Chapter 14: The Snake
—
Ginny had come up with an alternative to murder. Legally speaking, it was just as damning, but morally, it was much more gray.
The new plan was simple. The imperious curse. Harry had used it before in past lives. He had done it enough that it was very easy for him to do now. He even tested it on Ginny to make sure he could still manage it in this timeline. She did fight back a little bit, but Harry was able to take complete control with little effort. Very few people could resist the curse. There was no way Umbridge could resist it… right?
The back up plan was simple as well. A memory charm. If the imperious curse didn't take, Harry would simply modify her memory to remove the encounter from her mind and then come up with a different plan.
The back up to the back up plan was less desirable. Plan C was to just kill her.
The next Friday, Harry got argumentative towards the end of Defense class. He knew Umbridge would give him detention or at least hold her after class. Either way, he'd be alone with her. She went with the detention option. This was the more convenient outcome for Harry as he was less likely to get walked in on during a detention than after class, but also, Ginny could now try to get a detention too. She could be in the room as back up.
Umbridge kept her wand in a holster up her left sleeve. Any good holster had protections against summoning charms, so Harry knew he'd have to catch her off guard or incapacitate her to perform the imperious curse. He could only disarm her if her wand was actually in her hand.
Luckily for him, Ginny did manage to get detention. Luckily for him, they had their detentions together. And Luckily for him, Umbridge did not expect Harry to be able to do wandless magic. Drawing his wand on her would have been risky, but by using wandless magic, he had a second's advantage.
"On, no Mr. Potter… Miss Weasley… you won't be needing your own quills," Umbridge simpered after she got them both alone. "You'll be using a very special one of mine."
"Is that so, Professor," Harry said innocently. "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry had extended his hand to take the quill from her and casted a wandless petrification spell with the same motion. She'd had zero opportunity to react.
"Get the door, Ginny," Harry ordered. Ginny quickly locked the door while Harry drew his wand.
"Imperius," he said firmly. He felt his control spread over Umbridge. Her mind was so weak. He instantly knew she had no chance of ever breaking it.
"Did it work?" Ginny asked timidly.
"Yup," Harry smirked. With a swish of his wand, she was able to move once more.
"I'm… so dreadfully sorry for my behavior, Mr. Potter," she said immediately. "I now see how very wrong I was."
"You will contact Rita Skeeter and tell her Fudge is lying," Harry ordered.
"Minister Fudge does not know he is lying, Mr. Potter," Umbridge said blankly. "He is just scared I believe."
"That may be true, Professor, but you will tell Rita Skeeter that he is lying and that he knows he is lying," Harry said. "You will tell her that the ministry has had several confirmed sightings of Voldemort and that Fudge is covering it up because he'd rather project the image of peace and safely than admit the danger."
"Yes, Mr. Potter… of course," she said placidly.
"You have to give her orders out loud?" Ginny asked. "I thought it was a mental connection thing."
"Yeah, the mental orders are more vague," Harry said. "Direct commands work better for specific tasks and assignments."
Harry turned back to Umbridge. "You will remove all of your educational decrees and reassign all your powers and authority to Dumbledore," Harry continued. "Though you will do this gradually so no one will get suspicious of your intentions or my orders."
"Of course, Mr. Potter," she said, her eyes sort of starting off into space.
"You will call for Fudge's resignation and endorse Madam Bones as the next minister for magic. You will ask all your friends and contacts in the ministry to do the same."
Umbridge simply nodded.
"You will be very harsh with Slytherins regarding class expectations and house points and you will be lenient with the other houses," Harry added with a smirk.
Umbridge nodded once more.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Was that last one necessary?"
"Absolutely," Harry smiled as he and Ginny headed for the door.
"Oh, and one more thing, Professor… destroy all your blood quills," Harry said.
—
Grimault Place was much larger than The Burrow, so when Sirius invited Harry, Hermione, and all the Weasley's over for Christmas Eve and Christmas, it was an easy decision to go. A few Order members, namely Remus and Tonks, were living there as well.
The Order had a meeting the morning of Christmas Eve in which Kinglsley advised of several simultaneous secret raids committed by the Aurors, resulting in the capture of Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott. Voldemort's army was down to about ten recruits, and, funnily enough, Snape, or so he thought. Snape had had a standing order for months now to, if the opportunity presented itself, kill or kidnap the snake. This was deemed an acceptable reason for him to blow his cover and abandon his spy mission.
As luck would have it, breakfast on Christmas day was interrupted by the sounds of the crack of apparition followed by a crashing sound both coming from the entryway. Harry got up to go and look and see what the commotion was followed closely by everyone else. There in the foyer was Snape, struggling to hold the snake in a see through magic orb. The snake was pounding against the barrier, causing the sphere to become misshapen and he had to keep reapplying the curse.
