Disclaimer: The whole Horcrux idea, and the various items that were used as Horcruxes, are the ingenuity of Ms Rowling; I only take credit for the expansion of characterisation and my limited vocabulary ;)
A/N: This chapter is full of action, full of emotions, full of tension - doesn't that sound exciting? Please let me know if the action was too fast-paced; I originally didn't intend to end the chapter this way, but it proved too long for me to end it otherwise. I hope this doesn't make the next chapter too short :p In the meantime, hope you enjoy this one (:
Harry made his way out of his parents' home and eyed the house next door to his left suspiciously. It was also overgrown with weeds, and dark green creepers had slithered over the walls and roof in a messy fashion. The hissing sound was getting more fervent, and he rubbed his ear ruefully.
I can see youuu... come to me... Harry Potter...
Harry flinched, then immediately leapt over the low wall to the other side. The rest had come out of the house, and were staring at him dubiously. But Ron strained and eventually heard the hissing sound, so he did not hesitate much longer to swing himself over the wall, followed by Ginny. Hermione looked doubtful, but followed suit, and Draco as well, though there was a huge wave of uneasiness that had washed over him. Once Neville, Corrinne and Luna were over, Harry marched up to the door to knock hard.
Silence.
Harry's hand rested on the doorknob.
"Harry, I don't think..." Hermione began.
He turned the knob.
The door creaked painfully. Harry sidled up against the door as he pushed it open, wand ready at hand. Everybody pulled out their wands as well.
Come to me...
"Who's there?" A weak, wheezy voice croaked.
Harry raised an eyebrow. Then he pushed harder, shining his wand towards the occupant of the house. In the middle of what appeared to be a living room – or rather, it was just an area cluttered with objects of all kinds, added with a musty smell and a dim light bulb above – there was a gaunt old woman sitting on a rocking chair. Wisps of grey hair hung over her forehead, and her small eyes stared glassily at Harry.
"Who's there?" she repeated, wheezing a little. The rocking chair creaked slightly, but she did not seem to make any visible movement. Harry motioned for the rest to come in, and slowly, they squeezed through the small door.
"Excuse me," Harry began. "You are..."
"Bathilda Bagshot!" Hermione suddenly cut in, her eyes wide with surprise.
Harry spun around, equally surprised. "You – you know her?"
The woman did not have any facial expressions to accompany the soft cackle that came after. "You are smart, my child."
"Err...who?" Ginny stared skeptically at the woman.
Hermione was getting a little excited. "She wrote A History of Magic! She's the author of our textbook!"
Draco was trying his best not to look amused and disgusted at the same time.
"Blimey, Hermione, only you would be so pleased to see her!" Ron threw her a look of disgust. "That book was..." He caught Hermione's eye. "Ravishing."
"Delightful," murmured Ginny, and wrinkled her nose as she took in Bathilda Bagshot's appearance. "My, has she taken a bath in the last decade or so?"
"Erm, Miss Bagshot?" Harry ventured. "Do you know..."
"Oh my..." Hermione had caught sight of some old, crumbly books by the side. "Oh, these are all the history books that I love so much! What has become of them? Miss Bagshot, I've read them all, and I thought what you said about the house-elves were so true! Their history was so touching. I always thought that they deserved..." Her eyes were sparkling.
"Very well, my dear, very well," said Bathilda, her wrinkly eyes closing a little. The chair creaked, and her fingers twitched.
"Are you feeling okay?" Hermione asked, tentatively. Bathilda's head tipped forward a little to assent. "What has happened to you so far? After your last book, you said you wanted to do some more research about the dragons, but you never seemed to expound on it. I would really like to know your thesis about..."
"Hermione, you might want to slow down..."
"Miss Bagshot, we're sorry, we didn't mean any disrespect..."
"Miss Bagshot, I wanted to know..."
"I'm really sorry, Ron, but do you know who this is? She's been out of the radar for so long, and we finally get to meet her here! In the flesh!"
"Very well, my dear, very well..."
"So yes, as I was saying..."
As Hermione chattered, the rest were either rolling their eyes or chuckling amusedly. Harry looked a bit nervous, having been interrupted twice, opening his mouth only to shut it again. Draco tried to listen out for the hissing sound, but there was none, only a faint little noise that he couldn't exactly pinpoint to what it was, so he just shook his head. But then, he caught sight of Bathilda's twitching fingers and was oddly attracted to them. They were long and spindly, but instead of ending in nails, they seemed to end in stubs. Blackened stubs.
Draco's eyes narrowed. Burnt? No. Diseased? He was momentarily reminded of the patches on Maldash Wentervale's face, and he cringed. No. Then...
His gaze travelled to the rocking chair handle that her hand was resting on. Traces of black were on it. The carpet on the ground. Eaten by miniature creatures all round, but at the same time, every hole had the faint black trace around. The fireplace. Whatever had been on the mantelpiece. The ceiling. The walls. The floor. Black lines everywhere.
He swung back. The door. Its edges. That same black, rotting mess.
"...I was wondering if you could just show me any of your research on..."
"Miss Bagshot," Harry finally gathered up his courage to firmly put Hermione in place, "did you know my parents lived next door?"
Bathilda's lips quivered. "I am alone."
The Chosen One... Harry Potter...
Harry jerked, and spun around. Ron's hand shot out to support him. "Harry, what are you – "
"I hear him," whispered Harry. "I heard him say..."
"Draco, what are you doing?" Hermione's alarmed voice brought everyone's gaze towards Draco, who was pointing his wand at Bathilda Bagshot, with barely concealed rage on his face. "Put that down immediately! She's just..."
"Bathilda Bagshot?" Draco sneered, his eyes fixed on Bathilda. "Hermione, only you would get fooled by your own thirst for knowledge."
Hermione blinked.
"Get out of that body, you filthy worm." Draco's eyes hardened.
The emotionless face of Bathilda suddenly twitched into a little smirk. Then it faltered. The whole body began to sag, and Hermione gasped in horror. Bathilda's head fell to the side, like the string holding it up had been cut.
Then the frightening hissing sound began once again.
Slowly, a glowing image of a snake began to slither out from the back of the rocking chair. It was huge, so huge that it seemed to fill up the height of the room as it stretched and slithered out. The green-grey scales were so ugly and cracked, but it only served to make the serpent deadlier than ever, as if it had an armour that couldn't be penetrated. All of them began backing away towards the door, save for Harry and Draco who stood their ground.
"Yes, Draco..." The familiar silky voice threaded through the cold air. "You must take on your father's responsibility and perform your duties with perfection. And you are now given one of the most important tasks I could ever entrust to a Death Eater..." And beside the black hooded figure, there was a dark curved figure, rearing its head in approval. Nagini. Draco could feel his hair stand on edge being in such close proximity to the giant serpent. He could feel the malevolence of that creature overpowering everything. Draco lowered his head in deference, but he could feel his heart skip a beat listening to the seductive hissing of the snake.
Hssss... hsssssss...
"Shut up!" Harry gritted his teeth.
"What did he say!" demanded Draco.
"He called you a traitor! And he's been calling after me too!" Harry began to launch into a series of fiery hissing, spitting noises that startled everyone; only he knew that he was demanding what Nagini was trying to do.
Shee... has been dead for long... Nagini swung its gigantic head towards the rotting body of Bathilda. It was still making its way slowly out of her; Harry thought it might consume the entire house in a flash with its size. It is now your turn to DIE!It uttered the last word with such a ferocious hiss that made all their bones rattle. Draco could feel as if all the evilness radiated from this one creature alone. If anything personified Voldemort perfectly, it would be this giant serpent.
