Blood-Soaked Succession Chapter 21: (Patreon)

Chapter 21:

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"This is the same curse that would have taken Albus." Pomphrey concluded the obvious.

Harry raised his eyebrows at the mediwitch.

"You knew?" Harry asked. "I thought Snape was the one who treated him.

"He did. Without my knowledge or consent. Albus refused to see me, and that was to his own detriment. I wasn't able to do anything for him because he wouldn't allow me. If he had I could have slowed it down further, even with whatever Severus was brewing for him. No, I don't know the potion, and I doubt Severus will share."

"He will. In the meantime, what is your solution?" Harry asked. "I need to know."

"Ice it." Pomphrey said simply.

Harry looked at her in disbelief. It seemed in rather poor taste to joke like that. Icing did nothing for any injury, let alone a magical one! Was she joking?

"I would have had him sleep in an ice bath every night, along with feeding him a frostbite and hypothermia prevention potion. Icing the afflicted area will slow the spread." She explained.

Was it really that easy? What was he thinking, of course it was! Basilisks die to roosters crowing, boggarts are sent running from mere laughter and an incurable curse is slowed with an ice cube.

"Could I wrap it all in an ice-filled sling while awake?" He asked.

"You could, that's what I would have had Albus do. But you only need to ice the area that is most recently infected. Icing the flesh that has already been ruined would do nothing." She explained.

Hmmm. So they'd have to jerry rig something like a safety throw ring from his neck down to his groin and fill it with ice. Doable. It beat sleeping in a tub of ice all day and night.

"Very well. You are once again a lifesaver Madame. And I'm sorry for the injuries you will wind up treating tonight because of me."

She shrugged.

"They shan't be worse than I've dealt with this last year, believe me." Pomphrey said.

As if speaking on the topic summoned the thing they were discussing, the sound of people in the hallways approaching echoed into the ward.

Harry got up from the bed and redressed as quickly as he could. He replaced his respirator and turned around just as Professors Aurora and McGonnigal walked in. They had, on three levitating stretchers, students from Slytherin and Gryffindor. Seventh years by the look of them. Scratch that, two seventh years and a super senior who had to retake seventh year. He recognized them all easily enough.

It looked like Crabbe, Goyle and McLaggan had gotten on the wrong side of cutting and stunning curses. The heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin were wise to forego rennervating them until their wounds were dealt with.

"Good evening, Minerva. Good evening, Aurora." Harry said. "Congratulations on your promotion to head of Slytherin."

They both stopped in their tracks and blinked at him. He noted how they reflexively gripped their wands and began to raise them in order to fight him, but pretended not to. He did look and sound very different, but the scar on his forehead was as clear as day for them to see. He gave them a few moments to reconcile the image of an innocent eleven year old child with the man standing in front of them.

"I see these three decided to get in the way of other students trying to leave. Or was it retribution for their acts as junior Death Eaters?" Harry asked rhetorically.

He walked around the bed containing Cormac and pulled up his sleeve. That was definitely the dark mark. They were so very lucky that Poppy, Aurora and Minerva were there, or else Harry would have finished the job. In fact, he was already thinking of ways to take their lives without the three faculty members seeing him. He didn't think it likely.

"The latter." Sinestra said. "The Carrows have turned so many of my students into monsters. And now the little ones are becoming killers just to escape. I wish you hadn't worded your speech so. The exaggeration was unhelpful."

"Exaggeration? Hardly. Especially seeing as the little ones did not follow my instructions. These three are barely wounded. It seems to me the students you are criticizing now are still innocent, for they did not kill these Death Eaters after felling them, as I would have." He explained. "I doubt these three would have shown such mercy if ordered by Voldemort."

They both hardened their jaws as he confirmed his nature as a warrior in a hot war, along with their fears about what awaited he students fleeing. They would be killers too. Such as war.

"Also, you need not worry about the Carrows ever again. They are dead." He explained.

"Thank you." Minerva said stonily, bowing.

Aurora looked at the deputy headmistress in horror for a moment, as if the idea of thanking their child soldier for doing his job was alien to her. She did eventually mirror Minerva's bow, as did Poppy.

"No need to thank me. I'm not the one who killed them. Besides, I should be thanking you. I know it must have been excruciating to serve Voldemort's purposes in your capacity here. But you have done your best to mitigate the damage and for that I will be eternally grateful. Unfortunately, the strategy of holding on and working from inside to mitigate damage will not work any longer. All of the students you can help are evacuating as we speak. You would do much more good by joining us." Harry offered.

They all hardened their expressions further. He knew their answer before he asked it, but he had to ask all the same.

"We are not soldiers, Harry. And neither are they. You say it is pointless, but we shall remain here and do the best that we can." Minerva said solemnly.

The other two nodded with her words.

