Lily's Charm: The Gift

Time ends here

Black's eyes widened, and then he flung himself around to face Severus, his fists clenched in fury. He took an angry step forward. "I knew you were loyal to him, you bastard," he accused, bringing his wand up sharply so that the end was only a centimeter from Severus' nose. Severus, though he was almost certain that Black couldn't kill him in this place that wasn't any place at all, cast a silent Expelliarmus. Black's wand twisted from his fingers and fell soundlessly to the thick ice.

Black's face contorted so that he looked quite murderous. "This is the best you and your master could come up with?" he demanded as he brought his useless hand back to rest in a fist against his leg. "Telling me that you're Harry's father in the hopes that I'll be so horrified, I'll leave him to rot in hell with Voldemort?" he asked in derision. Severus said nothing, giving Black the opportunity to vent his anger in the hope that he would deflate more quickly that way. But Severus' silence only seemed to fuel Black's fury.

"How dare you insult James' this way, Snivellus, after what he did for you? I knew he was a fool to trust you. He should have tossed you out on your arse," he spat, and Severus found it very difficult to listen to him talking about his relationship with James. He forced himself to remain aloof as Black continued on with his rant.

"It was a ruse all along, wasn't it? Was it simply a way for you to get your filthy hands on Lily? Is that what you're going to tell me next, Snape? That she actually let you touch her? Or better...that you just took what you wanted?" he snarled, and with that final offense, Severus lunged at Black, and then his balance went off kilter as Remus caught his arms. Snape attempted to shake himself free, but Remus' grip was much stronger than he had anticipated. Damn him for being a werewolf!

"Release me, Lupin," Severus growled. Remus' eyes snapped his ire.

"Not until you have yourself under control," he retorted. Severus narrowed his eyes. How dare Lupin order him about? "Do you really think Harry would appreciate your hitting his godfather?" Remus asked him seriously.

Severus could feel his muscles losing their tension at the question, but he would not give into defeat. As though the words meant nothing to him, Severus straightened up calmly. "Release me," he repeated, his voice steady and ordered. Remus gazed at him for several long seconds before giving him a curt nod and letting his fingers drop. Severus lowered his arms, the movement perfectly casual.

Black, who had stepped back a pace, came forward again. "Do you think you can fool us?" he asked with a rough shake of his head. "You've never given a damn what Harry thinks. You've never cared about anything but making certain Harry paid for stupid, childish pranks James played on you in school. It didn't even matter that he kept you safe all those years."

Black took a deep breath, as though he was trying to slow his own tirade, but couldn't quite mange it. Severus could feel his veins running through various degrees of heat and chill as Black went on, "You are nothing but a Slytherin bastard who's enjoyed hurting a kid who never did anything to you. You're a miserable, unfeeling git that doesn't even deserve the hell that Voldemort's been-"

"Sirius, that's enough," Remus finally interjected, looking ill as he shook his head at Black. Black scowled at him.

"You want me to stand here and say nothing?" he demanded of his friend. Remus didn't answer. "He's hated Harry for years...been a complete areshole and now he wants to pretend he's Harry's father. He actually believes I would simply abandon him here, Remus-"

"Sirius..." Remus interrupted softly as Severus began to feel certain his face would crack from his attempt to keep it devoid of all expression. Remus' entire being radiated with shame as he stood between the two men. Black turned slowly to face his friend, his body tensing even before Remus had finished the syllables. "Sirius," Remus repeated the forlorn refrain, the name echoing dully in the stark cave.

Black's face contorted so that the horror etched there was as still as the walls around them.

"No," he implored quietly, having understood what Remus hadn't said. He backed up a step, close enough to Voldemort, that the apparition could have touched him. "No," Black said again, his voice wobbling as much as his step had. His eyes darted to Severus, whose own eyes were beginning to burn from the emotions churning in his gut.

He could not have even identified most of them as he kept his eyes focused on the image Voldemort had created to resemble his son. Of course Harry wasn't really here. Harry was without form now. Just as Voldemort was.

"Yes," the image of Voldemort called out to Black. Black shuddered, his shoulders hunching over his chest as if he were in great agonizing pain. "My Severus," the imaged cooed at them, "is Harry Potter's father."

"He-he can't be," Black told Remus, shaking his head faster now. "He looks just like James," he said desperately, his palms waving in agitation.

"A simple spell when Harry was in his mother's womb," Voldemort's image explained sadly. "They kept it from you all along, Sirius. All of them knew...even James."

