Harrypotterbang Chapter Nine
Title: Severus Snape and the Battle of Hogwarts
Pairing: Snape/Hermione, Harry/Ginny
Rating: PG13
Warnings: AU Deathly Hallows
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Series belongs to J K Rowling. No copyright infringement intended, and no money is being made.
Beta: The wonderful glittersprite
Artist: The most talented duskblue
Summary: Severus Snape is Headmaster of Hogwarts, Death Eater, estranged member of the Order of the Phoenix, long-suffering victim of Dumbledore’s Army and battling against all the odds to ensure the Dark Lord’s defeat.
Chapter Nine
Neville had made a decent space out of the Room of Requirement but had discovered, once his stomach reminded him that he needed food every once in a while, that this was the one thing the room didn’t offer. As he sat musing how to rectify this a picture frame on the wall seemed to have someone in it that was getting larger and larger as they moved towards him. He got up and went to have a closer look and as he approached he could see that it was a girl who then held out her hand and in doing so the portrait swung forward to reveal a tunnel.
At first he was a bit dubious about following the tunnel out of the room as he couldn’t be sure that this was a trick to catch him put in place by the Carrows, but the longer he stared at it trying to decide, the louder his stomach rumbled and in the end, that was the deciding factor. He was hungry, he had devised the room to be a hiding place that the Carrows could neither detect nor get into, therefore the tunnel had to be friendly. If the room couldn’t actually produce food, maybe this was its alternative - producing a means of getting to food without getting caught.
Neville climbed into the tunnel and started to walk down it. He lit his wand so as not to trip, but then extinguished it again in case he was heading towards danger. He wanted to be able to sneak away unnoticed if he ended up somewhere he really shouldn’t be. Discovering that the tunnel was leading him downwards, he used his hands against either side of the tunnel to help him keep steady and felt his way to the end. Before long he was approaching a rectangle of light which he could only assume was the exit at the other end.
His ability to sneak up to it and sneak away if necessary was lost when he was nearly close enough to the doorway to stop and listen out for people the other side and it swung open of its own accord.
Blinking in the sudden light Neville jumped when he heard a gruff voice say, “Well come in then, you’re letting all the heat out!”
It turned out that the tunnel led him into the living room of Aberforth Dumbledore, brother to the late headmaster, who gave him hot tea and shared his dinner with him. As they sat chatting about what had happened to Neville and what was happening at the school and in the wider wizarding world, Neville realised that this tunnel would be essential should the war against Voldemort come to a head at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade.
Finishing his dinner and gratefully accepting the box of food that Aberforth gave him to take back with him, Neville used their new and tentative friendship to strike up a deal with him and the use of the tunnel. When he got back to the room he found his galleon and sent a message out to all the DA members. The Army was going to regroup.
It wasn’t long before many of the students that had still been at Hogwarts when Neville had had to disappear started turning up in the Room of Requirement seeking a safe place to hide until they would be galvanized into action. They all fervently believed that Harry would be returning to Hogwarts and when he did they would be overturning the Death Eater hold and destroying Voldemort once and for all.
When Harry did arrive, however, it was with great disappointment to all that he had not plotted any action for them to take. He seemed shifty and it made them suspicious as to what reason he had come back for. Especially when he told them that he would be leaving as soon as he had completed the task Dumbledore had set him.
Neville had contacted the other DA members and those of the Order that had galleons and there was a rush of people entering the Room of Requirement via Aberforth’s tunnel. As more and more people discovered that Harry was there but there was to be no revolution the clamour of confusion rose up and up.
***
Snape was pacing the corridors in his usual manner. No students were about to terrorize and he put this down to the Carrows’ punishments actually working when it came to keeping the little dunderheads in line. Not that he approved of using these dark methods in such a manner, but it was refreshing to walk the corridors and not have his thoughts interrupted by students skulking behind statues. He gasped slightly as his Dark Mark flared and suddenly the realisation that Potter had arrived at the school hit him.
“The fool!” He hissed to himself.
He could tell, from the communication between Dark Mark’s, that it was Alecto that had alerted the Dark Lord to Potter’s presence. Changing his direction he quickly made his way towards the Ravenclaw common room to find her and Potter and to ensure that the boy wasn’t harmed. As he was walking there he the rustling of movement around the corner so took up a position behind one of the suits of armour. Unfortunately, as he had heard her, so Minerva had heard him. He gave up his impromptu hiding place to face her, searching the rest of the corridor behind her for signs of the boy.
