And now, the penultimate chapter of this little story of mine. Enjoy!
It hadn't taken long for boredom to take its hold on both the boys after Dumbledore had left. While Harry was more than happy to read some of his textbooks, his young clone was raring to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.
The toddler had tried everything from begging to demanding before just giving up on asking for permission and just marching towards the door.
'Oh no you don't,' Harry said, leaping forward and snatching Little Harry away from the front door.
The next fifteen minutes were entertaining with Harry trying to prevent his charge from leaving and the toddler (now giggling) trying to find ways to slip out of the door.
That ended when Little Harry caught sight of Moody. One look at the grizzled old Auror's face sent the boy running for the nearest bit of cover he could find. There was no way he was going anywhere near the scary looking man.
Initially, Harry enjoyed the peace, not having to run around behind a toddler. But soon enough he too got bored.
Eventually he decided to innovate. He first started off with trying to teach Little Harry how to read. Cracking open the wizarding storybook he had bought quite some time back. He was surprised at how quickly the three-year-old was learning to recognise the letters and the sounds they were associated with. Soon enough, the boy was slowly reading aloud almost as well as Harry himself.
After a delicious lunch courtesy of Kreacher, Harry decided on a whim to clear the drawing room of furniture and set up a makeshift tent full of blankets and pillows. It had been something he wanted to do since he was a kid. Thanks to magic, the whole room was transformed with a large blanket over their heads.
But Harry soon found the fun waning. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that there was no news from Dumbledore, or perhaps it was the forced isolation, but a sense of restlessness filled Harry as the day wore on.
Voldemort touched down on a meadow somewhere in Northern Yorkshire. A glance at the metal instrument told him that he had reached his destination. The boy and the thing were in that house in front of him.
There was quite an extensive protective enchantment around the entire property. It was the exact same charm he had seen deployed on the boy's previous residence the previous year.
The charm here was much stronger, though. He could feel the heat of the magic even from here.
It did not matter. If what that woman said was true, then even this enchantment won't be enough.
Tapping the metal rod once more with his wand, he muttered a different string of words and then threw the instrument towards the house.
Instead of falling to the ground, the rod was suspended in mid-air, seemingly stuck on something. It rapidly started heating up red-hot and then white-hot till with a flash, it was gone, along with the protective enchantment that was placed around the house.
Voldemort laughed a high cold laugh. The woman had told him that the instrument would be capable of breaking through anything short of the Fidelius Charm. It looked like she was right!
He strode forward, an ugly smile of victory on his face when nothing stopped him from stepping over the boundary line.
Walden Macnair prowled through the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.
He and his two Death Eater companions paused when they heard rustling.
'Aragog,' he said respectfully to the hulking large spider that appeared out of the gloom.
Unlike most other humans, Macnair knew that the word "Aragog" was a title, meaning "king of spiders" and not a name. It belonged to the largest Acromantula of the colony. That was, at the moment, the eldest son of the current Aragog.
'Human,' the Spider said, clicking his pincers.
'I hope you received my gift?'
'Yes,' the spider said, clicking his pincers. 'My father enjoyed the meal very much. It was a fitting last meal.'
Macnair smiled. The father in question was rather loyal to the half-breed oaf, unlike his descendants who only cared for fresh meat. It had been the main sticking point in getting the beasts on their side. Thankfully, this specimen was more than happy to betray his old and blind sire in order to become the next Aragog.
That was easily solved by supplying some poisoned meat.
The Death Eater bowed to the recently elevated Aragog. 'If you are interested, I have fresh human meat ripe for the picking. Just follow me, and remember: feast upon those not wearing our clothes.'
Aragog clicked his pincers loudly. In short order, a large number of his brothers and sisters came crawling out. Turning towards the human, he said. 'Lead the way.'
Macnair let a sadistic smile form on his lips as he led his new army out of the forest and into the fracas happening at Hogsmeade. Those Blood Traitors wouldn't know what hit them! And once the battle was won, those beasts would all be exterminated.
The human had no idea that Acromantula could speak silently. As such, he was unaware that Aragog had already ordered for his death.
The first chance the Acromantula get, they were going to turn on those masked humans as well.
After all, it was still fresh meat.
Something was wrong Harry thought.
As if agreeing with him, his clone stilled, freezing in a way that set the hairs on Harry's neck rise up. He didn't stay that way for long.
Yelling in shock, Harry sprang towards the toddler when Little Harry started shrieking in pain, clutching his forehead, blood leaking through his little fingers.
Mercifully, Little Harry passed out from the pain before Harry could reach him. Looking at the child's forehead, Harry cast a spell to wipe out the dried blood. He was shocked to find a lightning shaped cut on the boy's forehead in the same shape and location as Harry's own scar. A small fragment of unknown material fell out of the wound, smoking slightly. It did not stay long, dissolving into smoke.