Black looked like he was choking, his face purpling toward a darker hue. Remus took an anxious step toward him, but Black waved him off, his eyes going wild as he backed hastily away. He nearly tripped over the legs Voldemort was imagining for Harry. His eyes darted to his godson and he started to crouch toward him, but then his head snapped up to look directly at Severus. Severus could see the pain twisting in the other man's eyes.

"I won't believe this," Black said softly, his fists clenching again at his sides. "This is another trick. You hate Harry. You hate my godson," he whispered.

Severus, unable to keep silent with the accusation, denied, "I do not hate Harry."

Black's grey eyes widened, and Severus knew he had heard the pain that he had no strength to mask.

"Sirius," Remus said gently, but Black's breathing continued to huff loudly and he made no move to look at his friend. Remus continued anyway, "Harry's been very happy."

Sirius said nothing as his eyes went once more toward Harry, but he seemed to be pulling his body away so that he wouldn't be too close. After a moment of dreadful silence, Black said softly, "You didn't trust me."

Severus watched as Remus took an aborted step toward Black. Black's head jerked up again, this time to look Voldemort's mirror-image straight in his blood-red eyes.

"It doesn't matter," he said without inflection. "Even if this isn't a trick, it doesn't matter. I won't leave Harry here." And then, before any of them could draw another breath, Black lunged at Voldemort, reaching his hands to grasp him around his scaly white neck.

The crimson eyes widened in shock as Black began to shake him; strangled gurgling sounds beat against the walls as they escaped the non-existent lips.

And then Voldemort began to scream Harry's nightmarish scream. Severus lunged toward his son, but Harry vanished, as though he had never been there at all. And then Voldemort's mirage-self was melting in long strings of waxy ice. His face pooled down around his torso, his toes coming up in bacterial streams to meet it.

Black's hands slid with it, until the mess began to curl and puff, turning into something without substance. Black's hands slipped through the cords of black and white mist. A black so dark, it was red. And the white--unspotted even as the black choked it back.

"Harry," Severus whispered. The mist was trying to get away...Harry's storm wanted to be free.

Remus, understanding immediately what Severus had seen, pushed himself forward. Together, they leapt for the mist. Voldemort's darkness swept sideways, dragging the mist with him. But Black was ready to meet the darkness as he moved his body in between the strands, refusing to move out of Voldemort's way.

Taut with rage, the smoky strands tightened themselves around Black's limbs. The mist recoiled from the murderous intent. Severus and Remus moved forward again, this time with Remus positioning himself so that he would be a barrier between smoke and mist. The black chords were winding themselves more fiercely around Black's entire body, curving upward toward his chest and neck.

Severus reached for his son's glacial storm, but the storm dissipated and his fingers slipped carelessly through. The storm firmed again and skittered away, trembling away from Severus and Remus.

And Severus could feel nothing. Not anger, not fear. He remained apart from his son.

"Harry," Severus cried, not caring how desperate he sounded. But the storm didn't stop. It was making its way back toward the violent black smoke. Toward the familiarity he had found here.--acceptance , instead of rejection.

Severus' rejection.

"Harry, we're here to take you home," Remus tried to tell him, planting himself firmly in Harry's path back to Voldemort.

"He is home." Voldemort's hiss filled the emptiness. "They didn't want you, Harry...don't you remember?" The question was a lulling caress in the darkness. The storm halted in its travel. The coal fingers of smoke had closed gently around the base of Black's neck. "Your godfather, Harry, came to make sure you stay here. You murdered him."

The mists swayed.

"No, Harry," Black tried to tell him, but the strands pressed against his windpipe, and Black's lips moved silently.

"That's right," Voldemort taunted. "Your father sent you here. Didn't you my Severus?"

"No," Severus said, his voice creaking unsteadily as it imitated Black's plea. "Please, Harry-" he began, but the demon laughter barked through the void.

"Yes, Harry. He wants you to believe that he needs you to come home. He will only hurt you there, Harry. How many times, Harry," he asked with a long-suffering sigh, "has Severus hurt you?"

The mist moved again to the darkness closing in on Black.

"No," Severus gasped, pain radiating from every part of his body as he watched his son's desire to join Voldemort, rather than be with him. And Severus couldn't blame him. Swallowing the self-loathing that was drowning him, Severus stepped back from his son's dying storm. "You can return without me." The words stuck to his tongue, tearing themselves free without his permission. He could sever his perfunctory connection with Remus. And perhaps Remus could house Harry's soul with the correct spell...

