The Bodyguard
Chapter 33: Potter Victorious
The Dementor glided towards the quartet, and reached for Harry with rotting hands.
Expecto Patronum, thought Harry. But without a wand, nothing happened. He couldn't flee. He couldn't even speak. All he could do was keep his Occlumency shield going, but he knew it couldn't save him.
The lipless, soul-sucking mouth closed in...
"Don't fret, Potter," said Snape lazily. He seemed to be enjoying the sight of his least favourite ex-student face to face with a hungry Dementor. He raised the tip of his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"
Not one, but two silvery shapes exploded from the tip of Snape's wand. A smiling woman, with almond-shaped eyes like Harry's, and a tall, majestic wizard, with kind, twinkling eyes. Their long hair stretched into dazzling threads, joining them together.
It was lucky Harry was held up by the spell that kept him captive. Otherwise, he would have slumped to the floor, with the shock of seeing the shining images of Lily Potter and Albus Dumbledore, fused as the single most powerful spirit guardian he had ever seen.
The Dementor gave a great start as it sensed the Patronus. It turned to flee, but the Patronus grasped it by the arms. The Dementor thrashed helplessly.
"I can recommend having a Patronus with hands," said Snape, watching the undead creature's fruitless struggles. "They're useful. They can hold Dementors steady, as well as chase them away."
Harry felt the Silencio spell fade. Now it was shock that kept him silent.
"Of course, a changed Patronus is also a weakness," Snape went on. "It doesn't do, to let the world know your true loyalties. I said so to Tonks, when her Patronus changed."
"I remember," whispered Harry.
But Snape wasn't looking at him. "Stop struggling," he told the Dementor silkily. "You won't go hungry." He reached into his robes, and brought out a small, golden cup with two finely wrought handles, and a badger engraved upon one side.
"Hufflepuff's cup! So you're the one who found it first," said Hermione.
Black eyes glanced in her direction. "Indeed. You were far too slow," said Snape snidely. He held up the cup by its base, and the Dementor lunged for it, though the Patronus held it back. Snape's eyes narrowed. "Yes, you sense a piece of human soul in this cup. A piece that you may consume," he told the Dementor. The Patronus loosened its grip and the Dementor's rotten fingers closed around the handles. Its rattling breathing intensified, as it held the cup up before its blind face.
His cloak rippling, Snape backed away towards the quartet. Harry saw he was weaving a powerful magical barrier around all five of them. The barrier slid down, like a steep dome of thick, transparent glass. Now Harry could see the Dementor but no longer hear it.
But the undead creature paid them no attention. It investigated its new prize with obvious relish. Then it put its lips to the cup and sucked.
Nothing happened at first. Slowly, the cup started to glow red-hot. Steam rose from the Dementor's hands, and they appeared to be sizzling where they touched the handles, though the undead creature showed no sign of pain.
Harry remembered the cursed ring, which had left Dumbledore with a burned, withered, dead hand, and shuddered. This was the same curse. But this time, Snape was making no attempt to stop it.
As the Dementor consumed the last of the soul fragment, white-hot flames exploded out from the cup. They tore through the feeding Dementor, burning it to ashes in an instant.
The cup, still red-hot, fell to the ground. Ashes fell around it, like grey rain.
The double Patronus regarded Harry with two pairs of gentle eyes, apparently entirely unaffected by the heat of the Dementor's demise.
Snape waved his wand. A spinning vortex gathered up the ashes. Another wave of his wand and Hufflepuff's Cup, still red-hot, floated into the air. The mortal remains of Barty Crouch Junior flew inside, and a lid appeared and sealed the cup. Dumbledore's ghostly image reached out and took the handles, before it fell back to the floor.
The barrier faded. "Poor Barty," said Snape softly. "He didn't deserve this fate. I knew him before Voldemort sent him insane." He said the name of the Dark wizard, without the slightest trouble, though Ron shuddered. "Barty was only a troubled teenager, grieving over his dying mother, and rebelling against his tyrannical father, when he got in with the wrong crowd. Voldemort tempted him. You know what that's like, Draco."
Draco nodded grimly. "I do," he said.
"You survived with your mind intact, Draco. You're strong. But poor Barty lost his. He became obsessed with the idea of killing his own father. Voldemort turned him into a cold-blooded torturer and murderer." Snape sighed. "I'm sure the sane Barty I use to know, would have been delighted to have played a small part in making Voldemort mortal. It's fitting that his final resting place is Hufflepuff's Cup. A proper burial is the only thing I can do for him now."
It occurred to Harry, that he, and the rest of the quartet, had been free of their bonds, since Snape had conjured the barrier, but they had been too absorbed in what was going on, to notice or take advantage of their freedom. Having seen Snape destroy the Horcrux, Harry no longer wanted to disarm his ex-teacher.
