Chapter 37

Look at His Body

Issamir held on for dear life while Harry retched, but remained securely around Harry's neck. The wizard heaved several times before he finally gasped for air.

After Harry regained control, the slender grey serpent hissed, "The snake wizard is inside of you, Harry Potter. I can sense him. You must destroy him once and for all."

"I know," Harry hissed back while, leaning back on his knees and continuing to gasp for breath, "but I do not know how. This feels different from the other times. The snake wizard is inside me, but he is not yet trying to control me, he is just there. I do not know how to attack him, and I feel so weak." Indeed he felt faint and decided he needed to reposition himself. From the corner of his eye he saw his parents' graves, so he crawled over to them and lay down on his back, placing his head on the grave of Lily and his legs over the grave of James. He closed his eyes and passed out. Issamir slid off of Harry, and moved a few feet away, wondering what it could do to help the wizard who saved its life.

Dobby arrived moments later, returning to his master as soon as Ron and Hermione rushed out of Harry's room. He appeared in the middle of the hill, and once he spotted Harry lying on his back, raced to his side. He almost placed a hand on the wizard's shoulder, when the elf sensed instinctively that he could not.

"What is happening, Harry Potter?" Dobby asked nervously, "Harry Potter must wake up. Dobby has told Harry Potter's friends that they must come. Harry Potter must wake up." The tiny elf shifted from foot to foot, thinking furiously of what he could do. Issamir hissed at him, and the elf and snake stared at each other for several seconds. House elves do not like snakes, and Dobby had accepted Issamir's friendship with Harry grudgingly, only because Harry explained how the small serpent helped in his adventures. The serpent's eyes met the elf's, and though neither could communicate with the other, each understood the worry in the eyes of the other.

A few minutes later, two loud cracks could be heard by the ruins of James and Lily Potter's house.

From atop the hillock, Dobby called down, "Up here. Harry Potter is up here." The four raced up the gravel path the quarter mile as fast as they could, Ron arriving first, panting from the effort. Hermione arrived several seconds later, and the scene that greeted them in the dim moonlight caused their hearts to drop to their feet. For all the world both Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort appeared to have died. The two friends rushed to Harry's side, but before they reached him, they saw his body shiver slightly as he gasped for air. At least he was alive!

Ron grabbed Hermione's arm before she could bend down to touch her great friend, cautioning her, "We need to be careful! Remember what happened in the museum."

The warning did not stop the witch, but she did slow her approach, and instead of taking him in her arms, she waved her hand over Harry's body. Fortunately for her, she did not act rashly, for she easily felt the enormous magical energy emanating from the body. Harry could not be touched.

"Tell us what happened, Dobby," Arthur instructed when he and Molly arrived half a minute after their son. Issamir and the other serpents backed away invisibly as the two additional humans arrived. They headed for the nearest bushes, but Issamir paused one last moment, looking back at Harry Potter. It could do nothing for him now, and as it slithered between the branches and out of sight, it hoped that one day it would be able to speak with the true snake wizard again.

"Dobby was in the forest stopping the bad wizards that came with the dark lord," the house elf explained, wildly waving his arms towards the three unconscious death eaters stacked together, "Harry Potter and the dark lord were fighting like wizards; Dobby could hear wizard spells, but Dobby could not see from the forest. Finally Dobby came up the hill when the noise ended. Harry Potter killed the dark lord. But then a green steam come from the dark lord and moved into Harry Potter's stomach. Harry Potter became sick, and Harry Potter told Dobby to find his Granger friend and his Weasel friend."

"Voldemort's inside of him," Hermione whispered in horror. The others looked on in silence.

Though unconscious, Harry appeared to be anything but comfortable. His body failed to relax, and he lay upon his parents' graves like a wax figure. Molly waved her wand over him trying to ascertain the boy's physical condition as best she could in the darkness.

"His breathing and pulse are a little low, but not too bad. He does have a bad fever, however." The four onlookers encircled the fallen wizard in confusion.

"He needs to be moved," Arthur finally suggested, "Death eaters may be coming. I'm sure You Know Who would have told them to come at a certain time. We need to notify Remus."

"But we can't touch him," Hermione responded, wrapping her cloak tightly around her to fend off the cold, "and he's on his parents' graves. This is where he wants to be."

