A/N: From this chapter onwards the story is not as lively and it will darken a bit. Thought it was best to mention it.
Inspiration Songs: 'Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru' and 'Seijaku wa Headphone no Naka' by See-Saw
Ch. 22: When Things Go Wrong
The path was dark and grayish. The girl wondered if she was seeing things in a combination of two colours: black and white. She continued through the obscure path and felt cracking noises under her feet. That was when she realised that she was crushing bones as she walked, human bones. The girl wondered where she was, but as she started to see familiar buildings that had been leveled down her eyes opened wide. She had recognised the place where she was. She could see the familiar phone booth in front of her and remembered the thestrals that had brought her to that place when she was in 4th year. The phone booth had been completely destroyed and only broken shards remained standing. There was no broken phone as if it had been completely removed and she was sure that the empty booth wouldn't be able to take her into the Ministry of Magic's building.
Her surroundings changed all of a sudden and Ginny appeared in what looked like a palace. There was a man sitting on a throne, but she couldn't see his face. There were chained wizards and witches in both sides of the throne room that didn't wear masks while the ones that were free wore their usual white masks. Ginny feared for her life for she could identify the masked people as Death Eaters. She wanted to run away before they got her, but something prevented her from fleeing. She had to stay and watch what was going to happen.
A Death Eater came, bringing a chained wizard that had obviously been tortured. There was something familiar about the wizard and Ginny gasped. "Colin!" She covered her mouth, fearing that she had revealed herself, but nothing happened. She was seemingly invisible to the people there.
"Here is today's Mudblood, my lord," a voice full of hatred stated.
The man on the throne had his wand in hand and stared at the young wizard that had been brought. "It is not in me to grant mercy, but I shall grant you one. Any last words?"
All the Death Eaters present in that room laughed mockingly at the mercy that was being offered by their lord, but the chained young man didn't even flinch. Still, he replied full of bitterness, "I don't need anything from you, you bastard! One day someone will defeat you! Your realm won't last forever!"
"Avada Kedavra."
Ginny screamed when she watched Colin fall backwards, unable to control the wetness forming around her eyes. It couldn't be. Voldemort couldn't have won. What had happened to Harry? Why was she seeing such a horrible scene? "This is not true!" she yelled to no one particular. "This will never happen!"
She opened her eyes and was no longer watching her dead classmate. Instead, she was inside familiar surroundings like in previous dreams. Everything continued being black and white and she saw two men standing, facing each other. One of the wizards had disarmed the other and a combination of fear and dread possessed her. The disarmed wizard was Harry and the other had just casted the killing curse, but something swallowed the curse, something that was behind the still armed wizard. Harry couldn't see what Harry had done to defend himself, but for some reason Harry was winning. Voldemort then cackled before sending another spell against Harry, one that wasn't swallowed by the light that had swallowed the bright green light from before.
Ginny woke up throwing up bile on the side of her bed. It was the same dream, but with an alternate ending, but certainly not the ending she wanted. Her first ending had shown both Harry and Voldemort dying, then she had seen what seemed like a still dying Harry after Voldemort had been vanquished. Now, she had seen Voldemort win and a future where Voldemort had destroyed everything she knew as the normal world and then there was Voldemort killing a Muggleborn wizard or witch, perhaps one a day. She broke into desperate sobs, wanting the images to fade away. She kept mumbling to herself, "Nothing has happened. It was just a bad dream. Nothing has happened. It's all right. That will never happen." She went into fetal position, trembling, and kept mumbling in the darkness of the bedroom, willing the nightmares to vanish from her the depths of her soul.
XxXxX
In the morning, the teens looked at Severus as if he was going to break any minute. After a while, it started to annoy him, but at the same time, he could understand what they had gone through feeling his pain. It wasn't a laughable matter. In fact, it was a worry some factor and he knew that at some particular moment they would have to find a way to destroy the bond. It was too dangerous to be bound to each other like that. What if one of them died? Not that Severus wanted to even consider the idea of one of them dying, but with the dangers they were confronting it was a fearful possibility.
They barely ate breakfast. Not even when Yapheth insisted saying that they needed strength. The memories from the past night were still haunting the four, especially Severus because he felt responsible in some way. Not that the teens had blamed him, but Severus felt that he and only he was at fault for their situation. Blood was very dangerous when mixed with magic. What was he thinking when he let them mix their blood in a cup that was cursed with very dark magic? He knew better than that. Was he forgetting all he knew by hanging with those kids that to make things worse were all Gryffindors?
"Stop torturing yourself, Severus. You are affecting them that way." Yapheth put his hand on Severus' right shoulder and the other man raised his dark eyes.
