Well, here it is everybody, the beginning of the end: the last chapter (though there is an epilogue). The chapter title is totally ripped off from Lord of the Rings but I love that too and I thought it fitting. I'm apologizing now for any small plot inconsistencies; you see, I wrote the end before I finished the middle and was so anxious to just get to the grand conclusion that I forgot to add a few tiny things. I also apologize for just totally skipping over the spring season, but you know, JK Rowling tends to do that too. Final note: I know this is lengthy but I just couldn't chop up the ending.

So there you are! I hope it lives up to all your expectations, my dear faithful readers! I was practically crying while writing this; maybe that's just because I've grown so very deeply attached to the characters. Well, it's my hope that it will inspire similar strong emotions in you (perhaps that's a bit too much to ask…) In any case: here's Garth Algar, signing out.

Chapter Twenty-six- The End of All Things

Severus was surprised to see Lindsey running towards him the evening of the last day of O.W.L.S. With the way she had worked and stressed over those tests he was surprised she hadn't just passed out from exhaustion.

But no, now she seemed to have plenty of energy, beaming as she sprinted down the hallway.

"I passed!" she cried ecstatically as she met up with him. "I passed my O.W.L.S!" She was practically bursting with joy. Snape smiled half-heartedly and shook his head at her euphoria.

"Good," was all he said.

"Professor?" she asked confusedly as he charged past her, her face falling. She had hoped he would be proud. Or at least relieved. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"I'm just a bit… preoccupied right now, Lindsey," he said shortly but apologetically, striding past her.

"Hey!" She ran to catch up with him. "Aren't I entitled to an explanation?"

Snape looked at her with a strained, distracted expression, seeming to want to say something, then thought better of it and remained silent.

"Professor!"

Lindsey ran to catch up with him again, then stayed with him, keeping pace but barely.

"What is going on?"

"There's been another attack," he finally said reluctantly, looking at her sidelong.

"The Death-eaters?"

Snape nodded.

"What happened?" Lindsey asked gravely. Her heart sank and her good mood vanished; it was bad this time- she could see it in his eyes.

"A teacher has been abducted," he answered tensely.

"Oh!" Lindsey gasped, stopping abruptly. Then she had to run yet again to catch up with him still going at his break-neck speed.

"So why are you handling it? Shouldn't, you know, Dumbledore do it or something? Or Professor Balbossa?"

Snape scowled at her.

"Well, he is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," she said apologetically.

"He's the one that's been taken," Snape snorted disdainfully. Lindsey was hardly surprised.

Yup, that seems like something that bozo would get himself into, she thought cynically. Still however Snape maintained his stony silence, plowing on beside her.

"Well, are you going to tell me what you plan on doing about it?" she finally asked, stepping in front of him, blocking his path, forcing him to stop.

He looked at her with a pained expression on his face.

"Look, Lindsey… I can't tell you." And with that he pushed past her and was on his way again.

"You won't find them that way," she called suddenly from behind him. "The Death-eaters, I mean." Snape stopped dead and turned around slowly.

"What?" He walked back to her and she spoke low and quickly.

"There's a statue on the fourth floor, of a… a witch, I think… anyway, it pushes aside to reveal a staircase. Follow the staircase and you'll come to a big room; that's where they meet."

"Wait- how do you know this?" Snape asked incredulously.

"Never mind how I know- you'll just have to trust me!" she insisted, beginning to push him gently in the right direction. Snape seemed reluctant but he began to speed down that way nonetheless, Lindsey following in his wake.

"Wait a second, you're not coming!" Snape said, noticing her presence. "Go back to your commonroom and stay there!"

"I'm going with you," Lindsey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No you're not," Snape replied shortly.

"Yes, I am."

"There's nothing you can do!"

"I can help!"

"No!" Snape stopped with an exasperated sigh and put his hands on her shoulders. "You are not coming," he said with finality.

"Look, I can show you where it is," she said, taking his hands off gently. "We can get there a lot faster." And with that she took off running down the corridor. Snape just stood, looking after her. Then she tripped on the hem of her robes, sending her sprawling head first, sliding several feet down the hallway. Getting up she looked around embarrassedly.

"Well? You coming?" she asked agitatedly, blushing under her veil of hair. Snape stifled a smile and took off after her.

"Here, this is the one," Lindsey said when they had reached the statue Cari had shown her.

"Now will you tell me how on earth you know about this?" Snape asked breathlessly, having just sprinted to the fourth floor from the dungeons and taking out his wand.

