Author's Notes: Harry Potter lawsuits have made little girls cry.

- Some people have mentioned how Snape is supposed to be a really powerful fighter. I don't recall him being especially strong at all. In the war, he was a spy- that takes good occlumency and acting skills (I guess my Snape's lost his temper more than he should). Professionally, he was a potions master. One of the few courses that doesn't even require a wand. He messed around with Dark Arts as a teenager- which, to be honest, has nothing to do with actual duelling skills. Despite inventing spells and wanting the DADA position, it doesn't mean he's actually good in the field. As an analogy, a person can be a great mechanic and wants to teach a shop class, but that doesn't mean they're a good race car driver. I recall, in canon, a duel against Lockhart (no skill required), killing Dumbledore (by consent), and dying to Voldemort.

Chapter 37: Memory is Power

Potions master. Polyjuice potion. How could I not see this coming? Harry berated himself. Snape, still polyjuiced as Shacklebolt, had quickly shoved Harry to the ground after they arrived. Not that Harry needed any help falling down after taking a portkey. He was about to pull his wand, but remembered it wasn't even working properly. Within a second, ropes came from every direction and his arms and legs were bound and he fell to the floor. From the ground, a quick look around the room told him that anything he tried wouldn't have mattered- Wormtail, Barty Crouch Jr., Snape, and Voldemort all had their eyes on him and wands in their hands.

Harry hadn't ended up inside some cave- at least, it didn't look like a cave any more. Dark lords like Voldemort would never stand to live in a cold, dark, and plain hideout for very long. The formerly-human dark lord had used his magic to carve out the chamber into something akin to a throne room, complete with a throne in the middle. The skull-and-snake motif of the dark mark hung from large banners at the back of the room. Burning torches lit up the entire chamber with magical green flames. Voldemort himself was sitting directly in front of him on the throne, petting his basilisk. Harry couldn't get a good look at him, though, as the shadows obscured most of his features.

If he wasn't hog-tied on the floor in front of dark wizards, Harry would have let a smirk appear on his face. Voldmort was being so cliché! If Voldemort hadn't been such a muggle-hater, Harry would have thought that he got the inspiration from children's morning cartoon decoration guidelines for evil secret lairs. Voldemort probably thought he was being original, too. Had the situation been less serious, Harry would have been inclined to stick his wand into the air and call upon the power of love to transform into a super-hero. Unfortunately, the people in front of him weren't joking. He was realizing that there was no way he'd be able to get himself out of this situation. At least he could get some humour out of it.

Wormtail was as meek as ever- but not to Harry. He sneered at Harry while staying behind the others, hiding in their shadows. Was this how he acted during his school days? Did he simply stand behind and taunt other students behind the Marauders' shield? He certainly seemed to enjoy being in the position of power. It was an interesting conundrum for the pudgy, rodent-like man. He wanted to have power over others, but he could only do it with the help of someone stronger. Then when he received their help, be it James Potter or Voldemort, he was too meek to step to the forefront in fear of angering his ally. He would forever be forced to follow, despite his desire to dominate.

His parents' betrayer was the least of Harry's worries. In front of the man was Barty Crouch Jr. It was the first time Harry got a good look at the man's face. He was completely unlike his father, despite having the same name. Where Crouch Sr. kept himself neat and tidy with a trim moustache and held himself stiffly, his son was unkempt, slouching, and made no effort to reign in his emotions. He was also very restless, fiddling with his wand continuously. On his face, he had some sort of scope over one eye, but it was flipped out of the way. He laughed wickedly at the sight of Harry on the floor in a way that Pettigrew would never dare.

"Well, lookey here. The little baby traitor actually managed to do it," he hissed at Snape.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Snape snapped back at him. "Potter is an idiot of a boy. He was no challenge."

Crouch Jr. laughed at Snape. "Yeah, the little idiot managed to keep you off his trail for the entire round. I was watching, you know. Saw him run all the way around the grandstands. He was practically standing in the open for five minutes just taunting everyone. You had no clue where he was!"

