Title: Peace at Last

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH, IF YOU AREN'T A FAN ARE DON'T LIKE PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE ANY FURTHER

Plot: Set after Harry is possessed by Voldermort in the Ministry if Magic. Will he survive the attack?

I know that Snape doesn't appear at the Ministry of Magic in the film, but here I have messed around with a few facts and we are assuming that Snape appeared after Voldermort left and the ministry officials and Harry's friends are delayed.

Note: The other members of Dumbledore's Army and the Ministry officials don't appear in this at all.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything all rights belong to JK Rowling

The potion masters face was paler than normal to the point of ashen as Severus looked down at the child before him who had suffered so much in his short life. A boy he had tried so hard to hate and was a constant thorn in his side. The boy whose life he had saved countless times, had vowed to protect and now he had finally failed. Severus felt a horrible constricting sensation of grief and pain creeping into his chest, something that had not happened since the passing of his Lilly.

Harry's life had never been easy, he had endured pain from the start with the only bright spark being his entry into the Wizarding community at the age of 11. The same community who had effectively turned its back on him as a result of a series of abominable smear campaigns covertly spear-headed by the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. That bright spark now seemed more akin to a few dying embers held alive by a handful of loyal friends.

Severus felt the ache intensify as he considered how similar these events seemed to be to his own life. He too was hated by the wizarding world, liked by few and loved by even less. Their connection did not however end there. Harry had endured a deplorable childhood at the Dursleys memories of which had been buried deep in the recesses of his mind with the hope of them never being found or spoken. However all that had changed when the Occulmency lessons had commenced this year, with no significant mental shielding in place they were left wide open for Snape to find. To say he was shocked was an understatement! The saviour of the wizarding world was treated like slave, beaten and starved since as far back as he could remember. No one save himself and Dumbledore knew the truth about the scars hidden beneath his clothes. He had been working most of the year to gradually reduce said marks both old and new with various healing balms and salves. This he reasoned was the cause for his hatred of the boy gradually dissolving.

He and Harry had built initially a tentative relationship, which grew to one of mentor over the year as a bond of trust had developed. Snape felt it highly ironic that an ex-death eater, hated potions professor and head of Slytherin House was one of the only adults Harry felt he could truly trust. To all outsiders (except Dumbledore) there was never any indication that such interactions had occurred as appearances needed to be maintained.

Now he and Dumbledore were looking down in horror at the broken form of the boy before them.

Harry let out a horrible barking cough that rattled through his chest and his hands tightened every so slightly around the sand he lay on. Dumbledore was kneeling by the boy's side holding his hand while his other brushed stray locks of unruly hair for Harry's pain filled eyes. The look on the older man's face spoke of sadness, grief, regret and much more as they glistened at the edges where tears threatened to fall. "Harry my boy, stay with us." The myriad of spells Dumbledore had been franticly casting had done nothing to help.

Snape set about casting various complex diagnostic spells trying to establish the extent of the damage the Dark Lord had inflicted on the boy's body when he possessed it. The initial results set the younger healers face into a frown which gradually deepened as the scan probed further.

"Severus?" Albus questioned. His only answer was to lift the hem of Harry's top to reveal a dark purple bruise that seemed to be growing in size across his abdomen even as they watched. Severus knew there was very little he could do, the damage was extensive. Voldermort had ripped himself from Harry's body as violently as possible leaving some kind of horrid unknown dark curse behind. He was now bleeding internally and Snape had no way of stopping it, all the spells he knew both light and dark were ineffective and blood replenishing potions were out of the question as the volatile nature of its ingredients and unknown nature of curse could lead to interactions which would kill Harry instantly. It was a curse unlike any he had seen before. The only chance Harry now had was his own magical core working with Snape's spells to staunch the loss. But the chances of this happening fast enough were slim, his magic levels were becoming dangerously low as the curse seemed to be somehow leeching it dry.

"T..that good huh?" Harry replied when neither wizard choose to say anything further. He was cut off from continuing when another wave of pain lanced through his scar causing him to cry out in agony. He clutched at the area with what little strength he still possessed but the pain kept coming wave after wave, the more he screamed the more the pain increased.

Harry squeezed Dumbledore's hand tighter taking comfort from the touch. He was only vaguely aware of frantic activity above him and could just about make out Snape muttering a wound sealing spell followed by a funny sensation in his scar. It was then that he felt a warm liquid trickling down the side of cheek. Blood? When did his scar start bleeding? He could just about make out their voices but they were fuzzy just like the rest of the world seemed at that moment.

"Losing….blood internally…..fading….magical core."

He absently realised he was coughing again and this time he could taste blood. He could hear the frantic calls from Dumbledore and Snape, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything he was doing was hurting him so much. The voices were still calling to him but even focusing on them was becoming hard.

"I'm sorry… I failed." He managed to say, but his words came out in little more than a whisper.

"No...my boy you have never failed us, don't ever think that." Dumbledore replied immediately looking deep into Harry's eyes. His emerald green iris's now took on a murky tinge from where his soul was tainted by the darkness of Voldermort. The faint creases of his skin around his eyes spoke of pain and so much of it. The fact that Harry was alive showed how strong he was, great wizards had fallen under less.

Harry closed his eyes briefly as his mind was assaulted with images of Voldermort, death, pain and destruction. He had memoires, feelings and desires which weren't his own. It was like a window in Voldermort's mind everything he had, everything he wanted and everything he was planning. Even in his addled state Harry understood the importance of this information, it could make all the difference to the war effort. If he was to die now, he was going to make sure it would mean the end of the Dark Lord.

"Harry, keep your eyes open for us." Snape said in a soft voice he hadn't used outside of their Occlumacy lessons together.

