PART THIRTY FOUR
A New Power Shall Rise Again
Please be alive, Draco…please still be alive…Hermione bit her lip as she raced through the fast darkening thickness of the forest, frantically waving her lighted wand around for any sign of a nearby clearing. She swallowed heavily as she almost tripped on an uprooted tree in her hurry, ignoring the frantic thudding of her panicked heart as she realized how much time she'd already wasted trying to find her way through the mass of darkness slowly enveloping her. For many fleeting seconds, she could've sworn she heard sounds other than her own beneath the woods and behind the bushes, but she regarded these strange sounds as nothing bigger to fear than the thought of Malfoy, lying dead in the forest somewhere, with the Dark Lord laughing in a manic way beside his corpse.
She shuddered as the dread rose up in her and tingled her spine, and she forced the thought out of her mind as she scrambled about as fast as she could, flinching every now and then as the occasional twig scraped her legs and the low-hanging branches scarred her face and bruised her arms.
And finally, after what seemed to her like hours of meaningless searching, she found that the trees were lessening, the woods was thinning, the darkness was fading, and she could see the faint outline of a clearing up ahead…
She ran as fast as her injured legs could take her, her exhausted lungs could support her, her retching stomach could tolerate her, her thundering heart could push her…the clearing was there…nearer…closer…she was almost there…
And the moment she stepped into the peaceful light, she came face to face with a man in a black cloak, his hood down but his demeanor making Hermione freeze completely in her tracks, her very being filled with nothing but sheer horror.
And the figure gave her the very same smile it had given Malfoy not long ago, speaking in a tone that made Hermione wish she were anywhere but here, alone, without the protection of Malfoy and her friends. "Ah…yes…I knew you'd come sooner or later. I'm delighted to have you here, Miss Hermione Granger."
"Where's Draco?" She demanded fiercely despite her trembling lips. "What have you done with him?"
"Quite aggressive, I must say. I never thought you'd be this brave to speak that tone with me…but then again, the Muggle-born genius has always had a knack for direct inquisition, as I have found out from my servants observing the classes at Hogwarts. Especially when it concerns the ones she loves, am I right?"
Hermione frowned. "Where is he?"
The figure tutted sarcastically. "My, what an irritating nuisance you must be to people intending to keep secrets, with that persistent mouth of yours. Very well, then; I'll answer your question, Mudblood. Your precious Draco, I'm afraid, is long gone."
Hermione's breath got caught in her throat, and she found her heart stiffening, her chest tightening, her whole body and mind freezing, as the figure laughed at her horrified reaction. However, she refused to let herself believe his words, even though her eyes were welling up. "I…I don't believe you."
The figure laughed even louder. "You…don't believe me? Really now, I would've thought the Hogwarts Head Girl had a little more common sense than that!"
"What have you done with him?" Hermione pressed on firmly through the tears in her eyes, this time not bothering to mask the distinct quiver in her tone.
"Amused as I am that you're trying your futile best to be unyielding with me, I'm afraid that information is something you do not need to know."
Hermione whipped out her wand at this, pointing it to him with a tightened grip, tears silently trickling down her cheeks now, yet still her eyes flared with anger and determination. "Tell me!!!"
The figure's smile faded, and he slowly held out his own wand as well. "Do you really intend to fight me, foolish Mudblood? I must remind you, genius as you might be, that you are only seventeen, and are absolutely deranged to think that the load of codswallop Dumbledore wishes for his students in Defense Against the Dark Arts is more than a bite of an ant when used against me." He pointed the wand at her. "I find your bravado very amusing, but you will be wise to drop your futile attempts of thinking that you and your precious Draco can leave this place the way you want to. I'm afraid your beloved Draco is no longer who he used to be, and is therefore long gone."
Hermione's eyes widened at the realization that Malfoy was possibly not dead, and her spirits rose up a notch, but no sooner did she begin to find new strength in her than her hope shattered into a million pieces at the figure's next words.