Harry blanched when Crouch said that. Even the officials didn't notice me sneaking around the stands. How did Crouch see me?

Unlike at Hogwarts, here Snape kept his cool with the other Death Eater. "I knew exactly where he was, despite his many wards and charms. I was merely waiting for the right opportunity to strike."

"Speaking of which, what was that little device you got there, Snape? Let me have a looksee."

"You think I would just hand it over?"

Voldemort stood up from his throne, causing the other two to instantly end their argument and stand at attention. He stepped forward from the shadows. It was then that Harry finally noticed the grotesque body Voldemort was inhabiting. It was approximately human in shape, but evidently fashioned from a multitude of other magical materials. He had a human head, but it was being kept alive through some sort of magical life-support system built into the body. The face was expressionless and completely pale- in fact, it was probably drained of blood. His eyes, in contrast, were blood red. They didn't blink the entire time Harry stared at him. The body looked more like a torso-shaped cage, at the center of which was a beating heart, clearly too large to be human- probably from some kind of magical beast. Threads ran from the heart to the head and right arm, the only parts which were (or used to be) alive. The left arm and the legs seemed to be under their own power, probably charmed to move like a broom. The threads pulsed with a dull glow to the beat of the heart- probably channelling some kind of magical energy to keep him alive. Despite all appearances, Voldemort was capable of moving quite purposefully and confidently. It was a body constructed for function, not form. Harry was so disgusted with the figure before him that he almost failed to register the Frankensteinish golem of a man speak.

"Let Crouch have the toy, Snape. With this little act you are on your way to redemption, but you still have much to account for- especially your defection to Dumbledore."

Snape quickly knelt down, bowing his head low. "I apologize, my lord. Here it is- a tracking device of Dumbledore's own devising. I snatched it from his office. Acquiring Potter's blood at Hogwarts was a fairly simple task, and that has made the device capable of tracking Potter through any wards known. I only sided with Dumbledore so I could better prepare for your return, my lord, and to turn Dumbledore's knowledge against him." He handed the tracking device to Voldemort, who tossed it to Barty.

"You? Turn Dumbledore's knowledge against him? What could you possibly know that he hasn't simply allowed you to know?"

"It has allowed me to snatch Harry Potter from under his nose, my lord. I have also made a discovery pertaining to him... perhaps it may help rectify my mistake many years ago." Snape looked up towards Voldemort hopefully.

"I have little patience for excuses..."

"I have learned the full prophecy, my lord. The one I delivered to you was... incomplete. The full prophecy is as follows: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. … Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... The power shall save the boy from the Dark Lord thrice... his continued life will be Dark Lord's demise."

Harry stared at Snape, noticing the alteration to the prophecy. Of course, nobody else realized why he was looking so confused. That's not what it's supposed to be, he thought. Wasn't it something about "must die by the hand of the other?" Of course. Fake prophecy so that Voldemort would kill me. Dumbledore couldn't afford Voldemort misinterpreting the prophecy... the one Snape told him was very clear-cut. If Harry faces him again, Voldemort wins forever.

"You've left me with quite a dilemma, Snape. I have only faced him twice, and he has only defied me twice. Now you tell me that I must kill him, but this unexplained power will protect him once more? I am not a gambler... I prefer my victories to be hard, swift, and guaranteed."

Snape hesitated- he was about to tell Voldemort some news that could be taken very badly. "My lord... you have faced him thrice already."

"Tell me, what is this third encounter? I have been recovering ever since his power banished me from Quirrel's body in my attempt to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone."

Snape was extremely fearful now. He was consciously telling himself to breathe deeply and evenly, and still his breaths were shaky. "A year after that encounter... you... returned. In a different form. You revived the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets but young Potter here stopped it." He paused momentarily, then added, "He returned from the Chamber of Secrets with... a book... pierced by a basilisk fang."

Voldemort roared in anger, pointing his wand at Harry. The threads between his wand-arm and the heart pulsed dangerously. "Tell me, Potter. How did you get your hands on that book?"

