Chapter Thirty-One

Dreadbiter

Sirius Black slipped down into the hole, landing in shallow mud. Reaching up to grab the lantern that was being handed down, Sirius lit up the ceiling and walls, inspecting it carefully before holding it up to inspect each end of the corridor.

"Well?" Severus' voice asked from above.

"I wouldn't call it safe," Sirius said, taking out his wand. He pointed at the ceiling and a warm ray of light came out, hardening the soil layer above them. "But it's stable for now. Come on down," he said. Severus slid down and glanced around before noticing Sirius' face looking unusually pale and drawn.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just… I haven't felt anything so saturated in darkness since I was in Azkaban," he admitted.

"It'll get worse the farther down we go, I imagine," Severus said. "If it gets too unbearable, just tell me. Which way?"

"There seems to be a heavier rock layer to the left, so it's probably a lot more stable, although it looks narrower as well. We may have to resort to a shrinking potion to pass it…"

"Sirius, there is a worm of questionable size down here. Let's not become any more of a morsel than we already are if we can help it," Severus said.

"For once you have a point," Sirius agreed. Beaming the light around the cavern, the two wizards cautiously started down the path with their wands out, Sirius stopping now and again to check the stability before continuing. It wasn't long before the tunnel began to slope, and then it suddenly took a sharp turn downward. The two of them looked at each other grimly in the lamplight for a moment. "How come we keep getting into these spider parlor situations?" Sirius muttered.

"The deeper it is underground, the less chance of it killing innocent bystanders," Severus said, taking out an Indian rope and tossing it down the hole so that the high end was just within reach.

"Innocent? Bystanders? I guess that leaves us out," Sirius joked dryly.

Without further comment, Severus slid down the rope still holding tightly onto his wand, Sirius climbing down after him. A rancid smell was in the air, putting the two men on guard as they tried to look further down another two-way corridor. Sirius glanced up at the ceiling.

"It seems to be more stable here, now that we're further underground. Better packed too, probably much older tunnels, and more often used," Sirius reported.

As if on cue, a tremor struck, and the two men quickly stepped back to the rope, holding onto the walls. Thin layers of dust pelted down from the corridor above, and Sirius made a temporary shield, a bit nervous that it was going to come down on them. Slowly the tremor rocked to a stop, but Severus stayed still as if trying to hear something. Searching for a phial, he took out one filled with a glowing clay-like substance. Taking a small bit out on his fingers, Severus rubbed it on the wall, making a phosphorescent mark.

"This way," Severus said, "I believe I heard it."

"If you can hear it, I wonder if it can hear us," Sirius said, following close behind, keeping his eyes on the structure. It was then he noticed a strange dark rip in the corridor and asked Severus to hold up, cautiously clearing out pieces of layered stone bricks from the opening to get a closer look. The stone jagged out in odd directions and he ended up cutting his hand, but he managed to make it a big enough opening to get the lantern into. "There seems to be a wizard-made corridor here. It looks like when this tunnel was burrowed, it weakened the wall here… there's a stone-paved corridor, and a carved arch in the center of it."

"That, at least, gives me some idea where we are," Severus said grimly. "But we won't find the Serpent in there. We need to press on." Another tremor hit, forcing them up against the wall. It was a lot more violent than the first, but fortunately, as Sirius had predicted, the corridor they were in was a lot more stable than the one above. Again Severus listened intently afterwards.

"I definitely heard it this time. It said that it smelled blood," Severus said in a low voice. "The tremors seem to be caused when the Serpent moves, which means it must be quite large indeed." Sirius, who had stopped to wrap his hand, grimaced at Severus' words.

"It smells me, then. I just cut my hand on the rock," Sirius said. "It'll probably be coming this way." Severus took out a phial from his cloak, passing it to Sirius.

"Here, take a sip, quickly. It'll stop the bleeding," he ordered. Sirius didn't argue, taking a sip and handing it back as Severus handed him a canteen. "Wash your hand off. And ditch the cloth you just used."

"I'm surprised you didn't pack a kitchen sink," Sirius muttered, carefully washing off his hand.

