The Mirror's Revenge
It was dead silent in the Chamber of Secrets, like the lull before a storm. Everyone—friend or foe—had stopped fighting after watching the deaths of Lord Voldemort and the Mirror.
Harry heard his companions' ragged and tired breaths, with a hint of grief intermingled, while the smell of their hot sweat filled the air. Harry also smelt a heavy presence of ozone and sulphur. Around them, the few remaining pieces of the Stitch floated, glinting like dark stars.
In the back of Harry's frazzled mind, he couldn't believe he had survived this. Now he wondered if he would survive his own war as he stared at the body of his Mirror.
It would've been deceptive to let out a sigh of relief now, but this war wasn't over yet. The Death Eaters still outnumbered them, and Grindelwald was somewhere, waiting for his time to rise in the ashes of Voldemort's almost fulfilled reign over Britain.
Harry sat up as a trickle of blood slithered down his eye, and noticed that the Death Eaters were stirring again. The shock of what they had seen was beginning to wear off. He ignited a Protection Shield around them, his fear mounting again.
"MUMMY!" Jessica was petrified.
It snapped them out of their stupor.
Harry suddenly noticed Lily's tight grip on his wrist. She let go at her child's voice.
"I'm here!" she replied.
Harry gripped hers. "Not yet."
"I can't leave her exposed—Let me go!"
"No."
Ginny, Michael and the other boy slowly woke, but Jessica sat up. She wrung her hands, confused, her eyes still white and misty. Kingsley knelt down, hugging the girl tightly.
"YOU'RE ALL DEAD!" a Death Eater bellowed.
Within a split second, there was a blur of dark figures around them and bright spells crisscrossed the air. Firing curses, the Death Eaters retreated into the darkness and the battle had restarted in earnest.
Retaliating, Snape shot back, hitting one. The Death Eater crumbled, leaving him in the middle of the chamber as he yelled for help. Kingsley and Parvati blasted two columns and another Death Eater was covered in stone. Draco and Emily crouched as spells whizzed over their heads. And Hermione cried out when something white hot smashed into her cheek. She rolled over James's body in the confusion. When she looked up, Harry saw her cheek bleeding and swelling to the size of a grapefruit.
Where's Bellatrix? Harry thought, as vertigo hit him with full force.
"Let me go to my daughter," Lily pleaded.
It only made his grip tighten. He couldn't. He couldn't loose her again. "She's protected." He knew Bellatrix would make an appearance as soon as Lily rushed to her child.
There was a stampede of feet outside the chamber and Harry was relieved to see more of the Aurors. But Barty Crouch twirled his wand at the entrance and the Aurors hit a silvery barrier. Three Aurors died when they touched it, exploding in a mess of flesh and blood.
"They can't get in," Draco blurted. "We're outnumbered."
Kingsley nodded at Snape, and the hook-nosed double agent rushed to see if he could undo the curse.
Then two Death Eaters Apparated next to Kingsley and knocked him off his feet. His bald, sweaty head smacked the ground with a sickening crack. Harry held his breath, but exhaled when Kingsley groaned awake.
"MUMMMMMMMMY!"
"NO!" Lily screeched, she yanked her arm out of Harry's grip, and ran to daughter who was screaming, rocking back and forth.
Fuck, thought Harry, retching. He was so dizzy now, that he couldn't focus on the people he needed to defend.
Then a Death Eater grabbed Jessica by the hair and pointed her wand at the girl's temple.
"Don't hurt her!"
"Do something," Harry snapped at Emily. She aimed, but Lily obscured her view and Emily wasn't about to rush out of the shield for a better position.
And a Death Eater pounced on Kingsley. But he kicked the Death Eater's face. With a growl, the masked wizard fell. Then he rolled over and attacked the Auror. They struggled on the ground trying to curse each other. Harry guessed his aim and expelled a wand.
"SHIT!" he swore. In the confusion, Harry had accidentally flung Kingsley's wand and not the enemy's. Kingsley and the Death Eater stared stunned for a moment, but Kingsley managed to yank the Death Eater's wand out of his gip and stabbed it into the wizard's eye socket. The Death Eater howled in pain as he was retrained.
Harry stood up, and then fell back as his world swirled around. A curse singed his neck, and he quickly realised that his Protection Shield had become undone.
Ignoring the protests from his tired and motion sick body, he crawled his way to Lily, but a hex smashed into his face. "ARGH!" Harry rolled over in pain, trying to stem the blood from his broken nose, his cheeks in agony.
Harry reignited a shield around his companions as Draco pulled him back, only to discover Emily was nursing her injured shoulder, and her wand lay splintered, and smoking at her feet.
"Lily, come back!" Harry shouted, spitting out blood.
There was a loud crack in front of her, stopping Lily in her tracks. Grinning, Bellatrix had finally materialised.
