forcefield! Do not attempt magic past this point!'

Beyond the cordon, several small tents were visible, spaced out at wide intervals. Fires burned in front of one or two, and people were visible. A wizard in purple robes was slouching in a deckchair, reading the Prophet. A witch was stirring something in a cauldron over a fire, and a pair of gawky youths in ill-fitting pointed hats were playing gobstones in front of another tent. Severus performed a quick count. 'Six tents and eight people,' he said. 'Allowing for the curvature of the hill, and assuming they are evenly spaced out around, probably around ten tents. So perhaps twenty people, tops.'

'And they're hardly crack troops, are they? Magnify!' Lucius tapped his wand to his own mask. 'Recognise any?'

'No, I don't think so. I'm assuming these are the supposed guards, and they'll use someone else to actually destroy the thing?'

Lucius deactivated his mask and flopped down on the grass. 'I imagine so, old thing. They don't look like they could destroy a paper bag. They're just the window dressing.'

'So, what do you think? Do we try and get past them, or do we wait it out here?'

'Hmmm.... I think we should get closer. It makes sense to be near it, if we're going to guard it. And we'll have the advantage then - high ground, we'll be able to see all around. No one can apparate in a thaumic forcefield, so we'll be safe from that aspect too.'

'We won't be able to use magic very easily though; remember a thaumic forcefield increases the difficulty and unpredictability of magic...'

'Our attackers will have the same disadvantage. They won't have your brainpower for working out ways round it though. Stop worrying, old bean. I have a good feeling about all this. Run some diagnostics to see what enchantments are in place, will you.'

Whilst Lucius relaxed in the late evening sunshine, Severus set up a number of the devices they'd brought along, and began tapping them with his wand, making careful notes based on the readings. Half an hour later, he told his friend confidently, 'All they've got is a caterwauling charm around the cordon. It might not even be theirs. It's hard to tell how high up it extends - my suggestion is we wait for darkness, then break it somewhere to create a diversion and fly in.'

'Right-o. Told you it would be easy,' replied Lucius, without opening his eyes.

Severus glanced at his friend. 'Have you tried to contact Him again?'

Lucius sat up and carefully brushed bits of grass off his robes. 'No, but I'll try now.' He rolled up his sleeve and applied a forefinger to his Dark Mark. The skull-and-snake motif burned black, and Lucius closed his eyes with concentration. A minute later, he removed his hand, opened his eyes and shook his head. 'Nothing, still.'

Severus stared down at the Pillar. 'Are you sure about this, Lucius?'

'It'll be fine, stop being such a worry-wort. The Ministry don't like anything that's difficult. Besides, it's only a matter of time before He gets my messages.' He reached into his broombag and pulled out two pieces of pie wrapped in greaseproof paper. 'Here, have something to eat and stop fretting.'

'Thanks.' He took the proffered package and sat holding it, gaze still fixed on the Pillar. 'Once we're up there, we'll be surrounded and we won't be able to apparate.'

'Honestly Severus, you're a real ray of sunshine. We'll have the broom we flew in on, we can always fly out. We'll see them coming from miles off, there'll be plenty of time to get away if we have to.' He lounged back on the grass and took another bite of pie. 'I say, this isn't bad for saying Dobby made it.'

But Severus couldn't relax and enjoy a picnic. His eyes kept being drawn back to the Pillar, still casting its strange colours across the landscape. There was something about it that disturbed him greatly. And despite Lucius' casual confidence, he couldn't shake off the feeling that things could go wrong very badly and very easily.

'Do cheer up, Sev. I wouldn't have brought you if I'd known you were going to go all angst-ridden on me. It might never even come to us defending it. He's bound to get my messages sooner or later, and then He'll come and sort it all out.'

'And if He decides He didn't want us to protect the Pillar?'

For a moment, Lucius' confident posture faltered. 'We'll just have to hope that I'm right, and He did, won't we?'

*****

Hovering on a broomstick carrying two people wasn't as easy as it looked. Lucius had to circle constantly in order to keep sufficient height. A long way below them, the dying campfires of the Ministry guards glowed a dull red. It was late. Severus felt tired and fed up, definitely not in the mood for sitting around on a draughty broomstick. The night vision on his mask was making him feel even more sick than normal when he flew. Voldemort had not contacted them, and now it was nightfall and the time had arrived to try to reach the Pillar. They'd agreed to go on one broom, with Lucius flying and Severus ready to fend off any attacks.

How much longer? Lucius asked, using his Mark.

