Entering the ward at the Hospital Wing, Snape’s countenance changed once again as he caught sight of a very young Harry Potter sitting on a bed with green eyes wide open.  

”Harry!” croaked Snape and threw himself at the boy’s side, ignoring the two witches by the bed.

”Severus,” the child sighed and put his arms around Snape’s neck without reservation. The man and the child sobbed and laughed in turns as they hugged and spoke, to Minerva McGonagall’s and Mme Pomfrey’s ears, incomprehensible words. 

”We made it… It’s gone. He’s gone. I can feel it. Or rather I don’t feel him, at all. He’s not dead is he?”

”I’m afraid not. But it affected him. He fell to the ground. I saw him stir, though, and rise among his Death Eaters before I Apparated away with you.”

”I met him, Severus, I met Dumbledore, on the other side… His spirit or something…”

”You were at the other side, then… I was not sure whether you were alive or dead…”

”He let me choose… I wanted to come back at your side…”

”So close… so dreadfully close…”

”We knew it would be close… or definitive”

”You’ll kill me one day, Harry… You’ll give me a heart attack and kill me… This was just dreadful…”

”We made it… I survived… I survived Severus, just as you said… Thank you…”

”I wasn’t sure… But what about the horcruxes? Did it work?”

Harry drew back from Snape and started to fumble with small hands in the folds of the blanket. Mme Pomfrey intervened. 

”It was the first thing the child started to do, when he came to his senses,” she said disapprovingly. ”Started to check those objects that were hidden in his pockets, with complicated detection spells.” 

”We only deaged his body, Poppy,” Snape said distractedly as he, in turn, examined the cup and the diadem that Harry handed him. ”He’s in his full-grown mental capacity and in possession of his entire magical powers. We’ll switch him back soon. Just let me check…”

”They are inert, Severus! It worked!” exclaimed Harry. Snape and he looked at each other. It seemed like they had played a very dangerous game and won. 

During all their meetings that had taken place in the same glade as the first one, during several nights the last months, Snape and Harry had turned and twisted the problem of the horcruxes in every possible way. They had come to the conclusion that if losing them one by one, Voldemort risked to become aware, at one point or other, of their destruction. Therefore they had concluded that they should start with Nagini as she was the most difficult to approach if Voldemort decided to protect her.

Snape had chosen one of the most evil and brutal Death Eaters and met with him just before a reunion with Voldemort. He had Confounded the wizard and provided him with a Goblin-made silver knife that they had imbibed with basilisk venom. Finally Snape had Imperiused the man to do the attack on Nagini. Voldemort had been taken by surprise and lost his snake. Snape had counted on Voldemort’s blind rage to kill the Death Eater straight away, not taking his time to interrogate the offender, thus preventing Snape’s own involvement from being discovered. 

Harry had waited that night, by the lake, in the dark, without a fire, crouching by the edge of the water and staring at the reflection of his own face in the moonlight. He experienced Voldemort’s roaring anger over the loss of Nagini with the usual visions and blitzing headache. By the time he heard the crack of Snape’s Apparition, he was stiff with cold and almost unconscious with pain, but not until then could he draw a breath of relief. That night, he had staggered up to Snape and hugged him silently. 

Then Harry and his friends had been captured and brought to Malfoy Manor. Their near escape had mercifully not reached Snape’s ears before it was all done and over with, because it might have caused him that heart attack that he was expecting any day. The adventure had taught Harry that one of the remaining horcruxes was probably locked inside Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault at Gringotts. Using polyjuice, Harry had accompanied Snape, who had access to the vault under pretext of checking the authenticity of the sword of Gryffindor on Bellatrix’ behalf, and had managed to detect and retrieve the cup without being uncovered.

Hermione had brought Harry’s attention to the story of Rowena Ravenclaw and her diadem, mentioned in ”Hogwarts, a history of time”. Both Harry and Snape thought it fitted perfectly as Voldemort’s last horcrux. Snape had made discreet inquiries into the matter, speaking to the ghosts at Hogwarts - Binns first and then Helena, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. Snape and Harry had reasoned their way to the diadem’s present location and finally, one night, Snape had uneventfully retrieved the diadem from the Room of Requirements. 

Now that they were in possession of all the remaining horcruxes, the question posed itself how to destroy them. By this time, Harry had started to be affected by strange fits of chills where he would shake with cold and chatter his teeth for hours. Ron and Hermione were worried about him, but Harry still did not tell them about his fate. Snape, who was the only one who knew Harry’s terrible secret, spent much time pondering over the piece of soul attached to Harry’s mind and one day he came up with a reason for hope. 

