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Harry had no idea why Voldemort needed his permission to join forces. As far as he knew, Voldemort had already taken his magic, so why would he need anything else from him? He looked back at the mirror, wishing with all his heart that he could speak to his mum, even if it was just a few words. Her image continued to struggle inside the mirror, fighting to find a way out.
Voldemort waited impatiently for Harry to answer. The boy had no idea how much was riding on that answer. Without the boy's consent to join forces, Voldemort could not continue to hold on to the magic he had already stolen. He had been fighting to possess the untainted magic but his own soul fought against the untainted magic, unable to harness such purity. The boy's magic was slowly slipping away from him, leaking back into the teen. He was uncertain if the teen was aware of that fact as of yet but it would only be a matter of time.
"Harry Potter, do you agree to join forces with me?" Voldemort asked once again, knowing that there was only one acceptable answer.
With difficulty, Harry pulled his hand away from the mirror. He turned his back to the mirror, closing his eyes against the enormous amount of strength it was taking to look away from his mum. With all certainty he knew his mum would not want him to stay with Voldemort, even if it meant they would have a chance to be together.
"There is nothing in this world or in any other world that would make me join forces with you," Harry stated, his voice trembled with emotion. He immediately felt the powerful surge of angry dark energy radiating off of Voldemort and knew that he was in trouble.
He stood his ground as Voldemort stepped closer. The malevolent man was clearly enraged.
Voldemort had been struggling to remain patient with the teen. It went against his nature to remain so calm, especially after being humiliated by the boy in front of his followers. His fingers had itched with a strong desire to kill the teen. Now that Harry had given his answer he saw no reason to hold back any longer.
"You are a stupid boy! I have offered you the gift of ultimate power and you have heedlessly thrown it away!"
"I don't want your gifts! Let my mother go!"
Voldemort's rage was boundless; it shook the walls causing the chandeliers to sway. He let his wrath spill forth, gathering force as it unfurled across the bedroom towards the boy he intended to kill. The teen slammed into the mirror behind him.
In his rage, Voldemort let slip the elaborate glamour charm that he had meticulously constructed. The bedroom suddenly changed into the darkened, spider infested cave that it truly was. His own appearance altered into his true appearance. Gone was the face he had borne in his previous life. His face now emerged as that of his horcrux - resembeling Nagini, with red eyes, slits in place of a nose and scaled skin.
Harry gasped, his heart hammered with fear and he felt his knees try to give out. He locked his knees into place and stood his ground as the terrible snake like man continued to approach. He could see that Voldemort now had scales covering his face and hands and knew the inhuman creature was part snake.
He tore his eyes away from Voldemort when he saw a dark shadow dash across the ceiling. With a deepening horror he gazed about the altered bedroom. The bedroom was no longer the opulent, lavish bedroom that it had once been. He immediately understood that a glamour had been used to transform the room and now that Voldemort was no longer trying to garner his allegiance the beast had dropped the glamour charm to reveal its true form.
Harry squinted into the gloomy light as he realized the four poster bed was not made from marble as it had once appeared to be. The bed stand was actually made from stacks of skulls that rested on a base of what appeared to be coffins. The elaborate drapery was actually spider webs littered with small creatures still struggling to get away. With pure dread he saw that there were several extremely large black spiders crawling along the ceiling. One spider appeared to be studying him, perhaps planning out his next meal.
His attention was abruptly brought back to Voldemort when the man let out a sharp hiss.
"Harry, you have made a grave error," Voldemort reached out and touched the side of the boy's face. He smiled when Harry recoiled from his scaled hands. "I sense such fear in you, my dear boy. Did you really think you would be powerful enough to reclaim your magic?"
Harry couldn't look away from the beast before him. With revulsion he watched as Voldemort's mouth opened and a forked tongue darted out to smell the air.
Voldemort gripped the boy's arm tighter as the teen tried to pull away. He could taste the fear in the air. He leaned in closer and ran his forked, snakelike tongue along the boy's jaw line, enjoying very much the panic this caused the boy.
Harry swallowed against the bile that arose in his throat, desperate now to keep from vomiting up the portkey ring. He knew that if he lived through this experience, he would never get the feel of that tongue touching his face out of his memory.
"You disgust me!" Harry ground out through his clenched teeth.
Voldemort leaned in closer until he had Harry pinned up against the mirror. His tongue slid across the smoothness of Harry's face. When the boy clenched his eyes shut and gasped, he leaned in closer still and sunk his snakelike fangs into the boy's neck. He took great pleasure in the shutter that ran through his victim. The boy's knees buckled and Voldemort had to hold him up or risk tearing a hole into the teen's neck. He pulled his teeth out and stepped back, leaving the boy to fall to his knees.
The pain radiating from Harry's neck was almost unbearable. He pressed his fingers against the bite mark but the blood continued to flow down and soak into his shirt collar. The cackle of Voldemort's merriment angered Harry enough to give him the strength to get off his knees. He struggled to stand, determined not die at the feet of his enemy.
"Look at me, Harry Potter, so I can see the terror in your eyes when I kill you," Voldemort said in parseltongue. His wand was now pointing at the boy's heart.
Up until now, Harry had held it together, aware of the fact that he didn't have the luxury of freaking out. But now with death so close… he was having a hard time keeping his panic under control. He pressed his other hand to the mirror that was directly behind him, knowing that his mum was with him, even if she wasn't aware of it.
