Disclaimer: I don't
own Harry Potter
Chapter 10 – Attack Velocity
"So
Harry Potter can now do Avada Kedvra?" Voldemort asked
disbelievingly. It did not surprise him. Contrary to what most of his
Death Eaters thought, he actually had a great deal of respect for
Harry Potter. He was James' son after all!
"Yes he
can," the Cloaked Figure said simply, "as well as throw off
Crucio for several seconds."
"Why would you teach him
these things?" Voldemort asked, unable to comprehend this
man's...arrogance.
"Voldemort, he is powerful, but it
doesn't matter. None of these things will help him. He can't
hurt you."
Voldemort fell silent. It made sense of
course, teaching Harry these things that would never work on him. It
might just throw Potter off guard after all. Whatever the intentions
of the Cloaked Figure were, he was helping Voldemort now. That was
always good.
"What else do you have to tell me?"
"The
attack on Diagon Alley is almost set. We should be there tomorrow,"
Voldemort replied, thinking about the grand victory they would
have.
"Voldemort, do not think to far ahead of yourself.
Diagon Alley is an easy target, but the Aurors are watching it like a
hawk."
Voldemort smirked, something the Cloaked Figure
detested. "The Aurors...will no longer be around to guard
it."
"What do you mean? Are you telling me that you sent
Death Eaters to attack the Aurors that are guarding Diagon
Alley?"
Voldemort nodded in triumph. "If we are
successful, ten Aurors will die tonight, including Alastor
Moody."
The Cloaked Figure was silent. Voldemort didn't
know what he was thinking, but hoped that he wasn't too displeased
with this little operation.
"Most clever Voldemort. Even for
you."
Voldemort grinned in satisfaction. Finally he was
doing something right that pleased this man! It would make it all the
easier to manipulate him.
"How many Death Eaters does that
leave us in Diagon Alley?"
"Twenty," Voldemort replied.
"The rest will try to join after the Aurors are dead. That makes a
grand total of about thirty total. If we are lucky."
"Our
chances of success our high it seems," the Cloaked Figure
noted.
"Which makes the chances of Diagon Alley being
destroyed high," Voldemort responded with a hint of pride.
The wind rustled slightly and slowly Jugson crept downward, his eyes darting greedily at the target. He was about halfway down when he heard a snap. He looked down to see a long stick, now snapped in half, underneath his foot. He looked up in time to see a fireball hurtle above him. He slipped down, narrowly missing it, but feeling its searing heat washing across his face. He jumped down and kicked the bowl of boiling water into the Auror's face.
The Auror cried out in pain, and put his hands over his face. Jugson leapt triumphantly. He aimed his wand at the helpless Auror and whispered, "Incendio!"
Jugson smiled at the horrific sight and said, "Try to burn me, I'll burn you right back." Walden Macnair was having a great day. Today would bring much death and destruction which is something that an executioner, especially a short-fused one such as him, liked. He crept through the doors in the house looking for the target.
He opened the door to the kitchen when he heard an outraged cry behind him, "Get the hell out of my house!"
He turned around slowly. "Nymphadora, what a pleasant surprise."
Tonks looked at him and shoved her wand up his neck. "If you ever call me that, I'll blow your brains out, now what do you want?"
"I've come to kill you," he said without hesitation. Stupid to lie, he told himself.
"Well you seem to have failed," she spat back, seeming unshaken by the news that her life was in danger. She pulled the wand back at pointed towards the door. "Walk that way and I'll stun you."
"Why make me walk?"
"I'll attack you from behind," she replied smugly. "Now drop the wand."
He dropped it obediently and started walking towards the door. In one quick fluid motion he drew a knife from his belt and threw it at Tonks while rolling backwards to avoid her Stunning Curse.
The heard her cry out in pain and saw that the knife had slashed her wand-hand. He picked up his wand and turned to advance on her. Mulciber looked up at the Auror above him, seeking out possible places to climb from.
"Up the side of the building it will be," he said happily. He looked up and put a stick charm on his hands and feet. "The human spider", he thought to himself.
His target was supposed to be three floors up and to the left. He checked his angle and started to climb. "Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly," he whispered to himself, reciting a poem he had heard as a child.
When he got to the third floor, he quietly cut the window of the building and slipped inside. The Auror should be across the hall. He slipped to the right of the door. Carefully, he opened it burst through. The Auror was so surprised he didn't even raise his wand as Mulciber said, "Imperio!"
Now this was why he learned the Imperius Curse in the first place he thought as he directed the Auror to take the leap from the window.
The hateful night crept on. "Come on Hermione," Harry pleaded, "you knew I was going to have to do it eventually."
Hermione looked at him from the crack of the door. "No I don't care Harry Potter."
"Look," he began shakily, "I thought you'd understand. Hermione, like I told you before, it is duty! I have to be the one to kill him."
She sighed, "You know what Harry? You are so contradictory. The other night, before, well before, you know," she blinked back tears that she obviously tried to hide, "you said you couldn't kill him. What's changed Harry?"
