Chapter Fifteen

The Deception of the Prince

It was eerily quiet; no noise, not even an echo, not even the sound of their own breathing interrupted the stillness in the room that housed the Mirror of Erised.

"Don't tell me Potter and his girlfriend went to the wrong place," Snape said, bitterly.

"I'm sure they'll be here any moment," Hermione intercepted, almost too quickly.

Ron stood by, watching, waiting for the moment that Snape would turn on them. It had been nothing short of a miracle for Hermione, but Ron felt a trap. He had been with Harry through enough of them to smell one a mile away, but Hermione was sure that she had somehow got through to the Death Eater andformer Order of the Phoenix member.

"So, Snape," hissed a powerful voice from above. "Did you bring an audience with you to witness the final act of this performance?"

"Yes, Master," Snape replied, obediently.

Hermione looked at him, but Snape didn't return her gaze. Instead, he whispered, "Don't worry so much, Miss Granger."

A loud CRACK reverberated in the room and Harry, with Jordan clutching his arm, appeared in the corner. Harry looked at Ron, whose eyes were dark and foreboding. Hermione smiled, genuinely glad to see them and Harry gave her a small smile in return. He was surprised to see Snape, not ever really believing Hermione would be able to do what she set out to, but her mission had given Harry the time he needed to put his affairs in order.

"Snape," Harry said, coldly.

"Potter. Welcome back," The Defense against the Dark Arts teacher acted as though Jordan wasn't even there.

"Are you ready to complete your journey?" Voldemort's voice echoed in the nearly empty room.

"Are you going watch from your hiding place, like the coward you are?" Harry craned his neck to find eyes into which he could spit his words. He contented himself with a light that dominated the center of the room.

"AARGHH!" Jordan doubled over, pain gripping her insides like a vice. She dropped to her knees.

"Watch yourself!" Voldemort said. "Don't make this more difficult that it has to be."

"Leave her alone! I have what you want."

"Do you?"

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. He knew he never said goodbye properly and was sorry for it, but they would understand. They were his family, the best friends he would ever know. Then he looked at Snape who waved his wand at Jordan to make her pain subside; she lay panting on the floor.

"Snape…," Voldemort commanded.

Harry felt an odd sensation in his head, then realized Snape was using Legilimency on him. He tried with all his might to close off his mind. This was always one of the most difficult skills for him to master, but he had to some extent during the torturous lessons Snape had given him on Dumbledore's orders.

Hermione saw Snape stiffen and suddenly felt the plan going awry. She looked imploringly at Harry as if to ask what was going on. Harry said nothing, but bent down and helped Jordan to her feet. He then pushed her gently toward Ron. Ron took her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I want to become a Death Eater," Harry said, moving toward the light in the center of the room. "I want to join you."

Hermione gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Ron's grip on Jordan's hand became tighter as well. Voldemort laughed. The noise of it reverberated in the room.

Harry looked around. He didn't know the Dark Lord's exact position and it unnerved him, "Jordan is more use to you alive--you know that--and I am what you want. You said so in the beginning."

"Yes, imagine the power you will have…and that is how I want you, strong but only at my command. Impedimenta!"

Harry was off his feet and flying out of control until he smashed into the mirror. He heard the glass crack as he hit the floor. He could hear Jordan's scream and as he struggled to his knees, he saw his own jagged reflection. Voldemort was now behind him. As he continued to look into the mirror, he realized his own face was changing. Soon, he looked at the reflection of something hideous, with eyes like a snake's and skin as taut as tooled leather. His hands instinctively went to his face.

"Stop this!" Snape yelled. "Stop this now!"

Everyone looked in Snape's direction; a slight smile coming to Hermione's face, but shock registering on Ron's and Harry's.

"Servant, how dare you speak to me that way!" Voldemort bellowed. "You have turned into the others, worthless to me. Useless!"

Suddenly, the former Potions teacher howled as he, too, was thrown. He hit the wall and fell to the stairs near Hermione and Ron. Hermione knelt next to him and with difficulty, turned him onto his back. His eyes were closed and he was bleeding heavily from a cut on his forehead.

"Harry Potter, you must prove that you are with me; that you won't betray me as so many others have."

Harry turned to the being standing behind him. He didn't know what his face looked like, but it felt different. It terrified him as nothing else had. The look on Jordan's face was enough; however, he knew he was turning into something evil, out of his own control.

"What am I to do?"

"Retrieve the horcrux from her, of course!"

