Visions of an Empath

Major spoilers for Deathly Hallows. Generous use of dialogue from the book.

Chapter 4

After breakfast, Harry ensconced himself in the library again. He found an animagus guide and settled at the table to read. Meditation, recognition, and transformation. Sounded easy enough. Harry closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, reaching deep inside to find his animal form. Slowly, an image began to form. Emerald green scales, leathery wings, and taloned claws.

Harry was startled out of his meditation by the image. It looked very much like Lucius’ drake form, except this creature was green and quite a bit smaller than Lucius. Harry climbed to his feet and searched the bookshelves for a book about dragons and drakes. Unsurprisingly, he found an entire shelf devoted to just that.

Grabbing several books off the shelf, Harry flipped to the section about drakes and almost choked in shock. Right there on the page was a picture of a small green dragon, exactly like the one Harry had envisioned. Reading intently, he discovered that the green drake was in fact an Earth Drake. Like all drakes, they were immune to most dark magic, especially dark binding magic.

Out of the different types of drakes, the Earth Drake was the most rare. That could be because they were also the most vulnerable of the drakes since they couldn’t use their breath to kill. Instead, Earth Drakes used their breath to bring life.

“I’m an Earth Drake,” said Harry reverently. He smiled softly at the picture. He liked the idea of bringing life rather than ending it. “Now for the transformation.”

Harry moved the tables into the corners of the room to make room for his transformation. He pulled the image of his animagus form to the front of his mind and focussed his magic on transforming. He shivered as scales appeared across his skin. Harry fell to his hands and knees as his limbs changed to dragon’s claws, and wings burst from his back.

Once the transformation was complete, Harry growled as a sharp, agonisingly pain speared through his temple. The pain didn’t last long, but Harry wondered idly what caused it. Dismissing the concern, Harry looked down at his body curiously. As expected, his entire body was covered in iridescent green scales.

“What the... Harry, is that you?” asked Lucius, staring at the emerald drake in astonishment. The drake nodded, and Lucius slowly smiled. “Your animagus form is a drake? Why didn’t you tell me?”

The drake slowly shifted until Harry was standing in its place. “I didn’t know until today. I found this animagus guide in your library, and it was remarkably easy. I’m an Earth Drake, by the way. They’re the only type of drake that doesn’t kill with its breath.”

“They use their breath to bring life,” said Lucius. “It’s very fitting, Harry.” Harry nodded enthusiastically, and Lucius frowned. There was something wrong with this picture. Lucius lifted a hand and brushed Harry’s bangs out of his eyes, fist clenching around the ebony strands in shock. “Who are you?”

Harry hissed in pain at the grip on his hair. “What are you talking about, Lucius?”

“Who are you? What have you done to my Harry?” Lucius demanded angrily.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lucius. I am Harry.”

“Harry Potter has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. You don’t. What did you do with him?” snarled Lucius.

Harry frowned and reached up to touch the scar, gasping in shock when he couldn’t feel it. What happened to his scar? Then he remembered the blinding pain in his forehead when he transformed. That thought lead to memory of Lucius’ unmarked arm in the bathtub.

“Wait! Lucius, do you remember what you said about Frost Drakes being immune to dark spells like that? When I transformed into my animagus form, a sharp pain shot through my forehead. What if my drake form nullified the curse scar?”

Lucius frowned thoughtfully and opened his senses. Every instinct in him was screaming that he was hurting his mate, and Lucius hurriedly let go of Harry’s hair only to stroke the stinging scalp soothingly. “Harry, I’m...”

Harry smiled ruefully, feeling the blonde’s self-recrimination. “It’s all right, Lucius. I understand, really. The scar has been my identifying feature for my whole life. I probably would have reacted just the same.”

“No, it’s not all right. You’re my mate, and I should have recognised that no matter how you looked,” said Lucius. “I’ll make it up to you, though. I promise.” Lucius rubbed a thumb across Harry’s forehead, where the scar had been. He started to say something else, but Severus hurried into the room, clutching his arm.

