Chapter Fifteen Sirius' Mirror
Snape opened the door first and stepped in with his wand extended. Harry was behind him and rushed to the desk as soon as he saw the room was empty. He raised the receiver on the phone and wasn't surprised there was no sound coming through it.
"Hurry," Snape whispered.
"Oh he needn't rush on my account," a voice said behind them. Both of them knew who it was. Harry's was the most surprised since he had no warning; not from his scar or a voice in his head. The Dark Lord was in the room with them, the door to the stairway was closed and they were caught.
What happened next, happened in a very short period of time. The room was filled with Death Eaters and were encircling the two. Snape was forced to his knees, the wand removed from his hand. He stared blankly at the wall even when Voldemort's scarlet robes swished in front of him.
"I am so disappointed, Severus," the man said. "You will not have an easy death."
Harry watched Snape. His head was held back at an unnatural angle. He'd been grabbed by the hair and forced to kneel. The Death Eater behind him was smiling down at him. Malfoy stood across from Harry, his head bowed. They were all bowing.
The figure left him and strolled towards Harry. He remembered the face in vivid detail. In the light of the burning candelabras Harry saw more. He wanted to step back and turn away but forced himself to stand facing the wreckage of a human being.
"So my little telephone did the trick. It brought you to me. I knew it would," Voldemort said. His finger grazed Harry's chin and then lingered on the scar on his brow and sent shards of glass into his brain. "Harry, Harry," he whispered. "You have become a nuisance. I am ready to rid myself of you."
"I have what you want," Harry said, as Voldemort turned and raised his wand to Snape. He was fighting the nausea caused by the Dark Lord's touch. "Don't kill him!"
Snape glanced at Harry and frowned. There was a small shake of the head and Harry knew what he wanted. He ignored him. Harry knew there was no bargaining with Voldemort, but he wanted to play it out as long as possible. He wasn't sure what would happen, but he knew something would.
Voldemort didn't turn. Harry heard the wheezing laugh and saw the shoulders shake in merriment. Malfoy's head came up a fraction of an inch.
A figure rushed in from the corridor through the doorway and stopped before the circle. "Master," the man said, "The elves are in the castle and coming this way. "
"Elves?!" the man repeated in distain.
"Yes, the Gypsies lead them. They are wood elves from the 've already killed the giants at the door and the dwarves who were in the main hallway." The man was bent over and talking to the floor. "The dragon is still on the wall and we haven't been able to get near him. He's burning everything in sight. The…the house elves have taken over the floors below us and seem to be… helping the wood elves," the man said and coughed. There was unmistakable fear in the voice.
"House elves!" Voldemort's voice rose in anger. "Malfoy what is this?"
Harry glanced at the pale blond head still bent in front of him. He could see the blush of fear rise to the roots of his hair. Lucius lifted his head. "It will be taken care of Lord!"
"See that it is," Voldemort said and turned back to Harry.
Voldemort gestured with one hand and everyone in the room filed out one behind the other. With a wave of his wand and without looking at him, Snape was thrown, twisting through the air and slammed against a wall, pinned there.
Harry swallowed hard and waited. Voldemort spoke to the Death Eater who had been holding Snape. "Have him removed when these other affairs are taken care of and save him for me. In the meantime, leave me alone with Potter."
Harry stood waiting, thinking furiously about what he was going to do. He thought Snape had probably been right. They had walked into a trap and they would pay for it very soon with their lives. He saw the hidden door to the stairs in the Room of Requirement open and close and he prayed no one would come through.
Voldemort turned slowly and circled the room, stepped over the still figure of Snape who was turned to the wall, and then stepped in front of Harry once again. "Show me what you have," he said quietly.
Harry looked at the man somewhere close to his chest so he wouldn't have to look into the slanted red-tinged eyes. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the mirror. He glanced into it and saw his own fear reflected back. He extended his hand and looked up. The minute he did Voldemort reached out and touched the mirror and stared back, making eye contact.
Harry knew the feeling the second it occurred. It was the familiar tugging around his navel and the swirling like a hurricane that fogged the space around him. The mirror was a portkey. It took both of them to activate it.
…...
Snape opened his eyes and saw brown ones staring back. "Come on Professor. Wake up!" She was shaking him.
"What's happened?" he asked. He was staring at the back of himself lying on the floor unconscious. He rolled over to see Voldemort and Harry standing across from each other and then evaporate.
"We've already been through this several times, we've been doing the same thing over and over Professor. I've not been able to get it right," she was speaking very fast and almost physically lifting him off the floor. "Get up. Lupin has already apparated and the dragon is waiting for us."
"What?" he stammered. She was pulling him along by the sleeve, out through the door and down the stairs.
"Run!" she shouted back at him. "Run and I'll tell you when we are on the way."
He stumbled along behind, down the stairs, along the corridor to another set of stairs going upward.
