Shadows of Light

"Tell me Severus; have you any luck with 'persuading' your pet criminal to see things our way?" Severus bristled at the comment, but forced himself to relax, he was too close to lose it all now.

"I can say with absolute certainty that by the end of the attack tonight, Black will be fighting alongside me." He always found that merely twisting the truth was far easier than trying to convince the dark wizard of a complete lie. It worked well under Verseritium as well, but he wasn't going to tell the Ministry fools that.

"Very good. Now that you both know what I want of you, you have the remainder of the day to strategise." Taking that as his cue to leave, Severus knelt once more in front of the Dark Lord, before rising and leaving the study through the heavy oak doors, Lucius not far behind him.

"I trust you'll have no conflict fighting your colleagues."

He didn't turn at Lucius's drawl, but allowed a smug smirk to cover his face, if only he knew.

"And I trust that you will not once again be questioning my loyalties Lucius. I'm sure you still remember the last time you presented our Lord with your ideas." It took him immense self control and hard years of successful espionage not to spit out 'our Lord'. He felt the fair wizard stiffen and fall silent behind him.

He remembered that meeting very well himself. He had allowed himself a moment of inner panic when Lucius had brought his claims to the Dark Lord. Expecting the worst Severus had met his gaze with determination, his shoulders never dropping, his head held high and the sneer never falling from his face.

He'd felt the Dark Lord probe into his mind like all the times before, but to his utter astonishment it hadn't searched through his memories, or pushed against his hidden walls but instead he had seemed to be simply looking for something to disprove the claims of Malfoy once and for all. It hadn't taken much for that to happen; on image of yelling at Potter in front of a class of sniggering Slytherins and another, this time falsely constructed, showing him directing a look of pure hatred towards the back of Albus's robes and the Dark Lord had pulled out of his mind, shot an approving look at Severus and then proceeded to fire the Cruciatus curse at Lucius all within seconds, making no sound and grinning like the sadistic monster he was when Lucius had become overwhelmed with pain and begun to scream.

Even after Lucius had almost revealed him he couldn't help feeling sorry for the wizard, well slightly sympathetic anyway.

He was brought back to the present as they entered another study. Taking a seat one on side of the desk he waited patiently for the other man to take the seat on the other side. Now they would discuss their battle plans, and then almost too soon the battle would begin.

With one last thought of Hogwarts and the animagus he hoped would still be waiting for him there, he turned his attention fully to the notes and sketches laid out before him, recognising immediately the younger Malfoy's neat script; it seemed that even something as important as these plans were beneath Lucius.

By 9 o'clock, the students were all dressed in either protected duelling robes or in the cases of the muggle-born children, hidden armour, also coated in strong protection charms. They had all of course been given the opportunity to wear robes, but the Professors had found that quite a few of them had felt most comfortable in the armour of their muggle ancestors.

The Professors themselves were each wearing heavy robes; though these were traditionally black it had been decided that there would be too many black-clad figures on the grounds, so they had chosen a light grey, while the Heads of House had transfigured their robes the colours of their houses, with Sirius taking green in place of the Potions Master.

When he first arrived at the hall wearing that colour he was shocked to be greeted with a teary-eyed Molly Weasley. His blood ran cold at the sight, terror gripping him as his mind conjured images of a dead Severus, and injured Weasley children. His fear left him to be replaced by sadness at the bitter sweet words of truth she spoke.

"Severus would still have worn black."

Severus was anxious.

Had he been from any other house he probably would have been nervous and scared, but Slytherins never felt fear, even in the face of imminent death or prolonged torture a true Slytherin would stand, back straight and chin raised in defiance, their face impassive, their eyes glinting with a dangerous light that told that it wasn't over.

So it was with great effort that he managed to contain the disgusted sneer that tried to take over his features as he watched fully trained Slytherin wizards beg for their Master's forgiveness, for a mercy that didn't exist, and neither a wand nor hand had been raised yet.

It sickened him to think that these men had once belonged to his house; he pictured Salazar writhing in his grave every time one of his chosen students knelt in submission before the red-eyed monster. Years in the Dark Lord's service had vanquished the cunning they were notorious for, mindlessly following the Dark Lord's every word had removed the intelligence that rivalled a Ravenclaw's, they were no better than the muggle's sheep; agreeing blindly and without any thought to the consequences; they had become as heedless as Gryffindors.

And what made it worse to Severus's mind was that he had to be part of that. He had to degrade himself to the life of a servant for the only chance to defeat the Master, to free those that had had the strength to resist.

