The Nightmare Man's Journey

Summary: Sequel to The Nightmare Man, set ten years later. Under the rule of the Dark Lord Voldemort, much still remains the same. Yet rebels still exist, and they fight to remove Voldemort's ally, the Nightmare Lord. Will they succeed?

Pairing/s: None.

Warnings: Mentions and descriptions of violence and gore, OOC-characters, dark!Harry, time travel and other such stuff.

It's good if you've read the prequels The Nightmare Man and Birth of a Nightmare Man, or some confusion might occur.

Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money writing fanfiction.

-o-

Finally it's out! It's slow going, but hopefully you guys don't mind.

Now, enjoy this chapter.

This story occurs five years after the events of Fractured Time.

-o-

Chapter Two

While Harry worked at Hogwarts, he still came back home from time to time when he wasn't on patrol to make sure no kids were up past the curfew. He usually didn't give Harrison a heads-up so when Harrison came up from the dungeons a few days after Voldemort's visit Harry was in the kitchen, trying to see what Lucian was cooking.

"Harrison!"

"You're home," Harrison said to Harry. "I thought you liked the food at Hogwarts?"

"I do, but I felt like coming back for the night."

"It's not long until school lets out for the summer."

"So that means I shouldn't visit?"

"I hardly think you miss us that much," Harrison said. "Besides, the twins go to Hogwarts fairly often."

"Yeah, but you don't."

"I go sometimes."

"Alright, so I heard about the rebels and I guess I just wanted to see you right now?"

"I'm fine," Harrison told Harry. "Come on, you haven't changed out of the robes you teach in. Aren't they uncomfortable?"

He pulled Harry out of the kitchen and had him change before they had dinner with Lucian, since he was the only servant home for the moment. Elise had gone out to collect some potion ingredients for Severus, the Weasley twins were off doing whatever they wanted for fun and the other servants all had errands to run.

"I thought it was quieter than usual. Their own errands?" Harrison asked.

"More or less," Lucian replied.

"Oh, good. I feared my memory had gone away for a moment there."

"Your memory does go away when it wants," Lucian told him.

"Thank you for making me feel old."

"You are old," Harry said.

"Hush you. Hang on, where's my Rabastan and Draco?" Harrison said.

"Draco fire-called from the hospital, saying he'd be late, and Rabastan went there to keep him company," Lucian said. "They'll be back later."

So apparently it was just the three of them for dinner, which was a bit unusual but Harry used the time to start grilling Harrison on what he knew about the rebels.

"I mainly know what Voldemort tells me about them," Harrison said. "Haven't really gone out of my way to find things out on my own, since he has official Ministry members doing that. Are you that worried about them, Harry?"

"I've heard rumours," Harry replied. "Also, they… I know Hermione and Ron. Hermione is smart, and people underestimate Ron too much so they usually never see him coming."

"He's good with strategies, right?" Harrison said. "Don't forget I had my own Ron back in the days. He was good with that."

"Yeah. Yeah, he is. So together they can wreck havoc. And you shouldn't underestimate the others either. Their hatred fuels their power."

"Oh, I know about that part very well," Harrison said. "Hatred is very powerful. I suppose they hate everything but themselves and their cause right now."

"I also heard about the problems in the Ministry, about you. People don't believe the stories. I've even heard students talk about, how you're a fraud."

"Well, that's not new. It comes and goes. I just have to establish I have the power I boast about, and people will shut up for a couple of decades before the whole debate starts over again."

It was like many things in history. Rinse and repeat. Not down to the details, but the gist of it. Harrison pushed the plate away and leaned back, well aware Harry and Lucian watched him. Lucian doubly so, since he hadn't finished his food yet.

"Why must history be so boring and repetitive?" he asked.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I haven't lived long enough to see that."

"Master…"

"I'm just thinking out loud, Lucian. We better wait and see how Voldemort fares in finding the rebels."

"We could help with the search," Lucian said. "Or conduct a separate search."

"No, we'll wait. No need to upset Ministry personnel more than necessary until we show them I'm really the one from the stories. I've done that before, haven't I?"

"You have proven to people you still exist, yes, but people generally didn't believe you were immortal. The founders of Hogwarts knew, and a few students I suppose but it got lost with time."

