As I was rereading Deathly Hallows this weekend I was thinking about how I would have changed the Harry Potter stories. I am sure we have all done this because there are so many characters/scenes and everyone has such different opinions that no one will ever be satisfied. For example, if you are a Neville fan I am sure you would have wanted more action from him, or a Draco fan you would have wanted him to behave more bravely at the end, etc. My favorite character throughout the books has been Snape.
I guess I like Snape for several reasons. I feel he is the most interesting character in the series. Everyone is either good or bad with no real gray in the fight between Harry and Voldemort, except Snape. I also like him the best because I feel like his character is the one that most closely resembles mine in real life. One of the great things about the Internet is anonymity of it all, so I can say quite openly that I would probably be in Slytherin. Of course, I am not evil and want to purge the world of half-breeds, a la Hitler/voldemort, but I think that I can be rather selfish and cunning. Also, Snape was intelligent and proud, but also rather shy with an almost depressing demeanor. So in my Harry Potter Universe, Snape is the one I like to read about. Even though it seems the Harry Potter screenwriter is going out of his way to not include Snape’s best moments, I thought JK always did a good job with involving Snape in the books, with the exception of the Deathly Hallows. I understand that the book’s main focus obviously had to be Harry and the horcrux search, but I mean just dedicating half a chapter to Hogwart’s life with Snape as headmaster would not have killed her. Also, I hated the fact that my beloved Snape got the worst death of any Harry Potter character, with maybe the exception of Fred who died by a stupid, random explosion. Snape was DD’s most trusted and valuable ally against Voldemort, lived almost the last 20 years of his life in remorse, never seemed to have lived a happy moment, and he died in a plastic bubble to a snake. Gross. So I wanted to write my own Harry Potter chapter and give Snape the Die Hard type death/ending he deserved. Don’t be too critical as I have never written a Harry Potter story. I hope Snape fans enjoy feel this is a better ending.
My chapter begins on Page 641 of the US version (midway through the elder wand chapter) and would theoretically have replaced the end of the wand chapter and and slightly altered the scene of the final battle. I will begin with JK’s words in italics and then write what I would have wanted to read.
“You need to find out where Voldemort is, because he’ll have the snake with him, won’t he?” Do it, Harry --- look inside him!”
Why was it so easy? Because his scare had been burning for hours, yearning to show him Voldemort’s thoughts? He closed his eyes on her command, and at once, the screams and the bangs and all the discordant sounds of the battle were drowned until they became distant, as though he stood far, far away from them…
He was standing in the middle of a desolate but strangely familiar room, with peeling paper on the walls and all the windows boarded except for one. The sounds of the assault on the castle were muffled and distant. The single unblocked window revealed distant bursts of light where the castle stood, but inside the room it was dark except for a solitary lamp.
He was rolling his wand between his fingers, watching it, his thoughts on the room in the castle, the secret room only he had ever found, the room, like the Chamber, that you had to be clever cunning and inquisitive to discover. . . . He was confident that the boy would not find the diadem. . . . although Dumbledore’s puppet had come much farther that he had ever expected. . . too far. . .
“Please my Lord. Let me enter the fray at the school. I will find another wand and help fight the half-bloods that are defying you,” begged a voice in a dark corner of the room. He turned and stared at Lucius Malfoy with no hate or anger, but complete indifference.
“Do not lie to me Lucius! You have no more desire to run into the school and begin fighting children than I do. You want to look for your cowardly son who did not come and join me as the rest of the Slytherins did. Where is he Lucius? I thought perhaps he would be more worthy than his pathetic father.”
“My Lord. He is loyal to our cause. I am sure he is in the castle helping fight for you,” hissed Lucius. “If you could only let me join him. . . please. . .I could capture Potter for you.”
“No! Stop your complaining. If he is dead it is his own fault. And Potter will have found me by the time this ends. Now go and fetch me Snape. There is something very important that I need him to do for me. He is in the headmaster office.”
“And then what do you ask of me once I have found Severus? May I help my son in battle?”
He looked at Lucius as one might look at a slightly irritating fly. “Tell Snape to come to me and then you can fight in the castle and look for your son. But do not hold out hope, Lucius. I can feel that your son maybe dead already.”
