The End of the War: Part One

Warning!  This story does not currently, but will eventually, contain yaoi/slash pairings.  This means male/male.  This story will also eventually contain eroticism, please pay attention to the age when reading.    On a further note, the pairings are going to be Snape/Harry possibly some Draco/Harry.  If any of this does not interest you, please do not even bother reading.  Also, there are likely spoilers, as I have read the first 6 books, and that is reflected in my stories.  You’ve been told, if you’re still here, enjoy.

These characters don't belong to me, more's the pity, they belong to J.K. Rowling, lucky her.

**This part has been heavily edited as of 2-13-07.

The End of the War
Part One: Extraction from Home

I had lived my whole life feeling as though there was a sharp thorn in my side.  Every day, every night, I felt it poking me.  No one knew of this thorn, as far as I could tell it was not real, and I’d be damned if I’d let anyone see any kind of weakness or emotion from me.  It wasn’t as though it was particularly bothersome to me at every moment, simply that it was there.  It was only at times like this, when I was facing something exceptionally sharp and deadly, that I could feel the splinter like pain in my side.  Perhaps, years ago, I had been cursed by some wizard or witch that wanted me to be less than in charge of myself at times.  Perhaps it was all an effort to make me somewhat more human?  Hmph, as though I needed to be more human.

“Why aren’t you attacking?!” demanded a deep, angry voice.  “Fight me!  Don’t run like the coward I know you to be!”  I flinched at another flicker of sharp pain in my side.  If there was one thing that could cause me to lose all control, it was that word, “coward”.  I had never considered myself a coward, although many others did, and I hated it when people started trying to make me out to be one.  Honestly, how many people did I have to kill before they stopped calling me that?

I said nothing, only moved a bit more to the right, my enemy was coming from the left.  The way he kept shouting made me wonder if the boy had a death wish or something.  If I had wanted to kill him, by now, the boy would be dead.

Not boy, man, as he was in his twenty-fifth year.  The man who had proven, to the whole wizarding world, that love was indeed the strongest weapon of all.  Harry Potter, the boy who destroyed the Dark Lord Voldemort.  I sneered, I should have killed him years ago, before he could chase after me and try to kill me.  I took a deep breath, losing my sneer.  That was the problem though, wasn’t it?

I didn’t want to kill.  I hadn’t wanted to kill since before the Dark Lord had returned.  Since before Harry Potter had defeated him as a baby.  In fact, I had planted the idea of infiltrating Hogwarts months before the Dark Lord had called on me to discuss “our” new plan.  I was cunning, difficult, self-relying, and entirely fed up with putting blood on my hands.

“You damn traitor,” there was another crash to my left, “you killed him, you killed countless people, innocents and people from the Order!  You betrayed thousands of magical people, and you helped others kill by telling secrets all throughout the war.  Come and show me your ugly mug you vicious asshole!  Your damn information killed Dumbledore, killed Seamus and Neville!  Show me your goddamned face!”  His voice was raised in hysteria and I thought about that.  I had expected there to be another spy in the Order, but had never figured out who it was.  It seemed as though my suspicions had been correct.  However, as tempted as I was to fill Mr. Potter in on the true state of things, I really just wanted to get out of the house.

I looked to the left and put out a tentative strand of thought.  Sure enough, Potter was to my left, about to turn around the pillar I was hiding behind.  I moved further to the right, and then slipped from shadow to shadow to the other side of the room.  Any minute now, Harry Potter would likely have backup, and I would be caught.  I needed to get out of here fast.

I moved quickly towards the door wondering if Potter had had time to trap every entrance and exit in my house.  I had lived here for all of four and a half years.  A half year after the Dark Lord’s fall I purchased the property.  I then made obvious appearances all around Europe to draw their attention away from it for a full year.  Finally I completely disappeared and started living my new, kill free life, trying to forget all of the blood soaked past.  Trust Harry Potter to remind me of it.  My wand was in my sweater sleeve, thank all the gods for old habits, so I could restart the whole plan elsewhere, not particularly needing anything that was left in the house.  I did feel a pang of regret, I had been planning to share some homemade chili with Mrs. Eldrich tomorrow, and she’d never know not to bother visiting.

