Chapter 15: Death

One would think it impossible to have such bad luck. To have so many things consistently go wrong. You can only be injured, kidnapped, almost murdered so many times before you start to wonder if, after cheating death so many years ago, it's been trying to catch you this whole time.

Or maybe, Harry thought, as the Occisor started to close in, he had incredibly good luck. To have survived everything up to this point. Maybe Death was just keeping him company, checking up from time to time like an old friend.

Either way, Harry was definitely tired of this terrifying monster that kept popping up bloody everywhere. He really would not mind if his old friend Death would turn it's focus onto this thing. Especially now that it had just leapt right towards him.

Expecting to be knocked backwards by the monster, Harry was surprised when he was instead shoved violently from the side. He hit the ground hard and looked over to see the Occisor on top of a struggling Snape. Harry jumped up and pulled out his wand.

"Stupefy!"

The Occisor leaped out of the way and started towards Harry. Snape threw a stunning spell at it from behind, hitting the mark. The monster fell forward and seemed to be twitching.

'That's not normal,' Harry thought warily.

The Occisor pulled itself up, seemingly fine, and continued toward Harry. "Ssstupid boy. Weak, sssilly boy. I'm not ssso easssily beat."

"Well, bully for you!" Harry stammered and had the mad urge to start giggling. Apparently the pain, tiredness, and adrenaline from fear were starting to catch up with him. He felt almost giddy and though he might also faint at any moment.

"Lumos!" Harry's wand lit up, a huge grin forming on his face. The Occisor paused for a moment and began to laugh. Snape stared, frozen to the spot. Had Potter finally snapped?

Then Harry lunged at the Occisor and shoved his wand straight into it's red eye. The monster made an awful keening sound as Harry jerked it back out. Harry figured he might as well go for the other eye, when his wand flew out of his grasp and his forehead erupted in pain.

"How very muggle of you, dear Harry. Using such crude methods. Perhaps sometime I could show you some more effective curses. Spells that will not require the cleaning of your wand afterwards." Voldemort wiped Harry's wand off on another Deatheater's robes. They were now surrounded by black-cloaked figures.

Voldemort looked down at the Occisor. "However, it seems you have killed one of my favorite pets. How unfortunate. For you."

Harry stared at the creature. In the heat of the moment, he hadn't realized the force he'd applied. He must have hit its brain. Harry felt sick as Voldemort began to speak again.

"I will not bore you all with the Cruciatus, however fun it may be. Let us get right to the point. Harry. Please come here. And you too Severus. I won't leave you out." Voldemort flicked his wand and Harry felt himself dragged forward to the ground in front of the grinning Dark Lord. Snape landed heavily next to him. Harry glanced over and met the black eyes. Suddenly Harry felt very small, as though all his Gryffindor courage had seeped out of him. He was afraid to die. And he realized, he didn't want to see Snape die. Or even tortured for that matter. His adrenaline couldn't blind him any longer. He could see the hopelessness of the situation fully. No one was coming to save them and they couldn't save themselves.

He couldn't save Snape. And he very much wanted to.

Snape looked into Harry's eyes and saw fear. And loss. And suddenly he knew why he needed to get them out of here. Not for Lily, or Dumbledore, or even the wizarding world. And definitely not for that mangy mutt Black. But for Harry alone. And maybe for himself, because he finally let himself accept that he cared for the boy a great deal.

'Albus will be so annoyingly happy about this,' Snape thought to himself.

Snape considered the other portkey in his boot. Harry was within arms reach. If he could just get it out of his boot without anyone noticing-

"Severus!" Snape snapped his attention up to Voldemort. "My dear servant Severus. What shall I do with you now? Do I torture and kill you in front of Harry here? Hmm. No. I think not. Then you'll miss the show that I've been waiting so long to put on. I was just missing our star, Harry." He reach down and grabbed the front of Harry's shirt, pulling him up to his face. "Harry. Will you star in my show? Only you can do it." Voldemort laughed maniacally, taking a vial out of his robes. "All you have to do, is drink these few drops. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you?"

Snape squinted, trying to see the potion better. There was barely anything in the vial. It appeared to be a red liquid, but strangely, the longer Snape looked, the less definable the color became. In fact, now it seemed almost black.

"Severus," Voldemort addressed him again. "You are the Potions Master. Tell us, what does this particular potion do?"

"I do not know what that vial contains."

"Oh why Severus! It's Devil's Blood!"

Snape felt the warmth drain from his face. It wasn't possible. That potion was a myth. A very ancient myth in fact, that only a select few knew about. And also impossible to brew. There weren't directions of any kind. Or even a list of ingredients.

"That does not exist."

"Severus. Do you really believe that? There are many nonexistent things in the Department of Mysteries."

Snape turned his gaze to Harry, who looked confused. Voldemort wasn't lying. He would have killed Harry by now if he didn't have that potion.

"Now Severus, as I said before, tell us what this potion will do. You are aware I do not like to repeat my requests."

Snape continued to stare at Harry, feeling a mounting terror.

"Devil's Blood," Snape began, still looking at Harry, "will consume the mind of the drinker, destroying all but one desire. The subject will be driven mad, becoming less than human. Doing anything to satisfy the desire that controls them, though never being able to achieve that end. Never being able to satisfy the desire for death."

Voldemort laughed gleefully. "So you see, Harry. Why I am just so thrilled to have you with me. I'm going to turn the Savior of the Wizarding World into a monster! A violent and terrible murderer!"

Harry turned white and began to struggle against Voldermort's grip.

"Ah, ah, ah! You can't leave now. Not right before your grand debut! You know, I was quite looking forward to killing Severus myself, but, I think you should have that honor Harry. How does that sound?"

And with that, Voldemort uncorked the vial and tipped it down Harry's throat.