Chapter 25
()()()
Ginny closed the door to her room with a satisfied sigh and a smile on her face that didn't seem to want to go away.
Being back at the Burrow and surrounded by her brothers while they, she and Harry all played a game of three a side Quidditch had been more exhilarating then anything she'd done in months, more that pranking the Dursleys. She kept her hair a different color the entire time they were visiting, but that hardly mattered to her.
It had only been two days since she was known to the rest of the Order members and being allowed to come around to the Burrow when there were larger groups of people made her feel like there was so much more freedom than before.
Ginny had gotten rather comfortable living at Grimmauld Place and wondered what it would be like if or when Riddle was finally brought down and she was able to move back to the Burrow. She would be expected to move back there, right? The room she was in now was rather opulent; it was three times the size of her room back there, the bed was twice the size of the other one, and the closet was four times the size. This one also had a hidden door that would lead her up to the room Harry was currently staying in.
Ginny quickly changed into her pajama's, ones that were a little more respectable than the set Fleur had gotten her, yet still hugged her body, and went through her before bed routine of getting the day off of her, then she stood in front of the closet, pondering.
She'd told Harry that there was a link between this closet and the room that he had been staying in before, the one that Malfoy was still stashed away in, hopefully potioned up and bedridden until the Order could squire him away elsewhere. But she hadn't told him that she'd found it also connected to the room he was currently staying in.
She chewed her lip for a moment, looking back and forth between the door to the corridor and the door to the closet and wondering what the punishment would be if it was found out she had snuck into her boyfriends room for the night.
He was only here for a week and she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. They'd slept beside each other before, Ron may have been there, but still. It didn't mean that they had to get… carried away.
She did wonder how carried away they could potentially get though. She thought about it, dreamt about it… she sort of wished they'd allow themselves to get a little carried away during his visit.
Her face grew warm at the images and ghostly sensations against her skin where his hands could potentially wander.
Finding her nerve she went to the closet, closed the door behind her and removed the panel at the back. The size of this passage way would have been perfect for the House Elves, but Ginny had to be careful the whole way up the two flights of stairs not to bump her head against the ceiling or make any scuffling noises. Passing the room Malfoy was in she hesitated, curious to see how he was fairing and use her own eyes to see that his Mark was gone and the skin there healed.
But she didn't want any potential interaction between she and the snotty brat to take up any of the precious time she could be spending with Harry, so she carried on.
Through out the last flight of steps there was a giddiness that was vibrating through her. She couldn't help picturing what Harry's reaction would be to finding her there. Maybe he would already be in bed, or maybe he would still be changing? She found her cheeks growing warm again at that possibility. Ginny certainly wouldn't mind seeing him shirtless.
Carefully as possible she removed the panel into his room, sliding it to the side where she knew there was space for it to rest so she could step into the closet. Then she tiptoed over to the closed door that led into the rest of the room and listened. She couldn't hear him moving around. This next part he might be able to hear then, she twisted the door knob and pushed the closet door outwards slowly.
The room was already dark when she stepped into it, but the curtains were pulled back from the window and her eyes were already adjusted to the poor light. Harry's bed was empty though. Her eyes darted around the room and towards the other door in disappointment. She supposed that he and Sirius might have been off elsewhere having a private chat, but she was sure that Harry had said he was going to be going straight to bed.
As she was pondering whether she should just slip inside his bed and surprise him there his arms came around her and she jumped, biting back a yelp.
"Trying to surprise me?" came the teasing whisper in her ear.
She relaxed and gave a relieved giggle. "Yes, I was."
"Well thanks for not keeping me waiting too long." He kissed her neck once before she turned around in his arms and put her own around his shoulders.
The two of them just silently stared at each other, just like the did through the mirrors, for a moment, this time their foreheads resting against each others and they enjoyed the weight of the others arms holding them. But he was really here now, and that had been some kiss they'd had earlier, one that she was very much wanting to repeat.
Coming up on her toes their lips met again, both of them assured in their movements this time and their kiss fell into and easy rhythm. Ginny sighed and melted against him, then started slowly moving them backwards towards his bed.
Her legs bumped the mattress and they still hadn't broken contact for a moment.
Pulling away from him she turned slightly and pulled back the blanket, climbing under it and laying against the pillows. Harry came in right behind her and they settled flush against each other, continuing where they had left off, just how their first kiss had been, but no snoring brother this time and none of that awkwardness that came from the unfamiliar ground.
