Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. He and all other characters in his world belong to J.K. Rowling.
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If you asked anyone present at the final battle what the most unusual thing they saw that day was, nine out of ten would answer something to do with the snake. The thing the survivors remembered the most was quite clearly the snake.
From the outside, there really wasn't anything special about the snake. It was of a decent length, somewhere between five and six feet (it never stayed still long enough for proper measurement). Its color was very dark, either a dark blue or a black. Its fangs were of decent size, and quite poisonous (as testified by the numerous bodies laying about the chamber). No, from the outside it looked like it could have fit in well in any muggle zoo in the country. Well, except for the fact that it was magical, its name was Nagini and, oh yeah, there was that little part about the fact that it lovingly called the Dark Lord Voldemort its master. Well, it almost could have fit into a muggle zoo. It would have certainly been amusing.
Well, now you are probably wondering why everyone remembered Voldemort's snake from the final battle, right? Well, even if you aren't really, nod your head stupidly anyways. Good, reader. Anyone want a biscuit?
Well, anyway I digress. So we were all wondering about why Voldemort's beloved snakey, slimy, slippery serpent (say that three times fast) was what was memorable about the final battle, given that we have already concluded it has nothing to do with his general appearance. If not that, I'm sure you are asking, then what?
I think that a few of you would automatically jump to the Horcrux thing, so let us get that out of the way first. Voldemort did not, and I repeat, did not, make Nagini into a Horcrux. I mean, if you were an Evil, Dark Lord, would you want a part of your soul hanging around and bugging you? It would probably be worse than your mother telling you to pick up your clothes, and be polite and not to kill people after breakfast. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out why that one doesn't work for the bad boy image.
Now I think that you must be thinking that the snake must have sprouted some unforeseen magical ability (again if you aren't thinking so, just nod your head and play a long anyway). Maybe you are thinking that it sprouted wings, or started to breathe fire, or turned human. Well, sorry to inform you, but you would be wrong about that one. Really, deep down, pretty much as deep down as you can go without puncturing a hole, Voldemort's snake is just that, a snake.
Well, I'm sure by now your list of ideas can be dwindling. Hmm… maybe Voldemort's snake knew Harry Potter as a child. Maybe he somehow gave his life to rescue Harry in payment for Harry rescuing him long ago. Well, if you are thinking that, then you would be wrong. Voldemort's snake did not have a sudden change of heart and heroically die to save the hero. Sorry to burst your bubble. Besides, don't you think that if Nagini had met a young Harry it would have eaten first and asked questions later?
Okay now I'm betting you are getting tired of me crushing your suggestions for why Voldemort's snake was the most memorable part of the final battle. As of now, we have established that one, Nagini is not outwardly memorable, two, Nagini is not a Horcrux, three, Nagini does not sprout some as of now unheard of magical ability and four, that Nagini is not now nor has ever been friends with the hero. Trust me, Voldemort's snake has been entirely corrupted by the above said Dark Lord and is a Slytherin-istic (ha, It so is a word) snake through and through. Now we must be wondering exactly what did it do?
To put it simply, all it did was bite our hero. It sank its long poisonous fangs deep into a vein of our favorite young wizard and forcibly injected its poison. All of the dark lord's servants gave a shout and threw their wands up into the air, convinced that they had won. All of the fighters for the light side watched speechless as they thought their young hero was dying after they had destroyed all the Horcruxes and came so close. Still keeping a firm grip on their wands, the followers of the light gave a collective sigh as Harry Potter swayed unbalanced. This was the end, they thought, we had lost. Then another shout echoed through the chamber, this one from the light side. Harry Potter was still on his feet, and seemed fine. The battle was not over after all.
Voldemort seemed furious. He thought that victory was his, only to have snatched away at the last second. In a rage, the dark lord grabbed his serpent by the tail, yanking on it with all his might. Nagini responded instinctively, and sank his fangs into the atttacker's arm, not realizing until too late that the predator was in fact his master. Reflexively, Voldemort shook the snake off, still staring in amazement at the boy that had survived a bite from what was sure to be the most poisonous thing in the planet.
Red eyes locked with green and if possible, Voldemort became more confused. Was that a smile in those eyes? Oh, how he would teach that boy a lesson! If only he could just reach his wand. Only, his arm didn't seem to be moving. He would have looked down towards it, but that used so much energy. He wondered when the room became all cloudy and started to spin in circles. He also was puzzled by how hard it was becoming to breathe. Oh well, he thought, this seems to be as good a place to lie down as any. And with that Voldemort keeled over, dead before he even hit the ground.
And if it wasn't bad enough that it was the bite of his own snake that brought Voldemort down, do you know what was even worse? Given that Voldemort was kept alive by Nagini's blood, a spell could have been said that would have made him unaffected by the snake venom. But no, our favorite dark lord couldn't remember that. No, instead he occupied his last few breaths staring in amazement because his enemy had not succumbed to the snake's bite. Had he not been staring, he would still be terrorizing today.
And so that was the power that the dark lord knew not. All who saw it would remember that it was the snake that brought Voldemort down, but it was in fact Harry surviving the previous snake bite that rattled the dark lord's thought enough to make him forget. For the power he knew not was anti-venom, which was in fact a muggle invention invented after he started to despise muggles. Oh well, it proves that muggles aren't good for nothing after all doesn't it?
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AN: Just something that came to me after I figured out anti-venom was created in the 1950's.