Picking Up the Pieces Chapter Twenty-Three Undiscovered Country --
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
--
Harry, Ron and Hermione walked through the miserably cold corridor, their wands dimly lighting the path ahead of them. Harry was leading the way, as Hermione read out directions from the meticulously drawn map she had constructed from Dumbledore's instructions.
"At this next fork, we're to take a left and we'll
come to a large staircase. If we go down and to the
right, we should in the antechamber before the Cup"
She read, wrinkling her nose as she pushed through a
rather large cobweb.
"It feels like we've been walking for ages." Ron said,
looking at the cobweb with trepidation.
"We're nearly there, Ron." Hermione said, not looking away from the map.
"We've been 'nearly there' for some time now." Ron said, casting her an irritated look.
She raised her eyebrows.
"You want to try directing us then? Be my guest." She said sarcastically, holding the map out to him.
"You don't think I could?" Ron challenged.
"You really want me to answer that?" Hermione shot back.
"Guys..." Harry held up a hand to quiet them down.
He thought he had heard someone talking.
Hermione and Ron looked away from each other.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione whispered.
"We're not the only ones here." He said softly.
The all three stood silent for a moment, and Harry could tell the other voices were coming from a corridor down and to the right. With a rush of recognition, all three of them realized to whom the voices belonged. Draco and Snape.
"Put out your wands." Harry hissed.
"What?" Hermione and Ron both said at the same time.
"Your wands. Put them out."
They complied, and utter darkness fell around the trio.
Harry turned to face them- or where he thought they were, he could barely see vague outlines of his friends.
"You two take the left-hand corridor, and get the cup.
Find out what the last Horcrux is.Destroy it. I've got
to take care of this."
"We're not splitting up!" Ron shook his head furiously.
"Yes, we are. I'm not letting him get away again. I need you two to take care of this."
"What are you talking about, Harry? We're in this together." Hermione said, her hand on his arm.
"Voldemort's close. I just know he is. I can sense it.
If you two don't destroy that cup, and I have to face
him, I won't stand a chance."
Hermione and Ron stood there for a moment, both of them wanting to protest.
"We always knew it would be like this in the end. It always is. You two can't come with me on this one."
"How will we tell you what the last Horcrux is"
Hermione asked quietly.
"The three of us will find each other before the end.
We always find each other, remember?" Harry said,
smiling at her.
"Right," Hermione hugged Harry tightly, "Be careful."
"I will."
"Draco may be an idiot, but Snape's no joke, mate.
Don't do anything stupid." Ron said nervously, patting
Harry on the shoulder.
"Likewise." Harry grinned.
And with that, Harry disappeared down the right corridor.
Ron turned to Hermione.
"Listen, Hermione-"
"Come on." Hermione cut him off.
They carefully made their way into the left corridor,
nothing but darkness yawning before them.
--
Tonks raced back to the bedroom, almost tripping on the bump in her carpet.
"Remus!" She said breathlessly, kneeling by the bed.
He blinked in the dim light, his dark blue eyes bleary and exhausted.
"Where am I?" He asked in a quiet, raspy voice,
looking straight up at the ceiling.
"You're at my apartment." She said, taking his cold hand.
"I feel awful." He said, his voice trailing off as his eyes closed again.
"I know you do. I'm so sorry, love, I'm doing my best."
He looked over at her finally.
"Tonks?" He said, his eyes squinting.
"Yes, it's me." She said, smiling softly.
"Get away from me." He said, looking back at the ceiling.
"What?"
"Don't help me. Don't YOU help me." He said, starting to cough.
She saw with horror the there was blood dribbling out of his lips.
"Remus-"
"Why didn't you just let me die?" He said, his anger muted by his weak voice.
"Because I love you." She said fiercely, wiping the blood away from his mouth with a cold cloth she had put on his forehead.
"Oh, do you?" He laughed softly, starting to cough again.
"You need to rest. We can talk about this when you're better."
"You just don't get it, do you?"
"What?"
Lupin took a deep breath, summoning up all his strength.
"I don't want to get better. I finally thought it was all over...that I'd died defending my best friend...but that was all a lie. I don't want you to help me."
"Well, then, what do you want?" Tonks said, swallowing hard to fight back tears
"I don't want to hurt anymore." He said, so quiet that she couldn't understand him.
"What?"
