Chapters 181-190

The Apprentice and the Necromancer by JunoMagic
Chapters 181–190

All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here

‘Wait!’

‘What?” Severus bit out irritably.

‘The cloak. The Invisibility Cloak. I think we should wear it. Just in case Dumbledore was wrong and there’s not just another plane of existence…or… uh…non-existence, I guess, behind that Veil, but also some guy who guards it.’ Harry was aware that he sounded remarkably stupid, but he still held out the cloak to Severus. Since the Potions Master was the taller man, he’d have to wear the cloak while Harry stayed close enough to his side to be covered as well.

‘Very well.’ Snape grabbed the cloak and threw it over his head. The air shimmered for a moment around him, then he was gone. A second later, Harry heard the faint rustle of fabric and the air split apart, revealing a part of Severus again, namely his left arm and side.

‘Great,’ Harry said. ‘We’d better get going.’

‘Nervous?’ He could detect a faint note of amusement in Severus’ voice.

Harry bit his tongue and took the older man’s hand. Snape’s long fingers curled around his in an iron grip. His skin was cold and clammy. As Harry ducked under the Invisibility Cloak, huddling next to Severus, he grinned. He was not the only one who was nervous.

‘So where does it say “All hope abandon, ye who enter here”?’ Harry quipped, desperately clinging to some gallows humour. His voice sounded muffled under the cloak. It was quite warm and he noticed a spicy fragrance that seemed to cling to the man next to him. Snape used an eau de toilette? But that was impossible—the man was the greasy git!

‘“A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence”,’ Snape drawled. ‘Kindly shut up and follow me.’

oooOooo

The Veil was soft around them as they stepped through. For a moment Harry thought there were hands reaching for him, a gentle caress, a silken embrace, and that there were voices whispering into his ears, many voices, both old and young. But if they used words of love or hate, he couldn’t tell.

As the frayed seam of the Veil slid across his shoulder, it shimmered just like his Invisibility Cloak. His heart beat heavily. It seemed that Flamel had been right—this must be the same fabric. Was his cloak the reason that the Veil in the Death Chamber was so tattered and torn?

oooOooo

On the other side, they stopped dead.

Harry inhaled a shuddering breath. He was still able to breathe. And his heart was racing. He cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘I…uh…I don’t feel dead. Umm… Do you?’

He stared straight ahead and swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to face a Severus reduced to the pearly glow of a ghostly existence. A thought struck him—they were still holding hands, and Snape’s hand didn’t feel any different. Still cool, but firm. Firm. Very tangible.

‘Not quite yet,’ was the sour response. ‘But if you don’t loosen that death grip of yours around my hand, that may happen yet. If you don’t mind, refrain from breaking my fingers.’

‘Right.’ Harry took another deep breath and forced himself to relax his hand a little. Then he looked to his right. In the dim twilight that surrounded them, Severus loomed at his side like a black shadow. But he did feel the warmth of Severus’ body. And he could still smell that eau de toilette or whatever that scent was. ‘Right.’ They had passed beyond the Veil. And they were not precisely dead. Now what?

Harry dared to glance back at the Veil, looking over his right shoulder—and gasped. ‘Sev—’ He coughed. ‘Severus, the Veil! It’s gone!’

Snape spun around, unceremoniously dragging Harry along with him. Harry stumbled, scrambled, then they stood next to each other again and stared—at a large gate set in an archway of smooth black stone.

Unsurprisingly, the doors of the gate were locked.

‘Shit,’ Snape cursed softly.

‘No shit!’ exclaimed Harry, when he caught the gleam of metal out of the corner of his eye. ‘Look at your wands! I think that Sempiternal potion-spell…connection…thing actually worked!’

oooOooo

Severus stared at his wands—or rather, at his wand.

He was holding only one wand now, his right wand, yew with dragon heartstring. His other wand, birch with a sphinx feather at the core, had turned into a large golden skeleton key with an elaborate bow and tooth.

Rebirth. Birch for rebirth and new beginnings. And now, the key to the gates between Life and Death.

‘That is certainly unexpected,’ he said softly.

‘That’s fairly awesome, I’d say. Wait until we get to tell Hermione about that!’ Relief coloured the youthful enthusiasm of Harry’s voice. Strangely, Severus didn’t feel annoyed at the young man’s reaction. Instead he felt his heart-beat more heavily for a breath or two. Maybe he would see her again, after all.

