Chapter twenty three

'What is this room?' McNair asked as he looked around.

'The room of requirement, which is how the Longbottom boy saved those kids. The room did what it was designed for, it gave them sanctuary and opened the tunnel so they could get food. I discovered this after our lord was gone. I knew our lord would have a way in, so I kept it enchanted so only I could open it.'

'The room of requirement,' Harry/Voldemort stared around, 'This is on the seventh floor, which floor is the boy on?'

'Fourth my lord, but I have a way to make sure he is still there. I found out that the boy had a map of Hogwarts, a map his arrogant father invented,' Severus pulled out what looked like the Marauder's map, only Harry, Severus and their friends knew this was not the original, this one enchanted to only show up the names they had wanted, 'As you can see, Potter is in his room on the fourth floor, and McGonagall is in her office. Pince in the library, Sprout is in her greenhouses and Hagrid is in the forbidden forest. Naturally the ghosts are all over the castle and Filch is in the dungeons, probably polishing his shackles hoping to use them again.'

'Ah, it seems the boy did have a way around you Severus.'

'He did my lord, though normally the map is enchanted. But one day I appeared at his door, trying to placate him, so I could get his blood. I saw the map opened on the table, he was foolish enough to trust me and explained how the map worked.'

'Explain another time Severus, I want the boy.'

Severus bowed his head again the lead the death eaters down to the fourth floor. The death eaters kept clear of the door, keeping themselves pressed against the wall. Harry/Voldemort was also out of sight but he nodded to Severus who knocked on the door.

Harry opened the door, 'Snape, what is it this time?'

'I came to apologise Potter, I realised that you have no reason to trust me. Yes it's true that I did serve the light, but I did give you a hard time. May I come in and speak with you?'

'Fine,' Harry sighed then turned and walked back into his room. He never turned back just stepped into the small kitchen, 'Would you like some coffee?'

'That will not be necessary Harry Potter.'

Harry whirled around, 'Fuck, no, no, not again,' Harry's shaking hand tried to grab his wand but it ended up flying out of his pocket and landed on the mantel above the fireplace, 'How?'

'Surely you are not so stupid that you believe I died. I can be reborn for all eternity young Harry, but this time there is going to be one change.'

Harry stiffened then straightened, showing his defiance, 'Just kill me and get it over with.'

'Ah, you see, that is what has changed. I am not going to kill you Harry, I am going to keep you, alive, with me, for all eternity.'

'I'd rather be dead,' Harry sneered.

'Yes, I'm sure you would. Severus, if you will.'

Severus strolled over to what everyone believed was Harry, grabbed him roughly around the neck, forcing his mouth open then poured a potion down his throat. The moment Harry's body went rigid, Snape levitated him onto the sofa. He bent over, checking the boy before he straightened.

'Without the antidote being administered in the next hour he will remain this way, for ever, my lord.'

'Ah, very good Severus, very good. Once we kill the rest, then we rescue our friends. How many survived?'

'Only twenty three my lord,' Rodolphus said.

'Twenty three, we will need more. Your imperiused friends will come in handy. I will send Severus to them very soon. McNair write down who they are and where they are, then we are going to make some plans on how to use them. We need a plan for how we are to free our friends and how to alert the magical world that Lord Voldemort has returned, but also that I have precious Harry Potter,' Harry/Voldemort sneered. He walked around the room, patting his snake while McNair wrote. He would glance at the sleeping form of Harry as he moved around the room, 'He has escaped me before Severus, this time I want nothing to go wrong.'

'It won't my lord, this potion will keep him an inch from death but he will never wake.'

'My lord,' McNair bowed his head as he held out the parchment.

Harry/Voldemort studied it before passing it to Severus, which was the signal, and within seconds the six death eaters were unconscious and bound on the floor as ten people appeared out of nowhere. Hermione, Neville, Luna, Minerva, Kingsley, Gawain and four men, aurors. Severus went straight to the young man on the sofa and gave the unconscious Harry another potion who woke instantly before he changed back into Ron. He stepped over to Harry/Voldemort and placed three drops of potion into his mouth, everyone waited until Harry/Voldemort returned to Harry. He slumped into Severus' arms, the snake sliding down his arm, onto the floor.

'Harry,' Hermione rushed over.

'I'm fine Hermione, it's just being in his body,' Harry shuddered.

'Oh you were good Harry, your stance, the way you held yourself, the walk, and most importantly, you got how he speaks perfect,' Kingsley grinned.

'I've seen it enough before Kingsley, it wasn't that hard to pull him off,' Harry stared down at the bone handled wand, 'Here, take this,' Harry shuddered again then pulled the long flowing robes off, dumping them on the floor, 'They were imperiused.'

'We always believed they were Harry. After Voldemort died, we do not believe they would have joined those death eaters,' Gawain said, 'But your plan worked.'

'Yeah, it took them a couple of minutes to turn up though. They looked completely shocked.'

'Then kept spluttering, how…how,' Severus smirked at Harry who chuckled.

'Ron pulled it off though, I never knew you could imitate me so well mate.'

'I've watched you enough Harry, showing your defiant side was funny actually. I admit I was a little startled at first, and that double no that I said was only supposed to be one. I never had to face him like you did and usually I only saw him from a distance.'

'Yeah, ugly looking bloke.'

'Are you sure you're okay Harry, you're very pale?' Hermione asked.

'I'm fine, I could see his hands and bare feet,' Harry shuddered, 'It reminded me of the graveyard, that's all, it's all fine. I do feel like a good stiff drink.'

'If we didn't have work to do we would join you,' Gawain stepped up to Harry and shook his hand, 'Well done and you were right, no one else apart from you and Severus could have imitated him so well. But where did you get the snake?'

Harry chuckled, "Come here my sweet," Harry again allowed the snake to curl around his arm so he could move up to his shoulder, 'Hagrid found him for me, I asked if he would do me a favour then he could have the roam of the castle, to search for rats, "It's time for your dinner."

"If you ever wish to talk, call," the snake slid down Harry's arm then towards the door where Severus opened it, closing it after the snake left.

'Another reason why this worked, they knew or thought they knew that Voldemort was the only parselmouth alive. Lucius never told anyone that Harry was a parselmouth,' Severus slipped his arm around Harry's waist.

'It comes in handy, but I always liked snakes. When the Dursley's made me do all the gardening I often found small snakes, we'd sit and have a conversation while I was gardening. That was before I came here. I figured they were talking English, same at the zoo when I released a boa constrictor who wanted to go to Brazil. That was funny actually, my fat cousin and his friend fell as the glass disappeared, the snake slid past them, hissing and snapping, but it never touched them. He looked at me and said Brazil, here I come, thanks amigo. I couldn't help myself, I said you're welcome and watched it slither away. My life has never been normal or boring, now though, do you think I can finally be just Harry?'

Harry grinned as he stared around at the people in the room. His four friends hugged him in one big group hug, they also ruffled his hair. The two girls, Luna and Hermione kissed his cheek then Neville surprised Harry when he kissed Harry on the cheek as well, Ron slapped his shoulder. The adults in the room realised that even though Harry Potter will never be known as just Harry, right now they were seeing a young man and his friends who all finally looked relieved that their part in ending the war was now, finally over.

The end: