Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 36
As we began to move toward Hogsmeade and passed the Hogs Head, I noticed a sudden tension in the air. I wasn't sure what it was, but something didn't seem right. There weren't any people outside and there was a silence that filled the area that gave me a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach. This uneasiness was only made worse when we finally came across Rosmerta from the Three Broomsticks looking like she was in a terrified panic.
"Dumbledore, where have you –?" she started and then stopped when she noticed how ill he looked. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's been hurt," I told her. "We need to get back to the castle to get him into the hospital wing."
"Do you happen to have any brooms that we could use so we could get there faster?" Harry asked.
Rosmerta's face went pale as her eyes flickered in the direction of the castle. Noticing the ill look she had, I finally looked toward Hogwarts, which was only partially blocked by the angle of the buildings around us, and I felt like my insides had just frozen. Just above the castle there was a mark that I had only seen on a few occasions, but I knew now what it meant. It was the Dark Mark.
"What has happened?" I asked in a hollow voice.
"It just appeared moments ago," Rosmerta told us. "I was going to get some people together to see what it was just before I ran into the three of you."
If Voldemort was there, or even the Death Eaters, then that meant that all of the people in the castle were in danger and they might not even know it yet. With the mark just appearing, that meant that something bad was coming soon – or maybe something already happened. Either way, we needed to get there as soon as possible if we were going to try to help in any way.
"Here are the brooms," Rosmerta said as she rushed back out of the bar. "The best of luck to you all."
Dumbledore, with a sudden new energy that helped him move a little better, hopped onto the broom that we had and took off into the sky. We were only a half of a second behind him as we flew off toward the Astronomy Tower ahead of us. As we drew nearer to it, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wand to prepare for what we were going to find. I wasn't fully aware of what it was going to be, but it would be best to do what I could to be able to defend myself.
Dumbledore was the first to land, but we were on his heels. The room that we landed in was empty, so we just tossed our brooms off to the side. Just as I was about to ask what the plan of action was, I began to hear quick footsteps on the opposite end of the door and I quickly pulled my wand to the ready.
"Get out of here – now!" Dumbledore ordered.
Harry and I started to run off, but the footsteps were getting closer and we all knew that there wasn't a chance that we were going to make it out of the room before the person on the other end got there.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dumbledore wave his wand and Harry was suddenly flung across the room with the Invisibility Cloak flying over him with another wave of the wand. Before I had time to ask what was going on, I found myself being tossed into a nearby cupboard and slamming against the wood on the opposite end. The door was slammed shut, but the poor quality of wood caused a one door to shatter and the other to hang on its hinges – just enough to keep myself from the direct view of what was on the other end of the door. Just before our attacker got in front of the door, Dumbledore waved his wand toward both Harry and me and I suddenly felt my body go rigid and I was no longer able to move – I was only able to witness what was about to happen around the hanging door in front of me, but there was enough in eyesight to see what was going on.
"Expelliarmus!"
Dumbledore flew across the room and his wand was tossed out of his hand as he smacked against the wall behind him. From where I was hidden, I could see all of the energy and hope leave Dumbledore's eyes as he stared ahead at his attacker that was standing just outside of my line of sight.
It took me a moment for the other person to step into view, but when I did my heart seemed to stop in my chest. Standing in front of Dumbledore with his wand pointed threateningly at the headmaster was Draco Malfoy.
"Who else is here – I heard you talking," Draco said desperately.
"I am alone, Draco," Dumbledore murmured. "I was merely talking to myself."
"I don't believe you," he spat.
It was then that it hit me. This was happening – this was not some wild dream that I was having. Draco was standing in front of Dumbledore and threatening him with the wand that he held in his hands. But why – why was this happening? I saw it in front of me, but my mind hardly comprehended it. It didn't make any sense.
"Look for yourself," Dumbledore gestured around the room. "Though I do wonder if you are here alone, Mister Malfoy."
For a moment, he quickly looked around the room, probably expecting someone to jump out and tackle him. Then Draco's eyes narrowed as he looked above himself at the Dark Mark that was lingering overhead.
"They're here with me – the Death Eaters," Draco announced. "They're just downstairs finishing off your guard. They should be joining me soon."
My brain was everywhere at once and nothing was making sense no matter how much I tried to piece it together. Draco, the one that I had spoken to all year, was working with Death Eaters. How long had this been happening – why was it happening? No matter how twisted his family was I couldn't understand how Draco could join in on them in this fight against us.
