YourSide, Their Side and the Truth
Part V - Beginning of the end, or the end of a beginning (5.45)
Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, this is a fan fiction, by a fan for the fans. No money has exchanged hands during its production.
It was cold.
Harry didn't remember it ever being so cold at Hogwarts.
The cold wrapped around them like tendrils of vines clinging to them wherever they went. The Professors remaining in Hogwarts; Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Trelawney, Snape and Binns (who couldn't leave because he was after all a ghost) sat around with glum expressions on their faces while they took it in turns to train with Harry.
He'd never trained so hard in his life. His hand hurt, his heart hurt, his soul hurt. He hurt, and through it all he knew he must keep going. Breathing deeply, he dropped to the ground; exhausted.
"Let him rest," he heard Professor Sprout murmur. "He'll be no good facing you-know-who like that."
"Don't…" Harry whispered; his eyes narrowing to cold green slits.
Professor Sprout blinked. "You have to rest Harry," she said, confused.
"His name is Voldemort. Ignoring his name isn't going to make him any less dangerous or any more scary," Harry said flatly.
"I suppose not." Professor Sprout still looked dubious.
"In fact his name is Tom," Harry said reflectively; shrugging. "Tom Marvolo Riddle."
There was a very long silence.
"Tom," Professor Binns sighed. "I used to teach him."
"So did I," Professor Trelawney reflected. "Powerful boy… Very strong at divination. I liked him. He didn't quit," she added, levelling a glare at Harry.
Harry shrugged, unapologetic.
"He's here."
It was one phrase.
It was all anybody needed.
Just as swiftly as the phrase was uttered, six other people got to their feet and silently surrounded Harry. The seven exchanged a glance and headed out to the hallway.
"Remember what I said earlier, Harry," Dumbledore said softly, earning a quizzical glance from Professor Snape. The raven-haired boy nodded once, sharply, in understanding.
"I will," Harry promised softly.
The hallway was eerily quiet. Their footsteps echoed as they padded along the tiled floor. It was dark and the tendrils of cold slid around them; freezing their breath on the air. Hogwarts had never been quite like this before. Harry didn't like it.
"Something's here," Professor McGonagoll warned quietly. Wands drawn, they advanced cautiously. Suddenly the floor erupted and Harry jumped in shock.
"Expectro patronum!"
Seven voices sounded in unison and seven large silver shapes bolted out of the wands to smash into the dementors blocking the doorway. Harry watched numbly as Prongs rode yet again; gleaming silver and shaking his head to brush against the closest dementor. He stared dumbly as the silver shaped stag returned to the end of his wand and watched as other shapes did the same. As he squinted, he dimly recognized the shapes… A phoenix that had to be Dumbledore's… A tiger for Professor McGonagall, a reptilian shape for Professor Snape, some kind of vines for Professor Sprout, a cloud for Professor Flitwick and a bat for Professor Trelawney.
"Sirius said you had quite improved your patronum," Professor Flitwick chirped into the silence. "Professor Lupin did well teaching you it."
Harry said nothing, still shaken with seeing the vague sight of something remotely related to his parents.
"The dementors have rejoined him," Professor Trelawney said, her voice hushed and with non of its usual extreme dramatic timbre.
"Then Azkaban is no longer protected," Professor Snape whispered. His voice hung eerily on the air.
"Hopefully it still is, if Sirius and Remus got to the giants in time," Dumbledore said. "Come. The time draws near."
Harry very dimly recollected the next few events. He remembered following the adults. He remembered feeling the tendrils of ice lash around his ankles and flint against his face. He remembered dully the feeling of apprehension and fear that clouded around him and clenched around his heart. Steeling himself, he forced himself out of it by remembering all the things that made him who he was: how he felt; who he knew; what made him happy; what and who he loved…
"Keep on like that," Professor Dumbledore murmured. "Those emotions confuse him."
"Am I that obvious?" Harry asked; bemused.
"Something about you and him… You're both broadcasting your emotions very strongly," Dumbledore explained. Harry flushed.
"E-e-everything?"
"It is a good thing, Harry. He's scared," Professor McGonagall stated, smiling grimly.
"The ice," Harry muttered. Dumbledore nodded. "So I'm burning him with my… happy emotions?"
"Hopefully," Professor Snape muttered. "He deserves to burn."
