A/N: thanks for teaching me the word "shower cap"! LOL!
BEFORE STARTING TO ANSWER YOUR REVIEWS, I'D LIKE TO WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Armageddon: nice to see you here again, Mat! (are you ready with your parody???) About your question: sorry, can't answer that :-)
Dark Faery: yeah, it'd spoil it if Harry didn't graduate. But I won't spoil it, promise! You'll see Dumbledore soon again. I also love Stonehenge – haven't been there yet, but it looks so cool, so mysterious! I hope you did well on your maths test!
zzxm: you wrote: "you probably have the most read/most liked story on this site." – now, do I? *grins*
CarterGotBack: yes, I already have ideas for a sequel, though they are somewhat blurry. But I've started writing it – just don't have time for it! *pouting*
firechild: there WILL be something at the end that you'd NEVER expect :-) ((at least I hope you'd never expect…)) Um, what does "tres bien" mean? Is it something in French? Are you from France?
jennaration: you wanted another Hungarian sentence: "Lily (vagy Ginny) meghal, és Harry visszahozza õt a Zöld Lángú Fáklyával." There. ((are you learning Hungarian??? just kidding)). Yes, I did have lots of fun when thinking up the names of the racers – I wanted to name most of them after movie/cartoon characters or give them names that have funny meanings.
Mandi: yes, Harry will see his child – very soon!
LilBit: why should I be afraid about my dream?
jenny: yes, I do love cartoons! (ridiculous, I'm 20 and still love them!)
X Tow Naga: you wrote: "didn't you say he wouldn't be recognised at the race?" – No, I didn't say he wouldn't be recognised, I said he wouldn't be recognised from his scar! (but since Ron and Herm knew him well, they managed to recognise him without the scar.) No, Harry won't have Hermione as a teacher, since she'll teach Arithmancy and Harry doesn't study that subject.
HarryPotterCC1: no, I'm not a professional writer, I'm quite far from being one.
Nest Freemark: you know, I'd still think Daniel Radcliffe was sexy, even if I saw him in a shower cap! LOL…
Hobbit_Feet: May the Force be with Harry Potter! – I really liked this :-)
Pschan_88: in my Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English "maharajah" has two forms: with and without an "h" at the end. Are you from Malaysia? Wow! It must be a very exotic country! Yes, we do have lots of snow here in Hungary – minus 5-10 Celsius degrees, so the snow doesn't even melt!
Blaubärin: I'm really interested in your weird and amazing dreams… maybe you could tell me about them in your next mail, okay? No, I haven't explained the dis- and reappearance of the scar – I'll explain it in this chapter. Btw, what does the abbreviation "rotfl" stand for?
Zenon Lee: Voldemort could have tortured Harry, but it wouldn't have restored his memory – according to Abysmal sun-Amun (who is really an expert on amnesiac cases) it had to be Harry's best friend who had to torture him.
obi_ewan_maul_lover: no, I don't know people having the names I gave to the racers. I borrowed the names from stories like "Nils Holgersson" by Selma Lagerlöff (it's a Norwegian tale about a boy magically reduced to 15 cm in height, who travels to Lapland on a gander called Martin. I used to love that tale very much when I was a small child.) Luz Maria for example comes from a silly Peruvian soap-opera, "Schönnkugelaugen" means "beautiful ball-like eyes" in German. You know what Souffle means, don't you? See, I was kind of playing with words and characters – it was really fun!
Hermione Gulliver: so, you were thinking ahead to a tearful reunion at the Burrow… well… it might get tearful…
K-K: no, Ron won't get into Azkaban, since no one else but Harry and Hermione know about Ron casting the Cruciatus curse on Harry – and they won't reveal it to the wizard law enforcement :-)
teacherchez: you asked me to insert my silly Voldie dream into the fic. Well, I might insert it into the sequel, is that okay?
