CHAPTER 43

Dumbledore looked from one pale but determined face to the other. Fawkes seemed to be the only one who was tranquil. The phoenix was sitting calmly on his perch, watching the participants benevolently with his beady eyes. A fitful October breeze flitted restlessly around the castle, stroking the windows with restless fingers. It was a cold Halloween night – the night which Voldemort had decreed as the moment when he would, for once and for all, kill Harry Potter. Severus was supposed to lure Harry away from the castle and bring him to Voldemort. The moment had finally arrived. The Order of the Phoenix had called all its members together in order to prepare for the impending battle. Harry's stomach twisted at the thought. Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks…they were all Order members. Would they come out of this alive?

"I am afraid," he had told Hermione and Ron via his mirror.

"True courage is when you can admit that you are afraid," Hermione had said. Harry hoped desperately that that conversation hadn't been the last time he had seen and heard her. Ron had added, trying to lighten the atmosphere in his typical tactless and amusing way:

"Have you done the…you know…wild thing with…Snape?"

Harry had rolled his eyes.

"I'm not telling!"

While Harry stood in Dumbledore's office with Severus at his side, he wished that he could have told so many things to his friends at this very moment…

"Ready, my boys?" Dumbledore asked, the twinkle gone from his eyes.

"Ready," Harry and Severus said simultaneously. Dumbledore moved towards them and wrapped them in a warm embrace.

"You may want to propose to him after you get back, my dear boy," he whispered into Severus's ear, turning his head so that Harry couldn't hear. Severus coughed and cleared his throat. Dumbledore then turned his head so he could breathe into Harry's ear:

"Love is the key, my child. You and Severus hold it. Let it guide you."

Harry suppressed a sniff as his eyes watered. Then the wise Headmaster of Hogwarts released them. Severus and Harry left the office. Outside, Harry took Severus's hand, and they silently walked away from the castle and moved towards the edge of the grounds, passing through the Anti-Apparating wards. Severus moistened his lips and cupped Harry's cheek in one hand, looking into his green eyes. He wanted to say so many things to the youth – but all he could do was convey his feelings in an intense gaze and a kiss pressed against Harry's forehead. Harry returned the kiss, his lips warm on the frown-furrowed spot above Severus's eyebrows.

A few seconds later, the two wizards disappeared as they Apparated to the graveyard of Little Hangleton.

The Death Eaters were expecting them, masked and robed, standing like a wall behind Voldemort. Severus and Harry landed near a gravestone, a few metres away from Voldemort.

"The hero arrives," Bellatrix snickered – Harry recognised her hoarse voice from behind her mask. He thought of Sirius and firmly pressed the longing to avenge his death back into his chest.

"Yes indeed, my dear Bella," Voldemort said softly. His lipless mouth peeled back in a revolting smile.

"Your mask, my faithful Severus," he added. Severus bowed, extracted his mask and placed it on his face.

"Now…who do we have here?" he crooned at Harry, tilting his head sideways in an exaggerated pensive manner. Harry did not answer.

"Dumbstruck?"

The smallest among the Death Eaters seemed to tauten, as if feeling cold. Harry caught a flash of a silver hand. Pettigrew.

"Bat got your tongue, Potter?" Lucius Malfoy's sneering voice asked, a contemptuous nod in Severus's direction clearly indicating who the "bat" was.

"Quiet! I speak," Voldemort hissed, his snake-like eyes narrowing. Malfoy's figure seemed to hunch up with fear.

There was complete silence. Voldemort stared at the youth.

"You have grown over the past years. All to no avail. What a waste of youth," he sighed mockingly; then, catching sight of the white gold bracelet around Harry's left wrist:

"But I am touched! You have taken great efforts to deck yourself out for my benefit, haven't you? How fashionable!"

"A gift from Potter's secret lover, my Lord," Severus said silkily.

"Is that so? Maybe our dearest guest here should have the pleasure of seeing my loyal servants have their sport with her."

"My partner is not a 'her'. It is a man," Harry said, speaking for the first time since he had arrived.

"A sign of impure Muggle-contaminated blood!" Lucius Malfoy exclaimed while other Death Eaters made sounds of revulsion. Voldemort remained impassive, but his eyes gleamed.

"Finally. A reaction. I was starting to become worried, Potter. Anyway…you will just have to…adjust yourselves, my loyal servants. I must admit that I am profoundly disappointed about your disease, my dear Harry."

Harry suppressed a spark of rage and continued looking steadily at Voldemort.

Voldemort approached and stared into Harry's eyes.

"Now, who is your…lover?"

Harry drew up his Occlumentic wards as he felt the invasive thrust of Legilimency and gazed unflinchingly into the red eyes. The Death Eaters muttered softly and shifted restlessly when Harry refused to look away. There was even a tiny rat-like squeak of alarm from Pettigrew.

Voldemort sneered.

"Interesting. Who taught you Occlumency? Since when is mental magic part of Hogwarts's curriculum?"

"Potter's lover taught him on Dumbledore's orders," Severus said.

"Who is this…lover?" Voldemort hissed, flexing his fingers, "you must be knowing, Severus."

"Dumbledore made me take an Unbreakable Vow only yesterday in order to ensure Potter's lover's anonymity, my Lord."

"The old doddering fool…Alas, you are too precious to me, Severus…but why not extract answers from the hero himself!" His red eyes switched to Harry.

"The last time we duelled, Tom, we used wands. Since you are so eager for answers, I challenge you to a duel of mental magic," Harry said steadily. There were gasps. Voldemort's flexed his long fingers. His face did not need a mask; it was mask-like enough on its own. Then he made a sweeping gesture, and the Death Eaters, Severus among them, advanced, forming a circle around Harry and Voldemort.

"You foolish conceited boy," Voldemort said slowly, "how dare you utter that Muggle name which was never mine! How presumptuous to think that you can challenge me, the most powerful master of mental magic in the whole world, to a battle of Legilimency and Occlumency!"

"Do you accept the challenge?" Harry asked.

"My Lord, why don't you kill him on the spot-"

"Hold your tongue, Bellatrix," Voldemort snarled. "The challenge stands. I will twist your mind, Potter. I will twist it until you die a most painful death."

"Sure," Harry said coolly.

Whispers broke out among the Death Eaters.

"Let us ensure that everything is…fair," Voldemort resumed with a sneer, removing his wand and extending it towards one of the Death Eaters.

"I am humbled by this privilege, my Lord," Severus's smooth voice whispered from behind the mask.

"Hand your wand to Severus, Potter," Voldemort ordered. Harry hesitated deliberately for a moment, as if to show that he was starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing; then he briskly deposited his wand in Severus's palm. Their fingers brushed.

"Come closer, Potter," Voldemort said softly. Harry stepped forwards undauntedly, his jaw set.

"Clooooseeeeer," Voldemort purred. Harry obeyed. Only three or four steps were between him and Voldemort.

The battle began.

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