Chapter 5: The Half-Blood Memory.
Harry, supporting Hermione, and Victor supporting Bellatrix they made their way out of the dungeon.
When they reached the stairs leading out of the dark dungeon corridor, a very unexpected sight met them.
Voldemort and at least a hundred Death Eaters were waiting at the top of the stairs.
Harry put Hermione down and forgetting all sensibility launched himself at Voldemort.
He collided with Voldemort's stomach and the two of them toppled over.
He was not aware of anything except trying to cause Voldemort as much pain as he could.
He could vaguely hear Victor and Hermione throwing out curses; he guessed she was using his wand as he had given it to her. Bellatrix was helping too.
Harry's fist collided with Voldemort's face and the older man grunted in pain.
After landing a few more blows on Voldemort, he was thrown off, and he landed about four feet away on the dungeon floor.
He immediately grabbed a fallen Death Eater's wand, and aimed it at Voldemort.
"What are you going to do? Stun me?" he laughed his high mirthless laugh.
"CRUCIUS MAXIMA!" Harry roared, the curse he had been experimenting with at work was finally going to have it's trial run, it was a Cruciatus curse but it was 5 times more powerful than the original.
Voldemort fell backwards screaming his demonized head off.
Harry's lip curled into a smile and he kept his wand on Voldemort.
Voldemort screamed and screamed and screamed, and Harry felt like laughing himself.
But suddenly he heard someone roar- "EXPELLIARMUS!" and the wand flew out of his hand.
A tall figure emerged from the shadows, and everyone gasped.
"Ron?" Harry and Hermione said at the same time.
"That's right Harry, I'm tired of you taking the spotlight so I decided to get some myself" Ron said, with an evil smirk on his face. Harry couldn't believe it, his best friend was on the dark side, then a thought struck him.
"RON IF YOU HURT MY CHILDREN… I SWEAR I'LL… I'LL…" He roared.
"You'll what?" Ron asked calmly, "You don't understand Harry, the dark lord has been training me for a year and you don't have an inkling of the power I now possess"
"A year?" he asked disbelievingly, "A year? YOU'VE BEEN WORKING FOR THIS FILTHY JACKASS FOR A YEAR? YOU KNEW WHERE HERMIONE WAS FOR A YEAR AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME?"
Ron nodded, "Harry I'm sorry I truly am" he said, without any hint of true remorse.
Harry couldn't take anymore, in a flash he grabbed his wand from Hermione and leveled it at Ron, who's eyes widened in fear.
"YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!" He yelled, But he couldn't do it. He couldn't say the words.
Victor calmly raised his wand, "Crucio" He muttered, Ron fell backwards off the stone steps holding his stomach, he screamed so loud that after a minute his voice had gone hoarse.
Victor raised his wand and left a whimpering Ron lying on the floor next to the filthy scumbag that was Voldemort.
Ron stood back up and Victor raised his wand, but Harry was too fast.
He raised his wand and thought "Levicorpus!" Ron flew up in the air, suspended by his ankle.
Harry dropped him so that his head hit the stone floor and made a sickening crunching sound, Hermione winced but Harry wasn't yet satisfied.
"SECTUSEMPRA!" He bellowed. And the curse hit Ron directly in the stomach.
Blood spurted wildly from Ron's stomach and he staggered backwards.
He fell back on the floor with another crack from his skull, dropping his wand as he fell.
For the first time Harry was happy that Snape had invented that spell.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU RON!" He roared leaping on Ron as he had on Voldemort only moments ago.
In mid-jump, Harry was flung backwards against the wall and smacked his head soundly against it.
The pain in his head was nothing though, to the pain in his heart.
First Dumbledore died at the hand of Snape, then Snape at the hand of Harry, then Malfoy at the hand of Ron, then Ginny to the hand of Voldemort himself, and now he had lost Ron.
He had thought vengeance was easy…
Flashback
Harry soundlessly rounded the corner, following the billowing black cloak.
He could hear the older man panting as he ran.
But Harry didn't care, in his opinion, revenge was a virtue.
Harry opened his mind, "Expelliarmus" he thought.
A flash of blue light shot out of his wand and he hoped it had hit his target.
No such luck, Harry could still hear the muffled footsteps of his target splashing through the
water logged corridor of the dark London sewer tunnel.
Harry suddenly got an idea, he pointed at his shoes, "Muffliato" he muttered.
The sounds his shoes were making in the water suddenly stopped.
He hoped his target wouldn't think of the same spell.
After all Snape had invented it.
Harry was so lucky, anyone would have thought he'd drunk a bottle of Felix Felicis.
He could still hear Snape running through the water.
Harry knew these tunnels, and he happened to know that this corridor led to a large, circular, dead end.
