13 Serpensoktonus

Harry spent the day in the ruins at Godric's Hollow. The weather was unkind. The sun had hidden itself for a week; overcast gloom deteriorated into a swirling sea of bone chilling fog.

Harry dodged broken wards and ruined paths to make his way through shadowy, derelict houses scattered across the fen. He searched diligently, systematically for any sign of magical objects or places. Harry kept on until it was too dark to continue. Returning to the only building that still had a few windows and doors intact, he threw down his rucksack into a dry corner and fell asleep.

Harry dreamt of trains, Ginny and the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley made him a huge dinner. Ron and Hermione were acting strangely. They said Sirius had returned but only in the form of Snuffles. Harry heard a barking dog and he awoke, still hearing the dog. He heard something else; he could feel it through the cold ground. Harry caught a scent so strong, he could taste it.

Harry slipped out of the room and into the fen. A dark shape lunged at him.

"Expelliarmus!" Nagini flew back a few feet but was unharmed.

Harry threw his increasingly powerful stunner at her. The stun spell glanced off her thick scales and crashed into the woods. She kept coming.

Harry heard a second crash in the woods and threw a conjunctivitis curse at her eyes. She blinked and thrust at him again. "That's been tried by many better than you Potter." Nagini hissed. "I'm to take you to the Dark Lord, you don't have to be alive."

Harry stood still and said nothing. Nagini struck at him just missing his neck. Harry calmly took a step back. Her cold eyes narrowed and she struck again.

"Sectumsempra!" scales flew from Nagini's side. She hissed with pain and rage. Harry watched the big snake coil up for another attack, never taking his eyes off his adversary as she lashed at him. He dropped to ground.

Harry used the Sectumsempra again, tearing into her underside.

Nagini darted around and tried to blindside Harry. He sidestepped the thrust as she tried again. Harry watched her movements closely.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry roared. Nagini dodged the green ray of light.

"You haven't got it, Potter," she spat.

"Sectumsempra! Sectumsempra!" he answered. She barely evaded both curses. She struck again. Harry sidestepped her again smoothly.

Her attacks began to slow perceptibly. She had always killed quickly or stealthily, her reserves of strength had never been tried. Many had defied her; yet never for this long. Nagini's swiftest attacks were behind her now but she had many other weapons.

Harry waited for another strike. Nagini stared at her victim. Harry stood there, eyes locked with the snake's. She hissed slowly and rhythmically. Harry froze. The big serpent inched closer. Harry remained motionless. Nagini positioned herself for the kill. Harry still did not move. She struck at him from the side, the blow knocked him down. He crumpled up at an odd angle.

She waited for him to get up. He groaned and shifted erratically. Nagini slithered slowly to him. She coiled up and opened her jaws.

Harry threw a bludger sized orb into her gaping maw and jumped back.

A sickly yellow cloud flashed in front of him. Harry put more distance between himself and the snake. She rolled onto her side and spat.

Harry looked at her foam flecked mouth and waited. She shed parts of her skin and began to thrash about wildly. Her eyes were shot red with blood.

She hissed and spat up gouts of yellow bile. Gradually the thrashing began to subside.

It took her hours to die. Harry watched without making a sound. Moody's training had worked. "Any serpent is only as quick as the weather. Cold weather slows them down. Wait for an opening or make one."

Nagini breathed her last an hour before dawn. Harry felt no remorse and little triumph. He had been attacked and given no quarter.

A mortal enemy had sought him out and died in the attempt.

For the first time Harry had felt some semblance of control during a fight. Thanks to Kingsley he had learned to read the nearly imperceptible signs of when and how she would strike. He felt just a little like Dumbledore, waiting and pacing himself. He had got his timing perfect and vanquishing a huge, deadly serpent seemed none too difficult.

A low howl broke the peaceful dawn. Harry turned to Nagini. She was on her back, mouth agape, perfectly still. The sound was coming from her. The howl pulsed louder and louder then stopped. A tiny wisp of silvery smoke issued from her mouth. The unearthly sound gave way to a banshee's scream. Harry drew his wand. Another wisp of silver escaped. The scream died. It was replaced by an ethereal, forlorn moan and then soft keening. Every grieving thing Nagini had killed roared into cacophony of anguish. More silver wisps broke through her shattered scales in a crescendo of rage. Godric's Hollow filled with hazy sunlight as the last traces of silver vanished.

Harry thought he could hear weeping. Sorrow rang in his ears, an unnatural, otherworldly, inconsolable sorrow: a child's. It caught his heart in a grip so cold he looked around for Dementors.

Eerie stillness filled the hollow. He put away his wand and closed his eyes. Any sense of victory he might have had was gone. Understanding crept into Harry's mind about what horrors Dumbledore must have seen during his long life. At the same time he despised Dumbledore's secretive ways and lofty detachment. "Detachment won't kill Voldemort, Dumbledore. I will."

Harry walked slowly and painfully to the empty building to retrieve his rucksack. Nagini's badly aimed fangs had bruised his ribs but did not break the skin. He pulled the silver staff in the image of a serpent from his pack and thrust it into the ground. Green sparks flew from it for a second. The earth trembled. Harry waited. The rumbling stopped.

He held out his wand and snakes began to writhe from it. Still others came from the earth itself. Hundreds of serpents gathered around the silver staff. Harry hissed at the snakes before him. Adders and vipers swarmed over Nagini's corpse and devoured her remains.

Harry pulled the staff from the ground an examined it closely. The metalwork was nothing short of exquisite. Wasted he thought, on a spectacularly ugly rendition of a serpent. "It probably is goblin wrought silver," he said to himself and dropped it back into his rucksack.

The fog had lifted a little and lost some of its chill. Harry took up his pack and trudged up the gentle slope. Exhaustion left him with little to think about other than rest and a hot meal. Weak sunlight began to warm his face when he reached a crossroads that would eventually take him to a train. A black clad figure was sprawled on the side of the road. Harry looked at the grotesque skin color and knew he was dead. He stepped back. Voldemort had the same pallor and was definitely alive. A crow landed and began to peck at the body. Harry moved swiftly past and turned down the lane.

Harry picked up his pace, clearing a small rise in a few minutes. He heard more crows. Two more black clad corpses. Harry gave them a wide berth, stopping only to adjust his backpack.

"You didn't really expect a fair fight, did you?" A gravelly voice said.

Harry spun around, his scar burned into his skull. He dropped to his knees. A man appeared from the undergrowth. Moody twisted his battered face into as much of a smile as his scars would allow.

"I'd say that was Voldemort taking the news rather badly that Potter and company polished off his overgrown garden snake."

"Potter and company?" said Harry, picking himself up.

"Our beloved Miss Granger brewed the Serpensoktonus potion that you used last night. The bludger disguise was a nice touch. Earlier on Ron Weasley weakened Nagini with that cursed staff. You know Potter, last summer in the secret battle at Godric's Hollow no one knows about. You oughta take those two along on the next one." Moody said as-a-matter-o-factly.

"The Order is still watching me?"

"You got the Kingsnake essence for Hermione's serpent-killer potion at the reptile house in London. You're so polite, even to snakes. Don't be resentful Harry. Even without the potion I knew that blasted serpent Nagini had no chance against you. You're a power unto yourself. I'm only here to watch your back against the likes of them." Mad-Eye scowled at the two dead Death-Eaters.

"What about the one near the crossroads?" Harry pointed toward the third expired Death Eater.

"Can't claim that one," Moody grumbled, scratching his chin. Moody's magic eye spun towards Harry's pack. "I'll take those two extra dragon-bludgers if you don't mind Potter. I've a little job to do."