"Oh, but they and I are. Because we had no choice but to become so. My offer will remain open if you ever decide to take on your responsibilities as adults and fight this war, instead of leaving us child soldiers to fight it in your stead. Just know that there will be a reckoning coming for you all when this war is over and the longer you fail in your duties the worse that reckoning will be. Not from me, I will not survive to see the day. But the rest of them? They will hold you to account for failing us all so miserably." Harry warned. "Good evening."

He excused himself and walked out of the hospital wing, leaving three terrified women in his staid. Just as the flashing lights began to dance outside.

He looked through the window to see that the hailstorm of vibrant-colored spells had begun to rain down on the wards. Viktors people were lining up along the inside and trying to bolster them, but he could already see the Aurors stationed at Hogwarts charging down the lawns towards them. It sure took them long enough to organize, didn't it? Still. He had one more piece of business to take care of before he could join them.

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Rose Zeller crouched low as she followed Fey along the cliff face towards the black lake. Then the light show began. The golden dome around Hogwarts was being pelted by all manner of spell she wasn't even marginally trained in recognizing.

They halted at the edge and crawled backwards.

The other Gryffindor students following in their wake shimmied back awkwardly to let them. Only a dozen, between third and fifth years, had brought up enough bravery to try and sneak out. When that McLaggan pig got in their way every single wand turned on him at once. His shield didn't stand a chance against the rain of stunners, cutting curses and piercing curses. They didn't even bother checking if he was alive as they stormed past his limp body.

"Do you recon it's safe to go towards the ships now?" Fey asked the gathered crowd, entirely composed of young girls.

"I mean, the enemy is on the outside right?" Asked Giera, a Greek girl in her year. "If the ships are our best way out, now seems like a good time to make a run for it before..."

Before the entire contingency of Aurors, Death Eaters and prefects stormed out of the entrance hall and charged at the army of foreigners guarding the ships. Before that, probably would have been wise.

"Wow, it sure took them a while to rally, didn't it?" Fey said dryly. "It's probably for the best we stopped when we did or else we might have been caught in the crossfire."

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Harry approached the gargoyle on the third floor and halted an arms distance away from it.

"May I be let in?" He dared to ask.

It did not move.

"My name is Harry Potter. I believe Headmaster Snape will appreciate what I have to give." Harry pleased.

He need not have bothered finishing his sentence. It stepped aside at mention of his own name. Or perhaps claiming to be Harry Potter? Either he was keeping up appearances by allowing anybody with information on him to come by at any time, or he was prepared for him.

He marched up the rising staircase and into the headmaster's office. It looked somewhat unused. It made sense. His occasional perusing of the Marauder's map had shown Snape completely missing from Hogwarts. It showed him as such now. But that was fine. He didn't need to see the man face to face for what he was doing here.

"Come to blindfold me again?" Said a portrait above.

"Now, Phineas. There is no need to be rude. He has been through a lot and needs kinder words." Dumbledore's portrait chastised his elder.

"No, he is correct. I completely forgot about his portrait in the bag. I will have to set him back up, sans blindfold, when I get back to House Black." Harry apologized. "I now know to trust you all."

That last part was a lie. He knew to never trust any of them. But now he knew how to use them and knew to share information with them again. Or at least, share curated information.

"What do you need from me Harry? Have you found them all?" Albus asked.

"Three remain. Nagini, the cup and something else. One of the latter two is in the Gringotts vault of Bellatrix Lestrange, but I won't have the resources or gumption to go for it for some time." He explained.

That one was the entire truth. He needed Snape to know about that and make plans.

While he left Dumbledore to chew on that, Harry approached the grand desk and placed the map down. He did not deactivate it. Alongside the map he left a note detailing how to use it.

He no longer had any need of the map. Snape did. So did Minerva, were she to become headmistress. For all his animosity, he still wanted to lend them every boon he could. This was a big one. He planned to never to return to Hogwarts after tonight, except as a ghost perhaps. An eternity within these walls? That didn't sound so bad at all.

"I must leave you now." Harry said. "I'll keep in touch through headmaster Black."

He descended back down the spiral staircase and along the third-floor corridor. He was nearly around the corner when a voice called from behind him.

"Mr Potter! Mr Potter! I came looking for you!"

Harry groaned. She was the last person he wanted to see today. That she had managed to find him was the first evidence she had ever shown for being a clairvoyant.

"If you are here to warn me about my coming death, save it. I already know the rough time and the exact manner." Harry snarled at the woman while raising his hand and lifting his sleeve.

"No! I'm not here for... ewe! You should have Poppy look at that. No, I'm here to warn you about the three shades hunting you, encircling you like razorblade chains." Trelawney explained.

Her phrasing was so bizarre that Harry momentarily forgot his distaste and annoyance with the woman as he chewed on every single word therein. He actually stopped to let her catch up. Three shades hunting him? Razorblade chains? So, she was having visions of the Deathly Hollows and his relationship with them? That was a succinct, if esoteric, description of them.

"Each lacks a mouth with which to smile, and yet they grin at all the terrible things in the world all the same. They undo, that is all they can do, they are unmakers. And they want to unmake you. I have seen them, Harry. And they grin most viciously upon you, for you carry them with you." Trelawney explained. "I keep seeing them. Whenever you are brought up; I see them in my dreamings."

