InsaneJournal

Fic: Red Serpent (10/12)
Title: Red Serpent (10/12)
Author/Artist: skitty_kat
Rating: R
Warnings: death, destruction, sex, violence, torture and a gratuitous explosion or two. Yikes.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to JK Rowling. James Bond was created by Ian Fleming.
Word Count: 2133 (31881 overall)
Summary: Remus Lupin is a spy, one of British Intelligence's finest, and this may be his most deadly mission yet. Armed with only his native wit and courage and assisted by the enigmatic and magnetic Severus Snape he must penetrate deep into Communist Russia to bring down the powerful Lord Voldemort.
A/n: This fic contains illustrations, set in the appropriate places within the text. Love to drachenmina for the fabulous beta.
Chapter One: M's Man - Chapter Two: A Bar With A Reputation - Chapter Three: Dinner For Two - Chapter Four: Small Spaces and Close Encounters - Chapter Five: The Howl Of The Wolf - Chapter Six: To Travel Lustfully... - Chapter Seven: Arrival At The Truth - Chapter Eight:'You Damn Traitor!' - Chapter Nine: A Cold Final Kiss



Modern living – that state of being where all hours are too important to waste and day and night are merely names – requires light and light requires power. Magical power would have shone like a beacon against those dark Scottish hills and shown itself to those who knew how to look. To avoid such a mistake Riddle had invested in electric lights, incongruous against the centuries-old stone they illuminated. Guns, too, he had brought with him but left unused in a storeroom. The Death Eaters carried their wands, after all. To Lupin and Snape, however, the weapons were a godsend. Gunpowder and steel were not much against magic but at least they had the secret of their survival on their side.

Lupin finished his preparations and yanked the plug out of the generator. It continued to motor on noisily and, now, pointlessly. The parts of the castle that had been lit fell to darkness. It was true darkness; not the twilight nights of cities with their artificial light but the darkness of the primal nights without fire or stars. Moonlight shone through the high windows of the Great Hall and enchanted it with cold radiance but the corridors were filled with the kind of blackness that normally only exists behind the eyelids. Lupin, using the wall as a guide, headed back over to where Snape stood at the head of the steps to the dungeons. Behind the thick wooden doors to the Great Hall they could hear Riddle's voice giving orders.

'Wilkes, Avery, Greyback,' he was saying. 'Get out there and fix it. Now!'

The doors opened and the three Death Eaters were silhouetted against the moonlight. Lupin and Snape, not wanting to lose their night vision or to be seen, had already gone down the steps towards the dungeons but still waited, listening.

Wilkes and Avery approached the generator first, followed by the great hulking shape of Greyback. Avery flashed a torch over the metal, squinting as the glare reflected back in their faces.

'Looks like it's just been unplugged,' he said.

'Then get on and plug it back in,' Greyback growled, 'and let's get back to the food.'

'Go on then, Wilkes,' said Avery, giving him a shove. 'You heard him.'

Wilkes shoved him back, sending torchlight spinning across the stones. 'Why don't you do it?'

'Because I told you to,' Avery shot back.

'Just do it.'

Greyback's voice, low and gruff, had the effect of filling whatever space it was spoken into. Lupin and Snape, some way away, felt it run a chilling finger across the back of their necks. If the pitch blackness in the castle was the primal night then Greyback was its original monster. Wilkes and Avery felt it too and both rushed to obey.

The resulting explosion that Lupin had set up rocked the walls. The shockwaves sent him and Snape staggering. In no time at all Death Eaters were rushing out of the Great Hall at Riddle's command. Lupin fired a few shots at random from around the bend of the stairs before following Snape down into the depths of the castle. Multiple footsteps behind them confirmed that they were being followed. Multiple thumps a few seconds later showed that the tripwire they had set up had worked as planned. Hopefully it would slow the Death Eaters down long enough for Lupin and Snape to be ready for the next stage.

