Chapter Twenty-Three

Will the Real Snape Step Forward

Harry couldn't help it. He mentally cried out in anguish. This can't be! he thought. And his thoughts drifted into the mind of the man he possessed, where they were discovered.

"Who?" Voldemort spun in place and then his hands went to his head. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, POTTER."

"Come and get me, Riddle!" Harry thought furiously. "I'm in Godric Gryffindor's castle. I have the Horcruxes and I'm going to destroy them and then I'm going to kill you. Face me you filthy coward!"

Harry was back in his own head in a flash and he was still standing in front of Snape. The Double in the cottage had disappeared and now stood at the real Snape's side. Both had the same expression on their faces; they appeared stunned. Neither he nor Snape had time to absorb what had just happened.

"We must get inside," Snape said. "He will be here momentarily."

The four raced up the stairs, the entrance was in pitch darkness but it had not changed. They ran through the ruins and up another flight of stairs. Light from the brilliant moon shone periodically through rampart windows as they raced through the halls.

"This isn't how it's supposed to happen," Hermione gasped, slowing to catch her breath. "We aren't suppose to be inside. Now we're trapped with him." They all stopped beside her.

Ron turned to look behind and then ahead. "We're lost."

Snape, his Double and Harry were standing stiffly not looking at one another nor looking around them.

Harry felt ill. His whole life had been a lie and no one had ever had the guts to tell him the truth. He could no longer look on the memory of his parents without anger. He wanted for all the world to believe his mother was honest and true. That he could trust his memory of her, his understanding of who she was and what she was like even if he had made up most of it from bits and pieces. It was even more heartbreaking to know the truth then it had been when he found out that his father had been a bully. The man he despised and who had despised him, was his true father. He was alive and standing in the same room.

"What was the spell that you put on me?" Harry asked, still immobilized by what was happening. There was no response. He turned, bitterly angry, his wand out and pointed at Snape. "I SAID, WHAT WAS THE SPELL YOU PUT ON ME?"

"Harry...?" Hermione whimpered.

"Shut it, Hermione!" Ron snapped. They stood to the side and watched.

"It's called the Candidas Charm," Snape answered quietly, his baritone voice bouncing off the walls and echoing back as if they were in a tomb.

"What does it do?" Harry demanded.

"If the Dark Lord tries to kill you he will die," Snape answered. "It is the same one I put on your mother and you when you were an infant. If the Horcruxes are destroyed he has nowhere to go. He cannot resurrect himself this time."

"But the Horcurxes aren't destroyed," Hermione said, almost in tears.

...

Neville, Draco and Ginny slipped through the dappled shadows of the moonlight and moved into view of the house. It was an old house, mostly in ruin. Harry had seen it from the perspective of a snake, and now Voldemort occupied it, calling it his own although he had never officially lived there. He used it as his headquarters. It was his father's house, the Riddle house.

"Do you have any idea how we're suppose to kill the thing, once we get inside and find it?" Ginny asked, studying the windows and the routes of entrance and escape.

Neville pulled out a pocket watch and showed it to her. "Harry transformed the Gryffindor sword into a pocket watch. He said that if it could kill a Basilisk it could probably kill an ordinary snake."

Ginny looked at the watch and wondered if Harry was thinking the same thing when he gave it to Neville that was now in her mind. Was he worried that Neville would be able to transform the watch at such a critical time? He must have been, she decided. It's alright Harry, I'll be here to help him. She spoke the words silently. She was glad she met up with Neville and was with him now.

"It is no ordinary snake," Draco said quietly. There was no bravado in his voice or demeanor. "The snake is intelligent. And it's very big."

"Just get us inside," Neville said. "We'll think about the next step afterward."

"That's hardly a plan," Draco mumbled.

"Draco may be right, Neville," Ginny said gently. "There are three of us and it's more likely we can be detected. We should have a plan." They stood in silence and watched a wizard sentry searching the grounds with a lit wand. The man disappeared around a corner.

"I can take you prisoner," Draco said. "It's what they expect. We can walk right in." Suddenly, he seemed more animated than he had been all night. "My father said that Voldemort was away."

"Right, Malfoy," Neville said rather loudly. "Like I would let that happen."

"Shush!" Ginny pulled them back into the shadows. She was thinking furiously. Was this all a trick? Did Draco and his father dream this up to catch her and take her to Voldemort? And then she thought about it. No, they could have just captured her and taken her to the Dark Lord immediately. They didn't need to trick her. "Yes, you're right Draco. That would work the best."

"Ginny!" Neville gasped in shock.

"I have to trust that you will be there in time," she said. "You have to kill the snake."

"They will hurt you, torture you!"

She could see the fear written all over his face.

"I..I couldn't let that happen, Ginny. My parents...my parents were tortured into insanity. I couldn't live with that if the same thing happened to you. You're asking too much." Neville was almost in tears.

"That's why I know I can trust you to save me," she said gently. "It's not just me, Neville, it's Harry, too. He's going to die if we can't get this done."

Neville remained silent.

"Neville, you are a Gryffindor. That means you are courageous, honorable and fearless. I know that you can do this."

"I will protect her," Draco said.

Neville and Ginny stared at him

"I will take a Unbreakable vow if you don't believe me," he whispered vehemently.

Neville fingered the pocket watch. He had yet to transform it.

He nodded. "Alright. I will take you at your word Malfoy. There won't be any Unbreakable vows made tonight. Don't let me down. I promise you I'll kill you if you do."

Draco nodded.

"Let's go then."

...

Remus Lupin was not himself and yet he was not a werewolf. He knew from experience that if he took the potion soon enough he would not transform into the wolf. It was what kept him sane and more human than the rest of his kind. He was grateful for it and for Snape who prepared it for him. But he did not feel the same as he did when there was no full moon, when he was more fully human.