”Voldemort used your blood when he recreated his body,” Snape had said to Harry. ”Moreover that blood contained your mother’s protection installed in you when she gave her life for you.” 

When Snape uttered those words he had closed his eyes and the small muscles around his mouth had twitched imperceptibly. Harry had sighed deeply in response. The murder of Lily Evans so many years ago was apparently still an open wound for Snape, even more so than for Harry. 

”The sacrifice of your mother and the theft of blood will make it very difficult for Voldemort to kill you, if I understand the rules of Ancient Magic correctly. With a bit of luck, he’ll blast the horcrux out of you, but you yourself will stay intact,” insisted Snape. He had even coaxed the portrait of Dumbledore into admitting that the former headmaster had considered the same possibility. 

Harry doubted the theory, not wanting to get his hopes raised, needing to prepare for the worst. He wished his death to be as anonymous as possible. Both Snape and he wanted to avoid collateral damage. They had thought of a way to have all the three remaining horcruxes destroyed at the same time.

Snape remembered, from Voldemort’s first reign twenty years ago, that the Dark Lord, on the Good Friday of Easter, always used to attack Muggles attending church, on their way back from service. There were good chances of his reinstating that tradition now that he was back in power. Moreover, Snape knew that Voldemort never failed to aim at small boys. He seemed not to be able to stand the sight of them. 

Maybe, Harry had supplied as line of explanation, it had something to do with Voldemort’s own childhood spent in a Muggle orphanage. Supposedly the orphanage had attended church on Good Friday, supposedly Voldemort could not stand the sight of small children who reminded him of a time when he had felt grief, humiliation and maybe an impossible longing for something he could not have. Supposedly Voldemort had decided after the critical age of six or seven, to shut off all painful emotions and entered the dark path of evilness and destruction instead.

Thus the deaging of Harry. Thus placing Harry and Snape on this Good Friday of Easter 1998, disguised as a Muggle father and his son, at a square in front of a church in London, where Snape’s collected intelligence had told them the attack would take place. And it certainly did  - the attack had been extremely violent - a carnage of Muggles. The last one, Snape had thought grimly as he forced himself to hold back from protecting the falling innocent men and women. Harry and he had one important mission to focus on and could not risk betraying themselves by starting to fight the Death Eaters. They had sought Voldemort up. Voldemort had aimed a terrific Avada Kedavra at Harry the moment Harry deliberately stepped in the dark wizard’s way. Their plan had worked out perfectly, except for Lucius Malfoy who had recognised Snape.

”Minerva,” Snape turned to Professor McGonagall. ”I need you to contact the Order.” He turned back to Harry. ”I’m sorry, Harry, we failed our plan not to attract attention to ourselves and I’m afraid Voldemort will attack us here at Hogwarts. It’s not your fault, but mine. I don’t think Voldemort recognised you in your deaged state. He didn’t look too closely, but stroke blindly. Lucius Malfoy, on the other hand, saw me when I lifted you up. He followed me and will tell Voldemort, who will figure it all out.” Snape turned back to McGonagall. ”Do you trust me, Minerva?”

McGonagall cleared her voice. 

”All these past months, Poppy here has tried to convince me that the damage to Albus’ hand was fatal and that your curse made no big difference to his expected lifetime, but I would not listen to her,” she said.  

Snape shot a surprised and appreciative glance at Mme Pomfrey who smirked back at him. 

”I cannot ignore what Harry told us when he woke up, though, and I believe him. You are a far too good Occlumens to be trusted at all, I’m sorry Severus.” Minerva McGonagall drew a shaky breath. ”I’m so mad at you!” she exploded. ”To let me believe the worst of you like that, all those months! It was not only the loss of Albus that plagued me. I liked you, despite your horrible manners! You broke my heart, pretending to be that evil - really! Heavens! I’m sorry.” McGonagall dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. 

Snape looked penitent, like a berated schoolboy. 

”How did you know I have stayed in contact with the Order?” the old Transfiguration teacher suddenly added, horrified. Snape smiled knowingly. 

”I’m well aware of the fact that the beautiful new piece of furniture in your office is indeed a transfigured floo-entrance,” he said. McGonagall looked shattered.

