Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. This is a response to the Severitus Challenge. The plot is mine.
Author Note: Thanks for all the reviews! This chapter shows a darker side of Albus Dumbledore. Not really evil, but not like a grandpa's figure. You're warned! Don't like, don't read.
Chapter ten: how to get rid of a freak, lesson two
"Ssseveruss. I trust you bring me what I wisssshed?"
"Indeed, my Lord", said Harry, kneeling.
The Dark Lord smiled. Really smiled, not smirked. His smile was genuine, like that of a child on Christmas day. On his snakelike face, it was even more frightening that an evil one. Whatever made Voldemort happy could sent shivers down Harry's spine. Or Snape's, in that case. He concentrated on clearing his mind, which helped a little with the stress too.
"Take your plasssse in the sssssssircle, Ssssseverusssss. I will call the othersss." Voldemort said, lifting his right arm, which wore the Dark Mark. In Parseltongue, he hissed to it, and seconds later the Death Eaters began to arrive. With each new one, Harry grew more alarmed, though he didn't allow himself to dwell on it, out of fear that Voldemort would start legilimancing him without warning.
After several minutes, the circle was complete. Harry counted thirty-eight, plus Wormtail, Nagini and Voldemort himself.
He finally noticed the big flaw in his plan: even without their leader, the Death Eater would remain a threat! Most of the time Voldemort didn't take part of the raids anyway.
It was too late to worry about it, though. His job was to end Voldemort. The Order could take care of the rest, or so he hoped.
The burn on his arm woke Severus up. Wait, woke up? Wasn't he stunned? He was confused, and the headache didn't help. He wanted answers, so he opened his eyes but immediately had to shut them. The light was way too bright. Everything hurt. He heard Poppy's voice, saying
"He's awake, Albus."
And then he felt the old man's hand in his own, and heard the voice of the man he looked up as a father.
"Are you all right, my boy?" the voice asked, seemingly concerned.
"Would you believe me if I said I was?" he replied, his voice sounding pathetically weak to his own ears.
"Considering you just woke up from a two hours concussion-implied sleep, no. Apparently you hit your head on a desk when you were stunned. What happened, Severus? You and young Mr Malfoy were both found stunned in the potions classroom. Who stunned you?"
"hum, Draco I think… Wait, you said he was stunned too? What about Harry?"
"Harry? What do you mean? He wasn't there."
That helped clearing Severus' mind completely. Harry wasn't there. Draco was stunned. Harry had stunned Draco. Harry had left. Harry would die…
He abruptly got up and the room swung around him as he did so, but he ignored it as well as Albus' concerned calls. He quickly left the room. He needed to find Harry…
Unfortunately, he didn't go far before he was caught by Albus and Poppy and forced to go back in the hospital wing.
"Really Severus, you are being unreasonable, said the Headmaster. You have a concussion, you need to rest."
"Albus, you don't understand! I must go after Harry!"
"He's delirious, Headmaster. It often happens when one get a concussion and isn't rested enough…" Poppy began, but Severus cut in:
"I'm FINE, thank you. Albus, listen to me. Harry and I had a plan, I was supposed to make the Dark Lord drink a potion then put a spell on him and he would have been left without powers in a body he was bound to. But that foolish child took my place! We have to go after him or the Death Eaters will kill him as soon as they realise what is happening! He doesn't have a Portkey! He has no way to get out of there in one piece!"
All at once, the Headmaster's face lightened up, and there was a mad twinkle in his eyes. Severus thought he imagined it, though, as it was quickly replaced by a sad expression.
"I'm sorry Severus, but we can't. If we go now, we could jeopardize the whole mission. We don't know how long it will take to Harry to end it. It could be hours. And by then, your connection through the mark will long be broken and we'll have no way of knowing where he is..."
"But Albus, at least let me go there, I'll apparate near and see where it is while I still have the connection! We can't just let him die!"
"I can't let you do that and you know it. First you're way too weak to apparate right now without risk, and second Voldemort probably has spelled the entire area to warn him of any apparition."
"I'm willing to take the risk, Albus!"
"I'm not. Do you understand what this could mean? The end of Voldemort. Sacrificing Harry is sad, of course, but in every war there are casualties, and there will be far more if we let it continue any longer. You should rest, now."
"How can you say that? I thought you cared about Harry?"
"And I was under the impression you didn't. In fact, apart from your rather surprising new habit to call him by his first name, you've always made it clear you hated him. You have to understand, Severus. I can't risk losing the chance to win the war just to preserve an orphan's life."
"What does the fact that he's an orphan have to do with anything?"
Dumbledore sighed.
"It's sad to say, of course, but no one will miss him. He doesn't have any family that cares about him, nor any friends left. Didn't you notice how he managed to distance himself from his friends this year? Young Mr Weasley and Mrs Granger no longer pay any attention to him, and I dare say they won't be heartbroken if he is to die. The Dursleys never cared about him, and now Sirius is dead too. I was rather afraid he was going to kill himself upon realising he didn't have anyone left, that's part of why I told him the prophecy that night. I knew he wouldn't die like a coward if he was aware of his importance. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's high time I interrogated Mr Malfoy. I'm glad you're feeling well."
