Author: John Sexton
Genre: Harry Potter Slash
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Chapter Thirty-one -- Voldemort's Revenge

Neville Longbottom and Greg Goyle were sitting together at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

They were going over their Transfiguration assignment, which was due to be handed in to Professor McGonagall that morning. They were making some last minute adjustments and comparing their answers. There were about twenty minutes left before their first of three double Monday lessons.

Breakfast had finished, and they were among a dozen or more students, from various houses, still scattered across the hall.

Neville had just made a joke, about one of their answers. But, as usual, Greg never got the pun.

"I was just fooling around, Greg," the lanky Gryffindor nudged him in the ribs, "just pulling your leg."

"I'd like that!" the Slytherin replied, coyly; before he gave a nervous salacious grin.

"Oh, sorry, Greg..." Neville flushed, having just caught the larger boy's double-entendre... "I'm not like that."

"Oh!" the embarrassed Slytherin sighed, as he suddenly reflected his study partner's awkwardness.

"So..." Greg finally plucked up the courage to resume their conversation... "you got a girlfriend... or somethin'?"

"Not really, but I've got my eye on someone... you'll never guess who."

"Luna," Greg replied, in a flash.

"Oh!" Neville looked genuinely shocked... "How?..."

"You light up... every time you see her!"

"Oh, really... that obvious?"

Greg simply shook his head.

"But..." Neville was really confused now. "If you knew that... how come you just said..."

"Oh... I was just hopin' that you two were just good friends."

"Yeah, well," Neville laughed, "that's just the problem!"

"You should say somethin' then, eh?"

"Yeah... easier said than done!" Neville replied... "What about you and Vince?"

"Nah," Greg replied glumly, "he's not like that, either."

===============================================

Bellatrix Lestrange had just entered the library of Malfoy Manor. The room was dark and cool, despite the fact that it was mid-morning and the sun was actually shining outside, for the first time in days.

Her sister was hosting the Dark Lord and his entourage for the next few days, while their Master's most loyal followers, his elite Death Eater squad, were terrorising the Wiltshire Downs and mustering support for his army.

The Dark Lord was planning a massive rally and recruitment-initiation ceremony at Stonehenge, on Halloween, to coincide with the taking of Hogwarts.

He was holding an audience with Badrock Balstrode and Marcus Flint, two of the newest Death Eater recruits, who had been in Slytherin, three years ahead of Draco.

Both were in their late teens and had been honoured by their master, with the Dark Mark, only last week.



Bellatrix was just about to approach the Dark Lord, when a house elf begged forgiveness and proffered a scroll to the erratic and totally insane witch.

She scowled at the lowly creature, who had dared intrude upon her approach towards their master. Her glare of displeasure was hardened by years of incarceration in Azkaban, and her manic scowl exacerbated her look of insanity.

"Begging your pardon, Madam Lestrange, Ma'am," the terrified elf cowed at her feet, as it held up the parchment, while simultaneously averting her manic gaze and fixing its saucer-like eyes on the floor.

"This is having arrived from Gringotts, Ma'am... it... it is marked `URGENT!' Ma'am."



Lestrange was already furious with the elf, who had angered The Dark Lord, by interrupting his audience with the youths and her sister. But when she unfurled the parchment, her insanity was tripped into overdrive by its contents.

She kicked the elf, who landed half way across the chamber and slid even further on the chequered marble floor.

"What is the meaning of this! Is this some kind of joke? Who put you up to this?" she screamed.

The elf struggled to its knees and grovelled towards the insane witch.

"It is not being a joke, Ma'am," the lowly creature winced in pain, "it has been arriving by Gringotts owl... five minutes ago, My Lady!"

"But this... THIS..." Bellatrix screamed, "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

The incarceration-ravaged hag had only read the first few lines of the parchment; but when she looked back at the document a second time, her eyes bulged and she was suddenly gasping for breath.

Bellatrix clutched at her heart, then beat her breast, in terror and despair. She tried to hide her face from their fell master, but irrational terror and shock betrayed her.

Lestrange's sister ran across the chamber, to try to comfort her erratic and totally insane sibling.