Side by side Ginny let her hand wander under his shirt and rubbed up and down his back, encouraging him to press even closer to her, maybe have his own hand mirror her actions. She wanted him to touch her and grab at her. The more they snogged the more she felt willing to let his hand wander as well.
Finally his hand rested against he lower back, but 'up' wasn't the way his hand wandered, it was down. As his hand boldly cupped her bum she moved her lower half more towards him, but he shuffled back slightly. Not wanting to let him move away from her she used their position to her advantage and threw her leg over his, wrapping it tight so they were flush together.
Harry gave a long groan and pulled his lips away from her. "Gin," he panted. "I don't," but he hesitated at finishing his thought aloud.
Ginny's heart picked up as she felt what his hesitation was stemming from. She felt it pressed against the apex of her thigh.
A shock of pleasure rushed through her knowing she had done that to him, that he had that reaction to being with her like this. As intriguing as this new pressure against her was, it wasn't going to stop her from kissing her boyfriend long into the night, and it wasn't something he should be embarrassed about.
"It's okay," she smiled, capturing his lips again.
Harry sighed against her mouth and she tightened her leg around him, pulling on his shoulder too, wanting him to roll them over and feel his weight on top of her.
"Gin," he worried. "I don't know how… you need to tell me when to stop," he panted as he settled over top of her, his body had slipped down a bit, so his lower belly was settled between her legs and she couldn't feel his erection anymore. His lips had trailed down her neck and her head rolled to the side to allow him more access. It was amazing to her how good it felt to feel his lips and tongue against the skin there.
Ginny didn't want to be the one responsible for pumping the breaks on what they were getting up to though. She wanted to be snogging him unrestrained, playing a game of catch up on what their relationship would be if they hadn't been separated.
"How about we just promise to keep our bottoms on," she managed, trying to fight the blush from her cheeks at the implication of her words.
Harry caught on to what she'd just said. He hadn't yet worked up the nerve to touch her breasts, and now she was basically offering to show them to him. He hovered over her a moment, staring into her eyes and making sure that he had translated that correctly. Slowly she ran her hands up his sides, under his shirt and it began to bunch up as she raised it up to his shoulders.
Harry sat up slightly and pulled his shirt over his head, looking down almost hopefully at her to do the same.
Ginny did have on a sports bra under her top, so she wasn't too shy about slipping her own shirt over her head.
Harry didn't look put out by the fact that he still didn't have an unobstructed view of her chest, he just grinned down at her and lay back so they could continue their kissing, the feel of their skin on skin making it much more intimate than before.
She couldn't tell how much time had passed that they simply devoured each other, but eventually Harry's hand did wind up covering her breast, his fingers cupping her, his thumb gliding over her pert nipple. It was as intense as she hoped it would feel, made all the hotter by the fact that the two of them were clearly trying very hard not to let their lower halves rock together.
They were getting carried away and she new they would have to try and cool off soon, but soon could be after Harry was done lowering his lips along her collar bone and to just between her breasts. He buried his face there and she smiled at the feel of him doing so.
But she also felt like they needed to get some actual sleep as well. "Harry," she whispered, in a tone that was asking him not to go any further.
He stilled himself. She could feel him let out a resigned breath against her skin. Slowly he rolled off to lay beside her and simply pulled her close to him. "I believe I am going to have some very vivid dreams tonight," he whispered.
Ginny chuckled at that. "As am I."
"You'll stay?" he asked hopefully.
She hummed in response, already starting to drift off. "I can't move."
()()()
Harry couldn't help his grin the next day. The previous night had been incredible. He'd had several uninterrupted hours alone with his girlfriend and it had felt just simply amazing. He had never had a better nights sleep in his life, even despite the throbbing he'd been feeling between his legs from their activity before sleep consumed him.
He hoped that they would be able to do that every night he was there. Maybe tonight he could sneak into her room instead?
Their day thus far had them relegated to the study. Ginny had gone slightly 'Hermione' on him and stated that he needed to get his schoolwork done as much as possible then so that it wasn't weighing on him for the rest of the stay.
It made sense, it always made sense to deal with his assignments right away but being around Ginny like this was a novelty! How was he supposed to concentrate when it was just the two of them in there? He could smell her shampoo from where he was sitting and just wanted to go over and bury his face in her hair. Instead he was making do with staring at her between attempting to write out sentences and letting his mind go blank.
