Chapter 152

Facing the Serpent

Lily frowned as she looked at the brick wall that Lucius Malfoy had led them to. She realised that in Hogwarts, that wall would have the entrance to the Headmaster's Office. They had looked for the entrance, but there hadn't been one, so they had moved on. Now, she was mentally berating herself for not thinking that there could be a hidden entrance.

"Why didn't I think of this being an entrance?" Lily growled bitterly. "I should have kept looking."

"If we hadn't guided you, you'd have continued to ignore it. There is a protection spell here which means you can't look for the entrance unless you know it's here," Lucius replied.

"That makes sense," Draco said, studying the wall. "I mean, this is… well, it makes sense that Slytherin would have a lot of protection around his tomb."

"How did Riddle make it here?" Ginny asked, frowning.

"He is descended from Slytherin, and so the magic recognised him as belonging here," Lucius pointed out.

"Even though he was half-blood?" Lily asked.

"Indeed. The power of his line was strong enough for him to be recognised as the Heir of Slytherin, and so the castle bent itself to his will. It showed him where he wanted to go, and he was purified by Slytherin," Lucius explained.

"And his face became what it is now; like a snake," Ginny scoffed.

"He saw it as acceptable, to rid himself of what he thought was his disease," Narcissa said. "After all, for him, purity was everything."

"I've learnt a lot since spending time with Lily, and her friends," Draco said, looking at his mother. "I know you taught me differently, but you were wrong about some things."

"Sadly, we were wrong, yes," Narcissa said, smiling at him. "Your Uncle was kind to take you in and protect you. I never would have imagined Bellatrix doing what she did."

"It caught me by surprise too," Lily admitted. "I accepted that we'd lost that night, but I respected the fact that you, Mr. Malfoy, were going to let us go."

"I made an agreement with you, Miss Potter. You were going to keep to your end, and so was I. There was no need for people to die that night, especially not children. I believed that I was doing the right thing, but dying certainly gave me a new perspective on life," Lucius explained.

"Father… I'm sorry that I… wasn't there, and let you down," Draco said softly. Lucius looked down at Draco and knelt in front of his son.

"No, it is I who is sorry, Draco. I treated you the same way my father treated me, but that was wrong. I provided what I thought was tough love, but in fact I was merely continuing the same abuse that my father inflicted upon me. When I passed over, everything became clear. I only wish I had seen the error of my ways when I was still alive," Lucius said.

"Like I said to you, Draco, whilst I didn't agree with your parents on many things, they were pure in their love for you. They would have done anything for you," Lily said, taking Draco's hand.

"And so we would have, and will do, in fact. This conduit brought us here, and for that, I am thankful, because now we can correct a grave mistake in serving the Dark Lord," Lucius said.

"Lily Potter… for all the suffering you went through, you've never stopped being a good person, and the love and friendship you've shown to Draco is a comfort to me," Narcissa added, smiling at her. "Thank you, for doing what we could not."

"You did give him guidance, strength, and love. It might have been different to how I received it, but you gave him your love without question, you protected him and raised him the best you knew how, and you were always there for him. That makes you great parents, and Draco was lucky to have you," Lily told them. She saw the tears in Draco's eyes, before he embraced her in a hug.

"Thank you, Lily, for being my family," Draco said softly.

"Always, Draco. Always," Lily promised, holding him in the hug.

"I can tell you something else, Lily," Lucius said. "You are searching for Horcruxes. There is one here, as you know, and that is Merlin's Staff. The Goblet of Helga Hufflepuff is within Gringotts, in the Lestrange Vault, put there years ago. The last one is the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, and that is hidden at Hogwarts, though I'm not sure where," Lucius explained.

"Still, that gives us a starting place. Once we're done here, we'll be within distance of destroying all of them," Lily said. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. That's given us what we need."

"It is my pleasure. You'll need to destroy all of them to destroy the Dark Lord and the Dark Lady, though there is a rift growing between them, I believe. From what we could sense from the afterlife, the Dark Lady believes herself to be the true power, because she is in a pure blood body," Lucius said. "Be careful; everything rests on you and your friends."

"She's got me backing her up; she's gonna be fine," Draco grinned as he spoke, which prompted Lily to grin as well.

"Now who can argue with that vote of confidence?" Lily asked.

