Chapter 13 The Pact

"Claim?" Severus clarified.

"Claim," Harry nodded. "But –"

"What of the consequences?" Severus was breathing through clenched teeth all of a sudden. He turned to the young lord with a sharp glare. "At what cost?"

Harry bit his lip.

"Severus, don't –"

"AT –WHAT- COST?" The older wizard snarled. "TELL ME!"

The emerald eyes clouded.

"Severus, I –"

"Tell me what else I should give up, Potter! Tell me how much more of myself should I lose to this stupid –"

"You won't lose anything, okay?" Harry interrupted him. It asks for your magic if you refuse, but –"

"My –magic? MY MAGIC!"

"But you won't, Severus, I won't let it happen!" Harry yelled back. "Do you not see why I am going through all of this –"

"A noble sentiment, Potter –of course you'd go through all of this farce so you could play the hero again. You and your bloody Gryffindor ancestors!"

Suddenly, Harry's eyes shone with what looked like unshed tears.

"I'll have you know that it was your ancestor who insisted on this pact –"

"That is because your bloody ancestor would not let him be –the melodramatic fool!"

Harry took a deep breath before running his fingers through his locks irritably.

"I don't –know –what you've read in that diary. But it was supposed to make you understand –"

"Understand what? That you Peverells were a bunch of opportunists?"

Harry felt his blood boil."Opportunists? Do you even know what that means?"

Severus glared at him. "Unlike you, Potter, I do know"

Harry threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "You know what? I give! This would never work! I do not know why I even bothered. What was I thinking?"

Severus smirked and folded his arms across his chest.

"Clearly, you were not."

Harry huffed.

"You're incorrigible!"

"And you, Lord Peverell, are an imbecile."

The emerald-eyed man threw a dagger of a glare at his former Professor. "You would rather lose your magic?" The man caught his piercing stare and countered with one of his own.

"No. You will release me from this pact at once!"

That pronouncement was met by the widening of Harry's eyes. "You have –you have finished reading the diary?"

"What does it matter?" came the cold retort. The young Lord Peverell found himself taking another deep breath.

"I cannot release you from the pact –it is a life debt in the strictest possible sense. To break it would mean just that –my life."

Severus' face was suddenly grim.

"Then I shall find a way." He then moved to exit the room, but Harry held him back.

"Wait, are you really refusing –"

Severus stared at the hand on him before roughly pulling away. "I will not indulge your delusions of grandeur, Potter. Now leave me be!"

Harry refused to budge however and latched on another grip onto the seething Potions Master.

"In my dream –I meant what I said." He said quietly, his brilliant green eyes staring at the ground "I meant it."

Severus' eyes widened momentarily, but he quickly schooled his face into neutrality. "That I am a git?" He challenged. The young man shook his head and looked up. His eyes had a rather determined glint in them.

"No –that I love you." He whispered almost to himself. "As much as Nile loved Euphrates. Probably even more." His gaze then dropped once more. "I know it's quite hard to believe, but…"

Severus stiffened before making a move of pulling his hand away from Harry's grasp.

"You do not know what you are talking about." He then to a step away from the younger wizard, moving towards the doorway, but the later blocked his path.

"No." Harry said firmly. "You do not know, Severus."

"I refuse to further involve myself in this circus, Potter. Let me go." He pushed past Harry. He was almost to the exit when Harry pulled his arm once more.

"Don't –"

Severus turned to him sharply.

"What? What do you expect, Potter? That you can just lure me into your trap lie a dumb game fowl? I do not care for this stupid lordship! I'd rather face that toad than be further in your debt! And yes, I'd rather lose my magic!" He seethed. Then, almost to himself, "When did anything ever become fair for me? Oh, that's right –NEVER!"

"Severus –"

"No, Potter! I am not using myself as a payment for a foolish life debt! I will not stoop as low as that –"

"Will you bloody shut up about the life debt for a minute?" Harry retorted heatedly. "Are you even listening to me? I said I loved you –even before this stupid pact –even before I knew about Umbridge's plan! Why won't you believe that? And this –" Harry gestured around him wildly. " –is to make it easier for you to love me back! I'm not luring you to fulfill the life debt, for crying out loud! I can just release you and die for all I care! But I wanted to –" The young man stopped. Tears then began falling from his brilliant eyes. "I wanted to see if –" He released Severus from his grip. "God, this is such a mess. I knew this you would happen. You would think that –I knew you would."

The Potions Master stood in his spot, frozen, watching the young man break down in front of him. For some reason, he felt the urge to comfort him, but his logical thinking won over his emotional impulse. He stayed rooted to that spot. Harry on the other hand, was removing the golden ankh amulet from his neck. He pressed it against an indention on the door knob behind Severus. The door creaked open.

"Go." He simply said. Severus raised his eyebrows.

"You are releasing me?"

Harry looked at him, his face impressively blank. "Yes, please go," his voice betrayed how he felt thought. "I only ask that you do not tell anyone of my identity." The obsidian-eyed man looked skeptical.

"Potter –"

"Just leave, Professor," came the dejected sigh. "Gareth will contact you before tomorrow to discuss your case before the Wizengamot. There is no cause for alarm. I will keep my word and see to it that you endure." He then settled himself on the armchair once more and closed his eyes in defeat. Harry then heard the door shut close. Then silence.

"Make me understand," a deep baritone then cut into the pregnant pause. Harry looked up from his seat. Severus Snape stood before him with a soft expression on his normally harsh features.

"I thought you had wanted to leave sir," Harry asked, trying hard to keep the hopeful awe in his voice. Severus' countenance did not change a bit.

