Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Brother Z
The End
29 reviewsThe Final Battle is over. Harry has left Britain, leaving a devastated magical community, a lost Hermione, and a blinded Luna. Hermione becomes Professor McGonagall's apprentice while she cares f...
5Original
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters, ideas, and situations created by JK Rowling and owned by her and her publishers. I own the original elements & characters. No money is being made by me, and no trademark or copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter XI
Severus Snape came back to his suite of rooms a satisfied man. The students had left the castle to go home for the long summer vacation just a few minutes before, and Snape would be leaving for good that afternoon.
It had been a successful term. From the moment that he had agreed to leave, the persecution Snape felt he was under had stopped. Except for his slow plot against Granger and Lovegood, Snape had been on his best behavior. It would be his final gesture against Potter and his friends, even if none of them ever knew about it.
The term had been fairly quiet for everyone. The older staff members could not remember such a normal term since the mid-1980s, if not the early 1960s, and Snape had not so much as tripped once. Professor Slughorn had conducted a thorough search for a new junior potions teacher, and had come up with a Ravenclaw who had been a student in the early 1980s, and who had spent the succeeding years in a commercial potion brewing firm in Ireland, moving up through the hierarchy to a higher level than Snape had. A husband/wife team (a Slytherin taking early retirement from the Department of Mysteries and his wife, a Hufflepuff retiring from a sub-department of the MLES) would also be teaching various subjects part-time.
To Snape's disgust, the Tai Chi class had tripled in size. Besides the students and Granger, Lupin, Sinistra, Vector, Pomfrey, Hooch, and even the Headmistress had joined. Ten students were part of Z's martial arts defense group. Seven regular students plus Lovegood, as well as Granger, Lupin, and Vector were part of the 'mental magics' study group. Lupin and Granger were quite determined to make it clear how 'easy' it was to learn Occlumency 'when it's being taught by a competent teacher.'
In spite the digs, and Snape's return sneers, the term had still been relatively calm. The calm held even though Snape had not failed to notice that Professor Z had drawn closer to those he still considered just Granger and Lovegood, who was now seen in some classes, her eyesight inexplicably restored. Snape was not to know what none other than the trio knew. Twice a week, Z was sleeping in Hermione and Luna's suite. Twice a week, Luna slept in Z's, and Hermione spent two other nights there.
Since Luna was now again a student, this was technically against the rules, which is why the trio didn't mention it. Professor McGonagall made certain that she did not ask.
As Snape surveyed his packed luggage, he was hit by a hex, and blacked out.
Snape awoke to darkness.
"Where am I?" he demanded as he realized he was somehow stuck, spreadeagled naked on what felt like a stone floor. "Is anyone here?"
Apparently, no one was.
Snape, having no way to really measure time, thought he had been awake for over an hour. In fact, it had been just more than 20 minutes. At that point, he was blinded by light, although as his eyes cleared he realized that it was just very moderate torchlight. He saw that he was indeed magically stuck to a stone floor, in a windowless room about the size of a large classroom. From his position, that was all he could see.
Snape jerked when he heard a voice, as he had heard no door or sound of apparation or portkey. "You really are a foolish, vindictive little git, aren't you?"
"Zed? You bastard, let me go! I'll have you arrested for this!"
"Severus, you really are foolish, you know," Z repeated. "I saw the modifications you started over the Christmas break. I set up monitoring wards which have traced every addition you have made sense, and yes, that includes your wand signature."
Snape was too surprised to hear that to respond.
"A jealousy hex on those who pass through the door? Subtly done, I must say. Now the Barrenness Curse, keyed through Hermione's hair, that was even better work. If there was a position at some school teaching Dark Arts instead of Defense, you'd have been a good candidate."
"Let me go, you bastard!"
"No, I can't do that," Z answered, still in his calm, almost emotionless voice. "What I am going to do is necessary, and therefore, by your standards, right."
Snape screamed in frustration as he struggled to free himself.
