A/N: Bravo, clever readers, you've managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together… more or less, at least. The rest is my task.
I've drawn a sketch of a scene in this chapter – about a very angry Harry and a scared Norbert. In case you want to see it, tell me and I'll send it to you.
There will be dates in this chapter that might confuse the American readers. I used the British date-order: day/month/year, so when you read 10/12/2000, it means 10th December 2000, not 12th October 2000.
This chapter is dedicated to the wonderfully clever Bucky who had insisted on Norbert being evil all along and also thought of him being Harry's child before anyone else did.
Chapter 29
Father and Son
"You're insane," Harry breathed.
"Am not," Norbert replied. "You. Are. My. Father."
"Impossible! How…?"
"How? Well, let me tell you a story," Norbert said. "Or rather… show it?"
"Show… what?" Ginny knitted her eyebrows. She had a very bad feeling. They were in a bad enough situation, but her feelings told her that soon they'd be getting into an even worse one.
A secretive little smile was playing around Norbert's mouth as he looked from Harry to Ginny, seeing confusion on their faces – confusion and something showing that they were holding him for a complete fool.
"You think I'm raving mad, right?" he grinned. "Oh, I'm not. Never been, Harry. But if you don't believe me… I'm going to show you. You grew up with Muggles, didn't you? Then I expect you like watching television…" with a swish of his wand he conjured some screen-like object that hovered in mid-air. "Let the show begin."
Another flick with his wand, and the screen came to life, showing a dark room with a bed and a figure lying in it. The screen-illusion looked the perfect replica of a Muggle TV replaying some old VHS tape. Even the datum could be seen in the corner: 07.04.2000.
Steps could be heard and a man with greyish-blond hair walked up to the bed.
The figure in the bed stirred. "Where am I?" it asked in a feminine voice that sounded strangely familiar to Harry, but he couldn't place it.
"You are at Malfoy Manor," came the answer.
"But… am I not dead?" the woman, whose face was in shadow, asked. "I… I thought I died… I… I killed my lover, then I…"
"…then you lost consciousness because you were seriously injured," the man replied, whom Harry and Ginny recognised as Lucius Malfoy. "You were injured, but not dying. The others thought you died and I took on to bury you… I made a fake grave for you and brought you here."
"Why?" she breathed. "You… you came with the red-headed men… you were on the other side, fighting against us… then why save me?"
"That's rather simple, my dear," Lucius sat down on the bed. "I did not want you to die or get into Azkaban, because I need you."
"Me? What for?"
"Well, actually it's not even me who wants you… but my Lord. And actually it's not even you whom he wants, but something that is in your possession."
"In my possession?" her voice was hoarse and sounded scared. "But I have nothing. Nothing left at all. All that I had was destroyed when I killed the only man I have ever loved… what could I have that your lord wants?"
"Well, my dear…" Lucius said, "the child you are carrying."
"Child?" she gasped. "What are you talking about? I can't be… Anor and I haven't had a chance to… oh my gosh!"
"I see have you finally understood," Malfoy said.
She sat up, her face that had been in shadow now got illuminated by a candle on the bedside table. She looked frightened. Harry had never seen this woman so frightened. But Harry had seen this woman enough times to remember her for a lifetime.
"I'm with Harry Potter's child," she breathed.
Lucius nodded. "Yes, dear Tatyana, you are."
The screen went blank for some seconds and Norbert looked from the deadly pale Harry to the scared-to-death Ginny. "Liked it so far? Well, the show must go on!"
The dark room reappeared on the screen with a new datum: 10.12.2000.
This time, however, the room wasn't silent as for the first time. Screams filled the air – painful screams, coming from the direction of the bed. As though some magical camera had suddenly zoomed in on its occupant, the suffering face of Tatyana Fiodrovna came into focus. Though the room was dark, the torment could easily be seen on her usually beautiful features. Beads of sweat were trickling down her forehead and her teeth were gritted as she clutched at the sheet, crumpling it in her pain.
"How long to go?" Lucius' voice came from the left, but he couldn't be seen. He was obviously there in the room, waiting.
"Not long, sir," a house-elf's squeaking little voice replied as she hurried up to the woman on the bed. "You are doing fine, miss, just a little more time…"
"Get this bloody thing out of me!" Tatyana howled, slumping back onto her pillow.
"Patience, miss, patience!" the elf pleaded.
Another form hurried into view, holding a basin of hot water.
"Narcissa, help her!" Lucius instructed.
"I'm doing everything in my power, but I can't quicken the process! I'm no mediwizard!"
"You aren't fond of Cruciatus, my sweet, are you?" Malfoy's voice said somewhat gentler. The blonde woman shook her head. "Good. Then get moving!"
Both Narcissa and the house-elf bent over Tatyana, blocking her out of view. For minutes only her screams could be heard. Then suddenly… a baby-cry.
A chair creaked, as though someone had just stood up from it and Lucius' back appeared. "Move away from her," he said coldly.
Narcissa, holding a baby that was still sticky and mucky, backed away, her eyes radiating utter horror.
Panting, the young mother looked up. "What is… going on…?" she breathed, but as an answer came a flash of green light, following the words Avada Kedavra.
Harry gasped. That was the other half of his returning nightmare: a woman screaming with pain, then the green light…
On the screen Narcissa wrapped the child into some blanket and her husband took it out of her hands. Lucius' face seemed exhilarated – it was beaming as he looked down at the tiny bundle and whispered: "Welcome back, My Lord."
It all fitted. It all bloody fitted! The datum: 10th December, 2000! Harry did remember that day – Minerva and Aberforth's wedding. He had been talking to Neville, when Neville had accidentally let some cookie fall, and they had both bent down for it. Their heads had clashed and Harry's forehead had exploded with pain. Neville had merely massaged his own forehead but hadn't seemed to have serious pains. Harry, however, had felt pain. And it hadn't been just because he had bumped his head with Neville's… very possibly that had been the very second Voldemort had been reborn.
Reborn… as his son.
He just couldn't find words. He felt numb and dumb. All he could do was watch the boy's face, and suddenly recognise the resemblances: his hair wasn't black because the Malfoys had had vampire ancestors – it was black because both Harry and Tatyana's was black. His eyes weren't grey because all the Malfoys' were grey – those were Tatyana's icy-grey eyes again. Now he understood everything. But he wished he hadn't. He wished he were deaf not to hear and blind not to see. He wished he were mentally subnormal to be unable to understand all what he had just seen and heard…
The first time when he had met Norbert at King's Cross, Norbert had given him – or rather his scar – a peculiar glance that had made a shiver ran down Harry's spine. That feeling he had had towards this boy all along now had an explanation. What he had told Hagrid back at Christmas about feeling that there was something repulsing yet attracting in this boy was also explained… he understood it.
Finally he did.
He had been repulsed because his subconscious had told him that something was wrong with this boy… he had felt the evil in him, but hadn't let it enter his conscious, it had remained suppressed all along… he had felt repulsed by Lord Voldemort, even though he had had no idea that Norbert was him.
And he had felt attracted to Norbert all the same, for this boy was his son.
His flesh and blood.
Aberforth Dumbledore had felt affection for Julie when he hadn't even known that they were related, and the same way Harry had felt that there was something about this boy… his blood.
His blood… and that of Godric Gryffindor.