"We don't have time for that right now," she muttered, pushing against the statue with all her strength, grunting with exertion, feet sliding on the smooth marble floor. But the statue wouldn't budge.

Snape walked slowly around it and, as Lindsey took a break, gasping for air, pushed against the other side. The statue slid over with ease.

"Oh, well, that works," she said, still catching her breath. Snape looked down the staircase just revealed with wonder and apprehension. He turned to Lindsey with a fierce gleam in his eyes.

"Now you stay here," he said forcefully, starting down the hole.

"No," she replied just as forcefully, her eyes burning. "I am not about to let you take on a room full of Death-eaters on your own!" Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise at her passion.

"Not that you couldn't handle it of course," she added quickly.

Snape closed his eyes and took a big breath and seemed to be going against his better judgment as he said, "Fine."

Lindsey jumped quickly into the hole after him, smiling at her victory in their battle of wills. Snape uttered a spell Lindsey couldn't make out and the statue slid over their heads, plunging them into darkness.

"Lumos!" Lindsey uttered and smiled at Snape as her wand tip burst into flame. Snape just scowled at her and turned back to begin down the foreboding stairway.

"What else do you know about this place?" he whispered as they descended.

"Not much, really," she replied.

Then they reached the bottom of the stops. With the utmost stealth they turned into the room, wands raised, the stopped in shock at what they saw.

Nothing.

"What?! They should be here!" Lindsey cried, dropping her wand arm she had poised for action disappointedly. Snape however did not let his guard down whatsoever.

"Take a look around," he ordered quietly, gazing about the dusty room warily. "And be careful." He threw her a meaningful look. Lindsey nodded.

The two walked cautiously about the cavernous empty room, not finding much. Then Lindsey saw something piled in the corner.

"Professor! Look at this!" she called. Snape ran over and Lindsey picked up one of the items.

"Professor Balbossa's stolen things," he said in answer to her questioning gaze. She nodded and replaced the jar, then gasped. There in the corner was a Starblaze 250. Only one person she knew of owned a Starblaze.

"What the…?"

"Lindsey, wait-" But it was too late. Both of them reached for the broom and the second they touched it the room exploded around them, wind rushing by their ears, and both feeling a none too pleasant abdominal sensation as of a hook pulling from just above the navel. The broom was a Portkey.

Lindsey shook her dizzy and confused head, trying to clear her vision while Snape looked around the room they had both just been dropped in.

It was a large room, quite possibly larger than the one they had just left, heavily draped in crimson velvet with gothic candelabras everywhere, casting eerie, deceptive shadows. The broom sat next to Lindsey: a two-way Portkey. Then Snape noticed Lindsey gesturing wildly, seemingly speaking, though no sound was coming out. He himself tried to speak but to no avail. Suddenly a movement behind Lindsey caught his eye, a person, and she turned around, following his gaze. She gasped in surprise as she recognized who it was.

Rupert Render.

He wasn't wearing his glasses and his red hair was slicked back from his face; he grin was no longer charming but frightening, and the look in his eyes made Lindsey's stomach drop. She opened her mouth to speak, but of course couldn't.

"Professor Balbossa's silent charms certainly came in handy," he said. His voice was lower than usual and sleek as a serpent. Lindsey followed his gaze to see Professor Balbossa tied unconscious to a pole to one side of the room.

With one wave of Rupert's wand two more poles appeared and Lindsey felt herself being lifted and her hands and feet being bound at the same time. Before she could respond at all she and Snape were tied magically to the poles, their wands in Rupert's hand.

"Well now, let's see," he said, speaking as if he were making conversation at tea, though still with that unnerving gleam in his eyes. "Lindsey Wormtongue, isn't it? Yes… and Professor Snape! How funny you should be here, Severus!" He laughed, giggled really, and Lindsey felt her skin crawl.

"Why is that?" Snape spat. Obviously the silence charm had been lifted.

"Well, you see, I had set a trap in your office to bring you here. Unfortunately, this fellow"- he jerked his head at Balbossa- "sprung it first. Really Severus, you should put better locking charms on your office door!" He smiled that disgusting smile.

"But why did you want me here?" Snape asked. Lindsey sensed he was simply stalling for time, mind racing as to what to do.

"Because, silly," Rupert began lightly, sounding for all the world like a cat playing with its as-good-as-dead prey. "Lord Voldemort found out about you, Severus. And he doesn't like it when his followers betray him."

At Lindsey's gasp Rupert looked at her sharply.

