Chapter 11: Back to Christmas Classics

So wipe that smile off your face
Before it gets too late
There's only so much time
For you to make up your mind

-The Calling

"Sorry I'm late. I found it rather difficult to claw my way out of that veil without help." He knelt beside Harry and felt his forehead. "You're burning up." He waved his wand and conjured a wet cloth. "I'm not very good at the healing arts. I practically failed that class in Auror training. Normally I wouldn't have gotten to be an Auror at all, but the demand was huge."

Harry knew he was talking to make sure Harry focused on his voice and not slide into unconsciousness.

"I'm glad you're back, Sirius," Harry heard himself say.

"Don't worry about it," Sirius said. "I suppose that Malfoy brat had a bunch of pent-up rage about you."

"It was an accident," Harry said. Sirius had to believe him. This was Sirius. His Sirius.

"I know," Sirius said. "You couldn't do something like that."

"You don't understand," Harry said. His vision slowly became clearer. "I could."

"Or course you wouldn't," Sirius said.

"You heard me," Harry said. "I killed his father. I'm as good as a Death Eater in my time! Everyone's dead. They died such a long time ago. And.And I'm all alone."

"You're never alone," Sirius said firmly.

"That's what Dumbledore said," Harry said, sighing. "And now he's dead too."

"It's okay, Harry," Sirius said.

Harry blinked. His vision had pretty much returned. His hearing sharpened and he didn't feel so sore all over. He also realized what he had said. He cursed and tried to get to his feet.

"Language!" Sirius said, alarmed. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go. I am in so much trouble now. I've got no idea why I would do something as stupid as this! Imagine what this could change! You're not supposed to come back! You never come back!"

"Harry," Sirius grabbed Harry's shoulder. "From what you have told me, it doesn't matter, does it? Time has changed so much! I can only make it better, right?"

"Oh yes," Harry said coldly. "Your definition of better! Harry can't win against Voldemort at this rate! Don't you understand? It's not about a better world! It's about me defeating Voldemort in the end!"

"You mean Harry defeating Voldemort," Sirius said slowly.

"That's what I said," Harry snapped.

"You said 'me defeating Voldemort'. "

"Did I?" Harry asked blinking.

Sirius frowned. "Tell me, Harry. Are you honestly trying to help Harry, or are you trying to help yourself?"

"Neither!" Harry said loudly. "I'm trying to get back home!"

"For someone so determined to return home, you seem to have done quite a lot that can alter history in the end."

Harry sighed. "I already tried once and the portal wouldn't let me through."

"Maybe it thought you still had something to accomplish here," Sirius suggested.

Harry looked at Sirius. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Yeah, well, you always were a little slow," Sirius said, grinning.

"I figured out Malfoy's plot, didn't I?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"I was joking!" Sirius said defensively. "I didn't mean to offend you. So how many people know you're here?"

"Far too many," Harry said. "Voldemort and Dumbledore felt me coming. Remus found out when Harry got really sick and I cured him. You know, of course. And a few of Voldemort's closer Death Eaters."

"At least they haven't mentioned it in the Daily Prophet."

"Don't jinx me!"

"Sorry."

"Let's get out of here," Harry said tiredly.

"Just a minute," Sirius said. He looked back at the unconscious form of Draco Malfoy. "What are we doing with him?"

"He's just going to hurt more people," Harry said.

Sirius hesitated. "It's not like it's so horrible behind the veil. I mean, all it really is, is being bored to death except you never die.or age.

"A fitting end," Harry said slowly. "He killed hundreds of people in my time."

"We should turn him over to the authorities," Sirius said suddenly.

"Voldemort will get him first."

"Maybe not."

"Yes he will."

"Okay, he will. But is it really up to us to decide life and death?"

"No," Harry said. "That's those seers' jobs, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "We'll tie him up anyway."

"That won't stop him."

"We can leave him a mocking letter so if he does escape he'll get mad at us."

"He already hates me."

"So it won't harm anything."

