Inspiration to Murder
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor do I have the rights to it. Just borrowing them and putting them back.
It's been a long time. I haven't updated Murder, but I haven't given up. After writing my first fic (Bleach) which ended in horrible failure and I took it down, I've resolved to not give up on my fanfics, regardless of how long I've left them. I never lost sight of what inspired me to write Murder, and I alluded to it, but I never shared it. Maybe by not writing it down and sharing it, I've constricted it and diluted the subsequent story of Murder compared to its predecessor.
I read book seven, and I thought about it. I've been thinking outside the box and my course has been encouraging it, so when I came up with this idea. The horcrux hunt was a great idea if you wanted to kill Voldemort, because Harry Potter was all about training child soldiers. I know, I know, the key word is 'defeat' but how many villains that have been defeated in children's stories ever get back up again and get their happy ending. They don't. They die, and who kills them? The hero. So how do you kill a Dark Lord without killing him and think outside the box. Here's one way how.
The Battle of Hogwarts had begun.
Harry Potter had come to Hogwarts.
In the shade of the seventh floor corridor, a translucent wizard emerged, wand gripped loosely in his hand. He peered out of his window at the shield surrounding Hogwarts and grimly stared ahead. Slowly reaching with his other hand to the bracelet on his wand hand, he murmured at it,
"Inky, it's begun."
Inky Evenstar was unsure whether he was amused, anxious, excited or a mix of all three. He was waiting on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he'd all but merged into the shade of a large tree trunk. Staring ahead at the assembled army of the Death Eaters, he focused on Voldemort. The Dark Lord was at the front of the spearhead, hands folded with wand in hand, smiling in anticipation. He wanted this as much as Inky, though both for different reasons. Inky was looking forward to what Tyr had prepared, but the amount of preparation hinged on how this final battle would occur. Potter had appeared but he was in the castle. They could only act when he was in the open and assured of victory. He could use his illusions to mimic deaths, but it would drain him too much. If he did so, he'd have to be careful.
When Tyr had told him of the horcruxes two years ago, Inky's ludicrous idea had been the one they were using now. Tyr had come up with the spell, and they had worked out from previous battles that Voldemort engaged in how vulnerable the Dark Lord could be before, during and after. They'd researched and now this was the moment they could make their move. He hid closer in the shadow of the tree and he heard a faint whisper near his ear,
"Inky, it's begun."
Inky looked at Hogwarts to see the great shield cover it. He saw the Death Eaters begin to fire spells at it, Voldemort watching. He crouched to the ground and quick as lightning, took off to the castle.
Tyr, hidden in the battlements, stared at the quick shadow darting towards the forest. He suddenly felt drowsy and Saw. Quickly he whispered to the bracelet,
"Stop by that last great pillar near the courtyard Inky! They will duel there, and that is our chance!"
The Sight had come to him early in his years at Hogwarts, he'd hid it from all but Inky and Luna. Granger would sneer at him along with most of the student body and Dumbledore would take too keen an interest in it. Tyr had Seen a little more than what he'd told Inky and he leapt from the battlements, turning into wind and landing near the boathouse. He crept around towards the door and as the sounds of battle began, he entered slowly, closing the door behind him and floated to the ceiling before casting intangibility and invisibility.
Inky held his breath. The battle had begun and already he was using his illusions. Too many times had lucky shots hit Potter's side. He didn't like wizards, hated them most of the time, but his time with Tyr had cemented a firm resolve to protect the inhabitants of the castle. The illusions would follow the actions of the person, and 'die' to all else but simply put the person to sleep. It took time and precision, and hiding from the presence of the Death Eaters was becoming a tiring fatigue. He longed to enter the battle and let his fingers sing, let the magic come off him and feel the heads rolling on the ground. He longed but resisted the urge, knowing that the time would come. Tyr had Seen it, and he trusted Tyr.
The battle escalated. Tyr saw Voldemort alone with Headmaster Snape and considered the odds. He decided against it in the end, having caught a glimpse of the coming moment. He watched Nagini attack, subtly casting a spell on the Headmaster similar to Inky's illusions. He saw Potter collect the memories and saw the Trio head to the castle. As soon as they were gone, he dropped down and applied healing spells to the wound. He'd gotten around two thirds of the wound healed when he heard Voldemort's voice. He heard the demand and he knew in his heart that Potter would go. So he hoisted the Headmaster onto his shoulders and headed to the Shack. Leaving the Headmaster there, Tyr cast a sleep spell and a slow tied healing spell. It would drain his magic slowly but it would leave room for the critical moment.
