"Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You."
A Harry Potter and Dresden Files XOver One-shot.
Updated 12/7/17
Time and experience had me re-working this. Hope you like updated version.
Newly resurrected, Lord Voldemort was in a towering rage. He should have been celebrating, reveling in the restoration of his body, his magic, his followers and the death of Harry Potter, the coming downfall of Albus Dumbledore and his inevitable rule over the Wizarding word... but it had all gone wrong. From the moment he had allowed his new found power to go to his head and he just had to make an example of the boy. He had waited so long, scheming and planning. Having to put up with that filthy rat taking care of his most personal and degrading needs. Now here he stood, in the grandeur of Malfoy Manner, only some of his plans having come to fruition. He had not wanted Dumbledore to know he was back. Not yet. He passed the Master's Study, he had appropriated it and the Master Suite for his own the moment he'd entered the house. Nagini lolled about his shoulders hissing words of comfort to her agitated Master.
There was an odd sound in the air, like a thousand wind-chimes ringing all at once and the ancient wards around Malfoy Manor simply fell, like a tower of children's building blocks. A group of ten figures wearing long gray cloaks and carrying staffs had appeared on the manicured lawn in front of the ancient manor. Several of the party carried gleaming silver swords. In unison the group moved forward at a smooth march. They stopped and stood in obvious formation in the central courtyard in front of the house. Voldemort stared. He had an uneasy feeling about this. Long ago he'd heard stories about "Gray Cloaks' and 'Wardens.' Powerful Wizards of a different caliber then he that sought out those who broke their Laws and dispensing 'justice.' Usually with one of those shining silver swords, alleged to be able to cut through the most powerful of spells. He'd always dismissed the stories of the White Council and their Wardens to be nothing more then children's stories, told to make little witches and wizards tow the line. The Magical World's equivalent to the Boogie Man. Perhaps they had been more to those tales then he d thought. It did not matter, Lord Voldemort was above such petty trivialities such as their Seven Laws. Another group began stepping onto the lawn from a square of white light behind the first, more gray robes, more staffs and swords. There was now at least thirty of the strangers in the yard and they were approaching the house. Fast. Two figures, both nearly seven feet tall separated from the group. They stepped forward in lock step and were joined by a shorter, stocky gray robed figure They all stretched out their staffs, light and power bloomed and the final (and highly illegal) blood wards on the house proper fell. Voldemort cursed and hurried from the room. Where were his Death Eaters? Incompetence again.
Voldemort used the network of tunnels between the walls of Malfoy Manor to enter the ground floor study. From there he entered what had been the Dining Room and settled in the opulent chair Malfoy had provided him with. He intended to impress these Gray Cloaks with his power before making them beg for his non-existent forgiveness. . They would no enter here so rudely without payment. His Death Eaters would capture them quickly enough. He heard voices, raised in command, then challenge and then defiance. There would be a fight, it would be good to see how his followers did. They would need training. Sloppy, lazy while he'd been indisposed.. Damn Potter.
Lost in thoughts of how much he had still to do, he was almost shocked right out of his seat by a loud bellow of " FORZARE!" There was a great BOOM and several of his Death Eaters were catapulted into his 'throne' room. The first group of Gray Cloaks entered the room. They moved with graceful speed, swords spinning and Lord Voldemort could do nothing but sit and stare, mouth agape as his Death Eaters fell, one by one, with scarcely a spell cast. Then as one the Gray Cloaks turned to face him. Three figures, all very tall stepped forward, the hum of a magical sword suddenly disrupting the air. The middle figure, only a little shorter the the others, with the gleaming blade in his hands, held with easy grace and confidence spoke, his voice British, rolling and deep.
"Thomas Marvolo Riddle. I am Chief Warden Morgan of the White Council of Wizards. We are here to represent said Council and it's Authority, The Merlin. We have been watching for your return. We are here to bring justice on you for your blatant disregard for the Laws of Magic. You have altered the minds of your fellow wizards, murdered them indiscriminately and committed acts of vilest cruelty against fellow humans. We of the Council see no need for a trial, your action's mark you as a Warlock of the worst kind. Punishment for your crimes, and for the crimes of your 'followers' is Death." The man spoke with utter calm. Voldemort stared at him. His face still and shocked. One of the tall men snickered and muttered something to a shorter figure slightly behind him. Voldemort's eyes narrowed at the man's obvious amusement. Instantly Voldemort's eyes were on him and he spoke, his sibilant whisper chilling.. but apparently ineffectual against these still gray wraiths.
"Before I deal with your intrusion, your impertinence at using that name and your rudeness, I will first ask, what is so amusing that you laugh at me without showing your face or giving me your name?" The tall man stepped forward and lowered his hood. He had a lean face with some interesting scars, dark hair, and dark eyes. He grinned, an insolent smile and leaned casually on his heavily carved staff.
