A/N: Another update so fast? Aren't I good to you?
A Darkened World
Snape and Snake
The group stood outside the Room of Requirements, six of them watching as the seventh, Harry Potter, paced up and down in front of a wall that had, until moments ago, contained the door that led to the DA headquarters.
On Harry's third pass of the wall, a new door faded into view. Harry opened it and headed off inside. The others followed him.
They found themselves in a room that seemed to stretch on and on forever in every direction. All around them towers of miscellaneous objects stood, dwarfing them all. There were piles of old cauldrons that had been used for making illegal potions, there were stacks of worn and tattered books of questionable material, there were heaps of broken toys and trinkets that were banned from the school. Broken chairs, damaged tables, an ancient wardrobe, a rusted axe coated in dried blood…
"This way." said Harry, leading them deeper into the vast collection of disused, unwanted, abandoned and forgotten items.
Down one aisle the went, and up another, around a corner, and a twist to the left, a right turn, a left turn, straight ahead and around a bend. Then, at last, Harry stopped, his eyes fixed on something ahead of him. They all looked and they all saw it.
The diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, exquisitely designed, sat upon a bust of an ancient and long forgotten warlock. Harry moved closer and so did Padma. She gazed in awe at the ancient artefact, so beautiful and precious; the oval shaped sapphire embedded within its design reflected the lights from their wands, and upon the top were etched the words "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
The Ravenclaw within Padma desired to reach out to the diadem and take it, perhaps even wear it; she well knew the legend that said that this item could enhance the wisdom of the wearer.
"It is a strange thing that we have so much to fear from such a treasure…" she muttered, her hand unconsciously reaching out for it.
Harry placed his hand gently upon her arm to stop her.
"And that," he said "is their power."
Padma nodded in understanding and drew her hand back.
Harry reached up and pulled the moke-skin pouch from around his neck. He opened it up and it expanded. Using his wand, he levitated the Diadem from its resting place and carefully lowered it into the pouch.
"Done." he muttered, cancelling the spell and picking up the pouch.
As it began to shrink, something small, golden and shiny fell out of it and onto the table on which the bust sat. It rolled across the surface of the table and dropped onto the floor, where it continued to roll until it came to a stop by Padma's right roof.
She looked down at it in confusion "Is that a snitch?" she asked as Harry stooped down to pick it up.
"It is," Harry replied as he stood again, holding his hand up to examine the small golden ball that he now held between his thumb and forefinger "Something that Dumbledore left me… another of his riddles that never made any sense. To be honest, I had quite forgotten I ever had it until just now…"
He brought the snitch to his mouth and pressed his lips against it. Then he held it out to Padma so that she could read the small inscription that was beginning to appear upon the surface.
"I open at the close." she read before looking at Harry "What's that meant to mean?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders and shoved the golden snitch into his pocket "Dunno. Though I guess it's a trick of Dumbledore's that is meant to kick in right before all this finishes. I could really have done with something to get me to the finish a hell of a lot sooner, but Dumbledore and rational thought never did seem to go together…"
The Argentinian Witch interrupted them "Perhaps we should discuss Dumbledore's eccentricities later. For now we really should find the last of the Horcruxes."
Given that the woman didn't speak a word of English, that Harry and Padma understood her perfectly was proof positive that the translation charms that they had placed upon themselves really did work.
Padma nodded in acknowledgement "You are right. Harry, I trust you know where it is?"
"Usually it is right by Voldemort's side." said Harry "It's his snake, Nagini."
The entire group shifted uneasily at that.
Harry continued "As the snake is rarely apart from Voldemort, the thing to do now would be to focus on the destruction of the three Horcruxes that we already have. For that we need the Sword that once belonged to Godric Gryffindor. Hopefully that item is still contained within the office of the school's headmaster, though there were rumours of it having been stolen."
"The headmaster's office it is then," said Padma, and began to lead the way from the room with Harry by her side.
In the corridor outside the Room of Requirements they were almost immediately set upon by ten Death Eaters. Harry and Padma wasted no time in permanently dispatching of one each before either of the Dark Lord's followers could even think of firing a spell. One of their own group, the Canadian, was struck with a killing curse and dropped to the floor as his Japanese companion avenged him. Harry conjured a metal spear and drove it through the body of one of the Death Eaters before he and Padma took heed of their companions' urging of them to flee.
"Get out of here, complete your task." said the Russian wizard, before blowing a Death Eater's torso apart with a well-aimed explosion spell.
"We'll hold them off here and join you when we can." added the Argentinian Witch as she parted the head of another Death Eater from his shoulders.
Quickly, and as quietly as possible, Harry and Padma seized their chance and ran off along the corridor.