Lily ducked as Bellatrix flung a Cruciatus, but it missed and punctured a hole in the ground. It left open a wide gap in front of her and Bellatrix focused on Harry.
"YOU KILLED HIM!" She pointed murderously at him.
"Leave him alone!" Lily shrieked. Her hair whipped about as she twirled back, to aim at Bellatrix.
"LILY!" Snape roared.
Bellatrix chuckled, her laughter echoing ominously down the chamber. "Owww, what's the matter Sev, don't want your Mudblood fighting me?"
Harry stood up, but vertigo once again overcame him. He fought the urge to vomit. Draco and Emily closed in around him like a protective barrier. Hermione bolted over, and hid behind Draco, while Parvati concealed herself with Snape behind a column.
But Snape walked out, raising his hands, almost like he was willing to give himself up to save Lily.
"Go to the Mudblood, and I vill kill her daughter," Vera Roux spat in his direction.
A spell sizzled over Lily's head, frying some of her red hair. Snape ran, but halted when Jessica cried out. The Death Eater cut her wand into her temple.
"Let them fight and ve vill see the superiority of a pure-blood," Roux said, yanking the girl's hair again.
Harry staggered upright, his face pounding in pain. "Draco, can you and Emily try to undo that spell on the entrance and get the Aurors in?"
Draco eyed him. "Doubt it."
"Then help me up."
The boy hesitated, as he cautiously looked out for Death Eaters trying to attack them. "Stay out of this now."
"Are you ser—?" Harry doubled over and vomited. He knelt down again, flanked on all sides, and saw Lily stepping back, trembling, but her green eyes sparkled with determination.
Bellatrix positioned herself into a duel. She raised her arm and her dress sleeve drifted down to reveal the fading Dark Mark.
The witches aimed at each other. Harry held his breath, as dizziness distorted the view. The strained shouts around the chamber were ringing in his ears, and he saw Aurors desperately attempting to penetrate the deadly barrier.
"You've lost, Bella," Lily said through gritted teeth. "Your precious master is gone."
Bellatrix licked her lips. "It's not over until I kill you and the Mirror."
Harry drew in a deep breath, focused his magic and produced a silvery protection shield around Lily. However, she stepped out of it. He swore loudly at her bold recklessness.
"I've always wanted to kill you, Mudblood." Her wand flicked, but Lily jumped away from the Cruciatus Curse again.
Harry had to admit, his Mirror mother was quite nimble, and a good dodger. James told him once that if Lily wasn't so petrified of flying, she would've made a good Seeker or Chaser.
"If we had more time, I would've loved to see you beg." Bellatrix laughed. "Your son became so good at it…"
"LIAR!" Draco spat.
"Fuck me, please, oh please," she shrilled. "You should've seen your boy, Lily Potter—"
"Don't listen to her!"
"He was utterly desperate bent over and wanton."
Lily trembled in silent rage. Harry saw Snape shake his head at her. Harry knew it would be extremely difficult fighting Bellatrix without any help, and he wasn't about to see his Mirror mother die.
"You are an abomination!" Lily said softly, but there was a deadly undertone to it. "You took my child and you ripped his life apart!"
Bellatrix screamed in delight. "And what a pleasure that was." She jutted her chin at Harry's dead Mirror. She cocked her head and a brutal leer appeared on her face. "It was such a joy watching him turn into a dirty, moaning whore—"
"YOU'LL NEVER HARM MY CHILDREN AGAIN!" Lily plunged forward, and a spell erupted from her wand. Bellatrix spun around, shrieking.
Emily eyes darted from the witches to the entrance. The Aurors were firing counter charms to destroy the curse. Harry wanted to do more, but every time he stood up, his world shifted precariously and he couldn't concentrate on his magic, and he knew he needed to keep the shield intact.
He fell again, and this time Draco held him down. "For fucks sake just lay still!"
Harry snarled back.
"Hermione, get the blue bottle in Harry's pocket," Emily whispered.
Hermione inched towards the Mirror. She ran out of the shield, dodging spells and lay low over the Mirror's body, checking for a pulse with one hand, feeling his chest, then looking through his robes. Fumbling about, she discovered a small bottle, and slid it across the floor to Emily, as Lily jumped away from a fiery, blue spell that seemed to chill the room.
From the corner of his eye, Kingsley was caught in a duel with Priscott, as Snape endeavoured to help Lily. Across the floor, Ginny failed to escape, and screamed in agony when the Death Eater watching her, struck her with a curse that maimed her hands. Michael jumped up, and threw himself onto the wizard.
Snape changed direction and attacked, dodging Roux's spell. He yanked Ginny away as a spell rebounded off his dragon hide boots.
"REDUCTO," roared Draco.
"Expelliarmus,' said Emily with her broken wand. But the spell spluttered feebly across the chamber.
Their spells rebounded off stone and silver masks.