"I did." The older wizard then knelt in front of the younger one. His sharp onyx eyes glanced once at the overturned table before shifting his gaze towards the scattered objects on the floor next to it. His eyes finally rested on the pensieve and the two glass vials. He turned back to Harry.

"Are those yours? The memories I mean?"

Harry followed his gesture and sighed.

"One is mine, from the time I bargained for your life. The other –the other is Nile Peverell's… from the time he took his own life."

Severus paused.

"You mean he –"

Harry let out a soft laugh. "The melodramatic fool. He pined for Euphrates. The sentimental Hufflepuff poisoned himself with a botched-up Draught of Living Dead."

Severus cringed. "Did Euphrates –"

Harry shook his head. "He never saw Nile's memories. But he knew how much Nile loved him. And I would like to think that he had loved him back."

With a quiet nod, the Potions Master took the vials in his hands. He stared at it.

"Why did he break the proposition ritual?"

"He loved Nile," Harry answered. "But he could not accept, nor could he, for the life of him, let the love of his life go. Euphrates was a lord-apparent, an only child, the last of his line at that point in time. He would have been expected to beget an heir. If he had accepted Nile's proposal –"

"They could have not produced one." Severus finished for him, a look of contemplation crossing his face. "Then, the Male Pregnancy Potion –"

"Was his last attempt to make it up to Nile." Harry affirmed. "But Nile never knew. When Euphrates learned of Nile's reaction, he was devastated. He thought himself selfish –that he should have just rejected him, instead of breaking the ritual –"

"And you know this, because?" Severus asked. Harry smiled despite himself.

"Your ancestor left a record –a vial of his memories, to be exact. It was accessible only to the heir of the Peverells."

"It seemed that our ancestors thought alike." The older wizard mused. Harry laughed softly.

"Your ancestor was more direct to the point. I shudder to think how awful it was reading Nile Peverell's diary if his handwriting was atrocious like mine."

"Thank Merlin it wasn't." Severus breathed. He then turned to Harry.

"Po –Harry, I mean –"

"You know, you can call me Tristan if it would make you less uncomfortable."

"I'll manage," the man said simply. "May I see these memories?"

Harry looked at the vials before letting out a deep breath.

"I don't see why not." The young lord then stood up and grabbed the pensieve. He set it on the table. The older wizard watched as he did with a calculating expression on his face.

"Po –Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I shall have an answer for your proposition –after I view the memories."

Harry raised an eyebrow before breaking into a relived smile.

"I await your return then,"

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(Harry's memory)

A young man was almost out of breath when he reached the Shrieking Shack. His emerald eyes frantically searched in the dark.

"Merlin, please, don't let me be too late!"

When he had found the man's body where he had left it earlier, he breathed a sigh of relief. The man no longer stirred, but he felt the familiar magical core pulse. The emerald-eyed young man approached, but his path was then blocked by a specter. The young man's eyes widened.

"No, Merlin, NO! Leave him alone!" The man pushed past the specter and used his body to shield the fallen figure on the dusty floor. The dark specter turned to him.

"Harry Potter, Master of Death, clear the path. I have come to take this marked one into the next realm."

Harry shook his head frantically.

"No, you can't take him! I command you Death!" He then glanced at the man behind him. "You can't die, you git! You hear me! Not now! You just can't leave me –I –I love you! You can't leave me!"

Death smiled at the scene.

"You can no longer command me to bring him back to life as you have broken the Resurrection Stone –"

Harry's eyes widened.

"But –No! You can't –you can't do that, please! Please, let him live! He deserves to live! I'll do anything, please, just let him live!"

Death actually chuckled.

"I can give you a chance, young Harry. Your path of destruction gave me more souls than I can ferry in a given day. Tell me, what would you offer in exchange for this marked one's soul?"

Harry stared at the unconscious man that lay beside him. In a split-second, a decision was made in his mind, He then turned to Death.

"My own. Take mine. I should have died anyway, not him."

Death laughed.

"You know that I cannot, Master. You still have and control two of the Hallows… However, what do you say to reliving this day in your dreams until your time comes? You fear for this marked one's death is more than enough to purchase back his soul."

"I will dream of this day –every night –in my sleep? Until I die?"

Death nodded. Harry bit his lips before nodding determinedly.

"Do it. Bring him back," said the emerald-eyes savior without missing a beat. "I love him. I will not let him die. It is a small price to pay in exchange for this man's life. Bring him back, Death."

"Very well," said Death. "But you must see to his mortal body. I will release his soul, but if his body gives in –I will no longer be at fault."

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(Nile Peverell's memory)

A seemingly older version of Harry Potter sat in the middle of a huge four-poster bed. He donned regal robes of royal blue, decorated with his family crest. On one hand, he held a green leather bound journal –on the other, a small vial of pale pink liquid. He then turned to an invisible person and spoke.

"My heir, if you are viewing this, then it is time. I am not proud of this avenue I am about to take but, it is in my greatest hope that you understand. Euphrates Prince had been the love of my life I gave up all that I could for him unashamedly in hopes that he only return my love.

Fate and circumstances have been hard on us.

I only ask of you one thing: let him know how much I cared for him. I regret nothing, nor do I blame him. Ask him to forgive me for leaving him like this and tell him that I hope that he and his descendants live on in happiness and peace.

If his heir shall consent, let them view this memory. I firmly hope that this and my written journal which I will be leaving for the Last Prince, help them realize the truth behind the pact. The pact between the Houses of Peverell and Prince was made our of honor, value for life, and lastly, but certainly not the least, love.

I fervently hope that you both find it in each other, or at least learn to respect one another for this sake. My soul would find peace knowing that someday there would be a chance that my line and Euphrates' would be joined as they should have.

May the goddesses be with you, always."

Nile Peverell then opened the vial he was holding and took a sip.

Then, all was black.