Love/Hate

(Harry Potter and the Knights of Slytherin)

Fan-fiction by Bizmarck

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc. It's just a fan-fiction, read and enjoy.

(Chapter 11)

Through the haze of the misty night two cloaked figures made their way carefully through the forest undergrowth. Remaining vigilant the taller of the two figures stayed behind as lookout, while his companion made a dash across a small clearing. Scanning the treetops he suddenly heard a soft feminine voice from the intercom headset he was wearing.

''All clear''

Without hesitation the young man dashed across the gap himself, silently entering the undergrowth where his companion was situated. Hermione turned as Ron huddled closer, the young man suddenly backing away slightly as he caught a glimpse under her hood, he was still getting used to his own night vision goggles, and seeing Hermione wearing hers was still a little unsettling to him, the strange apparatus making her look like a robot under her thick cloak.

''What's the matter?'' she asked, noticing Ron's hesitation.

''Nothing'' replied Ron ''just getting used to these strange glasses'' he continued, adjusting them slightly for the hundredth time. Though he had been practicing with them all day, and was quite proficient in switching between setting, Ron still had a habit of inadvertently screwing up the settings.

''Don't fiddle with them'' commented Hermione, more at ease with Muggle technology, though she herself had never worn night vision goggles before.

''Marvellous things really'' said Ron, switching to infrared and scanning the immediate surroundings, noting that the werewolf that had been heading past them was now heading away, circling around the ruins.

''Don't forget to look up occasionally, Neville said he saw some gargoyles and harpies before.''

Ron shuddered, the thought of harpies making his skin crawl. The gargoyles were indeed a problem, as they did not emit any heat, or indeed any radiation, luckily their form was easy enough to spot in this natural setting, Even the Domentors seemed to emanate a strong ultra violet light, and it was a good thing to, as there were a lot of them floating around the forest that night.

Luckily for the six youngsters the very basic camouflage spells they had cast had held up well, and as long as they could track their enemy's movements, and spot them early, the chance of detection was slight.

Hermione and Ron moved quickly through the next section, knowing that the way was clear. Soon they were at their hold point, looking up Hermione could just make out the form of the old ruins, a few illuminations amongst the stonework were just visible.

Hearing Ron panting slightly beside her she was suddenly very impressed that he and Harry had made this journey two nights before without the aid of the night vision goggles, even if the level of patrols had been nothing compared to tonight's.

''Group 1 in position'' came Harry's voice suddenly over the intercom, causing Hermione to jump slightly, not that used to the intercom system either. Hermione activated the appropriate channel on her small headset.

''Group 2 in position'' she responded. Both the headsets and goggles they were carrying were quite compact, it was amazing what a little gold and jewels could buy in the Muggle world. Hermione suspected that the headsets would most likely be easily detected, if the appropriate precautions were taken, luckily however Voldemort's detest for everything Muggle blinded him from any threat by them, or their technology. Hermione waited, expecting a call from group three.

''Group 3. Are you in position?'' came Harry's voice over the overall channel. Again Hermione waited. There was a small series of beeps indicating that group three was not in a position to talk. Hermione wondered what hellish creature was currently prowling close to Neville and Luna, her anxiety climbing.

The previous evening, and the day, had seemed to pass as if in a blur, non of the couples had seen each other again that evening, meeting up for breakfast the next morning, a few blushes and nervous coughed were present at first, though this was mostly from the boys, who were noticeably more sheepish, particularly Harry, who appeared to avoid direct conversation with Ron. This was quickly brought to a head by Luna's first comment.

''Well I hope you all had as good a night as we did'' she said cheerfully, causing Neville to turn bright red.

Luckily for the boys the girls were in a more sensible mood and breakfast was soon underway. Indeed any lingering embarrassment was completely removed when Ginny, towards the end of breakfast, announced her intention to come along that evening. As expected Ron reacted badly, Luna gave her instant approval, and Nevil, and particularly Hermione, were careful to remain neutral. The conversation between Ron and Ginny did not remain civil for long, and after Ron made a harsh comment towards Harry, after Harry carefully attempted to back up Ginny, she promptly stood up and demanded to see him outside.