But, before Narcissa could reach Bella, the insane witch's scrawny body flew through the air, until The Dark Lord was choking Bella, with her spindly legs dangling and flaying helplessly in the air.

Voldemort dropped Lestrange to the floor, where her crumpled body shook in terror, as she cringed into a foetal position and sobbed bitterly.

Sissy fell on top of her trembling sibling and rocked her, to try to offer comfort; with no idea of what had been so traumatic.



When Voldemort scanned the document, his red slits flared in disbelief as he read, then re-read, the text...

"Madam Lestrange, this is to confirm the transfer of one million Galleons, as requested, to the `Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Muggle-born Endowment and Scholarship Fund,' as requested.

"Included in this document is confirmation of the withdrawal of the Helga Hufflepuff Cup from your vault, and removed to your person, this day..."



"AGGHHH!" the Dark Lord roared, his red slits glowed with such a fury that they almost appeared as flaming coals.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!!" he screamed in a high pitched whine that shattered the glasses on the table at the side of the room.

A green flame shot from his wand, illuminating the dark chamber. Narcissa Malfoy lay dead, slumped over her sister's trembling body.

With a vicious flick of Voldemort's wand, Malfoy's body flew through the air, and slammed against the far wall, before it dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap.

Once again Lestrange's wretched frame dangled in the air, gasping for breath, as the Dark Lord squeezed her throat with his wraith-like tendrils.

"Where is the cup!" Voldemort demanded, "what have you done with it?"

"It... it... it wasn't me, My Lord!" she rasped, gasping for another breath... "it wasn't me, My..."

"ARRRGGGHHH!!" Voldemort screamed again, as he flew into an uncontrollable rage.



From out in the lavish gardens of the estate, green flashes of eerie but brilliant light could be seen emanating from the darkened windows of the manor's library.

When Voldemort eventually Apparated from the Malfoy library, in a violent fit of rage, the house elf, both teens and the Malfoy and Lestrange, nee Black, sisters lay dead on the cold, chequered, marble floor.

===============================================

Seamus Finnigan and Vincent Crabbe were lying under a tree, out on the lawns, over-looking the lake. They had just finished double DADA with Sals's dad, and had decided to get an early start on their latest joint assignment.

It was an unusually warm day, and the late afternoon sun was a pleasant reprieve from the recent weeks of foul weather.

They had been hard at it for nearly half an hour, and they'd both become distracted.

Light banter had led to some boisterous teasing, which had led to physical jousting and, finally, a full-on wrestling match. The spritely leprechaun was quick, but once he fell victim to Vince's hulking clutches, it was no contest.

"Okay, ye great hulk," Seamus pleaded mercy, "you win!"

But Vince never let him up. He had the Irish imp pinned under him, with the leprechaun's arms pinned behind his head, as the Slytherin's great hulking frame leaned down over the smaller lad's lithe torso.

They were both breathing heavily and sporting equally obvious erections. The larger boy's cock matched his massive physique, which delighted Seamus, as it ground down hard against his smaller, but no less erect member.

"Would dat be a wand in ye' trousers, or would ye' be just `appy ta see me?" he teased his massive opponent.

Vince leaned down, until they were so close that Seamus could feel his breath on his own lips. The huge Slytherin slid his hips back and forth over the imp's slender frame; his massive phallus grinding down hard against Seamus's own groin, stimulating the Irish lad's already excited genitals beyond endurance.

"Oh, fook! I've just cum! Ye' just made me cum! I don' believe it! Fook, dat's never `appened t'me before... fook!"

They looked deeply into each other's eyes, as Vince kept grinding his massive appendage against Seamus's still hard cock.

"Yeah! Coom on big boy, shoot dat big fookin' tool of yours!"

"Oh, FUCK!" Vince cried and he shot volley after volley into his trousers, as he continued to grind his hips hard against the smaller boy's groin.

Finally he rolled off the Gryffindor, and they both lay, side by side, panting and gasping for breath.

"Fuck!" "Fook!" they cried in unison, then broke into peals of laughter.