"Too bad I can't just do a spell that lets everyone know that I'm real, immortal and evil so they also learn to not annoy me," Harrison said.

"What kind of spell?" Harry wondered.

"Maybe one when they're given illusions that I tear out their children's hearts and me telling them if they don't believe me I'll come there and do it for real."

Harry stared at him, before saying:

"… You should come with a warning label."

"We made one seven years ago," Lucian offered. "Master didn't find it funny."

"You wanted it pinned on my shirts, of course it wasn't funny!"

"It was a bit funny," Lucian said.

"How come I never heard about that?" Harry asked.

"I made them swear not to," Harrison said. "You just broke that, Lucian."

"It's been seven years."

Harrison could argue some more, but felt it was unnecessary. Harry already knew, and it was a little bit funny but he wasn't about to let them know he felt that. Instead he got his plate back and finished the food, if only to keep Lucian from worrying about him.

"No trouble at school?" Harrison asked Harry after a little while.

"Everything's fine. Some of the students are children of rebels, hard not to be, but we work very hard on not having the children fighting wars amongst themselves," Harry told him. "Severus says hello."

"So they don't fight?"

"Oh, they do, we can't stop every fight. Some of the children don't like me because I sided with you and they learned from their parents that that's bad. Some doesn't like Severus, because he's your servant and apparently that's even worse."

"Hate is easy. You don't need to understand other people if you just simply hate everything. Believe me, I know that very well. Are they giving you personal trouble?"

"No. They don't say a thing to my face, Harrison, they say it when they think I can't hear them."

That was not unusual either. Harry didn't look troubled by it, but Harrison made a note of asking Severus if Harry showed him another side. Harry probably knew Harrison was all too quick to respond, usually by torture or death, and didn't want that to happen to the children.

It showed Harry had at least learnt a few things about Harrison over the last ten years.

"Well then," Harrison said. "Let's finish eating and then do something fun."

"My kind of fun," Harry said.

"… Fine. Your kind of fun. I didn't have any prisoners at home anyway."

-o-

Just like Voldemort didn't announce his visits to Harrison, Harrison didn't announce it to Voldemort. Most Death Eaters were used to seeing him come and go, and never stopped him.

This time, it was Bellatrix that he met at the door. Ten years ago, that would have been a cause for concern, or at least mild annoyance on both their parts. Turns out getting tortured by one of Harrison's tricks had been the best thing to happen to Bellatrix when it came to the relationship between her and the Nightmare Lord.

Meaning, one day he had stumbled onto her torturing someone, gave her a few pointers and taught her a new spell. They had sort of worked together, he hadn't even asked why she was torturing the man but at the end said man was dead and they were both rather pleased with the outcome. He remembered she had turned to him and had a good look.

"Does this mean we're friends now?" Bellatrix had asked.

"Are you going to attack me again?"

"Seems rather stupid," she replied.

"Then I suppose we are friends."

So now, meeting Bellatrix was a more pleasant experience. She backed away from the door to let him enter and said:

"The lord isn't in at the moment. He had to meet up with Lucius at the Ministry."

"Serious business?"

"You business. People are annoying."

"Oh, the ones who don't believe I'm immortal?" She nodded. "Good riddance. Must I destroy a town for them to realize I'm for real? Have the Inferi march through the streets of London? Or perhaps have the Dementors play with them."

"The marching sounds nice," Bellatrix said as they walked further inside Voldemort's manor. "But unfortunately not what lord Voldemort wishes for."

"Yes, I know. He wants to stay away from the Muggle world. That's why I haven't done much for ten years; I've been trying to keep that promise to him."

"I suppose that's a kind gesture. I'm surprised you've managed to keep it."

"Oh, believe me, it's been trying at times. I've been very bored."

"Well…" She twirled her wand. "If we take some people from another country, it should be fine, yes?"

"See, I like that kind of thinking," Harrison said. "Might as well do that instead of just sitting and reading a book while waiting for him to return. We go and get two each?"

"Sounds like a plan," Bellatrix said with a grin.

Oh yes, it was much easier to be friends with her. Harrison got someone outside his servants who enjoyed torturing as much as he did. Also, unlike his servants, she was mostly insane. Just like him.

