Chapter 21: The Prince and the Chosen One
The march towards Mount Lomboc began. The army bent on destroying Lord Voldemort advanced with desperate intentions, with Harry in the lead. They came to the river of lava that flowed slowly from the base of the volcano, and they made sure to stay far away enough from the intense heat. Black-laden Death Eaters stood opposite the river, lining all the way across its banks to the narrow bridge half a mile away. Most stood still in wait, while a few of them shot spells which Harry's army returned in kind.
Harry raised his staff and his other hand, focusing on the lava with all of his concentration. Within seconds, the river seemed to explode and both sides retreated back in fear. Lightning flashed through the thick night and electricity streaked into everything surrounding the battle ground. A large mound of hot earth came rushing from the bottom of the river and rushed towards the sky, separating the river into two parts. Harry then split the mound into two separate small mountains; using all of his strength, he pushed the two walls of rock and earth away from each other, pushing the lava back and out. It became evident to everyone that Harry had just formed his own bridge and the Death Eaters began to panic. They all fired curses, but the army of magicians at Harry's disposal rushed across the bridge and forward. Far outnumbered, the Death Eaters could be heard shouting in fear.
Harry heard a loud screech and he looked up. A large brown hawk came rushing towards him, with Hermione riding on its back. Harry jumped on as it zoomed by and sat in front of Hermione. Making a pass through the Death Eater forces for Harry to attack and scatter them one more time, the hawk then flew up, high into the sky, and made its way towards the Lomboc Spire. The battle would be left to the brave souls below them.
Encircling the towering spire once, Ron spotted a landing to an entrance and settled, transforming back to his true form after Harry and Hermione got off. They were standing on an overhanging ledge leading to a black arching gateway. The path rose up to the spiring tower that had various windows, paths, and doors - a dark mansion of cruel purpose.
Hermione procured her magical model of the spire and turned her wand in little circles, giving her the ability to zoom in to various places of the lair as she saw fit.
"Okay, we are here," Hermione said as Harry and Ron gathered around her. "Once inside, we need to head southwest. We won't know the actual way, but the platforms we saw in the vision were about half-way up the spire and southwest of here."
"Voldemort could have set traps for us," Ron said skeptically.
"It's actually probable," Harry scoffed. "But we have no choice. In the vision, there weren't any signs of a trap - just a few guards. We will have to go inside carefully, watching each other's backs. Hermione, your wand."
Hermione pulled out her original wand and gave Ravenclaw's wand to Harry who replaced the wand in his staff with hers and stowed his own way. After he waved his staff a few times to accustom himself to the new wand, they ran swiftly up the path towards the entrance of the Spire. Carefully passing an arching doorway guarded by ugly stone gargoyles, they looked around, wands and staff at the ready. The spire was not a conventional kind of lair - there weren't many rooms, but rather stairways and bridges and paths leading everywhere in a complex series of pathways all leading in one direction - up. They continued further in, taking steps and checking rooms built into the structure's walls, but only heated air and dark stone was to be found.
"I think we're getting lost," Harry groaned, wiping his brow. Ron placed his wand on top of the palm of his hand.
"Point me," he commanded. The wand instantly turned clockwise and pointed Ron north. "That way," Ron pointed towards southwest. They continued to climb stairs and carefully check around corners as they climbed higher and higher.
Soon, they felt that they were more than half-way and they noticed the confusing passages were beginning to converge; soon enough, they found themselves in a lone dark hall lined with bones and skulls. Hermione kept close to Harry while Ron constantly checked their backs. All of them were attentive to even the slightest noise as Harry walked steadily ahead through the widening hall.
"Lumos maxima delego," he whispered. His orb lit the black corridor like the sun lights the daytime. The passageway had turned into a large chamber and they could see the fiery-red color of the outside at the far end. Harry stopped before reaching the end and Hermione and Ron both turned to look at what he had spotted: on the floor were four Death Eaters, all either unconscious or dead. They continued to walk at an even more cautious speed and finally reached an enormous opening - a pathway that arched over a support and opened to the outside. On the far end of the curvature was a large black-barred gate.
