A Living Secret ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 5 ~ A Pulse of Power

As Severus climbed through the fissure, he thought about what Voldemort had told him, that there would be water pouring through the fissure. The rock base was wet, but there was no water.

Yet.

As the Potions Master climbed through, he heard a roar behind him. He looked back just as a rush of water washed over him, forcing him through the fissure and into a small tunnel…he was buffeted off the slimy walls as he was shoved through by the pressure of the sudden tide, the tunnel curving to the left. Spluttering and doing his best not to swallow any more water, Severus rode it out, the water becoming shallow as he came to rest against rugged stone steps.

His teeth chattering, the wizard climbed the stairs, water streaming from his robes and head, his hair plastered to his skull. He felt his pocket. Thank the gods his wand was still there. Severus whipped it out and quickly cast a drying spell on himself. He pulled up his sleeves. There were bruises on his arms. Shit, that had been quite a ride.

”Lumos’ he said, lighting the wand tip and looking about. Yes this was the cave.

He looked at the walls…there was supposed to be an entrance hidden in them. Severus said the incantation Voldemort had given him so the door would reveal itself.

”Visiportis,” the wizard breathed.

The outline of an arched doorway was illuminated by a blazing white light. Severus strode over to it and touched the wall. The outline faded. This was the entryway that required blood. Severus put out his wand for a moment, then pressed it to a vein in his arm. A small gash appeared, streaming blood. He wiped his arm on the stone and the outline appeared again, the stone within it vanishing. Severus healed his wound and relit his wand, walking through.

The dark wizard stopped. He was standing at the edge of a huge black lake that spread so far out he couldn’t see the other side. There was a greenish fog resting in its center that was reflected in the water below. The cavern was so high, the Potions Master couldn’t see the ceiling. There was the distinct feeling of evil in the place and neither his wand nor the green mist offered much light. It was as if the darkness was denser than usual.

A narrow rim of rock encircled the lake and Severus set off walking around the edge, carefully counting off his paces. He took care not to misstep and touch the water. The Dark Lord had not told him what would happen if he did, but that was the perversity of the wizard. Severus was sure something terrible would occur…he didn’t need to know exactly what.

Finally he stopped and slowly fanned his hand through the air over the lake, coming in contact with something cold, hard and invisible and closing his fist over it. He moved as close as possible to the edge of the lake without touching the water and tapped his wand to his fist as Voldemort instructed.

A thick greenish chain appeared in Severus’ clenched hand, the links leading into the water. Severus tapped the chain with his wand and it began to slide through his fist, coiling of its on volition on the bank, clinking noisily as it pulled a tiny, glowing green boat from the depths. It didn’t look very stable.

Severus entered the boat carefully, folding up his body as best he could, careful not to touch the water. The boat began to glide across the lake under its own power, the Potions Master glancing down at the dark water. He thought he saw some movement beneath the surface. It didn’t seem as if the water could sustain any sea life, but one never knew.

After a few moments, Severus reached the greenish glow and the boat bumped against something hard. The wizard held out his wand and saw a small island made of smooth rock, no larger than Dumbledore’s office. The glow was coming from a small stone basin set upon a pedestal in the center of the island. It was filled with an emerald liquid that gave off light.

Severus approached it and waved his wand over it, repeating the incantation Voldemort had given him to clear the contents and collect the locket. The liquid vanished, and at the bottom of the basin…was nothing.

Severus frowned. The locket was gone. Hopefully whoever had taken it had destroyed the soul fragment within. Voldemort would not be pleased about this, but the Potions Master certainly was. He turned to return to the boat, but found it had drifted out a ways.

Damn it.

”Accio boat,” the Potions Master said, pointing his wand at it. The boat bobbed calmly on the black surface of the water, not moving. Severus tried again to no avail.

“Shit,” he breathed, looking about then back at the boat. It was just out of reach. Severus stretched, trying to catch the bow…he was almost there, when his foot slipped and the toe of his boot touched the water. He drew it out quickly.

