Snape Redux

Snape Redux

By April Grey


Chapter 14 - Midsummer’s Eve, Pt. II

It all belongs to Rowling, except what you don’t recognize.

Fires raged throughout the small village of Cregneash. One of the Death Eaters, some say it was Avery, tired of waiting for the Dark Lord to be done with his spell casting, had set a fire to one of the cottages, resulting in Muggles from the nearby town, Port Erin, coming to put out the blaze. Suddenly the Dark Lord had a hostage situation, much to the glee of the Death Eaters who now had some real entertainment to occupy them.

Members of the Order along with Ministry Aurors Apparated there within fifteen minutes of Shacklebolt’s appearance at the Burrow. Suddenly hexes and curses flew through the mist and smoke of the fires.

Snape overheard Nott tell Yaxley that Voldemort was “fit to be tied” over the prematurity of the attack. He hadn’t even started to summon up the ghostly horseman from the barrow. Snape waited for Yaxley to head over to the circle before planting the idea in Nott’s mind that his good friend, Yaxley, was cuckolding him.

Snape smiled as Nott left his assigned post in hot pursuit of the younger Death Eater. The day was looking up.

In order to put his plan into action, Snape needed Wormtail to follow his commands, but that didn’t mean he actually had to find him again. After his earlier excursion into Wormtail’s mind, he preferred some other messenger. Across the way through the smoke he recognized the form of Draco Malfoy. He sprinted over, dodging along the way hexes sent between Ministry and Death Eater forces. It wouldn’t be easy, Malfoy knew of his mother’s disgrace and had been one of the Wizards using particularly foul hexes on Snape. He crept up behind Malfoy and tapped the young wizard on the shoulder. Malfoy turned and met Snape’s eyes.

“You—“ was all that Malfoy got out before Snape used his Legilimency on him. Snape planted a false memory in the young man’s mind: a memory in which the Dark Lord had told Malfoy to find his servant Wormtail and for the two of them to bring Nagini to the battle arena but not to disturb the Dark Lord from his work. Snape made it very clear that the Dark Lord was not be disobeyed or questioned in this or they would suffer the consequences.

Snape snuck into an empty cottage at the edge of the village nearest the Meayll Cirle. From an upstairs window he watched as Draco went off at a trot to locate Wormtail. He sincerely hoped that he was correct in assuming that Wormtail was still in charge of feeding large rats and other rodents to the huge snake and so would know where to find the assumed Horcrux.

&&&

Hermione and Ron fought back-to-back while Harry, closely shadowed by Kingsley Shacklebolt, charged across the road and onward up the steep incline heading towards Meayll Circle about a half mile away. Behind them there were dead Muggles strewn about the small village--men from the community fire department at Port Erin, lying on the ground like so many broken dolls. Hermione tried her best to separate herself from her emotions and keep a clear head.

Ron hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, “For luck.” Then he ran off into the smoke following Harry. Hermione nodded but said nothing as she watched his back, firing off defensive spells to give him cover as he climbed. The vegetation was sparse on the slope making it a risky venture. Hermione, hiding behind a corner of the cottage, hexed two Death Eaters who took aim at Ron.

She felt a chill and looked up. Dementors! They were swarming up in the sky about her, barely discernable among the grey and black clouds of smoke. She then made out a huge golden shape. It was a gigantic, glowing falcon! Fleur’s grandmother, Ondine had gone into attack mode. The first fireball the Veela threw hit the mid-section of a Dementor and the vile creature caught fire like it was made of straw. Hermione returned to the battle at hand, much reassured that the nature spirit could hold its own.

She wondered which silver masked figure that she occasionally spotted through the smoke was Snape. She then heard very clearly, “look up to your left.” Hermione did and spotted a tall dark cloaked figure wave from a second floor window of the cottage.

Suddenly Snape was next to her, removing his mask.

“Please be careful with yourself, Severus,” Hermione said, fearful for him being there with her.

“I have nothing better to do at the moment than to take it easy,” said Snape lazily. “By the way, Potter is purposely being led by the Death Eaters to the Meayll Circle. The Dark Lord chose that location because once he fully raises the ghost army no one will be able to enter or leave the circle. Lord Voldemort wants Harry to himself. How does that phrase go? ‘Mano a Mano’? The Death Eaters are keeping the Ministry and Order members occupied down here in the village.”