They did just that. They left Draco Malfoy bound and gagged with a note in his robe pocket. They left each finger individually tied and then tied again to the other fingers so he had no hope of getting out. It was the least they could do. Malfoy's fingers would be very sore for a long time. He might not be able to move them at all. Harry even put an immobilizing charm on them. He certainly couldn't get out on his own.

They started to walk out.

"Hang on," Sirius said. "Is my name cleared yet?"

"No."

"Then how do you expect me to get out of the very Ministry of Magic that is hunting me down?"

"No problem," Harry said. He grabbed Sirius's arm and concentrated.

The next second they both stood in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts.

"You can't Apparate onto the Hogwarts grounds!" Sirius said, surprised.

"I didn't Apparate," Harry said simply. "Now let's get out of here before someone sees us."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going no where. I'm taking you to Lupin's office."

"Why don't you want to come?"

"Because I'm not on good terms with him right now. Like I said, he knows I'm here. I don't want to go barging in on a class or something. Besides, I have more important things to do."

"Like what?" Sirius said skeptically.

"It's none of your business," Harry said icily. He stopped at the look of hurt in Sirius's eyes. Taking a small breath, Harry tried to hold his tongue. "There's a lot going on right now. I need to get out of here as soon as possible. I'm not really your godson, remember? I'm the older version. You want the younger one."

"You're still Harry," Sirius said firmly. "No matter what version you are."

"It does matter," Harry said. "It matters quite a lot."

"In what ways?"

"We're just not the same people," Harry said.

"You act like Harry."

Harry paused. "No one's said that to me in a long time."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say, I'm not the best liked person in my time-and for good reason."

"I'm afraid I can't bring myself to picture you disliked-well, unless." Sirius paused. "Is the entire world controlled by Death Eaters?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Harry scoffed. "Of course it isn't! Do you think I would defeat Voldemort and then let the entire world go to hell?"

"I think you might," Sirius said seriously. Harry paused at the tone in his voice. "Because after all of that, I shouldn't expect you to want to set eyes on a Death Eater in many a great while."

Harry grinned his sarcastic grin. "Shows how well you know your godson."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means I spend every waking hour hunting down the few remaining Death Eaters. I have nothing left. It's all I know, Sirius. It's who I am."

"There is a very large difference," Sirius said sharply. "Between whom you choose to be, and who you are."

"That contradicts everything Dumbledore told me in my second year. He said our choices show who we are, far more than our abilities."

They stopped in front of the door to Lupin's office.

"I never said anything about your abilities," Sirius said frowning. "I've seen tonight that you can do whatever the hell you want. All I know is that once you reach a certain age, you are who you are, and not even your choices can hide that."

"Ever read a Christmas Carol?"

"I have."

"Scrooge changed."

"That proves my point entirely."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, he wasn't always like that, was he? Don't you remember the flashbacks? He was a good person. It's his old age that turned him sour. And in the end, he went back to the way he was originally."

"Are you comparing him to me then?"

"Completely."

"I hate to tell you this," Harry said quietly, "But it's going to take a lot more than three ghosts to make me return to how I was originally."

"Like a journey back in time, perhaps?" Sirius asked suddenly. Harry looked at him sharply but that being said, Sirius avoided Harry's eyes and silently pushed open the door. The room was empty.

"I suppose I'll just wait here, shall I? He's probably in class." He turned to look at Harry and found his godson had vanished completely.

* * *

Harry did not vanish from the castle that day. His footsteps had been swift and silent, but he had not vanished. Normally he would not have thought twice about it, but walking away from his godfather made everything more final. He could not see his godfather again. It was not his godfather. It was his younger-self's godfather. Like his younger self's life that he had just walked in on.

So that's it then, Harry thought angrily. I've gone back to feeling sorry for myself. Can I possibly sink any lower?

He pushed open the doors in the Entrance Hall angrily.

A bell went off in his head.

Alarmed, he looked up again and saw, to his horror, that the castle grounds seemed to be under attack! Death Eaters covered most everywhere, though cleverly concealed. If not for his advanced senses, he would not have noticed them.

