Chapter tweleve 5/12/04
'Now what?' Harry thought to himself. The train commuters are closed at this time of the night so he couldn't even try to get back to Grimmauld place if he could. Harry sat there, leaning against the brick walls of the alley way; thinking about the events that occurred in the hours that he was portkeyed to the moment he ran here. He couldn't believe that he actually used an unforgivable. Well, on a Death Eater might be okay, but still, unforgivable nonetheless. 'What's wrong with me!?' he thought, hitting his head against the wall hard. 'I should have at least killed Wormtail, for all the things he'd done to me. . . and Sirius. I should've let him kill him and none of this would've happen. How could I have let him away with it back in third year? And I should've avenged Neville's death by finishing that Lestrange off . . . No, don't think about that! You can't be a murderer anymore!' he cursed himself. 'Not after the feeling he had experienced in killing Avery back in Hogshead.'
Harry brooded, furious with himself. Then it dawned on him, 'What if the Ministry found out that I used the Cruciatus Curse? Would that land me in Azkaban? Or would they let me off because I did it on a Death Eater, second right person of the Darkest Wizard in centuries no less.' Harry thought to himself, and couldn't believe that he was fooled, that Aunt Petunia was taken captive and fell for it. He cursed himself, for ever letting that happen. Of course they would never be able to capture her! . . . Or have they already? They did use the Polyjuice.. Harry hoped that his Aunt, no matter how much he hated the Dursleys, that she was okay. As well as his cousin and his, however he didn't want to, uncle. He tried not to worry too much about the Dursleys, as he had more pressing matters to think about.
He should have had asked Hermione who it was from, oh wait, she didn't even know. So, that couldn't be helped at all. At least he got a few actions in, but at the same time, he didn't want to be here at all. Voldemort, he had been so close to killing him yet again. He needed to take care of Voldemort as soon as possible, but how? He didn't want any more innocent lives to be taken. No, not this war, he wouldn't let that to even happen. Let him try and kill the people he despises, and see what happens. He won't let anyone be tortured, like those Neville's parents. That family don't deserve any amount of pain, and suffering at all. He clenched his fist, getting angry all over again. How dare they take another life of Hogwarts student. Neville had been improving so much in the D.A. all year. He was so proud of him that it hurts.
Friendship with Neville was nothing like he never had with anyone else, he was unique and even taught Harry some of the things unconsciously. The way he fought at the last battle, in his last moments before his death. He looked so determined, and so focused just like the times when they were practicing in D.A. Only that, Neville looked much more focused than he ever saw him but with some hint of fear. Of course, everyone has fears when they fight for the things they love. Love. Could that be the answer to everything? Voldemort certainly doesn't know love . . . Wait a minute. Harry remembered one line in the Prophecy.
'. . .BUT HE WILL HAVE THE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . .'
Could that be it? It doesn't seem likely at all, but he would test the theory sometime. But how would he be able to do that? Harry must've pondered these thoughts, since he had taken a look at his watch and saw that it was only 12:43 a.m. sighing in exhaustion, wondering how the hell he was supposed to get away from this all. Would he risk going back to the Ministry, and hope that someone from the Order be there? He didn't know what else he could do except to wait here in the alley and wait for the morning to come. Shuffling around, and finally getting to his feet, drawing in a deep breath. "Here goes nothing . . ." then he stopped himself.
"But first," he glanced at the orb. "I think I should destroy this . . . after all I know what it entails." He pointed the wand at the Prophecy. "Reducto," he said softly and the glass orb shattered in his hand and the silvery mist came out of it and took shape. The shape of Trelawney. She spoke, in her strange voice as she once used in his third year, the words of the Prophecy between Harry, and Voldemort.
'THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES . .
BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM,
BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . .
AND THE DARK LORD WILL MAKE HIM AS HIS EQUAL,
BUT HE WILL HAVE THE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . .
AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER
FOR NIETHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES . . .
THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD
WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . .'
He shuddered at the part where it said neither could live while the other survives. After she was finished speaking, the figure faded into fine mist and finally disappeared.
"That ought to do it," he whispered to himself, his wand in his right hand the entire time since he came, and lied against the wall in the alley way. Peering around, checking to see if the place was secured and retraced his steps.
Harry dared not to drop his guards, he couldn't afford not to. Still wary of his surroundings, he found the Telephone Box. He wondered if it worked at night, but he did come up here in the first place . . . Hesitantly, he walked inside the box and dialed '62442' in the numbers. The woman's voice spoke the welcome and asked for his name and reasons of being there.
"My-my name is Harry P-Potter and I am here to see if anyone is down there," he wondered if that was acceptable. Sure enough, the small nameplate came in the coin place and it read.
"Harry potter: Requesting To See If Anyone Is at the Ministry" Harry thought that he should pin it in case if anyone would try to question .
'Ah well, I'll worry once I get down there,' he thought as the box shook and sunk into the ground. His nerves became tingly, and his breathing quickened, anxious to see if the Death Eaters were still there, to see if Voldemort was still there. He didn't want to think that he could be trapping himself. Then a soft light kicked at the bottom and the Atrium came into his view. He stomach felt like a huge pile of bricks dropped into his stomach. Voldemort was still there!
