"Honestly Albus I'm beginning to wonder if Lucius Malfoy hasn't a point about your fitness as Headmaster. There were deaths! Deaths!" Cornelius Fudge was a short plump wizard who had a fondness for pinstriped robes. He was also the Minister of Magic and he had to be dealt with. Such was the reason he was now standing in the office of Albus Dumbledore, rolling the rim of his small bowler hat anxiously between his fingers as he paced in front of the large wooden desk.

Albus walked slowly to his side of the desk and sank down heavily into his own chair. It was not often he felt the weight of his years as keenly as he did this day, but the fact of the matter was, several students had died, despite the magic that was employed to keep them alive until a cure was discovered. And now it was up to him to speak with the families of the children, to speak with the student body and inform them of the tragedy that has occurred. It was a tragedy that could have been prevented had Fudge simply accepted the truth of his words instead of wasting so much time trying to discredit the ones who were only interested in protecting the Wizarding World. The old wizard dearly hoped the bureaucrat before him felt the weight of every death his inaction had caused.

"How exactly would I have been able to better protect the student body from the attack? As I recall you refused my request for extra auror protection when I asked as Voldemort was not returned and the expense too difficult to justify."

"Never the less," Fudge announced in a fussy voice. He avoided the unforgiving blue eyes of the wizard before him. If there was a continuation of that thought it wasn't forthcoming. There was more nervous pacing. "This should never have occurred."

"Of course it never should have. And perhaps if we had been granted the aurors that had been requested it might not have. We train children to wield their magic so that they may become contributing members of society, not to be soldiers. They should never have had to experience that. And now it falls to us to make sure that they are able to deal with having had the experience." Bitterness tinged the hard words, he was not about to let the weak man forget his part in the events that transpired.

Despite knowing that the attack may have been averted had aurors been guarding the children, not all of responsibility for the rage and grief he felt could be laid at the feet of the man pacing in front of him. Certainly a great deal was, and some was even reserved for the reporters who had assisted Fudge in misleading the public. Despite that there was no one Dumbledore resented more at that moment than himself. He was the headmaster of the school and despite his power, despite his promises to protect the children in his care, he had failed. His failure was the reason seven children were dead, and nineteen more were at risk of dying should a cure not be discovered. He was the reason that the hope of the Wizarding World was now lying in the infirmary. And if hope was restored it wouldn't be at his hands, but at the hands of his most faithful.

"What are we going to tell them? The attack will have already made it to the Daily Prophet; we have to control this before it starts a panic."

"Why Cornelius, we tell them the truth."

"Albus I forbid you to announce it!"

"There was an attack on Hogsmeade by a group of Death Eaters. Several students and villagers were injured and remain in a magically maintained comatose state. Six villagers and three students were killed during the attack. Four more students have died since Healers have taken over their care. The Dark Mark has yet to fade from where it was cast over Hogsmeade. By tomorrow the Prophet will have exaggerated events beyond even what the Wizarding World is imagining already. If not the truth then what would you have me tell them?" Was the man still holding to the idea that if no one knows then it's not true? That refusal to believe in Voldemort's attack is what led to the attack, in the first place.

"Nothing! Tell them nothing! Dolores will handle it. Yes, yes she'll know what to say. You just let the Ministry handle this one Dumbledore."

Blue eyes were frozen and lips thinned behind flowing white beard and mustache. Fudge did not notice the step he took back from the cold displeasure radiating from the wizard who had defeated the last dark lord to rise to power in the Wizarding World. Then slowly, ever so slowly, that regal head tilted in acquiescence.

"I eagerly await her explanation." There was a moment so full of silence it was painful. And then, "I will announce her desire to speak on behalf of the Ministry at dinner in the Great Hall."

"Tonight? What, so soon?" Fudge protested in alarm. "That's only an hour away!"

"Whatever is said to them the telling cannot be left for long considering how many students witnessed the attack directly. Tonight is the latest it can be put off. Perhaps you would like to confer with Dolores regarding the facts that you wish to share, and to inform her that she will need to have her speech ready by then." As quickly as the chill that had permeated the office had appeared it was gone, leaving Fudge to wonder if he had imagined that the eyes in front of him had ever been anything but the warm twinkling blue that they were right that second.

"Oh, yes. I shall go speak with her right now then."

"One moment while I summon someone to show you to her office- Dobby! Ah yes Dobby, please escort the Minister Fudge to Professor Umbridge's office if you would please?"