But he didn't respond, unable to stay awake any
longer. She sat there, tears sliding down her cheeks,
watching his chest rising and falling with labored
breaths.
--
Draco leaned against the wall, watching Nagini make long, slow circles around the room.
"So we're just supposed to sit here and guard her?"
"Oh, stop being so melodramatic." Snape said, his back turned as he worked.
"I thought doing tasks for the Dark Lord would be a lot more interesting."
"So sorry it's disappointing you."
Draco rolled his eyes, watching Nagini wind her away into the next room. He followed her, more to get away from Snape than to see what she was doing.
The next room was far larger than the one Snape was finishing his work in, and Draco felt a strong sense of foreboding as his footsteps echoed on the cold stone floor.
Nagini suddenly raised her head, emitting a low hiss.
Draco followed her gaze, and backed up in surprise.
Harry Potter was standing in the doorway, wand out.
"Potter!" Draco said, hastily withdrawing his wand.
"Darn. Nagini really ruined my grand surprise entrance." Harry sighed, "Oh well...let's get down to business, shall we?
--
Ron and Hermione walked on, their wands now lit again.
The only sound was Hermione talking softly to herself,
looking at the map.
"And it should be right in here." She said, about to walk blindly into the antechamber.
Ron stopped her.
"Hermione, you can't just charge in there. There's probably people guarding it."
"You don't think I can take care of myself?" She said,
raising an eyebrow.
"N-No, it's not that, it's just-"
"What?"
"Just let me check it out."
"So you can get yourself killed? No way."
They both tried to shove through the doorway at the same time.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, irritated.
"What?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Nothing. Go ahead."
Ron looked at her, as if trying to determine if this was some kind of girl trick.
Finally, he stepped through the door, Hermione right behind him.
The antechamber was too large to be fully illuminated by their two wands.
It seemed to be some kind of dining room, with an
exorbitantly large table in the middle of the room.
The table was still set with four places, ancient
silver goblets bearing different crests.
"No one's been down here in so many years." She said,
feeling goosebumps form on her arms as she noticed
that there only three goblets for four places set.
"I'm not so sure about that." Ron said, holding his wand as he walked towards the far corner.
"What?" She looked up.
"Check this out."
She hurried over to him, and gasped.
Small footprints in the dust led to the corner.
Sitting in the corner were shards of Hufflepuff's cup.
"Someone already destroyed it." Hermione said, her heart sinking.
"Recently- look at the footprints. Brand new." Ron said.
"Who would do that? Who else could know about this"
Hermione looked at Ron desperately.
"No idea." Ron looked back, dumbfounded.
"How are we going to find the next Horcrux then?"
"Maybe this person knows what it is. Maybe they're on our side, and they're going to destroy it." Ron shrugged.
"We've got to find Harry." Hermione turned back to the door they had come through.
Suddenly, it slammed shut. Hermione and Ron raced towards it, as they heard the sickening sound of someone magically sealing the door shut.
--
"What are you even doing here, Potter?" Draco said,
trying to hide the nerves that were making his wand
hand shake.
"Where is she?"
"Who?" Draco asked innocently.
"Don't play games with me, Draco. Tell me where she is."
"Well, Potter, with the information you're giving me,
you could mean the bloody Queen of England, so..."
Harry slammed Draco up against the wall.
"Don't fck with me. Tell me where Ginny is, and I'll leave you here unconscious but breathing."
"You're a real big man now, Potter? You have no idea what's coming. You won't be able to handle it. It's some sick stuff...even for you, Wonder Boy." Draco said, smiling.
Harry threw Draco to the ground, and he landed in a heap, his wand rolling away from him. Harry caught it under his foot, pointing his own straight at Draco's annoyingly smug smile. But Harry saw the smile shaking...he was scared to death.
"Last chance, Malfoy."
"Or what? You'll kill me? You don't have the balls.
You never have."
"3..."
Draco started to scramble backwards, trying to get to his feet.
"2..."
"Potter, wait!"
"1."
"Harry, please!" Draco put up his hands, sounding like a little boy.
Just as Harry opened his mouth to utter the spell, he was blasted backwards by one far more powerful than anything he could have managed. It wasn't the killing curse, but Harry hit the ground hard enough to most certainly fracture something.
He got to his feet quickly, biting down the pain, and saw Severus Snape standing in front of Draco with a very strange expression of worried panic on his face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Harry practically growled, blind hatred throbbing through his veins.