He scurried back into the Entrance Hall. Voldemort would attack and he had to alert someone-now.

As though an answer to his prayers, a teacher walked into the Hall from the dungeons.

As though the Lord mocked him for praying, it was Snape.

Harry thrust aside any malice he might have had. Snape had never been on his list of Death Eaters.

Harry's hood went up from where he had carelessly let it drop. "Snape," he called from across the hall.

Snape looked up. His eyes narrowed. "And who are you?"

"No one to concern yourself with," Harry said. "There are more pressing matters surrounding your castle."

"What do you mean?"

"Must I spell it out for you? Voldemort-" (Snape flinched) "-is preparing to launch an attack on the castle as we speak. There is no time for questions. Looking outside to confirm my words would be foolhardy and result on in Hogwart's destruction. I suggest you find someone who knows what they are doing and perhaps send the students to safety before preparing to fight back."

Snape stared.

Harry seethed inwardly. "For someone who likes to hear himself speak quite as much as you do," Harry said through gritted teeth. "It seems odd to me that in such a critical time you would choose to go mute. Perhaps you could pull yourself together long enough to prevent us all from dying horribly."

Snape blinked. "I shall alert the head-the others." Snape hurried away, shooting a suspicious glance at Harry over his shoulder.

Harry turned back to the door and closed his eyes searching.feeling around for.that. He could sense Voldemort's presence. This could not be the final battle. It was not time. Harry was not ready. He would have to interfere.again.

He whirled around and headed up the stairs to the headmaster's office. Fawkes could be of invaluable help, though he had not been seen since Dumbledore's death.

"I shall rot in hell when it is time for me to die," Harry muttered angrily to himself. "Not that that's unexpected."

There was not enough time. Harry felt his mind slowly start toward the panicking range and pushed it away. He had no time for something like that. He only had to push Voldemort away. He couldn't defeat him. The responsibility no longer rested upon him.

He passed a window and felt rather than saw that the Death Eaters had not yet finished preparing. They had time.

Harry stopped outside the door to the headmaster's old office. Then he realized he didn't have the password. With a flick of his wrist, he instantly appeared inside.

Fawkes snoozed gently on his perch. The old headmasters and headmistresses showed no traces of sleepiness, however, and looked outraged to see Harry pop in, in such a manner.

"You are not allowed in this office," said the wizard with the bulbous nose angrily. "Without permission of the true headmaster!"

"Dumbledore is dead," Harry said shortly. "I came for Fawkes."

The phoenix awakened when his name was called. He blinked sleepily in recognition to his name.

"He's dead?" asked Phineas blankly. "But he has no portrait!"

"Indeed," Harry said, his mind only half on the conversation. He looked at Fawkes who gazed back with a mistrustful eye.

"Is that all you can think about?" said another wizard angrily. "Dumbledore's dead! He's dead! That means there is no headmaster of Hogwarts!"

"But the portrait," explained Phineas patiently. "We all had to have the portrait. How is the school to function if the portrait is missing? Dumbledore's soul cannot be put to rest without the portrait!"

"It's true," agreed a witch. "I suppose Harry here will have to make it for him."

Harry looked up at his name. Fawkes had been avoiding him tactfully. "What did you say?"

"You'll have to make the portrait, boy!" Phineas said, annoyed. "It's not like there's anyone else. Besides, unless the one person Dumbledore cared for most makes the portrait, the portrait will be incomplete. It will be just like the portraits outside this room. They had no memory of before the painting!"

"I don't paint," Harry said coldly, turning his attention back to Fawkes. "And what is wrong with this bird?"

"That's Dumbledore's bird," said a witch sharply. "We don't even know how he trained it."

"You can't train a phoenix," Harry said, annoyed at the ignorance. "It has to pledge itself to you. It's the same way you can't give one as a pet. The phoenix won't leave the one it has chosen until death! Dumbledore's dead, Fawkes! There are others who need you now!"

"You don't have to paint," said the bulbous nosed wizard, annoyed. "I can't explain it! You just know and the painting comes."

