Heads up, the first half of this prelude, after the first two line breaks, is mostly from the OotP. I needed it to set up things down the road. I do not own Harry Potter. Oh, and I am a fan of Studio C. Any scenes that you recognize from any of the episodes belong to them and not to me. Not guaranteeing I will use them, but it is a possibility, so heads up. The saber-toothed Bunnybat ™ is not of my creation. I do not remember where I read about it, just know that I do not own it. The first chapter will be up soon.
The country was a wasteland. Mud and craters pockmarked the land, and all the villages in the area had been pulverized and burned to the ground. A dark gray mist hung in the air, further increasing the gloomy atmosphere. A lone man stomped up the path to the ruins of an ancient castle in Scotland, which had originally been used as a school for young wizards. The moon broke through the clouds for a moment and bathed the face of the wizard in light for a moment. He seemed relatively young, only in his very early twenties, but his face and his eyes spoke differently. The green fire sparkling in them, in stark contrast to his raven black hair, caught and held the eyes. They give the impression of one who was world weary, old, who seen the worst of what hell had to offer and had defeated it. They were the eyes of one much older than he. He shivered slightly, as mud squelched into his boot through numerous small holes that had resulted from constant use. He drew his black duster close around his upper body as he continued on, seemingly unaware of his surroundings, yet nothing moved or twitched without his seeing it. His thoughts drifted back to the past.
What fools they had all been. What a fool he had been. He had given everything, every ounce of heart and sweat and blood. And yet, in the end, it was a pyrrhic victory. He had severed himself from the world, from those around him. Those who had cared for him. Of course, he doubted any were still living. Though he had never raised a hand to any of them, slowly, one by one, they drifted away from him, or made their excuses and created some distance between them. All because of his focus and drive. It didn't help that most of the few remaining safe houses had been discovered or betrayed. Among his so-called devoted army, there had proved to be no lack of volunteers who would do anything for the promise of protection and a bit of gold.
He paused, lowering his head for a moment, standing at the entrance to what used to be the great hall, before Hogwarts had been attacked six years ago, and forced to be abandoned. His hand reached out gently, tracing the runes of the decorations that had once greeted the faces of eager young students who had come up the way, fresh faced and eager, ready, in their youthful ignorance, to take on the world. So many had died here. So many… He forced himself to clear his mind for a moment. He gathered his magic until the air seemed to snap and crackle around him with the force. Then he raised his glowing green orbs from the ground and strode through the ruins of the doors which had once so proudly stood, lofty and tall. The enchanted ceiling had long since been destroyed, leaving the real night sky to shine overhead. As he spotted the man standing at the other end of the room, the mist and fog split above their heads and let the stars bear witness what was about to happen.
The man strode out into the light, revealing his reptilian and pasty white face. The face that had inflicted terror across Britain for years. The face that was the last thing many muggleborn witches and wizards had seen before they departed this plane. "Ok Harry." His voice boomed across the ruins. He paused, before looking at the young wizard expectantly. He twitched in annoyance that he somehow knew about that, though he could clearly see what the aim was here. Voldemort was making a mockery of the Gryffindor teams' pre-game tradition to try to irritate him, and it was working. He grudgingly said the next line.
"And Tom." He stated sarcastically.
"And Tom." Lord Voldemort agreed. "This is it."
"The big one." Harry continued.
"The one we have all been waiting for." They both chorused. As one, they flicked their wands into their hands and stared each other down.
"This ends here." Harry snarled in anger.
Voldemort did not respond except for cocking his head to one side. "Must it? We are not so very different, you and I. It doesn't need to end this way."
"Yes, it does." Harry stated coldly.
Riddle bowed his head as he acquiesced. "Very well. You have been a worthy opponent all these years, but this finally comes to an end. You have come much farther than I ever dreamed you would, delved to new depths in order to destroy me. Your single minded obsession has cost both you and the wizarding world in the end though. You were correct, this ends tonight. With your death. Goodbye Harry."
"Goodbye Tom." Harry responded. He might hate the man, but he could not deny that he had been an equal match, in his constant hunting of the dark lord throughout the years. Finally, he had forced a confrontation, and indeed, one way or another, it would end tonight.
The wands came up at the same moment, brothers both, aiming at the wizard across from their owners. The two wizards, the strongest of their age, focused all their motivation into their next pair of words, which were spoken simultaneously. "Avada Kedavra." From Voldemort, it was barely a whisper, while for Harry it was a loud bellow that evoked memories of all he had lost, before packaging his pain and regret into the words. The two streaks of green light streaked towards each other, skating by each other by mere inches. Neither attempted to move out of the way of the killing curse. Harry's eyes met Voldemort's in the moment before the curses connected, as the vision of them both went black.
(Line break)
Harry's eyes shot open with a start, to see only a blank expanse of white surrounding him in every direction. The white was so bright it almost blinded him. He put the heels of his hand over his eyes to protect them as he listened to the two voices.
"Interesting," mused one, who had a very deep and regal sounding voice. "A simultaneous death for both, cast by identical curses from brother wands. I must say, that is not how I expected this to end."
A light female voice answered him, tinkling lightly. Just the sound of her voice was enough to call up his fondest memories involuntarily, sounding like the babbling of water in a brook. "Mayhap not. But don't give me that, you might not have, quote, 'expected' it, unquote, but you knew it would happen. Yet neither of them is truly dead. You know what the options left are."
