Chapter 24 – Let's Do What We Must And Get Out Of Here

"Do you have Liar's Milk in your carry-all?"

"Need you even ask? It was a foreseeable need, so I packed it."

"What is Liar's Milk," Dumbledore inserted himself into our conversation."

"Yes, of course you couldn't possibly know of that potion. The key, esoteric ingredient in that potion is the venom of the Acromantula spider and Hagrid has yet to introduce the spiders onto your world. It will be at least 1945 or 1946 until there are large enough spiders to milk for their venom. Even then, it would take a friend of the spiders, such as Hagrid, to collect any of the venom."

"That is most strange," I was struck by an out-of-time feeling when Hermione said that. "My Ha… husband got around Slughorn by appealing to his greed to acquire Acromantula venom. That means there were enough potions using it as an ingredient to make it very valuable. Yet, we know that potions knowledge changes very slowly, because Snape's old text was the same as ours. McGonagall said even older textbooks would be virtually the same. You confirmed that with what you pulled from the stables."

"Texts change more slowly than knowledge of any magical subject," Dumbledore explained to us. "Every little change requires approval from our very stodgy Ministry. Still you are correct that potions have changed almost not at all. I will keep that in mind and look around myself in the years ahead. It is easier to create something, when you know that it can be created, and you know its purpose. Even easier when given the key esoteric ingredient."

"Watch Slughorn. Slytherin-for-life in addition to greedy. Very close to Tom, isn't he?"

"Not as close as Dippet, but surprisingly gulled by the act Tom puts on for the more credulous faculty."

"Perhaps not simply credulous, in Slughorn's case. Here is the 'Liars' Milk'," Hermione showed Dumbledore the bottle. "McGonagall must take a full gulp of it. Once she does, she'll be able to lie to truth-tellers, defy even spiked Veritaserum, and stand up to any questioning Dippet or Tom subject her to. It's good for a couple to several hours."

We decided that Dumbledore would distract Dippet and we would Apparate into the Common Room, get McGonagall to gulp down some of the Milk and then vanish before Dippet was any the wiser. We had to finish before Tom returned with Professor Manic. We told Dumbledore that he could find us in the library after he finished with Dippet.

We Apparated Dumbledore to the Fat Lady, with our cloaks in place, then Apparated into the Common Room as soon as he pounded the portal. Just before we left him, Dumbledore whispered at us "tell Minerva that the fortunes bless your swallowing this potion."

Dippet was already standing in front of the portal, Tom hadn't returned, and McGonagall was almost out of Dippet's sight. We peaked out from under our cloaks and approached McGonagall, signaling her to be silent and move a little to her left.

"Dumbledore says to tell you that the fortunes bless your swallowing one big gulp of this potion. It will allow you to lie, without detection, for at least the next two hours." Hermione presented the bottle to her.

McGonagall looked slightly skeptical but accepted the bottle and quickly swallowed a swig. As soon as the bottle was back in Hermione's hand, I grabbed her other wrist and we were standing in the library. We had to wait half an hour for Dumbledore to join us. I was worried that Dippet had assaulted him.

"I delayed Dippet with my concern for a member of my house. I complained before I left that he and Tom appeared to be holding her prisoner. Just then Tom returned with Professor Manic and Dippet instructed her to thoroughly search the Witches' dorm rooms for either an interloper or a murdered 'real McGonagall'. I innocently inquired why there was any doubt regarding the genuineness of the McGonagall who stood before us."

"Tom says she's a Polyjuiced imposter. A sense that she wasn't quite right at breakfast. He couldn't quite put his finger on the problem apart from her refusal to answer a question which would have resolved the matter."

"I realised what the difference was," Tom helpfully volunteered. "She was unafraid of me. She always betrays her fear."

"I must tell you that Dippet looked as though Tom had foolishly led him into embarrassment. Tom produced a bottle of Veritaserum, pronouncing it 'another way to get at the truth.' McGonagall threatened 'my uncle will hear of this. He is not without influence.' Dippet suggested that perhaps the simplest solution would be for her to 'just do as Tom suggests and swallow the Veritaserum. I'm sure you're no more interested in spending the rest of the day with me than I am in spending it with you. If you pass the test, you will be recompensed. It's only fair.' She swallowed. They waited. During that time Professor Manic reported that nobody, neither dead nor alive, was upstairs in any of the Witches' dorm rooms. Dippet put the question. McGonagall said she was McGonagall. Tom demanded to know why she had failed to show her normal fear. She answered: 'I realised what a pathetic, strutting arse you have become. I have an uncle to complain to. You have nobody. I know more spells than you. I know more potions. Why should I fear you? Your advantage is that you push boundaries. Push me and I shall destroy you.' It was beautiful."

