Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury books, Scholastic books and Raincoast books and Warner Brothers Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Spoilers: to be safe – for all four books
Author´s notes: Like every author I crave for two things – I hope to entertain the readers and to get a lot of feedback : ) So please, please, please, please make me happy and review (even if it´s just a "I read it").
Thank you and I hope you enjoy my little tale : )
Night. A field just a few miles from Hogwarts
"Ooof!"
Severus Snape landed heavily on his back. His adversary, clad in the familiar black and red of the Death Eaters advanced on him and although the Potions master could not see the other man´s face which was hidden behind an emotionless white mask, Severus could easily imagine the triumphant smile on the Death Eater´s face. His foe advanced – slowly, savouring every moment of his victory – and raised his dark wand to mutter the forbidden "Aveda Kedavra"-curse to end Snape´s life or the just-as-illegal "Cruciatus"-curse to prolong Severus´ suffering.
Frantically Snape searched for his wand which had been knocked away from him during his fall but to no avail. It was nowhere to be found and that meant only one thing: he would die right here and now. In the middle of a stormy cloudburst on a muddy field just a few miles from his late home, Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, surrounded by friends and foes alike. An odd feeling of detachment overcame the Potions professor as he idly wondered that this must be the moment where his life should be displaying before his eyes; but instead of the dark story that was his past something else – something powerful and unexpected – exploded into action
A fury of fangs and claws and grey fur threw the startled Death Eater from his feet yearning to get a bite of the man´s jugular vein. With an involuntary shudder Severus averted his eyes as his oh-so-esteemed colleague, Prof. Remus Lupin - currently in his werewolf-form, let go of his last restrains and surrendered to his bloodlust. For a short intense moment a very similar memory from Severus´ schooldays resurfaced but was pushed away almost instantly to be dealt with at another time. His friends and colleagues were dying and he had to find that stupid wand of his!
~*~*~*~
A few yards away another ally of Dumbledore´s found himself in a desperate situation as he faced the nightmare which had haunted him for all his teenage years: Lord Voldemort.
It was really funny, Harry Potter thought, that after all these yearly encounters between him and his nemesis he finally had the feeling that this time would be the last one. The personal war that Voldemort had started when he had murdered Harry´s parents seventeen years ago would end tonight. One way or another.
The young man that Harry had been forced to grow into, gritted his teeth in determination and ran his fingers lightly over his wand.
"Tonight is the night that you will die, Potter!" Voldemort hissed in his uncanny high voice and his mouth distorted into a cold smile as he, as well, prepared his wand and flashed a hateful look at Harry who seemingly shrugged it off.
"You say that every year, Tom. Actually it has lost a lot of its dramatic flair after the first four times." Harry was determined not to show the panic which made the hairs on his back rise and concentrated on his anger instead. This…abomination!…had killed his parents! A cold smile settled on his face as he drew strength from his feelings and he returned Voldemort´s frosty gaze with a challenging one of his own. "This madness will end tonight, Voldemort. I will kill you."
Harry almost whispered the last sentence and as a look of surprise flashed over Voldemort´s features the same look crossed his own as he marvelled at his boldness. Where did that come from? There was no time to ponder this question as You-know-who hurled the first curse towards the teen and their voices collided under the stormy clouds.
"Crucio!"
"Expallarimus!"
In a sudden flash of sizzling energy Harry felt his wand being pulled out of his hands and gripped it with all his strength while he witnessed Voldemort´s struggle with his own as the two wands - which both held a feather of Fawkes, Dumbledore´s phoenix, in their core - refused to openly fight each other. On which end the destructive energy of the curses would ultimately be released was up to their owners. It was a battle of minds, of wills – and Harry was determined to win.
~*~*~*~
- On a field a few miles to the west
`Hekate!´ Draco Malfoy ran his long-fingered hands nervously through his thick silvery hair and resumed his silent swearing. He had no idea what to do. No, actually he had a pretty clear idea what to do but was it the right thing? He could still turn his back on everything. He could lead the Death Eater reinforcements which had been placed under his command into battle and ensure You-know-who´s victory. For once his father would be proud of him and afterwards glory, and more importantly, power would surely await him. On the other hand he could choose the side of his mentor, Severus Snape, who had been more of a father to him than his biological one could ever hope to be and march directly into the trap that he had set up with the Aurors the night before.
