When we had reached the tree – and after Ron remembered that he was in fact, a wizard – I went down the hole first with my wand at the ready, fully prepared to meet whatever awaited us first. Harry followed behind me, then Ron and Hermione, and as we crawled, wriggled and squirmed our way down the passage, we eventually were able to at least walk in a low crouch towards the Shrieking Shack, where Hermione passed up the invisibility cloak after hissing at Harry to put it on, the path sloped upwards and we all approached the shack. I cast silencing spells on our feet so that we wouldn't alert anyone with our footsteps, making the other three go under the cloak and cast a disillusionment spell on myself to keep hidden as we heard voices over our heads.
The situation was tense, and despite the fact that danger usually thrilled me, I took no sense of joy from this moment. Merely trepidation. I was calm, however, and unafraid. We stopped at the mouth of the tunnel to look through into the room which was partially blocked by a crate. The others had to crouch, but I could stand up, so I saw everything. I saw Nagini in a protective encasing which made her float in the air within a sphere as Voldemort himself sat upon the table, pale white and looking like a moving corpse. Closest to us was Severus Snape, and as he spoke I listened with utter stillness, hardly daring to breathe.
"…my lord, their resistance is crumbling…"
"And it is doing so without your help." Voldemort spoke with an eerie hiss, as if his very voice was laced with death. "Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference now. We are almost there…almost." Completely unfazed and unwavering, Snape continued to try and persuade Voldemort to allow him to find Harry himself and bring him out. Voldemort dismissed this offer with silence, instead, rising to his feet. "I have a problem, Severus." He announced coldly, yet with softness, as if he were conversing with an old friend.
"My lord?" Lifting up the wand, I studied it closely and recognised it as the one Dumbledore used to use. I'd seen it upon occasion, and it only confirmed once more that Voldemort truly had desecrated Dumbledore's tomb in order to take the wand for himself. The Elder Wand. The most powerful wand in existence.
"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?" The question seemed to throw Snape, who stuttered slightly in his confusion.
"My – my lord? I do not understand. You…you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."
"No, I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand…no. it has not revealed the wonders it has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago." I had to fight the urge to scoff at this man's arrogance. In fact, I couldn't even rightly call him a man, he had twisted himself into something so grotesque and foul, he was completely inhuman. "No difference." Now he began to pace and Snape had fallen into complete silence, the tension in the air starting to build. "I have thought long and hard, Severus…do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"
"No, my lord." Shifting slightly, from where I was standing, I could see Snape looking directly at the snake, which was also staring back at him. "But I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."
"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come." Voldemort sounded so certain, so sure, that I found it rather ironic that Harry had come to find him, but he was completely unaware of anyone else's presence around him. He hadn't even bothered to erect protective spells around the shack or the tunnel. He truly was arrogant.
"But my lord, he might be killed accidentally by one other than yourself…"
"My instructions to my Death Eaters have been perfectly clear. Capture Potter, kill his friends – the more the better – but do not kill him, or the girl, for that matter. I have also instructed them to leave the Black girl alive, for I wish to kill her myself too." Arching an eyebrow, I was felt oddly complimented that Voldemort deemed me as a threat big enough to warrant his personal attention.
"You mean Euphemia Black, my lord? Sirius Black's girl?" The tone of surprise was barely masked in Snape's voice as Voldemort glanced his way.
"Yes, the very same. She has duelled me before, and I found her abilities…concerning. I will not have another Dumbledore to threaten my reign. She must die. Painfully, at that. She and Potter can die together, like the siblings they parade themselves to be. It will be a most touching end." We'll see about that, snake-face. "But it is of you that I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry Potter or Euphemia Black. You have been valuable to me. Very valuable."
"My lord knows I seek only to serve him, but – let me go and find the boy, my lord. Let me bring him to you, I know I can…" It was in the fact that Snape was so adamant to go and find Harry that I convinced myself further of his innocence. It was my firm belief that if Voldemort would only permit Snape to go, our old potions master would indeed seek out Harry, but rather than capture him, with the intent to protect him. Call it instinct.
"I have told you no!" The sharp sound of his voice cut through the air, and Snape once more fell silent. Voldemort began to pace once more, the long black robes sweeping over the dust ridden floor. "My concern at the moment, Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy!"