The lights in the dungeon were run off a different generator. Lupin had left it running but removed several of the lights themselves, leaving the corridor to vanish into shadow beyond a certain point. Snape had found enough stones, slabs and rocks for them to pile into a sizeable obstruction in the corridor. Lupin had, having taken out the light from the cell they intended to use to imprison as many Death Eaters as possible into, hung a battery-operated torch from the ceiling on a rope. He turned it on, set it swinging around and managed to be out of the cell and joining Snape in the darker shadows before their pursuers caught up.

In a hurry and confused by the unfamiliar darkness – not helped by having freely indulged in alcohol in celebration of the death of the traitors - the Death Eaters took the hastily-piled construction to be the end of the corridor. Seeing the moving light in the cell at the end they jumped to precisely the conclusion Lupin and Snape had hoped.

'In here!' bellowed Alecto Carrow, motioning for them to follow her.

Lupin watched them all charge in, waiting for exactly the right moment. He saw the flash of blond hair that was Malfoy, followed by the bulk of Amycus Carrow. Rookwood and Rodolphus Lestrange were directly behind them, Crabbe and Goyle almost at the rear. With sudden worry Lupin realised that while those in the cell were discovering the trick there was still a Death Eater in the corridor. He felt Snape's hand at his shoulder.

'Get the door,' Snape muttered, 'I've got Karkaroff.'

Lupin did so. He saw the muzzle flash in the corner of his eye, heard the report of the shot and the thump as Karkaroff's body hit the stones. He grabbed the door handle and pulled. He felt Snape come up beside him and felt the warmth of the man's hand beside his. They both hauled on the door but it stopped with a sudden jerk before closing fully. Snape gave a harsh exclamation. A hand had grabbed his sleeve, its owner trying to press himself through the gap in the door.

'Give up, Lucius,' Snape snapped, shaking his arm to try and free it.

'Severus,' Malfoy pleaded, 'I thought we were friends. How could you -'

There were shouts from the end of the corridor. The remaining Death Eaters had followed them. Lupin left Snape to struggle with Malfoy and the door alone and drew his gun. Nott rounded the corner first and fell with a perfect hole between his eyes. Rabastan Lestrange, right behind him, got a bullet in the leg but managed to dive back behind the corner. There was a brief volley of curses from there that sent Lupin back behind the edge of the doorway where Snape still struggled with Malfoy. With one injured and unusable wrist Snape was finding it difficult to fight Malfoy off while holding the door shut. It was all he could do to stop it being wrenched from his hand.

'Severus, listen to me,' Malfoy cajoled, voice low and secretive. 'Didn't we ... have something?'

Lupin ducked out of cover long enough to drop Wilkes in a spray of blood that painted the flagstones. He turned in time to see Snape spit at Malfoy. The man's face contracted into affront and anger only to twist up in sudden agony as Lupin, reaching around Snape, sent a bullet through his wrist. Malfoy fell back in shock, his arm pressed to his chest. Lupin took the door handle, allowing Snape to shove Malfoy away.

'I assure you, Lucius,' he said, loud enough for everyone in the cell to hear, 'you were terrible in bed.'

Lupin slammed the door shut and shot the bolts across. Heavy thumps sounded as the prisoners threw themselves against it but the door was much stronger than they were. They were trapped, leaving Lupin and Snape with the Death Eaters heading their way down the corridor. Snape pulled out his gun too, kneeling to take the lower position at the edge of the doorway. They didn't have to wait long.

Dolohov was the first to take his chance, leaning out just far enough to fire a curse. Sparks kicked off the stones by Lupin's cheek and he dodged back as Snape retaliated. Dolohov vanished again as chips of stone exploded where he had stood.

'Damn!' Snape cursed. 'Can't get the angle with this bloody wrist!'

'We'll get him next time,' Lupin assured, 'and the others too.'

'We'd better,' Snape assented. 'They've had this coming for a long time.' He readied his gun. 'What are you waiting for, Antonin?' he shouted in Russian, sticking his head round the edge of the doorway. 'Always knew you couldn't shoot straight ... and I would be the one to know!'