Suddenly, Nagini gave a toss of its head. Harry could not react in time, and with a yell, he was sent flying into the wall. Ginny screamed, Ron roared in anger, and Hermione pulled out her own wand to cast a spell. But this time, Draco was also knocked off, and he winced as his head made contact with the wall with a sickening thud. Nagini bared its cruelly sharp fangs viciously, and its menacing stare was chilling. With another hiss, it opened its mouth wide towards Hermione, who was for some reason or another, immobilised, terrified.
"Hermione, MOVE! STUPEFY!" Draco threw the spell over, but Nagini was surprisingly agile for its size; it whirled its head away and hissed at Draco.
Hssss... hssss...
"What is he saying?" screamed Draco.
"He said you'll be the first to die, for you're a traitor!" yelled Harry. "IMPEDI– AARGGHHH!" Nagini had smashed the house through with a toss of its head, causing all of them to duck for cover. Ginny wielded her wand, but a table came smashing towards her; Ron had to leap forward to push it away. He howled, and Ginny's eyes flashed with anger at seeing her brother hurt, along with Harry, who was scrambling up. "LUNA, NEVILLE, CORRINNE, GET – "
"Oh no, we don't!" Corrinne leapt up and swung her wand over her head, but Nagini was faster.
"NOOOO!" Neville cried, as Corrinne was whipped hard in the middle, and sent flying towards the wall. She slammed hard against it, and fell in a crumpled heap. "NOOOO!"
As Neville ran over, Draco raised his wand again. But Nagini's tail slapped at him without warning, slamming him backwards. His wand fell away from him; with another swipe, the tail had sent his wand flying.
"You damned creature, you..." Draco was beyond furious, letting loose a string of profanities. Harry's wand was slapped out of his reach as well, and he was looking no less wild than Draco. Nagini bared its fangs towards Draco once again, but Hermione threw a spell that made the snake whirl away quickly. However, every time somebody attempted to hex the snake, it would be fast enough to whip at their heads to force them to duck and lose concentration. Even though Luna finally got a hex into its side, it just served to anger the snake further, and it went a little wild, smashing its head through the ceiling and bringing objects from the second floor tumbling down. Ron had to shield Ginny, while Draco scrambled over to Hermione to prevent her from getting concussed by a huge rotting armchair that had crashed down.
Neville, with one hand holding his wand and cradling Corrinne's head, whispering urgently to her to wake up, noticed that there was something at his feet that was glittering. The Sorting Hat! Harry had let go of it inadvertently after being whacked by Nagini. The serpent's tail came diving towards him, but a spell from Hermione's wand had smacked it aside. But no, wait, the Hat wasn't glittering, it was...
"Neville, look out!"
The large green tail was flying towards him. Neville's eyes widened in horror. His free hand touched against something hard and instinctively grabbed it. Then he realised he had grabbed a handle.
A glittering handle of a sword.
Without thinking, he let Corrinne slip off his lap, as he pulled out the sword from the Sorting Hat. The snake's tail pulled back as Ginny threw a spell over, and Harry was blindly searching for his wand and avoiding getting smashed into pieces by the huge head that was looming over him.
"Over here, you bastard, you don't go fighting unarmed people!" Draco roared and threw a spell over that made Nagini sway unstably. The enraged snake hissed more ferociously than ever and sent more things crashing down with a swing of its enormous head. Ron howled as something cut his arm, prompting Ginny to launch another hex. It was insane; the house would completely collapse on them any moment, and it must have been the magic preventing any of the townspeople from realising that there was such a huge commotion going on.
Seeing that Nagini was distracted, Harry picked up a lamp by the side and flung it towards Nagini. It crashed against the gigantic head, and the snake reared up in pain and anger. Its sickly yellow eyes turned towards Harry, and it bared the dripping fangs once again.
Then it struck! But Harry had dodged aside.