Harry watched in horror. It wasn't supposed to go this way. He was supposed to offer himself and Voldemort would realize this was his chance to kill him, not Jordan. But he had to play along. He had to gain Voldemort's trust. With a flick of his wand, Harry pulled Jordan toward him. With another swish, Ron's legs moved on their own accord.

"No!" Hermione cried, "No!"

"Hold her!" Harry instructed Ron.

Jordan felt Ron trembling as he stood near her and held her arms down by her side. "I'm sorry…," he whispered.

"It's alright. There's nothing we can do."

"I—don't—know—how," Harry said, quietly.

"What are you mumbling, boy!"

"I said I don't know how! I want to—serve you, but I don't know how to do this!"

"But you do…," came Snape's voice from the corner. "The Half-Blood Prince told you how."

Hermione moved away as if poisoned just to be near the Death Eater. He would betray them all just to stay in the good graces of Lord Voldemort. Snape got to his feet, straightened his robes and walked toward the cluster of people, wiping blood from his head.

"No…," Harry whispered.

"Yes, it's simple. Point your wand at her heart," Snape took his own wand out to demonstrate. "And you say…," Snape suddenly whirled on Voldemort, wand high, "Avada Kedav…"

"PROTEGO!" Voldemort bellowed and then pointed his own wand at Snape, who burst into a pillar of flames.

Hermione covered her eyes as Snape screamed in agony. With a flash of green, he was gone. No one made a sound. Harry could hear his own breathing and wondered if he saw what he thought he had. Was Snape dead? Could someone be killed without an Unforgivable Curse? Could you kill someone non-verbally? Was Snape dead?

"Continue, Potter…," Voldemort said, quietly.

Trying with all his might to steady his hand, he moved to Jordan and put his wand out. "My face…," he said, quietly, as if confiding a secret.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "Just do this!"

"Am I…am I like him?"

She smiled, grimly, "No, Harry. You're not."

"I tried, Jordan. I'm sorry."

Jordan took a deep breath, feeling surprisingly collected. "You should have done this well before now."

"Never!" Harry wracked his brain to think of a spell the Half-Blood Prince, actually Snape himself, had included in his Advanced Potion-Making book the year before. Notes had been scribbled in the margins, under actual potions recipes, in the index…one of them had to work now.

"Get on with it, Potter or I will begin to kill your friends."

Harry looked over his shoulder and saw Voldemort casually holding his wand at Hermione's head. He looked back to Jordan and Ron had his eyes closed, as if hoping the scene in front of him was only a nightmare.

"I won't let him kill her, mate," Harry said, with false confidence.

"Don't worry about us, Harry. Just get this over with."

He pressed the point of his wand at the center of Jordan's heart. She felt a tingling sensation and moved slightly to get away from it. Ron instinctively held her tighter.

"Jordan, remember, you don't need a wand…we need to work at the same time."

"What? I can't…I…"

"POTTER!"

Hermione screamed and crumpled to the ground. Ron went to let Jordan go and felt paralyzed. His hands wouldn't release her and his legs were hexed to the floor.

"Harry, do this!"

"Jordan," Harry prodded, remembering something that just might be successful. "Trust me!" He closed his eyes and said, "Sugere Anima..."

Jordan felt as though she were having a heart attack. The burning in her chest grew worse by tenfold. The pain sliced through her from front to back. Tears slid down her face and she knew she would fall if Ron didn't hold her.

"Jordan, now you," Harry said. "Close your eyes!"

Using every ounce of strength she could muster, she imagined the soul of the madman leaving her and silently repeated Harry's incantation.

"What are you doing?" The Dark Lord floated over to them, effortlessly. "Potter, I asked what you are doing?"

"I'm—removing the—horcrux, Master, just as you asked."

"Do you think you can fool me, boy? Do you think I can't tell that she is doing something as well?"

Jordan smiled through her tears. The pain was beginning to subside. It was almost over. She wasn't going to die after all.

"NO!" Voldemort aimed his wand at Jordan and lifted her in the air. Her legs moved convulsively, as if she was treading water. Ron grabbed at her, but couldn't reach her.

"Put it back!" the Dark Lord cried.

"Never!" she yelled, as an orb of white light hovered above their heads. "Never!"

Harry felt himself weakening, and knew he must act fast. When Voldemort became distracted by Ron running to Hermione, he flicked his wand at the light, "Finite Incantatem!"

The orb exploded overhead. Everyone covered their eyes to avoid the fallout and Voldemort wailed in anger. The Dark Lord's spell was interrupted and Jordan dropped to the floor.

