Disclaimer: The person I traded the plastic bag to choked on it and sued me...so I'm broke again. Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. Cricket was my defence attourny...apparently ninjitsu isn't good for everything.
Harry Potter and the Strength of Three
Chapter 12, Click Click Boom
This chapter is dedicated to albert87, my 100th reviewer. He must know ninja too...
Harry closed his eyes and squeezed his head, wondering if he was still dreaming. The pain in his head was so intense he couldn't think, it felt like Fred and George were using it to practice in place of a bludger. He tasted blood in his mouth, and realized he had bitten his lip. He balled his hand and hit himself in the side of the head, but if it caused pain it simply blended in with the rest of it. He cautiously opened his eyes, and had to stifle a sob as the scene hadn't changed.
The pistol was still shaking slightly, whether because the person holding it was nervous or excited he couldn't tell. Probably excited... He took in his surroundings, foregoing the inevitable confrontation. Dudley stood a little to the left and behind Harry's attacker, two glasses of a nasty looking liquid in his hands. The drinks swirled an ugly yellow, white and brown...it looked like stuff was floating it it. ...Dr. Dudley's Hangover Cure. Dudley wasn't looking at Harry, he was staring at the gunman, shock and horror written all over his face. His hands shook, sending clumps and splashes of the... mixture splattering onto the floor.
Harry had to swallow to keep from gagging, the stuff looked even nastier than it tasted. With a shudder, he looked at the other occupants of the room. Hermione was kneeling near his feet, a hand on the couch and the other covering her terrified mouth. Tears streamed from her bloodshot eyes, her face looked slightly yellow, and she had darkened bags hanging from her eye sockets. She looked horrible. Stifled moans came from beneath her hand, which shook slightly in fear. Harry heard snores coming from near the TV, and looking over he saw a leg hanging from an arm on one of the couches. The bright orange sock was rumpled up, drooping slightly from Ron's foot as he slept. The snores were punctuated now and then by murmurs... something about spiders. If the situation had been any different, Harry would have laughed.
No-one else seemed to be in the room. Harry groaned slightly before turning to face Vernon Dursley. His uncle was dressed in a way Harry had never before seen... black sweatpants and a sweatshirt, with black trainers on his feet. Sweat streamed down the blubbery mans face, over his clenched jaw and down his many chins before finally reaching the collar of the sweatshirt. There was a darkened area that reached from Vernon's neck to the middle of his stomach from dampness. Apparently, he had been sweating for some time. The shiny weapon was gripped by one gloved meaty hand, and Harry again wondered if his uncle was nervous. Looking into Vernon's eyes disapproved this notion, however. Harry's Uncle's eyes gleamed in anticipation, and a small smile of satisfaction played at his lips. Harry felt like retching.
"Get up." Vernon hissed in a deadly whisper, tipping the barrel of the gun for emphasis. Harry stared, unmoving. Is this how it's going to end? My own uncle doing what Voldemort failed to accomplish countless times? Vernon's eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched tighter. "GET UP!" He roared, as he reached out his other beefy hand and dragged Harry to his feet. Harry heard a yelp from the couch where Ron was sleeping, and winced.
"I'm up! Bloody-hell, I'm up!" Ron yelled, jumping from the couch in confusion. He looked around in front of him wildly, and after seeing nobody, scratched his head.
"R-ron..." Harry croaked, then coughed violently, his throat aching from dryness. His mouth felt dry, like he had been chewing on cotton-balls in his sleep. Ron turned slowly at the sound of the voice, and his eyes widened in alarm as he took in the sight of Vernon.
"Bloody Hell, what's he doing here?" Ron asked, dropping the hand from his head. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Harry's Uncle pointedly. "Looking for another thrashing, muggle?" Harry whimpered in response, eyeing Ron in alarm. What the hell is he doing!? Ron pointed a finger at the gun, grinning. "Gonna hit him with that shiny stick?" Of course... Ron doesn't know what a gun is. Harry shook his head, trying to get his friend's attention, but Ron didn't notice. "Tonks is gonna kick your a..."
Bang!
Ron stumbled back, a surprised look on his face. He brought a hand to his chest, toughed it, and brought it to his face. Harry could see Ron's shirt darken as he watched, blood spilling from the wound rapidly. Ron turned dropped his hand, looked at Vernon, then turned to Harry. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth. "B-bloody hell..."
