Harry and Hermione where now in the shirking shake and they were just feet away from Voldemort. Harry bare dared to breath. Then he heard a voice a voice that was standing right in front of them.
"…my Lord, their resistance is crumbling…"
"…And it is doing so without your help," said Voldemort in his high clear voice. "Skilled wizard though you are Severus, I do not thing you will make much difference now. We are almost there…almost
"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you Potter. I know I can find him, my Lord. Please."
Snape strode past the gap, and Harry drew back a little, keeping his fixed upon Nagini, wondering whether there was any spells that might penetrate the protection surrounding her, but could not think of anything. One failed attempt, and he would give away his position.
Voldemort stood up. Harry could see him now; see the red eyes, the flattened, serpentine face, the pallor of him gleaming slightly in the semidarkness.
"I have a problem Severus," said Voldemort softly.
"My Lord?" said Snape.
Voldemort raised the Elder Wand, holding it as delicately and precisely as a conductor's baton.
"Why doesn't it work for me Severus?"
In the silence Harry imagined he could hear the snake hissing slightly as it coiled and uncoiled- or was it Voldemort's sibilant sigh lingering on the air?
"My – my lord?" Snape asked blankly. "I do not understand. You – you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."
"No," Voldemort said. "I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand…no. It has not revealed the wonders it has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago."
Voldemort's tone was musing, calm, but Harry's scar had begun to throb and pulse: Pain was building in his forehead, and he could feel that controlled sense of fury building inside Voldemort.
"No difference," said Voldemort again.
Snape did not speak. Harry couldn't see his face: He wondered whether Snape sensed danger, was trying to find the right words to reassure his master.
Voldemort started to move around the room: Harry lost Sight of him for a second as he prowled, speaking in the same measured voice, while the pain and fury mounted in Harry.
"I have thought long and hard, Severus…Do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"
And for a moment Harry saw Snape's profile: His eyes were fixed upon the coiling snake in its enchanted cage.
"No. my Lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."
"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."
"But my Lord, he might be killed accidentally by one other than yourself…"
"My instructions to my Death Eaters have been perfectly clear. Capture Potter. Kill his friends the more, the better – but do not kill him. But it is of you that I wished t speak, Severus, not Harry Potter. You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."
"My Lord Knows I seek only to serve him. But – let me go and find the boy, my Lord. Let me bring him to you. I know I can…"
"I have told you, no!" Voldemort said, and Harry caught the glint of red in his eyes as he turned again, and the swishing of his cloak was like the slithering of a snake, and he felt Voldemort's impatience in his burning scar. "My concern at the moment Severus is what will happen when I finally meet the boy!"
"My Lord, there can be no question, surely…?"
"But there is a question, Severus, there is."
Voldemort halted, and Harry could see him plainly again as he slid the Elder Wand through his white fingers, staring at Snape.
"Why dud both the wands I have used fail when directed at Harry Potter?"
"I…I cannot answer that, my Lord."
"Can't you?"
The stab of rage felt like a spike driven through Harry's head: He forced his own fist into his mouth to stop himself from crying out in pain. He closed his eyes and suddenly he was Voldemort, looking into Snape's pale face.
"My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so, but Lucius's wand shattered upon meeting Potter's."
"I…I have no explanation, my Lord."
Snape was not looking at Voldemort now. His dark eyes were still fixed upon the coiling serpent in its protective sphere.
"I sought a third wand, Severus. The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from its previous master. I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore."
And now that Snape looked at Voldemort, and Snape's face was like a death mask. IT was marble white and so still that when he spoke it was a shock that anyone lived behind the blank eyes.
"My Lord – let me go to the boy…"
"All this long night, when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here," said Voldemort, his voice was barely louder than a whisper, "wondering, wandering, why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform as legend says it must perform for its rightful owner…and I think I have the answer."
Snape didn't speak.
"Perhaps you already know it? You are a clever man after all, Severus. You have been a good and faithful Servant, and I regret what must happen."
"My Lord…"
"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live Severus the, the Elder Wand cannot be truly mine."
"My Lord!" Snape protested, raising his wand.
"It cannot be any other way," said Voldemort. "I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and I master Potter at last."
Voldemort swiped the aid with the Elder Wand. It did nothing to Snape, who for a split second seemed to think he had been reprieved: But then Voldemort's intention became clear. The snake's cage was rolling through the air, and before Snape could do anything more than yell, it had encased him. Head and shoulders, and Voldemort spoke in Parseltonuge.
