chapter warning: severe violence

Her sense of dread had been steadily growing the past few weeks, so she'd finally sat down and told Harry. To her surprise, he had already suspected something like it. Apparently, his nightmares were a bit more than just that.

She had marched into the Ministry after the latest moon and had asked Amelia to get Harry an emergency portkey.

The spell to activate it was a pain, and took time he might not have, but it was better than nothing.

Marina had managed to get Benjamin to give his word he wouldn't tell anyone about what she had seen.

But that sure didn't stop the man from preparing everyone for it. More often than not these days, someone walked in on the adults duelling – practising their combat and defensive magic.

Mad-Eye had raised the level of difficulty in both his regular classes and the extra session he still held for them. They were getting to spells even Marina had never even once used before.

She should have stopped Ben from organising all that, but she couldn't worry him even more. This was the only way they knew how to at least try and keep their children safe.

The general sense of dread had apparently spread to the Ministry, through Jupiter, and Amelia had talked to the Head of the Auror Office – now even the aurors were putting in extra training, just in case.

She hadn't breathed a word to anyone but Benjamin and Harry, yet everyone knew anyhow.

What scared her the most however, was the fact that all of them had seemingly accepted her word that this could not be stopped in order not to make it worse.

"You seem to get more worried by the day, instead of less," Nimue commented, sipping her butter beer. The woman was Marina's mentor in all things Seer – though she'd written to Pheora more and more lately.

"Because even though they're not actually interfering, it could still change everything." And end with her brother dead.

"Just you knowing about it could change it. Let them have some peace of mind," Nimue said with a shrug.

Sometimes she still wondered what the poor woman's parents had been thinking, naming her after the most evil Seer to ever have walked this earth. The Nimue of old had been Merlin's nemesis.

"I am. But my senses are driving me mental. It's going to happen soon, Nim. And I don't particularly look forward to it."

"Voldemort coming back, your brother facing him – what's not to look forward to?" she asked rather dryly.

"Don't forget the two mental cases. I'm starting to think Crouch Jr isn't any better than Bellatrix."

"Probably not. Twelve years in Azkaban didn't help any either."

Marina winced, someone's anger churning her insides. She didn't bother looking around to figure out who it was. She had enough problems.

"Do you think Nott got the message?" Nimue asked, sounding... odd. Marina was used to people judging and not liking Benjamin, though.

"He got it loud and clear, alright. But he won't stay away." Not if there was the slightest chance he could help Harry and her.

"That's just dumb. They'll kill him."

"Welcome to my world, Nim. I'm surrounded by martyrs."

June 21st 1995

All three schools had assembled in a clearing out on what was left of the Quidditch pitch. Harry was not at all impressed.

Neither Karkaroff nor Madame Maxime looked pleased that the four champions stood huddled together in the centre, determined to help each other to get through the maze and come out of this alive. Viktor and Fleur were well aware what awaited them at the end of the maze – Marina could think of no other time anyone could possibly snatch her and Harry away.

She had seen three different versions of how tonight was going to go.

In the first, all four of them had grabbed the cursed Triwizard Cup – in order to win together, seeing as they'd fought together too – and had all ended up in hell. Voldemort had Crouch and Bella kill Viktor and Fleur before they could as so much as blink.

Marina was not about to let that happen. The other two would not end up on that graveyard.

The second Seeing showed her and Harry managing to hold on to their wands and fight back. Crouch, losing his admittedly sparse temper, ended up killing him. Unbeknownst to him, that act immediately made him Voldemort's enemy (as he wanted Harry for himself) – and Plan B to resurrect his master.

That was not going to happen either.

Option three was what she'd seen from the start. Neither one of them could fight back until the moment Harry was challenged to a duel. He would get away.

Marina still had no clue about herself. She was probably too involved to see that. If all else failed, she really would just have to disapparate – she'd passed her damn test and gotten licensed after all.

But no matter what else happened tonight, Voldemort would rise again.

The bloody maniac had planned ahead and had several back-ups in case anything happened to Harry and her before he got his bony hands on them.

