Fickle Fate: Chapter 53
Yay, I'm actually on time! Thankfully this chapter was not as hard for me to write. Somehow this story just keeps getting longer...what started as a simple, ironic/crack-ish writing exercise has turned into my longest story yet. What the heck?! XD I'm glad you are all enjoying it and thank you for the lovely reviews!
Also I apologize this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but it seemed like a natural stopping point.
Warnings: Poor attempts at violence, soo trust me nothing graphic but I figured I'd warn you anyway
Disclaimer: I wish I did...but I don't.
Please enjoy!
Destruction
Harry stumbled along down the dark, dank cavern. He tripped over rocks and bones without a care, only knowing that he had to help Tom complete the ritual and end the war. A very (very) small part of him questioned why he was doing all this, but the majority of his consciousness was telling him it was the right thing to do.
When the young man reached the entrance he hissed at the metal snakes, and soon enough he was inside, the door closing ominously behind him. His mouth pulled down into a frown when he didn't see Tom.
"Tom? Where are you?" His fingers clenched tightly on the bag containing the diadem as his eyes saw the Basilisk carcass. Something felt off, like-
"I'll be there soon, Harry, but I need you to start the ritual." Harry reared back in confusion.
"But I don't know how and I don't have a wand," he spoke aloud.
"You don't need a wand. And don't worry, I'll give you the words. I need your help with this, Harry. Please." Whatever doubts Harry had were fuzzy now and he nodded readily.
"Alright." He opened the bag and unceremoniously dumped the diadem on the ground. The horcrux audibly hissed in ire and indignation at being treated so carelessly. It began to create similar apparitions as it did in the Room of Requirement but Harry paid them no attention.
As promised the ritualistic words were provided to him by the voice in his mind. Harry began chanting and the magical pressure in the chamber increased five-fold. Within moments Harry was sweating and trembling with exertion. The soul shard within the diadem fought viciously and Harry's wild magic struggled to contain and control such a powerful ritual.
He screamed in pain when the horcrux lashed out at his own soul. It was enough to jar him from whoever (or whatever) had a hold on his mind and he was jolted with fear. Unfortunately, he knew the dangers of stopping in the middle of a ritual and tried to continue. The horcrux sensed this new weakness and fought even harder to throw off Harry's concentration. The pain of the ritual trying to combine the soul shard in Harry with the one from the diadem drove the boy to his knees.
"Harry!" A great bolt of relief flooded Harry as he heard Tom call out for him. He didn't dare turn his eyes away from the thrashing horcrux but he heard Tom stutter to a stop and curse rather violently.
Tom took a moment to take in the situation and center himself. He'd been confused and worried when he received Severus's Patronus. When he had reached for his connection to Harry to check on the boy it felt fuzzy and smothered, as if someone had thrown a blanket over it. While Tom couldn't effectively contact the young man on the other end, it was still strong enough for Tom to use as a tracking device. He had followed the connection down to the Chamber of Secrets. Being one of the few people who had been to the Chamber before, Tom knew other ways in and found one much closer to his previous location than the second floor bathroom.
The Dark Lord didn't know what happened but the smothering influence on their connection was gone. Now the connection between him and the boy was strong and flooding with Harry's fear, confusion and desperation. Tom knew he didn't have time to focus on the why's and how's of the situation. Instead he cautiously approached, wand at the ready.
"Harry, I need you to keep doing what you are doing. I am going to try and take over in a couple moments. When you feel my magic enter the ritual don't fight it. You'll know when to pull away. You can do this." He saw Harry's frantic nod though the boy didn't verbally acknowledge him. Tom waited briefly for a proper opening and then swiftly and seamlessly ingratiated himself into the ritual.
The horcrux fought harder now that there were two wizards attempting to retrieve the soul shard. It kept lashing out at the weaker of the two and was gaining ground. Tom grit his teeth as he pushed more power into the ritual to finish it before the horcrux did serious damage to Harry. Luckily, he could feel that the moment Harry would be able to pull away was approaching in mere seconds and then he would be able to finish the ritual with a few more sentences.
Both wizards had their full attention and power wrapped up in the ritual. As such, they didn't notice the danger they were in. Someone else did, however.
Harry's magic was draining by the minute and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. However, the more power Tom pushed in the more Harry felt the tug on his soul weaken. Sweat was dripping down his face until finally-
"Ahh!" Harry screamed as he was finally able to break away from the ritual. His entire body trembled in pain and exhaustion. His green eyes watched the Dark Lord work to subdue the final inanimate horcrux but then something gleamed out of the corner of his eye.
"Tom!" He watched from the cold ground as everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Dumbledore suddenly appeared beside Tom, Harry's invisibility cloak slipping from his shoulders and the Sword of Gryffindor raised to strike the Dark Lord down while he was utterly vulnerable. The sword never made contact with Tom, however. Just as Albus swung, Tom finished the ritual and moved to duck. Harry knew Tom wouldn't be fast enough. Then he saw Nagini practically fly through the air aiming her deadly fangs right for Dumbledore.
The Headmaster saw the snake at the last second and changed the Sword's trajectory. As the Sword came down, instead of killing Tom, it sliced right through Nagini, allowing the Dark Lord to get completely out of the way.