"I debated what to do with you. Killing you would be easy. . . ."
Snape screamed in anger, "You'd never get away with it!"
Calmly, Z replied, "You're leaving for a secret destination. No one there would care if you didn't show up. No one here would inquire if they never hear from you in the future."
Now, for the first time since he had gotten off for his activities under Voldemort, Snape was frightened.
"I had considered ripping your eyes out and cutting your balls off," Z offered, "treating you as you did Luna." Snape shivered. "Then, I decided not to let you off that easily." Snape whimpered.
"Instead, I am going to bring some of your worst nightmares to life. Then, I am sending you to some friends of mine where you will live out your life making potions, and yes, even researching. But you will be there for the rest of your life, under a curse which will prevent you from talking about what happened to you today. Not that they'll ask." Z's voice was still passionless.
"What. . . ." Snape could not bring himself to ask what was in store for him.
"First of all, I am still going to cut your balls off," Z said simply. "Then, I am going to take a nice chunk of your magic. If that works as I hope it will, you'll have about as much power as the average Third year. Along with that, I am going to be taking some of your life-force." Z paused and said, "Actually, I'll be taking your magic and life-force first. Then I am going to rip out one of your eyes. If you have a preference, let me know. Then I'm cutting your balls off."
Again, Snape screamed, "You can't do this to me!" When he was answered by total silence, he whimpered in fear.
"I can, and will. And yet, those are not the worst things I'm going to do to you. Of all the things I'm going to do, the worst by your standards is this." Z came closer, so Snape could see him. Snape looked on as Z's appearance slightly changed.
Snape was stunned, but he managed to whisper, "Potter?" He was stunned.
"Exactly," Harry said. "I time-traveled back to 1981. It was I who stopped the August Offering single-handed." Snape's eyes went wide with terror. Somehow, he knew this was true, which meant that Potter was far stronger than even the Dark Lord had been. "I just missed killing you then. Like last year, you had just slipped away. Well, there is no slipping away now." A hint of satisfaction was now in Harry's voice.
"Please . . . don't!" Snape begged.
"I shall show you the same mercy you showed your victims, Snivellus," Harry said dispassionately. "And taking a bit of your life-force will de-age me to a degree. I didn't want to live under glamors the rest of my life, and really preferred having Harry Potter disappear. Hermione and Luna have accepted that, but would really prefer that it was Zed who disappeared. Now, that is an option. And just think, this is all thanks to the fact that you cannot leave well-enough alone."
Snape tried to sneer, but failed.
"I mean it. If you had acted as you did this term, minus the hexes on Hermione's suite, you would be going off to your research a whole wizard, a free wizard. You can't blame your petty decisions this time on Voldemort or Dumbledore or your parents or my parents or me. You did it as a last gesture of spite. Your sins have now come home to roost."
Harry looked Snape in the eye. "Anything else to snivel about, little man?"
Snape whimpered.
A flick of Harry's finger and Snape was gagged. "No? Well, too late for second thoughts now." Snape started to hyperventilate as he saw the 'spoons,' used to pull out eyes, appear -- and then the 'razor', used in castration. "Well, then we shall begin."
No one in Britain ever questioned why they never heard from Severus Snape, and no one was interested in contacting him.
Hermione and Luna were happy with the younger-looking Harry. Harry, when Z, was able to keep his older appearance. After much discussion, Hermione and Harry married in a busy Muggle Registry Office that very week. They both had lives in the Muggle world, and this would allow them to maintain those connections.
Harry revealed his past to Remus and Tonks soon after Snape disappeared. This had resulted in some yelling (from Tonks) and crying (from both Tonks and Remus). In the end, Remus and Tonks drew close to Harry, Hermione, and Luna.
As far as the magical world was concerned, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood entered a binding magical union in North America with the mysterious warlock known simply as Z. The fact that Hermione and Luna felt themselves married to each other as they were to Z was kept to the trio.
