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Proof of Life	By : emilywaters Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 65668 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related. It all belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Inc., Warner Bros., and any other entities involved. I make no money from writing fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 50
- 51
- 52
Fragments

Severus' flight and the explosion of the Snitch caused a wild commotion among the spectators and security forces alike.

Leaving Lily with Molly and Arthur, Harry took advantage of the confusion that had ensued and made a mad dash onto the Quidditch Pitch, with Ron, Hermione, Marietta and Luna following closely. A group of Aurors, headed by Diggory himself, entered the Quidditch Pitch mere moments later. For the next minute or so, everyone was converging on Severus' and Ginny's position: Harry and his friends, Diggory and his men, and even the players of both teams who had descended to the ground following the explosion.

Harry and Marietta were the first to reach Severus. Marietta crouched on the ground next to him and began to cast spells to examine his injuries. Harry wanted nothing better than to follow her suit and reach out for Severus – but he joined Ginny instead, his wand drawn, fully intent on keeping the crowds away.

Ron took control of the situation at once, barking orders for the stadium to be cleared and for all who had had access to the players' area and equipment to be detained for questioning. The players of both teams left the Quidditch Pitch without objections, with only Viktor stopping by to ask Ginny if she was all right and give her a quick parting kiss. A small team of Aurors from Criminal Investigations were already combing the pitch, collecting the Bludgers and Quaffles for examination and searching for the minuscule Snitch fragments.

Diggory, flanked by bodyguards, approached Harry and his group, looking stunned and distraught, as if he still couldn't credit what'd just happened. His eyes fixed on Severus.

"He saved her," Diggory whispered, more to himself than anyone else. Harry nodded curtly, never lowering his wand. He was fully expecting Diggory to say something idiotic, perhaps insinuate that Severus had something to do with the explosion, but to his relief Diggory did no such thing. "I can't believe it," Diggory said mildly, staring at Severus. "Is he going to be all right? You've got to get him to St. Mungo's. I can..."

"You want to help?" Harry interrupted him. "Tell the Aurors to take down the anti-Apparition wards."

Diggory gave a quick nod. "Of course. Look, Harry, I know we've had our differences, but..."

Ron approached them and cut Diggory off.

"Minister, you shouldn't be here. Merlin knows what other booby traps there might be on the field."

"I don't care!" Diggory snapped. "Ron, how could this have happened? Where did we go wrong?"

"I don't know yet," Ron answered, never losing his cool. "But we'll find out, I promise, and if I don't have to worry about your safety, we'll have our answers that much quicker."

Diggory nodded absently.

"You'll get Snape to St. Mungo's?" he asked.

"Of course. Look, just go with your bodyguards. We'll take care of everything, I promise."

Diggory nodded again and finally left the field, his bodyguards surrounding him in a loose semicircle.

With Mareitta's help, although against her loud protests, Severus managed to rise to his feet. He swayed at once and Harry caught him, his hands becoming damp with the blood, soaking Severus' robes. Severus turned his face to meet Harry's eyes.

"Not St. Mungo's," Severus whispered, every word coming out laboured and pained. "Home."

Marietta gave Harry a quizzical look. Harry took a quick second to consider their predicament. Diggory's sudden change of heart aside, Harry still didn't trust St. Mungo's: the Ministry's control over the only hospital in Wizarding London was far too great.

"We should all stick together," Harry decided. "Ginny, you too, stay with us. The moment they take down the anti-Apparition wards, we're going home."

Severus swayed again on his feet but steadied himself almost instantly, leaning on Harry's arm. Marietta shook her head in disapproval but said nothing to dissuade Severus. Neither did Harry: it obviously mattered too much to Severus to leave the Quidditch Pitch still standing on his own two feet.

"The wards are down," Ron announced shortly. "You can Apparate. I'm staying behind, there's work to be done."

"Join us as soon as you can," Hermione asked. Ron nodded to her, and walked away to join his team. Harry's friends stood close, forming a circle around him and Severus, ready to depart.

"Home," Harry said.

o-O-O-o

They arrived at Godric's Hollow together and made their way to the house, Snape supported by Harry and Marietta on either side. As soon as they entered the house, Marietta guided Severus towards the couch and proceeded to remove his robe and shirt. Severus complied without objection; he seemed to be barely aware of what was going on and ready to pass out any moment. Harry winced at the sight of his back: burns and puncture wounds were littering it, blood trickling down in thin rivulets.

Marietta gave Ginny a quick glance.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." Ginny darted a guilty look in Severus' direction. "He took the worst of it. Look, if you don't need me, I'll go to the Burrow, make sure Lily is okay..."

