Author's Notes: None of the main characters in this story are going to
die. Happy ending? I haven't decided quite honestly, I have two versions
that I'm playing around with. One quite happy, one bittersweet. Depends
on where I decide to let the story end. But either way, it won't be pure
tragedy.
Disclaimer: Nothing from the books and movies belongs to me.
Chapter 27: Self-Service and Sacrifice.
The couple was instantly transported back to England. Mira's portkey was set to deliver them directly to Dumbledore's office. They arrived just after breakfast time. Dumbledore and McGonagall were sitting in front of the fire conversing when Mira and Snape apparated into the middle of the floor, still clutching each other tightly.
"For Heaven's Sake!" Exclaimed McGonagall, leaping to her feet.
Half a world closer to Voldemort, the pain in Snape's arm increased tenfold. He pulled his legs close to his chest and made a deep roaring noise. Mira jumped to her feet and turned towards the Headmaster and his assistant.
"You've got to help him, he's in terrible pain!"
Snape looked up at Dumbledore and spoke with clenched teeth. "Albus. My robe pocket. There's a case of potion vials. The dark red one. It'll lessen the pain for a while." He sat on the floor, clutching his arm, while Dumbledore rifled through his pockets for the vial. He uncorked it and helped the professor take a drink of the contents. Dumbledore and McGonagall helped him to his feet and over to one of the armchairs.
"I've got to go. The mark's been burning for the past hour. If I don't get out now, I won't be able to get out on my own and I'll have to wait for them to come and get me."
Mira grabbed the older wizard's robe. "NO! You can't let him go, they'll kill him! PLEASE! Do something! Help him!"
Snape tried to get up from the chair and dizzily sank back down in it. "Mira, STOP! Don't make this any more difficult than it already is. You knew what would happen when we got back here, accept what has to be!"
"No! I'm not going to give up that easily!"
"You have no choice in the matter, now please let me leave so that I can do what I must do! I have explained to you numerous times that if there were any other choice, things would not end this way, but I cannot change the way it must be!"
Dumbledore stepped between the two and held up his hands. "Minerva! Keep him in that chair; do not let him go anywhere. Mira! Come with me dear, I need to talk to you."
Mira looked at Snape. McGonagall was standing behind the chair, gripping his shoulders tightly, and preventing him from getting up. Mira looked at Dumbledore with a pleading look on her face.
"It's okay dear, he's not going anywhere until I say he is. Now please, come with me."
She followed him to his private office. He shut the door and bid her sit down, as he took his seat in the chair behind the large wooden desk.
"Mira. I know that this is tremendously difficult for you to accept, but there is nothing that I can do to undo the bond, which links him to Voldemort. Do you understand me Mira, I cannot undo it."
He looked her in the eye with a wry smile and she realized what he was saying.
"But I can. I can use the amulet and break that bond and set him free of it!"
Mira leapt to her feet and turned towards the door.
"Mira! Wait!"
Mira turned back to the headmaster and sat back down.
"Listen to me Mira. He may not want this. He feels as if this is the only way to make amends for what he has done."
"But headmaster, hasn't he done enough?"
"He has punished himself for his actions every day for the past decade. In my eyes, he has paid his debt a dozen times over. His service as a spy and source of information on the inner workings of Voldemort's following has been invaluable. He has wiped the slate clean, and would receive no punishment from the ministry because of the sacrifices he has made and risks he has taken to further the cause. But he feels that no amount of repentance will ever be good enough, and that is why he is so willing to go swiftly to his death."
"Think about this very carefully Mira. Are you willing to use your precious amulet to give him back his life because you believe he would be grateful for it, or because you can't bear to let him go?"
"Headmaster, I."
"Shhh. I don't need to know the answer Mira. The answer to that question is something which you will have to live with once the deed is done."
Dumbledore twined his fingers together and bowed his head in concentration. "I must say he still has a great deal to offer to the resistance. He's the most accomplished potioner that I know of, and he could continue to assist the resistance with his working knowledge of the dark arts. It would be very foolish to waste his talents by allowing him to sacrifice himself in an act of contrition. If approached the right way, he will agree to it so that he may continue serving the alliance between resistance front and ministry, fighting Voldemort and his followers."
Dumbledore sat forward in his chair, looking very serious.
"But Mira, there is something I must ask from you in return, something which you may not be prepared to readily give."
Mira looked at the old man suspiciously.
