Playing by the Rules
Chapter 5 - The Killing Curse
Following the familiar route down to the Quidditch Pitch, Harry found his path being blocked by a pair of irate foreign champions.
"'Ow daré you sai mon seestair was not worth rescuing!" Fleur appeared as if she was emotionally working herself up to slap his face. Harry decided to discourage her.
"I don't know how good your English is but I never actually said that. It wasn't my job to save your hostage - that was your responsibility. Your failure - your problem. That's what I said, and I stand by that. Now get out of my way, I've a feeling Krum here has something he wants to get off his chest too."
The scowling champion of Bulgaria didn't disappoint. "Big vords from little vizard."
"How about this for a little word - no. Do you understand what it means? Hermione told me she said it to you on three separate occasions before you would leave her alone. You were responsible for getting her name printed all over the bloody Prophet, and receiving sackfuls of hate mail."
Krum just shrugged nonchalantly. "I vanted to go vith her."
Harry got right in the bigger wizard's face. "You harassed a fifteen year old witch to the point of causing her extreme distress - that makes you an arsehole in my book. Since it was Hermione you practically stalked, you will apologise to her - or face me with your wand. We can't do anything now because of this stupid bloody tournament but I'll be coming looking for you after it."
"I might enjoy zat." Krum was smirking down at the younger wizard.
Harry didn't back down an inch, his green eyes had fire behind them as he wiped the smirk clean off the Bulgarian's face. "I might enjoy watching you try to catch a snitch with no hands. Apologise or face me, those are your options…"
The story of what happened with the Malfoy boy was of course known to everyone, since it also appeared in the Prophet. Just the threat of that fate was enough to see Krum take a step back from the mad wizard with the frightening green eyes.
"Em, Harry. You okay here?"
"Sure Cedric, we just have two champions here who don't like loosing to a little boy."
"You a cheat…"
Harry cut the French Champion off. "How about you two draw your wands and swear on your magic that your headmasters didn't tell you both about the dragons."
Fleur now took a step back in shock while Victor appeared ready to draw his wand for a completely different reason.
"I thought not, so who are the cheats now? Krum, I'm kinda hoping you don't have the sense to apologise." With that, Harry pushed past them and found Cedric following at his side.
"That wasn't the smartest thing to do, antagonising them both before the final task."
"Someone put me in this tournament to kill me, and there's only one task left. Those two are nothing compared to what I'm expecting here. Cedric, you're a good bloke so stay away from me. When this goes down, I'm going to be too busy trying to stay alive to have time to worry about anyone else."
"You sound like this has happened to you before?"
"Every year since coming to Hogwarts, every fucking year. I've killed Voldemort twice since coming to Hogwarts, and the whiskered wanker gave us house points. There were three other pieces of my house magic that left our tent on the day of the first task, that's three more people who want me dead. I'm also pretty sure one of those pieces of house magic was heading for Voldemort. Really Cedric, stay away. You're not ready for what I think is coming, I just hope I am." Harry then let out a groan as he spotted who was waiting on them at the pitch, Bagman.
With Fleur and Victor scowling at him, and Bagman apparently terrified of even looking in his direction, Harry could think of a few thousand more pleasant ways of spending an evening - eating Bertie Botts earwax flavoured beans would even make the list before suffering this.
Bagman finally got things underway. "Well the more astute among you will recognise the hedges behind us for what they are, a maze. The goblet will be placed in the centre of the maze, and the first champion to reach it wins the tournament. Of course there will be obstacles, traps and Hagrid has provided some creatures to help make reaching the goblet just that little bit more difficult."
Both Hogwarts students couldn't help but groan at hearing of Hagrid's involvement. That actually brought a smile to Bagman's face as he continued.
"The original intention was that the champion with the most points would start first, and so forth. Since the points system is now academic, all four champions will start at the same time - but have different entrances. We can draw to see who gets what entrance tonight…"
"NO!"
All eyes turned to Harry, he was left to explain his reasoning. "Old Ludo here is a bit of a gambler. He lost a fortune running a book for the Quidditch World Cup - I won't mention his despicable action of trying to pay some people off with Leprechaun Gold. He'll certainly be taking bets on who wins the tournament, which is why we don't want ANYONE knowing which entrance we're each taking. There will be quite a bit of money trading hands, and would any of us put it past Ludo here ensuring the person he wanted to win had the easiest route? The winner should be the most talented amongst us, not the person who would make Bagman the most money."
