The Long Night

The Lightning-Struck Tower

Severus Snape sat behind the heavy wooden desk in his office, his face obscured by a curtain of black hair as he bent over the parchment he was reading in the dim candlelight. Occasionally he dipped his quill into the bottle of red ink to his right and made a brief, hurried notation on the parchment. "Dunderhead!" he muttered under his breath as with a flourish he inscribed a large letter "D" at the bottom of the essay. Straightening, he tossed the parchment into a tray at his left, his hair parting to reveal his sallow face and hooked nose.

His long-fingered hand reaching for another parchment from the too-gradually diminishing pile on his right, Snape heard the muffled sounds of someone running and shouting in the hallway. Quickly Snape snatched up his wand, which lay close at hand next to the inkpot, and pointed it at the heavy oak door, his dark eyes narrowing in concentration. Attention focused on the door, wand at the ready, he pushed his chair back from the desk. As he came to his feet, the door burst open, admitting Professor Flitwick. "Death Eaters!" shouted Snape's diminutive colleague, his shock of white hair flopping as he skidded to an abrupt stop in front of the desk.

It had begun, then. Draco had somehow managed to get Death Eaters into the school, despite all their precautions. Snape fixed his cold stare on his colleague.

"Here in the school! Death Eaters!" Flitwick continued excitedly. "Minerva sent me, we need your help!" Snape strode around the desk, thinking swiftly. What would he need to do tonight? With Death Eaters in the school, would his chances of success be greater, or smaller, in Flitwick's company? It was not a night for taking chances, Snape decided. Mistaking his silence for assent, Flitwick turned to lead the way back to the fight. He was felled instantly by Snape's silent Stupefy spell.

Swiftly Snape stepped over the fallen Charms Professor's body and hurtled into the hallway. He stopped abruptly as, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two robed figures with wands standing nearby in the hallway. As he spun around to face them, black robes billowing and wand still at the ready, he recognized Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood. Luna stood, a bemused look on her face, her wand aimed vaguely in his direction with the same lack of precision he recalled all too well from class. Hermione, her brown eyes wide with fear, but her stance resolute, stepped forward cautiously, her wand aimed straight at Snape's chest. Well, his decision to Stun Flitwick was already paying dividends: it was the perfect opportunity to make sure these two students were kept out of the fight.

"Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood, we will discuss your presence outside your dormitories at this hour at a later time," he snapped, his black eyes glittering. He noted with satisfaction that his assumption of a teacher's authority was having the desired effect on Hermione, who lowered her wand a hair and flushed at this threat. "Professor Flitwick has collapsed in my office. Please see what you can do for him. I am on my way to join Professor McGonagall, you must have heard what the Professor said."

"Yes, Professor Snape," said Hermione as she strode briskly towards the office, her brown, bushy hair bouncing behind her. Luna's protuberant silver eyes followed Snape for a moment as Snape turned and ran down the hallway. Then she tucked the wand she had been holding in her hand behind her ear and followed Hermione.

Flitwick was not there to guide him, but a flash of memory he had picked up as the Charms Professor spoke to him suggested he start at the foot of the stairway leading to the Astronomy Tower. Snape turned into the nearest flight of stairs and started to run up the marble steps two at a time. As he neared the level of the tower entrance, Snape began to hear the sounds of battle, as the combatants shouted jinxes and countercurses. Snape halted as he came upon the battle. It was a scene of chaos. Curses were bouncing off the walls seemingly at random as the Death Eaters and Order members fought. Draco was nowhere to be seen, but on the stairs to the top of the tower, Snape saw Neville Longbottom thrown back by a magical barrier as he tried to run up the stairs. "They've blocked the stairs-Reducto! REDUCTO!" shouted an Order member.

Snape's mouth twisted into a bitter sneer as he unconsciously rubbed his left forearm. Oh yes, he had what it took to pass that barrier. He ran straight through the thick of the battle, calculating, correctly as it turned out, that none would choose to attack him, for all believed him to be on their side. As he sprinted up the stairs, he noticed Lupin running after him, only to fall back as well when the Death Eaters' barrier repelled him. Snape continued upwards.