"Meant to ask you," Ginny started.
But whatever she was going to say she didn't get a chance to, Sirius came into the room with Dumbledore.
It wasn't odd that Dumbledore was at Grimmauld Place, it was Order Headquarters after all, but he had that expression on his face that told Harry that he had news for him that he probably wasn't going to like.
"Professor?" Harry asked more than greeted.
He felt his jaw clench in preparation for hearing something that was possibly going to uproot his life again. Another cave to plunder? Was he suddenly going to be banned form Grimmauld Place? Separated from Ginny and Sirius forever? Harry glanced over at Sirius and felt able to breath better at the expression on his Godfathers face, for Sirius looked as though he was trying desperately hard to bury his amusement. That meant that this was one of Dumbledore's unilateral decisions that Sirius didn't agree with that was going sideways.
"Harry, I have some news," Dumbledore told him severely.
"Sir?" Harry encouraged him to continue. Sirius though had just fought back a laugh and bit his lip, not making any noise, simply giving a slight lurch of his shoulders. Seeing that, Harry was fighting back a smile and trying to look serious as he regarded his Headmaster.
"It seems that the Dursley's have sold their house and moved. Quite abruptly."
Harry's jaw dropped open. His aunt and uncle had moved? And they hadn't told him? How would they have though? "How did you find out?" he asked his Headmaster.
"There was a protection around their home. A ward that protected you. I had a sensor in my office that would sound off once that ward fell, and it has," Dumbledore told him. "I went there, expecting the worst."
"But you knew he was here, didn't you?" Ginny asked.
"Yes," he nodded. "I meant that I worried I would have found his relatives had perished as his aunt was the blood link."
"But they just moved," Harry asked, needing that assurance. He hadn't ever considered that the Dursley's would be targets. Even after what happened with Dudley two summers ago. That had just been wrong place, wrong time. They were Muggles, so in Harry's mind he had simply believed Voldemort wouldn't give them a second thought.
"Yes, I am unsure where they have moved to as of yet, however the way that the ward was initially put in place would no longer be possible around their new home," he told Harry, sounding apologetic about it.
"Wait, do you mean I won't have to find out where they moved to?" Harry asked. "You won't be forcing me to live with them anymore?" He was grinning now. This was quickly turning into the best holiday ever.
"Forcing?" Dumbledore asked sadly. "Harry, it was for your protection."
It was all Harry could do to not give a derisive snort in the mans face. He hadn't felt protected the whole time he'd lived there. His uncle had smacked him around, let his cousin use him as a punching bag and more than a few time's his aunt had taken a swing at him with a frying pan. That's not even taking into account the Dementors, crazy House Elf's and the madman who had still been trying to get at him nearly every school year.
"Let me guess then, you're going to lock me up in Gryffindor Tower this summer?" he asked. It wouldn't have been so bad to stay at Hogwarts. He could probably fly around the pitch during the days. Maybe Ginny and Ron could come for visits, she'd been allowed to accompany them when they searched the Room of Requirement.
"As if I would let that happen," Sirius scoffed. "You'll be living with me, where you belong."
Harry stared at Sirius dumbly for a moment before his eyes wandered over to see if that was true from Dumbledore's expression. "Really?" Now Harry's smile was threatening to split his face in two.
"I believe it would be best," the Headmaster nodded. "You have been staying here for your school breaks anyway, and you will be turning of age partway though the coming summer, that is when the ward would have broken around the house on Privet Drive."
Dumbledore stating this as though he was the one in charge of allowing it to happen hardly bothered Harry right then. He wouldn't be going to Privet Drive again!
"Perhaps you would like to let your aunt and uncle know they do not need to collect you at the end of the year?" the old man suggested.
"I'll make sure he lets them know," Ginny said almost dismissively to Dumbledore as she got up from her chair only to plop herself down in Harry's lap and give him an excited hug.
The Headmaster bowed his head with a twinkle in his eye as he observed the two of them together, nodding at Sirius before he turned to head out.
"I can't believe I get to properly live here with you two now!" Harry celebrated, he was simply shaking with excitement.
"Think we might have had something to do with this?" Ginny asked Sirius.
"What?" Sirius asked in mock offense. "A few harmless pranks and you think they would simply up and sell their house? Surely they are made of thicker skin than that?"
Ignoring the rest of their assignments the three of them moved over to sit by the fire while Ginny and Sirius told dramatisized stories of their pranks, and retold them a bit later when Remus came with a piece of paper in his hand.