Voldemort didn't even ask where they got the four people from when he did come home and found them finishing things up.

"Just get rid of the bodies properly," was his only request.

"I'll feed them to my garden, it's alright," Harrison reassured. "You look tired."

"And you have blood on your face. How come you both have blood on your faces?"

"The blood accidentally landed on us?" Bellatrix said.

"What did you do to make the blood accidentally land… never mind; I can imagine what the two of you did."

Harrison had the bodies transported away before cleaning himself off roughly and following Voldemort.

"We haven't found the rebels yet," Voldemort told him. "Which is annoying; for ten years they have evaded us. Also, the leaders are children."

"Everyone is a child in my eyes, but I know what you mean," Harrison said. "Granger is called the brains of them, isn't she? She's a clever girl."

"Annoying one."

"Just because you haven't managed to catch her."

"Yes, hence annoying," Voldemort said and let Harrison enter the office first.

"The thing at the Ministry then?"

"Something must be done there," Voldemort admitted. "There are fractions within the Ministry. People are divided. Also, one individual who supports Lucius still rejects the idea of you, and seems convinced you have tricked both me and Lucius. Several seem to believe him."

"Sounds like you are dealing with idiots then," Harrison replied. "I could always go there and rip out my own heart if it convinces them I'm immortal at least."

"Let's hope we don't need to go that far."

Harrison wasn't so sure it would work any other way.

-o-

Hermione Granger wasn't stupid. She knew with the majority of the Ministry on Voldemort's side, the rebels wouldn't make it much longer.

Unless they dealt Voldemort a heavy blow, which was what she had been working on for the better part of the last ten years. Mainly she and Ron had worked on it, ever since Dumbledore died and Harry sided with the enemy. She knew he hadn't been lured, that he had willingly gone to the Nightmare Lord because he felt safer with that monster.

She knew, but didn't understand. She also knew better than to try talking Harry into coming back to them, and thus avoided him at all cost because where Harry was, the Nightmare Lord himself or his servants weren't far behind. She couldn't afford to be captured.

It had taken ten years, but she believed she had it now. A definitive move against Voldemort's side.

"You're really sure this will work?" Ron asked her.

"Yes. As long as we can get the Nightmare Lord close enough," she said. "Have we got enough?"

"Thirty," Ron said. "That should be enough, right?"

"If it isn't, we'll withdraw, regroup, and try with a higher number."

She wasn't going to stick around if it didn't work. No one stuck around the Nightmare Lord and lived to tell the tale if you were his enemy. Admittedly, he had been quiet for the most part of the last ten years but she would never allow herself to forget exactly what he was. An ancient monster.

It wasn't going to be easy to lure him. To get him isolated. She knew he was surrounded by his servants, his slaves some called them, and worse, the Dementors. The Inferi he controlled were bad news, but they weren't that close to him in battles. He used them to scare people, successfully too, but she hadn't seen them in years.

Just like she hadn't seen the Nightmare Lord in years. But according to those who have seen him, he hadn't aged so it shouldn't be hard locating him on a battlefield.

"Now it's just getting him there," Ron said. "To a fight. He hasn't been to one in a long while."

"Let's hope the trouble we've caused is enough to make Voldemort ask him for some assistance."

"Voldemort's handled us with the Ministry so far."

"Yes, but the Ministry has started to fall apart."

It wasn't even the rebels that had done that; it was the existence of the Nightmare Lord himself. They didn't believe in him, some of the Ministry personnel. Didn't believe he was as old as he claimed, or as strong. Hermione wasn't sure how much she believed, but she knew he was a danger that had to be removed. While he wasn't actively fighting them, he was too strong of an ally for the Voldemort to call upon. They already had enough trouble with Voldemort.

Getting rid of the Nightmare Lord wouldn't make the rebels win the long fight. But it would certainly help.

-o-

On a rainy morning, the rebels and Voldemort's forces clashed together. At Voldemort's side there was Harrison as well, with only Elise and Lucian fighting side by side with him. He didn't have any of the Dementors with him, not seeing the point when Voldemort had called upon him earlier.