"How could you stupid servants and you let Har--" he spun around to see what was the noise. Harry cursed the Box for rattling so loud. "Ah HARRY Potter, so nice of you to return back to us! Couldn't reach to Hogwarts or anyone could you?" he sneered. Harry stepped out of the Telephone Box, glaring.
"Yeah well, I got bored!" Harry said hotly, hiding his nervousness. He had to do something fast! His mind went reeling, on the fast track mode.
"Well Potter, I don't know how you do it, but it seems that I couldn't reach your mind to send a vision. I wondered why, care to explain?"
"I won't tell you!" Harry snapped, he couldn't let him know that Snape was the spy and that he taught Occulemency.
"Very well, you are trying my patience," he said softly, looking very annoyed and experhastedly pointing the wand at Harry. "Legillmens!" he shouted and Harry felt the beginnings of probing.
"NEVER!" Harry shoved him out of his own head. "Impedimenta!" Voldemort stepped to his right, and the hex hit one of the tweleve Death Eaters. Who they all seemed to have recovered from Harry's earlier defenses. Of course they would, they had over an hour, close to two hours perhaps, to recover....
"My, my, you seem to be much more skilled at Occulemency than I thought. Never mind that, Legillemens!"
"Protego!" Harry shouted, along with pushing him out of his head once more. But something happened. He saw flashes of a young dark haired boy being bullied by older kids in their beds. Then before he could even understand what they were saying, Voldemort pushed Harry out of his head. If he has his appearance already to kill a person twice, then his expression on his face quintuplet times as much more deaths.
"YOU DARE TO DISRESPECT MY MEMORIES!" he roared, and the lamps around them shook. Harry swore that the house-elf in the Fountains quivered as he shouted. "CRUCIO!" Harry was taken aback, hit fully on by the Cruciatus Curse. He screamed even louder than he ever had, screaming as the jabs of pain covered his own body. Voldemort's wish for pain was even greater than ever, as Harry continued to scream in distress. The torment was even more unbearable. He didn't know how much longer he could stand the pain. Harry convulsed as if someone was having a major seizure, but the face of horror and anguish was upon the Boy-Who-Lived face.
Then the curse was finally taken off of him. Then he tried again, "Legillmens!"
This time, however, he remembered the theory, and started thinking of his friends, the undying friendship they offered. All the while, he felt him probing his mind. But Harry ignored the probes, and thought how much they, his friends, loved him, and how much he, himself loved his friends. Their tolerance was amazing, they went all the through hard times they had gone through. Isn't that love? Then quite suddenly, Voldemort yelled in rage and casting another crucio at Harry. In the midst of pain, he knew that it had worked. How else would he react like that? But now he had nothing else to focus other than his pain.
Again, Voldemort took the Cruciatus Curse off, snarling, trying to hide his pain. Then he took the curse off of Harry, "Oh, I'd forgotten, where's the Prophecy?" Voldemort said, sneering, but still angry, all the mad, at Harry, who was panting for breath in the aftermath of Cruciatus Curse. "Don't worry, I'll take it from you, save the time and energy and all," he laughed. "Accio Prophecy!"
But it didn't come, Harry glanced at Voldemort, grinning. He saw that the Dark Lord's face did not look happy at all anymore.
"WHERE DID YOU PUT THE PROPHECY!?" His voiced rumbled around the room once again.
"If you must know so badly, I hid it," Harry said, smirking. 'Better not tell him I've destroyed it...' "Where else did you think I did for the past hour and half?"
"Fine! I'll search for the Prophecy, now tell me where!"
"As if," Harry said sarcastically. He needed to buy some more time, others should at least arrive here soon, where the hell were the Order of the Phoenix's members are!? Weren't they supposed to be on duty? Ah, the deja vu, how nice. First dementors, now this!
If possible, Voldemort got even angrier. "Potter," he grated, "if you want to die so much, then I will finish you off!"
"Oh Voldemort, I forgot to tell you something," Harry spoke up. "Well, what would you do if I say that I know what Prophecy includes?"
"You will not call me by Voldemort, my name is not worthy of your mouth! Half-blood!"
"Funny, that contradicts against you quite much, seeing you're Half-Blo--"
"CRUCIO!" He hollered, unhappy how the things were going. Harry went into another fits of pain, howling in torture, at the mercy of Voldemort. Then he took the curse off of Harry. "If you indeed know what Prophecy says, then tell me!"
Harry sat up from his convulsions of torment. His face full of smug on his face. "If you so badly want to know, well, the Prophecy says that you will soon die, because I'm..." he paused for a dramatic pause, with a huge smirk. "...Immortal. That was the reason why when I was a baby, the Avada curse didn't work on me but instead, repelled on you," Harry explained, stood up, smirking. 'Good going Harry, let's see if he will buy it...'
"IT CAN'T BE!" He screamed, in fear, and in shock, also some mix of anger, baffled, and finally became suspicious. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" His red eye slits went even narrower than ever.