"That is how you opened the door to this chamber?" he whispered. It wasn't really a question – it was rather a statement.
"Yes, of course," Norbert nodded. "I'm also Gryffindor's descendant, through you, though I find it a bit ridiculous after having been Slytherin's heir for so long…"
"You're my brother, then?" Daniel's voice spoke up, sounding disgusted. "You're my brother and you still stole that page to control me? You are my brother and you tried to… kill me?" tears were running down his face and he turned to Harry. "How could you, dad? How could you ever sleep with another woman and conceive this… this…"
"Monster?" Norbert helped with a fitting term. "Oh, don't be mad at our dad, Dan. He wasn't faulty. He had been bewitched and had no idea what he was doing. And he certainly had no idea that Tatyana, his evil seducer, hadn't died."
"Why?" Harry cut in. "Why choose Tatyana? And how did you know about her at all?"
"Haven't I told you before?" Norbert sounded miffed. "Down there in hell you can see everything from the world of the living. It is part of the punishment that you must watch people living happily while you are rotting down there… I was watching your every step, Harry. I was the first to know about Tatyana's pregnancy. She was too eager to wake up her dratted lover from his eternal sleep – she was so eager that she forgot to drink her contraceptive potion before she seduced you for the third time… I knew it and I was intently watching every single second of your stomach-turning sexual encounter. I was watching and waiting… and I practically jumped out of my little pond of fire and brimstone when I witnessed the historic moment: the second of the conception. I was ecstatic to see that one Y and one X chromosome joined… I knew it'd be a boy, thus suitable for me to be reborn as him," he gave the Potters a victorious grin at seeing that Ginny had turned green with nausea and Harry's face was no longer as white as a sheet, but blood-red with anger.
"Why?" Professor Potter groaned. "Why him? Why my child?"
"Oh, of course you don't know… how could you know?" Norbert waved. "There is a rule in the netherworld saying that if you have killed people out of pure evil, then you aren't allowed to reincarnate. I knew this, how could I have not known? And it peeved me a lot. But there is another rule of the netherworld that you didn't know about… that not even the writer of that book 'Death and beyond' knew about: even the most evil wizards may get a second chance, under one condition: they might be reborn once, only once, and only in the body of their greatest enemy's child. If you were a dark wizard and your greatest enemy didn't have any children, then you weren't in luck. But I was lucky. I knew about this rule and lived with the opportunity. Certainly I didn't want to be reborn as a Potter…" he looked at Ginny. "I couldn't have borne to have a Weasley as my mother. So Tatyana came in handy. I merely had to find a onetime follower of mine and knew that only Lucius Malfoy was at large of all my Death Eaters. He had once been disobedient and I punished him with Cruciatus. I heard he had gone temporarily mad and got into St. Mungo's, that's why he was the only Death Eater who wasn't there at Stonehenge… that's why later he was the only Death Eater who wasn't in Azkaban, so the only Death Eater who could help me…"
"And he agreed to help you… after what you have done to him?" Ginny asked, shaking from head to toe. She knew that the longer time they were asking Voldemort questions, the longer time it'd take him to answer (for he had said that he wanted them to know everything before they died), and the longer time they'd live.
"Oh, certainly he did. Apart from that minor disobedience, he was still an avid follower of mine," Norbert replied. "You may be wondering how I got into touch with him when he was alive and I dead…"
"Well, of course we are interested," Ginny said to buy more time, trying to sound nonchalant, but her voice was wavering.
Voldemort nodded. "Sometimes the dead can communicate with the living if they have a strong enough will. Sometimes they can only reach the living through dreams, but if they are very determined in their intentions – as I was -, they can talk to the living any time. I clearly remember the first time I spoke to Lucius after my death… it was some time after you, Virginia, left for Durmstrang."
Ginny gasped. She couldn't believe that Voldemort had seen her leaving for Dursmtrang… that he had seen everything of their lives: all their happy moments, all their sorrows, he had seen into their bodies and souls…
"After you left for Durmstrang, your parents and brothers got a bit worried about you and decided to go after you." Norbert continued talking to her. "They paid Lucius a visit at Malfoy Manor and demanded that Lucius tell them the location of Durmstrang. Lucius, certainly, refused. And that was when I intervened. I talked to him. Naturally, only he heard me. 'Lucius, tell them', I said. Poor old Lucius got so frightened by hearing his dead master's voice talking in his head that he dropped the glass he was holding," the boy let out a laugh, as if finding this particular memory highly amusing. "Later, when the Weasleys didn't know where you had gone, I told Lucius to go to Asgard as well."
"Why did you want Malfoy to tell the Weasleys where to go?" Harry asked. He was of the same opinion as Ginny: the longer they talked, the longer they lived. But Harry was no more sure whether he wanted to live at all. Not with the knowledge that he had unintentionally fathered a second Voldemort… that he was Voldemort's father. However, for the sake of his wife and Daniel he had to carry on asking, hoping that someone would still find them and help them… though Norbert had told them that all possible rescuers would be walking into a trap… Harry no more knew what to think, what to feel, what to hope for, he just carried on asking.
"Why?" Norbert sneered. "Because I knew about Tatyana's pregnancy and wanted Lucius to go to Durmstrang with the Weasleys to get to Tatyana. He was to get hold of Tatyana by all means and protect her in case the Weasleys or someone wanted to kill her… I needed her alive to carry that child to term and Lucius had to see to it that she would give birth to the child. Tatyana's injury at Asgard came in handy. Fortunately, her injury made by that sword wasn't lethal. However, that Aaron bloke had pangs of remorse, believing that he had killed her. Lucius had an easy task making everyone believe that Tatyana had indeed died. He told everyone that he had buried her, but instead he took her to his manor and kept her as a prisoner in there until she gave birth… then disposed of her."
"You are disgusting, you know that?" Harry spat.
"I've been told a couple of times, yes," Voldemort grinned. "But your outburst shows that you feel sorry for that poor woman… did you by any chance have feelings for her?"
"No, I did not!" Harry snapped. "I hated her with all my heart for what she did to me, but killing her after she gave birth is just…"
"…cruel," Ginny whispered, looking at her husband. "Harry, you must know that I'm not blaming you… I'm not blaming you for anything."
"I love you," Harry mouthed to her, touching his fingertips to hers.
With a small smile, she pressed her fingers to his as hard as the shackles let her. "I love you, too."
Norbert started clapping. "Wonderful! You should be playing in some drama, say Romeo and Juliet… you could die for each other in a very believable way… but I'm not letting you die together," he added with a malicious smirk. "Virginia, you killed me at Stonehenge, thus you are to suffer the most. You will be watching your precious husband die… with the help of dear little Daniel."
"NO!" Dan shouted desperately. His face had gone ashen. "You can't make me kill my father!"
"But of course I can," Norbert replied with utter delight. "You'll be killing your – our – father, with my help. I will be imagining him die and you'll just execute my mental images… so we'll kill him together. What do you say, brother?"
"Don't call me brother!" Daniel yelled, his eyes sparkling with fury. "You're not my brother! I hate you!"
"Good," Voldemort chuckled. "Hate gives you power. And your power is just what I need," he turned to Harry again. "So, let us begin with the process, daddy?"
"I'm not daddy to you," Harry hissed through gritted teeth.