“I see. The important thing is to stay with Harry so he won’t face Voldemort alone,” she turned away from him, looking up at the steep escarpment leading to the circle. The mist was even thicker now, lending more cover to the slope.

“Spoken like a true idiotic Gryffindor. I’d prefer if you showed more self-preservation. Stay here away from it all.”

“I’m going now, no matter what you think,” she told Snape.

Snape grabbed her shoulders. “Ah,” he sighed, “our intrepid and very talented Miss Granger.”

“Severus, listen to me,” Hermione simply refused to give up on trying to reach him.

He stared into her warm brown eyes, and pushed a strand of hair from her face. “Already did that,” he kissed her.

Hermione gave herself over to the kiss. The feel of his body next to her was a rich aphrodisiac. When his tongue pressed against her lips, she opened to him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him into her and bringing their bodies close. When he pulled away she whispered into his ear, “I know I ought to be furious with you. I love you. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“Other than you have deplorable taste in Wizards?” He smiled, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. “Sorry. Perhaps in another place at another time, I might have given a different answer. Now, one last kiss from my silly girl.”

He was about to kiss her again when a blast from a particularly virulent hex exploded just over their heads, sending shards of stone from the cottage flying. Snape threw Hermione to the ground covering her with his body for protection.

Viktor Apparated and saw Snape on top of Hermione. With a yelled curse he blasted Snape off of her. Hermione had a split second to realize that while the Unforgivable Curse cast by Snape last night hadn’t triggered the ring, her current situation was serious enough to summon Viktor.

“Bastard!” yelled Viktor, “You try to rape my betrothed? I’ll feed you your balls.”

Hermione’s eyes went wide and an inarticulate cry escaped her lips.

Snape had a wild look to him as he scrambled to his feet, “Keeping secrets are we, Hermione?”

Snape aimed his wand at Krum just as Krum again hexed him off his feet, scraping a patch of skin off of Snape’s cheekbone.

Hermione threw a “Protego” charm between the two men she loved.

“Hermione, I do not need your protection! The Order told me that this coward,” Viktor spat for emphasis, “killed Dumbledore, a frail old man. But he cannot hurt me.” Viktor frowned.

Hermione threw herself on Viktor, hoping the distraction would give Snape a chance to get away.

“If anything happened to the man I love, I’d die,” she kissed him. And true to Viktor’s amorousness nature, he returned the kiss.

When the kiss broke, Snape was gone.

&&&

The village, an inferno now, rapidly emptied of Death Eaters and their opponents. Order and Ministry Aurors chased Death Eaters around the surrounding area of the village. But the steepness of the hill leading to Meayll Circle kept almost everyone from going in that direction.

The temperature steadily dropped though Hermione noted with some satisfaction that the Veela above had decimated the Dementor population, leaving only a handful where there had originally been dozens.

Lands surrounding the village were mostly pasture and offered little to no cover, except for the low stonewall and hedges lining the road. These became the bunkers and fortresses for the two magical armies.

“So Hermione, I was called out of Quidditch practice. What is this place?”

Hermione noticed Viktor was indeed wearing his team’s brightly colored practice robes. She did a color-changing spell on them, creating a camouflage look. No sense in having him be a target.

“There’s a stone circle over and up that way with six sets of double graves. We need to get up that slope to reach Harry before Voldemort can summon a spirit army. Once the army has risen no one will be able to get into the circle.”

“Oh, is that all?” Viktor sprinted across the road to the slope, all the while blocking and returning the hexes and curses sent towards him as he moved in and out of the swirling mist. Damn, though Hermione, how does he make it look so easy? Hermione had no choice but to follow him. Curses flew towards him from above him and the sides, but he deflected them and sent new curses back in an almost graceful manner. Hermione watched Death Eaters drop to the ground in various states of agony. Viktor took her arm once they were on the slope, to help her footing and stayed protectively by her side. Unfortunately, she kept slipping and her arm was getting severely bruised. She was slowing him down, endangering both their lives.

