They had to get back to Hogwarts. That's where the last Horcrux is and once they destroyed that all they would need is Nigini and then he could finally put a stop to this. He looked at Hermione and Ron and knew they were thinking the same thing.
"Alright, so what's the plan?" he asked.
"We have to head back to Hogwarts, we need to destroy the last Horcrux and then Harry could kill you-know-who," Hermione told them
"but all the students-" Ron started.
"It's the only way mate," Harry told him. They sat there in silence for a moment thinking about what's about to happen that night.
Hermione grabbed onto both of them before apparating away. They showed up in an alleyway with no one around. They walked to the Hog's Head Inn. They walked up to the bar away from the rest of the few people that were there. They noticed an old man come out from the back.
"Now what are you three doing here?" Aberforth Dumledore asked.
"We need your help," Harry told him.
"Now why should I help you three?" Aberforth responded.
It took Harry a moment to respond, he didn't want to say the wrong thing "we need to finish what Dumbledore gave us to do"
"And why should I care about what my brother gave you to do? If you knew what was best for you, you would leave it. He was manipulative, it may seem like he cared about others but he only cared about himself." Aberforth spat getting angry.
Harry sighed and turned to his friends "we're not going to get help here, let's go" when they started walking away he stopped for a moment, "what you say may or may not be true and I might never know and may spend my whole life wondering, but all we're trying to do is end this war" when he started he heard a voice speak again. Causing him and his two friends to stop.
"Fine, what do you need"
"We need a way into Hogwarts"Hermione spoke up for the first time.
"That's a suicide mission," Aberforth told them.
"It may be, but we still have to try" Harry spoke.
Aberforth nodded, "follow me," he turned and started to walk into the back of the bar, they looked at each other and followed, "it showed up some months ago," he told them pointing to a door in the ground. "your little friends have been using to sneak things in and out, we don't know how it ended up here" before any of them could respond the trap doors suddenly opened showing Neville Longbottom.
"Well it's good to see you guys" Neville smiled. They could see he had a cut running along the side of his face and had a black eye.
Harry laughed "It's good to see you too Nev," he walked up to him and gave him a hug.
"so I heard you three are trying to get into Hogwarts"
"It's time Neville, it's time this finishes once and for all" Harry told him. Neville nodded in understanding and waved for them to follow him. With one last thank you to Aberforth they started their journey back to Hogwarts.
"Ron use the DA coin, were going to need as much help as we can get" Harry spoke over his shoulder.
Ron nodded and pulled out his coin to send the message.
"So what has been going on at Hogwarts Neville," Hermione asked filling the silence"
"Well Snape is headmaster now, and the Carrows or the Deputy headmasters and headmistress. They've been teaching kids how to use the Cruciautus, it's how I got this" he pointed to his face, "I refused to put a third year under it, we somehow transformed the Room of Requirements for the DA. we have beds and food basically everything we need" he replied as they walked up to a door.
"you three ready?" he asked looking back. They all nodded.
"Everyone I would to introduce you to a few guests" Neville said as Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked in, Everyone started cheering.
Harry was looking for his girlfriend but he couldn't spot her anywhere. Ever since they were on the run he would look at the map to make sure that she was alright and to give himself some comfort and help convince himself that what he was doing was the right thing by leaving her alone. As the cheering stopped more people started coming in but still no sign of her.
As he was about to start talking to people old DA members started coming in through the secret entrance. He saw Fred and George and Alicia, Angelina, and Oliver Wood. The rest of his old quidditch team. Then he saw her come in with more students. He felt like he could finally breathe again after so long. She turned and they made eye contact, his green eyes and her dark hazel ones. For a moment it felt like everything that was about to happen didn't exist. He was brought out of his thinking when he heard Hermione clear her throat behind him.
"more people are on their way" Fred spoke
"Yeah you didn't think they would miss out would you" George smirked.
"Alright everyone listen up" Ron yelled. Everyone turned to look at him. 'Damn' he thought he really thought about what he was going to say.
"We need your help to find something"
"what is it?" a Hufflepuff Harry didn't recognize asked.
"We're not sure, all we know it's old and belonged to the Ravenclaw founder"
"Well that can be anything," Cho Chang said. But before he could reply Luna spoke up.
"Ravenclaws diadem," she said in that wistful tone.
"but no one alive has seen it" Cho responded.
"Exactly no one alive" she left it hanging causing people to think.