"Oh, but of course you are," Norbert leant close to him so that Harry could look into nothing else but his cold grey eyes. "I am of your blood. Like it or not, you are my father. Hm… reminds me of the case of the great king Arthur… unwillingly seduced, unwillingly planting his seed into a witch he despised… and the witch gave birth to Mordred, who killed his own father."
"You mean they killed each other," Harry corrected him. "They stabbed each other at the same moment and died at each other's hands. Learn History of Magic before you start quoting anything wrong."
"Well," Norbert stepped back with a little smile, "Mordred wasn't paying attention enough. But Lord Voldemort is. And believe me, I'm going to kill you… do you know, Daniel," he turned to the other boy, "do you know what I actually saw in the Mirror of Erised when we both looked into it back in September?"
"I don't know but I'm not even interested," Dan growled, his chocolate brown eyes narrowed with hate and disgust, his face revealing the terrible frustration he was feeling over not being able to break free from Norbert's control. If Norbert wanted him to, he'd have to kill his parents.
"I don't care if you're not interested…" Norbert shrugged. "I'm still telling it and you all will listen. Well, when I looked into the mirror, I saw myself standing over Harry Potter's dead body, laughing. I had killed him. I had killed my father, just like I had killed my first father in my first life… it was, and still is the greatest desire of my heart," he stepped to Harry again, a hungry look on his face. "How much I have waited for this moment, Potter… how many times I have imagined how I'd be doing it…"
"Then don't talk! Do!" Harry shouted. Let's get it over with.
Norbert cocked his head, giving him a quizzical look, as if not believing what he had just heard. There was something to that look that clenched Harry's heart – not the evilness of that look, not even the incredulity in it, but the way Norbert's face showed that kind of emotion… it was Harry's very own way of cocking his head and sending the silent message 'I don't believe you have just said that'… it struck him that this boy looked so much alike him. Not just his hair-colour, but also the line of his lips, the way he furrowed his eyebrows… it was all, all inherited from Harry.
He saw that Norbert glimpsed at Daniel, and knew what it meant: that the next second, or maybe the one after the next, Norbert would imagine him dying, and Daniel would have to carry it out…
One last time Harry looked at Ginny, sending her an unspoken 'I love you forever', then at Daniel, sending him an 'It's not your fault, I still love you', then finally his stare shifted back to Norbert's face. Norbert. His son. His greatest enemy.
"Do it," he whispered.
A huge grin spread on Norbert's otherwise cute face – he was bracing himself for the long-awaited act…
At that very second the door of the chamber burst open.
* * * * *
Everything happened so fast that Harry couldn't really keep up with the events: four figures dashed into the chamber, three of them holding their wands out, ready to strike down, one smaller, red-headed figure behind them. Those three – Albus, Snape and Cho - immediately shot stunners at Norbert, but the streaks of magic ejected from their wands stopped at midway between them and the boy and exploded into tiny sparks. Before those three could send another curse at the boy, their wands got ripped out of their hands and a huge cage appeared out of nowhere, falling at them. They were trapped. The remaining figure – the smaller redhead - sought a way to flee, but the door of the chamber slammed shut in front of her.
"Why have you brought Lily?" Harry shouted at Dumbledore accusingly.
The old wizard shot him a 'calm-down-Harry' glance. "We had to. We needed someone to open the door for us, since only Gryffindor's descendants can open it," he sent Norbert a meaningful look.
"You know, then," the boy said. "You know that Potter's my father."
"Yes, we know. And we've come to save him, Ginny and Daniel from you."
"Oh, you pathetic, miserable fools!" Norbert cackled. "Save them? You have to get up earlier if you want to outwit me! I have an Imaginer on a leash, didn't you know?"
"Oh, of course we knew, Voldemort," Albus Dumbledore replied from the cage.
"Ah, so you know that, too," Norbert seemed a bit surprised. "Very curious… how did you get to know?"
"Narcissa Malfoy told us," replied the headmaster coldly.
"Narcissa?" the boy raised an eyebrow. "I thought Lucius was taking better care of her and making sure that she didn't walk around telling everyone that her son was in fact the Dark Lord… I'll have to punish Lucius for his lack of obedience, I'm afraid… how could she flee from him? Did she tell? I'm really, really interested to know."
"She didn't tell us," Snape grunted. "She only said that she had fled from Malfoy Manor."
"Yes, from Malfoy Manor," Albus added, "and that's exactly what I didn't understand. How could she have come from Malfoy Manor when the Malfoy family wasn't even there?"
"Oh, but of course they were there," Norbert replied. "What made you think that they weren't?"
"Well," Dumbledore said looking too calm for the seriousness of the situation, "I happened to ask Draco to go to Malfoy Manor to question the house-elves about Lucius' whereabouts. However, Draco didn't find anyone in the Manor. Not even the elves. And I wondered: why?"
"Oh, you crackpot old fool, it was the Fidelius," Norbert waved. "You talked Potter's parents into performing it themselves, didn't you? And they chose Pettigrew as their secret-keeper, to my greatest delight…" a disgusting smile spread on his face as he was reliving those moments. "I did the very same, Dumbledore. I sent Lucius to you to tell you that he was about to leave the country with Narcissa, while in fact they never left. One night at September I sneaked out of the castle and Apparated from Hogsmeade to Malfoy Manor to perform the Fidelius on them and the whole household in case someone got suspicious and wanted to talk to Lucius. You know how the Fidelius works: you can be in the same room with its beneficiary, you still won't notice them."
"So, you were Lucius and Narcissa's secret-keeper," Albus drew the conclusion.
"Yes, I was. Pretty witty, isn't it?"
"Witty, indeed," Dumbledore nodded. "But may I ask, Mr. Witty, what you are planning for the future? I have no doubt that you intend to kill all of us… but what about the rest of the world? You cannot take over right after you did away with us… not even with Daniel's help."
"Why couldn't I?" Norbert crossed his arms.
"Because you are – like it or not – just a little boy. A little boy with average magical talents. I have no doubt that Lucius helped you develop some skills needed for Dark Arts before you came to Hogwarts, but you are still not on the same level you were on at the zenith of your power. You won't be able to get back your followers, since they are at Azkaban… and even if you managed to set them free which I doubt, they will not obey you. No Death Eater in his right mind would prostrate himself in front of a mere boy."
"I'm no mere boy, Dumbledore!" Norbert yelled angrily. "I am Lord Voldemort! And trust me, I know enough dark magic to take over the world. All witches and wizards who reincarnate remember the knowledge they had in their previous life. So did my mother… that's why she wanted to reincarnate again and again until she managed to wake up that loser Anor. I remember every piece of Dark Art I had known in my first life, and I can use them at will. Do you think I couldn't have beaten all the candidates at the wizard-knight tournament if I had wanted to? Oh, of course I could have! I could have easily beaten the seventh-years, too. But, I had to lose to some Mudblood, so that Daniel would have a chance to play in the final round, giving me a chance to try his powers… My dear brother Draco was right – I lost deliberately. He nearly unmasked me, but I'll get him for that," Norbert looked at Daniel who was crouching in the corner, looking extremely exhausted. He had been forced to do more Imagining in the last one hour than he had in his whole life. "I am powerful, Dumbledore. All I need is a bit of Age Correction Potion, and my Death Eaters will be at my side again… Or I won't even need that potion… I have Daniel. With his help I could achieve anything I want… the most impossible things… oh yes," his lips tucked into a satisfied smirk, "I could force him to make me immortal as well… I'll be back to my former glory… thanks to our Harry."
