Author's Notes: Well, it looks like I can still write plenty with the school computers. Still, I need to get a replacement personal computer sooner or later. Anyway, thank you all for your patience to wait for this next chapter.
As always, thank you to all my readers since my last post. This story has now surpassed 21,000 hits and The Legend of Zelda: Land of My Dreams is getting close to breaking 7,000. And here are the special thanks to all my reviewers.
ProfessorChris: Remember, Geoff's family didn't want him to get involved with the war at all. Geoff is powerful enough to challenge Voldemort, but he just couldn't find him before that night. And now that he knows about the Horcruxes, he continues to avoid Voldemort himself until he is vulnerable. And that moment is coming soon. Thanks for your continuing support. By the way, it looks like Arsenal will get their top four position... as usual. God, Premier League soccer is exciting, but the end results are so predictable.
Clex-Lover86: I'm sorry for cutting the story off like that, but the chapter needed to end. And don't worry, I know what happens to Harry in this story. However, I can't tell you what that fate is... yet. Thanks for your support.
Binka Fudge: No, your points make a lot of sense. Good and evil are not as clear-cut as J.K. Rowling would have us believe from Deathly Hallows. As I have said before, the endings are never that easy. Harry doesn't blame Geoff for not saving Lily, but he is also horrified at what Geoff did afterwards, murdering Death Eaters in cold blood. Who is right here? I'll let you decide, because good and evil are not always easy to separate. What do you call the person who commits evil deeds for the sake of good? What I didn't like about Deathly Hallows was that Rowling kept Harry so far on the side of good. Yes, Harry did do some bad things in the story, but he never came anywhere close to crossing the line as Geoff has. Geoff has no problems with killing those that would oppose him, though he would much rather prefer not to kill if he can help it. As for Snape, Deathly Hallows made everything about his past finally make sense. Snape's past is one of the things I decided to apply to this story because it just explains everything about his behavior toward Harry. Anyway, thanks for the review.
Okay, last chapter's Monty Python reference was rather obscure. It was Snape's comment to Geoff saying that he didn't want Geoff to undress himself in public. This comes from the sketch "Undressing in Public" from the fourth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. In this sketch, Terry Jones is trying to undress on and near a beach into his swimwear, but he keeps getting interrupted and keeps ending up in one bizarre situation after another.
Fair warning, the contents of this chapter are a bit disturbing. You have been warned, therefore I am not liable for any hospital bills or legal fees.
With that out of the way, here is the next chapter.
Chapter 27: . . . Is the Killer in You
Harry looked at the man before him. Physically, he was no different now than he was when they entered the Pensieve. But now, to Harry, Geoffrey Godric Gryffindor was a completely different man. He now saw a criminal, a serial killer, sitting in front of him. And yet was it fair to call him that, with all the remorse he had shown? The way he talked and acted, Harry felt that Geoff knew he was damned to spend an eternity in hell. Geoff was a man who knew what he had done, what he was doing, was wrong, but at the same time was the only thing he could do. Harry knew that both he and Geoff were right in their own way. It wasn't right to kill, but to say that killing made Geoffrey exactly like Lord Voldemort was utter nonsense. Geoff had spent his entire adult life helping to stop the Dark Lord's mad schemes. He truly was an ally to Harry. And yet what Geoff had done was unforgivable.
"I just don't know what to say right now," Harry finally stated as he shook his head slowly, "I just don't know what to tell you, Geoff."
It was a struggle for Geoff to continue to look at Harry now, afraid that what little trust there was left between the two would vanish in an instant if he even looked at Harry in the wrong way. "I understand why you feel as you do about me now," he replied, "But my duty is to protect you and to help you complete your task of killing You-Know-Who once and for all. Harry, no matter what you think, no matter what happens; I am here to help you. Please remember that."
Harry nodded. He already knew that, but now the information he had wanted so dearly haunted him terribly. And now he wondered how it must have felt for Geoff himself. Harry only needed to see those memories once. Geoff had to live with them every single day for the rest of his life. "It must be terrible for you to have to relive those memories over and over again," Harry pointed out.
"It's my own personal hell," Geoff confirmed, "To think about what could have been. It's funny, really. I have everything I ever really wanted in life now. I have a wonderful family, a great job with a clear path to becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts, and a clear path to defeating the greatest threat to the Wizarding World. Sure, I should worry about that last bit, but I have been blessed in my life. And yet my memories chain me to sorrow for all my days."
"It doesn't have to," Harry claimed, "Look at Gary. Ever since he killed Fenrir Greyback, he's been on cloud nine."
Geoff nodded. "Yes, that's true," he admitted, "Let me tell you something, Harry, when I saw Gary today and I saw him using his wand and that smile on his face, I wanted to just burst out crying. It has been a very long time since I've seen him like that. Maybe there is hope for me after all. But first, we have a job to finish. One more Horcrux, and then we go for the jugular."
"Right," Harry affirmed as he and Geoff stood up from the table and began to walk up the stairs to the main hallway of the house.