"Hekate!" Draco softly swore again. "What am I supposed to do?"
"What´d you mean D?" the gruff voice of Vincent Crabbe interrupted his thoughts. "Aren´t we supposed to go now? You know, beat up Dumbledore and his merry band of mudblood lovers and then head for fame and glory?" A heavy hand landed on Draco´s shoulder unknowingly imitating the metaphorical weight that laid on the young man.
"Just a moment, Vin." Draco swallowed heavily as he tried to sound cheerful and eager. "We want to make a great entrance, don´t we?"
Crabbe answered with bellowing laughter and raised a heavily-muscled fist into the air. "I don´t care for entrances, D, all I want are some heads to smash! Some violence!"
Draco fought for a weak smile as he studied his friend thoughtfully. "There will be violence. I´m pretty sure of that. Let´s go then."
As the young Death Eaters cheerfully made their way for the place where the portkey was hidden nobody recognized the look of anguish and defeat on Draco´s face.
~*~*~*~
"Come on, where are they?" Sirius Black was clearly fed up with waiting. "I bet the little creep has wet his pants and decided to join Voldemort´s side after all."
"Relax. Severus vouches for young Malfoy. He will come." The sandy-haired Auror next to him assured Harry´s agitated godfather and resumed his position at the edge of the hill where he and a group of specially picked Aurors had set up a trap for the Death Eater reinforcements which were led by Draco Malfoy.
A few moments passed in silence, then Sirius spoke up again.
"He´s late, Mundugus. I´m telling you he won´t come!" Black was too much of a professional to speak out loud but his annoyance was obvious. "We should leave for the real battle, for the Gods know, they need our help over there."
Mundugus pondered that for a moment, then nodded slowly. Malfoy had played them for a fool and had probably never intended to work with Dumbledore. He sighed deeply. Severus would be crushed when he learned of that.
"You´re right," he sighed. "We should…"
"Shhh!" Sirius shifted his weight carefully and made low sniffing noises. "They´re coming."
"Right then." Mundugus nodded curtly and hooted twice in order to alert his company of Aurors who silently vanished into their positions hoping to finally be able to get some revenge on Voldemort´s henchmen who had murdered so many of their loved ones. This was why they volunteered for this mission after all.
Tension filled the night as a lazy spray of rain splattered carelessly to the ground ignoring the troubles of Aurors and Death Eaters. Light footsteps approached carefully and were followed shortly after by a dozen heavy ones. Then there was silence.
Thunder grumbled in the distance and the rain got harder but to Draco Malfoy it seemed as if the whole world had been suspended in time. He could almost fool himself into thinking that he could make out every single drop of rain just like he had always tried to do as a child when he was bored or lonely in Malfoy Manor.
"D? Where´s the portkey?"
Draco turned around and faced his friend looking sad and melancholically and once again time seemed to stretch into infinity. "There is no portkey. I´m sorry," he finally whispered finding his voice uncharacteristically shaky.
"What?" Crabbe frowned in confusion. "But then what..? Draco you –"
Years from now Malfoy often wondered how his life would have turned out if he had shouted a warning or decided to defend his friend and protector but right now he was frozen. Unable to do anything but stand back and watch the madness around him unfold as dozens of Aurors – each with an own personal reason to hate the Death Eaters - appeared out of the surrounding trees and bushes ready to take revenge for all that had been done to them in the past years.
In a sickening green light Crabbe vanished from Draco´s view as a nameless Auror downed the startled neophyte Death Eater with an determined "Aveda Kedavra" and went on to attack the next of Voldemort´s followers.
