It was irritating.
Beyond irritating.
Severus glared at the teacup in front of him as though it was the fault of the teacup that he had to spend his Friday night in the Headmaster's office listening to the old wizard recount to him and Moody what had happened at the War Council.
Moody took a swig out of his flask and Severus shot him an annoyed look. Moody could have at least shared the alcohol, Severus thought sourly, even if it was Firewhiskey and not the twenty year old Scotch that Severus had in his quarters. Moody simply smiled at him, a twist of his lips that gave his scarred face a grotesque edge.
"…and so that was all that was discussed." Albus finished at last. "Your thoughts, gentleman?"
Moody looked at Severus daring him to go first. Severus looked at Moody with a raised eyebrow. Who did Moody think he was? Black? Only a Gryffindor would respond to that kind of a dare and jump in first.
"Alastor?" prompted Albus smoothly when neither spoke.
Moody grunted but gestured over the polished surface of Albus's desk in Albus's vague direction without looking at him. "Clearly mistakes were made. Expected better of Black. He must have gone rusty in Azkaban."
"Or perhaps he is now beginning to recognise the true challenge of keeping young Harry safe." Albus smiled smugly, as though Black's incompetence somehow justified his own.
Severus scowled. "It does not surprise me that Potter was his usual reckless self."
And once again, Severus hadn't been anywhere near saving the boy, protecting him as he had promised. It was not his fault. It was Potter's. Merlin knew the boy was attracted to danger like he was an iron filing and danger was a magnet.
"Why Severus," Albus said his eyes twinkling, "one could almost make the argument that you are defending Sirius Black."
Severus stiffened and threw Albus a disgusted look. He didn't bother saying anything verbally; he wasn't going to dignify Albus's comment with a reply.
Albus hurriedly cleared his throats. "Regardless of the mistakes made in keeping Harry safe, my original question was more about our mysterious opponent and what the threat means for us here at Hogwarts as Harry and the rest of the students will be arriving shortly, and let us not forget that there is the Tri-Wizard Tournament to consider."
"We should cancel that bloody tournament for a start." Moody said immediately.
Severus nodded in agreement. The tournament was the height of foolishness in his opinion; it would have been without someone after Potter, without Potter himself around. Who wanted more brats around? And Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had their own issues.
Albus looked at them both with disappointment. "We can't cancel the tournament. It is a wonderful opportunity…"
"For someone to take advantage of the holes that will open up in our security and kill Potter." Moody interrupted gruffly.
"We'll bring in additional security and we'll discuss specifics nearer the time the tournament begins but cancelling it is not an option; it would cause a diplomatic incident." Albus countered. He placed his hands flat on his desk. "Let us put the tournament aside and concentrate on immediate issues. Severus, what about you? Any thoughts on our mystery attacker?"
Severus pursed his lips. He hadn't told Albus about the block on his memories and he didn't believe Moody had mentioned it to Albus either. He carefully weighed up whether to keep his secret and decided it was too soon to believe that the hidden memory had any value. "I agree with Lucius's comments to Black; whoever made the second death threat and went after Potter yesterday must be someone kept secret from the rest of us just as Pettigrew was kept secret."
"Do you think whoever it is, it's someone who You-Know-Who trusts to hide out with?" questioned Moody.
Severus resisted the urge to shift position under the intensity of Moody's regard. "It is the most likely conclusion. I suspect that it was the Dark Lord's decision to keep this person sequestered and thus it is someone he trusts. Further, no follower of the Dark Lord, hidden or otherwise, would have presumed to go after Potter with such zeal yesterday if it did not have the Dark Lord's approval. The fact that Pettigrew was part of it suggests in itself that the attack happened at the Dark Lord's behest."
"Indeed," muttered Albus, with a weary sigh.
"I also concur with Director Bones that it was an improved Polyjuice that was used." Severus said. "The Dark Lord himself undoubtedly provided the recipe. He had me brew it once."
"All of which substantiates that this fellow is working with Riddle." Moody huffed. "So, Bones has tagged the Death Eaters who are identified – we know it's not the likely suspects. We know it's someone was has the ability to call a house elf to them. We know whoever it was had access to the Longbottoms' party either impersonating someone or they were present as themselves." He grunted. "Amelia will be doing her nut. There're too many suspects to tag; the Aurors would be spread too thin."
"Amelia said the same thing." Albus nodded slowly. "It is unfortunate but our best hope lies in Voldemort or one of his associates making contact with one of the known Death Eaters."
Which was unlikely to happen, Severus thought. The Dark Lord had found somewhere safe to use as a base and had surrounded himself with loyal followers. What need would he have to call upon someone who had denied serving him and thus was no doubt a traitor in the eyes of the Dark Lord? If Severus was the Dark Lord, he would wait until he was fully restored to a body before contacting any of them. He refocused on the question of who else could be helping the Dark Lord.
"This new associate of the Dark Lord's," Severus drawled, "will have been the one to brew the potion. He would have been the one to impersonate Dawlish and duel Weasley and Minerva. He also set a magical fire detonation skilfully enough to make it appear to be an accident."
"And set a lock down and the wider anti-transportation ward." Moody nodded grimly. "He's a powerful bastard alright."
"That," Severus suggested, "should reduce the number of suspects."
"Sirius suggested the same thing," Albus replied, eyes twinkling again, "but as Bertie pointed out, the publically acknowledged magical abilities of the suspects may not match up with their private and secretly practiced abilities. It is likely that this individual has remained invisible as a potential threat by not demonstrating their power."
Unfortunately Croaker was right, Severus thought and refused to think he was less disgruntled at that than the comment he and Black had thought along similar lines.
Moody motioned with his flask. "What about the Death Eaters who were caught?"
"In Ministry holding awaiting trials which will be held in due course. After what happened with Sirius, Amelia and Cornelius are keen to ensure all process and protocols are duly followed." Albus confirmed. "Three of the Death Eatrers are claiming to be under the Imperius curse; Dennis Travers refused to speak at all."
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