When they got to the hallway, they found Gary waiting for them, still in his yellow robe. It was something Harry doubted he'd ever truly get used to seeing.
"And now for something completely different," Gary remarked, "Or perhaps not. Severus has a little 'gift' for you in the drawing room, Geoff. Don't be alarmed with how it looks."
"Were you expecting a gift from Snape?" Harry inquired.
"No, this is a surprise to me," Geoff answered, "And I have no clue what it might be. He certainly does have a bit of catching up to do." And with that, Geoff led Gary and Harry toward the drawing room.
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"What the hell is this, Severus!?" Geoffrey half-shouted, "You bring a prisoner into this house and call it a gift!? You can't be serious!"
Snape smiled at that. And Harry knew from experience that when Severus Snape smiled, someone was about to get hurt. "Trust me Geoff, you'll be very happy with this one," he assured, "He's been a real bother to me for the past few months and I've been wondering how to get rid of him. I'll leave that in your hands now."
"'Get rid of him'?" Geoff repeated, "Severus, you could have killed him yourself if you wanted to be rid of him so badly." The callousness of this statement made Harry shiver.
"No Geoff, it's only right for you to take care of this," Severus replied as he walked over to the short, pudgy man sitting in the chair. His hands were bound to the arms of the wooden chair he was sitting in and his ankles were attached to the chair legs in a similar fashion. He was wearing all black, topped off by a black hood which covered his head. The lack of sound from the man told Harry that he must have been gagged as well.
Geoffrey walked over to the bound man and a different look entered his eyes. "Wait, this isn't him, is it?" he inquired as he examined the prisoner's body, especially his right hand, which was out of Harry's view.
"It isn't the Dark Lord, but I suppose for you, the next best thing," Snape answered as he grabbed the top of the hood. He then pulled it off, revealing that the man had indeed been gagged.
The man squinted at the sudden brightness of light that greeted his eyes, but that could do nothing to hide his identity from those in the room. He had small, watery eyes and a pointed nose. His thinning hair had lost the brown color it once contained. And as Harry walked around the room toward Geoff, his right hand finally came into view for him. It was not a normal hand in any sense. It was colored silver and seemed ephemeral, existing at one moment and not the next.
"What treachery is this, Snape?" Harry demanded upon realizing who it was.
Before Severus had a chance to answer, Geoff began to laugh. And it was a laugh that Harry did not like to hear at all, especially from him. It was the kind of laugh that a man with evil intentions makes when they see victory in their hands. It was the laugh of one whose intention was to toy with the enemy before them. Harry realized that Peter Pettigrew, the one who set all these events in motion, was about to die a very grisly, painful death at the hands of the man who had sworn to kill him almost 20 years before.
"Severus, my friend, I must thank you," Geoff said as he patted Severus's shoulder, "I always wanted to have this opportunity."
"I know," Snape answered as he began to walk out of the room, "I have no desire to stay here and watch what you do with him, Geoffrey. Just promise me that you'll kill him."
Harry saw a huge change in Geoff's eyes. It was as if Snape giving him permission to kill changed him into something completely different, something barely human, if it was human at all. It was a look Harry had seen before, but he had trouble remembering where.
"Of course Severus, of course," Geoff replied, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Severus and Gary left the room together, but Geoff saw that Harry was rooted in place in the corner of the room nearest to him. "Harry, this is not going to end well," Geoff warned, "I think you ought to leave the room."
Suddenly, Harry remembered where he had seen the look in Geoff's eyes before. He had seen them in Voldemort's eyes that night in the graveyard. Geoff was walking dangerously close to a point from which there would be no returning from. "Geoff, I don't like where this is going, for your own sake," Harry stated, "I'm not leaving."
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Geoff replied as he turned his attentions to Peter Pettigrew, "And as for you, I would have thought no warning would have been necessary, you sniveling little rat!" And with that, he smacked Peter on the side of his face, drawing a muffled cry of pain from the Death Eater.
"Oh, this is only the beginning of the pain, Peter," Geoff assured his intended victim as he bent down over his head, his eyes dripping with evil desire, "Before this is over, you'll be begging me to kill you, I promise you that. I have been waiting for this moment for 17 years. For 17 years, the pain you have caused me makes me exist in a living hell. Now, I'm going to make you experience that hell before I send you to it."
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Harry could barely watch at times, but he forced himself to continue. For 20 minutes, Geoff tortured Peter Pettigrew, degrading him with all kinds of names with Peter unable to reply. And then Geoff would batter him with his bare hands, opening cuts all over his face which began to seep out blood. At this point, Peter was struggling just to breathe, let alone prepare himself for the next blow. Geoff had now taken to slapping Peter across the face, his cheeks becoming bright red at first, then beginning to swell and bruise from the continued assault upon them.
