(no subject)
See Previous Chapters Here
Title: Harry Potter and The Seven Soldiers, chapters 12 & 13 of 17
Author: kanedax
Fandom: Harry Potterverse
Spoilers: Harry Potter 1-6; Previous Chapters
Rating: R for violence
Summary: Hermione finds her favorite teacher, and Ginny finds a student in doubt.
Notes: As usual, I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling, or all them wacky kids. And please let me know if there's any fanfic sites that would like this story.
Chapter 12
The Severe
The halls like to change, Hermione thought. And they changed to put the Potions room here. Or maybe Voldemort did it on his own…
A figure stepped from the shadows. “Miss Granger,” he said.
Hermione pulled her wand out at the quickly approaching man. “Stop right there, Snape.”
“Miss Granger, please,” Severus Snape said, the unusual tone of concern in his voice. “You’re injured. Sit down, I’ll fix you up.”
“I don’t think so,” she said warily.
Snape gave her a look of impatience. “Miss Granger, please, I want to help you. I’m not evil, alright?” He walked towards a shelf lined with potion ingredients, and started picking items down one by one.
“So you’re not evil,” she said incredulously. “So why did you kill Dumbledore?”
He threw a few items into a pot, and started stirring. “Terrible death,” he said softly. “But I was ordered by Dumbledore himself to do it. He said it was in order to save Draco, and to keep my place in the Dark Lord’s circle. To be an inside man, even if I couldn’t spy on the Order anymore.
“Besides,” he said, walking to Hermione with the cauldron, “He was already dying, from the poison he drank. Give me your leg.”
Hermione stepped back, nearly believing him. “So, you’re not evil?”
“No,” Snape said, smiling, “I’m not evil. I swear.”
Before she could react, he splashed a bit of the potion on her injured leg. She moved away quickly, trying to avoid it, but instead of any pain, she felt her leg straighten and heal.
“Bend it,” Snape said. “Does it move alright?”
She hesitantly moved, and found that it was back to normal. She smiled despite herself.
“It’s fine. Thank you, Professor.”
“You’re welcome, Miss Granger,” Snape said, then moved back to his desk. “Now, what happens next?”
“I was hoping you’d tell me,” she said, walking towards him. “We need to find a way to get out of here, and to get to Voldemort.”
Snape paused, thinking. “No,” he said, “Not quite yet. There’s something we need to do first.”
Hermione looked at him questioningly.
“Oh, yes,” he said, “that’s right. Crucio!”
Hermione fell to the floor, screaming in pain. Her body flailed as wave after wave washed across her.
“Just had to make sure your leg was fixed,” Snape said, his voice returning to its cold hard self. “This spell wouldn’t hurt as much if your body wasn’t functioning completely normally.”
He pulled his wand back, and the pain abated.
“But…” she moaned.
“I told the truth, Granger,” Severus sneered. “I’m not evil. You’re the evil one, you see. You and your friends. Trying to prevent my master, the Dark Lord Voldemort, from ascending to his rightful place of power. Crucio.”
Her mind went blank, filled with anguish.
“Dumbledore did tell me to kill him,” Snape continued. “But I was going to do it, anyway. I wanted to do it for years. I expected that the potion I made for my Lord, the one he used to hide his Horcrux, would have finished Albus off. But to see the green light flash from my wand, to see Dumbledore fall off the tower… Crucio.”
Think, Granger, Hermione thought desperately through the pain.
“Now that was exquisite.” Snape said pleasurably.
“Besides, how could I be a double agent anymore? I couldn’t be a spy, the Order wouldn’t have me. And even if they did, do you think Voldemort would have fallen for such a ruse? If I had gone back to the Order, that would just prove to my Lord that I was not to be trusted. I was much happier by his side.”
Another flick of the wand, another bolt of agony. Hermione’s mind whirled, as she tried to focus on the wand in her hand.
Cast a spell, she thought, you’re a walking library, cast a bloody spell!
“Ah…”
“What was that, Granger?” Snape asked. “Trying to cast a spell? Crucio. This should be interesting. Give it to me, you brainy little bitch!”
“Ah… Avis…”
Snape laughed loudly as small birds came forth from Hermione’s wand. “Oh, dear!” he chuckled. “The little canaries are going to wing me to death!”
“…oppugno…”
The birds flew up into a tight flock, and then launched straight at Snape, swarming around him. He screamed and tried batting them away with his arm. Hermione took this moment to stand up, and point her wand at as many of the birds as she could.
“Engorgio!” she said over and over. Each time, one of the canaries would grow to the size of a falcon. Soon dozens of huge birds were driving Snape backwards, pecking his face, clawing his arms, and beating him with their wings.