Yapheth wasn't lying. The teens were looking at Severus with worried gazes. They had felt him blaming himself. "Does the bond make that too? We can also feel... Of course... We felt Miss Granger's fear, now they feel my worries..." He swore and cursed. The foul language that came from the wizard after his statements made the teens jump, but he ignored that.
Yapheth made them all prepare physically and mentally for what was coming and even made them all swallow some strange potions, no questions asked. He kept reminding them that the Horcrux they had to destroy this time might be the most difficult one. With the bond, they didn't want to know what this other Horcrux might do to them. The vampire tried to convince Reginald of staying behind to no avail. "I want to see! I want to see too! Please Master!"
"Call me Yapheth, little one. It will be too dangerous."
"I like danger! I have to experience many things! Father has told me many times! Please!"
The crimson-eyed vampire sighed in defeat, "All right, but you will stay next to me at all times."
The little boy was leaping happily after them as they left the house and were again in what looked like abandoned ruins of an ancient palace.
XxXxX
They went through different areas and up several staircases until they seemed to have reached the top floor of the place. A feeling of anxiety was all over Harry, like something bad was going to happen. He wanted to make that thought disappear, but the feeling became bigger and stronger. He noticed Ron becoming pale and Hermione seemed nervous. Perhaps he was projecting his bad feelings to them. He looked at Severus, but the man looked expressionless. Maybe Severus was trying to block the bond somehow.
Finally, the four adventurers and the two vampires arrived at the place where the Horcrux was. The sapphire chest was resting in an altar like place similar to the one in the mountain cave. Quickly Harry approached it and started to study it with his eyes. He swallowed before touching it, but it was all right to touch it.
"Speak to it," commanded Yapheth.
Harry gave the vampire a strange look, but nevertheless spoke to the chest, "How do I open you?"
Except for Yapheth, they were all taken aback when a voice came from the chest, "Sing to me."
Harry was gaping in disbelief and Ron looked at Yapheth, "That thing is joking, right?"
Harry regained his senses and smiled before imitating Yapheth's voice saying, "I do not think it is joking, fiery one."
They all laughed, which made them relieve some accumulated stress. Even Yapheth chuckled a bit at the fact that Harry could still show a sense of humour in the middle of a dark situation.
Harry took a deep breath before starting to sing 'Twinkle twinkle little star', feeling silly and ashamed for doing so.
In seconds, Ron was laughing hysterically and Severus partly covered his eyes in an embarrassed way.
Harry finished singing and the chest spoke again, "Another song."
The teen frowned, but started to sing 'Incy Wincy Spider.' Hermione joined him in that one thinking that it might help while Ron was on the floor laughing with tears coming out of his eyes.
The chest spoke yet again frustrating them, "A last song."
Harry gave another strange look to Yapheth, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "Did Voldemort really prepare this thing to want songs? Seriously?"
The vampire, who seemed to have been making an effort to hold himself couldn't hold the emotion anymore and laughed out loud, surprising them. He shook his head, mane of currently untamed and loose rich black hair swinging from side to side, and replied, "No. I had told you I had played a bit with it... Originally, that thing told me to first cut my left wrist and let the blood drop on it. I didn't do it. Instead, I tampered with it as if I had complied. Then it asked me to do the same thing to my right wrist. After more tampering it told me to remove my fingernails with a knife and give them to it. Then it told me to stab myself on my right thigh, remove the knife and place it over it. Then..."
Harry reacted raising his arms to make Yapheth stop speaking. "All right, all right! I get the message! Singing is better. How in Merlin's name did you come up with the singing idea?" Harry didn't have to hear everything that the chest originally wanted. It was obvious that Voldemort wanted the wizard that found the Horcrux half dead before managing to actually try to destroy the soul's fragment.
"As I got bored I decided to amuse myself with it and so I tampered with the chest. Changed the morbid parts to just singing thrice."
Harry remembered a song he learned while he was in the Young Offenders Centre with Dudley. It was a religious song they sang on the Sunday service and he started to sing that only song that he remembered from the service. He was surprised when Yapheth joined him singing the hymn. After that, the chest remained quiet for a minute before saying, "Now say the three passwords. If you fail I will take your life."
The teen stared at Yapheth, but the tall man defended himself lifting his hands protectively in front of him, "I couldn't tamper with that part. That one you will have to confront. About the hymn, that was very old... I was wondering where you learned it."
Harry shook his head with a sly smile, "You don't want to know." Then the teen went serious and asked the chest, "Can I get a hint?"
The chest glowed before replying, "Of course. What do you get if a toad hatches a hen's egg?"
Hermione, who was next to Harry, responded quickly before Harry could even open his mouth. "A Basilisk!"