Harry wanted to stop it. Even for someone as two-faced and treacherous as Peter Pettigrew, no one deserved to be put through this kind of torture. And yet a part of him wanted to see the scene continue. A part of him saw this as Peter's bad karma, coming back to haunt him in the end. The betrayals he had committed against James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Harry had finally caught up to him once and for all. Peter Pettigrew was guilty of murder many times over. It was right for him to suffer at the hands of one whom he had betrayed. And Harry knew that to interfere this time would be a meaningless gesture. Peter had taken the opportunity to escape last time he spared him, but Geoff wouldn't hear of doing such a thing, especially after hearing Snape's instruction to make sure Pettigrew ended up dead.
But something just wasn't adding up to Harry. "Geoff," he began while Geoff was preparing himself to inflict even more pain on Peter, "How is Snape going to explain this to You-Know-Who? How is he going to keep his cover?"
It was an innocent question, but the way Geoff reacted, Harry may as well have punched him in the face. Geoffrey looked at Harry with an expression of utter anger. Geoff had become an animal. His sole focus was to hurt Peter Pettigrew. And any interference was perceived to be an attack. However, after a few tense moments, Geoff found his senses and realized that Harry's question deserved serious consideration.
"I'm sure Severus has some explanation ready for the Dark Lord," he reasoned, "Pettigrew had become rather useless to him from what Severus has told me, anyway. You-Know-Who will not care to lose this worthless rat." And with that, Geoff returned his attentions to Peter.
Harry was surprised by what happened next. He thought Geoff would go back to hitting Peter. Instead, he reached the back of Peter's neck and untied the cloth that was holding a sock in his mouth, allowing him to breathe freely at last. Peter took huge gulps of air in and out of his lungs as he tried to forget about the pain he was in and tried to figure out a way out of this predicament.
"Geoffrey, please, I'm sorry," he pleaded, "Snape is trying to trick you. If you kill me, you'll be playing right into Vol…"
Geoff grabbed his face with his right hand, like a claw that clamped itself on either side of Peter's mouth and squeezed inward, preventing him from speaking. Geoff leaned into Peter's face until they were merely inches away. "Try to say it again and I will kill you on the spot," he warned as he pushed Peter away forcefully back into the chair.
"Oh, yes, I completely forgot about the Taboo," Peter apologized, "I'm sorry Geoff, it was an accident."
"I'm sure it was," Geoff replied in a way that made it clear he did not agree with Peter, "You were saying?"
"Yes, I was saying that if you kill me, you'll be playing right into the Dark Lord's hands," Peter continued, "Snape will lose his cover and will end up dead, and then you lose your only lead on the Dark Lord. Geoffrey, please, you have to understand that what I'm telling you is true."
Geoff chuckled. "Peter, you fool, my victory is at hand," he claimed, "I don't need Severus anymore as an insider. I know where the last of his Horcruxes are, so I will destroy that and then I will lead your master into a trap that he will not be able to resist. He will die, once and for all, and the Death Eaters will flee to the winds, never to bother anyone again. But you will not get to see the triumph of good over evil, Peter. You will be in hell, rotting like the traitor you are."
Suddenly, Peter appeared energized, as if he had breathed in something that gave him a second life or a feeling of invincibility. "You call yourself good, Geoff!?" he asked, "Look at what you've done to me! Look at what you did to other human beings! You're a murderer, just like us! You beat me like this and you call yourself good? How can you justify what you've done to me, Gryffindor!?"
Geoff grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it over so that when he sat on it, he would be looking right at Peter. He sat down the in the chair and stared at Pettigrew for a few moments. "You first, Peter," he demanded calmly, "How can you justify all that you have done? You betrayed all the people that trusted you as a friend. James and Lily trusted you to keep them hidden, and you betrayed them to their deaths. Sirius trusted you to be man enough to face your crime, and you betrayed him to the Dementors. Harry here trusted you to be grateful for his mercy toward you, and you betrayed him by running away the first chance you got and then coming back to try to kill him. But most of all Peter, you betrayed me. I trusted you as a friend, and you betrayed that trust. Tell me Peter, why did you give yourself to him?"
Peter took a few moments to find his voice again. Geoff left no stone unturned in dealing with his past. "Well Geoff, I figured that I needed to look out for myself and my own well-being," he began, "I mean, the Dark Lord was taking over everything. His reach was so extensive. He even had people in the Ministry, for God's sake. I figured that if he came after me, no one would be able to help me. So I went to him, I admit that, but I never meant for the others to be hurt."
"Then what was your intention, Peter?" Geoff asked incredulously, "You knew that all the others had death notices on their heads by opposing You-Know-Who."
"I was going to convince them to stop and leave the country," Peter continued, "Then they wouldn't be a threat to the Death Eaters. I wanted to become an insider, an informant. I was going to find the Dark Lord's weaknesses and exploit them, I swear. It's just that things moved too fast for me to do anything. I didn't want to die needlessly. I needed time, and though it hurt me to do so, I was willing to sacrifice James and Lily to buy that time. I don't know why the Dark Lord wanted Harry dead, but I needed to keep my cover to find his weaknesses and exploit them. Geoffrey, I'm telling you the truth, I swear. Please don't kill me."