Harry obliged but it took great effort. He tried to speak, but it only resulted in him coughing up more blood. Snape began to utter more spells in response. "Harry don't try and talk, your bleeding internally, I'm doing everything I can to stop it, but you've got to keep your eyes open and keep fighting."

Harry shook his head in defiance he had to speak. He knew he was in bad shape but he wasn't afraid to die.

"N...no, I can…I can see everything." Snape gave him a confused look.

"See what me boy?" Dumbledore asked.

"V...voldermort…into his mind…I can feel...see everything he is p…planning everything he wants. Can't you...take the memories? They might help."

Dumbledore and Snape looked up at each other shock evident on their faces. This information could be invaluable and could bring about the Dark Lords defeat, but how had such a connection been forged? No connection of this magnitude normally formed when someone was possessed. Did the connection work two ways? Sensing their confusion Harry tried to continue.

"When…he was inside…my head…I don't know what happened…it felt like I was connected to his thoughts. But…but he didn't seem to know I was t...there. He was thinking…about m…me saying the sort of things you would say only…if you knew the person wasn't listening. Please take them away, they hurt, they're suffocating." Harry just managed to finish before he scrunched his eyes closed, in a futile effort to clear his head of the foreign images and feelings.

"Harry your too weak for us to perform occlumacy, your core is too low, it could push you into a coma. The only way is if you can extract the memories yourself." Harry looked at Professor Snape with a confused expression. He made to ask how but the intake of breath required caused him to cough. Pain lanced though his chest as the fit continued, the taste of blood returned once more. It was taking more and more effort to breathe, every time it caused pain and now even he could hear the rattle in his chest.

Dumbledore wiped away the blood that had trickled down from the side of his mouth and uttered soothing words to the boy as Harry struggled to regain control of his breathing.

"H..how?"

"You need to bring all the memories to the front of your mind, like your gathering them all into one big box. Concentrate on box and nothing in it. Then bring your wand to your temple and slowly draw it away and keep repeating in your mind 'extracto', all the memories should come with it. You'll know once they have all been removed as everything you saw in his mind will disappear the area will become blank. You won't be able to remember what you were trying to extract, except that you have removed them."

Harry focused on what Snape had told him. Collecting all the memories wasn't hard as they were all still fresh so he dug inside his jacket with shaky hands for his wand.

Channelling all his remaining energy on gripping it he tried to lift his arm to his head, it cost him a great deal of strength and his hand was shaking violently by the end, but he was determined to maintain some of his self respect and dignity even in his current position.

Watching Harry in his weakened state struggling with such a simple task was painful for Snape to watch. The rage and hatred curing through him in response to what the Dark Lord had done.

When Harry felt the cool wood of his wand brush his temple, he closed his eyes and pictured all the memories and began to push them into a box. Repeating over and over in his head the incantation, he slowly began to draw away his wand. He could see and feel the memories draining away, it was quite an unusual sensation, but not an unpleasant one. The only way he could think to describe it was a very light tickling at the edge of his mind. More and more of the memories disappearing, the flow seemed to be endless as Dumbledore carefully collected all the ghostly wisps in a vile he had transfigured from some debris on the floor.

Any eerie calm settled over Harry as all the dreadful things he felt and saw were leaving. Finally exhausted when it was all gone, his arm and wand clattering to the ground. He felt so weak now, breathing was too hard, everything was beginning to become fuzzy and pleasant dumb sensation was starting to spread throughout his body. There was no pain anymore and his mind felt free and un-clouded, relishing in the freedom he had not felt since his blood was used to resurrect Lord Voldermort the previous year.

Harry felt himself being lifted from the cold ground and held against someone, the aroma from the robes penetrated his senses and he knew instantly who was holding him, it was Professor Dumbledore. He knew he should be angry at the man but he couldn't bring himself to feel such. He had felt so abandoned all year and to feel like he was no longer being ignored brought him a great deal of happiness. It was ironic Harry thought that he wasn't going to be able to enjoy the feeling for long. He looked up at Dumbledore's face and was surprised to see tears falling freely form the great man's eyes.

"P…please d…don't cry sir." He managed to say and gave a weak smile. He stared to cough again, the wheezing was definitely getting worse. Snape come into his field of vision, a sad expression on his face as he held a vial of potion he recognised as pain reliever. Harry shook his head lightly,

"It's OK…sir….it doesn't hurt anymore."

Harry felt Snape's long cool fingers grasp his hand in a very uncharacteristic public display of caring before looking into the boys eyes.

"Thank you…sir for everything you've d…done to help me, it was nice to know for once I wasn't alone." Snape was lost for words, a lump rose in his throat and he felt a warm moisture building around his eyes. Something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He knew that Harry wouldn't be with them much longer and for that he wanted to curse Voldermort, curse Potter's damn relatives and the whole damn wizarding community for the suffering the boy had gone through and was still going through.

Harry's breathing became more and more laboured and painful as he clung to what small hold on consciousness he had left. Dumbledore tenderly kissed the top of Harry's head, "It's OK my son, you can let go now." The memory of this day would haunt both he and Dumbledore for years to come. Harry tilted his head towards the headmaster and then Severus, a tired smile on his face expressing silent thanks.

At that, the brave young Gryffindor's eyes began to drift closed, his laboured breathing slowed and his grip on his teachers hands slackened as he passed away to the other side a small smile still upon his features. Dumbledore dropped his head and wept, while silent tears tracked down Severus's face mourning the passing of 'the –boy-who-lived'.

Let me know what you think, your reviews are always appreciated.

I have to admit that I feel it is not one of my best works, but friends have been saying just to publish it as I have been deliberating over it way too long and I would have only deleted it if I hadn't have uploaded it, which would have been a shame really...I think.

Anyway I'm rambling away needlessly.

Until next time...

L x