Chapter 14

Albus Dumbledore had not slept since the day Harry had vanished and he was currently pacing the floor of his beautiful office. Fawkes was there on his perch looking at his Master and trilling very softly softening the agitation in his breast. He was thinking about Harry as Harry was very important to his fight against evil.

For Dumbledore knew it was his fight and his fight alone. He had been born very powerful; his aura was no indication to his real power level. Why his power and aura did not match he did not know but he had been and was brilliant in almost every aspect of magic.

He had mastered the Dark Arts, Blood Magic, Occlumency, Legilimency, Transfiguration and so many other obscure branches of magic. He was highly intuitive and he was blessed with a clear heart and a brave soul. He refused to acknowledge the fact some may call him dominating or manipulative.

That soul had dynamically destroyed Grindelwald and had saved the Wizarding World at one of the most turbulent times the Wizarding World had faced. He had all the accolades he could ever want, the respect he never imagined he would command and anything and everything he would ever want.

But at that time he did not realize he had already committed a grave mistake, a mistake that would haunt him until the end of his days and he was to be blessed with a very long life in which to repent.

Thomas Marvolo Riddle had already begun his career in evil. Dumbledore had the opportunity to look after him when he had met him as the Professor who had gone to the boy's orphanage well before the war with Grindelwald to introduce him to the fact that he was a wizard and he would from then onwards attend Hogwarts to pursue his education.

He had been very disturbed at the mental attitude of the boy and his viciousness even at that age, when innocence was taken for granted. He had ignored it at the time because of the pressing concerns of the rise of Grindelwald and the mother of all wars that was to wage in the Wizarding World.

Oh he had kept an eye on the boy but had not taken the pains to unravel him and see what had made him tick, tackle the anger and the frustration that had already been burning in him at eleven, an anger at the way he had been abandoned that had made him kill at fifteen and create his first horcrux at sixteen. Only he had not known it then as he had been away from the School for long periods of time participating in the war to hunt down and kill Grindelwald.

After Riddle had left School, he had gone off to Albania and had vanished of the face of the earth and Albus fighting his own war with Grindelwald had all but forgotten about the boy who would return as man and take the Wizarding World by storm and try his best to choke it to its death.

After the death of Grindelwald the aftermath had been truly frightening and it had taken many years to build all that he had destroyed. Dumbledore sighed, no sooner had he spent so much effort and built it all up than it looked as if it would all come crumbling down.

And this time around it would take more than just money and magic to build up the confidence of the people and more importantly the population that was dwindling away. Already they were so few and it looked that by the time this war ended there would hardly be any left. The muggles would not need to resort to witch burning as there would be hardly any left to burn off at the stakes.

After Grindelwald it had fallen to Dumbledore to truly try and rebuild the Wizarding World. He had not even finished it when Voldemort had loomed large on the horizon. Dumbledore had tried to kill him chasing after him and fighting with him, but he had eluded Dumbledore by escaping many times when he should have died, only to return again and again that Dumbledore had suspected that there might be a Prophecy that might have been keeping him alive.

There was and it had not come to light until many years had passed. But Dumbledore had heard it and then he kept a close watch on who the prospective family might be. It had been the Potters. Dumbledore had initially been thrilled as they were a Light family that had no leanings or connections with the Dark.

When Harry and Neville had been born, Dumbledore had visited with both the families and checked their auras and found to his satisfaction that the child who had the stronger aura was the child who was born on the last day of the seventh month.

He had even taken a little bit of their blood without their parents' knowledge not caring that he was doing something that the children's respective parents' would have not liked and in fact would have threatened him with dire consequences had they known, defeater of Grindelwald or not; and had tested it for gifts and there Harry had impressive gifts that would only aid him in his fight against the evil that was threatening their world.

His world had come crashing down when Harry had managed to defeat Voldemort at fifteen months. Dumbledore had initially been ecstatic and had rushed to Godric's Hollow. The building was stable on the ground floor while there was a lot of smoke coming out of the first and the first sign of the destruction was the fact he could not only remember the house but could see it as well. That did not bode well for the Potters and Albus had feared they had lost the war against Voldemort.

Dumbledore had first cast the anti – muggle wards all over the property and along with Moody who had been the only person to accompany him, had done a good job of oblivating one and all.