"Dat' was fookin' amazin'!"

"Yeah!"

"Ye' ever done dat before?"

"Nah."

"Never? No' even wid Greg?"

"Nah, he's not like that. Anyway... we're both pure-bloods, so not bloody likely anything like that's gunna happen, is it!"

===============================================

Salazar Snape sat in silence, on the plush lounge in his father's study. He was nursing only his third ever Ogden's. His second having been consumed on the night of Horace Slughorn's death.

"Well, Son, you've had a pretty intense few weeks, and we are getting down to the day of reckoning," Severus observed solemnly. "You certainly seem to be handling things better than I would have in the very same circumstances. I am extremely proud of you, but I am sure you know that."

"Yeah, I do; but thanks, Dad, it's nice to hear you say it."

"To our future success!"

Severus smiled and raised his glass towards his pride and joy.

"Yeah, cheers, Dad!"



Suddenly Severus's arm began to burn. He pulled back his sleeve and his Dark Mark was black and burning furiously, more so than he could ever remember.

"I think we may have spoken too soon, Salazar. He is obviously in a state of great agitation, and he wants us both, if this is anything to go by."



Severus immediately contacted Dumbledore, via the Floo network, before father and son made their way quickly to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

As they stood on the ridge that overlooked the school, Salazar wondered if he would ever see it again.

Severus pulled back the sleeve of his robe. Salazar gripped the underside of his father's forearm tightly, just as his father jabbed the point of his own wand into the heart of his flaring Dark Mark.

In a dark swirl of Magic they Apparated out of sight.

===============================================

Voldemort was pacing furiously across the dais, in his `Throne Room' in Riddle House, when father and son Apparated into the chamber.

They were both surprised to find themselves the only ones present, Severus had assumed that this was a summons to all Death Eaters.

Salazar was stunned by the pain and confusion that crushed down on his mind, the very moment that he found himself in the maniac's presence.

He had never experienced anything like it. His brain was bombarded by a cacophony of voices, all of which seemed to be screaming at once. But in fact the room was in near silence, the deafening dissonance was all in his head.

At first the frightened boy had thought that his subterfuge had been exposed, and that the maniac's white hot rage was being directed at him. The terrified youth was convinced that this was it, that not even his father would be able to save him.

But as the rage gradually abated and dissonant cacophony began to subside, Salazar started to discern some sense from the madness. He saw the deaths of Draco's mother and aunt, and the others in the Malfoy library. Then he could make out the details of the Gringotts letter.

The fury and the fear that was now emanating from the madman was finally beginning to make sense. But at the same time Sals's own fear and shame began to swell in his own mind, as he suddenly realised that this was ALL HIS FAULT!

He struggled to control his own feelings, lest his defences should falter under the stress of his own emotional turmoil.

Finally the powerful young warlock mastered the situation before his Nemesis was able to do the same.

Sals hurriedly re-erected his defences and concentrated on divining the cause of Voldemort's mental collapse.

The Adonis saw the dark wizard frantically ransacking the dishevelled Gaunt hovel, only to discover that the ring was not there.

Voldemort had long known, of course, that the diary had been destroyed. But the realisation the his precious ring had been stolen, was more than the lunatic could handle.

The insane monster had also been to the cave, just within the last few hours, and had been relieved to discover that his prized locket was still secure and all of his protections were in place.



Suddenly Salazar became aware that a giant serpent was in the room, and that it had just wound itself around the foot of Voldemort's `throne' at the top of the dais, in which the still manic creature was now seated, but still in a violently agitated state.

The boy was startled and extremely distressed by the realisation that, with all of the emotional turmoil whirling about him, he had not even been aware of the monstrous serpent's presence.

That he had been so vulnerable, and had not even been rational enough to be aware of his vulnerability at the time, now terrified Salazar. That, more than anything else, was a real `wake-up call!'

But, as Salazar now rationalised that he had survived the ordeal, and he was back in control, he set about trying to bring all of this information into some sort of logical pattern.



The obvious answer was, of course, that his unforgivably foolish and childish behaviour had jeopardised the entire strategy that he had painstakingly put in place. Everything that had been expedited to date, could so easily have been rendered useless.