"Draco is as good as dead, Hermione Granger. And you will be too."
Hermione gathered up all the courage left in her, wished Malfoy the best, and opened her mouth for an incantation, but at that exact moment, the bushes ruffled loudly somewhere to her right, and out came Harry and Ron, disheveled and panting, who both whipped out their wands and directed them at the figure when they registered the scene in front of them to their thoughts.
All that was left of the courage inside her ebbed away when she saw her two best friends, standing there, ready to fight for her, to fight to their deaths. She hadn't minded dying a while back, but now, she could not bear to have them die, too.
Immediately, she turned to them and shouted in peril, "Harry! Ron! Get the hell out of here!!! V-V-Vol-demort's going to—"
But they never did find out what Voldemort was going to do, because at that instant, he had said "crucio" and Hermione was on the ground, writhing in pain.
"Hermione!!!" Ron screamed and dashed to her side, kneeling on the ground and trying to ease her pain to no avail, as she thrashed on the ground, shrieking in torture.
Harry's eyes burned and he pointed his wand at Voldemort, glaring furiously. He was just about to cast a spell on him when Voldemort said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Harry Potter. One false move and I torture your Muggle-born friend to insanity…and maybe even to her death, if she's lucky."
Harry's chest was heaving so much with boiled up anger and hatred, but even as he glared loathsomely at Voldemort, gripping his wand tightly and wanting so much to curse him straight on, one look at Hermione's twitching form on the ground and on Ron's angry, tearful face told him he couldn't. Slowly and reluctantly, he lowered his wand.
Voldemort cackled jestingly. "Accio wands."
All Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wands flew to Voldemort's left hand, and he gingerly placed them inside his robe pocket, looking at Harry with malicious, obsessed eyes and a sinister smile on his hooded face.
"I can't tell you how delighted I am to see you here, Harry. It's been a while since we met again, am I right? I have to say that you certainly do have a flair for arriving at the scene at exactly the right time," Voldemort said in a sickeningly amused voice. "I suppose I should be grateful for your admirable sense of timing. Your presence here will make everything so much better."
Ron was breathing heavily, glaring at Voldemort with all the fire in his eyes, gripping Hermione's shoulders tightly as she continued to squirm and cry out in pain.
"Lift the Cruciatus Curse on Hermione." Harry's glare never wavered, and when Voldemort finally started to pace, Harry saw in horror that behind Voldemort was a huge oak tree with a giant snake wrapped around it…only it was wrapped around something else besides the trunk…
In an instant, Harry's heart began to beat faster, and a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that his seventh vision wasn't telling him of Malfoy being on Voldemort's side, but of Malfoy being in much trouble with Voldemort as Harry was. Realizing he'd been wrong all along as he stared at Malfoy's pale, unconscious face sticking out from the snake's coiled body didn't make Voldemort's next words any easier to take in.
"You're in no position to make demands, Harry. Have you forgotten that your precious Headmaster isn't around to save you? And that I, having been wanting to kill you for seven years, am fully capable of disposing of you right now—" Voldemort glanced at Harry's friends on the ground, "—and more?"
"Lift the Cruciatus Curse on Hermione!!!" Harry repeated forcefully, despite the fact that his heart was hammering in fear. He knew Voldemort was right; he, Ron and Hermione were all helpless, and now Malfoy was in trouble too—how could Harry have thought Malfoy was on Voldemort's side all this time?
Voldemort let out an amused chortle and ignored Harry. He brought out a black book from his robe pocket, and was just about to open it when he paused and observed Harry's terrified expression. "I can tell that you are a bit surprised to see your rival caught up in this…" Voldemort gestured at the snake around Malfoy's weak body, "…tangle."
"What have you done to Malfoy?" swallowed Harry.
