'Tet walu du demriiriy'

They had hidden Percy's body and then Harry had taken a quick episode into the Dark Lord's mind. He was in the Boathouse with Lucius, who only wanted to look for his son. Voldemort, who had trapped Nagini in a protective bubble, was asking for Lucius to bring him Snape. Theo and Harry, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, rushed down towards the Boathouse, weaving between battle and helping those they could along the way. He could see Draco and Goyle now attacking Death Eaters. Heard Goyle's father's rage at the sight, but Gregory didn't seem to care. They watched Frenrir Greyback kill Ginny Weasley, though Theodore tried to stop it, and it was Trelawney and one of her crystal balls that cracked open the skull of the werewolf. Dementors came after them and Harry wasn't sure he was going to be able to produce a Patronus, but Theodore and several other students did and he found, somehow, he was able to as well while his other hand gripped onto Theodore's arm.

They flew down the steps and came finally to a halt against the wall to watch as Voldemort and Snape interacted. Harry could tell by the urgency in Snape's tone that he wanted to find Harry now. He kept saying so, though in such a manner as to sound like he was doing it for the Dark Lord. Voldemort ignored his pleas and continued to talk about his wand, the one he'd taken from Dumbledore, and how he felt it wasn't working for him. Snape said otherwise and again implored to leave to look for Harry. It did not take long for Harry to discern what the Dark Lord was intending to do with Snape and he tried to move, to get into the Boathouse to stop it, but Theodore wrapped his arms around him tight and refused to let go no matter how much Harry struggled.

"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 Elder Wand cannot be truly mine.

"My Lord!" Snape's wand hand rose and he pointed it directly at the Dark Lord.

"It cannot be any other way." Voldemort told him. "I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and I master Potter at last."

Nagini was released from her cage and she attacked Snape before he had even a moment of retaliation. Harry's heart was throbbing painfully and he opened his mouth to scream, but Theodore quickly cast a Silencing Spell and Harry's shriek went unheard.

"I regret it." Voldemort said as Snape collapsed, but it was evident he did not. Harry was struggling so hard, he could feel Theodore's nails clawing into him in an attempt to contain him. Then Voldemort had turned and gone, taking Nagini with him.

Theodore released him and Harry burst into the Boathouse, rushing forward to press his hands to the gushing wound at Snape's neck. Theo was soon beside him, pulling out a bottle of Essence of Dittany and quickly applying it to the wound along with a salve Harry did not recognize before beginning to cast, trying to close the wounds. Snape lay there, dazed and unseeing as Theodore did his best to save him.

"Hurry..." Harry whimpered as he watched the wounds reopen. "Please..."

"Am trying!" Theodore applied more of the salve and continued to cast.

"Harry..." Snape rasped suddenly, grabbing hold of Harry's robes and pulling him in close. His eyes were unfocused as he stared up at the boy. "Look...into...my eyes...the spell...Le-le..."

Harry nodded quickly, knowing Snape had to show him something incredibly important if he was insisting while this close to death. Taking a deep breath, Harry cast Legilimens.

Memories flooded through his mind, showing Snape meeting his mother as a child before attending Hogwarts and how they had been friends through most of the school year. It was so blatantly obvious how much he loved her by the looks he gave and by how he seemed to latch onto every word she spoke...and it reminded Harry uncannily of how he felt about Theodore. He saw Snape's first meeting with James and Sirius and disgust filled him as he suddenly wished he was anyone, but James Potter's son. Then through the Sorting, through school, to the moment when he had called her a "Mudblood" and he had begged to be her friend again, but she would not forgive him. Then he was begging Dumbledore to save Lily, he didn't care about James or the baby, just Lily, but this disgusted Dumbledore. Seeing no other way, Snape insisted the wizard hide all of them then as long as it kept her safe. Dumbledore brought Snape under his service after Lily's death and then they were in Dumbledore's office again, much later.

"He's too much like Lily..." Snape was almost whimpering. "Too much! But he looks like him!"

"At least, as you said before, he is in Slytherin." Dumbledore smiled pleasantly. "Is he making any friends?"

"He is alone..." Snape suddenly seemed fit with rage. "And you're Gryffindors torment him."

"My Gryffindors?" Dumbledore seemed amused. "I believe they fall under the care of Minerva, Severus, while the entirety of the school is mine, including your Slytherins. If they are bothering him, talk to Minerva."

"She never stopped Potter from coming after me." Snape snarled.

"Well..." Dumbledore looked up from his copy of Transfiguration Today. "You'll have to watch out for him then."

"I have been." Snape hissed.

"Then you are doing an excellent job on the boy because he seems quite content." Dumbledore returned to staring at the magazine. "Keep an eye on Quirrell as well, won't you?"

They were at the Yule Ball and Harry watched they converse about Karkaroff. Then they were in the headmaster's office discussing why Dumbledore had put on the ring when he knew it was cursed, but the old wizard would not answer. He had a year left to live and he knew Draco was being sent to kill him. Snape was to do so instead and Harry felt a skip of his heart as he realized he'd been correct. The scene changed and the two men were strolling on the grounds.

