Chapter 49: After Midnight

Poppy Pomfrey came running from the infirmary with her medical kit in one hand and her wand in the other. "What's going on here? Is anyone hurt?" she asked. "I wasn't expecting anything worse than drunkenness and a few minor hexes and fist-fights tonight."

"Someone tried to kill Kingsley, but they missed," the Headmistress explained. "Everyone seems to be all right here, but you'd better take a look around. I don't know what happened out in the courtyard."

"I'm so glad we charmed those suits of armor to act as guardians as well as waiters," Pomona said. "Do you think we should try to send everyone home?"

Minerva surveyed the scene. The Elves were already starting to set the tables back up and clean up the spilled champagne and canapés. Some of them were casting Reparo on broken plates and champagne flutes.

"I think it's safe here now that the assassin has fled," the Headmistress said, "and I don't think anyone would listen to us at this point anyway." She turned to Lawrence Lombard, who was crouching beside the stage, clutching his accordion. "Do you think your group could play something soothing for us? It might help a bit," she asked him.

"I'm not sure where the violinist went, but we could try," Lombard said, getting to his feet.

Bentley Ballard was getting to his feet, too. He'd found himself hiding under a table with Clayton Urquhart and Melody Nowak. "You guys okay?" he asked them.

"I think so," Clayton said. "I tore my tail, though. I thought this sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen anymore."

"Yeah, we were all supposed to live happily ever after," Theodore Nott complained as he crawled out from behind an ice sculpture.

"Good luck with that," Melody said.

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The Quintet was playing a waltz but no one was dancing when the Aurors started to straggle back into the Hall. They were still in their costumes but very disheveled. Captain Clark cast the Notice-Me-Not charm on himself and wandered over to listen to them.

"Do you have any idea what this was all about, sir?" Harry was asking Auror Morris.

"Not really," the officer said. "That man was apparently trying to assassinate Minister Shacklebolt. He had a shield charm that was stronger than anything I've ever seen. We're lucky that the force of our attacks was strong enough to push him over the cliff."

When he had looked over the edge Harry had expected to see the man dead on the icy rocks below, but the fellow had been getting up. His shield charm had protected him. He tried to Accio his broom but the Aurors destroyed it with Incendio. He was trying to conjure another broom when Fawkes arrived and started to attack him.

"That cockatrice-thing was ferocious!" Ron said. "He kept trying to tear at the guy, but he couldn't get through the shield any better than we could."

It has been quite a sight. Fawkes had screeched and clawed at the man, but to no effect. In his frustration, Fawkes had even tried smacking the man with his costume's spiked tail.

When the assassin started firing Killing Curses at them, the senior Auror, Inspector Waverly, had been forced to cast the lethal curse back at him. The curse struck the man in the chest, but even then he had managed to walk a few steps before he fell dead.

"I've never seen anything like it," Morris said. "But did you see those red daggers tattooed on his chest? He must have been one of the Nameless."

"The Nameless?" Harry asked.

"They're a band of assassins. I've never heard of them striking in the British Isles before, but they're greatly feared on the continent. Their symbol is a crimson dagger, and each tattooed dagger represents a person they've killed.

Only a small part of the man's chest had been exposed where his costume was ripped, but Harry had seen two red daggers on it.

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Parselmouth and their fans were guarding the bound cowboy under the watchful eyes of Lucius Malfoy when Auror Morris finally got to the courtyard. Kat and Biscuit were loitering nearby to eavesdrop.

"What happened out here?" Morris asked.

"This cowboy guy attacked a couple with the Killing Curse," Tracey said. "His victims ducked, the curse missed, and then the man hit him with a binding spell. He seems to be in some kind of trance."

"The lady was Rita Skeeter, the reporter," Lucius told him. "I'm not sure who the fellow with her was. Skeeter was badly shaken and he took her home. She said she'll give you a statement in the morning."

"Well, if it's Rita Skeeter, I'm sure she'll file her story first," Morris mused. He knelt down to examine the captive. The fellow was mumbling incoherently.

"I think he's under the Imperius Curse," Morris announced. "We'll take him in and charge him. Maybe we can get to the bottom of all this when we question him."

He got up and turned to Lucius. "It's probably not the first time someone has wanted to kill Skeeter," he said, "but I don't think anybody's actually tried to do it before."

"Well, he totally killed our t-shirt sales," Tracey complained.

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Bill and Fleur Weasley found Ginny sitting on a bench at the back of the Hall. She looked extremely unhappy. "Are you okay, Sis?" Bill asked.

"Yes. Sort of, I guess. Mum just finished hollering at me for going after you guys. She still treats me a baby sometimes. Everyone does."

Bill took off his owl mask and sat down next to her. "No, you're a hero, Ginny. You fought in the war with the rest of us."

"Well, I don't feel like a hero. Ever since I got imprisoned in the Chamber of Secrets I've felt like I'm just a stupid little girl who got fooled by Tom Riddle. You can't imagine what it was like. I was so helpless and alone. And afterward I felt like everyone was laughing at me. Ever since then I've been trying to prove myself, but it's just not working."

"Everyone knows how brave you are, Ginny, but maybe you're trying too hard. And if you're going to go charging into danger, maybe you should get some training with the Aurors," Bill suggested. "Most of the defense training you got at Hogwarts was a joke."