"Tsk, tsk," Voldemort shook his head slowly. "Did you know that that very same question was what landed your Mudblood friend in the predicament she is in now?" He gave a mock sigh. "But I will humor you, if you wish. After all, prolonging this conversation will give you a few minutes' extension before you die, is that not right?"
Harry sensed Ron freeze in his position, so he stepped closer to Voldemort as if to assure Ron that they both wouldn't die—even though Harry didn't have the slightest idea on how to save everyone and get out alive.
"Owing to the fact that the three of you are used to sticking your noses into things that are of no concern to you, you may already know that I…suffered the consequences of summoning this hard-headed Slytherin that night of your Quidditch Final." Voldemort began to walk around Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "You see, my so-called followers decided that it was high time to flee from me when I was weakened again; they thought that it was the second time I was stripped of my powers and they refused to let history repeat itself, them being on the run from the Ministry," Voldemort spat out in spite. "But they did not know…they never thought that I was not as weakened as how you, Potter, had made me before…it never occurred to their puny little minds that I do not need them to fulfill Salazar Slytherin's mission for me to rule the whole of wizardkind…I can create my own assistant…my very own Dark follower…one who will be far greater than any other Death Eater…and one who will aid me as my equal in conquering what has long been destined to be mine…"
Harry's nerves froze as he sensed the euphoric tone in Voldemort's manic voice, and he knew that Voldemort's plan was something he could not stop. But he had to…somehow…
"Salazar Slytherin's book for me told me how…I've been doing it all along…and now it has come to this, and yet according to the requirements, I needed the boy's volition in order to cast my spell effectively." Voldemort grinned evilly at Hermione on the ground. "Thankfully, this little slut provided as a perfect weakness to Draco…and he couldn't refuse me one bit." He stopped walking right in front of Harry. "And now, everything is ready…one more spell and I will have the most powerful follower ever…" he smiled. "Perhaps you are wondering why I so conveniently chose the Forbidden Forest as my location. This is because I plan to have Draco with me to destroy Hogwarts right away, and your beloved Headmaster with it. I was going to have Draco kill you as his first prize, but then, here you are, Potter, walking so willingly into my pit of death, to once again show your pathetic audacity, no doubt. Fear not, Potter, because this time, I will personally make sure that your impeccable luck in escaping me will not work again. It gives me great pleasure to be given the honor of killing you myself."
Harry's eyes widened as Voldemort threw Harry's wand to him. He caught it just as Voldemort said, "Let's play another game, shall we? The same game we played when you were in your fourth year, Harry…the same game that will not have the same result this time…"
Ron made a move to stand up and protest, but Voldemort immediately pointed his wand at him and Ron and Hermione were both instantly trapped in a domelike bubble cage, shielding them from interfering with Harry and Voldemort's duel.
Voldemort then gave Harry a malevolent smile. "Are you ready to die, Harry Potter?"
No…Ron clenched his fists in anger, as he watched Harry duck and run here and there, shooting curses and hexes at Voldemort, who was merely dodging his attacks and was obviously just toying with him.
No…this can't be happening…
He looked down at the ground where Hermione was still contorted in pain beside him, and every scream she emitted was like a knife tearing Ron's very soul apart. He pounded on the bubble-like but rock-hard dome cage around him and Hermione, screaming, "Just run, Harry!!! Get the hell out of here!!! Leave us and run!!!"
But he knew that it was of no use, because the cage was soundproof and he could hear nothing but Hermione's cries of pain and his own helpless attempts to make Harry hear him. He pounded again on the cage, tears welling up in his eyes as Harry got hit over and over again by Voldemort's minor spells. "Just run, Harry…please…just run away…"
He bent to wrap the twitching Hermione in an embrace, as he watched helplessly the way Harry, bruised, bleeding, and heavily injured, struggled to stand up after countless falls only to limp towards Voldemort and try to hex him, but get hexed instead.