Hermione swerved behind the column with Parvati and they both brought down two Death Eaters. Yes! thought Harry
But the hidden Death Eaters continued pounding them with hot, deadly curses.
Finally throwing Michael off, the Death Eater was about to kill him. Harry let go of his Protection Shield, leaving them wide open to attack, and threw a fireball. The Death Eater was engulfed by the flames and was screaming around the chamber, until Barty killed him.
"HIDE! HIDE," commanded Emily. Draco unceremoniously pulled Harry up and they jumped behind a stone statue of a serpent, metres away. Then the head of the serpent cracked off.
"Merlins balls!" yelped Draco. "How the hell are we—?"
Then Jessica screamed in terror. In the chaos, Roux pulled Jessica into her arms and made a run for it.
"SNAPE—GET HER!" Harry bellowed, pointing at the girl. He concentrated hard and made the floor beneath the Death Eater's feet slippery. They fell with a thud.
"AVA—"
Roux fell back, clutching her throat. Blood was spurting from her neck after a well-timed Sectumsempra from Snape.
"MUMMY, HELP!" Her face was covered in crimson. Snape pulled her away and covered her with his cloak as they hid in a small nook near the entrance.
In the background, Kingsley was fighting, still caught in a battle with Priscott, and this time, Crouch had joined in. Kingsley yelled in frustration and jumped behind fallen stone.
If Voldemort couldn't kill them, surely his Death Eaters would. Then a Death Eater ambushed them, throwing Harry onto the ground.
"NO!" Harry spat, momentarily in shock.
"I'll fucking kill you!" he hissed.
But the Death Eater suddenly collapsed on him, his dead weight constricting his chest. Draco killed him.
Distracted by Jessica who was still screaming, Lily yelled as a hex cut into her shoulder, but she fired a disarming spell, which made Bellatrix dance out of its way.
Bella seemed amused. "The same goody spells over and over. If the Order had some balls, then would've beaten us by now. WEAK COWARDS AND IDIOTS!"
Then there was silence again, as they watched Bellatrix and Lily Potter circle each other.
Lily scowled back when she narrowly missed a Dark curse that sent a shiver through Harry. She hit back with a powerful Reducto.
"FUCK! Do you know how predictable—"
Lily fired a curse. Bellatrix yelped as she jumped out of the way. The curse left deep scorch marks on a pillar. "YES, FIGHT ME YOU MUDBLOOD CUNT! AVADA—"
Lily fired a curse before Bella finished hers. The curse hit the Death Eater's wand arm, turning it into stone.
Bellatrix screamed, her wand arcing into the air as she fell to one knee. She clutched her arm. In shock, she touched it with a finger and gasped when it crumbled into a fine, grey dust. Wide-eyed, Bellatrix laughed now. "Well, well, who would've thought of pure, kind-hearted, pretty Lily Potter using the Dark Arts!"
Lily panted. "The Order lets people use Dark Arts only as the last resort—for survival. And you… I think it's safe to say you won't play fair."
"True… and here I thought Dumbledore cut off his ties with the Ministry because of their use of the Dark Arts. Looks like he wasn't so perfect after all."
"He was far from perfect!" Lily spat.
Bellatrix's grey eyes glinted dangerously like the pieces of the Stitch that hung overhead.
"Give up, Bella!" Lily said harshly. "You're badly injured—"
"NEVER!" With a second of wandless, she Accioed her wand into her other hand and swirled around, hopping from one corner of chamber to the other.
Lily whipped around, terrified. "Where are you?"
"BEHIND YOU!" Harry warned.
Bellatrix threw a dagger and it struck Lily's side.
"LILY!" Snape and Harry roared. She yelled in pain as she fell. "MUM!' Michael said.
Panic and shock gripped him. No, she can't die! He can't watch another mother die.
"Ready, Draco?"
"Suppose so," he snarled.
Emily flung herself onto Bellatrix, stopping her mid laugh. She scratched her face with a cracking slap. They fell into a heap, and in one swift move, Emily stole Bellatrix's wand and yelled, "CRUCIO!"
Bella didn't have time to react and was writhing in agony. Emily bolted upright, holding the wand steadily. She stared down without an ounce of emotion on her plain face, and did not relinquish the curse.
Harry saw the remaining Death Eaters trying to escape now. Good…
Lily cringed, breathlessly and said, "end it." Snape and Parvati ran over to help her, but she knocked them back. "Emily!"
The Conditioned girl didn't lift the curse.
Death Eaters were retreating. And suddenly the curse at the entrance was undone by Kingsley. Aurors flooded in with the Order and once again the fight continued.
"EMILY!" Snape barked, "Stop it!"
She jerked her head towards him. "Why should I, Mentor?"
"This isn't you!"
"I'm a Conditioned. She needs to pay for what she's done."
