CHAPTER TEN: VOLDEMORT
If the week of the fight between Harry and Ron went too slowly for Harry then the fortnight that followed, leading up to Halloween, more than up for it. What made it even worse was that all of the trio's free time outside lessons was spent in Remus' rooms learning Decio's Slayer Curse. None of the trio thought this was time wasted, but they would have much preferred to spend the last two weeks before Harry's post-Halloween plan came into being, enjoying themselves without the threat of schoolwork or the forthcoming battle hanging over them. This was especially the case with Harry, who was getting increasingly nervous as the days wore on, not that he had any regrets about what he was planning, deep down he knew he had no other choice. This didn't mean he wasn't scared of what he was about to do; he wasn't sure how everyone would react, especially the Slytherins. Harry was glad at least that he had the distraction of near constant classes, both lessons and the sessions with Remus. Another source of comfort was Ron, Hermione and the four men who were involved in the plan to defeat Voldemort, he knew that all six of them would stand by him no matter what, like the family he believed them to be.
In fact Harry had hardly any time to think about what exactly was going to happen on Halloween until the day itself. Harry's schedule of constant classes had lasted up until Friday 29th, even over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th when he had no school classes; he'd spent all day learning the Slayer Curse. They'd distracted themselves on the 30th with the first Hogsmeade trip of the school year, spending the whole day wandering around the village laughing, joking and generally having a good time, while forgetting all about what was going to happen the next evening. That evening had been the final planning session, when James had finally revealed where exactly the attack was going to take place. Harry knew that the spy had found out several weeks previously, but hadn't said anything for reasons, which Harry didn't understand. Whatever James' reasons were he was eternally grateful for them when he found out the location was Hogsmeade; he simply wouldn't have been able to enjoy the Hogsmeade visit if he had known that Voldemort was going to attack the village the next evening.
Being a Sunday, Harry didn't have any classes on Halloween, and for that he was thankful. He simply wouldn't have been able to concentrate on them because he was too nervous. In fact he couldn't concentrate on anything at all, not even exploding snap. Eventually he'd resorted to pacing in his father's rooms after Hermione had snapped at him for pacing across the common room. At least his father was doing the exact same thing, while muttering under his breath. Remus, James and Sirius had eventually joined them for supper, which they decided to eat in the potions master's quarters, rather than attend the feast. Not that anybody ate all that much they were all far too anxious.
Finally at ten o'clock something happened, James felt the dark mark burning, an hour earlier than expected. Harry knew that his father felt it too but didn't react to it; he wasn't the one being summoned.
"Well this is it guys," James said looking around at the gathered group straight after he had been summoned. They all looked horrendously nervous, too nervous. His voice sounded dry, but without any hint of the pain that the burning dark mark gave him. An impassive mask had slipped on his face the moment he had felt the mark burn, disguising his pain, fear and nerves. Even with the protection that the death eater uniform offered him, he could not show his emotions in front of Voldemort, if he did the consequences would most likely be fatal, "It's time for the show to hit the road. Our mission, to kill Voldemort or die trying, all or nothing, because if we fail and survive we die anyway in a few months time, as the world crumbles around us." The nerves were forgotten as determination filled him, and echoed in his words. His voice was strong and passionate, any hint of dryness gone, "As Voldemort destroys all that is good in life, all the fun, laughter, happiness and above all love with a swarm of dementors. He seeks only to instil fear, misery and evil in the hearts of the innocent, to turn the world into his evil plaything, where men live to worship him, where the only pleasure is sadistic pleasure and where the only enjoyment is derived from the most horrendous suffering and the most inhumane atrocities. We cannot let this world come to pass. We have to stop him. We will stop him, and nothing is going to prevent us from stopping him." His speech finished he swept from the room towards Hogsmeade, determined to do his part in ensuring their plan worked. He couldn't afford to be too emotional though, and he couldn't let himself think of the real reason he was doing this, about Lilly. If he did he'd most likely try to kill Voldemort himself
James speech had worked wonders for the morale and focus of the rest of the group, who soon followed their co-conspirator, the speech reverberating through their heads. If anyone had seen the looks on the faces on the four conspirators, and the way they carried themselves as they walked out of the castle down towards Hogsmeade then they would have known instantly that something big was about to happen and that anyone who crossed them would be very sorry. The look of pure determination on Harry's face would have sent those of more nervous dispositions running in the other direction. The raven-haired boy's eyes were blocks of dark emerald green that looked as hard as diamond and as cold as ice. It was these eyes that Dumbledore saw as he waited in the entrance hall for the four to walk past. It was these eyes that met the headmasters solemn blue eyes for a few seconds as the four walked past, and it was these eyes that made Dumbledore smile after the four had walked out if the great double doors. For it was these eyes that told him that Harry would not fail, and it was this thought that made Dumbledore truly happy, for the first time in a thousand years.
The four men didn't even notice the cold Halloween air as they strode across the school grounds towards Hogsmeade, they were far too focused in the task in hand to deal with such petty concerns, at least not until they reached the village and decided to wait inside the Three Broomsticks rather than outside as planned. The man, the boy and the werewolf sat down at one of the tables near the door, Sirius, in his dog form, sat underneath the table. Needless to say Madam Rosmerta was highly annoyed by this, as not only were they taking up a table without buying anything, but the presence of the werewolf and the dog was sure to drive customers away as well. After a few minutes she asked them to leave.
