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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: Don�t own �em. Darn it.

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,

Will he be your anchor when the dark unfolds?

Will he always love you, the best that he knows?

Would he gave his life up

To be all he can?

Is that, is that, is that how you measure a man?
Harry wandered through Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione, a silly smile pasted on his face. He only vaguely heard them talk about the costume ball planned for next Friday, Halloween. He had never expected his relationship with Snape to last the summer, much less into the school year.
Hermione had been surprised, but pleased that Harry had a relationship with someone.
Ron, on the other hand, had nearly accused Snape of everything from the Imperious Curse to love potions until Harry was ready to hit him. Hermione had taken matters into her own hands and Ron had quickly settled down after she slapped him.
Now, they kept his secrets. No one at school had learned that Harry Potter was sleeping with his Potions teacher. No one at school at all knew that a revolution about to take place in Slytherin House.
To Harry�s surprise, the unlikely alliance that he and Draco had formed was having unforeseen side-effects.
Harry was on his way to a meeting with Draco to discuss the DA. Draco had offered his help and the help of several others in his House. It seemed that the Death Eater children had decided, en masse, that they had no wish to be Voldemort�s lackeys. Ron had expressed surprise and disbelief, but Slytherins were ambitious. It went against their pride and their desire for power to bend knee to a madman, and suffer at his hands, no matter what he promised.
Down in the Hogwarts dungeons, Severus Snape was taking advantage of the Hogsmeade weekend to simply lounge around his private quarters, mulling over how his life had changed since the night he had first touched Harry with his full knowledge and consent.
Abruptly, he was pulled forcibly from his ruminations as the Mark on his arm burned black. Snape immediately felt the draw that would take him to the side of the Dark Lord.
To his horror, it led towards Hogsmeade.
Barely able to think, Snape extracted his Death Eater robes and mask from their hiding place, and then threw a pinch of floo powder into his fire. He barely waited for Dumbledore�s face to appear in the fire before he barked out his information.
�Albus, he�s in Hogsmeade!� Snape did not wait for a reply. The burning was becoming worse with every passing moment. He picked up the portkey he used for such situations and activated it.
When the portkey deposited Snape behind the Three Broomsticks, he shook off the disorientation that always accompanied it, donned his robe and mask, and the Apparated to where Voldemort waited.
When Snape arrived, he wasted no time in kneeling at the Dark Lord�s feet and kissing the hem of his robe. Now, more than ever, he had to be perfect. Now he had someone to protect.
�Ah, Severus,� the cold voice of Lord Voldemort greeted him. �You will stay with me, today.�
�Of course, Master,� Snape said, moving to the other wizard�s side. He was in a cold sweat of fear, wondering what spasm of madness had possessed the Dark Lord, to attack Hogwarts students during the school year. His mind fixed on one horrible thought: that this must be some plot to get Harry, once and for all.
�Remember the objective,� Voldemort told the others. �Despite any temptations, only Potter and Dumbledore die today.�
Snape�s blood ran cold at those words. Dumbledore would come to save Harry, not knowing that he was one of two targets.
That brought Snape�s thoughts to Harry. Sweet, loving Harry, who had already suffered more in his short life than most did in five times as long. Harry had only last night murmured that he was happier right now than he had ever been. Snape had to make up his mind now: sacrifice his position as a spy, or sacrifice his lover and love.
Truly, there was only one choice to make.
Harry and his friends had just reached the meeting with the Slytherins when he suddenly felt as if his scar were being burned into his skull. The agony drove him to his knees with a scream.
Immediately, he was surrounded by his fellow students. Hermione and an oddly concerned Pansy Parkinson knelt on either side of him. Ron and Draco stood over them, wands in hand. The remaining Slytherins formed a circle facing outward, wands ready.
From next to Harry, Draco directed his fellow Slytherins like a general giving orders to an army.
�Bulstrode, send your cat to McConnagall,� he said. �Goyle, you and Crabbe get into that second-floor shop and keep a watch. Zambini, send up distress sparks. We will move towards the school after a few teachers get here. Granger, you and Parkinson levitate him if you have to, when we start moving.�
Draco left Harry�s side to prowl around the inside of the circle, eyes and ears straining for any sign of Death Eaters.
Abruptly, Harry screamed even louder, and then he scrambled to his feet. His green eyes were fixed and nearly unseeing, and the glowed with power. He turned unerringly in one direction, drawing his wand and raising it with a shaking hand.
At Voldemort�s side, Snape kept a firm grip on his emotions as they approached a knot of students. They all seemed to be Slytherins, until Snape saw, in the center of the circle, three familiar heads of hair; brown, black, and red. He had seen them together for the last five and a half years.
