A Reflection of Himself

Snape was in the middle of grading some rather abominable exams that his third year Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff class had taken when he felt the Dark Mark begin to tingle on his left forearm. He abruptly placed the quill on the desktop and rolled up his sleeve, examining the mark. It was a darker red than usual, but it wasn't black like when the Dark Lord summoned his followers.

How odd. It rarely turns this color... unless one or more of the Death Eaters are activating it to call in more of their wretched kind.

Just as Snape began to wonder what was happening that was so important for such a thing to occur, the Dark Mark turned black, sending a pulsing, burning sensation up his arm. This, he knew, could only be Voldemort himself calling. Rushing out of his office and quickly placing the wards on the door, Snape cursed under his breath as he strode down the corridor, barking at a few of his own Slytherins to move out of his way. He barged into his chamber and grabbed his mask and robe, all the while wondering why Voldemort was summoning his followers in the middle of a sunny afternoon. The Dark Lord usually reserved the night hours for his biddings, thus raising less suspicion.

Snape knew that he was already running behind, and he was usually one of the last to arrive, anyway, considering the fact that he had to always dart across the grounds of Hogwarts before he would to able to apparate to the place of the meeting. Thankful for his long legs, Snape arrived just outside the borders of the grounds in a couple of minutes from his departure from the castle, already clad in his Death Eater attire, and he instantly disapparated and reappeared elsewhere.

Snape immediately recognized the location. He had arrived on the grounds of the Malfoy Estate, and amidst the covering of trees, Snape noticed several figures assembled. He slowly inched closer to them and noticed with a start who the victims were. Voldemort himself was standing in the middle of the circle that the Death Eaters had formed around the four young victims. This was not good, not at all.

Snape's mind raced. He was used to having to just stand by and watch Voldemort's victims be tortured and eventually killed, but Harry Potter and his friends were another matter entirely. He knew what he would be risking by leaving the scene and alerting the Order, but Snape knew that there would come a day, sooner or later, when his days as a spy would come to an end. To keep such a thing hidden from Voldemort forever was nearly impossible. Snape observed that much of Voldemort's attention was on his victims, so this, at least, would make his escape easier.

Snape edged behind a tree quietly and disapparated. Upon his return to the Forbidden Forest's boundary, Snape ran like never before toward Hogwarts. He had no time to think about how Harry had be taken or what the outcome would be. He knew he had to get to the Headmaster's office... and fast.

He was practically out of breath as he stumbled ungracefully into Dumbledore's office, panting and nearly falling over.

"Severus!" Dumbledore exclaimed, coming toward the younger man in a manner that was very fast for someone so old.

Snape took one deep breath and said, "He has Potter. Malfoy Estate. Go. Alert the Order now!"

Dumbledore didn't ask a single question. With a curt nod, Dumbledore turned to the fireplace, and as Snape left the office, he knew that everything was in Dumbledore's precious hands now. Snape, however, had to return to the scene and hope that the Order would not be too late. Being found out by the Dark Lord was the least of his worries.

"Very well done, young Malfoy," Voldemort said praisingly toward Draco. "You have done well."

"Thank you, my lord," Draco responded, keeping his face impassive.

Voldemort walked around the circle of Death Eaters, eyeing each one critically. His red eyes glowed menacingly as if he were scrutinizing them, sizing them up, and examining them. When the Dark Lord came to Snape, he paused momentarily and stared extra hard at him. For a second, Snape thought the worst, but he carefully kept up his guard, ready to block the Dark Lord if he tried to use Legilimency to read his thoughts. Much to Snape's relief, Voldemort continued on.

"Those of you who have served me for years," Voldemort hissed suddenly, "you should look to the younger generation for guidance. It is a dire shame that it is not the other way around, as I would have expected," he sneered, "but nonetheless, I am quite pleased to have Harry Potter and his closest friends at my feet now."

Voldemort turned his back to the Death Eaters and stared at the four motionless victims. Bringing his wand out, he muttered, "Ennervate," and Harry and his friends regained consciousness. Harry sat up with a start and realized all too soon where he was. He didn't say a word. He just glared at Voldemort with such loathing that it was unspeakable.

"Ah, Potter..." Voldemort cooed mockingly. "How kind of you and your little friends to join us on this fine day."

Ron looked around, feeling lost and in a daze, while Hermione and Ginny both edged toward their respective boyfriends, seeking some sort of protection. Harry absently wrapped his arm around Ginny, but he didn't say anything in response to Voldemort's greeting. He knew Voldemort was playing with him, trying to evoke a reaction, but Harry wasn't about to play that game.

"Let me see here," Voldemort continued, passing his slitted eyes over his victims. "Where to begin?"