Nikkianna: you lucky one! You have finished your exams! I'm green with envy!
jeanineDR23: I know where Dominica is (I've always been pretty good at geography) – it's really fun to know that people from all over the world visit ffnet!
Lucretia: you asked about the way Ginny and Lily were kidnapped. That will left to your imagination – let's say that Voldemort burst into the Burrow with 30 death-eaters, stupefied everyone and kidnapped them.
VeRyWiLdWiTcH: I hope you could find a tissue in time ;-)
IloveLinkinPark222: you asked about László Szélltoló – no, he isn't a real guy. My dad's name is László (Leslie in English), that's why I gave the racer that name. "Szélltoló" has a really funny meaning – "szél" means "wind", "toló" means "someone who pushes something". So "Szélltoló" could mean that he is so fast that he pushes the wind before himself. Otherwise the word "széltoló", when not divided into two parts, means "swindler".
Rab: Ravin won't say anything – you won't see him again. I had enough of him, bad greedy guy. He got his money, he can be happy with it.
tasha and Dark_eldar50: I have actually drawn a pic about Harry and Ginny in the prefect's bathroom, but I don't have a scanner, and I wouldn't bring that pic to be scanned somewhere else – just imagine what people would say seeing it! LOL! Anyway, it's a cute pic – Harry and Ginny are standing (very close to each other) in the swimming-pool, their bodies covered with bubbles, and Moaning Myrtle is peeping from behind a pillar.
Rosy Posy: it took me the whole summer to write the fic. I'm glad you liked the Moon Run so much!
2Coolio: there'll be a twist at the end! Several twists before the end, I promise you!
Julietta: I'm sure the Lord of the Rings movie must be cool – though I didn't like the books. Way too long and boring (but I'm going to watch the film, of course!) Yeah, the Moon Run was really a dream. I remember that I dreamt about Harry racing on a broomstick among the planets, and as he almost fell off his broom, I woke up! About the importance of Ginny's eye colour… it's not so damned important, but it will be something interesting. The connection between Harry's scar and the name Lightning was intentional. Oh my! Your dream sounds cool! Once I dreamed about people on snowboard in the Tatooine desert (from Star Wars). Snowboards in the desert! Interesting, huh? Yes, Stonehenge is a place with ancient columns, but they aren't Roman – they are prehistoric, from the IV-II. millenium B.C. If you give me your email-address, I'll write you a list of fics I recommend you to read, okay?
HP Blonde Crazy Chick: as I have told to K-K, I might insert my silly dream about Voldie's shower into the sequel (that I started to write on Tuesday – though I won't start posting it until it's totally ready, which will take several months).
D2: 5 more chapters together with this one.
Mage: you are a clever girl!
sharliestar: close.
All right, it might not be nice of me to post this chapter before Christmas, and this chapter might be the one that you'll like the least, but… just read and review! (There might be things you won't understand, but they'll be cleared up in the next chapter.)
Chapter 30
The sacrifice
It was half past three in the morning (28 minutes before sunrise), when Harry, Ron and Hermione apparated at Stonehenge.
An unexpected view greeted them: about forty death-eaters (including those who had been set free from Azkaban by Voldemort two years earlier), were standing in a circle, within the circle made from huge stones by ancient wizards. In the middle stood a cauldron – the same one the Dark Lord had used to regain his body after the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It had some translucent liquid in it, looking like water.
Voldemort himself was standing next to the cauldron, a satisfied smile on his snake-like face.
In the background there was a small, thin death-eater, keeping a red-haired girl in check with a wand. The girl was holding some kind of a bundle.
As the three youngsters appeared, the redheaded girl let out a squeal.
"POTTER!" Voldemort cried, raising his wand, then suddenly lowering it. He had learnt from their latest confrontation, and didn't want Priori Incantatem happen again.
He motioned his death-eaters to act, instead.
Forty wands raised against three – an exchange of curses followed, and the newcomers fell on the grass: Ron and Hermione stupefied, Harry bound by magically conjured ropes.