Leaving Moody to take care of the muggles Dumbledore had been inside and had almost fallen over James's body. He had walked over him and had run up to the room where the smoke had been coming out.

Lily Potter lay on her side; her arms stretched wide, a look of pleading on her face. The tears had still not dried and a baby was holding on to her robes and sucking its thumb. It had the greenest eyes ever and it gurgled at Dumbledore, a scar shaped like a lightening bolt on his forehead.

Dumbledore had bent down and had checked Lily, but she was very evidently dead. Then his eyes fell on Harry and he looked into Harry's eyes and whispered 'Legilimens.'

He had known right away that Peter was the secret keeper and he had asked for Lily as his prize. Voldemort had given her two chances to stand aside and when she had not budged, had killed her. he had turned to Harry and he had actually cast the killing curse, when little Harry spurred on by some ancient magic that Lily had evoked as she had not taken her wand to fight but had willingly given up her life for Harry's sake, had emitted a golden whirl of raw magic that had made the killing curse rebound on Voldemort.

Peter had taken Voldemort's wand and had disapparated.

He had seen the sheer amount of raw power that had come out of Harry and then he realized Harry holding on to his mother and shaking her. He had lifted the boy and looked at him with his aura sight and that was when Albus Dumbledore had almost dropped him, recoiling in horror as he looked deeply at the scar that reeked of the darkest of magic and was surely a mental link to Voldemort.

He had not realized that Moody was behind him, leviating James Potter as his eyes were glued to the scar and the aura of Harry that was totally Black and was actually emitting fumes.

Moody was all for killing him right then and there but Dumbledore had stopped him knowing that the aura was the result of the killing curse that had touched the boy but had failed to do its task. But the fact that Harry had taken a killing curse head on and had rebounded it on the caster made him special; and that was what Dumbledore did not like that as Harry could become far too powerful, and because of the link he had through the bleeding scar that was on his forehead, he could use that power for evil.

Though he was tempted to agree with Moody he restrained himself and Moody because of one important factor. Harry had been marked by Voldemort and had fulfilled one part of the Prophecy. Now if he could somehow manipulate Harry to listen to him always and become his man through and through then Harry could take care of Voldemort when the time came and then he Albus Dumbledore would take care of Harry as Harry would always be a danger to himself and to the Wizarding World.

He started planning and Albus Dumbledore was a master planner; he rationalized in his mind and to Moody the importance of keeping Harry Potter alive and well and very much under his thumb. The Wizarding World had had a respite and Dumbledore would take care of it once again and help his world to heal. Harry would be used in the right manner to destroy Voldemort and then he too would say his farewell to the Wizarding World allowing Dumbledore to heal it and nourish it all over again.

He was not an evil man like Voldemort but he had been shouldering the responsibilities of the Wizarding World for far too long and with his domineering nature and his reluctance to see anything that he did not want to, made him commit mistakes he would never admit to, but ones that cost heavily.

His manipulations for his idea of a better world called for sacrifices that he made quite blithely as they did not call upon him to sacrifice, made him in certain ways as evil as the evil he was fighting against. He always justified everything to himself as all his actions being a necessary factor for the good of the Wizarding World.

He did not realize that he made mistakes and he did not realize he treated people like pawns and nor did he realize that he had after Voldemort had risen shunned Slytherin as he had never liked that House from the beginning and had been unfair towards that House and in turn becoming responsible for turning so many of them towards Voldemort and thus in return making things more difficult for the Light.

Now Dumbledore was holding Harry Potter's fate in his hands and he took over Harry's life from that instant onwards. He thought very carefully and decided that it would be for the best if Sirius be imprisoned.

Sirius would allow Harry to grow strong and with a little too much of freedom and be a normal boy and Dumbledore did not want that as then Harry would not obey him and be his pawn in the war.

So he had allowed Sirius to be imprisoned and had placed Harry with the muggles refusing Minerva's requests and pleadings for custody. He had placed Harry with the Dursleys and had placed a mild charm on them to make sure they would not be affectionate towards the orphaned boy.