"When Severus said that you are not safe here, he meant it. I have watched you closely, and I am afraid that I cannot trust you to not place yourself in a dangerous situation trying to help him. And if you go into hiding, I know that you couldn't resist the temptation to sneak back and check up on him. These are dangerous times Mira, and even free from his bonds to Voldemort, he would not be completely out of danger until the dark uprising is completely neutralized. He would also focus on you and I am afraid he will need all of his concentration in the coming months. And once word gets back to Voldemort that you are the one responsible for freeing him, you will be a marked woman."
"What I ask from you in return for allowing you to use your amulet to save him is to remove parts of your memory, memory of the events related to this conflict. And also to send you into hiding in the muggle world, but not back home to America, they've already traced you there once."
"But Headmaster! I'd forget completely about him.. It'd be losing him but just in a different way!"
"Not forever Mira. I want you to let me remove all of your memories related to this conflict, and place them in a pensieve, where they will be preserved and kept safe until the day when this battle is over and you can safely return to England. Then I will return the memories to your consciousness and the two of you will be free to go wherever fate takes you."
"Do I have to lose all of my memories of him? Can't I keep the early ones?"
"The very early ones. No more."
Mira shook her head in consent, sad to not be getting exactly what she had hoped for, but relieved that the professor wouldn't face certain death.
"Who can you go stay with Mira? Do you have family living in the muggle world?"
"My grandmother, in France. She's still alive, and living outside of a small seaside village near Calais."
"Very well. Now, remember what I told you. He may not be at all happy about the decision you have made. Are you sure that this is what you feel is best?"
"I'm sure Headmaster."
"Then so it shall be. Go to him, he hasn't got long until the mark reaches terminal effect."
Mira and Dumbledore rose and returned to the sitting room. Snape was leaning back in the chair, unconscious. McGonagall sat in the other chair, empty crystal vial in hand.
"Albus, he was in severe pain and struggling to leave, I gave him the rest of the potion to try and buy a little more time."
"It's okay Minerva. He won't be leaving our side. Mira has decided to use the amulet to break the bonds of the dark mark."
McGonagall jumped to her feet in protest.
"Albus! This is insane! Think of all the things that can be done with that amulet! It will be a month before we can use it again! Are you quite sure that this is the wisest use for it?"
"Minerva, it's her choice to make, and she has made her choice. Now, please, come with me and I will point out the benefits of this course of events. I also require your skills as a linguist, there's a floo network fireplace in France which I need to contact somebody through."
Dumbledore and McGonagall left the room, giving Snape and Mira some privacy. She went to his side, and kneeled down next to the chair. She undid the first couple of buttons on her robe, exposing the amulet. She then pulled the sneakascope off and laid it on the ground next to her. His arm was resting on the arm of the chair. She gently pushed the sleeve of his robe up to expose the inky black dark mark. He didn't stir in the potion-induced stupor. She rubbed her hands together and looked up at his face. In unconsciousness she saw the same expression of sadness and regret that he always wore when the façade was dropped. She pressed her palms together, and then she placed them over the mark. After a minute of deep concentration, a luminous glow started to emanate from her hands and bathed both of them in what appeared to be liquid moonlight. When the energy had reached its peak, she silently recited the words that would undo the curse and sever the bonds between Snape and Voldemort for good. The light between her hands and his arm intensified to pure silver white and the mark began to lift from the surface, pulling itself from his body in a twisting ribbon of darkness, which disappeared into the light. The last bit of the dark bond was pulled from his body, and the glow started to fade away until it was gone. Mira pulled the sleeve back down to his wrist, rose, and went to the door of Dumbledore's private office and knocked.
McGonagall opened the door, and Mira entered and sat in the chair across from Dumbledore.
"It's done. It's been pulled completely from his body. There should be no trace left whatsoever. He's free."
She reached up and pulled the amulet over her head, and handed it to McGonagall.
"You know how it works, it will be exactly twenty-eight days until it can be used again. When it's recharged, you will put it on, making sure it's touching your skin and not covered by your robes. Then you will rub your hands and press your palms together to start the flow of energy. It'll feel strange, like your body is becoming heavier. Then you either touch what you wish to undo with the palms of your hands, or point your wand towards it. The incantation is "Extundo Plene".
McGonagall looked at the object in her hand, and then back up at Mira with a pursed look upon her face, and slipped it into her pocket.
At that moment, Professor Snape came charging through the door, Mira's miniature sneakascope in his hand; which was trembling with a combination of surprise and anger.
"Mira! Do not tell me that you've done what I think you've just done!"
"I couldn't have lived with myself knowing that I chose not to do it."
"Mira, it was not your choice to make."
"I'm sorry, I did it for you."
"Don't lie to me Mira, you did it for yourself and you know it."
Dumbledore rose from his chair and stepped from behind his desk.