Moments after the pair left, another door appeared in the wall of the Room of Requirements and Rose and her group exited through it. They immediately joined the battle and quickly ended it, though not before the Japanese Witch and the Kenyan Wizard met grizzly ends.
"What took you so long?" demanded the Russian.
"Little bit of trouble with the portrait." explained the Chinese Witch "She did not wish to open to those people whom she did not know."
"Where's Harry?" asked Rose.
"He went on ahead." said the Argentinian Witch "He needed to get to the Headmaster's office."
"Let's go then." said Rose, turning to lead the way.
It wasn't long before more Death Eaters arrived.
They fought valiantly, but four of their number were killed by the enemy.
Rose stood over the body of the fallen Brazilian Witch, sending deadly curses and hexes flying in every direction. Suddenly she was hit by a tripping hex and she went crashing to the ground. A Death Eater loomed over her. He was about the same age as Rose, with a pale complexion, cold grey eyes, a pointed chin and white-blond hair. He crouched over her and stroked a hand tenderly down the side of her face.
"Powerful, fierce and beautiful." he commented "I'm sure that the Dark Lord will allow me to let you live long enough to bear me an heir."
Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust and said "Yeah, I think not." before driving her wand into his ribcage and blasting him away from her. Hurriedly she scrambled to her feet and finished him off, neither knowing nor caring that his name was Scorpius Malfoy.
Elsewhere within the castle, Harry and Padma had gotten reasonably far along before running into any more Death Eaters. With lethal precision they took down a fair few of their opponents before Harry came face to face with a nemesis he had not laid eyes upon since his school days. Unaware of his son's death, Draco Malfoy attacked Harry Potter with everything he had.
Harry, however, knew his foe and the man hadn't changed in the slightest. Arrogance, coupled with delusions of grandeur seemed to run rife in the bloodline of the Malfoy males, and now, just like with school, Draco Malfoy was no match for Harry Potter, no matter what the prat might think.
Surprisingly none of the usual taunts associated with Draco came; the man was all about the fight. And then Harry realised something; with his long, matted hair, now greying in places, coupled his tatty robes meant that Draco Malfoy simply did not recognise Harry Potter for who he was.
Harry quickly decided that that would have to change; he wanted this little prick to know exactly who it was who killed him.
Deflecting a nasty bone-breaker curse, Harry shook his head and taunted "Tut tut, Draco. I see that time has done nothing to improve your skills in combat. Let's see how you do against this one; an old favourite…"
Draco Malfoy's eyes widened in recognition and (Harry was pleased to note) no small amount of fear.
"Potter!" he exclaimed.
Harry smirked and answered "The one and only." before casting his spell "Sectumsempra!"
Draco Malfoy was so surprised at encountering Harry Potter right in the middle of the Dark Lord's headquarters that he didn't even think of throwing up a shield charm until it was too late. He screamed in agony as, for the second time in his life, he felt the pain of numerous slash-like wounds opening up all over his body. As with the first time, it was once again Harry Potter who had caused this pain. He dropped to the ground, whimpering and jerking feebly with the pain of it all.
"Such a shame for you," Harry commented, standing over the body of his rival of his school years "that there is no Severus Snape here this time to safe your pathetic life."
"Is that what you think Potter?" asked a cold, snide voice from the shadows nearby.
Padma, having just dispatched of the last Death Eater, whirled around as Harry looked up from Malfoy's body.
Severus Snape, hook nosed, sallow skinned and as greasy-haired as he had always been, stepped out of the shadows.
"I have waited a long time for you to get here." the man said.
"I bet you have." snarled Harry, pointing his wand at the person he hated second-most in this world (Snape had gotten an upgrade following the death of Umbridge.)
Padma immediately placed herself between Harry and Snape, her back to Harry as she faced one of the most hated professors in the history of Hogwarts School "I'll deal with him Harry; you've got a task to do."
Snape sneered "How very touching." he commented snidely "I see people will still follow you blindly Potter. Tell your companion to leave; you and I have much to discuss."
"I have nothing to discuss with the likes of you." retorted Harry, his voice little more than a growl "The only interaction I want with you is to watch that malevolent light leave your evil black eyes as you bleed to death at my feet. Reducto!"
The spell shot from the tip of Harry's wand and Snape only just managed to dive to the side; a good sized chunk of the wall behind him being blown apart rather than his torso.
When Snape came up, he came up firing curses. Harry and Padma both blocked his initial volley and then returned in kind.
Drawn by the sound of spell-fire, three more Death Eaters arrived on the scene at a run and immediately joined the fray.
Harry and Padma moved to stand back to back, fighting and shielding at all angles; Padma fighting the new arrivals, Harry focusing on Snape, who was by far the most skilled and dangerous of their opponents.
Padma got one of the Death Eaters, and then the second immediately afterwards.