By the end of July, 1999, Hermione had been awarded her Master in Transfiguration and History, while Luna had received her N.E.W.T.s, scoring O's in Charms, Runes, and Divination, and an A in Transfiguration. Luna had also successfully been made pregnant with magical and Muggle treatment, and an egg from Hermione and of course Harry's sperm. Hermione became a full-time instructor, concentrating on Transfiguration which still teaching some History. While looking after first her child and then Hermione's as well, Luna helped in the library and taught first year Runes.
Z, of course, stayed on teaching Defense and Charms.
Harry made two appearances in late July as himself, when the Wizengamot was debating adding to the reforms which the Ministry had made the year before but had not yet fully acted on.
Under the glare of the very healthy and powerful-looking 'Dark Lord Slayer,' they passed the reforms.
The Wizengamot was very happy that Harry did not show up at their next meeting, and they would be content that in the future he would only show up about once a year. They were, however, now very aware of the fact that they would never be certain exactly when he would appear. And since no laws or important legislation could be dealt with in just one session, there was really no way they could sneak anything past Harry, or the public. He gave no direction, but they knew they had to stay on the straight path.
Few at Hogwarts, and no one outside of it, took any notice of Luna Lovegood's two children: Lionel Sirius, born in 2000, and Leo Neville, born in 2010. Nor were many others more interested in Hermione's three children: Ronald James, born in 2004, Ginevra Lily, born in 2010, and Daniel Albus, born in 2019.
Hermione had a long and successful career at Hogwarts, and finally fulfilled her dream of becoming Headmistress, the youngest in two centuries. She and Luna published several monographs on magical theory, and Luna helped perfect the enchantment of Muggle electronics, so that they could run even at Hogwarts.
Working in the background, Harry helped bring the hidden groups of the magical poor out of the nooks they had been hiding in for centuries. They were fully integrated into Hogwarts, and the castle was full of students for the first time in almost two hundred years. All students learned how to interact with the Muggle world, so that the risk of exposing magic was actually lessened. While members of the magical community could still hide from the world in eighteenth century luxury (or, in some cases, poverty), they no longer had to.
The magical world was still far from perfect, but in Britain and western Europe in general, life became a bit better, and far less Dark.
Chapter XI
Severus Snape came back to his suite of rooms a satisfied man. The students had left the castle to go home for the long summer vacation just a few minutes before, and Snape would be leaving for good that afternoon.
It had been a successful term. From the moment that he had agreed to leave, the persecution Snape felt he was under had stopped. Except for his slow plot against Granger and Lovegood, Snape had been on his best behavior. It would be his final gesture against Potter and his friends, even if none of them ever knew about it.
The term had been fairly quiet for everyone. The older staff members could not remember such a normal term since the mid-1980s, if not the early 1960s, and Snape had not so much as tripped once. Professor Slughorn had conducted a thorough search for a new junior potions teacher, and had come up with a Ravenclaw who had been a student in the early 1980s, and who had spent the succeeding years in a commercial potion brewing firm in Ireland, moving up through the hierarchy to a higher level than Snape had. A husband/wife team (a Slytherin taking early retirement from the Department of Mysteries and his wife, a Hufflepuff retiring from a sub-department of the MLES) would also be teaching various subjects part-time.
To Snape's disgust, the Tai Chi class had tripled in size. Besides the students and Granger, Lupin, Sinistra, Vector, Pomfrey, Hooch, and even the Headmistress had joined. Ten students were part of Z's martial arts defense group. Seven regular students plus Lovegood, as well as Granger, Lupin, and Vector were part of the 'mental magics' study group. Lupin and Granger were quite determined to make it clear how 'easy' it was to learn Occlumency 'when it's being taught by a competent teacher.'
In spite the digs, and Snape's return sneers, the term had still been relatively calm. The calm held even though Snape had not failed to notice that Professor Z had drawn closer to those he still considered just Granger and Lovegood, who was now seen in some classes, her eyesight inexplicably restored. Snape was not to know what none other than the trio knew. Twice a week, Z was sleeping in Hermione and Luna's suite. Twice a week, Luna slept in Z's, and Hermione spent two other nights there.
