AN: I do feel certainly generous, two posts in one month. Please, send some love back via reviews.
PS: As a general caution, you may not want to be eating during this chapter.
Harry Potter and the Snake's Veil
Chapter 07 The First Step
Harry pulled back his hand. Tears leaked down his cheeks. "Hermione?" he asked knowing he'd never get a response. He closed his eyes, not able to shake her stare. Harry opened them again and looked at his friend. Scratches lined her face and trailed down her arms. Her wrists were raw from the irons that were savagely clamped on them. The same bruises were mirrored on Harry's wrists. She was still wearing her school robes although they were torn in some spots.
"It's your fault she's dead," a voice accused. It was Ron's. "You didn't save her."
"N… no… it's not…" Harry trailed off.
Ron continued, "If you had just told You-Know-Who the prophecy then Hermione would still be alive. It's your fault!" The end of his rant was stalled as Harry heard Ron break down in sobs.
Harry struggled to keep his composure. It was his fault, wasn't it? He was to blame for every death…
A hissing started up in Harry's cell, cutting off his musings. Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake, had slithered out of some hole in the wall. "Fressssh meat. Ssssso long have I waited. Masssster never leavessss it fresssh for me."
Harry's head snapped to the serpent; he realized what the snake what about to do. "Sssstay away from her!" He tried to fight against the new restraints to shield Hermione from the beast. "Alohamora!" The restraints gave nothing. He tried one more time, "ALHOAMORA!" The locks remained in place. No longer bothering to use parseltongue, Harry yelled, "Get away from her, you filthy beast! Get away."
Not heeding Harry's demands, the snake had reached Hermione. It opened its mouth, popping the jaw bone out, and sunk its fangs into Hermione's side. Nagini got a good hold on it and bit down on the flesh and pulled against it. Bone cracked, tendons snapped, and cartilage popped. A small trickle of blood formed a stream on the stone floor. Nagini began to digest the bite and went for more. The sound of flesh ripping apart echoed off the walls of the small cell.
In a pathetic voice, Harry whimpered, "Stop, please, stop." He then turned and retched a few times. He looked away from the sight, only to find it had moved in his direct line of view. He then closed his eyes but the image of the snake feasting on his friend was burned onto his eyes. He was condemned to suffer this punishment.
Even after the snake had left to take a nap, Harry continued to hear the tearing and popping. Harry retched one last time. Hermione's body remained, haunting Harry. He stared into her eyes. His hand shaking, Harry reached out to her. He found her hand and cradled it in his own.
A dementor came into his cell. Harry relived the death of his friend.
When Harry came out of his delirium, he was chained in a metal chair. Hermione lay at his feet. Her eyes were still staring at him, but it was another's gaze that altered his attention.
"So, Harry, how do you feel knowing you're the reason that the Mudblood is dead? She needn't had died. Tell me the prophecy and she'll live again."
Harry sat in the cold chair. His arm throbbed, bringing Harry out of his thoughts. He breathed in for luck and then breathed in so deep. "You lying, conniving bastard!" Voldemort raised an eyebrow. "I am going to kill you one day and I hope wherever your worthless soul, if you even have one left, is sent to pit of fire and despair where you will regret ever trying to screw with me and my family. I promise you, Lord Voldemort."
"Well, well, quite a tantrum there Harry. Do you feel better now?" Harry remained silent and glazed at him. "Well, if you don't want her alive again, then I'll just live you two alone. I know quite a few of Death Eaters who are quite the necrophiliac…"
"You can't bring her back. There is no spell."
"Talking to me again, Harry?" Voldemort smiled. "There is a spell that can be used within the first twenty-four hours that will restore the deceased's life."
"It's Dark Magic. Something will go wrong…"
Voldemort laughed. "Harry, my son, it's only called Dark Magic because so many are afraid to use it, to possess such power."
Harry stole a glance at the lifeless Hermione; his anger had dispelled, sapping the little energy he had. Tears swelled in his eyes threatening to break the dam. "I don't believe a single word you say."