"Go."

For the next few minutes everything seemed to be happening at once: Ginny departing to the Burrow, then Hermione firecalling her place to check in with her parents and Rose, Mareitta talking to Luna, giving instructions. Harry was about to reach for Severus' hand when Marietta snapped at him,

"Give me space, Harry."

"Maybe I can help?"

"You can. Take Granger with you and get out of my way."

Harry opened his mouth to object, but Hermione finished her firecall, rose to her feet and took Harry by the arm, leading him into the kitchen. He complied grudgingly, but not without casting one long glance into the sitting room. He saw Luna depart by Floo only to return a minute later, Marietta's medical kit in her hands.

"They need to be able to focus," Hermione said softly. "We'll just be in their way."

Harry nodded, sitting down at the kitchen table. Hermione paced around aimlessly. Harry shut his eyes, listening to Hermione's footsteps, Marietta's orders to Luna and Luna's quiet responses.

Eventually, Hermione got tired of pacing and sat down at the table across from Harry, reaching for his hand.

"You all right?" she asked.

Harry shook his head.

"We've underestimated the Underground," he whispered. "To pull something like that off...God knows how much of the Auror office they'd infiltrated. And now - if they're going to target our families just to get to Severus..." he thought of Lily and his words caught in his throat. Hermione didn't say anything, just squeezed his hand tighter. "Look," Harry said softly, "if you and Ron need to distance yourselves from all this, I'll understand. "

"No."

"You've got Rose to think of," Harry pointed out ruthlessly. He was trying his hardest not to think of the possibility that Lily could come into the line of fire as well.

"I know that!" Hermione snapped, withdrawing her hand and hugging her body with her arms. "I know," she added more softly. "We'll just have to make sure we're extra careful, all of us, until this is over." She gave him a hesitant smile. "You didn't really think we'd bail on you, did you?"

Harry shook his head, finding himself smiling too, in spite of everything. "No, not for a moment."

"Well, then. I have a serious question for you. What if the Underground organize an assault on your home? Do we have enough manpower to defend ourselves?"

Harry took a long minute to consider it.

"I think so. I mean, there's the Light Brigade, and there's Ron's team he'd handpicked and trained personally. I've contacted some members of the Order, too – they're on standby. Should anything like that happen, the wards will hold long enough for everyone to respond. Although..." Harry paused slightly. When Hermione gave him a quizzical look, he mused, "I just thought of something. It wouldn't hurt to have an ace up my sleeve in case there's trouble. If you know what I mean."

Hermione frowned, confused.

"The Elder Wand," Harry said. "The strongest wand in history. It's still in Dumbledore's tomb. I'm going to get it back."

Hermione gave him a doubtful look.

"It's only an advantage if you haven't been defeated in any serious duel in the last seven years, you realize that, don't you? Are you saying that you're still the Master of the Wand, after all these years?"

Harry nodded, rising to his feet. He wasn't doing any good here, just waiting for Marietta to treat Severus – so he might as well try something useful instead of sitting around aimlessly. And getting their hands on the Elder Wand would give them an unprecedented advantage over the enemy.

Hermione stood up as well.

"Harry! You aren't going there now, are you? Need I remind you that we're all still banned from Hogwarts, and the school is warded? Just how are you planning to get in?"

Harry stopped for a second, waiting for her to catch up to him.

"I've got an idea. You're coming with me, aren't you?"

Hermione gave an irritated shrug at that.

"This is very, very reckless and stupid, what you're about to do. Of course, I'm coming with you."

o-O-o

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Severus was barely aware of who was near him, or who was helping him. He'd asked about Harry and Marietta answered something that didn't quite register with him. He only knew that Harry had gone somewhere.

"It'll be all right," Luna's voice said from somewhere. "Marietta is very clever."

"I know," he conceded before allowing himself to fall asleep one more time.

o-O-o

Hermione and Harry emerged from the Floo at High Grounds. Harry walked out of the coffee shop with Hermione following him closely, her wand drawn. She saw him heading towards the Shrieking Shack and shook her head dubiously.

"It's heavily warded, too," she felt the need to point out. "Nobody has been able to breach the wards since Voldemort..."

Harry shrugged. "I've got a lucky streak going with wards today. Stop being so negative."

"What if someone sees us?"

Harry patted her shoulder. "We'll say we were paying respects to Dumbledore, that's all."

The Shrieking Shack, dilapidated but no more accessible for the wear, greeted them with eerie silence.

Hermione stood guard while Harry set to work, trying different spells until he found the weakness in the wards, remaining there since Voldemort's time. Once the wards were breached, they Apparated inside the Shack.