Harry couldn't take anymore. "You liar!" he shouted, the anger in his voice shattering Peter's composure, "How dare you even speak of my parents like that, as pawns in a game you were playing! Admit it, Peter! You're a coward! You went to You-Know-Who only because you wanted to hide behind the most powerful person you could find. You betrayed my parents for your own piece of mind, Peter!"
Geoff chuckled again. "Harry, you don't need to state the obvious," he claimed, "Coward or not, Peter Pettigrew would never sacrifice his own soul for the greater good, as he just claimed he did. That was a great story, but I'd like to hear the truth now, Peter."
Peter hesitated before he answered. "Geoff, please, I was weak, I know," he began, "But he was so powerful, I felt that to oppose him was suicide. You have to understand, Geoffrey, he would have killed me!"
"That's it? You were afraid," Geoff asked for clarification, "That's why you joined them?"
Peter nodded his head. "I'm sorry Geoffrey," he begged as Geoff stood up to grab Peter's wand from off a nearby table, "I'm sorry."
"Peter, I'd like to thank you for that information," Geoff said calmly as he stood in front of Peter, "It really puts a lot of questions I had to rest. It will really let me sleep more soundly from now on."
"You really mean that, Geoff?" Peter asked, hope in his voice that the truth would actually set him free now.
"Absolutely Peter. Why would I lie to you now?" Geoff replied, "All I wanted was the truth."
"Well, I gave you the truth, Geoff," Peter assured, "I was afraid. I was a fool. Please forgive me."
Geoff looked down at Peter for a moment, as if deciding what to do with him. He then pointed Peter's wand, which was in Geoff's right hand, at Peter's head. "Crucio," he commanded.
At that instant, Geoff's facial expression changed from one of serene calm to that of a vengeful demon. And this anger fed the Unforgivable Curse that struck Peter without any warning. The cries of pain he emitted made Harry shiver to his very core. He writhed in the pain, trying to find some way out of it all. But there was no escape as Geoffrey Gryffindor kept the indescribable pain going.
And then suddenly it stopped after about 10 seconds. Harry was shocked that Geoff stopped so soon. He was almost certain that Geoff would do to Peter what Bellatrix Lestrange had down to Frank and Alice Longbottom; use the Cruciatus Curse to drive the victim into a coma from which there would be no recovery, a fate worse than death. Maybe he does have more good in him than I thought, Harry thought about Geoff.
What happened next made this thought flat out wrong. "You want to know what power really is, Peter!?" he shouted like a madman, "That was just a taste of it! You should have died for your friends, like they would have done for you! You selfish son of a bitch! When this is over, I'm going to make sure that everyone knows the kind of person you were! That's true power, Peter! You want power, Peter, huh!? Here, have some more!" And with that, another jet emerged from the wand and his Peter, causing him to go into excruciating pain once again.
Harry saw that this time, Geoff wasn't going to stop. He was going to drive Peter into insanity. And it was at this moment that Harry's good nature came to the front again. "Geoff! Stop!" he shouted as he ran over to Geoff, "Stop it! Please, stop it!"
Harry grabbed Geoff's right wrist and tried to pull it away in order to break the spell, but it didn't budge. No matter how hard he pulled or pushed, Geoff's arm remained fixed in place, continuing the Cruciatus Curse and its suffering on Peter Pettigrew, whose screaming would haunt Harry's nightmares. The thirty seconds that this continued for seemed to last several eternities to Harry.
Finally, Harry lunged at Geoff in an attempt to knock him down to the floor. His right shoulder caught Geoff right in the side of his upper ribs. This time, not even strength of will Geoff had could stop him from being knocked over. The spell was broken before Geoff hit the floor on his right side with Harry stopping him from getting up immediately.
"Geoff, you have to stop this! I'm begging you!" Harry exclaimed as he got up on his hands and knees, "No one deserves to have that done to them!"
"He does!" Geoff retorted as he pointed at Peter, breathing very audibly as he was trying to recover from Geoff's attack, "He betrayed me! He betrayed you, Harry! He would have seen you dead and not give a damn about it! He killed your parents! He deserves to suffer for everything he has done!"
"He does deserve to suffer, but not like this," Harry denied, "If you drive Peter into insanity like this, you'd be just like Bellatrix. You'd be just like him, Geoff! Is that what you really want, Geoff? Do you really want to be just like them? Because if that is what you want Geoff, I want you out of my house right now!"
Geoff took a moment to think about what Harry had just said. And he realized that Harry was right about everything he had just said. He didn't want to become like the Death Eaters. He didn't want to be like Peter and his compatriots. "How easily anger can lead us from good to evil," he remarked quietly as he and Harry stood up again, "Harry, you are a much better man now than I could ever hope of being. I can't thank you enough for what you just did."
"Yes, thank you Harry," Peter added, still in pain from the curses he had been hit with, "You saved my life again."