His eyes stopped on Hermione.

"Ah, Miss Granger, is it?" he asked smoothly.

Hermione just looked away, trying not to shudder, but Harry's face darkened.

"Yes, Lucius has told me all about you. Harry's little Mudblood friend... thinking she is the most intelligent witch of this age. Shame, shame... filthy, little Mudbloods should know their place. Crucio!"

Hermione doubled over in excruciating pain as the Cruciatus Curse coursed mercilessly through her body. Harry could hear her cries and screams, and it felt like he was being run over by a train as it screeched across the tracks.

"Stop it!" Harry bellowed, standing up.

"What did you say, Harry?" Voldemort sneered. "Oh, surely you didn't just command me to stop, did you? It is hardly my fault that you have decided to surround yourself with such filth. Now... that was fun, but let me see... what else might bring me some pleasure before I deal with you?"

Voldemort's glowing eyes now rested on Ron and Ginny.

"The Weasleys," he spat, as if the very name left a bad taste in his mouth. "Mudblood-lovers and the very disgrace to what it means to be a Pureblood wizarding family."

Voldemort raised his wand and aimed it at Ginny, but Harry turned just in time to block her from feeling the curse. Harry took three rounds of the Cruciatus for Ginny, all the while Harry's friends looking on in utter horror, too afraid to move. They had no wands... nothing with which to defend themselves.

But then, from beyond the circle of Death Eaters, Harry, while still reeling in the aftermath of the curse, heard a very powerful, wise voice.

"STOP!!!"

Harry's eyes glanced over the heads of the assembled Death Eaters and into the forest beyond to see none other than Albus Dumbledore. The benevolent wizard was flanked by several members of the Order of the Phoenix, all of whom had their wands at the ready.

Voldemort, however, merely smirked and remarked, "Well, well, if it isn't my old professor... Dumbledore. Tell me, old man, are you still hiding away in your safehold from the world?"

Dumbledore paid Voldemort's taunting no heed and took a step in the direction of the Death Eaters, who Harry noticed were becoming unnerved at the sight of their powerful nemesis. Even Voldemort feared Dumbledore, even though he would never admit it or display it openly.

"Release Harry Potter and his friends at once, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, "and we shall go peacefully."

A mirthless laugh echoed from Voldemort's lipless mouth. "So, you old fool, those are your terms? Hmmm, I think not. I'm afraid you're too late this time, Dumbledore. Unlike last time, you and your little army won't stop me. Harry Potter is mine now. All I have to do is say two simple words, and he will be history."

The words rolled off Voldemort's tongue conversationally, which enraged Harry even more. He swore right then and there that if he had his wand, he wouldn't have had to think twice about using the Killing Curse on the Dark Lord.

"Then you leave us with no choice," Dumbledore replied firmly.

"Very well, old man," Voldemort hissed. "Have it your way, then. Death Eaters, attack!"

The Death Eaters broke out of the circle and began to run toward the Order members. Before Harry could react, a battle had broken out all around him. He heard hexes and curses being thrown from both sides, and as he turned his head to face his friends and see if they were all right, Harry noticed that Arthur and Molly Weasley were fighting off a couple of Death Eaters who had apparently tried to harm their two youngest children.

Harry stood up, feeling dizzy, and frantically gazed around. Who had his wand? Thinking that it had to be Draco, since he had originally taken it, Harry looked for him among the crowd. Then he saw him. He was standing in front of a cowering Hermione, calling her every horrible name in the book.

"I always wanted to see you finally suffer at my hands, Mudblood," he sneered, raising his wand. "And now I finally have that honor."

Harry darted toward Draco and pounced him, pinning him to the ground. Draco struggled underneath Harry's weight, and as he muttered a Burning Hex at Harry, Harry quickly moved his head out of the way, and the red light emitted from the wand's tip flew past him. In their struggle, Harry suddenly saw four wands lying on the ground next to Draco's scuffling form. Feeling a sudden bout of triumph, Harry reached for them and grasped them tightly.

Draco started to regain his footing as Harry made to stand up, but Harry's reflexes were faster. He placed a full body bind on his classmate and proceeded to hastily hand his friends' wands back to them. Luckily, the Weasleys had succeeded in protecting their children, and with their wands back, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny stood, wands ready in case any of the Death Eaters came their way. It seemed that the Order members were occupying the Death Eaters well enough, however.