I reached the door, checked it over as thoroughly as I could for traps, found none, opened the door and slipped outside into the darkness.  At least, it should have been darkness, as it was the middle of the night.  However, upon leaving the house, a bright light came on from over my door.  The motion detector had detected me, flooding my whole back yard with bright white light.  I had installed that light to keep people from sneaking up on me.  I hadn’t intended to get stuck by it.

There was a sound in the bushes and I turned quickly, staring into the startled eyes of a dear before it dashed away into the woods.  If only I was capable of moving that quickly.

“Come back here coward,” I flinched again as I dashed towards the woods surrounding my house.  “You’re not getting away, damn you!”  I was just on the edge of the forest when the backdoor opened again.  Two things happened simultaneously at that moment, the first being the, “petrificus totalus,” scream that echoed across my yard from Harry Potter’s mouth, and the second being the pain in my side reaching an intense level which made me double over in pain, causing the curse to fly harmlessly over my head.  There was a loud thump, and I turned around quickly to see another deer fall to the ground, its eyes wide and frightened.

“Honestly Potter,” I snapped irritably, “please refrain from scaring my wildlife by petrifying them.  I’ve spent months trying to encourage them into my yard,” I unpetrified the deer, which scrambled up onto its feet and dashed away into the woods.  I turned my now glaring eyes on Harry.

“You!” Harry’s eyes were furious, and slightly mad, “you encouraged them?  For potions ingredients or something?  Deer meat?”  I realized that for some reason we were talking, or rather yelling, at each other, and I fostered this course of action, as it was much better than flinging curses at one another.

“Oh yes Potter, because it is totally likely that they would return here if their family members disappeared in my yard.  They keep the vegetation down, which I appreciate as I do not like clipping bushes the muggle way.”  Potter stared at me as though I had grown an extra limb suddenly.  Taking the pause very seriously, I dashed out into the woods, quickly hiding behind a tall oak tree and listening for any sounds of pursuit.

“I hate you!”  Potter’s voice rang out through the darkness, “I’ll always hate you, you’ll never understand how much I hate you!”  ‘Yes Potter,’ I thought, ‘I know.’

The sound of running footsteps came next, and Harry Potter was moving through the woods, looking for me.  I kept myself well hidden, listening to the sounds, still wondering how the boy, man I chided myself, could possibly be responsible for the capture of so many Death Eaters during the war when he was so terribly loud.  “Pop, pop,” came the sounds of apparition, and I became more worried that I could possibly be caught.

“Harry!  Where are you?” the worried voice of one Hermione Granger came through the woods.

“We told you not to come alone, damn you!” Ronald Weasley called out into the darkness.  That was an interesting thought, I decided, why would Potter have come here alone?

“If you see him, kill him!” Potter’s voice carried though the trees.

“Harry!” Granger’s voice sounded indignant, “as if we would do such a thing!  I take it he’s out here somewhere then?”

“If he was, he’d be miles away by now, ‘Mione,” Weasley’s voice was almost amused.

“You don’t know that, don’t forget what Draco said about some of the more powerful Death Eater’s Ron,” there was a nagging pain in my side followed by a cold rush of dread.  Surely they couldn’t know…

“He’s running from me Hermione!  He hasn’t apparated anywhere, so you both should be looking for him!” Harry sounded desperate.

“Do you think it’s true?” Weasley’s voice sounded low and I realized suddenly that it was moving closer to me instead of away.  I held completely still, holding my breath.

“Well,” Granger muttered back, “You remember what Draco said, I think it’s possible that if he’s not apparating, it’s because he can’t, instead of won’t.”

“You really believe it?  That,” a hesitation, “Voldemort,” said as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth, “somehow stole the magic from his followers?”  I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Hello Professor Snape,” Granger’s voice came from my right side.  I nearly died from shock.  My dark eyes bore into Grangers.  I was furious with myself for being caught.

