Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter!
AN: Let's all thank my sadistic beta Nimbirosa, who helped formulate this into quite the sadist chapter. Gamoh, as always.
Chapter 17 One Step Closer
Nothingness... that was all he was. A shadow... a shadow of light. Lost in the void, alone, unknown, and hurt. He knew nothing, he heard and saw and tasted and felt nothing.
The only thing that existed was the abyss. It called to him, endlessly, relentlessly, seductively, calling him to the last slumber, luring him to the eternal sleep. If he would take but one step closer to the edge, he'd break, he'd fall, and he'd be lost.
But something was holding him here. One might even call it... Fate. Fate tied him to this world, for there were still things he had to do, and there was a balance that had to be upheld.
Fighting the Darkness, the shadow struggled to find himself. It seemed like eternities, endless times and boundless lifetimes, fighting to reclaim himself, some former shred, a scrap of what he once was.
At last, however, something stirred him. A single, horrible, terrible sound. A laugh. A laugh of Darkness, echoing, mocking, haunting, cutting deep within the soul like a chilling wind.
But it brought resolve to the specter, this shadow of light. And at last, he had a purpose. He had to stop the Darkness.
The shadow of light moved, not knowing where he went but knowing all the while it was where he was meant to be.
Far away from Hogwarts, on top of a hill overlooking a graveyard and a church, a single manor dominated the hilltop. Within the shadows of Riddle Manor, one of the most feared men of all time paced in his study... worriedly. The Dark Lord, the Heir of Slytherin, one of the most cunning humans to ever live... was completely in the dark. In more ways than one.
He had lost multiple Death Eaters at Diagon Alley, this he accepted. He had to lose some to further his campaign. What he could not fathom was where Bella went. Wormtail's disappearance could have been attributed to cowardice or misplaced hopes of redemption, but Bella, and consequently the Death Eaters sent to Potter's home were completely loyal.
His mind had traced the disappearances of Minister Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, and Draco Malfoy to the same threat that had probably killed Bella and Wormtail.
And over a week ago, new, disturbing information had come before the Dark Lord through a few spies at Hogwarts. Harry Potter... had changed. Apparently he had gone berserk, changing his eyes to a midnight black and almost killing every Gryffindor. He had actually escaped Dumbledore and a band of teachers, defying them. Snape had been adequately punished for not telling him that.
And now, the Hog's Head had burned down, and this time, Severus had reported that Potter had shown up again, still in the same condition, having killed Aberforth Dumbledore.
In an instant, the Heir of Slytherin had made the connections between the disappearances and Potter's new look. But more mysteries came.
Something about the strange uses of Dark Magic and the changes in Potter was tugging at the memory of Lord Voldemort, and the Dark Lord struggled to discover a way to combat a darker, more dangerous Harry Potter.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, magic to magic." Headmaster Albus Dumbledore intoned gravely, his every feature etched in tragic stone. "And with these words, we commit our fallen sister, Hermione Jane Granger to the earth."
The words echoed about the graveyard, resonating on deaf ears. The small glade was a private area usually reserved for Order members, but exceptions must be made.
Above, the sky seemed dressed in black too, storm clouds brewing but not releasing their storm yet, waiting.
Ronald Bilius Weasley simply stared at the coffin of his beloved, his cobalt eyes raining teardrops that sliced wet trails across his face. There was only an abyss in him, only a vacuum, a void of feelings. He had already said his goodbye. This ritual, these words echoed within him, but did nothing for him. He was a hollow man, a stuffed man, devoid of all things that made someone human. His heart was empty and dead.
The coffin was as empty as his heart, as Hermione's parents refused to let any magical beings come in contact with them or come to their funeral for her.
But the ritual still meant the same. A way of saying goodbye.
The storm flashed, and drops of rain began to pour.
Ginny Weasley sniffed as tears fell from her eyes, staining the ground. Cold fury burned within the redhead, bright and fiery as her hair. Her hatred of Thanatos grew with every passing second, with each pound of grief that hardened in her heart. She swore to herself that she'd see that demon go down, and do anything she could to do so.
No one cared about the pouring rain. Some were grateful that these tears from Heaven masked their own tears, others simply didn't care.
Minerva McGonagall had tears openly pouring from her eyes, the normally dour Scot now looking broken and distraught.
They all did, sitting there in wooden chairs on this unhappy day, wearing dark clothes and crying openly. Well, all save Snape, who sat there and looked stoic and unfeeling.
