Harry Potter's Revenge

by H. P. Lovecraft

Once more I don the invisibility cloak. I also mutter the spell that will keep Dumbledorf from detecting my activities. He noticed at first.

"Harry." The word startled me. I didn't know anyone else was in the library.

"Professor Dumbledore! I was just researching ..." I hesitated, unsure what to say. I originally wanted something to cast on Snape, after he goaded Longbottom beyond endurance, and then got him expelled.

"I know you are worried about Voldemort, Harry, and I hear how well you are applying yourself in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class. You have reason to fear, but the knowledge you may find in the Forbidden Section may, in the end, be worse than Voldemort himself. Harry, I've arranged with Professor Thisyearonly to give you private lessons. This will be instead of your Divination class. Let's be honest, Harry - we both know that you are not getting anything out of that class."

For the first time in my life, I silently thanked Voldemort. "Thank you Professor. I've had this idea that if I could understand how counter curses really work, then I may come up with a counter for the death curse. It doesn't make any sense that that curse alone can't be stopped."

"A worthy goal, but you know there is not a book in this library that has the death curse in it."

I smiled at that.

"I'm nowhere near ready for that, Professor. Until I understand the mechanism, I wasn't even going to look for it."

"Don't lose much sleep over this. Sometimes even the best roads lead to a dead end. Good night, Harry."

I didn't go back to my room, and that very night I found the Undetectability spell. I would be bothered no longer in my research.

I smiled as I opened the secret panel in the back of the forbidden section. No book held the death curse, but I don't think even Dumbledore knew about this book. Bound in human skin, written in blood, I wonder why it bothered me at first. The spells in here were powerful beyond the death curse. They were beyond life and death. How little Voldemort and Dumbledore know about the curves and corners of the universe, and what lies hidden there. Voldemort, that undead thing, wouldn't stand a chance the next time we meet. I knew his secrets, and could undo him with a word.

I thought I would stop coming here after I got revenge on Snape. They never found what got him. And I enjoyed making suspicion fall on Malfoy. All week long, his potions failed spectacularly. And there was no way it could have been me. I was sick with the flu the day even Snape's affection for the little rat ran out. I didn't see Malfoy slink off with his tail between his legs, but, since I was in the hospital wing, I did get to see Snape arrive to get his tail removed. That night, Goyle and Crabbe were caught outside the Slytherin rooms. They said they were with Malfoy, but he wasn't caught, although a bed check did show he wasn't in bed. They told some story about how I was going to be out, and they wanted to catch me. But I was in plain sight all evening long in our common room, still a little weak from my bout with the flu.

The next day, pieces of Snape were found all over his potions classroom. And Malfoy had no explanation of where he had been. He isn't very popular around here any more.

I don't seem to be, either. Ron and Hermione look at me funny, and we don't study together anymore. Hedwig and Crookshanks avoid me, too. The only thing around here that seems to like my company is the giant squid in the lake. I sit at the edge of the water, and it comes up, and just stares at me.

There's something in the book about a tentacled god. I wonder if the squid would like a companion.

Note via owl from the French Ministère du Magie team sent to investigate the magical disturbance in Scotland:

Have reached the location of Hogwarts. There is nothing living within thirty kilometers of the ruins of the castle. Corpses everywhere, including what looks like the English Ministry of Magic. Estimates of the death toll run into tens of thousands of Muggles.

The waters of the lake have started to churn. Sending this owl immediately, and will investigate further.