The third got her with the torture curse.
He screams distracted Harry for a moment, and he spun away from Snape to brutally execute Padma's torturer.
Gasping for breath, Padma turned to look at Harry, and her eyes widened in fear.
Harry felt Snape's spell whizz past him. It struck Padma's body with a flash of blue light and she was thrown through the air to crash through a banister and vanish down the staircase leading below.
Harry gaped. Just as he was about to move to see if she was alright, he felt the tip of a wand press into his neck.
"Now you will listen to me, Potter."
At the sound of Snape's voice, Harry's concern from his friend twisted into a bubbling, boiling anger.
A pulse of raw magical energy left Harry's body and Severus Snape found himself thrown violently against the wall behind him, his wand dropping from his hand to the floor. As Harry turned slowly to face him, Snape realised that he was stuck there. But that quickly became the least of his problems as the furious Harry Potter rounded upon him.
"You wish to give me information?" Harry questioned; a decidedly deadly tone to his voice "Let me ask something of you first. Through all my years at Hogwarts you were nothing but a bastard to me and my friends. You took a sick and perverse pleasure in taunting me about my father every single chance you got. You deliberately taught your classes poorly and took great joy in criticizing the poor results your students gained as a result. You victimised my friends whilst relishing the knowledge that they could do nothing against you because, despite everything that senile old fool Dumbledore would always vouch for you and protect you from all attempts at retaliation. You completely failed to put your hatred for my father aside in order to properly teach me occlumency as Dumbledore requested of you; something which ultimately led to the death of my godfather, an event you joyously took pleasure in. You routinely failed to reign in and discipline those students in your house, and instead often encouraged their sinister and malicious activities, causing them to grow up believing themselves untouchable. You murdered Albus Dumbledore, a man who trusted you unreservedly, right before my eyes and then helped the servants of the Dark Lord to evade capture. You took over the school and allowed Death Eaters onto the staff. You allowed students in your supposed care to be tortured and killed. You personally murdered Remus Lupin, the last link I had to my parents, as well as many others in the service of your evil master and you just blasted my comrade, my friend down a staircase, quite possibly killing her in the process. You then show no remorse for this or any other of your evil and/or spiteful deeds throughout your life, and yet you expect me to listen to your supposed information? In what deluded state of mind would I have to be in in order to listen to any information coming from you, far less believe one single iota of it?"
Severus Snape offered up no answer to this. What could he possibly say? Years of contemptible behaviour on his part was now going to ensure that the final part of Dumbledore's plan would not be implemented. Potter had made it abundantly clear to him; even if he were to tell Potter the entire truth, the younger wizard would not believe a word of it.
He had no reason to.
Harry aimed his wand at Snape's stomach and said "Amycus Carrow is long gone, so I'll use you in his stead. I know he used this one to great effect on Seamus Finnigan, twenty years ago."
Snape's eyes widened in horror in recognition, remembering all to well the event that had started the Battle of Hogwarts all that time ago.
"Yes, Severus," said Harry in a similar tone to one in which one might comment on the weather "I know everything that happened that night." He brought his hand up to his forehead and pulled his lank and matted hair away to reveal his lightning-bolt shaped scar "Your master made sure I saw all of it; every death of every friend and acquaintance, the brutal murders of your fellow staff members, right down to that little Hufflepuff first year that dear Draco lying over there struck down as she tried to flee. I killed him personally and now I shall do the same for you, before ending the life of your beloved master once and for all. Goodbye, Snivellus. May you burn in the raging fires of hell forever more. Secare Dimidium!"
The spell cut Severus Snape clean in half and he died rather quickly from shock and blood-loss. Harry stood there and watched him die before dashing over to the staircase.
Looking down he saw Padma lying a few feet below him. He rushed down to her and was relieved to find her alive. Both her legs were broken, however, as was her left arm.
"Gotta get you somewhere safe." Harry muttered, looking around for somewhere where he could put her, somewhere out of harm's way.
With her good hand, however, Padma pushed him away "Harry, don't worry about me. Get to the Headmaster's office."
"I'm not leaving you here." protested Harry.
"Finish this." Padma urged him "Nothing and no one is more important than that."
Harry gazed at her for a long moment before giving a reluctant nod of his head and leaving her. At the top of the staircase he looked back once more before continuing on, making sure to spit on Snape's body as he passed it.
Padma watched Harry go and held herself together until his footsteps faded into the distance. Then she allowed her composure to slip.
"Shit, that hurts."
"Well, well, what do we got here?"
Padma looked to the base of the staircase, where ten wizards were gathered. She recognised the first as being Scabior, a notorious wizard who, early on in the war, had been largely responsible for the activities of the snatchers as they went around rounding up all the Muggleborns.