Voldemort pulled out his wand, muttered an enchantment, and Hermione's ravaged body was healed. "Time is running out my son. Tell me the prophecy or lose your friend forever."
"You have to let them both go too, Hermione and Ron. Take them back to Hogwarts, safely," Harry said.
"Deal. Now tell me the prophecy," Voldemort replied, his eyes reflecting his joy.
And so Harry replayed the prophecy's details: parents thrice survived, the child born at the end of July, and how one never could survive while the other lived.
Voldemort's thin lips curled into a smile. His red eyes held a gleam of triumph.
Harry finished and looked any where but at Voldemort and Hermione. He was having difficulty breathing.
He heard Voldemort recite another spell, then a gasp of air. "Malfoy!" Voldemort ordered.
"Harry? What happened? Harry, look at me!"
Harry turned his head. A pale but nonetheless alive Hermione was sitting up, looking at him. "I'm sorry," he whispered. A lone tear trailed down his cheek.
Hermione didn't have a chance to respond as Lucius Malfoy swept in, exclaiming, "Stupefy!" He then levitated her out of the room. Then, Harry heard the same scenario in the next cell.
"You did great my son, playing the hero to save your friends."
Harry winced at the hero comment. Hermione had said the same thing before he had rushed off to the Department of Mysteries and killed Siri… 'No, Sirius is alive…'
Voldemort smiled thinly. He conjured a map like object with two black dots on it. "And now your friends are returned to Hogwarts." The map changed into a video showing two unconscious forms being left at the gates of Hogwarts. The moon light clearly showed their faces. They were safe. Harry at least allowed himself that small comfort.
"And know as my heir, I shall help you down my path of immortality. First, with the ancient ritual of mithridatism, you will become immune to the poisons of all snakes and embrace Slytherin."
Harry felt himself reclining as the metal chair turned into a table. Harry shivered as more chains wrapped around his bare chest.
"Come Nagini," he heard Voldemort hiss. Then, the snake came slithering in. Harry turned his head to the left and saw its ugly triangular head.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"Don't worry Harry, it won't hurt for long. The symptoms are far worst than the bite."
Nagini opened its jaws and Harry heard the bone pop. In the blink of an eye, it lunged, sinking its fangs into Harry's shoulder. Harry cried out as he felt the venom burned his skin.
"That'sss enough Nagini." The snake slid to the floor. Voldemort peered at Harry.
Harry felt his body slowly start to shut down. Sweat rolled off his face and chest. He was so hot, almost on fire. His blurred vision worsened. His breaths came quick and short
"Be strong my son," was the last thing he heard.
Three days had passed; Harry still remained chained to the table. He was shivering uncontrollably. His glasses lay next to him. Wormtail fretted about waiting Voldemort.
On cue, Voldemort entered the cell flanked by Malfoy. He stood over Harry and placed his hand on Harry's cheek. "How long is he progressing?"
"Slower than you though, Master. He is currently on stage two of the symptoms. Potter appears to be fighting what's trying to absorb the venom. Nagini was in, not that long ago to give him more venom."
"Good, I sent her." His eyes raked up and down Harry's body. "Give Harry his little boost."
"Yes Master." Wormtail produced a small vile of clear potion. He then poured it in Harry's mouth who then swallowed it, coughing.
"Report to me immediately if any thing changes."
Eternity. That's what it felt like: eternity. He felt nothing but coldness. He would have welcomed it when he burning but that was another time, another life. Harry felt the poison flood through his system, freezing every thing. To end it all now would be a blessing. He betrayed everything he fought for last year, betrayed the Order.
The poison was beckoning to him to all it to align himself with it. It hadn't stopped asking him since Nagini first injected it into him. Now it was getting louder.
He knew it would kill him if he didn't give in. A warm liquid slid down his throat. The urging became louder, more intense. He felt his body try to convulse but the restraints held it down.
It no longer cared if his feeble body resisted; the poison was victorious. It flooded his system, becoming one in the same.
The coldness faded and two eyes fluttered open.
"Welcome back to the living Harry. Wormtail, take him back to his room."
The eyes fell like feathers in a gentle breeze.
-Anaticulapraecantrix 2006