"I don't remember having sent you invitation cards, kids." the Dark Lord cackled, his followers also burst out laughing. "But if you are already here, be my guests to my 'becoming-immortal-party'. You will witness the rise of a new world – a world ruled by me, and the fall of the world of Albus Dumbledore and his Muggle-loving friends." he turned to the small wizard who was taking care of Ginny and the small bundle - Lily. "Wormtail, take their wands. I don't want them to have any chance to ruin the best moments of my life."
Wormtail complied, now holding his wand at the right, metallic hand – the three others in his left one.
"Good. Very good." Voldemort nodded. "Before you die, you will see me becoming immortal, Harry… with the help of your sweet little daughter… eventually with your help – it depends on your point of view. You sired her, after all…"
"What do you want to do with her?" Harry froze, feeling his stomach contract.
"What?" the Dark Lord's mouth tucked into a smirk. "Just take a few droplets of her blood."
"Like you did with me?" Harry asked.
"Not exactly…" Voldemort seemed to be enjoying the boy's despair.
"What then?"
"What? Well… I'll spill some droplets of her blood into this cauldron, making the Potion of Eternity ready… oh, almost forgot… she won't be still alive when I'll do so."
"No!" Ginny yelled, hugging her baby closer to herself.
"It's not by request, my dear." Voldemort gave her a ferocious grin.
"You are a coward, Voldemort!" Harry spat, pulling himself up to his knees. "Pathetic! You shed an innocent infant's blood to get what you want! Why don't you have a try with someone who has equal powers?"
"Like YOU?" Voldemort bent down to cup Harry's chin. "I'm no fool, Potty… last time we fought, our wands started malfunctioning. I won't let it happen again… anyway, just to reassure you: I'm not too glad myself that I have to kill the baby first, but the recipe says that the last ingredient has to be the blood of my greatest enemy's dead child… Of course you are my greatest enemy Potter, because you, only you could have been my undoing…" he saw Harry's eyes glint with surprise. "Oh, yes… has Dumbledore never told you why I always wanted to kill you? No, I don't think he was brave enough to tell you… I think you deserve to know it before you die." he bent down to the boy, his stare diving into that of Harry – malicious red eyes meeting hateful green ones. "There was a prediction – a prediction made by Cassandra… ever heard about her? She was the daughter of Priamos, king of Troy. Of course she was a witch… she was the one who had foretold the Trojan War. Shame that people never believed in her prophecies… You are surely interested in her prediction, aren't you, Harry?" Voldemort bent down again, his ruby eyes glinting balefully. "Cassandra happened to see many things from the future, and not only the events of the Muggle world, but those of the wizarding history as well… Did you know that she foretold the rise and fall of King Arthur because of his son's, Mordred's betrayal, and Merlin's incompetent acting? Did you know that she foretold the rise and fall of Grindelwald? No, I'm sure that you didn't know that…" his voice trailed off, a look of contemplation fell over his face. "All of Cassandra's predictions have come true – so far… She wrote a prediction about you and me… it was translated into English by Mim, the powerful antagonist of Merlin…" Voldemort turned to the death-eaters. "Avery, my cultured friend, would you be so kind and tell us the prophecy in Mim's translation?"
The death-eater nodded slightly. "As you wish, My Lord. The prophecy is the following:
Thirty centuries will pass,
Till great changes come to Earth,
The era devoid of mirth,
Days to murder and harass
A man with the eyes of snake
Grows to rule the universe,
What's wrong, changes to the worse,
Leaving despair in its wake
Twenty years before the turn,
On the seventh months' last day,
Comes a shining little ray
That will start to glow and burn
A boy with the hair of soot
Born in the far land of haze,
Father stag and mother blaze,
Becomes light to show the route
Little flame though it might be,
Illuminates all the dark,
Wipes out the serpent mark,
Setting the shackled world free."