"Why would I lie? After all I did hide the Prophecy, but Dumbledore already told me what it is said," he shrugged, "It's so simple, that I'm immortal, and I will finish you off. But," he did a small yawn. Harry knew he was deliberately mocking the Darkest Lord of all time, he knew he was making him angry. "You know, I'm really bored, I think I'll finish you off some other time."
He saw that Voldemort's face went from the usual paleness to a very angry shade of unnatural dark red. The Death Eaters backed away in fear and in half-awe at how angry Voldemort is. Apparently no one has never, EVER made him this angry. Harry could even sense the magical essence emitting from him. Harry silently gulped to himself.
He really needed to get out, and fast. Surprisingly, what Voldemort spoke next was not of yelling.
"Potter," he said in a really strained voice. "I will find a way to--" at that moment, some numbers in the fifties apparated, flooded and portkeyed into the Atrium, and one of them was none other than the Minister of Magic. Voldemort snarled. "I will find a way to destroy your immortality status!" with that, as he looked at Minister of Magic, and glared hard. Then he disapparated away along with his Death Eaters, as Fudge yelped in fear, looking around him warily. The Death Eaters had been dodging any curses or hexes thrown at them and disapparated away, however Harry dodged some of them.
"Hey! I'm innocent!" he cried, and saw they no longer threw any hexes or curses. Harry took a huge heave of sighed, and lied back down, arms and legs sprawled open. But not without a smirk on his face.
The people who had just arrived consisted of mostly Aurors, Order members, stared ghastly at Harry. Minster Fudge's face is now in the light shade of purple from being pale at the sight of Voldemort. Then the murmurs broke out. Most of them were panicking.
"You-Know-Who's back!" one screamed after a stunned silence.
"I can't believe he really is back! What are we going to do Minister!?" another shouted.
"What does this mean, was Potter was telling the truth the entire time?" a man asked.
"You mean Minister of Magic tried to cover this all up!?" another man exclaimed.
"What did You-Know-Who mean by immortal!? Is he trying to be immortal or is Potter one!?" an elderly woman asked, unsure of who to trust.
"How could you Minister? You-Know-Who's really back! Why did you cover that up for!?" a woman questioned him, panicking.
"I know! I know!" Fudge screamed at them, and turned at Harry. "Mr. Potter, what are YOU doing here!?" Harry sighed, and got to his feet, standing up thinking how much he would like to sleep.
"Will you believe me from now on Minister?" he said the last word sarcastically. Which caused the Minister of Magic to turn even more purple, he thought that even Vernon couldn't even achieve this shade. He nodded jerkily but Harry saw something stir in the crowds and saw Dumbledore coming in view. "Hey Professor Dumbledore," he said lightly.
"Harry, you need to go back to school, the others are... quite worried."
"Now just wait one minute Albus!" Fudge interrupted. "How did you get here?"
Harry sighed again, "Someone gave me a portkey, it was a parchment, Hermione didn't know."
"Ah, so it was a Portkey," Dumbledore said, mostly to himself.
"P-portkey?" stuttered the Minister Fudge.
"Yes, portkey," Harry replied sarcastically, he pulled the parchment out to show them. "It was this one, and sorry for sounding so sarcastic, it's been a tiring night."
"F-fine, you will get off of this one Potter," Fudge replied, staring at the parchment warily. "What other stories do you claim to be true?" He asked, staring around at others, rather looking at Harry and Albus.
"Well, Sirius's innocent, seeing that Peterigrew was here himself, and that Ced-C-Cedric Diggory was killed by Voldemort's wand."
"Who used the wand?" Fudge inquired.
"Well, if you actually read the Quibbler, then all questions will be answered for you. I'm sure you remember which issue it was." Harry replied, and Fudge stammered. "Can I sleep now Professor?" Harry turned to Dumbledore.
"Not right now I'm afraid, but please," Dumbledore created a portkey with a 'portus,' "take this, I'll shall meet you back in the office soon." Harry nodded glumly.
"Now just wait one minute! That's an illegal Portkey!"
"Mr. Fudge, I insist you to let this aside for now," he said, and Harry accepted the Portkey and saw the groups of reporters coming his way. He felt relieved when the pull behind his navel started and whisked away from the Atrium. He felt relieved when the reporters were trying to question him from afar when he disappeared, glad that he didn't have to linger any moment longer. He had a bad experience about reporters in the first place, but then again, the last interview was good. But still--
"UGH!" Harry collided into a hard char and toppled over onto a small table, tangling himself amongst the broken pieces of wood. "Ow... who the idiot would put---Ack!"
"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, pulling him off the floor, "You're alright! Oh my god, I was so worried!" Her tears falling down as she hugged him really tight.
"Ow, ow, ow Hermione!" Harry winced at the aftermath of Cruciatus Curses.
"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry!" Hermione shrilled.
"Her-mi-one, calm down," Harry said slowly, sitting into a plush chair somehow drawn up for him. "Ah..." Then he saw who was in the room. "Hello guys," Harry said, as if he just came back from classes or of similar things.