Nagini's body disintegrated and Tom and Harry both felt the pain on their souls as the third in their connection was murdered. A cry of anguish escaped from both of them. Harry could only make out the watery outline of the crazed Headmaster through the tears swimming in his eyes.
The Headmaster growled in irritation.
"You are both far too stubborn in your desire to keep living," he yelled.
"Wh-what…" was all Harry could stammer out as he tried to wrap his mind around everything he'd just witnessed. Dumbledore sneered at them as his two enemies laid on the floor exhausted and unable to truly defend themselves.
"You may be impervious to the Imperius curse, Boy, but a simple compulsion spell to make you do something you already wanted to do and you were mine. Mimicking Tom's voice so only you could hear him "call to you" was child's play. It was all too easy to use you as bait to lure in Voldemort. The ritual weakened both of you so much a first year could off you. The bloody snake got in the way but no matter. We've simply done things a little out of order." Albus used the tip of the Sword of Gryffindor to force Tom to lift his chin and meet his eyes. "I want you to watch as I finish what you started."
Albus turned towards Harry and gripped the handle of the sword tight. Tom struggled to stand as he realized what the Headmaster intended.
"No! Nooo," Tom screamed. Harry didn't even have the strength to try and drag himself away as Dumbledore raised the sword to kill him. The Gryffindor refused to beg for his life, knowing it would only give the Headmaster satisfaction, and closed his eyes. He thought of his mum and braced himself.
His eyes bolted open when Dumbledore screamed in rage. He saw as the Sword of Gryffindor slowly vanished from Dumbledore's grasp. Just then the door to the Chamber started to grind open. Harry whipped his head around and saw his friends and family standing in the entrance, wands at the ready.
He could only think he was happy to see them one more time...before a flash of green blinded his vision.
Severus could hear Sirius barreling through the caverns ahead of them. The man was clearly not going for stealth but for speed. The Potions Master couldn't necessarily blame the animagus for wanting to get to Harry as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it was useless to run quicker when they wouldn't be able to get in to the Chamber of Secrets anyway.
Sure enough, when they finally reached the end of the passageway Sirius was pacing restlessly in front of an ornate door decorated, unsurprisingly, with metal snakes.
Severus and Lucius stepped forward to examine the door as Sirius continued to pace. The Potion Master's eye twitched as the animagus kept muttering viciously under his breath and distracting Snape from the matter at hand.
"Would you shut your mouth, Black," Severus snapped. "If you can't be useful then at least be quiet!" Sirius stopped and simply shot Severus an unimpressed look.
"I know you're just trying to deflect from your own worry and fear by being angry with me. I deal with my fear by being impulsive and you lash out. Focus on opening the door and getting to Harry." When he found himself at the receiving end of a number of shocked stares, Sirius rolled his eyes. "I've been learning stuff in my Mind Healer sessions. I'm not stupid," he muttered sheepishly.
Snape decided the better part of valor (and the more important thing at the moment) was to not reply and, like Black suggested, focus on opening the door to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Salazar Slytherin likely placed several booby traps in the door if anyone tried to force it open, especially if it was someone not of pure magical heritage," Lucius said as his wand lifted to start scanning for said booby traps.
"Or he believed his Basilisk was enough to safeguard it," Severus replied. "Hopefully with more Hogwarts faculty we can call upon the magic of the castle and convince the Chamber to open." There was a sudden uptick in muttering from behind them and Severus cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder.
The students that accompanied them (against his better judgement) were clearly arguing about something. Ron Weasley seemed to be at the center of whatever the debate was and he finally saw Severus glaring at them. Draco shoved Ron forward and the redhead flipped the young Slytherin the bird.
"I think I know a way to open it," Ron finally spat out. Severus growled and spun to fully face the boy.
"And you didn't think to mention this before," he snarled. Ron's cheeks turned rosy red but he refused to rise to the bait.
"I was thinking of how Harry said he got in last time. Parseltongue." Lucius raised a brow as Severus huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Yes, well, that would be quite helpful right now but no one here is a descendent of Salazar Slytherin with that ability," the Malfoy Lord said before Snape could make a scathing comment. Ron threw his hands up in frustration.
"I know that! But Harry talks in his sleep!" Hermione sighed and dropped her head in her hand as Ron continued to make a good idea sound stupid.
"What Ronald means is he has heard Harry mutter Parseltongue in his sleep enough that he thinks he can mimic it to make the door open," she clarified. Ron crossed his arms and glared at the ground.
"That's what I was saying," he muttered sullenly. He suddenly found himself pulled to stand directly in front of the door to the Chamber.
"Everyone have your wand at the ready in case this works," Snape barked. Ron swallowed nervously, thought of the danger his best friend was in and then started making a series of odd hissing noises.
For a moment nothing happened and Ron was sure his idea had failed. But then the snakes on the door started to move and one by one pull back to unlock. He was once again yanked about though this time it was so he was behind the adults.
After what felt like ages the door opened fully and they all took in the scene before them. Every single one of them screamed as they saw the Killing Curse blast from Dumbledore's wand and strike Harry down.
Don't hate me! I've had this idea for a while and have been going back and forth on whether to move forward with it. I decided to go with it. I'm sorry!
Please review! :)