Harry stopped in his tracks, staring down at the decrepit floor boards, aged wood darkened in some places with the blood that had spilled on it years ago. Standing here, he couldn't help but wonder what things would have been like if Severus had been allowed to claim his rightful place in the Wizarding world right after the war's end. Would the Underground have remained as rampant and unchecked, or would Severus' knowledge have helped curb their activities? How would magical Britain look today, if he hadn't left Severus behind?

He found himself wishing – stupidly and madly – for a way to change just that one thing, if nothing else. He could almost hear the echoes of the conversations that took place seven years ago, himself, promising to come back, Hermione urging him to leave...

Hermione's fingers brushed against his sleeve briefly. The mirage of the past faded as quickly as it had come. Harry sighed and shook his head, snapping out of the morose ruminations. All that remained now was going forward.

He left, heading for the tunnel, Hermione at his side.

o-O-O-o

When Severus came round, he wasn't certain how much time had passed. It could have been hours or days – and the flight out to the Quidditch Pitch now seemed a lifetime away.

His entire body ached, but he had the distinct feeling that he was on the mend. He turned to lie on his side and saw Luna, asleep in the armchair by the fireplace, the cat in her lap. Marietta, sitting on the floor next to the couch, hugged her knees, watching him.

"You'll be fine," she said softly, anticipating his question. "I've removed several Snitch fragments that had lodged themselves in your back. You're lucky they didn't hit any vital organs." The corners of her mouth twitched ever so slightly to form a small smile. "That was completely brilliant, by the way. The way you flew out onto the Quidditch Pitch like that. Not many people can do that."

"No," he agreed softly, allowing himself a brief moment of private self-congratulation, "not many."

"How did you know anything was wrong, anyway?" Marietta asked.

Severus chuckled quietly, finding it oddly amusing that the years of supervising Quidditch matches at Hogwarts, looking for trouble where none was expected, had paid off in such a surprising way.

"The Snitch was charmed to favour Ginny. It seemed as if it were looking for her."

"Huh." Marietta frowned, trying to think of something. "I've heard of that sort of thing, but doesn't that kind of spell require the blood of the target to work?"

"Why, yes." Severus sat up abruptly, pondering the implications. "Who'd have access to that?"

"St. Mungo's keeps blood samples of all members of the Quidditch team. Routine testing for any illegal performance enhancement potions and such..." Marietta shivered and hugged her body with her arms. "The Underground may not be big in numbers anymore, but looks like they have their people everywhere..." She shook her head. "Good thing you insisted on coming home."

Severs snorted under his breath. "Well, I do get a good idea now and then." He pulled a small quilted blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around himself, before standing up. "Where's Harry?"

"Don't know. He and Granger took off a while ago, didn't say where they were going. You should rest."

He nodded, inclined to agree. He wanted to rest and think – he had a vague but persistent suspicion that he was missing something important in the chain of recent events. All he needed was some time to collect his thoughts and work it out.

"I'll help you upstairs," Marietta said, rising to her feet.

"No. I can manage."

o-O-o-O-o

It took Harry and Hermione a good half an hour to reach Dumbledore's tomb. The white marble structure stood above the lake, the perfect double of it reflecting in the clear surface of the water. Harry circled the tomb, examining the wards and, to his surprise, finding that other than the regular Hogwarts protective charms, there were none. Then again, nobody but the select few in the Ministry knew about the Elder Wand and its significance, so perhaps, they didn't think to protect the tomb from intruders.

Harry took a few minutes to rewrite the spells guarding the tomb.

The white marble parted before them, granting entrance. They entered the tomb together, daylight pouring in to illuminate Dumbledore's final resting place – or what was left of it.

"Oh god," Hermione whispered quietly, grasping his hand. "What in the world..."

Harry stared ahead.

Dumbledore's remnants had been reduced to a pile of cinders, with the shape of skull and serpent etched onto the white marble table.

The Elder Wand itself lay on the floor, snapped in twain. Harry picked it up and shoved the broken pieces of the wand into his pocket.

"Harry..." Hermione murmured, staring at him.

Another dead end, Harry thought grimly. Another exercise in futility.

Hermione's hand gripped his.

"Let's get out of here," Harry said.

They left quickly, the white marble entranceway sealing behind them to conceal the desecrated contents of the tomb.

O-O-O

It was early morning when Severus woke. Harry was sleeping next to him, his face tucked into Severus' shoulder. Tripod was purring loudly in his ear, from time to time reaching with his paw to touch Severus' hair. For a few long minutes Severus didn't open his eyes, but allowed himself to enjoy the few minutes of tranquility.