"They lost money on that house," Remus told them. He had been sent to investigate further after Dumbledore had done the initial check on the home and saw that nothing horrible had happened to the Dursley's. Remus went to the house, saw the 'Sold' sign and the empty interior and chatted with a few of the neighbors, including Mrs. Figg who had apologized for not noticing it before, but the Dursley's hadn't had a 'For Sale' sign on the lawn while it was on the market, so she hadn't known. From there Remus went to the Real Estate office that had sold the property and found out what had been the reason behind selling, and the price.
Apparently due to the fact that they had been 'harassed' the Dursley's decided it was time to move and set their sights on somewhere equal distance to Vernon's work, but closer to Dudley's school. Compared to the other houses in the area they had received well under the going rate, about thirty thousand pounds under the going rate. The newspaper article and CCTV set up on the exterior were enough to make most interested buyers back off.
Ginny and Sirius didn't look remotely remorseful about their role in that, and Harry felt he had even more reason to worship them now.
He did eventually get back to his assignments and had made a good dent in them before it was teatime. Ginny had gone off to the roof or somewhere to let him concentrate and it was as he was headed back up to put his things away, his autopilot on, that he accidentally found himself standing in the room that Malfoy had been sequestered away to.
They stared at each other a moment, Harry one step into the room and his hand still on the door knob. "Potter?!" the blonde spat out incredulously from the bed, paler than Harry'd ever seen him.
He was stuck staring at his school enemy a bit in shock, unsure if he should just back away, or if he should stay and say something to him, explain why he was there. "Wrong room," was all that managed to slip through his lips though.
"What are you doing here?" Malfoy demanded. He seemed to be struggling to sit up.
Harry had been told that Malfoy was under the influence of a few potions, they hadn't wanted him to be able to slip off like he had a few days ago when he'd discovered Ginny in the stairwell.
"I... live here," Harry told him awkwardly. "I'll just leave you be," he stepped backward to the hallway.
"Wait," Malfoy stopped him, his voice carrying a pleading tone and his expression showing he was slightly disgusted with himself for the situation he was stuck in. "No one will tell me anything, not even Snape. Where am I?"
Harry continued to stare at him, unsure. He had always known that Draco Malfoy had simply thought himself better than because of the influence of his father, but when push came to shove he was a coward. Now that he was seeing him looking this sickly in a dark room in an oversized bed like this he felt a little sorry for him.
He almost opened his mouth to tell him, not exactly where they were, but just a little tidbit of information, when Ginny came down the stairs behind him.
"Harry?" She whispered his name sharply. "What are you doing?"
"You," Malfoy pointed at her. "Who are you?"
"I already told you that, you moron. My name is Matilda," Ginny told him as she pushed Harry out of the room. "Maybe I should brand that on your other arm so you won't forget." And she shut the door.
"Forgot I was another floor up," Harry admitted bashfully.
"You didn't tell him anything, did you?" she asked seriously.
"Just that I have a poor sense of direction," he admitted to her with a small apologetic shrug.
Ginny took in a deep breath and nodded. "He looks awful, doesn't he?" A single worry line appeared on her forehead.
"Has anyone been talking to him since he's been here? Does he even want to be here?" he asked.
"From what I can tell, no and no," she shook her head and told him honestly. "The night they brought him in he was unconscious, and when I found him on the stairs he looked scared and weak. There must have been some argument compelling enough to convince Sirius and Mrs. Tonks to agree to this, but they could also just be experimenting." Ginny told him this as they headed up the stairs towards his actual bedroom to put his things away.
"Sirius wouldn't just agree to experiment on someone," he defended as they passed into his room.
"I don't know about that. In this instance, yes, the brat is in some pain, and weak, but it will mean his freedom from Riddle once the process is complete. If it didn't work, then it would be no-harm, no-foul," she pointed out. "I'm still just really curious about what compelled them all to do this."
That bit confused Harry, the her wondering why Malfoy could be worth saving. Perhaps it was just him wanting to see the good in everyone, but when he looked at the state of Malfoy downstairs he felt sympathy for him. Malfoy was young and in over his head with whatever mission it was Voldemort had assigned him, shouldn't that be enough?
"You don't think he's worth the trouble?" he asked.