"My lord, there can be no question, surely-?"
"But there is a question, Severus. There is." Now pausing to face Snape, I saw the full expression of a cold gleam, of anger and impatience, the face worthy of a thousand nightmares. "Why did both the wands I have used fail when directed at Harry Potter?" Stammering, Snape could not answer. "Can't you? My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so, but Lucius's wand shattered upon meeting Potter's."
"I…I have no explanation, my lord." But Voldemort continued as if he had never heard Snape speak.
"I sought a third wand, Severus. The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from its previous master. I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore." The dawning realisation of where this conversation was going slowly rose upon Snape, his head now turning in order to look at Voldemort who was glowering at him with eyes ablaze. "All this long night, when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here, wondering, wondering, why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform as legend says it must perform for its rightful owner…and I think I have the answer." The room fell utterly still, disturbed only by the constant coiling of the snake in its cage.
Beginning to tremble, I looked from Voldemort to Snape, still completely invisible to the naked eye, wondering if I should do something, should try and help him. "The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine." Raising my hand to my mouth, I knew I had to stifle any sounds I might make for what was coming. I couldn't move. If I did, I'd reveal myself and Voldemort would turn on me too, and Harry would never stay back and watch me be tortured and killed. I had to stay put, had to keep hidden for Harry's sake, otherwise we'd all be dead.
"My lord!"
"It cannot be any other way. I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and I master Potter at last." With a sudden lash, the wand was moved like a strike to the air against Severus Snape, however the only thing that moved was the enchanted cage, which was now floating towards Snape. He cried out as his head and shoulders became engulfed, and I watched with horror as Voldemort made a terrible hissing sound, which I could only guess was the order to kill. Nagini lunged for Snape and buried her fangs into his neck, causing Snape to jerk violently as Nagini struck again, each strike causing Snape to convulse sickeningly until he dropped to the floor, and already I could see his robes becoming wet with blood. "I regret it."
There was nothing I wanted more than to try and destroy Voldemort right there and then, to blast him into oblivion, to make him suffer even a fraction of the pain and woe he had inflicted upon others, but I stayed silent and still, because I knew that I could choose only one. Attack Voldemort, or try and save Snape. I chose the latter. The only mercy Voldemort allowed was that he did not linger to watch Snape die, which was another demonstration of his own personal arrogance, the floating cage with Nagini inside following after him as he left.
I barely waited a second before he'd vanished before I surged into the room from the tunnel, the muffling spell on my feet meaning I didn't make any sound as I then dove for Snape and pressed my hand against the wound on his neck, seeing it as the fatal one. Feeling the pressure but being unable to see what it was, Snape gaped and jolted, the black pits of his eyes almost completely overcome by the rolling white as he stared and grabbed towards the feeling of my hand against his neck until he found my wrist and gripped onto it.
With my other hand, I raised my wand to take off the charm that kept me invisible, and when our eyes met, Snape looked at me with a flicker of emotion I couldn't read. It wasn't relief in the sense that he felt saved or relief in the knowledge he wasn't going to die. It looked more like he was simply glad he wasn't going to die alone, which made me all the more resolute to not allow him to die in such a way. He didn't deserve it, I could just feel it in my gut, that he was a good person really. Harry had moved to follow me, now uncloaked and kneeling down before Snape who snapped his eyes onto him.
Grasping hold of him, Snape pulled him in closer as I hissed for Hermione, my wand now pressed against Snape's neck as I tried to draw out the venom from the snake like draining fluid from a blister. It was clear but smelled sharp, but he was still bleeding far too heavily to be able to survive much longer. "Hermione. Hermione! The phoenix tears, tell me you still have them! Give them to me!" Squeaking whilst trembling, Hermione's shaking fingers struggled to even open her purse so Ron took over, opening it and summoning the bottle out before tossing it to me before he then put his arms around Hermione.