He stood in silence for a moment, studying the key. It was heavy in his hand, the cold metal of its shaft slowly warming in his grasp. He thought he recognised ancient Greek symbols in the pattern of bow and tooth, but now was not the time to examine it more closely. Severus took a deep breath and tucked the key securely into the inner pocket of his frock coat.

‘Well, Harry,’ he said gruffly. ‘Since you have just demonstrated an astonishing talent for observation and deduction by coming to the accurate conclusion that we are not dead…yet, how would you like to turn around now and set about accomplishing our task?’

Harry’s fingers tightened around his. Severus looked down at the young auror. The unruly spikes of Harry’s black hair reached just above Severus’ shoulder. Harry was a bit taller than Hermione; but not much.

Harry snorted. ‘Fine with me, sir.’

Together, they turned. Empty grey plains stretched out before them until they faded into blurred mists in the distance.

‘Now what?’ asked Harry.

30 Responses to Chapters 181-190

  1. zauza says:

    All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here

    ‘“A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence”,’ Snape drawled. ‘Kindly shut up and follow me.’
    *snort*

    …i was actually holding my breath ! ehehe

    Interesting the detail with the key for the Gates, very clever.
    And..now what?

  2. mw says:

    I’ve broken my rule – here is half your review for Dyrim:

    I also thought that about the blood – logical that Necromancy would be partly blood magic, and with Garth Nix in mind, I really don’t want to imagine what Severus’ blood might summon. Back to Garth Nix – he has that thing with the stars, and looking up to see if it’s your time etc)…so just so I get the divergence – are you substituting this field for the starts, or saying this is what is IN the stars? (like conceptually…are they still in ‘Death’ or are they well and truly beyond even that undead realm into wherever it is those who see the stars go??)

    In any case, I get the impression it’s more normal for people to go for walkabouts in death in Nix’s universe than yours – which suits your story…if they could just romp around assuming it wasn’t their ‘time’…there wouldn’t be that same feeling of danger/desperation to get back whole etc.

    The other half is still being held hostage. 😀

  3. mw says:

    I have 4 pages of MS Word reviews waiting for you!!

    LOL – usually I read longer…but I am feeling incredibly sleepy. Time for an afternoon nap I think.
    🙂

  4. zauza says:

    Heavy Fields of Scentless Asphodel

    Can we assume Harry is a virgin?

    And i am wondering about how his blood might work to summon the souls. But in reality all they have is some ancient history sayings. With magic one never knows.

    • JunoMagic says:

      I don’t think Harry was a virgin anymore at this point. Uh…I really don’t remember.

      The thing with the blood is standard soul magic. Uh, maybe not completely “standard”, but…

      It’s been so long ago that I wrote all that that I simply don’t remember some of the details. *crazy*

  5. zauza says:

    Guidance

    Hedwig! I love her.

    Does this mean that by using his blood Harry summoned the souls who are connected to him?

    Or any soul can come? Can they come even if not summoned?

    Questions!

    Interesting.

  6. zauza says:

    An Interesting Find

    Harry is teh biggest dunderhead there is. He really does not think.

    It makes us wonder if he actually had any brain inside his head!

    Interesting, half of the stone. There.

  7. mw says:

    “…and answers”

    Zauza tells me that you very, very, very much enjoy getting your reviews here – but since I have conscience issues about copy/pasting, I have reached a compromise.

    Short comment/question here – longer one at OWL. I suppose I could do it the other way, but *shrugs* going with this for now. Think of it as a reward/incentive to clean these chapters up! 🙂

    My question for this chapter: is Death sucking life from them? i can’t remember if you said anything about it in relation to Hermione’s little jaunt…so i’m asking (possibly again).

    • JunoMagic says:

      *grins*

      I do indeed enjoy getting comments here. Since I put so much work in all the illustrations and links hidden in this edition of the story…But of course I WILL put them up on OWL…as soon as I get them back from my 2nd.

      As for your question: yes, Death sucks life out of them. If they stay long enough, they’ll stay forever.

  8. mw says:

    A deal with death

    *iz waiting for promised dismemberment*

    Not yet? 😀

  9. zauza says:

    Dyrim

    Awww, you are being generous. Dobby?

    This is almost scary…i really do not want to think about what you have waiting for us.

    Now, why am i not surprised about Albus and the stone? Probably because it was where Hedgwig took them…of course.

  10. mw says:

    At death’s door

    I think Death is NOT very sporting. How can you make a deal with someone and then not at least suffer them to walk through to have a CHANCE an accomplishing it?

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