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A Tangled Web by xenasquill [Reviews - 1]

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Chapter 3: The Warning

As soon as he was able, Severus Apparated directly onto the doorstep of 12 Grimmauld Place, trusting that the ill-lit entryway would hide his sudden appearance from the Muggle neighbors. He waited impatiently as the door yielded to his unlocking spell, and burst through it into the hallway pausing only to cast a quick, silent “Langlock” on the portrait of Walburga Black. He was in no mood to tiptoe, and her reaction to his arrival would doubtless waste time. Reaching the door to the cellar, he threw it open and proceeded down into the cozily lit basement kitchen two steps at a time.

“Albus? Is that you?” Severus heard the voice of Remus Lupin.

“It’s Snape,” said the gruff voice of Alastor Moody, whom Severus could now see sitting at the table with his back to the stairs.

“Dumbledore is expected?” Severus asked urgently.

“You again?!” Black exclaimed.

“Shortly,” Shacklebolt answered from his seat at the table. Severus appreciated the quick response. The other occupants of the table, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, were looking up at him in surprise.

“Yes, Black,” Severus replied curtly. “Potter is missing. I fear he may have hared off to the Ministry with his friends in a misguided attempt to rescue you.”

“You mean you didn’t tell him-” Black rose to his feet with such violence that he knocked over the chair on which he had been sitting.

“I could hardly waltz into the presence of Dolores Umbridge and tell him I had seen you,” Severus replied with a sneer. “Potter could be at the Department of Mysteries now, and there are likely Death Eaters there to meet him.”

A collective gasp ran about the room, and the rest rose to their feet.

Severus continued, “Black, stay here and tell Dumbledore what I suspect, the rest should go to the Ministry without delay-”

“We’ll do it, Severus,” Lupin said from across the table. Nymphadora looked at him admiringly, and nodded her agreement.

“Why don’t you stay and tell Dumbledore?” Black asked belligerently. “Since, naturally, you are not going to come along?” he added his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Because I only suspect Potter is there,” Severus replied curtly. “Alternatively, he could be lost in the Forbidden Forest, and I am the logical person to look for him there.”

“He’s right, Black,” Shacklebolt agreed. “And you are the logical one to stay here. If they spot you at the Ministry, there could be hell to pay. Alright, everyone-”

“You will excuse me, then,” Severus said. Shacklebolt and Moody were already outlining a plan to Apparate into the Ministry. Lupin was speaking urgently to Black in an undertone, and Severus had to resist the urge to say something cutting. The thought of Potter, either alone in the Forest, or at the Ministry walking into a Death Eater ambush, sufficed to dissuade him from such a needless waste of time. Satisfied a rescue mission to the Ministry would shortly be on its way, he turned on his heel and Disapparated.

Once back on the Hogwarts grounds, Severus headed straight for the Forbidden Forest. He had no idea where Miss Granger might have thought it best to lead Umbridge, so he was going to have to check each of the many meandering forest paths until he came across the missing students or some indication of where they might be. It had seemed logical to start with the path he considered the most dangerous – the one that led to the lair of Hagrid’s Acromantula friend and his now-enormous brood. Severus had followed that path to this spot, but he was having some difficulty accounting for what he now beheld.

He stood at the edge of a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Before him, nosing in the grass, stood a few of the thestrals in the school’s herd. This was rather curious behavior for carnivores, but it seemed explicable in light of the large quantity of spent and broken arrows that littered the clearing. Centaurs had fought here earlier tonight. In the aftermath of a battle, there would be blood on the ground. This raised the question of whom or what the centaurs had fought. Across the clearing, by the light of the stars and moon, Severus could see a trail of smashed and uprooted trees. Centaurs had not caused that. It suggested nothing smaller than a dragon, or a giant, an issue to take up with Hagrid at some point.

It strained credulity to suppose that so unusual an event had no connection to the disappearance of Potter and his gang, but he saw no sign of them now. Had the creature that had left the trail of bent and broken trees in its wake harmed them? Had the centaurs captured them? The centaurs should know. If he went on foot, he would likely end up sharing that fate, he realized, though the presence of the thestrals gave him the option of riding.

As Severus approached the one standing nearest to him slowly, it sidled away. Taking the silver knife he used in potion making out from inside his robes, he drew it across his left forearm, leaving a shallow cut that started to ooze blood. The thestral raised its head, and its nostrils widened as it picked up the smell of fresh blood. Interested now, it approached him to lick his arm. He swung himself onto its back, wound his left hand into its long mane, and directed it to the centaurs’ settlement. His stomach lurched and his left hand tightened convulsively as the beast sprang upwards and with steady beats of its powerful wings, rose up over the trees. Severus, however, did not admire the view. He was too busy staying on the beast. While falling off it held no danger for him, he recognized a mount might have other uses in the event the centaurs proved hostile to him.

As the thestral reached a height that suited it, Severus relaxed his grip on its mane. After a minute or two of flight, the thestral began to descend. Looking down, he saw, far below him, the campfires of the centaurs. As the thestral spiraled downwards, Severus was not surprised to note that there was a great deal of activity despite the lateness of the hour, especially around a large fire at the center of the encampment. He directed the thestral to land a short distance away from the fires. A centaur galloped up, arrow nocked and aimed at him. The guard must have seen him flying overhead, Severus deduced. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on the wand he held in his right hand. He kept it lowered, though, not wishing to be provocative.

“Who are you, wizard, and why are you trespassing on our territory?” the centaur challenged him.

“I am Professor Severus Snape, a teacher of Hogwarts School,” Severus identified himself clearly. “I am seeking students who may be lost in the forest. In my search, I saw evidence of a battle, and blood spilled. I wish to ascertain whether the students were involved, and see to them if they are injured.”

