Against the Darkness

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns and rocks the Potterverse! I just like playing with her toys.

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They stood, and the sound of their chairs scraping against the ground startled the two men. Harry finally met Snape's eyes, and although the boy was young, Severus could see his grim determination, oddly reminiscent of his red-headed, green eyed mother. Yes, Lily Evans would surely be proud of her son.

Snape remembered for a moment the Lily of his school days, her hair flowing carelessly down her shoulders, but the image soon shifted into another schoolgirl with careless hair. Hermione. To be sure, their relationship was unconventional and, if discovered, would mean more than merely his dismissal and her expulsion from Hogwarts. Were the Dark Lord to discover their bond, the implications would be too severe to contemplate. Severus Snape had never before felt the need ... the compulsion ... to protect someone, anyone, but his young Gryffindor had given him more than he had ever dared hope for. She had given him love, and that love he jealously guarded, holding it closer to his heart than the very blood that flowed within it.

He closed his mind as an unnamed fear twisted in his gut. Images of the horrors of his past flashed through his mind, and the fear twisted again, gripping his heart. No, he could not allow himself any distractions today. Today he must remain strong, focused, and insensate. That would be his true power.

As the darkness finally fell about them, Snape and Harry set out for the graveyard. They moved quietly as they snaked their way through the cemetery and eventually came to a stop in front of a large statue on the top of a grave. The battered and worn tombstone was etched with the barely visible words 'TOM RIDDLE'.

They stood in silence and waited.

Snape glanced once more at Harry as they felt the air around them grow cold, and his hand tightened its grip upon Harry's upper arm. A slight shift of Harry's muscles confirmed that he had understood. Black robes billowed in a phantom wind as the Dark Lord swept out from behind the crypt and fixed his malevolent glare upon them. Snape could feel the tension rising as the Dark Lord surveyed the two men before him.

'So it is you, Severus. My most loyal and trusted servant has brought me the boy. You alone are worthy of the rank of Death Eater, and you shall be rewarded after this uprising has been quelled once and for all.' Voldemort's high and hissing voice was chilling, and Snape felt Harry's shiver as they both fought to keep their minds clear of emotion. Of thought. Of everything.

Snape bowed elegantly, and his grip on Harry's arm lessened fractionally.

'Thank you, my Lord,' he supplicated, awaiting the Dark Lord's next move, careful to occlude any intrusion into his mind.

The tall and menacing spectre circled the pair slowly, dangerously, his hissing breaths cutting through the chilly air like knives. Snape slowly straightened until he was once more standing upright next to his charge. Harry's eyes had never strayed from those of his enemy.

Voldemort's eyes glittered like gemstones as he proclaimed his victory.

'Look at me, boy, for tonight I shall have my final revenge. That which I have sought for so long has finally come to pass. Harry Potter stands before me a captive, and tonight I shall be rid of him forever!' The unmistakable finality of those words drove home into Snape's heart the knowledge that failure tonight would certainly end in more than just their deaths. Were Voldemort to gain full power, the entire Wizarding world would be plunged into chaos and anarchy. He carefully occluded that thought as well. They could not let that happen.

'Leave the boy to me, Severus,' he commanded, and Snape's fingers shifted imperceptibly.

'Of course, my Lord.'

Snape's voice was surprisingly steady as he shoved Harry to one side and silently Accio'd Voldemort's wand. The look of rage on the Dark Lord's face was second only to his look of absolute horror as Snape closed his fists tightly around the ends, bringing the wand down sharply against his raised knee. The wand snapped cleanly in two with a sound like a gunshot, and it glowed momentarily with an eerie red light before the light exploded in Snape's hands, searing his flesh, and arcing past the three human figures as it disappeared into the night.

Snape's body convulsed horribly as his hands gripped the two halves of the Dark Lord's wand. His every nerve felt as though it were being ripped from his body as waves of Dark magic tore through his chest, threatening to excise his very soul, momentarily stunning him and rendering him breathless. The final Horcrux had been destroyed, and the residual magic inside dissipated.

Snape staggered backwards clutching at his burned hands, barely keeping his feet as Voldemort screamed in fury and lunged towards his former Death Eater. Before Snape had time to recover, the Dark Lord struck him across the face with the back of his hand with enough force that Snape spun around, staggering, as he tried to retain his balance. Quicker than thought, Voldemort relieved Snape of his own wand, and his Dark fury was immeasurable as he rounded savagely upon his most trusted traitor.

CRUCIO!