"Harry?" Cho breathed. It was the first time that she spoke.
"Yes, Harry," nodded Norbert. "I'm willing to tell you the history of my returning, if you want. I love talking about myself," he added with a wide grin.
"You don't need to," Albus said. "We know that you are Tatyana Fiodrovna and Harry Potter's son. The parchment book told us so after I removed the enchantment that Lucius had placed on it on the day of your birth. The only thing that I want to know: how came that you managed to be reborn at all?"
"Oh, that I have already told Harry and Virginia… I trust you have read 'Death and beyond', Dumbledore?" the headmaster nodded. "Well, then you know the 'killing - no reincarnating' rule… but there's another rule that you didn't know about… that isn't printed in any books… that no one of the living knew about: you can be reborn once, only once, in the body of your greatest enemy's child. And I was lucky enough to get to know that this Tatyana bitch was expecting Potter's little bastard. I merely had to use Lucius' help. So, put it this way: I must thank Harry for my return to life… and soon I'll be fully returned to my power as well. I'm already almost as powerful as you are, Dumbledore, and soon, I'll be even more powerful. Probably the only thing you can do and I can't yet is to turn invisible…" he smirked contentedly.
"Then tell me, Malfoy, or Voldemort, or whatever your name is," Snape interjected, "tell me how you got out of the castle to perform the Fidelius in September without anyone noticing. How did you do it if you couldn't turn invisible?"
"You know, I shouldn't be even answering you, you traitorous scum… but I'll be nice and give you the answer, since this is very likely the last thing you ask in your life… how did I do it? Very easily. I had an Invisibility Cloak."
"But…" Dan seemed to have pulled himself together enough to talk, "you got that cloak for Christmas! How could you have used it back in September?"
"Oh, Dannie, Dannie, Dannie! You are so endearingly naive!" Norbert tutted. "I didn't get the cloak for Christmas. I have always had it. I left it at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays because I didn't want it to catch fire…" he added with a small smile.
"So that was you, too." Albus sighed. "The fire."
"Yes, the fire, Virginia Potter's miscarriage, the spiders at Halloween, Daniel's fall into the well, Daniel Imagining a basilisk, Daniel nearly killing Snape, etc., etc." Norbert replied, looking terribly satisfied with himself. "Even Lily turning on her father was my doing," he turned around to face the redheaded girl who was leaning to the wall, trying to support her weight all along.
"You?" she breathed. "You… you did that?"
"Oh, yes, I did," he advanced on her. "The necklace I gave to you. It drove you mad. It made you hate poor daddy… you may take it off now. But in your place I'd reconsider it… if you keep it on, you'll be able to witness your father's execution without feeling sorry for him. But if you take it off, your heart will be broken into little pieces…" he reached out to cup the girl's chin. "Wouldn't it be easier to carry on hating him? Wouldn't it?" he leant closer, so that his nose was almost touching hers. She remembered the first time they were this close: in the pantry of the Potter house on Christmas Eve. He had been asked to teach her the way of kissing. She still vividly remembered the electric shock that had coursed down her body when his lips had touched hers…
"You bastard!" she pushed him back with such force that he almost fell. "You disgusting son of a bitch! How dared you kiss me? How dared you… you Voldemort!"
"Oh, and what's your problem with it? Don't you like my name? You could carry on calling me Norbert, if you like," he grinned. "I was playing with you Lily, I admit, but we weren't a bad couple together… if we teamed up, we could be really, really good, you know… we could take up where we left off…"
She spat at him.
"Honestly, why do you red-headed women do this all the time?" he wiped his face with the sleeve of his robes. "I meant what I said, Lils," he reached out for her again.
"Don't you dare touch me!" she shrieked. "You're not only Voldemort, you're… you're my brother!"
"Oh, and isn't incest fun?" he laughed.
"You son of a bitch!" she hissed. "You are a disgusting creature created by a disgusting relationship! How could you expect me to… to want to have anything to do with you?"
"Disgusting creature, disgusting relationship…" he crossed his arms, pouting. "I'm your brother. You are supposed to… love me."
"I'd rather love a flobberworm!" she snapped. "Rather that, than a bastard created by my father's cheating on my mother!"
"Cheating?" Norbert laughed. "Oh, you're so naive, Lily. Good ol' dad never cheated on your mother. My mother bewitched him to sleep with her… wasn't his fault."
Lily gave him a quizzical look. "Why should I believe you?" she had seen Harry kissing Cho Chang in the changing room, she could easily imagine that he had had other women besides her mother.
"Because I'm telling you the truth. Dad's innocent. Right, Harry?" Norbert grinned at Professor Potter. "You never wanted to have anything to do with Tatyana… yet you did. Little Lily here says she doesn't want to have anything to do with me…" he reached out to cup the girl's chin, "but perhaps she still will…"
"Leave my daughter alone!" Harry shouted. Norbert had never seen him this furious before – he was straining his shackles like the Bible Samson, but he didn't have the strength to make anything tumble down, just his wrists started bleeding heavier and heavier.
"Do you think you are in the situation to give me orders?" the boy laughed at Harry. "You're gravely mistaken. You might be my father, but I'm not the obedient little son… let Lily decide what she wants."
"I have decided," she whispered, her eyes fixed on her parents. Her fingers curled around the necklace. "I'd rather die than to have anything to do with him. And this also comes from him," with a strong tug she tore the piece of jewellery from her neck and let it fall onto the ground. "Now you are free to kill me. I shall die with my parents, both of whom I dearly love."
Ginny's eyes filled with tears and Harry's face radiated something inexplicable… a mixture of pride, happiness and relief… this was his Lily. A real Potter. But… from a certain point of view Norbert was also a Potter, just by another name… still, with the exception of his looks, he was nothing like a Potter. How could he have been, when his soul was that of Voldemort?
"Whatever happens, Lily," Harry said, "I want you to know that you've been very brave. I'm very proud of you."
"Thanks, dad," she said.
"Thanks, daaaad," Norbert imitated Lily's voice in a mocking tone. Her choice clearly wasn't much to his liking. "You've made a mistake, dear sister. You will have to endure the pain of seeing your father die… and it will be a slow, painful death, not a quick Avada Kedavra… you will have to witness his agony."
"I'd rather witness his death loving him, than feeling nothing," she drew herself up. "I love him."
"I love you, too," her father replied, his emerald eyes locking with Lily's equally emerald ones, as if they were exchanging a gentle mental caress…
"Great," Norbert's voice broke the silence. "Now that the mushy part is over, we might get down to the exciting part. You know, Dumbledore, I thought that you were away, that's why I chose today for this little kidnapping, but I don't mind that you're here. On the contrary: I'm pleased to present you the execution of The Boy Who Lived. From now on he'll be called… The Boy Who Got Killed By His Own Sons. Like your new title, Harry?" he laughed, then squinted at Daniel.
