Passion of the Snake

A Snarry Story

Summary:

What if everything you've ever known was nothing like it seemed?

A/N: Here we go! I hope everyone is as pumped for this new version as much as I am! Many many thanks goes out to AllTearsMustFall for being such a lovely beta and helping me. Please leave a review and tell me what you think!

Prologue: Through Glass

"T-take them..." Snape stuttered. Long potion-stained fingers fisted themselves into the front of Harry's jacket as wispy, glowing tendrils poured out of his eyes and ears. Harry ground his teeth together, hands slippery with blood as he pressed them into the gaping wound in Snape's throat, wands left forgotten next to them on the floor of the Shrieking Shack.

"Hermione, don't just stand there!" He shouted, frustrated as she remained motionless, mouth hanging open and fingers gripping Ron's forearm as she tried to process the image in front of her.

"Damn it, Hermione, help me!" As if hearing Harry swear startled her, she sprung into action, digging through her bottomless pouch. Soon, she was slapping something into his hand, and he almost swore again when he saw it was a small, empty bottle.

"Where is the Essence of Dittany?"

"Harry, it won't-" Hermione cut herself off, eyes flashing over to Snape before she continued. "It won't help. They're memories, you need something to put them in."

A gurgling sound coming from Snape stopped Harry from arguing with the bushy-haired witch, and Harry came to the realization that Snape was going to drown in his own blood. Emerald eyes met onyx, and Harry knew Snape realized this as well.

"T-take-" Snape choked. "-the pensieve..."

Harry nodded, resolve hardening his eyes as he pulled the stopper from the vial with his teeth and held it to Snape's cheek, filling it with memories before sealing his thumb over the top. Snape removed his hands from Harry's front and used his weak strength to push Harry's other hand from his neck.

"Harry..." Snape gurgled again, nails digging into the younger wizard's forearm, and Harry watched as the life faded from his eyes. Harry wasn't sure where it came from, but he was suddenly overcome with grief, his chest tightening and bile rising in his throat.

Severus...

It was like a brush of a memory trying to surface, and Harry had to squash his confusion and put all of his emotions away behind a mask. He couldn't focus on any of that right now. There was a war going on and it was Snape's dying wish for him to view these memories. Swallowing hard, Harry stood from Snape's cooling body. He now had no idea how to think of the man lying before him. Not even an hour ago, thinking of Snape made his blood boil with rage, stomach lurching with disgust. Now...

Now, he was empty.

"Harry..." Hermione whispered, blinking back unshed tears and reaching out for him. When he looked up at her with emotionless eyes, she cleared her throat and let her hand drop back to her side.

"Dumbledore's office," she stated.

Harry's brow furrowed. "What?"

"There's a pensieve in Dumbledore's office." Hermione answered. "Go."

"Right, " Harry sighed out. He bent down and picked up the bloody cork, replacing his thumb with the stopper so he didn't spill any memories. "What about-" he started, before Hermione cut him off.

"We'll take care of him, so when this is all over we can give him a proper burial."

Resigned, Harry walked over to his two best friends. Ron was staring at him with an inexpressive look on his face, Harry knew he never liked their surly Potion's Master. Hermione was flushed, and even if Snape wasn't her favorite professor, his death was gruesome (and unnecessary.)

Pulling her into his arms, Harry hugged Hermione to him tightly.

"Stay safe." She whispered, and Harry nodded, letting her go so he could shake hands with Ron. The red-haired wizard gave him a cheeky grin and pulled him into a hug instead.

"Good luck, Harry." Ron grumbled out, and Harry nodded again before giving them both one last look-over.

"You two do everything you can to finish off the last of the horcruxes," he told them, and they both gave him a solemn nod of affirmation before Harry had to turn his back on them to avoid the swell of emotion trying to rise. He had to double back to grab the two wands lying by Snape's body and was surprised to feel the ebony wand heat up in his hand - like his own had the first time he held it in Olivander's shop. Frowning, he met the questioning gaze of his friends. He knew he should tell them what he just felt but couldn't find the words to describe it.

"If anyone was to stumble upon Snape's body, his wand should be protected for his burial," Harry explained. He left out the fact that the thought of someone else touching Snape's wand made him angry beyond belief. Shoving that emotion down and away with the others for future processing, he pocketed Draco's wand and gripped Snape's with white knuckles. Avoiding Hermione's piercing look and Ron's shocked one, he left the room with a curt parting nod.

He followed the familiar route through the shack, exiting on to the secret pathway which lead to the base of the Whomping Willow. He was heading straight into the fray, right into the front lines surrounding Hogwarts. He was going to face Death Eaters and dark creatures and might possibly, very probably, lose his life in a show down against Voldemort himself, and the only thing he could think about was Snape.

Snape with the haunting eyes that looked at him in a way no-one had before: like he knew him, everything about him, deep down to his very soul. But Snape was dead, and no-one was going to look at him that way again.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, a loud shout of a curse and an explosion to his left knocked him out of his stupor. With a spell on the tip of his tongue, Harry waited until a large gnarly branch passed by his hiding spot before running out into the battle. The last thing he needed was a stray Death Eater to see the hidden passageway and find Ron and Hermione taking care of Snape's body.