Had he not so thoughtlessly pulled his prank -- of stealing a million Galleons from Lestrange -- the Hufflepuff Horcrux heist would almost certainly have remained hidden from Voldemort, and none of this catastrophe would have ensued.



Voldemort was still in a frenzy, as his thoughts suddenly jumped to the diadem Horcrux. Hogwarts and the Room of Requirement leapt into the maniac's addle mind. It was the one place that he had not been able to check that afternoon. The Room of Requirement...



"The Room of Requirement!"

The words became suddenly audible as Voldemort spoke to either father or son for the first time since they had Apparated into the chamber.

"The Room of Requirement!" he repeated, "at Hogwarts... We need to know if anyone attempts to enter for any reason.

"It needs to be watched, vigilantly, Severus... it must be watched... and anyone who tries to enter must be prevented from doing so... at all costs."

Then Voldemort became suddenly rational, as rational as a madman could be...

"Except for your meetings, Salazar," he turned to address the boy, "you use a different room for that... and the Vanishing Cabinet... only you, Salazar, not even Draco Malfoy is permitted in there again... not until Halloween.... is that clear!"

He turned from son to father and back again; the fear was still etched into his serpentine features.

===============================================

"Sir, Voldemort knows about the cup!"

Salazar Snape informed the headmaster bluntly, as soon as he walked into the office. His own shame mandated the harsh approach, anything less seemed inappropriate.

The old man said nothing, but merely peered over his half-moon glasses, from behind his desk.

The handsome youth took his cue, and elucidated the details...

"It's all my fault, Albus, I was trying to be clever. I thought it would serve Bellatrix right, if I transferred one million Galleons to the `Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Muggle-born Endowment and Scholarship Fund!'"

The old man clearly saw the humour in the boy's prank, but his response was mandated by the seriousness of the effect that the lad's hijinks had created.

"Sir, as a direct result of my immaturity, Narcissa and Bellatrix are both dead, along with two youths and a house elf. But worse still, my stupidity has put all of our strategy at risk. It has alerted Voldemort to our plans to destroy his Horcruxes, and he has spent most of today hell-bent on protecting the remaining ones."

"Does Draco know of his mother's murder?" the headmaster enquired.

"No, Sir, but my father is telling him, as we speak; I'll see him, when I go down to Dad's rooms from here."

"Very well, then."



The old man leaned back in his chair, and motioned for the boy to take his usual seat, opposite the desk.

"Salazar, I do believe you are being too hard on yourself. Your actions may have been headstrong and devil-may-care, but we already have all but one of the remaining Horcruxes. If as you say, he has spent today trying to protect them, that would, I believe, play into our hands."

The youth was clearly stunned by the old man's response.

"Think about it rationally, My Boy," Dumbledore reassured the handsome lad. "Does he know that WE have acquired those that he has determined are missing?"

The boy simply shook his head.

"There you go, then!"



Once the powerful young warlock stopped beating up on himself, and released his guilt, he began to think rationally.

"Of course, I see what you mean now, Albus!"

Salazar's tone brightened as he thought the matter through.

"I may have inadvertently given us an advantage, several, in fact!'

The old man smiled encouragingly at his protégé's new insights.

"The fact that he knows the Horcruxes are missing," the lad enthused, "but not who has them, can only act as a distraction. While keeping Nagini so close to him, means that we'll always know exactly where she is."

Salazar was becoming more excited as he focused on the positives of these outcomes...

"Best of all, by checking on the security of the locket, he has confirmed where it is, and he has unwittingly revealed all of the protective charms and curses that he has set in place to protect it!"

===============================================

"Dad, you do realise that I know about the Unbreakable vow that you took with Narcissa Malfoy... don't you?" Salazar enquired as he nursed his unfinished Ogden's that he had abandoned earlier.

Draco Malfoy had only just returned to the Slytherin senior dorm, and father and son were now attempting to pick up where they had been forced to leave off, before the madman's summons to Riddle House.

