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Measure of a Man	By : SailorSol Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 71274 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Disclaimer: I don�t own them, please don�t sue me.

MEASURE OF A MAN

Why do you ask him move to heaven and earth
To prove his love has worth?
Would he walk on water?
Would he run through fire?
Would he stand before you,
When it is down to the wire?
Would he gave his life up
To be all he can?
Is that, is that, is that how you measure a man?

Chapter 14: Taking the Offensive

They all watched, mesmerized, while the footsteps approached the door to Snape�s quarters.

Snape moved first. He stood up, pulling Harry and Draco with him. He reached over to Hermione and pulled her to her feet.

�Lucius,� he said. �Take them into your bedchamber. If you hear a fight, floo to the Headmaster�s office. You can contact the Ministry from there, and no amount of magic that a wizard or witch can muster will give access to the Headmaster�s office without his permission. Tell the Minister what is going on, and have him send his best Aurors.�

�After you do that, tell Fawkes to get the Order,� Dumbledore said, drawing his wand.

All of them turned towards the door, as it shook under the assault of a powerful spell.

Lucius was leading the way to his bedroom when the door exploded inwards in a cloud of wood splinters and dust. The dark wizard turned, drawing his own wand against the man who stood in the doorway.

He was in filthy rags similar to the prison uniform that Sirius Black had worn after his escape from Azkaban. His black hair hung to his waist in matted elflocks, and his blue eyes glowed madly with barely restrained power. He held a wand in one and, and the other had was folded behind his back.

He staggered into the room, turning his head from one side to another, as if searching for something. He looked at Dumbledore and McGonagall as though he had never seen them before, and then his eyes locked onto Snape.

�Snivellus,� he growled in a voice hoarse from disuse, or screaming. �I want my son. What have you done with my son?�

�What do you want with a child you have not seen in years, Potter,� Snape said coldly. �If you are Potter, that is. If you are, tell me why you left him in the care of Muggles that were not fit to care for pigs in a slaughterhouse, much less a child.�

�I need Harry,� the man said, lurching forward. �Give me my son.�

�What will you do with him?� Snape asked.

�None of your business,� the man sneered. �I know he must be here somewhere. He�s not in the dorms, where he belongs. I have a present for him.�

Behind Lucius, Harry and Hermione looked at one another, and then she flicked her eyes to the side. He nodded slightly, and then looked at Draco. His mate got the idea quickly and flicked his eyes to the opposite side as Hermione. He started moving slowly in that direction, as Hermione moved in the other, hoping to be unobserved long enough to flank the intruder.

Harry stepped out from behind Lucius and moved forward to Snape.

�I haven�t had too many presents,� he said. �Before I accept it, though, I want to know who you are.�

�Merlin, Harry, don�t you recognize your own father,� the man said, moving forward slowly.

�My father is dead,� Harry said. �If you claim to be him, I hope you can prove it.�

�Don�t you want your present, Harry?� the man asked him, cocking his head in confusion. �I�ve come such a long way to give it to you.�

�Okay,� Harry said, moving as if he were going to step forward.

Faster than any of them thought was possible, the man swung at Harry with the hand that had been hidden behind his back. In the hand was a wavy-bladed kris knife with a serpent-headed pommel.

With honed Seeker�s reflexes, Harry jumped back, ending up behind Snape. At the same time, Hermione cast a Petrificus Totalis, Draco cast a Stupefy, and Lucius cast an Immobulus.

�Remus said the map�s never wrong,� Harry said, hyperventilating from the realization that his own father had tried to kill him. �He is who the map said he was. Why did he do that?�

�Who knows what goes on in a Gryffindor�s mind?� Snape said, approaching the immobilized wizard and prying the wand from his frozen fingers. He attempted to do the same with the knife, but then stepped back in confusion.