"The Grey Lady..." Harry whispered. Just done the entrance to Hog's Head opened up. Out came members of The Order of The Pheonix. He saw Kinglsey, Remus, Mr. and Bill, Fleur. Right before he was gonna talk the door flew open, and standing there was non-other than Percy Weasley
"I didn't miss anything did I," he asked frantically. All of his family stared at him
"Well look who it is" Fred started
"The world's greatest prat" George finished. Both of them glaring having their arms crossed.
"Look I'm sorry alright, I'm sorry for leaving, I'm sorry for telling you to leave Harry, I'm sorry for not believing him, I'm sorry for being a terrible brother and son, and I'm sorry for being a giant prat" he rambled. After a few moments of awkward silence, Molly Weasley busted out crying and ran to hug him.
"Well," both twins started, "maybe you're not the greatest prat ever" they smirked while Percy gave them a small smile.
Harry had walked over to Remus and Fleur to where he was showing pictures of Teddy to Fleur.
"where's Tonks?" he asked the older man.
"We agreed for her to stay at home with Teddy," he told the boy. Just then a seventh-year Ravenclaw that Harry recognized came running in.
"Snape wants all of us done in the great hall," the boy said.
"Then we shouldn't keep our dear headmaster waiting should we" Harry spoke. Everyone started walking out of the room heading down to the Great Hall when Harry felt himself being pulled by the arm.
He once again came face to face with those dark hazel eyes. And before he knew it he was kissing her. He didn't realize how much he missed her until that moment. After what felt like hours but also only seconds they pulled apart regaining their breath.
"Katie" he whispered, but before he could say more she spoke
"I missed you Har," she told him calling him the nickname that he allowed only her to use.
"I missed you too, love, Merlin you don't understand how much I missed you," he said before giving her another kiss.
"you finish this tonight Harry, you finish this and it will all be over" she whispered. He nodded and grabbed her hand.
"come on we need to catch up with the others," as they walked out and headed to the Great Hall.
They finally caught up with the others and he and Katie joined in with the students. Soon Snape started speaking.
"As you may have heard Harry Potter is inside of Hogwarts, if you have any information it would be in your best interest to come forward and tell us" and before he could go any more Harry stepped out in front of him.
"It would seem, Headmaster, that you seem to have a bit of a security problem." The Carrows reached for their wands but Snape stopped them, "Potter" he spoke in an even tone. That's when the rest of the Order came in.
"Go ahead professor tell them, tell them how you looked a man in the eyes, a man that trusted you and killed them" at this point, he was yelling but he didn't care. Right, when Snape pulled his wand he felt himself being pushed out of the way by Professor McGonagall. They soon started casting back and forth knocking out the carrows and soon Snape vanished. And then what Harry was fearing happened. A voice that no one wanted to hear started speaking.
"I am speaking to Harry Potter, you have one hour to turn yourself over, If you do I will spare everyone, If you don't many will die tonight, It would be best for you to turn him in now if you value your life" then it got quiet until a high pitch shrill voice spoke.
"There he is! Someone grab him" Pansy Parkinson screamed. Everyone turned to stare at her. In the corner of his eye, he could see Katie, Ron, and Hermione gripping their wands. That's when McGonagall spoke up.
"Filch please take the Slytherins to the dungeons" Everyone started cheering as they were led out.
"If you are of age you may stay and fight" McGonagall spoke, "if not you will be lead out" All the younger students started going. He could see Ginny fighting with about staying.
He walked up to Ron and Hermione "you guys find a way to destroy the Horcrux and I'll go look for the grey lady, then all we'll need is to destroy Nagini and then we could stop Voldemort"
"you got it mate," Ron told him. Before they left Hermione gave him a hug while Ron squeezed his shoulder.
He turned to the rest of the Order "We need people covering from above" Kinglsey, Arthur, and Remus nodded before leaving and taking the twins with them.
He looked over to Oliver "Ollie we need someone doing an air attack", he told the other boy who smiled, "I'm on it Potter" he responded taking several other quidditch players with him.
"Oi Seamus! Think you can stop them from coming across the bridges" he asked "you got it Harry" he said in his thick Irish accent taking Dean, Neville, and several DA members with him.
He then looked over to the chasers as they were the oldest and some of the last DA members left.
"I need you three to lead the rest on the grounds" he spoke to Angelina, Alicia, and Katie. They all nodded and Katie gave him a kiss and quick squeeze of his hand, "be safe" she whispered, "you too"
Soon he headed off to go find the Grey Lady. On the way there he ran into Tonks, "Tonks what are you doing here, Remus said you were staying home with Teddy" he asked the pink-haired Auror, "I couldn't just stay home not knowing, have you seen Remus?" she asked "he's covering up top" he told her. She nodded her thanks and left. As he was running through the halls he could start to hear the spellfire from the outside. He finally made it to the hallway when he spotted her.
