Fickle Fate: Chapter 52
I'm so sorry for the late update! I still hadn't finished the chapter yesterday, sat down to write it and after 2 paragraphs fell asleep! I slept for 12 hours straight...yeah I'm tired. But, anyway, here it is! I swear I'm trying to hurry the action along, I just seem incapable of doing so. Apologies.
Also, apologies, I did not read this chapter over for mistakes so...be forewarned.
Warnings: Poor attempts at violence, soo trust me nothing graphic but I figured I warn you anyway
Disclaimer: I wish I did...but I don't.
Please enjoy!
The Connection
"Harry!" Said young wizard whipped his head around, hindered slightly by the large snake around his body, to see that it was Severus who called his name. He saw Severus's eyes widen minutely upon witnessing the dead bodies of Shacklebolt and Moody before they turned back to face Harry. Harry made the wise decision to get to his feet himself before Snape arrived and hauled him up, snake and all.
Rather unsurprisingly given their growing relationship, Severus immediately scanned Harry for injuries and fussed over the bruises and cuts forming. When it was clear that his son had not sustained serious injury, Severus relaxed, but only a little.
"Come. We must get to the Great Hall," the Potions Master said as he ushered Harry along quickly. "Madam Bones has called in more Aurors to help get everyone out. The Ministry has recently developed emergency portkeys for the Auror department that will get up to ten people out of a tight spot no matter the wards surrounding them."
"Well isn't that handy," Harry muttered. "Severus, Tom really needs to complete the ritual." Snape huffed at his son's continued focus on the ritual rather than escaping a deadly situation.
"And he will, when everyone is safe and he has the time to do so. It is imperative you leave, especially since you now have Nagini." Severus's dark eyes jumped to the snake; he clearly had questions as to how she came to be there but decided it wasn't the time to bother asking them. They rounded the corner and could see the entrance to the Great Hall.
"So everyone's leaving," Harry asked. One look at Snape's slight grimace told Harry he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.
"No. A few of us from the faculty and Inner Circle will be staying to assist the Aurors." Harry spun on Severus with a ferocity that had Nagini hissing in warning.
"I can't go then! What if something happens?! I want to help!" Severus's jaw clenched and he wondered if the feeling of utter frustration and pride was one parents were used to.
"Need I remind you that you have no wand? No way to defend yourself? You were just dragged off by the Headmaster's top supporters and only escaped because the Dark Lord's snake somehow showed up. You are a giant target, Harry. Your presence puts the rest of us in danger because we would be distracted by trying to keep you safe. You can help by going to the Ministry with your friends while we end this." Severus knew his words were a bit...harsh, and that his son would likely twist them in some way to mean he was guilty of people being hurt. However, he needed to get it across to Harry that he should leave as quickly as possible. Snape needed his son to be safe.
Harry visibly flinched back from the words and curled into himself as much as he could with Nagini wrapped around him. The nasty voice in his head that said he was a burden was crowing in victory at being validated by someone Harry cared for. He heard Severus sigh and then a surprisingly gentle hand cupped his cheek and forced him to look up at its owner.
"Harry...I need you to be safe. Please. Do not fight me on this," Snape said, his dark eyes pleading. Nagini slipped off of Harry then and slithered between Harry's feet.
"Come, Hatchling. We should leave as your sire says." Harry nodded slowly and began to follow Nagini and Severus without any further complaints. The closer they got to the Great Hall, the more on edge Severus felt. His shoulders were tensing involuntarily as if sensing an impending attack.
Once they reached the large double doors a great commotion erupted. Lucius and some of Harry's friends hurried over to them. Harry was happy to see Sirius and Remus were there and looking relatively unharmed.
"Severus, there's been an attack at the Ministry." Harry only had half an ear open to Lucius's conversation with Severus, as the man explained that some of Dumbledore's followers launched an attack at the Ministry aimed at those trying to escape from Hogwarts. The other half of Harry's attention was on his friends.
"Whoa, Mate. How did Nagini get here," Ron asked. Harry didn't really have the energy or desire to explain what he really didn't understand so he simply said:
"Magic." The next moment Bill, Charlie and the Twins tried to hurry past them.
"What's going on," Ron demanded. His brothers looked very worried. The Twins stopped as Bill and Charlie continued on past them and out towards the main entrance of the school.
"Ginny's missing," George said gravely.
"She was in Hogsmeade when all this started," Fred continued.
"She must have snuck out, because Bill and Charlie revoked her access," George scowled.
"We thought she'd already been evacuated," Fred huffed, running a hand through his bright red hair.
"Cho Chang said she saw her coming in with them to the Great Hall," George explained hurriedly.
"But she never grabbed a portkey to go the Ministry and now we can't find her," Fred finished. With that the Twins ran off after their older brothers throwing a "Stay here!" over their shoulders.
Hermione and Neville grabbed Ron's arms to prevent him from chasing his brothers down. Harry tried to talk some sense into his best friend, ignoring how hypocritical of him it was.
"It's better for you to stay here, Ron. They can't be worried about Ginny and you at the same time. It would just make the situation worse." Ron glared at Harry.
"Like you wouldn't try running off to help! They're all I've got left! I don't have anyone else!" Harry knew Ron was just scared and desperate to help but the venom in Ron's words hurt a little. Before Harry could respond or Hermione could chastise Ron, Sirius and Remus came over.
