242 Chapter 242: Mysterious Raid
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14 August 1994, Ministry of Magic, London
It had been less than a week since Lily came back into his life, and Severus Snape was starting to remember why he had always been wary of the muggleborn. Fucking hell, even after decades, that woman could scare the shit out of him.
Lily knew how to play him, he had to admit to that, at least. She knew exactly how to tug his heartstrings to do what she wanted. How else would he explain the frankly stupid thing he was doing right now?
He discreetly asked her, "When you said that you wanted us to break into the Department of Mysteries, I didn't expect to do it in just a few days. This is beyond reckless for you, Lily."
"My name is Olivia in this disguise," Lily muttered, "And this is a golden opportunity. Most of the Unspeakables are helping the DMLE investigate the attack on the Quidditch World Cup, and the higher-ups are in their arms trying to convince Fudge to sell their precious treasures as compensation to the foreign victims of the attack. The entire place is in chaos. No one would. Bat an eyelash at us."
The potion master suppressed the urge to groan; they were both under Polyjuice, him as Broderick Bode, and her as Olivia Green, two Unspeakables that they dosed with sleeping potions the previous night. They had just arrived in the ministry, and no one was going to listen to their conversation, "You could have had your pet wolves to do it. Lupin would have been glad to…"
And wasn't that a surprise? Lily of all people had found a way to circumvent Lycanthropy somehow, and by doing so had earned herself a fanatically loyal following. People have been trying to cure the disease for thousands of years, and yet Lily of all people had done it.
If that wasn't a testament to her brilliance, he had no idea what would be.
Although saying that she cured the disease was a stretch at best, no one had thought of modifying it the way she did. Lycanthropy was a curse, a very powerful one in fact. Severus had researched the subject extensively after Lupin almost killed him in their school year. Sure, he was mostly researching how to effectively kill them, but the thought of a spell that would have reversed the transformation was enticing.
He had even thought about how to create such a spell, but without a live werewolf as a test subject, he had no data to work with. Making something like this would have cemented his name in history and that was all he wished for in his teen years.
However, the curse was beyond complex. He had read the research, and they could barely even understand the disease, let alone treat it. The Wolfsbane potion was a revolutionary invention that simply did not let the mental aspect of the curse affect its victim. But it did not compare to what Lily had done.
Nothing did. It was just not natural. Lily was always smart, but this… This was beyond genius. She had to have somehow understood the curse so completely that she found a way to tweak it, in a way that wouldn't have lessened its power, yet would have been a life changer for the victims. And devising a ritual to do something like this would have taken years alone.
The disguised muggleborn broke his train of thoughts, "They're blunt instruments, at best. A delicate mission, like this one, would pose too many risks. They're also still adjusting from their rituals."
The two former childhood friends slowly walked towards the elevator, pressed the button for the second lowest level and waited in silence. The trick to a good infiltration was to pretend that you belonged. Staying in silence was how most Unspeakable behaved.
The doors slid open with a whisper, revealing the dimly lit corridor of the Department of Mysteries. The air here was thick but it was the silence that was deafening. There were the last people in the elevator, and as they agreed, Lily started to wave her wand in a very complicated pattern.
A small thrum of energy enveloped the corridor, which slowly faded away. The disguised muggleborn nodded towards him and Severus smirked; they had tricked the wards successfully.
There was a small vulnerability in the wards; it couldn't interact with anything in the elevator, since it was not solely used by the Department of Mysteries. It allowed someone to try to dismantle the wards without the risk of magical backlash. Lily had familiarized herself many times with the wards, enough to fool them enough to think they were really Unspeakables.
They stepped out, their movements were measured and deliberate, a practised nonchalance that belied the adrenaline coursing through their veins. The corridor stretched before them, doors lining each side. Lily quickly cast a privacy charm – it was almost the norm in the department, at least compared to how rude it was in a normal public place.
The disguised muggleborn spoke up, "Alright, I dealt with the external wards, which means that the Entrance Chamber won't try to confuse us, but the disguises we chose were not high-ranking members, meaning that they don't have access to the voice commands. We'll need to search for the room, which will also have their own individual wards."
The potion master suppressed the urge to groan, "What if someone is working? How are we going to explain our presence as we keep looking for your room?"
Lily snorted in amusement, "Low-level Unspeakable are often requested to keep account of the materials and log certain results. We only need to blend in."
With a wave of a wand, she conjured two small notebooks, and she handed one to him, all the while, she was smirking.
Severus shook his head and grabbed it, "This is not what I imagined doing when you said that you wanted to break into the Department of Mysteries."
Lily snorted at that, "Reality is very rarely what we imagine it to be."
The disguised muggleborn walked over to the first door on the right and opened it. It was a large room filled with small glowing orbs. She shook her head and shut it, "Not this one. I always hated this room."
"Is that the infamous Hall of Prophecies?"
