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The Great Snape-Deveroux Grudge Match - Part II: Watcher and Hunter by Pigwidgeon [Reviews - 9]

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A former flame in the States, Bryan, had introduced her to the group's music. He had even taken her to a Duran Duran concert for her 22nd birthday. The relationship hadn't lasted long ... none of them really did ... but her love for the music had never died. She remembered many summer days, cruising around with Remus and Luk in her cousin's Vauxhall Corsa with the windows rolled down, singing -- or rather howling -- along with Simon Le Bon and letting the road take them wherever it wished. In those days she had been so much happier, before Luk died, before the pressures and injustices of her legal career began to drag her down, before Dumbledore, and Hogwarts, and Snape and Voldemort.

The song currently playing, one of her favorites from back then, brought no joy tonight as she sat on the couch staring mutely into the fireplace. If anything, it only seemed to bring more pain that evening, for it reminded her too much of all her broken dreams.

Mine, immaculate dream
Made breath and skin
I've been waiting for you ....
Signed with a home tattoo,
Happy Birthday to You
Was created for you ...


Snape was not overly fond of flying, his control being considerably less precise than that of his former protoge Draco. But he couldn't Apparate from Hogwarts, and didn't know where he would Apparate to even if he could do so. Walking was out of the question since someone from Hogwarts would only catch up with him and make him turn back. And so he took to the skies on his Nimbus 1200, to fly out on the wings of the bitter March night like a wraith banished from its haunt by a powerful exorcist. And the exorcist was called rejection, and it seemed that she took a particular sadistic pleasure in following him around, kicking him out of places, just when he'd gotten comfortable.

He kicked off and rose into the sky on a rush of emotions, mostly despair and anger and bitterness. But somewhere between the ground and the stars, well above the parapets and Trelawney's spindly tower, all of it crystallized into one blinding force. Hatred. He thought of the elves and how they'd been destroyed. He thought of the lies he'd been told, the sacrifices he'd made, the cruelty and teasing he'd endured. He thought of the hope he'd dared to have when Aurellia had told him that she didn't mind that he was half-vampire.

Then he thought of her eyes when she'd called him a monster.

Can't ever keep from falling apart
At the seams
Can't I believe you're taking my heart
To pieces?


He had only been following orders that night. He'd had no choice.

It was Voldemort's fault. And Voldemort was going to pay.

When he reached the edge of the campus, he felt the layers of wards and charms and enchantments, and all the various magical protections of Hogwarts drop away behind him. This was it then. If they knew he was out here, this would be the ideal time to attack.

Ah, it'll take a little time
Might take a little crime
To come undone now...


He flew on for a moment or two, waiting in tense anticipation, ears strained for anything other than the ordinary sounds of a chill March night. But there was nothing. The night was eerily quiet. Too quiet.

He drew his wand, slowed the broom, and hollered a hoarse challenge into the night air.

"Voldemort!" His breath rose like dragon smoke in the cold night air, and the wind picked up with a low moan, but there was no reply.

"VOLDEMORT!!!" he shouted again. "If you want me, here I am! Come and get me!"

We'll try
To stay blind


Aurellia was lying on the couch, her face in her arms, when she noticed her locket starting to burn, like it always had when ....

"No," she muttered with loathing. "No! No more! NO!!! I WON'T DO IT!!! I HOPE YOU DIE, MONSTER!!!! I HATE YOU!!!"

With a bloodcurdling scream, she yanked the locket off of her neck, snapping the chain, not even wincing as the chain cut into her neck, drawing blood. Snarling, she hurled the locket across the room, and it hit the dark, cherrywood door with a resounding crack before falling onto the floor. Sobbing, she ran to her bedroom and flung herself on her bed, soaking the pillow with her tears.

"I hate you ..." she whispered into her pillow. "I hate you ...."

To the hope and fear outside


That was when he saw them. Two brooms and riders rising in the distance from the forbidden woods. So, they had been lying in wait for him as Dumbledore had feared, hoping he would make a mistake, wander too far while hunting some night perhaps?