Harry wondered what he could do in this situation. He was tempted to reveal how much he knew about T. M. Riddle, but angering Voldemort wouldn't be very productive. How can I use this? he wondered. Could I just lie and say that never happened? It obviously never showed up in the news...

"Snape's lying. Just some story to get me some more fame after my friend's little sister went missing. If that prophecy's true, I'll defeat you one more time." Harry wondered if he had just made Snape's day by lying and claiming to pad his reputation at the same time. He hoped for the best, but nothing would be going his way today.

Pettigrew chose that moment to speak up. "He-he's lying. It really happened. His best friend wouldn't stop talking about going down to the chamber afterwards. All summer long. His little s-sister woke to the sight of a defeated ba-basilisk. She spoke of it often to her mother and in her nightmares," he recounted.

Stupid stupid stupid! Harry thought. How could he completely forget about how Pettigrew had spent another summer inside the Weasley home? Ron did like to boast about their adventures, but Harry could have passed it off as exaggerations. He'd forgotten completely about the time Pettigrew had spent with Ginny, which was the clincher. He didn't have much time to punish himself for the bad decision, because Voldemort did it for him.

"Crucio." Harry felt the pain all throughout his body. Every possible sensation was taken to its limit- burning, freezing, crushing, tearing, stabbing- he was feeling every possible pain at once. He was released after a few seconds, but it was enough to lose his train of thought. Realizing that more of this could seriously damage his mind, he reinforced his occlumency. Voldmort didn't wait for Harry to recover completely. "That is only a small sample of what you will feel if you lie to me again, Potter. Now tell me, how did you get your hands on the book?"

Found it in a toilet, and that's the truth, Harry thought, knowing that wasn't the answer he was expecting. "Found it in the Chamber of Secrets. It was feeding off the life of Ginny Weasley."

"You found the Chamber of Secrets? And you banished me as I was reviving myself with that mysterious power of yours like you did the year before?"

Barty looked up from his tinkering. "Could be why we never saw the boy demonstrate anything special throughout the tournament. He's used up all his secret talent!"

This could be my only way out, Harry thought. "It hasn't saved me three times yet," he announced loudly. All eyes in the room turned to look at him, so he continued. "The power didn't banish your spirit in second year. I stabbed it with a basilisk fang. You weren't strong enough to attack me at all. I can still defeat you one more time."

"That boy is an arrogant buffoon. He thinks he could slay a basilisk without help from the powerful, prophesized magics," Snape sneered. Even in the presence of Voldemort, Snape could still find the courage to speak out of turn and insult Harry. Harry wanted to retort, but arguing with a Death Eater in the presence of other Death Eaters wasn't the wisest thing to do.

To his surprise, Barty made his argument for him. "You're a little slimy weasel that jumped ship, Snape. The last time you didn't get all the information, you ended up leading the Dark Lord to defeat. I don't think you're reliable at all, Snape. You say the boy's nothing, but you couldn't even get past the basic wards to snatch him, even with this interesting little trinket," he said, twirling pieces of the device in his fingers.

"I'm a potions master... not a cursebreaker," Snape muttered in reply.

"Which is also not a beast master. So tell us, Potter, how did you slay a basilisk without help?"

Harry realized then that the truth, combined with Snape's fake prophecy, might actually save his life. "I did have help. From a phoenix. It flashed in with the Sword of Gryffindor. It pecked out the basilisk's eyes, and distracted it. In fact, he did most of the work, really. I just landed the finishing blow by stabbing it in the head." He omitted the fact that he stabbed it in the head from inside its mouth, and the fact that he'd received a bite from its poisonous fangs. He didn't want them to believe any sort of magical "protection" had been activated in the fight.

"The sword of Gryffindor? Even with the sword, you... destroyed the book with a fang from the basilisk itself?"