The two siblings removed themselves, and the remaining group cringed as their quite audible conversation came through to them in the kitchen, except for Luna, who was quite happily listening in. The two re-entered the kitchen about five minutes later to find the others cleaning up quietly. No confirmation of the outcome was necessary, the expressions on both their faces was indication enough.

Ron eventually mellowed, apologising to Harry for his earlier comment, Harry telling him not to worry about it, empathising with his friend's position, though nevertheless happy with the outcome.

The rest of the day was used familiarising themselves with the plan and the equipment, luckily for Ginny all the equipment worked flawlessly and she was able to use the spare unit of each item for herself, much to Ron's displeasure. At about one pm the group received confirmation from Tonks and Lupin that everything was ready at their end, Hermione and Harry writing their fellow Order of the Phoenix members final instructions and well wishes. Before anyone knew it the day was already over, and the small group gathering outside the cottage as the last of the sun's rays disappeared beyond the horizon. They cast on each other the same basic camouflage spells that Ron and Harry had used two nights before. Each member of the group was also wearing special cloaks, that while proving a measure of camouflage, would not be easily detected as magical warning spells. The boys carried revolvers with special ammunition and short swords, while the girls carried long daggers and extra potions, though non were particularly magical, each group was far from defenceless from anything the may encounter during the night. The final act was to place their wands together into a small box, carefully placed this on a magical item and a small Muggle object, both themselves in the centre of complex magical symbols drawn onto the ground. Again all were overcome by a feeling of vulnerability as they started to head off without their wands, but the time had come, they had to go.

Moving off they were all too soon at the point were they had to split up, after having travelled the entire distance in self contemplating silence. All embracing each other, and gave one another final well wishes, even Luna appeared to feel the gravity of the situation, becoming very sober. Testing their equipment one last time they parted ways, each heading in different directions in the dark woods.

Back in the present it had been about ten minutes of stressful silence before Hermione and Ron heard Nevil's voice finally come through.

''Group three in position'' came Neville's slightly shaky voice.

''What happened Neville'' Hermione heard Harry ask.

''Domentors… very close… we're ok'' Came the shaky reply. Behind her Hermione felt Ron shudder, he suddenly remembering is own close call only a few nights before and empathised.

''ok, everyone begin the search of the area'' stated Harry after a while.

The three groups split up to search their immediate surroundings, attempting to get as good a vantage point of the ruins, and its sentries, without being detected themselves. Luckily the majority of Voldemort's Death Eaters appeared not to be present, or involved in keeping the outer perimeter secured. This was important as there was a stretch of open terrain between the surrounding forest and the edge of the ruins, which were situated on a small knoll, and as such not that easy to approach undetected. The ruins themselves were quite extensive, with only portions of old battlements and various sections of buildings remaining erect, there was a ring of ruins indicating the previous outer wall, located within this maze of ruins was the old church, which was to be the focus of the nights ritual, being located in an old courtyard at the highest point of the compound.

Hermione returned from her patrol first, closely followed by Ron, after whispered consultation the information was relayed to the others. Quick communications between the groups allowed for the next stage to be undertaken smoothly, two groups would remain on watch and indicate when it was safe for the third to move across to the structure itself. Hermione and Ron where the last across, once again left to their own devices the three groups made their own way through the rubble, Though the old ruins were extensive it was still a task to navigate them without being detected. As few sentries as there were on the ruins themselves, there was a lot of activity within them, and it took the three groups some time to meet up at the designated point, a small room in one of the old watch towers overlooking the half destroyed church.

Last to arrive were Harry and Ginny, who had travelled the furthest of the three. Panting slightly the two youngsters removed their night vision goggles, Neville and Luna were recovering in the other corner with Hermione, while Ron was keeping a lookout via the window. The little room they were huddled in only actually had half a roof, so offered the occupants both a good place to hide and a good vantage point.