While Bagman was denying everything to three angry champions, Harry headed back to the castle on his own. He'd had enough of this crap, and Hermione would be waiting on him.
-oOoOo-
The night before the final task, Hermione slept in Harry's bed. Knowing what was in front of them, both needed the comfort that holding onto each other all night provided. That was all they did, as both also understood they weren't anywhere near ready for anything more than that. After breakfast, Dobby popped in with a message from McGonagall to say Harry's 'family' was here visiting.
"It certainly won't be the Dursleys, and McGonagall surely wouldn't invite the Weasleys - that would probably be even more awkward than Uncle Vernon visiting."
Winky then appeared to say wolf man and his doggie were waiting on them, Both teens shot out the room toward Remus and Padfoot.
After they returned to the room, walking around the school with Padfoot was just too dangerous, the Marauders were suitably impressed with what it could do.
Sirius then got to the real reason he'd risked coming here as Padfoot. "I don't like the idea of you both being down in that chamber, with no possible back-up if they figure out you're hiding there. Remus and I are volunteering to keep you both company - for however long it takes. We've even got our own tent, I wouldn't like to cramp my godson's style."
Sirius was hoping for a couple of blushes but instead found himself staring at two very focused teens.
"That would be great, but on one condition. Sirius, you need to go into the chamber before the task starts. Moony can keep an eye on Hermione, while both of them can watch my back. You still have a dementor kiss-on-sight sentence hanging over your head, you can't be caught."
Sirius of course objected but was then ganged up on by the other three. Getting to spend time with his godson meant he was always going to agree, and this chamber simply couldn't be any gloomier than Grimmauld Place.
-oOoOo-
Harry was ignoring the crowd, he was ignoring the other champions and especially ignoring Bagman. After hearing what the other three champions had drawn, Harry walked away to the only position that was left - and also left behind a livid Bagman holding his bag.
They'd worked on a number of strategies for reaching the centre of the maze, with Harry deciding to try the easiest first. He and Hermione had walked around the outside of the maze, just trying to get some idea of the size. Harry had spent many, many hours flying over this pitch, he knew every inch of it. From their rough calculations, the centre of the maze would be close to the centre spot of the pitch.
As they were told to start, Harry raced into the entrance earmarked for him and then stopped. Taking a stone from his pocket, Harry cast the portkey charm and then activated it. The portkey worked and Harry found himself standing facing the Goblet of Fire. He was standing there congratulating himself, and wondering how stupid the organisers could be not to guard against a method he'd already used, when he caught a movement from the corner of his eye.
He turned to see a massive Acromantula bearing down on him at an incredible speed. Harry's wand was up and spitting blasting curses at the beast's head. There was blood and gore flying everywhere as those blasting curses found their mark but the creature was just too close. The now dying Acromantula's momentum saw it career into Harry, and push him into the podium that held the Goblet.
Lying pinned by the giant spider's dead body, Harry was thinking things couldn't get any worse - until he looked up. The impact to the podium had shaken the goblet, it was currently teetering right on the edge. When gravity then won the battle, the goblet fell and smacked Harry on the forehead. His last conscious thought was that pull at his navel felt very familiar.
-oOoOo-
Harry regained consciousness when someone rather forcibly shot cold water at his head. He was spluttering and coughing when a voice he hated worse than Snape's spoke.
"There was so much blood all over you, and impossible to tell what was yours and what was that ruddy great Acromantula. Can't risk contaminating the ritual so this is necessary."
He was securely tied to a rather grand gravestone, funnily enough in the middle of a graveyard, being hosed down by Wormtail. Harry wasn't sure if the force of the water he was using had seen his glasses slip off, or if they had been removed beforehand. Either way, he was now severely handicapped if he ever got the chance to fight back.
"Wormtail, it hasss to be now."
Muttering a 'Yes, Master', Harry tried to watch as Pettigrew rushed away. His head must have been cut though because, apart from a splitting headache, Harry also now had blood running into his eyes. Even with this new problem, and eyesight as poor as his, Harry still couldn't miss the massive cauldron being heated by burning logs. The thing that has spoke to Pettigrew was then lowered into the cauldron before Wormtail began the ritual.
