Chapter 17: Die, Nagini!

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

I got a review that said I use the word bitch too much and I might have anger issues. Yeah, probably. I'm bi-polar, so I would say that's a safe bet.

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Sirius Black and his crew were sitting outside Malfoy Manor looking to see who was milling around the lawn. They were sitting a good 150 feet away from the manor looking at them through omnioculars. Harry had some from the game last year. They were going over the coming and goings of the Death Eaters and trying to see if they could recognize any of them.

They could recognize those like Snape and Lucius because of their hair. But other than that, the rest of them were just indistinguishable. So far, they had seen a great deal of Death Eaters coming in and out of the manor, but they didn't know exactly who they were. Most of them wore their robes and their masks whenever they left the manor.

Moody had heard rumor that Voldemort was going to raid Azkaban soon, so they wanted to get this done now. If they waited any longer, they'd have to deal with the likes of Bellatrix, and they didn't want that. That bitch was crazy.

"So, what do you think we should do?" asked Kingsley as he watched the men and women wander the grounds.

Sirius too was watching the going on of the people walking around the grounds. "Well, the first thing we've got to do is kill the snake," he said, glaring at the people he was watching like they were the enemy that should just drop dead from his eyes alone.

"How are we gonna get close to the snake? It sits right next to Voldemort most of the time," Remus asked, looking at Sirius like he was crazy. He was here under duress. Dumbledore didn't want him to come, but Sirius compelled him to. Not by magic, but by words. The dogman had guilted him in to coming. He used his years of friendship to get him to come. Now he felt like he was betraying Dumbledore, and he didn't like it.

Bill watched as Snape walked by and said, "Maybe we should incorporate Snape into our plans?" Thinking the man was right there. All it would take was talking to him.

"I don't want that arsehole anywhere near us. I don't trust him. I gave him a little test and I haven't seen the results of it yet," said Sirius. He had been waiting to see if the man was a traitor, and so far, he hadn't seen the results one way or the other.

"What kind of test did you give him?" asked Kingsley, looking at Sirius with consideration. He too didn't trust Snape. As a matter of fact, the only person there with them that trusted the man was Remus. And that was because he was Dumbledore's man. Why Sirius wanted him here was beyond the rest of their comprehension.

"I gave him some information that I wanted to see if he'd pass on to Voldemort. So far, I haven't seen anything that indicates that he has," said Sirius reluctantly. Snape must have kept the information to himself. That meant that he was on their side. At least not against them.

"What were you looking for?" asked Moody. He was eyeballing the man in question, like he was ready to take the man out if he was given the word. They were too far away for that, but he was ready to do it anyway.

"I was looking to see if there were any extra guards, but I'm seeing the regular number of guards so far," the dogman said with a sigh.

"How can you tell? You haven't really staked this place out before. For all we know, these are the extra guards," said Moody, being his normal paranoid self.

"I staked it out before," said Bill, counting the amount of people milling about, "and I can tell you this is actually the regular amount of guards." He looked around the group to see how they were taking that news.

"What were you doing staking out Malfoy Manor?" asked Kingsley, a bit miffed at this bit of news. They could have used that information before now. They had been here for about an hour now and this was the first time Bill had said anything.

"I knew this was going to be our next destination, so I wanted to see what was going to happen, what we were up against," said Bill with a shrug, not seeing what the issue was. He had only done it yesterday and the day before.

"That was actually a very good idea," said Moody, clapping the younger man on the back. "I'm glad you did, but you should have let the rest of us know."

"You're right, I should have. We're a team. I'm just used to working by myself," said Bill, with another shrug. That wasn't completely true, but working with goblins was completely different than working with humans. You did your job and moved on. You didn't check in with your teammates. If you didn't do your job correctly, then the next guy would let you know, or die. And you would get in trouble or fired.

"Well, now that you know what we're up against, let us know now," said Moody.

"Well, like I said, this is the normal number of guards and they're going to be changing here in about half an hour," Weasley reported, looking at his watch to make sure that he was correct in his timing.

"Then this would be a good time to take them out," said Kingsley, shifting as if getting ready to fight.

"You think so?" asked Sirius, holding the man back. "I think we should wait another fifteen minutes. That way they won't know that we are coming." He was thinking they should do it closer to the time of change. Then again, he knew nothing about war tactics.

"Well, I mean, they're gonna know we're coming once we take the guards out. What we need to do is be stealthier. I don't think we should take the guards out. I think we should sneak in behind them, kill the snake, kill Voldemort, kill the guards on the way out," said Kingsley, putting his plan out there. He was more inclined to do that than jump into the fight he was raring for a moment ago. He was better at stealth than one on one. Being an Auror they were used to doing things that didn't accrue casualties.

