The Elder Wand

A body fell past the hole blown into the side of the school and curses flew in at them from the darkness, hitting the wall behind their heads.

"Get down!" Arthur yelled as more curses flew through the night. He, Mike, David and Chrys dived to the floor as Sam lay over Jack to protect and shield him from further harm.

"We gotta move Jack!" Sam shouted.

Chrys then screamed as a monstrous spider the size of a small car tried climbing its way through the huge hole in the wall, meaning that Aragog's descendants have joined the fight.

The boys shouted together before they shot spells that collided, making the spider be blown away backwards, its legs jerking horribly, vanishing into the darkness.

"It ain't alone!" Arthur called to the others as he glanced over the edge of the castle through the hole in the wall that the curses blasted. There were many more giant spiders climbing up the side of the building, liberated from the Forbidden Forest that the Death Eaters have penetrated.

Arthur fired many Stunning Spells upon them, knocking the lead monster into its fellows, making them roll back down the building and out of sight.

More curses soared over Arthur's head, so close in fact that he felt the force of them blow his hair.

"We gotta move!"

Arthur went and helped Sam and David move Jack, crouching low to avoid the curses flying at them from the grounds.

"Over here." Arthur said and they placed Jack by a niche where a suit of armour stood earlier, so that he can be safe while still being able to defend himself.

Arthur looked over and saw that both Draco and Goyle had vanished and at the end of the corridor, it was full of dust and falling masonry, glass now long gone from the windows and many people were running backwards and forwards, friend and foe blurring to the point that Arthur didn't know who was who.

Rounding the corner, Sam let out a gorilla-like roar with "ROOKWOOD!" before he sprinted off in the direction of a tall man, who pursued a couple of students.

"Just go! Do what you need to do!" Jack told the four.

"Are you sure you can handle things on your own?" David asked his older brother.

"Yes, now go!" Jack replied.

The four went off down the corridor for a second until they hid behind a tapestry.

"Now what do we do? Voldemort will have Nagini by his side." Mike pointed out.

"Arthur, see if you can look inside Voldemort's head willingly." Chrys said.

Arthur never considered that. He simply waited for whenever Voldemort's emotions spiked, but he realised he could just simply go into Voldemort's head, especially now with his scar burning for the past several hours.

So he closed his eyes and all the sounds of the battle were drowned out until they became distant, like he stood far away from them.

He found himself standing in the middle of a desolate yet familiar room with peeling paper on the walls and the windows boarded except for one. The sounds of the assault on the castle were muffled and distant. The one unblocked window revealed distant bursts of light where the castle stood, but the inside of the room was dark except for a single oil lamp.

He rolled his wand between his fingers, watching it, his thoughts on the Room of Requirement in the castle, the secret Room that only he found, the Room, like the Chamber, that you had to be clever, cunning and inquisitive to discover… he was so confident that the boy wouldn't find the diadem… thought Dumbledore's puppet was much further than he ever expected… too far for his liking….

"My Lord." A voice said, sounding desperate and cracked.

He turned to see Lucius Malfoy sitting in the darkest corner, ragged and still bearing the marks of his punishment after the boy escaped. One of his eyes remained puffy and closed.

"My Lord… please… my son…."

"If your son is dead, Lucius, it is not my fault. He did not come and join me, like the rest of the Slytherins. Perhaps he has decided to befriend Arthur Pendergast?"

"No - never." Lucius whispered.

"You must hope not."

"Aren't - aren't you afraid, my Lord, that Pendergast might die at another hand but yours?" Lucius asked, his voice shaking. "Wouldn't it be… forgive me… more prudent to call off this battle, enter the castle and seek him y-yourself?"

"Do not pretend, Lucius. You wish the battle to cease so that you can discover what has happened to your son. And I do not need to seek Pendergast. Before the night is out, Pendergast will have come to find me."

Voldemort dropped his gaze again to the wand in his fingers. It troubled him… which needed to be rearranged….

"Go and fetch Snape."

"Snape, m-my Lord?"

"Snape. Now. I need him. There is a - service - I require from him. Go."

Frightened, stumbling a bit through the gloom, Lucius left the room while Voldemort continued standing there, twirling the wand between his fingers, staring at it.

"It is the only way, Nagini." He whispered, looking round at the great, thick snake that was now suspended in midair, twisting gracefully within an enchanted, protected space that he made for her, a starry, transparent sphere that was like a blend of a glittering cage and a tank.