"Very good," replied the chest. "Now, what has a human head with horns, blue eyes, a lion's body, and the tail of either a scorpion or a dragon?"
Severus approached a little before answering expressionlessly, "A Manticore."
"Excellent! Now to the last question for the last password. Say my complete name."
Harry easily answered the last one: "Tom Marvolo Riddle."
The voice changed abruptly from its previous gentle manner and thundered, "You are smart, wizard, but now I will take your soul. I will not be destroyed easily. YOUR SOUL IS MINE AND I WILL CONSUME IT!"
"Never!" the scream came from Hermione and with arms extended to both sides she got in front of Harry as a dark smoke came out of the chest. It entered her body making her levitate and start convulsing in the air before dropping to the ground.
They had no time to even check what was happening to Hermione. In seconds, they were surrounded by fifteen manticores and even a basilisk appeared. It was as if the chest had predicted what would come with the passwords they had to give.
Harry watched in horror, wand in hand, as Yapheth disappeared and the giant demon with horns, red eyes, and dragon wings replaced the previously handsome chap. Harry didn't know what to fear more, but of all the creatures, the demon was truly the scariest even if he knew who it was. A hand on his shoulder calmed him along with Snape's voice, "Remember the demon is on our side. Concentrate on the others. Quick!"
The teen reacted and muttered some spells to push the manticores away from him, but watched desperately as Reginald ended up in front of the basilisk. The child was screaming in fear and horror and looked at the giant snake in the eyes.
Harry was too late in yelling to the boy, "DON'T LOOK AT ITS EYES!" As if trapped in some sort of nightmare, he saw the child fall backwards to the ground. At the same time, he could see the giant demon fighting the basilisk, tearing at the giant serpent's skin with dangerously sharp claws. The black creature kept stabbing the basilisk over and over, making the snake produce shrieks of evident pain. It looked like the basilisk was no match for the devil with giant wings that had moments before been Yapheth.
Harry saw Ron valiantly sending spells at the manticores, concentrated in getting them away from him, but he didn't last long. Harry felt a sting in his right arm and saw Ron dropping to the dusty floor of that place. Harry then searched frantically and saw Severus also trying to keep the manticores at bay, but one of the creatures used its scorpion tail and stabbed the man in the stomach with it. Harry felt the sensation of being stabbed, but was unable to do anything about it either. He couldn't feel Hermione in any way and that terrified him too.
Thinking that he was going insane for it looked like everyone was dying in front of his eyes, Harry felt an anguished scream of immense denial come from deep inside him. Though his wand wasn't even in his hands all of the manticores turned into glass and exploded into millions of shards the moment he screamed.
At the same time the manticores ceased to be, the demon gave a final blow to the basilisk and it dropped dead on the spot. Harry was shaking and mumbling, "They're all dead and it's all my fault. All my fault... All my fault... All my fault..." Hands were suddenly on his shoulders, but he sat grabbing his knees and started to rock himself as if losing his mind.
"Harry Potter, you have to react. They need help."
Harry saw the little boy's seemingly lifeless body crumpled in front of the dead basilisk, Hermione on the floor not moving, Ron's form also seemingly dead, and Severus coughing blood. Harry got up and ran to the one that seemed alive still, taking Severus' upper body in his arms. The man spoke to him in a broken voice, "Venom... Lungs... Too late... I'm dying... Break... bond... You have to... surv...", but no more words came and the man's body went limp.
Harry shook his head. "Wake up! You won't die so easily, greasy git! Wake up!" Yapheth's hand opened showing a strange rock. Harry quickly took it and shoved it into Snape's mouth. He panted while yelling, "Swallow it! Swallow it, greasy git! You won't leave me! None of you will leave me!" The teen left Severus' body drop from his arms and broke on the ground, grabbing shards from what had been the manticores tightly in his fists in fury and deep sadness. It looked like it had been too late to insert a Bezoar into the older wizard's body and everyone else seemed dead. Harry went again into his chant like a mantra, his usually bright green eyes looking clouded: "It's all my fault... All my fault... All my fault... They all died because of me... Just like my parents, Sirius, Dumbledore..." while the tight lump in his throat would stay there, tormenting him over and over.
Okay, this might be the last chapter I post here and I simply posted it to say that I'll probably delete this fic from this site. The thing is, I have this same fic in HPFF and is doing much better there. Currently has 88 reviews over there while in this site it seems like it is not faring as well. I still don't know whether I'll still leave it here or delete it, but in case I'll eventually delete it, for those that are truly interested in seeing this fic till it ends go to my Profile. I have a link in my Profile to this very same fic in HPFF. Thank you.