"Name's Harry Dresden, Warden Harry Dresden to you, Oh He Who Flees From Death.. did you even look up what that stupid nick-name meant? Kudos to you for being good at Anagrams by the way but still!" Voldemort stared at the man in shock and silent, seething rage but the offender kept right on talking "Man, the puns we can make! There's Moldyshorts, Voldamart, Moldywart, Ramirez, give me one.."
"Dark Lord U No Poo?" came an accented voice from the man behind Dresden. A woman's voice hissed " Shut up Carlos!"
Dresden grinned. "And what's with everyone saying "You know Who" when they speak of you? I don't get it, you go to all this trouble to make up a dumb name and then stop everyone using that too!"
Voldemort went for his wand.. only to find he could not move. He struggled against what felt like invisible steel bands, he did not like this. He could not move, or fight. His power felt blocked, constricted. He hissed, glaring at the Wardens. He remembered better now, he'd even seen them once before, fighting in Wizard Pictures in a history book. Their magic was much different from his. He fought the bonds and Nagini came slithering to his aid only to be distracted by one of the Wardens, one with hands of dark tan. Suddenly his hold over Nagini was broken, there was an almighty shriek and black smoke laced the air, the great snake writhing once then curled up in a corner, apparently sleeping. The Wardens turned to stare at him as one. The first man, Warden Morgan spoke, his voice loud, powerful and furious.
"You had created a Horcrux? One of the foulest pieces of soul magic, vilest dark magic there is? We at the Council have long worked to destroy the knowledge of these disgusting things. Horcrux require the death of an innocent.. your Death is now even more inevitable." Voldemort had nothing else, he sneered and said "I care not what you say, Mudblood."
His red eyes flashed. " I obey no one, I am the true Heir of Slytherin." Warden Morgan laughed, it came out sounding hard and cold. "The original Slytherin would have been insulted. And rolling in his tomb over having such a descendant." He mocked scornfully' Who will do the Soul Gaze."
The tall, dark eyed man shrugged. "I will. Already got my hood off." He stepped in front of Voldemort and stared into the snake like red eyes. Voldemort's eyes widened as he was dragged suddenly into the man's gaze. It was horrible. The dark and light in this man warred as much as his own had but the light was winning and the Soul Gaze was both terrifying and painful. The power this man had was like nothing he had ever felt. What he was seeing was a warrior who fought to protect the world against things exactly like him and doing it well.. and messily. His mouth went dry. He was being judged. He could feel it. The gaze ended and the man, Harry Dresden, (why were all Harry's such a pain in his arse?) suddenly hauled back and PUNCHED him. His face shattered.. not hard to do when he had no nose in the first place, (damned Wormtail. He should have known the idiot would mess it up somehow.)
"You evil, disgusting bastard! Sir, Wardens, he's made six of those vile things, the snake was only one. We'll need to track the rest down so he can't do a Kemlar. This piece of shit has been orchestrating a bloody genocide for years. He's also completely obsessed with killing some kid." There a was a cough. Morgan stepped past and and taped Harry's shoulder. The tall wizard glared furiously down at the crumpled form of Voldemort.
"I will take it from here Warden, unless you would like the honor?" he asked, dryly.
"It's all yours Morgan. Have at it. This thing is as guilty as they come, so much so it's not even human any more." Dresden looked down at Voldemort, bound in his chair who met his gaze, briefly and half sneered.
Voldemort stared at the blade in Morgan's hand. He looked into cold eyes, gleaming with righteousness and purpose. He was about to loose his head. He, who'd done so much to secure his mortality would loose his head so soon after regaining it. But it wouldn't matter, not in the end.
"I will return.. I can not die and I will not tell you where my treasures are. When I return I will kill you all" he cried, being helpless made him very angry and he tended to spout off when he was angry, as all megalomaniacs are want to do.