As Avery finished the recitation of the prediction, Voldemort turned back to Harry. "Cassandra… A great seer she was… She wrote this mysterious prediction telling that only Harry Potter could bring about my destruction… Oh, you might find it difficult to interpret the text, so I'll help you. The 'man with the eyes of snake' is me – who else? The 'turn' means the turn of century, so 'twenty years before the turn' refers to the year 1980. The 'hair of soot' refers to your black hair, the 'land of haze' is England. 'Mother blaze' means that Lily Potter had fiery red hair… well, there's only one part that I never managed to understand: 'father stag'. But never mind, I presume Cassandra referred to James Potter. So, as you also heard, young Potter, you, and only you can 'wipe out the serpent mark', which is my symbol… and that is exactly why I'm going to kill your child first – after I've become immortal, you cannot harm me anymore. I'm really sorry…" he looked everything but sorry. "I can't help, boy, I have to follow the instructions… that's why your little lover is here, too." he pointed at the slightly sobbing Ginny.
"What do you mean?" Harry felt all the blood running out of his face, eternal hate building in him, threatening to burst out with a loud explosion.
"According to the recipe of the Potion of Eternity, the child's mother has to witness her baby's death, otherwise the potion will not work. I'm really sorry to murder the baby before doing away with you, but be patient, boy, you'll be the next to die. Soon the whole Potter family will be rejoined in heaven – imagine how happy your parents will be to have you and such a cute little granddaughter…" Voldemort turned to a banshee-looking witch, in whom Harry recognised the woman who had been sentenced for life in Azkaban together with Barty Crouch Jr. and two other death-eaters. The woman had aged a lot since he saw her in Dumbledore's Pensieve.
"Morticia!" the Dark Lord rumbled, "Take the child and bring her to me."
The woman stepped to Ginny.
"Nooo!" the young mother clutched her baby, not wanting to release her. Finally the death-eater witch managed to tear Lily out of her arms. Ginny was about to lunge at the woman, but Wormtail pointed his wand directly at her heart. "Back, you bitch!" he hissed.
"And now…" Voldemort turned back to Harry and the slowly reviving Ron and Hermione. "…you are going to see me submerge into the Potion of Eternity, the recipe of which Severus Snape had so kindly presented to me."
"Snape???" the three friends gasped.
"Oh, yes… Snape…" Voldemort grinned, motioning one of the hooded people to reveal his face.
It was none other than Professor Snape, Potions teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was smiling smugly, crossing his arms before his chest.
"You… you… low-down, vile turncoat!" Harry burst out, jumping to his feet – which was quite remarkable in his bound state. "Dumbledore trusted you, but you betrayed him for the second time as well! You are disgusting!"
"Disgusting?" Snape sneered. "How flattering… just to assure you, Potter, I've always been sick of you, either… you had no idea how happy I felt when Malfoy got rid of you."
"Malfoy… yeah, who else?" Harry sighed.
"Oh, yeah…" Snape started to circle around Harry. "…the witty Draco made a potion that wiped your pathetic little mind, made you unspottable for the owls, and as a side-effect… vanished that ugly scar of yours. It didn't really disappear, only became invisible. I saw a picture of you in a Muggle paper – you looked better without it."
Harry had just realised that he really didn't have his scar while he was amnesiac. Instinctively he reached out to tap his forehead – well, would have reached out, had his arms not been bound. Snape, however, noticed his small move.
"Oh, don't worry, you got it back… not that it's something one would be proud of…" he came so close that Harry feel the warmth of Snape's breath on his nape. "You have no idea, though, how much your disappearance influenced your friends… and enemies. Lucius Malfoy was taken to St. Mungo, after he refused to reveal that his son was the culprit… ehm… the Dark Lord doesn't like death-eaters who have secrets before him."
Voldemort nodded, and Snape carried on. "You caused a turmoil at Hogwarts, too… at Christmas, your cousin put in an appearance."