Though he had minor setbacks especially when Sirius had escaped from Azkaban and Voldemort had resurrected with Harry's blood, and the dementors had come close to sucking the soul from the boy in third year and fifth year, and the incident with the basilisk in his second, Dumbledore had not been upset as he was still in command and had taken care of everything admirably. Giving Harry to Snape who almost broke the boy was another master stroke.

Everything, until now was going to plan and Sirius who had escaped from Azkaban had also fallen, removing the last of the obstacles that Albus feared might draw Harry away from him.

Now, Dumbledore thought as he paced agitatedly in his office, Voldemort had him and Albus prayed that Snape would even at the cost of exposing himself as the spy, save the boy; else all that he had strived for would be in vain.

At that time the wards alerted him to the entry of two persons and Albus heaved a sigh of relief as he recognized Snape and Harry as they came through the wards and waited tensely for them to make an appearance.

Snape looking very tired and scowling heavily and Harry looking pretty normal walked into the room. Dumbledore used his aura sight and almost let out a relieved breath. Harry's aura was the same. Voldemort had not tried to tamper with it.

"Severus!" Dumbledore exclaimed with concern and relief both lacing his voice, "Harry my boy, and how are both of you?"

"Fine Sir." Harry mumbled looking at him and then looking down.

"Sit down, Severus, child what happened? I have been so worried all this time." Albus asked them to sit down and soon there were hot cups of tea from the kitchens. Snape began without fanfare.

"Albus the Dark Lord got Potter and decided to kill him on the spot, no hysterics and no talks, but at the last moment when I was just about to summon Potter to me and use the portkey, Bellatrix's son told the Dark Lord that he should try and stop the link before killing Potter. The Dark Lord agreed and he asked me to make a potion for him.

"It was a blessing Albus as I learnt later that the Dark Lord had also warded against portkeys and had I summoned Potter both of us would have ended up worse than dead."

Snape paused here to have a sip of the hot tea and Albus nodded in concern shuddering inwardly about the narrow escape Harry and Snape had had. Snape was invaluable to him as he was the only death eater in the periphery of the inner circle and it would have been a double disaster.

"Then he asked the rat to take Potter to the dungeons and there I went to work. At night when I was sure all were asleep, and I was supposedly researching for a potion to severe the mind link, I went in search of Pettigrew; he was in the library searching potions as were many death eaters. I stunned him, turned him into a rat and took him to Potter's cell and force fed him the polyjuice with Potter's hair."

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with anticipation as Snape went on sourly, "The moment he took the polyjuice I cast the permanent charm using blood and also an oblivate, telling him, he was Harry Potter and he would not know anything else."

Dumbledore nodded, it was a mercy Harry had not been tortured. "I took Potter through the dungeons and out of the wards and told him to activate a portkey he already had for the cottage. Then I went back and stayed until Pettigrew was discovered. The Dark Lord was furious and felt that Pettigrew had honored the debt Potter had cleverly called for and berated him for sending Pettigrew with Potter.

"He killed Pettigrew today and dismissed all of us. I went to the cottage and have brought Potter here. Now I wish to leave. You have Potter and let me spend the rest of my holidays in peace. You must excuse me Albus I am very tired and have not slept since Potter became a guest of the Dark Lord."

Harry glared at him and turned hopefully to Dumbledore, "Sir may I go to The Burrow for the rest of the holidays?"

Dumbledore saw the glare and he chuckled to himself, smiling gently at Harry, "Harry your lessons with Severus are all the more very important in the light of recent happenings and you must continue with them. Severus, you may take Harry with you and continue where you left off and this time I will not disturb you until School starts. I am glad you and Harry have returned to us safely. I too have not slept since Harry was kidnapped and now I think all of us must hasten to our beds for a well deserved rest."

"Severus, you may tell Voldemort that Harry is at an undisclosed location and not at headquarters and leave it at that. He will think I have carted Harry off somewhere and will not trouble us for the rest of the holidays."

Dumbledore ignored Harry's scowl and Snape's glare and stood up indicating the meeting was over, "I will inform the Order about it tomorrow and if there is anything else I will Patronus you Severus."

There was no answer from both of them as they left scowling sulkily leaving a relieved Dumbledore to his much needed sleep.

Snape and Harry walked quietly to the gates and crossing the wards, portkeyed back to the cottage, where McGonagall and Hermione were waiting anxiously. Snape was too tired to speak and he left Harry to explain everything as he went to sleep.