Harry felt the vibrations as the tomb, whose stone he was currently tied to, began to open. What looked like bits of bone floated out and was directed into the cauldron. He was then positive his eyes were playing tricks on him. Surely Wormtail wouldn't cut off his own hand? Then again, the bastard had cut off his own finger to frame Sirius so had previous form with extreme self-mutilations - or should that be self-preservation.
The bleeding stump was tucked into his opposite armpit as Wormtail approached Harry with a wicked looking dagger held in his remaining hand.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."
With that, Wormtail moved the dagger to the bicep of Harry's wand arm. Having just cut off his own right hand, and the remaining stump appeared to be bleeding heavily, Wormtail's remaining left hand wasn't exactly steady. The blade was razor sharp and cut heavily into Harry's muscle. Wormtail ignored his screams and collected Harry's blood on the blade.
Between the pain in his head and now his wounded arm, Harry was struggling to remain conscious. For a moment, Harry thought he'd slipped into a nightmare as a naked Voldemort was standing in front of him. Wormtail handed his master the wand he'd carefully kept safe since that Halloween night, then struggled to robe Voldemort with only one hand.
"Harry Potter, we meet again."
Walking up to a bound and helpless Harry, Voldemort slowly caressed his cheek. "I can touch you now, boy. Your actions against my followers have greatly displeased me." With that, Voldemort dug his nails into the open wound on Harry's forehead caused by the Goblet hitting him.
Harry screaming in pain had Vlodemort laughing out loud. "Boy, we have barely started with the pain I intend to inflict on you. Crucio!"
Pain flowed through every nerve ending Harry possessed. Nothing in the world mattered to him, except stopping the pain. When it did stop, he slumped forward and only the ropes tying him to the headstone held him in place.
Taking the fingers that he had dug into Harry's open head wound, Voldemort gently drew them down Harry's other cheek - leaving bloody streaks like warpaint. "We're only getting started, Potter. By the time I'm finished with you - you'll beg for death. Then I will grant your wish, for I am a merciful Dark Lord."
As Harry's mind began coming back online so to speak, a couple of things were immediately obvious. Voldemort was crazy, had every intention of torturing him to death and Harry hadn't a clue how to prevent that.
When Voldemort summons his followers, and so few were left able to respond, his rage saw Harry tortured with another bout of the cruciatus curse.
It seemed longer this time to Harry before his mind started functioning and allowed him to string any semblance of thoughts together. Voldemort was apparently showboating for the few followers that he had left.
"And this is what you thought could possibly defeat me - this child!"
This was followed by Harry having to suffer his third bout of cruciatus. He came around this time when his body hit the ground, someone had cut the ropes holding him in place. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Harry had trouble with any level of body co-ordination.
"Pathetic Potter, I at least expected some fight from you. You cost me thirteen years in the wilderness, and then the majority of my followers. I'm going to kill you slowly, and then everyone you care about will die too. That little mudblood you're so fond of will be first on my list. How does it feel to know you've failed everyone you profess to love?"
Mentioning murdering Hermione was like flushing the pain from Harry's mind. His muscles were still spasming from the torture curse, and he was as blind as a bat but at least his brain was back on line.
"You will stand and bow to Lord Voldemort, then we will duel. Wormtail, give him his wand."
Harry could only see one way out of this where he could get any sort of positive result. With no better option available, and apparently no time left to find another one anyway, Harry staggered to his feet without his wand and put the only plan he had into action - before he lost the courage to pull it off.
"I didn't know your muggle father was a lord, Tom? I'll bet he'd be so proud of his son. Tried to murder a one year old baby - and couldn't even do that properly." Harry could hear gasps of shock coming from the Death Eaters. Encouraged, he pushed harder to enrage Voldemort.
"Are you sure the ritual worked properly? I saw you naked and you were missing a few essential parts. Then again, Wormtail doesn't have any balls either, so your in good company…"
As a livid Voldemort screamed 'Avada Kedavra' at Harry, he embraced the green light. He would accept death to see Voldemort and Wormtail die by Potter family magic, Dumbledore meeting the same fate would simply be a bonus. Hermione would be alive, Sirius should be cleared, and Harry would stop feeling the horrendous pain that was continually coursing through his body…
-oOoOo-
Harry found himself standing in the room of requirement, in the sitting room that he and Hermione had used since after the second task. The thought that he wouldn't see Hermione again had silent tears running down his cheeks.