Dropping my wand, I caught the bottle then wrenched off the stopper with my teeth as Snape whispered to Harry in low, breathless rasps. "Take it…take…it…" Blue vapours were starting to trail out of him from every orifice in pale wisps which joined the blood which was continuing to gush from his wounds. Hermione conjured a flask for Harry and as he collected the blue vapours, Snape's memories, he then looked at me and tried to stop me from giving him Fawkes's tears. "No…don't…let me…die…"
"You're not dying today." I told him with a growl, refusing to allow him to play the tragic hero. "I told you I would repay the debt one day, and you saved my life before. Now shut up and let me work." Dripping a tear onto the neck wound, the punctured holes started to hiss and bubble before a spurt of the clear, acidic smelling venom came pouring out as I then hurriedly forced another tear down Snape's throat, and used the rest to heal the other wounds around his neck, throat and wrists. Nagini had gone for the major arteries, hoping to make him bleed out quickly. When I ran out of tears I produced lengths of bandages which I then wrapped around the wounds as tightly as possible, though they were being bled through faster than I could wrap them. As I worked, another message from Voldemort came, though I did not quit my task, merely listened as I desperately fought to save Professor Snape's life as he had fallen into unconsciousness from blood loss.
"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured." The message for everyone ended there, but the cruel voice continued, now addressing Harry. "I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."
Forcing a blood regeneration potion down Snape's throat having found it in Hermione's medical supplies within her bag, and once that was done, I looked up at the others. "Don't listen to him." Ron said with immediately determination.
"It'll be alright. Let's…let's get back to the castle, if he's gone to the Forest, we'll need to think of a new plan..." Hermione then looked at Snape and I, covered in his blood, looked as grim as anything.
"He's alive, but only just. He needs more help than I can give him, I think the tears saved him but I don't know…I'm not a healer. Cedric should know, and Madam Pomfrey…let's get out of here. I hate this place." Harry had not stirred or uttered a single word, so after levitating Snape, I grabbed him and forced him to move, marching him forwards as I wrestled with my own thoughts. I didn't know what to do. There was no way Harry could go to the Forest to Voldemort, and if he did go, then I was going to go with him. We'd stand a chance together, but I need to persuade him that our best bet was to stay at the castle and prepare for the next attack. I knew him, knew he wouldn't want anyone else to die for him, but I couldn't let him sacrifice himself either.
Thousands of thoughts, feelings, worries and fears rattled around in my head as we all crawled our way out of the tunnel and back into the open grounds of Hogwarts, where the once proud and majestic castle of Hogwarts had stood, remained a devastated ruins. Entire chunks of it were missing, and as we traipsed across the grounds, I saw bodies littering the grass like oddly shaped mounds in the darkness of the early dusk. There was blood everywhere. So much blood, but when the doors to the Great Hall swung open, the sound of murmuring voices and the wails of people who had lost loved once hit us all at once.
We froze. No one looked around at us, but as I scanned through the crowds and up the centre line of the dead, I saw none of my immediate family. I went in first, silent and grave as I fixed my eye on the platform at the back of the hall where the teachers used to sit to take their meals, seeing that it had been turned into a healing area. Several people were rushing around with Madam Pomfrey, most dressed in the white robes of healers and with a great deal of relief, I saw Cedric there also, his sleeves rolled back helping to heal someone of their injuries. I passed on the quieter side of the hall, and as people began to notice that I had Snape with me, they began to whisper. I ignored them. I was too tired to care by this point. I took him to Madam Pomfrey who gasped, watching as I lowered him gently onto the first empty bed. "Please." My voice cracked, hoarse and dry as my eyes blinked wearily. "He needs help. Bitten by Voldemort's snake, I gave him phoenix tears and a blood regeneration potion, healed some of the wounds but they're still bleeding…"
Drawing herself up, Madam Pomfrey patted me on the shoulder and assured me she would do her best, waving some of the Healers from St Mungo's that Cedric must have brought here to help her. He saw me and, once he had finished securing a bandage on his patient, rushed over to me. "Mia, are you hurt? Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm fine. Just tired. I brought Snape." I gestured weakly towards him, making Cedric stare, a shadow of loathing fluttering through his eyes. "He's not a bad person, Ced. At least, I don't think he is. I have a theory, you'll probably think me crazy…but…but I think he's been on our side all along. I can't explain it right now, I'm too tired, but you can't let him die…not until he's answered for all that's happened…." Seeing that I was struggling to put my words together, Cedric put his arms around me and let me rest against him for a moment.