Ron crumpled, dropping to the floor in a heap. Hermione screamed, crying out Ron's name as though to wake him. Harry just stared at his fallen friend in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Blood began to pool about the body. Ron's hand twitched once, twice, then lay still. Ron got shot. Harry thought idly, staring emotionlessly at the rapidly growing puddle of red. He's dead...
He felt wetness in his hand, and looked down as he opened his fist. His fingernails had cut deep quarter moon shaped gouges into his palm, separating the scars he had received from the pencil in grade school. He dropped his hand back to his side and turned his attention back to Ron, waiting for him to jump up and laugh at Vernon. Get up, you bastard! Harry screamed in his thoughts, pushing all of his willpower into the command.
Ron didn't stir, and Harry snapped. He turned to his uncle with a scream...and got knocked off his feet from a backhand, landing on his back with a grunt of pain. He scrabbled weakly at his waistband for his wand, but found nothing. Vernon Dursley laughed.
"Looking for this?" He taunted, waving the wand about in front of his nephew's face. Harry sat up quickly and made a grab for it, but missed as Vernon retracted the wand, sneering. So much for seeker reflexes... "Na-ah." Vernon teased, grasping the wand tip with the fingers holding the pistol. "I don't think you should have this anymore, sooo..." Smiling insanely, Vernon snapped Harry's wand in two and dropped the pieces at his feet with a snicker. Harry looked at the two pieces of holly dumbly. A small red and gold feather poked out the end of the piece with the tip, and Harry realized that a small hole was in the center of the wand for it's core. I have no wand. I can never do magic again. Harry looked from the splintered wood to his uncle's satisfied face, before pushing himself to his feet painfully.
"Why are you doing this?" His voice still sounded scratchy as he spoke, and he swallowed reflexively from the pain. Vernon smiled indulgently, walked a few paces away and spun back around.
"Why?" He sneered, "I'll tell you why. You've always been a burden to me and my family. Despite the fact that we were the ones who raised you, who fed and clothed you, you still refused to obey our rules. You and your stupid ruddy owls and freaky friends." He glanced at the body of Ron, and his smile returned. Harry wondered again if he would be sick. "So, when a man came to me with an offer of 250,000 pounds, just to get rid of you, how could I refuse? Of course, I have to kill your friends first, so you can watch..." With that, he pointed the gun at Hermione's kneeling form. The bushy-haired girl was still staring at the crumpled form of Ron, crying silently.
"No...HERMIONE!" Harry screamed, jolted from his stupor. He made to push her out of the way, but it was too late.
Bang!
Hermione didn't speak or look curiously at a bloody hand. The force of the bullet pushed her towards the couch, and her head hit the arm violently before she slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Bang!
Harry flinched, horror painted on his face as he watched Hermione's body jump slightly from the second gunshot. Blood spread rapidly from her form, quickly reaching Harry's shoes. He stepped back, gagging. Hermione's dead.
"That's for putting my son under your fowl spell, freak." Vernon sneered, chuckling.
"What are you doing, dad?" Harry looked up at the new sound, and saw Dudley staring open-mouthed at his father. The glasses of hangover cure lay shattered at his feet, and Harry wondered how he had missed hearing the sound. "You just murdered two of my friends!"
"Don't worry, Dudley." Vernon turned his head to face his son, a look of adoration written plainly at his face. "The man said that as soon as Harry's dead his bewitching spell will vanish. You'll be back to normal in no time!" He took a couple steps towards his son, who backed away with horror in his eyes.
"I'm not under a spell, you fool!" Dudley practically shouted, looking at his father in disgust. "You're going to go to prison..."
"No, I won't." Vernon sing-songed in a mocking voice, stopping his advance. "The man told me he would take care of everything. They're even buying us a new home, in Majorca, where we've always wanted to go. Won't it be fun, Dudley!" Seeing the look of utter loathing on his son's face, Vernon shook his head dispassionately. "It will all be over soon, and we'll be the perfect family again. Just ike we were before he came along." The last sentence was said in a disgusted tone, as though Harry were a stomach parasite or something. "I'm sorry son, but I can't have you interfering..." With that, Vernon took two quick steps forward and struck Dudley in the head with the butt of the pistol. Dudley dropped to the floor, unconscious.