Damn. Barty was a perceptive one, Harry cursed. He'd forgotten to account for that little detail. "I stabbed it pretty deep... and when it fell, it pushed the sword into its own head even deeper. It did manage to knock one of its own fangs out of its mouth in the thrashing, though, so I picked it up to destroy the book."

"That's enough." Voldemort said. His face didn't show expressions very well, but Harry could hear the anger and frustration in his voice. He obviously didn't like hearing about one of his horcruxes destroyed. "Once again, your information is incomplete, Snape. You could have set back my rise to power if the boy wasn't so... cooperative." He turned to Harry with his piercing stare, scrutinizing him. He was suspicious of Harry's willingness. The crutiatus probably helped, but even he was expecting Harry to be more Gryffindorish than to break after only a few seconds.

"It appears he is destined to defeat me one more time," Voldemort said slowly.

I hope this is a good thing... Harry said.

"Moving rashly to kill him could activate the power once more. It would appear to be best to keep him alive for now..."

YES! Harry was thankful for the small victories he could get.

"...but I cannot risk Dumbledore or another finding and rescuing him. He could have more of those tracking devices. We need to end his life sooner rather than later."

NO! Harry knew that Dumbledore wouldn't send the order to search for him anyways.

"Barty, what are you seeing from the eye? Have they begun searching for him yet?"

Barty flipped down the scope and peered into it for a few moments before answering. "Dumbledore's meeting with the aurors. All of the Order members who are also aurors are there. Ooh, this doesn't look good. Potter's girl just barged in and she's pointing fingers. Never mind, they dropped her. Heh."

He's seeing this in real time? That's happening right now? I thought it was an informant... the spy's not human? It's some device... Harry looked at Barty. With the scope flipped down over his eye, it was reminiscent of Moody's own magical eye. Then it hit him. Barty hadn't hung around Hogwarts just to modify the Goblet of Fire. He did it to modify Moody's magical eye. He saw everything Moody saw.

"Looks like most of them want to mount some kind of rescue effort. Nope... wait and see, says Dumbledore. No leads. Looks like you made a clean getaway, Snape. Congratulations."

"Then I shall force his final encounter with me while we still have time," Voldemort concluded. "Stand, boy. We are going to duel."

Excuse me? Harry wondered how Voldemort jumped to that conclusion.

Hermione was relieved when she saw Harry hit Cedric with the body-bind and send up green sparks. There were aurors in the air to escort every one of the champions back to the champions' tent to await their scores. Snape had run out of chances for today. She pulled out her mirror and called Harry. Even after several minutes there was no answer. What? Why's he not picking up? Did something happen to him? She immediately called Remus on his mirror.

"Professor Lupin! Harry's not answering his mirror! The trial just ended and he should be fine and he promised me that we'd talk right after it ended just in case we could catch Snape in the act..." she said in one breath.

"Whoa, whoa, Hermione. Slow down for a second. Harry doesn't have his mirror on him- an official caught him with it sometime after Cedric's turn and he got it confiscated. Don't get so excited, he'll be back in a few minutes."

"But what if someone got to him just after the trial ended? What if he let his guard down for a second and got nabbed right before the judges arrived?"

"Then he would have to go through Shacklebolt to do it. I know the man. He may be loyal to Dumbledore but he'd never condone selling Harry out to Voldemort. Before I left, I heard him addressing his auror force. He's watching Harry like a hawk."

"Really? That's a relief, I guess... but I won't be satisfied until I'm holding him in my arms again."

"I doubt you'd be satisfied with just that, Hermione," Remus joked. "Sorry, but I have to go. The rest of the Order is expecting me to be somewhere in Germany by now. And don't call me 'Professor' any more!"

After putting the mirror away, she calmed herself down and waited. She certainly had to congratulate him- he'd performed admirably despite the Goblet's ill-informed decision to seal his wand. She even felt that he deserved most of the credit for Fleur's defeat. Viktor had succumbed to a stunner in the back when Fleur used her glamours to disguise as Cedric. It was only Harry's lightning-quick reactions that saved Cedric from falling to the same trick.