"I don't have time for this," Harry said. He turned to the paintings that gazed appraisingly at him. "It a few moments time, the school will be attacked by Death Eaters. All inside the school will die. I have to get help because I trusted Snape to tell the other teachers and there is no possible way that can happen without him seeing proof. He's probably looked out the window and seen nothing with his normal vision and thinks I'm an elaborate joke set on him. We don't have enough time."

"Dumbledore always trusted Snape," said a witch, nodding sagely.

"Don't see why not," Phineas grumbles. "He's one of the few good teachers I've seen."

"He became a Death Eaters at one point," said a wizard. "Of course people have a right to be suspicious."

"He changed," Phineas interjected. "Why try to correct a mistake, if you hold no hope of redemption?"

Scattered mutterings to this came from the other portraits.

"Do not a single one of you care that Dumbledore-this castle's last and only real line of defense-is dead?" Harry asked angrily. Fawkes now sat next to the Sorting Hat, deftly avoiding him. "This entire castle is going to be swamped with Death Eaters before you can make up your minds on some trivial information?"

"You underestimate the amount of wards surrounding this castle," said a witch dismissively. "There's no way the Death Eaters can get in as long as the wards are in place!"

"Did Dumbledore believe I am from the future?" Harry asked.

There was a general murmur of assent.

"Do you think that I'm the kind of person that is easily rattled?" Harry asked with patience he'd forgotten he'd had.

"Not really," said a wizard.

"Then perhaps you could consider for a moment that the reason I am rattled currently is because in my time the wards didn't hold and all of Hogwarts went to hell."

Silence.

"Do you understand English?" Harry asked angrily. "We're going to fail! Then we're going to die!"

"That's a little extreme," said Phineas.

"Said by you," Harry said scoffing. "And why won't this damn bird stop avoiding me?"

"Phoenix's are a good judge of character," said a witch as Harry tried unsuccessfully to capture it again. Normally he would have used magic had he not known that his wand and magic would be useless against its core.

"What are you implying?" Harry asked. "He's always helped me before!"

"Times are different," said a wizard sharply. "You should know that. Dumbledore knew that."

"I am not Dumbledore," Harry said coldly.

"Then perhaps you have answered your previous question without our help," said Phineas wisely.

"Shut up," Harry growled. "If I needed anymore philosophical comments, I would have asked Sirius."

"Sirius is dead," Phineas said. "I believe you are the one that told me that the first time."

"Indeed," Harry said. "I hate to break this to you, but that occurred in a completely different time. Sirius is back now. I'm surprised you haven't heard."

"He's back?" Phineas asked blankly. "But how?"

"Long story. This is pointless!" He yelled suddenly. "Fine! If Fawkes is going to let all those innocent children die, I suppose that's his business."

Fawkes blinked down at him.

Harry turned on his heel and, with a flick of his wrist, appeared suddenly in Lupin's office.

"The castle is under attack," Harry said, without looking at the stunned faces of Sirius and Lupin. "We have to get the students out of here before any of them die."

"Harry," Lupin said. "Sirius just finished explaining. How did you-"

"God Dammit!" Harry cursed loudly. Lupin and Sirius looked taken aback. "Is that really more important than the safety of the students? They're going to die. Will no one listen? The only one that's done anything is Snape and that's saying something. Fawkes isn't helping! The idiot portraits in Dumbledore's office could only babble on!"

Sirius looked out the window. "I don't see anything."

"You can't see them," Harry said angrily. "But I thought you had enough faith in me to realize that I can see beyond the obvious. I know we've lost our mighty leader, but the world keeps going! Or, perhaps we should go ahead and let Voldemort win! Hell, let's toss Harry Potter out there with his wand and hold our breaths!"

Lupin snapped into action. "Right. I'll get the teachers together. That way we can get the students out faster. Neither of you should be seen if you can help it. It would cause a distraction." With that he hurried from the room.

Sirius turned to Harry. "You say Snape helped you out?"

"He came from the dungeons."

"That's not normal," Sirius said. "If a Death Eater attack were happening, wouldn't he know about it?"