“The Dark Lord’s calling.” With barely a glance at them, Severus left the house and apparated away.

Lucius reluctantly stepped away from Harry. “I need to get his potions ready for when he returns. I imagine the Dark Lord will not be pleased tonight.”

“I’ll help,” said Harry, needing something to keep his thoughts off the Death Eater meeting tonight.

***

Severus apparated into the manor and knew immediately that this meeting would not go well. The Dark Lord was already screaming in fury, and three Death Eaters were trembling uncontrollably from being subjected to the cruciatus curse for too long.

“Severus!”

Severus quickly cleared his thoughts and walked up to the Dark Lord, bowing low before him. “Yes, my lord?”

“What news of Potter? I know he wasn’t in the house when we attacked.”

“I’ve heard nothing, my lord.”

“Crucio!” Voldemort grinned maliciously as Severus screamed in pain. After two full minutes, he finally ended the curse and lifted Severus’ chin up. “Find the boy. He somehow managed to sever our connection, and I want to know how.”

Severus didn’t have to feign his surprise at that. “Yes, my lord.”

Voldemort nodded, and Severus breathed a sigh of relief. His relief was short lived, though, as Voldemort shouted, “Crucio!” once more at him. Another two minutes of agonising pain, and the curse ended.

“That, dear Severus, is for the Malfoy’s defection. Find them, as well. I want to kill them myself. Now begone.”

Severus bowed once more and climbed shakily to his feet. Before he got two feet, though, Voldemort’s voice stopped him once more. “Oh, and Severus? I expect more of that potion at the next meeting. Lucius may have been a failure, but the potion, at least, worked.”

Severus nodded shortly and apparated back to the safe house. He leaned against the front door for a moment, trying to control his trembling limbs enough to walk normally. After a few moments, he took a deep breath and opened the door. To his surprise, Harry was pacing the foyer nervously.

“Oh! You’re back.” Seeing the fine trembling of Severus’ body, Harry hurried to the man and wrapped his arms around Severus’ waist. “Come on. I’ll help you to your room. Lucius and Draco already have your potions ready.”

Severus stared at the teen in shock and didn’t move. “Why are you doing this? You hate me.”

Harry huffed irritably and tugged Severus a few steps before the man stubbornly stopped again. Harry scowled and straightened. “I’m trying to help you, but you’re making it extremely difficult. And despite your past efforts, I don’t hate you. Snarly attitude aside, I’m very aware that you have gone out of your way to protect me.”

“I killed Dumbledore,” Severus reminded the teen.

Harry glowered at Severus. “I’m aware of that. I was there that night. Dumbledore immobilised me and hid me under my invisibility cloak, giving me a front row seat to the whole thing.”

“You saw everything?” asked Severus in shock. He’d known Harry had to be close by because he’d caught up to them too quickly, but he hadn’t realised the teen was on the tower the entire time.

Harry sighed. “Yes, I did. Dumbledore wasn’t pleading for his life, though, was he? He was actually asking you to kill him.”

Severus’ knees weakened, and Harry quickly grabbed him around the waist to keep him on his feet. Severus, forgetting about Harry’s new abilities, cupped Harry’s chin to read the truth in the teen’s eyes. Unfortunately, despite his new barriers, Harry was overwhelmed with visions.

“Why...why did you put on that ring. It carries a curse, surely you realise that. Why even touch it?” asked Severus.

Dumbledore grimaced. “I...was a fool. Sorely tempted...”

“Tempted by what?” The headmaster didn’t answer. “It’s a miracle you managed to return here! That ring carried a curse of extraordinary power. To contain it is all we can hope for. I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being...”

Dumbledore raised his blackened, useless hand and examined it curiously. “You have done very well, Severus. How long do you think I have?”

“I cannot tell. Maybe a year. There is no halting such a spell forever. It will spread eventually. It is the sort of curse that strengthens over time.”

