Day 9

The mouse twitched its whiskers, letting its eyes adjust in the dark hours before morning. It took a few moments for the brightness of the warm room to disappear from its eyes. It held a button in its teeth, not knowing why, or how, but understanding somehow that it had to get it to the place that the dead rested. Somewhere above it a set of window shutters opened.

It skittered down the dirty street, darting through and around objects - the wheels of a carriage, an old crate, an empty bread stall that was usually busy in the mornings. It proceeded through streets much like this one for a very long time, until it reached the bank of the river. The mouse's delicate ears picked up the sound of the rushing water. It lifted its nose to sniff the air, which smelled dank and dirty, the smell of horse droppings lingering in the wind that drifted down from the streets. The mouse took its soft paws and repositioned the button in its mouth. The button tingled strangely on its small teeth as it ventured forth.

Along the banks it scurried until suddenly, a cat landed in front of it, spitting and hissing. The mouse's heart rate increased as it veered to its left and fled down a dock and up the gangplank of a boat. Under a splintered wooden bucket it waited. The cat followed silently up onto the deck of the small fishing vessel, but being quite fat from catching mice and rats in the filthy London streets, it gave up the hunt easily.

The mouse slid back out into the moonlight, the button still safely in its mouth. Forward it continued once more.

It was a long time before it slid through the iron gate of a large, stone building with ornate architecture, and marble steps that led to a highly polished wooden set of doors. Once through the gates it did not run toward the doors, but ran along the building wall instead, searching for something. Along the right side of the building it stopped, looking up and twitching its whiskers. Having found what it was looking for, the mouse swiftly climbed up a drain pipe and onto a narrow ledge where the stones jutted out, its small tail moving back and forth in much the same way as a tiny acrobat would use a pole. At last, it found its way in. A window on the lower level had been left open, and the mouse slid inside with ease, jumping down onto the stone floor below. Under the door and out into the corridor it went, the late night making it easy to travel undetected. Only once on its way down the staircases did it have to duck out of sight in a crack in the wall while another fat cat patrolled the building. This cat too passed without detecting it. Down another smaller staircase it went, through a seemingly endless hallway, then into the dank, pitch black tunnels. The smell of dirt and something unmistakably rotten permeated the air here, but the mouse was not fazed. It continued to travel into the depths of the earth. Finally, when it entered a small room off the main tunnel, it stopped.

Its destination reached, the mouse dropped the button. The small metal object made no sound as it fell on the packed dirt floor of the catacombs of the Potioneer's Society. The mouse having done its job, it hurried away. Within minutes it did not recall what it had done with part of its night, nor why it was so far from its usual home.

***

The clock had just struck two-o-clock in the morning, and Severus was holding his wand aloft in the darkness of the tunnel, which was now pushing the envelope of five hundred and thirty feet. Evelyn stood behind him, waiting with bated breath. They were exhausted from tunnelling all day, and had gotten up briefly tonight to execute the next part of the plan. Their weariness showed and the tension in the air was almost tangible. It had been that way since shortly before sunrise hours earlier, when Severus had come home in the wee hours of the morning after a sleepless night, shaking and tired, Harry having not shown up. They had gone to bed in near silence to sleep during the few remaining hours of the night before digging for the day, and preparing for the next part of the plan, for they would need to get up during the next night to do it. As they had readied themselves for bed after Severus' return, both had been unable to say more than a few words, not knowing what to do. The parchment had remained blank, and Evelyn had felt that her mind was the same way. The only thing they could think of was to further the plan while they waited for Harry to respond. If he did not, Evelyn knew not what would happen.

"Are you sure that the spell didn't wear off? Did the device make it?" Evelyn asked tiredly.

"Placing an Imperius curse on a small animal is far easier than a human, so I have no doubt that the curse was effective," muttered Snape. "The mouse had the cover of darkness, so the button should be there. I just need to pick up the signal from it. It might take a moment or two. There is a surprisingly large amount of magic in the air around here."