"Yes… That is true. Yet I am loath to make any of the three decisions. The one would not do anyone any good, and this scene would merely repeat itself further down the road. The other would be giving them both a second chance. Would it be fair to remove all the souls currently resting in peace just so that young Mr. Potter here has another chance that he messed up on the first time? I am of half a mind simply to throw them both into torment, their souls are certainly dark enough."
"But the one did it with full knowledge, and the other thought he had no choice, and did what he thought was required. Yes, they both have blood on their hands, but the circumstances are vastly different, and as such it would be unjust to punish them both by the same standard." The female voice pointed out.
"All right." The deep voice conceded. "You have a fair point. In that case, we will leave it up to the souls of those who would be affected by the second shot. All those in favor of returning them both?" No sound was made for a few moments before the creaking of a rocking chair was heard as the male voice sat back. "A unanimous vote." He said in an amused tone of voice. "All of them are willing to be removed and possibly go through torment again. I have not seen such faith in many centuries. In that case, I should probably prepare to send them back."
"Wait! Do we really want them to go back with all their knowledge? Could the boy even live with the knowledge of what happened?"
"Then I will wipe both of their memories from the point I will place them at backwards, with the exception of their name. Is that acceptable?" Harry could not see it, but he got the impression the female voice nodded. "Then here we go." Harry heard the snap of fingers before he knew no more.
(line break)
Emerald eyes snapped open with a gasp, as Harry staggered in midstride. He dropped back for a moment, bracing himself against a wall as he motioned on for the other kids around him to move ahead. One had seen the momentary flash of… something… in his face and also halted, peering into his face inquisitively. "Harry, what's wrong?"
Harry looked at the boy, who had a slightly pudgy face. He frowned for a moment. "What is your name again?" He asked curiously. He had the felling he should know this boy, but he could not put a name to the face.
"Neville. Neville Longbottom. We have known each other since first year. Are you trying to play a prank? Because if you are, it's not a very good one. Besides, now is not the right time for joshing around."
"First year?" Harry parroted back at him, confused. "What is that?"
"You really don't remember? Oh, I get it. You want me to play along with your joke. Okay. In that case, we all go to a school in Scotland called Hogwarts School for wizardry and witchcraft. The years for the students are first through seventh. Although I should amend my earlier statement, you knew my name since first year. Didn't stop you and your buddies from stunning me though." He muttered under his breath resentfully.
Harry heard it and winced. "Uh… Sorry?" He apologized weakly.
Neville waved a hand at him, barely acknowledging it. "Eh. We can worry about that later. Anyway, we are here to rescue your godfather, who is being tortured in the department of mysteries in the lowest level of the Ministry of Magic by You-know-who, which houses the magical government. That's Luna, Ginny, Hermione, etc. Did I miss anything?"
"Who is you-know who?" Inwardly, Harry snickered. 'You-know-who? What a stupid name. How would anyone even know who they are talking about?'
"You know…" Neville trailed off, hoping that Harry would let it drop.
"No, I actually don't." 'What is his problem? It's just a name. What harm can it do?'
"V-V-Voldemort. Anything else?" Neville finally stammered out, forcing the word from between his lips like it caused him pain.
"No." Harry agreed, trying to put him at ease, mind frantically racing to put the pieces together, trying to deflect any attention by playing along.
He looked up and scowled. A redhead was coming towards him, interested by Neville and Harry not keeping up with the group.
"Harry, mate, are you all right?" The redhead asked, moving closer. Harry glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, attention still on the boy apparently named Neville. He recognized this type of boy, oh yes. The not so smart and clever ones, who would tag along with the people better than them to bask in the reflected fame and glory. The jealous ones, who would always abandon you when you needed it most. You could never count on them. They only had their own best interests in mind.
"I am fine, thank you." He stated coolly, hoping the boy would get the message and leave. 'Go away!' He was shouting in his head. 'I need to find out what is going on here!' The boy did not catch the unspoken message and creeped closer, cocking his head.
"Are you sure? You don't look alright." He asked, somewhat rhetorically.
Harry cocked an eyebrow at him, irritated at his denseness. "I am sneaking around the main government building for all the wizards in the country. I am out at almost midnight, breaking curfew, trespassing laws, and probably another dozen or so as well on top of that. I could get expelled or killed if anything goes wrong. On top of all that, I have a crazed megalomaniac with a massive ego complex constantly bothering me, by messing with my head. So thank you, everything's just peachy!" He snapped, turning away, wondering to himself how he knew all that instinctively.
He felt a small twinge of regret at the harshness; he had not meant to be quite so rough on him. Eh. He squashed it down. 'I can worry about that later. Right now I need to concern myself with not getting us all killed. His feelings can wait.'
The hurt look on his face faded to indignation. He opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced when the bushy brown haired girl shushed him, before putting her hands on her hips. What was her name again? Oh yes. Hermione Granger. "You know Harry." She began to lecture. "The least you could do is be grateful. We are down here, to rescue your godfather, and risking ourselves in the process! Do you have any idea how many rules and regulations we are breaking right now?" she asked bossily. She began to list them all off. After a moment, he tuned her out, and concentrated on looking for where he wanted to go. At least she had told him who they were here for, and ostensibly why he was important to him. As she continued unabated, not noticing the long suffering look appearing on every face but Luna's, he groaned mentally. 'A teacher's pet, and a know-it-all to boot. Joy. Someone just kill me now.'