The memory came flooding back to Harry of the time Professor Snape was revealed as an ex-death eater and Harry shivered; he felt for a second the fire coming from Snape and was pretty glad to know that he wasn't on the opposite side.
"Most of us have had that thought one time or another over the last eleven or so years," Dumbledore remarked dryly. Harry raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"You're sprouting your thoughts to the world, dear," Professor Sprout explained; her face a hardened mask – a far cry from the normally smiling jolly professor. "Awfully bad thing to happen but I've heard when it comes to the two focuses of energy of either side… It happens."
"So… we'll be able to hear Voldemort?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. More scared by that single thought than anything before.
"Don't be so scared," Professor McGonagall warned. "He'll sense your fear. Think happy thoughts. And you-know-who… I mean Voldemort is more powerful than you. He's had more time to develop and refine his powers… Only you will be able to hear his thoughts."
"Great," Harry sighed. Then a sudden thought struck him… The words Professor McGonagall had said… Think happy thoughts… It reminded him of the muggle movie Peter Pan when they were teaching the Darlings to fly… Dudley had broken his nose attempting to fly after watching that film. Harry snickered at the memory and then imagined Professor McGonagall as Tinkerbell and started laughing out loud. Obviously he'd broadcast this thought extremely strongly because Professor McGonagall flushed and the other teachers managed a few stark grins.
"That's the spirit Harry!" Professor Flitwick cried.. The words echoed eerily among the curiously empty hallways.
"So does this weaken him or something?" Harry asked curiously; trying to focus on happy memories like seeing his family in the mirror of Erised for the first time and learning to fly; discovering he was a wizard; Dudley with a pig's tail…
"Not physically," Professor Dumbledore admitted. "They will help in your final confrontation."
Final confrontation.
The words seemed so… so… Harry cursed his narrow range of vocabulary. The words seemed so damn final.
"Think happy thoughts," Harry commanded his brain. "Happy thoughts… Ron, Hermione… Yeah… They're all right… Friends. That's a happy memory. Sticking up for me… OK… Uh… When Sirius asked me to live with him! Very happy oh dear all of the professor's can hear these thoughts… Ah well welcome to the crazy world of Harry Potter and co. Uh… Professor Snape in Neville's Grandma's clothing… Well I've failed potions now… Still it was funny… Draco… Arg no, no, no, no, no… They can hear you Harry… Bloody he—Uh… Ginny putting her elbow in the butter. Yeah, that's it. That was funny…"
Harry blinked, realizing that he had ignored everyone else while concentrating on his memories and his body has almost gone on auto-pilot to follow them. He blushed as his thoughts ran ahead without him and he struggled to keep them in control and fixate on them.
"OK, Harry, much as we all adore those flattering thoughts about young Malfoy, it's time to come back to the world of the living," Professor Trelawney sighed regretfully; pushing up her sleeves and extending her wand arm forwards.
Harry flushed guiltily and reigned his mind back from where it had wandered. Looking up at the door he blinked. This was the door to the main hall… He shouldn't have been surprised, but in a small way he was…
It was so cold now, the iciness raged inside his body and reached up to clench at his heart. He shivered and, feeling braver than he had in months considering he was flanked by six of the most powerful witches and wizards of the time – "That's very nice of you to think so" interjected Professor Sprout – pushed forward his hand to open the door.
The door opened without him having to touch it and the ice swirled around his feet. He lifted his head determinedly; ignoring the sudden pain that lanced through his scar and just looked at the tableau in front of him; seemingly frozen still in the moment. Seven death eaters stood there, wands at the ready entombed in black with their hoods thrown back. Harry could recognize Lucius Malfoy among the six…
So much for train crash…
Obviously the death eaters could hear the thoughts as well… How loud was he transmitting them? Lucius Malfoy just smirked, his wand at the ready. Of course this gave Harry a slight advantage and decided to put the death eater off his ease…
"Of course it's ironic… that Lucius Malfoy's son loves me more than he loves his own father…" Harry thought, putting a lot of force behind it. He grinned triumphantly when Lucius stumbled a little. Without a word, the six Professors spread out in formation to stand against the six death eaters. Everything was equal, except… Except for Wormtail loitering the background with his silver hand.
"Harry."
Harry knew that voice. Knew the way it slid through the atmosphere like a snake, fangs bared.
"So delighted you could all make it."
