Not think you will make much difference now. We are almost

there...almost."

"Let me find the boy. Let me bring you Potter. I know I can find

him, my Lord. Please."

Snape strode past the gap, and Harry drew back a little, keeping

His eyes fixed upon Nagini, wondering whether there was any spell

That might penetrate the protection surrounding her, but he could

Not think of anything. One failed attempt, and he would give away

His position...

Voldemort stood up. Harry could see him now, see the red eyes, the

Flattened, serpentine face, the pallor of him gleaming slightly in

The semidarkness.

"I have a problem, Severus," said Voldemort softly.

"My Lord?" said Snape.

Voldemort raised the Elder Wand, holding it as delicately and

precisely as a conductor's baton.

"Why doesn't it work for me, Severus?"

In the silence Harry imagined he could hear the snake hissing

slightly as it coiled and uncoiled--or was it Voldemort's sibilant

sigh lingering on the air?

"My--my lord?" said Snape blankly. "I do not understand. You--you

have performed extraordinary magic with that wand."

"No," said Voldemort. "I have performed my usual magic. I am

Extraordinary, but this wand...no. It has not revealed the wonders

It has promised. I feel no difference between this wand and the one

I procured from Ollivander all those years ago."

Voldemort's tone was musing, calm, but Harry's scar had begun to

throb and pulse: Pain was building in his forehead, and he could

Feel that controlled sense of fury building inside Voldemort.

"No difference," said Voldemort again.

Snape did not speak. Harry could not see his face. He wondered

Whether Snape sensed danger, was trying to find the right words to

Reassure his master.

Voldemort started to move around the room: Harry lost sight of him

For seconds as he prowled, speaking in that same measured voice,

While the pain and fury mounted in Harry.

"I have thought long and hard, Severus...do you know why I have

called you back from battle?"

And for a moment Harry saw Snape's profile. His eyes were fixed

Upon the coiling snake in its enchanted cage.

"No, my Lord, but I beg you will let me return. Let me find Potter."

"You sound like Lucius. Neither of you understands Potter as I do.

He does not need finding. Potter will come to me. I knew his

Weakness you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the

Others struck down around him, knwoing that it is for him that it

happens. He will want to stop it at any cost. He will come."

"But my Lord, he might be killed accidentally by someone other than

yourself--"\

"My instructions to the Death Eaters have been perfectly clear.

Capture Potter. Kill his friends--the more, the better--but do not

Kill him.

"But it is of you that I wished to speak, Severus, not Harry

Potter. You have been very valuable to me. Very valuable."

"My Lord knows I seek only to serve him. But--let me go and find

the boy, my Lord. Let me bring him to you. I know I can--"

"I have told you, no!" said Voldemort, and Harry caught the lgint

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 605