Since Luna was now again a student, this was technically against the rules, which is why the trio didn't mention it. Professor McGonagall made certain that she did not ask.
As Snape surveyed his packed luggage, he was hit by a hex, and blacked out.
Snape awoke to darkness.
"Where am I?" he demanded as he realized he was somehow stuck, spreadeagled naked on what felt like a stone floor. "Is anyone here?"
Apparently, no one was.
Snape, having no way to really measure time, thought he had been awake for over an hour. In fact, it had been just more than 20 minutes. At that point, he was blinded by light, although as his eyes cleared he realized that it was just very moderate torchlight. He saw that he was indeed magically stuck to a stone floor, in a windowless room about the size of a large classroom. From his position, that was all he could see.
Snape jerked when he heard a voice, as he had heard no door or sound of apparation or portkey. "You really are a foolish, vindictive little git, aren't you?"
"Zed? You bastard, let me go! I'll have you arrested for this!"
"Severus, you really are foolish, you know," Z repeated. "I saw the modifications you started over the Christmas break. I set up monitoring wards which have traced every addition you have made sense, and yes, that includes your wand signature."
Snape was too surprised to hear that to respond.
"A jealousy hex on those who pass through the door? Subtly done, I must say. Now the Barrenness Curse, keyed through Hermione's hair, that was even better work. If there was a position at some school teaching Dark Arts instead of Defense, you'd have been a good candidate."
"Let me go, you bastard!"
"No, I can't do that," Z answered, still in his calm, almost emotionless voice. "What I am going to do is necessary, and therefore, by your standards, right."
Snape screamed in frustration as he struggled to free himself.
"I debated what to do with you. Killing you would be easy. . . ."
Snape screamed in anger, "You'd never get away with it!"
Calmly, Z replied, "You're leaving for a secret destination. No one there would care if you didn't show up. No one here would inquire if they never hear from you in the future."
Now, for the first time since he had gotten off for his activities under Voldemort, Snape was frightened.
"I had considered ripping your eyes out and cutting your balls off," Z offered, "treating you as you did Luna." Snape shivered. "Then, I decided not to let you off that easily." Snape whimpered.
"Instead, I am going to bring some of your worst nightmares to life. Then, I am sending you to some friends of mine where you will live out your life making potions, and yes, even researching. But you will be there for the rest of your life, under a curse which will prevent you from talking about what happened to you today. Not that they'll ask." Z's voice was still passionless.
"What. . . ." Snape could not bring himself to ask what was in store for him.
"First of all, I am still going to cut your balls off," Z said simply. "Then, I am going to take a nice chunk of your magic. If that works as I hope it will, you'll have about as much power as the average Third year. Along with that, I am going to be taking some of your life-force." Z paused and said, "Actually, I'll be taking your magic and life-force first. Then I am going to rip out one of your eyes. If you have a preference, let me know. Then I'm cutting your balls off."
Again, Snape screamed, "You can't do this to me!" When he was answered by total silence, he whimpered in fear.
"I can, and will. And yet, those are not the worst things I'm going to do to you. Of all the things I'm going to do, the worst by your standards is this." Z came closer, so Snape could see him. Snape looked on as Z's appearance slightly changed.
Snape was stunned, but he managed to whisper, "Potter?" He was stunned.
"Exactly," Harry said. "I time-traveled back to 1981. It was I who stopped the August Offering single-handed." Snape's eyes went wide with terror. Somehow, he knew this was true, which meant that Potter was far stronger than even the Dark Lord had been. "I just missed killing you then. Like last year, you had just slipped away. Well, there is no slipping away now." A hint of satisfaction was now in Harry's voice.
"Please . . . don't!" Snape begged.
