News of Ron’s proposal whipped around the castle like wild fire, by the next morning everyone one knew that the Head Boy and Girl had gotten engaged. Ellie had come over all Molly-like and actually burst into tears while she was congratulating the pair. Harry and Ginny were as pleased as punch for their two friends, who couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear. Professor Dumbledore had even provided his good wishes during a speech at dinner the following evening. Everything was working out so well for Harry and his friends.
It was the middle of the final week of term that Harry had another vision of Voldemort. This time he was seeing through Voldemort’s eyes.
He was sat in a large room with walls made of rough stone. There was little furniture in the room but that which was had a very princely feel to it. There were sideboards made from rich mahogany and trimmed with polished brass fittings and the chair he was sitting in had plump forest green cushioning. There were three men in front of him with their heads bowed, Harry could make out one of them as Snape but he didn’t recognize the other two. “I hope that you are bringing good news,” Voldemort said in what was almost a bored tone. But Harry was well aware that boredom was never a good thing when it came to the Dark Lord.
“We have located the man, my Lord, we expect that he shall be delivered here within days,” one man said eagerly.
“You will ensure that he is transported here as soon as possible. I wish to get our proceedings underway before the school year is out, otherwise all our planning will have been for nothing. Severus, what news do you have?”
“I’m afraid that my task has been much more difficult than I had first perceived, the girl will not yield the information that we need, master,” Snape said apologetically.
“You have tried all approaches possible?”
“All that can be conducted without risk of detection, at first I attempted to gain her trust but she trusts no-one outside of that wretched family. I added several drops of Veritaserum to a Soothing Solution that I delivered to her during her recent illness…”
“She has been unwell?”
“Yes, my Lord, she has been suffering from an irritation in her stomach,” Snape enlightened his master.
“Very well, continue.”
“I even made an attempt at Legilimency but her defences are strong, he grandfather has undoubtedly taught her well.” There was a tiny hint of pride in Snape’s subservient voice, Harry detected it but apparently Voldemort did not because he ignored it completely.
“Yes, the old fool would have made sure that she didn’t fall victim to mental attacks, her mind holds too much valuable information,” Voldemort said jealously. Harry could sense the resentment building within the world’s most evil wizard. He laughed a little, if only Ellie could know that Voldemort was jealous of her.
“Valuable information?” asked the third man who had not previously spoken.
“Yes, she knows the entire contents of the prophecy, she knows everything about the boy - his strengths and weakness, and she knows every move that the Order of the Phoenix makes. I would imagine that there is very little that her grandfather knows that she does not. she is widely recognised as his favourite confidant. He is overly sentimental in that respect.” He elaborated with revulsion. “Vulnerability is not an option as far as she is concerned.”
“I will keep trying, master,” Snape assured him.
“I expected no less of you, Severus. I must admit that I had my doubts about you for some time but I have been very pleased with the work you have done in recent times, you have served me well and when the time comes you shall receive your reward.”
“I live to serve only you, my Lord,” Snape said as he bowed his head obediently.
“Good,” Voldemort replied.
After this, their voices grew faint and Harry felt himself withdrawing from Voldemort’s mind and back into his own body. So his adversary was almost ready. a fierce debate began in Harry’s mind, should he tell Dumbledore? The last time he had shared his dream with the headmaster it had left them with an unnerving situation because nobody seemed to know whom this person was. Surely if they were important then the Order would know who they were? Maybe Voldemort was mistaken about this person’s importance. He knew he was just fooling himself on this point and decided that he would speak to Dumbledore in the morning.
The castle was quiet this morning. The beautiful summer sun was blazing its way across the grounds and the students were taking the opportunity to laze on the sun-drenched shore of the lake and the school’s front lawn. Without the mass of students and the flurry of movement, the castle’s exquisite beauty shone almost as brightly as the sun that was beating down on it. The walls that had withstood a thousand years of teenage trauma still stood as proudly and solidly as the day that they were built. It was as though each student who had passed down these halls had left a little piece of him or herself buzzing inside the bricks. There was a thousand years of blood, sweat and tears flowing through these corridors, but you hardly ever noticed. It gave the building a majestic aura, its very own life and soul.
The gargoyles that stood guard over the headmaster’s office slid apart silently for him when he gave the password. He found Professor Dumbledore sitting at his desk deep in thought. “Good morning, Harry, how are you?”
