~Harry Potter and the Battle of Heirs~

~Rachie.V.~

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Chapter XIV

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PART ONE

   Voldemort gave an insane grin. Never losing eye contact, they moved around in a circle together. Harry's breathing was uneven. Sweat trickled down the side of his head. Images flew through his mind like a movie: his third birthday when Dudley's hair had turned green, Hagrid bursting into the hut on Harry's eleventh birthday, being Sorted, winning the Quidditch Cup for the first time, meeting Sirius, falling for Hermione…battles against Lord Voldemort…

"You could just back out, Harry," Voldemort whispered. "It'd be a lot less painful if you did…and then, you'd be with your Mudblood mother and disgraceful father."

"Don't insult my parents! They weren't the 'disgraceful' ones – you are!"

"I like your courage, but it won't last," Voldemort spat. Harry narrowed his eyes through his fear; he gritted his teeth and raised his wand.

He may have had fast reflexes, but Voldemort's were more effective.

"Crucio!" he hissed.  Terrible pain flooded through Harry's veins, and he fell to the floor, writhing in agony, but uttered no sound. Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Rachel, the teachers and Death Eaters looked on as Harry experienced extreme pain, and yet still he remained silent. Time seemed to stand still; the evening air was thick with evil. The world lost all sound, and not a breeze shivered through the trees. Harry wanted to scream, he wanted to die, but he knew not to yell, or it would be worse. And then he stood up, a look of sheer triumph upon his face. He had defeated the Cruciatus curse.

Voldemort gave him a look of mild respect.

"Brave…good luck," he said softly and raised his wand again. "Crucio! Crucio!"

Harry threw himself to the ground just in time; the spells rebounded off tree trunks and hit the Riddle House, making hissing noises as they punctured the bricks.

Harry stood up and made to move forward, but then slipped on the dewy grass. Voldemort came forward and stood in front of him, smiling.

He raised his wand.

"LEAVE HIM!" a voice hollered. Heads swivelled. Draco Malfoy stood behind Harry, his Death Eater mask in his hand. He threw it to the ground.

"Malfoy, are you betraying me? Are you siding with your enemy?" Voldemort whispered.

"I'm not betraying you, I'm doing you a favour. Leave Potter alone!" Draco cried into the silent air. Voldemort didn't retaliate with a curse, as he would have done with another Death Eater, but simply raised his eyebrows. For a split second, Harry was reminded of Dumbledore, but the thought quickly faded.

"You fool," Voldemort breathed, "You don't know what you're doing! GET BACK IN LINE!"

"MAKE ME!" Draco shouted, and spat at Voldemort's feet.

"Crucio," Voldemort whispered evilly. Draco slid to the ground, screaming, flinching and gasping. Voldemort seemed to have forgotten about Harry for the time being; he was enjoying great pleasure in abusing Draco.

Harry stared, dumbfounded. What do I do? What should I do? Somebody help me! He thought desperately, watching as Draco's breathing was becoming weaker.

Distract Voldemort…save Draco…

Harry took a deep breath, and yelled at the top of his voice: "HEY, TOM RIDDLE!" He knew it was childish, but it just might work.

Voldemort spun around furiously, and his concentration was broken. Draco gasped feebly and his face hit the ground. Harry glanced at Draco's deathly-still figure, but was suddenly aware that he didn't know what came next. He had been caught off-guard.

"Expelliarmus," Voldemort hissed. Harry's wand flew into Dark Wizard's hand, and he snapped it in half. "I didn't expect the Battle of Heirs to be like this," he said coldly. "I expected a show of power, but it seems we have a show of stupidity instead," Voldemort said coldly. He threw back his head and laughed shrilly, freezing the hearts of all that heard. After a few seconds, his laughter died down, and he gave a look of utter repulsion to Harry's eyes.

"So green, were your mother's eyes," he said softly. "So green… She was innocent, she didn't deserve death. But because of you, she had to accept it. If it wasn't for you, she would be in this world now."

Harry's eyes started to water.

"Don't listen to him, Harry!" Hermione whispered from inside the bubble that enclosed her, the teachers and her friends. "Don't listen!" She pressed her hands against the strange material, wishing she could help.

"If it weren't for you, your mother could have lived. I could have spared her life," Voldemort continued.

Harry blinked, trying to hold back the tears that he had not let loose for so long, trying to hold back the sorrow he had not shown for a very long time.

"You have your father's hair, and his looks. Indeed, he was very brave. Very. But because of you, he had to die. Yes, Harry, I killed your only family for your sake. Didn't you ever wonder why I killed them in the first place?"