"I didn't do that for you, Peter!" Harry said angrily as he looked at Pettigrew, "I did it for Geoff. And it's not like you're going to leave this house alive."
"Wait a second," Geoff interrupted, a slight smirk on his face, "Harry, you saved Peter's life before?"
"Yeah, I saved him from Sirius and Lupin killing him four years ago," Harry informed.
"No! No, that isn't true!" Peter shrieked, not wanting to give Geoff a chance to formulate another plan to make his past turn again him, "I misspoke! He didn't save my life!"
"The cat's out of the bag already, Peter," Geoff informed his former friend, "Remus told me the story a couple years ago, anyway. I just didn't remember it until now. You owe Harry here a life debt. You know what that means, don't you Peter?" His smirk had now turned into a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
Peter nodded his head. "I'll serve Harry from now on," he claimed, "Even better, I'll join you Geoffrey. I have so much information on the Dark Lord that you could use against him. Why let it all go to waste? Please Geoff, you need me."
"First of all," Geoff began, "You know nothing about You-Know-Who that I don't already know. Second, as I said before, I have already planned the fall of your master, and it will happen very soon, I assure you. Third, you have no sense of loyalty, Peter. I wouldn't trust you in any capacity, so you are quite useless to me. And finally, no, that's not what you do because of your life debt."
"What does this life debt mean, then?" Harry inquired, having heard about this from Dumbledore before but never getting it explained to him.
"It means that Peter here cannot betray you, Harry," Geoff explained, "No matter what he does; he cannot do anything now that would end your life."
"That can't be true," Harry denied, "He was there at the graveyard three years ago."
"Peter wasn't the one who set that trap," Geoff pointed out, "And besides that, this is the first time you have seen Peter face-to-face since then, isn't it?"
Harry thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, it is," he remarked, "So he can't tell You-Know-Who about where I am?"
"Correct," Geoff answered.
"I won't tell him, Harry. I promise," Peter said quickly, "You see, I'm no threat to you. Get me out of this chair."
"True, Peter," Geoff began, "But you could tell the Dark Lord where I am, and not even mention Harry here. Certainly you owe no debt to me."
"But that would put Harry in danger!" Peter retorted, "And I can't do that!"
"Maybe," Geoff replied, "Maybe you have me there. But there is one thing you could do that I cannot allow to happen. You could tell You-Know-Who that Severus has been working for me all this time and is on my side."
Peter hesitated for a few moments before he could find a response. "The Dark Lord knows that Snape is giving you information," he pointed out, "It was part of his plan. See, he thinks Snape is really his man. And trust me; nothing I could say would cause him to think otherwise. Snape is his right hand man. I'm just a lowly annoyance."
Geoff leaned into Peter's face again. "That's where you're wrong, Peter," he explained, "You see, I happen to know that your master suspects Severus isn't truly on his side. This all started when Fenrir Greyback was killed by my brother about a month ago. Only Severus knew where he was going that night and You-Know-Who knew that as well. Now, in a way, Greyback getting himself killed was a bonus for him, but he certainly must look at Severus with a wary eye. And I'm afraid your testimony, along with your injuries, will cost my best friend his life. And that's a risk I will not take."
"Geoff, please, don't kill me," Peter pleaded, "I'll do whatever you want. Just don't kill me!"
Geoff chuckled for a moment, which caused confusion for both Harry and Peter. "Well Peter, I guess this is your lucky day," he informed, "I'm not going to kill you."
"You're not going to kill me?" Peter asked, hardly daring to believe this unexpected turn of events.
"No, I'm not going to kill you, Peter," Geoff affirmed.
Peter sighed with relief. "I knew you were still a good man, Geoffrey," he claimed, "I'm sorry for all the pain I put you through."
"There is one condition, however," Geoff interrupted, "And if you don't agree to it, I will kill you on the spot."
"I'll do whatever you want, Geoff!" Peter replied enthusiastically, "Name it!"
Geoff smiled at this. "I want you to swear to Harry that you will not reveal any information about what just happened to you or where you are now or who brought you here to anyone," Geoff explained, "Certainly more than fair for you, right?"
"Oh yes," Peter agreed, nodding his head rapidly, "If I do that, you won't kill me?"
"That's right Peter," Geoff confirmed, "And you know I'm a man of my word."
"Yes you are," Peter agreed as he turned to look at Harry, "Harry, I swear I will not tell anyone about what happened to me here, where you and Geoff and Snape are hiding out, and I won't tell a soul that Snape is on your side in all this. I swear I won't."
Harry was conflicted. He did not want to see Peter go free again to serve Voldemort, but he knew that Peter would be bound by what he just said. The tiebreaker was that Geoff had Peter do this in the first place. Geoff must have something in mind for doing this, he reasoned, So I should accept this.
"Peter, I accept your pledge," he declared.
"Oh, thank you Harry!" Peter exclaimed, having found a way off the gallows, "You are such a merciful person. Your parents would be so proud of you."
