A Different Halloween

Chapter 26

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Albus had rendered himself invisible as he silently sneaked through the ministry, he had considered using the Potter invisibility cloak but had rejected that idea. He settled instead for a powerful disillusionment charm. It was three a.m. yet the graveyard shift appeared to be anything but dull this morning, aurors were everywhere as Barty must have called the entire corps in for this. He supposed it made sense to arrest as many suspected death eaters as possible before the word broke and people had time to flee. Albus would have his work cut out curtailing Barty from having them all kissed, the man had no forgiveness in him whatsoever. His only son being a case in point, Dumbledore just couldn't see the hypocrisy in that thought. When it was his glowing reputation that was threatened, he was about to commit premeditated murder on someone he cared deeply for so they couldn't be questioned under truth serum. He was Albus Dumbledore thought so that made him, and of course his deeds correct.

Four aurors were in the process of dragging Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in the direction of the holding cells, a female officer followed on behind carrying their still sleeping son. Someone must have cast a spell on the toddler because his parents were making enough noise to wake the dead. These conditions were as good as the old wizard was going to get as all the attention was focused on the blond couple who were swearing to end multiple ministerial careers for this atrocity being carried out on them.

Even with the Malfoy soap opera paying out for everyone's entertainment, Albus still had a difficult and dangerous job on his hands. Barty had the prisoners well guarded and the cells were filling up, he would need to find Severus first before he could carry out his gruesome task and then escape unnoticed. This was not going to be the stroll in the park he imagined when he first contemplated this scenario.

His only option was to slowly and silently slightly open the small feeding hatch on each cell door without alerting the guards, this could easily take all night. The old wizard caught a major break though, the first opening he peered through had a wizard with long jet black hair lying on the cot with his back to Albus. He'd found Severus in the first cell. He carefully slipped his wand tip into the opening and fired the curse that would still his potion master's heart forever. He was certain he was successful but had no time for congratulating himself as an alarm sounded throughout the cell complex.

Albus didn't know if the alarm had been triggered because his curse had been detected inside the cell or perhaps linked to Severus's health, what he did know was that he was in a lot of trouble and had to act fast. If they sealed the floor before he could escape then he was done for. Albus used the imperius curse on the nearest auror and commanded him to start firing stunners at his fellow auror guards. The ensuing battle may have been short and distinctly one sided but the ruse accomplished its aim, create confusion and allow Albus just enough time to slip past undetected before they sealed the complex. He was soon out of the ministry building and apparating back to Scotland, he'd more than earned his nightcap tonight.

He would also need a stiff one to console himself that Severus Snape was no more, he could now turn his mind to composing a fitting eulogy to the man who had made his old heart beat faster just by being in the same room.

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Barty was furious when he was informed of the intrusion into his department, he was also pretty sure he could put a name to the intruder. He had administered a dreamless sleep potion to Victoria earlier and now was forced to leave Winky to look after her mistress while he headed for the ministry. The investigation had barely begun when they discovered their colleague had been under the imperius curse, unlike the people they'd been arresting all night, the auror's explanation was accepted as the truth. It had with hindsight been nothing more than a diversionary tactic to allow the perpetrator to escape, Barty was forced to admit a tactic that had worked brilliantly. It was a certainty that the intruder had carried out the deed while under an invisibility cloak or under a disillusionment charm.