Chapter 25

The End of the Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own HP.

This is the first of 3 final chapters.

It was late afternoon on a Saturday, the day was relatively calm, and I was relaxing in our quarters with my family. The sudden burning sensation on my arm was obviously unwanted but not entirely unexpected. When I arrived, however, what I was told, I was not completely prepared for.

"We have captured Potter!"

While on the outside I showed no reaction other than curiosity, on the inside my heart was pounding like a jack hammer. They had James Jr…but not Neville?

"What of Longbottom?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, he escaped. Potter is currently in Malfoy's dungeon." A malicious smirk pulled to his lips as he slowly walked through his circle of followers. "He is a strong one, and has not given into torture easily, but he will break soon enough. If not, we can shove a truth potion down his throat." He gave a dark chuckle, his eyes danced with twisted glee.

"I believe that very soon Longbottom will attempt to enter Hogwarts." He went on. "I believe he is looking for something in the castle." He then turned to me. "Severus, I need to speak with you privately." As he dismissed everyone, as requested I follow him into Lucius' private study.

"I need you to get something for me from Hogwarts."

"Of course, my lord, what do you require?"

"There is an item in the room of forgotten things, you know what that is, correct?" I nodded in acknowledgment. "Do you know the story of Rowena Ravenclaws diadem?"

"Yes." Most people did.

"It is in that room. I need you to bring it to me."

"Do you wish to use it for knowledge?" I asked, though I had a feeling it was for a completely different reason.

"No. I have… infused something incredibly valuable inside it…I need you to find it and bring it to me immediately."

"Of course, My Lord."

"Good. Bring it to me as soon as possible. I believe that is that Longbottom is looking for. If he gets to it before me, the results could be disastrous."

XXX

Minerva's eyes about bugged out of her head. "James Jr is…oh, the poor boy."

I had told her of Potters capture and about the diadem. I also explained that he knew Neville would be coming to Hogwarts soon in search of it.

"I have a plan." I reassure her.

"Plan? What plan? What about James, we have to rescue him."

"We, will. But not the way you are thinking, I'm sure. If we storm Malfoy manor there will no doubt be causalities, however, if we send an elf in, we can get him in and out without alerting anyone."

Minerva nodded at the cleverness of my idea.

"Which elf?"

"Dobby. He knows that house, he can get him out of there in seconds."

"Okay." She nodded agreeing with my suggestion.

"I will have to give the Dark Lord the diadem, but I will give him a copy. I do am sure he will be able to tell rather quickly it is a fake, but I will deal with that. I will go get the horcrux and destroy it."

Minerva opened her mouth, no doubt to tell me Neville has to do it.

"I know what you are going to say and no he doesn't. He may have to die, but if I can do this one thing for him before he does, it the least I can do."

I knew I should have gone back to my room and told Lily what was going on, but time was of the essence and so I called for Dobby and told him where I wanted him what I wanted him to do."

"Yes sir, Dobby will save James Jr. Potter." And with a pop he disappeared.

The room was covered in a variety of items, much like the last time I had seen it. I had located it the first time my 3rd year, I desperately wanted to be able to give Lily a nice gift for Christmas. I found a beautiful necklace with an owl pendent, and a sapphire for an eye. She still has it. It took me about ten minutes to locate it, a saw a glimmer of gold out of the corner of my eye and when I turned, there it was. The closer I moved to the object the stronger the dark magic that radiated from it hung in the air. Pulling out my wand I levitated the ancient object into the air, refusing to touch it. I quickly made a replica and then placed the true diadem in a dragon hide pouch.

Not knowing if it would work or not, I placed the darkest curse on the fake diadem that I could think of. If anyone put that crown on their head, they would lose their mind in minutes. It's not just dark, but black magic and it absolutely had a dark aura, I hoped it was enough to fool him, at least long enough for the real one to be destroyed.

I had to wait to destroy it, I was almost positive he would instantly be aware that another piece of his soul was gone.

I then went to my quarters to tell Lily.

"If he realizes that a fake…" I could see that fear in her eyes. I felt it too. He was unpredictable at best and if he even suspected I had something to do with destroying one of his horcruxes I was as good as dead.

"I'm sure he won't." I reassured her, though in truth I wasn't. I was relying on the dark aura of the object and his trust in me, keeping me safe.

She pulled me into the tightest hug her head pressed against me chest. "You don't have to go. You can just destroy the bloody thing; you can be done playing spy."

