Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 97 - Burst of Green Light

Her friends all watched as she marched over to Anuman's cage, quickly undid the lock, and let him slither out onto wet leaves of the forest floor.

Anuman had grown over the years to a size that, while nowhere near that of Nagini, would make him a fearsome sight to strangers.

Harriet walked back over to her waiting friends with Anuman following closely behind her.

"Let's go!" She nodded at Tom and Draco.

As she stretched out her hand, Anuman rested his large head on it before she pulled out her wand and apparated away, with Tom and Draco doing the same to follow her into their latest mission.

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Anuman had never grown accustomed to the horrible feeling induced by apparition.

As he hurtled down towards the soft grass that surrounded Malfoy Manor once he appeared on the grounds with a pop, he resisted the urge to let out a whining hiss at the relief that flooded his system knowing the brief journey had ended.

Harriet, Tom, and Draco all landed nearby before the four companions quickly huddled together and allowed Draco to lead them through the grounds and into the manor.

"My other half isn't here tonight." Tom said with a quiet smile of satisfaction as they stepped inside the Malfoy family's impressive house.

"Can you tell?" Harriet frowned as she whispered.

"Yes....." Tom said as he placed a hand on the elegant, carved ebony that surrounded the wooden walls close to the kitchen.

Draco had not been bold or foolish enough to stupidly barge right through the front door.

As any boy with his amount of wisdom at the experienced age of seventeen, he had instead used the mansion's back door.

Draco gestured for Harriet and Tom to stay close as they quietly padded through the darkened hallway.

He couldn't help but wonder if his parents would greet them as they passed room after empty room.

The damask elegance of Malfoy Manor's gothic decor seemed even more hauntingly ominous without the prescense of a single light.

".........Where is everyone?" Harriet hissed.

Draco turned around and gave her a scowl of pure irritation as she shook his head in one quick motion.

If Tom had any qualms, he chose to keep them to himself as they walked along.

Anuman bravely slithered ahead, determined not to let the giant snake find Harriet before he could engage her in a battle.

He would gladly offer up his rivals as appetizers if it meant saving the one he loved.

"Slow down!" Harriet hissed to Anuman as Draco guided the group up a winding flight of curved stairs towards the long, rectangular-shaped room that served as the display area for the Malfoy family's many magical trophies and relics.

As soon as Draco stepped into the room, torches lit themselves, one by one, spaced equally apart to illuminate each magical artifact that waited on display.

Tom squinted in the sudden light as Harriet flinched at the bright bursts of roaring fire.

"That was a bit dramatic, wasn't it?" She scowled at Draco.

"This wasn't my design, Snape!" He snapped, "Come on, my father keeps the blades over here."

Tom walked beside Anuman as Harriet staggered ahead, following Draco while he crossed the room to stop at a tall, black cabinet that held a wide variety of weapons.

From medieval swords to engraved daggers, Harriet blinked at the wide array of offensive metal  enchanted with Dark Magic.

"You honestly think one of those can destroy a horcrux?" She asked Draco as he opened the cabinet.

"Why can't they?" He asked, "The only way to trump Dark Magic is with.....Dark Magic."

Anuman's tongue flickered.

Harriet and Tom exchanged questioning glances.

"I'm not entirely sure that's how it works." Harriet frowned, "We probably should have gone after something a bit more......you know, good."

"You Gryffindors and your nobility!" Draco scoffed as he stood on his tiptoes to reach the pointed dagger close to the very top of the case, "What would you suggest instead, Snape?"

"The sword of Gryffindor?" Harriet shrugged.

"And where exactly...." Draco huffed, "........Are we supposed to find that?"

Harriet would have opened her mouth to quip about Hogwarts, but as she watched Draco's face turn red with the force of his effort to retrieve the dagger, she decided to stay quiet.

After all, his actions were intended to help her on her mission.

With one last, great tug, Draco finally yanked the dagger free from its snug resting place and presented it to Tom and Harriet.

Humans talked.

Snakes slithered.

As the trio conversed in hushed whispers, Anuman raised his head towards the direction in which he detected a familiar scent.

Another python was close by.

Harriet had counted her friends incorrectly, Nagini only cared for her master's companionship.

From her position in the hallway, she stayed just out of sight of the trophy room door as she listened to the conversation within.

As she flicked her tongue and detected Anuman's presence, she slowly began the long process of what she had not been forced to do for quite some time, revert to her human form.

Managing to resume her original body without so much as a gasp of pain, Nagini bit her tongue at the shocks of agony that echoed through her bones as she struggled to stand up.

The transformation had been messy, her cursed blood no longer allowed seamless switches between her human and animal forms.

She raised a shaking hand to her mouth and reached under her lip to pull out a single, dislodged fang that had refused to disappear.

An evil smirk curled her lips as she listened to Harriet and her friends plotting.

Knowing she had been right for all those years to doubt her master's favourite child, Nagini stepped into the doorway, her skin still partially covered by the scales of which she could no longer rid herself.

Tom, Harriet, and Draco all looked up as Nagini cried with a howling hiss while she hurled her heavy, thick fang straight at Harriet.

Surplus poison dripped from the fang as it flew through the air.

A split second later and it was all over.

Draco and Tom pulled out their wands.

Anuman launched himself towards Harriet.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Tom shouted.

A burst of sinister, green magic flew forward.

Draco wrapped his arms around Harriet and Tom as he apparated all of them away.

Nagini fell to the ground, her body lifeless and her heart broken, destroyed by her own master's command.

Unfortunately, in the millisecond before they disappeared, Anuman managed to catch Nagini's fang squarely in his chest as he resumed his own human form midair.