I've Had Ninety-Nine Lives (But I've Only Lived Once)

Untitled Part 1

Harry Potter

He is Harry James Potter and seventeen. He is watching memories, assigning tasks, walking through a dark forest. He is Harry Potter and this is his destiny, so he walks to his death, stares it in the face, and at the last second, closes his eyes. He's seen green far too many times already.

Regulus Black

Now his name is Regulus Arcturus Black, son of Orion Arcturus Black and Walburga Black. He is brother to Sirius Orion Black, friend to a house elf. He is eighteen years old. He is the servant of the Dark Lord, branded like cattle. He is in a cave, he is reliving his worst memories, he is making the switch, giving an order, crawling desperately towards water. He faces inferi with cold eyes, and sinks beneath rippling waves in a glassy lake.

Cedric Diggory

He is sixteen and a Hufflepuff with loving parents and a girlfriend. He's in the maze that haunted his nightmares. He's fighting an acromantula, and arguing about the Triwizard Cup, and he wishes that things could go differently, wishes that Cedric Amos Diggory didn't have to die, didn't have to be the first casualty of the start of the war. He wishes many things, wishes he didn't have to witness death, wishes he didn't have to guide all these souls to the After. He wishes that he had been smarter, faster, stronger. He wishes that green wasn't the last color Cedric Diggory ever saw. He wishes that wishes came true.

Salazar Slytherin

He is a half-blood, a parselmouth, a Founder. He is a wizard when magic is feared, when practitioners are burned, or drowned, or hanged. They are mostly burned, mostly children, untrained, foolish. He is a Dark wizard, some say. Some opine that Dark is tantamount to evil. He disagrees, is more Gray than Dark. Certainly, he is a dangerous man, both with magic and with blades. He is only as dangerous as he needs to be; he is as ambitious and cunning and self-preserving as his circumstances call for. He is Salazar Slytherin, the most misunderstood Founder, who was rewritten by history, by time. He does not care for the new-borns, it is true, but only because they endanger all magicals. He is Salazar Slytherin, and he's left Hogwarts behind, with a basilisk in his Chamber – a last line of defense. He's older, more experienced, and knows both friendship and scorn. He knows that non-magicals are dangerous, is certain – they jump to conclusions, and burn, or shoot. He will not reveal magic to them, will not endanger his world; instead, he will be a Gryffindor for once, he will face a non-magical blade and pretend that he regrets his futile arguments about the dangers of non-magicals. He doesn't, is what he thinks as he feels the bite of the man's blade. He thinks it's harder to die as someone you don't know, to die a death you know nothing about.

Severus Snape

He is Severus Tobias Snape, half-blood, spy. He is the youngest potions master, Head of House of Slytherin. He is a master of deceit, of masks, of lies. He is as talented in potions as he is in the art of misleading others. He tells many lies, most of them to himself, and he pretends he's not dying a little bit every day. He is Severus Snape, his hated Professor, and he knows how this goes, watched this death himself. He sees the elder wand in Voldemort's hand, hears the slither of Nagini's scales against the floor of the Shrieking Shack, feels the change in the air as the snake lunges. He knows how this goes, knows it intimately, knows the death will be slow, painful. He has to let go of the memories, has to say something, has to... He looks into familiar emerald eyes for the last time and feels a choking regret in the pit of his stomach and around his bloody throat.

Albus Dumbledore

Now he is a patchwork quilt of flaws and regrets and mistakes, barely held together by what he tells himself is love. He is a master manipulator, a remorseful betrayer. He is the elder brother of two, now one, and he's not quite sure – has never been certain – who deserves the blame. He is regretful of most things, a great believer in second, third, fourth chances. He is delirious from potion, weak from fire, wandless and facing a scared little boy. He relates with Draco Malfoy on some level, believes in offering and taking opportunities; he offers, must offer – there is no other way for this to go. He offers hope and his death arrives in a blur of black and shadow and a nearly believable sneer. He tells himself it is better this way, better to have a quick and painless death than a cursed one. He tells himself that this plan is the best option, and he almost believes it. He is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Light Lord, grand chess master. He is Albus Dumbledore, who has always flown so high, so far above everyone else; now, he is no longer flying – instead he is falling, gracefully, falling towards his death, towards his next great adventure. He is dead before he hits the ground