"Dudley?" Harry gaped. "At Hogwarts?"
"Yes… that goon! He wanted to visit Millicent Bulstrode, but he made a blunder… gave away that Malfoy had given him the Teih-Nessegrev Potion, which he spilled into your drink."
Harry's mind reeled, trying to remember… yes, Dudley really had given him a glass of water before he lost his memories.
Voldemort continued where Snape left off: "Crabbe and Goyle revealed Malfoy's little deed to me. Severus also knew about it, but at that time he was so occupied bullying the students at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, that he forgot to give me this information…" the Dark Lord cast a side-glance at Snape, whose eyes narrowed. "He paid dear for that, didn't you, Severus?"
"I well deserved the punishment, My Lord." Snape bowed.
Voldemort grinned. "Don't worry, Harry, I didn't punish your favourite teacher too much… he was the one who had given me the recipe, after all… and now, let's see to that potion! Sunrise is very close." he turned to the woman, holding the baby. "Morticia…" she was about to hand him Lily, when Harry lunged at him, grabbing his throat in a vice-like grip. How he had got rid of his bounds, he didn't know - all he knew was that he wanted to throttle that diabolic creature.
He couldn't harm Voldemort, though – he was pulled back by two death-eaters. He struggled to break free while the Dark Lord pointed his wand at Harry's heart, yelling 'Avada Kedavra!'
Before the green stream of death could reach Harry, a red-haired form jumped between him and Voldemort. Everything happened so fast, that Harry couldn't really make it out – all he saw was that the redheaded form got hit by the green light, that rebound and fell back on its originator who burst into molecules with an ear-splitting detonation – his body dissolving into a red column of fire, rocketing into the skies… right when the first ray of sun appeared on the horizon.
"GINNY!" Harry howled, dropping to his knees, gathering the motionless girl into his arms. "Ginny… why… why did you do that?" he breathed, waiting for a reply that never came.
"Harry! Watch out!" Ron yelled, as a blue stream approached Harry from the wand of Macnair. He rolled onto his side, jumping behind a huge stone of the ancient building. Without his wand, he was helpless and defenceless. He needed to get it back!
The death-eaters, frightened and enraged by the destruction of their master, started to approach the three youngsters, wands held at the ready to kill.
The three of them had no chance to survive the attack of forty.
The death-eaters were about to yell Avada Kedavra in chorus, when they got attacked from behind.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione yelped.
Dumbledore was not alone: Sirius, Lupin and Bill Weasley were with him.
Hermione yelled 'Accio Lily!', and the baby flew into her arms from Morticia's hands.
In the blink of an eye panic broke out. The death-eaters turned to the four, newly arrived wizards, sending unforgivable – and other – curses at them.
Dumbledore, who managed to analyse the situation in a second, flicked his wand, making the three youngster's wands fly out of the appalled Wormtail's hand, back into the hands of their owners. With another flick, Dumbledore stupefied five death-eaters. Not for nothing was he called the greatest wizard of the century, after all…
In a second an enormous multilateral duel developed between Voldemort's followers and the seven wizards: Dumbledore, Lupin, Sirius and Bill on the one side; Harry, Ron and Hermione on the other; the death-eaters in the middle – trapped.
For some seconds you could hear nothing but Avada Kedavras, Crucios, and Stupefys – due to which the half of the death eaters fell unconsciously to the ground, Lupin got scorched by a fire-spitting spell, and Bill got scalped by Nott's instant scalp curse.
"Hey! My hair!" he yelled indignantly, knocking out three death-eaters with one swish of his wand, and even managed to explode the cauldron with the almost-ready potion that spilled all over the ground, making daisies and grass wither in its wake.
Though it wasn't conspicuous at first, the evils started to get sparser from the very middle of their circle, too, as if someone had been attacking them from inside.
As the death-eaters numbers dropped to twenty, the rogue in the middle became visible: it was Snape, sending curses at the nearest dark-siders.