He snorted softly and more dragon steam rose into the night air. They must have been waiting for him on the ground, probably taking a nap or otherwise not keeping watch as they were supposed to, because it had taken them longer than it should have to get airborne. The Nimbus was an older model, but it was in good shape, and Snape had enough of a head start by now that even Harry Potter and his Firebolt would have been hard-pressed to catch up. He could have easily outrun them by now if he had wished.

He did not wish.

In the distance a dog began to bark. Hagrid's boarhound, no doubt. Fang seemed to have an uncanny knack for sensing trouble. And trouble was definitely in the air tonight.

Snape let the riders come within striking range, and he studied them as they approached with his superior dhampire night-vision. Kids, he decided. About Fred and George Weasley's age. Not much of a threat. More like target practice.

Hey child,
Stay wilder than the wind
And blow me in to cry


He waited until they drew their wands--another mistake on their part, the wands should have been drawn before the takeoff--and sent two Inferno Walls racing toward them. They cried out and tried to dodge, but the walls were too large, and instead they flew right through them. The heat of the flames instantly charred their brooms to ash and turned their bodies into falling, flaming comets. Fools, he thought. And Voldemort too, for sending two such incompetent pups to face the likes of him.

But the destruction of the two young Death Eaters must have triggered an alarm at Voldemort's place of power, for now there were several -- no, a dozen at least! -- adult wizards Apparating into the sky all around him. This was some new development Snape hadn't heard about. No wonder so many Aurors were getting dusted these days!

Who do you need?
Who do you love
When you come undone?


Snape leaned back on the Nimbus and pointed the handle toward the stars, gaining altitude and momentum, and hopefully, a better vantage point -- if someone down there didn't snap out of their stunned confusion and lob an Inferno Wall his way first. The wind clawed at his robes, and his cloak whipped and snapped like the house flags on Hogwarts' highest parapets. Snape snarled in anticipation of the coming struggle. This was about to get extremely ugly.

For them.

Who do you need?
Who do you love
When you come undone?


"Do you know who you are dealing with?" Snape shouted at them in cold loathing, "I am Severus Snape, Death Eater, Destroyer, and Demon of the Night. I was once Voldemort's right hand, and now I will be his worst nightmare! I will destroy all of you, and then I will destroy your master!"

If your cover is blown and you're going down anyway, you might as well make a spectacle of it, he thought.

Words, playing me deja vu
Like a radio tune
I swear I've heard before


"Come and fight me you fools! The sun has fallen from the sky, and so will you! I'm not a frightened little boy anymore! I have nothing left to lose and nothing left to hold back! And you have never before seen what I can do, but you're about to! Come and die, you curs! I will hide no more!"

They zeroed in on his voice and sent a variety of elementals his way from all different directions. He dodged most of the attacks and sent the others back at their casters with Aurellia's Chiel'Ri Cuerga spell. One enemy broom took a reflected fireball that someone else had cast, and burned beneath the hands of its frightened owner while the dhampire laughed. Scratch one Death Eater, he thought as the stricken broom and rider pinwheeled toward the treetops below.

Chill,
Is it something real?
Or the magic I'm feeding off your fingers?


The rush of battle was fully on Snape now, and it was very much like during the mort-de-kai at Hogwarts, only stronger. This was his element, the wind, the night, the cold, the darkness! And no one was going to throw him into Azkaban for killing Death Eaters. In fact, if he survived this one and made it back to tell about it, they'd probably have to bump Moody off his pedestal.

Then he remembered. There was no going back. Not to Hogwarts anyway.

Aurellia...

A lightning bolt crackled over his head, and another Inferno Wall came racing his way. "Protegere Frigidus!" And Snape threw an Ice Screen at the flaming wall, rolled the broom, and ducked the bolt easily. Coordinated attacks, Snape thought sarcastically. Oooooh, I'm dead meat now.

"Magna Incendere!" he hissed, returning fire for fire with deadly precision, and another broom and rider went spinning out of sight.

It's too bad Aurellia and I never had the chance to teach together, he thought wistfully. We might have made a good team.