“Granger,” I acknowledged, keeping my voice as stead as I could.

“Weasley,” she said, her brow furrowed.  I continued to stare at her.  She was visible only as an outline, but I knew enough to not take her presence lightly.

“I’m sorry,” I said, not sure what exactly I was apologizing for, but certain that I needed to.

“I take it you didn’t know about the wedding?”  She was talking amiably enough, but my fingers were still clenched firmly around my wand.

“I suppose here is where I mention that I haven’t had contact with the magical world for years now, hmm?”  I snapped my eyes around the area for the figure of Mr. Weasley, trying to pinpoint where that other person was, “not that it really matters.”

“You know ‘Mione, he’s very dangerous,” a figure emerged from the bushes off to her side, and a tall, wide man came into view.  Again, all I could see was the form, but that alone was enough to tell me that just like Potter, Ronald Weasley had grown into quite a man.

“If Professor Snape wanted to kill us, he’d have done it by now,” Mrs. Weasley was shrewd as always.  “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve not been informed of wizarding society for years?  You’ve been living as a muggle through and through?”  I nodded my head carefully.  “Amazing, not even the Prophet delivered?”  She truly sounded incredulous.

“Granger, do think for a minute.  You’ve got brains enough to work this one out.  How long do you think it would have taken for them to figure out where I was?  I’d have needed to get the money to pay for the Prophet somehow, it simply wouldn’t work,” I snapped at her.  Living as a muggle was bad enough without having someone remind me of what I was mission out on.

Weasley put an arm around Hermione and pulled her a bit closer, “Weasley,” he said slightly proudly, “she’s not a Granger anymore, she married me three and a half years ago.”  I looked at Ron, then back to Hermione.

“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely this time.  I knew now what I was apologizing for.

“It’s alright, he’s useful in many ways,” she said, amusement in her voice.  “I don’t suppose you’ll come quietly?”  I snorted, “no, I didn’t think you would, but one can hope, can’t they?”  I snorted again.

“Allow myself to be dragged away by the three of you?  To a court where I won’t be tried fairly, to be thrown into Azkaban, where likely the Dementors have been reinstated as guards, where I will go mad because I have a guilty conscious about all manner of things you couldn’t even begin to understand?  No Granger, sorry,” I gave a brief nod at Weasley, “Weasley then, no, I’m not completely insane, although sometimes I wish I were.”

“Well then,” she said, and with a swift flick of her wrist, I didn’t even see the wand, she had summoned ropes to bind me.  Of course she had been excellent with wordless magic before she had left my classes in her sixth year.

“I won’t allow you,” I said softly, flicking my own wrist and untying the ropes.

“I see, then the rumors are false,” she said, flicking her wand again.  I moved away, flinging the expelliarmus charm at her.  Weasley got in the way, tossing a hex my way, and getting hit by my charm.  Weasley’s wand flew into the bushes and Hermione used the distraction to try to use expelliarmus on me.  I ducked behind a tree.

“You’re still sharp as ever Professor,” she called out softly.  I had found no use for wands for four years, but my battle reflexes were still sharp.

“You’ve gotten much better Mrs. Weasley,” I said, panting slightly.  Unfortunately I was getting old.  I had been completely drained when the Dark Lord had died, and still hadn’t fully recovered.  I was much better now than I had been, but I was still no where near as good as I should be in this fight.  I needed to get away, but how to do that with two trained and battle hardened adults and one rampaging bull all intent on capturing me?

Speaking of the rampaging bull, where was he?  I turned around, searching every area near for signs of Potter, but found none.  Perhaps this was how he had done it?  Used those two for distraction then sprung on his prey.  There was a sudden bright flash in front of me, and Harry Potter’s bright, insane face was inches from my own.

“I found you Pro..fess..or,” he said in a mad, sing songy voice.

I had a chance to register surprise, anger, and then fear, as a wave of strong, unfocused power washed over me.  Then my mind went black, and my body limp as my world became black.