"We'll make sure he receives all the medical attention he needs, Mia, don't worry. At the end of the day, he's a patient, and we have a duty of care." I smiled at that, glad that I could trust Cedric to be so wholly good and kind. "Your family is over there. See?" He pointed and I looked, spotting them not far away, though they had their backs to me at the moment. Giving Cedric's hand a squeeze, I dropped down from the platform and started on over, my mother soon spotting me over Tonks's shoulder.
"MIA!" Her screech filled the entire hall, making numerous heads turn as she flew at me and gripped me into one of her bone shattering hugs and before I knew it, I was surrounded. Mum, dad, dad-two – who was now looking much better with a bandage wrapped around his head – as well as Tonks and Remus, and in between the gaps of people practically suffocating me within the mass of their embrace, I spotted Wormtail huddled in the corner, completely alone until Luna sat down with him and I think I heard her ask him if he knew what wrackspurts were, much to his surprise.
Being pulled back to the present, mum sniffled but gripped my shoulders firmly, forcing me to turn to make sure I wasn't injured before dad then hugged me again, practically lifting me off the ground as he kissed my hair and face, the whiskers of his neatly trimmed beard tickling my cheeks which prompted a reflexive smile. "I'm alright…I'm alright…is everyone here? Were any of us hurt?" I questioned, looking around to see most of them sporting injuries, but my family were alive and smiling, that was all that matters.
Soon we were joined by the Weasleys, our families merging together as one until I didn't have a clue who I was hugging, trying to hold them all at once but my arms just weren't long enough. Molly was sobbing, telling me that Fred and Percy had told her how I'd saved their lives when the castle wall had been destroyed by Rookwood, and she gripped onto me with completely uncontrollable sobs. "You…you…always…seem…to…save…my…children…Mia! We're so…lucky…Fred and G-George…became friends…with you…" Then she released another impressive sob and cried into my shoulder as I struggled to support her.
The twins managed to pull her off after a while, Percy and Arthur working to calm her down as I was then free to hug Ginny finally, holding her close as Fred and George both put their arms around the both of us. I felt safe there, cocooned by my family and could almost completely forget about the devastation around me, my own happiness at having all my family safe and sound rather unfairly drowning out the sorrows of others. Once I released Ginny, I then scouted around for other people I wanted to make sure were alright. Moody seemed to have lost his prosthetic leg but seemed fine hobbling around. Kingsley, although dishevelled, looked marvellously untouched, and as I searched around, I saw the most familiar and friendly faces I knew were either mostly unharmed or were being treated. Although, that didn't mean to say there wasn't anybody I knew who had died. There were plenty of those too.
I could barely bring myself to look at the long lines of people who had been killed, and with a sickening feeling, I noticed that most of them were students. Most people were now leaving to help collect the dead, though dad stayed with me for a moment as he pulled my hair back from my face and began to try and untangle it, though when he saw that I was looking past him to the furthest corner of the room, he glanced back and stiffened. Luna was still talking to Wormtail, quite cheerfully too by the looks of it, and part of me was amazed that he was still here. "He…fought well." Dad finally allowed, though it sounded like the words tasted vile as he forced them out. "Saved Tonks from Bellatrix, almost killed her with the killing curse, but he saved her. Moony couldn't believe it either."
"He found me." I admitted, reaching up to take dad's hand away from my hair and just hold it, wanting to have that connection between us as I continued to gaze past him. "Told me he'd escaped from his room but heard about the battle and decided to follow instead. He said he wanted to start making amends." Lifting my eyes, I gave dad my softest smile and reached up to wipe some mud away from his cheek, our identical eyes gazing at one another. "I know you won't ever forgive him, but for now at least, don't drive him away. We need allies. Now more than ever." Gritting his teeth, dad gave a nod of his head so I hugged him before telling him I was going to go and find Harry.
Now that I had gathered my wits back to me, I pulled away and as I did so, I caught Wormtail's eye. Flashing him a smile, I hurried away in order to seek out Harry, using a tracking charm to find myself moving further into the castle. Good, he hadn't gone to the Forest. At least, not yet. On my way, however, as I stepped over the bodies of the abandoned Death Eaters whom all had left to lay where they had fallen, I heard someone crying. It made me stop and look around, hearing it coming from one of the smaller staircases, and after glancing up the broad main stairway to where my tracking spell was showing me Harry had gone, I turned away to find the source.
I found them, huddled on the stairs, white blond hair bowed over their knees and sobbing freely. Draco Malfoy.