Voldemort's reptilian face glowed with an eerie light as the curse bit into Snape, and his victim writhed pitifully, eyes staring in horror, mouth open in a silent scream. Severus could hardly breathe, and every movement, every thought, was pure agony. He had endured this curse before, many times, but the absolute fury of his betrayal gave Voldemort's curse a power and potency that Snape had never before experienced. His mind could barely grasp at reality, and in the recesses of his mind, he heard Harry screaming curse after curse at Voldemort.

Impedimenta!

CRUCIO!

The curses only served to distract the Dark Lord, but suddenly, Snape was no longer on fire, although his entire body still shook violently. The distraction lasted long enough for Harry to half drag, half shove Snape headfirst behind the tomb. As he fell roughly to the ground, Voldemort hurled another curse in their direction, and Harry flung himself out of its way. The force of his momentum slammed him into the edge of the crypt, and he raised his arm to protect himself. Snape heard Harry's scream as the impact tore the flesh from his arm, bruising the bone. Harry staggered against the crypt using his other arm for support, and although Snape's vision was still blurred by his own pain, he could clearly see that Harry was in trouble.

Snape struggled to his feet, still breathless as he examined Harry's wound, desperately trying to ignore the pain of his own charred flesh.

'Foolish boy, don't you know that you must be the one to defeat him!' he rasped, and his mind swam with rapid images, snapshots of the ghosts of the past, the noble ones who had died to sacrifice so much for this war. An uncharacteristically concerned tone belied the harshness of his words. 'Too many have died so that you may live, Harry. Too much has been lost. Too many have been indebted to ensure that he dies tonight! You. Must. Not. Fail.'

He could see that Harry was momentarily taken aback by the force of his words, but they both knew that Snape was right. The fates had seen to it that they were in that place, on that night, to put an end to the horror that was Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Severus retrieved Harry's wand with difficulty, and waved it quickly as he muttered a spell. Harry felt the wound begin to close, and the pain lessened to a dull ache. He moved his arm experimentally and then nodded to Snape as he then took his wand and cast a spell over the older man's hands. Once mended, they stood and prepared to face the enemy once more.

They emerged silently from either side of the tomb, their ears and eyes alert to any sound of movement that would betray their quarry's whereabouts. Although he was wandless, Snape moved in front of Harry as they threaded their way through the rubble of headstones and dead trees in the cemetery. The only sounds in the grey landscape were the soft scuffing of their shoes on the ground and the gentle crunch of dried leaves underfoot. Even the wind had ceased to blow, resulting in an odd deadening of all noise. They both turned quickly when they heard the unmistakable swish of robes behind them.

INTEREO DOLOR!

Both Harry and Snape saw the movement at the same time, but Snape was a fraction quicker as he instinctively lunged at Harry. He knew that incantation; it had been contrived by Voldemort himself many years ago, and it was much worse than any Unforgivable. He grabbed Harry from behind, and spun them both around as he muttered a Shielding Charm against the boy. His own body absorbed the punishing curse, and he stiffened, gasping, as he felt it rip through his body, efficiently destroying him at every level, while still allowing him to feel the pain of that destruction. A brilliant spell, to be sure.

The spell would keep his mind magically intact so that he could see, feel and understand what was happening to him and how he was dying. To a highly intelligent man like Severus Snape, this particular death was infinitely worse than a mere Avada Kedavra.

He felt Harry stagger under their combined weight as the momentum threw him off balance, and he leaned against a tall crypt to steady them both. He appeared to be so taken aback by Snape's actions that he didn't initially realize what the outcome had been.

Snape barely felt Harry shift his weight as he tried to get them both into a standing position, but the man already felt as though he were nothing but dead weight slipping through Harry's arms. Snape looked up into Harry's face and saw his alarm while the life drained from his own tired, wretched body.

Severus was able to understand everything as his physical body was destroyed, and although he was certain that his death would be fairly rapid, his brain would be the last to die. The mind can take a moment and weave it into an eternity, and he could feel his memories fading and his vast knowledge withering as his higher brain functions slowed.

Fleeting images of Hermione grazed Snape's failing mind, and he was finally able to let go. His iron grip on his emotions was liberated, and their rush threatened to break him, so powerful and all encompassing that, even in death, they staggered him. He concentrated hard with what was left of himself. Unable to speak, he forced the thoughts and emotions into Harry's mind.

'Finish it, Potter.'

He could no longer keep anything intact, and he fought against the ebb of his life, but even conscious thought was slipping further away from him. His vision was blurred, he felt cold, and the world didn't seem to make much sense to him anymore. He was dying faster now; it was finally happening; his primitive brain understood, and he settled into the darkness.

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Many miles away, Hermione awoke, screaming.

TBC

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intereo: to perish, die.

dolor: pain, grief. misery, suffering. Source: www.freedict.com

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A/N: I know. I'm sorry.