"Kill."
There was a terrible scream. Harry saw Snape's face losing the little color it had left; it whitened as the his black eyes widened, as the snake's fangs pierced his neck, as he failed to push the enchanted cage off himself, as his knees gave way and he fell to the floor.
"I regret it," Voldemort said coldly. He turned away; there was no sadness in him, no remorse. It was time to leave this shack and take charge, with a wand that would now do his full bidding. He pointed it at the starry cage holding the snake, which drifted upward, off Snape, who fell sideways onto the floor, blood gushing from the wounds in his neck Voldemort swept from the room without a backwards glance, and the great serpent floated after him in its huge protective sphere.
Back in his own mind, Harry Opened his eyes: he had drawn blood biting down on his knuckles in the effort not to shout. Now he was looking through the tiny crack between the crate and the wall. That is when Harry saw it Snape pulled out a strange knife but he had seen a knife like that before. Snape stuck it in the ground next to him.
Earlier that night, Naruko and Hinata were about to go look for the others when Naruko stopped, she saw a white haired man with a long white beard approaching them.
"Dumbledore!" someone shouted, "it's Dumbledore!"
Naruko turned a look of horror on her face, as Dumbledore spoke, "Hello Tonks, it has been awhile hasn't it…but I must beg you to forgive me for what I am about to do…" Dumbledore said in voice full of remorse as he pointed his wand and there was a flash of green light and Tonks fell back, dead before she hit the ground. More wizards came forward dueling Dumbledore one of them was his brother, "It seems that I cannot die but maybe it there was a way from keeping me for doing any more harm that would be a nice alternative," Dumbledore said smiling at McGonagall and his brother as they all dueled.
"I can kill you," Naruko said walking forward.
"That would be most wonderful but my I ask how?" Dumbledore asked smiling as he dueled.
"I will rip your soul from your body," she said vanishing her hand appeared on top of his head, all his thoughts came rushing to her. She pulled her hand back and his soul let as her hand did. The body turned to dust before her. She fell to her knees eyes widened with horror.
"Who are you?" McGonagall asked sternly. Tears threatening to escape Naruko's eyes, Hinata ran beside her friend.
"He is going to die, he was always going to die," Naruko whispered, "Everything I did to protect him was so he could die at the right time…That is why I was ordered not to kill Voldemort."
Hinata hugged Naruko softly, "I have to go I am being called," Naruko said vanishing. She saw Snape on the ground dying.
"Bring me Potter…" he whispered.
"He is here, he is there," she said pointing to the place he was hiding.
"Let me heal you…let me get Sakura…she has the antidote," Naruko said quickly. Harry was confused why was she here, why was she worried about Snape and Sakura...
"No, you're mission is complete there is just one last thing I need from you…I just need Potter…" he said softly.
"Harry get out here," she called and he slipped out of his hiding place. Then she healed him enough so that he could tell Harry whatever it was that was so important.
"Take…it…Take…it…"
Something was leaking from Snape. Silvery blue neither gas nor liquid, it gushed from his mouth and his ears and his eyes. Harry knew what it was, but didn't know what to do.
A flask, conjured from thin air, was thrust into his shaking hands by Hermione. Harry lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand.
"Look… at…me…" he whispered, "you… have…your…mother's…eyes."
"Self-sacrifice…a nameless Shinobi who protects peace within its shadows…that is a true Shinobi or at least that is what someone once told me… I guess it's true for Wizards too," she said holding Snape as his eyes closed, "this is the end Potter, my mission has been complete."
"That's it you are going to leave us when we need you more than ever," Harry said.
"Harry you don't need me…truthfully you probably could have managed without," she said smiling weakly. "I am proud to say that I got to meet you… but I guess I never really did introduce myself to you. My name is Uzumaki Naruko, daughter of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato."
The last name hit Harry like a ton of bricks; she smiled softly at him… "You…" Harry said in disbelief. Then in a puff of smoke Professor Namikaze was standing before them, and then she changed back.
"I hope this is not goodbye but farewell," she said smiling softly and then she was gone. Suddenly Voldemort's voice reverberated from the walls and floor, and Harry realized that he was talking to Hogwarts.
"You have fought," the high cold voice said, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.
I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then the battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One Hour."