Geoff slapped Peter immediately at this. "Don't you dare bring James and Lily into this, Peter," he warned.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any harm by it, Geoff," Peter assured, "Now would you please untie these ropes?"
Geoff replied with a non-verbal spell that loosened all the ropes binding him to the chair at once. Now a free man again, Peter jumped up to his feet and hugged Geoff. "Geoff, I'm sorry for everything," he began before Geoff pushed him away.
"Don't touch me, you rat," he ordered, "Now, follow me."
Geoff led Peter and Harry out of the drawing room and back into the house's main hallway, where Snape was waiting for them. He was stunned to see Peter walking out as well. "I thought I told you to kill him," he said, though there was no concern in his voice, "I'm assuming you're toying with him now."
Suddenly, the color drained from Peter's face. "Geoff, you promised not to kill me!" he shouted, "You can't go back on your word!"
"Peter, relax," Geoff assured, "You have my word. I'm not going to kill you."
Harry saw the confusion in Snape's face as Geoff walked by him. Everyone but Geoffrey stood rooted in place as he took three steps past his best friend and then stopped.
"Peter, I'm not going to kill you," he repeated as he turned around, his expression now one of satisfaction from the utter perfection of their plan succeeding, "Your master, the Dark Lord, will."
At this moment, Peter's world collapsed around him. With a few words, he had gone from being a free man to being a dead man walking again. His mind couldn't comprehend it. "What?" he asked incredulously as Harry looked around in confusion, "What do you mean the Dark Lord will kill me?"
"I'm sending you back to him," Geoff informed as he turned to Snape, "Severus, you will take Peter back to You-Know-Who tomorrow morning from your home. You'll tell the Dark Lord that Peter knows everything about where Harry and I are."
"Geoff, have you lost your mind?" Severus asked, "He'll tell the Dark Lord everything."
"Ah, but he cannot, no matter how much he wants to," Geoff assured, "Isn't that right Peter?"
Peter could not answer, for either way was a death sentence for him. "You see Severus," Geoff continued, "I just had Peter swear an oath to Harry not to tell anyone about what has happened to him today. You-Know-Who will demand the information from Peter, but Peter cannot give it to him. Your death will follow very shortly thereafter, Peter. Unfortunately for you, the master you chose is not going to be as merciful as Harry was to you. But that's what you get for siding with evil, I guess."
The look on Peter's face was absolutely priceless for Geoff. He was frightened beyond words. At last, his past had caught him in the worst way possible. He was going to die at the hands of Lord Voldemort. And he knew it would not be a quick, painless death. Harry was simply too stunned to speak. The total irony of the situation rendered him mute for the moment. But Snape wasn't as taken in as Harry was. "Geoff, he'll go crazy after this," he warned, "He'll demand that I find and kill you. He'll go after your family on the mainland. He'll do anything to get back at you for this."
"True, he will come after me harder than ever," Geoff admitted, "But this is something he will not think out. He will charge blindly after me, panicking like a wounded animal. I'm so close to him now, I can reach out and strangle him. There will be flaws in his plan, and I will exploit them again and again. He will not reach my family, I assure you of that, Severus. Soon, he will forget all about protecting himself. He will leave his last Horcrux completely unprotected and vulnerable. And once we destroy that, my final trap will be sprung. You-Know-Who will finally fall and we will live in peace once again. The guilty will be sentenced to Azkaban and we shall write the history of this century."
"Geoff, please don't do this!" Peter pleaded, "Don't send me back to him! I can't go back to him now, don't you see? Just let me go! Don't condemn me like this!"
"Sorry Peter, but it's too late for your remorse now," Geoff replied as he and Snape walked up to Peter with Snape grabbing hold of Peter, "You made your bed. And now, you will sleep in it… forever. Take him away, Severus."
Snape obliged Geoff's request and began to lead Peter out of the building. Peter was too stunned from all the events that had just happened to resist at first. But halfway to the door, he started to struggle against Snape's grasp. "Please Severus, don't do this, please!" he begged, "I got rid of the ones who made so much fun of you. I got rid of the ones that made you miserable."
"You also got the only person I ever loved killed, Peter," Severus reminded, "And for that, I will never forgive you. And my life is still miserable without James around."
"Geoffrey! You're killing me!" Peter cried out as Severus neared the front door of the house, "You're a killer!"
Geoff looked down the hallway at Peter for a moment and stared into his desperate eyes. And in those eyes he saw that he had beaten the one who had set all this pain and agony in motion 17 years ago. "Peter, the killer in me is the killer in you," he replied simply.
Snape opened the front door and dragged Peter outside, Apparating away from Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place as soon as they were outside and the door had shut behind them. Harry watched as Peter continued to struggle against Severus in vain as the door closed. It was the last time he would ever see Peter Pettigrew.
"And good riddance, Peter," Geoffrey remarked after the door had closed and looked at his hands, which still had some blood on them, "I need to wash myself of that filth."
"Geoff, who did Snape love that Peter got killed?" Harry inquired quickly.