"My, my, you never told her? Tsk, tsk… Why not tell her now, ey Sev?"

Snape glared venom at Rupert, for using that idiotic nickname and for bringing this up.

"Well, we're waiting," Rupert said with mock impatience. "If you don't tell her, I will."

Snape glared at him again; if looks could kill, Rupert and everyone within a mile radius would be pushing up daisies.

He took a deep breath, knowing this would be hard. Then he looked up into Lindsey's eyes, the only eyes that had ever looked at him quite like that and lost all reserve. He couldn't tell this girl that had such faith in him, that looked up to him so, that he was a Death-eater. Luckily, then Rupert did it for him. Snape glared at him once more, then at the ground, waiting for Lindsey's reply.

"I know," she said softly. Snape's head shot up in surprise.

"You… you know?"

Lindsey nodded. "Since before Christmas."

Snape just blinked. She knew… and she didn't care… He turned to see her looking at him sadly.

"Aw, spoil all my fun!" Rupert pouted petulantly. "But no matter; back to business." Here he began to circle them slowly as he spoke.

"You know, I've been trying to think of a suitable punishment for you since Lord Voldemort told me of your treachery. Lucius should be arriving here soon… perhaps he'll have some ideas." Rupert stopped and stared at them contemplatively. Snape tensed as he sensed Balbossa stir behind him, and hoped Rupert hadn't noticed.

He hadn't. He had been staring at Lindsey intently, when his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Do you know," he spoke cunningly, "what Lord Voldemort also told me? After telling me what a traitor you are, of course, Severus. It had to do with you, Miss Wormtongue… and the rather untimely death of your parents."

Lindsey stiffened and Rupert smiled coldly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked sharply.

"Surely you remember, Severus?" he asked him, striding to Lindsey. "After all, who could forget those stunning eyes?" He spoke softly and lifted her chin in his hand, the fingertips of the other brushing back her hair and sliding down her cheek, their faces very close. Lindsey jerked away from his touch contemptuously.

"What is he talking about Professor?" she asked, unable to keep the anxiety from her voice. Looking to Snape she was horrified to see the fear now in his eyes as he looked fiercely at Rupert.

"Yes, Professor, why don't you tell her? After all, you were there," Rupert hissed, grinning widely.

"What?" Lindsey tried to look at Snape but his eyes were closed, his face twisted into a grimace as if in pain.

"She really doesn't remember? Poor thing… The mind does tend to block out extreme trauma such as that. You didn't think it was true because she thought she was born in America," Rupert spoke softly, glaring at Snape. "There had to be more than one family name 'Wormtongue' you figured. But you were wrong."

"No…no, it can't be!" Snape said more to himself, though hardly sounding as sure.

"Oh yes it can, Severus! It can and it is!" Rupert spat with a smile.

"What is he talking about, Professor?" Lindsey whispered.

"Tell her then, Severus, tell her about the night her parents died," Rupert continued, his voice rising. "Tell her how you were there. Tell her how you killed her parents!"

He turned now to Lindsey, his eyes burning.

"No… No! No- you're a liar!" she shouted. She turned to Snape, on the verge of hysterics, her eyes pleading. "Isn't he?"

Snape finally looked into her blazing eyes helplessly. Rupert smiled, baring his teeth, enjoying their suffering immensely, beginning to circle them again as he spoke.

"Well I happened to get to see it myself- Lord Voldemort is a wonderful Legilimens you know; I saw it all quite clearly." He emphasized the last two words, pausing cruelly, his eyes sparkling malevolently before he continued, speaking now only to Lindsey.

"Your father was the first to die, getting the much better fate, let me assure you. He tried to fight three Death-eaters and Lord Voldemort himself! Some called him 'brave'- really he was just stupid.

"After he was out of the way it was just your mother, who they tortured, but could not get to reveal the location of the Order of the Phoenix; she'd never give it up… at least, not by those means of… persuasion." Here Rupert smiled like a snake, and Lindsey, though already chilled, felt a shiver run down her spine.

"As I said, Lord Voldemort is a superb Legilimens, and he very easily found that the Wormtongues had a daughter. Five years old, I think you were? Well, finding you wasn't hard- you were hiding behind the couch watching everything. Poor dear." Rupert stretched out a hand to stroke her hair and again she jerked away. He smiled, seeming to be enjoying this very much.

"What the Death-eaters did then may not have been what I would have chosen to do, but I still commend them on their creativity. They dragged your mother outside after you were locked in a closet, then set the house on fire! The closet door had been jinxed so that your mother could hear every one of your screams as if you were right there."

