The Bottom Of Black

You know the deal
/fsakfgjhart/ = thoughts

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Long black robes loomed over a large polished desk. Greasy black hair, curtained around a sharp nose and sunken cheeks, hid the cold, calculating black eyes of Severus Snape. He snatched up the scrap of paper on which he had scribbled the words with a leaky ink quill:

“Si ego sum non trunco, ego sum nusquam.”

The spell was so simple, so short and without such filigree as other convoluted spells. There was no rhyming chant nor any funny dance or waving of wands. If one wished to come back from a human horcrux, one must only recite this tiny phrase, have the surrogate drink the potion, and be whole again. Somehow it seemed too easy, and indeed it was.

***

The candles were all out, but a simple “Lumos” cured the dark for Harry as he picked his way through the mess of books and maps and papers littering the table and floor.

/Where did they go?/

Harry instinctively looked for some sign, some reason for their sudden departure. His friends had said they would be there all evening, cleaning up the mess and making dinner. Ginny was still looking for any sign of trouble, but she was paranoid. The war was over. Harry had won; the light had won. It was too easy, all too easy.

A noise, like dripping, came to him from the semi-darkness at the end of the table.

/What is that?/ He made his way to the other side of the room, to a bit of rough parchment. It was soaked. Harry looked more closely, and almost reached out to grab the end of the paper, but then realized what it was. Someone had spilled red ink on the Marauder’s map. The ink was trickling over the corners of the faded parchment, over the table, and onto the floor. “Scorgify!” His wand slurped the ink away, but it would not be cleaned. Bleeding as if several tiny cuts had been dug into it, the map began to hemorrhage again with crimson ink. There were names there, under the liquid. “Scorgify.” Draco. Severus. Neville, Nimphadora, Ginerva. “Scorgify!” Hermione. Then he thought he saw it, but he couldn’t have. “Scorgify!!” Tom Riddle. Voldemort.

Seconds later, it seemed, Harry’s broom was carrying him up into the clouds. With a crack he apparated, the wind whispering in his ears, and he appeared again just outside of Hogwarts.

***

Neville stole another glace around the corner. His eyes moved quickly from Hermione, still hovering ominously, to the chair without an obvious occupant, to Draco. And on Draco he stopped. His fingers were twitching. With smooth, slight movement, Draco’s hand was grasping slowly around his wand.

/So he is alive. What is he doing mixed up in all of-/

But his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden return of Snape. The former potions master was looking worn and sickly, but was wearing his most devious smile nonetheless. He was holding something, squeezing it tightly into his sweaty palm.

/What is that?/

Ginny pulled Neville around the corner again. “What’s going on in there?” Neville told her. “So Draco’s- Draco’s what?”

“I’m holding off judgment until he makes a move.” Neville risked another look. “Snape is back. He’s got something.”

“Well I say we do something. We can’t just stand here all day.” Ginny looked at Tonks for approval. Tonks nodded.

“Alright. Ginny, you go in with Tonks to the left. Get Hermione. I’ll take the right. I want to see what’s in that chair.” Once agreed, they made to go through the crushed entranceway when a rush of cold air whizzed past them. It was a broom. It was Harry.

Before anyone could do anything, Harry had dismounted and pointed his wand at Draco, who had gotten to his feet an instant after Harry had arrived. Snape stopped dead at the sight of Harry. He was not two steps from the high-backed chair. The figure in the chair was laughing then. It was a cold laugh. It was Hermione, but not Hermione’s voice. Her cruel smile flickered with the rest of her body, but thhe laugh did not dissapate until she spoke at last.

“Severus, give me the potion.”

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Ok, short, but at least I added. I figured I'd left it too long. It needs an end, and it'll have one. Thank you for your patience. Please R&R.

-TooMuch