“Get off of me!” he yelled, “Get off…!”
His body slammed into a bookshelf covered in potions. As the birds dropped him to the floor, the bookshelf fell down, with bottle after bottle of potions breaking and mixing on his body. He screamed in agony as he was engulfed in vapors. The smell was horrible.
He eventually fell silent. Hermione walked slowly over to him, and flipped him over. Just looking at his dead face, affected by fifty different potions, was enough for her to back away quickly, vomiting onto the floor.
As she stood back up, wiping her mouth, the door opened. Walking on two good legs, she exited the Potions room, dozens of large canaries following her.
Chapter 13
The Student
“Lumos.”
A small beam of light appeared from the tip of Ginny Weasley’s wand. She moved it around the dark room, and eventually discerned that she was standing in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Various charts and diagrams, created by Professor Shacklebolt, hung from the walls.
A small sniff came from the far corner. Ginny moved the light to the source.
Huddled in the corner, a young man sat. His knees were pulled up tight, his arms hugging them to his chest. As the light hit him, he looked up, his long white hair framing his red, swollen face.
“Who’s there?” he said sadly.
“Malfoy?” Ginny asked, stepping forward carefully.
“Is that you, Weasley?” he sniffed.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s me, Ginny.”
“Kill me, Weasley,” he said simply.
This statement threw her. “What?”
“Kill me,” he pleaded. “Make it look like I fought you, make it look like I did my best… but, please, I don’t want to live anymore.”
Ginny moved closer, and saw that Draco had been crying. “Why should I do that?”
“Because,” he cried, “If I quit, then they’re going to kill my mother. I could kill you, but I can’t do that. But if it looks like I fought till the end, then, maybe…”
“Talk to me, Draco,” Ginny said, kneeling down next to him after seeing that he was unarmed.
Draco snorted dark laughter. “I thought I was doing the right thing, you know? Following in my father’s footsteps, making Dumbledore pay for what he did to him. Sending him off to Azkaban.”
“But,” he continued, “When I got onto the tower, when I was this close to finishing it, Dumbledore started talking to me. For the first time since I’ve ever come to this school, he actually talked to me. I could hear his empathy, his sympathy. I knew that he was right. That I had been on the wrong side this whole time.
“Before I could take up his offer,” he said darkly, “Snape came in. I wanted him to stop, but before I could say anything…”
Draco shook his head sadly. “You need to find the sixth Horcrux, right?”
Ginny nodded. “Come with me,” she said. “Harry and Hermione and Ron are all waiting, we can find it together. We can still save your parents.”
“You can’t save my parents!” Malfoy yelled. “Voldemort already killed my father!”
Ginny didn’t know what to say, could only put her hand on his shoulder.
“The sixth Horcrux,” Malfoy continued. “It was a yo-yo, or something like that. I don’t even know why it was so important. But apparently they can be changed. Transferred, if the soul’s owner wants it to be so.”
“He killed my father. And used that death to transfer that piece of his soul to another. Something symbolic.”
“What?” Ginny pressed. “What’s the sixth Horcrux?”
Draco stared at the wall. Ginny could see his jaw tightening, as if he had just come to some great decision. His eyes lit up, and he looked at her.
“What’s your name, Weasley?” he asked. “Your real name, I mean.”
“Ginevra,” she said quietly.
“Ginevra…” Draco repeated, feeling it in his mouth. “That’s a nice name.”
“It’s Italian,” Ginny said. “It means Guinevere. From King Arthur.”
Draco nodded. “A nice name… Ginevra…”
Tears welled in Draco Malfoy’s eyes. “Tell Harry I’m sorry. For everything. Tell him he was right all along, he and your brother and Granger. I hope he can forgive me someday.”
“Draco, what…”
“Please,” he repeated, “make it look like I put up a fight. It might give my mother a little more hope.”
He stood up slowly, and pulled his wand from his pocket.
“The sixth Horcrux,” he said confidently, “It’s in the Room of Requirement.”
As he said this, Ginny saw blue flames emit from his mouth. They slowly wrapped around his body.
“It’s a symbol of my father’s failure to Voldemort. The first of many failures…”
The flames wrapped around his neck, and began to tighten. The Unbreakable Vow, Ginny thought. This is what happens when you break it.
“The sixth Horcrux,” he choked, “Is Dobby the House Elf.”
Ginny nodded. “Thank you, Draco.”
She lifted her wand, giving him what he wanted before the flames could do it for him.
“Avada Kedavara.”
The flames disappeared instantly, as Draco Malfoy fell to the floor. Ginny could feel the sorrow build inside her.
Another one lost to Voldemort, she thought as she joined the other three outside.
Chapters 14 & 15