Voldemort, of course, was dueling with Dumbledore. All the while, Snape, pretending to be a Death Eater, quickly challenged Mad-Eye Moody, but Moody knew it was only Snape, and so, he simply Stunned him to ensure no real damage. Harry's eyes, however, were focused on the two most powerful wizards of the late twentieth century. His brow furrowing in anguish, Harry marched toward the scene of the duel. He had allowed Dumbledore to protect him one too many times, and damn it, he, Harry Potter, was the only one who could ultimately destroy Voldemort. Wand raised, Harry charged toward Voldemort, focusing all his energy on the destruction of the creature who had taken his parents and his godfather from him... the monster who was responsible for the deaths of so many innocent wizards, witches, and Muggles.

But just as Harry was about to attack the Dark Lord, he heard a cry of extreme distress... coming from a very familiar source. Turning around, Harry saw Lucius Malfoy torturing Lupin with the Cruciatus, gloating about the inferiority of werewolves. Lupin, who had always been there for Harry, was now sprawled out on the ground, his body twitching violently.

"No!" Harry bellowed. He raced toward Malfoy, completely intent on hexing him into oblivion, but then another Death Eater, still masked, aimed his wand at Harry and cried two words that would have ended his life... should have ended his life had Harry not flung himself behind the older Malfoy that last second. Malfoy was a shield for Harry, but being in direct line with the fire of the Killing Curse, it hit him squarely in the chest, and before Harry could register what had happened, the full weight of Malfoy's body collapsed onto Harry, pinning him to the ground.

Enraged, the Death Eater who had be aiming for Harry, charged toward him and began to say the Killing Curse yet again, but Harry, his wand still firmly in his hand, was faster.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, and the Death Eater fell over, knocked out cold.

Harry struggled underneath Malfoy's body and brought his eyes to rest upon Lupin's weak, crumpled up form. The man was moaning in pain and was trying to stand, but in this destitute form, he was failing miserably. Harry couldn't believe the whole unfairness of the situation when Wormtail, of all people, approached Lupin and said mockingly, "Remus, old friend... how nice to see you. I daresay you've seen better days, eh?"

"Don't... call... me... friend," Lupin gasped, his grip on his wand fumbling.

"Yes," Wormtail mused darkly, "I suppose the word is befitting no longer. Such a shame that James and Sirius are no longer here to fight by your side, isn't it? I bet you're really missing them now... maybe I could be a friend and send to you see them?"

Lupin's eyes grew large in utter horror as Pettigrew brought his silver hand forward and plunged it straight into his side. Lupin cried in horrific agony, and the edges of Harry's vision blurred as he yelled, "No! Remus! No! Leave... leave him alone, you horrible rat!"

But Pettigrew paid no attention to Harry's protests. That magical silver hand was much more powerful and much stronger than any normal hand, and with extreme terror, Harry watched as Pettigrew contined to make Lupin suffer, quite literally, at his hand. Using that hand like a sword, Pettigrew thrust it deeper inside Lupin and twisted it, until finally no more cries came forth from Lupin.

Silence.

"NO!!!" Harry shrieked, finally finding his strength and pushing Malfoy's dead weight off him. Harry lunged toward Wormtail, feeling now more than ever that he should have never shown the rat mercy three years prior. Wormtail, though, being the coward that he was, transformed into his Animagus form and scurried off before Harry could finish him. All of Harry's hexes missed the rat as the rodent scampered off into the woods. Feeling like he was about to collapse, Harry noticed that there were a lot less voices around him.

Looking around, he noticed that Voldemort and Dumbledore were still fighting, but most of the Death Eaters were either on the ground or had disappeared, apparently by disapparating. Voldemort, too, noticed this and cursed.

"Damn you, Dumbledore!" he shrieked. "You cannot keep protecting the boy forever, though! There will come a time soon when he will fall at my feet, and you and your army won't be here to save him!"

"Harry Potter will always have protection, Tom," Dumbledore replied gravely, "whether it comes from without or within. You fail to see just how powerful the young man is."

Voldemort sneered at Dumbledore, but he knew that he could have kept fighting the aged wizard all day, and he still would not have gotten anywhere. With extreme anger and reluctance, Voldemort bellowed, "Retreat!"

Harry knew that Voldemort was hardly giving up that easily. He was simply biding his time yet again, awaiting a more opportune time to attack when the defenses on the side of light were down. The few remaining Death Eaters disapparated, leaving the Order members to clean up the mess. Moody released Snape from the Stunning Spell, and some of the members of the Order began to disapparate. Those who were Aurors immediately set out to arresting those Death Eaters who had fallen, but in the midst of everything, Harry barely heard the concerned voices of his friends around him as he knelt down beside Lupin's motionless form.

Silver, Harry thought, feeling completely drained. That hand was made of silver, and Remus is a werewolf.

Silver was deadly to werewolves.