“Feeling a little bit better now that the exams are over,” Harry replied.
“So what is it that brings you to my office on such a charming day when you should be outside with your classmates enjoying the wonderful weather?”
“I had a dream last night that I thought you should see.” He placed his Pensieve on the desk in front of the headmaster.
“You have concerns about its contents?” Dumbledore asked.
“Very big concerns,” Harry answered. He pulled his memory from his temple and deposited it in the stone basin, he gave it a prod and it began to swirl. As the dream progressed, Dumbledore watched it with an expression that Harry couldn’t work out. “What are you thinking?” Harry could see the older man’s mind whirring as clearly as if it had been a Sneak-o-scope spinning above his head.
“The urgency with which Voldemort wants his plans conducted troubles me. The assertion that it is carried out before the school year ends raises concerns that whatever he is planning relates to the school or the students. We may have to arrange alternate transportation for them; I will not have pupils put in any kind of danger. We have no further clues as to whom this mystery person is, Professor Snape has asked all the questions that he can without looking suspect, but outside of the followers actually involved in the task no one knows who they are looking for.”
“Isn’t there anything else that we can do?” Harry asked with frustration.
“Not at the moment, I will ask for increased security around the castle and will check with my sources again, but for now that is all I can do. We all must be on our guard. Do you wish to discuss anything else?”
“No, sir,” Harry replied, he was deep in thought.
“I think perhaps the time is right to do away with the sir’s and Professor Dumbledore’s. By the end of this week you will no longer be my student and I would entreat you to call me Albus,” Professor Dumbledore smiled.
“I have a feeling I’ll be your student for a long while yet, sir…Albus,” he said after a slightly reproachful glance from the man before him.
“I thank you, Harry, I am very flattered.” For the first time in Harry’s memory, Albus Dumbledore blushed; his wrinkly cheeks suddenly developed a little pink flush.
“It’s just the truth,” Harry shrugged.
Harry wasn’t really able to enjoy the last few days of school with an imminent threat hanging over the place. He found himself watching the other students with interest; every time a random face passed them he wondered if that person would get home safe? Would they have a home to go to? Would there be a warm family to welcome them? Or had they already been torn apart by Voldemort’s wicked doings?
When he began to pack his things he was overcome with a strong fit of depression. He stared at the room; this had been his home for seven long years. Both wonderful and terrible things had happened in here; he had shared his first kiss with Ginny on this very spot. It seemed so strange to think that there was life outside of this dormitory, outside of this school even. This was the place where his hope and faith resided, kept and cared for within these ancient walls. What did life hold for him in the wider world? Where did he go from here?
He, Ron, Ginny and Hermione were on their way to lunch on the final day of term when a loud uproar out on the grounds attracted their attention; they were curious to see what was causing so much of a fuss and headed for the front doors. Outside people were scattering in all directions, they were running and screaming their way back to the castle. Harry didn’t understand what was going on until Neville ran up the entrance steps to meet him with an ashen face. He pointed over the grounds and down to the gates that separated Hogwarts from the wilderness beyond, there, surrounded by fifty or more Death Eaters, was Lord Voldemort and he appeared to be opening the gates.
Harry stood completely stunned on the top stair, staring down at the group gathered by the entranceway. Voldemort was watching gleefully as the gates swung open easily and granted him entry to the grounds. The only thing that Harry could think was, how? He followed the rest of the students who were filing past him back into the safety of the castle; the prefects, and now Ron and Hermione, were herding everyone into the Great Hall.
“What is the meaning of all this?” Professor McGonagall asked as she came storming up the corridor from her office, she was watching the hysterical students before her with confusion.
“Voldemort’s on his way up to the castle, we need Dumbledore!” Harry told her without delay.
“I assure you, Mr. Potter, that it is quite impossible for Voldemort to breech the Hogwarts’ security measures, we have better defences than the Ministry of Magic!” she replied.
“Is that so?” he asked harshly, he grasped her hand and pulled her towards the main doors. She nearly screamed in fright when she realised that Voldemort and his associates were marching up the driveway.
“Help me get these doors closed,” she yelled with the utmost urgency. When the doors had been pushed shut she pointed her wand at them and said ‘Prohibeo Ostium.’ “Mr. Weasley, go for the headmaster at once!”
“That will not be necessary, Minerva,” said Dumbledore’s calm and soothing voice.
