In His Memory
Part 17: Vows of Honor
By:
WeasleyTwin2
In skies of frozen snow
Where winds of sadness roam
Red sun's burning low
You were my home1272499
Where I would go
Lament
John Stuart Dick
Severus Snape stood at the top of the North Tower surveying the milling army below him. His face was lined with exhaustion. There had never been in all his life a battle such as this one. Seth-Ra's minions surrounded the castle yet they made no move to attack what was plainly their objective. They simply milled around in a perfect circle as if they were waiting for some kind of signal.
"What is he playing at?" Severus thought as he looked up at the gray, leadened sky.
The sky above was full of what appeared to be birds and everything was cast into the deepest shadow. The air seemed charged with magical energy and the evil aura was so strong now that Severus could feel it pressing at him, just outside his shields. The wind picked up and he shivered as it whipped around him, lifting his cloak away from his body, causing it to billow like a defiant flag.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he started, suddenly realizing that he had been so deeply lost in his own thoughts that he'd allowed his guard to slip. He turned and saw Professor McGonagall looking at him.
"I'll take over now, Severus. You look like you just survived a class full of Weasley's," McGonagall smiled dimly at her joke.
Snape smile for a moment and then stood glaring down at the figures below him.
"I've been standing here, trying to figure out Seth-Ra's plan for four hours straight and I am no nearer an answer then I was when my watch began. Nothing out there has changed!" Snape fumed, gesturing violently at the milling army below. "I can't figure it out, Minerva. Something is not right. It's almost like they're waiting for something. I don't like it, not at all."
McGonagall looked at where Snape was pointing and saw that things looked the way they had when she had been relieved the previous night. She shook her head understanding all to well Snape's frustration.
"I've never seen anything like it, never in all the battles I've been in," she said quietly.
He nodded and continued to glare down at them. He could feel the evil getting stronger and, as if in response to it strengthening, the sky overhead grew darker than night.
"Something's happening…" McGonagall clutched his arm and pointed.
Severus saw darkness swirling in a column and saw someone step forward out of that column of Darkness. There was a ripple in the air and a chant began to sound, echoing all around them and with all the strength of magic and a thousand voices behind it.
"The Darkest hour… the darkest day…surrender all hope for hope and Light have fled…join us…join us…"
Severus felt Seth-Ra's will beating against his shields. He shut his eyes to better concentrate on strengthening them. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Seth-Ra glaring up at him, pointing a strange wand at him, which glowed with darkness Snape grabbed McGonagall, who was standing as if stunned, and together they fell behind the low wall of the tower just a curse rocked the entire tower.
"We need to get out of here! Come on, Minerva…snap out of it!" He slapped her lightly on the face.
McGonagall's eyes came back into focus and she looked around her. She tried to stand but he held her down.
"Stay low, Seth-Ra is casting spells at us. We need to get out of here and under cover."
They began to crawl toward the still open trap door, only to have it slammed shut by the force of one of the curses Seth-Ra used, just as they reached it. Severus, risking his own life, tried to open it again but found it was jammed shut by the force of the spell.
"You cannot escape me!" Seth-Ra laughed, a ringing and evil laugh that echoed all around them.
Severus saw the strange winged creatures above them beginning to dive in their direction and knew that the end had come. In desperation, he threw himself over McGonagall, protecting her with his body as the first wave struck them. He grunted in pain as their talons rammed into him. He tried to draw his wand but could not reach it in time. The "birds" went into a second dive and Severus thought he saw a brilliant light appear over both of them before he passed out from the poison and the pain.
***********
We made our way through the darkened tunnel as quickly as the shadows would allow, hardly daring to stop to even take a rest. All of us felt a sense of urgency. Somewhere ahead of us a battle was already being waged. My heart was thudding in my chest so hard that I was sure the others could hear it too. Some way ahead of us, Harry's ghost shone pearly white, glowing with a radiance I had never noticed before. He'd offered to be our scout and to light our way. The rest of us followed behind him. We meet nothing for about half an hour, until several of Seth-Ra's creatures came hurtling out one of the side passages behind us, murder and evil in their eyes.
The creature nearest charged directly at me, a dagger upraised and I shouted for help. I tried to dodge the creature's charge but it was the quicker and it knocked me to the ground, hissing at me in a form of Parseltongue, which I didn't understand. The creature, part man and part cobra, sat atop me and tried to plunge the dagger it held into my heart. I just managed to stop the dagger's decent mere inches from my chest and I held it there, the muscles in my arms straining to hold it in place. The creature continued to hiss and its forked tongue licked my face. I tried to throw the creature off but it was no use. The dagger quivered, hovering another inch closer. I could see a look of triumph in the creature's eyes as the dagger brushed my robes.
I saw my whole life flash before my eyes in a disjointed jumble. The creature let out a hiss of triumph but then, as I struggled to prevent the dagger from reaching my heart and to throw the creature off again, the Amulet of Osirius, which hung around my neck, was exposed and it began to glow with a brilliant yellow light. The light surrounded the creature and within seconds it was turned into a pile of ash, the dagger falling to the floor with a clatter from the now empty air.