All eyes at once moved to the hideous figure in the centre of the hall opposite Harry.
"I was so scared that you'd chicken out and go hide with your friends," Voldemort added; the narrow slits on his face opening and closing rapidly. Breathing faster… a faster heart rate?
"Don't think I'm going to be that easy to beat, young Potter."
Wincing at the sudden pain, Harry clamped his left hand over his forehead. That must have been the thought going straight to him… It burned, worse than before.
"I think I'd be disappointed if you gave in so easily," Harry said, sounding a lot braver than he felt.
"Well, of course you would be," Voldemort said sarcastically, his red eyes narrowing shrewdly. "You do realize why we're here at least, don't you? The ancient shrine of beginnings… Where magic began its course to the world… Yes, Harry, this is where you will bow down to me and surrender yourself to my world."
Harry snorted. "No-one's going to be bowing to you, Tom," he said defiantly. Voldemort's slits widened and he stared at Harry with loathing.
"I will not be known by that… by that… muggle name," he spat. "Death eaters! Attack!"
Harry watched silently as the death eaters advanced upon them; deadlier than imagined, they moved with pure grace. They were pure death moving... He knew that the Professors were going to counter the attacks, but he wasn't as prepared to see the expressions on his teachers' faces and the terrible sense of power they exuded.
"Hideous isn't it," Voldemort continued as if the terrifying battle raging around them wasn't happening. "All that positive emotion. Emotion can be so dangerous, don't you think? It can lend to us great power over the other side…" The wrinkled white figure snapped his fingers and a figure just apparated into the air; crashing to the ground in a heap. He snapped his fingers again and Wormtail scurried forwards; heckles bared he grabbed at the figure and hoisted it to its feet. Sleepy grey eyes looked up from a tousled blonde-haired figure clad in a Slytherin Hogwart's robe…
"And your emotion will be your undoing!" Voldemort spat. "You have feelings… for this boy have you not?"
Harry swallowed. Even though the boy's eyes were still glassy from the shock and pain, it was unmistakably Draco…
"Yes I do," he whispered. The words caught on the clash of the duelling wizards either side of him and rose up on the tempest of the sound. Harry cuahgt a glance of a terrible ice storm, shining past, ricocheting against the wall and slamming into a death eater. He caught a glance of Dumbledore - not the benign headmaster but a terrible, powerful wizard - and he swallowed.
Harry, remember my words to you earlier!"And that is your undoing," Voldemort said quietly; advancing on Draco and picking him up easily by the scruff of his neck. "I will kill this boy, you know, unless you kneel to me." Wormtail scampered to the side of his master.
Harry took strength from Dumbledore's presence. "I will not bow. Kill him if you want."
Voldemort paused for a second; uncertain. "Don't you have feelings for him? Don't you care if I destroyed him?"
"Of course I'd care if you destroyed him!" Harry yelled. "You really don't understand the human emotion of love, do you? You never let yourself love as a child now you take it out on others? You're just jealous! You've never understood how love works, have you? That's why you were so undone when you tried to kill my parents!"
Voldemort snickered as he stayed on the spot; seemingly unfazed by the offshoots of what looked like lightning crackling either side of him. "Harry, you are quite delusional, I'm afraid. Your parents are dead. I killed them, like I will kill you after you have surrendered to me."
Harry shook his head. "You didn't kill my parents, Tom," he said softly; emphasizing his use of the insane lunatic's muggle name. "You were like me once. You said we were identical. We are, you know. Only one thing made us different. It hurts to think that if my life had changed I might have ended up as pathetic and weak as you… My parents aren't dead. The old part of you must remember what it was like… When your mother passed away, she wasn't dead… She existed here." Harry held up his arms and placed his hands over his heart.
"Pretty words, Harry, pretty words." Voldemort hissed. "They did not save your mother, and they will not save your friend."
"Of course they won't." Harry's voice was smooth and unafraid. "That's a clone, you know it, and I know it. The only reason I know it is that my heart won't let me be tricked. And for the fact that Draco is now a Gryffindor house student and wouldn't be seen dead in a Slytherin robe."
Voldemort hissed in frustration and flung the Draco in his hand to the ground.
"Fine. Then you die. And this cycle starts again when I have regained more power than you can possibly imagine. You know, don't you, that I can destroy anyone who rises against me after you're dead."
