This is the last chapter on this for now. I will have more to add to it later, but whether it will be an epilogue or another story has yet to be determined.

ShadeDancer

Disclaimer: (Twists out of a constraining white jacket) I made a deal, I profess that I do not own Harry Potter and They let me go. They will let me claim this twisted plot and the pranks within it though.

Chapter 12: Chances

"Luciusss" Voldemort hissed in that damnable serpentine voice of his "do you have a traitor to give me?"

Lucius stepped forward, fear making his heart pound even as a cold sweat chilled his body. Voldemort was enjoying this and Lucius stiffened himself in anticipation of the cruciatus curses that would soon be thrown about.

"No my Lord" Lucius forced himself to bow low over the hem of the Dark Lord's robes "I was unable to discover anything concrete."

"Crucio" Voldemort hissed his displeasure, holding the curse for nearly two minutes before lifting it "you have failed me Luciusss, and I do not tolerate failure. Why not just admit that you are the ssspy, admit that you truly care about the Potter brat."

Severus couldn't bear it, he knew how heart-broken Harry would be should Lucius not return "I am the spy Voldemort."

His announcement was met with silence as the Dark Lord's menacing gaze swung to him "Severusss, my ssslippery ssserpent. I am surprisssed that you offer up your life in sssuch a manner."

Severus stood defiant before Voldemort and the rest of the Death Eaters "I will not allow another to die for me, especially not one I owe my life to."

In the instant before Voldemort placed the cruciatus curse upon him, Severus locked his eyes with Lucius'.

'Go to your sons' he projected the thoughts 'I have given you the time you need, my debt is repaid. Tell Harry and Draco goodbye for me.'

Then the cruciatus curse hit Severus full force and he was forced to his knees. But Severus had been held under the curse many times before and used his desperation to fight it off long enough to throw a hex at Voldemort to distract everyone long enough for Lucius to make his escape.

"Now what was the point of that my ssserpent" Voldemort had ended the cruciatus and hit Severus with legilimency, managing to catch the tail end of Severus' thoughts before the potions master could slam up his occlumency shields "ah, it was to give Luciusss a chance to essscape. Very clever Ssseverusss, it isss too bad you are a traitor. I think we ssshall have sssome fun with you before you die."

… … … … …

Harry had left the feast not long after his father and Severus had answered the Dark Lords call, there was something he needed to do and he needed to be alone to do it. Reaching his rooms, Harry let himself in before changing the password to prevent anyone from entering and interrupting him. A quick silencing charm on the room later and Harry was ready, settling himself down upon the floor in front of a candle. Slowly he allowed himself to fall into the flame, allowing it to pull him into his own mind as he sought the link that connected him with the Dark Lord. Gradually he became displaced from his body and found himself floating above the Death Eater meeting. He could find no sign of his father, but below him he could see Severus being tortured. It seemed that the torture had been going on for quite some time and Voldemort finally got what he wanted.

"Why betray me Severusss? It can't be for the old man." Voldemort hissed in pleasure as he finally succeeded in breaking past Severus' occlumency shields "ssso that is why. You love him. And if by sssome twissst of fate Harry did return your love, what then? Do you really think the Order will let you keep him? You who are touched by my mark? It'sss almossst a pity that you ssshall never know my sssnake. Avada Ked—"

Something broke free inside of Harry then, power coursed through him stronger and more violent than ever before and he screamed as he apparated in a burst of light. The light flashed again and Harry found himself kneeling protectively over Severus, glowing wings of black and silver bursting free from somewhere within his back. He had burst through the blocks on his powers, and with the return of the memories from the night of his parents murder came a calmness he had not known he possessed.

"What the—" Voldemort began, startled.

Harry's head hung down, hair that was once again black curtaining his face, as he began to speak "I did die that night, the night my parents died, but you had already marked me as your equal and so I was allowed back. Because I was the one with the power to defeat you my life was returned to me. I remember now."

Ignoring Voldemort for the moment, Harry turned to speak to Severus, placing a soft kiss upon the man's lips "I would give up my place in heaven for you. I love you."

With a flash of light Severus disappeared from the room, leaving Voldemort and Harry the sole occupants. After he had transported Severus back to Hogwarts Harry finally looked up, his green eyes burning into the shocked red ones of Voldemort. Slowly Harry stood, his muscles moving with sinewy grace as he fully faced the Dark Lord, clearly showing the power he retained.