"We'll need to protect him here, then, at least for the time being," Arthur decided, quickly considering actions that he could take, "You three stay here, I'll contact Remus and the Order to get a force up here as soon as possible." He took a couple of steps away preparing to apparate when they all heard a loud crack just a few feet from them. Four wands slashed in the direction of the sound, only to be returned to their holders when the bodies of Remus and Ginny appeared.

"Remus! I was just going to find you," Arthur exclaimed, not wasting time on requesting an explanation for how his only daughter managed to place herself into an extremely dangerous situation. Arthur briefly explained the predicament, the severity of which the werewolf general understood immediately.

"We have the high ground," Remus considered, stepping towards the edge of the small hill, "but we must secure it immediately." Reaching for a chain around his neck, he pulled up a medallion, tapping it several times with his wand. "I will be back in five minutes with a force," he promised, "They have been summoned to headquarters, and we will portkey here. Come with me, Arthur. We need to make plans."

Ginny rushed to Harry's side, restrained by Ron and Hermione from touching him.

She stepped back and looked her brother and friend in the eye, "We have to do something. Harry has done too much for us, for the whole world. We cannot let him die!"

"He's not going to die!" Ron declared with certainty, though he offered no brilliant ideas to assure this.

"Let's think this through," Hermione ordered desperately, "We know that whatever is left of Voldemort is inside Harry. Somehow Harry has to kill it, but this is not a horcrux. It's not the same thing."

"'It's love, Riddle.' That's what Harry said, remember?" Ron added, "Somehow Harry has to fill himself with love, and then Voldemort won't be able to exist. That is the power he knows not, right?" Hermione fretted as her mind furiously ran through all of the possible ramifications.

"Voldemort found the piece of his soul that he left inside Harry accidentally when Harry was a baby. I don't know if Harry can get rid of him that easily. Voldemort has nowhere else to go, and he'll be desperate. He'll try to take control of Harry, but that won't be easy because he's so strong. Hopefully Harry can destroy it like the horcruxes," she opined without much conviction. A gust of wind blew over the hillock, forcing them to brace themselves for a moment. The gust left as quickly as it came, but it did not blow away their problem.

"That just can't be!" Ginny growled despairingly, "This CANNOT be happening! What will it take for Harry ever to be able to live a normal life? When will it ever end?" She stepped towards the graves of Mr. and Mrs. Potter, over which Harry remained motionless on his back, dimly illuminated by the half moon.

Harry's three friends jumped at the sound of apparation cracks in the trees below, instantaneously wielding their wands and crouching down. Molly did the same, and the four surrounded Harry's unconscious body. Even more cracks sounded and rustling could be heard from the trees below. Dobby hopped nervously and suddenly disappeared with a pop, but the others did not notice. Somehow they had to hold off the death eaters long enough for the forces of the Order of the Phoenix to arrive.

Ron would never be able to explain why he did what he did next. Without considering his actions, he placed his wand to his mouth, softly saying "Sonorus" to amplify his voice. A moment later his voice echoed throughout Godric's Hollow:

"LORD VOLDEMORT IS DEAD! HARRY POTTER HAS KILLED HIM. YOUR LEADER HAS FAILED. LOOK AT HIS BODY."

He pointed his wand at the fallen dark lord, pronounced "wingardium leviosa" and lifted the corpse high into the air. In the darkness, the death eaters below could only see a dark form above them. Hermione realized this and pointed her wand at the floating body, saying, "Lumos." Ginny did the same, and the two beams of light illuminated the body sufficiently to be recognized. Rustling and grumbling could be heard from below. No doubt the death eaters attempted to determine whether this may be a trick, whether they should attack the hillock, or whether they should abandon their leader. Even though they could not see them, Molly, Hermione, Ginny and Ron could feel the shock and indecision of the death eaters below. They all thought the same thing: Get here soon, Remus!

Perhaps a minute passed. The noise from below decreased, but no apparation cracks occurred. The wizard and three witches atop the hill knew that Voldemort's followers would attack. Ron brought the body back to earth, allowing it to thump to the ground unceremoniously, and he looked nervously at the others. Footsteps could be heard from all around them; dozens of wizards had begun to climb the hill.

