Chapter 76: The Curse Of The Betrayer
{A/N: Here's Another Update...A look on the other side of the spectrum...}
My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S
{"I'm not a criminal...I'm not the villain...Yeah this is personal...A drive-by killing...Your guns are loaded...And your lies are the bullets...So here is the trigger...Go ahead and pull it, now...Are you sure you wanna play this game?...Are you sure you wanna play it?...The only thing worse than a hater...The only thing worse than a hater...Is a traitor...A traitor...A traitor...You put the knife right in my back...Killed any history we had...And now it's war...War..."} Traitor, Daughtry
The Potter Residence,The Burrows, Wizarding World...
Cold and clammy had been the feeling that swept over Harry James Potter when his emerald green eyes sprang open and his body had been covered in sweat. His messy brown hair had been sticking to his forehead and his eyes were wet with tears. The cool night air had been uncomfortable given his condition and he sat up careful as not to awaken his sleeping wife Ginny beside him. She had been sleeping peacefully, a painful contrast to his own restless slumber. Eleven years. It had been eleven year since he had gotten a decent night of rest. The years leading up to Voldemort trying to take over his mind had not even been as restless. It was clear that the events of the second wizarding war had still been with him, haunting him well into his waking hours.
Knowing that he wasn't going to get much sleep, Harry decided to venture down the stairs. The green eyed wizard climbed out of bed taking one last look at his sleeping wife to ensure that his movements had not disturbed her. He picked his discarded t-shirt up off the floor and slid it on. It did pretty well in knocking off some of the morning chill that Harry felt. With careful footsteps and precise effort in closing the bedroom door, Harry Potter made his way down the stairs toward the sitting room.
The house had been plenty dark given that it was in the middle of a field once leveled by death eaters. The secondary burrows had been home to the rest of the Weasley clan. More or less a good excuse for the whole family to get together for meaningless occasions that always made the boy who lived feel uncomfortable.
As uncomfortable as the "get-togethers" were they paled in comparison to the full on night terrors that haunted Harry all hours of the day. His memories of the war had been the most vivid at night. In the light of day there was always some distraction, work to do at the Ministry of Magic Offices, bills to pay, children to raise, and a wife to see to.
At night there was eerie silence and time for reflection.
As Harry reached the end of the stairs his stomach was hit with an intense wave of nausea. He made his way toward the downstairs loo and proceeded to vomit the previous night's supper.
The sound of Harry's distress had gotten the attention of another Potter whom had trouble sleeping. The emerald green eyes of Albus Severus Potter had been use to the darkness of the sitting room as he had grown accustom to awakening at random times of the night and venturing into the darkness. He felt at ease in the darkened shadows of the house. As if the art of concealment kept him safe from any and all possible threats.
The young dark haired wizard watched for his father as he made his way toward the downstairs loo.
It had been something of a nightly ritual for the two of them. Even when Albus Severus was but a baby, he seemed to prefer staying up late and enjoying the darkness of the early morning hours. He and his father seemed to be kindred spirits when it came to that aspect. Albus Severus watched as Harry stumbled in the dark until he made his way toward his favorite chair.
The green eyed wizard plopped down feeling more weak than when he originally ventured down the stairs. He had been quite exhausted as he sat in the darkness. Tears streamed down his pale cheeks as the misery he suffered seemed to intensify. The images and the blood came flooding back as he looked down at his now trembling hands.
Much like the Lady Macbeth in the old Scottish play, Harry could wash his hands a million times and there would still be no way to clean off the blood. He kept seeing Hermione's face as it had been that day, her amber eyes filled with sorrow as the tears streamed down her cheeks. He never thought in a billion years that she would ever have actually fallen in love with "The Bat Of The Hogwarts Dungeons." It was no secret that she had admired him. Given his intelligence and bravery playing the role of double agent for the Order Of Phoenix anyone would have at least thought him worthy of some kind of respect.
But he never would have believed that she would be in love with him.
{ The moment the curse hit Severus Snape, Hermione had been at his side. Her face was wet with tears and her hands trembling as she frantically searched for the source of the blood that seemed to come from the Potions Master in waves. For his part, said Potions Master simply gazed up at his grief stricken wife blood poured from his mouth as he tried to speak making it equally hard for him to breathe as she held him close to her.
