It was an outrage. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins had all been assigned tasks to fulfil - and dangerous ones, for that matter. Snape was going to prepare the potion in his dungeons and, when ready, deliver it to the Clique in Grimmauld Place. Only he, Harry Potter, couldn't do anything. Because of the greasy bat.

Harry paced the house, trying to think. According to Dumbledore, the prophecy stated that only Harry would be able to defeat Voldemort. Maybe the prophecy wasn't real, but Harry didn't want to run the risk. The price to pay would be too high: Hogwarts's destruction and the death of anyone who tried to defend the castle. And Voldemort wouldn't stop at that, now that he had such a powerful weapon as the Veneficus Trojanus in his hands.

The Clique's plans had all been outlined; Snape informed them that in two days Voldemort would call his thirteen main Death Eaters (including Snape) to a hiding place, where they would stay the three days preceding the attack on Hogwarts. Snape would fasten the pin to an inner pocket of his robe, allowing the twins to locate the Death Eaters' hiding place on the Clique's Map. Ron would go to the place to verify the house's situation and details, including the water supply, and would return to Grimmauld Place to report. Hermione had learnt how to set up a Portkey, so that she and Ginny could take part in the action (Ron and the twins already had permission from the Ministry to Apparate, but Hermione wouldn't be seventeen until next week, and Ginny would have to wait yet another year.) So, the five of them would go by Portkey to the place, mix the Sandpotion B (the altered version of the Sandpotion) into the water and wait until its effects on the Death Eaters were noticeable. Then, at Snape's sign, they would attack the house with some special bombs manufactured by the twins - in case there was any resistance .

Harry knew there was a weak point in the plan. Maybe the Death Eaters would be affected by the potion and desert their Lord, but Voldemort wouldn't. Snape, thought Harry, knew that too - hence his unconditional request that Harry not take part in the action. Harry, however, was determined to be there.

Nevertheless, he would pretend to be resigned to his role as a helpless sideline observer.

~* ~* ~

The day had just dawned, and Severus Snape was already pacing his office in the dungeons.

"Severus, what's the matter with you? Why can't you keep still for a minute?"

"What? Listen, Phineas, go play with Albus."

"He's still asleep. Why are you so nervous?"

"I am not nervous."

"If you want to know, the boy's a nervous wreck these days too."

Snape stopped and stared at Phineas. "What boy?"

"Don't play the fool with me. The same boy you send me to spy on all the time."

"I don't send you to spy on anyone!"

Phineas let out a long sigh.

Snape made an exasperated gesture. "Unfortunately, Potter is important to the Order. And you know how irresponsibly Gryffindor he is."

"Oh, yes, your interest in him is purely circumstantial. All in the name of the cause. Sure," said Phineas, caustically. "Tell me another one."

Snape glared daggers at him.

"I went there a few minutes ago, Severus. He's sleeping like an angel."

Snape's heart began to beat faster. I won't go there. If I do, I may lose control. I may ruin everything. I might even hurt him, overwhelm him with those questions that torture me... 'Did you miss me? Did anyone touch you when I was away? Tell me you are mine, only mine...'

I don't have the right to demand this of him. The ring shows me that, at least in his intentions, he is loyal to me.

That's it. I won't go. As it is, if I die Harry won't suffer too much, because we are separated. A reconciliation followed by a definitive loss would be such a cruel blow. Let's leave things as they are.

Furthermore, if I see him now, I might not have the courage to do what I must.

"I didn't ask you anything, Phineas. I'm not interested."

~* ~* ~

Later that afternoon, the Death Eaters' hiding place flashed on the Clique's Map in Grimmauld Place. A label naming the place appeared on the Map: "Walpurgis". Ron Apparated there immediately. Fifteen minutes later he returned saying that the hiding place was a one-floor cottage; he had noticed that they could hide behind the trees surrounding the house and that a tank located inside the limits of the Walpurgis estate fed the cottage with water from a private spring nearby.

Everyone hurried to finish up the preparations. Harry pretended to be resigned not to go with them. He gave them advice, hugs and handshakes. He wished them good luck.

As soon as the five Portkeyed from Grimmauld Place, Harry went to his bedroom, donned his Invisibility Cloak and Apparated to the obscure Walpurgis estate. He found himself in front of an old stone cottage with a large front window, completely closed.

Walking between the trees, he soon located his friends, and stayed behind a cluster of trees where he could watch them at a safe distance. He witnessed when Fred and George left for the water tank carrying two big flagons of Sandpotion B, and saw that Hermione, Ron and Ginny had remained near the cottage, behind the trees - Hermione with her eyes fixed on the Map, and Ginny and Ron watching attentively. Then he saw the twins coming back safe and sound, joining the rest of the Clique.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry began to hear shouts coming from the house. They seemed to be having a fierce argument. However, apparently Snape hadn't given the sign yet, for his five friends hadn't moved. Soon everything was quiet again. Harry was getting nervous. Stalking wasn't his forte. Then he remembered the song of the Stalking Way that Kai had taught him, and started to sing inside his head.

The song calmed him, and helped him bear the waiting. He sang another stanza.