It took the heir of one of the darkest families, an old wizard, and a 16 year old boy to defeat the most powerful dark wizard on Earth.

A lesser Slytherin would have laughed.

The students had taken their planned positions with an ease that made the heart of every adult present heavy.

They shouldn't have to fight in a battle that should have ended before they were born.

The first years from every house were in the highest rooms in the castle, small groups of students in rooms spanning every side of the castle, they were the lookouts, and every house was working together, their mutual desire to keep the castle and its inhabitants safe the only catalyst they needed to reach a trust that had taken too many years to achieve. The second and third years had helped Madam Pomfrey to set up hospital areas in different parts of the castle and were all determined to guard these wings from any threat.

It had been decided after hours of arguing, that while as many people as possible were needed, even with the training these children had had, the fact still remained that they were children, barely older than they had been when they started and there was little they could do by going out to meet Voldemort on the battlefield, and so they would wait, hidden from view, daring any of the Death Eaters to attempt to make their way into the castle.

The fourth years had volunteered to watch the younger children in the castle. Knowing that Hogsmeade would be in great danger once the battle began, Albus had opened his doors to its residents, offering shelter and asking nothing in return. That alone had garnered the support of the witches and wizards and they had stated immediately that they would fight alongside him, but pleaded that their children be shielded as best they could.

Hearing this, the fourth years had gathered together and argued between themselves, it wasn't house against house, but while some had been determined to fight they realised that they would be needed more inside the castle than in the field. Taking control they had gone to the Headmaster as a united front and asked to be the ones to guard the children. He had instantly agreed happy to know that a few more students would be spared some of the horror to come, and the students had taking the children to the lowest part of the castle; the Slytherin common room, there they had transfigured chairs into beds and stood united to ward the entrance.

They would do anything to protect those younger then them, and they were prepared to do just that.

The fifth through to seventh years had separated into small groups, houses mixed without argument or suspicion, each team led by either a teacher or Order member.

They stood in the Great Hall, the Entrance Hall, corridors and on staircases that, as if recognising the sombre atmosphere of the school, were keeping still, waiting. Night had long fallen, and they knew it was only a matter of time before it would all begin. Reassurances were needed by both adults and students, and as the children dismissed house rivalry to comfort those that needed it, the teacher's dropped their professional facades and could be found embracing students and other staff alike.

Sirius watched with a detached mind, Harry, Ron and Hermione were holding on to each other, and gradually more and more people moved to join the trio. Sirius felt a presence behind him, and lent into the werewolf, accepting the comfort he brought. They hadn't spoken much in the two days, but words had never really been needed between them.

"It'll be alright Siri, you'll see." Then pausing to look at his friend closely he sighed, he still couldn't fully understand what Sirius had found in his one-time enemy, but he accepted that what ever it was, it was strong enough for the animagus to become sullen, as he had since the Slytherin's departure. "You know he won't let anything happen to the students, Harry especially, I watched Severus when I was working here, and for all his complaining he really does care for them, and he will do anything to ensure that no harm comes to them."

Sirius merely sighed and slumped further. "That's what I'm afraid of." No more could be said as at that moment the image of a glowing phoenix appeared before them, the signal from the lookouts. Voldemort was here.

It had begun.

They apparated to Hogsmeade, and Severus sent a silent prayer of thanks that it was empty, apparently none of his companions, and he used the term in the loosest possible way, were bothered by the absence of people in the town, and they proceeded to set alight any and all buildings they came across.

Severus was glad that by leading this he didn't have to participate, it was hard enough watching the beloved town burn to the ground, he couldn't imagine having to aid in any way, but even as he thought it he knew that if he had had to he would have with only the shortest of delays, if it meant saving the lives of not only those within the schools walls, but the rest of the world.

He promised himself then that he would help to rebuild the town, his money and effort wouldn't be better spent, assuming he lived to help, a pessimistic voice spoke in his head, but he silenced it with thoughts of Sirius waiting for him and moved to take control of the black figures around him. Masks covered their faces, but he had spent more time with them than he cared to, and he knew by posture and gait alone who each was.

"Crabbe, Goyle, leave the shop alone, we have more important things to achieve tonight than looting from Hunydukes." He spoke silkily, his tone impatient, as though scolding a toddler.

"As for the rest of you, Our Lord will arrive soon and I will not have those under my command appear to be anything less than attentive." There was no instruction, but every Death Eater moved from the burning rubble to stand in front of him, and he heard Lucius come to stand beside him.