"COWARD!" Draco roared once again, and Nagini swung over. Draco had pulled out the basilisk fang from his pouch and stabbed it hard at Nagini. But the fang failed to penetrate the scaly armour. The snake hissed in triumph. "POTTER, WHERE IS THAT BLOODY HAT? YOU SAID IT WOULD HELP!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" yelled Harry, flustered. "I LOST IT!"
"YOU WHAT?"
"I LOST IT!"
"BLOODY HELL, POTTER, YOU –"
"DRACO!" Hermione's scream jolted him. Draco found himself staring straight at the gleaming yellow eyes, triumphant and deadly. The huge mouth opened, dripping with sticky fluid, and Draco could almost see past the throat. "What the – "
"NOO!" Hermione brandished her wand once again.
"YAAAAHHHHH!" A wild voice stunned all of them, including the giant serpent, whose fangs were just metres away from clamping down on Draco's leg. Nagini's eyes were distracted – and then it widened. Pupils dilated into slits. The hiss escaped its hideous mouth in a screech. Its breath steamed Draco, and he could hardly see.
"HERMIONE!" Draco yelled.
"No..." Her voice was oddly calm. "No, Draco."
Before Draco could react in bewilderment, the frozen wide mouth of the serpent suddenly fell away from sight – the huge creature toppled over, its forked tongue slapping up and down and – still.
Draco was breathing in short gasps, staring at the lifeless body of the snake. Then he slowly shifted his gaze to the side. There was a dishevelled Neville Longbottom, eyes wild and frightened and determined all at the same time, and his hands wrapped around the handle of a sword – half-plunged into the ugly, scaly skin of Nagini. Silver liquid was oozing out from the wound, viscous and shiny.
"Neville." Hermione's voice floated from behind Draco. "Pull out that sword. Now."
Neville slowly turned to face Hermione, his face white. But he obeyed. With a deep gulp, he yanked the sword out, only to cause a loud bang! All of them instinctively brought their hands up to shield their faces from a huge light source overwhelming them. Then it receded almost as instantly as it had burst out.
The body of Nagini still lay there, but the silver liquid had stopped oozing out.
Everyone held their breath, their gaze not leaving the enormous creature.
"So... it was a Horcrux after all..." Harry stared at the snake, then he turned to Neville. "Neville... that was, that was incredibly brave of you..."
But that seemed to remind Neville of something else. Suddenly, he dropped the sword in a clatter and spun around wildly towards Corrinne, gathering her up and shaking her. "Corrinne! Wake up! Wake up!"
Luna calmly got up and walked towards them. Draco sat up, still a little dazed, while Hermione clambered out of the mess from behind him. Harry adjusted his slightly twisted spectacles, and found his wand at a corner. Ron helped Ginny out of the debris. All of them watched as Luna gently placed a hand on Neville's arm. "I will Heal her," she said, to his surprise. "I've learnt some skills from my father, who likes to dabble in Healing from time to time." This prompted Neville to crack a small, urgent smile, and he held onto Corrinne as Luna began to take Corrinne's pulse point.
Just as Luna had finished her words, something seemed to nag at the back of Draco's mind. Or rather, his ears seemed to have picked up something earlier on, and he was hearing it once again. A faint little noise – now it sounded more like a little moan. His head automatically turned towards the source of the noise. There was a walkway by the side, now obscured by rotten and broken furniture. Quickly, he leapt up, and Hermione's gaze followed him.
"Hey," Ron stepped in his way, a gruff expression on his face. He held out Draco's wand, which he had found by the side. "Your – "
Draco snatched at it impatiently, before making his way towards the walkway. Ron stared after him, half-incredulous, half-angry. But it soon melded into curiosity, as Draco walked further. He had found a room. And he pushed the door open.
"Help..."
Even the others could hear it now. Hermione bounded over, and so did Harry, Ron and Ginny. The crowd in the walkway ended up pushing Draco further into the room, and he gasped in horror upon looking into the room.
