BIG-MOUTHED VILLAINS (Chapter Five)
Harry and Hermione apparated at Grimmauld Place, Harry laughing, Hermione scowling.
"Harry, you know you shouldn't have done that. You have directly disobeyed…"
"Spare me the lecture, Hermione." Harry walked into the hallway, just to get away from her. Predictably, she followed.
"Where is everybody?" Harry asked in disbelief. Usually there were at least eight or ten wizards passing through the hallways doing business, and that was the small numbers in the small hours of the morning. But today there was only one person.
"Emergency call." Lupin said. "A major disturbance in the Muggle world. Dumbledore wanted you to stay here, just as a precaution, because of you-know-who's alleged return to power and all that. But, of course, you weren't here, so I got stuck behind to tell you when you arrived to stay put."
Now Harry regretted going to Hogwarts. He could be out there fighting some major disturbance! So what if Dumbledore told him to stay, he's not exactly in school anymore, and he was invincible! (Or so Harry believed).
"What sort of disturbance? Should I be helping?" Hermione asked.
"No," Lupin responded. "All three of us have to stay where we are. We're to point the backup wizards from Ireland in the right direction. And believe me, you haven't seen a disturbance until you see what's happening right now."
"What is it?" asked Hermione, again.
"Muggle hunters from the edge of town stumbled across a bunch of giants in the mountains. One tried to spear the leader of the giants, and the group where chased halfway when the pursuit just… stopped. The Muggles thought they were Scot-free until the giants appeared with a herd of ridge-tusked giant boars, the wild kind. The humans weren't injured, but now the wizards are stuck with getting the giants and the boars back up the mountain and away from civilization, and then the Muggles need to have their memories modified."
"Sounds big."
"Is big."
Suddenly, a group of about twenty armed gentlemen with nuclear-powered stun guns appeared huddled around where they were standing.
"Ah, backup!" Lupin cried. "You two stay here!" he said as he, along with the back-up soldiers, disapparated.
"Oh, I do hope they are all right!" whispered Hermione.
"Only one way to find out!" said Harry. He grabbed Hermione's arm and, once again, disapparated. He kept his mind focused completely on the coordinates, and within a second they found themselves less than 5 feet away from the trolls and their 'pets'. "SHIT!"
One of the trolls saw the pair and lumbered forward, its club raised. It swung at Harry.
"NO!" Hermione yelled, as she lunged into a dive at Harry. The dive knocked Harry of his feet and in mid-air, when their bodies touched, Hermione apparated them back to Grimmauld Place. They landed hard on the floor.
"Do you think you've learned your lesson yet?" gasped Hermione, as they both lay on the floor, slightly winded. Harry rubbed his ribs where they had landed hard on the floor.
"Man, I knew you could tackle hard, but tackling from another hemisphere is absolutely killer!"
Hermione slowly stood up and Harry thought she was going to start another lecture, but she didn't. She just laughed.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but… that was kinda fun!!"
"He hem, I hate to break up this 'party'", said a deep and sneering voice. "Well… actually, I quite like it! Stand up, both of you!"
Harry and Hermione's laughter quickly died away as they stood and turned to face Draco Malfoy. He had his wand out, pointed in their direction. Beside Malfoy was Wormtail, in all his quivering cowardice.
"You shouldn't be here. The ministry wizards and the back-up crew from Ireland will be here any minute." Said Hermione, trying to act brave.
"I don't think so," Luplin replied. "In fact, the only one apparating here any minute should be here now. Wormtail, go and see." Malfoy glared down at Wormtail, and he quickly scurried away.
"You always thought you were better than me, Potter. Well this time you're wrong. This time I'm the one who's beat you. I'm the one who will bring your death!"
"Oh, Shut UP!" glared Hermione. She turned to Harry. "Is it just me, or do the evil people seem to like to talk a lot? It is driving me crazy!"
Draco was stunned. He stood inside the door, mouth wide open, staring at them. Hermione's surprise tactic had worked.
"You're right Hermione," said Harry, catching her drift. "As a matter of fact, they seem to have really big mouths a lot of the time, but they can never quite get over this. Accio Wand!" Draco's wand flew out of his hands and neatly landed in Harry's. Harry smiled.
"What were you saying, Malfoy?"
Suddenly, Lupin apparated beside Harry and Hermione. "I saw you guys near that troll! I thought I told you-" But he stopped in mid sentence as he saw Draco Malfoy, and then the two wands in Harry's hands.
