And now... for the most evil - and strange - plot twist ever! Please don't kill me! And don't say I didn't warn you!

This chapter is dedicated to XjdsX, for the kindest and most encouraging review yet. Welcome to the fanfic community, XjdsX!

Chapter 14

Albus Dumbledore looked, almost afraid, at the stiff, sitting body of Harry Potter. His uncle, aunt, and cousin were lying nearby, sleeping? No. No person slept that stiffly. No person lay in a position like that. No... living person.

Albus almost jumped. 'Wait. The Dursleys are dead. Yet, Harry is alive.' His brain instantly whirred with thousands of questions to ask. Who had done it. Why. How. What had happened. He took another look at Harry, and felt that perhaps now was not the time.

"Harry?" Albus asked gently, almost timidly. "Harry, are you alright?"

The boy had no reaction - he didn't move. He didn't even twitch, or show any recognition or any sign of having heard anything. Albus walked around to face him, and was shocked when he saw the young boy's face.

The features that had once been bright with vitality and the promise of life were now dull. The eyes were sunken in his sockets as if he had just been released from ten years in Azkaban, and his eyes were red and swollen from crying. His face was covered with bruises, and it seemed like his nose, and maybe his cheekbone as well, was broken. His eyes were fixed on some non-existent object far away, the pupils were dilated, and he didn't blink when Albus waved a hand in front of him.

Albus continued staring, worried, at Harry, but then clutched his head in pain as a migraine started. He keeled over from the severe, burning pain, and began to cry out as his features twisted and his face morphed to someone with slit, slanted nostrils and glaring red eyes. He straightened. "Ah, here again, Harry! What a pleasure to meet again so soon!"

Harry raised his head slowly, and as soon as he focused on the evil being in front of him, he jumped. "You - you left." he muttered lifelessly. "You were gone." his voice rose to an almost-shouting tone. "Why did you kill them? Why?" Tears started pouring down his cheeks. "Mommie! Daddy! Dudley!"

The man had no reaction, other than to smile coldly. "And what makes you think I shouldn't have killed them, Harry? Do you want me to tell you why I did so? Very well."

"The first thing you should know, Harry, is that before you were born, a prophecy was made. It said that you and I will face each other in a final duel at some point, but while one of us lives the other can't survive. At first, I didn't care much about this prophecy because I thought that no simple person could kill me. I soon realized, though, that I am not completely indestructible, and there was one thing you had that could defeat me. Love. You succeeded once, Harry, but now I know better and have figured out how to make myself truly invincible. If I destroy your ability to love, you won't be able to destroy me.

"It took some time for me to understand exactly how to proceed to do that," he continued calmly, in a conversational tone. "Love is not a material object, so it cannot simply be taken away. I soon realized that all I needed to do was to destroy the objects of your affection – your family."

For some reason Harry couldn't understand, he accented the word 'family'.

"Well, easier said than done, really. It was a stroke of brilliance on my part. As you – well, you don't know – there are wards surrounding your house, created by a combination of Dumbledore's trickery and your – love." He sounded bitter.

"But I succeeded in the end. I confronted that fool, Dumbledore, and when my wand was at his head and he was about to die, I told him to break the charms or die. He refused my terms – muggle-loving fool that he is – and instead came to an agreement with me. He said that he would create a hole in the wards three times for me to enter, as long as I spared his life and, if I didn't succeed every time, would never kill another human being again. I accepted, hoping for a challenge… The fool, he thought he would be able to prevent me from killing you – or he thought you would be able to save your relatives. But he was wrong, on both counts. First round, and I win."

The murderer strode over to him, and, placed a hand upon Harry's shoulder. "You failed, Harry."

Suddenly, Harry found himself in a dark room, standing, facing the blue-eyed man - Dumbledore - once again. "You failed, Harry. You had three chances - only three - to safe your relatives' lives, and you wasted one. That only leaves two more - two more chances for your relatives to survive. Harry, if you ever want to live a normal life, you need to succeed this time."

Before Harry could answer, or voice any of his questions, the man waved his wand and the room became darker, darker, and blacker than night... Harry started thrashing as he felt the darkness descend over his head, gently smothering him.

"Harry? Harry? Get up! Come on, relax!"

Harry heard voices, ghost voices of his dead parents - " Vernon, he isn't - must be another one of - you should -" everything else was drowned out by screams.

Harry shook his head. Why wouldn't the screams stop? He slowly became aware that his throat was burning, and that his head ached, and that he couldn't see.

"Why can't I see? Why is everything so dark?" Harry moaned, trying to turn over but feeling strong hands pressing him down. "Please make me see!"

Soft, soothing hands swept his hair off his face. "Ver, turn the light on a little," a sweet, calm voice said. Harry heard a click above him and to his right, and could suddenly see.

He was lying in his bed. In his room. In his house. On Privet Drive. And standing next to him, looking concerned but also relieved, were his parents. Vernon and Petunia Dursley.

"Mum? Dad? You're - not dead? You're alright?"

And as his now-live parents looked at him, everything that he had dreamed came back to him. His parents.. Dudley... dead. All dead. And what had the old man said? "That only leaves two more - two more chances for your relatives to survive". Harry shuddered, and clutched at his mother, in need of protection, and soon lay asleep again.

Vernon and Petunia stood over his bed and gazed at each other, concerned. "It's those awful nightmares again." Petunia stated. "I thought he was over them - he hasn't had one since he was six."

Vernon frowned worriedly. "Why would he be having nightmares now? He should be dreaming of cake, and presents, and candy - poor little boy turns eleven tomorrow!"

'Tunia smiled at her husband, and, taking his hand, went downstairs to finish setting up the decorations for the party.

Upstairs, Harry shivered uneasily in his dreams.

Fine.. I know this wasn't the best chapter ever - or anything like that - but I tried. Please review! And an ENORMOUS thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter...

XjdsX: Thanks so much! Thanks for the advice as well, it's true, but it's still so much more motivating to write when people tell me they like the story.

Elleina: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it; hope you enjoy this chapter as much!

Evelyn: Yes, I'm 15 - I just turned 15, and updated one half of my biography, but not the rest. Thanks for the compliment! And I'm glad you liked the story!

anotherpleb: I'm glad you liked it!