There was no thunder this time. This was a quiet storm, a mourning storm with tears.
The Headmaster closed his eyes. Failure was all he could feel. For all his power, all his machinations, all his resources, he couldn't save the life of one of his students. Raising his wand, he prepared to commit the coffin to the earth.
"Well, well, well...what have we here?" An unnervingly familiar voice called out from a small distance away, ethereal and evil. The audience was frozen to their seats, and the demonic apparition laughed softly, humorlessly, darkly. Every eye turned, every body shook with absolute terror or rage in some cases, as they saw the sight of a grinning demon strolling nonchalantly towards the gathering.
"A funeral? And I wasn't invited?"
No one could speak, either frozen with shock or terror or both. All of them felt the darkness descend on their hearts, and all they could feel was numbness and despair.
The grin changed to a nasty smirk as Thanatos chided them softly, but his words rang out clearly for all to hear.
"Now that just isn't nice."
No one dared moved. Chances were they couldn't move anyway.
The demon shook his head, stepping closer, and closer, and closer to the coffin. "Well... perhaps I simply didn't get the memo. If that is the case, my...apologies for being late, friends: traffic can be quite the bitch." He paused and peered at the empty coffin and shook his head in mock disappointment and sighed. "Well, that's a damn shame.
"I'd also give my condolences for this death, but that would be a waste of breath, considering I don't mean it." Thanatos laughed, that damnable smirk never leaving his face.
The fiend stepped among them, and not one of them could even budge and inch. Closing his eyes, the demon gave a pleased sigh that could almost be called rapture. "Damn... I can just feel all the hate emanating from all of you. Its so... intoxicating."
Albus Dumbledore attempted to move, but found himself bound where he stood. Concentrating, he began to draw out his full power. There was no holding back now, and the memory of his own brother's death still haunted him.
Thanatos was standing in the center of them now, his shadowy figure almost blending into the dark of their sorrowful attire. He didn't mind the rain, it seemed. In fact, it was almost as if he welcomed it and the storm, to cover the sun with mourning dark. He paused at Ron Weasley, whose eyes burned with hatred and a pain that gnawed at his heart and mind. "Oh, look, it's Miss Priss, the loverboy. Aren't you terribly sad that your Mudblood girlfriend is dead?" Thanatos gave his cold, mocking laugh in response to his own question.
"No, you haven't even begun to imagine true sadness, true pain." His laughter echoed about the glade, sounding as if he was a chorus of Darkness all on his own. "But you will," Thanatos assured Ron, looking the redhead directly in the eyes, "You will." Glancing about at the gathering, he smirked. "You all will. So how about we start... now!"
And, repeating the incident only a few weeks ago, everything around the demonic apparition was blasted away by a furious blast of wind, sending them crashing to the ground with incredible force. Many of them, including McGonagall and Snape, were knocked out cold by the attack, their heads hitting the ground hard.
Thanatos laughed viciously. "Oops, was that me?"
The Darkness was close... one step at a time, the shadow of light moved towards it.
Even now, he could hear its horrible laugh, that laugh that cut the soul apart.
And he could hear silent screams, souls shrieking in terror as they were hunted by the Hunter of Souls.
The shadow of light continued to move, one step closer to the Darkness with each passing moment.
Ron struggled angrily against his invisible bonds, his head aching slightly from when he hit the ground, but he had been lucky enough to be farther away from the fiend. Hate like he had never known before, anger, rage, fury boiled within and was threatening to erupt. It should have scared Ron, this hate, this rage, this desire to kill the grinning demon before him, but all he could feel was this hate.
Thanatos seemed to feel it too, and turned back towards Ron. "Oh... does Ronnie want to fight?"
You know I do! Ron roared in his own mind.
The demonic apparition seemed to hear, and maybe he did, because he let go of Ron's bonds. "Come on then, old chap! Let's have a go at it." Thanatos laughed, and raised his fists up mockingly.
Ron could only see rage as he leapt for the demon, who easily sidestepped. "You just never learn, do you?" Thanatos asked, grinning and shaking his head in disappointment.
The redhead was only infuriated further, and lunged forward again, and again, the demon avoided it easily. But this time, Ron found something else. His wand. His thoughts were infused with only one thought. Kill. Spinning around, his cobalt eyes leaking tears and blazing with hate, he roared in absolute fury, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Every eye that was open widened, every mouth open in shock, but all were hoping that this bolt of death would do its job.