Harry explained all that had happened to both of them and then all of them went to sleep feeling very relieved about well, everything. The next morning Harry woke up late only to find a note hovering over him. It was from Snape who had written that he was going to meet Voldemort and report what Dumbledore had told him to.

Harry quickly got up and went to make breakfast and started his studies just as McGonagall and Hermione flood in. Soon all of them were going about their work and trying not to worry too much about Snape's absence.

It was almost lunch when Snape followed by Arran, Rhiannon, Draco Malfoy, Blaize Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. All of them looked very tired and Snape and Draco were trembling slightly, indicating the use of the cruciatus on them.

Harry ran to Snape and flicking his wand turned both the sofas into reclining couches and helped Snape while Ria helped Draco into another.

"What happened?" Harry asked Arran who was scowling and looking very grim.

"He found out about the Diary and cursed Lucius and as he was still feeling furious even after Lucius fell unconscious, he cast the crucio at Draco and then he turned to Severus and cursed him as well as Severus did not bother to tell Voldemort about the diary, the basilisk and the destruction of both. He refused to accept the explanation that Severus had thought them merely dark objects placed by some random death eater and had not thought it important." Arran replied even as Hermione came running up from the potions lab with a large bottle of the anti cruciatus and pepper up potions.

Ria took the anti cruciatus from her with a thankful smile and conjuring two vials and poured the potion into them and gave one to Harry for Snape and the other she fed to Draco who was beginning to shake a lot more.

It was half an hour later that both of them were coherent enough to speak. Harry however leviated Snape to his bedroom and fed him a sleeping potion and came out to find Draco sleeping as well.

"All of you will not be missed will you?" McGonagall asked Arran who shook his head.

"I told Narcissa I will be taking Draco away for a little while and she was glad to see him go, as he would face the brunt of his father's anger and frustration once Lucius wakes up. Draco may stay here may he not?" Arran asked her looking sideways ay Harry who nodded along with McGonagall who said at once that indeed Draco should not go anywhere until he was quite fine.

Arran leviated Draco and placed him on Harry's bed and drew the curtains and then all of them relaxed. Harry enlarged the dining table and he and Hermione started cooking more food for all of them to have.

Harry was feeling very upset and it showed in his unnatural quietness as he boiled with rage inside at what Snape and Draco had to go through.

"Arran", he asked the boy a bit later, a boy who looked so uncannily like Sirius that it made Harry jump a little inside every time he looked at him, "how many horcruxes can a person make?"

"I suppose you want to know how many Voldemort would make?" as Harry nodded Arran thought about it for a minute and then replied, "usually it is not advisable to make more than three, as you tend to lose your human tendencies and Voldemort has already made six and with the amount of Black rituals he has performed on his own body, he is not even a magical creature let alone a human being. So he would not dare make more. Now he has about three horcruxes hidden away unless he has created one more that he did not create with your death sixteen years ago. Then he has four of them plus himself."

Harry shivered as he thought of destroying four horcruxes like he had the diary and then going after Voldemort and his death eaters. It seemed too huge a task to complete in one lifetime.

All of them were quiet for the rest of the day and Harry and Hermione went about their studies with Arran and McGonagall helping them. McGonagall suggested Ria, Blaize and Pansy too study something and soon all of them were immersed in their studies, with Ria looking now and then towards the drawn curtains where Draco was sleeping.

In the evening Pansy and Blaize left for their homes and then it was only them. Draco had not yet woken up and nor had Snape and after dinner McGonagall and Hermione left for the night and then it was Harry, Arran and Ria.

There was an awkward silence once Hermione had left and then it was Arran who broke it.

"Do I look so much like Sirius that you actually mistook me for him?" he asked Harry curiously.

In reply Harry went to his trunk and took out the photo album Hagrid had given him at the end of the first year and turned to his parents' wedding and showed Arran the photo of a laughing Sirius with an ache in his chest that did not quite let him speak.

Arran watched the photo and was stunned by the resemblance. Why he could pass for Sirius Black. He looked so like him. He silently handed the book to Ria who was amazed at the similarity and looked at Harry.