Harry POV

Despite all of his sister's warnings that this would happen, the portkey still caught them off guard. About as much as Marina stunning Viktor had been when he had wanted to come along. They'd left Fleur to send for help – and as a guard so the manticore wouldn't end up eating them.

Much like the one and only time he'd used a portkey before, it yanked him forward somewhere around his belly button; and then the world went spinning.

Harry truly believed in Marina's gift of Sight, but some part of him had still been hoping she'd gotten this one wrong.

No such luck, apparently.

They slammed into the ground at their destination in a jumble of limbs, clutching their wands with an iron grip. Or at least he was.

But they didn't get a chance to so much as catch their breath, let alone cast spells.

"Expelliarmus!", two different voices yelled – the female one with an eerily familiar glee in it.

His wand went flying, as did Marina's. From what he could see in the corners of his eyes, they'd landed straight in his nightmares. Fear started to creep in.

When he looked at her, his sister was pressing her fists against her temples, clenching her teeth with such force she went red.

He could only imagine what sensing the emotion of two lunatics was doing to her.

Then the pain hit him.

Never in his life had anything hurt this much. The pain started out at his scar and spread, feeling like it would split his skull clean in two.

Even if he'd still been armed, he couldn't have resisted the spell that lifted him off the ground.

The agony subsided a little, right before a cloaked figure – smaller than him – slammed him against a tombstone. He'd caught the name on it. Tom Riddle.

Marina's warnings were still ringing in his ears – but he didn't care anymore. Didn't care if he made it out alive. He couldn't just go along like a lamb to the slaughter. And so, he struggled.

The cloaked man backhanded him – with a hand that was a finger short.

Fury tinged his vision the proverbial red he'd never believed in. That traitor had caused so much pain and misery already, and now he wanted to finish the job?

"Coward!" Harry spit out despite the lingering pain. He didn't need a wand to take on the rat.

He kicked out, like he had kicked incoming bludgers before, tripping Wormtail, and kicked again for good measure.

Somewhere in the back of his head he registered that there were people laughing, Marina groaning in pain, but all he cared about was the rat. He wouldn't hurt anyone else.

But before he could grab the wand the rat was clutching – and not using – someone else's spell hit him from the side, throwing him onto the tombstone. It knocked the breath out of him.

"Hurry!" Crouch hissed impatiently. When he looked up, he saw the madness Marina had sensed in him.

Wormtail struggled to his feet and tied Harry to the tombstone – this time using magic from a safe distance.

Then he proceeded to drag a cauldron into the middle of the graveyard from somewhere.

"Ah ah ah!" Bellatrix suddenly chastised and he heard the zing of a spell – and Marina groan in pain.

"That wand wouldn't do you any good against both of us anyway, girl," Crouch sneered.

Apparently, Marina had decided to ignore her own advice. Or maybe being faced with the frightening reality made her realize she wanted to risk it too.

"You lost last time," his sister ground out, disgust colouring her voice.

"Not me," Bellatrix cackled in glee, the sound raising the hair in his nape. There was something in the sound, the joy she found in all of this.

"Enough glee," a high, cold voice commanded. A voice he'd prayed he would never have to hear again. "Begin. Now."

"Yes, Master."

Somehow, seeing Bellatrix taking orders made this whole situation more real. And worse.

Harry also wondered just what they were supposed to begin with, since the rat was still busy stoking the fire underneath the potion.

One look at Marina told him that she knew. And hadn't told him.

He didn't share his sister's curse, but suddenly he knew what would happen. They'd all known what would happen if Bellatrix ever got her hands on her cousin.

Marina met his eyes, as he began to struggle against the ropes binding him – in vain –, and Harry saw something he had never before seen so clearly in her eyes. Fear.

He held her gaze, ignoring Crouch's laughing, and heard that mad voice screeching.

"Crucio!"

Harry watched in horror as the curse hit Marina with such force it lifted her clean off the ground for a second, before she slumped back down.

Every muscle in her body was strung tight, her hands fisted, her eyes pressed shut and her jaws clenched with such force he wouldn't be surprised if her teeth cracked.