"Mate! You're in a right state!" Ron exclaimed, staring at some of the wounds Harry'd got during the duel.
"Harry, are you okay?" Remus asked, worried.
"I'm--" Harry began.
"Where the bloody hell did you go?" Sirius asked, studying his godson, worried about his physical and mental health.
"I'm fine!" Harry said.
"No you're not, you're hurt Harry," Hermione reprimanded him. "I know when you say you're fine when you're really aren't!" Harry sighed and looked around the room and saw that Severus Snape was also in the room.
"Um, Professor, I--" Harry started. Then Dumbledore arrived with much more grace than Harry had earlier. 'Hi Professor Dumbledore."
"Hello Harry, how are you feeling? Anyone want a lemon drop?" he asked, pointing to the container of Lemon Drops. Everyone said no except Harry, who got strange looks from everyone else.
"What? I need to have something in my system for being under Cruciatus Curse often..." Everyone paled at his revelation. "I suppose you want to hear my story or ask me questions?" Everyone nodded at him, urging to continue. "Well, you see, Hermione gave me the parchment at dinner, saying that someone had owled me, and it turned out to be a portkey."
"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry!" Hermione broke into a fits of tears.
"I'm fine Hermione, it's not your fault that I was portkeyed. In fact I'm glad you gave that to me in time otherwise you wouldn't stand a chance."
This seemed to calm Hermione down, but not much as she was still crying. "But Harry, you would've--"
"Now Hermione, let me finish," Harry interrupted her who nodded. "Okay, anyways, I was portkeyed to the Prophecy room, and what's funny is that there was no Order on duty tonight. I want to know why Professor," Harry glared at the old wizard before him. Who sighed slightly.
"That was my fault on my part Harry, everyone was busy tonight," he explained.
"You could've set Remus as a guard!" Harry retorted.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't risk him," he explained. "Please continue Harry."
"Well, there was twelve Death Eaters with me and started taunting me to pick up the Prophecy off the shelf. I refused naturally, but they threatened to kill Aunt Petunia, who was kidnapped . . ."
"WHAT!?" everyone shouted, horrified. Dumbledore stood up immediately.
"Wait Professor, it was just a polyjuice," Harry said hastily. This calmed everyone down considerably. "Though she did a good job of acting her part . . . perhaps you should check Dursleys after I'm finished. Anyways, so I was thinking it was really my aunt, so I picked up the Prophecy--"
"Oh you didn't!" Hermione cried out as everyone groans.
"Well, I'm SORRY I acted the hero," Harry said sarcastically. "At least let me finish my story with so many interruptions!" Everyone fell silence again, listening intently. But throughout his story, Snape had been silent unlike the room full of Gryffindors. "Now, with my quick thinking, I threw reducto hex everywhere, quite a sight I must say, so in the mist of that, I picked 'Aunt Petunia' up and ran out of there. I ran into this some sort of Time room and bolted the door. But while I was running, Aunt Petunia had woken up from unconscious state and started thrashing around while I was trying to defend myself. Throwing curses and hexes and the like at the Death Eater. You wouldn't believe the face I had when I saw Aunt Petunia took her wand out . . . that's when I thought things were a little fishy but she had been acting like herself so I didn't think much of it. So after I bolted the door, she pointed the wand at me, taunting me and I found out who was impersonating her..."
"Who was it?" Sirius asked, urging him on.
"You wouldn't believe it, it was that Wormtail," he spat at the word like poison. Then there was an uproar from Sirius, Remus, Ron, and partially Snape. With Hermione shrieked a little. "Yeah well, we dueled it out and I finally stunned him. But the door was trying to be knocked down so I tore out of there and into this strange circular room..."
Dumbledore nodded, understanding all of this so far as well as the other adults. "Yeah, then there was like twelve doors around me and the walls spun around me. So I had to find my way out, first it was an island place thing then the universe place. Both of them were an amazing sight..." Harry said, remembering, in awe. "So I finally found my way out of the Universe Room, and into the circular room again. I tried another door, but it was locked . . . I had worried that it was the exit door."
"Ah, the locked room, most mysterious of them all..." Dumbledore said softly.
"What's in there Professor?" Harry asked.
"It's a power that Voldemort does not know, something that you have that he doesn't. Now please continue," he said, steeping his fingers with a twinkle in his eyes. Harry grinned at him, knowing what he meant.
"Okay, well, you can see that I was panicking, speaking out loud that I had to get out, and when I said 'exit,' I found the door. Apparently it lets you get out to the exit . . ."
"Well, I'm glad you did that, I was wondering when you'd get out, like all night?" Remus remarked.
"Well, that department took me about two or three hours I'd wager. Maybe a little more. Anyways, the Death Eaters were really hot on my heels, so I ran into the lift and got on. Narrowly missing some of the hexes and curses I might add... The entire time, of course, that I still had my Prophecy. They said something about not hurting me, but they did," Harry shrugged. "Sometimes they can be so stupid," he said, "no offense meant," Harry added hastily as Snape glared, but soften somewhat.
"Oh none taken Potter, continue," he looked away. Harry nodded and plowed on of what happened in his absence.