"The very same thing your father did, Potter!" Snape shouted back.
"Oh, really? And what would that be?"
"Protecting my son."
--
Hermione tried spell after spell against the door, but nothing worked.
Ron was perched on the table, examining the frayed edge of his sweater.
"DAMN IT!" Hermione yelled, kicking the door as hard as she could.
Ron's eyes widened in surprise. She turned around,
seeing his expression.
"What? WHAT? You've got something you want to say?
You've got something to actually contribute to the
situation instead of just sitting there and watching
me get more and more hacked off? WHAT?"
Ron grinned, unable to stop himself.
"Oh, now you're laughing at me?"
"I've just never seen you like this." He laughed.
"I fail to see anything funny about this situation!"
"It's just...you look pretty hot when you get all angry like that." Ron said, smiling even wider as he stood up off the table.
"Oh, right." Hermione scoffed, but Ron could tell she was about to smile.
"You do! Why do you think I always pissed you off so much?" Ron said slyly.
"Ron..." She sighed.
"Yeah?"
Hermione opened her mouth, and then closed it again.
"Never mind." She said quickly, turning back to the door and getting her wand out again.
"Oh, come on. That's the most annoying thing ever."
"It's not important. Never mind."
"All right. Whatever." He put his hands in his pockets, turning back around.
"Ron?"
"WHAT?"
She sighed heavily, crossing her arms and leaning against the sealed door.
"It's so stupid."
"Come on, Hermione. Since when do we not tell each other stuff?"
She laughed.
"Since...we had a thing for each other for like five years and said nothing about it?"
"Okay. Well, other than that. You can tell me
anything. I mean, I'm kinda like your boyfriend,
right?"
"Boyfriend?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Well, right?" Ron said, blushing furiously.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you are." Hermione smiled.
"So ask me then."
"Fine." Hermione shook her arms slightly, as if to relieve nerves. "Have you ever..."
Ron looked at her, waiting for her to continue.
"Have I ever what?"
"I can't even believe I'm asking this, this has to be the worst timing in the world, but it seems like we're not going to get out of here for some time, and I've been dying to know, and even if you had with Lavender Harry would never tell me, so-"
"Have I ever what?"
She looked at him, incredulous.
"Are you trying to be dense?"
It finally dawned on Ron what she was saying.
"Oh. No! N-No, I haven't."
Hermione looked enormously relieved.
"Not with Lavender?"
Ron laughed, shaking his head.
"No, we never...we never did that. I wasn't in love with her or anything--and mum always told us that you should never, you know," Ron made an awkward hand motion, "unless you were in love with the person."
Hermione smiled, pleased.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that."
"Why? Have YOU ever done it?"
"Yeah. Once. With Harry."
"WHAT?"
"I'm kidding, Ron."
"NOT funny."
Hermione giggled.
"Your face...was priceless." She said, leaning against the door as she started to laugh harder.
"You are really not a nice person, you know that?" Ron said, starting to laugh as well.
"I'm not...you really should just break up with me immediately." Hermione said, putting her arms around his neck.
"Yeah...but then I'd never get to do this..." Ron said, kissing her.
It was strange- the kiss started when they were both laughing, but suddenly it changed. Ron kissed her again, hard. Hermione's mind went pleasantly blank for a moment, and she was stepping back, back towards the table. Ron lifted her up, and her hands slid under his sweater. He helped her pull it off, and started to unbutton her shirt.
She unbuttoned the last button, throwing it on the ground. Ron stopped suddenly.
He looked at her. She looked at him, confused.
"What? Why'd you stop?" She said, pushing her hair off her face, out of breath.
"You're so bloody gorgeous." Ron shook his head, as if unable to convince himself this was actually happening.
"Is something wrong?"
"No...I just...are you sure you want to do this?"
Hermione looked at him for a long moment, holding his face in her hands.
"Ron, I love you. You know I do. We could never get out of here alive. We could be dead before this day is over. You're the only person I'd ever want to do this with."
Ron didn't say anything, watching her bra strap slip off her shoulder as she leaned forward.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I'm nervous. It's--I mean, it's you and me...I don't
want to mess it up. I've been in love with you for
such a long time, and I've built this moment up so
much in my mind--it's just a lot of pressure. I mean,
what if it's bad? And it's very cold down here, so..."
Hermione smiled.
"Ron?"
"Yeah?"
She unbuckled his belt.
"Just shut up."