"Justice. She needs to face justice," Lily said, panting and in pain. "Lift the curse and bind her."
Emily obeyed, and placed a Petrifying Curse to hold her firm. She circled the now still witch, then knelt down near her head and uncorked the tiny bottle. Harry heard Bellatrix's muffled cries as she desperately tried to move.
"You deserve death, but we think this will be worse—Confundus."
Then contents of the bottle rose and Emily softly muttered an incantation, bathing the silvery contents in a white glow.
"This is Harry's revenge."
Emily forced Bellatrix's mouth open, and the silvery thing, which Harry suspected were memories fell into her mouth.
Bellatrix suddenly arched her back in a silent scream. Her eyes bulging in what looked like fear… horror. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed. "NO. NOOOOO! DON'T—STOP!"
Emily knocked the witch out with her boot and moved away, as Death Eaters were backing themselves out of a small hole, cursing the Aurors.
"Harry…" Lily clutched her bleeding side, the dagger still in to its hilt. She collapsed into Snape's arms, as Crouch and Priscott yelled to their mates to retreat.
The Death Eaters disappeared out of a small hole, which Harry guessed led to the lake. It closed up behind them and the Aurors smacked against it, unable to rush in after them.
Their breaths echoed in the dark, smoky chamber.
And it was over... Voldemort was gone and Bellatrix defeated.
The Aurors quietly helped them up and treated their injuries, but Harry was numb. He just sat there, unable to process anymore of it.
"What did you do?" asked Hermione, staring at Emily. Her voice sounded so soft in Harry's ear.
"Harry manipulated his memories. He wanted them implanted into her so she'd be the one suffering the torture he had been put through. She'll be confused enough to think they're hers." Emily gazed at the Mirror's dead body. "Her every waking moment will be consumed by it."
"It won't last."
"I don't care. The bitch needs to understand what she put her captives through. We owe it to Harry. He was adamant that if he didn't make it, we'd do it for him."
Someone groaned. James was stirring awake as an Auror checked out his injuries.
"We need to get out now," Snape said.
Lily opened her eyes. "Harry… take me to Harry…"
"No, you need to be seen by a Healer—"
"Take me to my son!" Her words jolted them. Harry heard Jessica sniffling in Kingsley's arms, and he saw Hermione and Parvati wiping their tears away.
Snape sighed and they helped her across the chamber. She collapsed next to her unmoving son. "Please wake up."
Parvati gulped as she touched his pale cheek.
"Leave him alone!" Lily pushed the girl away. She stroked back the fringe from her dead son's face.
With Draco's help Harry stood over them. It felt surreal staring at his Mirror's dead body. Hermione held him arm tightly. Perhaps she was scared she'd lose him too.
His Mirror was splayed on the ground. Blood had pooled around him. But Lily didn't seem to care, as her clothes and hands became smeared with her son's blood, intermingling with her own. She sat there, staring at his still features, fingers gently moving down the contours of his face. Then she let her tears fall and her anguished cry sent a shiver down Harry's spine.
Hermione let out a small whimper. "We have to go."
Lily inhaled deeply. "Is… is there anyway Harry can bring him back?"
"Mrs Potter," she said gently. "Th-there are limitations with being a Mage. Harry can't bring him back, not when his soul has left his body." Her breath quavered with grief and hurt. "It's… it's too late for him."
"Mum please, you're hurt." Michael said, falling to her side. His eyes were bulging at her wound.
"I should've died for you," she whispered to her dead boy.
"No! Mum," Michael shook her shoulder. "You've still got us! Me, Chris and Jess, and Dad. We need you too!"
But Lily wailed, sobbing. No mother should ever see her child dead. And she experienced two of her children die.
"Harry?" James croaked as he came to. He looked over the Auror's shoulder. "Oh God—Merlin! HARRY!" He struggled out of their grip. "THAT'S MY SON!"
Harry stumbled back. He couldn't witness this anymore. Kingsley held Jessica as he made his way over to him.
"I need to go."
It felt so wrong, he felt like an intruder witnessing his Mirror parents' grief. Harry shivered and not knowing where he was going, his legs gave way.
"Its okay, Harry…"
"I don't want to be here anymore—I've had enough."
"Come on, let's go," Kingsley nodded curtly, and without turning back to see the people he cared about mourning over his Mirror's body, Harry was helped out of the chamber by Draco, and past the shocked, bloodied Aurors lining the tunnel.
"WE WON!" An Auror shouted, lifting a fist into the air.
The others cheered and cried for joy, clapping their backs, but Harry was numb to it all, until a small hand fumbled into his. He was startled when he realised Jessica had reached her hand over Kingsley's shoulder to grab hold of Harry's. He looked into her eyes and discovered a hint of green in them.
He felt something in his hand. When Jessica pulled away there was a glinting piece of the Obsidian Stitch in his palm.