Harry took a deep breath, as though it had been the last one he took, and braced himself for anything that was to come. His stare slipped from face to face: from Daniel's scared and guilty one to Lily's proud one, then to Cho's tear-soaked one. Cho had told him what she felt for him months ago, yet he hadn't been able to fully believe it. Not until now. Now, as he looked into those beautiful deep-brown eyes, he saw the love in them. This woman indeed loved him… his eyes shifted from her face to Snape's. The Potions Master's expression was almost unreadable, but Harry tried to read between the invisible lines… and what he read there appalled him. There was no contempt, no disgust on Snape's face. None of the usual expressions he had so kindly reserved for Harry. What Harry saw there was respect.
Respect – for what? He didn't deserve respect. Not when he had – though unintentionally – given Voldemort a chance to return! However, there was no use trying to decipher what Snape's expression really meant, there was no point in delving into the depths of his supposed respect… there was still one person he wanted to give a last glance to…
Ginny.
His wife.
His life.
She was the most beautiful thing in his life - and not just her looks, but her heart, the way she loved him – it was simply beautiful… a memory worth of taking with himself to the netherworld.
She smiled at him – a brave smile it was. There were no tears in her eyes, although she felt like bawling. She kept her tears at bay. She wouldn't cry, wouldn't let Harry pass with the image of her crying when he could pass seeing her smile…
"Thank you for being my wife, Gin. You have been the best thing in my life."
"So have been you," she whispered. "I'll be with you soon. Forever."
He nodded, his eyes fixed at her face. He wouldn't look away from her. Let her be the last person he saw in his life… let him die seeing her smile…
Norbert was watching this tender moment between husband and wife with an expression of unmistakable disgust. He wanted them to die miserably, but no, Harry Potter just couldn't feel miserable as long as he was seeing his wife. This riled Norbert. Well, who cares how they die, just let them die at last!
He turned back to Daniel, preparing to Imagine the direst end for The Boy Who Lived. Daniel was trembling, knowing what was to come: he'd be forced to kill. He'd be forced to murder his own father… and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't break out of the other boy's control, he couldn't push back this unwanted intrusion on his mind, this unwilling use of his powers…
Then he felt a surge of energy build up in his body and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the destruction he was making… He didn't see Dumbledore, Snape and Cho Chang join hands in the huge cage, neither did he see their lips starting to move, murmuring some silent incantation… He just wished he could free his parents, but Norbert was ruling over his actions… or was he? Daniel heard an angry yell and opened his eyes. He barely could believe what he saw.
The shackles disappeared from Harry and Ginny's wrists and ankles in front of his very eyes. Norbert jerked his wand in front of himself to shout the killing curse, but he could only say Avada before Harry changed into a reindeer and lunged at him.
How? Daniel gaped.
He saw his mother use the temporary upheaval and duck for her fallen wand, then his gaze shifted to Dumbledore, Snape and Cho Chang who were still in the confines of the cage, wandless, their faces radiating triumph.
That was when he understood it: he had been freed. He was no more under Voldemort's control, his thoughts and will were his own again… he was very exhausted, but perhaps he could do some more Imagining… he knew he had to, no matter what. He concentrated on three wands lying in the farthest corner of the chamber, making them whoosh back into their owners' hands. Albus Dumbledore clutched his own and flicked it, making the cage vanish.
Dan saw his mother push Lily behind a bookshelf and shout 'Stay there!' to her.
At the same moment Voldemort swished his wand, making a huge and heavy tome zoom down on the reindeer. The second of pain was enough to distract Harry and enough for Norbert to duck behind a bookshelf. Before Harry could make another step, the bookshelf swayed, as if being pushed from the other side. It probably couldn't have been stopped by magic. Not that Daniel hadn't tried… but his energy-reserves had been exhausted. Maybe he couldn't even have killed anyone, he was so tired. Tired, and slow in acting… the world went black in front of him and he collapsed onto the ground.
"Harry!" Cho screamed and lurched forward without thinking, pushing the animagus aside a split-second before the shelf came crashing down on him. She wasn't as fortunate as he was and got buried under the massive, millennium-old oak construction.
"Chooooooo!" Professor Potter shouted, turning back into his human form. Desperately he dashed towards the woman whose body had disappeared from neck down under the shelf, but before he could crouch down to her, a jet of magic crossed the air – Snape had sent it into the way of Norbert's streak directed at Harry from the other side of the fallen bookshelf. The curses hit each other and exploded in mid-way between Harry and the boy.
Norbert might have been witty, talented and swift, but against three enemies not even he could prove good enough. He sent another curse towards Harry that got neutralised by a silver jet from Ginny's wand. In the same second as Ginny ejected her counter-curse, Albus shouted Expelliarmus. The wand flew out of the hand of the cornered and outnumbered Voldemort. Had Daniel still been under his control, he would have stood a chance to fight back, but with no wand, two wizards and a very angry witch pointing their wands at him, he could do nothing. He was defeated.
"You bastard!" Harry roared, jumping over the fallen bookshelf, changing back into his animagus form during the jump and landed on the other side of the shelf on his four hooves, pinning Norbert to the wall with his antlers.
The boy was gasping for breath, barely able to believe that his genius plan had failed. Dumbledore, Snape and that Asian chick had somehow freed Daniel from his control and Daniel had imagine-freed his parents and also given the others their wands back… He hadn't even managed to kill Potter, not by the Killing Curse, not even by toppling that shelf over… how could they find the counter-spell when he had stolen that page? His mind raced, trying to find a way out, but it seemed that there wasn't one. He was trapped, a reindeer keeping him at bay, he couldn't move…
Beads of sweat coursed down the sides of his face as he looked into the animal's eyes… those eyes were blazing with anger and hatred. Even as a reindeer, Harry's emotions clearly showed on his face, making Norbert tremble even more. His hands were groping for something on the wall – for anything he could use…
"You… you wouldn't kill me?" he gulped. "You can't… I'm… I'm… your son…"
"You are NO son of mine!" changing back into a man, Harry hissed, feeling strong enough to strangle this boy with his own hands. Perhaps he shouldn't have changed back, because as soon as Norbert was out of the antlers' captivity, he ripped a nearby torch off the wall, swung it at Harry and jumped behind the neighbouring bookshelf.
Dumbledore, Snape and Ginny's stunners hit the wall where Norbert's head had been a millisecond earlier.
"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Voldemort," Harry growled the very same words the Dark Lord had told him back in the cemetery so many years ago.
"Come out and you'll live, you'll get into Azkaban… but you'll live," Dumbledore added. "Hide, and you'll die on the very spot you stand."
"Oh, is that so?" Norbert's mocking voice spoke up, and in the next second he pushed Lily out from behind the shelf, his left arm around her midsection, pointing Lily's very own wand at her throat with his right hand. Just like in Muggle crime stories. "If you want to kill me, either with Avada Kedavra or anything else, say a nice explosion curse, you'll have to kill my hostage first. Any curse can reach my body in one way: through her."
Ginny gasped.
"You can choose. Kill us both, or drop your wands," Voldemort demanded, giving the headmaster a meaningful look.
"Do what he says," Albus said calmly and threw his wand aside. Snape and Ginny followed.
"Good," Norbert smirked. "Now lil Lily and I leave, if you don't mind. Don't come forward. Don't move or she dies," he said, stepping sideways, hauling the girl with himself.
"Do something!" Lily breathed at the bunch of helpless wizards, and someone DID something. An Avada Kedavra tore at the air, and she felt the grip on her body loosen… the wand pointed at her throat fell to the floor with a loud clatter, followed by an even louder thump.