But so much had happened in the past few hours that they were never going to be able to recapture the relaxed atmosphere that they had been enjoying earlier.

Sals contemplated Draco's indifferent reaction to the news of the murders of his mother and aunt at the hands of that vicious monster. It had hardly come as a surprise to either of the Snapes; they had long been aware of the Malfoy family dynamics.

Looking across at Severus, Sals felt fortunate to have a father with whom he felt so much love, trust and affection. They had only known of each other's existence for little more than eight months, but in that time they had made up for the mutual life that they had been denied.



"What I was wondering is does it still hold now that she is dead?" Sals enquired.

So much time had elapsed since Sals had last spoken that Severus had some delay in picking up the thread. He momentarily looked vacantly at his son before the link clicked in.

"Oh... Yes... I'm afraid so, Sals. While the vow was made with Narcissa, the bond was to protect Draco. As long as he and Dumbledore are both still alive, the vow is binding."

"How could you promise to?..." Sals began, before he realised that he already knew the answer to that question...

"You know that I know about your promise to Dumbledore, as well, Dad, don't you?"

"Why am I not surprised!"

"You took that vow just after Dumbledore was cursed by the ring... so you already knew he was dying, didn't you?"

Severus merely smiled at the boy.

"And Dumbledore forced you to make that promise because he knew you'd taken the vow!"

"And your point is..."

"Nothing!" the boy scowled, "I just wanted you to know that I know!"



There was a prolonged silence between father and son, for some considerable time.

The beautiful youth slowly sipped his Old Ogden's.

When Salazar had finally drained his glass, he stared at the ceiling of the dark chamber... he sighed...

"Life sucks... you know that, don't you, Dad."

===============================================

As Halloween fast approached, Salazar Snape was becoming increasingly driven, obsessively so. In the ten days, since Voldemort's killing spree, Sals refused to let himself rest.

He studied into the wee hours; fucked like a rabbit with anything that moved; trained for hours on end; wanked morning, noon and night; drove Dumbledore's Army like a martinet; spent every spare minute he could with his head inside a book, when he couldn't get his head inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, with the old man's cock in his arse; practiced his defensive and attack skills with his father at every opportunity; fucked anything that moved...

Finally the day he was long anticipating and long dreading had come.

He arrived at the headmaster's office just before seven.



"One way or the other, Salazar," the old man speculated sombrely, "this night will be the end of me. We have come down to the edge of the shore, and it is time to get our feet wet."

The boy made no reply... what could he say? How do you reply to a statement like that!

They left the headmaster's office and proceeded to the Astronomy Tower.

The ancient warlock held out his arm towards the boy.

Salazar looked at him incredulously. He was already an accomplished Apparator, but it was theoretically impossible to Apparate into or out of Hogwarts.

Then Sals felt like an idiot, when he realised that was why the old man was offering him a Side-Along Apparition.

The boy gripped the old man's forearm firmly; before he knew it they were gone!

===============================================

Dumbledore and Sals were suddenly standing atop a rocky monolith that jutted up out of the Sea, less than a hundred yards or so from the rugged coastline.

Off in the distance, exactly as Salazar remembered it from Voldemort's memory, a deep cave was visible just above the waterline, at the base of a massive cliff face. So this was it!

On the count of three they both dived into the churning ocean. It was freezing and quite choppy.

They swam as fast as they could towards the cave, the task was so arduous that it distracted the boy from contemplating the prospects of whether or not they would survive the ordeal inside the cave, or the array of deadly curses and spells that were set to impede their progress.

===============================================

Salazar and Albus had just Apparated back to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was Salazar who had provided the Side-Along this time, as the old man had been too weak and too close to death to have done so, over so great a distance.

The boy allowed the ancient warlock to slide down against a tree and propped him up at the base, while he caught his own breath.

Although they had been prepared for what they had encountered inside the cave, it had been a far more tortuous and traumatic experience than he could ever have imagined.

Sals still had visions and hallucinations of Inferi dragging him down into the water, and the trauma of forcing Albus to ingest the foul concoction that was protecting the Horcrux would haunt him till the day he died.