Can't ever keep from falling apart
At the seams


A fireball caught Snape in a glancing blow from behind off the right shoulder and he grunted at the impact and intense heat of it. That one might have killed him if its caster had had better aim. He cast another Chiel spell as the first one apparently had worn off, and dove down toward the head of an unsuspecting victim.

The Death Eater looked up just in time to see a clawed hand coming toward his throat, but not soon enough to be able to do anything about it. Snape quickly and easily threw him off of his broom, then grabbed it and swung it at another careless fool who had tried to catch him from behind. And for good measure Snape had lit the end of the broom with a small fire spell, just before he stuck it in the victim's masked face. The wounded Death Eater clawed at his face and fell with a scream.

Can I believe you're taking my heart
To pieces ?


A ripple in the air ahead of him which looked suspiciously like a just-forming Ponderus Vortexius gave Snape an idea. He sped up and barely got by before the Gravity Trap had fully formed. Then from the back side of the gravity well he hit the nearest opponent with his patented Obsequious.

"Come here, bait!" he commanded. He waved his wand and the Death Eater swerved mindlessly right into the trap. The black hole sucked in the hapless Death Eater and then popped out of existence.

"Weak-minded idiot!" Snape snickered.

Then someone, probably Lucius because he excelled at hexes and jinxes, finally managed to hit Snape's broom with a hex and sent him spinning out of control across the sky.

Lost, in a snow-filled sky
We'll make it all right


Snape let go of the hexed broom and jumped, landing a very lucky Imperius on the nearest enemy as he did so, and "persuaded" him to lend his broom. The dhampire was barely able to get a grip on the back end of the "graciously offered" broom as he sailed through the air like a bat with great black wings. At last Snape was able to haul himself aboard behind the mind-controlled Death Eater. Snape had dropped his wand in the process of climbing aboard, and now he drew his backup.

That was too close, Snape thought, with just a hint of worry. Way too close.

And I don't have another wand if I lose this one.

The Imperiused Death Eater ignored Snape's presence while Snape directed his piloting by pointing with his wand. Back in control of the situation, the dhampire then coldly repaid the captive Death Eater who'd saved his life by letting him block a Mind-bender. The Death Eater screamed insanely as both Snape's control and his mind simultaneously snapped, then he jumped from the broom to his death far below.

To come undone now


Then Snape cast Aurellia's absorption shield and surprised two more Death Eaters by pretending to be Imperiused while the shield took most of the teeth out of the spell. When they foolishly let down their guard and got too close to him, Snape quickly hexed their brooms and made them collide with each other. The Death Eaters cracked heads, lost their balance and fell simultaneously.

Chumps, he thought. I learned the "fake mind-control" trick in the first round of the grudge match.

We'll try to stay blind
To the hope and fear outside


And then he spotted Lucius sitting back, chuckling, enjoying the hunt. Even beneath the hood and mask, Malfoy's overconfidence was blindingly obvious. Tit-for-tat, the dhampire thought, hexing Malfoy's broom next. Now it was Snape's turn to laugh as Lucius cartwheeled into the trees and disappeared.

Snape looked around for the next threat and was surprised to discover that the skies had cleared considerably. Voldemort wasn't going to have much of an army left at this rate!

Hey child
Stay wilder than the wind
And blow me in to cry


Lucius Malfoy landed painfully, but not fatally in a tree top and shook a fist at that traitorous scum. It should have been an easy battle! He had promised Lord Voldemort minimal casualties just before he and the others Disapparated. Where had Snape learned to fight like this, he wondered? Then he thought of what his son Draco had told him about the new teacher at Hogwarts and how she and Snape had been spending a lot of time together lately both in and out of the classroom. "So, you were in love with her, you lying snake!" he deduced. "And as for not having any special powers, heh! She must have something to be able to get to you like this."

Who do you need
Who do you love
When you come undone?


Lucius raised his wand and took careful aim. Snape was watching the sky, not the ground, and his back was turned. "Not turning soft and sensitive, eh?" Malfoy snorted. "Mountain trolls will begin sprouting wings any day now.

"Goodbye Severus. You were always a better liar than you were a fighter. CRUCIO!"

Who do you need
Who do you love
When you come undone...