Viktor was the first to arrive, having been stunned far away from the others, he was already being watched by a referee when the round ended. A few minutes later, Fleur and Cedric arrived. They were looking confused and speaking to some of the aurors. Where was Harry? He was with Cedric and Fleur- why weren't they back yet? Hermione began to panic again when she saw the aurors' movements become frantic and one sprinted to the security tent. The rest of the crowd had also noticed the commotion and the lack of Harry Potter. The people began to get restless, but only because the scoring wasn't to start until all the champions were present. She called Remus again.

"Prof- Remus! Harry's really gone!"

"What? It's only been three minutes since you last mirrored me, Hermione. Are you sure?"

"Yes! All the other champions are back and Harry's missing! The aurors are running around down there... we have to do something!" If she had gripped her mirror any more tightly, it would have cracked. Remus tried to calm her down.

"Stay right there, Hermione. I'm coming back. And whatever you do, don't tell Sirius for now. He'll probably do something stupid like challenge Dumbledore to a duel in the middle of the street." He ended the call immediately. Hermione couldn't wait, though. She leapt out of her seat and rushed down, only to be stopped by security guards.

"Where do you think you're going, missy?" asked the burly man.

"I need to talk to the aurors. Harry's gone missing, hasn't he?"

"That's none of your concern. Now head back to your seat."

"It's every bit my concern! I'm his girlfriend! I'm worried about him! And we need to get him back before it's too late!"

"Too late? You know something, missy?"

"Yes! Now let me through!" Hermione impatiently tried to push her way past the man only to be lifted right off her feet.

"Not so fast. You're coming this way."

She ended up inside yet another small interrogation room in the security tent, waiting for someone to finally come by. After waiting what she deemed to be far too long, an auror finally stepped inside. Perhaps it was coincidence, but it was the same auror who questioned her on New Year's. Hermione only hoped that it would go better this time.

"Hello again, Miss Granger. We seem to be having you in our chatting parlour pretty often these days," said Auror Rutgers.

"Harry's been kidnapped, wasn't he? Your captain Shacklebolt was involved somehow," Hermione said, getting straight to the point.

"How did you know that?" Rutgers was surprised because ever since Harry's turn during the trial, the news of a kidnapper had been kept quiet from the general public. As far as everyone knew, the extra security was only there because there was only an "intruder" without any explanation of their intentions.

"So he has! So why did Shacklebolt do it? I have a friend who says he's not the type to participate in kidnapping... You tell me and I'll tell you what I know."

How does this girl know so much? Rutgers was bewildered, completely unprepared for the questions that Hermione was asking. He had been expecting things more along the lines of "Oh, is my boyfriend okay? When will I get to see him?" Instead, he was faced with a girl who probably already knew more than he did and was determined to solve the investigation herself. "Alright, I'll let you know that our captain did not kidnap Harry Potter. We believe it was a polyjuiced imposter. We just found the captain, stunned, in the woods."

"Then it was Snape, and Harry's... he could be dead already..." Hermione let the realization hit her. Harry could have been killed as soon as he was taken... or worse, he was being tortured by Voldemort. She nearly broke down in tears at the thought.

"Forgive me for being so callous, but how do you know this? We have only Mr. Potter's word that it was the former Potions professor, and he hasn't had a chance to speak to the public yet..."

Hermione had hoped that she would have stronger evidence before she implicated Dumbledore, but with Harry in trouble, there was no time left. "I overheard a conversation while Snape was still at Hogwarts. It was after he'd already been sacked but before he actually left the school. He was plotting to kidnap Harry and take him to... Vol... uh, some dark lord on the rise."

"That sounds rather far-fetched, but I'll look into it. Who was he speaking to? Was it over the Floo, or was there another conspirator at Hogwarts? If there's other people involved, then it might not be Mr. Snape." Rutgers jotted down her accusations on a piece of parchment.

"He was talking to Dumbledore. He specifically recommended the sixth trial, today, as the best day to kidnap Harry, and it happened! It has to be him!"