"What do you want," she asked him," I need to ask you something, the lost diadem, do you know where it is? I want to destroy it." he told her "you're not the first one to say that" she spat turning away, "Tom Riddle right," he asked quickly "what he did to it was bad I know, but I swear I want to destroy it I promise" she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, "It's in a room where all the lost things stay" and the vanished.
'In a room where all the lost things stay' he thought, then it came to him "The Room of Requirement" He started running up the stairs trying to get to the seventh floor. He was ducking under spellfire as he went. As he was running up there he spotted Ron and Hermione. He ran to catch up to them.
Breathing heavily he said, "I know where the diadem is" both looked at him to continue, he took a deep breath, "It's in the Room of Requirements" They nodded in understanding and they all took off to the seventh floor. When they got there they spotted Draco Malfoy and his two goons Crabbe and Goyle. They were also trying to get in the Room of Requirements and by the sounds of it, they were looking for the same thing.
As they were trying to sneak up on the three, they managed to get into the correct room. With a nod of his head, Harry started towards the door.
"Malfoy" he yelled. The three turned around to find every member of the golden trio with their wands raised.
Malfoy and the other two raised their wands "you won't stop me Potter" Malfoy spat.
"watch us" Ron growled. They all sent spells sending the other three running in the other direction to get away and not get hit.
"follow them Ron, Hermione and I will look" Harry spoke. Ron nodded and ran after the three. Harry and Hermione started searching. They were both digging through piles of stuff finding the most random things and just tossing them aside. "I found it" he heard Hermione scream. Before he could reply he heard screaming coming towards them. They saw Ron running and behind him was Fiendfyre. They started running after him and grabbing some brooms that they came across. They were going to have to fly out of here if they wanted to make it.
When they got on their brooms Harry heard something behind him, he turned around and saw Malfoy climbing up a tower of things with Goyle climbing right behind him. He also saw Crabb struggling until he finally fell to his death.
He then sighed, why did he have to be so noble sometimes. He shouted to Ron who was ahead of him, "we have to go back" Ron looked back, "are you kidding" Harry just replied "we have to go back" then turned around. Ron sighed but ultimately followed him. Harry sped towards the tower and reached out his hand. Draco saw him coming and also reached out
When Harry got closer there hands met and he pulled Draco up onto his broom. He turned the broom around back to the exit and saw Ron do the same thing with Goyle. They flew as fast as they can, the fire consuming the room. When they reached the doors they all fell off their brooms. They noticed the fire coming closer and Harry quickly got up and kicked the diadem back into the room the doors shutting and the fire destroying it.
The trio and the new group of two looked at each other not saying a word. Then without warning, Malfoy and Goyle took off.
"All that's left now is Nagini," Harry told them, "I think our best bet is to find Snape" Hermione and Ron nodded following his lead.
After some searching, they finally made their way out on the grounds. On the way there they got into several fights before they finally found the man they were looking for. They were walking in when they heard another voice.
"Tell me, Severus, why doesn't this wand work for me" Voldemort spoke.
"My lord, I don't understand you have been able to do incredible magic" Snape responded.
"Yes, incredible magic, but I was already able to do incredible magic"Voldemort hissed.
"I am not sure my lord"
"Well, I think that it is because the last owner of the wand is still alive," Voldemort told him.
"I don't understand my lord," Snape said starting to back up.
"You have been a good and faithful servant Severus, Nagini" next thing they heard was the snake strike multiple times. They all closed their eyes not wanting to see. After it stopped they heard Voldemort and Nagini leave. When they were sure the two were gone they walked out from their hiding place. What they saw was Snape on the ground bleeding from his neck. He looked over and made eye contact with them. They walked over to him with Harry kneeling beside him and Ron and Hermione standing behind him.
Snape reached out and grabbed his arm while pointing to his face with the other. Harry noticed a lone blue tear coming down and realized what it was.
"Hermione," he shouted, "gove me a container or something to store this in, quick!" he heard her rummaging through her bag before pulling out a vial and handing it to him. He quickly uncapped it and stored the memory in it. Before he could pull away he was stopped. He was met by dark grey eyes. He didn't know what to say, but before he could even try, Snape spoke.
"you..have your...mothers eye's" he has heard those words many times before, but hearing them come from Snape felt different. And before he could respond Snape took his last breath. His hand dropped from his arm and his head fell to the side.
"Well, I think that it is because the last owner of the wand is still alive," Voldemort told him.
