Disclaimer: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN – Responsibility
Dear Harry,
I think you know how sorry I am in the ways I treated you in the past. It is a shame you cannot see the beauty in wizarding society, but I cannot disagree with your opinion of some its intolerance. In case you have not figured it out, I asked Fawkes to deliver you this letter upon my death. No doubt due to the actions of the Dark Lord. I am saddened I am reduced to doing this, but I know without me, the Light will fall and Voldemort will win. The machinations of this manipulative old man are at the end, and it is with my last dying wish that I implore you to stop him. You know he represents evil and cannot be left alone. I always thought if we hadn't held Tom off as well as we had for as long as we had, you may have felt strong enough to stand up and vanquish him years ago. But as your friend I wouldn't attempt to be so callous as to intentionally lose the war and allow something like that to happen. You know as well as I that I did consider it though, particularly upon some strong urging from Severus.
I spent a lot of time pondering you and your role as paladin. I think Sanctuary is truly a most wonderful creation towards the betterment of all magic. In my heart, only Hogwarts do I hold so dear. I feel as the paladin, you have been wavering, wondering when to step in and help defeat the evils of the world threatening the good of all beings of magic. It was the realization that the most likely sign would be my death and the turning of the tide against the Light that caused me to write this letter. I know I appear to be using you, and appealing to sides of you, that you may feel I have no right to even address, and please feel free to blame me. I am on my next great adventure and can seek your forgiveness at a much later time. I can only plead you will agree with me and will vanquish the evil that is Tom Riddle. In doing so, you will have complete freedom from the Ministry, and your Sanctuary will be officially recognized as independent and respected exactly for what it is.
I have also discussed this possibility with the Order and particularly Miss Tonks. All the people in power are willing to grant you whatever freedoms you need and hope you are willing to take up this responsibility. We have no choice left but to hope you will heed our call. If you do, I know in my heart you will succeed, and I have done everything in my power to make your life after the war everything you would hope it to be.
Sincerely and with Love,
Albus
Harry couldn't help it and found himself with tears in his eyes. He looked over at Fawkes, "Is this for real? He's not just making this up to use me, is he?"
Fawkes had a melancholy song and laughed a bit. "Yes. He is gone. He contemplated faking his death and sending you a letter like this, but I pecked the heck out of him for it. He was sincere, and I feel it is time you stepped in and ended this war. I think he has at least one more manipulation in store for you too." Fawkes finished with a smile.
"There really isn't any decision at all for me, is there?"
Fawkes just jumped into the air and trilled for several minutes. Harry briefly grieved for the old man, and his brother's companion. He cried more tears, and thought about how little he had been doing lately. Just sitting idly by watching a society destroy itself.
Any questions, concerns, or doubts Harry had went completely away the moment he felt the sickening joy and excitement along his curse scar link.
Fawkes' pain at losing his companion caught up with him, and he settled onto the floor and burst into flames, and was reborn. Harry picked up his young brother, carried him out to Archimedes, and informed him of what he had to do. Archimedes was more than happy to take care of the little phoenix and wished Harry luck. He apparently knew that today had been a long time coming.
The battle in Hogsmeade had been horrible. Many order members had been severely injured. Some of those that had been killed including both elder Weasley parents, Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and an exposed traitor in Severus Snape. The loss they were all feeling had been the death of Albus Dumbledore. He and the Dark Lord dueled viciously and violently for over twenty minutes. They were tiring each other out, and it was a cowardly attack from Draco Malfoy that diverted the old man's attention. The Dark Lord then connected with a dark severing charm that ripped Albus's wand and arm away from his body. A crowd of twenty Death Eaters surrounded the fallen leader of the light and repeatedly cast Cruciatus on him. The Dark Lord finished by stabbing his wand through Albus's heart and casting an explosion hex. The Death Eaters fled quickly after in victory. The side of the light had no idea what to do. They had depended on Albus for so much for so long. Without him, they were lost.
Harry arrived and found it way too fitting that the Dark Lord was again setting up camp at the old Riddle House in Little Hangleton. Harry wasn't sure what he was about to do, but right now he knew he had to become a monster. Harry cast a massive net over the area, preventing anyone from leaving. He added the strongest apparition and portkey wards he could muster. Harry sent out his magical senses and felt the Dark Lord in one of the den like rooms, which luckily had the only floo access. There were 14 other Death Eaters in that room. Forcing himself into a state of calm, Harry apparated straight into the room, right next to the fireplace. Curses were flung at Harry but he essentially ignored them and diverted them away from his body. He placed his hand on the fireplace and it completely imploded upon itself in a shower of dust.