"We are here on behalf of the Order of the Phoenix," Professor Snape responded to her request in a business-like manner, although this was technically a lie, Dumbledore would be willing to back them up. He conjured up some identification, Harry and Remus followed suit, "We have reason to believe that the death eaters will be attacking the village tonight." She checked their papers, especially Remus', before giving them back and leaving all four of them in peace.
"Death Eaters?" An old man who was sitting at the bar sneered disdainfully, "Don't tell me you believe all of Dumbledore's fancy lies about the return of You-know-who."
"No," Harry replied harshly, standing up and walking over to the man. He looked him in the eye and glared at him venomously. He was not in the mood to argue with some stupid drunk about Voldemort's return, "I do not believe that Voldemort has returned. I know he has returned for I have seen him with my own eyes. He is back and the sooner you accept it the more likely you are too survive." The old man looked shocked and slightly scared by the expression of determination and anger on Harry's face. Although, he wasn't scared enough not to scoff at Harry's words.
"Indeed," Harry heard another of the customers say in a deep silky voice. It was a hooded man sitting in the corner, with four other similarly attired men, who had spoken, "I would advise you to leave now, Raymond, else you will not survive the night. Snape is correct in saying that the dark lord will attack here tonight." A quick glance at Snape confirmed that the man was a death eater, as were his companions. Looking around the pub he noticed another group of five hooded men, who also looked as though they were death eaters.
"See," Harry hissed at the old man, again looking at him directly in the eyes, "Even the death eater admits it, Voldemort is back." Again the old man flinched at the dark lord's name, and again he refused to believe Harry.
"Julius isn't a death eater," the old man protested fiercely, "He's not that kind of person."
Harry didn't even need to reply to that one, as the death eater did it for him, "Oh but I am," he said in a tone of voice that indicated that he had a big smirk plastered on his face. He stood up and drew his wand; his colleagues followed suit, "And don't say I didn't warn you."
Harry had read what was about to happen before the man even cast the killing curse at him, and pushed himself and the old man to the ground just as the spell was cast, causing it to fly harmlessly over their heads and hit the wall. Severus, Remus and some of the other customers responded instantly, shooting curses at the death eaters, Sirius joined in once he had resumed his human form. Harry didn't though; he didn't want to risk getting killed before he had the chance to confront Voldemort. Instead he jumped behind the bar and followed Madam Rosmerta through the back door and round the side to the main street, where he waited for Voldemort and his death eaters to arrive.
He didn't have to wait long either, as after about ten minutes of waiting outside in the cold, fifty death eaters led by their master apparated into Hogsmeade and started shooting curses left, right and centre trying to cause as much destruction as possible. The moment the destruction started, Harry turned round and ran away from the street towards the back entrance of the Three Broomsticks, and turned left along the backs of the shops, away from Hogwarts and towards the Death Eaters. Without anybody to back him up he wasn't going to walk openly down the street, that would be suicide, instead he hoped to catch Voldemort by surprise while hiding in-between two buildings and casting the curse at him as he passed. He wasn't going to wait for Voldemort to pass the Three Broomsticks, in case he never got that far along the street. Instead he intended to meet him in the middle by in the small side alley between Zonko's and the post office, Voldemort would be sure to get that far.
Once he was in position, standing hidden in the alley, he wouldn't be able to cast the spell properly lying down, Harry's nerves reappeared and gradually getting worse and worse as the seconds ticked by. Not even repeating the incantation under his breath helped calm his nerves in those few seconds before Voldemort appeared. And although it seemed like an age it was only a few seconds before Voldemort came into Harry's line of sight, leading the horde of death eaters. His reaction was virtually automatic, he cast the spell without even thinking what he was doing, yelling the familiar words that had been drilled into over the past two weeks, calling upon the very light itself to cleanse it's ancient enemy. For an instant he felt the energies of the light build up inside him, making him feel as though he was on fire, a fire that could cleanse everything and create innocence and happiness out of pure evil. Soon the feeling was gone, in a flash of brilliant while light that connected Harry and Voldemort, cleansing Voldemort's body and soul and healing Harry's scar in the process. The spell had worked, the dark lord was gone, but what Harry did not expect was to find something left behind. It seemed Voldemort wasn't completely evil after all, for floating where the dark lord had been was a ghost, the embodiment of Voldemort's long suppressed light side.
Decio's Slayer Curse is pure light magic, and works by killing those with a link to the dark, be they dark creature, dark lord or death eater. The curse only destroys the darkness within people, so that if someone has a light side they automatically come back as a ghost, whether they like it or not. If a dark creature falls foul of the curse they cannot come back as a ghost even if he/she is a good person, simply because they are beings of complete darkness. Remus may not be evil, but he's still dark. Aside form Voldemort's ghost and further hints about the nature of Harry's deageing potion plan, I have also included one other hint about the nature of the sequel in this chapter. I will also tell you that Voldemort's ghost, and the other hint are interlinked. Thank You for your feedback and your reviews, keep them coming. I'm not a review junkie, but I cannot write without feedback.
Jelly Bean: Perhaps James doesn't want to let people know he survived, perhaps he just wants to forget the past fifteen years, perhaps he just wants to just start all over again. Whatever his motives are they fit into Harry's intentions perfectly. All will be explained.
Lirael: I assume you're a rabid Hermione and H/Hr hater then. Never Mind If you really can't stand H/Hr that much then I understand, I'm the same way about H/G.
reanne080: I trust your idea about what happens involves Harry as well as James. Hopefully all will be explained in the chapter.