The Raven and the Snake

Book 6

They all considered it a suicide mission. Further recompense for Lucius's failing. Nothing Ariadne did would be able to change it. In fact, the only way she could ensure that Draco would survive this was if she did nothing.

Ariadne followed Professor Snape as he stepped from the fireplace at Spinner's End and they stepped back out into Dumbledore's private office at Hogwarts. She sat quietly at the windowsill, stroking Antigone, the snake as though she were a lapdog.

She said nothing, simply gazing at the moon through the window. She waited while Snape toiled over Dumbledore in a futile attempt to save Dumbledore's life. He was dying before Draco had ever had a chance to act.

The ring that Dumbledore had foolishly put on was sitting on the desk. A ruby-hilted sword laid next to it. The stone encased by the golden band had been cracked down the middle by the sword, but it wasn't completely broken. Even if it had been destroyed, it wouldn't have mattered. The curse that had infected Dumbledore wouldn't be broken with just the destruction of the catalyst. It was going to kill him sooner or later.

They'd been in the office for hours already. Ariadne hadn't relaxed for a moment while watching the progress of the moon. She gave no indication she was listening to the two men.

Dumbledore was in his desk chair, seemingly fading in and out of consciousness while Snape worked. He had not let up on his incantations which sounded like song. He was clearly exhausted now, kneeling on the hard stone floor, before the old man.

When Dumbledore failed to stir for a long moment, Snape pressed a goblet full of thick gold liquid to his mouth even as he continued his spell work. Dumbledore's eyes fluttered. He began to stir.

"Why?" Snape asked, exhaustion and frustration coloring his tone. "Why did you put on that ring? It carries a curse, surely you realized that. Why even touch it?"

Ariadne didn't so much as pause while stroking Antigone. She didn't even really need to hear the response. She already knew why he'd done such a thing.

She had warned him against it. Over the last Valentine's Day, Ariadne had met Dumbledore on a trip to Hogsmeade. They hadn't meant to meet, but she had found him alone in the Hog's Head where she had stopped for a drink stronger than what she would normally be allowed at a different bar in town.

He had been in a quiet room, paying respects to his dead younger sister whose portrait hung on the wall. She had been a beautiful little thing. Ariadne was one of the few that knew the story of the girl's death. She'd not been privy to the information in this lifetime, but she knew all the same.

Ariana Dumbledore had died when Professor Albus Dumbledore was little more than a teenager. He'd been cooped up at his home in Godric's Hollow after graduating from school, left alone to care for his ill younger sister. When his brother had returned from the holidays, they had fought over Albus's neglect of their sister.

Albus had taken up with a young man that was visiting his aunt at the time. Young and ambitious, the two had been making great plans for a future that didn't seem to involve the sister that Albus had been supposed to be caring for. The ensuing fight that had taken place between the brothers and Albus's then lover, Gellert Grindelwald, had taken a violent turn.

No one knew who had done it, but Ariana had died. Albus had never forgiven himself for his selfishness at that time. He had vehemently refused a position of power at the Ministry because he was unable to trust his ambitions. Now, it seemed they had harmed him yet again.

"I was a fool, sorely tempted." Dumbledore rasped lowly.

"Tempted by what?" Snape asked, but as the silence stretched on without answer, his temper flared. "It is a miracle that you managed to return here. That ring carried a curse of extraordinary power! To contain it is all that we can hope for. I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being."