Chapter Thirty: Secrets and the Prophecy:
Riddle Manor:
Lucius Malfoy felt confidant that he was not going to get punished this time around. After all in the battle he had managed, while Harry was escaping to get his hands on the prophecy. He had carefully put it in his own satchel and carried it back to Riddle manor. He saw several of his fellow death eaters here in various states of injury and really did not care about them right now. He had rescued Bellatrix and brought her here with him and surveyed what was left of his troops. One had died and five were now in the custody of the ministry. That left ten here one of whom was fatally wounded. Lucius walked over to Rudolphus Lestrange who lay gasping out his last breath as his wife hovered over him. This was not looking good for Lucius as this meant Bellatrix would be that much more unstable.
Voldemort came in a bad temper, his fight with Dumbledore had not gone very well and he had been exposed to the ministry! Now the whole world new he was back and as far as he knew the prophecy was with that brat that dared defy him. He saw the body of Rudolphus and the battered death eaters all around. He stormed up to Lucius who was kneeling before him wishing to cause him pain for his failure. He was not aware of what Lucius had done and he was still so very, very angry at him. He grabbed Lucius' left arm and touched his mark, calling the only inner circle death eater not here, Severus Snape. That fool better come or he was going to personally hunt him down and kill him. Once done with Lucius Voldemort looked around at his foolish death eaters.
"Master I have the prophecy." Lucius said holding up the orb.
"So you are of use to me after all." Voldemort said coldly taking the orb from Lucius. "You can do things without completely being a fool."
"Yes master." Lucius said so glad he was not being tortured at this time.
The door to the manor opened and Snape entered the house and knelt before Voldemort. Voldemort reached down and removed his mask and forced him to look him in the eye. This was normal for Voldemort to do to Snape as he did not fully trust him even now. Still he needed him to work on his fellow death eaters as he did not want to bother with them. He found nothing in Snape's mind that would show any betrayal and let him go to the wounded to help. Bellatrix sat on the stairs watching him a haunted, animalistic look in her eyes. Snape saw Rudolphus body and knew there was going to be trouble. He quietly tended to the death eaters here fixing them up the best he could and finally finishing in the darkest hour of the night. He had just taken his leave of Voldemort and was headed to the door when Bellatrix confronted him.
"You may have fooled everyone here Severus." She hissed, "but I know you are not loyal!"
"Why not tell the dark lord of that?" Snape replied coldly.
"Rest assured I will!" Bellatrix snarled.
"Go be with your husband witch." Snape said. "You at least could honor him in death by keeping watch!"
"I will see you dead Snape!" She howled as he walked to the door.
"I doubt the dark lord would approve." Snape said and Bellatrix threw a long slivery dagger at him, he was unable to block it fast enough at it went deep into his shoulder. "You have very bad aim my dear."
"I hate you!" Bellatrix screamed.
"I feel the same way about you whore." Snape spat tugging the knife from his shoulder and tossing it to the ground, strangely his arm was going a bit numb but he shook it off. "I will see you in hell!"
He left the manor and took a coin from his pocket to let the order know he was heading to Grimmauld place and for them to meet him there. He Apparated to the house and walked in, his arm starting to feel worse than it had at the Manor. He walked into the kitchen to find the order and relayed everything he could to them. He left out the latest attack by one Bellatrix Lestrange as who needed to be bored by that? Finally he finished and wondered where the headmaster was at, surely he should be here to receive this news? He did not see Moody there but did see Remus sitting looking very upset and Snape wondered what had happened.
"Where is the headmaster?" He asked.
"With Harry." Sirius replied.
"Remus where is Moody?" Snape said to Remus and when Remus did not look up or reply and Severus felt cold dread go through him. "Remus where is he?"
" St. Mungos," Molly said quietly. "The healers are not sure he will survive."
"What happened?" Snape asked.
"Your fellow death eaters happened!" Sirius snarled rounding on him. "Voldemort lured Harry to the department of mysteries and Bellatrix attacked Moody, if he dies…"
"You will have to get in line Black, I am going to kill that bitch!" Snape snarled heading for the door, unfortunately he did to get very far as he felt faint. To his horror he realized one the knife Bellatrix had thrown at him was poisoned and two he was about to humiliate himself by passing out in front of the order. "I seem to be unwell." He said passing out.
He crumpled to the floor in a heap of black robes and Molly was at once on her feet barking orders. She made most of the order flee the room as she had Remus get Snape on the table. She made Sirius use the floo to get madam Pomfrey while Tonks helped her get Snape undressed. Molly had Snape face down on the table grateful he was unconscious, she knew he was a modest man and very proud as well. His passing out would have humiliated him to no end. She saw the small knife wound and scanned it and frowned, this was no ordinary wound, it was cursed and would need a skilled healer to fix it.
Hogwarts:
Harry was very angry still, he did not want to be around the headmaster any more. Why had he not told him he knew the prophecy? Didn't he trust him to tell him? He had done so much to help the school and the Wizarding world and to not be trusted? Harry felt a bit betrayed and he wanted only to leave the headmaster's office. Never mind the fact that the headmaster was apologetic and looked so sad Harry wanted nothing of him any more. The prophecy was still ringing in his head: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. Harry started down Dumbledore and voice barely contained he spoke.