Harry pauses.
He can feel the gate - it is surrounded by dark magic. Harry is unsure what he is going to do, but he feels in his gut there is no way past the gate.
A glimpse of black robe flowing like the wind - a man comes into view, wand in hand and a grimace across his face. Walking deliberately between them and the gate is the last obstacle Harry knew he would have to face before Voldemort himself, and one he had been waiting to face for an entire year.
"Snivellus," Harry sneered, walking towards him almost casually.
Severus Snape stood in front of the ominous black gate with a dead stare as the two faced off. Harry smiled in deadly contempt while Snape's face remained even. Hermione and Ron slipped to the side to leave Harry to his rightful confrontation.
"Tell me, Snape…" Harry taunted. "How does it feel to know you are going to die today? I imagine you know there is no chance you have against me, and yet here you are… ready to actually challenge me with your meager and pathetic knowledge of magic."
"Potter, you and I both know my knowledge of magic far exceeds anything you will ever know," Snape scathed contemptuously.
"Is that so?" Harry chuckled coldly, his dead eyes focused on his enemy. He raised his staff in front of him and Worthwhile hissed, exposing his large fangs. "Show me what you've got, then."
"This gate," Snape said, pointing to the black gate behind him. "Can only be opened by myself or the Dark Lord, so you have no chance of reaching him, if that is what you are here to do... I am not here to fight you Potter."
"Like hell you aren't. If you will not duel, I will kill you outright. Can't you tell I'm not lying to you?" Harry tapped the side of his head mockingly. "Or maybe you are just losing your touch, you sniveling coward."
Snape's face contorted in anger and he quickly thrust his wand towards Harry.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"
A bright white spell streaked towards him, but Harry stood his ground and smirked as the spell was very simply stopped in midair and absorbed by his orb. Harry didn't even blink as Snape stood looking confused. Suddenly, the orb erupted and an even more intense white spell rocketed out of Harry's stave and struck Snape head on, flailing him back at least ten feet.
Ron waved his wand and a bag of popcorn appeared.
"Want some?" he asked Hermione as he grabbed a handful.
"Yes please!" Hermione replied happily.
"Get up Severus," Harry called out. Snape struggled as he got up from the devastating curse Harry had reflected back at him.
"I see," Snape said, breathing hard. "Still upset about our little confrontation at Hogwarts? I guess you've learned to close both your mind and mouth."
"Which confrontation do you mean, Snivellus?" Harry's face became angry. "You've treated me without mercy for seven years, constantly goading me into attacking you. But you probably mean our duel after you murdered Dumbledore, is that it? Is that the one you mean?" Harry flicked his staff just a bit and Snape shouted in pain, grabbing his hand and struggling to hold onto his wand as his wrist twisted and writhed on its own. "You determined your own fate that night Snape! You killed yourself by doing what you did!"
Harry squeezed his staff in fury and Snape was lifted up in the air and it became apparent the ex-professor was unable to breathe. Snape clawed at his throat as he struggled to find some form of air that Harry had blocked off; his wand dropped to the floor and his legs kicked in terror. A dark aura began seeping out from Harry and surrounding him in darkness as Snape started to turn red. Moments before Snape lost consciousness, he was dropped and the dark shadow surrounding Harry dispersed. Shaking his head, Harry stepped back a bit. I must control that. Harry started slowly for Snape again.
"Potter, you don't understand…" Snape gasped for air pleadingly as he backed away under fear of Harry's slow advance.
"What don't I understand? You killed Dumbledore, you made my life miserable, and you handed the prophesy to the Dark Lord, thereby sentencing my parents to their deaths. No, there is no misunderstanding about this. Tonight you will die by my hand."
"If I am to blame for your parents' deaths, then Albus Dumbledore is as well!"
Harry stopped as the absurdity of Snape's statement took hold. Ron and Hermione's jaws both dropped to the floor.
"What?" Harry muttered, a deadly look in the eyes behind his glasses.
