Chapter 47

Step by step, they ascended the spiral staircase. Before them stood the familiar office door, yet Harry felt a strange disorientation. Opening that door usually meant seeing the familiar white robes, the long white beard, the towering wizard who seemed to know everything.

Skoll opened the door, but the interior had been completely changed from Dumbledore’s time. The portrait of the previous headmaster was gone. In its place was a black banner with white letters:

PURE-BLOOD SUPREMACY, WIZARDS ARE DESTINED TO RULE MUGGLES.

Skoll paused, glancing around the office.

“Wait a moment,” he said.

Harry felt a sudden, chilling premonition. Were they waiting for someone? Someone alive in the castle right now, the current headmaster, the very person he had feared as the second most likely to try to kill him after Voldemort?

“Skoll… the ally we’re supposed to meet, could it be…?” Harry suddenly leapt up, disbelief and confusion written across his face.

“You’re instinctively correct,” Skoll said calmly. “It’s the person you’re thinking of—”

Snap! In the middle of the office, a figure materialized, none other than Severus Snape.

Harry immediately raised his wand, sparks crackling at its tip.
“Oh? You haven’t persuaded him yet?” Snape said, his tone teasing.

Skoll stepped forward, placing himself between Harry and Snape.

“Step aside!” Harry growled, teeth clenched, wand still raised.

From the office windows, Harry could see half of the Hogwarts grounds. Darkness stretched endlessly, punctuated by flying spells, explosions, and the occasional white flash that lit up the night sky.

But that wasn’t all.

Lightning struck, a clear, jagged bolt cleaving the sky, followed by a deafening crack of thunder.

“Looks like rain,” Snape said lightly.

“How can you?” Harry’s voice trembled, his wand flaring with a white spark that quickly fizzled out. “How can you? He killed Dumbledore! You killed Dumbledore at the Astronomy Tower! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Harry!” Skoll narrowed his eyes, his tone steady. “He has always been with the Order. It was through me that he coordinated with them. Many of the Order’s intel on Death Eaters came directly from him.”

“As for Dumbledore’s death, that was both expected and unexpected. Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him.”

“You—” Harry staggered back, clutching his head, shaking it violently. “You’re lying! Lying! How could anyone let someone else kill them?”

“For a greater good. For a plan more important than their own life. For something more valuable than themselves,” Skoll said quietly. “You understand this, Harry. And just now, you made the same kind of choice. Nothing is impossible.”

“You know,” Snape said coldly, “that for every minute you waste here, another member of the Order, or some other ally, dies at the hands of the Death Eaters? The Dark Lord brought all of his Death Eaters and some Ministry loyalists. How long do you think your little group can hold out?”

Harry’s breathing grew heavy. He crouched, shaking his head, gasping.
“Don’t force me! Don’t force me!”

Snape looked to Skoll.

“Why not just knock him out, bring him with me, and wake him later?”

“He has the right to choose,” Skoll said. “This is my promise to Dumbledore: Harry always has the right to choose, whether to face the danger, or to flee.”

“Your tone is getting more like his every minute,” Snape sneered.

“I can’t let him waste too much time. I don’t want unnecessary casualties,” Skoll said, exhaling deeply. He knelt in front of Harry, holding his shoulders. “Look at me, Harry Potter. Tell me what you said before.”

“I trust you,” Harry said, anguish etched across his face. “I really trust you, but I—”

“Harry! You have to overcome what’s in your heart,” Skoll said. “Think about Dumbledore’s last expression. Do you understand why he asked Snape to kill him?”

“For…?”

“To spare Malfoy the burden of murder. Harry, Dumbledore considered every student at Hogwarts his ward. He wanted to help wherever he could. Malfoy, at the last moment, lowered his wand, didn’t he? But Death Eaters were there. The Dark Lord threatened Malfoy: if he failed to kill Dumbledore, his whole family would die. Dumbledore saw this. He knew he had to go that night. Even if he hadn’t, the injuries he carried would have killed him in a few months.”

“And that night, his death had meaning,” Skoll said. “He saved a fragile soul. I think when he died—”

“He… was smiling—” Harry said suddenly, eyes widening as memories flickered through his mind. “I remember now…” He turned to Snape. “That night, he said one word to you. No sound. Just lips.”

“Please,” Snape said.

Harry lowered his head, wand in hand, and rose. He looked out the office window. Rain was beginning to fall, tapping the glass like a drum.

Yet the battle raged on outside.

“I’ll go with you! Let me end this!” Harry said quietly, eyes fixed on the storm beyond. Then he looked at Skoll, sincerely. “Thank you.”

“Thank me for giving you a choice?” Skoll smiled. He shook his head, then addressed Snape.

“When Voldemort kills Harry, I want you to find a way to get to him holding Harry’s body. When Voldemort and Nagini are trapped inside Hogwarts’ wards and cannot Apparate away, make your move. Take him to the entrance hall. Leave him there. You’re the headmaster, right now, you’re the only wizard in Hogwarts who can Apparate freely.”

Snape nodded.

“I can do that.”

“Where is the Dark Lord now?” Skoll asked.

“He and Nagini and a few Death Eaters are hiding in the Shrieking Shack. He ordered everyone attacking to capture Harry alive and kill as many others as possible.”

“Bold,” Skoll said with a grim smile.

Harry stepped toward Snape, lowering his voice.

“Let’s go.”

⚡︎━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❖ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⚡︎

The complete release can be accessed through[P]atreon.[c]om/Crimson_Lore [remove brackets]