'Now what?' Harry thought to himself. The train commuters are closed at this time of the night so he couldn't even try to get back to Grimmauld place if he could. Harry sat there, leaning against the brick walls of the alley way; thinking about the events that occurred in the hours that he was portkeyed to the moment he ran here. He couldn't believe that he actually used an unforgivable. Well, on a Death Eater might be okay, but still, unforgivable nonetheless. 'What's wrong with me!?' he thought, hitting his head against the wall hard. 'I should have at least killed Wormtail, for all the things he'd done to me. . . and Sirius. I should've let him kill him and none of this would've happen. How could I have let him away with it back in third year? And I should've avenged Neville's death by finishing that Lestrange off . . . No, don't think about that! You can't be a murderer anymore!' he cursed himself. 'Not after the feeling he had experienced in killing Avery back in Hogshead.'
Harry brooded, furious with himself. Then it dawned on him, 'What if the Ministry found out that I used the Cruciatus Curse? Would that land me in Azkaban? Or would they let me off because I did it on a Death Eater, second right person of the Darkest Wizard in centuries no less.' Harry thought to himself, and couldn't believe that he was fooled, that Aunt Petunia was taken captive and fell for it. He cursed himself, for ever letting that happen. Of course they would never be able to capture her! . . . Or have they already? They did use the Polyjuice.. Harry hoped that his Aunt, no matter how much he hated the Dursleys, that she was okay. As well as his cousin and his, however he didn't want to, uncle. He tried not to worry too much about the Dursleys, as he had more pressing matters to think about.
He should have had asked Hermione who it was from, oh wait, she didn't even know. So, that couldn't be helped at all. At least he got a few actions in, but at the same time, he didn't want to be here at all. Voldemort, he had been so close to killing him yet again. He needed to take care of Voldemort as soon as possible, but how? He didn't want any more innocent lives to be taken. No, not this war, he wouldn't let that to even happen. Let him try and kill the people he despises, and see what happens. He won't let anyone be tortured, like those Neville's parents. That family don't deserve any amount of pain, and suffering at all. He clenched his fist, getting angry all over again. How dare they take another life of Hogwarts student. Neville had been improving so much in the D.A. all year. He was so proud of him that it hurts.
Friendship with Neville was nothing like he never had with anyone else, he was unique and even taught Harry some of the things unconsciously. The way he fought at the last battle, in his last moments before his death. He looked so determined, and so focused just like the times when they were practicing in D.A. Only that, Neville looked much more focused than he ever saw him but with some hint of fear. Of course, everyone has fears when they fight for the things they love. Love. Could that be the answer to everything? Voldemort certainly doesn't know love . . . Wait a minute. Harry remembered one line in the Prophecy.
'. . .BUT HE WILL HAVE THE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . .'
Could that be it? It doesn't seem likely at all, but he would test the theory sometime. But how would he be able to do that? Harry must've pondered these thoughts, since he had taken a look at his watch and saw that it was only 12:43 a.m. sighing in exhaustion, wondering how the hell he was supposed to get away from this all. Would he risk going back to the Ministry, and hope that someone from the Order be there? He didn't know what else he could do except to wait here in the alley and wait for the morning to come. Shuffling around, and finally getting to his feet, drawing in a deep breath. "Here goes nothing . . ." then he stopped himself.
"But first," he glanced at the orb. "I think I should destroy this . . . after all I know what it entails." He pointed the wand at the Prophecy. "Reducto," he said softly and the glass orb shattered in his hand and the silvery mist came out of it and took shape. The shape of Trelawney. She spoke, in her strange voice as she once used in his third year, the words of the Prophecy between Harry, and Voldemort.
'THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES . .
BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM,
BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . .
AND THE DARK LORD WILL MAKE HIM AS HIS EQUAL,
BUT HE WILL HAVE THE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . .
AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER
FOR NIETHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES . . .
THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD
WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES. . .'
He shuddered at the part where it said neither could live while the other survives. After she was finished speaking, the figure faded into fine mist and finally disappeared.
"That ought to do it," he whispered to himself, his wand in his right hand the entire time since he came, and lied against the wall in the alley way. Peering around, checking to see if the place was secured and retraced his steps.
Harry dared not to drop his guards, he couldn't afford not to. Still wary of his surroundings, he found the Telephone Box. He wondered if it worked at night, but he did come up here in the first place . . . Hesitantly, he walked inside the box and dialed '62442' in the numbers. The woman's voice spoke the welcome and asked for his name and reasons of being there.
"My-my name is Harry P-Potter and I am here to see if anyone is down there," he wondered if that was acceptable. Sure enough, the small nameplate came in the coin place and it read.
"Harry potter: Requesting To See If Anyone Is at the Ministry" Harry thought that he should pin it in case if anyone would try to question .
'Ah well, I'll worry once I get down there,' he thought as the box shook and sunk into the ground. His nerves became tingly, and his breathing quickened, anxious to see if the Death Eaters were still there, to see if Voldemort was still there. He didn't want to think that he could be trapping himself. Then a soft light kicked at the bottom and the Atrium came into his view. He stomach felt like a huge pile of bricks dropped into his stomach. Voldemort was still there!