"We have to leave," Molly ordered quietly but firmly, attempting to take charge. Though a member of the Order, she rarely participated in dangerous missions and could hardly be considered battle-tested. It did not take a military genius, however, to determine the untenability of their position. "Apparate back to the house. NOW!" The three teens did not move, barely paying attention to the older woman.

"We are not leaving without Harry," Ron declared just as firmly, then looking at his sister and former girlfriend, "Do you think we can try to move him?"

"We have no choice," Hermione answered simply, "I'll do it." The crunches of the footsteps neared the crest of the small hill. "Harry's room," she ordered, but the others did not move.

"You go first," Ginny insisted, her wand pointed outward at the unseen enemy, "We'll follow." Hermione wanted to argue the point, but she had no time. She thought she saw the form of a dark hood poke into sight.

Now or never, she thought to herself, rising to a knee and reaching out her hand to grab Harry's shoulder. As soon as her fingers touched his cape, she realized her mistake, as she jerked from the shock emitted from Harry's body, throwing her backwards into Ginny, causing the two of them to fall to the gravel awkwardly. Ginny cushioned the older girl's fall and fortunately escaped unhurt. As quickly as she could, she rolled Hermione off of her and lay prone on the ground, her wand pointed ahead. Hopeless though it may be, especially with Harry and now Hermione unconscious, they would have to fight. The only advantage they had for the moment was a black cloud that passed in front of the moon, removing what little illumination had existed from the night sky.

Molly and Ron followed Ginny's lead, but they did not want to fire any spells at the dark forms now barely visible above the crest of the hill, for that would reveal their location. At least for the moment, the attacking force did not know their exact location. They lay as close to the ground as they could, trying not to move a muscle.

Where are you, Remus? they all pleaded silently. The death eaters still could not see them in the almost complete darkness, and the three Weasleys heard whispers all around them.

A moment later a force arrived, but not Remus with the Order of the Phoenix. A series of pops announced the arrival of Dobby, Winky, and perhaps a dozen other house elves that Dobby somehow managed to round up in a few short minutes. House elves can see much better in the dark than wizards, and soon their silent and lightless spells picked off death eaters one by one. Thud, thud, thud, Molly, Ron and Ginny heard, not understanding for several moments what had happened until finally they could barely make out the outlines of the diminutive creatures.

Death eaters wildly threw spells, more to create light than to disable their attackers, but as soon as a flash left a wand, the attacking death eater fell unconscious to the ground, sometimes hit by two or three elven spells. The wizards who had not yet reached the top of the hill turned tail and ran back down the hill to regroup. At that moment, Remus and two dozen aurors and Order members arrived in a series of deafening booms as three portkeys arrived. In a coordinated maneuver, the fighters crouched in a defensive circle, wands raised and ready to fire. They saw nothing in the blackness.

"Don't fire," Molly cried, "or you may hit the house elves. They just saved our lives."

"House elves?" Remus asked confused, "Lumos." Waving the light around, he in fact discovered a number of them, some wearing Hogwarts house elf uniforms. "What happened?"

"Dobby brought friends," the house elf explained, approaching the werewolf, "Dobby could not let Harry Potter be harmed."

"Looks like you did a good job," Remus admitted incredulously as some of his force rushed to the edge of the hill, firing spells down at the retreating death eaters. Voldemort's followers immediately recognized the hopelessness of their position, and a series of apparation cracks announced their return to their headquarters at Hogwarts Castle.

Remus' soldiers gathered the limp bodies of those that had been struck down by house elf or wizard. He shone the light from his wand around the hill, surveying the scene. Arthur Weasley rushed to the side of his wife while Ron and Ginny crawled to Hermione's side. For the moment, everyone forgot about Harry Potter. Nobody saw his body start to move.

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Harry missed all of the action. Voldemort's soul, the remnant of it, invaded every corner of his body, and the young man simply could stand it no longer. He felt like he would be sick forever.

I'm going to die, he told himself, his only fear being that he might not. After dragging himself to his parents' graves, his body defensively lost consciousness, for it could no longer bear the pain. He lay on top of the hill, completely unaware of the battle raging around him. The battle that raged inside of his body and mind is lost to history, for Harry had no recollection of it when he slowly regained consciousness, roused by the noise of the Order members stomping around Godric's Hollow.