It took a few more agonizing minutes before Harry fell back and disappeared into the bushes, and didn't come out again. Ron hugged the screaming Hermione tighter, fear enveloping his every nerve. Where was Harry? What had happened to him? Why was Voldemort laughing…why was he saying something that Ron couldn't make out…
It was when Harry leaped out of the bushes a few minutes later, with a determined and suicidal look on his scarred face and his wand pointed directly at Voldemort as he charged towards him, that Ron's tears finally prevailed. He felt like his very being was torn into two right down the middle and the very meaning of his existence was stripped away brutally from him.
Because from where he was, he could perfectly see the way Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry, said "Avada Kedavra!", and made him fall down on the ground in an instant. Just like that.
Anger, hurt, pain, injustice, regret, denial, depression, insanity…every wave of emotion rushed through Ron until he couldn't take it anymore. He screamed Harry's name to no avail, and found that his cry was the loneliest sound he had ever heard.
Voldemort laughed sickeningly in sheer joy, staring at the lifeless form of The Boy Who Lived on the ground right in front of him. It was almost too easy. He couldn't believe that it took him seven years before he could actually kill the boy. Was he really that afraid that this child would become a hindrance to his way to total conquest?
He shook his head and opened his book, returning to the final enchantment he had needed to say in order to give the Malfoy boy rebirth. He was just about to say the final word, when he noticed the red-haired sidekick crying angry tears inside his cage.
Ah yes, the ever-faithful best friend…Voldemort smiled to himself. How Potter's death must be torturing the Weasley child now…what with the Mudblood still being tortured in his arms and his best friend's death right in front of him. Voldemort turned to him amusedly. Perhaps one more hilarity before he proceeded with his plans…it wouldn't hurt, would it?
He lifted the cage charm on the two, and once again, the clearing was filled with the agonizing cries of the Mudblood, only this time, it was accompanied by the angry wailing of the freckled boy. It was almost too deliciously good to be true.
He took the Weasley boy's wand from his pocket and threw it at him, and the boy instantly took it, stood up, and pointed it at him with all the fire in his eyes. It was all Voldemort could do to burst out laughing.
"Are you going to fight me, too, boy? I assure you, it will most definitely be of no use. I do not need you distracting me at the moment; one wrong word and this incantation could backfire on me. I wouldn't want that now, would I?"
"I don't give a damn, you hooded freak," Ron answered with a livid fury in his tone that made the delighted Voldemort sigh derisively.
"Well, if you wish to experience the same fate your precious friend just did, then I give you the chance to use one spell against me. One spell, and then you die. Fair enough?" Voldemort smiled in glee.
Ron gripped his wand tightly, ignoring the fear that was coursing through him. He knew he stood no chance against Voldemort, no chance at all. But all the resentment in him was making him shake, and one look at Harry's wide-eyed and open-mouthed expression on the ground made him do what he did next.
"Flippageus!!!"
Ron's stomach lurched forward as extreme pain surged through him—he was thrown backwards onto the ground as Voldemort's hex hit him the moment Voldemort realized that Ron's incantation had no effect at all. Ron's wand slipped from his hand as his eyesight began to blur and his head spun in pain…he knew he was bleeding profusely as Voldemort's scathing laughter rang in his ears.
"You pathetic waste of pure blood!!! I gave you one chance to hit me and you used a nonexistent spell to fight me??? I am abhorred to think that Dumbledore admitted you into his school!!!" Voldemort laughed again.
Ron watched vaguely as Voldemort told him he'd let him live as Malfoy's first victim, and when Voldemort finally said the final incantation on his book, Ron smiled triumphantly. Gotcha.
Ron saw Voldemort's eyes widen as flashes of green light began to envelop him, and in an instant, he had thrown his head back and screamed, because every energy source from within his body seemed to be escaping from him, every tortured soul he'd killed seemed to be returning the favor, and every blood he'd shed seemed to be shedding out from him, splattering all over the grounds.
