Chapter 6
Title: Liberation
Author: CrimsonShinigami
Pairing: Severus Snape x Harry Potter - in the far future. Others are possible too.
Part: 6/?
Words: 13870/50000
Summary: After the loss of the Battle for Hogwarts, all of Britain was thrown into slavery to Voldemort's reign. Working as a Captain in the Resistance, Harry Potter has had to learn to live the hard way, as a fugitive - while earnestly fighting to save lives, and deliver liberty through Voldemort's end. But with more Horcruxes to find, the question of disquiet within the ranks of the Resistance, and his rediscovery by the Wizarding world: is it really going to be as easy as he might hope?
* * * * *
Wow my shoulder hurts. x.x Snape! Woo! Enjoy! By the way, I tried to keep him totally in character. If he's not...I need to be kicked in the teeth :)
* * * * *
Chapter 6
The silence stretched out for a long moment, both silent, with wands drawn upon each other. Harry didn’t dare move; he almost didn’t breathe. He’d been caught in a Wizard’s house, after so many successful missions.
Finally, the man across from Harry spoke a single word with a velvet voice that sent fear instantly down his spine. “Unpredictable.”
It was as though he’d become unstuck: Harry breathed again, and lifted his wand a fraction higher as he squinted through the darkness at the figure. If the man had been in profile, he knew he would have seen the hooked nose clearly - but from this angle, he could see hair: lots of hair, backlit by candlelight.
“Snape,” he spat.
“Correct,” Snape replied, evenly. “One right answer, however, Mr. Potter, will not make me forgive you a lifetime of wrong ones.”
Harry narrowed his eyes, standing his ground now, “I’m not a child any more, Snape. Your snarky comments can’t scare me any more.”
“That is true. You forget, of course, that there are other things that you are fraid of - that any warrior is afraid of.”
“Like?”
Snape kept his black eyes trained on Harry; at least Harry assumed that the eyes were fixed on him: in the darkness that was Snape’s face, Snape’s eyes were simply a darker pit than before. Harry waited in the silence that followed as Snape slowly rose from his seat, dressed in the long dark robes that Harry remembered so vividly from his youth. Harry found himself wondering just how maneuverable those robes might be if this turned into a conflict.
“Like imprisonment, your friend’s lives, the fact that I have only to touch my arm and the Dark Lord will be here within seconds…”
Harry tried not to flinch, but he did flick his gaze towards Snape’s hands to make sure that they were reasonably far apart.
“Your friends will be released, of course…without the burden of my prisoners.”
“You knew we were here all along!”
Harry knew Snape was smiling, though he still could not quite see his face. “Not all protective measures are so very obvious, Potter.”
“But if you knew we were here…then why didn’t you block our exit?”
“You forget,” Severus went on; he was almost purring now. “I did block your exit, Potter. I blocked every exit, timed perfectly in comparison to your previous entries.”
“An automatic lockdown?”
“Precisely.”
“So if I hadn’t made an excursion, I’d have been trapped in the dungeons with everyone else?”
“You’re thinking that your magic could have helped them escape?”
Harry nodded, flushing as he did so. Snape could see right through him; so much so that it was almost embarrassing.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Potter. You would have disappointed them. But now I can see for myself that you are truly alive.”
“You can see that I’m alive? Why does that matter if you’re going to turn me over to Voldemort?”
Snape approached, until Harry could see the features on his sallow face. He was sneering. “Do you really believe that if my intention were to turn you over to the Dark Lord, Potter, that I would not have already done it?”
“What do you want?”
“I want many things, Potter. Right now, I want you to put down your wand. I could take it off you, but it would be more amusing to have you willingly disarm.”
“Kissa,” Harry hissed, narrowing his eyes, but obeying none the less. He knelt down, forcing himself to open his hand to let the wand fall onto the carpet. He straightened up, rigidly, lifting his eyes up to Snape’s.
Harry did not hear the spell, but he had not expected to. Without warning he found himself rising off the floor, hovering about a foot above the ground. He kicked at the air, but no movement had any effect.