As he emptied out into the large room, he could see almost nothing.
His auror training had taught him to see in the dark and it was only working a little.
Suddenly a flash of green light streaked toward him, and his Quidditch reflexes allowed him to duck in time.
The killing curse grazed his left ear and he felt blood trickling down his neck.
"SECTUSEMPRA!" Harry roared in a rage.
A blast of orange light erupted from his wand, but he guessed it missed, because he heard it hit the wall.
Snape was going to damn the day he killed Albus Dumbledore.
"So like you Potter," Snape sneered, "Always low grade work"
Harry's mind flew into a frenzy.
"AVADA KEDAVRA, CRUCIO, SECTUSEMPRA, AVADA KEDAVRA, SECTUSEMPRA!" Harry continued to yell out curse after curse, but none of them hit their target.
"Tut, tut, could have used more of the accuracy class couldn't you Potter?" Snape jeered.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Harry roared.
Snape's cold laugh reached his ears.
"SECTUSEMPRA!" Harry yelled randomly jabbing his wand all over the room.
"RICTUSEMPRA!" Snape screamed.
The spell hit Harry in the chest forcing him into a back flip.
Harry landed, sprawled out, on the ground, with an excruciating pain in his left knee.
Looking at his robes, he saw they were stained in a growing pool of blood.
He swore under his breath and stood, gingerly.
His left leg couldn't support him so he had to stand on his right, he didn't have time to heal it now.
"Stupefy!" he grunted in the general direction of Snape's voice.
Harry could tell he had almost hit him, because next time Snape spoke, Harry could detect a hint of fear.
"Losing your touch Potter?" he asked shakily.
Harry spun around and used another experimental curse his department had been working on.
"CRATORIUS!" He bellowed.
The next 25 feet beyond his wand suddenly exploded in a cloud of grey smoke.
The curse had hopefully not killed Snape, but at least knocked him to the ground.
He finally raised his wand, "Lumos" he said, and the room suddenly lit up.
Snape was sitting on the ground 5 feet from Harry, clutching a bloody ankle, face full of fear.
"YOU HALF-BLOOD TRAITOR!" Snape snarled.
"As I recall Snivellus, the last words you said to me were something along the lines of,
'I was the Half-Blood Prince' so aren't you a half-blood yourself Snape?"
Snape didn't answer, Harry raised his wand.
"Legilimens" he said, knowing Snape was to weak to resist at the moment.
Suddenly Harry felt as if he were being sucked forward, headfirst.
And he found himself in a large circular room with many filing cabinets.
Harry, who had been inside many other people's memories, knew just what to do.
Harry found the cabinet that was labeled with the dates of Snape's childhood.
He strode over to the cabinet and casually opened it.
He thumbed through the many files inside until he came to a file called "Hogwarts Letter"
Harry pulled out the file and opened it, "Remellius" he muttered, pointing his wand at it.
The file suddenly split at the seam and glowed yellow, and as usual, Harry was sucked forward into the memory.
Harry landed in a brightly lit room that he guessed was the dining room of the Snape home.
Suddenly a thin woman that Harry guessed was between the ages of 30-35 ran into the living room.
She looked around, as if making sure the coast was clear.
She reached into her pocket, withdrew a fine oak wand, and swished it at the table.
Suddenly three plates appeared, laden down with chicken, mashed potatoes, fried turkey, and many other enticing foods. Next came the candles. Two brightly lit 3-pronged candles sat at each end of the table.
And then the tablecloth turned from a checker pattern and blue to a lavish scarlet tablecloth with gold twining at the end.
"Severus!" the young woman yelled, "Come down, dinner's ready and your father will be home in a moment".
Suddenly Harry could hear the thundering of the stairs.
A moment later, a thin sallow-skinned boy with long, curtain styled black hair appeared in the archway that led into the dining room.
"Well sit down silly boy" the woman said.
Harry knew that the little boy was Snape and he guessed this woman must be his mother.
Snape did as he was instructed and sat with a sense of elegance that told Harry he must be rich.
Just then, Harry heard the front door burst open.
After a second, a very heavyset man that reminded Harry unkindly of his cousin Dudley walked in.
He plopped down in the chair.
Harry decided to fast forward the memory a bit.
"Elfatio" he muttered, and the memory picked up speed.
He let it resume normal speed when an owl zoomed through the window.
It dropped a letter on the man's plate of food, and he looked puzzled.
Severus Snape looked as confused as Mr. Snape did, but Mrs. Snape looked horrified.
Mr. Snape tore open the letter and read it aloud.
"Dear Mr. Severus Snape,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry,
You will find your school list, instructions and supplies included in the envelope along with your ticket to
Platform 9 ¾ where you will board the Hogwarts express on September the first.
Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!
Sincerely yours,
Albus Dumbledore
Defense against the dark arts teacher at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."
No-one said anything for a moment until Mr. Snape spoke up.
"Barking mad that man is! Talks as if witches and wizards are real he does!" he said,
"Tryin' to get Sev' here to go to his lunatic school I suppose, by makin' false promises like 'is"
Suddenly Mrs. Snape spoke up,
"Tobias? May I talk to you in the sitting room?" she asked, "Alone" she added seeing Severus's look.
Tobias nodded and followed his wife into the living room.
After a minute shouts broke out, and Harry supposed that Mrs. Snape had informed Mr. Snape that Dumbledore
Was not "Barking mad" as he put it, but telling the truth.
"EILEEN! WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL ME?" Mr. Snape roared.
Little Severus got up and went to the door; there was a crack in the door that he and Harry could plainly see through.
"Because, I thought you would never understand…" Mrs. Snape cried.
"WHORE! I DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU'RE A LYING WHORE! GET THAT HALF-BREED AND LEAVE MY HOUSE AT ONCE!" He roared.
She didn't answer so he slapped her.
She staggered backwards and fell over the couch.
Mr. Snape tried to make a flying leap at her, but a flash of blue erupting from Eileen Snape's direction sent him hurtling against the wall.
When he stood back up, he had a knife.
He threw it at her, and she calmly transfigured it into a rubber chicken.
His eyes widened and he leapt for her again.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She yelled shrilly, probably out of impulse.
Mr. Snape crumpled to the floor, dead.
Severus Snape had some time ago collapsed on the floor crying.
After a second, the door creaked open.
"Severus…?"
Harry ended the memory there, he had watched more than he had intended.
He felt like he was being thrown backwards and then suddenly he was standing over the real Snape again.
Snape's Eyes were wide.
"How much did you see?" he snarled.
"Enough" said Harry blankly.
Snape tried to make a lunge for Harry, but he flicked his wand and Snape flew back against the wall.
"Now, you're going to pay" Harry said.
"Evelopa!" he yelled.
Another new curse, it was the most painful death anyone could imagine.
Snape's skin melted off, but he wasn't dead he had to endure the burning.
So much pain that you can't scream is a big thing.
Next Snape's hair burned off and organs split apart.
After everything was off, Snape sat there a living skeleton, oh yes he was still alive, and now came the worst part.
Starting at his skull, all his bones began to crack, and from there down, they cracked and fell apart, until only a cloud of dust served as a reminder of Severus Tobias Snape.
End Of Flashback
Vengeance had been easy on Snape, but Snape hadn't been Harry's best friend for 17 years.
Ron suddenly vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving Harry, Hermione, Victor, and Bellatrix to wonder.
Suddenly Voldemort laughed,
"This place will self-destruct in 12 seconds and we'll all die" he cackled.
Before anyone could stop him, Harry rushed forward.
He grabbed onto Voldemort by the collar of his robes.
"Guys, you can apparate as long as your inside these walls, Victor help them they're both weak" he said.
Victor did as instructed. "I'll meet you in London!" he yelled as they left.
Then he returned his attention to Voldemort who was still laughing like mad.
"Come on!" he said.
He began the process of side along apparition,
Everything went black. Harry was being pressed hard from all directions, he could breathe, he had gotten used to
Apparating now and it was normal. But it still felt as though his lungs were being blocked.
He landed a moment later in the back of The Leaky Cauldron.
He raised his wand, "ACCIO SWORD!" He roared.
"We're gonna finish this now" Harry said as the sword of Gryffindor zoomed into his hand.
Before Voldemort could react, Harry stuffed the sword into his face.
Blood sprayed all over Harry's arms, face, and robes but he didn't care.
Voldemort slumped down; the last horcrux had been destroyed, Voldemort was gone for good.
Harry incinerated his body and limped into the empty Leaky Cauldron.
Hermione, Victor, and Bellatrix were sitting at a table at the back.
As soon as Harry walked in the door, Victor stood up, Bellatrix beamed up at him.
And Hermione, Hermione rushed into his arms and buried her face in his chest.
"ILOVEYOUIMISSEDYOUYOURENEVERLEAVINGMYSIGHTAGAINANDIFWEHAVETOKILLRONYOURENOTDOINGITALONEIMDOINGITWITHYOU!" She yelled so fast Harry ad to ask her to repeat it.
"I said, I love you, I missed you, you're never leaving my sight again and if we have to kill Ron you're not doing it alone I'm doing it with you!" she said.
"Me too" Victor and Bellatrix said simultaneously.
It looked like the Order had two new recruits.