Well, this was it, the moment he had been dreading all year. Perhaps Dumbledore's plan to hide Draco could still be made to work. If the barrier was there to isolate Draco while he carried out the Dark Lord's orders, the other Death Eaters might all have remained below. Even if there were a Death Eater or two on the Tower, could he disable them before the Vow took effect? If he arrived before Draco had a chance to do anything...maybe. If not, well, he had known when he made the Vow that it might come to this. He was ready. He would at least prevent the Headmaster's death at Draco's hands before he died.

"Draco, do it or stand aside so one of us-" Snape heard a woman screech as he burst through the door.

Standing in the doorway, wand clutched in his hand, Snape quickly took stock of his surroundings. The scene was lit only by the dim, green glow of the Dark Mark hanging overhead. Alecto, whose screeching he had heard, he had expected to see, accompanied, naturally, by her brother Amycus. The werewolf Fenrir and the brutal-faced Yaxley completed the foursome, their faces even more hideous in the eerie green light. They stood in a rough circle, all with wands drawn and pointed at Dumbledore.

The Headmaster, unexpectedly looking all of his one hundred and fifty years and more, was leaning, grey-faced, against the far rampart of the Tower, his feet so far forward it looked as though he might slip to the floor at any moment. His appearance was clearly no mere effect of the lighting. Standing between him and Snape, facing the Headmaster, was Draco Malfoy. His right arm was shaking as he pointed his wand in Dumbledore's direction. Off to the side, Snape noted two brooms and quickly made his glance slide past them, not wishing to draw the Death Eaters' attention to the possible presence of a second enemy. This was it, then. He'd take Greyback first, he decided. The thought of the werewolf loose among the students turned his stomach. Then Yaxley...if he still had time, he decided.

"We've got a problem, Snape," said Amycus. "The boy does not seem able-"

While this statement, so evocative of the Vow he had made to Draco's mother, would normally have commanded Snape's full attention, Snape focused on the Headmaster, who had softly spoken only one word,

"Severus..."

Snape strode wordlessly towards Dumbledore, oblivious to the actions of the other as he reached out with his Legilimency. As he approached Draco, he perceived a dreadful image in the forefront of Dumbledore's mind: the old man lay, his shoulders supported by young Potter, who was offering Dumbledore a crystal goblet full of a glowing green potion. Snape could see nearby the now almost empty basin, containing what appeared to be a locket on a gold chain, from which the potion had come. Dumbledore's grey color, agonized expression, and labored breathing told the tale of the Dark and dangerous nature of this potion. Beyond, dimly visible in the gloom, an Inferius broke the murky surface of the lake.

The presence of the second broom on the Tower was now explained, and for the first time Snape felt a moment of gratitude for that pesky Invisibility Cloak of Potter's. At the same time, he also understood that unless he could soon provide an antidote, he was looking at a dead man. Disturbed by this vision, Snape pushed Malfoy roughly aside. As he gazed into Dumbledore's blue eyes, their usual twinkle dimmed by the effects of the potion, a new and even more horrific image replaced the scene with the potion. Struck by a jet of green light from Snape's wand, Dumbledore died, while Snape and the others present looked on.

Snape's face twisted with revulsion at this suggestion, though he could see the harsh logic behind Dumbledore's solution to their predicament. Dumbledore was right. However well he fought, the Vow would kill him shortly even if the others did not, and the survivors would ensure the death of Dumbledore regardless, for the Headmaster was in no condition to defend himself. Snape was flooded with hatred of himself for having ever taken that cursed Vow with Narcissa, which now trapped him. What Dumbledore now asked was the one thing he had been sure he could avoid, that night.

Dumbledore, seeing the conflict in Snape's face, spoke again, as he concentrated with his remaining powers on a memory now nearly seventeen years old. Of a fateful afternoon, when a young man had come to Dumbledore full of remorse for having told the Prophecy to Voldemort, and promised to Dumbledore that he would do anything, anything Dumbledore required of him, to make amends for his crimes. "Severus...please..."

Defeated, Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore. Focusing his magical powers to the utmost and giving free rein to his hates and sorrows, he spoke the words Dumbledore required of him. "Avada Kedavra!" The image in Snape's mind was abruptly replaced by a chilling and absolute blackness, as the man who had given Snape his trust all those years ago was no more. With a nonverbal spell, Snape sent his body over the ramparts, where it hung for a moment like a macabre rag doll before it fell out of sight, and out of the reach of his enemies.

It was not the time for grief or self-recrimination. Snape would not let this sacrifice be in vain. He would return to Voldemort as Dumbledore had planned when he gave Snape the DADA position. And he would find a way to put his unexpected 'success' to good use.