Just then a great boom resonated throughout, shaking the whole house to its foundations. Harry whipped his head towards the nearest window.
A cold chill went down his spine when he saw the pale form of Voldemort approaching their house, the summer sun glinting off his bald head. It was all too clear what had happened. The people in the Department of Mysteries responsible for Little Harry's creation had put in some form of insurance to make sure that they did not lose their experiment. And Voldemort had somehow managed to get his hands on that insurance.
Clutching the unconscious infant in his arms, Harry dashed upstairs. Over the course of the past few weeks ever since he had moved in, he had converted one of the two guest bedrooms into a sort of playroom for Little Harry. Placing the unconscious boy there, he dashed back to his room. Retrieving the Invisibility Cloak that was passed down by his father, he returned to the playroom and threw the cloak over the toddler, tucking it in around the boy's body and trying not to think that he was passing it down for good to Little Harry.
Hopefully, if the worst came to pass, Voldemort wouldn't notice the boy.
He knew that a locked door would alert the dark wizard, so he left it ajar. Heading towards his own room, he opened the window and arranged it to look like he had levitated the boy out of it. Hopefully by the time Voldemort was done searching the countryside and the cliff, his clone would have a chance to escape. Stepping out, he locked the door with the strongest locking charms he knew.
Taking a deep breath, he cast a Patronus.
'Tell Dumbledore we are under attack. Voldemort is here.' Harry said as clearly and calmly as he could.
Once the ethereal stag had disappeared, he took a deep breath and steeled himself.
Outside, Voldemort and Moody were locked in a fierce battle. The old Auror was tough, having learnt ways to compensate for his disabilities. He had managed to get the first hit in too, something that incensed the Dark Lord.
At the end of the day, Moody was no match for the most terrible Dark Lord in history. With a snarl, Voldemort fired off a curse that impacted the ex-Auror's prosthetic leg, shattering it. As soon as his opponent was down, Voldemort snapped off a powerful spell that tore through Moody's hastily erected shield and then his head.
Wand smoking slightly, Voldemort stepped over the corpse and headed towards the house. He grimly exchanged his trusty phoenix feather wand for Draco Malfoy's wand. There was not going to be anything saving the boy today!
'Come out and play, Harry!' He said mockingly a few feet from the front door. 'Maybe I will give you a swift death!'
Laughing the whole way, he approached the front door and blew it off its hinges.
'Where are you, Harry?' he asked in a mockingly sweet voice. 'This is no way to treat a guest in your house…'
He first came upon the drawing room. His lipless mouth curled at the sight of numerous pillows and blankets strewn about.
'My, my,' he said loudly. 'Such a messy house! What was Dumbledore thinking letting a child live on his own?'
He was in the middle of the room when suddenly everything rose up and started attacking him.
Voldemort managed to blast the first pillow out of the way, surprised momentarily to note that it had been hardened to stone. Clearly the boy had prepared.
Showing a surprising level of athleticism that belied his age, the dark lord twisted, dodged and deflected all the projectiles headed his way. Soon enough he was standing in the middle of a sea of detritus.
'How nice of you to prepare a welcome for me, Harry,' Voldemort said casually, tapping his left shoulder with his wand to numb it. He had not come out of this unscathed, being winged by a rather hard pillow. It was certainly going to leave a bruise.
'Oh no you don't,' he said, vanishing the blankets when they reared up to attack. For good measure, he blasted the rest of the furniture to pieces.
Leaving the room, he headed towards the stairs. He placed a foot on the bottom stair and immediately pivoted and stepped to the right. Just in time to catch the speeding kitchen knife with his forearm.
Snarling, Voldemort removed the knife and healed the cut. 'Come out and fight me boy, I grow tired of fighting inanimate objects ineptly charmed by an average O.W.L. student!'
As if answering his demands, he felt a surge of magic coming from behind him. Whirling around, he swiftly countered and shielded the myriad of spells that were raining down from the landing on the top.
The boy had the advantage of height enabling him to push Voldemort back into the drawing room, Harry following him.
Being much younger, Harry had the added stamina to keep up a constant barrage of spells. Voldemort, though, could match Harry in power. He used his long experience to ride out the initial wave of fury coming at him.
'Not bad,' he said when Harry slowed down and stopped. 'I see you have been practising since the last time we duelled. I must commend you for managing to cast everything silently. This should make it more fun this time.'
Not answering, Harry Disapparated. Smiling gleefully, Voldemort whirled around and snapped out a spell. His timing was impeccable and the spell impacted the boy the moment he reappeared.
'Well, now isn't that a surprise!' Voldemort said mockingly. 'Apparition at such a young age! Harry, I am so proud of you. Even I had not managed that at fifteen years.' Then he shook his head sorrowfully. 'Unfortunately, predictability is your enemy here. It has allowed me to successfully cast an anti-Disapparition jinx on you. Which is good, all things considered … We can't have you running off, can we?' Twirling his wand in his fingers, he continued talking in a disappointed tone. 'You should have used the opportunity to run away in the first place.'