But she didn't make a sound.

Sweat poured down her arms and face, tears were squeezed out of her eyes – even her nose started to bleed.

But she didn't scream, didn't groan.

Bellatrix' cackle cut off, and when he craned his neck to catch a glimpse, she looked furious.

"Losing your touch?" Crouch asked her mildly, the taunt obvious.

In response, Bellatrix bared her teeth – seemingly at the world – and glared at Marina.

His sister began writhing on the ground, looking like she was having a severe seizure, but still no sound. In a way, that was more frightening than everything else. She had to know that pissing Bellatrix off would only make things worse.

Said lunatic screeched in anger, giving her madness sound, and Harry could almost feel the magic she sunk into the curse.

There was a limit even to his sister's stubbornness.

Despite the obvious force she expended to keep silent, a sound eventually came lose.

It made his blood run cold.

Because it didn't sound human. No human had any right, or should have the ability, to make a sound of such helpless agony.

It was such a tortured, pitiful whine that it was obvious she literally couldn't hold it back anymore.

Then she screamed.

Harry didn't know for how long this had been going on. He'd desperately wanted to close his eyes, but he forced himself not to do that.

There was only one reason Marina would have walked into this willingly. For him.

So the least he could do was be there when the lunatic was finished.

And so he didn't look away.

Not when her screams became screeches.

Not when they turned into sounds humans had no name for.

Not when the leg, where Bellatrix was pointing, broke from the force of the curse.

Not when her ears and eyes started to bleed, because the vessels burst.

Not when she started clawing at the ground, as if seeking for some kind of relief.

Not even when she started screaming for Padfoot. And Remus. And David. She'd be mortified if she were aware.

Then the cold voice came again.

"That's enough!"

Bellatrix didn't even seem to hear her master, but Crouch did and he yanked her wand away.

Marina slumped, like a puppet with cut strings. She was breathing so heavy you could hear her across the entire graveyard, probably. Her leg lay at a weird angle, and her fingers were still sunk deeply into the ground.

Then she turned her head and looked at him.

He wanted to scream at the agony he saw – but Marina actually managed to smile at him. Sort of.

Telling him she was still all there. Still sane.

His relief was short-lived.

"It is ready, Master," Wormtail wheezed. The rat had pointedly looked away and ignored his sister's suffering. They should have let Padfoot and Remus kill him.

"Well…

Crouch and Bellatrix were watching with rapt attention as Wormtail went over to what seemed to be a bundle of robes and untangled them.

In theory, Harry had known what was in those robes. But nothing could have prepared him for the sight he was now faced with.

Voldemort didn't look human alright. The creature in front of him looked vaguely like a human child, but like no child he had ever seen. It was hairless and scaly-looking – a dark, raw, reddish black. Its limbs were thin and feeble and the face… No child would have such a face. It was flat and snake-like, with gleaming red eyes.

The thing seemed utterly helpless as the rat lifted it – revulsion all over his face, yet carefully hidden from the atrocity in his arms and the lunatics alike – and then deposited it in the bubbling potion.

Let it drown, Harry thought as his scar started to burn again. But he already knew that wouldn't happen.

Then Wormtail raised his wand and spoke – his voice shaking with fear.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"

Beneath his feat, the grave cracked open, and he watched in fascinated horror as dust rose into the air and fell into the cauldron. The white potion turned a poisonous blue.

Now the rat was whimpering, a few tears streaming down his face, and he pulled a long dagger from his robed. He had trouble getting the next part out.

"F-Flesh – of the servant – w-will-llingly given – you will – revive – y-your mater."

And no wonder. He stretched out the hand missing a finger in front of him – and lifted the dagger high.

Harry closed his eyes, but there was no ignoring the pained wail as the rat cut off his own hand.

He heard the sickening splash as the severed flesh dropped into the potion, which turned a burning red so blinding he could see it with closed eyes.

He didn't realise the coward had moved over to him until he felt his pained breath on his skin.

"B-Blood of the enemy… f-forcibly taken… you will… r-resurrect your foe."