Malfoy quickly got up from the corner and stumbled mightily towards the entrance of the room. As he crossed the threshold and headed for the castle he head a yell from behind ----
“The password is Dumbledore.”
With a gasp, Harry pulled back and opened his eyes; at the same moment his ears were assaulted with the screeches and cries, the smashed and bangs of battle.
“He is in the shrieking shack. He just sent Lucius Malfoy to get Snape, because he wants Snape to help him, or do something, or---“, cried Harry.
“He is just sitting in the shack? He isn’t even fighting?” asked Hermoine as a stunning spell flew by.
“No. He reckons he doesn’t have to just yet. Listen I am going to head of Malfoy and Snape first. If Voldemort needs Snape at this moment it must be very important.”
“No Harry. We have to get to the shack. Voldemort, well Nagini, is out main priority right now. Come on!” yelled Hermoine over the roar of battle.
“Can we do something instead of just standing here!” yelled Ron, who was itching to fight someone. “Let’s go to the shack.”
“No! Look we can’t fight Voldemort and Snape at the same time. Plus we are so close to the headmaster’s office and the shack is all the way across campus. Lets take Snape first.” Implored Harry and he began to set off for the headmaster’s office. “Come on!”
The three of them ran across the hallway firing stunning spells whenever they could. Death eaters seemed to be everywhere and Harry could see dozens of bodies lying on the floor. As Harry rounded the corner he spotted a group of four death eaters coming up a stair well.
“There he is! Avada Kedavra!” yelled a hooded death eater as he aimed the killing curse at Harry.
Harry tripped over a body on the floor and flew down the hallway. He turned around in time to see the curse fly between Hermoine and Ron, who were rounding the corner, and smash into the stone wall behind them. The death eaters had climbed up the stair and were in between Harry and the others.
“REDUCTO!” screamed Ron as he shot his spell over the heads of the death eaters. The destructive spell hit the roof of the hallway between Harry and the death eaters and collapsed the section it hit separating Harry from the fight. “Run Harry, Run!” yelled Hermoine.
“NO! Wait! No!” screamed Harry as dove from the falling stones. He could year hear the yells and jeers from the death eaters as they ran towards Ron and Hermoine, but he could not go to help them. Crushed rock and debris blocked his path. “Evanesco! EVANESCO” yelled Harry as he shot spell after spell into the collapsed rocks but they did not vanish. He heard a scream from the other side of the rubble and told himself it came from a death eater. He wiped the tears from his eyes, threw on his invisibility cloak, and headed for the headmaster’s office.
As he ran Harry thought of everyone he had lost; Sirius, his parents, Mad Eye, Dumbledore, Hedwig, and now Fred. If Ron and Hermoine now suffered because he didn’t want to head straight to the shack. . . . No, it wasn’t his fault. It was Voldemort’s, and the death eaters. They had caused him to live a painful existence. They had taken everything from him..….and Snape’s fault, Harry thought as the gargoyles came into view. Snape lay behind those statues and anger coursed through Harry’s veins. It gave him purpose and strength as he tore down the hallway and whipped of his cloak. Luna and Neville cam crashing through a door and fell into the corridor behind him, dueling with a tall death eater. Neville shot a stunning spell at him from the ground and as his hood flew off Harry could see it was Yaxley.
“Levicorpus!” Harry shouted and Yaxley dropped his wand as he was yanked upside down by his ankles. Harry ran over and helped Luna get up as Neville stepped on Yaxley’s wand and broke it in two.
“Thanks Harry! There are more of em on the floor below us” said Neville and he jerked his head towards the stairs. “Come on!” he said and stumbled towards the stairs.
“You guys go ahead, I have to go this way” replied Harry.
“Yea, thanks Harry” Luna said serenely as if she was unaware that there was a huge battle raging around her. “He looks funny hanging like that” Luna giggled as she gazed up at Yaxley.
“Luna what are you doing? Come on!” Neville sputtered as he dragged Luna by her arm towards the stairs. Luna was still staring up at Yaxley as she disappeared down the stairs.
