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Harry and I are staring at each other in silence. He looks determined. Unlike me, who is completely stunned. Can't believe what he just told me to do. Did he just..- "Go on. Let's get it over with." he takes two determined steps towards me and I instinctively take couple steps back. "Are you mad? I'm not going to..-", "We have no time to waste, Professor!" he snaps. My body freeze for a second. As we keep the eye contact, I can see the mix of desperation in his eyes. What's the right thing to do here? The fact it did across my mind back at the Ministry... The fact I'm ready to do anything it takes to let Severus free... But with what cost? Killing a boy? My head starts to shake on its own:"...Do you understand what you are asking me to do here, Harry?". "To free everybody. To stop the suffering. It's all happening because of me. Please, (Y/N)..-" he again comes closer.
I look away and start avoiding him by going around the sofa and the coffee table:"No! This is NOT the way..- W-we should wait for Sever..-", "THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING, (Y/N)!" his stern scream echoes around the room. I once again freeze and lift my gaze up to him. I'm so torn. Like he said, there are innocent people suffering around us as we stand here. But... The image of Severus and I walking down the streets as free people... Us holding hands while smiling at each other... Him smiling. Being genuinely happy. It seems to far away. Impossible even, at this point. Is this really what it takes..? To have that. Can I live with the guilt rest of my life? Harry sees the hesitation in me and speaks now a lot softer tone:"Please.". My heart starts beating faster and eyes getting glossy. "The longer we continue this, more innocent people will loose their lives." he tries to reason. Harry...
After the small of a pause of silence, as the fade sounds of the war echoes somewhere in the distance, I give him a slight nod:"Alright then. I'll do it.". Harry purses his lips and nods back:"Thank you, (Y/N).". I then close my eyes for a moment to focus. After all, I need to mean it to be able to make it work. Harry stares at me the whole time. Waiting for me to prepare myself. Heart beating fast. Hands sweating. It's like there is this war inside my head. No, (Y/N). You can't stop right now. You haveto do this! Just do it!!! Think about all those people who you care and love. Do it for them! Thoughts of saving all those people. Including Remus, Tonks, Neville, Sirius... Everybody. Severus. The touch around the wand tightens as I take better grip on it, raising the courage to open the eyes and make this all real. Harry sees I'm getting ready and shifts his balance a bit:"I'm ready whenever you are.".
Soon after, I open my (e/c) eyes and stare right at the young boy in front of me. Then, I take a deep inhale thru the nose and raise the wand at him. Harry puts his hands into a tight fists, getting ready to see the flash of the green light and feel absolutely nothing after that. Just when I get my thoughts in order and the courage to finally cast the Unforgivable Curse, the memory from the past flashes by. The moment when I Obliviated Edward. 'Do it.' Harold's fade voice echoes, like he would be standing right behind me, close to my ear. Just the way he did back then... No. The wand in my hand starts to shake. Bartemius's voice as Mad-eye follows right after. 'Did you ever feel the desire to use it?' I shut eyes tight and shook my head to try to refocus. Harry is pretty much the same age as he was back then... Back when..- 'BECAUSE I'M NOT LIKE THEM!!!' my own voice echoes inside my head and my eyes shoots wide open.
"No!" I drag the wand down and turn away from the boy. "Huh?" Harry opens his eyes surprised. "I can't do it! I just..- I just can't!" I yell while keeping the head down. "(Y/N)..." the boy doesn't know what to do. And I don't blame him. Neither do I. "Just... Give me a minute." is all I can blur out at this point. I can't stop shaking. All of this is too much for me. I can't look at him - nor anyone that matter. Guess I'm trying to deal with some small of a panic attack that is visiting in my whole body. I need Severus. I need..- The door to the chamber swings open and both of our heads snaps right at the direction. "Found them." Bartemius smirks pleased, Bellatrix being beside him, giggling in her witchy way. What?! Right after, the twins peeks behind them as well. They are also smiling pleased. Shit!
As quickly as I can from the panic state, I gather myself and rush to shield Harry by stepping in front of him while pointing the wand at them. Harry also draw his wand out of a habit, but hesitatingly lowers it back down. After all, he's ready to die - regardless who his killer might be. Where are you Severus?! Bartemius smirks:"Better put it down, luv.". I narrow my eyes at him with pure loathing. Just when I'm about to point out how I'm not obedient pet like he is to his Master, Harry takes a step to the side, away from me:"Do as they say.". My head snaps to look at him over the shoulder:"Ha..-", "(Y/N)." he plead. The look on his face... I've never seen him as sad and desperate before. For a moment I struggle what to do here, but eventually... Damn it. With gritted teeth, I lower the wand and my gaze drops to the floor in disbelieve. Is this it?