Asking where the Carrows were seemed like the best course of action for him at this point. He had to find out where Potter was to be able to keep him safe now that the Dark Lord was on his way to the school. He also had to keep up his charade of Death Eater in front of Minerva because this was the only way that he could keep himself alive whilst Voldemort was still alive. Any inkling of him being a spy for the Order and having his allegiances to the other side and not actually to Voldemort would guarantee his long and painful death.
The duel that followed was not one that Snape wished to repeat under the same circumstances. He admired Minerva greatly as she was an excellent witch and would have delighted to accept a controlled duel under friendly circumstances had times been different. However, they weren’t, and for all his expertise he found himself struggling to duel her without hurting her and without being hurt himself. He ended up hiding behind the suit of armour again and when Professors Flitwick and Sprout turned up to join in the melee he turned tail and fled as soon as he could.
He was no coward, but he could see when a situation was not going his way and he still had to fulfil his task that Dumbledore had set him. Being dead would not help him to do that. Also not knowing where that dratted boy was wouldn’t help either. He ran to the nearest window, shattering the glass with a spell as he went, and then leapt out. The only thing he could do now was go to the Dark Lord’s side and see what action he decided to take. Once he ordered to attack, then Snape would be able to re-enter the castle on the pretence of attacking and find the boy then.
***
Voldemort took up residence in the Shrieking Shack when he arrived at Hogwarts to find that the students and Professors were rebelling and that they had captured the Carrows and Snape had fled. He was not happy that Snape had given up the school so easily and he had punished him for it before grouping his Death Eaters together and formulating his plan of attack.
He had no inclination to kill off the pure-blooded and had given an ultimatum to have Harry Potter handed over to him by midnight, as they had not done so he ordered the battle to begin. The Death Eaters and their allies - the giants they had persuaded to join them, the acromantula’s, the werewolves who had joined Fenrir’s pack and the Dementors had been ordered to fight. Lord Voldemort, however, stayed where he was with Nagini safe and sound beside him.
As the battle raged on within the school and grounds, Voldemort ordered Snape be found and brought to him.
Watching him as he came into the room Voldemort said, “Severus, it is time for me to take the next step I am required to in order to defeat Harry Potter.”
The Dark Lord set Nagini free from her sphere of safety as he spoke to her in parseltongue to give the snake her instructions. It was time to take control of the Elder Wand.
********
Contine
Pairing: Snape/Hermione, Harry/Ginny
Rating: PG13
Warnings: AU Deathly Hallows
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Series belongs to J K Rowling. No copyright infringement intended, and no money is being made.
Beta: The wonderful glittersprite
Artist: The most talented duskblue
Summary: Severus Snape is Headmaster of Hogwarts, Death Eater, estranged member of the Order of the Phoenix, long-suffering victim of Dumbledore’s Army and battling against all the odds to ensure the Dark Lord’s defeat.
Chapter Nine
Neville had made a decent space out of the Room of Requirement but had discovered, once his stomach reminded him that he needed food every once in a while, that this was the one thing the room didn’t offer. As he sat musing how to rectify this a picture frame on the wall seemed to have someone in it that was getting larger and larger as they moved towards him. He got up and went to have a closer look and as he approached he could see that it was a girl who then held out her hand and in doing so the portrait swung forward to reveal a tunnel.
At first he was a bit dubious about following the tunnel out of the room as he couldn’t be sure that this was a trick to catch him put in place by the Carrows, but the longer he stared at it trying to decide, the louder his stomach rumbled and in the end, that was the deciding factor. He was hungry, he had devised the room to be a hiding place that the Carrows could neither detect nor get into, therefore the tunnel had to be friendly. If the room couldn’t actually produce food, maybe this was its alternative - producing a means of getting to food without getting caught.
Neville climbed into the tunnel and started to walk down it. He lit his wand so as not to trip, but then extinguished it again in case he was heading towards danger. He wanted to be able to sneak away unnoticed if he ended up somewhere he really shouldn’t be. Discovering that the tunnel was leading him downwards, he used his hands against either side of the tunnel to help him keep steady and felt his way to the end. Before long he was approaching a rectangle of light which he could only assume was the exit at the other end.
His ability to sneak up to it and sneak away if necessary was lost when he was nearly close enough to the doorway to stop and listen out for people the other side and it swung open of its own accord.
Blinking in the sudden light Neville jumped when he heard a gruff voice say, “Well come in then, you’re letting all the heat out!”