”Tell the Order that Harry Potter has once again survived an Avada Kedavra by Voldemort’s wand and by doing so thwarted the Dark Lord’s arrangements for immortality.” Snape spoke gravely. ”Voldemort and his Death Eaters will attack Hogwarts today. The war is nearing its end. This might be the final battle coming up. All and one might aim at Voldemort, we need to take him out now and it is not necessarily for Harry to do so.” 

McGonagall nodded and started to leave.

”Wait, Minerva. Where is Draco Malfoy? I didn’t see him downstairs?” asked Snape.

”The Carrows were called away a couple of hours ago. They brought all the Death Eater fledglings with them,” McGonagall answered drily before she left the room. Snape’s eyes widened.

”They profited from my absence,” he growled. ”The youngsters were not supposed to participate in anything as long as they attended Hogwarts.”

”I’m sorry, Severus,” said Harry. ”I saw Draco at the square, Cruciating a…. Cuciating people…” Draco had been Cruciating a young woman in front of the church, but Harry wanted to spare Snape the details. 

Harry knew how much agony Snape had suffered over deciding whether or not to tell the young Malfoy of his loyalties and try to win Draco over to their side. Snape desperately wished to save his godson from fully acting out as a Death Eater. Becoming one of the Dark Lord’s servants was a tradition that had been mercilessly inflicted upon the young aristocrat without him having a say, according to Snape.

The reformed Death Eater was blaming himself, realised Harry, because Snape had in the end decided that he could not risk betraying their plans and therefore had not spoken to Draco. Harry felt a twinge of bad conscience as he had more or less openly discouraged Snape from taking the step. Harry’s previous dealings with Malfoy told him that the young man was not to be trusted. To Harry it did not matter if Draco was a reliability because of evilness or because of the inability to resist the pressure of others. It amounted to the same in Harry’s mind.

Snape’s head was abashedly lowered. Harry did not know what to say. 

”We’d better get you back to normal age, Harry,” Snape finally muttered. ”But I’d rather you stayed here during the battle. You’ve done your part already and need to recuperate. Are you…? Is he fit to endure some magic, Poppy?” asked Snape. Harry glowered at him and jumped up from the bed before the medi-witch had time to answer. The young Harry was less than half Snape’s height.

”I’m just fine!” The green eyes flashed with indignation and the small hands were clenched into fists. ”You can’t imagine that I would stay here in bed at the hospital wing while all my friends and people I care about fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters?” Harry spat. ”Turn my age back right now, Severus!”

After glowering back, Snape stood up and lifted his wand. A long incantation later, Harry had grown to nearly match Snape’s full height and reclaimed his seventeen year old body. 

”Seriously, Harry, you’ve suffered a killing curse, carrying two… three… horcruxes on your body and you’ve gone through a deaging process, are you sure you’re fit…?” pleaded Snape a last time.

”I’m perfectly fine,” said Harry firmly. ”I’m still a bit chilled, but otherwise I’m well. It’s a relief not to feel Voldemort in my head.”

”You’ve lived at death’s side for a considerable time - it will take you long to recover completely. Really, Harry, you have nothing more to prove,” said Snape. ”The remaining battle does not require you, specifically, to take part.” The recent memory of the small child stepping into Voldemort’s field of vision, making the ultimate sacrifice, played itself with terrifying clarity in Snape’s mind. He could nearly not conceive of the bravery Harry had shown.

”You forget the wand, Severus,” said Harry. ”I think it must be me, after all.”

”The wand?” Snape frowned. He knew that Harry had spent much time thinking about the special wand that Voldemort had chased around the world the last few months. Snape had been too occupied with the horcruxes to give it much consideration though. 

”I’ll explain later. We’d better go and prepare,” said Harry.

Suddenly Snape stifled a cry of pain and grasped his left arm.

”Voldemort is summoning me. He wants to check out Lucius’ story, no doubt. What if I were to go to him? Delay things a bit for you and leave you time to prepare? Maybe I could find a way to get Draco out of there…” said Snape.

”Are you out of your mind?” Harry stepped close up to Snape and grabbed him by the arm as if to prevent him from disappearing. ”Your cover is blown, don’t you realise? Voldemort has no reason to doubt Lucius. They’ll have figured out the child was me. You must stay here and fight with us.” 

Snape still hesitated. 

”Come on, Severus! There’s no time for such deliberations! It’s time to fight!” shouted Harry, because at the same time they felt a trembling in the magical wards and a dull rumble. ”They are trying to get inside. Let’s go!”