Beyond the Darkness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

Author's Note: Finally!  We have reached the picture (bottom) on the cover!  Lol.  The song accompanying this chapter is one of my favorites and I think it fits the scene I intended it for pretty well. You've probably heard it if you've read my other story, A Capacity to Love. When you see the three stars (***) that's when to play it if you want to hear it. I will warn you though. The scene is a lot more sad with the music, but the song is beautiful. Enjoy!

When Sasha materialized inside of Hogwarts, the chaos had already started. Curses and spells were flying in all directions. She dodged a green jet of light as she started walking and moved a unsuspecting student out of the way of one as well. The girl looked up at her gratefully and then scrambled away to regroup. Sasha took out her wand. She could seee she would most likely need it. She didn't pause but a few seconds to sense the exact place that Harry was. Once she got his location, she orbed straight to him. He was leaning against the wall at the top of a flight of stairs somewherein the middle of the castle. She couldn't tell exactly where they were. Ron and Hermione were there with him. He had a pained look on his face like he was heavily concentrating on something.

"Harry?" she said softly.

She could see he was physically fine for now, but it was his mental state she was worried about. He squinted like his head was hurting, but she couldn't feel any sort of pain coming from him. Suddenly he seemed to snap out of his trancelike state, Ron and Hermione staring at him with deep anticipation like they knew what he was about to say.

"I know where he is," Harry declared.

"Where?" Ron demanded.

Harry's breath was labored. Sasha realized what he had been doing. He was looking into Voldemort's mind and it had taken a lot out of him.

"In the boathouse. Voldemort is in the boathouse." He looked over at Sasha and smiled sadly. "This is it. I'm going to face him."

Ron and Hermione stared at him strangely. Only Sasha could truly appreciate what he meant. Tears came to her eyes as she stretched her arms open wide. Harry got up off the floor and ran into them. Sasha wrapped them around him tightly.

"Nagini is the last one. Then it's just him."

"You destroyed the others?"

He nodded. "One with cursed fire that we barely escaped alive just now and Ron and Hermione destroyed the other with a Basilisk fang."

"Which I have in my bag," Hermione said. "Never know when we might need it again."

"So she is the last one," he muttered. "It's finally almost over."

Sasha's face distorted in pain. "That's not true, Harry. There's one more."

He pulled away from her. He knew what she meant by that. "I know. Me."

"Yes. That's why, you know. It's why- It's why you have to die. The piece of his soul living inside of you."

He took a step back from her. "Just out of curiosity, how long have you known that?"

Sasha looked at the horrified expressions on all of thier faces and wished that she'd chose a better time to let Ron and Hermione in on the secret. She gulped. "Since I knew you had to die."

Harry stared at her incredulously. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? You told me the other day, well, you knew I had worked it out for myself anyway."

"I was sworn to secrecy by your mother. Lily."

His eyes lit up for a moment. "My mum?"

"Yes. It's the reason you can talk to snakes, why you could feel and hear the other Horcruxes. I only told Severus a few minutes ago. He had his suspicions, but even he didn't know for sure."

Ron, who had been silently listening, spoke up. "You told that git?" he yelled. "Are you mental?"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him. Then she frowned. "Wait. Why would you tell him? He's against us."

Sasha and Harry looked at each other, quietly coming to a decision about the secret they had both shared for so long. He turned to face his friends.

"I've been keeping a secret from the two of you," he began quietly. "I know I shouldn't have, but I didn't have a choice. We don't have the time for me to explain everything, but Severus- I mean, Professor Snape, has always been on our side."

"No, Harry," Ron said. "That's impossible."

"It's true," Sasha told them. "I've been helping Severus to help Harry. He's the one that gave you the Sword of Gryffindor back so you guys could destroy the Horcruxes. It was his Patronus that led Harry to the frozen lake. I was standing right beside of him when it happened."