Next to Severus, Harry stirred and wrapped his arm around him.

"You're awake, aren't you?" he muttered.

"Yes," Severus said, without opening his eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. All patched up."

Harry pressed closer against him, his hand making its way to his forehead, brushing the hair strands from his eyes.

"Thank you," Harry whispered. "Thank you for saving Ginny. If not for you..."

"If not for me," Severus interrupted sharply, "she wouldn't have been targeted in the first place." Harry twitched noticeably, probably intending to argue, but Severus cut him off. "You and Granger. Where did you go yesterday?"

Harry muttered an obscenity under his breath. Severus reached out to stroke Harry's back and realized that Harry had fallen asleep next to him, still fully dressed. Whatever Harry was doing yesterday must have turned out nerve-wrecking.

Severus finally opened his eyes and sat up in bed, giving Harry a long quizzical look. Harry sat up as well, reaching into his pocket and producing a broken wand that Severus recognized at once.

"Dumbledore's," Severus whispered, reaching out for the wand's fragments. "What happened?"

"After the war was over I'd left the Elder Wand in Dumbledore's tomb. Hermione and I went to retrieve it – but it looks like the Underground beat is to it. They've... burned Dumbledore's remains and left a Dark Mark on the table there."

Severus twisted the broken pieces in his hands, examining them. "The core has been removed."

"Yes, I noticed. I find it surprising, you know. They – the Underground - must have been aware of the significance of the wand – the story about it leaked out into the newspapers shortly after the war. They could have taken the wand and kept it, tried to kill me, so that one of them could become the Master of the wand..." Harry smiled unhappily. "Not that I'm complaining, but I wonder why they didn't do that."

Severus nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps they were after something even more powerful." Harry frowned at his words and Severus sighed. "Harry, for the past few months we've been trying to figure out how it is that the Underground are recreating the Dark Mark on the new recruits. We've got our answer now. I believe this wand, or rather, its core, still carries Voldemort's magical energy signature."

Harry muttered a heartfelt obscenity. "I should have thought of that! But... why break the wand and remove the core? Why not just use the wand?"

Severus returned the broken pieces of the wand to Harry.

"The entire wand isn't necessary for the task, the core alone, even a fragment of it, will suffice. Perhaps they wanted to split the core between several of the leaders and ensure that more than one of them could mark the followers. There's wisdom in not putting all of one's proverbial eggs into one basket."

"Yeah, maybe," Harry muttered, unable to shake off a growing sense of unease.

For a while they were both quiet. Severus' proposed explanation made sense, but Harry had a feeling that they were still missing something – some piece of the puzzle that was refusing to be found and popped into place.

"You know," Harry mused, "I wonder how the Underground knew where to look for the Elder Wand. Lots of people knew about the wand, but not where it went after the war. Most people assumed that it was in the Ministry, under heavy guard somewhere..." Harry felt silent as the full meaning of his own words caught up with him.

Severus' eyes focused on Harry.

"Diggory knew, didn't he?" he demanded at once, spitting out the words with cold fury that made Harry recoil from him. "It certainly seems rather convenient that Dumbledore's Army was banned from Hogwarts' grounds when your friends began poking around the school. Perhaps the Death Eaters already had the wand at that point and Diggory wanted to keep that fact a secret. I wonder why."

Harry let out a deep sigh. "Diggory did know where the Elder Wand was," he conceded. "And he isn't the one to admit to his failures easily, so if the Underground got their hands on the Elder Wand, he'd want to cover it up. But... he wouldn't be helping the Death Eaters. I'm sure of it. I can't stand him, but... it just... doesn't seem to fit."

Severus' shoulders twitched slightly, but he chose not to argue the point.

Another long silence ensued. Eventually, Severus spoke again.

"Harry, I can't help but ask: why on earth did you leave a Deathly Hallow in Dumbledore's tomb? Why not keep the most powerful wand in the world for yourself?"

Harry shrugged, clearly regretful.

"I was seventeen at the time. Frankly, back then, I thought it was all over. Thought I wouldn't need it again. Who could have known..."

Severus sighed, suppressing the urge to tell him that anybody should have known better than to give up the world's most powerful artefact without a compelling reason: the look of absolute misery on Harry's face stopped him. Strangely enough, frustrated as he was, he didn't want to make Harry feel worse.

"The fuck with the Elder Wand," Severus said finally. "We'll make do without it. We just need to take care of the Underground once and for all."

Harry stared at him.

"Let me guess, you have an idea?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to hate it, huh?"

"Almost certainly."

To Be Continued...
- 50
- 51
- 52
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Proof of Life