"I wouldn't try," Sirius said, as he arrived with the spirit of Regulus, as well as Remus, Scrimgeour, and Crouch. "Narcissa. Lucius."

"Sirius, thank you for giving Draco a home when he needed one," Narcissa said, smiling sadly at him.

"You're family; even if we weren't on the same side. I wasn't gonna let him be without family," Sirius said. "I'm… sorry, for everything."

"As much as I love the family gathering, we've got work to do," Bill said, as he led Molly, Percy, Charlie, Nagini, and Arthur's spirit towards them.

"We're almost all here then," Charlie said. "We're about to have a hell of a fight."

"Hopefully, it'll be a little easier," Ron's voice spoke up as he arrived with Hermione, Fleur, Lavender, and Mad Eye's spirit.

"Alastor…" Crouch began, but Mad Eye held up a hand.

"Lad, I told you when I sent you away, I was proud of you, and I still am. Don't blame yourself, and don't let my choice give you any guilt. I knew you needed to survive. Now, I've just taught Granger a spell that'll help, but she'll need to teach Potter and Weasley," Mad Eye said, with Hermione already huddled up to Lily and Ginny, talking softly.

"We've got a lot of power here; we should be able to do this," Sirius said.

"Agreed," Mad Eye nodded. "Just remember, all of you, to always stick together. After this, you'll be closer to destroying the bastards, and I expect you to succeed."

"I'm not sure Lily knows how to fail," Sirius chuckled, as he saw a flickering light from where Lily, Ginny, and Hermione were standing.

"We need a plan," Bill said.

"When we go in, I'll start the distraction, along with my fellow spirits here," Mad Eye said, with each spirit nodding in confirmation. "The rest of you need to find the Staff and destroy it. Use the lass's sword to do that."

"Whilst you do, Hermione, Ginny, and I will take out Slytherin himself," Lily said, joining the group. "We know the risks of the spell, but we can manage it."

"Make sure you stay focused, Lass. One slip up, and it's all over," Mad Eye told her.

"We know, but the funny thing is, we're confident about it," Lily said. "Luck's playing a big part tonight."

"Luck?" Arthur asked, frowning.

"We all took some Felix Felicius when we entered the castle," Ginny said. "Dad, there's… so much I want to say to you."

"I know Ginny, and I wish we had the time, but I am so very proud of you, and everything you've done, and I love you so much," Arthur said. Lily held Ginny's hand and wiped away a few tears from Ginny's eyes.

"I love you too, Dad," Ginny said. "I wish you were still here."

"I know, Ginny, but I'll always be with you," Arthur said, smiling. "Now, are we ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Lily agreed, as she faced the wall. She took a breath and knew exactly how to open the door. "Parseltongue. I need to speak Parseltongue to open this door."

"How did you know?" Pansy asked.

"Call it a hunch, but it makes sense, right?" Lily asked.

"As much as anything," Sirius agreed. "Alright Lily, go for it."

Lily smiled and took a breath before speaking in Parseltongue.

"I command you to open."

The group watched as the bricks of the wall began to shift into one another, revealing a large entrance area, with stairs leading downwards. Lily waved her wand, with Ron also opening the Deluminator, both creating a light source for the group, just as Fawkes appeared in a ball of flame, letting out a soft cry.

"Okay, let's do this," Lily said. Mad Eye was the first spirit to move, heading down the stairs, followed by the Malfoy's, Arthur, and Regulus. Lily led the rest of the group down the stairs, which led to the tomb that Voldemort had described to her when he told her of how he was purified, that night at the cemetery. "This is it," she said. "Riddle told me about this place the night he returned, though I didn't realise it was as big as a Quidditch Pitch."

"Alright people, spread out," Sirius said, looking around the massive room, seeing the face of Slytherin made from stone on the wall ahead of them. As soon as everyone was in position, Sirius nodded to Lily.

"I know you're here, Salazar Slytherin, and I know you're protecting a Horcrux. You will reveal it to me, now," Lily hissed in Parseltongue. The entire room began to shake as the stone face started to move.

"How dare you come into my home and command me," Slytherin hissed, also in Parseltongue. "Who are you to command one such as me?"