The rain splattered heavily on Draco´s face but still the young man was unable to move amidst the carnage, torn between relief and self-loathing. He had made his decision to betray Voldemort and end You-know-who´s reign of terror and thereby had doomed his only friends and supporters. He had done the right thing. But why did he feel so horrible?
`This is wrong,´ Sirius thought bitterly as he fended off another Death Eater. These were little more than children, not the bloodthirsty warriors that he had expected when he had volunteered for this mission. He was pretty sure that this wasn´t what Dumbledore had had in mind when they forged the plan!
"Cru-"
"Reflexio!" Sirius bellowed before his adversary could finish his curse and with a sudden yell the attacker curled up into a tight ball and whimpered against the pain that wrecked through his body. Without sparing the downed Death Eater another glance Sirius stepped over him and with a mighty blow of his fists he yanked the next one from his feet just as he was about to attack Mundugus who flashed him a thankful smile before vanishing into the chaos once more.
~*~*~*~
His hair hung messily into his face and drops of perspiration matted his forehead but Harry didn´t pay any attention. His whole world was focused on the ominous creature before him, Lord Voldemort who eyed Harry hatefully with his distorting gleaming red eyes.
He could feel Voldemort´s presence and determination through the bond that had been formed by their wands. It felt as if needles were stuck into his scar and white-hot pain engulfed his body as he tried to return Voldemort´s piercing gaze which seemed to strip him of all his defences. Lazy whispers filled his mind as he held on to his wand and kept struggling.
What do you think you´re doing, boy? You´re a child. You should not be facing the world´s most powerful wizard. Somebody else should do it. You´ve done enough, you´ve saved this world several times. You deserve a rest…you need a rest. You´re tried, so incredibly tired…
Harry struggled to keep his eyes open which had suddenly decided from a will of their own to close. `Don´t close your eyes!´ Harry instructed himself strictly but in spite of his brave words only minutes earlier Harry felt his resolve weaken and his body tire under the strain of keeping his mind from being invaded by Voldemort´s will. His arms felt as if they were made of stone and his vision became blurry from time to time although Harry told himself firmly that this was only because of the sweat that was slowly dripping into his eyes. Surely it wouldn´t hurt to blink a little? His eyes would be closed and he´d get some rest. Suddenly that seemed very appealing…
"You are weakening." The monster hissed with a sneer and Harry shook himself out of his lethargy. "Why don´t you give up, boy?"
"I don´t think so, old man." There wasn´t much force behind his words and both of them sensed it. It became increasingly harder to keep his eyes open and to focus enough attention to prevent the wand from slipping through his sweaty fingers. God, he felt so winded!
Drawing in all of his strength Harry made one last attempt to fight off the whispers in his head which – he was sure of that – originated from Voldeort´s vile mind. `Go away!´, he chanted over and over in his head until the whole world seemed to consist of these two things: fighting off that voice and holding on to a piece of wood which connected him to one of the most dangerous individuals of the wizarding world.
Slow - agonizingly slow – the voice seemed to get fainter, some strength returned into his fingers and the fog that clouded his mind lifted tentatively. To weak to make his muscles obey his commands Harry thought that a smile would be a fitting reaction right now as suddenly a bolt of sheer excruciating pain hit his body draining him of the last drops of strength and drawing the breath from his lungs. Unable to form a coherent thought the boy-who-lived dropped to his knees as spasms worked their way through his lithe form and painted funny dancing red and black spots in front of his eyes. An analytical part of his mind reminded him that the range of his vision was getting smaller and smaller and from painful experience he expected to faint any time now. Keeping his eyes open had once more turned into a challenging task as Voldemort prepared to press his advantage.
~*~*~*~
`Yes!´ triumph flowed through the aristocratic veins of Lucius Malfoy at the sight of the annoying boy who was barely able to stand by now. His master would be very pleased, he noted with satisfaction and decided to push the Potter-boy a little further.
"Intensificio Cruciatus!"