Suddenly the water of the entire lake began to bubble. Severus splashed through the water and got into the boat, which began its journey back to the other side. Pale shapes appeared under the surface, and to Severus’ shocked horror, pale hands gripped the sides of the boat. He started blasting them, but to not avail. Bodies began to appear, waterlogged animated corpses, bobbing in the water, all converging on the boat.

“Inferi,” Severus hissed as the creatures grabbed hold of him.

The Potions Master fought valiantly, but there were too many of them and he dropped his wand. In a moment, he was pulled over the side and into the dark water, the bodies of the dead pressing around him. He swallowed water…he was drowning. He’d never get back to Voldemort. He’d never help Harry find the Horcruxes. The wizarding world was doomed because he’d failed.

He relaxed, his body ceasing to fight as the inferi dragged him downward. Death was here.

The surface of the lake was smooth now, there was no sign of struggle, no indication at all that a brave wizard had been taken below the water to join the ranks of the undead.

Suddenly, a powerful pulse of orange light boiled through the depths from the center of Severus’ body to the edge of the lake itself, the inferi releasing the wizard and Severus bobbing up to the surface, followed by the bodies of the undead…which weren’t moving.

Severus floated on his back and suddenly coughed, expelling water. He took a choked breath and coughed again, feeling something bumping against him. He opened his eyes and looked to see a malformed face floating next to his head and kicked away from it, only to bump into another body and another. The wizard pushed through them, his hand coming into contact with something thin and straight…his wand. He silently thanked the gods and used his wand to clear the bodies from his path as he swam to the lake's edge and staggered to shore.

He looked back at the lake which was filled with the floating, unmoving bodies of the inferi, no longer animate. Severus knew he had been dying. Where had that burst of power come from? He couldn’t do wandless magic, but somehow that burst of fire, because that was what it was, erupted from his person. Fire was not supposed to be able to burn under water, but this flame did.

Was it some kind of magical adrenaline that caused the burst of magic? Severus didn’t know, but he was thankful. He cast a drying spell on himself and quickly exited the cavern. He couldn’t leave this place soon enough.

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In her bed in muggle London, Hermione suddenly woke up from her sleep, looking around wildly. She had felt another surge of power. Her eyes widened.

The witch had come to the conclusion that Dumbledore had purposely connected her to him magically, so she could feel him whenever he expended energy. For what purpose Hermione wasn’t sure. But she felt that power tonight…and it didn’t make sense. Albus Dumbledore had been dead at least two weeks now. But she felt him. It could only have been him. But he was dead…Snape had killed him. Harry witnessed it. She attended his funeral. The body of Albus Dumbledore was encased in a tomb on the grounds of Hogwarts for all eternity…wasn’t it?

Then why did she feel him? Feel his power?

“Things are not always how they appear…”

The thought came unbidden and Hermione started. It was almost as if she heard the Headmaster’s voice repeating those words to her again.

Hermione fell back to the bed, her brow furrowed as she rested her head on the pillow.

She was certain of one thing, something really wasn’t as it seemed.

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”You’re mad Hermione…mad with grief,” Ron said to the witch as they walked around his yard at the Burrow the next day, “The Headmaster is dead. Harry saw him die, Hagrid carried his body to the tomb and we all witnessed him being interred. Snape killed him.”

”But Ron, remember I kept telling you about all the power surges I felt. I believe they corresponded with Dumbledore every time he used a great amount of power. And I felt him last night,” Hermione breathed at him.

“Hermione, maybe it has something to do with your…your hormones or something. Witches go through a lot. Maybe your cycle's off or something,” Ron suggested, shoving his hands deep in his jeans pocket. “Anyway, enough about this. How about a little kiss? I haven’t seen you for weeks.”

Ron tried to put his arms around Hermione but she jerked away.

”Ron, this is important. I’m starting to think Snape didn’t kill Dumbledore at all,” the witch said.

Ron scowled at her.

“You’re crazy, Hermione. You need to see a medi-witch,” he said to her blackly.

Hermione stared at him for a moment.

“You’re not even willing to entertain the idea that Dumbledore might still be alive,” Hermione said to him, “I’m not making this up, Ron. Something is going on. I feel Dumbledore.”

Ron snorted.