Bellatrix laughs and draw her wonky wand towards the boy:"Finally, the time has come..-", "You blimey idiot! He belongs to the Dark Lord!" Bartemius hisses and quickly presses her arm down. They both share a dirty look. Before anything else happens, familiar woman enters the room and speaks with calm, yet very cold tone:"Let's take the boy and hurry. We have no time to waste.". It's Narcissa Malfoy - Draco's mother. Everyone turn to look at her. She doesn't look as rough as her husband, but she clearly hasn't slept for days either. She doesn't even look at me - like I'm not even here. She's only interested in the boy next to me. That's when Bartemius and Bellatrix comes deeper into the room. As soon as Bellatrix holds onto Harry, Bartemius snatches me by the arm, yanking me forward:"She's coming with us as well.". The look on Narcissa's face won't change much, and she leaves the room. The twins following right behind. After they disappeared behind the corner, we hear how they used Apparate and vanished. W-where did they go? What's happening? Where the hell is Severus?! Have they done something to him?!
The fear starts to increase and I don't know what to do here. Bellatrix smirks and uses the Apparate as well and disappears with Harry. Just then, I try to break myself free, but Bartemius roughly pulls me closer and squeezes the arm so it actually hurts. "Don't make any silly moves, harlot. Otherwise I will Splinch you." his tongue keeps doing that weird snake like movement. "Fuck you." I spit. My words seems to put him on the edge and he grabs me by the back of my hair, yanks it back, exposing the neck. My breathing gets slightly more intense, but I try to keep the composure. "You know, I never understood what that greasy haired bat saw in you... But I think I see it now. You can be... Quite a firecracker." the tone of his voice goes lower towards the end. What the..-? Just when he's about to place a long lick against the neck, he feels the burning sensation on the left arm as his dear Lord is calling for him. Bartemius huffs annoyed and releases my hair. As soon as I gasp out, he uses the Apparate and we both vanish.
Right when we appear to the new place that is slightly more darker, I'm about to loose the balance, and Bartemius pushes me, so I fall down on my knees to the ground. "Ah..!" I let out and the sound of some leaf's rustling can be heard. Quickly, I lift my head up to see where he has taken me. Immediately realizing we are in the middle of a forest and it's dawn. And this isn't just any forest - it's the Forbidden Forest. And we are not alone. No... There are tens of Death Eaters surrounding us. There are some familiar faces, such as Narcissa, the twins and Yaxley. All staring right at us. On my left, I see Harry standing there with Bellatrix. Like they are waiting on something to happen. This is all so confusing and scaring me. Wha..-
"(Y/N)?!" familiar male voice gasps out of terror. My head turns towards the direction, only to see the half-giant friend - tied up while he's also on his knees ten meters away. "Hagrid!!!" I gasp eyes wide. "No..- Not her too!!" Hagrid tears up even more. "Quiet!" Amycus hisses over his shoulder. Hagrid looks really rough. His clothes and face are all muddy. What has happened to him? My eyes keeps shifting one person to another. For some reason, I'm trying to see if Severus happens to be somewhere among the enemies. But no. I can't find him. Sev... Just then, some of the Death Eaters in the back turn their heads to look over their shoulders, and takes a step onto the side. Right away, I feel this sharp pain my brains. "Ash..-!" I hiss and shut my eyes.
Someone's trying to penetrate into my mind. Images starts to flash by: How I sneaked in the Boathouse to safe Severus. How he snatched me in his arms and we fly away from there. How it all felt to fly across the air... Feeling him close and safe in his presence... Just when the part is about to come up what happened to him after all that, I manage to block the intruder and gasp:"Hahh..!". The awful headache was immediately gone. And there he was again, standing in front of the group of his own followers... Voldemort. Heads down, Bellatrix and Bartemius takes few steps onto the side, getting out of the way of their Dark Lord's view. I see the corner of my eye how Nagini slowly approaches us as well. Calmly hissing while slithering thru the crowd. Harry keeps standing there. Having no wand drawn out, nothing. There are no signs he's going to fight. He has given up completely. He can't..- There must be another way!
I raise myself to stand while keeping the eyes on the enemy and take a step closer to Harry. I'm truly sorry, Severus. I know he might yell the top of his lungs for me to escape and leave this place for this instant if he was here, but... I am not going down without a fight. The grip around my wand tightens. I'm going to safe you, Severus. Even it means we can't be together. The Dark Lord lets out a libelous chuckle, then turns to people behind him:"A Hufflepuff. Known for their true loyalty... And their great stupidity.". Some of the Death Eaters laughs more than the others. My eyes narrows even more to the noseless being:"You got all that power in the whole world - Elder Wand now included - and yet, you are struggling to kill a teenage boy all by yourself. And how many years have you tried?". People's smiles drops down and turns into either worrying or annoyed one. Harry takes a nervous glance at me, so does Hagrid and Narcissa. "If anything, that sounds pretty pathetic. Even for 'a person like me'." I stated. As expected, my words made Voldemort see red. And just like that, he raise the wand in his hand, followed by the blinding, green light:"Avada Kedavra!".