The rebels weren't an organisation, or an order like Dumbledore's Phoenix Order had been. It was a mass of people who didn't agree to what had happened ten years ago, and continued to fight it. They could be ordinary people in their everyday life, and even work within the Ministry.

He saw several of the rebels wear masks, which told him they didn't want to be recognized. That meant they probably could be recognized; perhaps they even had families. That meant they could work at the Ministry, and bring information to the rebels.

Harrison decided to take out those who wore masks. They could be the most troublesome, if they had some sort of position that in the long run would threaten Lucius or Voldemort.

They weren't difficult to fight. Most had fighting experience, but didn't stand a chance against him. Few did, when he fought seriously. It didn't take long before he grew bored with the fighting, and became sloppy. Sloppy while he mentally told himself to remain alert. Sloppiness meant higher risk of injury. Higher risk of injury meant higher risk of him collapsing from blood loss and ending up taken prisoner by the rebels.

That would be very embarrassing.

Someone came from behind, and Harrison twisted around. But then two approached from behind once he had already turned, and he found himself in a dance with ten people attacking from all sides. They were fast, and good at blocking his spells. He travelled in short bursts, but soon found himself being herded.

He didn't like that, and broke free. One of them stopped, and pulled off their mask. Ron Weasley threw the mask to the side, and Harrison stopped.

Most people didn't know about him being Harry Potter from another dimension. His Rabastan and Draco were easily explained away. People didn't want to think about complicated things. The rebels didn't know either. Ron Weasley didn't know the Nightmare Lord had his own Ron, had killed that Ron, and wouldn't mind killing another Ron.

But he waited. It was stupid to do so; however, perhaps he could find out what the rebels were up to. He took a look around him; none of the others were moving to attack. A few had removed their masks. To them, they probably thought he wouldn't know their names.

It wasn't hard to place Ginny, or Neville, and definitely no trouble placing Luna. They all looked like he remembered them, as old as those memories were. That left Hermione out though; was she nearby?

"No attacks?" he asked. "I'm disappointed."

"You won't be for long," Luna said.

None of her cryptic words for him, none of her gentleness. He didn't blame her, naturally; he was the enemy. The bad man. They were the good guys in their eyes. Now, Harrison knew he had done all sorts of wrong things for a long time, and people were well within their rights to hate his guts on principle alone. Just because he wasn't attacking and destroying villages now didn't mean people should stop fearing, or hating him.

He'd be disappointed if people did. If they suddenly turned around from hating him, to tolerating or even liking him due to the fact he wasn't slaughtering people publicly anymore.

What? His gardens needed blood, and he got bored occasionally. It wasn't public slaughter if the person just disappeared. Loads of people went missing every day. So what if he was the cause of it every now and then?

They moved, but stopped once they realized he wouldn't move. He wasn't frightened by them. He was a bit curious, which was why he didn't move away. He wondered where Elise and Lucian had gone. Oh well, they could handle themselves.

Someone's wand was shaking, one still wearing a mask. Harrison tilted his head and wondered if he should frighten that one. Perhaps kill him, or her. It was hard to make out, since they wore robes that concealed most of the body.

"Now!" Ron yelled all of a sudden.

The spells were binding spells, and so Harrison dodged. One of his legs got stuck to the ground, but Harrison sorted that by breaking his femur and ripping the leg away. The pain was minor, and he moved in shadows to let the bone heal so he could stand again.

They didn't stop coming. Ron in particular was intent on having him move. So they had a plan? Was it just for him? Had they perhaps caused enough trouble so that Voldemort would call on Harrison? In a way, he was flattered. They still considered him that much of a threat?

He didn't realize he had gone exactly where they wanted until he felt the magic, and an overwhelming sense of emptiness.

Power surged behind him, and he turned to look. He found himself staring, unable to move. His eyes traced over every part of this… this thing.

He stared at the legs, and the arms, and torsos. Of hands and feet and heads. Parts of human bodies. How many; twenty? More? They formed an archway, with a Veil gently moving inside of said archway. How had they done it? If they weren't in the middle of a battle, Harrison would've loved to sit them down and ask how had they manifested a Veil? He didn't think it was possible.