"How could you stupid servants and you let Har--" he spun around to see what was the noise. Harry cursed the Box for rattling so loud. "Ah HARRY Potter, so nice of you to return back to us! Couldn't reach to Hogwarts or anyone could you?" he sneered. Harry stepped out of the Telephone Box, glaring.
"Yeah well, I got bored!" Harry said hotly, hiding his nervousness. He had to do something fast! His mind went reeling, on the fast track mode.
"Well Potter, I don't know how you do it, but it seems that I couldn't reach your mind to send a vision. I wondered why, care to explain?"
"I won't tell you!" Harry snapped, he couldn't let him know that Snape was the spy and that he taught Occulemency.
"Very well, you are trying my patience," he said softly, looking very annoyed and experhastedly pointing the wand at Harry. "Legillmens!" he shouted and Harry felt the beginnings of probing.
"NEVER!" Harry shoved him out of his own head. "Impedimenta!" Voldemort stepped to his right, and the hex hit one of the tweleve Death Eaters. Who they all seemed to have recovered from Harry's earlier defenses. Of course they would, they had over an hour, close to two hours perhaps, to recover....
"My, my, you seem to be much more skilled at Occulemency than I thought. Never mind that, Legillemens!"
"Protego!" Harry shouted, along with pushing him out of his head once more. But something happened. He saw flashes of a young dark haired boy being bullied by older kids in their beds. Then before he could even understand what they were saying, Voldemort pushed Harry out of his head. If he has his appearance already to kill a person twice, then his expression on his face quintuplet times as much more deaths.
"YOU DARE TO DISRESPECT MY MEMORIES!" he roared, and the lamps around them shook. Harry swore that the house-elf in the Fountains quivered as he shouted. "CRUCIO!" Harry was taken aback, hit fully on by the Cruciatus Curse. He screamed even louder than he ever had, screaming as the jabs of pain covered his own body. Voldemort's wish for pain was even greater than ever, as Harry continued to scream in distress. The torment was even more unbearable. He didn't know how much longer he could stand the pain. Harry convulsed as if someone was having a major seizure, but the face of horror and anguish was upon the Boy-Who-Lived face.
Then the curse was finally taken off of him. Then he tried again, "Legillmens!"
This time, however, he remembered the theory, and started thinking of his friends, the undying friendship they offered. All the while, he felt him probing his mind. But Harry ignored the probes, and thought how much they, his friends, loved him, and how much he, himself loved his friends. Their tolerance was amazing, they went all the through hard times they had gone through. Isn't that love? Then quite suddenly, Voldemort yelled in rage and casting another crucio at Harry. In the midst of pain, he knew that it had worked. How else would he react like that? But now he had nothing else to focus other than his pain.
Again, Voldemort took the Cruciatus Curse off, snarling, trying to hide his pain. Then he took the curse off of Harry, "Oh, I'd forgotten, where's the Prophecy?" Voldemort said, sneering, but still angry, all the mad, at Harry, who was panting for breath in the aftermath of Cruciatus Curse. "Don't worry, I'll take it from you, save the time and energy and all," he laughed. "Accio Prophecy!"
But it didn't come, Harry glanced at Voldemort, grinning. He saw that the Dark Lord's face did not look happy at all anymore.
"WHERE DID YOU PUT THE PROPHECY!?" His voiced rumbled around the room once again.
"If you must know so badly, I hid it," Harry said, smirking. 'Better not tell him I've destroyed it...' "Where else did you think I did for the past hour and half?"
"Fine! I'll search for the Prophecy, now tell me where!"
"As if," Harry said sarcastically. He needed to buy some more time, others should at least arrive here soon, where the hell were the Order of the Phoenix's members are!? Weren't they supposed to be on duty? Ah, the deja vu, how nice. First dementors, now this!
If possible, Voldemort got even angrier. "Potter," he grated, "if you want to die so much, then I will finish you off!"
"Oh Voldemort, I forgot to tell you something," Harry spoke up. "Well, what would you do if I say that I know what Prophecy includes?"
"You will not call me by Voldemort, my name is not worthy of your mouth! Half-blood!"
"Funny, that contradicts against you quite much, seeing you're Half-Blo--"
"CRUCIO!" He hollered, unhappy how the things were going. Harry went into another fits of pain, howling in torture, at the mercy of Voldemort. Then he took the curse off of Harry. "If you indeed know what Prophecy says, then tell me!"
Harry sat up from his convulsions of torment. His face full of smug on his face. "If you so badly want to know, well, the Prophecy says that you will soon die, because I'm..." he paused for a dramatic pause, with a huge smirk. "...Immortal. That was the reason why when I was a baby, the Avada curse didn't work on me but instead, repelled on you," Harry explained, stood up, smirking. 'Good going Harry, let's see if he will buy it...'
"IT CAN'T BE!" He screamed, in fear, and in shock, also some mix of anger, baffled, and finally became suspicious. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" His red eye slits went even narrower than ever.