“Now since you’re just standing there, Potter, we are going to confer.”
“I have nothing to say to you!” Harry barked, furious.
“Now, now, Potter…you might not think you have anything to say, but you know a lot more about your more recent activities than I do.”
“My recent activites? What have they got to do with you?”
“You’re standing in my house, Potter. Your recent activities have a lot to do with me.”
Harry didn’t reply. He didn’t like being outfoxed by Snape; it made him feel terribly young again.
“Have you been searching for the Dark Lord’s Horcruxes?”
The question stunned Harry enough to make him blind stupidly at Snape, his mouth hanging open. “How do you know…?”
“I am the one asking questions tonight, Potter. Have you been searching for them?”
“I…I haven’t had time,” Harry said, then realized that he probably should not have said even that - shouldn’t have acknowledged that that was in fact what he’d been doing.
Snape, however, nodded grimly and moved towards where Harry levitated. Harry could see him more clearly now, the light casting extreme shadows with the help of his nose and hair.
“How do you expect to destroy the Dark Lord if you do not actively seek out his ending?”
Harry had a little more control of himself this time: he simply didn’t answer at all.
“I recently came into possession of a particularly interesting object, Potter. When you leave, I suggest you take it with you. You’ll find it in the top of the chest of drawers, inside a sealed envelope.”
Harry narrowed his eyes at Snape. “You’re going to let me go?”
“If you cooperate; I thought I’d made that quite clear. But you go with my warning, Potter…I am not going to let you hide with the Resistance any longer. You shirk your duty to end the Dark Lord’s reign and you disgrace the memory and trust of Albus Dumbledore…”
“What do you care about Dumbledore!” Harry burst, unable to stop himself. “You killed him!”
“I do not expect you to understand the unshakeable loyalty that Dumbledore instills in his closest followers,” Snape said, pointedly. The remark struck home like a poisoned arrow, spreading doubts inside of Harry’s mind instantly. He chose not to voice them; closing his mouth tightly.
After a long pause, Snape continued. “I will ensure that the Dark Lord knows that you are alive, Potter. He will not let you rest after that. I suggest you discover his final Horcruxes and destroy him; sooner rather than later.”
“You can’t…”
“I can. I will.” Snape had moved closer now, and he lifted one hand up to brush over Harry’s cheek. It caught him so much off guard that Harry only swiped at Snape’s hand after the contact had been made. Snape stepped back, considering Harry appraisingly, in a way that made Harry feel like a tiny spec of dust on someone’s glasses.
“Personally, I don’t see why Dumbledore had such faith in you…” Snape began. “You’re still the same weedy, useless boy that you were five years ago. You don’t stand a chance against the Dark Lord.”
Harry fell for Snape’s jibe, just as the older man had expected him to. “I’ll kill him, Snape. Don’t think that I won’t.”
Severus’s hand trailed over his lower lip. Harry watched it, almost ferociously, wishing he could shove it up Snape’s overly large nose. It was as he envisioned this revenge, bitterly, that Snape stepped just a little bit closer, finding Harry’s gaze.
“Do it then, Potter; prove me wrong.”
“I will, Snape. Everything you ever assumed about me.”
Harry didn’t even swipe at him, even though he was in range of the dark haired older man. He could have clawed out his eyes from this distance, but he was satisfied to simply glare into them, full of hatred and animosity.
“I’ll be watching, Harry. If you fail to do your duty, then next time I capture you, it will be to turn you over to the Dark Lord.”
“I never asked for this, Snape!” Harry snarled, narrowing his eyes a little more. “I never asked for this life!”
Severus’ amusement did not reach his eyes. “No-one ever asks for the lives that they are forced to lead. But the longer you fail to act, Potter, the longer hundreds of thousands of people live in misery. The longer you fail to act, the more children are born into slavery, the more Muggles die, hunted like animals.”