Snape felt like his heart was going to stop as he realized that Harry was standing and had his wand in his hand.
Voldemort smiled confidently as he saw that no Hogwarts� teachers were nearby. He approached the group of Slytherins with confidence and more than a little arrogance.
�Well done,� he congratulated them. �You will be rewarded for bringing Potter to me.�
The students stood silent, stunned. Almost as one, they looked to Draco, their unofficial leader, once again standing next to Harry.
One Death Eater stepped forward and removed his mask.
�Draco,� Lucius Malfoy said pleasantly. �It is time to grow up.�
�Of course, father,� Draco said, adopting the same tone. Hidden by the others, Draco gave Harry�s hand a quick squeeze of reassurance, and then he stepped forward, gripping his wand tightly.
Lucius smiled proudly at Voldemort, and then turned back to his son as Draco raised his wand.
�Everte Statum!� Draco cried, sending his father cartwheeling through the air to land in a hedge twenty feet away.
Voldemort turned furious eyes on the sixteen year old and raised his own wand.
�Crucio!� he cried out.
�Elasto!� another voice countered and Harry stepped forward, wand extended, as the most feared wizard in the world writhed under his own curse.
�This isn�t about them,� Harry said as effects of the curse came to an end. �This is about me.�
�Yes,� Voldemort gasped as he climbed to his feet. �Get back.� At their Lord�s command, the Death Eaters, including Snape, backed up approximately ten feet. Harry gestured and the watching students did the same.
�Get back to Hogwarts,� Harry told Draco. �Tell Dumbledore what�s happening!� While giving orders, Harry never took his eyes off of his nemesis.
�Not this time, Potter,� Voldemort said. �Dumbledore won�t save you again. Coronae Indendium!�
A wall of fire sprang up, closing the outside world off and sealing Harry and Voldemort inside a ring of flames.
Outside, Draco sent the other Slytherins towards the school, and then turned with Hermione and Ron to watch.
Snape had been dragged to one side by Lucius and another Death Eater. When he struggled to free himself, the other Death Eater punched him in the stomach; and Lucius struck him across the back of the head with his snake-headed cane.
Draco and Hermione petrified them and then ran to Snape�s aid.
�Harry. . . .� Snape moaned, trying to rise to his feet. His hair was matted with blood already. The solid metal of the cane�s head had delivered a great deal of damage.
�I�ll get him,� Draco said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dumbledore and other teachers arrive.
Abruptly, Draco�s full attention was drawn to the wall of fire by the sounds of Harry screaming.
Without thinking, Draco ran full speed at the fire, jumping through it to rescue Harry. He never considered failure, or the consequences of it.
Inside, Harry deflected and dodged several curses, while attempting to throw a few of his own.
�Why prolong this, Harry?� Voldemort asked.� Just stand still a moment, and I promise it won�t hurt a bit.�
�What makes you think I�ll do what you want, Tom?� Harry asked. �Just because you can�t stand what you are doesn�t mean I can�t. I have something to live for. Can you say the same?�
�What?� Voldemort asked. �That little mudblood that always stands beside you? Your red-headed friend who envies you? Dumbledore?�
�No,� Harry said. �I wouldn�t expect you to understand, Tom. No one ever loved you, did they?�
�Umbra Inflammario!� Voldemort cried in a fit of fury.
Finally, a curse found its mark. Harry immediately found himself surrounded by impenetrable darkness that clung to him. Then, he felt as if his entire being were on fire. He couldn�t see, or think, or feel anything but pain. He was alone like he hadn�t been in a while. He couldn�t escape any of it. He screamed.
When Draco landed inside the ring of fire, robes smoking, he saw Harry inside some kind of shadowy field, and Voldemort watching him, wand raised.
�Accio wand!� Draco cried, summoning Voldemort�s wand to his hand. Removing the wand from the caster, though, did nothing to help Harry.
Voldemort cried. �You will pay for this!� With a loud pop, he Apparated away.
Draco focused his attention on Harry, trying to figure out how to help him. The spell was not dissappating, which meant that it was probably a time-limited spell. Such spells normally did not have counters. They had to be waited out. In the meantime, there was only one way to help Harry at all. Draco could share the pain.
He approached the other boy as closely as possible, clenched his teeth, and reached through the shadow to grasp Harry�s hand, and his screams joined Harry�s.
The shadow spread to encompass both boys, but it was a weaker shadow. Instead of blotting out light, it let a bit in. It wasn�t much, but it was enough for them to see one another. Their eyes locked and Harry drew Draco towards him, then they wrapped their arms around one another, screaming into one another�s shoulders.
Neither one of them was aware when the ring of fire imprisoning them died away, revealing their predicament. They were unaware of the attempts of others to cancel the curse. They did not know when Lucius Malfoy recovered from the petrification and raised his own wand.
�Lumos Aquae!� he cried before three stunning spells hit him. Only after their automatic reactions did everyone realize that Lucius had countered the curse, and that Harry and Draco were freed from it.
The sudden cessation of pain had caused both boys to pass out.

TBC
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Measure of a Man