Chapter Text
It took over a year to come up with a way to try removing the horcrux. Hermione and Regulus helped Professor Flitwick, although Regulus still couldn't set foot on the Hogwarts’ grounds due to the anti-Death Eater measures that would stay in effect. When Regulus’s help was required, they would meet at No 12 Grimmauld Place. Regulus brought with him the Elder Wand, which both Hermione and Flitwick were fascinated by.
Regulus refused to reveal the identity of the Elder Wand's current master, for reasons he felt should be obvious. Flitwick and Hermione had some suspicions about this, including wondering if Regulus was secretly the master. This was soon put to rest, as the wand did not properly obey him. It performed well under Hermione’s direction and best under Flitwick's, but it resisted all of them and they could all sense it had potential they weren't coming close to reaching.
During the year, Nagini stayed with Hagrid and lived on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid managed to track down a recipe for a potion that would imbue the user with parseltongue for a few hours, and convinced Slughorn to produce it in exchange for ingredients that Hagrid had access to through his time in the forest, such as acromantula venom and unicorn hairs. Hagrid and Nagini had many pleasant chats thanks to the potion.
McGonagall had also made use of the potion. She was trying to decide what to do with the snake, in the event they could remove the piece of Voldemort’s soul. To her surprise, Nagini was a pleasant conversational companion. Her knowledge of the magical world was fascinating, as she was well over a century old and had been more closely involved in the war against Grindelwald than McGonagall could have imagined.
The maledictus had far more to offer than being used as an executioner by a Dark Lord.
It was the week after Harry’s 19th birthday that they felt they had something workable.
“I wouldn't get your hopes up, though,” Flitwick had warned Harry as he handed over the instructions, “I've barely been able to identify the presence of the horcrux. Removing it without killing the snake may be impossible, even with the Elder Wand.”
Harry nodded, taking the parchment.
“It would be fascinating to watch,” Hermione said hopefully.
“I don't know if… the master would be comfortable with that,” Harry said apologetically.
Hermione looked a bit put out but accepted this.
—
The truth was that Draco barely wanted to touch the wand, and certainly didn't want an audience for this attempt which would likely fail. He had come around to it, and had even spoken to Nagini a few times to get comfortable with the idea of being around her. It helped that his relationship with Harry had progressed and he'd heard more about the adventures Harry and his friends had gotten up to.
Attempting to remove a piece of soul from a snake was considerably less dangerous than fighting a basilisk whilst a piece of soul ordered the beast to kill you, after all. A certain amount of reckless danger and unprecedented magic seemed to be a part of having Harry in one's life, and Draco had decided it was well worth it.
It was something that Harry appreciated. He was hopeful this would be the last time.
The year had not been kind to Draco.
He had wanted to do a potions mastery, but the only potions master willing to take him on as an apprentice had turned out to be a Voldemort sympathizer who assumed Draco took after his father and would want to put muggles in their place. It hadn't immediately been obvious, and once it became clear Draco had had a breakdown because he felt incapable of moving on from his family's baleful legacy.
It might have helped his reputation to be dating the savior, which only made him more adamant for it not to come out – he wanted to deserve it. Because everyone in their immediate family and friends knew, Harry didn't mind… Mostly.
The attempt to remove the soul piece in Nagini became the only project Draco really had. It was likely to fail, was considered impossible, and meant wielding arguably the most dangerous artifact in their world.
Draco approached it with a grim determination.
Regulus had arranged to transport Nagini, with the help of Harry and Sirius, to No 12 Grimmauld Place for the attempt.
They congregated in the formal dining room, which hadn’t been used in decades. Kreacher had removed the furniture from it and then dusted and cleaned. The decor was dark and foreboding, which was perhaps appropriate for the task.
When Harry and Sirius arrived, Draco and Regulus were waiting in the room. Kreacher was cooking dinner downstairs, happily oblivious to the presence of a serpent that could eat him whole.
Draco flinched when he saw the snake, shrinking away from it. Harry realized that it was possible Draco had bad memories associated with her, and felt guilty.
“You don’t have to…” Harry said nervously.
Sirius gave him an exasperated look, Regulus seemed amused. Draco rolled his eyes, “Bit late for that now.”
“No, it’s not… I mean… if you really don’t want to…”
“It’s fine, Harry,” Draco said, reading over the scroll that had been prepared for him.
Draco and Regulus had drawn out a large circle on the floor, surrounded by runes that would facilitate the magic. Inside was a golden bracelet that they'd attempt to move the soul piece into before destroying it. Gold apparently took best to housing souls, which may have been why half of Voldemort’s horcruxes had been made of it.
When she saw the rune inscribed circle, Nagini pulled back.
“This is what he did,” she hissed, looking sharply at Harry, “What are they doing to me?”
“She says this looks like what Voldemort did,” Harry said, looking at Regulus, “She’s suspicious.”
“It was altered from the horcrux creation process,” Regulus explained, “But it’s spelled to be able to undo it.”