“The only thing going on, Hermione, is your overactive imagination. No one is going to believe you. ‘Oh…I can feel Dumbledore in my bones,’” he said in a mocking falsetto voice.

Hermione’s face became dark as an approaching storm.

”I’m going to go talk to Harry then. He’ll listen,” she said angrily, “The hell with you, Ronald Weasley.”

“Don’t you dare tell Harry this,” Ron said, his own face turning dark, “He’s been through enough. He had to watch Snape kill Dumbledore. And you are going to try and convince him he’s not dead? When Harry watched him fall from the tower? Hermione…listen to yourself. Harry’s got enough on his mind trying to figure out how to find the Horcruxes without you adding your mad ideas!”

”You really think them mad, Ron?” Hermione asked him, a quaver in her voice.

“Yes. I really do. You need to stop it now,” he said.

”Fine. I will stop it. I’ll stop everything,” Hermione said, narrowing her eyes, “Including my relationship with you. It’s over Ron. If you have no faith in me and can’t be supportive then I want nothing to do with you.”

Ron looked at her flabbergasted.

“But Hermione, you can’t expect me to agree with everything you say! What you are saying is insane. Dumbledore is dead. Dead, dead, dead. No matter how much you want him to be alive, he isn’t. And if you go around saying he is, someone’s going to stick you in the St. Mungos’ psycho ward.”

“Goodbye Ron,” Hermione said stiffly.

Ron rushed forward.

“Hermione, wait!” he cried, but the witch cast a silencing spell on herself and disapparated back to Diagon Alley, then using the Leaky Cauldron exit, returned to muggle London. She didn’t know what she ever saw in Ronald Weasley.

He was an ass.

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Voldemort was livid when he finished viewing the pensieve. He stared at Severus wildly.

“Gone! The locket is gone…stolen! How did this happen?” he asked Severus angrily.

”I do not know, my Lord. You just told me about the existence of the Horcrux. I simply went to check it as you directed, my Lord,” Severus said.

Voldemort stared at Severus a long moment, longing to crucio him for bringing back bad news…but he still needed him. It wasn’t the wizard’s fault the locket was gone. The despot’s red eyes fell on Peter, who was sweeping the floor of the throne room, putting the finishing touches on clean-up detail. There had been a revel the night before. Voldemort trained his wand on him.

“Crucio!” the despot cried.

Peter Pettigrew stiffened, then cried out, falling to the floor screaming and shuddering as the horrible pain blazed through him. Satisfied at having expended his displeasure, Voldemort released Pettigrew, who remained on the floor, quaking.

Voldemort turned his eyes on Severus, who wisely did not share what happened after he discovered the locket missing. Voldemort would have wondered about the burst of power, and Severus couldn’t explain it. But he knew if the Dark Lord knew he was capable of such power, he would kill him.

“You’ve done well, Severus. I am going to send you out to check the next Horcrux in a few days. In the meantime, I want you to brew up a few batches of polyjuice potion. It is said that Harry Potter has hidden himself in the muggle world. I am not sure I believe this, though he would have been wise to do so. But the boy is a fool and believes himself courageous. I don’t think he would cut and run. I know you are being sought, Severus, but you are also quite adept at spying. I have a number of leftover hairs from victims scattered about in Nagini’s quarters. You will use them to move about the wizarding world and seek out information on Harry Potter. Do you mind?” he asked Severus, his eyes narrowing.

It really wasn’t a question. It was more of a dare for Severus to decline the job.

“Not at all, my Lord. I will begin brewing immediately,” the wizard said.

“Good man, Severus,” the Dark Lord said with a thin, lipless smile, “You may go.”

Severus backed away and turned heading for his rooms.

So, he’d be moving about the wizarding world. He would have to be careful, but this could work to his advantage. He might be able to find some way to pass Harry the information about the Horcruxes, if the boy wasn’t too thick to understand it.

But he probably was.

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A/N: Another chapter. Seems Ron and Hermione are on the outs. She’s beginning to put it together. But Ron is right. Who will believe her that she’s having “feelings” Dumbledore is still alive. Ah, well. We’ll see what happens. Thanks for reading.