"Help… me…" he groaned under the pressure of maintaining the spell.
Sirius, Remus, and Tonks all quickly cast the same spell, morphing the orb completely solid. Snape then collapsed, holding onto his arm and groaning.
"I can't kill it," Snape said. "We need… Dumbledore… I'm injured…"
Sirius turned to Arthur. "Floo Madam Pomphrey. Tell her Snape's been bitten by Voldemort's snake. Then Floo Dumbledore once she's here," he barked. Arthur nodded and quickly ran out of the room to do just that.
"Everyone but Harry and Molly, get out," Remus ordered as he, Sirius, and Tonks all focused hard on maintaining the prison. Hermione and the Weasley siblings all backed away but continued to watch from the hallway, Bill and Charlie both forcing the others to stand behind them. Molly ran to Snape
"Glacius," Molly said, aiming her wand at the puncture wound in Snape's arm. A solid block of ice appeared around the wound. The ice darkened as it began to suck the venom out of his arm. "That should neutralize the potion I hope. It will stop the bleeding for now as well. Poppy will be able to do more, Severus."
"Harry, how did you say you killed the Snake in your visions?" Remus asked.
"With this," he said, reaching out and grasping thin air. The sword of Gryffindor appeared in his outstretched hand."
"Wicked," Fred and George both said from the hallway.
"No spells affect it," Snape said. "It can only be indirectly contained. If they drop the shield-"
"I know," Harry cut him off. "Let the shield down."
"But Harry-" Remus began.
"Let it down, Moony!" Harry ordered.
Remus looked apprehensive between Sirius and Tonks before nodding. Molly helped Snape to his feet and they backed away towards the hall.
"On three," Remus said. "One… Two…Three!"
The shield disappeared and the snake immediately lunged at Harry. Harry attempted to dodge and swung the sword. The razor sharp place sliced the snake cleanly in half, though Harry had not been fast enough to dodge the snake's fangs.
"Fuck!" Harry shouted, ripping his arm away from the snake. At the same moment, black smoke took the form of an emaciated, snakelike, skeletal face. The face screamed and dissipated and the horcrux died. Harry pulled the snake's head off himself and threw it at the wall in a panic.
"Harry!" Molly shouted, running over to him. "G…glacius!" The same icy spell formed on Harry's arm and began to suck out any venom, also stopping the bleeding.
"What in the bloody hell was that black face thing?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Nevermind that," Harry said quickly, hobbling over to the couch upon which Snape now also sat. Not a moment later, both Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore came running into the foyer, having just arrived together via floo.
"Good heavens!" Madam Pomfrey cried at the sight of the dead snake in the corner.
"Fawks," Dumbledore called calmly. In a burst of flames, the phoenix appeared. "Stretch out your arm towards Fawks, Harry," Dumbledore said.
"No… Snape first," Harry said. "He was bit before I was. He's in more danger." Snape indeed had slumped over and was on the border of unconsciousness from the poison. Dumbledore vaniced Snape's icy bandage and Fawks obediently leaned over to cry on the wound. The wound healed up immediately.
Harry, feeling very light headed indeed, couldn't help but laugh. "We've got to stop meeting like this, Fawks," he joked, before stretching out his arm. Fawked patched Harry up as well just as he blacked out.
—
Harry awoke to find he was nearly in the same place he had passed out, though there was now a bed in place of the couch that sat in the foyer. He was laying on it. Snape was nowhere to be seen. Hermione, the only other person in the room, was sitting on the edge of the bed holding his hand; stroking the back of it with her thumb while she read a book.
He looked down at his forearm where he'd been bitten. He had a pretty nasty looking scar there now. It was in nearly the exact same place as his scar from the basilisk, just on the opposite arm. "Good. Now I'm all balanced out," he said jokingly.
"Harry!" Hermione said with a start. She hadn't realized he was awake. "Professor, Harry's awake!" she called towards the next room over. Sirius came bounding back into the room followed closely by Remus and Dumbledore.
"How long was I out?" Harry asked.
"About an hour," Hermione said. "That venom acted fast. It's a good thing Fawks came."
"How's Snape?" Harry asked.
"Professor Snape will be alright, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Those precious moments during which you insisted that Fawk aid him first instead of yourself may have been the difference between life and death. He had much more venom in him than you and it had been there for longer as well."
"Uh… where is he then?" Harry asked.