A woman laughed from within her gray cloak, pointed her staff at him and murmured something, he felt magic move and thrum then the feeling passed. A group of six Warden's formed a circle, the woman at it's 12, and began to chant. Light glowed and shifted, magic thrummed powerfully in the air and there was a great wrenching sensation. Slowly a glittering tiara, a golden cup, a locket, a torn battered diary, a ugly, heavy ring and a dark haired boy with green eyes and glasses appeared in the center of the circle. The Wardens moved in with the other Harry going to the boy. He was lead away, surrounded by wardens and a slender figure veiled in shadows stepped up, touched the boy's forehead where a lightning bolt scar marred the skin and whispered something. Black smoke began drawing itself from the scar with an eerie shriek and she flicked it towards Voldemort. He felt the impact of the broken soul fragment hitting him. It hurt. He screamed, his voice the only thing working. At the same time the other items were being disenchanted and his soul fragments were slamming back into him in agonizing bursts. A man with a thick, shorter staff stepped forward, a strange light glowing in his free hand. He said something in Latin that Voldemort translated in his head as
"May You Be Judged by Magic." and the ball of power hit him hard in the chest. The pain was unthinkable and blinding, his soul forcing it's way back into him, and his crimes were being revisited upon him. He was feeling every evil act he'd ever committed, ever ordered. He heard their screams again, but instead of pleasure he felt everything they had felt. Fear, grief, anger and pain. He felt the pain of every Crucio he'd ever cast, as well as every nasty, savage, dark spell he'd ever laid out. The fire of it was agony. There was a swish and a flash of silver. And Lord Voldemort's head parted company from his body. With two thuds the body slid from it's seat and joined the head upon the floor. It was over.
Harry Potter stared down at his now headless enemy.. " If he gets to join the Headless Hunt Nick is gonna be pissed..." he muttered looking a bit green. Then he swallowed hard and then looked up at Dresden. "I don't know who you are, or where you lot came from.. but you just did me a HUGE favor and the rest of the .. um.." he looked worried and confused.
"It's OK kid, we're on the same side. I'm a Wizard too.. just with a bit of difference. We should get you back to your school.. I imagine they'll be going spare."
"Someone pulled me through the wards from the hospital wing... my Headmaster is going to be upset.. someone better tell him and Padf.. um my friends I'm OK, they're all kinda powerful and they might... um.." it was obvious the boy had secrets and he was trying, ineptly, to keep them. Harry decided to bail him out.
"It's OK Kid.. your good. We'll go as soon as the trainees are done cleaning up. It's not often we end up killing this many Warlocks!" Harry chuckled. "That guy was a seriously bad news kid, what did you ever do to get on his radar." Harry grimaced up at him.
"A Prophecy made by a overgrown grasshopper."
"Damn. That sucks."
"Yeah" the boy sighed. "What was that she pulled out of me?"
"Piece of Moldy's soul.. very nasty dark magic. Don't worry, it's gone."
" What! His soul! Yuck! Did she get it all.. I don't want any of him in me!" the boy sounded and looked sick and scared. Harry couldn't blame him.
"Yes, kid, Molly got it all, she's very good with mind magic. She's being trained to heal those harmed by it. It's over now. You can just be a kid."
"Yeah. I can" he sounded a little awed.
"What's your name?" Harry Dresden asked the anxious looking boy.
"Harry Potter Sir."
"Ha.. that's what that was about.. the name's Harry Dresden. Professional Wizard." they shook hands. The kid had a hell of a power center. A tanned, bald, older man walked over to them.
"Hey Hoss.. I have to get the boy back before ol' Albus gets too worked up.. I don't want to have to diffuse that." the man said, his voice rich and deep. Harry nodded and the kid stood up.
"Goodbye Harry."
"Goodbye Harry."
and with that, the Wardens departed Malfoy Manor, Harry Dresden letting loose one last spell
"Pyrofuego!" and the old manor house, home to generations of Malfoys and the many bodies of the Death Eaters and Voldemort burned.
Far away on Azkaban more gray robed figures were leaving. In the cells lay several bodies parted from their heads, former Death Eaters every one.
The Ministry of Magic had one heck of an investigation and cleanup to do and the Aurors and Fudge were stunned and thrilled to learn all of the decapitated and burnt bodies were Death Eaters or sympathizers. Even better, one of the bodies was Voldemort. No one knew how it had been done but he and his ilk had been destroyed, and even more miraculous was the surprising recovery of Hufflepuff's Cup, Slytherin's ring and locket, and the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Incredible lost treasures every one. The Wizarding World went into celebration mode en-mass.
Harry Potter finished his schooling in the care of his godfather, Sirius Black who was acquitted and cleared of all charges, compensated handsomely and given custody of Harry all in a swift series of meetings at the Ministry. He grew up, married Ginny and had a family. His life was happy. No one else tried to kill him.
Voldemort stayed dead. The Wizading World moved on, slowly but ever forward.
Harry Dresden and the rest of the Wardens continued on their way. For once slaying the Warlock had been a pleasure. They had two new recruits, a Percy Weasley, who was NOT running away in embarrassment over his screw up at the Ministry, but merely heading for a bright future as a White Council paper pusher and Severus Snape who was eager to share work and knowledge with the potioneers on the council and further his own studies. The freedom from his former masters enough to make the dour man smile.
And the Good Guys all Lived Happily Ever After.