"Harry… could you kindly explain what's going on here?"
"No need." An even more terrifying voice came from behind them. They all spun around, and right in front of the fireplace was Voldemort and Wormtail. Harry cringed as he saw Voldemort, and remembered the night when he had been transported to a deserted graveyard by portkey and had witnessed the 're-birthing' of the body of Voldemort. As a matter of fact, he (or his blood) had been part of it.
Malfoy walked over to stand beside Voldemort. Lupin quickly got over his shock.
"Run," he told Harry and Hermione. "I'll handle them. Just run!"
Harry thought about it, and decided not to, considering he didn't want to kill Lupin the same way he killed Sirius, by deserting him. Voldemort, and Wormtail pulled out their wands and jinxed, just as Harry, Hermione and Lupin dived behind the couches and armchairs to their right. The guys weren't hit, but Malfoy's wand flew from Harry's hand.
Harry ran out of the cover of the couch, and dived below the green hex spells and behind another large arm chair that was on the far side of the room. It is me they want, Harry figured, So I'll keep them away from the others. Turns out it wasn't like that.
Hermione shot jinx after jinx at Malfoy, who ducked behind an old cupboard, only poking his head out to return the jinxes. Lupin was still behind the couch, firing at Voldemort, but Voldemort was in plain view. Voldemort merely dodged Lupin's curses, while Lupin took refuge behind the now battered sofa. That left Harry with Wormtail.
Wormtail was hiding around the corner, just out of sight, where the wall branched in to allow room for the secret passage behind the bookcase. Harry shot jinx after jinx above and to the side of the armchair, but they only ever hit the opposite wall, making the picture frames shake. An old man swore and shook his fist at Harry from his portrait in the wall, but Harry just kept on jinxing. One spell hit the corner of the wall, inches from the space where Wormtail was hiding, sending a shower of plaster and blue sparks. Wormtail whimpered, but never once left his corner, not even to try to hex Harry. This was annoying Harry immeasurably. Eventually, he lost his temper and his patience, and walked right around the corner. Wormtail was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands, and shaking from head to tail. When he saw Harry, he raised his wand but before he could say anything Harry yelled "CRUCIO!" Harry didn't know what made him do it, the curse he swore never to do on another human being after having it done to himself, but he did. Thoughts and memories flashed through his mind. His parents. Voldemort killed my parents! And Wormtail helped him! He must pay! The light that was holding Wormtail, screaming and writhing in agony, suddenly turned a vibrant shade of red. Harry didn't for a moment think about lifting the curse.
He sent Sirius to Azkaban!. He killed a street full of innocent Muggles! He deserves to die!
With every thought the light from the hex grew brighter and stronger, and Wormtail's screams grew more frantic and full of pain.
He killed Sirius! If it wasn't for him Sirius, my parents, THEY'D ALL STILL BE ALIVE!
Slowly, blood began to trickle from Wormtail's eyes, his nose, his ears, he even coughed some out of his mouth, but Harry didn't notice. All he saw was his family, his real family – James, Lily and Sirius.
They'd be alive! He killed them! He must pay! HE MUST!
Harry barely heard Lupin and Hermione yelling at him, pleading him to stop. He barely heard Voldemort's wicked laughter, or Malfoy's excited shouts as he realized what was going to happen.
Harry still kept his eyes and his wand trained on the screaming and kicking form of Peter Pettigrew. Eventually, when the blood running from his body had thoroughly soaked the ground, the screaming stopped. There was a stunned silence in the room, although Harry didn't notice it. He looked down at the lifeless form of Peter. The blood which puddled around the body started to run towards Harry's feet, but he quickly stepped away.
Voldemort's voice echoed inside his head.
I knew you could do it. Don't you see, Harry? I told you we're not that different, you and I. And now, we have both killed in cold blood. But who will win this war in the end? We'll see.
Draco was the first to recover from the spell that seemed to have been cast over the room as everyone watched Wormtail die. He was starting to fear Harry, now that he knew Harry could kill. So Draco took his aim, and cursed. "Kenivio!" The Curse of a Thousand Knives was a very powerful and fatal curse, but apparently not cruel enough to be one of the Unforgivable Curses. What would usually happen is the cursed would feel as though more than a thousand knives were stabbing them, all over their body, until eventually he or she died. But Harry didn't feel pain. He didn't even feel remorse for murdering Peter Pettigrew, as a normal person would have done. He felt nothing but the darkness as his mind and soul floated down, coming to rest at the edge of Death Valley.