WIth a gasp, Arthur pulled back and opened his eyes as his ears were assaulted by the screeches, cries, smashes and bangs of battle.

"That git is in the Shrieking Shack and Nagini is with him in some kind of magical protection around her. He just sent Lucius for Snape."

"Voldemort is sitting out of the fighting in the Shrieking Shack?" Mike said, completely outraged.

"He doesn't feel the need to fight. He says that I'm going to go to him."

"Why?"

"Because he knows I'm hunting down the Horcruxes, so he's keeping Nagini close to him. I have to go to him to kill her, either way."

"Well, we'll need to get under the Cloak and head for the Shack." David said.

As Arthur was pulling the Cloak out, the tapestry at the top of the staircase they stood at was ripped open.

"PENDERGAST!"

Two masted Death Eaters stood, but before they raised their wands, Chrys shouted "Glisseo!"

The stairs beneath their feet flattened into a chute, causing the four to be hurled down it, unable to control their speed, but they were so fast that the Stunning Spells from the Death Eaters flew far over their heads. They simply shot through the concealing tapestry at the bottom and spun onto the floor, hitting the opposite wall.

"Duro!" Chrys cried, pointing her wand at the tapestry, causing two loud and sickening crunches to be heard as the tapestry turned into stone and the Death Eaters that pursued them crumpled against it.

"Get back!" David shouted as they flattened themselves up against a door as a herd of galloping desks thundered past them, all shepherded by a sprinting McGonagall. She didn't seem to notice them, though her hair had come down and there was a visible gash on her cheek, which caused Mike to look worried.

She turned a corner when they heard her scream "CHARGE!"

"Quickly, the Cloak!" Chrys said.

Arthur threw it over the four of them. Despite being as large as they were, he hoped no one would notice disembodied feet through the dust that clogged the air, the falling stone and the shimmer from various spells.

They all ran down the next staircase, finding themselves in a corridor full of duellers. The portraits on either side of the fighters were crammed with all kinds of figures, all screaming advice and encouragement as Death Eaters, masked and unmasked, duelled students and teachers.

Dean won himself a wand and was currently face to face with Dolohov, Parvati with Travers.

Arthur, Mike, David and Chrys raised their wands to strike, but the duellers weaved and darted around to the point that they'd risk hurting those on their side.

As they stood braced, looking for an opportunity to act, a great "wheeeeeeeeee!" was heard, making Arthur look to see Peeves zooming over them, dropping Snargaluff pods down onto the Death Eaters, whose heads were now engulfed in wriggling, green tubes like fat worms.

"Urgh!"

A fistful of these tubers fell onto the Cloak over David's head, making the slimy, green roots suspend in midair as David tried shaking them loose.

"Someone's invisible there! A masked Death Eater pointed.

Dean used the momentary distraction to his advantage and knocked the Death Eater out with a Stunning Spell. Dolohov tried to retaliate when Parvati shot a Body Bind Curse at him.

"MOVE!" Arthur yelled as he and the other three gathered the Cloak tightly around themselves and pelted, heads down, through the midst of the fighters, slipping slightly in pools of Snargaluff juice to the top of the marble staircase to the Entrance Hall.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm Draco, I'm on your side!"

Draco was on the upper landing, pleading with a masked Death Eater.

Arthur Stunned the Death Eater as they passed. Draco looked around, beaming, for his saviour when Mike punched him from under the Cloak, causing him to fall backwards onto the Death Eater, mouth bleeding and utterly bemused.

"That's the second time we saved your life tonight, you two faced brat!" He spat.

There were more duellers all over the stairs and in the Halls with Death Eaters everywhere Arthur looked.

Yaxley, who was close to the front doors, was in combat with Flitwick and Shacklebolt was duelling a masked Death Eater right beside them.

Students ran in every direction, some carrying or dragging injured friends.

Arthur directed a Stunning Spell to the masked Death Eater, but it missed and nearly hit Neville, who emerged from nowhere with armfuls of Venomous Tentacula, which looped itself happily around the nearest Death Eater as it reeled him in.

The four sped down the marble staircase with glass shattering to their left and the Slytherin hourglass that recorded house points spilling its emeralds everywhere, making people slip and stagger as they ran.

Two bodies fell from the balcony overhead as they reached the ground and a grey blur that Arthur thought was a four legged animal sped across the hall to sink its teeth into one of the fallen.

