Walk the Shadows

jharad17

Disclaimer: Not mine. I imagine I'll get over it.

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Tuesday, Aug. 27

No further entries for this date.

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Sometime mid-afternoon on the day after he had poisoned Severus and then doused him with a Coma Draught, Albus Dumbledore called Remus Lupin into his office.

The Werewolf was agitated, and not just because he knew Harry was upset over his fallen guardian, but also because the 28th was the full moon, and he was already feeling the effects. His eyes were shadowed, and the lines around them were deeper than usual. Tremors made his hands shake and he clasped them together in his lap.

'Tea, Remus?' Albus asked him, ever the congenial host.

'No,' Remus said, his voice hoarse with the impending change. 'No, thank you.'

'It's a special blend, a favorite of mine. It will help soothe your nerves.'

Remus ran one of those shaking hands through his hair. 'Has Severus woken?'

'Not yet.' And he would not, not until after Albus had taken Harry to the Ministry at the earliest. He poured some tea for himself, and then poured a second cup, and pushed it across the desk toward Lupin. 'I'm sure he'll be fine.'

'I'm not so sure. Harry has tried everything to wake him.'

'I imagine he has. But it's just as well nothing has worked. Severus was in a great deal of pain, and his arm was hideously damaged. He needs time to heal. I'm sure when he wakes, he will be perfectly fine.' And he would not have the distraction of his ward to keep him from following orders.

Remus nodded reluctantly, and reached for the tea. Albus smiled tightly, his mouth hidden by his own cup. It was so easy, he thought mildly. Too easy. The calming draught, laced with scurvy grass to slow the mind and confound the memory, would allow Albus to better manipulate anyone who drank it. And most of the imbeciles he worked with here had.

The last few days had been absolutely fascinating, as he watched from behind the old Headmaster's eyes, as the servants of the light scurried about. Albus' mind had been ridiculously easy to penetrate – far easier than he could ever have imagined – and this level of control, this possession, was far more useful than Imperious. For one thing, it was nearly undetectable, so long as the one in possession exercised a modicum of caution and did nothing wildly out of character in front of witnesses. And for another, there was no way for the Headmaster to fight him, now that he was in.

It was beautiful, really. Too bad he could not have done this years ago. It was only chance, he realized, that he had tried to infiltrate the Headmaster's defenses when the man's control over his own mind was already weakened by someone else's magic. He'd spent some time attempting to see whose, exactly, but many of the wily old man's memories were hazy or locked beyond his reach. Still, if blocking some memories was the only way Dumbledore had of protecting himself now, this was going to a rocky ride for him.

His only wish was that he had made better inroads into Harry Potter's mind when he had the chance. Their brief contact soon after the brat had escaped his clutches again, had not been enough for him to gain any true control, and now he knew that Severus had been bolstering his Occlumency, too. But soon enough, he would have Potter at his mercy once more.

'I will need your assistance, regarding Severus,' Albus told the Werewolf. 'Madam Pomfrey is due back tomorrow, but a rather urgent matter has