For half a minute, Harry remained in a state of semi-consciousness, eyes closed. Finally the basic outline of his situation cleared in his mind. He succeeded in killing Lord Voldemort, but the residue of his soul remained. I killed with hatred in my heart, not love, he realized, instinctively understanding his error, I should have possessed his body again. I could have finished off his soul for good. But he did not, and the residue of Voldemort's spirit latched onto that element of Tom Riddle's soul that Harry had carried with him since the Halloween night so many years ago.

I am dangerous, he told himself, for he knew that the essence of Tom Riddle inside of him emitted an evil rage. Harry sensed that he was not completely in control of himself and most definitely not in control of his uninvited guest. Finally opening his eyes, he only saw darkness and for a moment believed himself blind. A moment later, however, he could sense the dark form of a body walking to his side.

"KILL THEM ALL!" a voice ordered, and Voldemort's rage surged inside of him. Opening his hand he silently called for his wand, which unknown to the others in the darkness flew into his hand. He grasped it tightly and visualized a huge wall of flame that would burn alive everyone on the hill. His wand arm left the ground, and he began to wave it above him, preparing to execute the spell against the unsuspecting victims, when suddenly he thrust his arm back to the ground.

"I WILL NOT!" he responded silently to the voice inside of him.

"KILL THEM ALL!"

"I WILL NOT!"

Though they knelt mere feet away from him, Harry distantly heard the voices of Ron and Ginny tending to Hermione, and fear filled his mind. He could not hurt them; he must not place them in danger. Quietly he rolled onto his side and onto his knees. Nobody noticed him in the darkness, though wands did provide some light away from him, as his friends hovered over the unconscious Hermione and the others patrolled around the perimeter of the hill guarding against possible attack. The house elves, Dobby included, assisted the wizards and witches of the Order of the Phoenix in rounding up the bodies. Harry stood up and staggered a few feet forward. Dobby felt it first, abruptly stopping his work and turning toward his master. Ginny also sensed that something happened, and she turned her head in Harry's direction.

"KILL THEM ALL!" the voice in his head repeated, even more forcefully than before. Again his shaking arm lifted his wand away from his body, only to return abruptly to his side.

"I WILL NOT!" Harry shouted as loud as he could, his voice echoing throughout the darkness of the low valley. Everyone on the hill froze, stunned by the unexpected shout. The effort of screaming awakened Harry's senses, and he realized what had happened and what he must do.

Ginny moved first, jumping to her feet and yelling, "HARRY," as she ran towards him. But she never reached him. With a turn and a crack, Harry disappeared.

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By late morning of New Year's Day, the Daily Prophet issued a hastily prepared two-page special edition, the headline in huge type splashed across the top half of the front page:

HARRY POTTER KILLS VOLDEMORT

Below the main headline the secondary headline added: THE CHOSEN ONE DISAPPEARS. CONDITION UNKNOWN. The wizarding world at first reacted slowly to the news, not believing it could be true. Though the headline raised their hopes, the whispers among wizards and witches worried that Voldemort had taken over the Daily Prophet and published the issue as a ruse. Yet when a more detailed second edition arrived later in the evening of January first, and the magical population saw the first photographs of the lifeless body of Lord Voldemort displayed by grim-faced aurors, celebrations slowly but spontaneously erupted. Additional information spread across the country by word of mouth, and soon full-scale celebrations broke out.

By late that evening and into the early hours of the next morning, fireworks of a sort never seen by muggles illuminated the night skies throughout Britain, and strangely-dressed people marched down main streets of cities and towns holding fancy sparklers, shooting off sparks of every imaginable color. Most muggles laughed as the garishly dressed wizards and witches marched by, their elation contagious. By midnight, the news had shot around all of Europe and indeed the whole world. Few wizards or witches would sleep that night. Their world had been saved, and suddenly their future reappeared.

The news of the disappearance of Harry Potter dampened the enthusiasm of the parties. Innumerable glasses were raised to The Boy Who Lived and rumors of his fate spread like wildfire. Death, insanity, and incapacitating injuries topped the list of most common assumptions.

Perhaps the only wizarding home not joining in the celebration was No. 17 Grimmauld Place. In addition to Harry's three comrades, Fred and George Weasley joined their mother in the sitting room without a thought of performing even the mildest prank. Instead they brain-stormed as to where Harry could be and what could be done to find him. And ultimately, to save him.

Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shackelbolt, Arthur Weasley, and scores of aurors rapidly attacked Hogwarts early in the morning on New Year's Day, as the wards on the castle fell as soon as Voldemort breathed his last. The Order of the Phoenix hoped to strike a fatal blow to Voldemort's following, but it succeeded only partially. After a brief show of resistance, the remaining death eaters sensed the futility of their actions and apparated to safety, scattering throughout Britain and beyond.

Kingsley and Remus rapidly moved the force to the Ministry building when word reached them that Minister of Magic Scrimgeour intended to reenter his office in an attempt to reassert his authority. The power struggle in the new magical world had begun. Scrimgeour's sudden reappearance from his exile caused a great deal of confusion, but the Minister soon found that he had no allies on the ground. His only asset was his title, Minister of Magic. But in the chaos of the first day of the year and the first day of the post-Voldemort era, Scrimgeour's title proved worthless. A new political order would rise from the ashes of the old, and one thing was certain: Scrimgeour would not be a part of it.

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By the evening of New Years Day, only one piece of good news arrived to Grimmauld Place. Harry was alive. Dobby and Winky, being Harry's slaves, had been able to locate their master and went to his side shortly after Harry disappeared. Late in the afternoon, a clearly shaken Winky returned to Grimmauld Place alone. She informed the Weasleys and Hermione that Harry in fact survived but wished to be left alone, and ordered Winky not to inform anyone of his location or provide any further information. Given the enchantment on her, the house elf could no more reveal Harry's whereabouts than she could have flown to the moon. Nobody bothered trying to extract the information.

Dobby, Winky informed them, would stay by Harry's side to serve him. Harry had further instructed Winky to return to Grimmauld Place to be of service to the occupants of the mansion, who he permitted to stay as long as they desired. Afterwards, if everyone left, he instructed Winky to go to the Burrow to serve Molly and Arthur until she heard further from her master. Obviously Harry felt well enough to have considered his orders carefully, and still wished to treat his friends kindly, which provided a grim reassurance that he had not lost his sanity.

"Did Harry say how long he wanted to be left alone?" Hermione asked, already knowing the answer.

"No Miss Hermione, master did not say."

"Can you give Harry a message for us?" Ginny inquired hopefully.

"No Miss Ginny, master order Winky not to return to master unless master calls for Winky."

"How does he look, Winky?" Ron asked, "Is Harry OK?" The tiny house elf could not respond, given that her master had ordered her not to provide further information, but the expression of fear on her face answered the question better than words.

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Hermione half-heartedly reviewed the evening Prophet and flipped it to the floor of her bedroom, very unlike her normal tidy self. She had remained unconscious until nearly noon of January first, and when informed of the early morning events by a sobbing Ginny and a brooding Ron, she was devastated. None of the three ate a bite the entire day (a first in the life of Ronald Weasley), for inside their bodies where their stomachs normally resided sat a huge vacuum.

By evening the tears had been shed and reality sank in. Harry had left and would not be coming back. Not any time soon, anyway.

"It's just so unfair," Ginny whispered with a hoarse voice sitting cross-legged on her bed, "When has anything ever gone right for Harry?" She recalled their conversation in the Gryffindor common room after the Halloween Ball, when she complained how nothing was going right in her life. How silly that seemed now.

The others remained quiet for a minute, staring into themselves, until Hermione softly recalled her conversation back in July in the park near Privet Drive, "I told Harry one time that everything would be better after he killed Voldemort. He told me that he wasn't sure. I guess he was right."

"We can't give up hope," Ron gently chided the girls, "If there's one thing we know about Harry, it's that he's tough. He won't give up. Sooner or later we'll hear from him. I'm sure of it."

"I hope so," Hermione replied half-heartedly while gathering her bed clothes. She excused herself to take a shower, hoping that the warm water might wash away the despair in her heart. But the water did not help, and she felt just as badly when she stepped out of the shower. After absent-mindedly toweling off the moisture from her skin and slipping into her warm night clothes, she leaned against the sink, staring at herself in the mirror. Everything had gone to hell, and she had no idea what to do.

She had a bad feeling about this.