(line break)
Harry stared at it. "What is it?" Ron asked, sounding unnerved. "What's your name doing down here?" He glanced along at the other labels on that stretch of shelf. "I'm not here," he said, sounding perplexed. "None of the rest of us are here. . . ."
"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply, as he stretched out his hand.
"Why not?" he said. "It's something to do with me, isn't it? I mean, it has my name on it." 'Come on, grow a backbone, why don't you?' He raged at her mentally. Come to think of it, what was he doing here? He was here for a prophecy, and for Sirius, yes. But why was he obligated to follow this through to the end? This was the Ministry of Magic wasn't it? Surely there was some kind of security force around. They could retire from the field of battle, and let the Aurors rescue Sirius. They would do a much better job than a few teens could. Then, once the mess was mopped up, he could ask to see the prophecy. Mission accomplished. No muss, no fuss. Harry wasn't stupid. He just supposedly happened to get a vision, which showed someone he was apparently close to, in the one room which contained something of interest to Voldemort, who could not retrieve it himself. Why not let Harry get it for him? If Sirius really was here, they would have seen a sign of him by now. Which likely meant that Death Eaters were lurking nearby. As cocky and bold as he may be, he knew when he was beat. It was time to try to find a way out. Discretion is the better part of valor, after all. He was still thinking furiously when a voice broke into his thoughts.
"Don't, Harry," said Neville suddenly. Harry looked around at him. Neville's round face was shining slightly with sweat. He looked as though he could not take much more suspense.
"It's got my name on," said Harry. And feeling slightly reckless, against his better judgment, he closed his fingers around the dusty ball's surface. He had expected it to feel cold, but it did not. On the contrary, it felt as though it had been lying in the sun for hours, as though the glow of light within was warming it. Expecting, even hoping, that something dramatic was going to happen, something exciting that might make their long and dangerous journey worthwhile after all, he lifted the glass ball down from its shelf and stared at it. Nothing whatsoever happened. The others moved in closer around Harry, gazing at the orb as he brushed it free of the clogging dust. And then, from right behind them, a drawling voice said,
"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me." He groaned mentally again. He hated it when his instincts were right. He exasperatedly turned around.
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts. Ginny gave a gasp of horror. "To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up. Harry's insides plummeted sickeningly. They were trapped and outnumbered two to one. "To me," said Malfoy yet again.
"Where's Sirius?" Harry said. Several of the Death Eaters laughed.
A harsh female voice from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!"
"Always," echoed Malfoy softly. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."
"I want to know where Sirius is!"
"I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman to his left. She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry and the others, the light from their wands dazzling Harry's eyes.
"You've got him," said Harry, ignoring the rising panic in his chest, the dread he had been fighting since they had first entered the ninetyseventh row. "He's here. I know he is."
"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," said the woman in a horrible, mock-baby voice. Harry felt Ron stir beside him.
"Don't do anything," he muttered. "Not yet —" The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter.
"You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!"
"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter."
"I know Sirius is here," said Harry, though panic was causing his chest to constrict and he felt as though he could not breathe properly. "I know you've got him!" More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman still laughed loudest of all.
"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," said Malfoy. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."
"Go on, then," said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the five wands of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna rose on either side of him. The knot in Harry's stomach tightened. If Sirius really was not here, he had led his companions to their deaths for no reason at all. . . . But the Death Eaters did not strike.
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly.
It was Harry's turn to laugh. "Yeah, right!" he said. "I give you this — prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?" Please. He knew the only way they were getting out of here intact was through a fight. Even with his memories gone, he saw that lie from a mile away. The words were hardly out of his mouth when the female Death Eater shrieked, "Accio Proph —" Harry was just ready for her. He shouted "Protego!" instinctively before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it.
"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. "Very well, then —"
"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it — !" Harry's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. He had no interest in it. He just wanted to get them all out of this alive, make sure that none of his friends paid a terrible price for his stupidity . . . The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled off her hood. Azkaban had hollowed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow.
"You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well — take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it." Harry felt the others close in around Ginny. He stepped sideways so that he was right in front of her, the prophecy held up to his chest.
"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," he told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?"
"That won't be necessary." Everyone turned to see the source of the calm voice coming from a person with a dark hood pulled over their head, hiding their face in shadow, dressed in the uniform of the Unspeakables. Lucius frowned.
"I thought we got rid of all of you…" He muttered under his breath. "Apparently we missed one. Oh well. If you had been smart you would have stayed out of the way. Now I need to get rid of you. Avada Kedavra!" He barked, the green light streaking from the end of his wand.
The Unspeakable raised his hands and a shimmering silver barrier rose in front of him, intercepting the killing curse. His body trembled with effort as the Unforgivable crashed against the barrier, forcing him to concentrate on holding it at bay. Just as the shield caved and burst, he threw himself sideways, allowing the green light to splash harmlessly past him onto the wall. He tucked himself into a roll and came back to his feet, wand pointing at the awestruck Death Eaters.
"Hah. Unstoppable curse my foot." He murmured. "People always were too terrified of that spell."
"What? How?" Bellatrix spluttered.
The hooded figure smirked. "Please. Like I would tell you what I did, the last thing I need is more knowledge of it to get out. And it did not block it. It just held it off so I could get out of the way. I had hoped for better results. Apparently I need to start over."