"And I'd accept a place in hell if it would ensure your residence there for all eternity, never to be freed, but Lucifer wants you bad enough on his own. It's time to finish this, Voldemort."

"I'm afraid not Harry Potter" Voldemort hissed, having regained control of himself "this will end when I say it does."

With a loud crack Voldemort apparated himself away through his wards, setting off a chain reaction. The moment he was free of the wards they imploded along with everything within their confines. Inside the building Harry was buffeted by the power, stone from the walls slashing across his skin as the heat of the dark fire Voldemort had set off exploded them. For a long moment Harry was tempted to just lay there in the destructing building, but then Sev's face flashed across his vision to be swiftly followed by Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco. He had to get back to them, but whatever Voldemort had done with the wards had sapped his magic, pulling it out of him to fuel the dark spell. He would have to fly out, he still had his wings at least, they hadn't been affected by the spell. Pushing himself to his feet, Harry spread his wings, ignoring the feeling of fire as it licked at his feathers. With a mighty sweep Harry shot up into the air and leveled out, throwing his arms over his head and face as he barreled out through one of the miraculously still intact window. Once free he frantically beat his wings, continuing to ignore his pain as he tried to get as far away from the building as possible. A loud boom sounded behind him right before he could get out of range and a force filled with searing heat propelled him further and slammed him into the ground. Harry decided in that instant that rest was necessary and gave into the darkness, at least he was out of the building, he just hoped Voldemort didn't send any Death Eaters back to investigate before he managed to wake again.

… … … … …

Light was stinging his eyes, and though it was painful, Harry welcomed it after the darkness. Forcing his eyes open and blinking away the tears that welled up as he exposed them to the full sunlight, Harry discovered that he still lay where he had fallen the night before. With a groan he heaved himself to his feet and studied the ruins of what had once been Voldemort's headquarters, there was nothing left of the place that was useful and Harry had no doubt that he would have escaped alive if he had been ordinary. Of course then he might have had the chance to become a ghost and annoy Voldemort for all eternity, but he wouldn't have been able to kill the bastard as a ghost and doubted the Powers That Be would give him another chance at life. Necromancy was always an option though, he would have to speak to Severus about that. Harry thought it over for another minute before shaking his head, no, best not. Looking to the sky, Harry grimaced and spread his aching wings. Using an angelic trick, one of the few he had actually been taught, Harry warped reality about him so that he could fly unseen back to Hogwarts; his magic was still pretty much nonexistent and he cursed whatever wards Voldemort had concocted. Next time he would definitely have to make sure all wards were disabled and maybe throw up a few of him own in return. Harry continued to fly unerringly towards Hogwarts even though he didn't know where exactly he was, his thoughts focused upon how he would handle his next meeting with Voldemort. Yet even as he thought up battle strategies his mind kept conjuring up images of Severus and he couldn't help but wonder where they would go from here, it wasn't every day you vowed to give up your place in heaven for someone you loved after all.

… … … … …

Hogwarts had to be one of the most beautiful sights on Earth Harry decided as he landed in front of the castle, the doors opening to admit him. For a moment Harry hesitated within the Entrance Hall, deciding on which way to go, before heading to the Hospital Wing. He wasn't at all fond of the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomfrey's strict mothering, but he figured his dad and Severus would be there and he could use a bit of patching up himself. On the way he didn't run into anyone and Harry realized that the students weren't yet back from their holidays, meaning that he hadn't been out for more than a few hours when he had blacked out. What was surprising was that he didn't run into any of the professors, but that confusion was solved when he found most of them in the Hospital Wing where an impromptu meeting was taking place. It seemed they were trying to come up with a plan of action to find him. For a moment Harry stood there listening, drinking in the sight of everyone in the room before he stiffly forced himself to move further into the room.

"I'm here" he croaked, not realizing how dry his throat had become during his flight.

"Harry!"

Each cry of his name had a different inflection placed on it, most bordering on either relief or shock. Harry realized that he must make a startling sight, not only was he pretty banged up, but he had wings growing out of his back. He guessed either Severus hadn't told them about the wings, or the others had dismissed it as some form of hallucination from the torture. Deciding he better explain a little, Harry opened his mouth only to be suddenly attacked by a pissed off phoenix.