Dumbledore smiled. “I am fortunate, extremely fortunate, that I have you, Severus.”

Severus scowled at the headmaster. “If you had only summoned me a little earlier, I might have been able to do more, buy you more time!” His eyes turned to the broken ring and the sword. “Did you think that breaking the ring would break the curse?”

“Something like that...I was delirious, no doubt...” said Dumbledore. “Well, really, this makes matters much more straightforward.”

Dumbledore smiled at the perplexed look on Severus’ face. “I refer to the plan Lord Voldemort is revolving around me. His plan to have the poor Malfoy boy murder me.”

Snape sat heavily in the chair across the desk from Dumbledore. He scowled again. “The Dark Lord does not expect Draco to succeed. This is merely punishment for Lucius’ recent failures. Slow torture for Draco’s parents while they watch him fail and pay the price.”

“In short, the boy has had a death sentence pronounced upon him as surely as I have,” said Dumbledore. “No, I should have thought the natural successor to the job, once Draco fails, is yourself?”

Severus hesitated. “That, I think, is the Dark Lord’s plan.”

“Lord Voldemort foresees a moment in the near future when he will not need a spy at Hogwarts?”

“He believes the school will soon be in his grasp, yes.”

“And if it does fall into his grasp,” said Dumbledore, “I have your word that you will do all in your power to protect the students of Hogwarts?”

Severus nodded stiffly.

“Good. Now then, your first priority will be to discover what Draco is up to. A frightened teenage boy is a danger to others as well as to himself. Offer him help and guidance. He ought to accept. He likes you...”

“Much less since his father has lost favour. Draco blames me. He thinks I have usurped Lucius’ position,” added Severus.

“All the same, try. I am concerned less for myself than for accidental victims of whatever schemes might occur to the boy. Ultimately, of course, there is only one thing to be done if we are to save him from Lord Voldemort’s wrath.”

Severus raised his eyebrows. “Are you intending to let him kill you?”

“Certainly not. You must kill me.”

Severus stared at Dumbledore in disbelief for a moment. “Would you like me to do it now? Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?” he asked sarcastically.

“Oh, not quite yet,” said Dumbledore with a smile. “I daresay the moment will present itself in due course. Given what has happened tonight, we can be sure that it will happen within a year.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” said Snape roughly, “why not let Draco do it?”

“That boy’s soul is not yet so damaged. I would not have it ripped apart on my account.”

“And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?” asked Severus.

“You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old man avoid pain and humiliation,” said Dumbledore. “I ask this one great favour of you, Severus, because death is coming for me as surely as the Chudley Cannons will finish bottom of this year’s league. I confess I should prefer a quick, painless exit to the protracted and messy affair it will be if, for instance, Greyback is involved. I hear Voldemort has recruited him? Or dear Bellatrix, who likes to play with her food before she eats it.”

Severus finally gave a curt nod.

“Thank you, Severus.”

The scene shifted until it showed Snape and Dumbledore walking the school grounds.

“What are you doing with Potter all these evenings you are closeted together?” asked Severus abruptly.

“I have things to discuss with him, information I must give him before it is too late.”

“Information,” said Severus resentfully. “You trust him, but you don’t trust me.”

“It is not a question of trust. I have, as we both know, limited time. It is essential that I give the boy enough information for him to do what he needs to do.”

“And why may I not have that same information?”

“I prefer not to put all of my secrets in one basket, particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort.”

“Which I do on your orders!”

“And you do it extremely well. Do not think that I underestimate the constant danger in which you place yourself, Severus. To give Voldemort what appears to be valuable information while withholding the essentials is a job I would entrust to nobody but you.”

“Yet you confide much more in a boy who is incapable of Occlumency, whose magic is mediocre, and who has a direct connection into the Dark Lord’s mind!”