“Albus!” she yelled in surprise. “V-voldemort is within the grounds!”
“I am aware of that; I was able to see from my window. Let us get everyone in to the Great Hall. The castle doors will keep them out for a time.” Harry couldn’t believe how unconcerned Dumbledore appeared to be. Within five minutes Voldemort would be standing on the front steps.
“May I have everyone’s attention please!” the headmaster’s authoritative voice reverberated off the walls in the Great Hall and silenced the hundreds of students within it who were crying, screaming and just generally in a state of great distress. “As those of you who were out on the grounds will know, Lord Voldemort has gained entry to the school and is on his way up here with a collection of Death Eaters. There is no need for panic; if we are to expel them we must have our wits about us. Could all members of Dumbledore’s Army please step forward into a line at the front.” Dumbledore looked around the crowd carefully and found fear in almost every face he met, with the exception of the forty students that now stood in an untidy line in front of him.
“Harry, would you please pick twenty students to fight along side us?” Dumbledore asked him firmly. Harry was quite surprised by this, he had expected that when the time came all of the DA would be out doing the fighting. He picked out the twenty strongest fighters from the group, amongst which were Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Susan. The other twenty didn’t look at all happy about being left behind.
“Thank you, Harry. All first and second year students will remain in the hall with the prefects who are not part of the Army, kindly separate yourselves from the crowd and move towards the staff table. Ms. Patil,” Dumbledore beckoned Parvati forward. “I would like you to lead a group of twenty students up to the top of the North Tower, I wish you to conduct an attack on our assailants from there. Do you understand?” Parvati nodded. “Good, you will take these students, off you go.” Dumbledore counted off twenty students that were nearby. He then moved down the line assigning groups of various sizes to each remaining member of the DA, he then sent them off to various points in the castle where they were either to prevent entry or begin attacking. “Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Reddo and Professor Weasley will remain with the students in the hall…”
“No I bloody will not!” Ellie bellowed in fury.
“Do as you are told, Elizabeth,” Dumbledore said firmly.
“I don’t think so! I am not staying in here when Voldemort is out there!”
“YOU WILL REMAIN IN THE CASTLE!” It was the first time that Harry had ever heard Dumbledore shout at anyone angrily and the first time that a majority of the students had heard him raise his voice anything above his usual soft-spoken tone.
“I AM COMING WITH YOU!” She yelled back equally furious.
“YOU ARE NOT COMING!” Everything about the headmaster conveyed the message that this was not up for discussion, he had a hard look in his eyes and his mouth was set.
“Are you going to try and stop me?” Ellie said in a quiet and unsettlingly dangerous voice: she pulled out her wand and pointed it straight at her grandfather. Dumbledore seemed to consider this for a moment.
“Have I ever been able to stop you from doing what you have wanted to do?” he said quietly.
“Never. That will not change now. I am coming with you. I am going to fight and if I die so be it.” The resemblance between Ellie and her grandfather really was quite startling, they both had long flowing hair, long faces, almond shaped eyes and the same set jaw line. Everyone watched the pair like they were watching a tennis match, their heads whipped back and forwards as each made their case.
“I suppose I cannot stop you,” Dumbledore said sadly as he resigned himself to the fact that she was going into the fray.
“I would not advise you to try,” Ellie flicked her wand dangerously. Harry was intrigued; would she really duel with her grandfather just to be allowed out to the battle?
“Headmaster, I would like to protest against this decision, it would be better if Professor Weasley were to stay within the confines of the castle,” Snape said.
“Be quiet, Severus, you’re just afraid that you’ll be asked to die for me. Don’t worry I have no intentions of getting myself killed!” Ellie snapped.
“Nobody ever does when they go into battle with the Dark Lord!” Snape reasoned.
“My mother saved your life, Severus, but I would be more than wiling to take it away!” Ellie had always played her cards close to her chest as far as her relationship with Snape was concerned. She didn’t like him particularly, but she knew that her grandfather trusted him and she knew what had happened between her mother and Snape, she didn’t like it, but she knew of it none the less.
“By all means do so whenever you feel the need!” Snape was starting to swell with rage.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? It’d get you out of that little hole you’ve dug for yourself!”