"I wish Tonks were here, that would make things a little easier. She could disguise herself as one of the guards and then sneak in and kill the snake and then let us in," said Remus, wishing for the girl to be here not only for that, but because she could calm Sirius down better than he could. He didn't know why, but lately, Sirius listened to her more than he did him. Harry was the best at it, but he was at Hogwarts right now.

"Why isn't she here?" asked Sirius, looking around like she would pop up from one of the many bushes they were hiding among. She didn't, but it was wishful thinking on his part. He missed having her here.

"She's still working on that Umbridge case," said Kingsley. He had left her at the DMLE just this evening working on it. She had been put out that she couldn't join them, but she was so close to closing the case. She was upset that Alfred had done a runner and the prosecuting counsel couldn't find him.

"I thought she was done with that case after she found the brother," said Sirius, tilting his head to the side.

"Bones wants her to work on it a little bit more to see if she can find out how much Umbridge hid in the records. She did a pretty good job of scrubbing everything before her father disappeared, and she needs to find out how much she… scrubbed. They're still trying to figure out how much of this 'muggleborn mafia' has influenced their unsolved cases," the tall black man said as he watched the Death Eaters wander the grounds. Just because they weren't talking about them didn't mean they shouldn't keep an eye on them. They could change up any minute, and that would throw everything out of whack. They really needed to get things going soon, or they would lose the daylight.

Tonks had told them all about this case now that it was about to be put to rest. She wasn't going to, but it was almost done. Bones wanted Sirius's input on something to do with the 'muggleborn mafia', so she had to clue him in, and Kingsley had been brought in for the same reason. Sirius had told Remus and so on.

"It still tickles me pink whenever somebody says 'muggleborn mafia'," Sirius said, chuckling under his breath. He just thought it was funny as hell that some muggleborn had got together and formed an underground illegal conglomerate to take care of some of the problems of the wizarding world. The fact that they were taking money to do it was hysterical. That's what Bones had wanted his input on, where the money was coming from. His family had had their hands in the darker parts of the underground in the past and she thought he might know.

"I don't think it's very funny at all," said Kingsley, taking his eyes off the enemy to snap at Sirius. "I think it's something extremely serious that we need to take into consideration, because after we take care of Voldemort, this could become something that we have to take very seriously." He was an Auror, and this was something that could become a major problem. At least to him and his colleagues.

"I don't think 'we' have to worry about it at all," said Remus, pointing to him and Sirius, not the least bit concerned. "I think it's something left up to the DMLE. I don't think it's something that the citizens should have to worry about unless it directly affects them. I know Dumbledore doesn't think it's something to worry about." They had talked about it and the old man said not to concern himself over it. That it was something that would blow over and not to worry.

"Dumbledore doesn't worry about anything unless it directly affects him so..." Sirius said snidely. He didn't give a rat's arse what the old man said.

"Can we just not talk about this right now and move on to what's important," said Moody, getting upset that they were talking about it at all. They were supposed to be taking care of Nagini then the Dark Lord, not debating over a bunch of muggleborn lawbreakers.

"Right, we need to take care of the snake," said Sirius, looking back towards the manor. There were around eight Death Eaters roaming the grounds in front of the building. There were just as many in the back. There were half that on each side. He was sure that he could sneak in the front, it was heavily guarded, but it was also huge and easily slipped through.

"That's right. So, let's talk about how we're going to get around the Death Eaters before the next group of Death Eaters come out and are bright and cheerful," the one-eyed man said, making them all get back on course.

"I can't believe those words just came out of your mouth, Moody," said Sirius, bursting into a full-throated chuckle. He tried to keep it low, but he was still having difficulty keeping his emotions under control.

"Don't worry about what I said, worry about what needs to be done. We need to get past these Death Eaters, and we are running out of time. So, who's going to volunteer to go in and kill the snake? It can't be me. I can't go stealthy," Mad-eye stated, thumping his closed fist on his wooden leg. He had given up going stealthy ages ago.

"I'll go," said Sirius. "I can slip past anyone." He was good at sneaking and hopefully could keep it under control long enough to get through.

"Alright, do you happen to have the invisibility cloak?" asked Bill, who knew Harry had one due to Ron. That would be a great boon if he did have it.

"No, Harry has that at Hogwarts, but I do have a good Notice-Me-Not Charm," he said, having perfected one that Harry had taught him using the new magic. It was seamless. There were none of the telltale signs of the old one.

