Disclaimer: The characters and settings, including any sentences taken directly or partly from the books or movies, of Harry Potter are the property of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing, AOL Time Link and Warner Brothers. I do not make money from publishing my story.
All Order members had arrived back at Grimmauld place alive, though some had suffered severe injuries and had needed to resort to side-along apparition. When back Molly Weasley had commandeered the kitchen, living and dining rooms for medical purposes. The youngest Weasley and Miss Granger were running throughout the house gathering and moving supplies, helping Molly where they could.
When members of the Order had started to pour in everyone that had stayed behind in Grimmauld place was anxiously waiting for someone to turn up with their saviour. After all the whole point of the mission was to get Harry back. But when finally Dumbledore too had arrived, without Harry, Hermione Granger became increasingly worried.
"Professor", she said, greeting him as he stepped into the kitchen. The Headmaster looked at her momentarily, nodding his head in greeting before walking passed her. As Dumbledore had ignored her unsaid question, she tried again. "Professor, where is Harry?" For a moment Dumbledore turned around and looked at her. "I am truly sorry, Miss Granger", was all he said before walking off, leaving the house and apparating away.
In that brief moment Albus Dumbledore had looked back at her, Hermione had seen, not the Headmaster of Hogwarts, not the Supreme Mugwump, not the Chief Warlock of the Wizegamot or even the leader of the Order of the Phoenix. No, in that brief instant Hermione could only see a defeated old man, who had lost the will to fight.
Hermione was about to go back to the kitchen to help out where she could when Auror Tonks nearly ran into her. The clumsy woman evaded Hermione just in time, but couldn't keep herself from crashing into one of the side tables. Both were prepared for the screeching voice of Lady Black's portrait, but none came. "Wotcher, Hermione!", Tonks said softly before standing up and Hermione passed her own greetings.
After Tonks had dusted herself off, she prepared to join the others in the living room, but she stopped when she saw Hermione's distressed expression. "I am sorry we didn't take Harry back", Tonks said, stepping closer to Hermione, "Do you want to talk 'bout it?" Hermione's first instinct was to reject the offer of comfort. However, she decided that not only did she want to get everything of her chest, but that she was also interested in exactly what had happened on the mission.
While Severus had been called to the Dark Lord's side within a few hours after the attack had ended. Harry had not seen Voldemort in the last few days at all. It seemed as if both of them were carefully avoiding each other. Not that Harry minded. No, of course not. He didn't know if Voldemort still wanted to torture or kill him for stealing his horcrux, even though that was supposed to be prevented through the oath they had sworn.
The first few days Harry had hardly noticed that he was being avoided. After all, Severus had grounded him to his room. Normally Harry wouldn't have minded so much, since there were a lot more things to do and especially more interesting things to read here than at the Dursleys. However, Severus had deemed it a fit punishment to remove most of the books and replace them with his Hogwarts Potions and History of Magic books.
For the first five days, Harry didn't leave the room at all. Not even for meals, which was fine by him, even though it had left him somewhat secluded. Severus had sometimes joined him in his room and Harry had enjoyed talking to the man. Despite this all being a punishment of sorts it had been quite relaxing.
When the grounding was over, Harry had begun to join Severus at meals again. While Voldemort had hardly been present before the attack. Now it seemed as if he was skilfully avoiding Harry's presence altogether. Harry had run into Nagini once, who was quick to slither off. She had only said that her Master needed her, before she had disappeared around the corner. Altogether it was driving Harry nuts. He wasn't particularly looking forward to encountering the man, but right now he felt like Voldemort was planning a surprise attack or something.
Exactly one week after the attack Harry was making his way towards his own quarters after dinner, when he saw Nagini's tail slither around the next corner. In a bout of curiosity he sprung into action and took after her. After he too had turned the corner he tried calling for the snake.
"Wait up, Nagini", Harry hissed, the snake momentarily turned around and made eye contact with him. Before she was able to slither of like she had intended, Harry added something that made her stay. "Please, Nagini. Tell me what is wrong."
"What is wrong, the traitor asks?", she hissed menacingly while she slithered back towards Harry. "You betrayed my Master! He took you in and gave you a nest and this is how you repay him! I should bite you. I should eat you! But Masters promise keeps me from it!", Nagini sounded enraged and Harry was truly terrified of what the snake would have done to him, if the oath had not been made.
"I did not mean to betray him", Harry said, which was actually true. He did intent to be neutral, however he had felt the need to ensure his own safety beyond what the protection the oath provided. "I felt threatened by him, his power and his servants. I see danger everywhere. I just wanted to protect myself", Harry admitted. He was glad he was speaking Parseltongue, since any Death Eater could have used this as excellent blackmail.
"Silly human", Nagini said mockingly as she approached Harry further. "Master will not allow you to get hurt. You are his.", she said simply. Harry froze for a moment, not because of Nagini's cryptic words, but because of her muscled body that wrapped around his leg, while she climbed around him. Not wanting to anger the snake that could possibly hurt him a lot, he allowed her to get comfortable around his neck and waist.
"Take me to Master", she commanded Harry, who kept a healthy bit of tension on his body while walking in the general direction of the Dark Lord's quarters. "Master is angry that you stole from him", Nagini continued while they walked, "You should give it back. Master will forgive you." Harry gave a small snort at that. The Dark Lord did not forgive and did not forget.
However, maybe Nagini was right. Maybe he should return the locket to Voldemort. At the same time that these thoughts were flooding his mind, deep inside him his Slytherin side was waking. After he had dropped Nagini off near her Master's chambers he resumed his way to his own chambers, hoping to finds Severus there.
It was late by the time that Severus joined Harry. The man looked tired and his hands were stained, despite the fact that Harry knew Severus had undoubtedly washed them several times already. Stains from some potion ingredients were just very hard to remove from the skin. Harry was quick to make this teacher a cup of tea, while he invited him to sit near the fire.
"I have thought about what to do with the locket", Harry said, as he poured himself a cup as well. "The Dark Lord is angry with me for 'stealing' it. I think it might be good to strike a deal with him." Harry sat down to wait for the Potion's Master's answer.
"You must think very hard on this Harry", Severus said, while sipping from his tea," You will give up your position of power. You must bargain for something that is equally as precious to you as your confirmed safety that the horcrux provides for you."
"Yes, I have thought about it carefully. There are few things that I might consider more important right now, but the safety of innocent children is certainly one of them. I want to guarantee the safety of Hogwart's students, not the teachers or the Headmaster. They have made their choices. I want to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. Those who have nothing to do with this war.", Harry said confidently.
"That is a noble aim, Harry. Then again you are not a Gryffindor for nothing, right", Severus smiled at his student. Before it disappeared again. "You know, Harry", Severus said, "A muggle politician once said: Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides." A momentary pause let the message sink in with Harry, before Severus continued. "I think that applies to you as well. You haven't committed to either side. Therefore, you will always be shot at by both. Dumbledore and Voldemort will both try to use your weaknesses against you, trying to win you over or destroy you in the process."
"What would you have me do?", Harry said, looking at Severus pleadingly. "You should commit yourself to one of them. It doesn't mean you cannot disagree with anything they say. But for all intents and purposes it must be clear, that you have chosen a side and that you cannot be swayed."
"You know that I can't go back to Dumbledore. Not after what he did to me, what he had planned for me", Harry stated. "I am not sure I am prepared to join the man who murdered my parents either. They killed my parents, they killed Cedric, they killed... they killed Sirius."
"I know what happened, Harry", Severus said as sympathetically as he could, "what is more important is what the future holds. The future depends on what you decide. I will support you in whatever choice you make. I can only ask you to do what you believe in."