"You never were one to enjoy yourself Severus, not to worry; there will be plenty of chances to have some fun once Potter and the idiot Dumbledore have fallen. With them out of the way there will be no stopping Our Lord and we will be finally rid of the Mudbloods and Muggles once and for all." Even from beneath the mask that hid his face from view, Severus could see the malicious glint in his eyes.

It chilled him to realise just how much his once friend truly believed in the Dark Lord's words. The Dark Lord had taken passionate, strong willed children, and twisted them into monsters. For that alone he deserved to die.

He could say nothing in response to the blonde's passionate speech or linger too long on the proud stance of the younger blonde as with a loud bang the Dark Lord appeared in the middle of the circle they had formed. Everyone present bowed down to the floor, then upon rising Severus and Lucius slipped backwards into their own places in the group.

"The time has come to announce my return to the world. This will be only the first of many attacks, but I wish for you all to enjoy this moment as I will. Within the night both the brat Potter and the fool Dumbledore will be dead, and there will be no one left to fight me. We will cleanse the world of the filth Mudbloods have brought upon us, and be free to live without fear of discovery once the Muggles are dead. The world will be Ruled by Purebloods, Lived in by Purebloods and Owned by Purebloods." There were cheers as he finished his speech, and Severus had to agree with one thing.

Tonight would definitely cleanse the world of Mudbloods, for there was only one who fit that description so well and he was hungrily devouring the strings of praises sent his way.

With a raise of his hands Hogsmeade fell silent.

"The time has come. Depart." And they did, splitting into two groups, Lucius headed the first, and Severus the second, the Dark Lord took his place in front of them and led them up the path towards the front gates of Hogwarts. His steps were light, he had no concerns; there were only unprepared children waiting for him after all.

With a shower of green sparks, the gates disappeared and the school was free to enter. It had been decided that Lucius would lead his group to the left of the school, while Severus proceeded to the castle doors.

As he stepped across the thresh-hold of the school grounds he activated the spell that would save his life. With his face visible behind the white mask, to those on the right side, he headed across the dark grounds, feeling the Dark Lord's presence beside him, and the eyes of the castle upon him.

The time had come, and he was ready.

It didn't take long for them to leave the castle's walls. Spreading themselves out they made a formidable force, standing in defence along the length of the school, but ready to attack those that came to threaten its safety. Adrenaline overtook fear at the sight of the green sparks, and everyone of the Light took one collective breath. They were hidden from sight by the shadows of the castle, but they saw as the Death Eaters became visible.

They watched in silence as the group split in two, one going off to the left while the other continued forward. With a barely perceptible nod from Albus, Sirius motioned to the other leaders around him, and they too broke into two groups, Sirius taking the lead and following the direction of the Death Eaters.

The others waited.

They knew the moment they were seen, the white masks shone eerily in the pale moonlight, and suddenly they turned as one to a figure to the side of them. But one remained in their direction, his face shone, but there was no mask, and the light that illuminated him wasn't from the moon.

There were several gasps beside the headmaster as they began to recognise the Potions Master, but before they could make any move to show that recognition, the man shook his head once and then turned his head in the direction the others faced. It wasn't hard to recognise who they were looking at, the blood red eyes glowed in the shadowed face.

They heard a cry of rage to the left, and then red sparks flew into the air. Sirius's signal that the battle had began. The teachers knew that signal, and in perfect unison, they stepped forward, wands drawn and raised, pointing directly at each Death Eater, Dumbledore himself pointed his wand at Voldemort, while Minerva pointed hers at her colleague. She lent over to him to whisper in his ear.

"I think Severus's spell worked better than we predicted."

"Yes, I think even Severus underestimated his own power." And it was true; no one had expected Severus to be seen so clearly in the night.

From what little they had been able to learn of the spell they had thought that it would merely reveal the Slytherin's face to them, but his whole body glowed and he couldn't be missed even from the distance they were at that moment, but the spell hadn't gone wrong, as it appeared that none of the Death Eaters could see the white light, even Voldemort himself hadn't noticed the power radiating from his servant.

Another small nod, and the teachers took another step forward, and the Order members, the adults of Hogsmeade, and the parents of the students that had joined the fight moved to fill their place.

One more step by them all and the students brought themselves out of the shadows. They were no longer hidden from view, and he took some joy in seeing Voldemort's face contort in surprise before it turned to rage at having his plans ruined. Dumbledore stepped forward then, standing in front of his staff, friends and students. Ignoring the Death Eaters he spoke directly to the dark wizard.

"As you can see we are not as unprepared as you had hoped. We will defend this castle, and we will end this war here tonight, by what ever means we must. I will give you one chance to end this without shedding the blood of anyone here. Leave the grounds of this school and never return, leave the country and the world alone, and no charges will be brought towards you. It is your choice Tom."