Harry explained this to Nagini, who nodded and reluctantly made her way into the circle when instructed to. She looked uncomfortable.
“You’ll need this,” Regulus said, handing the Elder Wand to Draco.
Draco wrapped his fingers around it uneasily. A shiver ran through him as he made contact with the wand and he closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
“This thing is dangerous,” he murmured, sounding as though he was trying to remind himself. Harry shifted uneasily, hoping he hadn’t made a mistake.
As Draco prepared himself, Harry translated for Nagini everything he was doing. She was a bit more at ease but still highly skeptical about the whole thing. Harry couldn’t blame her. If the last time he’d been in a situation, he’d gotten a piece of Voldemort stuck in him, he wouldn’t want to be in that situation again, either.
Regulus and Sirius set up protection spells around the space to help contain the magic, just to be safe, although Sirius kept making wry remarks about how nothing would be lost if the old Black house got destroyed in the process and Regulus kept shooting him dirty looks.
When the time came, Draco called Harry over. He grabbed Harry by the collar and pulled him close, pressing their lips together.
“I needed to remind myself why I'm doing this,” Draco said, turning to face the snake.
“Thank you,” Harry said.
Draco began reciting the incantation with the accompanying wand movements. As he did, a silvery glow came over Nagini. It began to rise from her, reminding Harry of a memory rising from a pensieve, and then took the form of an old woman. Harry suspected this was what she would have looked like, were she not a maledictus. Within the torso of the glowing form was a tangled, black mass. Its tendrils reached out like vines, twisting through the woman’s body.
“That’s her soul, with the horcrux inside it,” Regulus narrated and Draco nodded, furrowing his brow as he looked at the glowing form in front of him.
Draco read over the instructions, then shook his head and stepped towards the circle. Regulus and Sirius both moved to stop him.
“Let him,” Harry said, “I don’t think she’ll hurt him.”
“I won’t,” grumbled Nagini, eyeing Draco warily.
Draco hesitated before stepping into the circle, holding up his wand and running it in the air around the soul. He repeated this several times, then turned to the parchment in his hands.
“If I do this, it’ll rip her soul out of her body,” Draco said and Nagini jerked her head up in alarm, “The horcrux is too enmeshed, it will pull the soul with it.”
“Then it’s impossible?” Harry asked, feeling his heart sinking.
Draco shook his head, looking between the parchment and the soul, “No…” he lifted his wand and traced it through the projection of the soul, “I just need to separate them first…”
Carefully, Draco reached into the projection with the tip of his wand and began nudging at the end of one of the tendrils. At first it didn’t budge, but with determination, Draco was able to coax it away and back into the center of the black mass.
It was a slow, laborious process, but he was able to repeat it with all of the tendrils, curling the mass back in on itself. Finally he was able to coax the entirety of the black mass away from the gleaming soul, placing his wand inside it and teasing it away like separating the yolk from an egg.
Nagini began to relax as this progressed, humming to herself that it felt better already. Harry reported this and Draco smiled, looking pleased with himself.
“It should be doable now,” Draco said, giving the snake a pat on the head and stepping out of the circle again.
Harry had to resist the urge to run and hug him, aware it could disrupt the magic that Draco was working on. Instead, he held his thumbs up and Draco gave a soft laugh and nodded.
“Okay… Harry, if you could ask her to stay very still for this next part,” Draco said and Harry complied.
“What have I been doing?” the snake – who in truth had moved very, very little since arriving – asked in an irritated voice.
“You’ve been doing great,” Harry said soothingly.
As Draco raised his wand again, it trembled slightly. He paused to reread the instructions on the parchment, then carefully read out the incantation, making sure to carefully enunciate every letter. As he spoke, a sickly green glow formed around the soul fragment that Draco had extracted.
Towards the end of the recitation, the golden bracelet rose from the ground towards the soul fragment. The black mass transferred into it. The bracelet was surrounded by the green glow, shook violently, then fell to the ground with a loud clink.
Everyone in the room went still, staring at the innocuous looking piece of jewelry.
“Alright,” Draco said after a moment, turning to the projection of Nagini’s soul, “I just need to release this, and then we should be finished.”
Once again he turned to the parchment, reading over the final instructions several times before he handed the parchment to Harry and faced Nagini. He raised his wand and made a complicated series of arcs while firmly saying, “Anima redito.”
The glowing image of the woman sank back into Nagini, who briefly glowed silvery before it faded out. The pulse of magic in the air settled down.
It was done.
Harry guided Nagini out of the circle, asking her how she felt. Sirius began wiping the circle off of the floor. Regulus took out a basilisk fang and brought the bracelet into a corner of the large dining hall to destroy it.
The final horcrux was gone.
Voldemort was mortal once more.
“You have my thanks,” Nagini said to Harry, “I had accepted my death. I did not imagine any would try to save me, after what I had done.”
“Someone needed to try,” Harry said quietly.