"I checked the parchment before I came down," said Evelyn uneasily. "Harry still hasn't replied."

"Perhaps he is lying low," said Severus slowly but hesitantly, edging forward with his wand still in the air. "He must have thought the plan was called off, and hasn't had a chance to reply to us. It is entirely possible that he feels it is unwise to communicate at this current juncture."

"He's already had a full day, and part of the night to respond, Severus," said Evelyn, her voice starting to shake. "Aren't you worried?"

Her tone was accusing, and Severus dropped his wand to his side before turning to look at her.

"Of course I am," he murmured grimly, looking pale in the dim light. "But whether we like it or not, he is there, and we are here. We managed the tracker without Harry for now. If he is indeed in danger, there is no way we can reach him just as we are. We will simply have to hope for the best until we can get this tunnel to the Potioneer's Society."

"Yes, and we have six hundred and seventy-five feet left to go, if we were right in our calculations!" she cried. "And that's with the twenty we made up after the cave-in!"

Severus's brows furrowed.

"I know," he muttered. "We'll give him one more day to respond, just in case he has not gotten a chance. Then ... we'll figure something out."

"Like what?" asked Evelyn, dropping her hands to her side, her lit wand throwing light around their feet, leaving their faces but shadows in the dark.

"We ... stop reinforcing the tunnel," said Severus heavily. "We can dig double in a day if we don't reinforce."

"But it will completely cave in if there aren't any supports. It would be too dangerous."

"Then we put in a quarter of what we are doing now," said Severus, starting to sound frustrated. "Whatever it takes to get to Harry, and the potion!"

"And when we get there?" Evelyn asked almost hysterically, her voice rising in volume with the sudden fire that had risen inside her, overtaking her senses, overtaking even the weariness she felt in her very bones. "Then what? You and I both know that it will be no small feat destroying all evidence of that potion! Either we kill everyone that knows about it, or we alter their memories and risk someone breaking the charms! There is no easy way to do this!"

"I wasn't saying there was!" cried Severus. "But we only have five days left to get into that building - five days to decide what to do about those involved with the potion. There isn't an easy way to do any of it ... but ... we have to do something! And it isn't going to be easy to live with either, but sometimes ... sometimes you have to make those choices." He took a shuddering breath, his voice growing stronger and louder with every word as he proceeded. "A-And if you weren't prepared to make them, you shouldn't have suggested this in the first place!"

The echoes of his voice rang through the tunnel, and Evelyn, tired of digging, tired of hiding from McTavish and his friends, tired of everything, spun on her heel and turned her back on Severus, then marched toward the tunnel opening. She heard him calling back to her, saying he didn't mean it to come out that way, that he wished he could take it back, but she didn't listen. She needed silence, she needed peace. Even so, in the turmoil of trying to accomplish so much before the moment when it would be too late, she knew she would not truly find it.

Evelyn did not know how long it had been since she stormed out of the tunnel. It could have been seconds. It could have been hours. However long it had been, she was now curled up in a chair before the fire. The hard wooden back was uncomfortable, but she remained sitting there anyways. She heard the footsteps before he spoke, before the soft quilt was slipped over her shoulders when she was leaning toward the fire.

"Evelyn, I'm sorry," said Severus, and she did not need to see his face to know he meant it. "I spoke too harshly."

"No," she replied, shaking her head as she rose from the chair, clutching the quilt around her as though it was a life line. "No, Severus, you were right about what you said. Maybe it was a bit harsh, but it was the truth. There is no easy way out. Either way, we will have to do something we don't want to ... to ensure the future isn't what they want it to be."

Closing her eyes, Evelyn let out a deep breath, and without waiting for Severus to speak, she fell into his arms, and held on tightly.