As Sirius got a glimpse of him – the archenemy, dressed in the cloak of a death-eater, his mind got clouded with rage.
"You traitor!" he bellowed, out of his mind. "Avada Kedavra!"
"NO!" Harry cried, instinctively ejecting a silver streak of light from his wand to cross the path of Sirius' green-coloured killing curse. Before the deadly stream could hit the Potions professor, Harry's silver one reached it, making it explode only half metre from Snape's body. "He's on our side, Sirius!" Harry yelled, averting a Crucio from Morticia's wand. He had seen what Sirius didn't: Snape killing and stupefying their enemies – and he had also realised that it was Snape who had loosened his bounds, unnoticed by Voldemort.
While Lupin shot a jelly-leg-jinx at Crabbe, Ron tried his slug-belching hex on a fat death-eater – this time with success.
Within four minutes, the ancient ruins were littered with dead, stupefied, bound and badly injured bodies – the huge stones of Stonehenge scattered, the whole building tumbled down.
Hermione's nose was bleeding, Ron had a sprained ankle, Dumbledore's beard was snipped off, Harry's glasses broke, and Snape was still shocked by the fact that the oh-so-hated Harry Potter had saved his life.
Apart from these, they were all right.
They were all right, but Ginny…
Harry ran back to the girl, taking her body into his arms, as though hoping that she'd wake up.
Ron stumbled to them, his face red with fury and tears. Hermione glanced at Dumbledore, who cast his eyes down – as if he had felt responsible for Ginny's death.
"I'll take her home." Bill offered with a crestfallen expression, stretching out his strong arms.
"No… I'll bring her." Harry said firmly, picking up Ginny's stock-still body from the ground with lips tightly pressed together. His eyes were inexpressive, cold, not the usual shiny-emerald, but rather icy-grey. Hermione had never seen him like that before: he didn't look sad – he looked scary – as if there had been no spark of life in him anymore. As though he had been an empty shell, not a living being.
Hermione fought back her tears and reached behind a stone, where she'd hidden Lily and lifted the crying baby into her arms. "Shhh… it's okay… it's okay…" she rocked her, but Lily didn't stop crying… as if she had known that she no more had a mother.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bill… go back to the Burrow." Dumbledore said. "Remus, Sirius, Severus and me will take care of this lot here." he pointed at the heap of disarmed death-eaters.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione spoke up.
"Yes?"
"Professor Snape…" she hesitated, not daring to carry on.
"He is on our side, Hermione." Albus replied. "He infiltrated into the group of Voldemort's followers, but he is on the good side. Even Harry noticed it, didn't you, Harry?"
Harry nodded bluntly. His glance met that of Snape, who diverted his eyes, as though he had been burnt by the stare of the boy who was holding his dead lover in his arms.
"Let's go, guys." Bill whispered.
Harry nodded – not really grasping what was happening around him. "Let's go."
As the little group disapparated, Dumbledore turned to his fellow-wizards. "Now, let's take these bad lots to Azkaban. They'll be in good hands there."
Lupin and Snape nodded.
Albus turned to Sirius: "Will you please tidy up this place?"
After the others departed, Black raised his wand, pointing at the huge stones on the ground. "Reparo!"
A/N2: so this was my Christmas present to you: I rid the wizarding world of Voldemort.
*author hides behind a sofa, waiting for you to throw curses at her.* Feel free to flame – flames might come in handy, it's really cold here in Hungary.
Anyway, you might be wondering why I didn't include the dementors in Voldemort's ranks. I had been playing with the idea, but then decided against it. Things were confused enough without having to deal with dementors, too.
You also might find it ridiculous that 7 wizards could deal with 40 death-eaters, but remember: this is just a fantasy story, and in such stories anything could happen, especially with Dumbledore around. (E.g. Leia, Lando and Chewbacca kill at least 50 storm troopers in The Empire Strikes Back)