"Professor Dumbledore trusted me, Potter. Surely he must have iterated that to you over and over. Fifteen years ago, he caught me in the middle of one of my acts of service to the Dark Lord; he was nearly ready to kill me when I pleaded that he spare me. I promised to become his servant forever for saving my life, and I always have."
"And yet you murdered him in cold blood."
"I had no choice."
"That's rich. A great story, truly it is, but you still killed him."
"And he killed your parents."
"Don't lie to me…"
"I am telling you the truth Potter. If you can't see that, then you will never have a life in Ligilimency."
Harry roared in fury. He swung his staff mightily and Snape was knocked back with a tremendous crash. Snape picked himself up in pain, holding his hand to the bloody wound that had ripped through his arm. Snape held up his free arm in fear as Harry advanced on him again.
"Listen to me, Potter! Dumbledore was privied to the prophesy and I overheard it! But he ORDERED me to give part of it to the Dark Lord!"
Harry stopped, feet from where Snape stood backed into a corner.
"Why would he do that?" Harry demanded.
"Because he knew it was his destiny. He understood the prophesy and knew that the Dark Lord would have to mark the boy destined to challenge him… you! He gave me instruction to relay the prophesy to him and thus your parents died and you lived. He knew the consequences, but he did it anyways."
"By your story, my parents would have died anyways because the prophesy was already made, so Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have been to blame. Surely he would have known I would realize this and he would have told me. Your terrible story doesn't hold up Snape!"
"That's because it's only half of it! The Dark Lord's trust in me was still unstable. He did not like trusting anyone, nor would he ever. The Dark Lord thought I had abandoned him, but Dumbledore knew he would return and thus Dumbledore trained me during the thirteen years between the Dark Lord's fall and rise, so that we would be ready for him. He taught me everything he knew about Occlumency and Ligilimency so that when I finally returned to his side, I would be able to successfully deceive him and hide my true loyalty."
"You are a liar!" Harry shouted. "You killed Dumbledore! Even if your story was true, why should I not believe you double-crossed him?"
"Dumbledore asked me to kill him!"
"You have gone absolutely mental!" Harry cried, shocked. "First you wanted me to believe he sentenced
my parents to their doom and now you want me to actually believe he asked you to kill him?"
"It's true, Potter." Snape winced as he tried desperately to stop the bleeding in his arm. "To be
able to give you the greatest advantage possible in your final duel with the Dark Lord, Dumbledore knew my killing him
would put me in his highest favor and thus give me access and the ability to give you the help you needed when the time
finally came, which is right now!"
"Then why did you not do it earlier? Why the elaborate attack on Hogwarts?"
"Because I at first refused!"
Harry stared at Snape, while Hermione and Ron looked at each other in confusion.
"I could not bear to kill the one who had saved me," Snape continued, apparently devastated. "We had an argument one night because I refused. However, when I was forced to take an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa Malfoy to help Draco Malfoy in whatever way I could in killing Albus, an even better opportunity presented itself and Dumbledore once again persisted. I refused again, avoiding even being at the castle around the general time I knew Malfoy would make his attack. If I didn't know about the attack, then I could avoid killing Dumbledore without losing my own life."
Harry's mind was spinning. Everything he was telling him seemed to fit perfectly, but it just couldn't be. His mind wanted to refuse the logic.
"Potter, I know what you are thinking, but this has been planned by Albus Dumbledore since your birth. He knew only you could face and destroy the Dark Lord and he did everything to prepare you for it. The only reason I was at Hogwarts that night, was because McGonagall had sent Phineus Nigellus to the Order Headquarters to warn me of the attack and because I knew, I had to go or face death on account of the Unbreakable Vow. I raced to the tower where one of the Death Eaters told me Draco was and it was there that I faced Albus. He pleaded with me one more time to take his life and thus earn the ultimate trust of the Dark Lord… and I did it. I had no choice."
