Chapter Four: I Believe Both
Surprise, surprise! I kept my word! Yippee! This chapter was posted when I promised it would. Inform the media! Start the presses! Jo Rowling has posted Chapter Four in her fan fiction story! All right, all right, you caught me. I'm really Dannielle Tudor. But I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for you kids and your mangy mutt! (I love Scooby Doo. That adorably ugly Great Dane and his pals are something you can't grow out of.)
Anyhow… (Or anywho, as my friends Casey and Claire would say) I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review! Thanks to all of you who did and who added this fic to Story Alert. It means a lot to me… and George. And he's been through so much! You wouldn't want to break his heart once again, right?! Okay, okay. I'm getting carried away. You may proceed to read…
As shocked as I am that I have become a murderer, I am even more overwhelmed when Harry Potter, whose dead body I was staring at not too long ago, steps out of thin air and, tossing his Invisibility Cloak aside, steps up to You-Know-Who. Almost as one, everyone begins to step back to the walls, allowing the two to confront each other. I am still frozen, however, until Lee roughly grabs the back of my robes and pulls me backwards, tossing me to the ground. "What the hell were you thinking?" he hisses in my ear as I fall.
Something relatively soft cushions my descent, and I look down to see, underneath me and next to the body of the Death Eater I murdered, Fred's dead body. The true understanding of what I have done comes over me. Killing that man has not brought my brother back. Instead, I have only created another tragedy, murdered someone whose family will now be in mourning, too. Evil or not, killing is wrong. Fred's death should have really shown me that, but instead… Shuffling off my brother's corpse in horror, I murmur, pained, "I don't deserve to be saved."
"Don't be a git," Lee snaps distractedly, now turning to watch Harry and You-Know-Who. "Of course you do."
As much as it is a relief to hear words that seemingly provide forgiveness coming from Lee's throat, I know they are false. I will admit that I am equally curious to see if Harry- who has come back from the dead, but my brain is too fried to figure out how- can defeat the strongest wizard alive. However, Lee could have at least looked at me when he talked. Surely I'm more pleasant than You-Know-Who's excuse for a face! Then I realize that I have sunk to his evil level, and miserably allow my body to sag against the wall, Fred still beside me. "I'm sorry," I softly whisper to his unhearing ears. Then I turn, and watch what will be both the greatest triumph and greatest defeat the world has ever known. But which one will it be for our side?
Meanwhile, Harry is telling You-Know-Who that some things- horcrabs, maybe- are all destroyed, so it is just down to them. Why He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had crustaceans fighting for him, I have no idea. But the rest of Harry's message is clear. Right here, right now, one of them is going to die. "'Neither can live while the other survives,'" he is quoting, "and one of us is about to leave for good…"
"One of us?" You-Know-Who questions mockingly. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"
"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me? Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight," what on Earth is Harry talking about? "…and still survived, and returned to fight again?"
"Accidents!" screams You-Know-Who, whose rage is palpable. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!" Fury is bursting from my eyes, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's back is having trouble supporting the onslaught, I am sure. I am completely appalled that he is blaming Harry for the death of Sirius, of Dumbledore, of Fred! He is the one that gave the orders! He is the one who set his evil minions on us! The twisted, sick, perverted son-of-a-bitch… He's acting as if he is some sort of victim, nobly killing all those people. My stomach emits a weak groan, a warning sign that I may throw up yet again, which seems to echo in the silence before Harry replies to You-Know-Who's taunts.
"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," Harry declares firmly, and as I watch him, and let his words pour into my ear, I am filled with belief that he can win. I, now made so weak and trusting through grief and guilt- after all, why wasn't I at Fred's side when he died, to save him, to die in his place, even- soak up these words of comfort hungrily, hanging onto every single syllable with rapt attention. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people-"
"But you did not!" You-Know-Who shrieks, almost pleading that Harry's words are not true. But as I hope they are, I somehow know they are, and even more than before, I cease thinking and simply take in every word that is exchanged.
"-I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?" Fleetingly, regret and even fury because Harry did not act sooner, did not sacrifice himself in time to save Fred, runs across my mind. Then, sick with myself, I take that comment back, too. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. To blame Harry, who has already sacrificed so much, for not placing himself in Death's hands at the first available moment? I am being more of a prat than Percy, full of all of his mistakes and hatred, ever was. I shoot an apologetic, encouraging stare at Harry, and continue to watch.
"Yes, I dare. I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some before you make another big mistake?" Ferally circling Harry like a cross between a lion, a snake, and a huge bird of prey, You-Know-Who cautiously yet curiously listens.
After a moment, he speaks, seizing upon the moment as another opportunity to throw insults in Harry's face. "Is it love again?" Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter – and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you dying now when I strike?" Oh, if only my love for Fred could bring him back. I'd do anything, anything to have my twin again!
"Just one thing," answers Harry vaguely.
"If it is not love that will save you this time, you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?" Behind You-Know-Who's mocking tone lies open curiosity, which he can barely disguise.
Simply, Harry responds, "I believe both." I look around the Great Hall, and see that everyone else is just as enraptured and surprised as I, and You-Know-Who, both are. And shoving all doubt aside, I pour my faith into the small, skinny boy in front of me, and believe both, too.
A/N: What did you think? Sadly, school is starting soon, so I won't be able to post too often. But I'll try to not to make you wait more than two weeks. And by the way, a revised version of Chapter One is up. It is not terribly different, so you don't need to read it. I was just putting that information out, in case you're interested. And by the way, has anyone else noticed the similarities between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter? I was watching The Fellowship of the Ring last night, and the entire conversation with Gandalf and Frodo and how the One Ring and Sauron and truly one, and though the Dark Lord's body was destroyed but his soul remained because the ring did, and the Ring can exert Dark power over the people near it, and power is the thing that would tempt Gandalf more than anything, and he would use the Ring in an attempt to do good but get corrupted… I had complete déjà vu with Harry and Dumbledore's various Horcrux conversations. Anyone else see it? And when the Dark Riders are coming for the Hobbits after they locate those mushrooms- the leaves blowing and a path seeming to shrink, etc- looks a lot like the fourth movie in the maze. Just saying. It's quite intriguing. I will do all I can to update on time!
Dannielle