Okay, so she wasn't talking about the Deathly Hollows at all. And like that, his patience with her was done. She was just making up bullshite again.

"I'm sorry, Professor. But I have a war to fight and very little time with which to fight it. Good evening." He excused himself and turned around.

He didn't make it one step before she reached out and grasped his hand as if to yank him back.

The sensation of being dunked in liquid nitrogen filled his body when she grasped his hand to hold him back. It was like a more physical manifestation of the cold from a dementor's touch, but which seeped all the way down to his bones. For a fraction for a second, he saw an endless expanse of grey mist with a ground made of a perfect, damp mirror. It was gone as soon as it arrived and he came back to himself in time to register that Trelawney had collapsed.

He shook himself back to his senses and looked to see the woman having a seizure at his feet.

"Professor Trelawney!" Harry called out, kneeling down to check on her.

The sound of something exploding on the floor above them like a great whoosh of flame startled him and he drew his wand, but kept his attention on Trelawney.

Her fit worsened and all he could think to do was cradle her head to prevent her from hitting it. That was the correct thing to do for a seizure patient, right? Now would be a good time to summon old Mungo Bonham. He lifted his left hand to speak into the stone when the sound of footsteps approaching made his eyes snap up to the Gargoyle passage he had just come out of. He was both pleased and annoyed to see who came through.

"Potter!" Snape yelled, drawing his wand at the sight of him.

The man was singed from head to toe with first degree burns jutting out from under the burned away robes that hung off of him like rags. If Harry were to guess what happen, he'd assume a one nasty floo accident just took place in the headmasters office. It would explain the boom.

"The dark lord will be so pleased to find out that I captured you myself!" Severus snarled at him, lip curled.

Harry barely managed to keep a straight face at the overacting. Really going to try and keep up the charade, are we Snape? Harry was half tempted to play along just for the hilarity of it, but he didn't have the time. And neither did Trelawney.

"You have such a lovely patronus, professor." Harry said clandestinely. "And the gift you left me in that pond has served me well... Also, Sybil is dying. So knock it off and help."

"Damnit all! Can't you Potters let me enjoy my melodrama!" Snape whined before lowering his wand and rushing over. He took over cradling the divination professor and motioned him away. "What did you do to her? And why are you wearing a respirator?"

"I did nothing. She touched me and began to have a fit." Harry explained. "And I caught a nasty case of the same curse that got Albus."

"Of course you did! I'll add that to the list of things to send along with Phineas. Stay tuned for the potion recipe. Did she say anything after collapsing about what she saw? Any prophecy?" Snape asked.

"No sir." Harry said honestly, opting to keep to himself what she said beforehand.

"Then begone with you! We didn't see each other! I have five minutes I can stall before carrying out the Dark Lord's orders. Ten at most." He explained. "And only then because the floo exploded behind me and the time zone differences would make accounting for the exact minutes difficult for him."

Yup. Floo accident.

"And these orders, are?" Harry asked.

"To tear down the wards and let his forces in. So, hurry and get our forces out of here!" Snape hollered. "Because I can't come up with an excuse to hold off longer than that."

"I can." Harry all but purred as he pointed his wand at the man.

Snape looked between him and his wand, then down at the one in his hand. He seemed to consider it for a time, but then Trelawney began to literally bleed out of her eye sockets and the offer of a mock fight was thrown away.

"That could have worked, but she won't last without somebody caring for her. And you likely would have had to all but kill me to make it convincing. Back to plan A, get your arse moving!" Snape yelled.

"Or we could go with plan C?" Harry said.

He put out his hand, palm up. The gesture actually made Snape go slack jawed. It was a genuine offer, the only one he had the strength to make to this man for he knew he'd never have the strength to do so again.

He then pocketed his wand and removed his respirator.

"Come. Join us. There is nothing left for you here, for your spying is done." Harry implored the man. "There is nothing else you can do for this place, but with us you can accomplish much and I can offer you closure. I need guidance from someone like you. Older, wiser and braver, but not as petrified of accepting reality as your coworkers are."

Snape looked at him confusedly, not seeming to understand his meaning. It made sense, Harry was being deliberately vague. After all, a boast of "I can resurrect Lily Potter and let you talk things out for as long as you need" would have made him look insane. But he did think on the offer. When he answered he looked to be in physical pain at the choice he'd made.

"I should." Snape said, just above a whisper, before regaining his composure. "But I cannot. As you said, my coworkers are chicken shit. If I leave, they will not follow. They will be sitting ducks here without me, as will all remaining students. And I can still mediate a lot of damage here, far more than they can, as headmaster and as a Death Eater. The payoff of increasing the chance of success for this mission is not worth the position I've earned as all but Voldemort's second hand. I will continue to help however I can, but I can't do what you ask."

Harry bowed his way and turned heel. He left without another word. Snape did not call after him.