"Why would you interfere?" One of the Death Eaters asked. "You may have some spells we have never seen, but you cannot stand up to us."
The hooded figure non-wand hand reached up and pulled the cowl off of his face, revealing the greasy hair of Severus Snape. "Snape?" The Death Eaters and Harry exclaimed at the same time.
The potions master whispered, barely loud enough for the Death Eaters to hear it. "You did not even bother to wonder what I did in my non-teaching time did you? I have a part time job in the Unspeakables, which is how I had access to here. As for why I am interfering-"
"Traitor!" Lucius Malfoy howled. "You will pay for abandoning the Dark Lord Severus!"
Snape tilted his head to one side, thinking it over, before he smirked and shook his head. "No. I don't think I will. Now, before I was interrupted, I was explaining. I promised Lily Evans to protect her son. It did not help your case that your master went back on his promise of sparing her life. I have been trying to help Harry since his very first quidditch game in first year. It wasn't easy, and I had to turn a blind eye to the Slytherins so as not to tip my hand, but I managed. Tell me, who came up with the idea of luring Potter here? It can't have been you Bella. You're insane. Malfoy? No, too much of a goody-two shoes. A congratulation on that new wing in Saint Mungo's being named after you by the way. McNair? No. Not smart enough. Could not even kill a hippogriff properly. Rookwood? Maybe… You always were the best out of this lot." He mused aloud.
The Death Eaters had grown steadily redder in the face as Snape went down the list. Malfoy finally had enough. "That's it Severus. You were already going to die, now you will suffer first, and you will beg for death to take you. Crucio!" Snape lazily cast a basic spell which levitated a piece of rubble in the way which blocked it.
"Please. Stop underestimating me. Just because I am a potions master does not mean I don't know basic spells. Anyway, I already sent a message to the aurors and the Order of the Phoenix, so if we could get a move on with the fighting?" he drawled.
In answer, all the Death Eaters raised their wands and began casting spells. Snape pointed his wand towards the ground, a few feet in front of him. "Bombarda!" He whispered. The exploding curse slammed into the stone floor, sending chips of stone and dust into the air. He quickly threw a smoke producing hex for good measure to camouflage his movements, before turning back to Harry and his friends. "Follow me!" He whispered harshly, before running past them in the direction of the exit, shoving over shelfs of prophecies as he went, sending the glass globes crashing down onto the heads of the Death Eaters. Dozens of figures, pearly white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak. Their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments could be heard. "Run!" Harry shouted, and as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to pour from above, he seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forward, one arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them. A Death Eater lunged forward through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the masked face. They were all yelling, there were cries of pain, thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres. Not having any better ideas than Snape, the students followed him towards the door. Snape wrenched the door open before turning and waving them on. "Hurry!"
One by one they ran through the doors, getting some things between them and the Death Eaters. Harry winced at the beautiful, dancing, diamond-sparkling light that shone into his eyes. As Harry's eyes became more accustomed to the brilliant glare he saw all the clocks gleaming from every surface, large and small, grandfather and carriage, hanging in spaces between the bookcases or standing on desks ranging the length of the room, so that a busy, relentless ticking filled the place like thousands of minuscule, marching footsteps. Snape wheeled and began casting every locking charm he could think of on the door, before turning and manhandling shelves and cabinets over. "Help me!" Snape hissed, as he struggled with the cabinet that the friends suspected contained the Time Turners. Neville rushed to help him and together they shoved it over. The cabinet shattered, before reassembling itself and falling apart again. "Finite." Snape said as he stopped the magic. They could hear Death Eaters on the opposite side of the improvised barricade hammering away in indignation. They knew with one glance that it would not hold them for long. "Stand back." Snape growled, waving his wand in a complex pattern, gathering all the sand from the broken time turners into a mass in front of him. The friends edged back towards the opposite entryway as Snape crouched to make himself a smaller target.
Harry reached a hand out to touch the swirling red and gold mass hovering in the air, entranced by it for some reason. Neville grabbed his arm and forced it down, dragging him back. "Do not touch it!" He hissed. "Who knows what touching that could do to you? Do you want to go back to being a baby?"
On the other side of the doorway Malfoy and Bellatrix danced in impatience. "Faster you fools, faster! The Dark Lord wants the prophecy!" As the door finally fell, the two stood to one side, wisely letting the less smart Death Eaters through first.
At the first sign of black cloaks, Severus swept his wand forward, throwing the mass of brilliantly colored sand into the faces of the oncoming death eaters. The first one in fell screaming to the floor, hands scrabbling at his face desperately as his head shrank down to the size of a tennis ball, his screams coming out as a high-pitched annoying whistle. Snape quickly conjured a cage around him so he could have no more impact on the fight, before striking several more of the dark wizards with the grains of sand. As soon as they were through the door screams erupted from the room, interspersed with whining, crying, and unintelligible babble. Exchanging perplexed looks, the wizards who had not rushed forward like a foolhardy Gryffindor cautiously peeked through the door. The sight stunned them. Lying on the floor, inside even more hastily conjured steel cages, lay the dark wizards. Various parts of their bodies were ballooning up and shrinking rapidly, as the time turner sand caused their bodies to spontaneously age and de-age at the same time. As they carefully walked into the room Snape stood up and looked at Harry.