Harry looked up at Yaxley and grinned. “You know she was right, Yaxley. You look like a moron hanging around like that.” Yaxley was squirming around and trying to force his way onto the ground and spat at Harry when he heard his name called.
“Stupefy!” yelled Harry and Yaxley was sent flying down the hallway and into the foremost gargoyle statue. He bounced off the now destroyed statue and into the feet of a hooded death eater who had run up to the gargoyle statues that guarded the headmaster’s office.
“Harry? Harry Potter?” exclaimed the death eater incredulously. He started slowly walking towards Harry as if he could not believe his eyes. “Harry Potter all alone with nowhere to hide? I can’t believe it.” hissed the death eater as he removed his wand from a sheath on his belt.
“Careful what you wish for Lucius.” Harry retorted. “You might end up like your pal on the ground.”
Lucius stopped walking towards Harry and looked momentarily stunned. He then removed his mask and threw it aside. “How did you know it was me, Potter?”
“I can tell your awkward step and horrible smell from a mile away.”
“You never did show the proper respect to you superiors, did you Potter? You insolent little---”
“Your many things Lucius, but you are nobody’s superior.”
“Allow me to teach you some manners, Potter.” Malfoy spat. He ripped of his cloak and threw it in the air towards Harry. “Incarcerous!” yelled Malfoy as the cloak fell and obscured him from Harry’s view. Ropes shot out from Malfoy’s wand and ripped through the cloak towards Harry.
“Protego!” yelled Harry and the ropes bounced harmlessly off the shield to the ground. “Come on Lucius.” Harry cried as he ran towards the death eater. Hate was flowing though him and he was dueling more recklessly than ever. “Expelliarmus!”
Lucius blocked the spell with a flick of his wand, crouched and yelled “Flagrate!”. Flames spat from his wand and began to envelope Harry. Harry came to a halt and threw off his robes, which had caught fire.
“Exstinguo” he yelled and pointed the wand and the growing ring of fire around him. The flames immediately dissipated with a loud hiss and Harry could feel the air around him become much cooler. He heard Malfoy yell something and he dove to the side as something hot whipped through the air and opened a deep cut along his left arm. He pointed his wand with his right hand and yelled “Petrificus Totalus” right before he hit the ground. The spell hit Malfoy broad across his chest and he fell to the ground with a sickening crunch. “Sectusempra is dark magic, Malfoy” said Harry as we walked up to the fallen death eater who was lying on the floor as rigid as a board. Harry stepped over him and said “Dumbledore” to the remaining gargoyle and it leapt aside immediately. Harry put on foot on the steps leading to the headmaster’s office, stopped and wheeled around to walk over to Malfoy. “I learnt this from your son.” Harry said as he stepped down on Lucius’ nose. It broke with a sickening crunch and blood began to pour profusely onto the ground. Harry then pointed his wand directly at Lucius’ heart and held it there for a few seconds as if he was debating something. Someone yelled from down the corridor and Harry snapped out of his reverie, turned around and sprinted up the steps, leaving Lucius soaked in his own blood.
Harry took the stairs two at a time and his heart was pounding by the time he reached the door to the headmaster’s office. Inside was the man who had tried to make his time at Hogwarts a living hell. Inside was the man who gave Voldemort the information that led to his parent’s death. Inside was the man who had goaded Sirius relentlessly and spurred him to leave the safety of Grimmauld Place and ultimately to his death. Inside was the man who had killed Dumbledore. Harry pointed his wand at the door and yelled “Alohomora!” As the lock turned Harry kicked open the door and rushed in.
“Avada Ke—“ Harry began but he could not finish the spell. His tongue had rolled back into his mouth and made it impossible for him to speak. Snape was sitting serenely in the headmaster’s throne like chair and just finished calmly waving his wand at Harry. All the portraits in the room were empty and there was a fireplace cackling in the background. Dumbledore’s instruments seemed to have been replaced by drawings and several bottles of potions and Fawke’s cage was empty, but it looked very similar to how the previous headmaster kept the office. Snape sat there and just stared with a small smile on his face, which incensed Harry further.
