Over 16,529,114 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
July 18th
“Bring in the boy and Severus,” said a high, cold voice.
Behind the chair facing the fire, two figures approached. One was tall with greasy black hair and a pointed nose, the other, shorter, with silvery-blonde hair. Both were in black robes, but while the taller one had an air of calmness about him, the shorter one was definitely scared.
The chair turned around, away from the fire, and its occupant, a pale man with red slit eyes and slits where a nose would be, glared at the two arrivals as if staring at bugs to be squashed.
“Tell me, Severus, why should I not kill you both right now?” asked Voldemort coldly. “That old fool Dumbledore was Draco’s to kill, not yours! And he couldn’t even muster the courage to do even that!”
“My Lord, there is a simple explanation. I knew that Draco would be unable to complete his task. He is at best a poor student, full of bravado and bluster, but when push comes to shove he is a coward and unable to follow up on his boasts,” replied Snape calmly.
“How dare you criticize my son, you greasy git!” shrieked a voice from the side. Snape turned to the sound of the voice.
“Narcissa, you are in no position to say anything. It was you and Bellatrix who asked me to swear an Unbreakable Vow to help Draco in his task. You knew he couldn’t do it, else you would not have asked, yet you chose to lie to the Dark Lord when you told him he could do it.” Snape continued, “I would be of no use to the Dark Lord if I had not fulfilled that Vow, to not kill Dumbledore and then die myself, for then I could not be the servant the Dark Lord needs now fully in his service. Instead, the biggest obstacle to Harry Potter is now removed, and I am alive. To my view it was a very equitable result.”
“Indeed it is, Severus, and you are correct. Better you alive and Dumbledore dead than the other way around,” said Voldemort. “But as for Draco, he failed me, and he must pay the price for that failure. Crucio!” He pointed his wand at Draco as he uttered the curse, and Draco fell to the floor, curled up, screaming in agony.
“Stop!” cried Narcissa, this time moving between Voldemort and her son. Voldemort’s face darkened.
“You dare defy me? Move out of the way, he is my servant to punish as I see fit!”
“NO! He was my flesh and blood before he was your servant, and as such I have prior claim on him!”
“I care not for your claims. Avadra Kedavra!” The green light shot out from his wand and Narcissa crumpled to the floor, killed while trying to protect her son. Snape looked on in surprise and recognition. Voldemort raised his wand again.
“My Lord, I do not recommend that! Do you not remember the last time you did this?” Snape shouted. Voldemort paid him no heed.
“Avadra Kedavra!” The green light shot out again, and just like it did on that Halloween Night in Godric’s Hollow, the curse hit the boy and rebounded back into Voldemort, and his soul was once again ripped from his body, which was thrown over the chair and into the fireplace, where it immediately disintegrated in the flames. The wand flew out of his hand and bounced off the fireplace, and Snape quickly summoned it.
Snape reacted quickly, conjuring a bottle with his own wand and moving to capture Voldemort’s soul into it. “I tried to warn you, my Lord,” Snape said, as he waved his wand and worked the soul into the bottle. Once it was all in, he stopped it up. He turned to the circle. “We must work quickly,” he said to the group. “The spell that restored the Dark Lord before must be done again. Bring Draco and Wormtail. We set out for Little Hangleton immediately!”
* * *
The Death Eaters arrived at the cemetery, and Pettigrew set up the cauldron and got the water boiling. The ritual went forward just as it did two years prior, but this time the enemy blood was Draco’s, and the servant’s bone was a finger from Macnair, and Severus threw in the entire bottle, but before it hit the water, he muttered two incantations, one silently and one vocally to shatter the glass. The Dark Lord rose again, and was quickly robed. Snape gave him his wand. He promptly killed Draco for his defiant actions. They returned to Malfoy Manor as if nothing had happened, but now Severus was solidly in place as Voldemort’s most trusted servant, exactly as Dumbledore had hoped, and Voldemort was completely unaware of the silent incantation that Snape had made over the cauldron.
Miles away, undetected by Voldemort, Harry Potter witnessed the whole thing, surprisingly without his scar hurting. Snape’s block of Voldemort’s mind to his presence was working perfectly, making the connection between the teen and the Dark Lord one-way only, so Potter could see into Voldemort’s mind, and not vice versa.