"I'll take Malfoy. You and Neville handle Bellatrix. Can you four try to keep the others off our backs?" He asked Ginny, Luna, Ron, and Hermione. He got four nods. "Good. Try not to die, that would cause me excess paperwork." He turned around and began exchanging hexes with Lucius and Harry and Neville positioned themselves in front of Lestrange.
"Let me tell you how this is going to go down." The insane Bellatrix quietly told the two wizards who faced off with her. "You give me the prophecy, and I will kill you quickly. Sound good?" She hadn't even finished her statement before she lunged forward. "Abrumbre!" Neville yelped and dove out of the way, with Harry close behind him. Her follow up curse was met with a shield from Neville which successfully blocked it.
"You tortured my parents into insanity." Neville spat with venom. "You're going down."
"Awww, does the little squib want to play? Does little Neville want to make his grandmother proud?" She crooned, making a mockery of him.
Neville turned red with anger but managed to restrain himself. Bellatrix turned to Harry.
"Oh yes, the famous 'boy-who-lived', can't forget about you." She said quietly. "You are known for your heroics in the favor of the light, Lucius was right about that. How does it feel to be betrayed by your own side?"
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked in a deadly quiet tone of voice. Lestrange cackled harshly.
"We never had your god-father. Whoever told you he was not at home was lying to you. How stupid are you?" She shook her head in incredulity. "Why would we torture him here, in the heart of the Ministry, with no way out? For that matter, why didn't you get the prophecy from the Headmaster? After all, he was the one it was told to." She cast another bludgeoning hex towards Harry, who jumped out of the way. Which was exactly what she had planned. The moment she fired the hex she race forward, arm reaching for the glass sphere Harry still held.
"Lumos!" Neville shouted, jabbing the wand right in front of her face as the end erupted in light. She fell back, wailing, clawing at her face as the light seared her retinas. She shook her head as her eyesight slowly returned and she grinned savagely.
"Right. Your godfather will pay for that."
Harry cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean? I thought you said you didn't have him?" Lestrange laughed harshly.
"We don't. But we do have a spy in your precious order. My dear cousin should be here in three, two, one…" She cast an Avada Kedavra towards one of the door high above them. Moments later, two more doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley. Lupin saw the incoming curse and yelled "Look out!" before leaping into the air over the streak of green light. Moody and Kinsley also got out of the way, but the clumsy pink-haired auror was unable to get out of the way in time. Sirius roared and shoved her out of the way, sending her into a wall as he was hit by the killing curse. The room fell silent as Sirius stood upright for a second before falling to the floor in a crumbled heap.
"Sirius!" Harry wailed. The curses again started to fly as people concentrated on the battle as Harry ran towards his godfather's side. He quickly turned the body over and looked at Sirius' face, which was set in a peaceful look. Harry fumbled for a pulse, but could not find one. The import of that sunk in on him as he stayed kneeling for a moment, in a state of shock. "No." He muttered. "NO!" he yelled to the room. He heard a muffled "Harry!" from behind him before he was slammed into a wall by Bellatrix, who took advantage of his distraction. He blacked out for a moment before coming to. He glanced around the room and caught a glimpse of Snape exchanging hexes with three Death Eaters, one of them Malfoy. He slowly got back to his feet and raised his wand, aiming at Bellatrix, who was advancing on Neville.
"Stupefy!" He yelled. Nothing happened. He glanced down at his wand and blanched. His wand had been broken, consisting of two parts connected by the slenderest filament of phoenix feather. He heard a yell as Lestrange disarmed Neville.
"Now, where were we?" She mused to herself. "I know. Like parents, like son. Crucio!" Neville's body began to shake under it as Harry ran across the room, intent on reaching her. He had already lost someone close to him, he would not loose Neville too. He yelled and his magic responding, lashing out instinctively and slamming into Bellatrix, sending her sprawling. She was back on her feet in a moment. Her nose was bent to the side and it was bleeding.
"You little brat!" She snarled. "Be that way. Crucio!" She yelled, aiming this time at Harry. Harry screamed as he felt the pain, falling to the floor and jerking around as his mind blanked out. Then the curse ended. Neville has stood shakily and tackled her to the floor and was seated on her, launching punch after punch into her face as she struggled to defend herself. Then she got a grip on his hand and managed to throw him off of her. Neville scrabbled for his wand and grabbed it as Bellatrix raised her wand. She had a very nice pair of black eyes and her face was bleeding from where Neville had hit her. Her wand tip started to glow green as she started the incantation. "Avada-"
"Stop!" Harry yelled, getting her attention. "That's enough. You know what?" Harry asked quietly, tucking the remains of his wand into his robes and fishing the sphere out of his pocket. "I don't need this. I have lived my life without it. I'm done with letting other people control my life. I refuse to let my life be controlled by a prophecy." He pulled his arm back and threw the ball of glass, intentionally lobbing it so that it took time to hit the ground. Bellatrix shrieked in horror and ran towards it, before realizing she would never make it in time. She aimed her wand carefully at the falling object. She would only have one chance at this.
"Accio prophecy!" The ball zoomed into her hand and she held it aloft in triumph before falling as Neville drilled her with a series of stunners in the back from close range. She shuddered as she slumped to the ground, the ball rolling over to Harry's foot. He glanced at it, then back up at Neville, who was barely standing and looked to be close to tears at the taunting and insults Lestrange had thrown at him.