I sat there panting, my eyes closed and my body trembling as the light from the Amulet dimmed once more. I opened my eyes to find Harry and the others looking at me in surprise and wonder. Harry floated closer, his eyes full of concern.
"Are you okay? We tried to help after we fought off the others but there was some kind of shield around you," he said.
I got up and brushed the dust and ash from my robes and out of my hair.
"I'm fine. What was that monster hissing about?"
Harry's face paled a moment before he answered me.
"Hogwarts is under attack. The creature said that many will die and those that don't…" he paused. " Those that don't will become one with Seth-Ra."
"You mean…" Hermione's face paled.
"He will use them…drain their powers to add to his own. Come, we must hurry."
We all began to run, following the path that was leading us steadily upward toward Hogwarts and whatever awaited us there.
****************
There was nothing more he could do; the castle was slowly being overrun and he was unable to stop it. He had never felt more helpless then he did at this moment. He felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest, felt the cold metal of the bracelets on his wrists, the smoothness of the wood of the wand he held and the hot metal that was the Amulet of Set as it drained the powers of those who had already fallen. He looked out through his own eyes and saw people he knew fighting the creatures that Seth-Ra had at his command. People he knew were dying in defense of what they believed in and he could do nothing to stop it. He pushed against the dark wall surrounding his soul, trying in vain to escape from the prison he found himself in.
He slumped to the floor of his prison, tears running freely down his face as he beat his fists against the dark wall before him. Every day had been the same since the day he had awoken from the accident to find that his body was no longer his own. He vaguely remembered a powerful magical explosion and a dark shadow that had seemed to float within it. Then he felt it…a surge of evil that was so powerful that it almost overwhelmed his soul. His spirit had fled, trying to hide from the evil that had taken control of his body. All to soon that hiding place had become a prison. As the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months he had begun to think he would never be free of the evil and his soul had fallen into despair.
He beat his fists on the wall before him, his heart crying out for the freedom he'd lost. He knew now that there was no chance or hope that he would ever be free of Seth-Ra. Nothing could save him now. Seth-Ra had become too much a part of him to even hope to be free again. He hung his head, a hand still touching the wall before him and tears running silently down his cheeks, creating a small pool of water on the gray floor of the corner of his mind that was still his.
"There is one in the castle that can free you from him forever," a distant voice said.
"Who…?" he thought staring into a bright light that had appeared before him.
"I'm a friend. There is one in the castle who will rescue you but you must give him time to reach you and you must be ready to move the instant that Seth-Ra departs this body."
"How will this be?"
"The Heir returns. He who holds the power to defeat Seth-Ra forever. Wait and be patient. You will be saved."
The voice faded with each passing word until it was no more then a faint whisper within his mind.
"Wait and hope…" the voice said, fading into silence.
For the first time in many months, he felt hope growing within his heart.
**************
Out of breath and panting from our run, we stood before one of many secret doors that led back into the castle. The corridor beyond was as silent as the grave. Hundreds of horrible images wove their way through my mind, things I'd seen during the war with Voldemort. Everyone seemed to have been thinking the same thing I was. Every face around me was pale and no one seemed to want to open the door. Even Harry, who seemed to have no fear, hesitated at the door before proceeding to walk right through it as if it wasn't there. The door suddenly swung open so the rest of us could follow Harry and we found ourselves in a deserted storage room somewhere down in the dungeons quite near the Slytherin Common Room. The walls were damp and slimy. All of us sighed in relief, as all our fears appeared to be groundless for none of Seth-Ra's creatures had made it this far; at least not yet.
Suddenly, from somewhere quite close by, a scream echoed though the corridor. We could hear a snarling sound and noises that sounded like fireworks. Somewhere above there was a rumbling that shook the very foundations of the castle. We looked at one another.
"Come on then…" I said, pulling Harry's wand from the pocket of my robes and putting a hand on the doorknob before me.
The others readied their wands and I saw Harry's ghost flicker for a moment before it faded as he went invisible. I threw the door open, just as another piercing scream rent the air. I ran toward the sound, the others close behind me, searching for the source of the scream. Ahead of me I could hear the triumphant shouts of Seth-Ra's creatures.
"They've broken through the last outer defenses!" I heard someone say as a great door was closed and barred somewhere ahead of us.
I could feel his creatures and the power of Seth-Ra's evil magic as it was bent toward the outer door of the castle, the same door I had helped defend only last year. As I drew closer to them, my body began to feel weak but almost as soon as the weakness started to affect me, I felt strength flowing into me from another source outside of myself. The Amulet around my neck began to glow with a white-hot light, as did the rest of the weapons of Gryffindor.
We raced down the corridor and up several flights of stairs until we found ourselves in the Entrance Hall. Students were running up the staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower, panic in their every move. I stopped a passing student to ask what was going on.