"There has to be at least a hundred of them running around." said Neville quietly.

"Even if they're not expecting an attack from within, it won't be easy to get at the Dark Lord" offered Luna, still in a considerably more sober mood then usual.

"Well at the moment all we can do is wait" said Ron from his perch. This was not something that any of the youngsters relished, as their inactivity allowed them time to think about the current situation, and heightened their sense of vulnerability without their wands. Ron ducked back down as he noticed some gargoyles flying towards them. Luckily they were now where they had to be, and could summon their wands at any time, if need be, though as soon as they did they would instantly be detected by the security spells in place.

It had been a brilliant plan, Ron and Harry had gone in a few nights before with a GPS device, specially paired up with a second unit left at the hideout. The one they had with them in the ruins they cleverly hid, confident that the battery would last for about twenty four hours. Upon returning to the hideout they used the second unit to attain the precise distance and bearing from one unit to the other, with an accuracy of zero point five meters. Hermione and Neville had converted the units and prepared the teleportation spell. The spell itself was not overly complicated but was usually only done over short distances, and with a clear line of site, as the object would reappear exactly where it was sent, regardless of what was in that location, all you required was an accurate distance and bearing, the great advantage being that nothing magical was required at the receiving end, simply open space to receive the object. The activation of the spell had been a little more complicated, as no one had been expected to be there to perform the teleportation spell, luckily another redundant spell had been found, one activated by a simple sentence, irrespective of where the speaker was, or their magical abilities. Each member of the group could activate this spell with the same word, a precautionary measure taken if some of the members were unable to speak the word, for whatever reason.

Harry looked down at his Muggle watch, eleven forty five, moving up to peak over the wall he could see much activity within the shell of the old half ruined church. He recognised the symbols marked into the ground and the arrangement of objects, it was definitely the right of Cecilia that they were preparing for. Hermione joined Ron and Harry, the light from the ample candlelight from far below reflecting off the three youngsters.

"It should be starting any minute" whispered Hermione. And true enough three taller figures entered through the side door in one of the two remaining walls, the mulling Death Eaters immediately moved to take their places, sitting in a large circle around the main symbol. Within the church there were twelve figures which formed the circle, the tree that just entered moving to the centre of the circle of twelve, but remaining standing. Outside the church there was a second ring of Death Eaters, though they faced outwards, their purpose obvious, to stop any attempt to disrupt the ceremony within the church. Neville, Ginny and Luna joined their friends at the wall to looking down at the spectacle, The twelve clocked figures began to chant, their seated bodies beginning to move slowly in time, meanwhile the three centre figures removed their hoods, Harry was not surprised to see that Snape was one of the three, the second being Beatrix and the third an older man who Harry did not recognise. The rite continued, with the three central figures knelt and held hands, joining in the chant of the other twelve. The six order of the Phoenix members watched on in awe, non having ever experienced such a complex magical exercise. Though the rite of Cecilia was quite new, it was itself based on very ancient context, and as it was never optimised it remained a rather cumbersome old style exercise. Harry caught the entrance of another figure into the church. It had to be Voldemort, though at this stage he had no part to play in the rite. Before Harry could even start to formulate any dark thoughts he was interrupted by the completion of the first part of the rite, a large circular flare of magical energy bursting from the outer circle of chanters and spiralling up into the heavens, everyone looked up to see the magic ring distort the clouds high above.

"Wow" said Ron, seriously impressed. This was it, the first part of the rite had begun, stopping it now would be a costly exercise...

"Now we see if Lupin and Tonks were able to pull off their end of the plan" said Harry, his voice monotone. As if to answer him a series of magical explosions could be heard coming from the West, then from the North East, then even more from the South East.