The fifteen others in the room had their wands trained right on Harry waiting to make a move. The Dark Lord feared this might happen but knew it was unavoidable. He honestly didn't think he would be able to defeat Harry. Harry spoke up. "Now that none of us can go anywhere, I think we need to talk."
Harry looked at the people all staring at him with fear and hatred in their eyes. "You all have become a cancer on magic, and I realize now, amputation is necessary. Just how much, is up to you."
Voldemort said "Join us Harry. We are prepared to allow you an equal share in the new world order."
Harry maintained his calm. "No Tom. I am taking up my duty as judge and jury. Executioner I may be, or I may not."
Draco spoke up "You cannot kill us all, you don't have the guts!"
Harry cocked his head looking at Draco, then shook it saying, "No Draco, I'm not giving you a choice, your fate has been decided." Harry then lifted his right hand and Draco was summoned straight towards Harry. Harry took a step to the left, transformed his right arm into a black griffin's lion leg, and as Draco came flying by he dug his nails into the flesh of his face, scraping and scarring him further before slamming his whole paw down on Draco. Draco's skull was completely shattered under the force he hit the stone floor with. Harry calmly shook some of the blood off his arm and transformed it back into his hand, still looking at the rest of the people in the room.
This in turn started off a flurry of activity from all the others. Curse after curse came flowing out of their wands towards Harry. Harry merely held up his hand and all of them slammed into an inivisible shield. While he was doing this, Harry concentrated hard on his link with the Dark Lord, and he reached deep into Voldemort's mind and just pinched as hard as he could. The Dark Lord appeared to be just standing there stupidly, while his inner circle fought to kill Harry Potter. With their leader unable to move, Harry began fighting back, making careful usage of hitting each person with exactly the same curses they were sending at him. In less than two minutes they were all dead. Except for a still unmoving Dark Lord and a self-assured Harry Potter. Harry considered what the best thing to do now would be.
He went into the Dark Lord's mind and tried to have a conversation with the outwardly catatonic man. He was incoherent in his rage at being trapped in his own mind, and there was little to be learned or to help Harry determine what to do. Harry finally decided the best solution he had, to protect the sanctity of magic, was to leech the magic straight from the Dark Mark. He reached into the Dark Lord's mind and connected to every Dark Mark he could. He began sucking and leeching the magic as hard and fast as he could. Harry only intended to leave them all squibs. Apparently some people were too reliant on their magic and seemed to die or have heart attacks when their magic was pulled from them. The ones who lived were stuck with an ugly black tattoo on their arms, and a hollowness inside them that was so empty it actually hurt.
Harry still wasn't sure what to do about Tom. His body was already braindead and was going to be delivered to the Ministry. After some thought, and even some guidance from his father, Harry separated Tom's soul from his body, grabbed it tight and held on, and burst into the flames of rebirth. The cleansing aspects of the phoenix's flames decimated the soul into complete nonexistence. Were there any good in him, or hope for redemption, some part of him would have remained. Harry was unsurprised that there was nothing left.
Harry took the oddly still alive body of the Dark Lord, even though it was braindead and had no soul, and apparated to the Ministry.
Minister Diggory was in his office trying to figure out what to do. Albus Dumbledore had died and the Dark Lord was going to take over the wizarding world. He had had too many scares today and was simply not prepared for Harry Potter to appear in his office carrying the body of the Dark Lord. Harry seemed to regain some compassion and realized this could easily be interpreted incorrectly. He awoke the Minister, and requested that the Minister invite as many officials as he felt were necessary to be present while Harry explained to him the actions of the past twenty minutes.
A few senior members of the Wizengamot, and several department Ministers made their way into the Minister's office. Tonks came barreling in and grasped onto Harry in a hug crying her eyes out. She apparently thought Harry was here to help come up with a plan to defeat Voldemort, now that he was aware Dumbledore had died, and completely missed the fact that the body of the Dark Lord was on the floor. When she realized it she swore out loud, and said she had to go get something.
She apparated away, while Harry explained the letter he received, and his actions in response to it. No one had any fault in what he had done, but it seemed they were more afraid of him now, than they were relieved the Dark Lord was dead. A few looked angry that Harry hadn't done anything before now but wisely kept those thoughts silent for now.
A still frantic and shocked Tonks arrived back in the Minister's office about ten minutes later. She quickly handed an envelope to the Minister, as well as another to Harry. Harry recognized the writing and thought he had seen the last of it. It seems Fawkes was right. Albus did have one last manipulation to pull.