"They come… to powerful…couldn't stop them…bloodbath."
Screams of pain and fear were heard faintly through the door and the student jerked her arm out of my hand and went hurtling down the Memorial Corridor at top speed, barely paying any attention to where she was going.
I could hear the sound of fighting outside and, by concentrating; I could see a little of what was going on beyond the doors. The anonymous student was correct; the grounds outside were once more drenched in blood. I saw Florence Lyons, a Slytherin student who was in the class two years behind my own, fall as she was attempting to reach the safety of the castle. She screamed a loud piercing scream as she fell, overcome by some of Seth-Ra's lesser creatures. I tried to block out her scream and the look of horror that was etched on her face but it was impossible to forget.
I tried to stop the visions but they carried me around the grounds now turned battlefield relentlessly as if some unnamed power was trying to break my spirit by showing me such horrific visions. I could now see that this battle was going to be much worse then the last one against Voldemort had been. I could also see that is was a nearly hopeless battle that we fought. Seth-Ra's numbers were nearly overwhelming and the Serpens-Animus were rapidly closing in on the castle while Seth-Ra's bat-like falcons swooped down and carried off the unsuspecting. I turned my eyes skyward and saw them swooping at the people on the battlements and at the tops of the towers.
My vision carried me around the ancient defenses of the castle and up to the tallest tower, where I saw Professors Snape and McGonagall engaged in a struggle for their lives. Seth-Ra was bombarding them with spell after spell, pinning them down atop the tower. They attempted to release a few spells but they were unable to do any damage to him. I saw them inching their way along the floor to the trapdoor that stood open barely a foot from them but that door was suddenly and violently shut and they were unable to open it again. The bat-like falcons then began to swoop down upon them. I saw Snape shielding McGonagall with his body and anger at Seth-Ra filled my heart.
There was a blinding flash and I found myself standing over them, facing the warped falcons. They circled the tower above me, screaming their horrible, piercing cries, searching for a way around me so they could attack their prey. The Amulet of Osirius glowed white-hot yet it did not burn me. It only felt like sun-warmed metal on my skin. I took it from around my neck and held it out above me. The Light streaming from it caught a wave of falcons by surprise and they disintegrated into a shower of gray ash. The second, third and fourth waves of them were likewise reduced to dust and the rest of the birds flew off to search for easier prey.
I turned to the two Professors and found they were still unconscious. I tried to rouse them but to no avail. Unable to awaken them, I turned my attention to the trapdoor next to them. It was being held in place by a complex locking charm that I didn't recognize, though I could tell that it was of dark origins. I pointed Harry's wand at the lock and cast every unlocking spell I knew at it but nothing seemed to work and I was constantly being distracted by the swooping birds that returned to the tower to attack me.
I kicked the lock in frustration and turned around to deal with the birds when I saw the ghosts of the Potters and Harry floating above me. They were blocking the attacks, defending me while I tried to open the lock. Harry floated nearby and looked at the lock a moment, his brow furrowed in concentration. I, too, studied the lock and saw that it was glowing oddly. It seemed to be covered in a glowing black shield that prevented any spell from getting through. On impulse, I tried touching the lock with the Amulet. There was a surge of power that went through me like a bolt of lightening and I found myself on the floor but the door had swung open.
"Wingardium Levioso!" I cried, wanting to get them under cover as soon as possible.
I guided their unconscious bodies of Professors McGonagall and Snape inside and down into the corridor below where I was, at last able to revive them.
"Malfoy…What..?" Snape growled at me as he rubbed his head.
"You've found it then…the Amulet?" McGonagall's eyes went wide when I showed it to her.
She looked at me and then said, "You have come far on this journey and have done honor by your school and the Light."
"I fear there is still more to this journey before it ends. I must face Seth-Ra alone in single combat."
Both their faces grew as pale as the ghosts that were floating behind them. Harry was looking at me with a bemused expression as if the thought of me "saving the world" amused him in some way. The Potters merely looked concerned for my safety. I was shocked by such a reaction to my words from two who had never known me but I couldn't back out now.
"This must end here and now. I am the only one who has the slightest hope of stopping this rampage," I said, looking at each of them in turn.
"You will not go alone." Ron's voice came from behind me.
"We are meant to do this together," Hermione said. "The Prophecy clearly states that we must face him together.
"We must also join you," said the shade of James Potter.
"And there is something you should know. The one whose body Seth-Ra claims is still there, imprisoned. You must be careful when you do what must be done." Lily Potter's voice echoed slightly.
I nodded and then went back up the spiral stair to the top of the tower, my companions by my side and fear in my heart.
A/N: I finally finished writing the rest of this fic so it should be posted soon. Sorry for the long delay but I had a really bad case of writer's block the last time and I decided that I would not post any more of this story until I had finished the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Please be kind enough to review. Thanks.
~WeasleyTwin2