The Cruciatus curse hit him from behind in rolling waves of agony and toppled him from his broom. Snape thought he might have screamed as he fell, but the pain was so intense that he wasn't quite conscious of what he was doing between the moment when he lost his grip on the broom, and woke up later, still in agony, on a lush but exceedingly dusty old Oriental rug. And the Oriental rug was one that he remembered all too well from the darkest times in his life...

When you come undone...


And a familiar, sinister hissing voice came from the direction of a fireplace which was burning brightly a few yards away. And Snape thought of Aurellia's remarks about the fireplace in his abandoned office at Hogwarts, the fireplace that he had very rarely lit because of the bad memories it brought back...

"Greetingssss, Severussss ... my good, dear, loyal servant. I was wondering when you were going to drop in again." said the sinister voice, the voice of Lord Voldemort.

****


A very anxious and out-of-breath Dumbledore rapped frantically on Deveroux's chamber door.

"What is it," a weary voice called flatly from within.

"Aurellia," Dumbledore called back, urgency in his voice. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you in your private quarters, but I need your help."

A pause. "Come in," Dumbledore barely heard from inside. The headmaster opened the door, and immediately saw the locket. He groaned inwardly, and stooped to pick it up. But his hands stopped inches above the locket as he remembered the last time a wizard had touched an Elvin item. He straightened back up and saw Aurellia, who was just staring at him, her eyes red and dull, her expression tired. She had not changed into her nightrobe yet.

"You may pick that up, if you wish," Deveroux said, her voice lifeless. "It doesn't have ... an anti-theft enchantment, if that is what you are worried about."

Dumbledore stooped back down and picked the locket up. It was ice cold in his hands.

"Aurellia, I hate to ask this but ..." Dumbledore began.

"Snape is in trouble again. I know. I don't care," she said flatly. "My locket burned earlier. I threw it away because I couldn't do it anymore. I can't Watch anymore. I can't forgive him. Go away, Dumbledore. I'm tired."

"That is your choice," Dumbledore said sadly as he handed the locket back to Deveroux. "I could ask you to do this for my sake if you won't do it for his ... but I do not think that would be fair, since it isn't my people who were destroyed by his actions. If you want to quit as his Watcher, then I understand. I hereby release you from your Vow, if that is your wish."

Deveroux snatched the locket back and opened it. She passed her hand over the locket, and an inch-long lock of oily black hair materialized, like the small, blond-white lock had earlier. Clutching the hair, she walked over to her fireplace, where the dull red tongues of flame still crackled as they slowly burned the wooden logs to ash. She stared numbly at the flames for moment, then she held the lock over the greedy flames, but stopped, unable to drop it.

Almost moaning, Deveroux turned from the fireplace and placed the lock of hair back into the locket.

"I can't do it," she muttered. "I can't cast away the memories of the good times we had, and the hope that maybe someday the pain and anger will fade, and I will be able to forgive him. There is still some small part of me that cares about him. That's the cruelest thing he did to me ... he made me care about him."

She couldn't finish. She collapsed on the couch with a quiet sob, holding the now closed locket in her hand. Smiling faintly, Dumbledore went and sat next to her.

"May I?" he asked, gently.

Deveroux slowly handed Dumbledore the locket and sat up. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and fixed the chain, then he put the necklace back on the elf. He hesitated for a moment as he saw the small welts still visible on the back of her neck from where she had pulled off the necklace earlier.

"So what happened, Dumbledore? Did the idiot pick a fight with Fedhamohsi or Hagrid or something?" Deveroux asked, her eyes closed and her voice devoid of emotion.

"I received a message from Hagrid," Dumbledore said as he got up. Deveroux rose from the couch as well. "He reported seeing fighting in the sky over the dark forest. I think you and I know who is most likely embroiled in it."

"Goes without saying ...."

"I'm going outside now to check things out, but I fear it may already be too late," said Dumbledore.

Aurellia numbly Summoned her wand, then used it to retrieve her outdoor cloak from its peg on the wall. Dumbledore stroked his beard and noted with approval that Aurellia seemed to be thinking more and more like a witch and less and less like a Muggle all the time. Then again, there was that horrible Muggle music emanating from the Sonoroball earlier.