"NO!" Chrys shrieked in rage, shooting a deafening blast at Fenrir Greyback, who was thrown backwards from the feebly stirring body of Lavender Brown. He hit the marble bannisters and struggled to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal ball fell onto his head, making him crumple to the ground and didn't move.

"I have more!" Professor Trelawney shrieked from over the bannisters. "More for any who want them! Here -"

Moving like a tennis serve, she heaved another large crystal sphere from her bg, waving her wand through the air, making the ball speed across the hall and smash through a window.

At that moment, the heavy wooden front doors burst open and more of the gigantic spiders forced their way into the Entrance Hall.

Screams of terror rang through the air as the fighters scattered, both Death Eaters and Hogwartians alike, red and green jets of light flying into the midst of the monsters, which shuddered and reared, looking more terrifying than ever.

"How do we get out?" David yelled over the screaming.

But before Arthur, Mike or Chrys could answer, they were bowled aside as Hagrid thundered down the stairs, brandishing his flowery pink umbrella.

"Don't hurt 'em, don't hurt 'em!" He yelled.

"HAGRID, STOP!"

Arthur, at that moment, forgot everything else, sprinting out from under the Cloak, running and swerving to avoid the curses that illuminated the Hall.

"HAGRID, COME BACK!"

He wasn't even halfway to Hagrid when he saw the half-giant vanish amongst the spiders, and with a great scurrying, a rather foul swarming movement, they retreated under the onslaught of spells, Hagrid buried amongst their midst.

"HAGRID!"

Arthur heard someone call his own name, but he didn't care if it was friend or foe, as he sprinted down the front steps into the dark grounds, seeing the spiders swarming away with their prey, seeing no sign of Hagrid at all.

"HAGRID!"

He thought he could make out an enormous arm waving among the spiders, but as he made to chase after them, his way was blocked by a monumental foot, which swung down out of the darkness and made the ground sugar.

He looked up and saw a giant stand before him, easily twenty feet high, its head hidden in shadow, nothing but its tree-like and hairy shins illuminated by light from the castle doors.

With a brutal and fluid movement, it smashed a huge fist through an upper window and glass rained down upon Arthur, who was forced back under the shelter of the doorway.

"Bloody hell!" Chrys shrieked as she, Mike and David caught up with Arthur, gazing up at the giant that tried seizing people through the window above.

"STOP!" David yelled, grabbing Chrys' hand as she raised her wand. "If you Stun it, it'll crush half of the castle -"

"HAGGER?"

Grawp lurched round the corner of the castle, making Arthur truly see how Grawp was an undersized giant.

The gargantuan monster that tried crushing people on the upper floors looked around and let out a roar.

The stone steps trembled as it stomped towards its smaller kin. Grawp's lopsided mouth fell open, showing yellow, half-brick sized teeth, and they launched themselves at each other with the savagery of lions.

"RUN!" Arthur roared.

The night was full of hideous yells and blows as the giants wrestled. He seized Mike and Chrys' hands and tore down the steps into the grounds, David bringing up the rear.

Arthur still had hope of saving Hagrid, running so fast that they were halfway to the Forest when they were brought up short once more.

The air around them had frozen, Shapes moved out in the darkness, swirling figures of concentrated blackness, moving in a great wave to the castle, their faces covered in hoods and their breath rattling….

Mike, David and Chrys closed in beside him as the sounds of fighting behind them grew muted, becoming a silence only Dementors could bring fell through the night.

"Patronuses! Quickly!" Chrys said, her voice a very long way away.

All four raised their wands at the hundred Dementors and tried to think of happy thoughts, but their Patronuses weren't working, all fading and bursting into air.

But then a silver hare, a boar and a fox soared past their heads.

The Dementors fell back before the creatures' approach. Three people arrived out of the darkness to stand beside them, wands outstretched, continuing to cast their Patronuses: Luna, Ernie and Seamus.

"That's right." LUna said encouragingly, like they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was a simple spell practice for the DA. "That's right, Arthur… come on, think of something happy…."

"Like what?" Arthur said, struggling to think as Hagrid was possibly dying among many others.

"We're all still here." She whispered. "We're still fighting. Come on, now…."

There was a silver spark, then a wavering light, then, with the greatest effort possible for him, his lion burst from his wand.

It charged forwards, and the Dementors scattered in earnest, and the night was mild again instantly, though the sounds of the surrounding battle were loud in his ears.

"Thanks." Mike said, turning to Luna, Ernie and Seamus.