"Out of here, quickly!" he ordered the watching Death Eaters. He seized Malfoy by the scruff of the neck and forced him through the door ahead of the rest; the others followed. Doubtless Potter would not be far behind. Snape had to trust that the Order members below would see to the boy.

Ahead of him, a large portion of the ceiling collapsed into a heap of rubble. The dust concealed him from the combatants for a moment, until he and Draco had descended the tower staircase completely. As he emerged form the dust, Snape ran once again through the thick of the battle, pushing Draco before him. Thinking him pursued by the Death Eaters from the tower, the Order members again allowed Snape to pass unchallenged. As he left the room, Snape shouted an order to the Death Eaters who had remained below. "It's over, time to go!"

"We're getting out of here," Snape hissed at Draco as he steered him towards the nearest exit to the school grounds.

No longer resisting, Draco ran ahead to the exit Snape had chosen. Soon they were running across the grounds past Hagrid's hut towards the gates beyond which they could Disapparate. Hagrid came out brandishing his pink umbrella and fired a spell at the Death Eaters following Snape.

Suddenly, Snape heard Harry's voice behind him call out, "Stupefy!" and saw the red bolt of Harry's spell soar past his head.

"Run, Draco!" Snape shouted, as he spun around to face Harry.

For a moment, they regarded each other in silence. Then, with the appearance of a unison born of long practice, they both raised their wands.

As he sensed Harry prepare mentally to cast the Crucio, Snape prepared to parry it, and the attempt that followed. The last Death Eaters were now nearing. As he ran, Yaxley set fire to Hagrid's hut.

While continuing to deflect Harry's spells and carry on an exchange of insults, Snape kept an eye on the others now approaching.

"Now come!" Snape shouted at Yaxley. Hagrid was fully occupied with the fire, what need did that dolt have to hang around longer? "It is time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up to-"

"Impedi-"

As Harry tried yet another curse (at least he's varying things now, not so predictable, thought Snape) the boy suddenly fell to the ground, screaming in agony, as Alecto, her face distorted by a hideous grin of pleasure, aimed her wand directly at Harry.

"No!" roared Snape, casting a nonverbal Shield Charm at the woman, who lowered her wand directly. "Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord-we are to leave him! Go! Go!"

To Snape's relief, the Carrows and Yaxley complied, running past him toward the gates. He was left alone with Harry. The boy, while still clearly affected by the Cruciatus Curse with which Alecto had hit him, yelled inarticulately as the Death Eaters fled, clambered to his feet and staggered towards Snape.

"Sectum-!"

With a flick of his wand, Snape repelled the curse. Potter meant to kill him, then. Snape could almost feel the heat of the anger and hatred that boiled off Harry as Harry staggered towards him. Levi-

"No, Potter!" screamed Snape, barely getting in his own nonverbal Expelliarmus. At that range, with the boy attempting nonverbal spells (so he could do them, in a pinch), he would not take his chances with a mere parry...fortunately, the others were now gone, so the loss of his wand posed no threat to Harry.

"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them-I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so!" Snape said angrily.

As Harry dove for his wand, Snape shouted, "No!" and sent it spinning into the darkness with a hex.

"Kill me then," panted Harry. "Kill me like you killed him, you coward-"

Harry's words brought back the impressions Snape had until then been successfully keeping at bay. Dumbledore, slumped against the wall, with barely strength enough remaining to speak his name...He remembered, suddenly, the final contact with Dumbledore's mind, and its abrupt replacement by-nothingness. A terrible doubt crept into his mind. Had he, in fact, murdered the man to whom he owed everything to save himself? Had he been too quick to accede to Dumbledore's request?

"DON'T," screamed Snape, beside himself over the memory of what he had just done, "CALL ME COWARD!" With his mind drowning in a maelstrom of emotion, Snape at that moment desired only to return pain for the pain he felt. He lashed out with his wand, throwing the boy back as with an unseen blow of a whip.

At that moment, Hagrid's hippogriff launched itself at Snape. The practical exigency of ducking to avoid the initial attack of its sharp claws returned Snape to his senses. What had possessed him, to stand there arguing with Potter? He had matters to tend to elsewhere. Ducking a second swipe from Buckbeak, he turned and ran as fast as he could for the gates, and the limits of the school's anti-Apparition wards.