Ron's ears deafened with Voldemort's blood-curling scream, and he blinked to keep his swirling eyesight focused when he noticed that beams of green light were being extracted from Voldemort's body and were rushing into one of the bushes, illuminating it, strengthening it, as if to give it new life….
And it was then that Ron saw in disbelief that another Harry's weakened body from behind the bushes rose up and began walking towards the writhing Voldemort on the ground. Ron then realized that Harry had conjured a Dummy to be killed by Voldemort while he fell unconscious because of all his injuries behind the bushes.
Ron's chest swelled with new hope as all the rays of light diminished and finally ceased, leaving Voldemort in an extremely weak heap on the ground, with a rejuvenated and completely revived Harry standing over him, his wand in his hand.
Voldemort's eyes turned towards Ron and muttered, "Y-you…wretched little…"
But Ron never did find out what Voldemort was going to call him, because at that moment, Harry had pointed his wand at Voldemort, and Ron couldn't help but notice that there was something very odd about the way Harry's eyes shone…
Voldemort looked up at Harry. "Y-you may think you've won…but…this is not over…"
It was when Voldemort began to laugh like a maniac did Harry, to Ron's utter shock, say unfalteringly and monotonously, "Avada Kedavra."
And instead of just lying still like all the Avada Kedavra victims, Voldemort let out another ear-piercing laugh and disintegrated, along with the hissing snake around the tree, causing Malfoy to fall on the ground with a thud. And then there was complete silence.
But there wasn't supposed to be complete silence. Where had Hermione's shrieks gone? Ron glanced at Hermione on the ground a few feet away from him and saw to his horror that Hermione had stopped screaming, but with the way her body was still twitching, he knew that the Cruciatus Curse was still upon her.
He tried to call out to Harry to tell him, but everything began to spin in a haze…his head felt like breaking…and he realized he'd already lost too much blood. The very last thing he saw was Malfoy, slowly gaining consciousness and beginning to get up; and Harry, still with the mask of an emotionless, almost malicious look in his eyes, walking towards Malfoy.
And everything faded away.
Malfoy groaned out loud as all sense of feeling came surging through his body, his consciousness snapping him back to reality in the most ghastly way possible. Every muscle in him seemed to be screaming out in pain. What had just happened? Why was everything so quiet, and why was Voldemort's voice nowhere to be heard?
Slowly and reluctantly, Malfoy opened his eyes and squinted, only to find himself lying face-down on the ground, with no giant snake's head hissing above him, which was the last thing he had known before he had lost all consciousness.
Where had Voldemort and his serpent gone? Why was he alive and well…and where was Hermione…?
Hermione!!!
Malfoy immediately sat up and regretted it almost instantly; shots of intolerable pain coursed through him, and he shut his eyes and groaned again. Damn it…
"Get up, Malfoy."
His eyes flew open. That was Potter's voice…
He looked up to see that Harry was standing a few feet from him, his wand in his hand. "Get up," he repeated.
Malfoy held back his groan as he straightened up, and when he was finally standing, he looked at Harry and noticed something different about the way Harry was looking at him…
Much as he hated to admit it, he had to ask Harry what was up. "What the hell happened…?"
Harry didn't answer but instead continued to look at him with the same, bizarre and dazed look in his eyes. Malfoy then looked around—and saw to his absolute horror that Hermione was convulsing uncontrollably on the ground, which could only mean, as Malfoy knew so well, that she was under the Cruciatus Curse.
Oh my god…Malfoy swore his heart stopped beating. "Hermione!!!" He instantly began to run towards her, but was stopped when Harry pointed a completely unwavering wand right at his throat. Malfoy's eyes widened.
"Fight me, Malfoy. We have a score to settle…something we should have done years ago."
Malfoy looked at Harry's wand pointed at Malfoy's throat and frowned. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you, Potter? I hate you with all my guts, but damn it, can't you see what's happening to Hermione?"