'I'm not running away from you,' Harry spat. 'I'm going to end this once and for all.'
'Not going to hide behind others, Harry?' Voldemort asked mockingly.
'Well, it's only fair.' Harry said in reply. 'You can't hide behind your Horcruxes anymore either. I enjoyed destroying them, by the way. The parts of your soul made very entertaining screams when they left their containers.'
The smile dropped off Voldemort's face like stinksap. 'I see you have found out about my secret,' he said finally. 'I suppose I should repay you for that.'
He unleashed a short barrage of curses, feeling some of his fury return.
The boy managed to shield from most of it, but wasn't so lucky this time when he caught a slicing curse on the leg cutting it off at the knee.
With a shout, the boy fell, clutching the bleeding stump of his left leg.
'That's one part of you for one part of my soul.' Voldemort said softly.
Just then he snapped his wand to the side, shielding from a magical attack he sensed coming from there.
'YOU SHALL NOT HARM HARRY POTTER!' Dobby screamed, launching another magical attack as he and Kreacher burst into the room.
'FOR MASTER REGULUS!' Kreacher said in his bullfrog voice, waving a kitchen knife.
'House-elves?!' Voldemort said with a mixture of wonderment and irritation. His moment of surprise was enough for Dobby to send him tumbling out of the drawing room and into the dining room.
Regaining his bearings, Voldemort shrugged off the second magical push.
'Your magic is strong,' he observed. 'But it lacks finesse. Allow me to show you why you shouldn't try to attack a wizard, elf…'
Welding his wand like a sword, he dispatched Dobby with two swift spells. '…It's because we are better magic wielders than you could ever hope to be.' Voldemort said condescendingly. Stepping over the elf's body, he turned and caught a leaping Kreacher with a spell. 'Regulus Black's house-elf, eh?' He said with a leer. 'I should thank you for delivering Harry Potter into my clutches a month back, but your betrayals mean that you get death instead!'
With a snarl, he split the creature's body in two, revelling in the blood that spattered on his face.
He took a moment to savour the exhilaration coursing through his body. Rolling his shoulders, he strode towards the living room, easily catching up to the brat who was trying to crawl away.
'Oh that must hurt so much!' Voldemort said mockingly. 'And look at all that blood!' He clucked his tongue mockingly. 'We can't have you dying on me yet, can we, Harry? Here, allow me to help.'
Smiling sadistically, he cauterised the wound, relishing in the boy's screams of pain.
Somehow, Harry had managed to hold onto consciousness, though he was weeping piteously.
'Now, let's see,' Voldemort said thoughtfully. 'Which part of your body should I take off next?' he loomed over the downed teenager.
It turned out to be a mistake. Suddenly the teenager's wand was pointed right at his face, spewing golden fire at him.
Voldemort jerked away, screaming in a mix of pain and rage. The fire had burned the borrowed wand into cinders, badly singeing his hand as well. Clutching his burnt face, he screamed some more, this time in rage as he blindly searched for his original wand.
Grasping it, he blindly unleashed a blasting curse, somehow managing to blow the boy's wand along with the hand holding it.
With a roar of rage, Voldemort unleashed a battery of hexes and curses at the boy, careful not to slip and use the Killing Curse.
Breathing heavily, he staggered over the brat's body. He had been blinded in his right eye, limiting his vision. His dominant hand had taken quite a beating, bearing the brunt of the flames. He slowly switched his wand to his left hand and knelt down to take a better look at the body. One look at it told him that he had succeeded. The boy was dead!
Just to be sure, he slashed his wand across the boy's neck, separating the head from the body. Picking the head up by the hair, he leered into the lifeless eyes. 'I win.'
Suddenly he felt cold steel rip through his back and out of his chest.
Dropping the head, he slowly looked down. There was a sword blade sticking out of his chest. How odd, a distant part of him noted.
That's when the pain made itself known. Gasping, he tried futilely to reach for the handle at the back.
The darkness creeping into his vision horrified him more than anything else. This had not happened the last time when his Killing Curse had been reflected back to him!
They had managed to get all my Horcruxes! Was the horrifying thought that permeated throughout his brain.
His brain shut down then and he slumped over, dead, before he could even begin to think how they could have found them all.
I know ... quite tragic.
Ah that reminds me.
Warning: character death. An important character dies in this chapter
(I really should stop forgetting to put these things up at the beginning of the chapter - this is the second time it's happening to me!)
Tune in next week for the ultimate chapter. That's when you shall see the my take on the second popular concept in this fandom. I'll give you guys a week to theorise what that concept will be.
And before the fire and brimstone start raining down on me, I would like to point out that there is one more chapter. As they say, "It ain't over till it's over."
Of course, there is an epilogue too. So I guess that means two more Fridays of new chapter alerts for this story!