A roar and a tremor were the only signs before another giant lurched out of the darkness from the Forest, brandishing a club taller than any.

"MOVE!" Arthur yelled, though the others didn't need to be told: they all scattered, and a good thing too, because the next moment, the creature's vast foot fell exactly where they all stood.

Arthur looked round, Mike, David and Chrys were following him, but the others vanished back into the battle.

"We need to get out of range!" David yelled as the giant swung its club again, its bellows echoing through the night, across the grounds where bursts of red and green light still illuminated the darkness.

"The Whomping Willow!" Arthur shouted. "Come on!"

Right now, he had to cram in his fears and worries about Hagrid and many others in the battle, because he had to reach Voldemort and kill the snake, a step closer to finishing Voldemort once and for all.

Arthur sprinted, ignoring the jets of light that flew in the darkness all around him, the sound of the lake crashing like the sea and the creaking of the Forbidden Forest. It was like the grounds themselves rose to rebel against Voldemort's forces.

Arthur ran the fastest he could, he soon saw the great tree, the Willow that protected the secret at its roots with whip-like, slashing branches.

Panting and gasping, Arthur slowed down, skirting the swiping branches and peered through the darkness towards its thick trunk, to see if he could find the single knot in the bark of the old tree that would paralyse it.

The other three caught up with him, Chrys being so out of breath she couldn't talk.

Mike looked around before pointing his wand at a twig on the ground, muttering "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The twig flew up from the ground and spun through the air like it was caught by a gust of wind, zooming directly at the trunk though the Willow's ominously swaying branches. It then jabbed at a place near the roots before the writing tree became still.

"Alright, let's go." Arthur panted.

He wriggled into the earthy passage that was hidden in the tree's roots.

It was a much tighter squeeze than it was when he last entered it in his third school year.

The tunnel was low ceilinged and while they had to double up to move through it back then, they now had to crawl.

Arthur went first, his wand illuminated, partly expecting barriers, though none came.

They all moved in silence, Arthur's gaze fixed forwards.

Soon, the tunnel started sloping upwards and he saw a sliver of light ahead of him.

"Arthur, put the Cloak on!" Mike whispered.

He groped behind and grabbed the bundle of slippery cloth in his free hand.

Arthur dragged it over himself as he muttered "Nox", extinguishing his wandlight, continuing on his hands and knees as quietly as possible, his senses straining, expecting to be discovered at any second, to hear that cold voice and see a flash of green light.

He then heard voices coming from the room directly ahead of them, slightly muffled by the fact that the opening at the end of the tunnel was blocked up by what seemed to be an old crate.

Making sure his breathing was silent, Arthur edged right up to the opening and peered through a small gap that was left between the crate and the wall.

The room beyond was dimly lit, though he could see Nagini, still swirling and coiling as though she were underwater, safe in her enchanted, starry sphere, which floated unsupported in midair.

He saw the edge of a table and a long fingered, white hand toying with a wand.

Arthur then heard Snape speak, making his heart lurch: Snape was mere inches away from where he was crouched, hidden.

"...my Lord, their resistance is crumbling -"

" - and it is doing so without your help." Voldemort said with his high, clear voice. "Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference no. We are almost there… almost."

"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you Pendergast. I know I can find him, my Lord. Please."

Snape strode past the gap, making Arthur draw back a little, keeping his eyes on Nagini, trying to figure out how to penetrate the protection that surrounded the snake. And even if he tried with an attempt, he'd give away his position.

Voldemort stood and Arthur could see his red eyes, his flattened, serpentine face and his pallor gleaming slightly in the semi-darkness.

"I have a problem, Severus." Voldemort said softly.

"My Lord?"

Voldemort raised the Elder Wand, holding it delicately like a conductor's baton.

"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?"

Arthur's attention was now on their conversation, seeing that the Elder Wand was acting up, just as he expected, since the wand doesn't answer to him.

"My - my Lord?" Snape said blankly. "I do not understand. You - you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."

"No." Voldemort replied. "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 and calm, yet Arthur's scar was throbbing and pulsing from pain that was building in his forehead, no doubt because of controlled fury that was building up inside Voldemort.

"No difference." Voldemort said again.

Snape didn't speak and Arthur couldn't see his face. He was wondering if Snape could sense danger and to find the right words to reassure his master.

Voldemort started moving around the room. Arthur lost sight of him for seconds as he prowled, speaking in the same measured voice, the pain and fury mounting in Arthur.