Lindsey swallowed as a tear slid down her face.

"Only later did they find out the information lay with a Secret-keeper," he went on. "So even if your mother had survived the torture she could never have told us.

"But I'm sure you're wondering how beloved Professor Snape fits in, aren't you? Well, you already know Severus was a Death-eater, and that night- he was there. In fact…" He paused as if thinking, sounding happier than ever. "I do believe he was the one who spoke the curse that killed your father…"

And then- Lindsey remembered.

She could see it all in the mind's eye of her memory, living her recurring nightmare. She could see her father's face as he died clear as day, the scene replayed in her mind against her will, felt the scream that had welled up in her breast. These memories had been repressed for ten years but now she couldn't stop the flood. No longer seeing or hearing the real world around her she instead bore witness yet again to her mother's torture.

"Why are you doing this?" Snape cried in anguish, Rupert smiling over Lindsey's form, twisted in agony. "She didn't do anything! It's me you want to punish!"

"Oh but I am…" Rupert said, smiling cruelly.

Snape cringed as Lindsey let out a sob.

"I remember…" she murmured tearfully. "I remember it all."

"And now," Rupert cried, still speaking to Snape. "You can watch her die- like she was supposed to!"

Lindsey could just hear Snape's muffled yell before the world burst into flame before her eyes. It was just like in her dream; just like it had been ten years ago. She was back in the dark closet and the flames were licking at the door, the ceiling. She started to cry, started to scream. Her lungs filled with smoke and she was racked by a fit of coughing. A piece of flaming wood from the ceiling fell next to her and she ran to the other side of the crampt room, collapsing in fire around her.

How had she escaped that day? All she could remember was what happened before- yet she had to have gotten out somehow. And more importantly, how was she going to get out now?

She jumped as the door creaked; leaning in on it's melting hinges, wood ablaze. Lindsey coughed again and it hit her: she was going to die here.

It was so hot, she thought she might pass out from the heat and it would all be over then. The haze of smoke was thick but not thick enough to shield her eyes from the blinding blaze of the inferno that surrounded her. Briefly she wondered if this was what hell was like. What she could actually see started to swim before her eyes and she could feel herself falling. She wanted to give up, to let go; she wanted to die now.

Then she saw movement outside the door. Eyes watering from the smoke and intense heat she squinted to see what it was.

No, it can't be… she thought. But it was.

Severus Snape.

Lindsey's eyes closed as her mind jolted back ten years ago to a little girl locked in the closet of a burning house. A man had saved her, had come in and taken her out and stayed with her outside until the firemen had come when he just… disappeared.

The two men were actually one and the same.

Snape remembered that day. He hadn't known it then but that was one of the last "jobs" he went on. He remembered the little girl whose father he had just killed, and who he was now locking in a closet.

He remembered her eyes.

Outside they had tortured her mother, but it was not only she who suffered; the screams from inside the closet could be heard by all. Then… then her mother died, and the others left; he said he would catch up and before he knew what he was doing he was going back into the house for the little girl.

He had carried her, coughing and crying, outside onto the grass. She had clung to him sobbing, but he had pushed her off and moved away, disapparating as soon as the muggle firefighters arrived, never to see the little girl again.

Until now.

Snape coughed, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his robe.

"Give me your hand!"

Lindsey could just make out the muffled yell. As she reached out to clasp his outstretched hand the door fell in completely, causing Lindsey to jump backwards with a scream. She looked back towards Snape now seeing him through a wall of flames. He was shouting something but she couldn't understand over the deafening roar of the inferno surrounding them.

"What?" she yelled back.

"Jump!"

She hesitated only a moment, then jumped through the fire. She made it through and Snape grasped her hand and began pulling her away, but her long robes had caught on the incinerating door. She heard a rip as the fabric gave way, burning.

Being dragged through the firestorm by Snape, she screamed as the floor suddenly gave way and she felt them falling, falling-

Then the fire was gone and they were back in the shadowy candle-lit room.

Lindsey gazed around wildly, then looked at Snape, panting, face smudged with ash.

"Oh Professor!" The cry wrenched painfully from her smoke-filled throat. She ran forward and threw her arms around him, burying her head in his robes, her thin body racked with tears.

And this time, Snape did not push her away.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" he murmured into her hair, over and over, almost to tears himself; of everything he had done as a Death-eater, there was nothing he regretted more.