"I was seven years old when mother and father were imprisoned and we were home schooled by my father's parents' who were staunch followers' of Voldemort. When I was eleven years old, on the 1st of September exactly at midnight, I received a book, some vials containing memories and a pensieve from Regulus who was my uncle as was Sirius. The book that was in the form of journal was written by Regulus and contained information about Voldemort and the atrocities he had committed and listed out the reasons why I should not follow him.

"He pleaded with me in the journal and told me to watch the vials that were memories of Voldemort's heartlessness and his cruelty and begged me to refrain from making the mistakes he had made and asked me if it got too much to run away from home. He asked me to go to Sirius who he said would never refuse me anything once I swore on my magic I would be against Voldemort.

"In fact he told me to take the name of Black if mother or father would disown me. He told me about horcruxes and how Voldemort had cheated all the pure bloods by marking them as his slaves. He told me about half the Prophecy that Snape and he had heard and informed me that he had heard the whole Prophecy and that even Snape did not know he had heard and Voldemort was definitely going to fail. He asked me to be a Slytherin and choose the winning side.

"The only thing he did not tell me was Snape was with him in everything and he too knew the whole Prophecy. He even told me he had destroyed one of the horcruxes."

Harry gaped at Arran as he narrated his story listening to the hidden anguish in his voice.

"He probably did not want Snape to be revealed if you did not choose his path." Harry told him inadequately. Arran nodded as he continued as he looked at the wall in front of him sightlessly.

"I would have been a death eater with the best of them, if not for the fact you had already vanquished Voldemort. He was the most powerful wizard of all times," he said bitterly, "and was done away by a fifteen month old. That was the one fact that made me think seriously about what Regulus had written. The torture in the vials I witnessed was terrifying to an eleven year old who until then had been thinking about the glory that would be his when he too took the mark like his parents.

"What Regulus, who was until then a traitor to the cause as far as all of us were concerned did, was to make me look at everything with new eyes and perspective. He was not particularly close to me as I was too small when he started distancing from mother and all of us and it touched me at that point as well as confused me that he had cared enough."

There was a long silence as Harry and Arran sat there thinking about everything.

"So you chose at that time. why didn't you go to Dumbledore then?"

Arran shook his head, "No I didn't choose at that time. I read that journal again and again and watched the memories and did what Regulus asked me to do. He asked me to find out for myself if all that he had written was true before choosing. I did just that, I gave the talkative potion to my granddad and made my grandma drunk enough to reveal many things.

"Regulus had warned me again and again in the journal against Dumbledore and he told me only to help the child of the Prophecy either directly or behind the scenes to win the war. I found all that Regulus said was correct and I found so many other disgusting things and it hurt me that my parents' were ready to abandon me and Ria for this and not some grand plans as I had thought, for the future of the Wizarding World.

"I was to have approached Sirius as Regulus told me he would protect me but Sirius was already in Azkaban and was also a death eater. At the time no one knew who the person was who was closest to the Potters. Voldemort kept that very close to his chest. It was only two years ago that I knew it was the rat who had not only killed your parents but also made sure I would not be able to escape the fate of becoming a death eater by going to Sirius." Arran said his face taking an ugly look as he thought of Pettigrew.

"The rat has so many things to answer for. Good he is gone." Harry told him viciously as he thought of all that Pettigrew had done. Arran nodded his head as he continued to reminisce about his past.

"I took Ria under my wing and slowly extended it to Draco and his friends. Though, among his friends only two of them were interested. But it was better than anything and I trained very hard and also helped train Ria. I was waiting for an opportunity to meet you and offer my help in assisting you. Now that is done."

Arran was silent after that and Harry was silent as well as he sat in a comfortable silence with Arran and Ria and thought about all that Arran had said. Then the three of them got up and started making their way to conjure camp beds to sleep for the night.

"Won't your people," Harry could not say Bellatrix's name, "be searching for you?"

Arran grinned, "Ah! That's the beauty of it, you see we have created such a bizarre pattern for ourselves; all five of us, that no one would even question us if we did not go home for a few days. They would just think we were muggle baiting. We have kind of built up that reputation over the last few years."

Harry smiled at him and then Arran conjured three camp beds and Harry, Ria and he slept soundly. Draco woke up some time later and seeing all of them were asleep, turned over and went back to sleep again.