"I don't understand my lord," Snape said starting to back up.
"You have been a good and faithful servant Severus, Nagini" next thing they heard was the snake strike multiple times. They all closed their eyes not wanting to see. After it stopped they heard Voldemort and Nagini leave. When they were sure the two were gone they walked out from their hiding place. What they saw was Snape on the ground bleeding from his neck. He looked over and made eye contact with them. They walked over to him with Harry kneeling beside him and Ron and Hermione standing behind him.
Snape reached out and grabbed his arm while pointing to his face with the other. Harry noticed a lone blue tear coming down and realized what it was.
"Hermione," he shouted, "gove me a container or something to store this in, quick!" he heard her rummaging through her bag before pulling out a vial and handing it to him. He quickly uncapped it and stored the memory in it. Before he could pull away he was stopped. He was met by dark grey eyes. He didn't know what to say, but before he could even try, Snape spoke.
"you..have your...mothers eye's" he has heard those words many times before, but hearing them come from Snape felt different. And before he could respond Snape took his last breath. His hand dropped from his arm and his head fell to the side.. He didn't really know what to say, none of them did. That's when they noticed it, all the spellfire had stopped.
They walked out of the boathouse and headed back to the great hall. On the way back they saw Oliver Wood and Neville carrying bodies, but when he looked closer he saw the body was that of Collin Creevey. Harry felt a pain in his chest. The young boy must have snuck back in to fight when everyone else was leaving. When they walked through the door he looked around. There were many getting treated for their wounds but also many dead, he searched thr crowd looking for someone. As he was searching he saw a group of red-heads and his heart stopped. They were all crying and lying on the floor was Arthur Weasley (I'm sorry I couldn't kill Fred! I just love him too much!). He heard an intake of breath from behind him and saw Ron frozen there. Then he hesitantly took a step forward and started running to his family. Hermione looked at him and he nodded.
"I have to go view the memories anyway" she nodded and started walking to the Weasleys. He saw Percy comforting Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George were together, and Ron was with Bill, Ginny, and Fleur. Before he could keep searching he felt something collide with his body.
He looked down and saw Katie. She was hugging him so tightly he thought one of his ribs was going to break.
"I'm so happy you're okay" she whispered into his chest.
He kissed the top of her head just breathing in her scent, instantly calming him "you have no idea how happy I am to see you". Before she could respond Harry heard a voice coming from behind him.
"Harry," Remus said with a small smile. He was holding hands with one Nymphadora Tonks. Tonks walked up to him and gave him a hug. Harry was so relieved that they were okay. He didn't know what he would've done if they weren't. He also hugged Remus before he stepped back and wrapped his arm around Katie's waist bringing her closer to him. Before they were able to start talking a voice rang out through the great hall.
"You have suffered many losses tonight. Lives were ended that didn't need to be. So now I speak to Harry Potter. I give you one hour. One hour to collect your wounded, and come to meet me and give yourself up in the Forbidden Forest. If you do so, no more lives will be taken." Then everything went quiet. Remus and Tonks looked towards him worried while Katie hugged him tighter bringing him closer to him, too afraid to let go.
Harry gave the couple what he hoped was a reassuring smile and kissed Katie on her head and waved Alicia and Angelina over when he saw them. When they were making their way over he got out of Katie's grip.
"I got to go-" before he could get any farther the three started protesting," I'm not giving myself up, I'm just going to dumbledores office, Snape is dead but he gave me some memories that I have to look at," he told them as Angelina and Alicia finally reached them. Before he left he felt arms grab the collar of his shirt and pull him down into a kiss. He heard her whisper "Come back to me" like so many times before, "you know I always do". With one last nod to the other four, he made his way up to the headmaster's office.
When he got there he looked for the pensive, finding it in the corner of the room where he last saw it. He took out the vial from his pocket and opened it. The silver strand poured down into the bowl. With one last thought, he dipped his head in. What he saw surprised him.
Severus Snape was just a boy, a boy who was watching a girl with flaming red hair doing amazing things. Then he heard a voice. He looked over to what appeared to be the girl's sister started yelling at her, calling her a freak. They had an argument before the girl went stomping off. He walked from behind the girl with red hair and spoke, "I don't think you're a freak" the girl spun around the face him, "how would you know, you don't even know me, and I do all these weird things" she spoke, "because what you were doing is magic, it's okay, I'm magic to"
"Severus can you believe it" Lily squealed from next to him, "we're about to get sorted, oh I do hope I get a good house" Severus just nodded along, knowing he was going to be placed in Slytherin. Lily ended up getting into Gryffindor which wasn't surprising, and what was less surprising was him getting into Slytherin.