"I assume that you have come up here for a purpose," Dumbledore said to him casually. "I suggest that you make quick of it – there is no purpose in delaying it."
"You know why I'm here?" Draco asked, his voice suddenly cracking and his wand becoming looser in his hand.
"I have known for some time that it would come to this," Dumbledore said. "But I also know that it doesn't have to happen like this."
"Of course it has to happen like this," Draco said, trying to keep up the facade that he was not struggling with this. "The Dark Lord ordered it and it has to be me – he chose me specifically."
Then he pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the sickening tattoo of the Dark Mark on his forearm. That alone made me want to throw up. How long had he had this mark on him?
Then it dawned on me – this is what he was talking about to me. He told me that there was something that he was getting involved in that he couldn't tell me about. Draco was a Death Eater. And he had come to ask me for help when he was plotting against everything that I stood for.
"That doesn't mean that you are a killer," Dumbledore shook his head.
"How would you know?" he spat back. "You have no idea what I've done."
"I know more than you believe, Mister Malfoy," Dumbledore said calmly. "I know that this is not your first attempt to end my life – you have tried twice before, quite unsuccessfully, but attempts."
"Obviously those were from me," he said. "But I knew that they wouldn't work – I knew that it would come to this."
"But you didn't want to, did you?" he asked. "You didn't want to have to do this face-to-face, did you?"
"It makes no difference," Draco said, trying to sound forceful, but his voice wavering a bit.
"It makes all of the difference in the world," Dumbledore said, a hint of a smile on his face.
"Are you calling me a coward?" Draco hissed, suddenly sounding defensive.
"Of course not," Dumbledore said. "You wanted to make sure that this task wasn't something that you were apart of – perhaps it is not recognition from the public that you're looking for. How did you get them into the castle, by the way?"
"Through the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement," Draco answered quickly. "Its twin belongs to Borgin and Burkes."
"That's ingenious," Dumbledore nodded, looking genuinely impressed.
"What does any of this matter?" he asked, steadying his wand so that it was pointed at Dumbledore once more. "Why bother talking about it when you know that I'm going to kill you?"
"I don't believe that you are," Dumbledore said. "I think that you have some good in you, Draco – you must not throw it all away like this. You are a better person than you think you are."
"You don't know that," Draco murmured pathetically.
"I know that this isn't something that you wanted to do," Dumbledore said. "Otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to seek the comfort of a certain friend."
Draco's face, which had been twisted with anger and confusion suddenly turned to surprise as he lowered his wand once more and looked ahead at the headmaster with wide, shocked eyes.
"How did you know about that – did she tell you?" he asked quickly. "What did she tell you – she suspected this, didn't she?"
"She was not even aware that I had any knowledge about the situation," Dumbledore said. "But I do wish that you would have listened to her advice better, Draco."
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You do not have to do anything that you do not wish to do," Dumbledore said, his eyes flickering over to where I was hidden for only a split second, but long enough for me to notice.
Draco's face became paler and grew to look like a frightened child. It was at that moment that all of our conversations flooded back at once and all anger seemed strange toward this boy. Even as he attempted to threaten Dumbledore's life, I remembered the crying boy in the bathroom. He was frightened because his family expected him to do something and this was what it was.
Draco was only acting out his father's wishes, but was that enough to get rid of what was going on right now? Was he worth being forgiven after all of this?
"You don't understand," Draco said, his eyes filling with tears. "I have to do this – they said that he will kill my family."
There it was – his motive. This is why he couldn't stop himself from continuing his plan and why there was nothing that I could do to help him. Voldemort trapped him and he felt like there was no other choice than to listen to what he wanted.
"I don't know what to do," Draco murmured quietly.
Just as Dumbledore went to respond, the sounds of footsteps came rapidly toward the door and both of their attention, along with mine, was drawn to it. Not another word was spoken before a few Death Eaters crowded into the room and took a look at the situation. Now under the watch of Voldemort's supporters, Draco immediately began to point his wand at Dumbledore to make it appear like he was about to make the move to kill him.
"Wonderful job, Draco," the one said. "You've cornered him nicely – the Dark Lord will be pleased."
"Why haven't you killed him yet?" another complained. "Haven't we given you plenty of time?"
"Just finish the job already," the last said. "We haven't got all day!"
Draco nodded and then turned back to Dumbledore. His expression was twisted and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to scream and cry to get out of the situation, but he was in a tight spot. I wanted to feel sympathy for the predicament that he was in, but it was becoming increasingly difficult as he continued to threaten Dumbledore's life.
"Just do it!" the one Death Eater said irritably.