"Why don't we all calm down. Ron, you've got to trust that your brothers will get Ginny back to safety," Remus said. Harry took in the dark bruises and cuts on Remus's face. The werewolf saw his pup's concern and offered the boy and small smile. "Just a few bumps and scrapes. I'll be good as new tomorrow." Remus's eyes spotted the gash on Harry's temple and he reached out to move Harry's tangled hair out of the way to get a better look.
"I've got some salve for that, I think," Sirius suddenly said and began rifling through his pockets. Harry soon found himself being mother henned by his godfather and he couldn't bring himself to be embarrassed.
"No! Grawp! I can't leave my brother! Grawp, it's okay! Don't hurt 'im!" The sound of Hagrid screaming caught everyone's attention. He was being dragged inside by a few Aurors who were clearly struggling to keep him there.
As everyone was focussed on the commotion around them Harry heard something.
"Harry, I need your help! I can't complete the ritual without you! Come to me and we can finish this!" Harry whipped his head around as if he could see the person calling him. A slight haze fell over his mind and he was suddenly certain he knew who was speaking to him.
"Tom," he muttered. A sudden fear and desperate need to find Tom and help him overtook Harry. He reached for their connection but found it fuzzy and overwhelmed at the other end. Despite this discovery, which caused immediate confusion, Harry easily accepted new orders as they came to him. Without a word he spun on his heel and bolted.
Draco caught the motion out of the corner of his eye and called out. Soon, they were all giving chase.
Harry was racing down the corridors following the voice saying he had to get to a safe place.
"Safe place. Safe placeā¦" he muttered to himself as he ran. He didn't notice the people calling for him. He didn't notice the mob of people chasing him. All he knew was he needed to get somewhere safe, help Tom and end the war. It was fortuitous that he knew exactly where to go. A safe place only he and Tom could enter.
Behind him, his benevolent pursuers were calling out and wondering what the hell was going on. As they ran Severus sent off a patronus to the Dark Lord in some effort to alert him of the situation. What made the whole thing even more concerning was they somehow kept losing sight of Harry. Snape's son would turn a corner and when they'd round it not three seconds later he'd be nowhere in sight.
In fact Remus was at the front of the pack working to follow Harry's scent. Everyone in the group had their wands out as paintings from the walls would fall on them and chunks of rubble were getting flung at them by some unseen source. Snape knew logically it couldn't be (wouldn't be) Harry but a small part of him wondered if it was his son's wild magic trying to stop them from chasing him. Either way he wasn't going to let his son run off without warning and like Hell itself was at his heels.
They were making their way to the second floor and Severus saw Hermione and Ron cast concerned looks at one another.
"Where do you think he is going," he demanded of them. As they rounded another corner Ron cursed.
"The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is just up ahead, in the girls bathroom," Hermione answered, a grim look on her face.
"Why the bloody hell would he want to go down there," Draco scowled.
"None of us saw anyone else talk to him. He's impervious to Imperious. You know he only runs off like this when he's doing his "hero thing,"" Hermione started listing off. They all rushed into the girls bathroom and sure enough the sink was moved out of the way and Harry was nowhere to be seen. "Only he and Tom are able to enter the Chamber, so Tom probably called to him through their connection."
"The Dark Lord would not call Harry off on his own in the middle of the battle. He wanted us to get you all out and to safety," Lucius growled. He pulled his son back from the edge of the hole as Draco leaned over to look down into the dark abyss.
"He didn't go down there alone," came an irritatingly familiar voice over in the stalls.
"Look, Myrtle, we're kind of busy so maybe-" Ron startled as Moaning Myrtle burst from a nearby toilet and started screaming in his face.
"I KNOW NOBODY HAS TIME FOR MOANING MYRTLE! NOBODY EVER HAS TIME FOR MOANING MYRTLE!" Suddenly she shied back and started speaking calmly again. "But Harry always takes time to talk to me. He's always nice and cares about my feelings." She looked at Severus. "Someone followed him down the dark hole. Someone even I couldn't see. Harry didn't even say hi to me when I saw him and he always says hi to me."
"So not a ghost," Neville suddenly said. He looked at Ron and Hermione. "Does Harry still have his invisibility cloak?" Hermione paled.
"No, he doesn't. It was in his trunk which was left at the Weasley's when Dumbledore took him away at the beginning of summer. It disappeared the next day." Hermione shared a look with Ron. "It showed back up at Grimmauld Place, right? After Harry was "saved" from the Dark Lord?" Ron nodded along slowly as the memories came back to him.
"And we left it behind again when he suddenly had to run."
"Albus," Sirius growled, and the next moment he jumped down the hole leading to the Chamber. Remus tried to catch him but was just a moment too late. Snape grabbed Remus's sleeve and pulled him back.
"Lupin, go back and get whoever you can to help. We'll need serious back up. Faculty if you can. Perhaps together we can compel the Chamber to open." Remus hesitated only a moment before complying with the order. Severus then turned to the children. Before he could speak Neville interrupted him.
"We're going with you. If you order us to stay up here we'll just follow you down a minute later." Snape blinked at the boy's audacity before throwing his hands up.
"Very well, but you will stay behind us and if we say run you will damn well do it!" Once he got their word, the adults jumped down the hole first, followed quickly by the students. All that was going through Ron's head was:
"There better not be another bloody Basilisk down there."
Of course, none of them had seen Nagini slipping down the hole long before any of them.
I try to think of new ways to keep all my ideas involved in the story but also wrap up every loose end and it just keeps leading to more chapters!
Please review! :)