"I shall show you the same mercy you showed your victims, Snivellus," Harry said dispassionately. "And taking a bit of your life-force will de-age me to a degree. I didn't want to live under glamors the rest of my life, and really preferred having Harry Potter disappear. Hermione and Luna have accepted that, but would really prefer that it was Zed who disappeared. Now, that is an option. And just think, this is all thanks to the fact that you cannot leave well-enough alone."
Snape tried to sneer, but failed.
"I mean it. If you had acted as you did this term, minus the hexes on Hermione's suite, you would be going off to your research a whole wizard, a free wizard. You can't blame your petty decisions this time on Voldemort or Dumbledore or your parents or my parents or me. You did it as a last gesture of spite. Your sins have now come home to roost."
Harry looked Snape in the eye. "Anything else to snivel about, little man?"
Snape whimpered.
A flick of Harry's finger and Snape was gagged. "No? Well, too late for second thoughts now." Snape started to hyperventilate as he saw the 'spoons,' used to pull out eyes, appear -- and then the 'razor', used in castration. "Well, then we shall begin."
No one in Britain ever questioned why they never heard from Severus Snape, and no one was interested in contacting him.
Hermione and Luna were happy with the younger-looking Harry. Harry, when Z, was able to keep his older appearance. After much discussion, Hermione and Harry married in a busy Muggle Registry Office that very week. They both had lives in the Muggle world, and this would allow them to maintain those connections.
Harry revealed his past to Remus and Tonks soon after Snape disappeared. This had resulted in some yelling (from Tonks) and crying (from both Tonks and Remus). In the end, Remus and Tonks drew close to Harry, Hermione, and Luna.
As far as the magical world was concerned, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood entered a binding magical union in North America with the mysterious warlock known simply as Z. The fact that Hermione and Luna felt themselves married to each other as they were to Z was kept to the trio.
By the end of July, 1999, Hermione had been awarded her Master in Transfiguration and History, while Luna had received her N.E.W.T.s, scoring O's in Charms, Runes, and Divination, and an A in Transfiguration. Luna had also successfully been made pregnant with magical and Muggle treatment, and an egg from Hermione and of course Harry's sperm. Hermione became a full-time instructor, concentrating on Transfiguration which still teaching some History. While looking after first her child and then Hermione's as well, Luna helped in the library and taught first year Runes.
Z, of course, stayed on teaching Defense and Charms.
Harry made two appearances in late July as himself, when the Wizengamot was debating adding to the reforms which the Ministry had made the year before but had not yet fully acted on.
Under the glare of the very healthy and powerful-looking 'Dark Lord Slayer,' they passed the reforms.
The Wizengamot was very happy that Harry did not show up at their next meeting, and they would be content that in the future he would only show up about once a year. They were, however, now very aware of the fact that they would never be certain exactly when he would appear. And since no laws or important legislation could be dealt with in just one session, there was really no way they could sneak anything past Harry, or the public. He gave no direction, but they knew they had to stay on the straight path.
Few at Hogwarts, and no one outside of it, took any notice of Luna Lovegood's two children: Lionel Sirius, born in 2000, and Leo Neville, born in 2010. Nor were many others more interested in Hermione's three children: Ronald James, born in 2004, Ginevra Lily, born in 2010, and Daniel Albus, born in 2019.
Hermione had a long and successful career at Hogwarts, and finally fulfilled her dream of becoming Headmistress, the youngest in two centuries. She and Luna published several monographs on magical theory, and Luna helped perfect the enchantment of Muggle electronics, so that they could run even at Hogwarts.
Working in the background, Harry helped bring the hidden groups of the magical poor out of the nooks they had been hiding in for centuries. They were fully integrated into Hogwarts, and the castle was full of students for the first time in almost two hundred years. All students learned how to interact with the Muggle world, so that the risk of exposing magic was actually lessened. While members of the magical community could still hide from the world in eighteenth century luxury (or, in some cases, poverty), they no longer had to.
The magical world was still far from perfect, but in Britain and western Europe in general, life became a bit better, and far less Dark.
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