Chapter Five

When Christmas came, Lizzie McGonagall-Dumbledore bid farewell to her peers and settled into a lonesome Christmas at Hogwarts. The only other Gryffindors there were seventh-years Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger -- not the kind of students she could play and talk with. They were already living legends, especially Potter. They spent most of their time running errands for and assisting the Order, so Lizzie had the Gryffindor Common Room to herself. She enjoyed the privacy and time and took the opportunity to read and

carefully probe the phial with spells. She still hadn't been able to determine whose blood it was and what it was for.

Lizzie also took to long walks by herself in the castle. She had learned how to move unseen and undetected by Filch and his cat, so she didn't have to worry about being caught. However she always stayed in the tower at night like a good little girl. She was too afraid to do otherwise.

For the entire break Lizzie found sleep increasingly difficult to achieve. She felt a constant restlessness. Finally, on Christmas Eve, Lizzie submitted to her instincts and crept out of Gryffindor tower. Instinctively she wrapped her favorite yellow-orange robes around her nightgown and stuck her wand in her pocket before leaving.

The passages were cold that night. She didn't dare light her wand and attract attention, relying on her night vision instead. She moved softly and quickly. An unknown and unseen force directed her through the castle and outside.

Once outside, however, her inner drive abandoned her, and Lizzie looked around in surprise trying to discern where to go next. The night was perfectly clear. Her feet crunched through new snow, and above the sky hung like an ink-black tapestry with the tiniest perfect specks of light. Every muscle was tense and eager, but for what Lizzie wasn't able to tell.

The phial suddenly began to glow strongly and rose slowly in the air, pointing towards the Forbidden Forest.

Obediently Lizzie followed.

The forest was devoid of all life that night. Not a single bird or bug moved or spoke to break the eerie silence. Fear gripped Lizzie but she forced herself to push on. Finally, after hours of walking, the trees around her began to thin as she reached a small grove of trees. Inside she could only see a few hazy figures surrounded by smoke. Silently she crept to the edge and peered through the thick trees that surrounded the clearing. She stared in shock at the scene before her and let out a high scream of terror. She sprang up and ran as fast as she could back towards Hogwarts and her mother. Like a child frightened by a nightmare she longed to run to her mother's side and let her chase all the demons away. But this demon was real.

He reached out with his magic and froze her in her tracks, pulling her towards him as she desperately tried to fight the spell. Lazily he yanked her into the magically-charged ring and threw her to the ground. Lizzie lay crumpled on the ground, too frightened to fight or do anything other than hide. Finally, she screwed up enough courage to peek up at the figures again.

The first person she saw was none other than The Harry Potter. He was wearing jeans and a sweater and had his wand drawn and pointed at the other person; however, his attention was focused on her with a mixture of worry and annoyance for the small girl who had stuck her nose where it didn't belong. The other figure, the one who made her scream, was Lord Voldemort.

He sneered at her contemptuously through his slit-eyes. The man still looked impossibly thin and creepy. Voluminous black robes covered most of his body, and like Harry Potter he held a wand, but his was pointed at her.

"Ahh, another little student trying to play brave," he hissed maliciously. "Another stupid Gryffindor. And none other than a McGonagall-Dumbledore. You are a rare breed indeed. And I have the most powerful right here in my grasp."

He stepped towards her. "You could have great things if you join with me. Think of it, no more being overshadowed by your sisters. I know how much you hate it -- the professors asking if you are as smart as they are, the students expecting your constant success and hating you for it, your own mother striving to turn you into another clone of your sisters. I could change all that."

Lizzie trembled beneath his gaze, and his voice turned from being sneering to being contemptuous.

"Or perhaps not. Perhaps everyone was wrong. You are not the best daughter. You are the worst. You are not even a good stupid Gryffindor." His eyes turned to stone. "Crucio!" he shouted.

Pain filled her body. It felt as if fire had been poured into her veins. She collapsed against the ground again and began to convulse. "Harry," Lizzie begged, tearing pricking her eyes. "Please, do something." Finally she could contain it no longer, and she began to sob and scream in earnest.

Harry brandished his wand at Voldemort, but before he could even speak a spell, Voldemort casually disarmed Harry and threw a curse at him. Lizzie watched through the deep red pain that obscured her vision as he crumpled to the ground, and her last hope seemed to die with him. She clasped her hand around the vial around her neck and squeezed it tight.

Instantly, Voldemort was thrown back as if shocked, and the spell on her shattered. Lizzie managed to climb up to her feet and grabbed her wand as almost an afterthought. A thin stream of blood trickled from where she had bit through her lip, and she wiped the blood on the sleeve of her robe. Voldemort now stared at her with a mixture of anger, fury, and fear, which greatly surprised Lizzie.

When she would later try to recall the events that followed she could never quite remember what happened next. She felt a sense of her body rising; her arms began to rise as did her braided brown hair. Bright gold light shot out of her fingers and hit Voldemort. Someone screamed, but whether it was him or her she did not know. Power poured out of her fingers like light and covered Voldemort completely. Then, only a few minutes later, the light was gone, and Elizabeth McGonagall-Dumbledore collapsed to the ground, all energy sapped from her body. She had done what no other wizard could. She had destroyed Lord Voldemort.

*****

The young woman staggered out of the clearing covered in Lord Mortis' blood. Wearily, she collapsed at the feet of two young men at the edge of the forest. They carried her to a soft grassy area and lay her down gently. Once she regained consciouness, they asked her story. When it was finished, they regarded her with serious eyes.

"That is an amazing feat of magic you performed, my lady," the taller, red-haired young man said.

The shorter, black-hair young man nodded. He gently took her hand and smiled at her. To his surprise, she began to cry.

"Shh, please do not cry," he murmered gently. "Everything is fine. You do not need to worry. We will care for you forever." His green eyes met her pale blue ones, and at that moment Helga Hufflepuff knew to the bottom of her soul to trust what Salazar Slytherin said.