Harry had nothing to say that, though his eyebrow twitched briefly. Snape had hit the nail on the head, and a whispering of remorse sprung up in Harry’s mind. All those people that he could save…
“There,” Severus murmured. “There’s that Gryffindor martyrdom I remember.”
“Fuck off, Snape.”
Snape merely smiled, and lifted his wand up again. Terrified, Harry jolted back and closed his eyes tightly. Harry collided with the floor near enough the exact same time that the crack of Snape’s disapparation sounded loudly in his ears. He fell to his knees out of shock, then grabbed his wand and whirled around, just in case Snape was by some luck still in the room. Nothing - he was gone…
Harry sighed and pulled himself back up to his feet, rubbing at the place where he’d landed on his arm, and moving cautiously over to the cabinet. He opened the drawer that Snape had alluded to, reaching to the very back.
Just as Snape had said, there was an envelope there, and when he pulled it back and opened it, he was very, very surprised to find a heavy silver locket that he vaguely recognized.
It was Voldemort’s Horcrux; the same one that Regulus A. Black had stolen many years ago, and had hidden in the House of the Blacks.
And Snape had given it to him.
Dealing with dilemma, Harry tucked the Horcrux and it’s envelope into his pocket, making his way over to the bookshelves, and looking through them for some that he could take with him. He needed to move fast, of course - he had no time to spare, as Snape would need an alibi for letting him go free.
Grabbing a potions book, and several other interesting looking tomes, Harry made his way back down the stairs, and caught up with Jules by the great door. “He locked us in, Harry! And then all of a sudden it just stopped…but, the prisoners all disappeared. Did you do it?”
Harry nodded. “Kind of. Look, I’ll explain later - let’s get out of here.” He turned away, looking around. “The table…come on - I’m sick of this place.”
He moved back over to the table, closely followed by Jules. “Besides, I think I’ll love chopping that bastard’s antique table up for firewood. Ready?” He pointed his wand at the table. “Portus.”
Fourteen seconds later, twelve wizards in black robes appeared with an enormous series of cracks, surrounding them. The next second, all of them were gone.
* * * * *
Sleep for me now. Goodnight!
Author: CrimsonShinigami
Pairing: Severus Snape x Harry Potter - in the far future. Others are possible too.
Part: 6/?
Words: 13870/50000
Summary: After the loss of the Battle for Hogwarts, all of Britain was thrown into slavery to Voldemort's reign. Working as a Captain in the Resistance, Harry Potter has had to learn to live the hard way, as a fugitive - while earnestly fighting to save lives, and deliver liberty through Voldemort's end. But with more Horcruxes to find, the question of disquiet within the ranks of the Resistance, and his rediscovery by the Wizarding world: is it really going to be as easy as he might hope?
* * * * *
Wow my shoulder hurts. x.x Snape! Woo! Enjoy! By the way, I tried to keep him totally in character. If he's not...I need to be kicked in the teeth :)
* * * * *
Chapter 6
The silence stretched out for a long moment, both silent, with wands drawn upon each other. Harry didn’t dare move; he almost didn’t breathe. He’d been caught in a Wizard’s house, after so many successful missions.
Finally, the man across from Harry spoke a single word with a velvet voice that sent fear instantly down his spine. “Unpredictable.”
It was as though he’d become unstuck: Harry breathed again, and lifted his wand a fraction higher as he squinted through the darkness at the figure. If the man had been in profile, he knew he would have seen the hooked nose clearly - but from this angle, he could see hair: lots of hair, backlit by candlelight.
“Snape,” he spat.
“Correct,” Snape replied, evenly. “One right answer, however, Mr. Potter, will not make me forgive you a lifetime of wrong ones.”
Harry narrowed his eyes, standing his ground now, “I’m not a child any more, Snape. Your snarky comments can’t scare me any more.”
“That is true. You forget, of course, that there are other things that you are fraid of - that any warrior is afraid of.”
“Like?”