"Stop."
The entire crowd of Death Eaters went silent when a new set of faint footsteps came into the room. For a moment, I was frightened that it might be Voldemort here to finish the job that Draco was so hesitant to do. Instead, once he took a few more steps forward, I saw that it was Severus Snape and he was staring directly at Dumbledore.
For a moment, I was elated – Snape was going to be able to protect Dumbledore in the way that I was currently unable to do. A new sense of relief washed over me and my lungs didn't feel so stiff anymore as I looked ahead at the man that I thought was going to save the life of Albus Dumbledore.
But then something occurred to me and I realized how wrong the scene was. Severus didn't look at all alarmed to see the Death Eaters standing around the weakened Dumbledore and they didn't seem at all intimidated by him. I wanted to believe that this was because of their prior alliance to Voldemort so many years ago, but something inside me told me that there was another reason.
"Severus, the boy won't do the job," the one Death Eater told him as casually as he would any of the other people in the room.
It was as if those words simply ran over Snape's head as he looked from Draco, who was now trembling in fear, to Dumbledore, who was looking helplessly at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"Severus…" Dumbledore murmured. "Please…"
The way he spoke to his once trusted friend made time seem to slow down as an ill feeling crept into my insides. This was not him asking for help, this was a plea for mercy. The helpless in his voice seemed to echo around the room and the way that he stared up at Snape looking weaker than ever seemed to go on for ages.
Then, all in an instant, Snape stepped forward and held his wand up to Dumbledore and said the words that crippled every fiber in my being.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The green light lit up the room and blasted directly into the chest of Albus Dumbledore that sucked all of the life from the old man and sent him tumbling off of the edge of the Astronomy Tower. All of this, which probably only lasted a few seconds, seemed to go in slow motion as my eyes were locked on Snape and Dumbledore.
My heart stopped and my throat seemed to close. Everything inside of me felt like it was crumbling and my eyes could not leave Snape as he stood and watched as Dumbledore's body vanished from view. My stomach, which was now twisted, seemed to tighten up and make me ill enough to want to throw up and my head felt like a spear had been shot through it as everything came crashing down on me at once.
Even with the ability to move regained, I was unable to even change the position I was in from pure shock that left me wanting to sit and rot where I was for the rest of my life.
"Get out of here immediately," Snape ordered as he gazed around the room.
All at once, not even hesitating for a moment, the Death Eaters followed Draco and Snape out of the room as quickly as they possibly could. As soon as the last of them was gone, I heard a sudden rustle from the other side of the room, but I was unable to respond.
As Harry began to move around the room in search of me, I couldn't will myself to come out from where I was. My mind continued to replay the image of Snape's mouth forming those horrid words and I felt like every part of my anatomy was shriveling up and dying. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think – all I wanted to do was cry and scream.
"Emily – we need to move!" Harry yelled shakily when he finally found me.
It took me a moment to register what he said in the hazy tone that I picked it up in. I saw him look at me and motion for me to follow as he stepped toward the door without looking back to see if I was actually with him. In what seemed like slow motion, I stumbled out of the cabinet and toward the door. As I did, I staggered off a few times as I attempted to move quickly, but my mind was everywhere else as I followed behind Harry at a significantly slower pace.
When we got downstairs, I found that the Astronomy Tower was not the only area of the castle that was having some difficulty. Death Eaters were littered around the floors with teachers and students fighting them off side by side. Some, who were unconscious, laid off to the side in attempt to regain their strength.
Not long after I lost sight of Harry in the crowd of people, I found someone else as they ran into me and clutched onto their broken and bloodied nose.
"Emily – Harry was just running that way," Neville said to me.
"Right," I said hazily as I looked forward.
"You look like you're going to be sick," he said. "Maybe you should just – "
"No," I said firmly as I looked him directly in the eye.
It was at that moment that I realized that there were tears coming out of my eyes that I hadn't even realized. I quickly wiped them away as Neville continued to give me a concerned look. Not wanting to be questioned, I quickly broke out into a run throughout the people in the crowd.
When I made it outside the castle, I quickly spotted Harry sprinting off in the distance after a crowd of people that had Snape in the very back. To catch up to him, I ran as quickly as my coordination allowed me to and attempted to get all of my senses back despite my wishes to crawl up into a hole and die.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!" Harry screamed as he chased after them. "STUPEFY! STUPEFY – IMPEDIMENTA!"
It wasn't long before I was tailing Harry once more and we quickly gained speed as we chased after the Death Eaters. When we finally got to the area around the edge of the forest, a couple of them stopped running and turned on us instead.