A fusillade of curses skimmed through the air where his head had been, ricocheting off stone and losing themselves in sparks at the darker end of the corridor. Lupin picked off Dolohov before the man could duck back into cover, adding another body to the one already there. Dismayed shouts came from the Death Eaters still there.

'We'll pick you off one by one if we have to,' Lupin promised them coolly. 'Maybe you should start running.'

'COWARDS AND FOOLS!'

The yell surprised all of them. Lupin glanced down at Snape, whose eyes had widened at the shout. A faint tremor crossed his lips before he pressed them into a firm line.

'Macnair,' he whispered. 'They call him the Executioner.'

'GET OUT THERE AND KILL THEM!'

'They'll come,' Snape said. 'He's scarier than we are.'

He was right. There was the sound of boots of stone and three Death Eaters were charging towards them, wands firing. Rabastan Lestrange, already injured and limping, had been thrust to the front by Mulciber and Rosier. A direct shot to the chest killed him outright but Mulciber grabbed Lestrange's body and carried it as a shield. Seconds later the two Death Eaters were practically on top of Lupin and Snape and fight began in earnest.

Lupin shoved Lestrange's body back into Mulciber, knocking the wand from the man's hand. He swept Mulciber off his feet with a leg and shot him as he fell to the ground. To his side Snape was throwing Rosier one-handed into the wall.

'Severus,' Rosier was gasping, 'I've known you since we were boys! Can't you...'

'You were a supercilious little bastard then too,' Snape cut him off, shooting him in the thigh.

Rosier slumped to the floor, clutching his leg and groaning in agony. His face went the colour of old milk.

'That,' Snape told him, 'was me being merciful.'

A sudden noise drew them from the sight of the Death Eater writhing on the ground. Great thumping footsteps ran towards them, accompanied by a rising growl.

It was Macnair. He had taken advantage of the distraction Rosier had provided to get close to the pair. He was carrying a huge axe, swinging it with more strength than Lupin had thought possible. The man was built like a circus strongman and had the strength of a lion. Great yellow teeth were bared in a roar as biceps rolled and pulled tense. The sharp head of the axe came swooping down to spark on the stones as both Lupin and Snape leapt out of its path. Macnair roared and raised it again.

Lupin pulled his trigger, missing the forehead he was aiming at as Macnair rushed forward but catching the huge man square in the shoulder. Macnair didn't even flinch. The axe came down again, an inch from Lupin's head. He braced himself for the impact of that heavy body but was surprised when the shadow lifted again. Snape had leapt at Macnair's thick neck, clawing and scratching. Macnair stumbled upright again, meaty hands trying to pull Snape off him. The axe was dropped with a clang. Lupin leapt to his feet and tried to secure a shot at his target.

Macnair roared and pitched about like an untamed bronco, tossing Snape around while the man hung on grimly with one arm. Letting go suddenly wasn't an option when Macnair's hand grabbed Snape's, twisting him to the front between Macnair and Lupin.

'Take the damn shot!' Snape yelled, turning to yell at Lupin.

Lupin sighted on Macnair's head, only to lose his target as the man moved again and Snape was in the way again. Macnair laughed and it was more like a roar. Snape hissed and spat some curses that Lupin had never even heard before then set his teeth to Macnair's ear. The big man really roared, especially when Snape's foot unerringly found a soft below-the-belt target. Macnair dropped him with a bellow. Snape rolled across the flagstones as Lupin took his shot. Macnair toppled, finally put down by a bullet through his eye.

Lupin leaned down to help Snape up.

'Why didn't you just shoot him?' he demanded.

Snape threw up a hand. 'The gun jammed!'

'So you jumped on him?' Lupin rolled his eyes at Snape's one shoulder shrug. 'Never mind. Grab a wand off someone and let's get on with this.'

Snape threw him a mock-salute before moving to rifle through the bodies for wands. Soon they were heading back up into the castle, better armed and ready to finish the job.



Chapter Eleven: The Serpent's Head