Severus was stunned. That wasn't the Albus he knew. Of course, he was aware the Headmaster wasn't perfect, and often considered the great picture rather than the individuals, but still? He knew Harry was potentially suicidal and rather than helping him cope he just told him how to kill himself? Or so it seemed that way to Severus.
You're wrong, he wanted to scream to Dumbledore's face, he does have a family who cares about him. And I won't let him be sacrificed to your cause.
If only the headache would stop…
Harry had expected to be many things during this mission, but bored wasn't one of them. Voldemort was telling his Death Eaters about how great it was going to be when he truly would become immortal, in great many details. His speech had begun almost ten minutes ago and didn't seem to be any closer to the end.
More than ever, Harry was glad he had opted for the Veritas version of the Polyjuice. With a regular Polyjuice, he would have had to finish the mission in less than two hours after he drank the potion (Voldemort wouldn't allow one of his Death Eaters to drink during a meeting). With this one, however, the effects wouldn't wear of until twenty-four hours after it was taken, so Harry didn't have to worry about that.
Voldemort finally achieved his endless speech by mentioning for Harry to approach, and he did, grabbing Snape's wand. He raised it, and did just as he had done so many times in the past few months, mentally reviewing the passage of the book where it was mentioned. Up and down and round as you pronounce la-, half a large circle clockwise as you say ni-, three little circles counter clockwise for the gli- and finally pointing at the target as you scream A.
A brilliant silver light engulfed Voldemort's body, but in a second it was gone. Harry had no way of knowing if it had worked. Voldemort smiled, and held out his hand for Severus to give him the potion. Harry gave it to him, carefully opened, and watched with a mixture of apprehension and excitement as Voldemort drank it in one gulp.
Several miles from there, in the hospital wing of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Severus Snape screamed.
At the Death Eaters meeting, all at once Voldemort began to scream in terror. He felt like the very core of his being was torn, as if his insides were stolen from him, and pushed away. It was so unexpected, so overwhelming, that he was forced to lie down, under the disbelieving eyes of his faithful servants. It seemed to last a lifetime, but for Harry it was very brief. Then, all the Death Eaters began to scream together in pain, as the Dark Mark was torn from them and disappeared from their arms. Tom Riddle stopped screaming then and began sobbing, asking in a pathetic voice
"why? Why did you do that to me? my magic…"
Harry almost pitied him then, but he had no time. The Death Eaters were all to concentrated on their pain and their lost master to pay attention to him, so he began to walk away, slowly at first, then faster and faster. He couldn't believe he was actually getting out of there without harm, the mission had worked, Voldemort was dead, but he didn't have to die after all! He would just call the Knight Bus and return to Hogwarts immediately to share the great news with Snape and…
That was his last conscious thought as he felt a blinding pain in his left leg. There, hissing furiously, was Nagini, and she had just bitten him. A tear silently fell on his cheek as he drifted to a disturbed sleep.
Poppy was on Severus' side in one instant, but she couldn't see anything wrong with him. She took his arm to feel his pulse, and cried out in surprise. His arm was burning! She felt his face skin, but he had no fever. What was happening? She looked at his arm again, and did a double take. It was vanishing, right before her eyes! The Dark Mark was fading. It could only mean one thing. Voldemort was dead!
As Severus calmed down, she called the Headmaster, and showed him the bare arm of the ex Death Eater. They looked at each other in awe for about a minute, not daring to believe it, then they each ran to one aisle of the castle to tell the others.
That night, every man, woman and child of their side celebrated.
Every man, apart from one. Severus, father to the one they now called the Boy-Who-Lived, couldn't celebrate. He kept remembering the scene of Harry's departure, wondering what he could have done differently, how he could have saved his son's life…
He wasn't happy about the Dark Mark's disappearance, because it had been his only way of locating Harry. Even if he had hated it with all his heart, now he would really have needed it. He wondered if Harry was fine, then dismissed the thought as ridiculous. If he had been fine, he would have returned by now.
Indeed, Harry wasn't fine. As far as he could tell, very few Death Eaters remained. Most of them had fled, some because they didn't really believe in the cause anymore and hadn't dared to leave before out of fear of their Dark Lord, some because they still believed muggles were inferiors but since Voldemort now belonged to that category they didn't want to see him anymore.
Others, those who had stayed, were the ones truly loyal to Voldemort, and they wanted to make him pay for what he had done to him.
So he was now in a cell, guarded by Nagini, awaiting not that eagerly for the next round of torture to come, wondering if someone in the whole wizarding world was thinking about rescuing him, or if they were too happy to notice he was missing.
He didn't know which scenario he preferred. Of course, it would be nice to be rescued, but what if one of his rescuers died in the process? He didn't want history to repeat itself. Once had been enough.
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