"Harry, I know you have every right to know that," Geoff said, "But you'll have to ask Severus about that and see if he'll answer it. I have no right to do that for him if he isn't ready to do it himself."
But suddenly, Harry remembered the scene with Geoffrey and Severus in The Leaky Cauldron and everything fell into place. The conclusion he came up with was the only logical one, but made him sick to his stomach to even consider it. "He was in love with my mother," he realized, "That's it, isn't it?"
Geoff hesitated for a few moments before nodding his head. "Severus grew up down the street from where your mother and aunt lived when they were children," he explained, "He had a crush on Lily since before he was 10 years old, but he never got the chance to tell her how he felt, though I think she knew how he felt. I tried to get him to open up, but then it all just fell apart after your father hung him upside-down and Severus just lost his temper."
"It all makes sense now," Harry stated as he walked down the hallway slowly, "Why he hates me so much. It's not some debt he owed my father. I'm a living reminder of what he can never have, of what could have been. And when he told You-Know-Who about that prophesy and he realized he would go after me…"
"He tried to convince You-Know-Who to spare your mother's life, Harry," Geoff explained, "And what I said in the Cauldron to Severus about that was out of line. The Dark Lord figured Severus just fancied Lily. The truth was, and still is, that he loved her more than anything else in this world. But I think Severus still sees her in you."
"I have my mother's eyes," Harry admitted.
"Yes, you have Lily's eyes, but you also have so much more of your mother in you Harry," Geoff claimed, "You are a dead ringer for James and you have his pension for getting into trouble. But other than that, you have a lot of your mother in you. Harry, your mother was one of the kindest, gentlest people I have ever met. Your deep well of mercy comes from her, without a doubt. Your compassion for others, even for your enemies, is definitely a trait Lily had. And I think that every time Severus sees you, he feels compelled to protect you, all that remains of his only love, from harm. Harry, please trust Severus. You will not be let down, I swear it."
Harry nodded, still too numb from realization to understand what was happening. At last, all his questions about Severus Snape had been answered. And yet, that answer left him numb and sickened. Had things gone only slightly different back then, he could have been the son of the man whom he despised for so long, the one who seemed to go out of his way to embarrass him and make his life miserable. It was all too much to take in at once.
"And Harry," Geoff continued, "You can't let Severus down either. Keep this in mind, Harry; you are the reason he is with us. In a way, you are his salvation, just as he is your protector, willing to die to save your life without question."
Harry nodded absently. "I think I need to lie down for a while," he remarked as he began walking upstairs.
"Get all the sleep you can now," Geoff said, "Once you destroy the last Horcrux, things are going to happen quickly. We'll have to be ready to take action and bring down You-Know-Who once and for all. Harry, you are our only hope."
"I won't let you down, Geoff," Harry replied as he went upstairs to his room. Indeed, Geoff was right, the finale of his journey was approaching him quickly now. Geoff had said it would all end within the next month. Within the next 30 days, both Harry and Lord Voldemort would face their destinies. One would rise above and be triumphant, while the other would die, paving the way for the other's vision of the world. Harry was determined that his vision must be the one to rule out, but he knew Voldemort wanted his vision just as badly.
But for Harry, this journey was about more than the fate of the world. It was also a journey to justify his status as a hero, a savior, to himself. Ever since he learned that he was a wizard, he was bombarded with praise that he felt he hadn't earned. He garnered attention that he never wanted. And yet he also had what any human being could ever want. He had fortune and glory. Not to mention the heart of a beautiful young woman. Harry realized that his quest to destroy Voldemort once and for all was also a quest for him to justify all that he had. He was trying to show to himself that he could be the hero everyone thought he was. And he wouldn't let them or himself down.
With all these thoughts spinning through his head, Harry went to sleep for a good couple of hours.
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"Severus, are you telling me that Peter here knows about the location of Harry Potter?" Lord Voldemort asked his most loyal servant in his current hideout near Glasgow, Scotland.
"I'm almost certain he does, but he will not tell me anything about it," Snape affirmed, using his right hand to hold Peter Pettigrew still by the back of his neck, "Perhaps you can coax an answer out of him, my Lord."
"Before I do that, Severus," Voldemort began, "What is going on with Geoffrey Gryffindor?"
"As far as I'm aware, he's at an international wizard education conference in Barcelona that begins tomorrow," he replied, "He's planning to spend some time with his family as well. I know they are in Barcelona at the moment, but that could change without notice. Geoffrey Gryffindor is a man who leaves nothing to chance."
"Yes, Fenrir found that out to his untimely demise," Voldemort added, "How he learned about Greyback's intentions, I wonder."
This comment was to remind Snape that Lord Voldemort knew Severus had betrayed him to the Gryffindor Family. But Snape was unfazed by this accusation. "Greyback had outlived his usefulness to our cause," he asserted, "Had he succeeded in killing Geoffrey Gryffindor's family, we would have seen the entire country turned against us in arms. Not even the Ministry could stop his uprising. Our plans would have needed serious revision all due to one person's bloodlust. I found that outcome to be unacceptable."