--
Harry looked from Snape to Draco in amazement.
"Your SON?" Harry echoed.
"That's not true..." Draco got to his feet, pale as a ghost.
"I'm sorry, Draco, I didn't want to have to help you fight Potter. I wanted you to do it yourself. But you needed me, and I am your father-"
"STOP SAYING THAT!" Draco yelled.
"Wouldn't you rather know the truth than believe a lie for the rest of your life?" Snape looked at him, every word seeming to come out with great effort.
Harry wondered if he could possibly just slip past them in the midst of all this familial drama. He started to back up slowly towards the hallway to the next corridor.
"Draco-"
"My father is Lucius Malfoy!"
"No. That's what we wanted you to believe. Things were
so much easier that way. Your mother and I wanted"
Snape reached out for him.
Draco hit his hand away, his cheeks blazing red.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER! She wouldn't do that! You're lying!" Draco yelled, backing away from him.
"Perform any spell you like on me, you will see I am not lying." Snape held out his arms in deference.
Draco shook his head, disgusted.
"I don't need to perform any spell. I was exactly like my father- I looked like him, I talked like him, I thought like him- I'm nothing like you!"
"Your good looks and good breeding come from your mother, Draco. Your sense of superiority and phobia of any real relationships...I'm afraid those you got from me."
"Just...just stop. This is crazy." Draco held up his hands, walking away from Snape and back to Nagini.
Snape turned to see Harry gone.
His lips twisted into a small smile.
"Impressive, Potter. I'd have hated to have to kill you and make you miss the show."
--
Hermione and Ron lay on the wide table on their backs,
staring up at the ceiling. Assorted clothes lay all
around them, and Hermione pulled Ron's discarded coat
over her body.
"So..." Ron said, wide-eyed.
"Yes?" Hermione said, her voice sounding very small in the enormous room.
"That was awesome."
Hermione grinned.
"Really?"
"Wasn't it for you?" Ron turned to look at her nervously.
She sat up, feeling very confused. She had liked feeling that close to him, but it wasn't quite the fireworks-and-roses-falling-from-the-sky kind of spectacle she had always built it up in her mind to be.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Ron sat up beside her.
She looked at him, smiling reassuringly.
"I'm fine...it was just...I didn't know what to expect, and now that we've done it, I don't what I'm thinking."
"I knew we shouldn't have..." Ron covered his eyes with his hand, obviously embarrassed.
"No, Ron, I'm not sorry! I wanted to, and I'm glad we did. It's just like- it's one of those moments I've been thinking about for a long time, especially with you-"
"And I let you down." He said, refusing to look at her.
"That's not it, Ron...look at me..." She said,
turning his face to hers.
He reluctantly raised his dark blue eyes to meet hers.
"You never let me down."
Ron looked at her dubiously.
"Really?"
"Really." She kissed him softly.
Ron laced his fingers through hers, grinning.
"You know, according to my older brothers- it's better the second time."
"Ron."
"What?"
"I think I've thrown caution to the wind enough for one day," She laughed, getting off the table and getting dressed.
"Oh." Ron got up as well, pulling on his boxers and sweater.
"Oh, don't look all depressed. If we can get out of this mess alive, there's a very good chance I might throw caution to the wind again."
"Really? Because I know I can do better."
"Ron."
"I can!"
"Ron."
"You don't believe me?"
"I believe you." Hermione sighed, getting out her wand and heading to the door.
"What are you doing?"
"Giving this door a second shot. There has to be a way past the spell."
"Well what did they put to seal it?"
Hermione touched the substance oozing through from the other side.
"I don't know- it's really hard and sticky."
"That's what she said." Ron grinned, unable to help himself
"Ron."
"What?"
"Just...stop."
--
Snape went to follow Draco down the corridor when a small white hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed his arm.
He nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping out his wand.
It was Narcissa.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He looked at her,
confounded.
"I destroyed the Hufflepuff cup. That means there's only one left. What is it?"
"What are you doing here?" He repeated.
"I'm trying to help my family."
He looked at her, confused.
"Think about it, Severus. You're smarter than the Dark
Lord, you always have been. If you could defeat him-
you could be greater than he ever was."
"You're insane." Snape shrugged her off.
"You've never thought about it?"