"I'd rather not become a meal, if you don't mind," Severus said, taking back the canteen and putting it away, carefully making his way down the corridor again. He sighed softly as he gazed around the damp tunnel, the air beginning to turn heavier by the step. "At least the girls aren't along on this trip," Severus muttered, more to himself than to Sirius. "I can't even begin to imagine what Jennifer would be going through if she were down here right now."

As the air became even thicker with stench, Severus shared another potion to relieve them from the smell as they crept down into a bone-laden passageway. Above them a dark tunnel twisted out of view, while below their feet, the skeletons of all sorts of forest creatures were picked clean of anything that might have been left. Tunnels lead off in every direction, and Severus paused to listen, trying to hear any sounds of movement. He shook his head at Sirius.

"Wait here and I'll scout down the corridors," Sirius said, turning into his dog form.

"Don't go too far. The last thing we need right now is to be separated and we can't Disapparate from inside the Tomb, don't forget," Severus replied.

Sirius gingerly worked his way across the bones and down the first corridor, and Severus decided to take a moment to glance at his watch. He frowned, seeing that it was pointed to "Dark Forest" and checked his ring to see that she was worried. He sighed, realizing that somehow Jennifer and Anna must have found out what they were doing. Sirius appeared again, slipping down the next corridor. Severus put away his watch, hoping they didn't try anything stupid. It was as he was wondering whether they should call the entire search off that he heard the voice again.

Severus.

Immediately on guard, he whistled softly for Sirius, taking out his wand again, stepping cautiously towards the corridor where he thought the voice might have been coming from.

Do you not sense the darkness around you? It is strong, yes, stronger than you, stronger than I. It is calling to you, Severus. It always has called to you. Why don't you answer it?

Severus gritted his teeth, knowing that replying would probably give away where he was. What was taking Sirius so long?

You have powers that others only dream about, Severus, do you not see that here they can be even stronger? All it would take is you to reach out and grasp that which no other, not even Voldemort, had the strength to bear. You would become the greatest wizard in the world, and all you would have to do is acknowledge your desire for it.

Severus had heard such words before and knew the tone well. Had there been any doubt that it was the accursed Dreadbiter, there was none now. The words spoken to him were cold and manipulative, and the Serpent had known his name. Cautiously he attempted to step across the bones as silently as he could, trying to get to the corridor that Sirius last went down. A bone cracked beneath his feet, and a giant tremor tossed them around as the Dreadbiter moved, its head shooting out of the top of the corridor and taking a snap at Severus as he dashed through a different corridor, turning around and casting, "Expecto Patronum!"

Birds of pure light suddenly shot out of the wand at the Serpent, which paused angrily to snap at them, momentarily distracted. It was enough time to allow Severus to take out a vial of silvery viscous liquid and pour it into a puddle on the ground. He stepped out of range while drinking another potion, leaping up into tunnel above his head. He paused to look down as the serpent tried to go through the puddle and it bubbled into a thick gooey gelatin, covering its head completely in an attempt to smother it. The Serpent's powerful jaws began to gnash and the gelatin burst, covering the corridor as it broke free.

But Severus was far from done, speeding down the tunnel before the Serpent had even figured out which direction he had gone. As Severus stepped into the next intersection, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a handful of nails, quickly wedging them in a line pointed straight up.

"Come and find me if you dare," Severus hissed down the tunnel and tthen stepped back, muttering a spell. His face turned dark and dangerous as the Serpent rumbled through the corridors, so intent on its prey that at first it didn't notice the points digging at its scales beneath its head. Just then, like the sudden dropping of a portcullis, the nails shot up into great iron spears several hundred times their normal size. It decapitated the great Serpent's head like a crude blade, its body still trembling until finally everything was still. Exhausted, Severus slumped to the ground, panting, quite relieved that it was over. He wondered where Sirius was, and wondered whether or not to even be concerned about him.

Severus was so consumed his relief and thoughts of how to get out of the corridor that he didn't notice that something strange was occurring right next to him. The Serpent's head was not completely immobile yet. In fact, it was eyeing him with open hatred. At the point where it had been severed, a new body was already beginning to form, coiling slowly out from the head as it formed.

As the Serpent rose its head with a challenging hiss, Severus looked up, completely caught off guard as the beast's jaws snapped around his midsection and went charging down the tunnel, knocking the lamp over as it passed and leaving them in darkness.