"You can't sneak by Death Eaters with the Notice-Me-Not Charm," Moody stated, knowing that one could be spotted right away with that charm.

"Ah, but this is the special Notice-Me-Not Charm. Harry taught me," the dogman said, smugly. He was preening over his accomplishment.

"Let's see it then," said Kingsley, not believing it for a moment.

So, Sirius did the Notice-Me-Not Charmed that Harry had taught him and he disappeared in front of everybody, and they did not see him anywhere and they looked for the telltale waiver that is usually shown with that charm, but they couldn't see it. Sirius moved around to a different area. Then he dropped the charm and said "Boo."

"Shite," three out of four of them said as they jerked around to glare at him.

"See, it's a special one that Harry taught me. I can get in and get out before they even notice me. But since I don't have to get out, I'll let you all in. And we can take care of old Voldy," he said, feeling proud of himself.

"All right, why don't you go ahead and do that, and we'll wait out here until you give us the signal that it's time to come in. Try and kill as many Death Eaters as you can along the way. If you think you can get away with it without giving yourself away," Mad-eye stated, liking this plan all the better after seeing that charm in action.

"Oh, I think I can do that without a problem," said Sirius, cracking his knuckles in preparation.

"All right then, be on your way," Moody said, moving the rest of them out of the way.

Bill said, "Wait." He handed him a couple of items that Sirius might need. "These are some tricks that the twins gave me in case we needed them. There's some Peruvian Darkness Powder. Some noise makers that you toss away, and they'll make noise in a different direction so that if somebody is coming after you, they'll go after that noise instead. A couple of fake wands. And some fireworks that you can set off in people's faces. There's a bunch of other gag gifts in there too that I'm sure you know how to use."

They were given to him by the twins for this venture, or one like it. He was supposed to use them and give a report on how they worked. However, he wasn't going to do that. He was just going to give them to Sirius and see what chaos the man could do.

"Thanks, Bill. These will come in handy. I'll make sure the twins know that I put them to good use the next time I see them," Sirius said as he shoved them into his pockets.

"Good luck."

So, Sirius started making his way across the lawn using the Notice-Me-Not Charm. Bill had made a hole in the wards so that he could get through them without being noticed. He snuck his way past the Death Eaters, slicing the throat of the last one before he went into the house. He tucked him underneath a hedge so that he would not be seen. He killed a few of the men and women that he ran across in the house as he searched for the snake, tucking them in corners.

He was looking around and saw his cousin, Narcissa. He was torn as to what to do with her because she wasn't a Death Eater, but she was married to Lucius, whom he despised, so he decided to stun her instead of killing her. He tucked her into a closet so nobody would find her.

He made his way around the manor, killing as he went, though he really didn't know the layout of it very well. He'd only been there a few times before he was kicked out of his family.

He finally found the snake in the sunroom on the west side of the manor. He was still under the Notice-Me-Not Charm. But the snake could smell him, so she started weaving back and forth in a snake like manner ready to strike and kill him. He threw one of the noisemakers away, hoping to distract her, but that didn't help. She was more of a hunt by smelling animal. So, he threw some Peruvian Darkness Powder and that seemed to help a little bit, though not much. It seemed to impede him more than it impeded her. So, he got out of the darkness and hopped on a broom, which he had carried shrunken in his pocket.

He flew high above her and taunted her.

When she stretched up to get as high as she could to try and catch him on his broom, he cast a blasting hex down her throat. Which resulted in the blasting of her head off her body.

Finally, Nagini was dead.

There was a screaming as a mist left her body when the horcrux died.

And that's when the Death Eaters came in.

Hphphp

Harry and Padma were walking by the lake discussing what they were going to do with all the attention they were getting. Padma wasn't used to this kind of attention, and it was getting on her nerves, and she was wondering if Harry had any advice as to how to get rid of it.

"Really, the best thing you could do is ignore it," Harry said as they walked the perimeter of the lake. They were at the far end now and making their way back to the castle.

It was a nice day out, since it was the beginning of October. It would be getting very chilly very soon. So, they were taking advantage of the last few nice days.

"But I don't want to ignore it. I want it to go away," said Padma in an almost demanding tone. It wasn't that she was trying to be snooty, it was that she was frustrated.

"It won't go away until you ignore it," said Harry patiently, trying to get that point across.

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Padma in a whingy tone.

"No, it really does. It's like a bully. Bullies won't stop bullying you until you ignore them. It's the same thing. The more you pay attention to the people paying attention to you, the more they pay attention to you too, get it?" he asked, hoping she understood his rambling. It was a roundabout logic. It was true, but you had to jump through some loops to get there.

