Dark Pasts { A Harry Potter Story }

Chapter 113 - The Elder Wand

We slowly made our way through the narrow tunnel, careful not to set off any alarms or traps that may have been placed, but nothing happened. Soon the tunnel began to slope upward and we saw a silver light ahead. Harry put the cloak back over us and we moved in as close as we could and heard Snape's voice.

". . . my Lord, their resistance is crumbling —"

"— and it is doing so without your help," Voldemort said in his snake-like voice. "Skilled wizard though you are, Severus, I do not think you will make much difference now. We are almost there . . .almost."

"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you Potter. I know I can findhim, my Lord. Please."

I moved in a little closer to Harry and saw Nagini floating in midair in some sort of protective bubble. Then Voldemort stood up and I shivered.

"I have a problem, Severus," he said.

"My Lord?" Snape said.

Voldemort raised the Elder Wand. "Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?"

"My — my Lord?" Snape said blankly. "I do not understand.You — you have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."

"No," Voldemort said.  "I have performed my usual magic. I am extraordinary, but this wand . . . no. It has not revealed the wondersit has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one I procured from Ollivander all those years ago."

There was a pause.

"No difference," he said.

Voldemort started to move around the room and I lost sight of him.

"I have thought long and hard, Severus. Do you know why Ihave called you back from the battle?"

"No, my Lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."

"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do. He does not need finding, he will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck die, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."

I turned to look at Harry and frowned, feeling my heart tighten in my chest.

"But my Lord, he might be killed accidentally by one other than yourself —" 

"My instructions to my Death Eaters have been perfectly clear.Capture Potter. Kill his friends — the more, the better — but do not kill him.

"But it is of you that I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry Potter.You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."

"My Lord knows I seek only to serve him. But — let me go and find the boy, my Lord. Let me bring him to you. I know I can —"

"I have told you, no!" Voldemort shouted. "My concern at the moment, Severus, is what will happen when I finally meet the boy!"

"My Lord, there can be no question, surely — ?"

"— but there is a question, Severus. There is."

He raised the Elder Wand once more and slid it delicately through his fingers.

"Why did both the wands I have used fail when directed at Harry Potter?"

"I — I cannot answer that, my Lord," Snape said.

"Can't you?"

I saw Harry press his hands onto his scar and close his eyes. I silently moved and squeezed his arms tightly.

"My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus,except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another's wand. I did so,but Lucius's wand shattered upon meeting Potter's."

"I — I have no explanation, my Lord."

"I sought a third wand, Severus. The Elder Wand, the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick. I took it from its previous master. I took it from the grave of Albus Dumbledore."

"My Lord — let me go to the boy —"

"All this long night, when I am on the brink of victory, I have sat here," Voldemort said in a low voice, ignoring Snape, "wondering, wondering, why the Elder Wand refuses to be what it ought to be, refuses to perform as legend says it must perform forits rightful owner . . . and I think I have the answer."

There was another pause, but Snape did not speak.

"Perhaps you already know it? You are a clever man, after all,Severus. You have been a good and faithful servant, and I regret what must happen."

"My Lord —"

"The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot be truly mine."

My mouth fell open and I unconsciously squeezed Harry's arm tighter.

"My Lord!" Snape protested.

"It cannot be any other way," Voldemort said. "I must master the wand, Severus. Master the wand, and I master Potter at last."

I saw Voldemort swipe the air with the Elder Wand, but nothing happened. I frowned, but then I noticed the Nagini moving toward Snape in her protective ball and Voldemort's intentions became very clear. An awful hissing sound escaped his mouth and the next moment there was a terrible scream. I let go of Harry and covered my ears with my hands, trying to block out the Professor's strangled moans of pain.

"I regret it," Voldemort said coldly.

Then there was crack, and Voldemort and his snake vanished, leaving Snape on the floor of the room above to die.

I saw Harry raise his wand to move the crate that was blocking the entrance. Before I could stop him, he pulled himself out of the cloak and into the room. I lifted the cloak off myself and followed him quietly. Harry was bending over Snape, who seized his robes and pulled him close. Blood was oozing out heavily from the wounds in his neck.

"Take . . . it. . . . Take . . . it. . . ." he whispered in a terrible rasping voice.

A strange silvery-blue streak came out of his eyes, and although I did not know what it was, I knew it was not a tear. Not knowing what else to do, I pulled out a flask from my bag and handed it to Harry. He grabbed it and carefully lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand. When the flask was full to the brim, and Snape looked as though there was no blood left in him, his grip on Harry's robes slackened.

"Look . . . at . . . me. . . ." he whispered. "You have your mother's eyes . . . ."

Then, slowly, his eyes became blank, as though the thought behind them had vanished, and I knew that he was gone.