“You want to kill me Harry?! Using unforgivable curses now, are we?” Snape exclaimed. Harry stuck his wand back in his pocket and sprinted to wards Snape. He leapt over a small table, sidestepped a chair and picked up poker from the fireplace and kept running. As he reached the desk he tried to jump over the desk and strike Snape with the poker. With one flick of his wand Snape sent Harry flying backward into a chair.
“You never were able to control your emotions.” Snape said as he got up. Harry couldn’t move and his tongue was still rolled into the back of his mouth. His anger, turned to fear and panic as Snape approached. In his haste to get revenge, he had become sidetracked and now nothing would stop Voldemort. He forced himself to look at Snape and promised himself he would not cower when death came. His eyes widened as Snape raised his wand and reached into his robes, but Harry’s fear quickly changed to confusion. Snape had removed the Pensive from his robes and laid it on Harry’s lap. He then bent down and stared into Harry’s eyes as he raised his wand to his forehead removed thought after thought from his mind and put them into the Pensive. As the last gossamer strand stretched and then broke away from his temple, Snape took his wand from his forehead and stirred around the memories in the Pensive. His eyes never wavered from Harry’s as he spoke, “After you see these you will know what to do. Do not hesitate and act quickly. And now I have to report to the Dark Lord.” Snape said quietly. When he reached the door, he turned around and waved his wand at Harry removing the tongue tying and body bind curse. “Good luck Potter” Snape said and disappeared in the billows of his cloak before a bewildered Harry could respond.
Here is where “The Prince’s Tale” chapter would begin. Then the novel would continue to final battle. At the point where Harry is walking around the Great Hall in his invisibility cloak, Molly is fighting is Bellatrix, and McGonagall, Slughorn and Kingsley are fighting Voldemort, Snape would make his entrance.
Harry was still undecided as to who to help, when there was a loud shattering of glass to his left. Something dark swooped in and landed on the floor near the dueling Bellatrix and Molly. Snape had landed hard on the ground and through off his cloak. Mrs. Weasley yelled in shock and turned her attention to Snape. Snape’s face was bloodied and his clothes were torn from head to toe. Mrs. Weasley swung around to face Snape and fired off two rapid spells at Snape, who parried each with a flick of his wand and continued to approached her. Harry flung of his cloak and tore off toward the fighters. “Don’t! He’s with us!” he yelled at Mrs. Weasley.
The sudden appearance of Harry caused a great cry from the crowd.
“It’s Harry Potter!” “He’s alive, it’s a miracle!” “I don’t believe it!”
Mrs. Weasley turned around, drawn by the shouts from the crowd. Bellatrix took advantage of Mrs. Weasley’s lapse in concentration and shot a curse headed squarely for Molly’s chest and Harry felt a familiar sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Except that instead of Mrs. Weasley being blasted back from the power of the curse, a silver net appeared out of thin air in front of her and caught the deadly curse. Snape had pointed his wand at Mrs. Weasley and was muttering furiously to the net, trying to completely stop the momentum of the spell that was still headed towards Mrs. Weasley while wrapped in the net.
Bellatrix was stunned and was yelling at Snape. “What are you doing Severus?! Stop it, your traitor!”
Members of the order who had been watching the two simultaneous battles with rapt attention had started towards Snape upon his appearance, but they too had stopped in shock at what they were seeing. Voldemort turned quickly at hearing Snape’s name being called and his face registered total shock at seeing Snape alive and fighting. He shot a spell at Kingsley and spun on the spot, appearing within feet of Snape. Without any hesitation Voldemort pointed his wand at Snape and said in quiet, but forceful voice “This is the second time I will have to kill you Severus.” Snape looked at Voldemort, but did not raise his wand to defend himself. Instead he turned back towards Mrs. Weasley and pulled his wand toward him. The net closed tighter around Bellatrix’s curse and forced it to the ground inches in front of Mrs. Weasley’s feet.
“Avada Kedavra!” screamed Voldemort and green light shot from his wand. Snape glanced back towards Harry and was staring at him as the killing curse blasted into his back He was slammed into the ground and skidded to a halt in middle of the great hall……….
And then the books finishes. Anyway, that’s how I wish JK ended the book and gave Snape slightly more befitting death, then being devoured by a giant snake in a bubble.