She nodded, "I don't even see the need for it. It's the most useless room in this place. It was supposed to be a study of fate and destiny, but some idiot decided that its entire purpose should be to log and collect prophecies and put them into these orbs. The orbs were meant to only be retrieved by the people involved, and the Unspeakables studying them, of course. It was a vain attempt at controlling prophesized people and using their status somehow. Unfortunately, it was all bogus when they realized that the orbs were picked out by people who either believed that they were involved in the prophecy or if a lot of different people believed that they were, not actually by fate. Apparently, they found that out when they trained up a prophecy child for a task that ended up being completed by someone else, who happened to satisfy the words of the prophecy just in a different interpretation. They still do it, for some reason, hoping to somehow understand the very nature of fate and destiny."
Severus decided not to comment on it, considering how much Lily was passionate about the subject. What the hell did the Unspeakables do to her? He knew that she hadn't told him everything, maybe had even outright lied to manipulate him, but this side of hers was something he had not seen since they were children, and she hadn't learned the cruelty of the world they lived in yet.
Choosing to continue in silence, they went past a lot of fascinating rooms, choosing not to enter any of them, an effective way to not trip any of the wards in each room. Each time, Lily explained what was researched in each room. He had to admit that the brain room was very disturbing, especially after Lily explained that they belonged to different species and that the Unspeakables wanted to figure out how sapience came to be. Apparently, they were also looking into ways to enhance intelligence, but Lily didn't elaborate on the matter. The Time Room was fascinating, but Lily called it a pale imitation of scrying, and that they had no true understanding of time.
One of the rooms refused to be opened, and Lily left that alone without saying another word. Severus had learned to not ask her questions whenever she clearly did not want to get there.
There weren't any Unspeakables in any of the rooms they tried out. Lily was probably right in the fact that they were all busy trying to manage the aftermath of the attack on the Quidditch World Cup.
Lily opened another door carelessly, but froze at the sight of it, "That's the room."
Quickly and efficiently, she bypassed the wards and entered. Severus noticed it and froze when he looked at it. The room was entirely white, both the floor and the ceiling. There was a leather bed of some kind, with straps etched on them. There was also a white desk, a few books, and a couple of notebooks.
It looked like…, "A bedroom."
Lily responded with a bitter tone, "Yes. This place was where I stayed every summer after my second year. Cold, isn't it?"
Severus nodded absentmindedly, "Every time you refused to see me during the summer…"
"I was here," she finished, "playing the lab rat."
She waved her wand on a part of the wall, which disappeared as if it wasn't there. He stepped inside and noticed that it looked like a small office. There were notes everywhere… The wall reappeared suddenly, but it was almost transparent, "They were watching you."
Lily did not respond and just held up a small piece of parchment, her expression turning stony. Severus chose not to say anything and decided to look at a chart.
He kept paling the more he read, "Intelligence boosting… Magical fighting…"
It explained so much. No wonder Lily had started to change, started to grow colder, more manipulative. It was probably how she survived in this hellish place. And the intelligence boosters alone…
He turned towards Lily, feeling slightly teary, "They did this to you?"
"Yes, and so much more… Do you see why I wanted to escape? Can you blame me for choosing Potter, just for the sake of being under Dumbledore's protection?"
"But why return? You didn't come here for revenge or else you would have come up with a magical trap of some sort."
The disguised muggleborn grinned viciously, "I came here for the names of the people involved. They always wore masks and disguises. And I wanted them to destroy any progress they might have made. They were investigating my son. Arcturus Black's protection was the only thing that stopped them from taking him, and they didn't want him to make a fuss."
Lily then froze as she read some of the other files, "They made another Project Athena… I didn't think they'd risk it since I didn't exactly fall into line."
"Who is it?"
"Another muggleborn called Hermione Granger."
Severus froze at the name. He knew that the girl was in the hands of the Department of Mysteries, but that she was comatose from some kind of soul attack from the Dark Lord's diary. He hadn't really cared about it, to be perfectly honest, as callous as it was. She was the girl foolish enough to write in an obviously cursed object. Still, he couldn't help but be curious, "The girl is supposed to be comatose."
"Not according to this chart, at least. How interesting…"
She waved her wand once more, and with a quick snap, an illusion broke, allowing a small familiar black diary, surrounded by runes, to appear. Lily quickly grabbed the small book, with a mad gleam in her eyes, as well as a few pieces of parchment, before winking at him, "We're done here."
Severus followed her out and said, "What about…."
She shushed him and his mouth magically closed itself, "Not now. We'll talk when we're out."
They entered the elevator and returned to the main courtyard of the Ministry. With a small nod, she allowed him to speak once more, "What the hell, Lily?"
"I just wanted to savour the moment…"
"What moment?"
As if to answer his question, he felt the ground rumble beneath them, and a loud alarm. They followed the crowd to the exit, "What the hell was that?"
"A little gift for my tormentors. There will be no more Project Athena…"
"I thought you wanted us to be discreet."
The muggleborn shrugged, "I changed my mind."
He stood in silence, processing what had just happened before taking a deep sigh, "What now?"
"Now, I have a few names on my list that I need to tick off. And afterwards, when I'm done… I guess, it would be time for me to meet my son."
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