Harry recalled looking down at the battle field after his well fought victory over the despot that murdered his parents and so many others that he had come to care about. Living in fear of the next person he grew close to being brutally murdered by death eaters and their so called "dark lord" had been over and done. The last remains of Voldemort's ashes blew away with the cool breeze that settled over the fortress of Solitude.
Hermione had just evaded a death eater attack thanks to her so called husband's defensive spells. Harry had been ablaze with rage and hatred at that time seeing the fall of Voldemort and ALL of his death eaters seemed an appropriate justice given all that was done to the wizarding and muggle worlds at their hands. Given what they had done to Dumbledore...what HE had done to Dumbledore.
Harry glared at the ebony clad figure that was undoubtedly Severus Snape, Potions Professor, resident traitor to the Order Of Phoenix, and of course, Dumbledore's murderer.
Tightening his grip on his wand, Harry's mind flashed the familiar page from the Half Blood Prince's book. Snape's Book! The idea had been pure poetry as he took aim with his wand, rage coursing through him as well as the assurance that his course of action had been justified.
Reliving all the times Snape mocked or belittled him. Combined with the betrayal at the astronomy tower when he sent the killing curse into Dumbledore it all served to strengthen his resolve. With all the noise and combat going on in the Fortress Of Solitude no one had heard him when he said the very words that would be come the very staple of his vengeance.
(Sectasempra- For Enemies) flashed in the green eyed wizard's mind. Snape was certainly an enemy and after seeing what it had done to Draco Malfoy in the Boys Bathroom, it was more than what Snape deserved.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!" shouted Harry but his voice was drowned out by all that was going on during the battle with the other death eaters.
Fueled by Harry's unyielding rage, the dark curse made it's way across the battle field and hit the intended target. Harry had not expected it to have been so easy, Snape seemed capable of countering it before. Even he had to admit to being shocked when Snape suddenly froze in the center of the battle field and dropped to his knees.
A satisfied smirk filed across Harry's soot covered face but quickly disappeared when he saw Hermione. The terror that filled the bushy haired witch's eyes as she made her way over toward Snape. He could not speak and seemed to struggle to breathe as she gently lowered him onto the ground. The on set of the symptoms had been much quicker than they had been with Draco.
Snape was surrounded by a pool of his own blood within seconds. Hermione herself had been covered as she shock of what was happening set in. She knew nothing about how devastating the curse would be nor where it had truly come from.
"Severus!" she shouted trying to keep him from slipping out of consciousness.
He simply grasped her trembling hand with his own covered in blood.
"NO!" she shouted frantically trying in vain to heal him.
Harry watched as Lucius Malfoy made his way over toward them, Hermione's screams had gotten his attention and he had his wand at the ready. The bitterness of seeing Lucius Malfoy outside of Azkaban after all he had done washed over the green eyed wizard while he continued to watch everything unfold.
Draco had been the only one to confront him directly knowing all too well what he had done to The Potions Master.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL MY GODFATHER!" shouted Draco gripping his collar with murderous intent.
Hermione's amber eyes left Snape only briefly as she looked up at Harry in disbelief. She had not believed he was truly capable of such callousness. He was her best friend and she had known him since she was twelve years old. He had been the first and possibly only student to show her compassion upon first meeting her when Ron Weasley made her cry. It was he that had come looking for her when the troll tried to kill her in the girl's bathroom during first year.
Even worse, they had been as siblings more than friends with her taking care of bullies such as Draco Malfoy, punching the unsavory Slytherin in the face for gloating about Harry's Hippogriff friend Buckbeak being killed by the head's man's ax. She stood up for him when everyone in Gryffindor house turned on him due to his ability to speak parseltongue and their assumption that he had been the heir of Slytherin when the chamber of secrets opened.
She didn't want to believe it.
She didn't want to believe Harry could do something so cruel as to murder her husband.
Harry watched as Snape's condition grew worse and Hermione grew more frantic. The green eyed wizard had not a single doubt that he had done the right thing until Albus Dumbledore came strolling into the Fortress of Solitude alive and well. Lucius Malfoy had not seemed to be surprised as he glared at the man.