"There is one other thing you need to see," said Snape. With a wave of his wand, a stone, which had appeared to be tightly fixed into the wall, slid out. There was a space behind and Snape reached inside and brought out a locket, with an 'S' of emeralds on one side.
Slytherin's locket.
Harry's heart leaped as he took the small piece of jewellery from Snape. He'd seen it before, at Grimmauld Place, while they were tidying up, years ago. If only they'd realised then what it was! Sirius's younger brother had brought it there, after taking it from the sea cave. But he had died of the potion, before he could destroy it. Mundungus Fletcher had stolen the locket, and sold it to Aberforth Dumbledore. Then a thief had stunned Aberforth and taken the locket.
Now they knew who that thief was...
The locket, which had been sealed shut, now gaped like a dead oyster. The soul fragment it had once contained was gone, and the metal looked burned and bent. Harry easily guessed how it had got that way.
"You must go through lots of Dementors," he said.
"What of it?" Snape shrugged. "I am the Dementor Master and I don't have to justify their loss. In fact," he added, smirking nastily. "I have lost even more Dementors than the Horcruxes can account for. I have been ... careless."
"Horcruxes?" asked Draco. "You mean those ... things ... that make Voldemort immortal?"
"You didn't tell Draco what they were called?" said Snape sarcastically to Harry.
"He didn't need to tell their name," Draco defended Harry. "He told me what they did and that was enough."
"Horcruxes are objects in which Voldemort has embedded a piece of his soul," explained Harry hastily. "They keep the rest of his soul anchored to this plane of existence. He cannot die, while his Horcruxes exist. There were six, not counting the piece in Voldemort's body. You've just seen the cup destroyed. The locket is history."
Snape looked pleased with himself.
"Dumbledore destroyed the ring," Harry continued. "I destroyed Riddle's diary, that your father gave to Ginny Weasley-"
"My Father helped destroy part of Voldemort's immortality? No wonder Voldemort wants him dead," said Draco.
"Then there's Nagini, and finally there's something of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, but we don't know what."
Draco nodded. "Horcruxes," he repeated, as though tasting the syllables.
"So finally you tell, Draco the truth. But you claim to love him," Snape sneered. "With love should come trust."
"The Vow-" Harry began, but Snape cut him off.
"Give the Vow to me," he demanded, holding out his hand.
"Yes," said Draco enthusiastically. "I want you to read it and find a loophole, Severus. Nott and Hermione think I'm completely trapped."
Reaching into his robes, Harry drew out the crumpled Vow. Snape took it, and smoothed it out, with an expression that suggested he was disgusted at how badly Harry treated his possessions. Glancing coldly at Harry, Snape raised the Vow and began to read.
Harry was used to reactions of horror and disgust, while the Vow was being read. But nothing prepared him for Snape's reaction.
Before Snape had read very far, his mocking laughter filled the hot, smoky cellar.
"Fools!" cried Snape. "Umbridge and Barnes are bigger idiots than I ever imagined! The Vow is supposed to make the victim fall in madly in love with their master!"
"I know," said Harry miserably. He was very put out that Snape found their plight amusing.
"Umbridge must have expected Draco to fall in love with Harry, be rejected because Harry was straight, then die of a broken heart," said Snape.
"That sounds about right. Umbridge did ask me if I had a girlfriend," said Harry.
"But that didn't happen. Harry loves me, and I love him," said Draco. He gave Harry a fierce look. "Nothing to do with the Vow."
Snape handed the Vow back to Harry. "Tell me, Draco, how did you feel when you were first put under the Vow?"
"I don't remember too well," said Draco. "The Aurors had bashed my head and I was dizzy. I hadn't slept. I was starving." He rubbed his index finger against his mouth. "I remember Harry looked like the best thing I'd ever seen."
"You had an adoring look on your face. Like a house elf," said Harry.
Draco made a face, as if looking like a house elf was beneath him. "But then we fought, and strangling flame got me." His hand went to his throat in remembrance.
"I'm sorry, Draco," said Harry quietly. He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend.
Draco smiled. "But after that, things got better," he said, snuggling back. "Harry took me home, let me get clean for the first time in weeks. Had me healed, cooked me food, gave me his clothes, gave me his bed. And he was so sweet, and shy, and he BLUSHED whenever I touched him. Like he belonged to me, instead of the other way around. I started thinking I could get used to his company."
"What happened then?" asked Snape, with a slight curl of his lip.
Draco's pale cheeks turned pink. "The best night of my life." He pulled Harry's arms closer around him. "I woke up the next morning and Harry was just lying there, asleep. So peaceful. So beautiful. All mine. So I just lay there, looking at him and..."
"You realised you were in love with him?"
"Yes," said Draco. "And since then, I haven't felt the Vow at all. I used to feel it, around my neck, waiting to strangle me. Since then, I've been free ... or I thought I was. Nott and Hermione think that my feelings are proof that the Vow has me under its complete control."