"NO!" He leapt to the middle, where a bound Severus Snape was writhing helplessly on the floor, moaning softly. Quickly, he sought to untie the ropes, forgetting that he had a wand. Hermione quickly brought hers out, and in a few seconds, the ropes were undone. Draco pulled Snape up against him and gripped his collar. The professor was now pale and weak, with beads of perspiration all over his face, plastering his black fringe against his cold white skin. Draco paled considerably.
"What happened... what happened?" he whispered.
Harry stood at the door, gripping the doorknob.
"Nagini..." whispered Snape, his eyes widening, then contracting again in pain. "Bit me..." He pointed at his arm, and when Draco rolled up the robe sleeve, he recoiled in horror to see the bite mark directly on the Dark Mark on Snape's arm. Voldemort had found out Snape was a traitor, and he had sent Nagini to murder him. Draco was beyond outraged, furious, angry... he was completely boiling over, and he was shaking as he held onto Snape.
"All this while?" Draco stared at him in horror.
Snape managed a smirk. "Bella... Bellatrix gave me away to him... and then he questioned me... tortured me... found nothing from me... he was so furious. But I heard what you've done... you are brave, Draco. You must carry on..."
"So you clearly know what this means?" Draco held up the piece of parchment, gripping it tightly in his fist. "Well, the Vow wasn't explicitly about making sure I was okay. It was to help me. If I couldn't do it, then you could. And I'm not going to be able to figure out what this is about, if no other Death Eater tells me."
Snape closed his eyes, and breathed hard.
"Your first mission is to kill Albus Dumbledore. I have no bloody idea how you're going to settle that yourself when the Dark Lord himself is finding it hard to do it. You're going to get killed yourself, Draco."
"I'm so excited," Draco's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Tell me something I don't already know, Professor."
"That's your life you're talking about!"
"No..." Draco looked at his dying professor with grief. "No... you can't... LOVEGOOD! COME OVER!"
"It's no use, Draco!" Snape hacked terribly, and Draco looked even more of a wreck. "I... you must stay strong... you will win, you will defeat him! He..." He coughed again, and blood trickled out of his mouth. Then his gaze fixed on someone else. "Come here... quick..."
Harry stood rooted, but Ron nudged him, so he went forward tentatively. As he knelt beside Snape, the professor who had a deep-seated prejudice against him, who had mocked him countless of times, he felt a sudden pang of guilt and despair watching Snape's life slip away.
Snape grabbed Draco's wand from him and with a huge amount of effort, pointed it towards his head to draw out a long silver thread from it. His other hand grappled at his robes, and Draco quickly helped him find what he wanted – a corked test tube. Draco flipped the cork open, and Snape let the glowing thread settle into the tube. Harry took it and corked it, staring at it in bewilderment.
"My memories..." whispered Snape, wincing. "Some... please watch it..." And then he went into a paroxysm of some sort, startling everyone. Draco gasped and grabbed his collar harder, but within seconds, Severus Snape lay limp in Draco's arms, eyes grimly shut.
"You're not my guardian. You're only supposed to interfere when I need you to. So don't try messing with my affairs, if you don't want to help!"
Looking at the still body of Severus Snape, Draco wished he could take those words back.
Tears were running down Hermione and Ginny's cheeks as they held onto each other; Ron looked away, his face twisted with pain. Harry closed his eyes, eventually opening them to see Draco place Snape down on the floor gently, his tortured expression terribly heartbreaking. Harry turned to stare at Snape, a million questions shrouding him. Who was he?Spy for the Order? Spy for Voldemort? Double, triple agent? His father's enemy, his enemy, Dumbledore's ally?
He looked back at Draco, who was looking completely murderous right now, his lips quivering as though he was about to cry. But Draco Malfoy did not cry. Instead, he stood up, his clenched fists shaking, and marched out of the room. Slowly, the others followed him. Harry took one last look at Snape, swallowed hard, and followed suit.