Tyr lept up and quick as lightning, darted in the shadows to Inky's position, the moment was coming.
Inky was unsure of where Tyr was until he sensed him coming to him. Inky nodded at Tyr and whispered,
"When?"
"When Potter is in Hagrid's arms, Voldemort will gloat. We make our move then. The warning sign that shit is going to break loose will be when Longbottom kills the snake. Once that happens, he won't be immortal, so you'll need to take the snake."
"I could make an illusion, give Longbottom his triumph."
"Do it, it'll be good for Neville. Look here he comes."
Voldemort came from the forest with his Death Eaters, Hagrid sorrowfully carrying the body of Potter. Finally they came to the clearing and Voldemort gloated. Mid rant, they made their move.
A large explosion in front of both sides, and in the momentary confusion, Tyr aimed his wand and cast his spell. The genius of it was that it had no colour, it couldn't be seen or felt until the last moment. Voldemort was hit and Inky cast and illusion on both Voldemort and Nagini. Quickly they used the Corridor to escape to the Shack. The explosion subsided leaving a note from the "Mad Hatter" as a final prank. The final battle played out as it should have, ignoring that final hiccup and the Light had won. As they won, Inky's illusions wore off, Voldemort and Nagini faded away and the 'dead' rose up alive and well. Tyr and Inky headed to the Shack and picked up the Headmaster before heading to Tyr's flat.
2 years later
Harry Potter received a knock on his door. He opened it and took in the faces of Inky Evenstar and Tyr Everell. He'd wondered about the dead coming alive until Luna had mentioned it was as speciality of the cousins'. He let them in and they sat in the living room. Before he could speak, Tyr said,
"We came here because we had to tell you. The rest of the wizarding world has no clue and we'd thought we'd only inform you."
Harry frowned a little and gestured for them to continue. Inky picked up from Tyr,
"We knew about the horcruxes. We found out in Tyr's fifth year and had been researching on a way to defeat him next. You see we knew about the prophecy, Tyr is a seer and Luna can confirm this, so we had an inkling about it already. He'd been having visions of the Final Battle for years, always changing, the future always in motion. What we knew was that Voldemort had made himself immortal. So we decided to use that to our advantage. The worst sort of torture victim is the kind that can't die, but we weren't going to torture him, just make his life hell. All his life he had caused pain, dealt out death. So we changed the situation for him."
Harry looked confused and a little angry but before he could speak, Tyr interrupted,
"The thing is Potter, you didn't kill Voldemort. It was an illusion, a damn good one, but an illusion nonetheless. That explosion, the one in the courtyard, that was us making a switch. We cast an illusion on Nagini and Voldemort, replacing them with solid illusions. That's why they faded into nothing, there was nothing sustaining them. We had come up with a spell to change the Dark Lord but we didn't tell anyone because it removes the magic of the victim. Imagine if the Ministry heard, they'd sentence us to Azkaban from its conceiving alone, never mind the fact that Inky and I are last of the Grey. It doesn't just remove the magic, here I'll show you."
Harry tensed as Inky reached into his pocket but looked in bewilderment as he produced a white rabbit. A white rabbit with red eyes. He looked from the rabbit to the cousins and said,
"That isn't who I think it is, is it?"
"This is Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort,"
Inky replied cheerfully.
"Or rather, Susan… since we didn't just change the species but also the gender as well. The last few years have been productive for her since she's been giving birth constantly to babies,"
Tyr added
Harry stared at the two in confused horror. Inky sighed and then said,
"You don't get it Potter, do you? Think about it, an immortal female rabbit with no magical powers apart from the immortality that is constantly in states of pregnancy, labour and mothering. She has a memory of who she once was, but it's been diminished. She's nothing more than a rabbit that knows she was bad, but now she's a mother. The whole prophecy however is completely unsatisfied. Neither can live whilst the other survives. We have a solution. We have Nagini, bound and shrunk of course who you can kill, and then you have a mortal mother rabbit whose life expectancy means she'll die before you, of old age. Done and done."
Harry stared again, he was 19 years old and he'd just have to kill a snake. He decided to let Neville deal with this one. They agreed and after leaving Nagini with him, set off with their pet rabbit Susan.
End.