�Something is not right,� he said. �The knife is magically bound to his hand. He cannot release it.�

�Let�s get him up to Hospital Wing, Severus,� Dumbledore said. �We can bind him to one of the beds, and then we can summon someone from St. Mungo�s, or the Department of Mysteries, to see what they can do about the knife.�

�I�ve seen his behavior before,� Lucius said. �Only a very few times, and I am not surprised that Severus didn�t recognize it. Dark Arts may be one of is specialties, but I had my Mastery in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I would say that this man has been under the Imperious Curse for a long time. He has probably been forced to commit many acts against his will and nature, and the memory and the guilt have quite likely driven him completely insane.

�He very well could be James Potter,� Lucius continued. �It would have been child�s play for the Dark Lord to have subdued him and transfigured some random item into a dead body. Loyal Death Eaters would have spirited him away while the Dark Lord went after Potter�s wife and child. It would suit his sense of humor to send his broken toy out to kill his own son.�

�That�s it,� Harry said. �I�ve had it.� Without another word, he sprinted out the ruin of Snape�s door.

�Harry, wait!� Hermione called, and then ran after him.

�Dammit, Harry!� Draco followed the other two, unwilling to let Harry out of his sight.

�Minerva and I will move James,� Dumbledore said. �It seems that you and Lucius have another engagement. Please try to impress on Harry that he is not yet ready to face Tom.�

�I�ll try, Headmaster,� Snape said. He and Lucius hurried after the other three, quickly disappearing down the hallway.

***** *****

Outside, Harry unerringly led his pursuers into the Forbidden Forest, to the same place where he had first encountered Voldemort, in his first year: a lonely spot under the trees where a unicorn had once died.

Just before he reached the final rise that led to the place, Harry turned towards the castle and raised his wand.

�Accio sword!�

He waited, patiently and calmly, while Snape and Lucius caught up with him, Hermione, and Draco, until the sword came flying through the trees to land in his hand.

Without a word to the other four with him, Harry turned and climbed the final ridge.

In the exact spot where the unicorn had died, Voldemort stood surrounded by several Death Eaters.

Bellatrix moved forward first, yanking her mask off and discarding it to one side. Her eyes were fixed on Lucius, and then they moved to the young witch that stood next to him.

�This is what you divorced my sister over?� she demanded. �You threw my sister away for a mudblood?�

�Your sister betrayed me,� Lucius said. �I came to an agreement with Miss Granger later, and you will keep a civil tongue in your head.�

�I�ll remove hers,� Bellatrix snarled. She raised her wand, intending to do Hermione harm.

Before she could utter a curse, Harry said a word in Parseltongue. The sword flew out of his hand as though he had flung it. It whirled through the air and neatly sliced through her neck.

Her head and body hit the ground at the same time, in a quickly expanding pool of blood.

The sword returned to Harry�s hand as though summoned. He turned to Voldemort, his stance relaxed and his face completely without anger or fear.

�It ends here, Tom,� he said. �Today was the final straw. I�m tired of having to guard myself against you, and I�m tired of wondering how many people I�m not going to see again. One of us is not going to walk away from this place. Now, if you�re really as powerful as you think you are, you�ll tell your lackeys to step aside and we�ll settle this one on one. If not, then we�ll all know that you were afraid to take on a half-trained seventeen year-old.�

�Don�t mock me, Harry,� he said. �It�s unbecoming. Very well, since you insist. You and I will duel for the outcome of the war. If you win, my followers will lay down their wands and surrender. If I win, I expect your companions to do the same.�

�As if I would ever trust you, Tom,� Harry said. He flung the sword with a shouted word in Parseltongue, and it seemed to extend and become longer than it had been before. It whirled around the gathered Death Eaters, slicing into them and severing body parts, clothing, and wands randomly. After two orbits of the group, it returned to Harry�s hand.

�This is the Sword of Slytherin, Tom,� Harry said. �You can�t beat me with it, and I�m not giving it up.�

�You are bluffing, Harry,� Voldemort said. �You could not hope to hold Slytherin�s sword. Only one of his descendents can wield it.�

�One of his descendents, yes,� Harry said. �Not one of his descendents by blood. You made me one of his descendents, Tom, when you killed my mother and made that link between us. I became one of his descendents in magic. That is what is needed, not blood!�

With the final word, Harry surged forward, swinging the sword wildly. The Death Eaters that were not already incapacitated shrank away from the path of the blade, leaving Harry a clear path to the most feared wizard in the world.