Half an hour later, another argument, this time even more violent, came up. Once again, in a few minutes everything came back to normal. The sun was beginning to set, and everything was getting sombre and cold. Harry started to become impatient. What if Voldemort had found out about Snape's betrayal? What if Snape was being tortured at that exact moment? He repeated the last words of the Navajo song -

- and knew it was time to take action. He decided to get near the cottage, and try and peer inside.

Not wanting to risk being noticed by his friends, he circled the cottage and tried to look through the back windows. Impossible. All of them were locked and covered by thick curtains. There wasn't any other way. He looked at the back door, determined.

"Alohomora!"

~* ~* ~

The scene he faced didn't make any sense: five people apparently dead on the floor, their bodies scattered around the room; Voldemort and Snape sitting at a wooden table, talking calmly. Nagini slithering sensually around Voldemort's body.

As Harry entered, covered by his Invisibility Cloak, both turned their faces to him abruptly.

Voldemort grinned. "Harry Potter. Have a seat. We were waiting for you to start the party."

Snape stood up, looking frightened.

Harry got rid of his Cloak and pulled out his wand. "Prepare yourself to die, Voldemort."

"Harry, don't!" shouted Snape, throwing himself towards the boy.

Harry retreated, astonished. "Are you siding with him now, Severus?"

Voldemort cackled. "Don't be silly, boy. Have a seat. We need to have a serious talk," said the darkest wizard in the world.

"Harry, if you kill him, you will die too," said Snape, in despair.

"What?"

"It's true. We are inextricably linked. I have just found this out. I can't kill you, if I don't want to die," Voldemort stated.

"I don't trust you. Maybe you don't want to kill me any more, but you're going to kill my friends. I'd rather die than see that happen. Ava..."

Snape stepped in front of Voldemort.

Harry stopped. "You... traitor... Step aside, now!"

Right then, a rat leapt towards Harry, distracting him. Taking advantage of the boy's perplexity, Snape advanced and seized his wand.

The rat ran and slipped under the house's back door. Snape withdrew and let his breath out in a shaky sigh.

"Isn't all that superbly ironic?" asked Voldemort, with a crooked smile. "Nobody respects Peter, but he always gets away with everything. He saved Potter, freeing himself from his life debt, and saved me, indebting me to him. As for you, Severus, you've betrayed me all this time, and now, by being a traitor, you saved me."

"What's happening here?" asked Harry, psychologically drained.

"The potion has worked perfectly well," reported Snape. "The first Death Eaters to lose their Mark and to rebel are on the floor: they were killed by the others. However, in the end, the others were also affected and ran away, Apparating from here. Pettigrew had disappeared, and I thought he was one of the fugitives. But, as we have just seen, he resorted to another means of hiding. I, who didn't drink any liquid, and the Dark Lord, who cannot run away from his own self, stayed here."

Harry and Voldemort looked at each other for a long time.

"And you? Weren't you affected?" Harry finally asked the dark wizard.

"Oh yes, I was. Do you think I would be talking to you right now, if I hadn't been affected? And do you think that Severus would be alive to tell the story?" Voldemort snorted. "Do you know what happened to me, my dear enemy? I discovered love." He spat the word with disdain. "The blood that I used to reconstruct my body, that blood drawn from your veins, was loaded with this so-called love." He gave a hysterical laugh. "That's why I've been affected. This potion created by my devoted Severus has made me realise what I, until now, could happily ignore. Now I realise that this very ancient magic your mother used on us has bonded me irreversibly to you. If you kill me, you'll die, and if I kill you, I'll die. That was what that stupid prophecy was saying, but of course, as it happens to all prophecies, everybody understood it wrongly."

"What are you going to do now?" asked Harry.

"I have to run away, that's obvious. Soon your friends will become tired of waiting and will attack. Severus has already agreed not to try and stop me, and you don't have your wand. Due to our indissoluble bond, I believe I'll have to give up my plans of ruling the world. Maybe I'll content myself, at least for the time being, in achieving immortality. I'm going to devote myself to research on the philosopher's stone, or finding the spring of eternal life... Who knows?"

"Do you trust him?" Harry asked Snape, almost in despair.

"Think, Harry. He won't be able to do anything against us."

"If I kill myself, he dies," said Harry, adding two and two together.

Snape clenched his fists. "Don't you dare!" he exclaimed.

"And the other way round is also true: if I kill myself, it's the end of Harry Potter's story. That's why your darling Severus is so concerned about me. It's love... For you, of course. Not for me," concluded Voldemort, in a cynical tone, while stroking Nagini's body languidly. "But it's not true that nobody loves me, like your old loony Headmaster says. Nagini loves me unconditionally. Barty Jr loved me like no one has ever loved you. He has given his life for me."

Harry didn't look very impressed.

"Oh, it's true, your mother did the same for you, Potter. Everybody praises her sacrifice as a love deed. But what Barty Jr did for me was also a love deed. And Peter? Peter gave his hand for me. And Bellatrix... I don't know if she's still alive, but I know that her love is the kind that never counts the cost. Of these who have fallen here today, almost everyone loved me to the bottom of their souls." Voldemort stood up. "But we're wasting time. Your friends have already given up waiting for Severus's sign, and they are ready to strike. Farewell! I'll keep in touch with you, Severus, through my Mark! I know you can erase it drinking this horrible potion. Don't do it!"

And just when the Clique and a group of the Order of the Phoenix invaded the house, Voldemort disappeared in the air, without leaving any trace.