Slowly she turned around and saw Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort the second, lying on the ground, lifeless.
In the next second a figure appeared out of nowhere, disentangling himself from an Invisibility Cloak.
"Hey, I hope you don't mind me borrowing this, Potter," Draco said, giving a smirk to the appalled Harry.
"M…Malfoy?"
"Yeah, Potty. I was the back-up plan. Dumbledore told me only to act in the last second, and I did so," the banker shrugged. "Aren't you at least a bit happy to see me?"
But Harry didn't answer. Couldn't answer.
He was way too confused.
It was all over. Voldemort was dead, and now he'd stay dead until the end of times… no power on Earth would be able to bring him back again. He was dead, but…
Harry dashed to the fallen bookshelf. Ginny joined him and muttered an incantation to slightly lift the shelf so that he could pull the woman out from under it.
Cho was unconscious and very pale. She seemed alive, but barely. Ginny conjured two stretchers. Harry lifted Cho onto one then helped Ginny place Daniel onto the other. As Daniel's stretcher floated out of the chamber accompanied by Ginny, Cho opened her eyes.
"Harry…" she whispered.
"You'll be all right," he replied. "Madame Pomfrey will put you all right."
"No," she replied. "I know she won't."
"Why wouldn't she? She can mend all sorts of injuries," he reasoned, feeling his heart clench. He knew he was just raving, and Cho's injuries were too serious for the nurse or any mediwizard at St. Mungo's to heal.
"You're a pathetic liar, Harry," she smiled sadly. Harry took her hand and squeezed it gently, though he wasn't sure whether she had felt it – she had her backbone broken, thus her whole body was numb from neck down. She wasn't feeling his touch, still she knew that he had taken her hand. A tear coursed down her cheek. "Take care of my daughter, Harry. Please."
"I will, Cho," he nodded, fighting back his own tears. "Until you get all right."
"You know… you know that I won't… get all right," her voice faltered. "Promise… promise me, Harry."
"I promise, Cho."
"Good…" a huge smile spread on her face. "My baby will… finally… have the big… happy family she has always dreamt of… thank you, Harry."
"Cho…" he breathed, not knowing what to say. What should one tell a dying person? Should he say 'it's me who has to say thanks… you saved my life, after all'? He shook his head. There was no point in that… so he just bent down and kissed her on the forehead.
At this moment she looked happy. As happy as Harry hadn't seen her ever since before Cedric's death. Her face radiated some unearthly happiness and her eyes widened, as if it wasn't the ceiling she was looking at, but something far beyond it… "Cedric…" she whispered. "He's waiting… for me. I'm coming…" with a happy sigh, she breathed her last.
A/N: sorry 'bout the lame action scene again, I've always sucked at writing action, but this chapter simply needed some.
I'm sure that 99% of you don't remember that part with Lucius hearing a mysterious voice saying 'tell them Lucius' and dropping his glass in surprise, but you can check back at chapter 28 of TGSaWCS, it was all there. Also later in chapter 33 Voldie said 'This is necessary weakness, Lucius'.
I'm also sure that none of you found it suspicious in chapter 39 of TGSaWCS when Harry and Neville clashed heads and Harry's forehead ached pretty much afterwards, but you can check back, it was there, too. Everything was thoroughly planned out :)
I must admit that originally I didn't want to write a sequel to TGSaWCS. When I was around the half of writing that one, I told my mum that I had a very perverted idea for a fic: Harry sleeps with Fleur (yes, one of my guilty ships is Harry/any Veela), she gets pregnant and gives birth without Harry knowing. And Voldemort is reborn in that child. I also told mum that however much I liked this idea, it was pretty unlikely that I would ever write it. Then she said: it's too good an idea to waste, you could build it into your existing plot as a third fic: make Tatyana get pregnant (originally I didn't want her to get pregnant) and make Voldie be reborn in that child. And the third part of your trilogy could revolve around this. I replied: 'mum, you're a genius!' So, that's how this story was born, without my mum I would never have written it. Thanks, mum, you're great!
Bucky: the poor little acromantulas remain hungry, but I hope you're still satisfied ;) I must admit that when I wrote Cho into the story I did it in order to kill her. Yes, that was the only reason for me putting her into the fic: to kill her. However, when I typed this scene at the end, I was bawling like a baby… *sniff, sniff, pooooor Cho* Voldie-football? How hilarious an image is that? :))) Sorry, you won't be able to read about the Snape twins, since they won't be born in the fic.
rebkos: well, Dannie fought it – Agi slaps Dannie at the back, well done, Dan! :)
Wood's secret lover: well, Tatyana wasn't dead when everyone suspected her to be dead. Yes, in my fic Devilmoor is really Narcissa's maiden name, and it wasn't Lucius who made it up, but AgiVega ;)
L-chan: I hope I didn't scar you mentally this time.
C-chan: no, Lucius is very much alive. I'm currently reading the Amber spyglass, but I'm not a fan of this series, it's way too Anti-Christian for my taste. I'm going to read it to its end, but I'll never like it. There's another series written by Philip Pullman that I like much more: the Sally Lockhart series (yay, a Lockhart! Hurray for all the Lockharts!!!) I'm glad you read back to TGSaWCS, searching for evidence, and you were right, it was all along Voldemort talking to Lucius. Hehe, I love confusing the poor reader, and I was sure that no one understood those parts in TGSaWCS :)
Lady Schezar: no, I'm not joking. And yes, it does stink, but it's the truth. It's a bit like Darth Vader: "I am your father." Luke: "Nooooo!" Darth Vader: "search your feelings, you know it to be true" ;)
sabby: yes, I also felt sorry for poor Lily, but I felt much more sorry for poor Harry… being the father of Voldemort can't be a pleasant thought to live with.
Tap Dancing Widow: yes, Draco's a good boy :)
Phoniex_Kiss02: yes, I know that I'm evil :D
weirdo_withouth_a_clue: even though killing off Beryl wouldn't be mean in your opinion, I'm NOT going to kill her off! I killed off Cho, be satisfied with it. In this chapter I explained how Voldie could be reborn, I believe.
Beauty in Disguise: hehehe, I was grinning madly when reading your review… I love to shock people!
Altec: no, Philippe was only needed to make Beryl flee to Hogwarts and fall for Snape. Nothing else. I don't know what you mean by 'anti-climatic', but Norbert was sort of a new character, wasn't he? A nice, 'innocent' little boy, Daniel's best friend in the world… I must admit that I liked writing Norbert the most throughout this fic, it was fun to write someone behaving so nicely while I knew all along that he did nothing out of pure goodness. And I believe that no one noticed it, but while I let the reader glimpse into all important characters' souls, showing their feelings, their inner struggle, etc, I NEVER wrote about Norbert's feelings… strange that no one noticed it that he was always observed from 'outside', and I never wrote '…and Norbert thought that this was good/bad…' I think he WAS a new character, and a peculiar one for the reason I described above. He has been my favourite creation so far (pity I had to kill him off *Agi wipes a tear and puts a bouquet on Norb's grave*). Well, no, Lucius never buried Tatyana, just lied that he head buried her.
MidniteSunrise: bad Harry????? NO! Bad Tatyana, bad Lucius and bad, bad, bad Voldemort! Harry was INNOCENT!