Harry shook his head, shock overwhelming his body. He just couldn't believe it and somehow, it all made sense. He could hear Dumbledore pleading with Snape on the tower, saying `please' over and over. The trust Dumbledore placed in Snape, no matter what, was because of this plan. But his parents and Dumbledore were gone because of it… Harry wanted to hold onto his hate, but his sanity wanted to leave him with it.
"If Professor Dumbledore had this plan so perfectly placed," Hermione asked skeptically. "Then why did he finally assign you to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Surely he knew of the curse!"
"Dumbledore knew of the curse placed on the position, so he never allowed me near the job because he wanted me near the castle until the time Voldemort made his move on Dumbledore. Once I had told him that I would not go through with the final part of his plan and take his life, Dumbledore decided to give me the position so I would be forced to leave at the end of the year by the Dark Lord's own curse and thus, avoid suspicion when I returned to his side."
"If you are supposed to be on Harry's side, now," Ron pointed at Snape. "Then why did you steal the Unforgivable Curse from the Library in Alexandria? You must have known what Voldemort was going to use it for!"
"Is Potter affected by the spell now?"
"That's not the point."
"It is the point exactly Weasley! Haven't any of you understood yet? Nothing mattered except this moment in time - the time in which Potter would have to face the Dark Lord. It did not matter if Potter was hit with the Cadarius Curse, because eventually he would shake free of its grip. This duel had to happen! It was only a matter of time and now destiny must be decided. This has all been prepared for Potter. The night the Dark Lord returned during the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, Dumbledore sent me to return to the Dark Lord's side. Using every bit of Occlumency training I had learned, I successfully convinced the Dark Lord I was still with him, and in return, the Dark Lord asked one of his Death Eaters to do that which Dumbledore knew he would eventually do: he sent a servant of his to assassinate the Headmaster. Malfoy succeeded, but so did we, and you are here now Potter and my advantage that we have built for so long will come to fruition…"
Snape turned towards the black gate. "Polaris Aquilis!" he said forcefully. The great black gate suddenly creaked and opened. "This was what I was meant for Potter and now it is time. I took care of what was left of the Dark Lord's best dark wizards as you saw in the Grand Hall. Inside, there are only platforms for battling. The end of the prophesy must now be decided."
Harry glared at Snape, piercing through his heart with a stark gaze of intense distrust. "You're missing something, Severus," Harry finally said coldly. The one question…I must ask the one question I have always wanted to ask him.
"I have told you everything. There is nothing more."
"Wrong. There is something that is still needed. There is the one issue that has made all of this so extremely tense, despicable, and even repulsive."
Snape stood in silence, expecting what he did not want to hear.
"Why do you hate me?"
"I don't know what you mean. I treated you how I did to train you up."
"Snape, I swear on the graves of my parents that if you lie to me one more time, I am going to kill you here and now, outright, no matter what you have just told me - no matter if it's pure truth or a complete lie. I am going to ask you one more time…" Snape's eyes showed an intense fear under Harry's demands that none of them had ever seen in him before.
"Why do you hate me?"
"It… it's because…"
"WHY DO YOU HATE ME?"
"Because of Lily!" Snape sunk to his knees and silence cut through the chamber like a cold wind. "I loved her…" Hermione and Ron came up to Harry and they looked at each other uneasily as Snape showed the first emotion any of them had ever seen from him.
"Your mother was always kind to me… despite how awful I was to her. To save face as a member of Slytherin, I taunted her mercilessly because of her heritage, but for seven years, she never hounded me like your father or his friends." Snape looked up at Harry, a tear rolling down his face. "And I fell in love with her."
"Too late, it would seem," Harry replied evenly.
"James captured her heart our seventh year and it tortured me endlessly!" Snape shouted angrily, pounding his fist into the floor. "When they had died and you came to the school eleven years later, I… I couldn't bear it. I saw her eyes against the pale copy of your father's face… the one I hated so much. Your first year, I helped save your life to repay the life debt I owed your father because of his saving mine, but after that, I could not help but loath you and the success you received from James and Lily. You got his talent and her intelligence - all of it necessary to save the entire world, and I was just the tool once again. I despised you because of everything! I still do! Dumbledore, however, only used that to his advantage, allowing me to do what I wanted with you so that you would be strengthened. I allowed myself to become used once again."