The five of them left Luna, Neville and Corrinne together, while they walked out of the house in silence. There was one more Horcrux, but even though the latest encounter spurred them on to find the last Horcrux to destroy Voldemort once and for all, the image of Snape was still hard to push aside. Hermione moved to Draco's side, and tried to pry his fist open with her fingers. Eventually, he loosened his grip, and threaded his fingers through hers. None of the others commented; they could feel the overpowering grief surrounding Draco Malfoy. It was really a terrible time for him – he had just lost his mother, and now Snape, his mentor, was gone. Even Ron was solemn, and kept shaking his head slightly.
Harry didn't even know what they were looking for now. He tried to clear his thoughts, although he could scarcely forget how Snape looked pleadingly at him – the first time he had ever seen his professor look like that. Then he grimaced. Voldemort. It was all his doing. And he would pay for it. Just that they didn't know what the last Horcrux was. Bellatrix Lestrange had been hanging around Godric's Hollow, but surely she didn't have to take care of a Horcrux like Nagini. It had been well-concealed in the body of Bathilda Bagshot, and it reported directly to Voldemort as well. No, the Horcrux she was guarding had to be something else.
But what?
Hermione was having the same thoughts, although Draco's fierce grip was almost crushing her fingers. She bit her lip and said nothing. Night was falling, and with the fog, it was quite hard to see. Her wand lit the way, clearing the mist, only to meet with a small little church ahead. Beside the church, was a small little graveyard. She felt an involuntary shudder go through her.
To her surprise, Harry had pushed past her to walk quickly ahead.
"Hey, mate." Ron sounded annoyed. "Wait up."
Harry pushed past the gates, the creak a reminder of the door of Bathilda Bagshot's house. Hermione sensed a little hesitation in Draco to walk in, but she tugged at him, so he followed anyway. Harry was walking through the graveyard, scanning the tombstones. Eventually he found what he was looking for, and he brushed his fingers against the stone.
The obelisk in the middle of the town square had been a memorial. A monument. But this was the final resting place of James and Lily Potter. Hermione let go of Draco's hand and walked to stand beside Ron and Harry. The double grave was covered with creepers by the side, but surprisingly, the white lilies by the side were blooming beautifully. It made Hermione's heart ache, especially when Harry was gazing so longingly at the graves.
She then saw the look on Draco's face – it was not hard and furious; instead it was pained and tortured. She couldn't bear to see him like that, so she made her way back to him again. Her eyes trailed away to a nearby tombstone, and she stopped short. Stared hard.
"Hermione?" Ron asked, tentatively.
It rang a bell in her head. Where have I seen that name before?
Draco watched Hermione as she stared at the tombstone. Slowly, he turned to look at it.
"HERE LIES IGNOTUS JAMES PEVERELL."
"You know him too?" Ron's voice held a tinge of weary amusement.
"Remember the book Dumbledore gave me? The Tales of Beedle the Bard?"
"Uhh... yes?"
"The last story... the brothers."
Draco raised an eyebrow. Ron just shrugged. "And so?"
"I was so intrigued by the story that I made sure I got some last-minute research in." Hermione had made her way towards the stone to touch the lettering. "They were the Peverell brothers. This was the youngest brother."
"The one who got the Invisibility Cloak?" Light dawned upon Ron. Harry perked up a little upon hearing the mention of his prized item. Hermione cast a guilty look at Harry, hoping that he wouldn't suddenly realise Hermione had his Cloak – and had left it in the Room of Requirement. She had completely forgotten to retrieve it earlier on as well. But Harry didn't seem to realise that. Instead, he looked puzzled.
Ginny noticed his puzzlement, and began to relate the story of the Peverell brothers and how they had met Death while coming across a river they could not cross but had made a magical bridge over. As a reward, the first two brothers got the most powerful wand and the ability to resurrect the dead respectively. Both eventually got killed by their own wishes. The youngest however, did not trust Death and asked for Death to stop following him. He got an Invisibility Cloak to gain anonymity and lived the rest of his life well.