Harry knew that Voldemort was toying with him, but he couldn't help it. Voldemort had him entranced. He shook his head, a tear trickling down his cheek.

"No? Never? Well, I'll tell you right now. When you were born, the moons of each planet were lined up in an accurately straight line. I am the only other person in the whole of history to be born in such conditions. It has been known that a child born under such circumstances will have magnificent powers. The news of your birth was all over the media – 'another child born under the Alignment of Stars'. I was furious. I heard that it was the Potters' son, and knew then that you would fight only for Dumbledore's side. Your parents were too close to him, and I knew you'd be exactly the same. I couldn't have another wizard with such powers fighting against me. Beside me, I would accept. In league with me, I would accept, but not against me. That would be far too dangerous for the Dark side.

"So I decided that, before you got control of your exceptional powers, I had to destroy you. But I knew that your parents would do everything possible to keep you safe from harm. I had to get them out of the way. So, I turned up at your home, and your father stood against me, protecting his wife and child. I killed him."

A second tear followed the first, rolling down Harry's cheek.

"And then I found your mother. She was huddled against a wall with you in her arms. I told her I would spare her life. All she had to do was hand you over to me. That was all. If she had done that, she would have lived, then I could have trained you, trained you to become my heir, but no – she wouldn't have it.

"She argued uselessly, I tried one last time to take you, but she held you tighter. So I killed her."

Harry closed his eyes, trying to block out the memories that were flooding into his head – screams, yells, a baby crying, a high, cold laugh. A tear trembled on Harry's chin, then dropped and landed on the grass before Voldemort's feet.

"Harry Potter – I killed your parents, and it was all your fault."

Harry bowed his head.

"No!" Hermione whispered. To her surprise, the bubble burst, and the occupants fell from it. They didn't do anything but stand back up again and continued watching the scene before them. The Death Eaters took no notice.

Harry gave a shuddering gasp as tears splattered upon the grass. Every word of Voldemort's had been true, and Harry knew it. He looked up through bloodshot eyes into Voldemort's gleaming ones.

"If you take my hand, Harry, I will bring them back," Voldemort whispered. He stretched out his hand. "Join me, and your parents will breathe once more. Just take my hand."

Harry continued staring into Voldemort's eyes. The tears flowed harder.

Screams rang through Harry's mind. They penetrated his brain, infecting his thoughts. A green flash echoed through his memory, and a laugh: a high, cold laugh. It echoed round and round, never ceasing. It grew louder and louder, fiercer with every second; it grew and grew until it seemed almost real; the reality flowed and bloomed until he could take it no more.

Harry roared as hard and loud as he could, yelling a simple sentence that would change the course of history forever:  "I HATE YOU, LORD VOLDEMORT!"

There was a ringing silence that lasted for only a split second, and then there was a soft rumbling noise, until it started grow. The earth gave a sudden shake and then there was an explosion of red light. All that stood were thrown to their feet, the trees gave a vicious sway backwards and a wind swept forwards from where the explosion had started at Voldemort's feet. Harry squinted past the wind that was now swirling, and he tried to gasp, but no wards came out of his mouth. Red beams of light were shining around Voldemort; they came from the skies and ground, but suddenly, Harry's voice came back, and he gave a yell of pain. His scar had erupted. White light swam within it, the pain seared backwards and forwards and he pushed his face into the dirt, screaming in agony.

Voldemort screamed with him and shared the pain, for the beams were cutting through into his skin, causing his blood to boil and his skin to bubble. The beams started to grow thicker and thicker until he was within a cylinder of red light. The wind grew stronger, pushing against the bodies and trees, and Draco sat up weakly, then gasped at what he saw. The red light shimmered, and then they burst upwards, the cylinder speeding to the sky, yet it had no bottom, and the beams of light stayed attached to the floor. The sides grew longer and longer as they sped upwards, and Voldemort was lost in a world of red mist and light. He gave a terrible, cold scream that was to be remembered for all time, and then the beams shot outwards with a blast, covering all that lay within an extremely vast radius. The wind gave a last surge, and died. The red light was lost, and there was no sign of Voldemort. The trees slowly swayed back into their normal positions.

Silence. Sheer silence. It was not heard, but the lack of sound meant so much, giving so much meaning of peace, yet it was invisible.

PART TWO

Harry gave a cry and started thrashing about.