“You think we are savages, to leave injured foals unattended? Or do you merely believe us ignorant of healing?” the guard demanded, his expression indignant.

“Neither,” Severus replied, keeping his voice level in spite of his rising annoyance. “I know well that your people are familiar with the healing properties of plants, and would not leave an injured captive untended, let alone a child. Their well-being, however, is my responsibility.”

“You have broken our laws by coming here!” the guard said.

“I regret the necessity,” Severus said. “I have no desire to trespass on your territory and break your laws, and would not have considered such a course of action, were it not for the possible danger to students under my care.”

“Your excuses will not sway me! We will take you captive and let our leader deal with you,” the centaur declared.

Centaurs had no love for humans, Severus recalled, but surely, this one was unusually hostile. He had made no hostile move, and had provided an excuse for his presence that even they ought to accept, if with ill grace. Something about the night’s events must not be sitting well with them.

“If the students I seek are already captive within your camp, I will surrender my wand willingly, and make whatever restitution your leader requires for our trespass,” Severus said. The prospect did not particularly appeal to him, but he was well aware of his own limitations. Fighting off a herd of angry centaurs to rescue their captives without risking serious injury to anyone involved was beyond him. As a fellow captive, he would be in a position to disabuse Potter of any notion that Black needed rescue, anyway.

“Hmm, you at least have some notion of the proper way to address a centaur,” the guard said grudgingly. “Unlike your so-called Headmistress.”

“You have seen Dolores Umbridge, then?” Severus asked urgently. That explained the attitude, anyway. An encounter with her would not leave anyone well disposed towards Hogwarts staff.

“Indeed, I have, and you will be joining her,” the centaur replied.

“What about the boy and girl who were with her?” Severus asked. “I cannot surrender if the children are not here. I am the only one looking for them.”

“Then we will take you by force, for they ran away into the forest at our approach,” said a voice behind him. Severus turned the thestral, which bucked nervously. Three more centaurs had arrived to encircle him.

However, the new arrival had provided all the information he wanted. Neither Potter nor Granger were here, and they had given Umbridge the slip. Focusing his will, Severus cast a spell and his wand gave off an extremely bright flash of light. At the same time, he dug his heels hard into the thestral’s sides. The beast threw itself upwards with a violence that nearly unseated Severus. The centaurs, blinded as Severus himself was by the dazzling magical light, failed to adjust their aim as the thestral took to the air, and the first flight of arrows missed.

Severus, bent low and clinging to the thestral’s neck with his left arm where he had been thrown by his mount’s ascent, cast Disarming Charms down at random as the thestral rose. He heard a bowstring twang as it snapped, and its owner yelled an imprecation up at him. The thestral whinnied in pain, and an arrow whistled past Severus’s head as the centaurs shot their second flight of arrows. Still leaning down, he cast a Shield Charm in the direction of the ground. The beast redoubled its efforts to distance them from the centaurs. Abruptly its efforts flagged, and Severus saw that an arrow had evaded his charm and lodged itself in the heavy muscles around the creature’s shoulder. He yanked it free and ran his wand along the bleeding wound, closing it with a muttered incantation. Eased, the thestral rose higher. Severus leaned back down and cast another Shield Charm as the next flight of arrows rose into the air. They bounced off harmlessly and the thestral sped away over the trees, finally out of reach of the centaurs.

Back in the clearing, Severus slid off and examined the damage the creature had sustained. A long scrape along one flank he quickly healed with another incantation. The arrow lodged in the upper hind leg was more worrisome. Severus Petrified the thestral to keep it still, and took a closer look. Luckily, the arrow had glanced off a bone and the tip had not penetrated deeply. He pulled the arrow free and closed the wound with a final incantation, before unfreezing the thestral. It walked gingerly over towards its fellows.

Having tended to his mount, Severus took stock of what he had learned. Umbridge, along with Granger and Potter, had encountered the centaurs, and the students had gotten away. Yet, apparently, they had not taken advantage of Umbridge’s capture to return to the school. Severus checked his watch. Yes, even with the side trip to the encampment, if he left now, he could be back at the castle in far less time than Potter and his gang had been missing. Yet none of them had turned up. After dropping the problem of Black in his lap earlier that evening, Potter had not even bothered to check back with him to learn what he had done about it.

Severus knew why, of course. With his usual arrogance, Potter had decided to handle the matter himself, to take on the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters in the company of five other schoolchildren. The presence of the thestrals, attracted by the carnage (a mystery for another day), had provided Potter with the means to travel to the Ministry, and he had gone.

His decision to contact the Order as soon as he had shed Draco had proved correct, anyway, Severus realized. The Order really was needed. Even now, a battle probably raged in the Department of Mysteries. What did this mean for him? Obviously, the Dark Lord would want to know how the Order had gotten there. He might be summoned at any time. Failure to appear tonight would be as good as an admission of guilt. He would go if he had to, act blithely unaware, and claim ignorance of the Order’s activity if asked. But not of Potter’s fears, he reminded himself. Draco had connected Potter’s cryptic remark to Black, which could eventually reach the Dark Lord’s ears.

While he waited, should he go back to the school? There was, after all, the small chance that his reasoning was incorrect and Potter had not used the thestrals. Yet if Potter had simply returned to the castle more slowly than he expected, surely their paths would have crossed.

Further, he realized, the forest was his alibi. If he had no idea of the night’s events aside from the disappearance of Umbridge with Potter, searching the forest for them would be his logical move. It behooved him to stay there, and play his role, until one of his masters called for him.

Author’s Note: I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, my readers, and wish you and yours all the best over the holidays!

A Tangled Web by xenasquill [Reviews - 1]

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