"I fear he'll attack McGonagall as soon as she's alone," I told them. "To the Witches' dorm?"

The other's nodded yes, and I transported us there. As we walked to the top of the stairs, we saw Tom yelling at McGonagall, who held her wand defensively.

"I'll show you that you have damned good reason to fear me. You embarrassed me. Dippet doubts me for the first time this year. You will pay for that."

He pointed his wand at McGonagall. We had tied into the Black Stone between worlds. It would be much better to have our own, on this world, Black Stone, but we had to make do with the tools at hand. Hermione did an almost silent "Protego!" as Tom screamed "CRUCIO!" at McGonagall. He was beyond angry.

I could tell that some of the pain had evaded Hermione's protection. "I pointed my wand at Tom and did a silent 'Crucio'.

Tom collapsed in agony. I could tell that he assumed his curse had rebounded upon him. He groped for his wand, which he had dropped as he fell. He finally realised the wand was under him. He pulled it out, pointed it between himself and McGonagall and cancelled his curse. They both looked much happier. I removed my curse at the same instant.

"This isn't over," He screamed, pointing his wand at her.

McGonagall pointed her wand at him. I performed an 'Expelliarmus' and then incinerated his wand while it was in the air. Hermione's 'Back!" had him bounced against the portal. He decided to exit.

We walked down the stairs. "You're in danger and we can't stay to protect you. You must learn improved fighting skills. We can teach you."

"Yes, I want to do that. I won't be afraid of Tom. Thank you for rescuing me."

This was a tough situation. We should have Obliviated McGonagall, but if we did that, Riddle would obliterate a rather defenseless Witch, who wouldn't even understand why Riddle was so determined to destroy her. Either route risked changing history. What to do? We decided not to Obliviate. Dumbledore was left in charge of that option, should it become necessary. He and Hagrid would keep a watchful eye out for Tom's inevitable attempts to chop McGonagall down. We spent three days teaching McGonagall to defend herself. We broke our own rules and introduced her to the Black Rock in the world-between-worlds. We taught her to draw power from that Stone and to always keep her defensive charms fully powered up. She practiced our standard charms. She practiced 'Back!' and 'Off!'. We taught her awareness that she could be assaulted at any time. Very importantly, we taught her not to let Tom get away with surprise attacks, but to surprise him right back. He was still bully Tom, not Voldemort Tom, and might well be persuaded that the ego benefit of punishing McGonagall wasn't worth the potential cost. When we taught McGonagall 'Off', we explained that it would leave Tom out for half a day, without injuring him in the slightest. As an "I can get you" surprise message, it was tops. We were working on wandless spells.

At the end of the third day, Tom attacked her. It was an almost surprise attack. She did well in fending him off. Her defensive charms blunted the attack and her 'Back!' knocked him off balance, but not enough. She should have followed up with another curse but didn't. She needed more killer instinct. As Tom was about to make full use of his own killer instinct, I 'Off'ed him with a sneak curse from behind my invisibility cloak. McGonagall had also made the error of walking into a side hallway, which was disused during winter break. I told her she was doing better but needed both to avoid likely ambush spots and to press her attack. She could have ended the fight with an 'Off!'.

There was just a day until the Hogwarts Express was due. We provided more training for McGonagall during the six hours we left Tom collapsed on the floor. We focused on the mental side of fighting, convincing her that an 'Off!' wouldn't hurt Tom, while he surely would hurt her. Hermione made a port-key bracelet for her, which would transport her to her bed in the dorm. She could trigger it with her mind. It was her last line of defence. We told her that we'd like to help her further, but that we couldn't be at Hogwarts when all the students arrived. She should tell the Gryffindors that Tom had a vendetta against her and use the mass of Gryffindors as protection. We promised to check back with her as soon as we could. We stayed until the evening when the Express was due. Tom did not try another attack during that time. McGonagall only had until end of year to avoid Tom, then she would graduate, and he would still have two years to go.

As we prepared to leave 1943 Hogwarts, I removed the purple diamond from the spare wand I had been using, flipped the wand into the air and pronounced "Incendio", as I sent it to ashes. I won't say I knew I was a very naughty Witch, but friendly Wizengamot and Minister, or not, I wasn't going to give anyone the chance to read the 'Crucio' I had performed with this wand. A spare wand just wasn't worth that risk. Come to think of it, I had used this wand for a mercy 'AK' on the dying Brrrio. Destruction of the wand was an even better idea than I had initially thought. I found McGonagall and borrowed her wand. I inserted the purple diamond into its handle. "I think you will find that you wand works a little better now, especially when you tie into the Black Stone. Tell nobody about this!" Foolish? Yes, but I felt a keen responsibility not to get McGonagall killed before she was able to live the life I knew she would live.