But it was not to be, as Thanatos lightly, nonchalantly stepped aside, letting the Killing Curse slash the air next to him, missing by less than a centimeter. "Aw... so close." And then he raised his hand, letting a dark bolt of evil pool itself together.
"Looks like you'll be seeing your little Mudblood girlfriend soon enough, Ronnie boy." And with that and a laugh, the demonic apparition loosed his dark killing bolt, which cleaved the air apart as it tore away towards the redhead.
Ron only stared, accepting his death, and wishing only that Hermione would forgive him for not avenging her as he closed his eyes in resignation, preparing for death. But death did not come.
Something else did.
Little lances of light, sparking and swirling and twisting, coalesced together to form a silvery form, and took the bolt of darkness in what would be its midriff. As it buckled under the magical attack, the ethereal form took shape, growing and changing until at last, a familiar visage greeted the oculus of all.
Once again, every single eye was wide with shock, and this time, even the unflappably calm Thanatos was gaping. But only for a moment, before his mouth snapped shut, his eyes narrowed, and for the first time, everyone could see that they now radiated utter hate, fury, and malice, nothing like the calm, sadistic demon of before as he snarled one word.
"Potter."
Thanks to gaul1, Khadon, Pleione, Kyra Kitsune Ryu, Nimbirosa, Quillian, Ice-Pheonix-Tears, Rose Of Many Thorns, japanese-jew, Lady of Masbolle, Riser, arekuruu-inabikari-no-She, PinkyTheSnowman, FroBoy, Julie Long, HPbabe143, spike blade, Bujiana, light barrer, Night-Owl123, Ginerva Potter, DrakeBolt, grumpygrim, harrysmom, DeadSerenity, Schnuff, kabab, YamiClara, Hekate101, Vegita43, Maxennce, Hakkai-Goyjo-Goku-Sanzo, and mashimaromadness for reviewing!
QA
Khadon- Aw... but where's the fun in having someone die when they could live in torment? (That's my inner Thanatos talking)
Pleione- I'll kill enough that the rest will be guilty.
Kyra Kitsune Ryu- Thanatos lives inside Harry. They like Harry. They don't want to hurt/maim/kill him. That might hurt their chances at killing Voldemort. (Yeah, now Harry's gone, but when they tried to get rid of Thanatos before, Harry was still there)
Rose Of Many Thorns- I thank you for both the quote and the advice. I'll be sure to do that (grin).
Lady of Masbolle- Maybe you could, one day. Where do I get the summaries and titles? Lots of time and practice. I'm not really a Maroon 5 fan (yeah, I wouldn't expect me to be one either), and I didn't even know who Jesse McCartney was until you mentioned him. I'm glad you enjoyed Hermione's death. R/Hr was just kind of there for me to exploit.
Riser- Uh... yeah, yeah he did. For the second question, I'm not sure that's how the Fidelius works.
arekuruu-inabikari-no-She- Probably. I haven't seen it. (Or if I have, I didn't know it)
PinkyTheSnowman- You say that every time I kill characters. (grin) So I guess you'll hate me till the end of this fic. And no promises on any other fic either.
HPbabe143- (shrugs) He had to come from somewhere.
Ginerva Potter- Nope. Just the brutal reality.
harrysmom- Probably should have protected the comp more. Very nice work on catching the scene! And no, Ron cannot stop Thanatos, no matter how much he hates him.
DeadSerenity- Yeah, I am. Hermione might have figured out some way to stop Thanatos, and we just can't have that now, not when the fun is just beginning, can we?
Schnuff- Later. Thanatos is having fun with the weaklings, testing his strength.
Fire Department (Flame response)
Nippledora Tweaks- My God! I'm torn between slight offendedness (heck, I'll make up words because of this) and pride (I've caused flamers to use that tiny gray matter they call their brains. I'm so happy!). How long did it take you to come up with that sentence? Three days? I mean the use of the word abomination, I must congratulate you on graduating junior high!
(Note: I'm not usually this much of a butthole, but this person was just asking for it. I'm fine with being flamed, just have some logical reasoning and examples of what I did wrong for God's sake! It's really hard to know how to correct yourself if no one tells you what's the problem)
AN: As always, thanks for reading, and a review would be a nice your welcome!