"Oh my brave, brave boy…"
Harry knew that voice, he heard it every time a dementor was near. "Mum?" He barely whispered the word but a pair of arms lovingly encircled him from behind.
"Yes, son, it's me."
Harry was really crying now. "Mum, I didn't have any other choice. I could barely stand, and didn't have my glasses either…"
"We thought you were very brave, making that decision. You also don't have your glasses now, Harry."
He turned and held his mother, though it took a few minutes before her words kicked in. "I can see fine now, but I'm dead…"
"Yes, you can see fine - but you're not dead." Lilly had to sit her son down on the couch after telling him that.
"I'm not dead? I was hit with the killing curse - again."
Running her fingers lovingly over her son's famous scar, Lily tried to explain what had happened. "The night Voldemort marked you, he left a piece of himself behind in your scar. The fact that you stood there, prepared to die for those you love, saw the killing curse finish that part of Voldemort off. That piece of Voldemort in your head was also affecting your eyesight, you shouldn't need glasses now."
Waving her hand saw glass tanks appear along one wall. There was a whimpering 'thing' in one of the tanks. It could have been human once, but it could also be just about any creature of your nightmare you could imagine.
Only his mother's arms wrapped around him stopped Harry jumping when a similar creature appeared in a tank next to the first. "What the f…"
"Language love. You've even corrupted that lovely girl of yours with bad language too. You're both so much better than that. To answer the question you were going to ask, Voldemort split his soul in a bid to be immortal. The Diary you destroyed in second year was one too."
They were interrupted by a third creature appearing in a tank.
"Since you're not dead, the Potter Family magic you invoked can't take Voldemort's life. Your father though took a more open-ended interpretation of your oath and is busily stripping Voldemort of all his protections. When you go back you'll be able to see clearly, and Voldemort will be weaker than he's ever been. The cup is still there, grabbing it will take you back to Hogwarts - and Hermione."
As another glass tank found itself holding an abomination, Harry held his mother tighter.
"Just remember, there are no innocents in that graveyard. You need to be ruthless, put them down hard - and as quickly as possible. You're not going to duel anyone, just kill them before they can do that to you."
As the last tank became occupied, Harry's father appeared and made a nonsense of his mother's 'language' quip.
"Stupid bastard deliberately placed a horcrux in a living creature - a bloody great snake. I managed to get it to bite that prick Peter before I ripped the horcrux out of it… Harry?"
Harry shot off the couch and soon had his father's arms around him, his mother then joined the family hug.
"Son, I was so proud of you tonight. Dying for people you love is a very selfless and brave thing to do, but living for them is certainly better. Your Hermione is certainly a girl worth living for. I've used the family magic to try and give you a shot at doing just that. The rest is up to you. Oh, and I thought the 'Sevie Shuffle' was the funniest thing I've ever seen - I must have laughed for a week after watching that."
"It's nearly time, son. You'll still be suffering from your wounds and the cruciatus - but you have a chance. Don't hesitate and remember, there are no innocents there…"
Harry felt himself fading away, his mother's words ringing in his ears.
-oOoOo-
Harry found himself lying on the grass and in a lot of pain. Pain was a good thing though, it meant he was alive. Harry tried to take in what was happening around him without moving - and giving the game away that he wasn't actually dead. He could see the goblet, his ticket out of here, but Harry had also landed right beside his wand. There wasn't really a decision to be made as his hand moved slowly to grasp the stick of holly.
There were four Death Eaters crouched around a prostrate and unconscious Voldemort, all arguing what to do next. The two biggest reminded Harry so much of Crabbe and Goyle, they simply had to be related to the boys in some way. The other two were so like each other that Harry assumed they were brother and sister.
With his wand back in hand, it was time to level the playing field. Sitting up, Harry's flame whip had cut into the biggest Death Eater before any of them realised what was happening. The spell cut through the three wizards and badly cut the witches arm. She was screaming in pain but managed to apparate away, ending Harry's concern with her.
He staggered to his feet, just as Voldemort began to regain consciousness too. Piercing curses spat from Harry's wand before Voldemort could even reach for his. Three of Harry's curses smacked into the Dark Lord's torso, with a fourth catching him in the hip.