"CRUCIO!" the one shouted as it aimed for me.
"NO!" Snape shouted at them as he noticed what they were doing. "GET INTO THE FOREST NOW AND DO NOT TOUCH THEM!"
Without hesitation, Harry immediately ran directly toward Snape and stopped in front of him and said the first spell that could come into his mind – one that I had only seen its effects one time before.
"Sectum – " he started.
Snape immediately waved his wand to repel the spell as if he knew exactly what to expect.
"Don't you dare try to use my spells against me!" he snarled at Harry. "I was the one who invented it after all – I am the Half-Blood Prince."
Harry, his face pale as ever, looked horrified as he looked at Snape – the anonymous person that he had admired all year long turned out to be the person that he despised the most. Despite his shock at this news, it did not stop him from attempting one last spell toward the murderer.
"Stupe – " he began
Snape quickly waved his wand and Harry smacked the ground with a loud thud that seemed to echo across the field, leaving both Snape and me the only ones standing in the dark area that was only lit up by the Dark Mark that lingered in the sky. Snape's wand was held loosely in his hands as he stared toward me, waiting for me to take charge. Even though I wanted nothing more than to destroy him right there on the spot, I knew that any attempt would be as worthless as the ones that Harry had made only moments ago. For what seemed like an eternity, we both stood and looked at each other without a single word being spoken.
"After all the time I spent standing up for you against the people that I love, and this is how it turned out," I said, not even attempting to hide the hurt in my voice. "Tell me, was it really worth the extra effort of fooling me all of these years if this is how it was going to be?"
"You were never meant to get involved," he said. "You just happened to get in the way at the end of it all."
"Well, I apologize for being such an inconvenience," I spat, trying to sound more aggressive, but the breaking in my voice masked it all. "Why didn't you just kill me like you did with Dumbledore while you had the chance?"
"You had no reason to die," he spoke without expression.
"Neither did Dumbledore," I choked out. "He trusted you with his life."
Some calls for him came through the forest where the other Death Eaters had run off to and his eyes only flickered away from mine a moment in their direction
"I trusted you too," I said with my voice cracking as a few tears escaped my eyes. "And so did she…I just hope that you're satisfied with yourself because now you've lost us both."
I didn't need to say my mother's name for him to get the implication and the wide-eyed and horrified expression told me that my assumption was correct. Harry, who was lying on the ground holding his head, only looked between Snape and me without adding another word to the conversation. Of course he didn't know what exactly we were talking about, but it didn't matter anyway.
Snape's horrified expression only waivered when the people in the forest called him again. His eyes flickered back towards them and then to me, apparently not knowing what to do with himself.
"I – " he began.
"Get out of my sight," I snarled. "If I see you again, don't think I'll hesitate to kill you."
His gaze lingered for a moment longer before he turned around and took off into the forest where the other Death Eaters were probably Apparating from once they were out of bounds from the school's protection. Only once, just as he entered the trees, did Severus Snape look back at me. When he did, I managed to hold myself together long enough to give him one last look before he disappeared into the trees.
As soon as he was out of sight, I held nothing back. Losing all motivation to even live, I collapsed onto the ground and let the tears fall freely from my eyes as I sobbed for the only source of hope and happiness that I had just lost in the world. I mourned the loss of a love and a trust that had stabbed me and everyone else in the back in the end.
The crippling pain of it all poured through me and took over every part of my being and the world around me faded into nothingness. All I could feel was the ground underneath me and nothing else in existence seemed to matter anymore. The man that I had put forth so much trust and so much love was just part of an elaborate act to defeat everything the world had to offer.
Every moment that I had with Severus Snape flooded my mind. The nights that we would walk the halls, the letters that we used to write to one another, when he would open up to me about his past, when he helped me with any problem that I had, how we could speak to each other with just a simple look, and how much that he seemed to care and love me as a person. All of it was a lie and meant absolutely nothing to him. It was an act - a scheme.
Through my sobs, I heard some people rushing over toward Harry and me, but I hardly paid any mind to them. At this point, I didn't care if they were part of the Order or Death Eater because I had just simply given up on everything. When I felt a pair of arms wrap around me in an embrace, I didn't even have the energy to tell them to get away from me. Instead, I unknowingly found myself leaning into this person and crying to my hearts content.
Thanks for reading! I know that this was a chapter that all of you were looking forward to reading and I'm seriously interested in seeing your responses. What do you think of Emily's reactions to all of this betrayal?
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