"The three items that Death gave them," Draco suddenly spoke, and his voice was filled with an emotion so thick that it made him sound different, "were known as the Deathly Hallows. A mythical symbol of ultimate power; if somebody had gotten the most powerful wand, the ability to resurrect the dead, and the cloak of invisibility – that person would be invincible."
"But even though Potter has an Invisibility Cloak," Draco eyed Harry, who narrowed his eyes back, "it doesn't mean anything, for they were all merely mythical items. The other items do not exist."
Harry opened his mouth, but Hermione hurriedly cut in.
"For sure? There have been quests."
"Not for sure," said Ron. "But it has been said that the Ministry managed to destroy that all-powerful wand after nicking it from some Knockturn Alley trader. Nobody knows for sure that it was the one, but my dad strongly believes so. There has been no news of the stone at all, assumed to be lost."
Hermione stared at the tombstone, then a few stones down, was where Harry stood. "Look, Ignotus Peverell was your ancestor, Harry... look, just trace these graves down..."
"Wow, this Cloak of yours could really be from Ignotus Peverell himself!" Ron started to sound excited, although Harry frowned. "Where is my..."
Hermione cut in once again before he could think further. "Anyway, this is significant. Harry, the Peverell brothers story symbolises the achievement of ultimate power, even though it eventually corrupted them. And they are your ancestors, or at least Ignotus Peverell was. This symbolism is so great, whether or not the items exist."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to tell me something?"
"Well, it's just... a hunch," said Hermione. "But I think his Horcrux might be somewhere here."
Something flared in Draco; he clenched his fists to calm himself down.
"You think?" Harry looked back at his parents' tombstones. His fingers reached out to brush the creepers away from the ends of his mother's name.
"Well, ultimate power... I would think Voldemort might find the Peverell story terribly insulting to his power. I don't know..." Hermione looked at Draco, but he was staring resolutely at the tombstone, his whole body rigid.
Harry brought his finger towards his mother's name, and he began to trace the lettering.
"Where am I?"
"Hello, my dear, you are in a nice new place now. It is your home."
"Home? But... where's my mother? My mother?"
The welcoming smile faded. "She's gone, Tom." A sad look remained. "Gone."
Gone.
"Be gone from our lives!" screamed Lily Potter, her face wild with terror, but defiance etched in between those lines as well.
"Lily, Lily... ever so strong, ever so brave, and ever so stubborn."
"Get away from me!"
"No, Lily. I'm not after you. I want your son."
Her eyes were round with horror. "You leave him alone! This has nothing to do with Harry!"
"Oh, but you see, I believe this boy to be a threat to my existence. I cannot have that."
"NOOOO!"
And that stupid wretch had flung herself right in between wand and cradle. Absorbed every speck of the red light that had shot out from the wand. Fell to the ground.
Cries. The baby. Part of the light had hit him. But something in that baby's eyes... those green eyes...
"AHHHH!"
Harry was flung backwards, so fast that none of them could fathom what had happened till he hit the dirt. He was clutching at his head in agony.
"Harry!"
Ginny flew over to help him up, but Ron, Hermione and Draco stood rooted, as the leaves before the Potters' graves began to stir and swirl. Darkness swept over the entire town, and all that was lit were the tips of their wand. But it was no mistaking the whirlwind of leaves and dust swirling up to the height of a human.
Or what seemed like a human.
Hermione had pulled out her wand. Ron slowly followed, but his arm was shaking.
Draco felt himself shaking too. His arm burnt, like it had been scalded. This was no ordinary person.
Black robes began to appear. Long, spindly fingers that reminded Draco of Bathilda Bagshot, minus the black rotting mess. And that face – it had begun to materialise. There were gasps from all around. Harry's face hardened as he endeavoured to clamber up.
A blazing rage had overtaken Draco as he watched the face –
The face that terrorised him every night in his dreams. The face of a murderer.
Voldemort.