"Neville? I know you love soccer. Would you do the honors?" He gestured to the prophecy and slowly Neville started to grin.
"You sure?"
"Yes. Dumbledore has known the whole time and refused to tell me. I wish I had never heard of the cursed thing. Between it and my stupidity, Sirius died. I refuse to allow that to control me. Here it comes." Harry picked it up and rolled it towards Neville, who pulled his leg back and swung, connecting solidly with the small glass ball, sending it rocketing down the hall and into a wall, shattering it. Neville quickly cast a silencing charm on the area around it, muffling the sound. Once it was finished, the pearly white figure disintegrated into nothingness and Harry looked like a great weight had been lifted off his back. He smiled at Neville. "Thanks mate."
"No problem. Any idea what we should do with this piece of filth?" He gestured to Bellatrix who was still out cold. The two wizards stood next to her and looked down before glancing at each other.
"Y'know Neville, they are just going to put her back in Azkaban, where she will either escape or be allowed out by corrupt members of the Ministry. And she did torture your parents into insanity…" They exchanged a slightly evil smile before Harry moved to block the view of anyone who came along. Neville pointed his wand at the prone figure on the ground and carefully tried to cast a spell on her. She twitched but nothing else happened.
Neville frowned. "Why didn't that work? I could swear I did it correctly…"
"You did, Mr. Longbottom." Snape swished up beside them, cloak billowing behind him dramatically. "You were just too tired to actually succeed, though it was certainly was an ambitious try. It was almost Slytherin worthy. Ten points to Gryffindor." Harry and Neville exchanged a look, the content of which was easy to decipher. Snape had clearly lost his mind. Even without his memories, he knew this was borderline impossible. "Let me show you how it is done." Snape pointed his wand and cast the same spell Neville had. Bellatrix's body shuddered and jerked before changing shape and shrinking. In moments, Bellatrix Lestrange was gone. In her place was an ugly little mutt of a Mexican hairless dog. Neville raised his wand and muttered a few other words under his breath before he straightened up, shaking in exhaustion, having almost exhausted his magical reserves.
"Hey Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Obliviate me."
Harry did a double take. "What?"
"Obliviate me. I tied her transformation into a password, which if spoken will transform her back. Obliviate me. I want it gone, out of reach forever."
Harry frowned. "Okay. I see your reasoning, and I agree, but how am I supposed to cast it? My wand is broken remember?" He pulled out the pieces of his holly and phoenix feather wand and showed it to Neville.
Snape silently reached into his pocket and handed Harry his wand. Harry was stunned. The biggest act of trust for a wizard was to willing give up his wand to another wizard. "Professor, this is-"
"Yes, I know Potter. Now hurry up and use it before you invariably do something stupid and reckless and break it." Snape said gruffly. Neville cut off any possible response from Harry.
"I trust you Harry." He closed his eyes and waited as Harry walked up to him and held the wand to his temple.
"Obliviate." Harry said softly, before tapping Neville on the shoulder and giving Snape back his wand. Neville opened his eyes and sighed.
"Thanks Harry." He strode over to the dog and stood over it, reviving it before blasting it with a body-bind curse. He leaned over her. "That was for my parents. And this is for Sirius." He picked up her wand and snapped over his knee before incinerating the pieces. "May you suffer for the rest of your life. Payback's a bitch, isn't it?" He left her there and walked over to Harry. "Unfortunately she was hit by an unknown spell from one of the Death Eaters that were here and her transformation is irreversible. Such a pity. Ready to go?" Harry nodded before they both started towards the exit. Neville staggered and started to fall before Harry caught him.
"Don't go fainting on me now." He warned his friend. "You aren't getting out of an interview with Rita Skeeter that easily." Neville managed a weak chuckle before falling asleep due to magical exhaustion. Harry carried him out before turning him over to an emergency mediwizard and watching him be portkeyed to St. Mungo's. Then he leaned against a wall and gave a weary groan before rubbing his face with one hand. "What a mess."
The Ministry shuddered and Harry straightened up in alarm before running towards the noise, momentarily forgetting his wand was broken. He entered into the atrium and stared. One wall was practically missing, dust and debris were everywhere, and bodies lay strewn over the ground. He recognized a few of the Order members, Lupin seemed to be fine, but Shacklebolt was lying against some bricks, his shattered left arm hugged close to his body as he tried to stem the bleeding. Then he looked up and caught sight of a pair of glowing red eyes and froze. Voldemort strode towards him, his white face split with a grim smile.
"My, my. Little Potter here, alone, with no one of any value to protect him." He said sibilantly, sneering at Lupin, who had gotten back to his feet warily, holding his wand in a loose grip.
"Not true, Tom." A voice spat back in disgust, perfectly matching the disdain in the Dark Lord's tone. Severus Snape walked in front of Harry and stood there protectively.
Voldemort arched an eyebrow delicately. "How terrifying. I knew you were devoted to Potter's mother, but this is extreme even for you. In exchange for your past service, I give you one chance to recant your decisions and bring me Potter."
Snape shook his head firmly. "Never. I have chosen my side and I will stand by it. Not very Slytherin of me, oh well." He snarked, eyes glued to the Dark Lord's wrist.