“ENOUGH!” Dumbledore hollered above their din. With the angry voices absent, a loud knocking could be heard. It was coming from the castle’s front doors. If the whole situation hadn’t been so worrying then Harry would have found it highly amusing that Voldemort had ambled his way up to the school and was now calmly knocking on the front door. Did he expect to be invited in for tea and biscuits?
The headmaster ushered those who were about to go into the battle out into the entrance hall, he sealed the Great Halls doors as they went. He then unlocked the front doors, pulled them open to reveal the swarm of waiting Death Eaters and said coolly, “Hello, Tom.”
“Dumbledore, so nice to see you again,” Voldemort said with false pleasantness.
“I must admit to being impressed, Tom, how did you manage to break through the defence shields that had been erected?”
“Your problem has always been that you put too much faith in the old and not enough effort into the new. Did you honestly believe that those barriers that incompetent Everard put up, would last?”
“Watch who you’re calling incompetent,” Ellie warned him precariously.
“Of course, you are his - what is it again? “ Great, great, great granddaughter?” Voldemort was smiling at her in a horribly victorious way.
“It is and I’ll thank you to not insult my family,” she snapped.
“It was you who gave me the idea,” he smiled and paused for a moment to allow this information to sink in. “One of my faithful servants witnessed you Apparating within the castle when it is widely acknowledged to be impossible because of the wards. That set my thoughts in motion, why could you move like that when the supposedly great Albus Dumbledore could not? Once all other options were exhausted it became quite apparent that your heritage was the source of this unusual power. It was then that I knew what I had to do; I had to find someone else with Everard’s blood running through his or her veins. Unfortunately, I found that after five generations the blood dilutes to such an extent that it is impossible to use it for the purposes that I needed. I had to go back along the lines until I found one surviving member, he is a distant cousin of yours,” he mentioned in passing to Ellie. “Unfortunately, he was so useful that he ended up dead.”
“You perhaps infused his blood with yours?” Dumbledore enquired lightly; as though blood infusion was something he discussed with Dark Wizard’s every day.
“Indeed I did, and as you can see my plan worked very well, I was able to access the grounds with relative ease.” Voldemort gave them one of his nauseating self-appreciative smiles. “You have acquired quite a motley crew for yourself, Dumbledore. Employing children as warriors are we?”
“These children have witnessed more than any others before them and are up to any challenge that you can pose them,” Dumbledore said firmly.
“We’ll soon see about that, shall we begin the proceedings?”
“By all means.”
Unlike encounters that had gone before it, this one was strangely ordered. It was as though both sides had known exactly what was coming and had decided to shake hands and say ‘May the best man win.’ Things had begun with just Dumbledore and Voldemort duelling and everyone else watching, then slowly but surely people began to join in and curses were flying through the air in both directions. Dumbledore’s declaration that his students were up to the challenge that Voldemort had set was proving to be true. So far nobody had been hit with anything that they couldn’t deflect or counter act. This changed when Voldemort managed to catch his old teacher’s right arm with a spell that was unknown to Harry. Instantly Dumbledore’s wand hand shrivelled, turned black and his wand dropped to the floor. Finding his enemy defenceless Voldemort caught the old wizard with a strong Stunning Spell. Ellie immediately stepped into her grandfather’s place. “Dear, Elizabeth, how long we have waited to duel properly, I believe I will enjoy this,” Voldemort’s voice dripped with menace.
Their intense fighting continued for over twenty minutes and Ginny’s sharp scream, as she was hit in the arm by a Severing Charm, was what finally drew Ellie’s attention away from her own attacker. That was when Voldemort stole the moment and threw a Disarming Spell at her. “Finally you will be mine!” he hissed triumphantly. He pointed his wand at her and called, “Sectumsempera!” Bright silver light erupted from his wand and shot towards her, however, it wasn’t Ellie it hit, it was Snape.
The second he had seen that Ellie was wandless, Snape rushed forwards and placed himself in the line of fire. He knew what that spell was, he knew what it would do to him, but he had to do it all the same. When the spell connected long cuts began erupting all over his body, within seconds his robes were soaked in blood. He stumbled backwards and fell; Ellie caught him before he hit the ground but buckled under his weight. He looked up at the beautiful brown eyes of her mother and whispered to her. “It is done, Jane, I have kept my promise.” His eyes closed and the last seconds of Severus Snape’s life seeped into the grass below him along with his last drop of blood.
A/N: Poor Sevvy, he was a good ‘un after all. The battle continues in…A Golden Phoenix.