"The Vow attempts to cause love, and withdraws when it finds it. What does that tell you?" Snape asked.
When no one replied right away, Snape folded his arms and drummed the fingers of one hand against his opposite upper arm. His unsettling, black eyes silently informed the quartet that they were dunderheads. It was like being back in school.
"It tells us that the Vow has entirely enslaved Draco...?" offered Hermione meekly.
"It tells us that Umbridge and Barnes are fools!" exclaimed Snape.
Hermione flinched and Snape started to pace, robes swirling. "Why haven't you worked this out for yourselves? I didn't take your Potions class in your Sixth Year, but Slughorn is a good teacher. He taught me. I know he would have covered Amortentia."
"The most powerful Love Potion?" asked Harry.
"Yes, Slughorn covered it," said Ron. "He showed us a cauldron full."
"And what did you learn about Amortentia's properties?" asked Snape, with a condescending sneer.
Harry wondered what Snape was leading to. "That it's steam rises in characteristic spirals," he said.
Snape winced and stopped pacing, as though Harry's stupidity hurt him. With eyes tightly squeezed shut, he said, "And what else?"
"That it smells different, depending on who smells it," said Ron.
Not opening his eyes, Snape said, "And?"
"That it doesn't work," said Hermione quickly. "Even though it's the most powerful Love Potion, it only causes a short-lived infatuation, lasting a day. It's impossible for magic to manufacture or imitate love."
Snape's eyes opened.
"Oh," said Hermione softly.
The words sank in. The quartet stared open-mouthed at Snape.
"How long have you felt love for Potter, Draco?" asked Snape.
Draco gulped. "A few days now. It seems to be getting stronger, the more time I spend with him," he said.
"Then you truly love him," said Snape simply. "A manufactured infatuation would have faded by now."
Such a powerful feeling of hope bloomed in Harry's heart, that he almost forgot to breath.
Snape shook his head, as if he despaired of the quartet. "Tell me Potter, have you seen Draco's Patronus?"
"Yes," said Harry. "I taught him how to make it."
"You were so keen on seeing MY Patronus, and knowing my true loyalties," Snape glanced at the serene, silvery figures. "But did you ever cast your eyes over your own boyfriend's Patronus?"
"It's a ferret, with human eyes," said Harry.
"YOUR eyes, Potter. A Patronus takes on some, or all of the appearance, of the people its owner loves. Incontrovertible proof that Draco truly loved you has been under your nose for days, and you didn't deign to notice!"
Harry was flabbergasted. But Snape had not finished.
"When the Vow sensed Draco loved you, Harry, it thought its work was done and it faded. It wasn't designed to detect the difference between infatuation and true love. Umbridge and Barnes never considered that someone might freely give of their love, and break their supposedly Unbreakable Vow!"
Harry heard Draco laughing in gleeful triumph, and felt him turning around in his arms.
"By the way, congratulations are in order for Draco," said Snape coolly. "Apparently, you're bottoming tonight, Harry."
He must have read our minds, thought Harry. But it was the last coherent thought he had, before Draco flung his arms around him and kissed him passionately, sobbing with joy. He kissed him back, and squeezed him so hard, it was a wonder Draco could draw breath.
oOoOoOo
"Severus, how did Barty Crouch Junior know my Patronus was a ferret? He must have known, if he Transfigured me into one," said Draco, a few minutes later.
Snape had cast snide remarks in Draco and Harry's direction, until they had finally stopped snogging.
Now Snape looked thoughtful. "He couldn't have known. He must have used Veritasformo."
"I've never heard of it," said Hermione with interest.
"It's the easiest Transfiguration."
"Professor McGonagall never taught us-" Ron began.
"Of course not, Mr Weasley! Professor McGonagall would never dream of teaching you Dark magic, and Veritasformo is one of the darkest spells. It turns its victim into their true form."
"Why would that be Dark?" asked Harry.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Don't you remember the Law of Morpheus, Potter?"
Hermione nodded eagerly. "Morpheus - states - that - the - Transfiguration - of - a - living - creature - into - an - inanimate - object - will - be - irreversible - in - most - cases," she rattled off from her memory.
As if Hermione had not spoken, Snape said, "A person's true form may be something that is not alive. Transfiguring a person into a stone, or a block of wood is usually fatal. Alternatively, their true form may be a dangerous animal, or something inanimate and dangerous, like a flow of molten lava, that will kill the spell caster. Veritasformo has been banned for centuries and is only used by the darkest of wizards. Professor McGonagall should have suspected Veritasformo and guessed that Moody was an impostor when he Transfigured Draco." Snape frowned. "We all should have guessed..."
"No teacher witnessed it. You shouldn't blame yourself," Draco pointed out.