He sat in the closet and was suffering through the pain of desire. It was a heady experience to become a wolf. The animal was strong-powerful-and feared; all the things he was not when he was human. As a wolf he could hunt and he could drink the blood of an animal; tasting with pleasure its' life essence. There was a certain joy to running through the woods as if he owned them.

Of course, he lost his human intellect when it happened and therefore could not remember the experience when he became human. It was only when he took the potion and was caught in the in-between state that he could remember.

He heard with his exquisite hearing when Harry walked to the door. Remus could smell Harry's scent and hear the blood coursing through his veins. He knew immediately that Harry was setting him free. Half of him yearned to speak to the boy- to comfort him and share his burden; the other half wanted to crash through the door and rip at the vulnerable human prey with claws and teeth.

The door swung ajar and the light from the office shone into the darkness. Remus stared at it with the eyes of the wolf, almost blinded by the dim illumination. He was sweating and shivering at the same time and slowly, carefully he crawled to the opening. He was in his human form but he was in his wolf mentality.

He ran swiftly through the empty halls and out the front door into the night following the fresh scent.

...

"You became part of the charm, didn't you?" Harry growled. "Does that mean if he tries to kill me you'll die like my mother did?"

Snape nodded. His face was in shadow and Harry could not read his expression, nor could he see the face of the duplicate. It seemed that the Double was growing stronger and the real Snape was fading.

"What's happening to your Doppelganger?" Harry asked.

"We are becoming one," Snape said.

"What does that mean?"

"Soon you will not be able to tell us apart. I will not be able to tell us apart. He is consuming my mind."

"Can't you control it?" Harry asked. "You've got to control it if we have any chance at this at all."

"I am trying." It was unsettling when the Double repeated word for word what Snape said one second after he said it.

They stopped speaking when they heard a voice coming up at them as if the speaker were at the bottom of a well. "I will find you Potter, and you Severus. You cannot escape me. I am not afraid of this castle. Give me the Horcruxes and I will walk away from here."

The four of them and Snape's Double stared at one another. Hermione held her finger to her lips and waved them down the hall. There was a room there and a door that was partially open. It hung on its hinges and was covered with spider webs. They stepped inside.

"The Dark Lord thinks that we are caught in the castle and can't escape," Hermione said.

"Yes." Snape replied. "Which means he is not worried about that particular problem himself. It was what I was afraid of."

"So he can get out when he pleases?" Ron asked in consternation. "So much for entrapping him."

At that moment a ghost drifted into the room. It was a woman dressed in a very old style of robe. She carried a phantom candle and looked as if she were making ready to go to bed. They all turned to look at her and then back to each other. It was not surprising to find ghosts in the castle. It was surprising that there weren't more of them. The castle itself was over a thousand years old.

"Do you have them with you?" Harry asked Snape. "The Horcruxes? Maybe it's time we try and destroy them. Before you lose your...identity." He was addressing Snape. The Double and the real one nodded.

"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute in private?" Hermione was looking at the ghost who continued on with her nightly routine as if they were not present. She was probably unaware of them anyway. Many ghosts were like that.

Harry knew that Hermione would not ask it of him if it weren't important. He nodded and stepped out into the hall. Because their voices could carry they spoke in whispers. "What is it?"

"Don't you think that if we try and transfer the Horcrux into the Doppelganger now that he would resist... that the real Snape and the Doppelganger might try and stop us. Snape said it himself. They are becoming one and the Doppelganger is getting stronger. Even the scar didn't work. Did you notice the Double has one, too."

"What else can we do, Hermione?" Harry asked, shrugging in defeat. He was still in shock about what he overheard and the whole scenerio wanted to jump to the forefront of his mind and take up housekeeping. He was having difficulty thinking. "We might as well turn the Horcruxes over to Him. He'll just kill us all anyway. This way we can leave them behind and get out of the castle."

"Don't be hasty, Harry. I believe he is as lost as we are right now. And I don't think he can escape Gryffindor castle. It's a ruse. Our advantage is we can keep running from him through this maze. He might eventually run into us or we, into him. But I think not. We have time to think this through. Besides, what do you think it will do to Snape when the Horcrux is transferred into his Doppelganger? We never thought that the double would actually be stronger than the real Snape. It's like he's a parasite, eating away at his host until there's nothing left. No one really knew what a Doppelganger could do. No victim ever survived. We know we can't put a Horcrux into a living creature. Once the animal dies the Horcrux is destroyed. In this case we might actually be destroying so much of Snape that he can't survive the death of his double."

Harry sighed deeply and stared off into the darkness.

"I don't know what you learned when you possessed Voldemort," Hermione whispered. Harry turned back to her. This time he was angry. "Oh, I know you did. It was obvious. You blanked out like you were unconscious only with your eyes open. I also know Snape's double was in that room with him and because they are so connected the real Snape knows what happened, too."

"Hermione..." Harry began. He wanted her to stop. He could not tolerate the whole thing being brought out into the open. She would want to talk about it. He wasn't ready. Not yet, not even with her.

"I can guess, Harry," she said hastily. "Whatever it was it has changed how you and Snape feel about one another."

"I...I hate him," Harry said, his voice trembling. "I really, really hate him."

"Perhaps," Hermione murmured reached for his hand. "But not enough to murder him. And that is what we would be doing."

"Do you have a suggestion, because I'm all out of ideas."

They returned to the room. Snape stood at an open window looking out into the darkness. Ron was sitting on the floor and rose when they came in. "So what's the plan?"

Snape turned and the shadow that was his Double was so close that they turned in unison. It was more apparent to Harry that what Hermione said was true. The real Snape looked impotent and helpless.