"Listen, Narcissa, I don't even know what you're doing here. You're going to get hurt if you stay-"
"Just listen to me, Severus! I've got Potter's two
little friends locked up- we kill them, Potter's off
his game, you tell me what the last Horcrux is, we
destroy it- and you destroy the Dark Lord. Our family
will rule the entire legion of Dark Arts followers.
Think about it- everyone but my sister thinks The Dark
Lord is long past his prime on a sad little revenge
mission. And I could convince her to join us."
"No. The answer's no."
"Don't try to make me believe you're faithful to him!"
"Narcissa-"
"Think what this could mean for us! For our son!"
"It could mean many more years of my life wasted doing something I've never been all that committed to in the first place." Severus said wearily.
"What about Draco?"
"What about me?" Draco walked up to them.
Narcissa and Severus jumped like guilty teenagers caught making out in the back of their parent's car.
"Mum, what are you even doing here?" Draco asked, his arms folded tiightly against his body.
"T-Trying to help." She said weakly.
"You can be of no help to this situation, Narcissa.
Please leave." Snape said.
"No." She said fiercely.
"Oh, let her stay, Professor. I needed to ask her something anyway." Draco said, his voice practically shaking with anger.
"What do you need to ask me, darling?" She turned to him, her face softened.
"Was Lucius my father?"
"Of course he was." Narcissa said flippantly.
"That's not what Snape told me."
She looked at Snape incredulously for a split second,
then back at Draco.
"Darling, you must have misunderstood Severus."
Draco swallowed hard, as if unable to say it. Finally-
"Is Snape my father?"
Narcissa looked at her son for what seemed like an
endless length of time. Snape looked between them,
feeling his heart thudding painfully against his
chest. Narcissa closed her eyes, unable to face her
own son.
"Yes."
--
Tonks woke up in the middle of the night from a fitful sleep. Rain was pounding down on the windows of her apartment. She stretched, her head pounding horribly.
She got up to go check on him, yawning.
Tonks stepped into the room, going over to him.
His eyes were closed, and he looked so peaceful, a small smile on his lips..
She got up to leave when she realized something. His chest wasn't rising and falling. He was completely still. She put her hand on his face-- his skin was ice cold.
"No, no, no..." Tonks murmured under her breath, tears burning her eyes.
She felt for his pulse, her finger to his throat.
Nothing.
"NO! God, please, no!" Tonks sobbed, pushing on his chest urgently, and blowing into his mouth
But there was no response. She kept trying until her arms felt like they were going to break, but he never opened his eyes, never took a breath...
He was gone.
--
Somewhere, on a very far shore, Remus was walking down a sunny beach. He could see shapes off in the distance. Without even needing to draw closer, he knew them. His friends. All those who had gone ahead. Remus broke into a run. The mortal coil no longer had any hold on him. He was free. At long last, he was free.
--
Harry raced down another staircase, knowin he was getting deeper and deeper into Hogwarts and more and more lost. But he knew it would probably all come down to the final, furthest chamber- Voldemort had a flair for the dramatic. And if Ginny was somewhere down here, he was going to find her. If she, Ron, and Hermione were safe- he could do this. He could beat him. He would find the last Horcrux and end this. This was between him and Voldemort, no one else. Man to monster.
Harry rounded another corner, his shoe slipping on the stones. With a rush of adrenaline, his fingers scrabbled on the wall to keep himself upright. He fell hard on his elbows, his knees sliding on the hard stone.
"Shit!" He murmured under his breath, his elbow
throbbing. It was already nearly broken from Snape's
spell, and now he was almost certain it was useless.
But it wasn't his wand hand. So he shakily stood up,
brushing himself off with his good hand.
"Are you all right, darling?"
Harry turned around so fast he nearly sprained his neck. He backed against the wall, feeling as if all the air had been knocked out of him.
Standing there, tall and beautiful, was his mother.
"Of course he's all right, he's seventeen years old. I fell off my broom and broke every bone in my leg. You didn't ask if I was all right then." His father, his young, handsome face barely creased by age, stepped out of the darkness as well, winking at Harry.
"That's because you were a total prat then." Lily grinned, walking over to her son and putting her hand on his cheek.
"M-Mum?" Harry could barely speak, his throat felt like sandpaper.
"Yes, love. I'm here."
--
A/N- Next chapter- Voldemort and Harry meet for the final time.
The last Horcrux is revealed. Sacrifices are made. More deaths.
More triumphs. More revelations. It's the big one,
guys. Please leave me a review!