"You fool." Voldemort snarled. "I am going to rule Britain, and you could have remained one of my inner circle. We both know that your magical core is not as strong as mine. I will crush you like a bug. Bombarda!" The explosive curse flew towards Snape, who sidestepped, eyes not leaving his opponent as the statue in the middle of the fountain exploded under the spell, the head of the witch coming perilously close to braining Harry.
Snape growled. "Sectumsempra." His personal curse flew close to Voldemort before it shattered on a transfigured piece of stone which now was a rampart with spears sticking out of it, complete with a flag bearing the dark mark. Snape shook his head in disgust. "Now he's just showing off." He mumbled to himself. "Lupin!" He barked. "Get Potter out of here. I can't hold him for long." He cast a stunner at Voldemort who dispelled it with a lazy flick of his wand.
Remus nodded his understanding and raced across the hall, dodging a curse from the last Death Eater standing thanks to his honed reflexes before launching a return curse. He grabbed Harry and dragged him along, heading towards the nearest way out. They were almost there when-
"Going somewhere?" Voldemort bellowed. He waved his wand in a complex motion before foot thick slabs of steel fell in front of all the exits in the room. Remus skidded to a stop, barely avoiding running into it and gawked at the construct. He shook his head rapidly and started trying to burn his way through, concentrating solely on his task. Harry shifted from foot to foot anxiously, mentally berating himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He had rushed headfirst into the problem without thinking, without anything to protect himself. 'Classic Gryffindor' He chided mentally. Didn't the Ravenclaws have a saying? Look before you leap?
Meanwhile, Snape was still fighting Voldemort. Voldemort's curses kept growing in power and complexity, while Snape's, oddly enough, consisted of only second and third year spells. Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Tantalegra, Perfictualis Totalis, etc. Snape refused to block any of the Dark Lord's spells and only pivoted out of the way. Voldemort was clearly getting frustrated with this form of fighting. He released another barrage of blood-freezing curses at Snape, who rolled out of the way.
"Fight me coward!" He cried, throwing another hex at Snape.
"What, you want me to be a Gryffindor?" Snape gasped in mock astonishment. He shook his head in disgust. "I should have known. What I ever saw in you that made me follow you, I have no idea. You have no idea what I have been doing have you?"
Voldemort frowned, quickly glancing around, making sure nothing had changed before returned his gaze to Snape. "Actually, no, I don't." He sneered.
Snape shook his head patronizingly. "Tom, Tom. It is true that your magic is stronger than mine, but not even you can keep going forever. I have done two things, one, conserve my power and two, stall. Dumbledore get your arse over here!" He bellowed, throwing another leg-locker curse at Voldemort.
"Right, enough games!" Voldemort yelled. He whipped his wand around in a hexagonal shape before muttering something under his breath. A black mist issued from his wand tip and started to drift over the room. "The Black Death spell. Let's see you dodge this, Snape."
Severus frowned, unsure of how to approach this, before settling for casting a shield around it to contain it and slowly retreating away. Unfortunately, this kind of containing shield required constant attention, so he had to struggle to keep the magic up and fight Voldemort at the same time. Voldemort cackled in glee, a sound oddly reminiscent of Bellatrix Lestrange, as he started to advance on Snape, a constant stream of dark magic curses emanating from his wand tip. Severus did his best to escape them, while idly noting that he only recognized a few of them: the Bone Eater, Nerve Destroyer, and Everlasting Fire, among others. Finally Voldemort stood a few feet from the potions master and raised his wand, the tip glowing green. "The first blood in a new war!" He crowed. "Avada-"
"Screw this!" Severus slapped his wand into the palm of his hand as magic exploded out from the contact, a shockwave of light and sound spreading across the room. The whole building shook from the explosion as Harry gingerly felt his ear and his fingers met blood trickling from a burst eardrum. Neon orange liquid now was splattered around the room, and the black mist was nowhere to be seen.
One of the steel blocks placed in front of the doors was blasted inward as Dumbledore ran into the room and took in the scene quickly. He shook his head sadly upon seeing all the bodies on the ground. So much needless death. So many dead who could have been redeemed as worthy members of society.
"Severus!" He called urgently. "Let Harry fight him!" At that, every head in the room swiveled and looked at Dumbledore incredulously, including Voldemort. The Dark Lord stared at the Headmaster, arching an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked, sure he must have heard wrong. Perhaps he should send Wormtail to get him so magical ear prescription. "You can't possibly be serious."
Snape shook his head in disbelief. "You idiot!" He bellowed at Dumbledore, the headmaster jerking back in shock at someone talking to him like that. Especially, his calm, loyal spy. "You would send Potter to his death? He does not even have a wand!"
Dumbledore shuffled his feet, aware of the stunned gazes on him from around the room. He thought hurriedly and settled for regrouping. "Oh. In that case… Tom, leave! You cannot hope to defeat us." He said confidantly
Voldemort and Snape glanced at each other. "Is he...?" The Dark Lord asked, waving a finger in a circle next to his temple. "You know..."
"Apparently." Snape shook his head in disbelief before addressing the Headmaster. "And what 'us' are you referring to?" He asked coldly. "You have been avoiding this fight while I tried to keep Harry alive, to force Harry to fight him? Are you insane?" For a long time people had wondered if Dumbledore was slightly mad, this just seemed to confirm those theories.