"It's not that," she told him with wide eyes. "I just want to know the reasoning behind it. I've been wondering why they're doing it now. First I was wondering 'why him,' and I'm thinking it has to be because they think that there are some redeemable qualities buried under that transparent skin of his-"
Harry choked out a laugh at that.
Ginny gave a smile at Harry's reaction to her glib comment. "It is also probably due to some reluctance on his end to actually be a Death Eater."
"I was wondering that myself."
"But the link between Snape and Malfoy though," she continued as he put his assignments away. "There has to be one. We both heard how it was Sirius that came up with the Muggle thing that filtered his blood or whatever, but do you remember the way Snape was about it?"
"He sounded pretty willing to go against Voldemort's wishes in 'helping' Malfoy as well." Harry had told her about the overheard conversation from Slughorn's Christmas Party. "I got the impression that if Malfoy didn't succeed with his task he was probably going to wind up dead."
"So then, even more reason for them to give this a go. I'm just hoping that after they successfully remove it the prick won't simply go running back to his mummy and Riddle."
"He didn't look in any kind of shape to be heading anywhere soon," Harry reasoned.
"Well, Sirius told us he would be gone soon, maybe they'll be transferring him somewhere tomorrow. Merlin knows what Snape is telling Riddle about where Malfoy is right now," Ginny shrugged.
The two of them headed down to the kitchens and saw that Snape wasn't actually telling Voldemort anything about Malfoy's whereabouts because he was, in fact, there at the table with Remus, Sirius, Tonks and Tonks' mum. All of them stopped talking with Ginny and he walked into the room.
"Don't stop on our account," Ginny told them smoothly as she headed straight for the cupboards and ice box to get their tea assembled, casting a wink at Tonks as she went.
"Is this about Malfoy?" Harry couldn't help himself asking, looking at Sirius rather than Snape.
"It is no concern of yours, Potter," Snape told him.
Harry locked eyes with him, wanting to glare, but was surprised to see Snape wasn't looking at him with his usual disdain. Actually, Snape's stare was rather intense and searching. Searching for what, Harry didn't know. He cast his eyes over at Sirius in question, but he was ignoring Snape and looking over to see what Ginny was preparing. Instead of arguing back or replying with a snarky comment, Harry just took his seat beside Tonks and she started asking him about his holiday thus far, with a heavy amount of innuendo about he and Ginny that wasn't lost on anyone and caused Ginny to flick water at her more than once.
Snape wound up staying for dinner and Harry didn't know how odd that might have been, but no one else seemed to be behaving any way but their usual. The thing was, every time Harry's eyes inadvertently wandered over in Snape's direction he found that the man was already looking at him, staring straight into Harry's eyes.
()()()
His cloak billowed out behind him as he walked down the marble corridor, his steps echoing off the walls, heading towards where his Master would be waiting for him. Delicately between his fingers he held onto a piece of parchment. There would be only one opportunity for this, and he had made his peace with this decision a while ago.
He had talked it through over and over again, with himself and... with her.
He had been weak when it came to that opportunity. He'd seen it in Albus' office and known what it was. No doubt that Albus knew what it was as well, but perhaps he did not know it had been replaced with a fake.
Only temporarily.
He simply hadn't been able to help himself. And she hadn't been happy about it, nor about the way he had been treating her son.
When he first took the Resurrection Stone down into the Chamber of Secrets and used it to call her up he had been amazed. She looked just as she had before she died fourteen years before, and just as beautiful as ever. It didn't matter to him the look she held in her eyes, the anger. She had every right to be angry with him after what he'd done.
But she had promised to assist him and be his sounding board for how he was going to play his part.
Honestly, seeing Lily Evans the way she was through the Resurrection Stone was the catalyst that was allowing him to follow through with what he was about to do now.
There was nothing more he could do to make his life have purpose. His life had been full of anger and depression, the one shining beacon through out his thirty-seven years had been lost to him through his own foolishness, then her life taken by the man he had been forced to call his Master. But he knew she was there now, in the after. She had told him that he had called her away from others when he first conjured her up; he knew who those others were, but he chose not to think about it.
His life was miserable, he was miserable. The small amount of time he had with his only love was the only thing that brought him a glimmer of happiness, so perhaps doing this, and doing it this way, would somehow assure him a better afterlife, one where he could really spend time with her.
Severus Snape was as prepared as he could ever be for what was about to come.
Narcissa was waiting for him just outside the room that Dark Lord was residing in, her House Elf Dinky at her side. This Elf was the only one in the house that had clean clothes and had not been brutalized in some manner, though she still had a persistent quiver running through her.