The boy-who-lived went to his knees like a sack of old potatoes – not that Lucius had ever seen one since the house elves took care of such things – but kept a strong grip on his wand. `It turns out that Potter´s Quidditch-training has paid off after all´, Malfoy thought with a sarcastic smirk, `The boy keeps hanging on to the wand as if it were the snitch.´
But that was no problem, in fact, Lucius preferred it if his victims struggled a little. He felt that it made the thrill of the kill all the more satisfying. It was only a matter of intensifying the curse once more which would either make Potter drop the wand or lead to a lethal heart attack when the overload of impulses would wreak havoc on the boy´s body. Now just…
"No!"
The roar came as unexpected as the weight that suddenly crashed into Lucius´ ribcage throwing the man off balance and breaking his hold on the spell. He had barely time to curse as a hard fist connected with his face and a sickening crack which was immediately followed by a wave of pain told him that his nose had just been broken. Frantically Lucius tried to recall some self-defence lessons from his youth but quickly lost his train of thought as the fists hammered down on his face with growing force. Reflexively Lucius raised his hands before his face and managed to get his attacker off with a few kicks that seemed to connect quite painfully with his adversary´s body.
Lucius whipped onto his feet in a manner that belied his usual elegance and faced his attacker, who wearily struggled to his feet himself, for the first time.
"Severus?" The exclamation came out several octaves higher than he had intended but it already took all of his discipline not to gape at the Potions master with an open mouth.
Snape didn´t bother to reply and as he had given up any hopes of finding his wand he did the only sensible thing that an unarmed Potions master faced with an extremely powerful Dark wizard could do: he hollered a war cry and resumed his attack before Malfoy could regain his senses and curse him.
Lucius had always suspected that there was a lot of rage bottled up inside his former ally but never had he imagined that one day he would be the receiving end of Snape´s pent up frustrations.
With a yelp he tried to get out of the teacher´s reach and get some help from Crabbe or Goyle but none of them were in close proximity or even anywhere within eyesight. Raising his eyes to meet the cold ones of his enemy Lucius was surprised to see Snape smile.
"There´s no one here to help you, Lucius," he murmured in that silky voice of his, "This is just between you and me."
And for the first time in his life Lucius Malfoy felt insecure.
~*~*~*~
Harry Potter´s eyes shot open as the pain that had worked its way through his body suddenly subsided and his mind was free once more. With a cry he renewed the grip on his wand and lunged forwards, directly at Voldemort who stood frozen in surprise at his enemy´s sudden recovery.
With renewed determination the teenager gritted his teeth and concentrated in order to push past the last remnants of the pain and past the voice that had mocked him. He could feel Voldemort´s mind on the other side of the bond torn between amazement and anger. Suddenly the roles had reversed and it was Harry who used the bond between their wands to influence his adversary. If Voldemort had been able to send those mocking voices to him only minutes ago – and Harry had no doubt that it had been the Dark Lord´s doing – then it was time to turn the tables and return the favour.
"You´re getting tired, old man, aren´t you?"
A surprised ripple in their bond answered Harry and a satisfied smirk crept onto his face. This worked better than he had expected it to! `Let´s push this a little further´, Harry thought with grim determination and concentrated once more.
"What makes you think you can beat me, anyway? You weren´t able to do so back when I was a mere baby or all the other times you tried. Give up, old man, you´re yesterday´s news!"
Harry was sure that he felt a growling over the bond and suddenly the voice which he could now identify clearly as Voldeort´s returned.
"You are but a mere child, Potter!" it hissed, "You will die just as your parents did!"
That did it. Harry had barely time to realize what happened to him as a red mist of hate clouded his mind and he drew on reserves that he didn´t even know he had.
The bond flickered and a green light made its way from his wand to Voldemort´s who was just as startled at this unexpected development as a small – still rational – part of Harry was. The green light continued on its way and in an unspectacular puff of smoke and a short piercing cry it was all over. Voldemort was gone.
Panting heavily Harry fell on his knees, hands still gripping his wand so fiercely that the nails cut into his fingers and blood was dripping out of his clenched fists. Slowly thick drops of sweat made their way from his brow towards his eyes and then down his cheeks but he didn´t seem to notice. All he could think of was the fact that Voldemort was gone. Completely vanished leaving nothing but a small spot of charred earth and a burnt useless wand.