It turned out that the tunnel led him into the living room of Aberforth Dumbledore, brother to the late headmaster, who gave him hot tea and shared his dinner with him. As they sat chatting about what had happened to Neville and what was happening at the school and in the wider wizarding world, Neville realised that this tunnel would be essential should the war against Voldemort come to a head at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade.
Finishing his dinner and gratefully accepting the box of food that Aberforth gave him to take back with him, Neville used their new and tentative friendship to strike up a deal with him and the use of the tunnel. When he got back to the room he found his galleon and sent a message out to all the DA members. The Army was going to regroup.
It wasn’t long before many of the students that had still been at Hogwarts when Neville had had to disappear started turning up in the Room of Requirement seeking a safe place to hide until they would be galvanized into action. They all fervently believed that Harry would be returning to Hogwarts and when he did they would be overturning the Death Eater hold and destroying Voldemort once and for all.
When Harry did arrive, however, it was with great disappointment to all that he had not plotted any action for them to take. He seemed shifty and it made them suspicious as to what reason he had come back for. Especially when he told them that he would be leaving as soon as he had completed the task Dumbledore had set him.
Neville had contacted the other DA members and those of the Order that had galleons and there was a rush of people entering the Room of Requirement via Aberforth’s tunnel. As more and more people discovered that Harry was there but there was to be no revolution the clamour of confusion rose up and up.
***
Snape was pacing the corridors in his usual manner. No students were about to terrorize and he put this down to the Carrows’ punishments actually working when it came to keeping the little dunderheads in line. Not that he approved of using these dark methods in such a manner, but it was refreshing to walk the corridors and not have his thoughts interrupted by students skulking behind statues. He gasped slightly as his Dark Mark flared and suddenly the realisation that Potter had arrived at the school hit him.
“The fool!” He hissed to himself.
He could tell, from the communication between Dark Mark’s, that it was Alecto that had alerted the Dark Lord to Potter’s presence. Changing his direction he quickly made his way towards the Ravenclaw common room to find her and Potter and to ensure that the boy wasn’t harmed. As he was walking there he the rustling of movement around the corner so took up a position behind one of the suits of armour. Unfortunately, as he had heard her, so Minerva had heard him. He gave up his impromptu hiding place to face her, searching the rest of the corridor behind her for signs of the boy.
Asking where the Carrows were seemed like the best course of action for him at this point. He had to find out where Potter was to be able to keep him safe now that the Dark Lord was on his way to the school. He also had to keep up his charade of Death Eater in front of Minerva because this was the only way that he could keep himself alive whilst Voldemort was still alive. Any inkling of him being a spy for the Order and having his allegiances to the other side and not actually to Voldemort would guarantee his long and painful death.
The duel that followed was not one that Snape wished to repeat under the same circumstances. He admired Minerva greatly as she was an excellent witch and would have delighted to accept a controlled duel under friendly circumstances had times been different. However, they weren’t, and for all his expertise he found himself struggling to duel her without hurting her and without being hurt himself. He ended up hiding behind the suit of armour again and when Professors Flitwick and Sprout turned up to join in the melee he turned tail and fled as soon as he could.
He was no coward, but he could see when a situation was not going his way and he still had to fulfil his task that Dumbledore had set him. Being dead would not help him to do that. Also not knowing where that dratted boy was wouldn’t help either. He ran to the nearest window, shattering the glass with a spell as he went, and then leapt out. The only thing he could do now was go to the Dark Lord’s side and see what action he decided to take. Once he ordered to attack, then Snape would be able to re-enter the castle on the pretence of attacking and find the boy then.
***
Voldemort took up residence in the Shrieking Shack when he arrived at Hogwarts to find that the students and Professors were rebelling and that they had captured the Carrows and Snape had fled. He was not happy that Snape had given up the school so easily and he had punished him for it before grouping his Death Eaters together and formulating his plan of attack.
He had no inclination to kill off the pure-blooded and had given an ultimatum to have Harry Potter handed over to him by midnight, as they had not done so he ordered the battle to begin. The Death Eaters and their allies - the giants they had persuaded to join them, the acromantula’s, the werewolves who had joined Fenrir’s pack and the Dementors had been ordered to fight. Lord Voldemort, however, stayed where he was with Nagini safe and sound beside him.
As the battle raged on within the school and grounds, Voldemort ordered Snape be found and brought to him.
Watching him as he came into the room Voldemort said, “Severus, it is time for me to take the next step I am required to in order to defeat Harry Potter.”
The Dark Lord set Nagini free from her sphere of safety as he spoke to her in parseltongue to give the snake her instructions. It was time to take control of the Elder Wand.
********
Contine