"What are you doing with Potter, all these evenings you are closeted together?" Snape asked.

"I thought, as his Occlumency Professor, you would have discovered a hint by now." Dumbledore smiled.

"He has excelled at it and needs no further training." Snape mumbled. "But I keep him there so I can keep an eye on his emotional status. He doesn't refer to me as much as he used to."

"He is growing up." Dumbledore answered the unspoken question. "He will seek less and less advice. This is normal. He is getting a firm idea of who he is and he doesn't need...a father as much as he used to."

Snape sputtered. "A father? I am the furthest..."

"You are the closest thing to a father Harry has ever had." Dumbledore stated. "He may never call you by that title, he may never mention it, and he may never even realize it himself, but you have been the best father figure the boy has ever had and...I thank you for that, Severus."

Snape didn't say anything for a few moments, but then questioned again, "What are you doing with him?"

"I have things to discuss with him, information I must give him before it is too late."

"Information." Snape repeated. "You trust him...you do not trust me."

"It is not a question of trust. I have, as we both know, limited time. It is essential that I give the boy enough information for him to do what he needs to do."

"And why may I not have the same information?"

"I prefer not to put all of my secrets in one basket, particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort."

"Which I do on your orders!"

"And you do it extremely well. Do not think that I underestimate the constant danger in which you place yourself, Severus. To give Voldemort what appears to be valuable information while withholding the essentials is a job I would entrust to nobody but you."

"Yet you confide much more in a boy." Snape hissed and, noticing Dumbledore beginning to retort, he cut in. "And he is just that: a boy, Albus! He's not even of age!"

"Are you worried for him then, Severus?"

Dumbledore's words made the man clamp his mouth shut and all emotion vaporized from his features. "As I would for any of my snakes."

"Ah, I see." Dumbledore's smile was lofty. "Come to my office tonight, Severus, at eleven, and you shall not complain that I have no confidence in you..."

They were in Dumbledore's office again and the news Harry received here nearly shattered him. He was a Horcrux and he had to...

"So the boy...the boy must die?" Snape asked in a calm that Harry didn't anticipate given the earlier conversation.

"And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential."

There was a long silence before Snape spoke. "I thought...all these years...that we were protecting him for her. For Lily."

"We have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to let him try his strength. Meanwhile, the connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic growth: Sometimes I have thought he suspects it himself. If I know him, he will have arranged matters so that when he does set out to meet his death, it will truly mean the end of Voldemort."

Snape looked horrified.

"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?"

"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?"

"Lately, only those whom I could not save." Snape stood. "You have used me."

"Meaning?"

"I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter..."

"This is touching, Severus. I was worried perhaps that you hadn't, even though you spend so much time with him, grown to care for the boy."

"For him?" Snape shouted. "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver doe erupted from his wand, dashed around the room, and then bounded out a window. Tears in his eyes, Dumbledore turned back to Snape.

"After all this time?"

"Always." Snape whispered.

There was silence between them, a long seemingly unbreakable silence, before Dumbledore finally asked, "But the boy...you still see him as..."

"My feelings for the boy are not what is in question." Snape whispered in a hiss.

"But the boy..." Dumbledore was very quiet, peering at Snape inquisitively before dawning graced his features. "You still see him as a product of your loss, proof that Lily chose James, your enemy, over you?"

Snape's face twisted in momentary disgust before he turned away. "You say that Potter sees me as a father figure?"

"Yes..."

"I have never once seen him as a son."

"I often wondered..."

"But..." Snape's voice was difficult to hear and Dumbledore leaned forward to catch what he was saying. "But...perhaps...in a way...I do."

"In a way." Dumbledore's smile was sad and yet hopeful. "Perhaps...in your own way, Severus."

The memory changed to Snape advising Mundungus to suggest Polyjuice Potion to get Harry out safely and then to he was trying to curse a Death Eater with Sectumsempra, but it only grazed him and hit Lupin instead. He was now in Sirius bedroom, taking half of Lily's letter with him, the half that held her love. Finally, they were in Dumbledore's office again and Phineas was informing him urgently of where Harry Potter was camped and Snape removed the sword from behind Dumbledore's portrait and he strode from the room. He barely caught sight of Snape beginning cast his Patronus after placing the sword in the lake when the memory wavered and Harry was thrown out.

"Is still alive." Theodore told Harry breathlessly as Harry, still dazed from the long trip into Snape's mind. "But barely. Might be able to save him...am not sure...has lost a lot of blood..."

Harry turned to stare at him and comprehension slammed like cold water into his mind. Theodore knew. Theodore had known for most of their journey that Harry was a Horcrux, that Harry would have to die in order to defeat the Dark Lord. This was why he hadn't wanted to destroy them. This was why he had tried so hard to persuade Harry to abandon the endeavor and run from the war, into hiding. His stomach was tying itself into knots and his heart felt as if it was exploding within him.