"Dumbledore, I'm sure that's not-" Fudge stared at the strange creature who answered the wizard's summons. This was definitely not a normal house elf. He would only lay fifty percent odds in favor of the fact that it was a house elf at all if it came to that. The creature was wearing an overlarge green knit sweater with an H on the front. The sweater was tucked into the waist band of a pair of red and gold striped cotton boxers. Several pairs of socks adorned each foot, and one on each ear. Fudge squinted. Yes he was quite certain that there was a stack of tea cozies balanced on its head.

"Necessary? But Cornelius you haven't been to Dolores's office as yet and I would be quite remiss in simply pointing you out the door with instructions when I can offer you a guide. I would take you myself of course but I need to confer with the healers and begin to speak with the parents who have begun to arrive. Minerva has been handling that thus far but I fear that soon there will be too many worried parents for one person to deal with."

"But your elf is-" Creepy. Fashion challenged. Possibly crazy.

"Free and he has chosen to work for Hogwarts by his own volition. He has proven himself as loyal as any bound elf. Dobby, off you go. Make sure the Minister does not get lost on the way to Dolores Umbridge's office won't you?"

"Of course, Headmaster Dumbeldore sir! Dobby is to be taking Mister Minister of Magic Fudge to the Professor Umbridge's quarters, sir!" Dobby agreed bobbing into a bow. His tea cozies wobbled dangerously but he straightened up without managing to lose even one.

"A seat will be saved for you at the Head table. I will see you at dinner, Cornelius."

###

"Still here Severus?"

The Potion Master sprawled in a chair, staring at the double rows of students occupying the hospital ward of Hogwarts. His legs were stretched out in front of him, and he was slumped down so low that he was able to prop his chin on steepled fingers even as he propped his elbows on the arm rests of the seats. At the medi-witch's words he shook himself and pulled himself straight in the chair.

"Am I to take it by this display that the rest of the Healers have left for the evening?" Poppy smirked at the man who was now trying to pretend that he hadn't been caught in such an undignified position.

"Madam Pomfrey, how kind of you to grace your ward with your presence. Yes Healer Thompson was the last one to leave. Now that you are here, perhaps I can go back to my lab and get some actual work done."

"Actual work?" one graying brown eyebrow winged up ironically.

"Yes, you know. Making sure that idiot Slughorn hasn't felt the need to reorganize my potion stores by that hideously archaic method he favors, further research on the potion that was used to incapacitate our students, the like. Babysitting incompetent Healers is not a typical part of my job descriptions you realize," was the sardonic reply.

The medi-witch sighed, "He's just young."

Poppy ignored the disbelieving scowl her words earned her. She turned her attention to their patients. "It's good that we've been able to start a treatment plan for them."

"It's incomplete though."

"But you've at least managed to identify all of the ingredients of the potion they were attacked with," Poppy pointed out, allowing her gaze to travel over the still forms encased in soft blue bubbles of magical power.

The teachers who had arrived on the scene had cast the initial charms but they had to be renewed often and so the Healers from St. Mungo's frequently came into the infirmary to help strengthen the magic keeping these students alive, and to collect fresh samples to take back to the hospital so they could also help with identifying the potion that was used. They had needed several of them that day because Severus had come up with an antivenin for the neurotoxin, but they still weren't able to release the stasis charms. They had realized that when they had attempted to wake Anna Rosewood, a fifth year Ravenclaw, up. As soon as the charm was lifted to see if the potion had worked she had begun to convulse, and so they had immediately renewed the spells. Luckily they had been able to do so before she died.

"I've only managed to isolate the physical aspects of the poison and create a treatment for that. It'll keep their lungs from collapsing, but… You know stasis can only slow things down so we have time to work on a cure; it won't stop it from spreading. It took me far too long to identify the components."

"I've never heard of a potion that works the way this one seems to," Poppy crossed her arms beneath her chest. "How on earth did You-Know-Who come up with it?"

"As he has not seen fit to inform me, I must admit to being uncertain. We are running out of time Poppy. There is something we're missing here. Something about that combination of ingredients…"

"Severus, what you've done so far… that's more than any of the Healers from St. Mungo's or I can boast. You should get some sleep. You've barely slept for the past three days, and I know you didn't sleep at all for the two days prior. If you keep on like this you're going to be joining our patients," Poppy pointed out gently.

The school nurse had a fondness for the dour potion master after so many years of working with the prickly man. First treating him for injuries when he was a student and working to gain his mastery, then treating him for injuries when he was a spy. For the past fourteen years she had been working with him on keeping the healing potions for the school stocked and keeping him up to date on the latest medical advances, especially the ones that related to his own field. She felt closer to him than any other member of the staff, including Albus. Not that she hadn't spent a great deal of time with Albus over the years, particularly when Severus had been a boy. She had gone toe to toe with the headmaster over the way Severus was treated by Potter and Black. Not that her efforts made a whit of difference to the stubborn old goat, but Severus had always seemed grateful for her attempts.