"Oh, if only it was that simple." I said softly, placing a soft kiss atop her head. "He had to think I'm loyal until the end, but I believe that will be soon."

I would have loved nothing more than to stay home with my wife and kids, but I had to finish out my duty to the Order. I was reluctant to go to Dumbledore when he returned, but for Lily and my children I went and now, I have to finish what I started.

XXX

"You found it?" The Dark Lord looked down at the bag in my hand that held the fake diadem.

"I believe so." I said handing it to him. "It fit the description and it had a very dark aura."

Opening the bag he looked inside, nodded and then closed the bag back up. "You may go but if Longbottom arrives, I want you to notify me immediately."

"Of course, my Lord."

That went better than I expected, which, for some reason unnerved me.

XXX

As soon as I returned to Hogwarts, I went to my stores. Shortly after I found out that Neville was hunting horcruxes, I went down to the chamber of secrets and gathers several vials of baskalisk venom from the rotting corpse of the decaying snake. Entering it was simpler than I expected. I may not be able to speak to snakes, but I had heard the Dark Lord speak it on several occasions. I then headed to my empty classroom, pulled open the bottom drawer in my desk where I had placed the horcrux. I then levitated it to the floor in the center of my classroom. The object seemed to know it was under attack because what came floating out of the cursed object will forever haunt me.

My beautiful Lily, glaring down at me in absolute disgust. "You filthy Death Eater. I should have let you rot in Azkaban and lose your mind like the rest of your friends. I should have married James. It's all your fault, everything that's happening is your fault."

"It's not real." I hissed under my breath, "It's not real." It was my worst fears, like a boggert but a thousand times worse. It was mentally suffocating. Pulling the cork of the vile and poured it onto the horcrux what followed was a horrifying scream. It was dying and it knew it!

XXX

"Severus. There you are!"

I had just picked up what was left of the destroyed diadem back into the pouch.

"James jr. is safe and recovering in the hospital wing. He also brough back several other people that were being held in Malfoy's dungeon!"

"That's good to hear."

She suddenly seemed to realize what I had done. Her eyes lowered to the pouch in my hand. "Is that…"

"A destroyed horcrux, yes."

"Did you give him the fake?"

"Yes. Minerva, I need to know as soon as Neville gets here. We have to prepare the students to evacuate but discreetly. I have a feeling he will be here soon and shortly after he arrives, I will have no choice but to tell him."

"I understand. We will make sure the students are safe and that Neville is prepared."

Prepared wasn't the word I would have used. How can you prepare to become a martyr?

XXX

It was early the next morning when I was preparing to get ready for class that my mark burned. Lily was up, taking a shower, and thankfully all of the kids were sleeping still. I quickly rushed into the bathroom to tell her I had to leave.

"Turning off the shower, she opened the door, gave me a worried look and said, "Please be careful."

I was always careful but sometimes it was all about luck.

Entering the main room, I could instantly tell he was unhappy. His glare was deadly and by the loom of the twitching body of Lucius on the floor he had already released some of that frustration out on the closest person to him.

"Potter escaped!"

My eyes widened in fake shock. "How?"

"My guess is a house elf. He and every other prisoner I had is gone! Vanished."

That explained why he punished Lucius; it was his home they escaped from.

"Have you heard anything?"

"No, My Lord, but I had only just begun the day. I had not seen anyone yet. I'm sure I will hear about it soon."

"I think I have been fooled… we both have?"

"What do you mean?" I was honestly confused.

"The diadem you brought back to me was a fake."

He knew.

"I didn't expect you to realize it, the magic I used had a specific, well, rhythm to it. Only the caster would recognize it. You felt the dark magic and assumed it was what I requested."

"I apologize for my mistake. I did not realize."

I assumed he would be angry, accuse me of knowing all along. He did not.

"Potter was rescued moments before the actual diadem was destroyed. I believe Neville is at Hogwarts, he alerted Minerva that Potter was captured and then located and destroyed my diadem."

He stated this rather calmly which surprised me. I was actually a bit taken aback that he was so calm.

"I need you to help me get into Hogwarts. This time, with your help I know we will not fail."

"I'm happy to assist you, my Lord."

"Good. I need to make sure Longbottom is in the castle when I arrive. I need to battle him personally."

"I can arrange that. I will need a couple of days, but I am positive I can do as you desire."

"When we attack, Bella will be at my side so I will need your wife to take Corvus. You can floo with him to your family home, it would be better for your wife and children not to be at Hogwarts when we attack."

"I will see to it that they are all safe."

A/N: Up next, the final battle.