"I'm sorry, Theo." Harry said as he stood, pulling out his wand. Theodore looked up at him, surprised and confused.

Hastily, Harry cast as many protective spells as he could around the Boathouse and then a spell to keep Theodore and Snape within.

"What are you doing?" Theodore shouted, starting to rise, but then remaining where he was to keep his hand pressed to Snape's neck. "What..."

"I'm sorry." Harry told him, feeling a lump welling up in his throat. "I have to get to the castle. I have to...I love you."

Theodore's eyes were frantic, his face etched with bewilderment at what Harry was saying, and he screamed after Harry as the boy started running back up to the castle. Voldemort's voice rang across the grounds, letting Harry know he had one hour to turn himself over before the battle resumed. Harry bounded up the steps, tears pricking at his eyes and his heart racing. He had to have a plan. He needed to destroy the snake somehow...he ran into Neville and Oliver Wood first, carrying in the body of Colin Creevey. Guilt washed over him, but he didn't let it stop him.

"Hey." He rushed towards them. "I have to ask a huge favor."

"Okay." Neville said immediately.

"There's a snake, it's Voldemort's." Harry told them. "This is very important. If you see the snake, kill it. If you get a chance, do it. Okay?"

"Okay..." Neville looked confused. "Harry..."

"Tell as many people as you can." Harry said and then rushed off to the Great Hall. There he was met with almost too much to bear. People lay everywhere, gathered in from all over the castle, dead. He saw Sirius holding onto Tonks, crying and screaming to the ceiling as he craddled her body. Percy and Ginny lay together as the rest of the Weasley family wept over them. He told Hermione when he found her and Luna and Dean and Malfoy and Goyle and Blaise.

"Kill the snake. Kill the snake. Kill the snake."

Then he pulled on the cloak and disappeared.

In the forest, he pulled out the Snitch realizing suddenly what it meant. He pressed it to his lips and said, "I am going to die."

The words felt cold in the air as the Snitch opened and revealed the stone. He pulled it out, turned it over three times, and then opened his eyes to stare at those waiting for him: his mother, his father, and Severus Snape, the latter even more ghostly than the others as if he was even further from this moment than them.

"You've been so brave." Lily told him and he instantly felt the tears rise up in his eyse.

"You are nearly there." James said. "Very close. We are...so proud of you."

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.

"Dying?" James asked with a smile. "Not at all. Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"For you maybe." Snape snarled and then turned to Harry. "It will be the same for you, of course. The Dark Lord will want it to be quick. He wants it over."

"I'm sorry." Harry told him thickly. "I'm sorry you..."

"Don't sign me off just yet, Potter." Snape snapped. "I'm still in the In-Between."

"You're not dead?" Harry asked, choking and smiling all at once.

"Just...almost." Snape whispered and then he sighed. "This is unimportant."

"This is very important." Lily corrected him pleasantly and Snape, seeing her, quickly looked down as if he felt shame and didn't deserve to see her. She faced Harry, "It will be all right, Harry."

"I didn't want you to die. Any of you. I'm sorry..."

"There isn't any reason to feel sorry." James told him. "We are happy you lived, even if it meant we died. We are happy you got to experience life and grow into the man you are today, five times a man than I ever was."

Harry nodded, feeling a small amount of pride enter his chest. "You don't hate me because I'm in Slytherin?"

"You're my son, Harry." James said and Harry could feel the truth reverberating from him. "You could have become a Death Eater and I would never hate you."

Harry looked to his mother to see if she felt the same and, upon seeing her nod with love evident in her eyes, Harry returned his eyes to James. "Snape's...Severus has been my only father figure and I...am happy with that. Is that okay?"

Snape made a derisive noise, but Harry ignored him.

"He has done a fantastic job raising you when I couldn't." James said and Snape seemed to choke on something. "I don't know how to thank him enough."

Harry nodded and then faced Snape, who seemed utterly baffled. "Thank you...for everything. I can't...I don't know how...thank you."

Snape closed his gaping mouth and gave a nod and Harry swore he saw a shimmer in his eyes.

"I love you." Harry said, looking at each of them. "I love all of you."

"We love you too, Harry." Lily said, still smiling. "We always have."

James agreed and Snape, after a pause, gave a weak nod.

"You'll stay with me?"

"Until the very end." James said.

"They won't be able to see you?"

"We are part of you." Lily informed him. "Invisible to anyone else."

He looked to Snape. "Stay close to me."

"Always." And it was the tone, the same tone Snape had used in reference to his love for Lily, a tone that could not lie, a tone that meant every single letter he spoke, that gave Harry the remaining courage he needed to finally set off to Voldemort.

Translation: 'Two Steps From Hell' another musical talent I am fond of.

For those who are wondering, I always liked the dramatic feel of the Boathouse, over the Shrieking Shack, which just seemed to dark and dismal for Snape, who has already been through enough dark and dismal to last a life time. If he's going to go out, he should go out in a place full of windows that lets in the light...er...that's my opinion. :D Nearly broke down crying when I was writing the last bit...I'm such a sap. :D