Snape kept his black eyes trained on Harry; at least Harry assumed that the eyes were fixed on him: in the darkness that was Snape’s face, Snape’s eyes were simply a darker pit than before. Harry waited in the silence that followed as Snape slowly rose from his seat, dressed in the long dark robes that Harry remembered so vividly from his youth. Harry found himself wondering just how maneuverable those robes might be if this turned into a conflict.
“Like imprisonment, your friend’s lives, the fact that I have only to touch my arm and the Dark Lord will be here within seconds…”
Harry tried not to flinch, but he did flick his gaze towards Snape’s hands to make sure that they were reasonably far apart.
“Your friends will be released, of course…without the burden of my prisoners.”
“You knew we were here all along!”
Harry knew Snape was smiling, though he still could not quite see his face. “Not all protective measures are so very obvious, Potter.”
“But if you knew we were here…then why didn’t you block our exit?”
“You forget,” Severus went on; he was almost purring now. “I did block your exit, Potter. I blocked every exit, timed perfectly in comparison to your previous entries.”
“An automatic lockdown?”
“Precisely.”
“So if I hadn’t made an excursion, I’d have been trapped in the dungeons with everyone else?”
“You’re thinking that your magic could have helped them escape?”
Harry nodded, flushing as he did so. Snape could see right through him; so much so that it was almost embarrassing.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Potter. You would have disappointed them. But now I can see for myself that you are truly alive.”
“You can see that I’m alive? Why does that matter if you’re going to turn me over to Voldemort?”
Snape approached, until Harry could see the features on his sallow face. He was sneering. “Do you really believe that if my intention were to turn you over to the Dark Lord, Potter, that I would not have already done it?”
“What do you want?”
“I want many things, Potter. Right now, I want you to put down your wand. I could take it off you, but it would be more amusing to have you willingly disarm.”
“Kissa,” Harry hissed, narrowing his eyes, but obeying none the less. He knelt down, forcing himself to open his hand to let the wand fall onto the carpet. He straightened up, rigidly, lifting his eyes up to Snape’s.
Harry did not hear the spell, but he had not expected to. Without warning he found himself rising off the floor, hovering about a foot above the ground. He kicked at the air, but no movement had any effect.
“Now since you’re just standing there, Potter, we are going to confer.”
“I have nothing to say to you!” Harry barked, furious.
“Now, now, Potter…you might not think you have anything to say, but you know a lot more about your more recent activities than I do.”
“My recent activites? What have they got to do with you?”
“You’re standing in my house, Potter. Your recent activities have a lot to do with me.”
Harry didn’t reply. He didn’t like being outfoxed by Snape; it made him feel terribly young again.
“Have you been searching for the Dark Lord’s Horcruxes?”
The question stunned Harry enough to make him blind stupidly at Snape, his mouth hanging open. “How do you know…?”
“I am the one asking questions tonight, Potter. Have you been searching for them?”
“I…I haven’t had time,” Harry said, then realized that he probably should not have said even that - shouldn’t have acknowledged that that was in fact what he’d been doing.
Snape, however, nodded grimly and moved towards where Harry levitated. Harry could see him more clearly now, the light casting extreme shadows with the help of his nose and hair.
“How do you expect to destroy the Dark Lord if you do not actively seek out his ending?”
Harry had a little more control of himself this time: he simply didn’t answer at all.
“I recently came into possession of a particularly interesting object, Potter. When you leave, I suggest you take it with you. You’ll find it in the top of the chest of drawers, inside a sealed envelope.”
Harry narrowed his eyes at Snape. “You’re going to let me go?”
“If you cooperate; I thought I’d made that quite clear. But you go with my warning, Potter…I am not going to let you hide with the Resistance any longer. You shirk your duty to end the Dark Lord’s reign and you disgrace the memory and trust of Albus Dumbledore…”
“What do you care about Dumbledore!” Harry burst, unable to stop himself. “You killed him!”
“I do not expect you to understand the unshakeable loyalty that Dumbledore instills in his closest followers,” Snape said, pointedly. The remark struck home like a poisoned arrow, spreading doubts inside of Harry’s mind instantly. He chose not to voice them; closing his mouth tightly.