He was fighting with Lily in the middle of an abandoned hallway. She was started to hang out. with Potter and his group too much and he didn't like it. They were arrogant, and they got away with everything. "I don't know why you're hanging out with them lily they are no good for you," Severus told her, "what, and your friends are? I see you practicing the dark arts with them" he stayed quiet at that, "See! you don't even deny it" he was angry and didn't know what to say, "well what you know anyways you little mud-" he suddenly stopped himself. Lily just looked at him in shock, "go ahead and say it, Severus, you know you want to" she just shook her head and walked away. That was the day he lost his friend.
He was outside one of the doors in the Leaky Cauldron. He just saw Dumbledore go in there to talk with that dumb Seer. He was right next to the door listening in to their conversation. It was going normally until he heard the women's voice change. A prophecy. He realized. Before he could continue listening, he was grabbed by the shoulder. "What do you think yer' doin'," Aberforth asked him. At that moment he noticed Dumbledore walk out of the room. He just looked at the both of them before pulling out of their grip. He had to tell his Lord.
Severus was standing in front of Album Dumbledore, he had made a mistake by giving his Lord that prophecy. Now the woman he loves is going to be killed. And the only person who could help him is Dumbledore. He had to make sure that Lily survived. He told Dumbledore that he would do anything to make sure that she is safe.
He opened the door and ran up the stairs, running over James Potter's body as he did so. He ca,e to the room with the open door. The body was on the floor. He fell to his knees and cradled her head, sobbing.
Severus was having a discussion with dumbledore. It was about him. Apparently, they were never protecting him. Just keeping him safe until the right moment. They were raising him to die. He's not surprised.
He was talking to Dumbledore about his cursed hand, he was slowly dying. He knew what was going on in the castle, and he wanted to go on his own terms. It was all planned.
Harry pulled his head out of the pensive. He should of known it was always going to end like this. He thought of Ron, Hermione, Remus, Tonks...Katie. Merlin, Katie. He told her he wasn't going to go, but it's the only way for this to end. He thought of what they always talked about. Growing old and having kids. But all that mattered to him was that she was safe. She could always have that with someone else. He didn't think he could say goodbye. If he did they would talk him out of it.
He started making his way down to the front entrance when he was stopped. He looked back and saw Hermione and Ron. They were both staring at him. Hermione looks like she was about to start crying.
"You can't go, Harry, you just can't" she pleaded.
"It's the only way Hermione, I think we always knew it too, we just didn't want to admit it" she ended up running and hugging him. He hugged her back tightly.
'I'll come with you" she told him.
"you can't, and we both know that" he whispered. He looked up at Ron and gave him a nod. Hermione finally let go, crying, and walked back to Ron. With one final look, he turned around and kept walking. He never looked back. When he made it to the front entrance he froze.
"Harry" she called out. He turned to see her standing there with tears in her eyes, Alicia, and Angelina standing a few feet behind her. She instantly ran towards him and grabbed him. "you can't go" she told him, "I have to, it's the only way to end all of this" he hugged her back never wanting to let go.
"But what about everything we planned," she asked him, "you'll still have all of that, except it won't be me," he told her, "but it has to be you" he put his hand under her chin to get her to look up at him, "If i could do something to make sure you get to live your life happily and safe I'm going to do it."
"I love you," she told him.
"I love you too" he looked up at the other girls and nodded. They walked up to them and grabbed Katie off of him, who was crying because she didn't want to let go. He couldn't even have one last look before leaving.
He got to the forbidden forest when he pulled out the snitch, "it open's at the close" soon he saw the figures of James and Lily Potter come out along with Sirius. He didn't know what to say.
"Does dying hurt?" he asked Sirius, who nodded his head.
"It's easier than falling asleep," Sirius told him.
"you're so brave my boy" his mother spoke.
"we are so proud of you," his father told him.
"Will you stay with me?" he asked getting nods.
After a few minutes. He made it to the clearing. He saw Voldemort standing there with his followers. He walked out into the clearing.
"The Boy-Who-Lived come to die." he shouted.
"I'm not going to fight you Tom," Harry said as he dropped the wand. He saw Voldemort raise his wand and he closed his eyes. He saw meeting Ron and Hermione, meeting Katie, late-night adventures, all of those quidditch practices, Winning the quidditch cup, asking Katie out, planning his future with her. He thought about Tonks and Lupin and how he'll never get to meet his godson. The last memory was Katie telling him she loved him before everything went black.