It should be any minute n-' Severus broke off as a sudden flash of light and loud wailing sound split the night. Both men jumped so hard the broomstick tilted alarmingly, and Severus had to cling to Lucius to stay on. Malfoy had Quidditch-honed reflexes and recovered fast, darting forwards with a good show of speed and banking round in a giddying turn. Severus tried to ignore the nausea as he adjusted the night vision facility on his mask.

Below them there was much confusion as people milled about, shouting to each other. Glowing wandtips zig-zagged through the darkness as the bearers tried to fathom what was going on. But no one was looking up. Lucius pushed the broom forwards, heading for the eerily dancing lights of the Pillar. The power of its magic felt stronger here, and rather repellent. As they grew closer, Lucius swore as the broom began to behave oddly. 'Be ready for a bumpy landing,' he warned.

The next moment, he went into a stomach wrenching dive. Severus felt the wind whip past his face, cold as ice even through the mask. He was holding on to Lucius so tightly that his hands were numb. The Pillar approached with alarming speed, swelling to fill the horizon with its colour until Severus had to shut his streaming eyes. They hit the ground with a thump that sent him rolling down the hill, severely winded.

When he came to a stop, face down on the cold earth, he gave himself a few moments to appreciate the implacable firmness of the ground. He allowed his head to stop spinning before sitting warily up and adjusting his mask. Instinctively, he used his Mark to try to locate Lucius, but the signal was fuzzy and hard to interpret. As he crawled up the slope in the direction he hoped he'd find his friend, he realised that he was going to struggle to do without magic.

A dark shape loomed in the darkness, and resolved itself into Lucius. 'There you are,' he said, keeping his voice low. 'You'd better put a disillusionment charm on the broom if you can, and one of those trigger trackers in case we need to find it again in a hurry.'

Severus did as Lucius told him, although it was twice as difficult as normal to work the charms. He could feel the magic twisting away from him, as though it was a living thing that had its own ideas about how it should be used. They both avoided looking at the Pillar. 'Well, I suppose we should go higher up,' said Lucius, without moving.

'Get closer? Is that a good idea?'

Lucius' face was obscured, but Severus knew its expression without needing to see it. 'We're too close to the Ministry camps here. I'd rather they didn't realise we were here just yet. We should stay down, we don't want to be silhouetted against it.'

Unfortunately 'staying down' entailed more commando-style crawling. Severus kept falling flat on his face and getting a mouthful of turf. Lucius shushing him didn't improve his mood. It felt like a long time before they reached the flat area at the top of the hill and Lucius stopped. Severus almost collided with him.

'We're nearly there,' Lucius whispered unnecessarily. 'We should stay just below the brow of the hill.' He risked raising his head to peer at the Pillar. 'Do you think we could do any protective charms?'

'We'll have to do something, it's too big an area for us to guard alone, even though we'll have the high ground. If they outnumber us it would be useful to have something in place to help us, if we can make it work. But I'll need a bit of time, to do some calculations, a bit of experimentation.'

'That should be all right. The Ministry won't come to attack it in the middle of the night. You'll have to morning at least to work out the best way to protect it.'

Severus opened his mouth to reply, but movement caught the corner of his eye, and the next instant he was whipping round, wand in his hand and a spell on his lips before he remembered that using magic up here wasn't a good idea. Next to him, he heard Lucius gasp fearfully as he also drew out his wand. Fear of being spotted by the Ministry guards forgotten in face of this more immediate threat, they stood on guard, ready to fight.

Two shapes resolved themselves, only metres away. The narrow unmistakable shape of wands were visible in their hands. Severus was tense, covering the figures whilst keeping a look out for more. He felt very vulnerable and exposed there on the hillside, with possible threats all around, not even able to rely on his own magic to save himself.

No more people appeared, and the two figures remained still, pointing their wands at Lucius and him. Dry mouthed, his eyes flicked around again, before coming to the conclusion there were only two of them. Two against two. If it came to a fight, they would have a good chance. Severus was an excellent dueller, and Lucius wasn't as bad as Narcissa had claimed. But it depended who their opponents were. He began to look at them more closely, trying to resolve features through the slight blurring of the night vision.

Recognition hit him like a physical blow, and he gasped out loud, causing Lucius to jump about a foot and everyone to brandish their wands higher. For he would know the smaller of the figures anywhere. Didn't see he see her constantly, even when she wasn't there? But now she really was there, he couldn't believe his eyes. It couldn't be. It was just his strained psyche playing tricks again. But no, the night vision clearly showed the shape of her face, and just the merest hint of her luminous green eyes. Lily.