Hermione felt truly awful for the first time for being in love with two very different men. She made a private deal with the powers that be: all she wanted was to see both Wizards hale and hearty. Then she’d marry Viktor and spend the rest of her life just trying to forget what those broken Muggles on the ground had looked like. All she wanted was for the people she loved to survive this nightmare!

They were halfway up the slope to the circle when Hermione spotted Camille and Fleur. It looked like they had someone backed against a particularly steep section of the escarpment. Camille had her wand out while Fleur was jumping in and then away from someone.

“Viktor, I need to stop.”

“Hermione, you wait here then. I’ll come back for you.” He continued up the slope at top speed.

Fleur stepped in again and Hermione made out the flash of a silver knife. At first she didn’t know what it was lying there, writhing on the steep slope--it’s skin was ripped to shreds. Then she made out Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf who had attacked Bill. He was crying, groveling on the dirt and pleading for mercy.

“What mercy you show my beloved, eh?” Hermione heard Fleur yell, as the silver knife swung down in another arc and there was a screech as the werewolf convulsed in its death throws.

Hermione scrambled up the slope to be away from the scene of horror. Grabbing tuffs of heath and shrubs to help her up, she didn’t care that her fingers where scraped and bleeding. When she looked up, she could just make out Viktor disappearing over the top ridge.


&&&

Snape had snuck up to the circle, taking the long way around and keeping himself hidden behind low stone walls and in gullies. While creeping on his stomach, he had time to think about how stupid he had been in not realizing that Hermione would, of course, have suitors. And she could have done worse, oh much, much worse, than the young Bulgarian.

In fact, in spite of his strong urge to challenge the youngster to a duel, he had enough begrudging admiration for the Quidditch star to be glad for the couple. After all, if things went wrong Snape wouldn’t have to worry about getting Hermione out of the country, no doubt Krum, a Bulgarian national, would take care of it.

Furthermore, Krum fit into the ABPOW category of Wizards. He was Anyone But Potter Or Weasley. Taken with the fact that Krum was as ugly as sin and, judging from what he’d seen during the Triwizard Tournament, he could probably hold his water during a duel, Snape had to admit that he’d be hard pressed to find a better Wizard for Miss Granger than Viktor Krum.

The sky was completely dark and it was difficult to make out anything more than a few steps ahead of him. He did see Wormtail Apparate in with Draco hauling Nagini between them. The serpent was thrashing about and clearly unhappy to be disturbed from the heated cage that it was usually kept in.

He heard the Dark Lord curse, and both Wormtail and Draco were writhing on the ground. Nagini started to slither into a hollow near Voldemort. This sufficed for the huge snake’s protection as Voldemort needed to return to his spell to raise the dead army.

Snape continued to stay hidden and on the other side of the circle from Voldemort. At one point the mist had lifted a bit and he saw in the distance two Death Eaters gang up on Minerva McGonagall. He sent a hex and watched in delight as it hit one of the Death Eaters whom he suspected was one of the brothers Lestrange. But for the most part he was keeping his eye on Nagini, looking for his opportunity to attack the giant snake without Voldemort noticing.

Harry, Ron and Kingsley were battling four masked Death Eaters within the circle. The swirling mists kept both sides unable to see well enough to land a good hex and the unevenness of the ground made movement tricky. More than once someone tripped over the sharp stones jutting up all over the circle that were part of the barrows.

The six barrows that made up the circle each had two graves. Under Voldemort’s incantation the ground over each grave churned. Snape watched in fascination as the shimmering outline of an armored skeletal warrior upon a skeletal horse leapt out of each of the twelve graves. Though the light was bad, their equipment glowed with an otherworldly light. They looked to be from the Bronze Age wearing helmets decorated with boar’s tusks and other animal trophies, and carrying primitive spears and shields. The twelve horsemen galloped around the circle in eerie silence. As they moved they took on flesh and substance. Layers of muscles and sinews formed and built into materiality.

Snape decided that now was the most opportune time to attack the giant snake--exactly when Voldemort was most engrossed in bringing his creations to life.

Suddenly Viktor Krum appeared in the circle on the other side of Nagini from Snape. The serpent reared up and hissed at Krum. Snape threw himself upon the ground behind one of the broken stones and watched as Viktor produced his Patronus--a very solid and colossal Ridgebacked Boar with sharp curving ivory tusks. It took form and then charged the serpent. Snape begrudgingly approved of the younger Wizard’s style.