At this point, Rutgers looked from his notes to Hermione, and back to his notes again. "Dumbledore? You are talking about Albus, your Headmaster and Chief Warlock, right? Not his brother Aberforth?" Even that suggestion seemed highly unlikely to him. Aberforth, who much preferred a quiet life running a tavern in Hogsmeade, still fought bravely against Voldemort and helped shelter people in Grindelwald's time.

"Yes, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!" Hermione shouted angrily. She wasn't normally one to lose her temper like that, especially since she knew Rutgers only believed what she herself believed two months ago, but her patience was running thin. "I overhead him in his office, talking to Snape about sacrificing Harry to earn Snape a place in Voldemort's inner circle!"

Rutgers rubbed his forehead. First Dumbledore, and now You-Know-Who? He was dead, and nobody wanted to think about him again. "You-Know-Who. You're saying he's still alive, and that he didn't die thirteen years ago?"

"YES! You have to let me talk to everyone! We need to organize a rescue effort for Harry!" Hermione banged her fists on the table and stood up, unable to wait any longer.

"Alright, alright. The rest of the aurors are in an emergency briefing right now. I'll see what I can do." Rutgers had to admit the story was crazier than he could even imagine, but he'd learned over the past few months that nothing was ever normal around Harry Potter and his girlfriend. First was some kind of allergy to squash cider that led to some kind of muggle disease, then it was a rescue through an acromantula-infested forest for his own worst enemy... and now it was his own headmaster plotting against him?

He escorted Hermione to another room in the tent, where most of the aurors, other than the ones who were still on patrol outside, were meeting. To her dismay, Dumbledore was at the front of the room, addressing everyone.

"Ah, hello, Miss Granger. I'm glad you could join us," Dumbledore said jovially. "I assure you that we are doing everything we can to find Harry Potter at the moment."

"Are you really?" Hermione yelled at him. "You want him dead! You sold him to Voldemort!"

That got everyone's attention. They stopped and stared at her, and a few gasped when she said the V-word. Rutgers cleared his throat and explained in a much more respectful tone, "Miss Granger here claims to have overheard a conversation between yourself and Mr. Snape regarding today's disappearance of Harry Potter..."

Dumbledore's eyes locked on to Hermione's. "I have not spoken with Severus since he left the castle, Miss Granger. And yes, while Voldemort is currently striving to rise again-" Several more gasps came from around the room. "-we cannot strike if we do not know where he is."

"You've been in regular contact with him! You gave him one of your own tracking devices! You know exactly where Snape's taken Harry, and exactly where Voldemort is hiding right now!" Hermione shrieked. She flicked her wand into her hand, but being in a room full of aurors, it wasn't the best course of action. She was stunned instantly.

"...With the necessary precautions, of course." Harry's hopes of turning tail and running during the duel were dashed. "Snape, I will need an unbreakable vow from you. Immediately."

"My lord?" Snape was surprised at the request. An unbreakable vow right now could ruin all his plans to spy for Dumbledore. He was as good as dead if he couldn't prove his loyalty. That was the entire purpose of delivering Potter! Was all this for nothing? Doing his best to keep his voice steady, he asked, "What is your request, my lord?"

"You will swear that, in the event that this body is once again destroyed, you will allow my soul to possess your body until another replacement has been created."

Snape knew what had happened to Quirrel last time. The man practically rotted from the inside out and had to drink unicorn blood to last the school year. This didn't bode well for him, but how could he possibly refuse a direct request from Voldemort himself? "My lord... Would Wormtail not serve just as well? I can then brew the potions you will need for a quick recovery..."

"Which you can still perform despite my possession, Snape. Wormtail is far too weak; I will not inhabit the body of one so meek when there are others to choose from. Now swear. Crouch shall be our bonder."

Barty began the ritual for the unbreakable vow as Voldemort and Snape clasped hands. Harry wondered if it still worked with an artificial body. Voldemort's right arm looked like it was ice-cold, and given the little shiver Snape made when they locked hands, Harry guessed it was about as pleasant as touching a corpse.