Harry instinctively jumped to the side as a blast from Voldemort's wand narrowly avoided him. Running he yelled: "Crucio!" and dashed to the side; rolling instinctively. It only give him a second of respite. That was all he needed. He swerved around the fighting, noticing with satisfaction that Professor Snape had just thrown a bag full of some kind of potion and it had splattered on Crabbe's face. Voldemort rose up again, throwing his wand out to strike again when two voices yelled out: "Expelliarmus!"
Caught unprepared, Voldemort lost grip of his wand and it clattered to the ground, long enough for Draco to snatch it and throw it to Harry. Voldemort's eyes widened and he spread his arms.
"Now destroy me," he said softly, his voice breaking through the atmosphere. Harry was dimly aware of Draco scooting out of the way to join him and the Death Eaters breaking nervously away from the fight to flank their Dark master. He was also aware of the other Professor's flanking him. Harry tossed the two wand's in his hand nervously for a second before lifting up Voldemort's wand.
"Harry, no!" Professor Sprout shrieked. Too late.
Harry waved the wand and whispered the two words of his spell.
"PRIORI INCANTATEM!"
The two words echoed among the hall and Voldemort's wand erupted. Faces and people began to tumble out of the end of the wand; all of Voldemort's past victims… Just like last year… Harry saw Cedric again, his parents, Betty, the old gardener from Voldemort's old village… Scores of 'mudbloods' and muggles who had been destroyed by Voldemort in his reign of terror in the past. Voldemort laughed, a chilling low sound.
"Tricks," he snarled.
"You call me a trick?" The shade of Lily Potter looked a little amused. "Please. This is no trick. This is everything you have done. All you are. You're nothing. That's what scares you, isn't it? You're nothing…"
"That's what scared you, isn't it?" Harry's voice broke through strongly. "You were so scared that your father left you because you were nothing that you tried making a name for yourself; tried getting some revenge… Only all the time you were trying to prove you weren't nothing… And through your lack of knowledge about emotions, your legendary status as the nemesis of all life was shattered… And you became no-one… Less that nothing. Like you always had been. And nothing we do, whether we die or whether we live, will make you into anything more than nothing."
"You're nothing…"
"Nothing, Tom, less than nothing…"
"We could have made you someone… If you had acknowledged life not thrown it away…"
The shades of Voldemort's bad deeds took up the commentary; showing Voldemort what he had become… What he had done…
That's when Harry understood the hollowness of Voldemort's existence… Even in his worst of his days at the hands of the Dursley's… At least then he still felt emotion… Could still cling onto the hope that someone somewhere loved him.
"I don't need your sympathy," Voldemort sneered. "Death eaters, attack!"
But nothing came forward… The death eaters looked at their master; repulsion and sympathy evident in their faces too.
"Better the life of a mudblood with emotion, then of a pureblood without," Lucius Malfoy quietly declared. It was the most amazing declaration in his life that Harry had ever heard. It didn't ring true. Harry felt Dumbledore's hand on his shoulder and remembered he had to take this at face value.
"You can still be forgiven, Tom," Harry said softly. "You will have to serve time in Azkaban, but you will be able to know that some people can forgive you. Of course not everyone will… You've done a lot of things that people will never ever forget, but you can still be who you once were, Tom."
Voldemort, for the first time in his life, seemed at a complete loss. He raised his hands again, almost seeming to strike himself down or something and then he simply collapsed to the ground.
"Why?" It was only a whisper, but everyone present heard it. "Why would you give me a second chance?"
"Because you were just misguided. I had the direction early on in my life. You didn't. You and I are the same, Tom," Harry said softly.
"I… I feel this pain… What is this pain? WHAT IS THIS PAIN?" Harry jumped in shock as two red eyes lifted up to meet his; no longer filled with pain but filled with guilt and remorse. Finally seeing that justice to their memories had been done, the shades of his victims began to disappear.
"Guilt, remorse, of the people whose lives you destroyed. For that you will pay," Harry said simply.
Voldemort nodded, broken, and Harry stalked over to look down. Voldemort looked up at Harry, at one moment a young, tired boy and the next something terrible. Then it all shifted and Harry was just Harry again.
"I'm sorry…" Voldemort whispered.