He glanced over with a tired smile. The harsh lines of his face softened and the deep furrows around his mouth eased. He looked years younger than his normal demeanor revealed him to be. In fact he looked very near his actual age whenever he truly smiled. It was an unguarded moment that made Poppy feel oddly honored to be one of the few he trusted enough to let his guard down around. It was also an expression so rarely seen that Poppy catalogued it as another sign that he was about to collapse.

"You should go sleep," she said bluntly.

"There's this thing I'm missing. Perhaps I could think better if I slept but I'm afraid that if I don't figure it out now that I'll lose whatever it is," Severus leaned his head back against the back of his chair, and let his eyes fall closed, mouth pulling into a sharp grimace. There was nothing as frustrating as the feeling of missing something that should be glaringly obvious. Except perhaps attempting to teach potions to unreceptive and self absorbed students who persist in believing that every rule he sets down in class is for the sole purpose of sucking all of the joy out of their life since school law prohibits him from sucking out their blood. Ok, but the feeling of missing something that should be glaringly obvious was a very close second.

"While I can sympathize with your frustration the simple fact of the matter is you're not going to do anyone any good if you pass out from exhaustion. To your quarters right now young man."

"You won't be rid of me that easily," he answered with soft humor tugging at the edges of his words.

Poppy Pomfrey planted her hands on her hips and fixed him with her best 'you-will-not-mess-with-me-for-you-will-not-win' look.

"Severus Tobias Snape, so help me if you don't go to your room and go directly to sleep then I will put you to bed myself in one of the beds here. And you will stay in the bed until you've had a full eight hours of sleep, if I have to use a sticking charm and confiscate your wand to insure that you do so."

Black eyes blinked at her slowly. Then he quite helpfully pointed out, "A sticking charm wouldn't work on me. I can do wandless magic."

"Ha! We've seen the results of wandless magic done by exhausted witches and wizards before, my boy; you're unlikely to be willing to repeat their mistakes."

"I find it curious that you didn't threaten me with a sleep draught," Snape said, not quite a question. Poppy gave a quiet sigh."I'm out of sleep draughts. The children have been having a hard time sleeping since the attack. It'll be Monday before the seventh year potions class finishes their first batch."

"Ahhh, I see." Albus had managed to talk Horace Slughorn into taking over Severus's classes for this last week. The old man had been the potion teacher when Severus himself had been a student and he had agreed, after what was probably an interesting bribe on Albus's part, to stay as long as Severus was tied up with their current emergency. The upper classmen were now making batches of the basic healing potions that are running short in the infirmary. Severus's head turned until he was regarding the rows of beds.

"It's the tears," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"I could get around the rest of the ingredients and figure out what they're about. It's the tears in the potion that is so unusual. Phoenix tears, unicorn tears, and dragon tears as well. If it was just the unicorn tears and phoenix tears I would say it was a type of healing potion, but with the dragon tears…" There it was that niggling feeling. There was something about the dragon tears.

Severus sat up sharply.

"Poppy, has anyone checked the magical cores of the students?"

"Of course we have. They're all stable."

"Are they stable? …Or are they stationary?" Severus shoved himself to his feet. His fingers drummed a tattoo against the air as his mind raced over the possibilities. "Cast another scan, I need to see a core right now Poppy, if you please."

Startled by his sudden burst of energy and the way he launched himself from his chair to stalk toward the nearest bed, Poppy reared back for a second. Then she gathered herself and trotted quickly after until she stood at his side. A few passes with her wand that ended with a complicated twist at the end and then the scan revealed the glowing magical core of young Derek Long.

"You see, full and open. The light is clear there are no tatters or core damage. His core is whole and healthy," the medi-witch announced. And it was true. The white glow centered in his chest extended without interruption. She lowered her wand ready to release the spell, but Severus grabbed her wrist.

"Not yet, Poppy."

Minutes passed as they waited, the medi-witch not sure what they were waiting for. Then she frowned. The magical core pulsed like the heart, magic distributed throughout the body as routinely as blood pumped through the body. The boy's heart beat was slowed because of the magic shielding him, and so the pulses of the magical core would be slowed by the spell as well. But the light of his core wasn't pulsing. The light wasn't moving at all.

"Severus, what- how-?" Poppy couldn't complete the question. Her mind couldn't comprehend the situation well enough to know what she was trying to ask. It wasn't… This couldn't be what she thought was happening… There was no way…

"Sweet Merlin," she breathed.

"Quite," the potion master agreed. His voice was carefully blank, "It looks as though that potion wasn't simply meant to paralyze their bodies. It was meant to paralyze their magic."