“Voldemort fears that connection,” said Dumbledore. “Not so very long ago he had one small taste of what truly sharing Harry’s mind means to him. It was pain such as he has never experienced. He will not try to possess Harry again, I am sure of it. Not in that way.”

The scene shifted and they were back in Dumbledore’s office.

“Harry must not know, not until the last moment, not until it is necessary, otherwise how could he have the strength to do what must be done?”

“But what must he do?” asked Severus.

“That is between Harry and me. Now listen closely, Severus. There will come a time when Lord Voldemort will seem to fear for the life of his snake.”

“For Nagini?” asked Severus incredulously.

“Precisely. If there comes a time when Lord Voldemort stopes sending that snake forth to do his bidding, but keeps it safe beside him under magical protection, then, I think, it will be safe to tell Harry.”

“Tell him what?”

“Tell him that on the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill him, when Lily cast her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded upon Lord Voldemort, and a fragment of Voldemort’s soul was blasted apart from the whole and latched itself onto the only living soul left in that collapsing building. Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Harry, and it is that which gives him the power of speech with snakes and a connection with Lord Voldemort’s mind that he has never understood. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die.”

“So the boy...the boy must die?” asked Severus calmly.

“And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. It is essential.”

“I thought...all these years...that we were protecting him for her. For Lily.”

“We have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to let him try his strength. Meanwhile, the connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic growth. Sometimes I have thought he suspects it himself. If I know him, he will have arranged matters so that when he does set out to meet his death, it will truly mean the end of Voldemort.”

Snape looked absolutely horrified. “You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?”

“Don’t look so shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?”

“Lately, only those whom I could not save.” Severus stood up. “You have used me.”

“Meaning?”

“I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me you been raising him like a pig for slaughter!”

The vision stopped abruptly, and Harry fell to the floor with a gasp, tears streaming down his cheeks. Severus stared at Harry in shock and reached out to help the teen up, but Harry scrambled away from Severus’ touch. Wiping his tears away with a shaky hand, Harry climbed to his feet.

“It’s too bad that Dumbledore’s precious plan was all for naught,” said Harry bitterly. “I no longer have Voldemort’s soul inside me.”

“What? But how?”

“My animagus form is an Earth Drake. When I transformed that first time, it purged Voldemort’s soul from inside of me.” Harry ran a nervous hand through his hair, showing his unmarred forehead. “Just wait here. I’ll go get Lucius.”

Severus watched Harry go with a heavy heart. Merlin knew he’d never cared for the boy, but he knew just how betrayed Harry felt. He remembered the feeling all too well.

A few minutes later, Lucius came into the room with a scowl on his face. “What the hell did you do to Harry, Severus?”

Severus sighed and leaned wearily against the wall. “He saw a vision of Dumbledore’s true plans for Harry.”

“What exactly does that mean? What plan?”

“Dumbledore planned all along on Harry sacrificing his life to defeat the Dark Lord,” said Severus tonelessly.

Lucius, at that moment, wished Dumbledore were still alive just so he could kill the bastard himself. No wonder Harry looked so devastated. Lucius sighed and went to Severus. “Come on. Draco has your potions in your room.”

Once Severus was settled in his room, Lucius left him in Draco’s care and went to find his mate. Harry was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Lucius climbed into the bed beside Harry and pulled the brunette into his arms.

Harry lay beside Lucius, feeling the anger and worry coming from the blonde. “I knew there was more to the scar than Dumbledore told me, especially after he possessed me at the Department of Ministries.”

“He possessed you?” asked Lucius, staring at Harry in shock. “How in Merlin’s name did you survive that?”

“Dumbledore said it was because I had too much love, and Voldemort couldn’t bear the emotions.” Harry suddenly rolled over and buried his face in Lucius’ chest. “My whole life was one big plan to use me as a willing sacrifice in the battle against Voldemort. Am I really just a means to an end to everybody?”

“Not to me, Harry. You’re everything to me,” said Lucius softly.

Harry smiled, feeling the truth in Lucius’ declaration.