Then, to Snape’s shock the Viktor’s wand transformed into a sword of purple light and he called forth a Protego charm in the form of a shield. Nagini hissed and struck, its fangs sinking deeply into the shield even as Krum stepped back. The boar gored the snake and threw it up into the air. It landed and again went to attack the young Wizard. Nagini ignoring the boar in favor of the Wizard, was thrown up in the air time and again. Twice more it struck the shield and twice more the magical shield held. And then, with a quick side step Viktor brought his blade down behind Nagini’s head. He jumped away before he could be sprayed by the snake’s blood, which was spurting out and drenching the arc of grass before it.

Snape sneered. He should have known better than to think the girl could be trusted to mean what she had been saying to him. Of course she’d be in love with the dashing young Wizard.

A sense of pressure swelling in the air around him alerted Snape to a back curse forming from Nagini’s death. He scrambled even further away from the snake. Viktor Krum sensed it too and he sent forth a counter curse. The snake transformed into a dark mass of thick vapor that swept over Viktor and his Boar. When it was over, Viktor was lying very pale upon the ground.

Snape searched the surrounding area for Nagini’s head and found that it had landed in the fresh dirt of one of the barrows. Crouching, careful not to be seen, he used his wand to neatly removed one of the serpent’s long venomous fangs. Snape wrapped it carefully in material torn from the hem of his robe. Now, it was time to carry out the second part of his plan.

&&&

While Hermione made her climb up the hill to Meayll Circle, she’d been afraid, more afraid than she’d ever had been since she’d first heard the name Voldemort. An odd noise like the sound of dirt and rocks moving, along with the more familiar sounds of hexes, taunts and screams in the distant fog assailed her nerves. Harry was up there someplace, looking to fight Voldemort. And so was Ron, Severus and Viktor--all Wizards she loved dearly and who were all now at great risk.

She had just made it into the stone circle before the horsemen had become corporeal. She then saw Viktor lop off the giant snake’s head only to be caught by the dying creature’s curse. She lifted up her robes and ran to him.

Hermione cradled him on her lap. A scalp wound seeped blood across his neck and shoulders. Using a simple healing spell, she found nothing changed—he continued to bleed. She blasted a Death Eater looking to take advantage of his unconscious state. She needed to find a way to keep him safe until he’d had a chance to recoup his energy.

Hermione erected a Disillusionment Spell to keep them unnoticed by the Death Eaters in the circle. Harry, Ron and Kingsley were yards away from her. Past them, there was a dark patch of fog that occasionally lifted enough so she could make out the red glow of Voldemort’s eyes as he worked to control and command his new army.

The ghostly horsemen were going faster, gaining density by the moment. One of the Death Eaters fighting Harry fell and Harry took the opportunity to sprint towards the section of the circle where Voldemort chanted his spell.

Snape knew his cue and also ran over, wand to the ready. He stood protectively next to Voldemort.

Harry stopped a few feet in front of the Dark Lord and silently threw a curse while erecting a shield to protect himself.

“Well, Potter. This looks to be it then,” whispered Snape to himself as he casually deflected the spell.

Voldemort, a waxy sheen glossing his white brow, stopped his incantation. “A few more minutes, Severus, and the spirits will be under my complete control. Then I shall deal with Harry. Until then, I need you to keep him busy.”

Harry sent another curse which Snape deflected, “Better Potter, but still not good enough.” He grinned. “You are pathetic boy. You produced it silently, and yet the curse itself was too weak to be effective. You lack a killer’s instinct. You are feeble, Potter. Let me show you how to do it--”

And with that Snape produced Nagini’s huge fang and smoothly thrust it through Voldemort’s back. Acidic blood sprayed over Snape’s face and hands, burning him. Using all his might, Snape forced the tooth through the monster’s spine until the front of the fang emerged from Voldemort’s breast, dripping and shining with pale ichor. The area around the tooth melted away leaving a progressively larger hole. Voldemort’s eyes seemed to pop out of his skull-white face and his mouth worked in a soundless scream. His head tried to whip around to confront his betrayer.