Malfoy was shocked to see that Harry's lips slowly curled into a morbid smile. "I can lift that curse with a flick of my wand, but I don't care. You almost killed Cho. Let's see what happens to Hermione."
"Damn you, Potter!!!" Malfoy made a move towards him but was immediately thrown back when Harry cast a hex on him. He moaned in pain on the ground, and as Harry slowly walked towards him, he saw Harry's dazed eyes flash maliciously while he pointed his wand at him.
"Not so high and mighty now, are you, Malfoy?" Harry kicked him on the ground. "You've been an insufferable pain for years…and I'll be glad to kill you in an instant." Harry smiled again. "But wouldn't it be better for you to see Hermione suffer first…?"
That was when Malfoy snapped. He jumped up and punched Harry square in the face, causing him to fall back and to drop his wand. "Shut the fck up!!!" Malfoy said, getting on top of him and hitting him again and again. "You can kill me anytime you want, but how dare you get Hermione into this!!!" Malfoy's eyes began to well up in anger. "She's your best friend for god's sake!!! She doesn't deserve any of this!!! Lift the curse!!! Lift—the—fcking—curse!!!"
Malfoy hit Harry with every word he said, and he was too angry to realize that Harry wasn't making any moves at all to fight back…too angry to see that the usual color in Harry's eyes had returned…too angry to notice that the bushes to his left had rustled, and out had come three more figures, advancing towards him…
"Reducto!!!"
Snape immediately rushed towards Malfoy the moment he hit him with his spell and caused him to be thrown back away from Harry. McGonagall let out a sharp cry of horror when she saw Ron all bloodied up on the ground and hurried to tend to him. Dumbledore, then, took one look at everything around him and seemed to understand it all. He calmly approached Harry, who was stunned on the ground, barely able to move.
"Harry…?" Dumbledore whispered serenely to him. "Harry…I know you're in shock…but you have to concentrate. We'll talk later, okay? Now, I want you to get yourself together…get yourself together, Harry…get up…that's it…"
Harry found himself slowly picking up his wand and standing, obeying numbly what Dumbledore was saying, even though his voice seemed so distant, so far away…
It took a while before Harry could focus on everything around him…on Malfoy heavily injured with Snape tending to him…on Ron, unconscious, and being nursed by McGonagall with a "ferula" charm…on Hermione, who was in obvious torture on the ground…
And suddenly, everything came rushing back to Harry like a roll of film: Hermione cast with the Cruciatus Curse…Malfoy, unconscious, on the tree wrapped by a serpent…Voldemort hitting Harry again and again with hexes…Harry conjuring a Dummy before he lost all consciousness behind the bushes…Harry waking up with an overwhelming sense of extreme power all over his body…the bloodlust he felt…the Avada Kedavra curse…Voldemort…Ron…Malfoy…Hermione…
As the painful realization of the truth dawned on Harry, he found that he could no longer hold it all in, and he no longer knew what he had to do. An overpowering sense of helplessness and vulnerability shrouded Harry, and finally, his eyes began to tear up.
"Be strong now, Harry…be strong…I know it's painful, but please know that this curse on Hermione is a different kind of Cruciatus Curse…one that is more advanced…more complex…it doesn't stop with the lifting of a wand…or with loss of contact with the wand that cast it…it can't be stopped until Voldemort personally stops it…" Dumbledore went on calmly. "You've always had a connection with Voldemort's spells through your wand, Harry…so I want you to lift up your wand…lift the Cruciatus Curse on Hermione…lift it, Harry…it will all go away…"
Harry blindly pointed his shaking wand towards Hermione, trying to blink back his tears. He didn't even know what he was going to say. But in an instant, he had opened his mouth, said something he didn't know he could, and Hermione finally lay still. Just like that.
"That's my boy, Harry…" Dumbledore squeezed his shoulder in a comforting assurance, as Harry's tears finally triumphed and he broke down. "That's my boy…"