"Looks like they came through for us" said Hermione, with a wry smile. To the South East a large explosion could be heard, the horizon lighting up for a second. Starting from complete silence only moments before the rate of magic fire in all directions was increasing very quickly, almost being seen and heard continuous from the West, if still faintly. It was impossible to know where to look, as in every direction the horizon was suddenly filled with lights and sounds

"Holly cow, this is nuts" said Ron, still awestruck.

"Look" said Hermione suddenly. Down in the courtyard the outer circle of Death Eaters were obviously becoming nervous. Within the church itself the three central figures left the circle to talk to Voldemort, the remaining twelve members continued to chant, as if caught in a trance. Another Death Eater from outside entered the church, and a gargoyle also flew in, landing next to the group, Harry could see that they were in urgent discussion.

"This is it, now we see if Snape really is as smart as he thinks he is" said Ron, looking down at the group. Behind them the fighting intensified for a few seconds, a scream from a banshee being quite audible, even from this distance.

"Perhaps Tonks and Lupin were too successful… sounds like every single Auror turned up." said Neville. Another large explosion coming from the West.

"Perhaps more… sure sounds like more" said Luna, a smile visible on her face.

"Enough… perhaps, to scare the Dark Lord away?" continued Neville, his expression concentrated and serious.

"We just have to hope that his arrogance is stronger then his cowardice" said Hermione, her tone carrying a degree of hope. Down below it was obvious that the small group was in heated discussion, suddenly Snape started to talk, noticeably the others just listening.

"Come on Snape" Harry said aloud, Ron turned to look at his friend for a second before looking back down, Snape finished talking, all remained silent while Voldemort considered.

"Sure would be nice to know what they were saying" said Luna suddenly, her cheerful matter of fact voice returning somewhat. Neville smiling slightly at the girl's comment.

Harry found that he was slightly holding his breath, despite himself.

Voldemort appeared to come to a decision, giving a few short commands to the others. The gargoyle and man that had entered moments before quickly hurrying back out. Harry smiled as the outer ring of guards quickly grouped up and set off to back up their comrades in the front line, only four remained behind, all being noticeably not the best of fighters.

"Looks like he has taken the bate" said Ron cheerfully, as Snape and the other two returned to the circle centre, while Voldemort watched on.

"Right. This is it" said Harry, jumping down from the wall, the others turned to watch the young wizard.

"the second rite will start in three minutes, at which time Voldemort will have to have retained all the parts of his souls to start the final process, we have about a five minutes window in which to finish him off" he finished coldly and methodically, as if killing Voldemort was nothing more then any normal objective.

"Are you all prepared?" asked Harry

All of the members of the small group shook their heads, eyes cold and determined.

"Yep, we're ready to go" said Hermione on behalf of all of them.

Harry quickly planed their final attack, the others each confirming in turn that they understood their role, before anyone had even time to think twice about the plan it was already time.

Down in the compound a rather nervous younger witch came running up to a very elderly wizard.

"Mr Dipcot! I just detected a powerful magic source from inside the ruins?" she said, a little out of breath. The veteran warrior turned from his vigil.

"Calm down girl" he said, a hint of anger and nervousness in his voice "with all this magic flying around it could just have been a stray spell."

This did not however appear to calm the young witch.

"what did it do?" he asked finally.

"Well it just sort of appeared suddenly then it broke up into smaller parts.

"Ha! See" interjected the older wizard.

"And then the parts travelled in pairs." she added, causing the smug smile to instantly disappear from the older wizard.

"Wands!" he said suddenly. "We must warn the lord."

In the background the fighting was getting more intense, and from the West, considerably closer, the noise being now quite audible in the church compound.

However before he could move the younger witch suddenly gave out a short cry before tumbling to the ground. He turned in shock and saw the other two guards suddenly crumble to the ground, no indication of their attacker visible. He was momentarily saved by his experience as he dove to the side, using a shield spell to counter a second shot that would have hit, proving surprisingly agile he rolled and fired in the direction the spell had come from, his green fireball illuminating a figure as it dove to avoid. At this stage however his age caught up with him and he could not recover from the role properly, panting heavily he raised from his knees, suddenly surrounded by six cloaked figures.