"Reducto!" He snarled, the spell blasting a half-transformed werewolf who was charging at him. Adrenaline was running rampant in his system, and it took all of his self-control to not stay in the fight, but he knew getting to the castle was his top priority. However, that didn't stop him from cursing every Death Eater that came across his path.

"Potter!"

Harry turned to see Macnair and Avery running towards him and he halted his movements, smirking as Snape's wand thrummed in his hand as he shouted out a spell created by the Half-Blood Prince himself.

"Sectumsempra!" Harry growled, and Macnair went down screaming as a variety of deep and shallow lacerations covered his entire body. Avery's lips curled up in a sneer as he stood before Harry, eyeing him warily.

"You'll pay for that, Potter!" He spat, only increasing Harry's amusement.

"Will I?" He muttered, side stepping as he and Avery circled each other. Their respective wands held out in front of them, preparing to strike, their eyes never breaking contact. Harry knew Avery was stupid enough to try to kill him, going against his Lord's direct orders to cause him no harm. He also knew that Avery was the more advanced in spell casting, so a little taunting should get him riled up and distracted enough for Harry to take him down.

"You won't touch me," Harry announced. "You'll be in a great more deal of pain if Voldemort found out you had the first round on his long awaited prize."

"Don't speak his name as if you were worthy of it!" Avery snarled, throwing a curse intended to crush all of his internal organs, which Harry easily blocked.

"I'm sure a low level Death Eater such as yourself was never privileged enough to know this, but Voldemort marked me as his equal the night he tried to kill me. Thanks to this wretched scar, I have the power to defeat him." His smirk relaxed into a scowl, eyes hardening as he continued. "Voldemort will die and I will be the one to do it."

"LIES!" Avery screamed, spittle flying from his lips as his face reddened with rage. "CRUCI-" The spell died on his lips as Harry effectively cast the severing charm and sliced through his carotid arteries. Avery collapsed with a solid thud, blood rapidly pooling out of his fatal injuries, soaking the ground around him.

Harry knew the Death Eater deserved a more prolonged and painful death, revenge for all the innocent lives he destroyed, but there wasn't enough time.

The remorse that he should have felt after killing another human being was smothered by the relief that he knew the people he loved could no longer be harmed by those two sadistic wizards. The utter exhaustion his body was feeling started to take over his senses but Harry had to push away all thoughts of rest as he took off again towards Hogwarts.

"Protego!"

"Stupefy!"

"Reducto!"

"Immobulus!"

Harry wasn't sure how many spells, charms, hexes and curses he threw, taking down a variety of dark creatures and Death Eaters. Prongs drove away dementors while he blasted away werewolves, exploded acromantulas and decapitated the few vampires that had joined Voldemort's ranks. He was covered in multiple kinds of blood when he finally reached the castle doors.

"Watch out 'Arry!" He heard Hagrid yell at him, and he ducked just in time to see Grawp knock an acromantula away from behind him. The half giant scooped him up into his arms in an almost bone crushing hug.

"So glad yer safe, 'Arry." The burly man grumbled into his hair.

"Thanks, Hagrid." Harry returned the hug the best he could before being set down on the ground again.

"Now get so I can kick some Death Eater arse!" Harry resisted the urge to grin as Hagrid lumbered off behind his half-brother, brandishing his giant pink umbrella.

Harry took the grand staircase's steps two at a time as he raced upward toward the Headmaster's office. He was only briefly stalled by the Carrow twins whom he finished off with two quickly muttered Diffindo charms. Chest heaving, he maneuvered through the many changing staircases, all thankfully in the correct positions for him to travel to the office as quickly as possible. Miraculously unharmed, Harry stood before the gargoyle guarding the office door.

Once it saw who was standing before it, the gargoyle immediately stepped aside to allow him entrance.

Nodding in thanks, Harry made his way inside and found the pensieve sitting on the ornate desk in the middle of the room. Harry approached it with a grim expression adorning his face and was surprised to see his reflection in the empty bowl. He had never seen the magical artifact without previous memories in it before. Sighing, Harry moved to extract the vial full of memories from his jacket pocket, but stopped short when he saw his reflection didn't quite match up with his movements. He spent a few moments mouthing words and turning his head from side to side to come to the conclusion that the light, or his eyes, were playing tricks on him.

Without breaking eye contact with his reflection, Harry retrieved the bottle, uncorked it and upended the memories into the vessel. However, the memories didn't pour into the liquid; they clung to the surface like condensation on a window. He couldn't squash his rising horror as he watched his reflection smile - a grateful, welcoming smile - and reach up through what he assumed was glass, pulling him into the pensieve. Harry couldn't even muster up a scream of protest as he felt himself falling, his world spinning around him into nothingness.

And when he awoke, it was to the sound of his mother, calling his name.

A/N: Ta-da! The first installment of the new and improved Passion of the Snake is complete! If any of you wish to read this on Ao3 my username is JayBelle93. (The only difference is the - is missing from my name.) That version will have the sexual content that will be in this story in the future, but don't expect it for some time.

Hope everyone enjoyed this as much as I did writing it! Please leave some love!