Hermione was there. She was pale and ragged, but the fire still burned in her eyes. So stubborn. Were all Hermiones so stubborn? Could Harrison travel to a thousand dimensions and meet the same stubbornness in that girl? It was to be commended, that she was fighting so fiercely, so unwavering of her own beliefs in this world.

They wanted him to go through, didn't they? They wanted to lure him through the Veil. He heard it was instant death for everyone; he had seen it with Sirius, back when he was young. Would the instant death include Harrison though? He who Death had rejected for so many years?

"Get him through!" Hermione yelled.

Yes, they weren't being subtle anymore. He had no intentions of pleasing them, and moved further away instead. They still chased after him. Not Hermione though. She was doing something, when he looked back. Her arms moved, her wand in precise movements, and the magic shimmered around her.

The archway was gone, and he took a double-take. Then, too late, he heard the murmurs of voices. He was still travelling, still running, and looked to see the Veil only a few feet away from him. She had transported it even! It shouldn't be possible, as little as he knew about the Veil it felt it shouldn't be possible to do.

Harrison tried to stop himself. For all the times he wished for death during his long life, he didn't want to die by enemy hands. For all that he was sloppy and drank poisons, he had something new in his life. The children. Angel and Lucy; even Harry. They were his to take care of, and he didn't want to leave them. Them, and friends who travelled through to another dimension to find him. Servants who loved him, despite all the horrible and cold things he had done throughout his long existence.

I don't want to die.

He had already touched the Veil by the time he thought that, and was pulled through. One hand managed to grab onto the archway on the side of life, but didn't hold on for more than a few moments before the grip slackened and he was fully pulled through.

-o-

Voldemort heard Elise scream. He had never before heard her scream like that. It was a howl with no words, and when he found her she was bent over, clutching herself like she was wounded. But she didn't bleed anywhere. When she looked up, her eyes had lost most of its silvery sheen.

"Master," she gasped. "Something happened to master! His magic vanished!"

"Look for the Nightmare Lord!" he commanded two Death Eaters, one of them being Bellatrix.

They nodded and moved swiftly over the battlefield. Voldemort saw the rebels leaving, and felt dread settle somewhere in his stomach. So soon after something had happened to Harrison? That was no coincidence.

When Lucian came to Elise, Voldemort stared. The man's hair was turning to another colour, and the marks on his skin were fading. He seemed to be in a panic about it.

"Master's magic," Lucian stammered to Elise. "It's going away!"

Bellatrix came back.

"My lord," she said. "There's a… there's a Veil. The last traces of Harrison's magic were there."

"A Veil? There is no Veil here!"

"It seems to have been manifested. In an archway made out of bodies."

"Take me there," Elise commanded.

She had straightened up and looked almost normal. Except for the fact her eyes barely had any silver in them. Lucian whimpered as a mark on his hand completely disappeared.

"Go back to the manor," Elise told Lucian. "Check on the others. Contact Harry, Rabastan and Draco. The new servants… they're worse off than us, most likely."

Lucian nodded, and soon Apparated while Bellatrix led the way to the Veil. Voldemort couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it. How had the rebels done this?

"Is this possible?" Bellatrix asked. "Well, I can see it's here… but should it even be possible?"

"Apparently," Voldemort said. "Keep away from it."

He didn't like Veils. It was death. It was a gateway to death, with no way to return back to the world of the living. Voldemort pulled out his wand, and cast a few spells to find the traces of Harrison's familiar magic. Bellatrix was right; the trace ended around the Veil.

"He was pulled through," Voldemort said. "Or he managed to travel just before. But you felt as if his magic just vanished, Elise?"

"It's like…" Elise held out a hand, as if to test the air. "It feels like master doesn't even exist. I never realized… I could always feel him. Now there's nothing. It's quiet, and empty, that part where master always was inside of me."

Voldemort saw the tears trickle down Elise's cheeks. He didn't comment, out of respect.

"Can falling through a Veil kill him?" he asked.

"That's the one thing master has never tried," Elise said. "I don't know."

That was the one thing Voldemort didn't want to hear her say. He looked back at the Veil. It was thin fabric. It looked harmless.

But had it just killed the Nightmare Lord?

To be continued…


Chapter three: What happens to Harrison's servants? Where has Harrison gone?

See you later,

Tiro