“For Lily,” Snape said softly. And then as the Dark Lord melted further and began to collapse to the ground, Snape viciously kicked him. The body made a dull squelching sound. “Revenge is sweet.” He stared at the steaming puddle that had been the Dark Lord and that now was disappearing by the second.

Snape now pointed his wand at Harry.

“You killed him!” said Harry in shock. “But I was supposed to—“ Harry stopped speaking, frozen in mid-sentence by the same spell Dumbledore had used the night of his death.

“No, you little twit!” Snape said with a small smile. “He was mine from the moment he murdered my Lily. She loved me, you know! We belonged together. She only thought she loved your father. She made a mistake marrying him, but she would have seen through him eventually. She would have awoken one morning, left him and returned to me. I was waiting for that, but the Dark Lord ruined everything.”

When Hermione saw Harry and Snape cross to Voldemort’s side, she put down Viktor’s insensate body. His head wound was still resisting any magic to staunch the flow of blood. She rapidly crossed to the two men, ignoring the hexes still flying back and forth between Kingsley and Ron and two remaining masked Death Eaters, one of whom looked to be a woman.

Hermione was close enough to Snape to catch his words as he killed Voldemort. Then she watched in horror as Snape froze Harry and began to emotionally unravel before her eyes. Standing next to Harry, she wondered if she should try to release him or simply let them both hear Severus out. Maybe, just maybe, this was the catharsis Severus needed.

“I had ten years to prepare for your coming to Hogwarts, Potter.” Snape’s eyes shined with emotion and his mouth grimaced. “Ten years to think about how I’d be the father to you that I never had--that you’d be the son I never had from Lily. And what did I get? Potter’s brat! From that first night at the Feast when I laid eyes on you, I knew you were a lost cause. Just a snot nosed little Gryffindor whelp. Oh I tried; I tried to help you--to teach you. But everything I did was met with your father’s arrogant sneer.” Snape’s face grotesquely twisted further in hatred and his body shook with every word.

Hermione took Harry’s hand and wondered how she was going to free him if things went terribly wrong and Snape decided to kill Harry.

“Lily was mine, until that cur, Sirius, nearly got me killed.” His voice caught. “Oh, and then it was your bleeding father to the rescue. And all she could think of was how noble and brave he was to go save poor Severus. She was so grateful. I lost her to him!”

Tears were running from his eyes, “She promised she wouldn’t leave me, she promised!” For a moment it looked like he would collapse under the weight of his grief, but then he brought himself up with new dignity and his wand pointed unwaveringly at Harry. Harry was released from the spell with a jerk.

“Hermione’s right, you are insane!” Harry’s body coiled, ready to spring out of the way of a close range attack.

Snape’s eyes cut to Hermione and he gave a short laugh, “Insane? Is that what she said?

“Well, care to duel anyway? You still think you’re so high and mighty, Potter? But you didn’t get to kill Voldemort now, did you?”

His voice lowered to a silken whisper. “What about a crack at me? D’you think you could kill me? D’you think you got the sac for it? Or are you a coward just like your father?” White flecks of spittle were foaming around his mouth as he raised his wand.

“Don’t listen to him, Harry.” Hermione kept her voice low, hoping reason might prevail. “Remember what I told you. He wants it to be over, he wants you to kill him. He’s not well. He needs to be in St. Mungos.”

“Come on Potter. I’ll give you a hint which curse I’m using and a head start, plenty of warning AAAA--VAAA—-DAAA—-—“

Harry raised his wand. Hermione couldn’t risk that Harry had accepted what she was saying, that Snape needed to be disabled but not killed. Hermione raised her wand and blue smoke came pouring out, screening Snape as she shouted, “Kukla!”

“Hermione! What—“ yelled Harry. He immediately used a spell to disburse the smoke, revealing Hermione kneeling where Snape had been. She stood up quickly pocketing something in her robes.

“Where is he, Hermione? Tell me!” Harry shook her arm.

“I used a curse. A Bulgarian curse Viktor gave me. Snape’s gone Harry. Gone for good.” The first tears came and Hermione rested her head on his chest. “It’s over. It’s all over.”