From the side of his eyes he saw Severus's lips curl at the name, but he drew his attention back to Voldemort.

He was chilled, but not surprised at the humourless laugh that echoed in the night.

"I will never turn tail and leave old man, but you are right, this war will end tonight, but it is not my blood that will be shed."

"As you wish Tom, but do remember that I gave you the chance." There was another laugh.

"Oh, I shall remember it well when I look down at your cold corpse." Without effort he raised his wand to the sky and speaking low words, the Dark Mark appeared. It seemed that the Death Eaters had their own signals and this was one of them, for instantly curses were fired towards them. But they were more than ready for the attack, and while the students fired shields and counter curses, the full-grown witches and wizards threw their own attack. Voldemort easily avoided Albus's hex, but the others didn't fare so well.

Unprepared for the structure of the attack, many of the Death Eaters hadn't expected the spells sent their way, and had little time to defend themselves. Jumping out of the way of the streams of light coming towards them, the Death Eaters were unconsciously closing the gap between the two sides.

Severus smirked as he expertly ducked Minerva's spell and caught the matching expression she sent his way. Both sides broke rank, and the battle really began, spells shot from wands in every direction, and it wasn't long before they had paired off in intense duels. Severus found himself facing a growling Moody; it had to be more than coincidence he thought, as he stepped out of the way of a stunning spell.

"Is that the best you have Moody?" He made sure his voice carried to those around him, he knew his voice was recognisable to anyone who knew him, and he knew that the other Death Eaters were aware of that too. Now it wouldn't matter if anyone slipped and spoke his name during a duel, they would all know that he was there.

"I always knew I was right about you Snape, the apple never does fall far from the tree after all." He sent a winding hex towards the ex-Auror that was easily avoided.

"Trying to wound me with words Moody, I must say I am less than impressed by your style, and I had heard such stories of your actions during the first rising." He didn't catch the wizard's next move, but he did see the green light coming towards the paranoid man, thinking fast he fired a spell at him, causing the wizard to step to the side and the killing curse missed Moody, just grazing the sleeve of his robe.

It was then that he noticed Moody's spell coming towards him, he didn't have time to counter it, so he threw himself to the side, the spell hit him across his shoulder and blood seeped from the rip in his robe. Severus allowed himself only seconds to think of the pain, before pushing it aside and straightening again, glad to see the back of Moody's robes as he moved to attack a Death Eater across the grounds.

It wasn't long before someone else moved in front of him, and to his surprise he found himself facing...

"Longbottom!"

Sirius had led his group, matching the Death Eaters' journey step for step. Suddenly the masked wizards had stopped, and the leader had turned towards where they stood, still hidden in shadows. They had listened as the man turned back to the other Death Eaters waiting for a signal, then the moon had moved from behind a cloud and some of the shadow disappeared revealing Sirius where he stood.

The Death Eaters saw him and their wands rose to point at him.

"Hold." He'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Malfoy." He sneered in the same way he had seen Severus do on so many occasions.

"Black," He sneered back, but there was amusement in his voice. "Severus said you would be here. Our Lord was very pleased to learn that his 'pet criminal' would be fighting with us soon, we just weren't expecting you to join us so early on."

He hadn't known that Severus had been expected to draw him over to Voldemort's side, but in hindsight he realised that of course Severus would have been punished for releasing him without telling His Lord and knowing the Slytherin as he did this would be the perfect explanation, with only one flaw. It would never happen.

"I don't care what Snape has told you Malfoy. Sure he released me, but even you must know how much I hate him, do you really think I would join any side he is on. Oh, I'm not here to help you Malfoy, I'm here to stop you." He took sadistic pleasure in the horror and anger that he could sense coming from the blonde.

Even when Severus's emotions were at their strongest, Sirius was hard pressed to sense them, even in his dog form, Severus had always been able to hid his emotions away, not only from everyone else, but from himself as well, the blonde was no comparison, no matter how cold and emotionless Malfoy acted he couldn't hide what he truly felt any better than the average Gryffindor.

To his surprise instead of attacking him, Malfoy looked to the sky, and not finding whatever it was he was looking for he let out a rage filled cry. And Sirius took the time to fire up the warning flare for the others. When he fell silent again, they stood still glaring menacingly at each other, but neither made a move to attack. Then the talking had started and both men turned at the sound of their leaders' voices.

"...remember that I gave you the chance."

"Oh, I shall remember it well when I look down at your cold corpse."