"I have thought long and hard, Severus… do you know why I have called you back from the battle?"

Arthur was able to see Snape's profile for a moment, seeing his eyes fixed upon the coiling snake in its enchanted cage.

"No, my Lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Pendergast."

"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Pendergast as I do. He does not need finding. Pendergast 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 Pendergast. Kill his friends - the more, the better - but do not kill him. But it is of you I wished to speak, Severus, not Arthur Pendergast. 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, Arthur seeing the glint of red in his eyes as he turned again, his cloak swishing like the slithering of a snake. 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, letting Arthur see him plainly again as he slid the Elder Wand through his white fingers, staring at Snape.

"Why did both the wands I have used fail when directed at Arthur Pendergast?"

"I - I cannot answer that, my Lord?"

"Can't you?"

The jolt of rage felt like a spike driven through Arthur's head. He scrunched his face up so much to keep from crying out in pain. He closed his eyes and found himself as Voldemort again, looking right at Snape's pale face.

"My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Arthur Pendergast. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so, but Lucius' wand shattered upon meeting Pendergast's."

"I - I have no explanation, my Lord."

Snape wasn't looking at Voldemort now. His dark eyes 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.

Snape now looked at Voldemort, his face was like a death mask, marble white and still when he spoke, it was a shock to see that anyone lived behind those 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…" Voldemort said, his voice now barely louder than a whisper. "...wondering, wondering, 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 god 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 Elder Wand cannot be truly mine."

"My Lord!" Snape protested, raising his wand.

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

Voldemort swiped the air with the Elder Wand, doing nothing to Snape.

For a split second, Snape thought he was reprieved, but Voldemort's intentions were clear. The snake's cage rolled through the air and before Snape could do anything other than yell, it encased him, head and shoulders, and Voldemort spoke in Parseltongue.

"Kill."

There was a horrible scream. Arthur saw Snape's face losing the little colour it had left, whitening as his black eyes widened, as the snake's fangs pierced his neck, failing to push the enchanted cage off himself, as his knees gave way before falling to the floor.

"I regret it." Voldemort said coldly.

He then turned away, feeling no sadness or remorse in the slightest.

It was now time to leave the shack and take charge, now with a wand that should do his full bidding.

He pointed it at the starry cage that held the snake, which drifted upwards, off of Snape, who fell sideways to the floor, blood gushing from the wounds in his neck.

Voldemort swept from the room without a glance back, and the serpent floated after him in its protective sphere.

Now back in the tunnel and his own mind, Arthur opened his eyes. His jaw hurt from clenching tightly.

He looked through the tiny crack between crate and wall, watching a foot in a black boot tremble on the floor.

"Arthur!" Chrys breathed behind him.

He pointed his wand at the crate that blocked his view and it lifted an inch off the floor, silently drifting sideways.

He then quietly pulled himself up into the room.

Arthur couldn't explain why he was doing it, but he approached the dying man. He didn't know what he felt upon seeing Snape's white face and his fingers that tried to staunch the bloody wound at his neck.

He then took his Invisibility Cloak off, looking down at the man he despised for years, whose widening black eyes found Arthur as he tried to speak.

Arthur bent over him, which allowed Snape to seize his jacket and pulled him close.

A terrible, rasping, gurgling noise came from Snape's throat.

"Take… it…. Take… it…."

This made Arthur notice that there was more than blood that leaked from Snape.

Silvery blue, neither gas or liquid, it gushed from his mouth, ears and eyes. Arthur knew what it was, but he didn't have anything -

A flask, conjured from thin air, was thrust into his shaking hands by Mike.

Arthur lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand.

Once the flash was full to the brim, Snape looked like he had no blood left in him, his grip on Arthur's jack slackening.

"You… have… your mother's… eyes…" Snape whispered.

This made Arthur's green eyes find Snape's black eyes, the former's frowning in confusion and shock.

After a second, something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank and empty.

The hand that held Arthur thudded to the floor and Snape moved no more, now dead and lifeless.

The next bunch of chapters will be a rollercoaster.

Sorry for not uploading the past couple of days. On April 1st, I went with my mom to finally go see Dune: Part Two in IMAX (Absolutely love the film, btw), did some shopping with her afterwards, which included meeting an old primary school friend, and checked on my sister who was working in the house she's moving in soon. Not a joke, btw, considering April 1st is April Fool's Day.