"Why did you no tell me before sir?" Harry said starting out quietly.
"I was trying to protect you Harry." Dumbledore said sadness in his eyes and voice.
"Really?" Harry said his voice rising with every world. "OR IS IT THAT YOU DO NOT TRUST ME AND THINK I AM THE NEXT DARK LORD?"
"No Harry how could you think that?" Dumbledore said looking so very sad and old. "You lost your parents, you have faced many things a grown witch or wizard will never face and I did not want you to have to face this…"
"YOU CANNOT DESIDE WHAT IS GOOD FOR ME OR NOT! I DESERVE THE TRUTH! I AM NOT YOUR PAWN OR A CHESS PIECE TO BE MOVED AT YOUR WHIM!"
"I am sorry Harry, I truly am." Dumbledore said sadly. "You are quite right, you deserve to know the truth, all of it. I only wanted to protect you, but maybe I am just a foolish old man who has forgotten what life is suppose to be about."
"If I loose Uncle Al I don't know if I can deal with that sir. I mean he has been there all my life to care for me sir." Harry said wanting to cry, but he would not could not here!
"If I can earn your trust one more time can this old man be your mentor and guardian if he should die?" Dumbledore said quietly.
Harry was angry and in a turmoil. How could he allow this wizard anywhere near him again? He had held back the prophecy from him of all things! Then again he had stated he why, he wanted Harry to be happy, to have a good life and not worry. Well Harry did worry, true he had had a good childhood with Remus and Moody but they were not a replacement for his parents. Voldemort had killed them and ah yes now he would try to drive a wedge between allies. Harry looked up at the old headmaster and saw the sorrow etched in his face. He truly never meant to hurt Harry. Harry knew he would allow this, however…
"Yes sir, if you promise to not hold anything back from me. I wish to know the truth sir, all of it." Harry replied quietly.
"I promise Harry, you do have a right to ask that." Dumbledore said and realized he had to tell Harry about the Horcruxes. "You spoke of Horcruxes last year and you were quite correct that Voldemort had one, well he has more than one."
"How many are we talking about?" Harry asked calmly, reminding Dumbledore of another young man.
"Six, my brother did some studies and found something interesting about the connection you have with Voldemort." Dumbledore replied.
"Am I one?" Harry asked fearfully.
"No, part of Voldemort's soul did split form him when he attacked you however you absorbed that part early on. That is why you are a Parseltongue but no you are not a Horcrux Harry. My brother figured that out on his own, smarter than I ever gave credit to him then"
"Well that is good then sir." Harry said starting to relax. "Any idea as to what the six are?"
"Yes, Alastor has in fact found several of them. The diary you destroyed in your second year, there was a ring, a cup, diadem that have been destroyed and a locket that cost young Regulus Black his life. The last is the snake Nagini."
"Okay so all that is left is that snake and then we can get Voldemort." Harry said sitting thinking for a moment then he actually grinned. "You know sir the last bit of that prophecy has some what come true."
"Oh?" Dumbledore said popping a lemon drop. "How is that my boy?"
"Well the power he knows not, would that not be us destroying the great evil he has done with the Horcruxes?"
Dumbledore would have spoke again but there was a knock at the door. With a wave of his wand he unlocked the door and McGonagall came into the room looking very grim. Harry watched as she walked over to Dumbledore and spoke to him quietly. Harry could not make out what was said but Dumbledore looked grave. He turned to Harry and who was wondering what was going on.
"Harry I have to leave, your friends are in the hospital wing." Dumbledore said.
"Yes sir." Harry replied quietly. "Sir what is going on?"
"Severus Snape has been gravely hurt." Dumbledore said. "I need to go see him."
"Yes sir," Harry said quietly…
Grimmauld Place:
Snape came to slowly and felt someone working on his shoulder. He felt the hard rough surface of a table under his chest and tried to move and found he could not. He lay still as someone, he was sure it was Molly finished working on his shoulder. Gentle hands turned him to his back and he opened his eyes slowly and saw the kindly face of Molly come into view. Severus felt cold and embarrassed though he still had his shorts on. He heard the door to the kitchen open and hoped that Sirius was not coming into the kitchen because he would kill him if that were the case. He managed to turn his head and saw the aged headmaster walk up to him concern on his face.
"What happened my boy?" He asked Severus.
"Bellatrix threw a knife at me." Severus replied. "It was poisoned."
"I managed to neutralize it." Poppy said from where she was mixing up a potion for Severus to drink. "But I will want to watch him over the next day or two."
"I am sorry for this Severus." Dumbledore said.
"Not your fault headmaster." Snape said.
"I have not done as I should have to keep you safe." Dumbledore said. "That is going to change now."
Severus wanted to answer the headmaster, what did he mean by that? However he could not, he was too tired and weary to ask about that. Poppy came up and helped him drink down the potion and Severus lay his head back down and fell fast asleep. Poppy conjured up a stretcher and levitated Severus onto it and took him through the floo to the hospital wing. Here she got him into a night shirt and tucked him into bed. He would survive and live to continue fighting this war but not on his own terms as others had his best interest in mind…