"You were stable and Professor Snape needed additional care. He had several more minor injuries and a broken wrist in addition to his puncture wound and the venom. I thought it unwise to take him to Saint Mungos. Too many questions, but also, Voldemort is likely furious. He will be looking for Professor Snape. I fear he would attack St. Mungos if Professor Snape was moved there. Professor Snape was moved to the Hogwarts infirmary."
"Voldemort is furious," Harry said. "He's… oh shit…"
"Language Harry," Hermione chided. Harry ignored her.
"He's using the cruciatus curse on all his remaining followers one by one… and Draco and Narcissa…"
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked. "Futuresight? … or your scar?"
"Scar," Harry said with a wince. Using that particular window into Voldemort's soul was always very painful.
"How many followers does he have with him? Harry," Dumbledore asked urgently. "Where is he now?"
"He's in Malfoy Manor still," Harry said.
"We can't do anything to help the Malfoys," Dumbledore said solemnly. "They are hidden by a fidelius charm, just like us."
"Potion time!" Tonks called, entering the room with a large glass vial.
"What is that, it reeks," Harry groaned.
"Just got it from Poppy," she said. "I'm supposed to make you drink it all."
"I feel fine, do I have to?" Harry lied.
"You most certainly do not feel fine, Harry, you're pale as a sheet,' Hermione scolded. "Drink it!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Gross," he groaned after drinking the potion.
"Professor," Harry asked tentatively. "Do you think I could pull the location of Malfoy Manor out of Voldemort with legilimency?"
"Such an attempt would be foolish, Harry," Dumbledore said. "He does not yet know of the connection between your minds. Revealing it to him does us no good. Besides, Voldemort is a skilled occlumens. He will overpower your attempts."
Tears began to fall from Harry's eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Draco," he said aloud. Hermione placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
—
It was January and Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and Moody had just arrived on platform nine and three quarters. Molly and Aurthur had taken Ron and Ginny through to the platform ahead of their group and Bill and Charlie were escorting the twins after. Harry spotted Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones milling around and watching over the platform as well.
"Susan!" Harry grinned. He released Hermione's hand and ran across the platform to sweep off her feet into a tight hug.
"Harry, oh god, put me down," she giggled.
"No!" He laughed, now rocking her back and forth like a pendulum.
"It's good to finally meet the boy my little niece has told me so much about," came the voice of Amelia Bones.
"It's good to finally meet a minister for magic who hasn't got their head up their arse," Harry replied.
Amelia gave Harry a curious, very judgemental sort of look. "Harry! Language!" Susan said, blushing deeply.
"Oh, er, uh, sorry Minister Bones," Harry said. "That was a really inappropriate thing to say."
"That is quite alright," Amelia responded with a soft smile. "Your father was quite immature also until he was about seventeen or eighteen…"
"My fault, Amy," Sirius said, catching up to Harry. "I'm sure he's picked up that foul mouth from me. He's been at my house the past two weeks."
"Hello Sirius," Amelia smiled. "How's freedom treating you?"
"Better than the dementors," he grinned back.
"And you must be Luna?" Amelia said to Hermione. "Susie, I thought you said she was blonde."
"Oh, no, this is Hermione Granger," Susan responded. "I haven't seen Luna yet."
Amelia raised an eyebrow. "And what is the relationship here," she asked, gesturing back and forth between Harry and Hermione.
"She's Harry's… other other girlfriend," Susan blushed.
"Let me get this straight," Amelia sighed. "You are dating both Harry and Luna… and Harry is dating you, Luna… and also Hermione here?"
Susan nodded. Harry was mentally preparing to defend his relationship with Hermione. According to Hermione's research, polygamy had fallen out of fashion in the 1800s in the wizarding world but it wasn't illegal or even unheard of.
Amelia laughed. "Good for you all for finding love."
Harry and Hermione both looked a little startled. "You're… not mad?" Harry asked.
"My niece is happy," Amelia responded. "That's all I care about. You know, no one talks about it, but polygamy is on the rise again. So many men died in the wars against Grindelwald and You-Know-Who… They both preferred recruiting men and men are more likely to aurors as well. The gender ratio is way off for people our age. How many girlfriends have you got, Sirius?"
"Are you asking for personal reasons?" Sirius smirked. "No girlfriends at the moment, Amy, though that's not to say I'm not interested... I'm only dating Remus, though he's also dating my cousin… Dora Tonks."
"Oh, you're back together with Remus, that's so nice," Amelia smiled. "Are you free Friday? You can bring Remus if you want…"
"Er, we're gonna go," Harry said, his eyes darting back and forth between his godfather and the new minister for magic. If Sirius was about to score a date with Madam Bones, he wanted to get out of the way of that. Sirius hugged them goodbye and Harry, Hermione, and Susan continued towards the train.