Harry's mouth twitched and he looked at Snape with a mixed look of pity and loathing. He waved his staff and Snape was knocked back flat on his back.
"What are you…" Snape asked shocked.
"Don't move," Harry said steely.
He waved his staff once more and immediately an immense bolder was lifted and levitated over to them. Harry, Hermione, and Ron backed away as the enormous rock floated perilously above Snape.
"Potter, what are you doing?" Snape shouted fearfully, looking up in horror at the bolder above him.
"Snape, I don't know what is true or not," Harry grimaced. "But you allowed me to enter this gate, so I will allow you to live… for now. However, I will not allow you to leave… Wingardium Leviosa Occipio Movement!"
Harry lowered his staff, but the bolder remained floating a foot above Snape.
"Have you ever heard of the Spell of Dependency?" Harry asked casually as he crouched to the ground to look at Snape. He didn't answer, so Harry continued.
"It's a magic that works without the wizard as long as another factor is in place. This bolder that could crush you in less than a second is being held up by a simple floating spell. Using the Spell of Dependency, I have made the spell continue to work until you move. If you move at all Snape… the spell will be broken and you will die. So I suggest you lay there… very, very still."
"Potter... don't leave me here!" Harry smirked, satisfied with his revenge as Snape bled and shivered in fear under the shadow of the boulder. He ignored Snape and walked towards the gate, Hermione and Ron right behind him.
The black gate.
Inside the sanctuary, various earth and rock platforms that were seemingly unreachable overlapped and overshadowed others in a frightening dance of various-sized arenas. Most were extremely large and the edges were just that - sheer stops and drops into the hot magma inside the active volcano below. Harry walked confidently forward, looking straight ahead. He knew which one Voldemort was located at. The vision was so well-etched into his mind... everything the Gorgon and Bakuri boxes had predicted had come true, but the vision was deceiving at the same time. Harry was prepared... he must change his fate!
A hissing sound issued somewhere off to their left and they all turned.
"Up there!" Hermione pointed. They looked to where she directed and spotted it. Nagini, Voldemort's enormous pet and loyal servant, was looking down at them from a higher platform. Its eyes glowed a furious red and its tongue flipped in and out in a tantalizingly evil way. Harry looked away, knowing everything must now begin.
* * *
January 11th
The lights in Gryffindor tower had been put out for the night, but Harry stayed wide awake, sitting on the mantle of one of the windows in his room. He looked out at the clear night sky and over the grounds, thinking of various things. He thought about Ron and Hermione, Worthwhile, Hagrid, Ramses, his journeys to various lands and destinations. He had done so much in such a short time that it felt like he had actually been gone so much longer than he had. But the one thing that dominated his thoughts most of all was the vision.
The previous day, he had used the Gorgon and Bakuri boxes to reveal where Voldemort hid his Horcruxes and in exchange, he received a nightmare. He had seen his friends on the brink of death... he had seen himself on the brink of death, but that was his future... what could he do?
"You never told me what you saw," a hiss sounded from the darkness.
"I'm sorry Worthwhile," Harry whispered apologetically as the snake slithered onto his lap and pulled his head even with Harry's. "To tell you the truth, I didn't even want Hermione and Ron to see it."
"What happened?"
"I saw them about to die..." Harry answered sadly. "I saw you die. I saw myself being killed. Worthwhile, if this comes true, then everything I have done will have been for nothing - I will still lose all I hold dear."
"Did you see them die?"
Harry shook his head. "Only you. You were swallowed whole by Nagini while I battled Voldemort. It was awful."
"I am not afraid to die, Master Harry."
"But I'm afraid to lose you! You are my friend... and I have lost one too many."
"Now that you know your future, don't you think it's possible to change it?"
"I don't know," Harry answered hesitantly. "Mad-Eye had said the box I had only showed you the future. I don't know if that means that I can respond to my knowledge of it, or if it means I am forced to live with the petrifying knowledge until it happens, no matter what."