Dumbledore helped Aurellia with her cloak, then the two of them proceeded out of the elf's chambers and headed towards the nearest exit. They reached the main exit of the teachers' wing and headed out into the chill March night. They made for the cold, desolate forbidden woods, the waxing moon casting harsh shadows of the still-bare trees on the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, the headmaster spied three moving white objects -- unicorns that seemed to be following the same path from a distance -- as he and Deveroux walked silently. Almost as if they were watching over them. Dumbledore wondered if one of them was Fedhamohsi, but the night was too dark and they were too far away for him to be able to tell.

After fifteen minutes of walking they saw the dark silhouette of a mountainous man approaching from the opposite direction. Hagrid.

The giant made no sound other than the rhythmic thudding of his footsteps until he was almost close enough to whisper. "Headmaster," he said quietly, gravely. "I've found somethin' you'll want to see. There was a battle here all right. A big 'un from the looks of things. I counted seven dead so far. Still lookin' for more bodies. Two of 'em are too badly burnt to identify, but the others ... you need to see."

Without another word, Dumbledore and Deveroux followed Hagrid deeper into the still forests. The only sounds were the occasional moaning of the wind and the hissing and crackling of the dead dry leaves and other debris on the forest floor beneath the passing of their robes. And of course there was Hagrid's booming narrative....

"I heard someone shoutin' off in the distance I did, right about the time Fang went crazy with barkin' and carryin' on. Remembered the strangest thing right then. Thought of Snape shouting at me about some little thing or other right then, I did. Shook my head and wondered why I'd thought that while I grabbed my coat and sent a signal for an owl.

"Unchained Fang, and we went to check things out. I still got him sniffin' around out 'ere, seeing if he can find anythin' else. Heard a lot of screaming and spellcasting going on up there. Saw one of 'em go down. Then the owl showed up, and I scribbled yer message and sent 'im off."

"Here," Hagrid said, and he stopped. Deveroux and Dumbledore took in the damage with alarm. The trees had been visibly magic scarred, and they saw several Death Eaters, all of them dead.

"Look at this," Hagrid continued as he went to the left, his eyes troubled. He stopped several feet away, near one of the dead Death Eaters. Dumbledore followed the half-giant, while Deveroux surveyed the damage, her hand on her locket, thumb rubbing the blue stone, softly muttering an incantation the other two couldn't hear.

Dumbledore put a hand over his mouth in horror. He instantly recognized the dead Death Eater, who was splayed, face up and unmasked, on the ground.

"Jagger Hyran," Dumbledore whispered. He paled considerably. His father, old Brice "Doc" Hyran, who had visited Dumbledore earlier in the school year, would be devastated when he heard the news about his son. And it was debatable which would grieve him more: that his son was dead, or that his son had died a traitor to everything his father had stood for. For Dumbledore saw quite plainly the Mark on the young man's left forearm.

"That's not all," Hagrid said grimly, his voice low. "I also saw Isham Maddox and Malcolm MacDougal out here. I've checked, too. They all have the Dark Mark ... well, I'm not sure about the two that were burnt to cinders, but I reckon it's safe to assume that they did, too."

Dumbledore's mind was spinning. Isham and Malcolm, like Jagger, also were two very promising up and coming Aurors, from families Dumbledore knew well. Hyran, Maddox and MacDougal ... all dead, and all with Voldemort's mark.

"None of them would have betrayed us ... gone over to Voldemort ... willingly," Dumbledore whispered.

"Well, whoever they fought, or whatever, it sure put up a thumpin' good fight," Hagrid remarked, a bit awed. "Seven dead so far and no tellin' how many others. Wonder who it was?"

"I think you already know who," Dumbledore said. "You recognized his voice, Hagrid."

"Snape??? But he don't head out this far when he's hunting! He knows better! And the attacks were from the sky ... he hates ...."