"I can't. I'm not eligible for the Aurors because I didn't finish school. They made an exception for Ron and Harry, but they're not going to make one for me." She sighed. "Do you know why I wanted to quit school? I told Mum it was because I wanted to marry Harry and start a family, and that's why she went along with it. But the real reason is that I can't go back into that hallway where Fred died. I can't face it. I'm okay here in the Great Hall, but I can't go there. And I would have to. Sometimes every day. And I couldn't be in Gryffindor, either. I'd have to be in one of those stupid made-up Houses, and there'd be Slytherins there, too."

"Do you want to get married so soon, then?" Bill asked her. "I could talk to Harry and Mum for you."

"Yes… no… maybe… I don't know. I don't know what I want any more." She started to cry.

Fleur conjured a handkerchief for her. "I felt really awful for a long time after zee Tri-Weezard Tournament, you know," she said. "I did pretty well on zee first task, but after zat theengs sort of fell apart for me. I felt like I was an embarrassment to my school, an embarrassment to girls everywhere. It took me quite a while to get over eet."

Ginny blew her nose. "Yes, I remember." Everyone was laughing at her accent and calling her 'Phlegm', especially me. That was just plain mean.

"Look, Sis, why don't you come stay with us for a few weeks," Bill said. "Have a change of scenery and get out from under Mum's thumb for a bit. We'd love to have you, wouldn't we, Fleur?"

Fleur nodded happily.

"You could hit the books and get ready to sit the exams," Bill added. "We could tutor you and help you with the practical stuff."

Ginny wiped her eyes and thought for a moment, and then she said, "Yes, I think I'd like that a lot." Then she hugged Bill, burying her face in his feathered costume.

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Mavis was asleep on her perch in the captain's quarters when Fawkes got back to the boat. He shoved the door open to let the light in and crowed loudly to wake her up.

"Has my wizard come back?" he asked. "Have any of them?"

Mavis blinked her big yellow eyes. "I don't think so," she said sleepily. "What happened?"

Fawkes told her about the two attacks. "I wasn't fooled by the diversion, of course. When I saw that Severus had subdued his attacker, I turned back and went after the other one. I had no problem catching up with him, but he managed to shield himself against me somehow. When I slammed into his shield, I bounced off! It hurt! Then I tried to fight my way through it, but I couldn't get to him. Finally someone cast the Killing Curse on him. Nothing can stop the Killing Curse."

"It sounds dreadful!" Mavis said.

"I have no idea where Severus went. The others are still hanging around at the castle. I think they're trying to figure out what it was all about."

Mavis nodded. "I'm sure your wizard will come back soon. He's rather good at taking care of himself. Why don't you try to get some sleep. It's the middle of the night and you're not an owl, you know."

"No," the phoenix said, "I'm going to wait up for them. They're only humans, after all."

Fawkes shook off his costume's tail and flew to the dining area. He settled on the back of a chair to wait for his friends, but after a few minutes he had fallen asleep.

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Severus got back before dawn and found the crew sitting around a table, drinking coffee and waiting for him. They were still in their costumes and Fawkes was asleep on a chair near the door. Severus took off his mask and joined them.

"Is the lady all right?" Captain Clark asked.

"Rita was badly shaken. She didn't want to be alone, so I stayed with her. She knows that a lot of people hate her for her exposés, but she never expected anyone to attack her physically, let alone try to murder her. She swore she wouldn't let it stop her, though. Eventually she fell asleep with her head on my shoulder, and after a while I managed to slip away without waking her."

"I hope you didn't take off your mask," Clark remarked.

"Of course not! I left her a note of apology, explaining that I was sorry to leave but I had to avoid the Aurors so as not to jeopardize our 'secret mission'. I signed it 'Captain Hook'."

"Well, from what we heard when we were leaving," Clark said, carefully omitting the fact that they'd stuck around after Severus had told them to go back to the boat, "one of the Nameless assassins was there to kill the Minister for Magic. He Imperiused some poor jerk and sent him to attack Skeeter, hoping that it would cause the Minister to reveal himself."

"And it worked, too," Biscuit said, "although nobody actually got killed, except for the assassin."

"They got him, then?" Severus asked.

"Yes, but they don't know who sent him. Some of them suspect the Dolohov family," Clark said.

Severus nodded. "That's a good guess. The Dolohovs are very influential on the continent. I'm sure they're not happy that Anton is in Azkaban, and they could easily afford to hire an assassin. Killing the Minister wouldn't free Anton, but it would avenge what they would see as an insult to the family honor."

"I can't wait to see the next issue of The Prophet," Biscuit interjected. "I bet Skeeter's column is going to be a real zinger!"

"Well, I've got the birdbath," Clark said, pulling it out of his pocket. He had shrunk it to the size of a mushroom. "You guys are going to have to get the dye off our 'cockatrice' friend when he wakes up." He placed it on the floor and enlarged it to its original size.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Kat said, saluting.

"And now that we're all back," Clark said, "let's sail out of here before the Aurors decide that 'Captain Hook' is wanted for questioning. I'd hate to have to explain that to Mr Flushwell at Knight Lines."

Severus couldn't have agreed more.

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Severus was asleep in his cabin when the boat entered the North Sea and turned southward. He dreamed he was standing on the stairs in Hogwarts. Several students were cowering on the landing behind him and the Carrows were marching up the stairs toward him, side by side. They were gnashing their teeth and pointing their wands at him. They were obviously furious about something, although he wasn't sure exactly what.

Suddenly the Carrows stepped on one of the vanishing stairs and it disappeared beneath their feet. Severus watched as the pair fell through in slow motion. Their eyes and mouths were wide open in surprise. The students laughed and cheered.

Severus smiled in his sleep.