But the night was far from over, and his father was still at great risk.

They needed to get back to the Astronomy tower, but Sals could not Apparate within the school.

"Albus... Sir... Professor Dumbledore... can you hear me?"

Salazar held out his hand over the frail warlock's chest...

"Enervate," he intoned.

The boy almost despaired, when he realised that the spell had produced little change in Dumbledore's condition.

Sals drew his wand and pointed it at the old man's heart.

"Enervate!" he cried in a near panic.

The fragile wizard perked up enough to open his eyes and raise his head. He gradually seemed to regain some of his strength, to the youth's great relief.



Eventually Dumbledore held up his hand to the boy; with Sals's help he staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on the strong youth, to maintain his balance.

"Albus, we need to get back to the Astronomy Tower. Do you think you can get us there from here?" the boy asked desperately.

The old man nodded his head, then held out his hand towards the boy.

"Here, Salazar take good care of this," he whispered, as he handed the locket Horcrux to the Adonis.

Then the headmaster raised his arm for Sals to grip, for the Side-Along into the school grounds, and the Astronomy Tower.



Just as they set down on top of the tower, they could hear loud voices, screams and a series of curses being fired, from the stairwell below.

"I do believe our time has come, Salazar!" Dumbledore announced.

Albus drew his wand, as the door to the stairwell burst open.

In a matter of seconds Draco Malfoy appeared on the landing, wand drawn, and a clutter of footsteps close behind.

As the invading Death Eaters took up their positions behind the young blonde, the gruff voice of the great hulk, Fenrir Greyback, roared angrily.

"Come on, Malfoy, we haven't got all night!"

The ferocious werewolf grinned, his pointed teeth bloody and gruesome. He licked the blood from his lips slowly, obscenely.

"Don't look so disgusted, Dumbledore, you know how much I like kids."

He roared with a vile laughter, then prodded the blonde Slytherin in the back.

"Get a move on, lad, you've got a job t'do for yer master!"



Draco was trembling, as he raised his arm slowly and pointed his wand at the old man.

A few of the Death Eaters began to laugh and taunt the young Slytherin.



Suddenly a solitary set of footsteps could be heard coming up the stairwell.

The Death Eaters all turned and pointed their wands at the landing.

"Took yer time, Severus," another of the Death Eaters whined, as the rest lowered their wands.

"Go on then, Malfoy," another intruder cajoled the boy.



The blonde never moved, but trembled more obviously, as Severus made his way into the middle of the tower.

The head of Slytherin took up a position beside his son, facing Dumbledore.

"I... I can't!" Draco cried, as a series of tears streaked his pale face, which seemed more pallid than ever.

"Expelliarmus!" cried Sals and Dumbledore's wand flew out of his hand and into the tall, handsome Gryffindor's outstretched palm.

The old man smiled at the Adonis, then turned to his father.

"Severus... Severus, please!" he implored the Slytherin.

Severus said nothing, but raised his hand slowly; he pointed his wand directly at the Hogwarts headmaster.

"Avada Kedavra!" cried Severus Snape, and the tower erupted in a flash of green, as the killing curse flew from the Slytherin housemaster's wand.

Both Salazar and Draco turned to look at Severus in astonishment, as Albus Dumbledore's lifeless body flew backwards, over the edge of the Astronomy Tower, and plummeted to the ground below.



"Go, get out of here, now, while you still can!" ordered Severus to the Death Eaters, "back to the Vanishing Cabinet."k



As the Dark Lord's minions turned and ran down the stairs, Severus raised his arm and a green flair shot from his wand into the night sky.

The Dark Mark glowed eerily over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, illuminating the crumpled body of its ancient headmaster, who lay dead, on the manicured lawns at the foot of the Astronomy Tower.

===============================================

If you are enjoying this, you might like my other two Nifty stories...

http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/celebrity/of-pride-and-prejudice/
This is a two-chapter Potterverse short story [complete].

http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/shattered-ceiling-falling-sky/
This is on-going and I'm updating it as I write Salazar.

All feedback is appreciated via: sexton1980@yahoo.com.au