Chapter 29
Harry and Ginny rushed over to Snape's side to help him with Professor Dumbledore. Harry had never seen Snape look so anguished.
"Let's get him inside," Ginny said, as Harry tried to pull Severus away.
"No!" cried Snape. "I have him." He smoothed Dumbledore's hair and spoke into his ear. "Albus, please, I'm so sorry. Forgive me."
Harry was taken aback at what he had just witnessed. He wasn't sure if Ginny had heard Snape, but he didn't think so. She was concerned about getting him inside. Snape had Dumbledore in his arms and he was weeping like a child. Harry couldn't do anything but watch.
Dumbledore did not move or react. Harry was sure that he was dead, but Snape wouldn't release him. What had happened to him? And why was Professor Snape so inconsolable?
Everyone in Hagrid's hut heard the sound and spilled out the door to find out what was going on. Sirius looked at Snape crying over Dumbledore's body and sniffed. "I knew it," he whispered to himself. "I knew he would kill him."
Snape looked up and gave Sirius such an anguished looked that he hung his head, not wanting to meet his eye; he was suddenly ashamed of what he had been thinking.
Bill touched Snape's arm gingerly. "It's all right," he said. "We'll take him inside."
Once Dumbledore was inside, they laid him on Hagrid's enormous bed. His face was ashen, but he had a serene look. His left hand was black like it had been dunked in ink and his left cheek was swollen. They realized at once that Dumbledore was dead.
No one moved for the longest time. No one knew what to say or do. Snape stayed at his side and wouldn't move so that Moody or any of the rest of them could examine his body.
Harry felt disconnected as he looked at Dumbledore's body. He was conflicted because he felt he was just getting to know him and now he knew he never would. There was so much he could have learned and he did seem genuinely interested in helping Harry fulfill his destiny. Now it was too late; he'd never learn the answers to his burning questions.
"What happened?" Moody asked. He had always been suspicious of Snape's motives for joining the Order; he thought he might still be a spy for Voldemort, but his angst was so very genuine that he was beginning to believe he'd been wrong.
"He felt bad about denying the horcruxes. He kept saying he could have ended this so much sooner if only he'd believed," Snape began. He smoothed Dumbledore's beard and straightened his robes. "He told me he knew where at least four of them were and he was going to find the rest."
"The rest?" Remus said. "How many were there? My God."
Snape pulled the satchel over this head and spilled the contents on the bed beside him. They were plain ordinary objects. A book, a ring, a cup, and a necklace; nothing to get excited about, Harry thought.
Harry picked up the book; it looked like a journal of some sort. It was old and leather bound and there was an interesting claw piercing it. The book looked like it had been bleeding red ink. He made a face and threw the book back with the other articles.
Snape picked up the book. "This was the first one he found. He told me this was given to him."
Ginny blinked back her tears as she looked at the book. "I've seen that before. It was Tom Riddle's diary. Someone gave it to me and it was so creepy I threw it away. I wonder how it got stabbed like that. Is that blood?"
Moody picked up the book and sniffed the dried red ooze. He wrinkled his nose. "Could be blood," he stated. "Smells of something else, like burnt something. Hmm." He dipped his finger in it and put his finger in his mouth. He spat it out. "Hmm," he said again. "Interesting."
Harry raised an eyebrow as he and Ginny made a face. That was something he definitely would never do. Harry turned back to Professor Snape who was still fussing over Dumbledore's body.
Molly Weasley sat next to Snape and placed her hand gingerly on his shoulder. "Severus, can you tell us what happened to Albus?"
"Nagini," he whispered. He cleared his throat and wiped away his tears. "Voldemort's pet." He tone was filled with disdain. "Albus was trying to draw the damn thing out because he thought the snake was a horcrux and had to be destroyed. I argued with him and he became distracted and the snake attacked him. He struck his hand." Snape picked up Dumbledore's hand and turned it over. There were several small puncture marks on his palm. "He was in so much pain; his hand turned black and he started to seize. I cut off the head and then cut the snake into three pieces but it didn't die; each piece grew a head and started after us. We were able to escape when I created a diversion. He told me to come here and not go to the castle. His last words to me were, 'Harry can kill him once you destroy the rest'. I assumed he meant the horcruxes. I have to go back and destroy the snakes."
Snape stood up. "I have to do that now."
"But how?" asked Remus. "How are we supposed to destroy the horcruxes?"
"I don't know," he said. "He never told me."
"It must be in the book," Harry said suddenly. He ran to the table and picked up the book. He flipped through the pages quickly until he came upon a side note written by hand. "Basilisk venom and Fiendfyre, whatever that is," he said.
"Cursed fire," Charlie said absently. "Basilisk venom," he repeated puffing out his cheeks. "Where the hell do we get Basilisk venom?" he asked.
Ginny's eyes lit up. "Harry, how did you kill the basilisk?"
"I found a sword and I kind of just ran it through its head."
"What sword?" Remus asked.
Harry shrugged. "It was down there lying next to Ginny."
Ginny shook her head. "I have no idea. I don't remember much about the whole thing."
"Do you know what happened to the sword afterward?"
"Oh right!" Harry remembered. "I saw it again later in Dumbledore's office."
The adults looked at each other. "The Sword of Gryffindor," they said together.
"Is it magical?" Harry asked.
"No," Remus said, "but it is goblin made." The adults nodded knowingly.
Harry had no idea what that meant. "So?"
"So, it would have absorbed any of the basilisk's venom. We can destroy the horcruxes with the sword."
"Oh," said Harry. "Well, then. We have to get to the castle and get the sword. "
"That may prove a little difficult since Hogwarts is under siege," Charlie pointed out.
"We could try 'Accio!'" Bill suggested.
"Give it a try," said Sirius.
"No wait," said Severus. "I'll go. I owe it Albus to finish what he started."
"I'll go with you," Harry volunteered.
"Absolutely not," Snape said in his most professor voice. "You're going to have to kill Voldemort; we don't need you dying before you get the chance." He started toward the door. "Bury Albus in the Forbidden Forest," he said. "He would have liked that."
"You're coming back here, right?" Remus asked.
Snape smiled mysteriously. "Of course."