"Severus." Dumbledore chided, seemingly forgetting where they were. "That is no way to talk. And did you have to kill the Death Eaters? We could have rehabilitated them, convin-"
"SHUT UP!" Snape howled to the sky. "YOU BLASTED, BLITHERING, BLOODY IDIOT!" He paused for a second, visibly attempting to calm himself. "When will you see Potter as a person and not a weapon? I fell into the trap of thinking he was someone other than he is, and you are too! You put so much faith in a prophecy, and cower in your school, instead of taking action! This is a war, not a training exercise! If you truly believe that the Death Eaters could be redeemed, you deserve to be forced into retirement and placed in the mental asylum at St. Mungo's!" He caught his breath after that little outburst and he glared at the Headmaster. "We will continue this at a later date. For now…" He wheeled and looked at Voldemort, who looked highly amused by the tirade. "Shall we continue?"
"We shall." They again began to fight, ignoring the pleas of Dumbledore.
"Let me fight him Severus!" Dumbledore commanded. "You cannot hope to stand up to him!" Snape stopped and turned, his wand rising to point at the wizard.
"Way to be encouraging." He sneered, his robes flapping around him in the nonexistent wind. "Maybe if you actually had some of that famed Gryffindor bravery in you, you could have ended this war sooner. After all, you are 'The only one he ever feared.'" He said with a mocking tone of voice. Several yards away Voldemort snarled.
"I never feared you. I just did not attack the only place I ever called home. Yet Snape here, despite being a traitor, which he will suffer for, has put up more of a fight than you ever did, so stay out of this!" United by dislike for the man, Voldemort and Snape both launched a few spell chains at Dumbledore without looking, hitting him and sending him flying backwards, unconscious. "Now after that little interruption, I am sorry to say that you all must die!" He threw a bludgeoning hex towards Harry which Lupin intercepted by throwing himself in the way, the backlash throwing the werewolf into a wall.
Snape looked at Voldemort, his greasy hair covering one eye. "Have you ever heard of the Weasley twins? I thought not. They were in Gryffindor, and while they were mostly pranksters, they did accomplish some interesting devices. Like this one!" He pulled a small package from his pocket and rapped it with his wand before hurling it at Voldemort. The Dark Lord's eyes widened and he hastily cast a shield as the portable swamp exploded in front of him, coating the bubble-like shield in a thick layer of sludge. Snape did not give him any respite, throwing various things at him. Most he managed to dispel or dodge, such as the fireworks, the fake wands, and the exploding dungbombs. There was one he did not. With a windup and a throw that any major-league pitcher would have been jealous of, Snape carefully aimed a piece of candy that hit Voldemort in the mouth. Voldemort's eyes bulged as he struggled to avoid choking on his tongue, which had thickened and extended. Severus smirked, surveying the ton-tongue toffee's result.
"Look at that. Cat got your tongue?" Snape quickly conjured dozens of marbles and muttered a spell which made them continuously follow him and pelt him in the face as Voldemort attempted to fix his tongue. He was not having much success, as he did not know the counter offhand and the rain of marbles constantly smacking into his head did not help his concentration. "Time to end this." Snape threw a small box towards Voldemort which opened and an odd creature flew up and began biting him. Snape did not bother to see the result, but calmly walked over to Harry, making sure he was uninjured.
Harry stared at the odd sight, the feared Dark Lord with a ridiculously long tongue, being attacked by marbles and a strange thing. Snape smiled at his expression. "A saber-toothed bunnybat." He explained. "Quite vicious." They looked at Voldemort just in time to see him give up on his tongue and began casting silently at the bunnybat. He hit it, and it froze for a moment before splitting into several more, while broadcasting a loud female voice, almost like a howler.
"TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE!" It shrieked. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING YOUNG MAN? TRESPASSING! A FELON! YOU BETTER RUN, BECAUSE IF I GET MY HANDS ON YOU…" The voice went on to give some rather creative threats about what would happen if he did not leave immediately. One of the surviving Death Eaters who was not too smart saw his boss in trouble and let several curses fly, which hit their targets, causing several bunnybats to freeze. Harry and Snape both covered their ears just in time.
"DIDN'T LEARN THE FIRST TIME EH?" Several voices shouted with a slight delay between them, almost like an echo. "NO WONDER! YOU DREADFUL DULLARDS, LAZY LAYABOUTS, USELESS DARK LORD WANNABES, MINDLESS MIDGETS, STUPID SNAKES! OUT! OUT I SAY!" The new bunnybats dive bombed the dark lord, and you could hardly see the feared Dark Lord, as he was surrounded by a flock of vicious saber-toothed bunnybats that were all biting him. The swarm swirled around him, biting furiously, and they could hear the inarticulate cries of pain from the center of the attack. The rustle of the wings alone filled the atrium with a loud rasping sound. Voldemort had had enough. He ran out the way he came in, passing stunned aurors who were having trouble understanding what they had just seen. Voldemort apparated away as soon as he passed the wards, leaving most of the bunnybats behind, which burst into dust, their mission fulfilled. Snape smiled, removing his hand from his ears, before brushing off the dust from his robe.
"Well that was interesting." He said brightly, in a very odd tone coming from the serious potions master. "I hope I looked confidant. That was terrifying." He slumped down onto a piece of nearby masonry and massaged his right arm, which he had thrown out tossing the ton-tongue toffee. "I had wanted to do that to Albus forever. What a mess." He sighed, echoing Harry's words from earlier as aurors flooded the room, followed by a nearly apoplectic Minister of Magic cowering in the back.