"It doesn't matter why she did it, what matters is that she did. She and I had a chat and came to the conclusion that you are still quite valuable to the resistance cause, and allowing you to return to Voldemort and meet your death would be a shameful waste of human potential. You will continue to serve the resistance, but no longer as a spy. You will serve us as a master potioner, and an instructor of defense against the dark arts to those who will be going into battle. It is very rare indeed to have the expertise of one who has had firsthand experience in how the enemy works. You will forgive us for this decision, will you not?"
Snape stood in the doorway, eyes darting from Mira to Dumbledore, wondering just what had conspired during the time he was unconscious. Dumbledore smiled and walked towards the door.
"Come Minerva, I believe there will be a visitor arriving momentarily, I would like you to accompany me to receive her."
Dumbledore and McGonagall left the office and returned to the sitting room. Snape leaned against the edge of Dumbledore's desk and looked at Mira, who was sitting on the chair across from him. She opened her mouth to speak and he interrupted her curtly.
"No. Don't. I don't want you to try and explain why you did this. I know quite well the real reason why you did. I am not ungrateful mind you. Dumbledore has a point. I can offer more in the fight against Voldemort alive than dead. But none of this means that you will be able to remain here with me. If anything, your life is even more in danger now than before. Voldemort will not let the news that his servant was taken from him by a mere woman pass lightly. He'll send Death Eaters after you, and your only chance is to hide in the open, within the muggle world. But even then, you cannot have any contact with me or the wizarding world Mira, none whatsoever, because it could be intercepted and traced to you."
"I know. Dumbledore already told me. He's going to remove my memories of anything related to this conflict and store them away in a pensieve until the wizarding war is over. You'll be free to do all that you can to help the resistance without having to worry about me interfering. I'm afraid that no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not find a different way for us."
"You tampered with fate Mira. You had no right to do that. But I am grateful that you did."
She stood and let him take her into his arms. He stroked her hair gently and whispered into her ear. "Don't be sad Mira. Remember what I told you the night after we went flying? That if there were any other way, this would be a beginning?"
She shook her head yes.
"That promise still stands."
She placed her hand on his cheek and looked up into his eyes. She saw something new there. For the first time, she saw a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. She pulled his face towards hers and kissed him. "When this battle is over, and Voldemort is gone for good, and his followers are rounded up and captured, you come find me. Dumbledore may remove my memories, but I will not forget you."
They held each other tightly until there was a knock upon the door. Dumbledore stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. "Mira, it's time."
Disclaimer: Nothing from the books and movies belongs to me.
Chapter 27: Self-Service and Sacrifice.
The couple was instantly transported back to England. Mira's portkey was set to deliver them directly to Dumbledore's office. They arrived just after breakfast time. Dumbledore and McGonagall were sitting in front of the fire conversing when Mira and Snape apparated into the middle of the floor, still clutching each other tightly.
"For Heaven's Sake!" Exclaimed McGonagall, leaping to her feet.
Half a world closer to Voldemort, the pain in Snape's arm increased tenfold. He pulled his legs close to his chest and made a deep roaring noise. Mira jumped to her feet and turned towards the Headmaster and his assistant.
"You've got to help him, he's in terrible pain!"
Snape looked up at Dumbledore and spoke with clenched teeth. "Albus. My robe pocket. There's a case of potion vials. The dark red one. It'll lessen the pain for a while." He sat on the floor, clutching his arm, while Dumbledore rifled through his pockets for the vial. He uncorked it and helped the professor take a drink of the contents. Dumbledore and McGonagall helped him to his feet and over to one of the armchairs.
"I've got to go. The mark's been burning for the past hour. If I don't get out now, I won't be able to get out on my own and I'll have to wait for them to come and get me."
Mira grabbed the older wizard's robe. "NO! You can't let him go, they'll kill him! PLEASE! Do something! Help him!"
Snape tried to get up from the chair and dizzily sank back down in it. "Mira, STOP! Don't make this any more difficult than it already is. You knew what would happen when we got back here, accept what has to be!"
"No! I'm not going to give up that easily!"
"You have no choice in the matter, now please let me leave so that I can do what I must do! I have explained to you numerous times that if there were any other choice, things would not end this way, but I cannot change the way it must be!"
Dumbledore stepped between the two and held up his hands. "Minerva! Keep him in that chair; do not let him go anywhere. Mira! Come with me dear, I need to talk to you."
Mira looked at Snape. McGonagall was standing behind the chair, gripping his shoulders tightly, and preventing him from getting up. Mira looked at Dumbledore with a pleading look on her face.
"It's okay dear, he's not going anywhere until I say he is. Now please, come with me."