"Dishonourable sneaking scum" spat the older wizard, raising his wand he was suddenly hit from three sides, collapsing into an unconscious heap.

"Come on, lets go" said Harry, no emotion in his voice.

The three groups split up again, Harry, Ron and Neville would come in through the door, while the girls would com in via the far wall, hopefully the element of surprise, and two pronged attack, would be enough to overpower the four able Death Eaters inside (the twelve in the trance being completely oblivious of their surroundings until the end of the rite). Moving up to the door, Harry and Ron prepared to put their shoulder into it while Neville set up a powerful stun spell. Looking down at his watch Harry said, "Ready, one …… two… three!"

The door burst open, Neville fired his spell and the world went white, adequately shielding their eyes the boys rushed in.

"Petrificatus totalus!" came the combined shout of many magic users, but it wasn't however, the voices of any the young order of the phoenix members.

"…………………………." said Harry, completely frozen, unable to move. Even though he had shielded his eyes he still had to wait a few seconds for the scene to become clear. To his horror and rage he could see Voldemort and Snape side by side only meters away, smiling!

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha" came Voldemort's surprisingly powerful voice, still full of venom, though carrying considerable more depth then last time Harry had had the displeasure of hearing it. Harry was able to role his eyes left and right. To his right he could just make out the edge of Ron's frozen form, and far off to his right he caught sight of the girls, all three had been frozen in mid leap. Below the girls Harry could see four crouching Death Eaters, each having remained carefully hidden just behind the wall in ambush. Harry was not surprised when either side of him more Death Eaters came into view, taking their wands and weapons from their frozen forms, it had been a trap!

"Well Potter" came the evilly silky voice of the Dark Lord "It looks like you're right on time."

Harry's expression naturally did not change, though his eyes burned intently, not leaving Snape for a second., who was looking around smugly.

"My lord it is unjust that we can't take pleasure in his expression" Snape said coldly.

"You are right" said Voldemort, his eyes not leaving Harry. A small flick of his wand and Harry was released, collapsing from his frozen unstable state. Harry was about to spring at Snape but was immediately seized under the arms by two very strong Death Eaters. Struggling, the rage on Harry's face was quite evident.

"Snape you backstabbing bastard!" he screamed at his former teacher.

"Now now Potter" replied Snape in his teachers tone "I wouldn't say I was a backstabber" he continued, his voice becoming more smug "It's not like you ever trust me in the first place."

"My father was right, you are a worthless coward! You never deserved my mothers love!" yelled Harry, continuing to struggle. Snape twinged a bit at this, though Harry was the only one to notice.

"As pleasant as this little discussion is, we should move on" said Voldemort suddenly, indicating to the two henchmen holding Harry to get on with it. Harry was immediately dragged off towards the circle of chanting magicians.

"You don't stand a chance Voldemort!" called Harry to Voldemort, who was heading to the centre of the circle "The Aurors are getting closer, you will die tonight."

Voldemort seemed to ignore Harry for a second, checking the placement of his henchman and various objects situated around the circle.

"Oh, I don't know about that" said Voldemort absent mindedly, pointing towards the wall to the South. Harry looked across and was shocked at the sudden appearance of a mountain giant, followed by a red dragon, ridden by a dark cloaked figure, obviously Voldemort had set up various transfiguration keys around the ruins, and was calling in reinforcements. Harry was momentarily distracted, noticing that the fighting outside appeared to intensify once more, if that was even possible, Harry had seen movies about Muggle wars, and what he heard and saw in the distance around him now was beyond even that description. Looking back down he noticed that he had been shackled to the spot. Confused he looked around the room, he was at one end of a giant star, in each corner was another object, and in one of the arms Harry noticed a snake of some kind.