"I just can't wrap my head around it," she said, her lips muffled by the cloth of his digging clothes, her cheek resting on his shoulder, her nose brushing his neck. Her words spilled out faster as she spoke, and she hated the truths they conveyed. "The idea of planning to kill ... to take someone's life, it's awful. When I threw that knife back in the square ... I didn't think. I defended myself - I defended you. It didn't really hit me until after what I had done. I-I still dream of it, you know, the look of shock on his face as the knife sunk into him. Now, I know how it feels to take a life. And I don't like it. I don't want to feel that again. But ... now I can't see any other way to ensure that this potion never sees the light of day. It doesn't seem right."

"No, it doesn't," muttered Severus, tightening his arms around Evelyn. "It is a tricky situation. I mean, nothing in the world is all black, or all white for that matter. Not like they tell you when you are a child. As you delve deeper into things ... the more you see ... nearly everything is grey, darker and lighter shades yes, but neither black, nor white. Sometimes you have to do dark things to ensure light prevails. It is an awful truth, but the truth nonetheless."

"Have you taken any lives?" asked Evelyn suddenly, pulling away from Severus to look up at him.

He met her eyes with his, and in the depths of them, Evelyn saw hurt. Severus looked away quickly.

"Yes," he whispered, staring into the fire. "Too many. I'm afraid I am more black than grey."

"Maybe, but you said yourself ...‘nothing in the world is all black'," quoted Evelyn. "I see good in you."

"Then you are one of the few," was the response.

"So does Harry."

"I doubt he does anymore. Not after the way I have been treating him. I am a coward, Evelyn."

"How so?"

But the question was never answered, for a small dinging noise rang through the room, like that of a tiny bell. Severus and Evelyn broke apart, and rushed to the table. The extra enchantment they had added to alert them of a message rang out once more, and words appeared, dark and inky black on the previously blank paper.

This is Gregory Peakes, Mr. Prince's mentor. I do not know who Harold has been communicating to with this, but he left it on his desk a few nights ago before he was kidnapped by James McTavish. Whoever it is on the other end must know that he is in grave danger. I can do very little to help him, for I am being watched. This is the first chance I have gotten to write. I do not know what can be done, but you must come immediately. Do not write back, they will see. I will destroy this paper after I use it, eliminating all traces of it for both our sakes. Please, please come.

Severus looked at Evelyn, eyes wide. Evelyn felt her heart pounding so hard it seemed to be trying to escape the prison of her chest.

"Poor Harry," gasped Evelyn.

"This is all my fault," moaned Severus as he sunk down to the floor, his back against the wall, the paper by his side.

"But he agreed to go in the first place," she said weakly, but knew that Severus would not be listening to her.

He seemed to be trying to distract himself, and picked up the paper again.

"Harry must have left the paper unrolled," croaked Severus after a moment. "We have been sending messages. What if they've seen them?"

"We did not write anything too important," Evelyn assured him, trying to keep calm. "They would only have seen our repeated attempts to get Harry to respond to us. We didn't put any of our plans in writing. Besides, Peakes might not have let them near it."

"You are right," said Severus, "I ... I panicked. But they may suspect that Harry was communicating with someone, if he has been captured. Although ... this could be a clever ruse to get us to show our faces. It is entirely possible."

"But do we really want to risk that?"

Severus frowned before replying, "No. No, we do not."

"So, now what?" whispered Evelyn, almost to herself. She almost jumped when Severus answered, for she was lost in contemplation.

"We speed the break-in. Our only hope is that tunnel, especially on short notice like this."

"What if we are too late? We won't get there soon enough with the rate we are going right now."

"Then we will reinforce as little as possible, and put all our time into digging once we have rested up just a little. We made a hundred and ten feet a day while we were reinforcing. With our growing skill with excavation spells, I would wager we can make one hundred seventy if we only reinforce every twenty-five feet instead of every seven, and narrow the tunnel a little bit more. It will be risky, but if we keep going that way, we should make it in a little over three days of digging."

"Three days," said Evelyn breathlessly. "Harry will have been captured for five by then, if he was indeed captured the night of the cave-in."

"I know," muttered Severus, "but it is the only plan we have got."