He held her head to his chest protectively, stroking her hair, embracing her tightly as if he'd never let go, the fierce love of a father burning in his chest.

"How touching," a breathless voice behind them spat in disgust. Snape turned his head to see Rupert, panting and bleeding from a gash on his head, then behind him Jon Balbossa, sprawled on the floor, wand hanging limply from his hand.

"I know I was to wait for Voldemort," Rupert whispered dangerously, pointing his wand, all levity gone from his voice. "But I'm really going to enjoy killing you!"

Snape braced himself in front of the still-sobbing Lindsey, holding her tighter, knowing the next- and last- words he would hear would be the Death Curse.

"Avada Kedava!"

Snape opened his eyes. He wasn't dead. And he swore the curse had been uttered by more than one person. He whirled around to see both Rupert and Balbossa lying on the floor in crumpled, lifeless heaps. They had both said the curse at the same time, and they had both met the same fate. Suddenly a voice sounded from the shadows, a silky voice Snape recognized all too well.

"Really, Rupert," Lucius said to the red-headed corpse. "I leave you alone for ten minutes and you get yourself killed. No wonder Lord Voldemort wanted me here to supervise.

"And Severus-" He now turned toward Snape, standing in front of Lindsey, who was sniffling and roughly wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I do believe Lord Voldemort wishes to see you." He glared at him icily. Then he noticed Lindsey.

"Who is this?" he asked, his eyes flickering briefly back to Snape.

"Lindsey Wormtongue," she said, stepping out from behind him.

"Wormtongue…?" Lucius paused in thought, looking between her and Severus. Then recognition dawned on his face. "Is this… the girl from…? Remarkable that you lived. I remember your parents quite well." He smiled evilly. "You know, it's fitting, almost… poetic, really, that you shall be meeting the same end as them."

With that Lucius raised his wand and-

"No!"

Suddenly a girl in a Death-eater mask jumped in front of his wand.

"Cari, what are you doing?" Lucius cried angrily, quickly lowering his wand.

"Cari?!" Lindsey exclaimed in surprise.

Slowly the girl lowered her hood and took off her mask.

"It's me," she said, smiling pathetically.

"Well… wh-what are you doing here?" Lindsey asked incredulously. Cari shifted uncomfortably and didn't answer for a long time.

"I came with Draco," she finally replied haltingly. And indeed Draco was now there in front of Lucius.

"Lindsey, we've got to get out of here," Snape suddenly whispered behind her. Lindsey took instant note of the strain and urgency in his voice.

"Come on Cari, let's go," she said gesturing to her friend. She was surprised to see Cari hesitate.

"Cari!" she yelled. "You're not… you're not staying… are you?" Cari stared hard at the ground, not meeting her eyes.

"These people killed my parents, Cari!" she shrieked hysterically. "If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be an orphan!" Tears had again sprung to her eyes and she couldn't suppress a sob.

Cari looked up in surprise.

"What?"

Lindsey shook her head, unwilling and unable to tell Cari the details. It took all she had to just get a hold of herself and not break down sobbing again. She started slightly as she felt Snape put his hand on her shoulder, moving closer reassuringly. At last she was able to look up at Cari again.

"Cari… please," Lindsey whispered imploringly.

Cari looked at her friend's tear-stained face, pain-filled eyes- her best friend.

Then she looked back at Draco, so strong and handsome in the candlelight. And Lucius, chin up and commanding- her father; she realized it now. This was the way it had to be.

Agonizingly slowly Cari looked at the ground, then, as she stood firmly next to Draco and Lucius, Draco took her hand, and she raised her eyes to look directly into Lindsey's.

The choice was made.

Lindsey's mouth was open and eyes shining with tears, a living portrait of betrayal. A single tear slid down her cheek. Cari gazed evenly back at her, unwavering, though tears sparkled in her eyes as well. Draco squeezed her hand supportively.

"Come on, Lindsey," Snape whispered, pulling her back gently. Lindsey shook her head, tried to resist, just looking at Cari, not able to comprehend her perfidy.

"I can't just let you leave Severus," Lucius said cogently, raising his wand once again.

"Father…"

Lucius glared sharply at his son who gestured to Cari, and Lucius's glare softened to a scowl. Angrily he dropped his wand arm again.

"When we got here it was too late," he said tersely, glaring intently at Snape. "Rupert and Balbossa were dead and you two were gone."

Snape nodded ever so slightly in gratitude, and he and Lindsey grabbed the broomstick, and were gone.