"Looks like we got ourselfs an infiltrator." Scabior continued, much to the enjoyment of his cohorts "A pretty little bit o' fresh meat." He made to approach, but quite suddenly his head vanished into a fine mist. Padma looked to the top of the stairs and saw what remained of the two groups standing there. Help had arrived.
As the others engaged Scabior's allies in combat, Rose crouched down next to Padma and handed her a pain relief potion out of her bag. Once the older witch had downed it, Rose asked "Where is Harry?"
"He went on to the Headmaster's office." Padma answered before offering up directions to said office.
On her way to the Headmaster's office, Rose thankfully only encountered one more Death Eater, one who was easily fended off. She did, however, see a good dozen others who were already dead, or if not then in the process of dying.
Following Padma's directions exactly, she soon found herself at the entrance to the office. The stone gargoyle that acted as a security guard was lying in pieces to one side, leaving the entranceway completely open. Rose hurried though it and climbed the staircase beyond.
Inside the office her eyes immediately landed upon Harry. To her immense relief he had succeeded in finding the Sword of Gryffindor, which he now held above his head in readiness to strike. The three Horcruxes, the Locket of Slytherin, the Cup of Hufflepuff and the Diadem of Ravenclaw were laid out upon the desk before him; all that remained was for Harry to strike each one in turn.
But something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The sound of words being spoken in the language of the snakes, parseltongue, filled the air. There were three voices, all sounding very much alike, one coming from each Horcrux. They were speaking to Harry, and Rose could see his will to destroy them rapidly deteriorating. Their hold over him, particularly that of the Locket, was quickly winning out.
Desperate to get through to him she shouted over the voices "Harry, don't listen to them! Do it now! Destroy them!"
His eyes came up to look at her for a moment before moving back to the three Horcruxes.
"Harry!" she called to him, but this time he didn't respond.
A sudden movement behind Harry caught her eye, and she saw it. The giant serpent, Nagini, Lord Voldemort's dreaded familiar and sixth Horcrux was coiled up atop a large bookcase.
Her full attention was on Harry.
Rose yelled with all that she had, managing to break Harry out of his trace-like state with a screamed "SNAKE!"
Harry whirled around and made a violent slashing motion with the sword. Mid-strike, the head of the huge serpent was cut clean from the rest of her body. The head sailed through the air to land with a thump upon the floor at the foot of the desk as the rest of the snake's body jerked and thrashed violently with death throes.
One Horcrux was down.
Relief flooded through Rose's system, but it was cut short very quickly for, as Harry was just raising the sword once again to strike the Locket Horcrux, someone else arrived.
Someone entirely unwelcome.
Voldemort had instructed his serpent familiar to remain behind and watch for possible infiltrators, a tactic which he had come to expect from his enemies. Keeping a mild mind-link open between himself and his familiar, he had seen Harry Potter enter the office and empty the Horcruxes onto the desk. He ordered Nagini to restrain him, but that ended with the snake's head being separated from her body. Immediately he disapparated from the field of battle, intent upon making Potter pay. Upon arrival, however, he quickly realised just how much danger he and his Horcruxes were in all thoughts of torturing Potter were forced from his mind as his self-preservation instincts kicked in. He raised his wand and fired his spell.
It was not the sickly green colour of the killing curse, but rather it was a spell blacker than the night itself.
Rose screamed as the spell hit Harry with a bang. The entire room filled with darkness and she heard an explosion, a yell of pain and then the sound of a body falling to the floor.
When the darkness faded, Rose immediately realised three things; Harry and the sword were gone, there was a hole in the wall at the opposite end of the room that most certainly had not been there just moments before, and Voldemort was lying sprawled in a heap upon the floor.
Sometimes "What the hell?" just didn't fully convey one's confusion. It certainly didn't convey Rose's feeling as to the current situation.
A/N: So what do you think? Sorry for the evil cliff-hanger but sometimes stories just have to have them. Anyway, in this chapter I hope I successfully conveyed my feelings on Snape, Draco and that little fanfiction exclusive, the Rose/Scorpius pairing.
In other news, the world is supposed to end tomorrow. I don't believe it really, but I also believe in not tempting fate, which is why I uploaded this so soon after the last chapter, as I was on thirteen. Then again, I don't suppose it's really fair to leave you facing the end of the world on a cliff-hanger… oh well, I'm sure we'll live… maybe. If we all die, then I'll just say that it has been fun to write for you. If not, then have a Merry Christmas (or whatever you happen to celebrate at this time of year), though hopefully I'll get another update done by then.
See ya!
-Personal Update - 21st December 2012 - According to the news this morning, the end of the world was meant to happen at 11:11am today. It is now 12:30pm and, thankfully I am still alive. Are you?