Barely able to speak or move, Severus, still holding onto his wand, managed to get off a small burst of fire aimed at the Serpent's eyes. Wincing involuntarily, the Dreadbiter smacked its head into the ceiling, letting go of the injured wizard and leaving him doubled in pain on the ground.

Severus knew he was done for; his strength was quickly ebbing away, and in the darkness he had little chance of getting off another spell. If only the stupid thing would just finish him off. If only that stupid barking would stop in the distance.

"Hey, you overgrown worm! Pick on somebody your own size! Or at least someone who is not as ugly as you are," a voice taunted the Serpent from down a side corridor. A flash of light hit the creature's midsection, and in annoyance it snapped at Sirius as if he were a pestering gnat. Just as it opened its mouth, Sirius threw something in, and part of the Serpent began to crystallize from the inside. Sirius nodded smugly to himself, taking out his wand as the bulge worsened, ready to finish the Serpent off. But the Serpent suddenly made a strange motion with its jaw, and the crystals slid further down into its body, its attention turning back to the one who had caused it. Deciding that this might be a little harder than he had thought, Sirius turned back into dog form and took off down the tunnel he had just came out of.

The Serpent wasted no time in chasing after him, slowed by the bulge in his stomach. Even with that, Sirius knew that he wouldn't be able to outrun it for long. The creature knew the corridors too well, and it had a strength beyond what he had.

As Sirius turned into another tunnel, he noticed a well-lit corridor off to one side and he scrambled over to it, barking a warning with the Dreadbiter still hot on his tail. As he passed into the light, he couldn't help but be surprised at who was standing in the tunnel with his wand out, urging him on. It was Ederick Thurspire.

Snow and ice burst out of Ederick's wand as Sirius ran by, filling the corridor between him and the Dreadbiter as Ederick yelled at him to come up. Spotting a ladder that had been staked to one of the holes leading out, Sirius changed form and scrambled up just in front of Ederick.

"Sirius!" Anna's arms was wrapped quickly around him, and instead of trying to explain, Sirius took the faster route of picking her up and throwing her over her shoulder, while Ederick yelled at Jennifer and Sagittari to run.

"Severus, where's Severus?" Jennifer shouted as Ederick grabbed her and moved her out of the way.

But before anyone could answer, the Dreadbiter serpent was on the surface in a terrible fury, launching itself towards Anna and Sirius. Anna, glowing wildly, turned around to face it. The light that burst out from her was much too bright for the underground creature, causing it to close its thin eyelids and rear its head away.

It was in that moment that Sagittari unslung the Spear from his back and threw it with amazing strength at the back of its head, hitting it solidly and piercing through just above its eyelids. The Dreadbiter's movements froze completely, as still as a statue from the instant it struck. Finally the Serpent's head fell the ground, its body shivering and growing limp. One last tremor shook the ground from its wake, collapsing several of the holes closest to its body and leaving another deep impression in the earth.

A great wave of relief swept over the four of them. Anna hugged Sirius again, and Ederick and Sagittari took a closer look at the beast to make doubly certain it was dead. Solemnly Sagittari retrieved his Spear and stared at the Serpent as if lost in thought.

"Where's Severus?" Anna asked when she looked around a second later.

"He was injured fighting the Serpent; he's still down there. I'm not sure how bad," Sirius explained, catching his breath. "We have to go down and get him."

"Wait a minute," Ederick said, looking around with alarm. "Where's Jennifer?"

Jennifer tapped her necklace charm until it was as bright as it could go, carefully picking her way across the rubble, if she had she left a few seconds later, she probably would have been caught in the collapse. She tried to put it out of her mind, knowing that the arrow on her watch still marked Severus in Mortal Peril. It was then that she realized what true fear was, and it had nothing to do being in the Tomb again. So many corridors, so many ways to go, she thought, wishing that she had a compass on her watch as well.

"Severus?" Jennifer shouted. A smattering of dirt came down on her and she gnawed on her lip, wondering if she might have accidentally sent it on his head as well. Pushing through the corridors, she finally saw something that looked familiar. Leaning down and touching it cautiously, she realized it was Seal Gel, a powerful waterproofing sealant. There was no way it could have got down here on its own, it had to be brewed, and it was fairly fresh.