MissEwe: Tatyana didn't need to be taken out of her grave, because she was never buried, Lucius just set up a fake grave. Norbert didn't want to kill Dan, because he needed Dan's Imaginer powers.
CloverWeave: yup, you were right! :)
xaebhal: I think I have done so many not-obvious things that I could afford to do something as obvious as Tatyana being the mother.
Houou: *Agi pats your face* wake up, don't faint on me!
Cassandra Anthemyst: I hope everything fit.
King Jasbon: yeah… he kissed his sister. But what can you expect from Voldemort? Honestly… someone like him would think that incest is fun.
jennaration: well, it seems that your feelings were right when you read the parchment-book-part. Sometimes I can also 'feel' things beforehand and tell the authors that I know what they'll be doing:)
LadySiri: I'm glad you only hate my cliffies and not me :D
Desiree: playing the flute must be great. I can only play the piano, but not too well.
K.C. Hunter: even I can use clichés, can't I? But I'm glad you didn't think the Narcissa-stuff was that much of a cliché, after all.
seashell: don't feel so sorry for poooor evil Norbert! Yes, I also found it a bit funny, the opposite of the Darth/Luke situation :)
BigDaddy753: I hope you no more feel like killing me :) Did you get my mail with the fic recommendations?
Dark Child Productions: I love your name… somehow makes me think of Norbert, the Dark Child of Harry.
maureen: wait till the next chapter, and you'll see what's up with the Sorting Hat. According to a book on baby-names Ivo does mean yew. Why did the book say Devilsmoor-Malfoy as Norb's last name? Because the book always registers people with the name they are going to grow up with. Remember, the book registered Lily as Lily Potter, not as Lily Weasley, although Ginny and Harry hadn't been married when she was born. Why did Norb leave the book in the chamber for Dan to find? Because he wanted Dan to use it and get more and more powerful, so he could use an even more powerful Imaginer. Bravo, you're the only one who properly guessed the story of Tatyana and Lucius, all the other readers thought that she had died and Lucius had dug her up and put the fetus into some incubator, LOL. There, I killed off Cho, are you happy now? Who is this Belgarion and the others you mentioned? Fanfic writhers?
Toby Haine: you made me giggle again, Toby, when you described yourself gaping at the screen of your computer ;) Well, you, as many others, thought that Tatyana had been dug up, but only Maureen (right about you) managed to guess that she had never even been buried at Asgard, Lucius just set up a fake grave and took her with himself, since he knew that she was expecting Harry's baby. Well, this chapter didn't have a cliffie, did it? And yes, the fic will end with a very humorous line, I promise :) Er… you weren't the first reviewer, you were about the 25th, but ffnet didn't show the other reviews yet (it shows them after several hours, dunno why). Thanks for the loooong review :D
Aya Sharp: Harry and Tatyana didn't SNOG for three times, they shagged, not snogged – big difference!
Dragon Claw: I hurried :)
aprenticeofdobby: you wrote: 'Just when we all think we are omnicent about the whole story, you depose us from our knowledge' – and I found this really funny, great assessment.
Katrina: thanks for the two Hungarian Horntails you sent me, they have made friends with my own dragon and they are currently playing volleyball in my back garden (but unfortunately they tend to set the ball to fire by accident, so I have to replace it every ten minutes). Yes, of course the voice in TGSaWCS was Voldie… funny that no one ever thought of this.
Black Ice: for me Lily wasn't a normal teenager, but perhaps only because I compared her to myself, and I was never the yelling, tantrum throwing teenager, but a very peaceful one. I think I'll start a new long fic, but only after having read OotP. I have an idea for a fic, I've had it for more than a year, but first I need to see what happens in OotP and adjust my story-idea to it. So, don't expect any stories from me till around September/October.
figgiesblazin: oh my God, yes, Tat and Harry ;)
Punky Poet: what? You phoned your friend to rave about chapter 28? Hehe, funny… it must have annoyed her a lot.
MauiGoddess3: not really a massacre, but two dead people are enough, aren't they? I hope so. Yes, I hinted at Norbert's looks and stuff, yet only Bucky told me (twice) that she thought Norb might be Harry's son, no one else thought of this.
Princess Ginny: ah, don't bother with the names email, it's stupid, really, I just felt like forwarding it, but when I got it back, I didn't bother to send it again.
Rab: I have never drawn a house-elf, and I don't even feel like drawing one. It must be cute, but I don't feel inspired to draw it. And I'm not even sure I'd be capable of drawing one. Well, now you know that Tatyana hadn't died when everyone thought she had.
PhoenixFire: now you know how.
2Coolio: can't any faster.
goldenstar555: I didn't want to end chapter 28 with not telling who the father was, I thought that this way it was much more cruel than with leaving it with a cliffie.
maggie: nevil author is back, hope my fingers were quick enough.
Ides of March: I hope you managed to stop hyperventilating and you're feeling okay again :)
Inigma: really? Do I make some of your old fave fics look like crap? Hm… that's funny. You know, the fics that I loved years ago never seem to get 'crappy', just because I've read better ones since then. I still love my old favourites. Draco and Gabie get together in the next chapter :) I haven't seen X man at all, not even the first episode. Do tell me about your performance when it's over, okay?
Alexander Phoenix: I hope this was soon enough.
VegaKeep: Raistlin Majere? You mean Raistlin from DragonLance? I have only read the first book so far, but I'm going to read the second too. But somehow I don't find Raistlin that much of a 'kick-ass-character', he's rather boring. I like Caramon and Tasslehoff much more.
colei: are you also posting on phoenixtears? What is your artist name there?
apple-pie: I'm glad you think that chapter 28 ended with an ever greater surprise than chapter 27, because that's why I thought, too :)
Zenon Lee: sorry, but I didn't want to include Lucius as well, but you got a bit of Dumbledore fighting (thought it wasn't that spectacular, I suck at action-writing).
Merlin: thanks, I'm glad I could surprise you.
ArgiCallista: *Agi fanning ArgiCallista with a newspaper, hoping to make her come around* McRice sells meals made mostly of rice, that's obvious, isn't it?
Inken: yes, I know I have deceived you and I'm apologizing for that, but I couldn't spill the beans any earlier. Lucius decided to adopt Norbiekins because he's a freak and loves to serve his crazy master. Voldie's evil spirit couldn't have left Norb's body, because Norbert had only one sprit living in him: Voldemort's. Had Voldie's spirit left his body, then he would have been like someone kissed by a Dementor: soulless, like an empty shell. It was better for him to die.
Lioness-07863: yes, Lucius was just covering up.
