Harry Potter and the Gang of Giggling Girls
by Glee-chan
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Department of Mysteries had an eery quietness to it as Harry stepped into it's marble floored halls. He had been there a handful of times during the alternate future's timeline. The first time had been to retrieve the Prophecy that this version of Lord Voldemort was after now. Like now, he was a fifteen year old boy. Unlikes then, however, this time Harry was walking into the trap with a plan. While he appeared alone, his and Dumbledore's plan was already in motion.
He recalled revisiting the Department of Mysteries shortly after becoming an Auror. Back then, or rather in the future, he and Hermione took a tour of the place together. It had been a different experience, having a guide show them the correct method of traveling the place, and seeing what else was houses there. So it was with that knowledge, and not the dream-fed memories supplied to him by Voldemort that drew him to the Hall of Prophesy.
Slowly walking down the aisle, a strange feeling of deja vu came to his mind, as he recalled the events of his first experience in the place. The place was lighted by the glowing orbs of which the various prophesies were stored, as well as Naomi Hanson's wand emitting a lumos charm. When he finally reached the area of which his own prophesy was stored, instead of Death Eaters waiting in hiding, allowing Harry to pick up his orb before jumping out, Lord Voldemort was standing clearly in view.
The Dark Lord was thinner and paler than how Harry remembered him, although to be fair, whenever Harry remembered Voldemort he was always at his prime. It was hard to forget the conquering presence that would be at the Battle of Hogwarts. As it were, he was still in recovery from his resurrection the previous year. On his finger he wore what looked to be Marvolo Gaunt's Ring as well as Salazar Slytherin's Locket.
"Ah, looking at these Potter?" Voldemort asked, tapping the locket with his finger. "Yes, it seems you haven't quite destroyed them all. I wonder, do you even know what these are? Of course a young mind like yours knows they are important, but I'm curious if you know the full purpose of these?"
"I know enough." Harry said, attempting to give the sound of fake confidence. Naturally Voldemort believed it.
"Well, allow me to elaborate. Such items are my insurance of immortality. Haven't you wondered on why I just came back from the dead before? It's because you can't kill me, Potter. I am everlasting. You have no hope in destroying me."
"If that's true, then why are you even here? Why do you care about what some old Prophesy says?" Harry asked, pointing to the orb.
Voldemort's smile left him momentarily. "I have had the misfortune of being over confident in the past. Viewing this Prophesy is a remedy to that."
Harry gripped his wand tighter. He wasn't sure what Voldemort had in mind, but he was preparing himself. Voldemort was once again looking at the Prophesy with a sick longing in his eye. Then he turned to Harry and pointed his wand at him. Without saying a word, Harry knew his body was under the Imperius Curse. He allowed the control over his body, as Voldemort forced him to walk over to the Prophesy and hand it over to him. Voldemort took the orb in his hand and dropped the Imperius curse, confident in his abilities.
Once dropped, Harry kicked his leg forward, and punting the Prophesy out of Lord Voldemort's hand. The orb went flying into the air and smashed into stone ground. The contents of the Orb was shattered out and like the alternative past, the prophesy was lost.
"Idiot Boy!" Voldemort hissed, and inflicted a Crucio Curse on Harry.
It hurt, his body left like his veins were freezing all over, but despite himself he laughed. Voldemort looked perplexed at him and lifted the curse. Somewhere through the pain, Harry had found himself on the ground. He slowly picked himself up, breathing in as he recovered from the pain.
"What is so amusing, Mr. Potter? Did you think that by destroying the Prophesy that you have stopped me?"
"Oh no, it's going to take a lot more than that to do that. I just wanted the satisfaction of you dying without ever knowing what that orb really said."
"You little-" Voldemort fumed, but recomposed himself. "Fine then. No Prophesy. We'll just have to settle for good old fashion revenge. How about we have that duel I promised?"
"Works for me." Harry still was recovering from the pain in his body. "But where's your audience? I know you didn't come here alone. Isn't Peter Pettigrew here?"
Voldemort smirked, and nodded his head towards the shadows. Emerging from the darkness was Pettigrew, Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, along with Crabbe and Goyle's fathers.
"What's up Wormtail?" Harry looked at Pettigrew. "I suppose me reminding you that you owe me one isn't going to cut it this time? After all, we both know how well you keep your word."