There was nothing he could do, no way to fight what was coming. And so he did the only thing he could:

Harry held his sister's gaze as Marina kept staring at him, as if trying to will her own strength and stubbornness into him; so that he would hang on.

He struggled on pure instinct, but it was no use. He felt the dagger slice into his right arm, blood drenching his ruined robes.

Wormtail, still trembling with pain, fumbled for a vial – which proved harder than it should be with only one hand – and collected a few drops of his blood.

Then the coward stumbled back – and waited.

He'd forced himself to watch as Bellatrix had tortured his sister.

But his stomach turned when Crouch slowly crouched down next to still trembling Marina and almost gently brushed her hair back. Disgust was written all over her face but she didn't move, not even as the bastard pulled out his own vial – and collected her tears.

Harry couldn't help it. When Crouch stroked her cheek, he looked away.

Then Crouch came into his line of sight again, as he joined the rat at the cauldron.

"Pain of the witness, violently caused, you will strengthen your adversary," Crouch announced almost reverently.

Then they simultaneously poured Harry's blood and Marina's tears into the cauldron and stepped back.

The potion turned a blinding white, so bright it hurt to look at it.

Crouch sank to his knees, waiting, while the rat crumpled and held his bleeding stump.

Harry's scar ignited with agony once again – and he knew what would happen next.

The cauldron dissolved, sparks shooting all around, and in the midst of all the fog and steam a thin figure took shape.

The smoke vanished as surely as it had appeared, revealing a skeleton-thin man where the cauldron had been.

"Robe me," commanded the cold voice, still turned away.

Wormtail, now fully sobbing, scrambled to do his master's bidding and pulled the black robes over the man's head with his remaining hand.

Then the figure turned around and stared at Harry.

And Harry stared back – at his worst nightmare come to life.

Lord Voldemort was back.

This was straight out of her premonition.

Crouch kneeling before his master, rapture on his face.

A one-handed Wormtail sobbing on the side-lines.

Harry tied to a tombstone.

Bellatrix cackling with joyful glee – while still pointing that wand at Marina.

She had never fully appreciated what she had seen in David's memories. Had never fully understood just how much strength it must have taken Frank and Alice to say nothing and endure that agony until their minds broke.

Now she understood why so many, that were paying for their sins in Azkaban, had followed his orders even when they didn't want to. Threating the Cruciatus was enough.

There were no words for the pain. Everything seemed … less.

There were no words for the fire scorching her veins, instead of her blood.

No words for billions of knives cutting into her very muscle and tendon.

No words for hundreds of hooks flaying her skin.

No words for pressure splitting her skull from the inside.

No words for the sensation of acid eating at her bones, nails and even her teeth.

Alright, so maybe there were words but it wasn't enough. No one could describe the agony.

No one should ever feel that kind of pain.

Even now that Bellatrix wasn't actually torturing her anymore, every cell in her body still trembled with pain.

She didn't even have the strength to lift a hand and wipe away the blood coming out of her eyes and nose.

She would have liked nothing better than to bit Crouch when he'd taken her tears – but moving hurt too much.

Even if she should survive this night, she would never forget the look in Harry's eyes when he'd realised what Bellatrix was about to do. When he'd realised that she had seen this coming and had still come here.

Just like she would never forget the sight that presented itself now.

Voldemort looked even more horrifying than thirteen years ago. His skin whiter than a skill, his eyes a bright, angry scarlet red and slits in place of a nose, like a snake, he had never looked less human.

He didn't pay much attention to anyone or anything as he examined his new body.

Then he leaned down and pulled the rat's left arm out from under the sobbing traitor – and revealed the Dark Mark.

Marina couldn't hear the words he whispered as he pressed down on the tattoo.

But she heard Wormtail's cry of anguish.

And Crouch's and Bellatrix' gleeful laughter as they threw their heads back, as if suddenly high.

"Now we shall see," Voldemort hissed almost gently. "How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it? And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"

Harry kept staring at his living nightmare as the walking skeleton recounted his family history.

Marina took a second to feel proud. Anyone else would have fainted in fear by now, but not her brother.

And then they came.

