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Not Myself by Saerry Snape

Chapter 177 – Thine Warning Comith

"Achee fai gree brathà dor ilth Fraldge gaian?"

"What?" said Etienne, shocked from his thoughts by the question. He looked to his left and blinked to find Harry walking casually beside him.

"Achee fai gree brathà dor ilth Fraldge gaian?" repeated Harry in Elven. He turned his head slightly and arched an eyebrow at his uncle.

It took Etienne a moment to gather his thoughts and then he replied, "Yes, the meeting with that idiot went well. I scared him out of another twenty years and Albus chuckled the entire time."

Harry snorted and Etienne said, "I understand how you feel about him but don't you think that you should give him a chance to fully explain his reasons?"

"He did explain his reasons, " growled Harry. "And they weren't good ones."

"Ah. Well. He wanted me to deliver his apologies for what he did."

"If you see him, tell him to Hell with his apologies."

Etienne smirked and said, "That is what I told him."

Harry's other eyebrow rose to join its counterpart and he chuckled.

"I think I may actually be starting to like you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Just remember that threat I made earlier stills holds."

Etienne blinked after the tall young man as he picked up speed and strode off down the corridor. Before he turned the corner, the blonde wizard called, "Radhan bour!"

"Ost tahbree!" said Harry over his shoulder before he vanished around the corner.

Etienne shook his head and sighed, lifting one hand to rub at his temples. His original plans had gone so awry since he had arrived here…

He had meant to kill his brother. It had been something he had dreamed of doing for a long time. But now…

Now he really wasn't so sure his father had been telling the truth.

Severus had never held anything against his mother – well, nothing except for the fact that she was the woman who had invaded the house he had seen as his mother's. But Marie Daladier hadn't been looking to take the place of the late Shalay Snape.

She'd just wanted her son to meet his father and brother and to have a safe home.

And that plan hadn't worked out at all.

He'd become attached to his half-brother, who would inevitably be the one to inherit the Snape fortune, as Etienne was only a bastard child. The bastard child of a Death Eater and a French witch.

He'd become attached to the son that Septimius Snape hadn't wanted. The son who was too much like his mother for his own good, despite never knowing her until he was eleven.

Etienne had lost the brother he'd just begun to love after a few weeks and had lived in fear of his father for years afterwards. His seven years at Durmstrang hadn't helped matters and he had wished with all his heart his brother could simply come and whisk him away to the haven of Hogwarts.

But it hadn't happened.

Now he was here, in the castle his brother had adored all those years ago.

And as much as he still wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to kill his brother. Not now.

Not after he'd met his nephew, his brother's son. Wonder of wonders, his brother had a son. A brave, noble son who reminded Etienne of the Severus he'd known.

The Severus who had defied their father and had loved a young boy who had no right to deserve his love. A Severus who had risked his life to escape from their father's clutches.

Etienne smiled and shook his head.

Yes, he was beginning to like his nephew.

And even perhaps beginning to forgive his brother for a wrong that had never been his fault.

Chuckling, Etienne continued down the corridor with a sudden briskness in his step. That was hurtled away the second he rounded the corner. A piercing scream echoed suddenly through his ears and – it seemed – through his head.

Clapping his hands to his ears, he rushed down the corridor towards the sound of the screaming. Racing up a flight of stairs, he found Niamh at the top of them. The dark-haired girl was writhing on the floor, screaming her lungs out as her hands clawed at the floor. Her eyes were wide and staring at the arched ceiling above them.

And they were completely opaque.

Etienne knelt near her, trying to think of what to do. When he drew his wand and prepared to cast a spell, a soft voice from a dark alcove whispered, "It won't help."

"Harry?" queried the blonde wizard.

"Yeah," grumbled Harry, pushing himself forward so part of his face was lit. The rest remained in shadow and gave him a truly eerie appearance.

Etienne frowned as he noted glints of red light reflecting off his nephew's face and then he saw it. The famous lightning bolt scar had begun to bleed fiercely, causing blood to streak the right side of Harry's face. Drops of its spattered on the floor and glistened there.

"What's going on?" demanded Etienne.

Harry looked at his uncle, one eye emerald green and the other a much darker contrast outlined by dark scarlet blood. He then looked at Niamh and snarled, "Tell him. Tell him!"

"Voldemort!" shouted Niamh, her voice raw with anger and fear. "He's coming! He's coming!"

Etienne paled and looked at Harry, who was smiling grimly.

"That's what's going on, uncle," he hissed softly. "Voldemort's making his move. This little war of ours is about to witness its last battle."

"And I've got no idea who's going to win it."

"How did Miss O'Feir sense what's going on?" asked Etienne an hour later in the hospital wing.

"She's a telepath," replied Severus. "And a very powerful one, at that. Harry, what exactly happened?"

"I saw her, went up the stairs to meet her, and the second I touched her she started screaming. My scar started bleeding a second later and I had to move away from her," replied Harry from where he sat gingerly on the end of Niamh's bed. A white bandage that contrasted sharply with his dark hair was wrapped about his forehead, hiding his scar from view.

"Why?" asked Severus.

"Because I got a headache the size of five Hogwarts', that's why. Now it's about the size of two Hogwarts'."

"Ah."

Etienne frowned and looked at his half-brother.

"Did you feel anything?"

"Like my arm was being amputated," growled Severus. "He's up to something."

"He's coming," said Harry, looking grimly at his father. "He's coming to try and take us."

"And to kill his traitor," murmured Severus. "Traitors, I should amend."

"What?"

Severus looked at Etienne and said, "Not only am I considered a traitor to him but Draco as well."

"Simply because the boy didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps?"

"You remember our father, Eti. Would you have wanted to have followed in his footsteps."

There was a small silence before Etienne replied, "I take your point. But what do we do now?"

"Fight," replied Harry. "Its all we can do."

"He's coming," moaned Niamh suddenly in her sleep, head writhing from side to side. "He's coming!"

"Shh," said Harry, leaning over to lay his hand over hers.

Severus and Etienne looked at the young couple before they looked at each other. It wouldn't be them fighting whatever battle came to Hogwarts.

It would be the students.

And most of them weren't ready for what was coming.

Elven Translations

"Achee fai gree brathà dor ilth Fraldge gaian?" - "How did the meeting with Fudge go?"

"Radhan bour!" – "Be careful!"

"Ost tahbree!" – "Of course!"

Author's Note

This chap seems a bit…rushed…to me but I can't figure out how to fix it. So its being posted as is and I'm hoping that whenever I start working on rewriting NM, I can figure out what's up with this chap.

And, yes, folks, we're almost at the end. Maybe one more chapter and then the battle will begin. As I've said before, I've already got the battle chapters written. They just need to be refined to fix what has happened since they were written.

If I'm figuring right, there may be four more chapters left in NM. Not sure if that counts the epilogue I've got written (and also need to rewrite) or not.

We'll just have to see.

And remember, guys, I've got a sequel planned for NM, an AU fic, and possibly the NM rewrites of the rest of the canon books. As to how those are going, the sequel was written a good while ago and needs some serious rewriting while the AU is about three chapters in, and I still don't even know if I'm going to do the canon rewrites.

As I said, we'll just have to see.