The dumpy man stammered. "I had already d-devoted myself to the D-Dark Lord, Potter! Betraying your p-parents and framing Sirius Black WAS me keeping my word."
Lord Voldemort sneered a bit. "You will not received help from this worthless pile of filth. But you don't need it, do you?" Voldemort then tilted his head to the side. "I showed you mine, now you show me yours.""Pardon?"
"If you destroyed the Prophesy, expected a trap, and have called me out, then you wouldn't have willingly come here if you thought you were going to lose. Where are your allies?" Voldemort spoke in his usual high voice.
"Here."
On cue, Professor Dumbledore appeared from under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Likewise, from the shadows, most of the Order of the Phoenix members emerged, along with various Aurors who were friendly to Dumbledore's cause. The Death Eaters eyes raised as it was clear they were outnumbered. In fact, even Voldemort looked apprehensive for a split second.
"Pleased to see me again Wormtail?" Sirius glared at Pettigrew. "Thanks for confessing your frame-job to a bunch of Aurors." He pointed at Kingsley Shacklebolt. "You really are a moron."
"It won't matter, cousin." Bellatrix interrupted Pettigrew before he had time to gather enough strength to squeak again. "I'll be the one facing you tonight."
"I assume it was you who sent those Dementors to Privet Drive, Bella?" Sirius asked.
"Who else?"
Voldemort gave a loud hiss. "Shut up! Quiet all of you! None of this is important! The death of that boy is! Now, step aside all of you. Will you deny me my duel?"
"This is preposterous!" McGongall appealed to Dumbledore. "You can't allow a child to face He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"It is Harry's right to accept or deny the duel. Obviously he has accepted it, and it would be improper for me to step in." Dumbledore spoke with a grave voice.
Voldemort cackled. "Your bearded fool, I will destroy your champion, and then I'm coming after you."
"You must do what you feel is right." Dumbledore nodded his head.
Harry felt his heart race faster now. So this was it. He was the last Horcrux. The plan was going along smoothly now. But only he and Dumbledore knew what was to happen next. Breathing his all his courage, like he did back at the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry stepped forward accepting this destiny. In the back of his mind he wonder if he'd actually come back this time. After all, it he had a memory of returning back to life before. Would that in some way change how everything would work?
The two bowed, as was customary for a Wizard's Duel, then started. Before Harry would sacrifice himself, he wanted to do something a little selfish. He wonder just how good he had become through the years of Auror experience he had gained. He'd fight back, if only for a little while.
The first round of spell were an easy battle for Harry to fight. Clearly Voldemort wanted to toy with what he thought was a child, to torture the onlookers on Harry's side. But Harry wouldn't allow him that. To the Dark Wizard's surprise, Harry was fighting back. The second round the spells got more difficult, and again Harry was holding his own.
Growing tired of this, Voldemort decided to stop playing around. Harry realized he was in over his head, and yet he was barely scraping through. It must have been impressive seeing the two of them duel, yet now Harry was not attacking, he was defending. The battle was definitely not going his way.
"What is the meaning of this?"
For a split second the duel stopped to look at the new voice. It was Cornelius Fudge. Just on time. With horror on his face, he first looked at Black, then at Pettigrew, then at Bellatrix then at Harry, then at Dumbledore, and lastly, his eyes fell on Lord Voldemort.
"You! It's… It's you!"
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort pointed his wand at the Minister of Magic, irritated at being interrupted.
Acting on instinct, Harry knew this was the right moment. He threw his body in front of Fudge, and allowed the Killing Curse to slam it's green light into his back. Coughing, Harry gave the minister a last look then slumped to the ground. All sound was gone, and the darkness of the room left him. Once again he was dead.
Or was he. He found himself in a void of whiteness, like he had been in before. Sitting up, he realized he wasn't in a spiritual version of Platform 9 and 3/4 like he was before, now he was in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Well it looked like Hogwarts, anyway. Laying in the corner where Professor Snape usually sat was the shivered body of Voldemort's Horcrux. Slowly it was fading away.
"It's seems you're back here, again." A kindly voice spoke to him as he looked at the whimpering husk of Voldemort's soul. Harry turned to voice and saw that it was his daughter Lily.
"L-Lily?"
"Hello Daddy." The Spirit Lily smiled.