"You just can't listen can you" Fawkes squawked "you heard the prophecy I told you, it was given to you for a purpose. Now you've probably messed everything all up. What happened to the inner Slytherin you've been releasing? You had to act like a Gryffindor. For all we know the prophecy is worthless now. Foolish child—"

"FAWKES" Harry finally managed to get his throat to work, stopping the phoenix tirade "berate me later for not listening to your warnings, but right now I'm going to pass out again."

The moment the words finished leaving his mouth, Harry did just that, ending up in a crumbled heap upon the floor with his elegant wings twisted awkwardly around him. The others in the room seemed in shock, staring at Harry's still form for long minutes before Dumbledore thought to levitate him to a nearby bed for Poppy to check him over. With a sighing trill, Fawkes settled down to watch over Harry while the boy slept.

… … … … …

No one was around when Harry woke, well, no one other than a sighing phoenix.

"Sky child" Fawkes began in a soft trill, obviously having gotten over his earlier upset "I wish you would have listened more carefully to me even though you do not place much stock in mortal divination. Now it is unclear if the prophecy I trilled has any merit anymore. I just hope you have not doomed yourself to loss."

For a moment Harry bowed his head, he had considered this very thing upon his flight home "I think I have saved the prophecy, Fawkes, not doomed it. You mentioned Severus in the prophecy and if I hadn't went for him he would have died. Then where would the prophecy be?"

"You cannot mean…" Fawkes trailed off.

"Yes" Harry nodded "Severus is the lover you mentioned. I have slowly been realizing that since this summer, but it didn't hit me that he was the one until I witnessed Voldemort torturing him and his love for me came out in the open."

"Then hope still remains" it was as if a burden had suddenly been lifted from Fawkes' wings as the phoenix prepared to fire-flash away "he is by the lake, if you are interested?"

There was no need to clarify who he was, but first he had to get out of the hospital wing. Harry knew from long practice that the moment he got within a few feet of the doors a silent alarm would alert Madam Pomfrey of any escape attempts, and as he still wasn't feeling up to snuff, that way was out. His magic also wasn't what it should be, and Harry didn't want to risk pulling in outside magic while he was still feeling weak. That left the windows. Maneuvering so that he was perched lightly on the end of his bed, Harry spread his wings, wincing as they popped, and launched himself towards one of the open windows situated high in the wall. At the last moment possible he pulled his wings tight to his body so he could fit through the opening and began a freefall, suddenly snapping out his wings to soar to a landing upon the castle grounds.

Beginning the trek down to the lake, Harry found Severus exactly where Fawkes had said he would be. He was suddenly a little nervous and tucked his wings against his back as he approached the potion master. At his approach, Severus turned and watched him, waiting. They stood there in silence for a long moment before Severus cleared his throat.

"So I wasn't hallucinating" his voice was neutral "you do have wings."

"Yes" Harry couldn't manage anything else, and they fell back into silence.

"Did you mean it" Severus finally asked, his voice still frustratingly neutral.

This time the words failed him completely and so Harry could only nod, a soft smile full of melancholy crossing his face. Suddenly he was anticipating some form of rejection even though he knew Severus returned his feelings. Perhaps it was because of the way Severus had himself closed off, seemingly emotionless in the face of their stilted conversation. Harry was just debating the worth of walking away and pretending this had never happened when he suddenly found himself in Severus' arms; he had been so caught up in his own thoughts he had never seen the other man move. Suddenly feeling the happiest since he had been adopted, Harry rested his head on Severus' chest, allowing the gentle heartbeat he heard there to lull him into a relaxed drowse as long fingers stroked the feathers of his wings. He knew he should look for his family, see how they were doing and if his father was okay, but he couldn't force himself to move from Severus' embrace.

High above the newly made couple, a phoenix flew, invisible to all eyes. They might just have a chance in this war after all.

That's as slashy as it will get people. No sex scenes for this story; I wanted to keep it light and having them constantly shagging like bunnies, while totally hot, would have ruined the plot.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. You all are awesome.

And while I do admit to having a very evil streak, I can't believe you people would think I would kill of Lucius and/or Severus. They're my babies…that, and Harry would kill me if I dared harm them.

Posted On: August 21, 2005