A green light had fallen upon the grounds, looking up both sides saw the Dark Mark hovering in the air above them. When Sirius looked back Malfoy's wand was again pointed in his face, but he was no longer metres across the grounds, but standing just feet away from him. The steel eyes reflected the lights of the battle occurring next to them but Sirius met them with the arrogance Severus always accused him of possessing.

"It would seem Our Lord has decided it is time for us to have some fun and I will enjoy killing you Black." His eyes glittered dangerously and the words were on the tip of his tongue.

"Ad..."

"I don't think you want to do that Malfoy." Sirius smirked when the masked wizard took a hasty step back from the wand pointed in his face.

"Weasley." The name didn't come from the slowly retreating wizard, but from the slightly shorter one in the crowd.

"That's right Draco." The younger Malfoy bristled at the use of his name and broke rank to stand in front of Ron.

"Do you really think you and the mutt are any threat to the Dark Lord's army, Weasel? We'll kill the two of you before you have the chance to beg for your pathetic lives."

"Ah, but it isn't just the Weasel and the Mutt, as you put it Ferret." Hermione moved to stand beside her friend, and the others emerged from behind them, each stepping into the light, students followed by adults.

"There's more of us than you think Malfoy," Ron continued, "and we don't really like the idea of you or your father threatening one of our own." He smiled sweetly at the short blonde, who stood still in shock and then suddenly, "Stupify!" And the former student fell frozen to the ground. "Always wanted to do that." But Ron's voice was drowned out by the second scream of rage that Lucius released as he launched himself at the Gryffindor.

He didn't get far as a spell passed closely by his ear and he heard another of the Death Eaters fall behind him.

Turning to face Sirius, he ripped off his mask and grinned ferally and again started the killing curse, but he cut himself off when Sirius disappeared and in his place stood a black dog, its fangs bared preparing to pounce. It took Malfoy only a second for his brain to understand what he saw, but it was enough time for Sirius and he threw himself at the other wizard bringing him to the floor in one attack, his wand falling from his hand. Another second and once again in he stood as a man, wand in hand staring down at Malfoy's face.

"I would have loved to kill you now Malfoy, but Severus asked me not to do anything to endanger myself, and I won't go to Azkaban again not for that, that is a privilege I will reserve just for you." A second later and Malfoy was stunned and bound against a nearby tree. And Sirius turned back to the battle. The gap between the two groups had disappeared and they were now combining, Ron and Hermione joining the rest of the students as they fought the people they had shared lessons with.

It was then that he saw Severus.

He was pretty hard to miss, even in the flurry of battle. He hadn't seen him since he'd left two days before, and he wanted nothing more than to run to him and forget all about the fights going on around them, but a curse flying passed his head wouldn't let him forget the war and so he turned on the Death Eater responsible focusing himself solely on the duel.

"Hello Professor. For some reason I'm not surprised to see you here." He grinned conspiratorially and then fired an expelliramius. Easily avoiding it, Severus moved closer to his student, and was surprised again when the boy didn't step back.

"I see you've gained a backbone since I've been away Longbottom, shame it won't last you long." Seeing the ripple of doubt in the Gryffindor's eyes, he decided what he needed to do. While the adults he had worked with knew not to take any of the comments he made to heart, the children did not, and Severus only now realised that although his face was hidden from the Death Eaters, and fully visible to the others, he hadn't allowed his usual mask to fall.

It scared him to drop that mask, but seeing that fear beginning to form on Longbottom's face he knew he had to do it if he wanted to keep the boy alive, he couldn't afford for the usual fear the boy had for him, to return.

So, he closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds before opening them again, the cold mask gone, leaving everything he felt free to be seen, not by his enemies, but by those that wouldn't hurt him with the knowledge, but use it to help him. The boy apparently saw everything he needed there, because he smiled again and only determination could be seen on his features.

"Oh I don't know Sir; I think we may have underestimated each other." And then he fired another hex that Severus only just avoided with a rebound shield that fired the curse into the Death Eater beside him. Looking that way he saw Lupin give him a grateful smile before turning to help Seamus Finnigan.

Turning back he found that Longbottom had disappeared, but he caught a glimpse of the young man, he couldn't call him a boy now, joining with Granger and Weasley to fight against both Crabbes.

Shooting a curse of his own in their direction, he turned quickly engaging Arthur Weasley in battle, a small smirk on his face when he heard the deep cry of shock behind him.

"Nice to see you again Severus." Arthur said as he dodged and fired curses at the dark-haired wizard.

"The same to you Arthur." And for the first time in a long time Severus gave a genuine smile.

End of Part Six