We reversed our previous travel and wound up back in Ve's fortress just six hours after we had left Odin. Odin was relieved to see us. I'm not sure he could have left the fortress without us. "No point going to bed at this hour. Breakfast in an hour and I plan to breakfast with my uninvited guests. Yggdrasil has convinced the intelligence that you and I and nobody else are in charge here. I'll instruct the intelligence to insist that Frijjo and Vili present themselves for breakfast in the official dining room on the third level. Now, was your trip back in time to your world really as necessary and useful as you thought?"

Hermione and I exchanged glances but agreed to tell Odin just how great a disaster our trip had been and why we would need to make another trip back to 1943 Hogwarts end of term, to assure that Dumbledore had Obliviated McGonagall.

"Yes, that is an important lesson. Tampering with time produces unforeseen consequences. Your adventure went better than I expected it would. Excuse me, message from the intelligence..."

We waited. Odin was furious. "Frijjo and Vili departed the fortress as soon as we left their apartment. They've been gone for almost half a day. We play catch-up yet again. I should have expected this. No more overly fair from me."

Since we were able to move back in time by using the purple ribbon, I saw no reason not to wait for breakfast. I was hungry. While Odin fumed, Hermione and I ate a very tasty and quite large breakfast. At Hogwarts, we ate only the limited food Dumbledore was able to smuggle to us. It hadn't been nearly enough.

We asked the intelligence where we could find sufficient finely woven cloth to fashion a shroud for what might or might not be all that was left of Narcissa. Baalak sealed the shroud with spider silk. We would transport 'Narcissa' with us. I planned a return home, in our own time, as quickly as possible. I sent another quick update message to Harry.

We all made the journey back to Yggdrasil in the time before the fire. From there we were able to Apparate onto the tee off the purple ribbon. That got us there in the same time we had been at the fortress. A large spider approached. Baalak asked it if Frijjo and Vili had been this way. They had. They had arrived ten days ago. Her brother spider had bitten and killed Frijjo. Vili Apparated away.

"Good work!" I congratulated the spider.

Perhaps that was insensitive. Of course, Odin wanted to be shown Frijjo's body. The spider led us to the body. It was Frijjo. She was dead. Odin wept over the body. He planned to return her body to Asgard, in our own time, for a proper Aesir funeral. There was no question of taking her to Vanaheimer. Everyone knew she scarcely was Vanir. Frijjo's end was in a way anticlimactic and in another way very fitting. One of the hated spiders she had tried to exterminate had gotten her. Odin didn't have the heart to kill her and Hermione and I had passed opportunities to just allow her to die of injuries. She had tried to destroy us and our friends, but there also were times when she had saved us. It was very possible that I would have died in the Chamber of Secrets, absent her intervention. Overall, I was both pleased that she was dead and more pleased that I hadn't been required to kill her personally. I sent a very brief message to Harry, mainly telling him about Frijjo, with a warning that I was certain Vili would come for Adrienne.

I suggested that we would walk along the path and visit our forces arrayed around Yggdrasil. As Odin was about to Apparate, I stopped him with a question. "Does Vili know seid?"

"Not to my knowledge. He killed off any possible female side a very long time ago. I don't know whether the loss of Frijjo will make him more or less reasonable, once he calms. She had a way of goading him into foolish actions. He will certainly have been very angry when he left here." I realized I had a second question "would you mind terribly if we cursed Frijjo's body, just to be absolutely sure she's really dead?"

Odin gave me a concerned look, but stepped aside. Hermione and I placed our wand tips together, right upon her forehead, and whispered 'Kill!' Frijjo's body didn't jerk or anything. I'm almost, totally positive she was already dead, but somehow that action made me feel safer. I hadn't yet achieved proper priestess and Mother thinking.

We followed Odin, all the way back to Asgard in our own time, having collected all of our comrades along the way. Asgard was strangely unchanged. The mature forest had not reappeared, although the saplings Odin had planted were growing nicely. Odin sent two ravens aloft. We lingered beside Odin long enough for him to receive the report from his birds. They just climbed to height, flew in a small circle and quickly returned to Odin's shoulders.

"They see very little signs of the ancient forest. There seems to be more forest far in the southwest. That is all."

"I hope that we may see you again, but we must go home. There is much for us to think about. I worry about Adrienne. We can talk via the Stones. I feel… empty, yet I know there is more which must be done and that you and we must do it. Goodbye, friend.