"What is going on?" Harry demanded of Snape who was to his right, Beatrix and the older man Harry saw originally forming a lose triangle around Voldemort, who was now in the centre of the circle.

"Most of what I told you was correct." said Snape, not turning to face Harry "Let's see if you're smart enough to figure out which parts that was before you die."

And with that Snape started to chant, in unison with the other two in the triangle. Harry continued to look around, the other Death Eaters were still there, standing around his frozen friends, Harry suddenly felt completely helpless and vulnerable, looking back he started to wonder about his own fate, and suddenly realisation hit him like a brick. Why the elaborate trap, why the need to have Harry here, and more importantly alive, why was he currently in a magic symbol containing multiple precious objects and a snake! Voldemort needed all of what was left of his soul for the rite to stand a chance of working… which meant that… Harry had a part of Voldemort's soul?

Harry was completely blown away, it made sense, why else would he have such a bond with the Dark Lord… be able to speak parcel tong, have similar powers to the Dark Lord. Harry was deep in thought when the first part of the soul retrieval spell kicked in. Voldemort extended his arms, as magic began to pore in from the three in the triangle, Voldemort visibly tensed as the magic impacted on his floating body, the ground around Harry began to glow, and he felt his body become light, looking around he could see the other objects begin to float. So this was it, could it really be the end? Despite what was happening to him Harry couldn't stop thinking about how he had a part of Voldemort's soul inside of him, how had this affected him, his mindset, and his emotions? He couldn't believe that it had not had some type of effect on him. Harry's mind was racing, so much information, so much had happened, his mind was literally overloading. He wanted to fight, he wanted revenge, he needed to lash out. A soft hew began to form around Harry and the other items at the tip of each star, the golden hew became thicker around each, and start to slowly float towards Voldemort, twisting and turning like a snake as the parts of his soul began to migrate back towards him. The one leaving Harry was considerably thicker and brighter then the others. Harry focused all of his attention, all of his spite and hatred into himself, resolving to find a way to fight Voldemort, if he could disrupt the process for long enough the rite would fail. The other parts of Voldemort's soul had already made its way back to its master, Harry's however was slow to move, and appeared to be caught between the two wizards. Voldemort's face contorted as he began to fight the resistance from the final source, Harry opened his eyes, staring at Voldemort, his body tense, but his expression calm. cold and determined. Voldemort on the other hand was starting to struggle, it was unusual for the vessel of a segment of soul to want to keep that foreign soul, and as it had been a part of Harry for such a long time, his attachment, and subsequently his control of it, was considerable.

Snape and the other two had completed their part of the spell and were simply watching the proceedings, becoming nervous at the unexpected resistance from Potter. The hew connecting the two floating wizards was becoming brighter, and becoming red, Voldemort was under visible stress. Snape also looked stressed, realising that the possibility that Harry may be able to hold onto his segment of the soul completely, was looking ever more likely.

Harry looked on impassively, an evil smile creeping into his expression as he took pleasure in Voldemort's discomfort.

"Harry" came a calm voice from Harry's Left. "Harry" said the voice again. Harry looked down, the expression he wore would have struck fear in almost any mortal, being as if all he gazed upon was barely worthy of existance.

"Harry" said Snape calmly, the expression he wore being one that Harry had never seen before, filled with calm and knowing, one could almost say caring.

"For all that you love… let go of your hatred" Snape said calmly, but audibly. Harry's expression cracked slightly.

"You, must, trust me" Snape said simply, breaking eye contact with Harry to quickly glance around at the frozen Order of the Phoenix members. Harry knew in his heart of hearts that his current course of action would not achieve much in the end, though was there really anything else to do, and was there still a way to do this on his own? The hatred in Harry's mind subsided enough for a simple question to formulate in his mind.

"Do you want revenge… as gratifying as it would be? Or do you want a chance… as slim as it is."

And so Harry decided.

Authors note:

He he, love to leave things hanging before the last chapter, it keeps things interesting. One thing I do know, the last one is going to be a cracker!... :-)