Harry looked into Voldemort's red eyes and goaded the beast into finally ending this, "You don't have the guts to kill me, Tom."
"Avada Kedavra!"
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Severus paced in the infirmary, frightened beyond belief that his son had yet to return. What was happening to the boy? The Elixir of Life potion was ready and waiting on the work table, set to be administered the moment Harry returned. The sight of the Elixir brought back thoughts of Sirius Black to mind.
He never thought he would respect Black as much as he did today. The man had died courageously, never once letting his fear show. He owed Sirius Black a great deal of respect for what the man had done.
The other people in the infirmary kept looking at him, waiting for him to tell them that the dark lord was gone. He rolled his sleeve back and looked at the dark mark on his forearm. The snake on it was still twisting and turning around the awful skull. He quickly pulled his sleeve down when he realized that everyone was trying to see his arm.
"Severus?" Albus asked, "Any sign yet?"
Severus shook his head, afraid his voice would convey the terror running through him.
"What do you think is taking so long?" Ron whispered to Hermione. He tried not to draw attention to himself and give Snape any reason to kick them out.
"I don't know," she whispered back. Her eyes lingered on the Elixir, hoping beyond hope that it would work. She didn't even want to think about the way Harry would react once he realized that Sirius gave up his life once again.
Ginny didn't look away from the bed that Harry was supposed to portkey onto. She had brief memories of her time spent with the death eaters and knew that he would not come unharmed.
Draco pushed through the warded infirmary doors and looked around. The tension ran so high in the room you could cut it with a knife.
"All the Harry Potter's are back and accounted for," Draco announced. "They caught Finnegan but he managed to escape before they got him to the ministry. The polyjuice has worn off so there are no longer a bunch of Potter's running around the school."
"Very good," Albus said, gesturing for Draco to join the other three teenagers sitting against the far wall as they tried to stay out of the way.
Draco gave Severus a pat on the arm as he walked past his godfather, "He'll be back soon, Severus."
Severus pulled his arm away from Draco as he felt the dark mark cease to throb. He pushed his sleeve up and gazed down at the unmoving, fading dark mark.
"What is it?" Albus asked.
Severus held his arm out to the headmaster, "The deed is done."
Albus raised his wand, sending a silver arrow through the infirmary wall to alert the Order members to attack the stronghold. With any luck they would capture the remaining death eaters.
Everyone looked towards the empty bed, expecting to see Harry at any moment. Several long agonizing minutes past before Severus spoke in a strained voice.
"Are you certain the wards are down, Albus? Are you certain he can apparate in?"
Albus swirled his wand through the air, testing the ancient wards once more. "They are down, Severus."
"Where is he then?" Madame Pomfrey asked, keeping a close eye on the watch dangling from a chain around her neck. "It is crucial he get the potion before lack of oxygen damages his brain!"
Severus spun around to glare at the headmaster, "I should have gone with him! Damn you, Albus for talking me out of being by his side!"
Albus put a hand to Severus' arm, "Patience, my friend. He will come back to us."
As if on cue, a loud pop crackled through the air. An instant later the motionless form of Harry appeared on the bed.
Severus rushed to his side, alarmed with the boy's blood soaked shirt and ghost white pallor. He held the vial of Elixir to his son's blue lips as Poppy held Harry's head steady. Nobody moved as they waited for the Elixir to work.
Severus made certain the potion had slid down the boy's throat before turning him onto his side. He pressed two fingers to Harry's wrist, awaiting the first sign of a pulse.
Madame Pomfrey touched her wand to Harry's lips and sent an oxygen spell into the boy's lungs. Her concerns for the dead boy were countless. She hoped he would be coherent if he ever came back to life.
Every second felt like a lifetime to the people surrounding the dead teen. Hermione reached out, placing a hand on Harry's leg.
"He's so cold," she whispered.
Severus quickly rectified that situation as several heated blankets floated out of a cupboard and covered the teen.
The sight of Harry's lifeless body overwhelmed the stoic potion master. He couldn't imagine a life without the boy.
"Come back, Harry," Severus severely commanded, pulling Harry up into a sitting position. He grasped the boy's lolling head and pushed it against his chest. "Don't you dare leave me, boy," he whispered into the teen's unruly hair. His emotions came dangerously close to the surface.
Ginny swallowed back the lump in her throat but she couldn't stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Ron reached over and put an arm around her shoulders. She noticed his face was also wet with tears.
Dumbledore continued to stand at the head of the bed, chanting out a string of spells. He held onto the headboard as his strength began to waver but he never stopped chanting the spells he hoped would help to bring the teen back to life.
Severus pressed a hand to the boy's forehead, "He's far too cold. Draco, get that fire going."
Draco immediately obeyed, crossing the room to add several logs to the fire.
Poppy shook her head, "It's been too long, Severus. His heart is showing no signs of …"
Severus cut her off before she could finish, "ENOUGH!" He breathed in deeply, controlling once more the panic that threatened to overtake him, "He just needs more time for the potion to take effect."
Just at that moment Severus felt a shudder run through the teen in his arms. He pressed his fingers to the uninjured side of Harry's neck.
"A pulse!" he exclaimed, "He's alive!"
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