Hermione was speaking as they ran, "I used the time turner- several times. Come on!" She yanked him around a post and they did a dance, circling it three times. "The staircase in the Room of Requirement is littered with time reproductions of ourselves." She yanked at his clothes and finally got behind him and pushed him up the stairs. "Move, Professor. We have no time to waste. Moses, Lupin and Ron all showed up just as you left. Ron was hurt and we left him behind with Behimie and some of the wood elves. Moses went to help his friends. Lupin and I followed you and walked into the room at the wrong time. I was quick and turned the time-turner and we weren't noticed. We were there just seconds and long enough to see that Voldemort and Harry were transported somewhere with a portkey. The mirror was a portkey. It didn't work without both of them touching it. You were on the floor and there was no one else."
"The mirror," Snape repeated solemnly.
Hermione nodded and whirled him through an arched doorway and out into the open. He stopped short- startled.
Standing on the curtain was a group of elves, Moses and a few other Rom. The dragon had stopped roaring and breathing fire and was sitting back on its' back two legs watching them, it's front paws neatly folded on its' green belly.
Hermione was once again almost dragging him. "Professor the time turner only allows us minutes, less than an hour. We have to MOVE!"
"Where are we going?" he asked, startled once again into action.
"You and I are going to the Ministry of Magic," she shouted against the wind breaking over the ramparts.
They reached the dragon who leaned down and sniffed at Snape with nostrils the size of small caves. An elf gestured at Snape who was looking dumbfounded. The elf was telling him to open his shirt.
Reluctantly, he stared at the dragon and opened his shirt, each breath of the beast blowing at him like a gale wind. Suddenly, a large tongue emerged from the mouth and with a delicate touch, the tip reached out and stroked the wound on Snape's chest. Hermione was gaping, mouth open and Moses was grinning. Snape glanced down and saw and felt the wound heal.
Seconds later, Hermione had regained her composure and had grabbed Snape by the sleeve and pulled him around to the side of the animal. Together, with the help of four Rom and their friend Sooki, they climbed on the dragon's back. The elves had placed a makeshift saddle on the animal and there was room for two.
"Would you tell him not to burn all of London down?" Snape shouted at Sooki who's smile lit up his entire face. Hermione was still staring at the beautiful elf when the great beast rose on all fours.
"Oh, oh, oooooooh!" she screamed.
The great wings took two practice flaps and they lifted off.
"Will you tell me why we, or rather why I am flying this dragon again?" Snape asked at the front of the saddle and hanging onto reins. The sun was just coming up and the sky was a palette of pastel colors in yellows and pinks. They flew over the castle once and headed out over the crest of the cone and over the sea.
Hermione was holding him around the waist, her face pressed into his back. She shouted, "The mirror was a portkey. I think Sirius left the mirror to Harry in case he got in trouble. He meant for him to use it to communicate with him but he placed two spells on it. If Harry and Voldemort, touched it together it would take them to wherever Sirius was at in that moment so he could be there to help Harry. Sirius didn't have any idea he'd be dead when he put the spells on the mirror. I think he just wanted to make sure Harry wasn't alone. He didn't know the Prophecy and that Harry was destined to kill Voldemort."
Snape thought about it and nodded more to himself then to her. That sounded like Sirius. It would have been very clever and something he should have thought of. "What did you say Lupin is doing?" he asked, turning around halfway in the saddle.
It jostled her and she cried out," Oh, don't do that Professor, please!" Both of them looked down at the ripples of the waves below. They were very high in the sky and the dragon seemed to be taking on speed and finding his second wind.
Snape couldn't help himself, he grinned and she saw it.
"Ha, Ha," she glared back.
"Couldn't find a broom to ride, Miss Granger?" he asked and the dragon took a slow steep turn towards land. Snape stifled a chuckle when he heard her scream.
She composed herself and wound his shirt-tail twice around her wrist. "Lupin is going to be dressed as a Ministry wizard. He had a suit of new clothes as you know and he's going to try and get into the Department of Mysteries. If the portkey takes Harry and Voldemort to the last place Sirius was, it will be in the Room with an...an archway and a veil or curtain covering the entrance. Sirius died when he fell through." She stopped and squinted her eyes against the wind.
Snape glanced back. He wasn't sure whether the tears were from the wind or something else.
She continued, "I wasn't actually there when it happened."
"Why are you with me and what are we going to do?" he shouted back.
She was silent for a moment, and then leaned forward and spoke into his ear. "I'm hoping Lupin gets there before us. He has the time-turner. I wanted to see if I could help. I couldn't apparate and you were wounded, so I thought of the dragon. I thought you'd want to come. I'm not sure what we're going to do. Maybe talk somebody into taking Voldemort into custody." He heard her voice waver. "I don't know Professor. I just know someone has to help, maybe Remus can help Harry. I promised him he would not have to face the Dark Lord alone and I'm not going to break my promise."