"I know, I know," Dumbledore said, his mind racing as he tried to figure out a way to explain this that wouldn't involve three Gryffindors, an elf, and a Slytherin. "But I ...was concerned with what happened to Fluffy. I thought that there might be more attacks of that sort and so I asked him to keep an eye out, to join the other staff members on patrol. He's got the best night vision out of all of us, and he can handle himself in a fight. He must have been ambushed. Aurellia," he called back to Deveroux, who still stood there, eyes closed, hand clutched around the locket. "Any signs?"

Deveroux opened her eyes and turned slowly to Hagrid and Dumbledore. "No. Nothing," she whispered. "It's cold. My locket ... it's ice cold now. It means he's out of range ... or he's ... he's dead."

Hagrid stepped quickly over to Aurellia and laid a large meaty hand on her shoulder. "There, there, now, don't worry, dear," he said with forced cheerfulness. "Snape's a smart wizard. He probably just Disapparated hisself out of there when he got tired of the fight. Fang and I have been practically all over the forest and we haven't found anything what would make us think otherwise. He'll be back, right, headmaster?"

Aurellia looked up at Hagrid, her expression empty. Hagrid's eyes widened in concern ... this stillness, the emptiness ... it was not like her. The Defense teacher then turned and started to head back to the castle, as silent as a ghost. Hagrid then shot a glance at Dumbledore, who sadly shook his head no.

"I don't think so," Dumbledore said sadly.

Without another word, Dumbledore and Hagrid followed Deveroux back to the castle.

****


Voldemort paced furiously and stared down at Snape's prone form out of scarlet eyes, the blazing aura of his rage far more intense than the fireplace behind him, more intense than a thousand such fireplaces. "I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I made excuses for you, despite the fact that I knew better. I didn't want to believe that the traitor in our ranks was you," he hissed quietly.

"I TRUSTED YOU!" he roared in a shout that shook the timbers of the house and rattled the windows and shutters. It was a shout that seemed to rend the very earth and to lay bare the very gates of hell.

Snape said nothing, merely stared at the crackling flames behind Voldemort and waited for the blow to fall as he knew that it would, as it always had from his earliest memories ... when he had displeased his father.

Voldemort drew his wand and pointed it at Snape, his snake-slit nostrils flaring, his eyes glowing like twin crimson embers. "I should kill you right here, right now, as I killed your worthless father Karcharias twenty years ago."

Well, that clears up that little mystery, Snape thought bitterly. No real surprise there.

Voldemort put the wand away and instead drew back a foot and kicked at Snape's face with all his strength. But the Dark Lord's boot met with only empty air as Snape twisted out of the way quick as a sidewinder even though he was bound by magical ropes and weakened by Malfoy's curse.

Voldemort shrieked with rage as he nearly lost his balance, and he drew the wand again. "Crucio!" he shouted, pointing the wand at Snape and smiling with sadistic glee while Snape twitched and writhed and panted on the floor.

"You fool!" the Dark Lord hissed. "You should have taken that kick. It would have hurt far less."

"I ... prefer..." Snape choked out between gasps and groans, "to ... be ... tormented ... as ... I ... deserve."

"Oh, is that so?" Voldemort sneered, holding out his wand with white knuckles while his eyes blazed malevolently. "You honestly think that you merit a wizard's punishment, you traitorous scum?"

"No..." Snape hissed. "A fool's."

Voldemort laughed maniacally as he continued to hold out the wand. "That can easily be arranged, my 'worst nightmare'. Oh yes, I have heard all about your little declaration of war. I do not know whether you are more stupid or arrogant, or just plain mad, but I shall get to the bottom of this matter soon enough. I will find out how and why you chose to turn against me, and then I will think of a suitable fool's punishment for you.

"And I promise you this, Severus, my former right hand, my once trusted friend, my once feared ally, you have not yet had but the merest foretaste of the torments you are going to receive. You have had but a mere glimpse of the first level of the hell you are going to experience. I have lost my last thread of patience with you."

And it was about that time that Snape finally passed out from the pain.

END OF PART II


Note: "Come Undone" is by Duran Duran. It isn't ours, we are just borrowing it without profit to ourselves.

The Great Snape-Deveroux Grudge Match - Part II: Watcher and Hunter by Pigwidgeon [Reviews - 9]

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