—
This left the question of what to do with a massive, sentient snake.
She had permission to stay at Hagrid’s until term started. Hagrid would, of course, be happy to have her permanently, but the headmistress needed to decide whether it was worth the potential risk to the students.
Sirius and Harry helped Nagini back to the school through the floo in the Entry Hall, where Hagrid greeted her happily. Professor McGonagall was there as well.
“Is it done?” McGonagall asked, looking between the two wizards.
They both nodded.
“Dr– the, er, the Elder Wand’s master was able to do it,” Harry said proudly, faltering as his eagerness to share what Draco had gotten ahead of his knowledge that Draco didn’t want anyone to know he was involved. McGonagall smiled knowingly and nodded.
“The piece of Voldemort’s soul was transferred into an item of jewelry that’s already been destroyed by a basilisk fang,” Sirius added.
“How are you feeling, Ms Nagini?” McGonagall asked the snake, and Harry realized that the headmistress had taken the potion that would allow her to speak parseltongue.
Nagini took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her coils relaxing around her, “Free.”
“Now that this matter has been resolved, I would like to offer you an interview for a professor position. We’ve been overdue for a new History of Magic professor,” McGonagall told the snake.
“How would that work? No one could understand her,” Harry asked, baffled.
“I have been considering this for several months, Mr Potter. We can arrange her classroom to be enchanted to allow everyone to understand parseltongue,” McGonagall explained, “and have one of the house elves act as her assistant.”
“You… wish to offer me a job?” Nagini asked, perplexed, “Here? Working with children?”
“I wish to offer you an interview, Ms Nagini,” McGonagall clarified firmly, “Whether it will result in a job offer has yet to be seen. You certainly have a perspective on our history that no one else can match.”
The snake stared at the Scottish witch for a long moment before nodding her head.
—
For the first time in years, Harry stood in front of Remus’s cottage in the woods.
Since Remus and Sirius had moved into Alphard’s old place, there had been no need to use this safe house. It was protected under stasis spells, Harry’s first proper bedroom preserved.
After everything that had happened, Harry wanted some time away from… everyone. Well, almost everyone.
“It’s… quaint,” Draco said, eyeing the overgrown garden with distaste.
“It’s private,” Harry pointed out, squeezing his hand, “No one around for miles.”
Draco pressed his lips together and nodded, letting himself be led inside to the crowded living area. The small kitchen with the table and three chairs crammed into it. The couch that took up most of the living space. The book shelves overflowing with books and parchment. All the furniture worn and mismatched.
Harry looked over it, remembering how three of them had fit into it. When he’d first visited, it had felt like freedom. It felt so small, now.
“Is… this the sort of place you’d like to live?” Draco asked, his tone careful.
“I’ve never thought about it,” Harry admitted, “Growing up, my aunt and uncle made me sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, so even a bedroom felt like a grand luxury. Then I’ve spent so much time being chased by Voldemort,” Draco flinched at the name, “that I never really stopped to think what I wanted,” he went over and sat on the aged couch, pulling Draco with him, “now… it’s all fully, really, completely over and I just want to spend some time on my own,” he smiled, kissing Draco’s cheek, “On my own with you, of course.”
“Mm,” Draco said, leaning his head on Harry’s shoulder, “My whole life had been planned out for me before I was born. My parents were even in talks with the Greengrass family about arranging a betrothal with one of their daughters. Now, my father’s in Azkaban and my mother’s a blood traitor, and my name is mud. It doesn’t matter what I want to do, no one will let me do it.”
“You did well with the potions apprenticeship,” Harry offered.
“They only wanted me because they thought I’d support their pro-pureblood stances,” Draco said with a sigh, “It’s alright. It’s not like I need to work. I suppose I’m being quite selfish about it, really.”
“I think it’s okay to want to do something with your life,” Harry said, taking Draco’s hand and running his thumb over his knuckles, “We’ve got time to figure it out.”
—
At Alphard’s old house, Teddy was toddling around the living room, running after a great black cat who kept twitching his tail irritably as if he didn't appreciate the child's game while making sure to be slow enough that Teddy could catch him.
Remus and Sirius were watching fondly, settled on the couch, wands at the ready in case a cushioning charm was needed to protect the eager but unsteady child.
It was an unpleasantly hot August day, but inside the cooling charms were running and ice pops were readily available.
“So, Harry’s off on his staycation,” Sirius mused after Teddy and Regulus settled into their game.
“Mhm,” Remus hummed.
“Voldemort’s in prison, the last horcrux is destroyed, all the Deathly Hallows are accounted for,” Sirius added.
“Whatever will we do with ourselves now?” Remus asked with a smile, looking more relaxed and content than Sirius had ever seen him.
“You know my suggestion,” Sirius smirked.
“I don't think that raunchy werewolf novels will have the effect on creature rights that you're hoping for, Pads,” Remus said, rolling his eyes.
Sirius gave a barking laugh and kissed him.