Fear coursed through Harry at that point as he realized his gross error. Snape had been Dumbledore's man after all. He only pretended to do Voldemort's bidding in a bid to save Draco Malfoy from becoming either a murderer or a victim of the despot himself. Draco shouted angrily that Harry was a murderer and that he was going to see to it that everyone knew.
When Dumbledore asked him to remove his magical signature from the spell so that Snape could be healed he had no idea how to do it. Hermione refused to believe what had sunk in for everyone else who had witness the the tragic event. Severus Snape was dying. As Harry stood numb to the truth of his hasty actions he watched his best friend change before his very eyes.
"YOU'RE A MURDERER POTTER!" shouted a distraught Draco Malfoy.
Snape took his last breaths refusing to take his eyes off Hermione as she held him close to her. She pleaded with him not to leave her. Not to die in this place after everything he had been through, after everything they had been through. She spoke of how unfair it was for him to have done so much for the wizarding world and his brilliant plan that resulted in Voldemort's end. She spoke of how if it had not been for him none of them could have ever claimed victory in this war.
The moment Snape's chest contracted as he exhaled for the final time etched itself into Harry Potter's memory for all time as vivid as the day he witnessed it. He stood silently as Hermione allowed Lucius to take Snape's body with him to Malfoy Manor most likely. The Senior Malfoy had sort of been the only family Snape had aside from Hermione. It was well known that the two men were as close as siblings in certain circles. Of course the Death Eaters and Voldemort had not been privy to that information.
Her embittered words cut through him like a knife through butter.
"You all hated him and now you got what you wanted." She shouted loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear but she was looking at Harry the entire time. The hatred burning behind her amber eyes was enough to give even Dumbledore pause. }
It was from that point on that Hermione had changed.
She had become so cold and reserved since Snape's death that many of the other Gryffindor students, who knew nothing about the situation between her and the Potions Professor or that Harry had murdered him, often joked that she was possessed by him. She cut all ties with Ron and Ginny as well due to their association with Harry.
She and Draco had sort of become bonded in the mutual loss of Snape and before long they were as close as she and Harry used to be. Draco for his part was highly protective of Hermione, especially when he was told about her pregnancy. Slytherin house seemed to welcome Hermione with open arms. They had all known she was the wife of their former Head of House they had known even before Harry had been told.
In the present, Harry Potter felt another wave of nausea hit him as he thought back to all the blood that had come from the Potions Master with that one spell. The stone floor had been heavy crimson where his body had once lain. The green eyed wizard got to his feet and rushed over toward the loo. The memories seemed relentless as they battered his already fragile psyche.
Harry thought of Snape's son Phaeron only moments before he began to vomited emptying the already empty contents of his stomach. He had looked so much like the Potions Master that it terrified him. Phaeron had not been a fool by any means...the thought of the boy having a dark nature similar to his father and his mother's view on justice made for a very deadly combination.
The green eyed wizard barely managed to keep away from the boy and his invasive line of questioning as it was. The last thing he needed was to upset Hermione any further. He knew she would make good on her promise to harm him if he ever got anywhere near her son. The look of pure hatred on her face was unnerving.
When the first lights of dawn came over the horizon, Harry thought it best to make his way upstairs before his wife and children awoke. He had not noticed his son Albus Severus watching from the shadows of the sitting room. The boy had seen his father burst into tears and examine his hands as though there had been something wrong with them.
It confused Albus Severus to hear his father apologizing for something he had done wrong to the ghosts in his head. What the boy could make out was that it happened during the second wizarding war. The rest he could not even be sure that his mother even knew. Harry disappeared back up the stairs. Once Albus Severus heard his father close his bedroom door he too made his way back to bed.
There was something going on. Something having to do with a wizard called Snape. Albus Severus had not known much about this... Snape, But he was said to be one of the greatest heroes of the wizarding world...so much so that his parents had given him the man's name. It all seemed rather strange to the young Potter, if Snape was a hero then why was his father apologizing to him?
As Albus Severus made his way back to bed and his thoughts took over he had no idea that he had the makings of a Slytherin mind. And as such this strange mystery intrigued him a great deal. He would find out what his father had been hiding all these years and he had a feeling it was a secret that would bring the wizarding world to it's knees.