"Logically, you must assume you can avoid the circumstances that present themselves. If you've seen me die Master Harry, then don't allow me to go where I meet my fate."
"And what do I do if it's unavoidable? What if we are both there on the platform I saw in the vision and Nagini is staring you down and the battle is unavoidable? What if we stand in that moment, knowing nothing else could happen? What then? Would you go to your death? Can you change such a fate that we only have a glimpse of?"
"I know but one thing, Master Harry. We have protected each other for a long time now. I know that when the time comes, we will be ready for our fate. Yours and mine are intertwined and should the vision show us our doom, then I meet it head on with you... because I chose to throw my lot in with you no matter what. That... will never change."
* * *
April 12th
Worthwhile twisted around to look at Harry. He looked back at his friend and saw the determination in Worthwhile's eyes.
"It still has not changed, Master Harry," he hissed. "My lot is still with you."
Harry's face contorted into sadness and he rubbed the snake's torso in affection before nodding. Worthwhile slithered to the end of Harry's staff, which he had outstretched for him; then Harry thrust his staff as quickly as he could towards Nagini. Worthwhile was launched towards the serpent three times his size and hit her squarely in the neck. Their battle began and Harry continued on.
"Will he be okay?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"We shall soon see."
"Harry, look," Ron said quietly. They all looked ahead to where he pointed. Another arching doorway led to the largest of all the platforms and Harry knew it was the one. He could see where he had lain as Voldemort approached him, intent on ending his life. He could see where his floating self had watched the vision. Everything was familiar, but his heart began to beat like a heavy drum, despite his calm outer demeanor. As they walked through the archway, they found it still hung over the mouth of the volcano making everything around them hot and uncomfortable. The platform was encased in pure rock walls around the entire circumference of the platform, but there was still a steep drop around the edges of the platform down into the pit of the volcano. Above them was a large rock ceiling with an enormous stalactite in the middle pointing down towards the center of the arena.
"Do you know what this means Harry?" Ron asked as they waited for Voldemort. Harry shook his head.
"We changed our fate! In the vision we weren't there, but now we are!"
Harry was glad Ron was optimistic and he didn't correct him, but Harry knew it didn't mean anything. They could have still been with him, but been thrown into the lava or killed somewhere on the platform he couldn't see in the vision. Many things could have happened in the time that transpired before what he saw in the revelation. Harry shuddered at the thought and tried to push it out of his mind. He was ready for Voldemort. He knew he was.
They slowly walked more towards the middle of the platform, when suddenly, a light flashed, blinding them. Heavy bolts of electricity hit the ground, enclosing Harry, Ron and Hermione in a kind of electrical cage. It closed near the top and in seconds they had been shut in.
A low maniacal laugh issued from beyond and echoed through the hot chamber. It drew closer and closer and finally they saw Lord Voldemort emerge through the gateway, fully dressed and hooded in black robes with a gold charm placed delicately on the front of his clothes. He had his hands behind his back, as he strolled up to the cage he had set up.
"For all of your power, Harry Potter, it took all of three seconds for me to deal with you. How utterly pathetic." He smiled demonically and pulled out his wand, flipping it over in his hand.
Harry chuckled slightly while looking back at Voldemort with the same contempt he held for Harry. Voldemort frowned at Harry's lack of concern. Just then, the orb on Harry's staff began to shimmer dazzlingly but Harry continued to stare intently at Voldemort, who shielded his eyes from the orb's blinding light, which began to glow brighter than the sun. Suddenly the electric cage exploded and Voldemort was knocked back. Smoke issued from the middle of the platform and as it cleared, Harry emerged from the haze, setting the staff in his hand in front of him. He waved his finger at Voldemort like he was a child while Hermione and Ron apparated to opposite sides of the now-enraged Dark Lord.
They had formed a triangle of attack. The end drew near.
END Chapter 21
Author's Note: Finally! The next 4 chapters are a wild ride. It took me a while to write them because they had to be perfect. Enjoy!
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