Authors Note: Well... I'm back, I suppose. This is the first thing I've updated in a while... and I have a feeling the rest of my pieces (except I'm A Hogwarts Teacher) might be scrapped. It's a case of serious writers block. Anyway, I have one story ready to post, save for a few lines... but I wanted to post this one first. It's a very choppy piece to me, but I think it gets a good twist at the end. Think of each line break as a pause in action or something... it's meant to be suspensful... I don't think I accomplished that. Oh, and I'm currently minus a beta reader, so this isn't beta'd, and if you're interested in beta-ing me... please let me know. Until then, spelling and grammar mistakes are bearable and completely my fault. xD
And now without further ado: Cacophony.
He was shaking, his wand extended, pointing towards the face of a frightened Severus Snape. For once, Harry Potter had the upper hand. Around him, smoke, fire, and a chilling wind swirled into the evening air. The bodies lay around them both, foe and friend lay piled like sticks in the grass. Harry knew too many of the people here, but there was only one he cared about at this moment, and that was his professor.
Snape's greasy hair lay about his face as he prostrated himself on the ground, attempting to sink away from the threatening glare of the Potter boy. His skin was pale and papery, ripped and scarred where he had endured many a battle. His midnight hair had become streaked with grey and his eye sockets were sallow and sunken. He looked like the living dead... "Potter... Please..." Severus begged...
Harry's eyes widened in anger. "How dare you!" He bellowed shaking his wand at the man. "How dare you try to beg with me! Murderer! Traitor!!! You killed him! What right do you have to walk away from me? I should kill you like you killed him..."
"Unlike you I had no choice Potter... now put the wand down!"
"CHOICE?" Harry cried frantically, on the verge of tears. "YOU had a choice and you chose to follow Voldemort. You chose to kill Dumbledore! You chose your path... I'm only continuing it for you."
"Do you really want to go down in history as a murderer?" Snape said icily, but the confidence in his voice did not reflect in his eyes.
"They will celebrate when I drag your body home from the battle field! They will hail me as the one who killed two great enemies! You are the one who will be remembered as a murderer... if they even remember you at all!
"You're as ill tempered and unforgiving as your father..."
"Say one more word about my father and I'll show you pain you'll never forget." Harry cut him off, his wand still shaking.
She struggled through the smoke, trying to see the world through tear-filled eyes. So many dead... it was like hell on earth... and there were so many good people she knew. But there were two people she had seen earlier that had not been seen since the end of the battle.
In the distance she heard yelling... Minerva McGonagall broke into a run.
"If you were going to kill me you would have done it by now!" Snape said, his back still pressed against the ground... The smoke swirled heavier around the two, blocking the view of the battle field from their sight. "No one is watching Potter... prove to me how strong the Boy-Who-Lived really is!"
"NO! Not until you tell me why you killed him!" Harry bellowed. "What gave you the right to take him away from Hogwarts... away from me!" His voice cracked on the last word, but he was too angry for tears at the moment.
"Who are you to demand answers from me Potter! You are but a boy." Snape retorted at an equal volume.
"Don't patronize me Snape!" Harry said, resting his wand between Snape's eyeballs, ready to curse at any moment.
"I made a vow!" Snape never lowered his voice, staring Harry Potter, and possibly death, straight in the eyes. He was not frightened...
"Potter!" McGonagall screamed, seeing the scene before her... Snape laying in the dirt and Harry with his wand raised. She was still so far away and there was no way she could reach him in time... "Potter!" She screamed again, her voice rushed with fear and anger. "Put the wand down..."
He appeared deaf to her shouts...
"That's all I need to know..." Harry's voice was somewhat calm... "Have fun in hell... murderer..."
"Stop the theatrics... coward." Snape hissed.
"Potter!" McGonagall screamed again, her voice went hoarse. "Don't kill him!" She tried but it was barely enough to reach across the distance and through the thick smoke.
"I am not a coward..." Harry hissed equally, raising his wand and speaking softly the two words that were unforgivable... but at this point Harry didn't care.
For a moment the smoke and the sky flashed green... the vultures cawed and the Hogwarts bell tower chimed eleven.
McGonagall slowed her pace as she neared the scene, nearly blinded by the flash of powerful green light. Her robes swirled to a halt around her ankles. She watched in despair as Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding world, fell to his knees...
A bolt of lightening hit the ground, green and pulsing... adding to the cacophony around them... until in the final moment, in the final breath...
All was still.