The Wizard was coming!! Where were his parents? He had to warn them! He had to tell them! The Wizard was coming! There was a flash of green light, and then –

Harry gasped and sat up. His face was framed by cold sweat, and his hands were clutching his blankets so tightly that his knuckles were numb. He was in the Hospital Wing.

"Harry!" somebody cried out, and the next thing he knew, there was an attractive girl hugging him.

"Hermione!"

"Oh Harry, it was so frightening! I thought you might d- " Hermione started sobbing, clutching him tightly.

"Oh, Hermione," he said softly with a laugh, and stroked her head.

"Harry! Are you okay?" Ron asked, walking into the room.

"Ron! You're here!"

"Yeah, you didn't think that I'd leave my best bud in hospital while I had fun, did you?"

Harry laughed. "Nah, not really."

"So how are you feeling, anyway?" Ron's face became concerned.

"Shaken, and everything's rushing through my head," Harry replied.

Hermione pulled away from him, wiping her eyes.

Harry put a hand to his head, and grimaced at the pain and memories flooding into his mind.

What – what happened after that red light?" Harry asked Ron.

Ron's face contorted into a sad expression that had a hint of worry and anger.

"Well," he began, "You fainted straight away. Dumbledore captured all the Death Eaters, and somehow sent 'em off to the Ministry of Magic. We learnt later that they went to a court thing, and most of 'em got stuck in Azkaban.

"Anyway, Dumbledore told Draco and me to pick you up, and then he transported all of us back to Hogwarts. Sort of like Apparating." – Hermione gave him a glare – "But it wasn't. Anyway, after that, Madam Pomfrey checked us all for injuries, then she said that you were in a really bad state in the head. That was a week ago."

Harry stared. "The Graduation is in a few days!"

"Yeah, you're right. I've already got my gown and stuff ready," Hermione replied glumly.

"Aren't you looking forward to it?" Ron asked her, surprised.

"How can I? Harry's going with Rachel, isn't he?"

Rachel walked into the room at that moment, holding a drink.

"Someone mention my name?" she asked.

Hermione shook her head silently.

"We were talking about how I asked you to go to the ball when we had that mix-up," Harry told her.

"Ah, I see," she replied, sipping her cup of water. "Nah, don't worry, 'Mione! You can have Harry all to yourself. I guess I'll just have to be stuck with Ron," she said with a laugh. Ron rolled his eyes. Hermione leapt up and hugged Rachel fiercely, spilling the drink.

~~~

   "RACHEL!! GIVE THEM BACK!" Hermione cried, putting her hands on her hips. It was the night of the Graduation, and Hermione was wearing a gorgeous, long, midnight blue dress with straps. The skirt flowed out at her hips and reached the floor.

"Give me mine, then!" Rachel grinned, hauling up the hem of her beautiful silver gown. It was the same length and style as Hermione's, apart from the fact that it had a v-neck and cut-off sleeves instead of straps. They had both conjured up a hairstyle that suited them: a delicate bun with tendrils curling down.

They had stolen each other's shoes as a joke, but it was getting close to the time of the Graduation, and Hermione was anxious.

"Rachel, please!" Hermione said, hauled up the hem of her dress and chased after Rachel, who was running down the stairs.

Rachel flew down the last step and into the common room, then froze at the site of her classmates staring. Hermione raced down the stairs after Rachel in a mad giggling fit and bumped into the other girl. They toppled over onto their stomachs, and Ron burst out laughing.

"Are you gonna dance barefooted tonight, ladies?" he laughed. Rachel tried to get up in a dignified manner, blowing strands of hair out from her eyes, but started laughing at the state of Hermione's hair and make-up. She doubled over, waved her wand and fixed Hermione up, then conjured up a mirror and gasped at her own reflection. She waved her wand, cleared herself up, stuffed her feet into her shoes and took Ron's arm. Hermione hurriedly made sure Rachel hadn't cursed her, put on her own shoes, grabbed Harry's arm, kissed him on the cheek and refused to look at the staring faces of her classmates.

"They have problems," Ginny said, shaking her head, and continued having a game of wizard's chess with her friends.

~~~

Author's Note: Bet you thought I'd given up on this fic, didn't you? Well, you were wrong. I know it took me months upon months, but I had to get it right, and a lot of things have been going on in my life, lately. I'm super sorry about the delay, anyway.

BUT, THIS ISN'T THE LAST CHAPTER! THERE'S STILL CHAPTER 15!

Well, that's about all I have to say. Please review, I hope you liked this chapter and thanks for not giving up on me!