Falling into Place

Thoughts began to flow through Harry's mind, much like the water that cascaded down his body. The memories were chasing through his head. Fighting with his own memories of Snape. And in the end one thought won the battle. He never wanted to kill anybody…

His legs ached from all the excess work he had done. Slightly woozy from the heat, he got out of the shower and pulled on some clothes just before he collapsed on the bathroom floor. Waking up some time later...Snape was sitting beside Harry on the floor checking for concussions or something. The door was somewhat mangled. It appeared Snape had broken his way in. "You didn't answer." Was that a worried expression on Snape's face? Harry was about to sit up when Snape put his hand on his chest. "Don't move yet. I don't know…just don't move." Snape's hand got heavier on his chest. "Is something wrong?"

Snape moved his hand off Harry's chest and began to look for any noticeable problems. Finding none, he picked Harry up and carried him to the couch in the living room. He didn't want to take any risks. Could it be that he overworked the boy? No, this can't happen again. He is too valuable. Harry's eyes closed again ready for sleep. Though he had no idea how intently Snape was looking at him.

Harry woke up some time later in the day. Wondering what time it was, and why he was on the couch? "Are you feeling better?" "Um…yea I guess." "Good, we are leaving now." Harry just looked down at the floor. Snape grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him up, "Now."

Pulling Harry by his arm as he led the way. What is going on? They walked to an area crowded with trees. "We are going to apparate. Hold onto me." Harry grabbed Snape's arm holding on tightly with both hands…and everything went out of focus as they arrived at their destination. Where that was, Harry had no idea. It hardly looked like a place worth visiting. There were a lot of very old trees around. Everything was covered in moss. There was an old stone fence up ahead. Most of the stones had fallen down to the sides. Harry suddenly realized that he was still holding onto Snape's arm, and let go quickly. Snape hardly seemed to notice.

It appeared that he was looking for something. Whatever could possibly be out here, Harry had no idea. Snape walked over to a steep hill that was infested with moss. "Trouver Senteir" An opening appeared as the moss moved over. The whole thing just seemed weird. Snape went inside the hill. Harry not seeing anything else to do followed in pursuit. The place seemed oddly familiar, although he couldn't be certain with the dim lighting. "This way." Snape turned left to another hallway. Harry couldn't quite get over his feeling of déjà vu. "What is this place?" Snape kept making turns. Harry wasn't sure if Snape knew where he was going. Were they going in circles? It all looked the same to him. Either Snape was in better shape than him, or he had a slight height advantage. Harry just couldn't seem to keep up with him anymore.

He was starting to breathe a little heavier as he slowed his pace down. Wherever they were going, Harry hoped they would get there soon. Snape soon came to a halt. "I assume you know the power the horcruxes possess?" Harry glad to take a break, panted "yea." "Voldemort of course knows this as well. There is one more important thing to know... He can feel it when they are destroyed. Can you comprehend what it is like to have part of your soul destroyed, Potter?" "Um, no I can't say that I can." "Once a part of your soul is lost, you cannot remember what that part of your life is. It's as if you never had those particular traits. Voldemort isn't even really human anymore. He leads only one role. That is all he is, and ever will be. He losses an advantage once the horcruxes are destroyed, but he is still going to be much stronger than you." "How am I supposed to beat someone that is stronger than me?" "An interesting question. Now back to what I was saying. Since he knows when a horcrux is destroyed he will work all the more harder to prevent you from destroying the others. However, he does not know when you collect them. A slight little detail he forgot about when he started this whole fiasco."

"What are you saying?" "Impatient as always, Potter. Just like your father." "You leave him out of this!" "You're just as blind I'd say. CERRA BOCCA!" Harry felt something invisible cover his mouth. What's going on? I can't talk! Snape smirked, "easy to catch off guard too I see." This isn't fair! "Now what I propose is that you gather all the horcruxes and destroy them at the same time. It will be less risky this way. We will continue our journey now." Without removing the spell Snape started walking again. Harry followed. Harry thought to himself with little humor that this gives freedom of speech a completely new meaning. Completely forgetting his experience of déjà vu earlier, Harry walked in a room he would soon remember.

It was a really big room, that resembled a gigantic ballroom…with chairs…and…could this be the same place? Harry wanted to tell Snape that he knew this place. But Snape seemed to be highly amused by something. They walked to the center of the room when Harry felt the ground shake….An earthquake? That can't be right. The floor started to move. Only a small circular area moved. The part they were standing on started to descend beneath the ground. Oh great, let's go explore the frigid depths of the world. "This should be helpful, Potter. That is if you stay alive long enough." What is that supposed to mean? Is he going to kill me? I can't do any spells! I can't talk! He knows I can't…I haven't got the hang of….Snape continued to smirk. It was something kind of scary about him. No one has ever seen him smile. Harry wasn't even sure if he was capable of it…."Just because you are not able to do spells without opening your mouth doesn't mean that I'm not able to."

Huh? What's that supposed to…."You lifted the spell!" "Nice observation, Potter. I'm sure your fan club would be proud. If only you would have been able to figure it out about twenty minutes ago." I never tried…what if this happens again. I have to learn how this works. As soon as I can get away from him I will. The floor came to a halt. There was a narrow tunnel in front of them. This was nowhere near as pleasant as the top floor. It was much colder and darker. "Lumos." They headed to the dark depths of the endless abyss. Harry wondered what Ron and Hermione were doing. And Ron's little sister Ginny. Was that really how he saw her? Ron's little sister? BAM! Harry failed to notice the turn up ahead. He walked straight into the wall.

Snape obviously did not hear the collision. He was way up ahead. Harry had to run to catch up again. Snape stopped at what looked like a dead end. What's going on? Harry couldn't help but to feel a tad bit claustrophobic. Snape slid his arm through the wall. It rippled like water. But it looked so solid a moment ago. He retrieved a small wooden chest. "You cannot mention this place to anyone. This holds something very important." Snape opened the box. It looked to Harry to be completely ordinary objects. Worth a bit at a road show maybe. "I have all but one. A locket is missing." What? Those are the horcruxes? How did he get them? "I understand you may have found one?" "Um…yea. But it was a fake. Someone with the initials R.A.B. took it." Snape put the items back into the wall, and it looked solid again. "We have to go see someone now." Snape led the way back through the dark tunnel. Once they stepped on the part of the floor that took them down, they immediately went back up like they were on an elevator. It was pretty much a straight shot from the round room to the exit. This can't be the way we came in. There were too many turns earlier…but it led the same spot outside. Snape grabbed Harry's arm once again and apparated.