In the morning Harry, Arran and Ria woke up to find Draco and Snape already up and looking quite fine. Harry fussed over Snape and Ria over Draco, Hermione and McGonagall flood in and the routine started.

Arran, Draco and Ria left that afternoon and the other four continued their work. Over the next three weeks Arran, Ria, Draco, Blaize and Pansy were frequent visitors to Rose Cottage. All of them worked very hard and there was not much casual conversation among them, though there was an awkward acceptance of each other.

One week before School Arran came early in the morning with a piece of information that would kick start their hunt and war against Voldemort and his cruel men.

"Okay folks, I heard mother and father speaking of two places; one was the old house of the Gaunts and the other was the castle of Ravenclaw. I am presuming there are horcruxes there as mother was saying something about guard duty for the next week until Voldemort would reassess them and enhance their protections as," he grinned at Snape, "Nagini is dying and Voldemort is very worried about her. Mother whispered saying she was one of those and if she died and I think she would not survive the next two days; that would mean the Dark Lord was down to three only."

"That means he created one more after he returned." Snape said thoughtfully as Arran nodded.

"If we can take these two down, then Voldemort would have only one more horcrux and we can even think of capturing him and finding out the last one." Arran said giving Harry a mouth watering picture of a captured Voldemort with Harry and the others demanding him for information.

"Let us divide into two bands and attack the horcruxes simultaneously. That way we can be sure that Voldemort will not move them somewhere else. What do you think?" Harry asked the room in general.

Snape nodded approvingly. "That should do it."

Arran also nodded his head. "Severus and I will separate into two groups as both of us know an extraordinary amount of Black magic. Severus," Arran said turning to Snape, "Will you take Pansy, Ria and Hermione and McGonagall and I will take Harry along with Blaize and Draco?"

He turned to Harry and told him, "I just want us to work together and see if we can pull it off."

Harry nodded his head as did the others.

"We will leave tonight. Minerva, which one will you choose?"

"Rowena's as I know the place and I have actually visited it once before. Then the wards were friendly to allow a Hogwarts professor inside. Now," she trailed off.

"Good. We will try and get around the wards if we can; otherwise we will just break it and be prepared for a fight." Arran shrugged.

"Then I will get the others here as quickly as I can. Severus can you make the portkeys for all of us and also communication rings so that we can wear as an earring so that we can communicate with each other easily?"

Snape nodded and asking Hermione and Harry to follow him to the potions lab he quickly strode downstairs.

"Severus I will go home and from there to Hogwarts and try and get as much information as I can about Rowena and her castle." McGonagall stepped through the floo and went off to research.

They spent the rest of the day making a variety of potions and Harry was excused once Draco and the others came. Hermione, Pansy and Blaize were helping Snape in the potions lab and Harry, Draco and Ria were brushing up their dark arts and Blood Magic. Arran was giving a crash course on horcruxes and the enchantments surrounding them and the means of their destruction and all of them were soon practicing the spells.

Soon they were joined by the others and Hermione and Blaize were asked to brush up on healing charms and Pansy and Ria on various offensive hexes and charms in case they were needed to fight death eaters when Arran, Snape, Harry and Draco were searching and defusing the enchantments around the horcrux.

All of them had a light dinner too nervous to do anything else and soon they were armed with portkeys that hung around their necks as a simple chain, earrings that had been pierced into their left ear and various potions around their waists, all charmed to be feather light. They had everything from pepper ups to the anti – cruciatus, from burns causing potions to potions that would itch all over, and all of them were ready.

Snape had made them memorize the order of the potions on their belt so that no one would throw a healing potion at their enemy by mistake. McGonagall had also suggested taking their brooms and all of them had their broom in their pockets and with a deep breath all of them moved out of the cottage.

Snape, McGonagall, Ria, Hermione and Pansy apparated to Dundee; Hermione was the only one who did not know apparating and she was taken along by McGonagall; and from there all of them took out their brooms and went off behind McGonagall who was riding the broom in a very experienced manner as was Snape. After about twenty minutes of flying, all of them landed in a small village. Overlooking the village there was magnificent castle and all of them flew as close as they could to it.