After a long pause, Snape continued. “I will ensure that the Dark Lord knows that you are alive, Potter. He will not let you rest after that. I suggest you discover his final Horcruxes and destroy him; sooner rather than later.”
“You can’t…”
“I can. I will.” Snape had moved closer now, and he lifted one hand up to brush over Harry’s cheek. It caught him so much off guard that Harry only swiped at Snape’s hand after the contact had been made. Snape stepped back, considering Harry appraisingly, in a way that made Harry feel like a tiny spec of dust on someone’s glasses.
“Personally, I don’t see why Dumbledore had such faith in you…” Snape began. “You’re still the same weedy, useless boy that you were five years ago. You don’t stand a chance against the Dark Lord.”
Harry fell for Snape’s jibe, just as the older man had expected him to. “I’ll kill him, Snape. Don’t think that I won’t.”
Severus’s hand trailed over his lower lip. Harry watched it, almost ferociously, wishing he could shove it up Snape’s overly large nose. It was as he envisioned this revenge, bitterly, that Snape stepped just a little bit closer, finding Harry’s gaze.
“Do it then, Potter; prove me wrong.”
“I will, Snape. Everything you ever assumed about me.”
Harry didn’t even swipe at him, even though he was in range of the dark haired older man. He could have clawed out his eyes from this distance, but he was satisfied to simply glare into them, full of hatred and animosity.
“I’ll be watching, Harry. If you fail to do your duty, then next time I capture you, it will be to turn you over to the Dark Lord.”
“I never asked for this, Snape!” Harry snarled, narrowing his eyes a little more. “I never asked for this life!”
Severus’ amusement did not reach his eyes. “No-one ever asks for the lives that they are forced to lead. But the longer you fail to act, Potter, the longer hundreds of thousands of people live in misery. The longer you fail to act, the more children are born into slavery, the more Muggles die, hunted like animals.”
Harry had nothing to say that, though his eyebrow twitched briefly. Snape had hit the nail on the head, and a whispering of remorse sprung up in Harry’s mind. All those people that he could save…
“There,” Severus murmured. “There’s that Gryffindor martyrdom I remember.”
“Fuck off, Snape.”
Snape merely smiled, and lifted his wand up again. Terrified, Harry jolted back and closed his eyes tightly. Harry collided with the floor near enough the exact same time that the crack of Snape’s disapparation sounded loudly in his ears. He fell to his knees out of shock, then grabbed his wand and whirled around, just in case Snape was by some luck still in the room. Nothing - he was gone…
Harry sighed and pulled himself back up to his feet, rubbing at the place where he’d landed on his arm, and moving cautiously over to the cabinet. He opened the drawer that Snape had alluded to, reaching to the very back.
Just as Snape had said, there was an envelope there, and when he pulled it back and opened it, he was very, very surprised to find a heavy silver locket that he vaguely recognized.
It was Voldemort’s Horcrux; the same one that Regulus A. Black had stolen many years ago, and had hidden in the House of the Blacks.
And Snape had given it to him.
Dealing with dilemma, Harry tucked the Horcrux and it’s envelope into his pocket, making his way over to the bookshelves, and looking through them for some that he could take with him. He needed to move fast, of course - he had no time to spare, as Snape would need an alibi for letting him go free.
Grabbing a potions book, and several other interesting looking tomes, Harry made his way back down the stairs, and caught up with Jules by the great door. “He locked us in, Harry! And then all of a sudden it just stopped…but, the prisoners all disappeared. Did you do it?”
Harry nodded. “Kind of. Look, I’ll explain later - let’s get out of here.” He turned away, looking around. “The table…come on - I’m sick of this place.”
He moved back over to the table, closely followed by Jules. “Besides, I think I’ll love chopping that bastard’s antique table up for firewood. Ready?” He pointed his wand at the table. “Portus.”
Fourteen seconds later, twelve wizards in black robes appeared with an enormous series of cracks, surrounding them. The next second, all of them were gone.
* * * * *
Sleep for me now. Goodnight!