"Oh, that's just so confusing," said Padma, rubbing her forehead, trying to stave off the headache.

"But it's true," said Harry, smiling at her confusion. He knew all she had to do was think about it and she'd get it. "I know it's confusing, but it really is true. If you ignore them, they eventually go away. But you can't ignore them in such a way that it seems like you're stuck up. You just have to not pay attention to them."

"How can you ignore them in a way that doesn't seem like you're stuck up? I don't understand, Harry. You're not making any sense," the young lady said, a frown crested her brow.

"Just watch what I do, act how I act, and you'll understand," he said, puffing out his chest a bit. He had been doing this for quite a while, and he was sure he had it down pat.

"I'll try," said Padma, reluctantly. "But most people think you are stuck up," she pointed out, looking at him confused. She thought he knew that.

"Do they really?" asked Harry incredulously. "I didn't know that. Maybe I should try a little harder to act nonchalant." He thought he was doing well in acting shy.

"No, they really think you are stuck up because you don't give them the time of day when they ask that of you," she said, knowing what most of the Ravenclaws thought of the Boy-Who-Lived, and quite a few of the Slytherins as well.

"Oh, that was last year, and last year I was being stuck up," Harry said, remembering that was the year of the Goblet of Fire and the Hogwarts kids were ridiculing him and treating him like shite, so he was treating them like that back. "That and I'm just overly shy. I'm not overly shy anymore. Now I'm just a bit of an arse."

"So, what changed you over the summer that you're no longer shy and are a bit of an arse?" she asked, wanting to know what happened to him when he disappeared. Everyone wanted to know. He had changed so much that even the Slytherins had noticed.

"Let's just say I had a bit of an out of body experience and it changed my perspective of the way my life was going," he said, patting the hand that was in the crook of his elbow. However, he wasn't saying anything more than that.

"You're not going to tell me anymore than that?" she asked, pouting. She even batted her eyes a bit.

He laughed at her antics and patted her hand again. "Maybe if we get a little bit closer one day I'll tell you more, but as of right now that's all I can tell you," he said, leaning forward and kissing her cheek.

"I look forward to that day, Harry Potter," she said, blushing a bit.

"We'll see, Padma Patil."

"Until such time, tell me more about yourself," she requested as they continued back to the castle. It was getting dark out now and close to dinner.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, I already know that you like Quidditch and that you like… Nope, that's it. That's all I know about you," she said, laughing, placing a hand on his arm.

"Wow, you must think I'm a very shallow person then. I know more about you. Then again, I know your sister," he said, chuckling as he guided her around a large stone in the path.

"Which is why I want to know more about you," said Padma. It really wasn't fair that Parvati would tell anyone everything about her, but no one would say anything about Harry.

"Well, I do like to read, not as much as Hermione, but I do like to read. I like nice quiet times, when no one is around. Uh, I like long walks like we are doing now. I love food. Especially good food cooked by the house elves. And I put a lot of stock in family," he said, putting emphasis on the last sentence. That wasn't true before this summer, well he hadn't known it was true, but now, it was very true.

"Those are all very good values," said Padma. She really liked that he wanted a family. It was something that she looked forward to as well, as long as she could have her career too. She very much wanted to be a solicitor, and she felt she could be both that and a mother.

"Well, I'm glad you approve," said Harry, taking her hand and leading her across a tricky part of the path. "And I know you like to read as well, that you want to be a solicitor, and that you also like nice quiet times when you're reading. And I know you also like long walks, and that you put a lot of stock into family. I don't know if you like food or not."

"The British food is a lot different than the food in India. Um, I like Indian food better. It's got a lot more flavor to it," she confessed, some pink on her cheeks. To her, British food was bland and tasteless. She lamented that it was all that was served here at Hogwarts. Last year was great when they served French and Bulgarian food.

"I've never tried Indian food. I must admit my uncle was very British and did not like foreign food, so I can't say whether I like it better or not," Harry said, never having tried anything more foreign than pizza until last year. That had been a treat.

"Do you like spicy food?" she asked, hoping he said yes.

"I've never had the opportunity to try." Even last year's bounty wasn't that spicy, though some were tangy. It was different and much spicier than British fare, but he felt she was talking much spicier than that.

"Well then, I'm just going to have to ask for a care package and let you try some," she said, determined to do just that. She'd have her mother send some from her kitchen to see if Harry liked it.

"I would be honored, my lady."

"Very well then, it's a date."

"Alright then. It's a date."

With that the two of them walked back to the castle discussing what kind of food Padma might bring on this date. Harry listened with rapt attention, wondering what he had gotten himself into.