They got off their brooms, shrunk them and put them in their pockets and casting invisibility charms, started walking towards the gate. Snape had already as had Arran, de–scented and changed the aura of all of them. There was no one there and Snape and McGonagall slowly sent their magic and found there was a barrier.

Snape and McGonagall and Hermione simultaneously recognized the dark mark barrier.

Snape turned to where he thought McGonagall would be standing and whispered, "Minerva, there is a dark mark barrier and that means you and Granger will not be allowed inside. The three of us have the marks on us and we will go inside and both of you stay here and watch out for death eaters."

McGonagall replied in the affirmative and Snape, Ria and Pansy went through the barrier and McGonagall and Hermione took their positions a little further away by flying on to a small hill and started keeping watch.

Snape, Ria and Pansy all of them who were marked went inside cautiously. There was no one there and Snape held his wand in his hands and whispered a few words in Latin and the wand spun and lay still, facing to the west of the castle and not inside. Snape and the other two walked cautiously, all the while talking to McGonagall about where they were going.

McGonagall and Hermione could actually see them from where they were as McGonagall had asked them to remove their invisibility charms so that they would know exactly where they were; and added to that McGonagall was also scouting the area for anybody else other than them. Hermione and McGonagall saw them at the same moment.

"Severus, there are four persons at the back and they are approaching rather swiftly. I think they have detected your presence." McGonagall started her running commentary as Hermione whispered something to Pansy, who immediately took out her bag and started rummaging in it.

"Got it, Granger." Pansy told her as she took out the Peruvian darkness powder and waited for the other death eaters to come around. She leaned over and whispered to Snape and Ria and both of them nodded once and then seeing four killing curses fly in their direction, Pansy threw the power and walked slowly, spreading the powder in front of her.

All three of them could not be seen and Hermione and McGonagall kept their commentary to Pansy and Snape respectively.

Snape walked towards an old oak tree as his wand indicated, and saw that the four intruders had also come there and were looking around only they were not able to see anything.

Suddenly, Snape stepped out and going around the tree went behind and pointing his wand at the death eater he recognized as Amycus, who was probably leading the others and said softly, "Imperio."

A glassed look came over the death eater whom Snape called over to his side and pointing his wand said a small chant that sounded like a song and then gave a few instructions, "You will go to the other side of the castle and wait there for three hours with your friends. You will not remember this interlude at all. Go and act as normal as ever. Exactly three hours later go alone to the front and re-erect the barrier." He said softly watching as the huge death eater gathered the others and walked off saying there was no one here and they should not stand there as it would look suspicious.

The moment they left and McGonagall confirmed it, Snape went to work, dismantling the wards along with Ria and Pansy who were also working furiously. It took Snape the better part of the three hours well versed as he was in the Dark Arts and Black Magic to finish dismantling the wards.

In the hollow of the magnificent oak tree that must have been there from the time of the Founders' was a book. It looked like an ordinary book, but Snape knew better. There was only about forty-five minutes left and Snape had to remove traces of their presence and also magical traces from the environment in case Voldemort called for the trees to tell him what had happened.

Snape carefully leviated the book and conjuring a wooden box, placed it into that and sealed it and taking out a portkey he fixed it to the box and activated it. Heaving a sigh of relief, Snape started the process of removing the evidences of their presence and he finished it with ten minutes to spare.

Snape had sent Ria and Pansy out the moment the horcrux left and had told them to stay just inside of the wards and the moment he finished he ran towards the barrier and went out through it along with the other three and telling McGonagall and the others to activate their portkeys, checked the barrier to see if it was standing fine and in a swift stroke brought it down.

Casting invisibility charms he waited for Amycus to re- erect the barrier and move over to the other side, and then removing all traces of his presence Snape activated his portkey.

He joined the others at the cottage and sent Ria and Pansy home immediately, concealing their earrings, charming them invisible and then slumped on the sofa and took a deep breath.

Hermione was trembling as was McGonagall who actually hugged him as he handed him a well deserved drink, "Merlin, you were brilliant." Hermione nodded fervently, "Yes Sir, you were astounding."

Snape flushed a little even as he scowled and scoffed at the genuine praise from his colleague and his student. Harry and the others were yet to arrive and Snape was praying all would go well there and Harry and the others would return safely with another horcrux.