It was apparantly the catalyst word. Voldemort howled once, before an unseen force picked him up; slamming him against the wall with a smashing sound. A heavy voice filled the air, proclaiming only one word: "DONE…"
Heads swivelled to see who had spoken, but there was no apparent speaker and the only sight that had them all drawn was a broken boy crouched on the ground sobbing his heart out, and a tall slender boy standing over him; a stark look on his face.
"Take him away," Harry whispered, standing back. Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick moved to forwards to force Voldemort to his feet and were shocked to discover that the hideous image of before to a sallow looking teenage boy. Professor Dumbledore stepped forwards to look at the boy sadly.
"I'm sorry for everything, Tom," Dumbledore said softly. "But you are on the way to healing… You have repented and that has stripped away everything that was done to you from your dark mind…"
Tom looked away; pain filling his eyes. "I can never make up what I did… But I can try…" he whispered. Snape looked at Dumbledore, nodded and he and Flitwick suddenly disappeared.
"He's really gone," Harry whispered. "It's done…" The entirety of what had happened hit him and he collapsed to the ground exhausted.
"Well at least your thoughts have stopped broadcasting too," Professor Trelawney said quietly into the emptiness. Harry looked over to where the Death Eaters knelt penitently.
Professor Dumbledore crossed over to them.
"We…" Lucius Malfoy began… "We wish to repent….as well. I don't think it will be easy…"
"It won't," Albus said softly, the fierce wizard of before replaced by a disappointed old man. "You will do your atonement as well."
Lucius nodded. "I am only just beginning to realize… what life means…"
Harry got to his feet unsteadily, casting one unsure glance over at Lucius Malfoy before smiling brilliantly as Draco crossed over to him; yanking off the Slytherin robes as he advanced on Harry.
"How did you know it was me?" Draco asked wonderingly.
"Because," Harry said, grinning for the first time all day. "Because, because, because."
Draco smiled and glanced over at his father; a saddened expression crossing his face. He looked back to Harry. The taller boy grasped hold of Draco's hand and dragged him over to where Lucius knelt.
"Father," Draco whispered. Lucius kept his gaze firmly on the ground.
"I'm sorry for what I did," the older Malfoy said softly. "If there is anything I can do to make up for it…"
"Just repent," Draco said softly. "And mean it… And then maybe I will be able to accept I have a father again."
"I was angry, I never meant to hurt you," Lucius mumbled.
"Perhaps," Draco sniffed. "Maybe after you've served your sentence you can visit me and my boyfriend sometime."
"I'd like that," Lucius said, his gaze moving to Harry. Harry stared down at him flatly, unforgiving, and Lucius frowned a little. There was a flash and Snape and Flitwick reappeared, along with Remus and Sirius.
"HARRY!" Harry had one second's notice before two arms were flung around his neck and he was being hugged rather firmly by his godfather. "You did it! I knew you could!"
"It wasn't me," Harry said; disentangling himself. "He did it all by himself. He had it in him… After all, he is very much like me."
"Harry…" Sirius whispered.
"Can you take them back to Azkaban?" Harry turned to Sirius before inclining his head clinically towards the kneeling death eaters.
Sirius nodded. "You'll give me all the gory details later, right?"
Harry smiled. "Of course."
"Then it's a deal." Sirius moved back to where Remus, Severus and Professor Flitwick stood and the four apparated again; this time with the death eaters in tow.
"Well this has been an eventful day," Professor Dumbledore said wryly. "I suppose we'd better get ready to let the students come back," he added.
Professor McGonagall nodded. "What a job that will be," she said. "We also should inform the ministry what happened, and write up a report for Wizarding Weekly. The entire wizarding world needs to know it's safe now."
"No, it's not."
Heads turned to see Harry stood there; clutching almost unconsciously to Draco's hand. "Peter Pettigrew has escaped… And I don't think he'll be too happy with events as they are."
Professor Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "I'll put out a warning for Pettigrew too. He's more dangerous than he seems."
"You two however…" Professor Sprout appeared quite close to the two boys stood there. "Have some explaining to do about how Draco got here and you both have to get some rest for tomorrow! Full school again as usual tomorrow!"
Pushing the two boys reluctantly along in front of her, Professor Sprout ushered them to the Gryffindor dorm while Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore exchanged a wry glance before setting up to do the many jobs required to be done for the next day.
"Something tells me," Minerva said regretfully, "that this isn't all over by a long shot."