One by one the hooded figures crawled towards their master, kissing his robes as if he was a king, before standing up and waiting.

How many of them would die for renouncing him all those years ago? How many realised they could pay dearly at some point for that? How many were foolish enough to think he'd forgive and forget?

Marina focused back on the drama before her.

"I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact – such prompt appearances – and I ask myself… why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"

Because they're not complete morons, she thought wryly. No one dared move, or even breathe. The silence was suffocating.

"And I answer myself," Voldemort continued, his whisper somehow holding more menace than if he had been shouting. "They must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, ignorance and bewitchment….

And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proof of the immensity of my power, in the times when I was mightier than any wizard alive?

And I answer myself, perhaps they believe a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort… perhaps they now pay allegiance to another… perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore?"

Could he smell their fear with that unnatural nose of his, as well as she could sense it?

"I am disappointed…"

One of the Death Eaters took that as the worst of statements and begged his forgiveness. Voldemort answered by torturing Avery.

Bellatrix cackled in delight, and even Crouch looked elated.

Marina was half convinced she would throw up when their Lord and Master gave Wormtail a new hand. Rewarding the rat's cowardice.

If only she could get to her wand.

Then Voldemort stepped forward and approached the Death Eater on the rat's right.

"Lucius, my slippery friend…"

She didn't pay attention to their nonsense as her thoughts drifted to Narcissa and Draco. Hopefully Ben's open paranoia had been enough warning and Cissa would grab her son and go into hiding tonight. She couldn't be home when Lucius returned. Well, if he returned. He'd renounced his Lord as much all the others.

But Voldemort walked on.

"The Lestranges should stand here," he said as he reached a gap in the circle. "Both are buried alive in Azkaban. They went to jail rather than renounce me. When we break open Azkaban, they will be honoured. As will Bellatrix and Barty here."

With that, collective attention went to the two Death Eaters not standing in the circle, not trying to prostate themselves for his mercy. They'd stayed loyal and stood tall because of it.

It made Marina sick.

"They are both due credit for their efforts to have our guests of honour arrive here tonight."

She couldn't see their faces because of the damned masks, but she could feel their eyes on her. She was sure that Harry could too.

When the menace touched her brother's scar, her skull throbbed with his pain.

Lily's protection had been rendered ineffective. He could touch him now.

Marina forced herself to pay attention and the bane of their existence recounted the tale of his fall – how he had not counted on the fact that Lily's love would protect Harry and had therefore been stripped of his body and power – and how he had settled in Albania until the poor fool Quirrell had stumbled onto him.

And then the rat had returned to him and, under careful instruction, had given him back that miserable excuse of a temporary body he had inhabited before.

He had sent Wormtail to seek out the rogue Dementors – a feat Marina was surprised the coward had managed – and bid them to free Crouch and the Lestranges.

With his most loyal servants returned to him, he'd come up with the convoluted plan to get to Harry. Marina had not been necessary for the potion, but it would ensure that even if a Black died trying to save Harry, no protection like Lily's would come from it.

Well, that explained why she was alive.

Crouch laughed in satisfied pride when his master recounted how they'd overcome Mad-Eye to have Junior take his place – and how Voldemort had subdued Barty Crouch Senior and forced him to mess with the Tournament under the Imperius.

The Ministry had been watching the man for weeks and not seen any signs of it.

Finally, the sordid tale came to an end.

And he unleashed the Cruciatus on Harry.

It only lasted a few seconds, but her brother slumped in his restraints all the same.

The sight gave her enough determination to claw herself into a somewhat more dignified position.

"Get away from him, you coward," she spat through her clenched teeth, loud enough for even the laughing Death Eaters to hear.

"Takes real power to attack an unarmed fourteen-year-old," she hissed sarcastically, as she forced herself to stand on her shaking leg, trembling with pain – well aware of Bella's wand pointed at her. "Just like it takes real power to attack a helpless infant."

The Death Eaters went silent, holding their breath at her insolence.

Those red eyes stared at her, as if stunned by her foolish courage (if you could call it that, really) for a second, the those slit-pupiled eyes flicked to Bellatrix.