"Why would I lie? After all I did hide the Prophecy, but Dumbledore already told me what it is said," he shrugged, "It's so simple, that I'm immortal, and I will finish you off. But," he did a small yawn. Harry knew he was deliberately mocking the Darkest Lord of all time, he knew he was making him angry. "You know, I'm really bored, I think I'll finish you off some other time."
He saw that Voldemort's face went from the usual paleness to a very angry shade of unnatural dark red. The Death Eaters backed away in fear and in half-awe at how angry Voldemort is. Apparently no one has never, EVER made him this angry. Harry could even sense the magical essence emitting from him. Harry silently gulped to himself.
He really needed to get out, and fast. Surprisingly, what Voldemort spoke next was not of yelling.
"Potter," he said in a really strained voice. "I will find a way to--" at that moment, some numbers in the fifties apparated, flooded and portkeyed into the Atrium, and one of them was none other than the Minister of Magic. Voldemort snarled. "I will find a way to destroy your immortality status!" with that, as he looked at Minister of Magic, and glared hard. Then he disapparated away along with his Death Eaters, as Fudge yelped in fear, looking around him warily. The Death Eaters had been dodging any curses or hexes thrown at them and disapparated away, however Harry dodged some of them.
"Hey! I'm innocent!" he cried, and saw they no longer threw any hexes or curses. Harry took a huge heave of sighed, and lied back down, arms and legs sprawled open. But not without a smirk on his face.
The people who had just arrived consisted of mostly Aurors, Order members, stared ghastly at Harry. Minster Fudge's face is now in the light shade of purple from being pale at the sight of Voldemort. Then the murmurs broke out. Most of them were panicking.
"You-Know-Who's back!" one screamed after a stunned silence.
"I can't believe he really is back! What are we going to do Minister!?" another shouted.
"What does this mean, was Potter was telling the truth the entire time?" a man asked.
"You mean Minister of Magic tried to cover this all up!?" another man exclaimed.
"What did You-Know-Who mean by immortal!? Is he trying to be immortal or is Potter one!?" an elderly woman asked, unsure of who to trust.
"How could you Minister? You-Know-Who's really back! Why did you cover that up for!?" a woman questioned him, panicking.
"I know! I know!" Fudge screamed at them, and turned at Harry. "Mr. Potter, what are YOU doing here!?" Harry sighed, and got to his feet, standing up thinking how much he would like to sleep.
"Will you believe me from now on Minister?" he said the last word sarcastically. Which caused the Minister of Magic to turn even more purple, he thought that even Vernon couldn't even achieve this shade. He nodded jerkily but Harry saw something stir in the crowds and saw Dumbledore coming in view. "Hey Professor Dumbledore," he said lightly.
"Harry, you need to go back to school, the others are... quite worried."
"Now just wait one minute Albus!" Fudge interrupted. "How did you get here?"
Harry sighed again, "Someone gave me a portkey, it was a parchment, Hermione didn't know."
"Ah, so it was a Portkey," Dumbledore said, mostly to himself.
"P-portkey?" stuttered the Minister Fudge.
"Yes, portkey," Harry replied sarcastically, he pulled the parchment out to show them. "It was this one, and sorry for sounding so sarcastic, it's been a tiring night."
"F-fine, you will get off of this one Potter," Fudge replied, staring at the parchment warily. "What other stories do you claim to be true?" He asked, staring around at others, rather looking at Harry and Albus.
"Well, Sirius's innocent, seeing that Peterigrew was here himself, and that Ced-C-Cedric Diggory was killed by Voldemort's wand."
"Who used the wand?" Fudge inquired.
"Well, if you actually read the Quibbler, then all questions will be answered for you. I'm sure you remember which issue it was." Harry replied, and Fudge stammered. "Can I sleep now Professor?" Harry turned to Dumbledore.
"Not right now I'm afraid, but please," Dumbledore created a portkey with a 'portus,' "take this, I'll shall meet you back in the office soon." Harry nodded glumly.
"Now just wait one minute! That's an illegal Portkey!"
"Mr. Fudge, I insist you to let this aside for now," he said, and Harry accepted the Portkey and saw the groups of reporters coming his way. He felt relieved when the pull behind his navel started and whisked away from the Atrium. He felt relieved when the reporters were trying to question him from afar when he disappeared, glad that he didn't have to linger any moment longer. He had a bad experience about reporters in the first place, but then again, the last interview was good. But still--
"UGH!" Harry collided into a hard char and toppled over onto a small table, tangling himself amongst the broken pieces of wood. "Ow... who the idiot would put---Ack!"
"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, pulling him off the floor, "You're alright! Oh my god, I was so worried!" Her tears falling down as she hugged him really tight.
"Ow, ow, ow Hermione!" Harry winced at the aftermath of Cruciatus Curses.
"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry!" Hermione shrilled.
"Her-mi-one, calm down," Harry said slowly, sitting into a plush chair somehow drawn up for him. "Ah..." Then he saw who was in the room. "Hello guys," Harry said, as if he just came back from classes or of similar things.