"He should," Harry said. "But perhaps Voldemort knows something we don't know."

Sirius said nothing. He had not left his perch at the window. "Are you sure there's someone out there? I really don't see anything."

"I know you can't," Harry said. "But I can. Voldemort's presence has been getting stronger. He's out there, Sirius. And he's ready for the final battle."

"And Harry?"

"He's not ready. He can't possibly. He doesn't have it in him to win yet."

"What will we do against Voldemort?"

"I'll hold him off."

"No way! He's too dangerous! He could kill you!"

"No, he can't," Harry said. Voldemort's presence felt so close that he though he should see him if he only looked out the window. "He knows he isn't stronger than me. He won't try anything. He doesn't want to beat me. That would risk his loosing. But he doesn't mind fighting Harry. He underestimates him."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Hopefully good. It worked for me, didn't it?"

"I don't want Harry to fight Voldemort," Sirius said suddenly. "In fact, I'd prefer he didn't."

"No kidding," Harry said sarcastically. "But it's a little too late now, don't you think?"

Sirius said nothing.

Harry suddenly froze. "They're moving," he said abruptly.

Sirius looked out the window. "I see them! There are hundreds of them!"

"And 20 of us," Harry said grimly. He grabbed Sirius's shoulder and the next second they appeared in a small side chamber to the Entrance Hall.

Lupin seemed to have rallied the teachers there. The heads of houses were not there.

"What's happening?" Harry asked, leaving his hiding place, his cloak pulled over his face.

Lupin hurried forward. "They're moving. We've got some teachers stationed above in hopes that they can shot some people down before we get over run."

"And the students?"

"Safely out," Lupin said.

"Excellent."

At that moment Professor Vector came running down the stairs. "It's no good! They're got some kind of. of dark magic shielding them from attacks from above. We have to go on foot!"

Lupin looked at Harry. "Got it," Harry said. The next second he vanished and appeared with a pop in front of McGonagall where she stood, still pointlessly sending spells down at the tide of black slowly marching toward the school.

"What are we doing?" She asked. She turned and saw Harry. "Who are you?"

"Just another person," Harry said, not wanting to make up an elaborate lie. "I'm here to help."

"I don't know what you can do," McGonagall said. "No spells can hit them!"

Harry shot a spell down at the Death Eaters. Instead of bouncing back, it seemed to vanish. Harry recognized it instantly.

"Right. Okay, get ready to shoot some people down," Harry said. He closed his eyes and focused on the magic in front of him. A huge black cloud obscured his inward vision of the advancing army. That was the shield. But it all focused around one point.

Harry nodded to himself. That person resembled something like a secret keeper. Voldemort chose someone to hold the magic in place and if that person went down, so did the shield. That person stood in the dead center. Harry would have one shot.

Instead of weakening the shield, every attempt to bring it down simply strengthened it. Trust Voldemort to use a spell like this. Harry unconsciously pulled his wand out of his pocket. Taking aim, Harry pointed it at the central person in that great mass. He recognized the signature- Wormtail. No wonder Voldemort had picked him. He wasn't good for much else.

"Cassure!" Harry shouted. His wand came swishing over his head, straight at the person who betrayed his parents. Harry heard as though from far away McGonagall's intake of breath as a huge jet of light exploded from the end of his wand. Harry felt himself mentally, on the wings of the curse, fly forward. He steered his way to the very center and got one look at Peter Pettigrew's face before the spell hit and Wormtail dropped like a stone. The black cloud above the Death Eaters flickered and died.

"Shoot!" Harry yelled. He opened his eyes where he still stood on the roof, his hood still pulled down over his face. "Curse them all! Now!" The impressed looks of those next to him quickly left and they turned their attention back to the battle at hand.

A/N: Oh no! My story is winding down to an end! Just as a side note, when I got here when I was writing, I was thinking 'Okay, how can I get them out of this situation?' Then I came to the startling conclusion that this was the climax! Bum! Bum! Bum! Okay, that's done. I'm really going to have to start writing my other story...