Chapters 221-230

Oh, the River is Wide…

Severus shivered violently as the water froze around his feet. Ice sliced through his robes, through his trousers and into his skin. Although the cuts were mere scrapes, superficial, the waters of the Ninth Precinct drained life-force from those cuts as if they were deep wounds.

Oh, Harry, he thought. He did not have enough energy left to berate the younger man. He sighed wearily, his breath forming a small cloud of mist in front of his face.

Then—without averting his gaze from the face of Death—he sank to his knees, crashing the thin crust of ice that encircled him. The ground was softer, the water colder than expected. He gasped. Temporarily the temperature of the water revived him. With almost supernatural clarity he took in the frost that travelled along the seams of Death’s cloak, the shuddering tremors that passed through the young man bound to his left arm, and above them, brilliant and ever-peaceful, the stars of the Ninth Gate.

‘My Lord,’ Severus whispered once again. For a second he held Death’s gaze. Then he bowed his head deeply. He could feel how his long hair parted, how it exposed the vulnerable skin of his neck. ‘Forgive us.’

‘No,’ Death sighed, an icy breeze over the waters. ‘No. Never call me Lord. In Life you have already had too many lords. In Death you shall have no lord. I have always been your brother—your devoted friend. Unseen and mostly unnoticed I’ve been at your side for every moment of your life, know you better than you know yourself—’ Death bent over him, and Severus felt embraced by a darkness that was no longer cold, but instead soft and warm like velvet, soohing and familiar. ‘—and shall remain thus. Until we meet one last time.’

A voice rose from the darkness and a song drifted gently over waters suddenly warm and gentle again, as unseen hands plucked the unseen strings of a guitar.

Oh, the river is wide…the river is deep…and you won’t cry out anymore…

Severus couldn’t help himself—he smiled. Death had indeed been his constant companion for many years. But never before he’d been able to take consolation in this circumstance.

‘And remember,’ the darkness whispered to him. ‘She is not dead yet.’

oooOooo

Harry watched in horror as Death bent over the man kneeling at his side. Darkness coalesced around Severus Snape, shifting and murmuring, shapes and forms and voices that reminded Harry of the Veil in the Ministry’s Death Chamber.

Suddenly the darkness gained substance and contours. Harry jumped back with a gasp, jerking painfully at the magical ties that bound him to Severus. He felt as if he were looking at Severus’ shadow. Only the shadow at the Necromancer’s side was blacker than any shadow of the living world and outlined as sharply as a paper silhouette. Also, different from Severus, he did not carry a bandolier of bells, but a guitar.

As Death began to play, he seemed to glide away from Harry and Severus. Or maybe they were moving away from that dark figure. The stark constrast of the shadowy silhouette set against the glittering background of water and stars blurred, the melody of his guitar faded.

Just before Death finally disappeared, he addressed Harry once more. ‘I do hope that you will still smile at me when we meet again, Harry Potter—the way you have always done.’

‘I’ll try, sir,’ Harry wanted to say. But before he could utter the first syllable, the last remnant of shadow had melted away and Harry was alone with Severus and the stars.

oooOooo

‘That’s it!’ Cato announced at last. With a satisfied smile he removed his forefinger from the side of his nose. Raising his mnemonic digit in front of him, the lanky Ravenclaw announced, ‘Alina, you’ll need to take a leaf out of Harry Potter’s book and-’

‘What do you know about Harry Potter?’ Crudass demanded.

Alina didn’t react to his petulant manner. She knew that Barret was only worried about her. Instead she did something she’d longed to do for ages, but never dared to, not in the Potions classroom: she tilted back her chair and put her feet on the table.

‘Shhhh,’ hissed Geilis at Crudass. But her fingers were busily bunching up her robes into knots; she was just as nervous as Barret.

‘He used the Knight Bus,’ Cato explained. The mastermind of the Knights remained unperturbed by the objections, regarding them merely as a professional challenge. Instead he lounged on Professor Snape’s empty desk , kicking his heels in a leisurely fashion. ‘And it’s not exactly difficult to know about it. It’s in ‘Hogwarts, A Revised History’. Harry Potter took the Knight Bus from his aunt’s place to the Leaky Cauldron once.’ Taking in Alina’s confused expression, he added, ‘The Knight Bus is a bus that will pick up stranded witches and wizards no matter where they are. And it can take you to any destination in Britain. Even from the top of the Astronomy Tower to Spinner’s End.’

‘Ohhh…’ sighed Alina. What a relief. She hadn’t exactly fancied breaking into Professor Snape’s quarters to access his Floo connection.

‘And at Spinner’s End?’ grumbled Crudass. ‘Are you going to break down the wards on Professor Snape’s private property? Or do you happen to have the key handy?’

Alina let her chair crash forwards into its proper position and turned to face Barret. ‘Nope, I don’t. But I’m friends with his house-elf. And I’m the one who named his phoenix. If Woodstock hears me, I guess she’ll come out to meet me no matter what wards Professor Snape put on his house.’

Ebenezer Sibly-Style—the unofficial leader of the Noble and Venerable Knights of Dumbledore’s Army—had been silent so far, sitting motionless on Professor Snape’s chair, his best sneer fixed on his face.

‘It’s a good plan,’ he decreed. ‘That’s how we’ll do it.’

And that was that.