"Severus! Please, answer!" Jennifer said again frantically. That was when she noticed there was a corridor just above where the sealant was splattered. Taking a hunch he might have gone that way, she took out her broom and slowly floated up to it. The large body of a snake blocked most of the corridor, but Jennifer knew now that she was definitely going in the right direction. Wishing she weren't quite so huge right now and feeling very nauseous from the smell, she worked her way past until she reached a row of closely spaced iron bars, looking at them puzzledly. "Severus?"

"Jennifer?" she heard a voice say in the distance, faint, and sounding rather weak. "What the devil are you doing down here?"

Wasting no more time, Jennifer poured out a bottle of corrosive acid on the bars and impatiently waited for it to take effect. Kicking it with her boot as hard as she could, it finally gave in and she scrambled across to the opposite corridor until she spotted his fallen form. Rushing to his side and biting her lip at seeing how badly he was hurt, she pulled out a Healing Potion, propping up his head in her lap and making him drink it.

"Jennifer, I don't think the potion is going to be able to work fast enough to help me now," Severus whispered softly. "I've lost too much blood."

"Don't say that! You'll make it. You have to," Jennifer said. "I won't let you go, Severus. I need you." Jennifer said, working to bandage his chest. Severus coughed slightly as if trying to laugh.

"You don't need me. You never did. Always so strong willed, so independent. Always so willing to rush out and take on the world. All I could do was stand there and watch."

"You can't really believe that! Of course I need you, I've needed you since the very day we met! I'd have been dead my first year here if it hadn't been for you!" Jennifer reminded him, tears streaking down her face.

"You wouldn't have faced death so many times at all if it weren't for me," Severus said weakly. "But we don't have the time to discuss it. I only wish that we had," he added softly. "I have been happy these last few years, something I would never have thought possible in the past, and I will rest well, knowing you and our children will live on."

"Two, two! You promised me four," Jennifer said. "I'm not going to let you die! There's got to be some way to slow your body down enough to give you time to heal," she said, patting herself down. Suddenly she felt something in her cloak pocket, and a spark of hope came to her face and she kissed his forehead then gazed in his eyes. "Promise me you won't give up. Please, if you love me, promise you'll hang on!"

She could tell from the look in his eyes that he still didn't believe he was going to make it, but he so badly wanted the grief to leave her face that he nodded.

"I have always loved you," Severus said. "I will try."

"And I have always loved you," Jennifer said, putting something in his hand.

Everything was a blur for Severus after that. He had felt warmth around him and knew it was his sister's doing, although she didn't seem to be anywhere near. He remembered hearing Ederick's and Sirius' voices as they came down into the cavern, thinking he was dead, and hearing his wife's insistence that he wasn't.

Wait, perhaps he was dead, he mused, and only a part of him thought he wasn't. Perhaps he would end up as a ghost, haunting the Tomb forever more, harassing curious idiots that came to poke about.

But then, his view changed, and he realized he was in the school. Well, there were definitely worse places to haunt than Hogwarts, and from there he could sit and watch his wife as she worked, and perhaps see his children arrive and get Sorted, and their children, and their children's children… Severus suddenly felt a pang of remorse, realizing that this wasn't something he wanted to do second hand. And how was he going to keep Jennifer out of trouble from here when she was always out and about? Even now he could see her messing about with that Unicorn horn, using it for who knows what purpose. Maybe death wasn't all it was cracked up to be, he decided. If only he could wish for life as easily as he could wish for death. Perhaps then he could at least comfort Jennifer and hold her again… she felt so near, and yet so far… it was quite frustrating indeed.

Perhaps truly he was cursed after all, or he was in hell, and this was his punishment for his wrong deeds, tempting him endlessly with the life he had been so afraid to have, and anguishing him by knowing that he could never have it back. But the figure of Jennifer sitting above him had not gone away as he had feared. Instead she came closer, and to his great surprise, she leaned over and kissed him, the warmth so real that he felt for a moment that perhaps he wasn't dead after all…

Jennifer smiled at Severus as he opened his eyes with a look of total bewilderment on his face, a round of relieved sighs going up around the room. Dumbledore, Sagittari, and Pomfrey were all there, and Dumbledore was beaming happily. Squinting slightly, he turned back to his wife whose smile had suddenly turned mischievous.

"I wonder if this means you are Prince Charming after all?" she teased wickedly.