Voldemort took several steps backward, and then began firing curses at Harry.

A translucent shield became visible around Harry, deflecting or absorbing the magic fired in his direction. Harry continued forward, swinging the sword in front of him. When he got close enough, the tip of the sword sliced through Voldemort�s robes, just cutting the flesh beneath, leaving a line of red.

Voldemort looked down at his chest in surprise. He raised his wandless hand and touched the blood that was flowing down onto his robes. He looked at Harry in shock, and then this face twisted into fury.

With careful deliberation, he raised his wand and pointed it at Harry.

�Avada Kedavra!�

Harry raised the sword, hoping beyond hope that it would somehow shield him from the killing curse.

The sword glowed red as the curse headed towards it, and it seemed to draw in all of the deadly green glow. The sword turned white, and then became a weapon seemingly made of light. Harry gazed at it in wonder, and then flung it from him with another command in Parseltongue.

The sword hit Voldemort squarely in the chest, sinking all of its length into the dark wizard. He screamed as he was surrounded by a ball of light that quickly became opaque, and then started to shrink around him.

The scream escalated into a wail as the ball shrank, and then became the distinctive wail of a very young child. The ball disappeared and left behind a patch of green grass surrounded by crocus flowers, both unseasonal in winter, and a baby with thick black hair on his head.

Cautiously, Harry approached the infant and found himself looking down into guileless blue eyes that looked up at him trustingly. On the ground next to him were the remains of Voldemort�s wand: the outside splintered beyond repair, and the phoenix feather that had made up the core shining on the grass.

Harry looked over his shoulder at the four people standing on the ridge, to find them all staring at him in awe. Finally, Lucius came forward and removed his outer robes. He picked up the baby with the hands of an experienced father and wrapped it in his robes, as protection against the cold.

�You did it, Harry,� he said. �You defeated him, once and for all, in a way that no one could have predicted.�

�What do you mean?� Harry asked. He heard the others approach as he stared at the infant in Lucius� arms.

�I mean that this is very ancient magic, and not something that any living wizard is capable of,� Lucius said. �The Sword of Slytherin made time turn backwards for this one individual, as if his entire life had not happened.�

�He means that you have a chance to fix it completely, Harry,� Hermione said. �The man that became Voldemort has been given another chance. With you and the rest of us to make sure he has a proper upbringing, he won�t become the Dark Lord.�

�Do you really think so?� Harry asked.

�I believe that she is correct, Harry,� Snape said. �You said that you wanted a large family. With the money and property that we collectively control, there is no reason why we cannot house all the magical orphans as you wished, and adopt as many children as you feel the need for.�

�What a wonderful idea!� Hermione said. She smiled up at Lucius.

�If you adopt orphans that look enough like you to be Malfoys, then that will encourage other Purebloods to do the same.�

Harry turned to look at the injured and frightened Death Eaters that were standing a short distance away, staring at him.

�Are you going to abide by your former master�s agreement,� he asked them. �Or do we do this the hard way?�

�You bore the Sword of Slytherin,� one of them said. �I, at least, will concede that we must have been in the wrong. Will you turn us over to the Aurors?�

�No,� Harry said. �Not as long as you do as you�re told. I will admit that things need to be changed in the Wizarding world, but murder and mayhem aren�t the way to change them.

�You all are going to give up on that course of action,� Harry told them. �You�re going to bring all of your illegal items here to Hogwarts, where they will be locked away or disposed of. You will adopt as many orphans as you can afford to support well, in reparation for what you have done. You will not bring them up to be more Death Eaters, but you will bring them up to be proper wizards and witches. You�re going to bring them up to do the right thing, even if it�s not the easy way.

�What about what�s wrong?� one of the others asked.

�We�ll change it the right way,� Harry said. �You�ll all help me become Minister of Magic, and we�ll make the right changes, together.�

TBC
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Measure of a Man