"I will kill you, Potter!" Voldemort's voice faded even as he spoke. His body was convulsing as fast as the bright lights disappeared. "Mind you that! It is not over. The prophecy will be fulfilled!"

With a POP, the room became dark as before a winter storm, and Voldemort was gone.

Harry ran to Jordan, "Are you alright?"

"I think so…are you?"

"Yes. Ron, how's Hermione?"

"Still unconscious, but I don't think she's hurt. What just happened?"

"I think we destroyed the horcrux," He watched Jordan stand and brush herself off. "It must have temporarily weakened him. I guess we have a little more time."

Hermione stirred and they all went to her. She held her head, which pounded, but smiled, "I'm alright. He only Stupified me. Did you do it, Harry?"

Harry nodded, still surprised. Jordan went to him, feeling such a sense of relief she wanted to cry. Without thinking, she kissed him, just as long and hard as she had at the inn the night before.

"Thank you…," she said, after.

"Blimey…" Ron muttered, at the sight of the two of them.

Hermione laughed, and then looked around, "I can't believe Snape is dead."

"Is he?" Harry asked, still reeling over Jordan's kiss, which disarmed him more than the fight with Voldemort had. "I didn't think Unforgivable Curses were effective if they aren't spoken."

"He couldn't have survived that, Harry," Hermione said, in an awed whisper. "No one could. But he did help us. He helped in order to save you, Harry."

"I know," Harry felt guilt wash over him.

"What now?" Ron asked.

"I want to go home."

They all looked at Jordan, who was smiling. Harry was disappointed but understood. He shook his head and moved toward the door.

"Harry," Jordan continued. "Unless you have somewhere else you'd rather be; my offer is still open."

He could feel Ron and Hermione's stares on him and was too shocked to speak for a moment, "Really?"

"Yes…if you want to. But on one condition…"

"What's that?"

"Finish school, Harry. Graduate from Hogwarts. All of you."

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Jordan sat at the kitchen table at her mother's house with her best friend, Heather. Things had returned to normal in an astonishing amount of time. Harry had learned from Hermione the proper use of a Memory Modification Charm and Jordan allowed him to adjust her mother's remembrance of the Ravenclaw conversation. She would save it for another day, another time when the ending wasn't so final.

"So, is he going to stay here?" Heather sipped tea and asked Jordan, quietly.

Jordan's hair was pulled back and she wore a comfortable sweatshirt and pants. Her body was still sore from everything that happened and covering herself up was the only way to avoid talking about how she looked.

"No, he's going back to school in England."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have another book tour to go on. Well, it's really the end of the last one. Then I'll come here and wait for his school break."

Heather stood and peered into the hallway to make sure Harry wasn't within hearing distance, "He's just a kid. I mean, he's certainly cute but why is he living with you?"

"Because he's got nowhere else to go," Jordan closed her eyes, grateful she had her life back and no one else needed to know about Voldemort and the Death Eaters and why Harry Potter and Jordan Taylor were connected. "Once he graduates, if he wants to live on his own, he certainly can…"

"What are you talking about?" Harry came in and feeling completely comfortable now, took a Coke out of the refrigerator.

Heather sat up quickly, putting her flyaway blonde hair behind her ears, "Nothing. Are you ready to go back to school?"

Taking a sip, he nodded, "Oh, yeah. We're starting a little late, but we're going to shorten our winter holidays to make up for it. It's a great school, isn't it, Jordan?"

Jordan shook her head, acting as if her visit there had been an enjoyable time. Heather grabbed her purse and let Jordan lead her to the door. Harry trailed behind them.

"Well, Harry, good luck at school." Heather didn't completely understand why the school year was beginning in late October at this academy, nor did she understand why her best friend wanted to take in a boy she had only just met on one of her trips, but Jordan seemed content, so she left it alone.

"Thanks!"

Heather hugged Jordan, "And have fun on your trip. Call me when you get home."

As Jordan watched Heather leave, Harry came up and put his arm around her. "She doesn't like me, I reckon."

"She likes you fine…"

"I'll bet you a game of Magic: The Gathering that I'm right."

She turned to him, laughing as she hadn't in weeks, "You're on!"

Harry took the stairs to Becky's house two at a time, Jordan close at his heels. Things would be okay. Her worlds, both of them, would somehow peaceably interact. She might be a witch and she might suddenly have a wizard in her life, but for now, she was home and safe—all of the Ravenclaws were.