She followed him to his private office. He shut the door and bid her sit down, as he took his seat in the chair behind the large wooden desk.
"Mira. I know that this is tremendously difficult for you to accept, but there is nothing that I can do to undo the bond, which links him to Voldemort. Do you understand me Mira, I cannot undo it."
He looked her in the eye with a wry smile and she realized what he was saying.
"But I can. I can use the amulet and break that bond and set him free of it!"
Mira leapt to her feet and turned towards the door.
"Mira! Wait!"
Mira turned back to the headmaster and sat back down.
"Listen to me Mira. He may not want this. He feels as if this is the only way to make amends for what he has done."
"But headmaster, hasn't he done enough?"
"He has punished himself for his actions every day for the past decade. In my eyes, he has paid his debt a dozen times over. His service as a spy and source of information on the inner workings of Voldemort's following has been invaluable. He has wiped the slate clean, and would receive no punishment from the ministry because of the sacrifices he has made and risks he has taken to further the cause. But he feels that no amount of repentance will ever be good enough, and that is why he is so willing to go swiftly to his death."
"Think about this very carefully Mira. Are you willing to use your precious amulet to give him back his life because you believe he would be grateful for it, or because you can't bear to let him go?"
"Headmaster, I."
"Shhh. I don't need to know the answer Mira. The answer to that question is something which you will have to live with once the deed is done."
Dumbledore twined his fingers together and bowed his head in concentration. "I must say he still has a great deal to offer to the resistance. He's the most accomplished potioner that I know of, and he could continue to assist the resistance with his working knowledge of the dark arts. It would be very foolish to waste his talents by allowing him to sacrifice himself in an act of contrition. If approached the right way, he will agree to it so that he may continue serving the alliance between resistance front and ministry, fighting Voldemort and his followers."
Dumbledore sat forward in his chair, looking very serious.
"But Mira, there is something I must ask from you in return, something which you may not be prepared to readily give."
Mira looked at the old man suspiciously.
"When Severus said that you are not safe here, he meant it. I have watched you closely, and I am afraid that I cannot trust you to not place yourself in a dangerous situation trying to help him. And if you go into hiding, I know that you couldn't resist the temptation to sneak back and check up on him. These are dangerous times Mira, and even free from his bonds to Voldemort, he would not be completely out of danger until the dark uprising is completely neutralized. He would also focus on you and I am afraid he will need all of his concentration in the coming months. And once word gets back to Voldemort that you are the one responsible for freeing him, you will be a marked woman."
"What I ask from you in return for allowing you to use your amulet to save him is to remove parts of your memory, memory of the events related to this conflict. And also to send you into hiding in the muggle world, but not back home to America, they've already traced you there once."
"But Headmaster! I'd forget completely about him.. It'd be losing him but just in a different way!"
"Not forever Mira. I want you to let me remove all of your memories related to this conflict, and place them in a pensieve, where they will be preserved and kept safe until the day when this battle is over and you can safely return to England. Then I will return the memories to your consciousness and the two of you will be free to go wherever fate takes you."
"Do I have to lose all of my memories of him? Can't I keep the early ones?"
"The very early ones. No more."
Mira shook her head in consent, sad to not be getting exactly what she had hoped for, but relieved that the professor wouldn't face certain death.
"Who can you go stay with Mira? Do you have family living in the muggle world?"
"My grandmother, in France. She's still alive, and living outside of a small seaside village near Calais."
"Very well. Now, remember what I told you. He may not be at all happy about the decision you have made. Are you sure that this is what you feel is best?"
"I'm sure Headmaster."
"Then so it shall be. Go to him, he hasn't got long until the mark reaches terminal effect."
Mira and Dumbledore rose and returned to the sitting room. Snape was leaning back in the chair, unconscious. McGonagall sat in the other chair, empty crystal vial in hand.
"Albus, he was in severe pain and struggling to leave, I gave him the rest of the potion to try and buy a little more time."
"It's okay Minerva. He won't be leaving our side. Mira has decided to use the amulet to break the bonds of the dark mark."
McGonagall jumped to her feet in protest.
"Albus! This is insane! Think of all the things that can be done with that amulet! It will be a month before we can use it again! Are you quite sure that this is the wisest use for it?"
"Minerva, it's her choice to make, and she has made her choice. Now, please, come with me and I will point out the benefits of this course of events. I also require your skills as a linguist, there's a floo network fireplace in France which I need to contact somebody through."
