Title: The Art of Necromancy
Author: Artemis Luna Diana
E-Mail: artemislunadiana@yahoo.com
Rating: R – the rating has been changed!
Pairing: Harry/Severus
Time: begins right after GoF
Summary: Harry returns to Hogwarts to spend the summer. Out of sheer boredom, he scours the library for books to read and stumbles across a book that will change his life…
Disclaimer: I own not a thing
WARNING!!!! THIS IS A SLASH STORY!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE SLASH OR THIS PARTICULAR PAIRING… LEAVE NOW!!!!
Chapter Seven: Voldemort's Wrath
Voldemort sat on his throne in silence. His servants were on their knees before him, quivering in fear.
***
{flashback}
"Severus, you disappoint me." Voldemort stood from his throne and walked towards his traitorous servant. "Crucio!"
Snape screamed in agony, his body convulsing.
Voldemort ended the curse, listening in perverse pleasure the sound of Snape's harsh breathing. "Crucio!"
Snape's screams of agony continued for nearly an hour. Only pausing when Voldemort lifted the curse to speak to his traitor. Lucius Malfoy watched with undisguised glee.
Voldemort halted the last curse; he looked up at Malfoy. "Go ahead," he encouraged.
The Death Eaters in the room pounced on Snape. His agonizing screams were no longer the result of a curse, but of multiple rapes. Voldemort watched with a smile of joy.
{end flashback}
***
Voldemort stood up from his throne. "Harry Potter has returned."
***
{flashback}
Snape lay naked on the floor, a mass of bloody flesh. Malfoy had enjoyed inflicting physical damage on Voldemort's former favorite. He whispered, taunting, of a spell only he could break, so that no matter what, Snape would always be damaged. His left hip was dislocated and his left leg broken in three places. The tendons in his right hand were severed: the hand was useless. His right eye, joyfully slashed with a hot knife.
Voldemort laughed at the still form of Severus Snape before stepping off his throne again… to partake of his servant.
Snape had thought he could scream no more. He was wrong.
{end flashback}
***
"And you tell me that Severus is with him. His injuries gone."
***
{flashback}
"Kill him and drop the body in front of Hogwarts for Dumbledore."
{end flashback}
***
Voldemort stepped closer to McNair, the leader of this particular mission. "To make matters worse. You tell me that Potter stopped two of the Unforgivables."
***
{flashback}
Snape was dragged from Voldemort's throne room. The Death Eaters wanted to play a little longer before killing their former brother. At last only Malfoy and Wormtail were left. Snape was in so much pain he couldn't understand what Malfoy was saying. Malfoy left the room. He could sense someone coming close to him and flinched.
"For Lily." Something was pressed into the palm of his hand, and he felt a pull below his navel. A portkey.
{end flashback}
***
"Crucio!"
***
{flashback}
"Merlin's name!"
"Oh my God."
"Poppy! Quickly!"
Snape's bloodied and battered form was levitated onto one of the hospital beds.
"Bugger me," Pomfrey whispered, her wand stilled over the battered man.
"What?" McGonagall asked.
"They…" She looked up at McGonagall and Dumbledore. "Both of you! Out!" She shoved them both out of the infirmary. Without a doubt, they knew that when they thought it was bad, they'd been wrong. It was worse.
{end flashback}
***
Voldemort ended the curse. "Get out of my sight."
***
{flashback}
"Albus," Pomfrey said, her voice cracking.
"How is he?"
"I've managed to heal most of his injuries, but there's three I can't."
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore pressed.
"There's a spell cast on him. I don't know what it is and when I tried to break it, it ruptured his spleen." The medi-witch broke down in tears.
{end flashback}
***
Harry opened his eyes and calmly took stock off his health. He'd need a few days of rest, but otherwise he'd be alright. He slowly sat up, careful of pulling any of the recently repaired tissues. He glanced around from his elevated position and saw Snape sleeping in a chair in the corner. Harry felt touched. Snape didn't have to stay. He cleared his throat, and Snape shot awake.
Snape blinked the sleep from his eyes, obviously trying desperately to concentrate. Harry stifled a laugh. Snape straightened, seemingly remembering what happened. "What the bloody hell happened, Potter?" he demanded. Or perhaps not.
Harry sighed and carefully leaned back on the pillows. "I don't suppose I could get some food first? Or failing that, some water?"
Snape scowled, then glared at him. "Poppy!" he yelled.
The medi-witch came bursting into the room. She paused, obviously not expecting the calmness in the room. "Severus Snape!" she yelled, rounding on the Potions Master. "How dare you frighten me like that!"
"Your assumptions are your own," Snape sneered.
Pomfrey scowled at him and walked over to Harry. Pulling out her wand, she cast a quick spell and ran the wand the length of his body, murmuring happily under her breath. "Your healing nicely. Are you feeling hungry or thirsty?" she asked once her scan was complete.
"Yes. That is what I asked Snape for," he replied sending an amused look at the disgruntled man in the corner.
Pomfrey turned her gaze to Snape and glared once more, before leaving, muttering curses as she left the room.
"Well?" Snape prompted.
"I don't see any food, do you?" Harry asked innocently, glancing around the room as if searching for the missing tray of food.
Snape's glare moved from 'Death Glare' to 'Ultra Death Glare.'
Snape sat in silence while Harry ate his fill. When Harry was done, he pushed the tray away from him and leaned back once more on the pillows. He spoke before Snape could restate his demands. "What happened was the killing curse."
Snape waited patiently for all of one millisecond before demanding further explanation.
"You need to realize that as a Necromancer I am very closely involved with death. As such, I understand exactly what the killing curse is and what it does, in detail, to the body of the person it is cast on. The first time the curse was cast on me, I reacted instinctively and tried to bounce it back. Instead, I ended up absorbing part of the curse, and Voldemort along with it, and bounced the rest back to him. That tug and shove is what knocked him out of his body. This time when the curse was cast on me, I knew the best way to defend myself from it. As I wanted no part of McNair in me, I dropped all of my natural defenses, both magical and physical, and allowed it to pass through me. The side effect of allowing a curse to pass through you is the tearing that occurs where it travels through. It's just as if a knife passed through. The curse does not activate, but it does cause damage where it hit the body," Harry explained.
"Can anyone defend themselves from the killing curse like that?" Snape asked stunned.
"I don't think so. No." Harry shifted on the bed slightly, to better angle himself to see Snape. "I think that it takes a lot of power and self-awareness to be able to drop all shields. Most wizards can drop their magical shields after a bit of practice, but the physical shields the body naturally employs is a different matter."
Snape was silent a moment, thinking. "You said you wanted them to tell Voldemort. Why?"
"Because if Voldemort thinks that I can survive the killing curse and predict his next moves, he will be very cautious about the random Death Eater attacks."
Snape straightened. "He's going to stop attacking people because he's afraid of you."
"Exactly." Harry smiled. "I'm sure it also helped to see you there."
Snape smirked.
***
TBC…