Harry looked at the door's crack. "Let me in, will you? It's embarrassing in this hallway." He glanced around and threw her an amused smile. "It feels like I took you on a bad date."
Hermione sighed. "Fine," she said, and clicked the door open.
Harry walked in and tried to look comfortable, but he knew he wasn't. By the look on her face, she recognized his uncomfortable expression as well. She crossed her arms and sat on the nearest armchair. Harry took the armchair directly across from her.
He stared her straight in the face and said, "I'm not ashamed Hermione," he took a breath, looking at her reaction. Surprisingly she did not look distressed. Taking this as a sign of encouragement, he plunged ahead in his words. "Why do you worry Hermione? You already know that I am a murderer as well as that was I was born to be. It has been etched in my history since the Prophecy. Nothing can change it."
Finally she spoke, and her face flushed. Harry felt a sinking feeling; she did not understand. "Harry, that's what scares me most." She looked at him squarely. "You talk about it so lightly! It is murder Harry."
Harry felt a flash of anger. Now she understood. That would have been useful two weeks ago when he didn't want to kill Voldemort, but now it just enraged him for no reason. "Look, first you didn't care. Now you do? Do you really care or understand." She opened her mouth, but Harry continued. "You don't know! You can't! You don't have the emotional depth to understand it," he ranted.
She stood up, "Harry Potter, don't you ever say that again. I was the only one to understand you when you didn't want to be understood. Ron never-," but she choked off. Harry's heart melted and all feelings of aggravation left him in an instant. The clock on the wall clicked loudly, leaving a feeling of tension in the air.
Finally, Hermione spoke again, "Harry do you want to kill him?" Her eyes had a slight fear in them that Harry understood. She knew what answer she wanted.
"For the greater good of course," he responded hoping he was right. Her eyes betrayed that he was wrong.
"You want revenge," she shot back bluntly. "You want revenge for Ron and your parents and S-," but broke off as Harry gave her a fierce glare that he seldom used. Finally she got the courage to say, "It's personal to you now isn't it. Ever since Ron died." It was the first time she had ever spoken of Ron's death in such a blunt manner.
"What's wrong with that?"
"EVERYTHING!" She screamed. "You don't understand do you? You're the same as him! You've both been in similar situations haven't you? Parents dead for you, Voldemort lived in an orphanage. You both never had parent-figures."
Harry looked up angrily, "I had a parent-figure. His name was Sirius Black and you know what happened to him? He was KILLED!" he screamed. "Hermione if I do not finish it for years I'm afraid the people close to me won't be around to see the world without Voldemort!"
She sighed, but her face was etched with sympathy. "No Hermione," he replied to this silent pronouncement sharply. He could not take this anymore. Hermione was not understanding anymore and as far as he was concerned, was not a friend anymore. He saw it inside himself and walked out silently, leaving a slightly stunned, but angry, Hermione to fling her wand across the room where it hit the door to which Harry had just left. Again, the water that fell from the heavens was light and cool when Harry stepped out. He did not resent Hermione, but she did not understand anymore. He did not think that it would be the same anymore. "Why can't it just be easy? But of course anything with Voldemort is never easy," he mumbled to himself, drawing a curious stare from a passerby. Harry ignored him until he saw the man change before him. Slowly but surely he turned into a man with a mask and a dark cloak. Harry spun at the Death Eater, but was grabbed from behind.
He looked up the road and saw Gringotts being stormed by Death Eaters. He gasped. Was Voldemort really that bold to do something like this? Realizing that he was now a hostage, he twisted as his assailant said, "Hello Mr. Potter. Again I believe." Harry turned to hear his stalkers voice that had attacked him in the alley.
"I wanted to kill you, and now I rather wish I had," Harry replied, sneering.
"Yes, I hear Potter," he stopped abruptly to smile, "has undeveloped his...morals? Can it be?"
"Trust me if I had half a chance, I would kill you now," Harry said viciously. He felt the rage bubbling over. Fight it he told himself, but he couldn't stop it.
"Believe me Potter, I won't give you a quarter-chance." Harry tugged at his assailants arm only to have it brought back harder on his throat.
He heard a small spell behind him. His attacker was blasted into the rain, getting soaked. Harry spun out his wand, concentrated all his hate into it, and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!"
He turned to see who his helper was only to find Hermione gazing at him palely. "There was no need for that," she said simply. "Tell me you feel bad."
Harry tried to say that he did, but he could not. His mouth was caught in a knot. Of course he did not. He had been trained to not feel remorse. Her face fell when she realized the truth, but Harry saw that behind her, forty or so Death Eaters were spewing into Diagon Alley's winding street. He grabbed her arm, and said, "Come on."
"What are we going to do?" she asked frantically. Harry gazed at her and sniffed. There was nothing more they could do here. Diagon Alley was lost. "We warn Dumbledore about the fall of Diagon Alley."
She started to protest, but Harry shushed her. He disapparated into the rainy mist, not knowing, and not really caring either, if Hermione had followed behind him.