Dumbledore and McGonagall left the room, giving Snape and Mira some privacy. She went to his side, and kneeled down next to the chair. She undid the first couple of buttons on her robe, exposing the amulet. She then pulled the sneakascope off and laid it on the ground next to her. His arm was resting on the arm of the chair. She gently pushed the sleeve of his robe up to expose the inky black dark mark. He didn't stir in the potion-induced stupor. She rubbed her hands together and looked up at his face. In unconsciousness she saw the same expression of sadness and regret that he always wore when the façade was dropped. She pressed her palms together, and then she placed them over the mark. After a minute of deep concentration, a luminous glow started to emanate from her hands and bathed both of them in what appeared to be liquid moonlight. When the energy had reached its peak, she silently recited the words that would undo the curse and sever the bonds between Snape and Voldemort for good. The light between her hands and his arm intensified to pure silver white and the mark began to lift from the surface, pulling itself from his body in a twisting ribbon of darkness, which disappeared into the light. The last bit of the dark bond was pulled from his body, and the glow started to fade away until it was gone. Mira pulled the sleeve back down to his wrist, rose, and went to the door of Dumbledore's private office and knocked.
McGonagall opened the door, and Mira entered and sat in the chair across from Dumbledore.
"It's done. It's been pulled completely from his body. There should be no trace left whatsoever. He's free."
She reached up and pulled the amulet over her head, and handed it to McGonagall.
"You know how it works, it will be exactly twenty-eight days until it can be used again. When it's recharged, you will put it on, making sure it's touching your skin and not covered by your robes. Then you will rub your hands and press your palms together to start the flow of energy. It'll feel strange, like your body is becoming heavier. Then you either touch what you wish to undo with the palms of your hands, or point your wand towards it. The incantation is "Extundo Plene".
McGonagall looked at the object in her hand, and then back up at Mira with a pursed look upon her face, and slipped it into her pocket.
At that moment, Professor Snape came charging through the door, Mira's miniature sneakascope in his hand; which was trembling with a combination of surprise and anger.
"Mira! Do not tell me that you've done what I think you've just done!"
"I couldn't have lived with myself knowing that I chose not to do it."
"Mira, it was not your choice to make."
"I'm sorry, I did it for you."
"Don't lie to me Mira, you did it for yourself and you know it."
Dumbledore rose from his chair and stepped from behind his desk.
"It doesn't matter why she did it, what matters is that she did. She and I had a chat and came to the conclusion that you are still quite valuable to the resistance cause, and allowing you to return to Voldemort and meet your death would be a shameful waste of human potential. You will continue to serve the resistance, but no longer as a spy. You will serve us as a master potioner, and an instructor of defense against the dark arts to those who will be going into battle. It is very rare indeed to have the expertise of one who has had firsthand experience in how the enemy works. You will forgive us for this decision, will you not?"
Snape stood in the doorway, eyes darting from Mira to Dumbledore, wondering just what had conspired during the time he was unconscious. Dumbledore smiled and walked towards the door.
"Come Minerva, I believe there will be a visitor arriving momentarily, I would like you to accompany me to receive her."
Dumbledore and McGonagall left the office and returned to the sitting room. Snape leaned against the edge of Dumbledore's desk and looked at Mira, who was sitting on the chair across from him. She opened her mouth to speak and he interrupted her curtly.
"No. Don't. I don't want you to try and explain why you did this. I know quite well the real reason why you did. I am not ungrateful mind you. Dumbledore has a point. I can offer more in the fight against Voldemort alive than dead. But none of this means that you will be able to remain here with me. If anything, your life is even more in danger now than before. Voldemort will not let the news that his servant was taken from him by a mere woman pass lightly. He'll send Death Eaters after you, and your only chance is to hide in the open, within the muggle world. But even then, you cannot have any contact with me or the wizarding world Mira, none whatsoever, because it could be intercepted and traced to you."
"I know. Dumbledore already told me. He's going to remove my memories of anything related to this conflict and store them away in a pensieve until the wizarding war is over. You'll be free to do all that you can to help the resistance without having to worry about me interfering. I'm afraid that no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not find a different way for us."
"You tampered with fate Mira. You had no right to do that. But I am grateful that you did."
She stood and let him take her into his arms. He stroked her hair gently and whispered into her ear. "Don't be sad Mira. Remember what I told you the night after we went flying? That if there were any other way, this would be a beginning?"
She shook her head yes.
"That promise still stands."
She placed her hand on his cheek and looked up into his eyes. She saw something new there. For the first time, she saw a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. She pulled his face towards hers and kissed him. "When this battle is over, and Voldemort is gone for good, and his followers are rounded up and captured, you come find me. Dumbledore may remove my memories, but I will not forget you."
They held each other tightly until there was a knock upon the door. Dumbledore stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. "Mira, it's time."