Marina braced herself for the pain – that never came.

Because Bellatrix had aimed her curse at someone else.

She almost moaned in terror when one of the Death Eaters crumpled – the only one who hadn't been laughing.

The one who should have stayed away and gotten his son to safety.

"And then there we have the one who did not only betray me-," Voldemort said, completely ignoring her, "-but would try and help my enemies."

Bellatrix whipped the man's mask of with a flick of her wand and Benjamin stared up defiantly at the crowd of crazy people.

But they hadn't disarmed him – and Marina could sense what spell he was casting silently.

It was beyond risky, never mind beyond foolish since they'd killed him immediately once they caught on.

Then something else occurred to her.

"How did you know?" she asked, dread churning her insides. "How did you know he'd switched sides?"

The thin lips curled into a grin, which made his pseudo-face look so much worse.

Voldemort waved his wand in the general direction of a few trees, and a person came stumbling out. No autonomous thought there – whoever it was, was completely under the Imperius.

"Take the hood off," Voldemort ordered smoothly. His victim complied.

And Marina gasped.

Harry gaped.

Even Benjamin seemed stunned.

Because the person staring at them with empty eyes, and no control over body or mind whatsoever, was none other than Elvira Rookwood.

She had not seen this coming. Her friend would rather die than help the Death Eaters, and Voldemort must have known that.

Deep underneath the spell and his iron clawed control over her, Elvira was aware what was happening. Locked inside her own mind.

But even faced with the horror of this, she realised something else.

Elvira was inner circle. She knew everything Marina and their other friends knew.

And now, so did Voldemort.

"The Imperius wears of," Benjamin stated with some semblance of calm; while Marina was still busy staring at her friend and trying to will her to break free of the curse.

"Igor has served his purpose well," Crouch chuckled. Karkaroff. Of course. He would have had easy access too, given that Elvira was dating Viktor.

"Perhaps she should be aware for this," Voldemort announced – and removed the Imperius.

Elvira blinked fast, lightly shaking her head as if to get her bearings.

When she looked up, the blood drained from her face as she realised it hadn't just been a nightmare.

"No," she said, appalled. "No, no, no."

A toxic mix of fear, despair and shame took hold of her, and Marina couldn't do anything.

Elvira looked at her, misery and an apology written all over her face, when she heard Bellatrix again.

"Crucio!"

Her leg gave out as the curse hit. It seemed worse than before somehow, her nerve endings still raw.

She could dimly hear them all laughing – and Elvira sobbing.

Marina knew that this time there would be no end. The ritual was over, so they didn't need her alive anymore.

But she had to hang on. There were worse things than death and Bellatrix would cheerfully break her mind and leave her at her father's doorstep like that.

If she could just stay sane, maybe Voldemort would kill her.

Lovely macabre thoughts.

Her scar slit open and Bellatrix moved her wand, now aiming at her chest.

She could barely breath – or scream – already when a rib cracked.

Bleeding out or suffocating because of a punctured lung would be better than this.

Her vocal cords were burning and she suspected she'd rip them soon, wondering why she wasn't passing out.

But it stopped.

Marina wiped the blood from her eyes – dying blind was not an option.

Voldemort was standing there with his free hand raised, presumably to stop Bellatrix.

"Impressive," he hissed – clearly not impressed. "More powerful wizards have succumbed to Bella at this point before."

She glared – as much as she could, trembling from head to toe.

"No matter," he said with a grandiose gesture. "I want you all to see this.

I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him.

I will give him his chance. He well be allowed to fight, and you all will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger.

Just a little longer, Nagini" he added, looking at the giant snake at his feet.

"Untie him and give him back his wand."

Neither Ben or Elvira nor Marina could do anything to stop the farce of a duel. None of them tried. The Death Eaters might see it as them succumbing to the inevitable.

Ben saw it as his chance to send the Patronus message to the cavalry, as they were all preoccupied.

Elvira was still to traumatised for anything.

And Marina watched with rapt attention – because she knew something Voldemort didn't.