Severus turned toward Voldemort's coils.

"I will take his place."

"No, Severus," Remus objected frantically, though he didn't move from his protective stance near Harry.

The coils seemed to gleam with impossible pleasure, not even pausing as they pulled away from Black's windpipe, twirling themselves to stand near Severus. Severus kept his gaze fixed on his son's storm. He had never deserved him.

The strands were glowing brighter, until with a sound so filled with agony, all three men flinched from it, what was left of Voldemort began to tremble. A soft, warming glow ripped through the cave. The warmth was so intense, hatred would never survive. The cave was melting.

"No!"

The same echoing shout that Severus and Harry had heard in the void, sent tremors through the watery ice cave. The black coils were spinning toward gray and then with a strange sucking hiss, the coils dove toward Harry's mist. Black, freed only seconds before, moved with such swiftness that Severus barely saw him. And then he and Remus were standing, shoulder to shoulder, shielding Harry from Voldemort. Voldemort's soul was almost air, almost nothing as it pushed feebly against the two solid men who would have killed to save the boy he wanted so desperately.

He would not have him.

The shout became a whispered breath and then it was gone. The mist was a tiny puff of smoke that no longer existed. The cave went with it.

Blackness closed in on them once more.

Harry's mist remained behind his friend and his godfather. Both men were staring at Severus.

Severus couldn't take his gaze from his son. Maybe he could make Harry understand, at least as much as was possible before he lost him forever. He had to close his mind to ignore Black's presence.

"Voldemort kidnapped you," he said quietly, knowing he still sounded too anxious, too frenzied. He could feel Harry wavering with indecision. With a start, Severus stepped toward the mist. Remus stepped aside, while Black stayed firmly where he was. Severus paid no attention. He could sense his son again--not in the same way he had before Voldemort kidnapped him, but it was too powerful to ignore. Harry's storm was darkening, warming a shade closer to the contented grey. But it was still far too cold.

"Harry, I want you to come home," he said firmly. It sounded more like a command than a plea. He could almost see Harry staring at him, his green eyes filled with uncertainty and defiance. Severus had no idea how Harry could even hear him, of if he could. He could feel only sensations from the storm. Perhaps Harry could only feel his intent.

Severus soothed the inferno raging inside his mind, generating as much peace as he could toward wherever Harry was. "Remus is here, Harry," he said, just as softly. Without looking at Black, he added, "Black is here as well. We want you to come home. We do not hate you, Harry." The mist didn't seem to hear him, though Severus was more than a little startled to watch as Black began nodding fervently as he turned to look at the mist, frozen behind him.

With a tentative step, Severus moved again toward the mist. It did not move away this time. With a quick nod to Remus, in case Black tried to intervene, Severus brought his wand upward, bringing it directly into the mist. "Recolligo suus animus," Severus whispered. The mist gathered in a dense cloud at the tip of Severus' wand; it was drawn slowly inward.

Black hadn't moved at all as he'd watched, but that might have been because Remus was standing slightly in front of him.

As soon as the last of the mist disappeared, Severus brought the tip of his wand to his temple. On the same quiet breath, he commanded, "Redimio vestri animus per mei."

The storm collided with the flames, and Severus felt himself stumbling with the welcome intrusion. His joy, however, vanished almost instantly. The storm was ice once more, huddling itself instinctively in a dark, unused corner of Severus' mind.

There was no trust. Only fear.

Severus, with great care, brought his flames to gather gently around what used to be a fierce Dementor Storm. It was barely even a cloud now. But Severus didn't give in to his anger at Voldemort, or to his own guilt for what he'd driven his son to. He simply kept his flames warm and comforting against the mist.

"Severus."

Severus pulled himself from his own shielded thoughts. Remus was watching him expectantly. Severus dipped his head.

"He is with me." Remus' shoulders sagged with relief. Black's almost-blank expression didn't change. Remus turned to his friend.

"Sirius-"

"The emptiness will take you back to the Veil, if that's where you're meant to go," Black interrupted, sounding like a recitation for a guided tour. Black's stoic mask faltered briefly and he said softly, sounding so close to tears, Severus shifted in discomfort, "Please tell Harry that I don't blame him...that I love him..."

"Sirius," Remus said, grabbing the other man's arm, "maybe you can come with us." Remus' words ran together, his voice muddy. Black brought his eyes up. Severus almost stepped back from the haunted grey.

"Just tell him," he whispered, and with one last look at the place where Harry's mist had been, Black turned away from them.