"I am Lily Potter, and I am the one destined to destroy the Dark Lord, Tom Riddle. You purified him years ago and helped him to become the monster he is now. But we're here to stop him, and if we have to go through you, we will," Lily said firmly. The face began to laugh, before the spirit of Salazar Slytherin emerged from it, still laughing.

"Foolish child, to come into my home and expect to live," Slytherin said.

"She's not alone, Slytherin," Mad Eye said. "You disgrace everything that our world stands for. You think you have the right to demand anything? It was your way of life that led to the extinction of your little society down here."

"Weakness led to that, because I was already deceased," Slytherin countered. "But my progeny, my descendant, will purify this world, and make it better."

"Better for who, you idiot? The few people who he deems worthy? Humanity will be dead within a few years with him in charge," Sirius snapped.

"And yet you all hide from him, because you are afraid," Slytherin laughed.

"Afraid? No, just smarter than that tainted moron," Sirius replied. "We know better than to act without thinking, unlike you."

"Let's face it, you regretted leaving Hogwarts, since you made this place so much like it," Lily added, drawing her sword and holding it up. "Recognise this? Belonged to your friend, Godric Gryffindor," she added.

"And now it's in the hand of a delusional boy," Slytherin said.

"Ah, so being transphobic and a bigot is part of the family line, is it?" Ginny asked.

"Bet that had to hurt, knowing your descendant fell in love with a muggle and had a kid with him," Ron taunted. Slytherin snarled and shot a bolt of lightning towards Ron, who immediately leapt out of the way to dodge it.

"Did we hit a nerve?" Lily asked, as everyone began to circle around Slytherin. With a flash of light, the Staff of Merlin appeared in Slytherin's hands. He held it, and struck the ground with it, creating a ring of flames around all of them, blocking off the escape.

"If you wish to die so badly at my hands, I shall grant you that desire," Slytherin said, smirking.

"Not today," Mad Eye said, before he and the spirits rushed at Slytherin, striking him, causing him to scream in anger.

"Now!" Sirius said, firing a number of spells towards Slytherin, who had to keep moving to avoid being struck by the spirits and by the spells. He fired a green light towards Ginny, but before it could strike her, Fawkes flew into the path of the spell, exploding in a ball of flames.

"Fawkes!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Don't worry Lass, he'll be fine," Mad Eye called out, as Lily pulled her to one side. Lily then fired a curse towards Slytherin, who deflected it. With a loud roar, the entire tomb shook as blasts of lightning began to strike at different parts of the room, with everyone creating shields to block them.

One lightning blast went to hit Draco, but a second before it did, Dobby appeared in the room, before disappearing with Draco, and then reappearing with him moments later.

"Thanks Dobby," Draco grinned, as he ducked to avoid being struck again, just as Kreacher appeared, with different sized rocks, each in different places to use as cover.

"Okay, this isn't going as well as I'd hoped," Lily admitted, as she hid behind a large rock.

"No kidding," Draco agreed from nearby, firing a curse towards Slytherin, just as Mad Eye grabbed Slytherin. The curse struck the dark spirit, causing him to cry out in anger, but there didn't seem to be any damage done to him.

"We need to destroy the staff first," Draco called out, as Ginny magically summoned the small Fawkes that was emerging from the ashes of his body.

"Alright, let's get it away from him," Pansy said. She ran towards Slytherin, who tried to send a blast of green light from the staff. Pansy, however, dropped to the floor, sliding along the ground as she did, grabbing the staff by the lower half, before swinging it at Slytherin.

Lily watched in amazement as the staff connected with the Spirit, sending him flying against the wall. He quickly got up, however, and began to move towards Pansy, who threw the Staff towards the nearest person, Crouch.

"Draco, catch!" Lily called out, throwing the sword of Gryffindor towards him. Draco caught it, just as Crouch threw the staff towards Draco.

As Slytherin sped across the tomb towards the staff, Lily stood up, as did Ginny and Hermione, all three of them pointing their wands at Slytherin, casting the same curse that Moody had taught Hermione.

"Lucem Vincas Tenebris Spiri!" they cried out in unison. A bright light shone from their wands, engulfing Slytherin, who let out a blood curdling scream, just as Draco brought the sword into contact with the staff, shattering it into pieces. At the same moment, the spirit of Slytherin let out another scream, before exploding in a ball of light that engulfed the entire tomb!