"Wait, how are you here? And how did you know I was here before?"
"Because I'm in your head, Dad. Don't you remember how it was the last time?"
Harry did. The Dumbledore that appeared to him before seemed to say the same thing. "So you're not real."
"I am and I'm not."
Harry looked at her. She was still in her early twenties and he still had the body of a fifteen year old. Like before both of them were naked, but they both didn't seem aware or ashamed of this. She went over to him and sat on the floor next to him then leaned her head on his shoulder. He missed when she did that.
"I defeated Voldemort again. This time I didn't have to blow up have the school to do it."
"I'm very proud of you." Lily smiled sweetly. "It looks like our planned worked afterall."
"Maybe I should just… just stay here." Harry looked at Lily. "We can be a family again."
"Dad… in this timeline I've not been born. If you decide to die I won't be there waiting for you." Lily explained. "I'm sorry, but this is the only time we have together."
"But-"
"And you can't stay here. You know it." Lily interrupted him. "You have to go back and finish what you started. You have to go back and finally live a happy life, free from the deaths and hardships that happened before. If I were real, that's what I'd want for you."
"Okay." Harry nodded. "But can't we just stay like this for a while?"
"Sure… but not too long. As Dumbledore used to say: 'It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.'"
"Right… got'cha." Harry nodded, smirking a bit. "You really are just my imagination, aren't you?"
"Pretty much." Lily laughed. "Although next time you conjure me up, I'd like some clothes."
Harry woke up with a gasp. He coughed and sat up, feeling his whole body ache with pain. The worst part was a burning sensation on his back. Without having to be told, he knew he had another lighting bolt scar on his upper back where Voldemort's killing curse had struck him.
He looked around and saw a flurry of spells whizzing pass him, with Witches and Wizards engaging in multiple magic duels. The only person not fighting was Fudge, who was laying on the floor next to Harry, horror stricken. Then his sweat covered face turned and saw Harry. Their eyes contacted and he came to the realization that Harry wasn't dead anymore.
"What?" Fudge exclaimed. "You're not dead?"
"Not yet!" Harry said, and leaped to his feet.
He searched the area and saw that most of the Aurors and Order members had Voldemort's lackey's captured. The only one left was Bellatrix Lestrange, who was battling Sirius. Harry didn't want to see his Godfather die like he did before, so he searched the ground for Naomi Hanson's wand, but it was missing. Gritting his teeth, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his true wand. The one Dumbledore saved from the Ministry of Magic after his trial. He pointed it at the witch and placed her in shackles while her back was turned. She fell to the ground once a jinx from Sirius hit her.
She gazed around looking for her attacker in fury then saw with widen eyes who it was. "Harry Potter! Harry Potter lives!"
Dumbledore and Voldemort were in a spectacular duel, but on hearing the mad Witch shout that, they paused and looked. Sure enough Harry was standing up boldly, already casting a spell towards an undefended Voldemort. It was Harry's trademark, the disarming charm. Voldemorts wand flew into the air and landed at Malfoy's feet.
"Potter!?" Voldemort screamed, more concerned about Harry still being alive than being disarmed. "But how? Why? Why can't I kill you?! What is so special about you that every time I try, you still are alive?"
"It's over Riddle." Harry said, no longer acknowledging Voldemort's invented name. "Give up!"
"No, no, no!" Voldermort shouted and reached for his wand.
Somehow Malfoy in his Petrified state managed to pick up Voldemort's wand and toss it into the air. The Dark Lord caught it and instantly attempted a killing curse on Harry. Harry once again fired his Expelliarmus charm. Since their wands were connected, the beams of the spells connected. Suddenly the beams connecting them formed a gold light, and both of them hands vibrated from the effects. It was the Priori Incantatem effect, or reverse-spell that only brother wands shared.
But this time around Voldemort's will was not as strong as Harry's. This own beam was pushing Voldemort's own magic back. The Dark Lord gripped his wand with both hands, screaming, but nothing was happening. He was losing. Finally, in a serge of golden light, Harry's beam overtook Voldemort.
The green beam of light from the killing curse came flying back at Voldemort. His red eyes found Harry just before it connected. The killing curse lived up to it's name, and once again struck. The Dark Lord gasped and swayed in place for just one second before he flipped flimsily on the ground. His last words were: "Oh my..."