X-Tow-Naga: this chapter was long enough, wasn't it? Well, now you know that Tatyana hadn't died when everyone thought her to be dead. Was Harry slow? Hm… I thought he had to ask back to keep up the 'conversation'. Why didn't Norb kill Dan outright? Because he wanted it to seem like an accident, and falling into a well would have looked like an accident. Norbert isn't really Draco's half-brother, but Draco had been fed the tale that Norb was his father's illegitimate son, so Lucius deceived Draco into believing that Norb was his half-brother. Yes, Voldie is sometimes really idiotic, but if he hadn't told his plans, then the reader wouldn't know what had happened, so he NEEDED to tell everything. I NEVER said that Norbert looked like a Malfoy. On the contrary, in chapter 5, the following was written: "This was the first time Harry thoroughly inspected him. This was the boy whom he had helped on King's Cross to get on the train. The boy who stared at his scar then left without saying thanks. Harry frowned. This boy didn't look much like a Malfoy – with the exception of his eyes, that were unmistakably Malfoy-ish: cold grey, just like Lucius' and Draco's. But then again, Harry had heard that the Malfoys had vampire ancestors as well – so no wonder that this boy had such dark hair." Norbert got to know about Gryffindor's chamber from Daniel, and after they had first visited it, he decided to go down there and look around on his own. And he found the book and ripped the page out (Dan only discovered the book when he visited the chamber for the second time, and didn't know that Norbert had been there between their two visits to the chamber). About your comments for GwG3: no idea how mute wizards cast spells *shrugs* I don't think that Aberforth would be perverse enough to make his brother live together with a goat, so that's why he turned Amelia back.
Shazzman: you wrote: "I thought the crazy Russian chick was just trying to get her lover back...unless Voldie saw all this from hell and thought "HEY! Here's a way to get back to the land of the living!" Now I'm just speculating". Well, you speculated right :) What? Does Norbert in my art look like he's going to spit nails? No, it wasn't deliberate. On the contrary, I was sort of surprised to see that I had drawn an innocent-looking, cute Norbie. But funnily, the other Norbert I have drawn (mentioned in A/N on top) also looks cute and totally innocent… somehow I cannot draw evil-looking Norberts! :) In fact I didn't research Ivo's name, I found it by accident. There was an Argentine soap-opera in the Hungarian TV, and the male main-character was called Ivo. And once I was looking at a book about names, and I spotted the name Ivo, gut curious (because I loved that soap-opera), and when I saw what its meaning was, I decided to put it into my fic. Yes, you have totally misread Lucius's intentions. And to tell you the truth, I could easily imagine a good-turned Draco, but NEVER a good-turned Lucius. You asked: "And how did he control Narcissa with Imperio when he was gibbering insanely away in St. Mungo's?" Well, that's easy. He was insane from chapter 16 till chapter 34 of TGSiHH, but he only started to control his wife with Imperio after chapter 28 of TGSaWCS. Well, read the A/N at the end of this fic, and you'll see how deliberately I put things into TGSaWCS already :)
Kit Cloudkicker: well, of course Lucius is sick, he's always been sick.
Sean Mulligan: Krum's sister? She NEVER managed to get Harry sleep with her, and she was quite annoyed that she hadn't succeeded. But Tatyana did, three times.
Indigo Ziona: yes, cuteness does have a blinding-effect, doesn't it? ;)
Lupin's Angel: what is a thinking cap like? Never heard of such a thing (besides the Sorting Hat).
Mistri: you Harry, not you Ginny. They were talking about the identity of the FATHER, after all, and Ginny couldn't have been the father :)
Myr Halcyon: no, I didn't want to name this chapter Vision of the Future, because there was no vision in it ;)
Elfangor19: you don't know what you'd do without my stories? Oh… that's touching, thanks :) But you'll have to do without them through the summer – but then you'll have OotP, so you won't even miss my fics.
Lavendar Brown: luscisous? LOL, I love the way people keep misspelling his name ;)
The Millenium One: you got it right :)
thecrazygirl: I can assure you a happy ending. No, there won't be a sequel, but after reading OotP I'll surely write a new fic.
Red Ridding Hood: do you think it must be utterly disgusting for Voldemort to be Harry's son? I think it's much more disgusting for Harry to be Voldemort's father!
Kristen Michelle: after reading OotP I'll try to think of a new story (I have vague ideas of one, but I'm not sure whether I'd write it or not). But I'm 99% sure that I'll be writing a new fic during the summer, so watch out for it in September/October!
Nefertiri: Lucius looking like a drowned rat? LOL. In fact I think he looked great in CoS, I'm even contemplating to choose the Lucius avatar on FictionAlley, it looks great :)
candycaneOgram: Norbert isn't just using Voldie's name to scare people, he's really Voldie reborn (well, he WAS Voldie reborn, may he rest in peace *Agi throws a bouquet of roses on Norbie's grave*). And now you must know how he could get into the chamber… Gryffindor blood of course. It must have been bad for you to hear your friend's taunting that she already knew what had happened, LOL. You wrote: 'fanfic will not be the same without you!' You know, I found this really touching :) But don't worry, I intend to write a new fic after I read OotP, I'll try and start posting it in September/October, so look out for it!
'mione we@sley: hehe, I think no one saw that coming :)
Katie Bell: yes, Ginny knew about Harry/Tatyana, she was even mad at Harry, because she thought he had cheated on her, and that was when she told Malfoy to sleep with her (which Malfoy refused). Then Ginny got to know that Harry had been bewitched by Tatyana and it wasn't his fault.
Eclectus: I love foreshadowing things :)
Angela: you only read my summaries of the first two fics? Didn't you read TGSiHH and TGSaWCS? That's weird…
Kitch: Norb wasn't teary-eyes when he first saw Harry, he was just in a hurry to reach the train and was quite tired, but there were no tears in his eyes, were there?
Kamatazi Yumi: I'm glad you like Lea, I like her too (I named her after my mum, after all ;)
Makayla P.: never seen Treasure Planet, though I like the Disney movies. I don't know why I didn't go and watch this one *shrugs*
Falcon541: thanks, I will :)
Wizzabee: perhaps now you can guess how Dan's wish will come into the fic, but if not, then the next two chapters will reveal it.
kickedoutofthegoblet: hehe, I'm glad you like my SW references, I love them, too, Han/Leia's bickering provided so many great quotes I could use!
Laura: I'd never make Lucius turn good, he's perfect being the evil bastard he currently is :)
Romina: read my second A/N and you'll get to know how much I had planned the plot of the third fic when writing the second. No, Tatyana had no idea that she was going to give birth to Voldie. She didn't even want to give birth to him, and I'm sure that if she had had the chance, she would have got rid of the unborn child, but of course Lucius had taken her wand and kept her in prison and under control.
RedHots721: yes.
Chrissi: got my mail?
twinkle-toes: I think I have explained how Voldie could get reborn despite having killed so many people.
sikokid: see, you were right :)
heavenly182angel: no, the sword didn't really have a role.
Sky: I'm sorry about your dad, it must have been hard for you :( Send my fics to Rowling? LOL. I don't even know her address :)
PadfootOldBuddyOldPal: I update once a week, and no, this fic doesn't have a sequel. But I promise you to write another, long one during the summer, after I've read OotP and got some new ideas. Watch out for it in autumn. So, your faves are Imogen's and my fics? Hm… weird. Her style is so very different from mine. She has more refined style (because she writes in her native language while I don't), but many people have told me that my plot twists were more interesting than hers. *shrugs* I really couldn't compare the two series, they're as different as night and day, the only similarity is that Imogen and I both ship H/G.
SparkleCharm: hello? Ginny having that ugly stupid retarded dumbass baby? No waaaay! Ginny would surely know if she had given birth to Norbert, wouldn't she? And you know, Norbert isn't ugly at all, he takes after his dad, and Harry is really handsome! Neither is he retarded, he's clever and everything – I mean he WAS clever, now he's dead *sniff, sniff*