She had never told anyone about the premonition, and she hadn't even told Harry just how he would get away.

She was pretty sure that by now he had completely forgotten that he could – or didn't believe it anymore.

In spite of the mess they were in, pride filled her when Harry shook of Voldemort's Imperius. Something not even Mad-Eye had been able to do.

Her brother dodged the next curse, hiding behind a headstone. Marina knew he wouldn't for long.

She sensed acceptance and determination from where he was standing – and then the brave idiot flung himself out to face his enemy.

Harry's "Stupefy!" sounded simultaneously with Voldemort's "Avada Kedavra!"

It didn't take long and then the most wondrous thing happened.

Their wands – brothers, even though Riddle didn't know that – connected. The blazing golden light locked everyone out of the duel; not that anyone would dare interfere anyway.

It also forced a Prior Incantatem.

Marina braced herself as the old muggle Harry had seen in his nightmares materialised as some sort of ghost-like echo. Bertha Jenkins, in death completely clear-minded, came next; crying for Harry not to let go.

And then came her mother. Even from this far, she recognised her.

Rose didn't leave the dome of light – if they even could – and she barely moved as she looked at Marina.

Everything that needed to be said had been said in the letters.

And so Rose nodded with a small smile – and then went on to encourage Harry to hang on.

Marina wasn't completely ready for what came next, so she'd never comprehend how Harry didn't collapse from it all.

Lily came out of Voldemort's wand next, as beautiful as the day she'd died.

James followed almost instantly. He and Lily talked to Harry for a few moments – giving him instructions on how to survive, she supposed, – and then her brother nodded. Ready for what was to come.

James looked over at her from inside the dome of light – and for a moment her second godfather was back, smiling.

"Tell him we never blamed him," his ethereal, echoing voice sounded loud enough for her to hear. "That we'd want to one else but them to be Harry's parent. Take care of each other, Kitten."

Fresh tears, this time not from pain, ran down her face as she nodded – the goodbye they'd never gotten.

Ben, proving he was paying attention, sent her wand flying over to her.

Even Bellatrix was too busy freaking out over what was happening to notice.

And the second Harry broke the connection, all hell broke loose. Again.

Voldemort's victims descended on him, blocking his path. Ben and Marina sent bursts into the Death Eaters, distracting them.

And Harry, blessed be his parents, activated his emergency portkey – returning to the safety of Hogwarts.

Of course, Marina hadn't counted on Ben and his plan. Hogwarts was still safe enough, with its wards, Mad-Eye and Dumbledore.

But almost at the same time Harry disappeared, a whole host of other people apparated.

Her father, Remus, Jupiter, Laura, Arthur, Molly, Andromeda, Ted, Dora, Hestia, Kingsley, Bill, Fleur, Talib, Bianca, Viktor, Charlie, Irina, David, Elias, Carmen and Narcissa – they arrived just in time to hear Voldmort's scream of fury as he realised Harry had escaped him yet again.

They were still outnumbered by the Death Eaters, but the element of surprise was on their side.

Half of the masked idiots crumpled, hit, before they could even turn to face their opponents.

Marina tried to stand, regardless. They would lose against Voldemort. And Bellatrix and Crouch.

Even as she though it, more aurors appeared. Apparently, someone had thought to call for backup before coming to the rescue.

Numbers even now, the Death Eaters were losing.

Carmen dropped to her knees beside her, already waving her wand over her utterly damaged body.

"You're still shaking," her friend muttered even after all visible wounds were healed. Marina couldn't look at her – didn't dare look David's way, lest he caught a glimpse of her eyes and realised what had happened.

"An hour of the Cruciatus will do that," Ben grumbled, anger sounding though loud and clear. He was itching to join the fight, but Bellatrix' curse had numbed his legs.

Marina winced. If it had been an hour after Ben had arrived… it had been at least that long before.

It had taken all night to break Frank and Alice, so she counted herself lucky.

Carmen visibly bit her tongue, tears in her eyes.

Voldemort's scream of rage had them turning their heads.

Dumbledore had arrived. It was over.

And finally, Marina succumbed to dark.