Narcissa reached out her hand in greeting for him to take, as he did he passed the scrap of parchment into her own, he held her fingers to his lips long enough for her to take possession of the item, then drew back. He was grateful that Bellatrix was not in the hall waiting as well, she was probably at their Master's side, fawning and waiting to fulfill any need he may have.
"How is Draco fairing?" Narcissa asked stiffly.
"He is very much coming into his own. I have high expectations for his future still," he answered with a slight incline of his head.
When he made the Unbreakable Vow last summer, to assist Draco, complete his task for him or die trying, he knew there was a chance that it would all turn out this way and he had made peace with it.
Severus Snape had come to terms with the fact that after this last mission he would have come to the end of his usefulness for both sides of this war. Potions Master, Occlumency Master, Double-Agent and a love-sick, heart-broken fool, that is all he was. He had asked, no, begged his master to spare Lily Evan's life, he would never refer to her by her married name, but his Master didn't and that wound up being the reason that Tom Marvolo Riddle was banished for thirteen years.
This would be his act of revenge, his shining moment to cause that thing pain. Because he was a thing, he wasn't a man. A real man could have owned up to his own short comings, he wouldn't be running around trying to squash out a prophecy or be so completely focused on a child.
As much as Potter looked like his father, when Severus looked into his eyes all he could see was Lily, and he had needed to see those eyes one more time before coming here this evening.
"Is Nagini with him?" he asked her, inclining his head towards the door he was bound to go through.
"She is. I believe He and Bellatrix are currently torturing Wormtail with the threat that he shall become her dinner if he fails to amuse them with some antic or other," she curled her lip with disdain.
Snape nodded, glancing quickly to her hand that held his note. "Leave us, will you?"
He was telling her to leave not just the corridor, but the manor.
She had always been kind to him. Stiff and superior, but kind. And it was she that named him Godfather to Draco, even before she and Lucius knew that he would one day wind up being his Potions Professor and Head of House and that being beneficial in anyway to his status at school. Narcissa had acted as an elder sister to him through their school years, guiding him and advising him here and there. It flummoxed him as to why, but she had been raised to cultivate relationships she could use to her advantage, though she couldn't have possibly foreseen just how advantageous this relationship between them would be.
He turned to face the doors, half listening to the sound of her footsteps carrying her down the hall. His fingers stretched out to their full extent and then clasped themselves lightly into a fist, steeling himself and calling up all the courage he could muster.
The last thing he did before entering the room was clear his mind so the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to see what was about to happen.
As quietly as possible he entered the room, standing to the side and observing until he was called forth to speak.
The Dark Lord and Bellatrix were indeed torturing Pettigrew.
The sniveling man was holding a squirming rat in one hand and attempting to entice Nagini to eat it. Wormtail was the one in charge of maintaining the snake, it had been that way since the Dark Lord had returned to his body. Pettigrew had assisted with birthing the Lord's previous body from the beast and assisted with getting the nutrition from the snake until that night of the Tri-Wizard Tournament finale.
Snape had never had a high opinion of Pettigrew. At least Potter, Black and Lupin had some backbone, why they let this simpering idiot hang around in their group he never understood.
"Severus," the Dark Lord called him forward. "What news have you for us?"
He stepped forward into the room properly and bowed his head. "My Lord," he greeted. "I have discovered that Albus Dumbledore has come to a final conclusion of how you have managed to evade death."
"Finally?" His snakelike face may have been rid of the usual details that allowed one to gauge expression, such as lips and eyebrows, his face did not wrinkle either, but it was quite clear that he found this amusing. "And what method is that?"
Snape kept his face as placid as possible. "Horcrux, my Lord."
Bellatrix hissed in a breath, Pettigrew simply looked confused, but the Dark Lord did not seem bothered by this.
"I've split my soul, have I? Entrusted part of it into an object of some kind somewhere?" He looked down at Bellatrix with an almost fond expression that Snape knew was only there so that he could continue to have the crazy bitch endeared to him. The self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort cared for no one but himself, he would sacrifice her in an instant if it would save him from so much as a paper cut.
"He believes that it may be more than once that you attempted this. The first being through the murder of your father," Snape told him and caught the glimmer of hate spark in the man's eye. Snape had clearly hit a nerve there, and it had not just been because it had been correct. It was because his 'father' was a Muggle.