"Do you, Severus Snape, pledge to allow my spirit to take possession of your body should my present body be destroyed?" Harry and Snape both noticed that he hadn't set any time limit, but the man had no other choice but to agree.

"I do," came Snape's reply. Barty tapped his wand over their joined hands and a magical, flaming chain wrapped around both of their arms, fading as the vow took hold.

"Crouch, Wormtail, you will know what to do should the worst happen. The boy is not to survive." Turning to Nagini, who he had left coiled up on the throne, he gave her orders as well. ~Should the boy live after I fight him, you will kill him immediately.~ Harry didn't even need to know Parseltongue to understand what the serpent was going to do.

A duel with Voldemort, then two other wizards and a baby basilisk. Harry struggled against the ropes to no avail. He still had his wand. His partially-functional wand. Voldemort, amused at his struggles, levitated Harry with a lazy wave of his wand and spun him around onto his feet. "Let us begin, Harry Potter."

"Aren't you going to untie me first?" Harry asked.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Voldemort sneered at him while Barty and Wormtail both laughed. This was something even Snape was going to enjoy. He cast a spell that forced Harry to bend over at the hips. "First, to begin the duel, we bow like so."

Harry resisted as much as he could, causing him to only tilt forward slightly. He concentrated on trying to get his wand out of his holster. He, along with everyone else in the room, knew the wand was effectively useless, but he had to try something.

"You seem to think you can fight this. No matter how great your power is, Potter, it won't save you this time." Voldemort immediately cast a spell at Harry, who could do nothing but duck out of the way. "Keep running, Potter," Voldemort laughed as he cast several more spells in quick succession. Harry was nearly losing his balance hopping from side to side. The ropes weren't getting any looser despite his struggles.

I can't keep dodging forever, Harry thought. Maybe I should just give up now and wake up in the past... even if I could read his mind and dodge everything, the others would just finish me off. Read his mind? Harry thought to himself. Would Voldemort even bother occluding his mind against Harry? Maybe he could get some useful information out of Voldemort's head before he died, at least. Nowhere to run, so he couldn't escape; no wand in his hand, even if it barely worked; and still tied up, so he couldn't even punch Voldemort. There was nothing left to for him do. He decided to risk it.

"Hey Voldemort! Are you secretly a little girl? Why was your diary so precious to you?" Harry thought up the best insult he could to get Voldemort's mind on his horcruxes. It worked.

"You dare mock me, boy? The secrets I uncovered, the discoveries I made, the power I put into that book were more than you could ever dream of achieving!"

Harry hit him with the strongest legilimency attack he could muster. He found that Voldemort's mind was relatively unprotected and disorganized- perhaps it was because he hadn't inhabited a real body for years, or maybe because he was out of practice, having no real human contact for just as long. Harry pushed in as quickly as he could, blasting down Voldemort's defences. There was no time for subtlety. He latched on to the fear- more specifically, the fear that something had happened to his other horcruxes. Harry pulled himself deeper into Voldemort's mind as fast as he could.

Voldemort was shocked by Harry's sudden legilimency attack that he stopped his spellcasting. "Stop... stop it! What are you looking... no... How do you know about...? Nagini, leave!" He accidentally addressed his snake in English in his panic. ~Nagini, leave!~ he repeated. Harry could see Voldemort's heart beat faster as his anger rose. For the first time, he had truly lost his temper and blasted a massive, destructive spell at Harry, finally breaking the connection.

The spell was powerful enough to knock a hole through the wall, blowing Harry out of the chamber. Voldemort's own body was smoking and burning, evidently overloaded by the magic he had suddenly put into the spell. He collapsed on to the ground, with all the wooden parts of his body falling apart. With only his right arm and head left intact, he yelled, "Go after the boy. Make sure he's dead! Destroy him, destroy his body, I want no trace of him left to find! Crouch, you can repair my body later. Go!"