"Yes, Fenrir overstepped his authority by going after Geoffrey's family like that," Voldemort agreed, "I certainly would never have authorized such an action. But Severus, next time you want to eliminate a fellow Death Eater, you consult with me about it beforehand or there will be serious consequences for you. I am in charge here, you understand?"
"Absolutely, my Lord," Snape replied. Of course, it wasn't his intention for anything like that to happen again. He knew the end was near for this war.
"Well, that takes care of that particular issue," Voldemort said as he stood up from his wooden chair and walked toward Peter, whom Snape released, "As for you Peter, do you know where the boy is?"
Peter hesitated and then shook his head. "N-no, my Lord, I have no idea where he might be," he denied, "He may not even be in this country right now."
Voldemort slapped Peter across his face. "You're stuttering because you are lying, Pettigrew," he claimed, "Where is he?"
"I swear, my Lord, I don't know where Potter is!" Peter exclaimed, "Have mercy on me, but I am trying to find them. That's what I told Severus here. But he must have heard me wrong."
"Is that possible Snape?" Voldemort inquired.
"Not a chance," he answered, "The way he told it to me, it sounded like he knows where the boy is. He said he couldn't tell me when I asked about it."
"That isn't true!" Peter shouted, "I never said anything like that! I swear!"
"Peter, Severus here is my right-hand man," Voldemort explained, "If you are claiming he isn't being truthful with me, I need proof of that. Do you have any?"
"Yes! Yes I do!" Peter answered.
Voldemort smirked, which now made Snape sick every time he saw it. "And your proof is what?" he inquired.
"Snape is…," Peter began, but then suddenly stopped in his tracks, a look of fear spreading across his face.
"Snape is what, Peter?" Voldemort asked pointedly, "Tell me."
"I… I can't," Peter replied; fear mounting in his voice and his body, "I can't say to you what it is."
"You can't tell me what you know, Peter, is that it?" Voldemort asked.
Peter hesitated, and then nodded slightly.
Voldemort stared at Peter for a moment, and then raised his right hand. This brought Peter's right hand, the silvery one created for him three years ago by Voldemort himself, to rise up on its own accord and grab Peter's throat. He had no control over it now.
"Then why are you still breathing?" Voldemort asked hypothetically as he closed his fist, which caused Peter's hand to clamp down, choking him.
Peter struggled for the next few minutes, trying to wrench the hand off his throat, but nothing worked. He could still speak, but every time he tried to tell Voldemort anything, he found that he couldn't get the words to leave his mouth. Peter fell on his side, losing energy from the lack of oxygen getting to his brain.
"Peter, do you owe Potter a life debt, by any chance?" Snape inquired.
"Yes, yes I do," Peter answered softly, barely able to get the words to come out now, "I'm sorry."
At this, Voldemort's nostrils flared in anger as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Peter. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted.
A green jet shot out from the end of the wand and hit Peter in the chest a moment later, ending his life instantly. The silvery hand dissolved into the air a few moments after his death.
He hid it well, but Snape could tell that Voldemort was getting frustrated now. All of those around him were beginning to fail him, just when everything should be going right. He controlled the Ministry for Magic. He controlled the media. He controlled what all wizards and witches in Britain heard and saw. And yet as long as Harry Potter lived, he was not secure. And Voldemort was almost certain that Geoffrey Gryffindor was hiding Potter. Why else would he be presenting as high a profile as he had been recently; posting anti-Ministry articles in various publications and meeting with known members of the Order of the Phoenix in plain sight of anyone who cared to look.
"Gryffindor is distracting us," Voldemort declared, "We need to take him out, and I would prefer it be done soon. Once that happens, the boy will almost certainly have to come out of hiding. And that is when victory shall be mine."
"Do you want me to kill him, my Lord?" Snape inquired.
"No, I don't want to lose you yet, Severus," Voldemort denied, "Whoever I send after him will likely be killed. But once he gets back to Hogwarts, I doubt he will go back out into the open before the school year ends. He will be surrounded by too much security in Barcelona. We have to attack him when he returns to Britain in a week's time. If he approaches King's Cross Station, he is to be arrested by Ministry officials, taken to a dark alley and executed there."
"Arrested on what charges?" Snape asked.
"Murder, of course," Voldemort answered, "Now leave me Severus, and please take that garbage out with you. Dispose of it somewhere. I don't care where or how."
"Yes my Lord," Snape replied as he dragged Peter's body out of the room.
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Author's Notes: Well, there you have it. You have now seen both sides of Geoffrey Gryffindor. How's your moral compass now? And thankfully, the rat is dead.
Well, if my count is correct, we have nine chapters to go until this story is finished. Buckle up your seat belts, folks. It will be mostly action from this point forward as Harry goes after the last Horcrux, and then Lord Voldemort himself.
By the way, the titles of this chapter and the previous one are a reference to the song "Disarm" by the Smashing Pumpkins.
Until next time, please read, review and enjoy.