With a sad shake of his head, Vernon turned from the form of his son to Harry, who was looking back and forth between his fallen friends. His breath came quickly as tears streamed down his face. Both of them dead! I have no friends, no family...no reason to live. He brought his anguished gaze to meet his uncle's hate filled eyes.
"Well, get on with it then." He whispered tauntingly, taking a step towards Vernon. "...Kill me." Vernon smiled evilly, and brought the gun to bare on his nephew. Suddenly, their was a mad chattering from behind Vernon, who whipped around and fired.
Bang!
There was a gasp, then a thud as Tonks fell to the ground. Her form flickered in and out of existence a few times before becoming visible, the charm on her cloak broken. Cricket ran from her form over to Harry and chattered, sitting on it's haunches and looking up at him in fright. Harry stared at Tonks. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, and blood flecks flew from her lips as she breathed. She turned pain filled, pink eyes on Harry. "...I'm sorry, Harry."
"You!" Vernon crowed triumphantly, walking to her crumpled form. "I was hoping to see you. Thought you were pretty good, hitting me with that freak magic, hmm?" He kicked her in the ribs, smiling evilly at her pained cry. Cricket stopped chattering at the sound, and turned its beady eyes to look at her bonded. "Not so tough now, hmm?" Another kick, followed by a breathy gasp as the air left Tonks' lungs. With a sneer, Vernon kicked her violently in the head, sending her skidding across the floor a few paces. Another one...Tonks is dead. He turned back to Harry.
"Now...where were we?" Vernon raised the gun to point at Harry's chest, a pleased grin on his face. Harry looked at the bodies around him, at his friends. All the people in the world he loved, dead. His labored breathing quickened even more, and a slight moaning sound came from his lips. He felt a ...pressure building in his chest. It hurt. The blood had stopped spreading from Ron's body, but the lower half of his clothing was soaked in it. Vernon took a step closer, and Harry raised his head to look upon his uncle, hatred etched on his face.
"You've killed everyone..." He whispered, and Vernon hesitated at the menace in his voice. "Why? Why did they have you do it? Why not someone else? How long have you been planning this?" Vernon smiled, spread his arms and laughed. Harry felt his eye twitch as the pressure in his chest grew.
"I didn't plan this, freak. The man came to me just yesterday, after you spirited my son away." He took another step closer, swinging the gun up to point at Harry again. "I asked them the same question...why have me do it? Betrayal, he said, makes revenge much sweeter. Whatever that means. All I was interested in was the money...and getting my son back, of course." The last was added almost as an afterthought, and Vernon grimaced slightly. Harry took a step forward, and Vernon's grimace turned to a murderous scowl. "DIE!"
Bang!
Harry faltered mid-step, feeling the bullet enter and exit through his chest. Mirroring his friend's movements from earlier, he brought his hand to the wound. Wetness covered his fingertips immediately, and he brought it to his face curiously before letting it drop to his side. The pressure reached an agonizing level, and he took another step.
Bang! The second bullet slammed into his shoulder, almost throwing him to the ground with its force. Harry turned back to Vernon, and took another step. A crackling noise filled the air, and he felt the downy hair on the back of his arms raise. Curiously, he raised his arm and looked down at it, and around the intense pain. Blue and white sparks of what looked like electricity arced and jumped about the length of his arm, crackling as they met. He spread his fingers, and the lights spat and cracked between them. He looked to Vernon, allowing a sadistic grin of his own to flash across his face. Vernon gulped, looking at Harry in fear as he too a step back. Harry took another step forward, feeling slightly lightheaded.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Harry fell to his knees, coughing blood. His ears were ringing, and his body was beginning to feel numb. The pressure in his chest was unbearable. He turned his head to look one more time upon Hermione. Her pink jumper was soiled with blood, along with her hair and one side of her face. Her eyes were closed, and she looked oddly...peaceful. A red line led from the corner of her mouth to the floor, where blood had trickled from between her lips. Harry could see his own reflection in the pool of red. He was glowing, electricity crackling and jumping about his entire form. Hermione's dead. Ron's dead. Tonks is dead. A choked sob escaped his lips, and he coughed again. Flecks of blood flew from his mouth and landed on Hermione's face, speckling it like freckles. Harry threw his head back and screamed in anguish and pain...and the electricity roared in response. Power flew from his body in a raging flood.
Bang!
Everything went black as Harry fell to the floor, lifeless.
"News?"