This approach to the Dark Lord was how Snape had managed to stay alive for so long; by feeding him drips and drabs of the truth, honest enough for the Lord's meager Occlumency skills to discern that he was being truthful.
If the semblance of a man before Snape had an upper lip between its mouth hole and its nostrils he had no doubt it would be sneering. As it was, however, the Lord simply stood up in defiance.
"Has he begun a search?"
"I believe that he is currently searching, yes. He and the Order." Snape was bowing his head slightly, but also keeping a keen eye on Nagini who was slithering over to him, as she did to anyone her Master was growing angry with.
Indeed, the Dark Lord did not look so amused any more. "Where?" was all he asked.
"He has not shared that with me, my Lord." And it was true in a way, the location that Dumbledore and the others found the ring Horcrux around this time last year was still unknown to him.
Nagini was coiling around Snape and constricting inwards. She had done this to him a few times before; it was a threat, no more. Having her 'delivering a message' was much preferable to being on the receiving end of the Dark Lord's wand. And the Dark Lord's wand was much more preferable than being on the receiving end of torture from Bellatrix.
He stifled a shudder at the memory of Bellatrix's torture of him. That woman was absolutely mad. She didn't use her wand on her victims, no, she liked to use potions and take advantage of her victims while they were under the influence. She is a deranged and deluded nymphomaniac, the memory of her cackling as she writhed above him had haunted his dreams ever since.
"It is no bother," the Lord waved his hand. "We shall be seeing his downfall soon enough. Where is Malfoy at in his mission? Why has he not given us word of his progress yet? He has the school essentially to himself, no?" He turned to head back to his chair.
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Bellatrix cooed as she batted her crazy eyes at Snape. "You'll take care of it if he can't manage, won't you?" The look on her face right then was one of smugness. She thought herself so clever in forcing him to take that Vow.
Snape pursed his lips and glared at her. "Draco was very determined to complete his task with-out my assistance, but I assure you, my assistance he shall have." He inclined his head towards the pair of them, his eyes still narrowed at Bellatrix while his fingers were pulling off the stopper of the small vial he was carrying in his pocket.
Nagini had raised her head to have her eyes come level with his own. Next thing she would do was open her jaw to show off just how many teeth she had and her ability to dis-articulate that jaw and swallow him whole if she were allowed.
Which she did.
And Snape gripped the vial in his fist and punched it into her throat, pouring the minuscule amount of Basilisk venom he had managed to get from the Dark Lords former 'pet' snake nearly four years ago down her throat.
Nagini's eyes grew, if possible, even wider. As her jaw was dis-articulated it would not simply snap shut around his forearm, she couldn't close it all the way. He opened his fist just enough to drop the vial in her mouth and pull his arm out. The snake started hacking and hissing, her head swinging left and right. Snape stepped out of the middle of her coiled body as it twitched and stood back to watch the show that the three others in the room were so dumbfounded about.
"What have you done?" Bellatrix screeched.
Snape could only watch on smugly as the snake began to vibrate slightly, its body beginning to decompress, shrinking in on itself as it flattened. He kept stepping backwards and away from it, drawing closer to Pettigrew who was also shaking slightly, his terrified eyes unsure of what to focus on.
"SNAPE!" The Dark Lord yelled. "What have you done to my Nagini?!"
Snape felt a peacefulness course through him as he watched on, despite the cold sweat beginning to break out over his face.
The snake was now emanating a blackness from its mouth, a screeching sound beginning to echo through the room.
Snape's eyes began to droop and he knew that that image and that sound meant that he had been correct; the snake was not just his pet, but also his Horcrux. Snape's vision was going blurry now as he watched Bellatrix stride towards him.
"Why have you done this?!" She screeched again.
"I found a Horcrux too," he managed to get out, his tongue feeling slightly larger than it had. Perhaps this was the venom working its magic, he thought. It wasn't so bad.
He had cut his finger on one of the snakes teeth as he had punched his fist into her mouth, a drop of the venom had gotten on that cut and was working its way through his body. It was a fast-acting poison and would surely have him dropping dead in the next minute or so, currently though he simply felt very inebriated.
Snape didn't fight against gravity as it pulled him to the floor; that or the muscles in his legs had given out. He wanted to have one last epic line to end his life on, but his brain was growing much too fuzzy to get out any words. So, with-out another word he closed his eyes and the life left his body with the echo of Tom Riddle's scream reverberating in his ears.
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