Just then a Death Eater came running towards them, chased by Kingsley Shacklebolt. Stumbling, her mask fell off, revealing Bellatrix. Regaining her feet, she shoved Hermione out of her way. Hermione fell heavily onto one of the circle’s boulders. Harry joined Kingsley in the chase. Unlike most Neolithic sites, the stones were not very tall, but they jutted from the ground like the sharp teeth of so many giants. The circle itself was only 18 metres round and Bellatrix attempted to cross the line of horsemen. One horseman swung his axe and her head and part of her arm went flying. The horsemen were blindly following the last orders of Voldemort to maintain the circle. Those who were in the circle stayed in and those outside were also held at bay.

Hermione shakily pulled away from the boulder she’d landed against. On her knees, she gently reached into her pocket and looked at the figurine in her hands, “Oh, no. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she murmured.

She looked up and there was Viktor. Replacing the miniature in her robes, she stood and touched Viktor’s face. He was as white as a sheet and his eyes were glazed. The scalp wound had soaked his robes. She wiped the blood from his eyes. Non-responsive to her touch, she suspected he was in shock.

“We need to get you to St. Mungo’s right away,” she touched him tenderly on the arm and kissed his cheek. She then tried to Apparate them out, but the ancient magics interfered with her ability for them to leave.

Just then, looking past the galloping horsemen, Hermione made out two Wizards. It was Bill and an elderly Wizard with a florid face and a huge gut. The two of them stood outside the circle, setting up the tools to break the enchantment in order to lay the spirits of the Bronze Age horsemen to rest.

Viktor staggered and Hermione held him up. “I love you,” he said just as he collapsed. Hermione tried her best to break his fall and held him against her shoulder.

The last Death Eater attempted to leave the circle as Hermione watched. He was cleft in two. The spray of blood shot up six feet and fell in a hideous fountain. Hermione shivered.

Harry came over to her.

“Looks like we are stuck here for a while,” he said squatting next to her.

“Viktor needs immediate attention. How many are left in here?”

“All the Death Eaters, there were four or five of them, tried to get out and were hacked to pieces. Kingsley fell on one of those rocks and landed in a barrow. His leg is broken. I was able to stop the bleeding and I put a sleep spell on him--he was in pretty bad pain. You can see the bone sticking out through his skin. Ron’s with him. So, it’s just the four of us. How’s Viktor?”

“I’ve tried but I can’t get the bleeding to stop. Maybe it’s the rebound from Nagimi’s death. Or maybe her fang scratched his scalp? I wish I knew what to do.” Her hands fluttered around his shoulders ineffectually. She felt numb, like something was broken inside of her and would never work again.

“Don’t worry, head wounds do that.” Harry touched where his scar used to be. “Funny, that’s the one thing I’d never thought I’d be missing. But it feels odd, like something that used to be there is gone, like a phantom limb. Anyway, Bill’s one of the best Cursebreakers Gringotts ever had. He’ll get us out of here.” Harry sat behind Hermione and helped her support Viktor. They sat for nearly an hour and watched as the clouds and mist surrounding them seemed to thin.

Finally the sun broke through. The horsemen became fainter until they were no more than mist themselves. And then they were gone.

“Harry, see you later. I’m Apparating Viktor to St. Mungo’s.”

Harry kissed her on the forehead, “Good luck with your boyfriend.”

“Fiancé. Thanks.” Holding on to him securely, they Apparated.


A/N: With book six, Rowling introduced the concept of a person’s soul being damaged when he kills. Therefore, if Harry kills Voldemort then his own soul may be damaged in the process. That’s Yucky!

Well, there might be additional info given in book seven such as in cases of revenge or self-defense it’s no harm, no foul. But at this point in time, if Harry kills, his soul gets ripped. I figure maybe Severus will be brought in to do the dirty work once again.

Big thanks to my reviewers: Lyndie578, TheAngelOfSilence, firewall, prettydelia, Jen, LittleBird and Anon.

Please keep feeding the author.

The final chapter is coming up, plus an epilogue and a bonus chappie if everyone behaves and I keep my act together.

Looks to be that I will have written over 60,000 words in a month if I keep to schedule. Not too surprising though, since I participated in and completed Nanowrimos for both 2004 and 2003. http://www.nanowrimo.com/