"He agreed. The muggle should be performing the deed as we speak."
"Excellent."
"It's a good thing our mole within Dumbledore's foolish order finally contacted us, milord. They had recieved word of the boy's fight with his relatives, and surely would have gone to retrieve him."
"Yes, yes. He shall be rewarded. Tell him to stay in position, however. He may be of use to us there yet. Tell me, do you think the muggle will succeed?"
"It's hard to say, milord. I refuse to believe that a muggle will succeed where we have failed."
"Ahh, but he will succeed merely by trying. Betrayed by his only remaining family... I wish I could see that Old Fool's face when he finds them."
"Yes, milord. He might as well have killed the boy with his own hand...it was he who put him in their care."
"Yesss... Now do you understand, Lucius? This was the best way."
"Of course, Lord. I never doubted your plan."
"Hmmm...never, you say? Indeed."
"What will you have me do now?"
"For now...we wait. Lets see how the muggle does... When it's all over...then we'll act."
"Yes, milord."
"Oh...and Lucius?
"M-my L-l-lord?"
"Never lie to me. Crucio!"
A/N Muahahahaha!!!11!!121!! ...yea. Hope you liked it, heh. I am full of evilness. Sorry that its a little short...but I couldn't resist ending it there. No time for lengthy notes, so I'll just get to the meat of it, eh?
Nymph23 and Shadow Dragon12 are still kick-ass beta readers, and as soon as I get edited version's back I'll be reposting this chapter. I'm heading off to bed now, and I didn't want to make you all wait too long for this.
mjk306 You do that, they're damn good stories.
Nymph23 Do it like this: Clears throat... Muahahahaha!!!!...heh. Don't worry, it takes some practice. Hmmm...first..take over that 7-11 on the corner. I want a slurpy:P
coolone007-2 Yes, Cricket can be evil at times...its scary. mmhmm...hope you like this chappy, a lot of thinking went into this one. Thanks for reviewing, of course:)
chris-warren876 No booze again! NOOOOOOOO!!! ...I don't think they were in the drinking mood though, heh. Vernon did the captain pose when he was finished. I agree with the dream sequence thing, lol. Not totally original, but it has to be done, you know? Glad I did a pretty good job.
ANDTORR Glad you liked it:) Sorry this chapters so short, so if you can't do a double long review I won't be offended:)
Shadow Dragon12 I went cow tipping once! ...Ok, so I just watched the other guys do it while I was macking on this one chic. It was still pretty cool though, heh. Sorry to hear about the spinal cord... lol. I think this chapter is gonna turn some heads, eh?
shaz124 YES! Exactly what I was aiming for. When I re-read through it today I had to admit to myself...it is pretty damn good. So I gave myself a pat on the back. Sorry this ones another short one, next chapter should be nice and long.
snifflers unite Hear any more news on him? Did the procedure go alright? I started reading Hogwarts Apprentices one time, but got side-tracked by some other story. I think it's in my favorites, I'll check. I'm still reading Paradigm of Uncertaintyright now...that story is damn good. I've never heard of Dzeytoun before, I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the review, and I hope you like this chap too.
yellowpages Better hold your breath...heh. j/k. Don't worry, I don't think I'm gonna kill 'im off. Cricket rules, I know. Now that you said it, it does remind me of ice age, lol. Maybe my subconscious was thinking of that movie when I wrote it...or something. Sorry this one ws another short, sad chapter. The next one should be long...but I can't say it'll be a happy one. Thanks for the review!
albert87 YOU ROCK! You were my 100th reviewer! Bows down to the magnificence that is albert87. I'm not worthy...I'm not worthy... hehe. Sorry, no Ron shooting guns. Although, him getting shot first might bring a smile to your face. Why does everyone hate Ron so much? Hes a good guy, damnit! lol.
me262 Yes, my damn wallet. Not that it had a lot of money in it or anything...but they stole from me! Hummph. I don't blame you skipping over it. Dream scenes in HP stories are all over the place. I can honestly say, however, that I think that dream was the best piece of writing I have ever done. Yah, brain tumors suck, I feel bad for him. Hope you like this chapter, and thanks for reviewing.
That's it. Next chapter should be much longer. Some very controversial twists are coming up. I think a lot of you might not like it, but a lot of you are like me and will be taking it in with a grin.
If you read it...REVIEW IT!!! ...or Cricket will pull some ninja.