With blood bubbling from his lips, those hateful red eyes focused on Harry. "Potter, what have you done to me?"
The fear and pain were clear to hear in Voldemort's shaky voice but Harry had no intention of providing him with any answers - or time to say anything else. A cutting curse from Harry saw the light fade from those horrid red eyes, and left the feared Dark Lord as roughly headless Riddle.
Checking the area around him, Harry found Wormtail unconscious but still twitching from the venom the large snake had injected into his bloodstream. A silver replacement hand was melting away as rapidly as Wormtail's life-force. The other three Death Eaters were clearly dead and Harry decided to get out of there before anyone else showed up. Harry had won the battle here because he had the element of surprise on his side - they'd thought he was dead and dismissed him as any threat.
Anyone that witch brought back would know that wasn't the case, and Harry certainly wasn't in any state to fight in a battle. Picking up Voldemort's wand, Harry decided to try and invoke a degree of shock and awe for his Hogwarts return. Harry needed to keep Fudge off balance, at least occupied long enough for him to get out of there.
-oOoOo-
Harry appeared on the winners' platform - holding onto the goblet that had been the cause of so much change in magical Britain. He was still bleeding from the wounds on his head and arm, shaking due to the cruciatus curse, and looked as if he'd just returned straight from a hard-fought war. That he was currently sitting on a pair of bodies Harry had covered with conjured blankets lent credence to the war analogy. Casting the soronus on himself for extra effect, Harry's voice was now louder than the screams of horror and shock that had greeted his arrival. Struggling to his feet, Harry pulled the first blanket off.
"This is Peter Pettigrew, the true betrayer of the Potter family. He was my family's secret keeper, and fired the curse that killed all those muggles over a decade ago. Perhaps now that I've dumped Pettigrew's body on the Ministry's laps, my innocent godfather can get the trial he's been denied for all these years. Pettigrew also kidnaped me tonight, right from under the Ministry and Dumbledore's noses, and forcibly took my blood as part of a dark ritual to bring his master back to life - Voldemort."
Even Harry's double-soronus couldn't compete with the volume of screams hearing that news generated. Giving everyone a few moments to get that out of their systems, Harry then pulled back the second blanket.
"This is the so-called Lord Voldemort…"
If the name had scared the shit out of them, seeing Voldemort's dead body had almost as sizeable an effect on the crowd as the Hungarian Horntail from the first task. Madam Bones stepped onto the platform with her wand drawn, although Harry was pleased to see said wand was pointed down toward the bodies at his feet.
"I have something for you." Harry shakily and slowly took Voldemort's wand from his pocket and handed it over to Amelia before being attacked from behind. A crying Hermione spun him around and kissed Harry for all she was worth. Between kisses, she tried to explain what happened.
"When Dumbledore and Crouch collapsed, I thought you were dead and the Potter Family magic had taken its revenge." "Professor Moody collapsed too, but he wasn't Professor Moody." "Turns out he's a Crouch, and supposedly already dead - same as Pettigrew." By the time Hermione had finished giving her boyfriend that brief update, her arms wrapped around Harry was the only reason he was still on his feet.
Just then, the Minister of Magic made it onto the stage. "Amelia, I want Potter arrested. With the tournament now officially over, we can punish the brat without that goblet interfering. The Unspeakables are going to study the goblet - and return everyone's magic he stole."
"Minister, Potter just defeated Voldemort…"
"Preposterous, you-know-who died almost thirteen years ago. I don't know who these bodies are, and I don't care. It just proves Potter is a magic-stealing killer. Arrest him now, we can decide on what to charge him with later. The Prophet will print whatever we tell them too, and everything will soon be back to the way it was."
"Minister, I can't do that - there are laws…"
"And I'm the Minister of Magic - I am the law. I'll expect your resignation on my desk by tomorrow. Not a word to anyone on why you are leaving…"
Amelia glared at the stupid wizard. "There's a soronus charm built into this platform. Every word you've said here has been heard by everyone."
"And that's why Hermione and I are leaving Britain, to get away from incompetent pricks like Fudge. Now would be a good time guys…"
The teenage couple instantly disappeared from the stage, and then the crowd got to see ad hear their Minister of Magic throwing a temper tantrum any three year old would be proud of.
A/N one more chapter should see this wrapped up. Will hopefully have it posted tomorrow, but haven't one word of it written yet.