Harry couldn´t believe that all those years of living under the constant threat of You-know-who had suddenly ended just like that. That such a powerful being whose mere name had been able to strike so much terror had vanished silently making his death an ironical contrast to the way he had lived. Life was still full of surprises.
All around him the Death Eaters had witnessed the final defeat of their master and quickly decided that it was time to surrender. The war had ended.
~*~*~*~
His arms burned like fire from the constant strain that he had put on his muscles but Severus Snape refused to give up as he had done all his life.
"You will not hurt the kid!" he growled fiercely as his fists connected with Lucius Malfoy´s still form again and again. "You won´t terrorize anyone anymore!" Smash! He hit Lucius´ cheek. "No more secret meetings!" Another hit. "No more stupid codenames!" Hit. "No more lies, no more poisons, no more ruining lives…"
"You can stop now, Severus." A calm voice drifted along at the edge of Snape´s consciousness but it was easy to ignore it and finally give that elitist …
"Severus!" Strong hands closed around his arms and lifted him off of Lucius ignoring Severus´ enraged struggles. "Calm down, Severus! It´s over!"
It was over? No, it couldn´t be. It never was!
"It´s over!" the voice persisted and finally Snape felt the last drops of energy leave his body and ceased struggling. "It´s over. It´s over…" The voice continued soothing him and the hands that had held him back only minutes ago reached out into a compassionate embrace offering comfort to the desperate man rocking him back and forth like a helpless child as he cried for his life which had gone so terribly wrong ever since Lucius Malfoy had made him a Death Eater.
He would never be able to recall for how long he had cried but when Severus raised his head once more the night had passed and a new dawn had broken.
"Let´s go, now." The familiar voice brought him back to the present and as he looked at his `rescuer´ Severus´ eyebrows rose to nearly meet his hairline.
"Minerva?"
~*~*~*~
The sun was coming up and painting golden patterns on the silent field and its occupants. All of them were already cold having been claimed by the brutal struggle that had taken place here only hours ago. All safe for one who was sitting atop a rock staring around wide-eyed.
"I´m sorry. I´m sorry. I´m so sorry. Oh, Hekate! I should have never trusted any of them!"
Draco Malfoy´s face was smeared with an odd mixture of mud, blood and tears while his whole body was trembling despite the warm morning.
"…never trusted…they said…" The rest of his incoherent mutterings was lost as another sob escaped from his throat and he buried his head in his hands again. How could everything have gone so wrong? Crabbe and Goyle were dead. So were Zabini and Flint and too many others. And it was all his fault!
`No´, he suddenly thought with despair, `It has been my fault because I thought that those high-and-mighty Aurors were better than Voldemort´s Death Eaters. I believed that they actually mean what they say when they talk about their ideals. But they lied! Just like the Death Eaters did!´
This time his body shook with contempt as he recalled all the meaningful conversations that had led him to believe that the Aurors were better people than the Death Eaters and something between a laugh and a sob disrupted the silence. Both were just as evil and untrustworthy! And he had enough of them! In fact, he had enough of all of it – their false smiles, their pretence that everything was going to be alright, the way that he had been forced to live his life, they way they looked at him whenever they heard the name `Malfoy´, all of it!
Wiping his eyes furiously with his torn sleeve Draco took out his wand and broke it.
"I´ve had enough of you!" He cried into the morning. "You hear me? I´ve had enough!" He sniffed once more while some of his old pride returned. "I´m fed up. No more broken promises and prejudices for me. I´m leaving once and for all."
And with that he shed his robes and everything that would mark him as a wizard and shakily made his way for the next Muggle town his steps getting stronger and stronger the further he turned away from his old life.
~ end prologue
Comment : Please bear in mind that this is only the set-up and Draco and Snape haven´t yet been used as much as they will be in the rest of the story. So all you Draco- & Snape-fans please don´t abandon this story – there will be more of them! A LOT more… : )