All of them ran to the hole in the wall, which opened up to the side of a sheer cliff. They looked out just in time to see Harry's body fall into the lake below. Getting blasted straight through several meters of solid rock and then falling half a kilometre straight down, they doubted the boy was alive at all. Not intending to disobey direct orders, they apparated down to the shore and prepared themselves for a cold, underwater search just to make sure.

"Revive her... I wish to know what has corrupted her mind so thoroughly. The Hermione Granger I know was always quite respectful of authority and knowledge..." Dumbledore said, approaching Hermione. He knew that nobody could have overheard his conversations with Snape in his office. While nobody knew the castle as well as the Founders who created it, he certainly knew his own office was secure. The Founders wouldn't ever give up the security of the school to a student, after all. However, her accusations irked him. Severus knows how to keep secrets. He could keep his mind occluded from Voldemort himself. My office is secure. Her rambling was far too accurate to be random, though. Perhaps she's a diviner of some sort? he wondered.

Dumbledore never liked the entire realm of divination. It always had people pulling secrets out of the woodwork or blurting out orders from some otherworldly source that invariably ruined his plans like a pepper-popper in his potion. When Trelawney gave her prophecy during his interview, he knew he had to keep her close at hand for the rest of her life. Thankfully, she was such a horrible teacher that few students would be able to learn the arts of divination themselves. How ironic it was, then, that it was the one student who had dropped the class last year that he suspected of having a natural talent for divination.

Hermione awoke to find herself already restrained and her wand taken away. Dumbledore told her, "Now, Miss Granger, what gave you the idea that I am responsible for Harry's disappearance?"

"I heard you talking. I was eavesdropping on you. Accidentally, the first time. Afterwards, not so much," Hermione growled.

"Let us suppose you did hear such a conversation. Where were you when you performed said eavesdropping?"

Hermione didn't answer. She didn't want to give away the knowledge of the Chamber of Secrets, nor could she if she did.

"Are you not answering because you can't, or wont?" She stayed silent. "Very well, let's move on to another line of questioning. Did you see me speaking with Severus?"

"...No." Hermione was reluctant to admit it.

Well, that rules out her being a Seer, at least, Dumbledore thought. And she certainly isn't an oracle or a prophetess. Let's try another angle. "Did you take any potions before you heard what you did?"

Is he implying... drugs? Hermione was disgusted with the idea. "No! Of course not! I'd never do such a thing! I know it was you, Dumbledore. Stop trying to weasel your way out of it!" The muttering in the room grew louder, finally reminding Hermione that there were others watching her.

"She's getting agitated again. If we don't calm her down..." said one of the aurors.

"She just keeps saying the same thing over and over... Dumbledore's responsible for everything," said another.

"I know, right? The headmaster's responsible for the students in general, but you can't expect him to protect all of them all of the time..."

I knew it, Hermione thought. Nobody would choose me over Dumbledore. Still, she kept a defiant look as she faced her headmaster.

"My dear, it seems that you may be under some kind of spell, and combined with the disappearance of Harry Potter, it has caused a slight sense of paranoia. It would be best if we sent you to a mind healer. They may need to perform some mental probing and obliviation, but it will be with your own good," Dumbledore said. Perhaps if we made her forget about Harry Potter completely, she would recover quickly. After all, we don't even know if we will find a body after all this is over, so I can't even offer her closure if she remembers.

Hermione panicked at the word "obliviation." Her memories were precious. Her knowledge was precious, and so was Harry. She was going to lose both of them if she stayed here any longer. She might even lose her memories of Harry. One of the aurors put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, but she interpreted it as trying to restrain her. She quickly transformed into her animagus form, skittering between the legs of everyone in the room and was out of the tent before the surprised occupants even realized what she'd done.

Author's Chapter End Notes:

- Don't you just hate it when the evil villain just lets the good guy go, assuming he will die? All right guard, begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism! I prefer an Dark Lord who's at least a little more competent than that.