Abruptly, Snape started to pace again, like a black panther in a cage. "But enough talk about what should have happened years ago. We're wasting time. We must destroy all the Horcruxes before midnight."
Harry shuddered. "Yes! Before Voldemort takes over Hogwarts."
"We've got Nagini," said Ron. "Now there's only something of Gryffindor or of Ravenclaw left."
"Yes," said Snape, and Harry didn't like the way he looked at him.
"It can't be something of Ravenclaw's, because all her possessions were destroyed," said Hermione.
"As far as my ancestor, Godric Gryffindor was concerned, he left the Sorting Hat, and a sword, both of which Voldemort never touched," said Harry, wondering why Draco had flinched and was staring at him strangely. "I believe he may also have left marble fragments from his grave. But I find it hard to believe that megalomaniac like Voldemort would have embedded a piece of his soul into a dull chunk of marble."
"What does a Horcrux look like?" asked Draco. "I mean, once it's embedded in an object." The Slytherin looked slightly ill.
"It doesn't look like anything," said Harry. "You saw the cup. It didn't give any indication there was a piece of human soul buried inside."
"What if the soul fragment was buried in a living creature?" asked Draco hesitantly.
Snape's eyes narrowed.
"We've got an example right here. Nagini," said Hermione bossily. "Let's look at her." She paused, when Snape glared at her and drew himself up. "Sorry, please may we look at Nagini, Professor Snape?"
Snape irritably brought out the bag, opened it and dumped the decaying snake onto the stone floor. The quartet winced at the smell.
Draco crouched down beside Nagini and prodded her head with the toe of his shoe. He seemed to find what he was looking for, for he abruptly stood up, went to Harry and wrapped his arms protectively around him.
"Draco, what's the matter?" Harry asked.
But Draco was staring hard at Snape. "I won't let you kill him," he stated. Harry could feel him trembling.
"We may not have a choice," replied Snape wearily.
"I don't understand," said Harry. He extricated himself from Draco's arms, and went to see what had disturbed his boyfriend so much.
There was very little left of Nagini's neck. Draco's foot had crushed it to a pulp. But her head had survived, as though it were somehow reinforced, compared to the rest of her body. There was a faint marking above her sunken eyes. Harry crouched down for a closer look and felt his stomach flip over with dread.
There, amid the scales on the top of Nagini's head, was a lightning bolt shaped scar.
oOoOoOo
Author's Notes: (sing-song voice) Harry's a Horcrux! His head's going to explode! ;-)
Now I've got to think of a way of getting that Horcrux out of Harry, and still having a Harry afterwards. Could everyone carry on without him? Encourage me with reviews, please!
Replies to reviews:
Fifty-six reviews in three days. I can't even get my head around that one, except to say thank you.
Thank you to the following people for reviewing: shadowama, Lisi the slayer, StunningSpellRocks2345, Morrigan, inu-youkai 911, EvanNJames, ExhaleDreams, Dreamer of Destiny, PENGUiN2006MASTER, draconian snowangel216, Titus and Driger, NATWEST, Jester08, LarienMiriel, NinjaoftheDarkness, SLNS, sillypuppy, tenchiko, 3-left-turns, ThePotionsMiss, Yellowwolf, Norwegian MoonShadow, Kyla Mizuki, mon-ami-runa, Gryffindorgrl86, precioussring, ProperT, AngelLuva, Billy, BabylonGirl, thrnbrooke, DBZfanalways, InTheTelling, MayuBlack, txcalbud, bellajen94, CatWriter, LadyDragonWolfKnight, 6tigercubs, Silver-Tiger-Fira, Moyima, Muchacha, dracoizumi, HecateDeMort, LunaSky, and Potter's Wifey.
dynonugget: Thanks for reading all the chapters all in one day. That's nearly the equivalent of one the later, doorstop-sized Potter books, except on an eye-searing white computer screen background. I hope your eyes are okay!
namkrowa91: I hope you didn't miss work for this chapter. Thank you very much for reviewing! ;-)
Naesy: I guess I owe you a hundred galleons. ;-) Glad you liked the almost-bondage scene. Harry isn't a natural submissive. He needs practice! Bwahahaha! ;-)
Fmh: I didn't know Order of the Phoenix had Hermione mentioning she hated horses and flying. Ooops! Continuity error! I've Googled it and I can't find it. What chapter was it? The purpose of that scene was to show why Draco can be proud and arrogant sometimes. Even Hermione, with her intelligence and sense, couldn't help but be a little star struck by Draco's fabulous wealth.
telleo: Thanks for reviewing and voting for this fanfic at quilltoparchment dot com.
mon-ami-runa: Brilliant guess, regarding Snape using the Dementor to destroy the Horcrux. Thanks for reviewing!
OddKitty: Thanks for the review, that was like a whole alternate chapter!