"Mate! You're in a right state!" Ron exclaimed, staring at some of the wounds Harry'd got during the duel.
"Harry, are you okay?" Remus asked, worried.
"I'm--" Harry began.
"Where the bloody hell did you go?" Sirius asked, studying his godson, worried about his physical and mental health.
"I'm fine!" Harry said.
"No you're not, you're hurt Harry," Hermione reprimanded him. "I know when you say you're fine when you're really aren't!" Harry sighed and looked around the room and saw that Severus Snape was also in the room.
"Um, Professor, I--" Harry started. Then Dumbledore arrived with much more grace than Harry had earlier. 'Hi Professor Dumbledore."
"Hello Harry, how are you feeling? Anyone want a lemon drop?" he asked, pointing to the container of Lemon Drops. Everyone said no except Harry, who got strange looks from everyone else.
"What? I need to have something in my system for being under Cruciatus Curse often..." Everyone paled at his revelation. "I suppose you want to hear my story or ask me questions?" Everyone nodded at him, urging to continue. "Well, you see, Hermione gave me the parchment at dinner, saying that someone had owled me, and it turned out to be a portkey."
"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry!" Hermione broke into a fits of tears.
"I'm fine Hermione, it's not your fault that I was portkeyed. In fact I'm glad you gave that to me in time otherwise you wouldn't stand a chance."
This seemed to calm Hermione down, but not much as she was still crying. "But Harry, you would've--"
"Now Hermione, let me finish," Harry interrupted her who nodded. "Okay, anyways, I was portkeyed to the Prophecy room, and what's funny is that there was no Order on duty tonight. I want to know why Professor," Harry glared at the old wizard before him. Who sighed slightly.
"That was my fault on my part Harry, everyone was busy tonight," he explained.
"You could've set Remus as a guard!" Harry retorted.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't risk him," he explained. "Please continue Harry."
"Well, there was twelve Death Eaters with me and started taunting me to pick up the Prophecy off the shelf. I refused naturally, but they threatened to kill Aunt Petunia, who was kidnapped . . ."
"WHAT!?" everyone shouted, horrified. Dumbledore stood up immediately.
"Wait Professor, it was just a polyjuice," Harry said hastily. This calmed everyone down considerably. "Though she did a good job of acting her part . . . perhaps you should check Dursleys after I'm finished. Anyways, so I was thinking it was really my aunt, so I picked up the Prophecy--"
"Oh you didn't!" Hermione cried out as everyone groans.
"Well, I'm SORRY I acted the hero," Harry said sarcastically. "At least let me finish my story with so many interruptions!" Everyone fell silence again, listening intently. But throughout his story, Snape had been silent unlike the room full of Gryffindors. "Now, with my quick thinking, I threw reducto hex everywhere, quite a sight I must say, so in the mist of that, I picked 'Aunt Petunia' up and ran out of there. I ran into this some sort of Time room and bolted the door. But while I was running, Aunt Petunia had woken up from unconscious state and started thrashing around while I was trying to defend myself. Throwing curses and hexes and the like at the Death Eater. You wouldn't believe the face I had when I saw Aunt Petunia took her wand out . . . that's when I thought things were a little fishy but she had been acting like herself so I didn't think much of it. So after I bolted the door, she pointed the wand at me, taunting me and I found out who was impersonating her..."
"Who was it?" Sirius asked, urging him on.
"You wouldn't believe it, it was that Wormtail," he spat at the word like poison. Then there was an uproar from Sirius, Remus, Ron, and partially Snape. With Hermione shrieked a little. "Yeah well, we dueled it out and I finally stunned him. But the door was trying to be knocked down so I tore out of there and into this strange circular room..."
Dumbledore nodded, understanding all of this so far as well as the other adults. "Yeah, then there was like twelve doors around me and the walls spun around me. So I had to find my way out, first it was an island place thing then the universe place. Both of them were an amazing sight..." Harry said, remembering, in awe. "So I finally found my way out of the Universe Room, and into the circular room again. I tried another door, but it was locked . . . I had worried that it was the exit door."
"Ah, the locked room, most mysterious of them all..." Dumbledore said softly.
"What's in there Professor?" Harry asked.
"It's a power that Voldemort does not know, something that you have that he doesn't. Now please continue," he said, steeping his fingers with a twinkle in his eyes. Harry grinned at him, knowing what he meant.
"Okay, well, you can see that I was panicking, speaking out loud that I had to get out, and when I said 'exit,' I found the door. Apparently it lets you get out to the exit . . ."
"Well, I'm glad you did that, I was wondering when you'd get out, like all night?" Remus remarked.
"Well, that department took me about two or three hours I'd wager. Maybe a little more. Anyways, the Death Eaters were really hot on my heels, so I ran into the lift and got on. Narrowly missing some of the hexes and curses I might add... The entire time, of course, that I still had my Prophecy. They said something about not hurting me, but they did," Harry shrugged. "Sometimes they can be so stupid," he said, "no offense meant," Harry added hastily as Snape glared, but soften somewhat.
"Oh none taken Potter, continue," he looked away. Harry nodded and plowed on of what happened in his absence.