Chapter 33: The Eye of London

Harry lay face down in the grace and inhaled the smell of dry earth through his nostrils. Once he had come back to his senses, he got slowly up and looked around. He felt a bit dizzy from the travel through the mirror. It was nothing compared to falling through a pensieve full of other people's memories. Falling through the person finder had been very nauseating and Harry was glad that he wasn't too sick. Also, the thoughts in a pensieve were situated in the past; this here was reality and happening in the presence. Harry knew immediately where he was as he caught sight of a familiar looking Ferris wheel, the Eye of London. All around him were trees and he could hear the never dying noises of the big city and the distant flowing of the water. He paced up and down the lawn, thinking which way to choose. He felt an enormous power outgoing from this place. He heard strange voices in his head and feared for his sanity. Hearing voices was not good as he knew from his second year in Hogwarts. He was drawn towards the London Eye and only withdrew his gaze as the sound of the voices ceased. They had urged him to join them, be part with the old forces of the world for all the times to come. Still trying to resist the invisible forces, Harry never forgot the reason he was here for. Finding Ginny and bringing her home safely was his top priority. He didn't dare calling out her name aloud in case any Death Eaters were around to hear him. He recognized this place from his vision and at once found a small lane leading to some rowan trees. Knowing where he must go now, he followed the path until it ended abruptly in front of a weather-beaten old stone monument. Inspecting it closer, he found an inscription in a language he didn't understand.

"In lúme utúlië, in tyel ea sinome." ("The time has come, the end is near!")

He didn't understand the meaning of it and hurried on as time was pressing. At last he found Ginny tied up to a large chestnut tree. Her head had sunk on her chest and she was not moving. Harry ran over to her, pushing everything else out of his mind. All he could think about was Ginny. She hung in the ropes and didn't even stir. Harry prayed that she was still alive. It was only his fault that she was in this place and if she died, he would never forgive himself. Her skin was very cool, though Harry felt a pulse as he touched her neck.

"Ginny, can you hear me?"

No answer.

"Ginny, please wake up!"

Still no answer. Something with this place was extremely wrong and it completely disturbed Harry. Where was Voldemort? Why were there no Death Eaters making sure Ginny stayed imprisoned? Their absence was troubling him, even though he did by no means wish to see them. Nonetheless it was very strange. Slowly Harry moved his hands up to the ropes, then he hesitated. Had he just heard a swish of ropes dragging over the floor? He looked around wildly, but didn't see a single soul. Thinking that his perception was tricking him, he went back on freeing Ginny from the ropes. While he undid the first knot, the tense feeling stayed with him. He had managed to undo the first knot. Then it suddenly occurred to him, that Voldemort or some of his servants might only have stunned Ginny. He took his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at Ginny and wanted to speak the counter curse as he heard a very cold, shrill voice behind him.

"Back away and don't touch her!"

Harry froze in his movements. He knew at once that Voldemort was standing behind him.

"Turn around now!" said Voldemort again in nothing but a whisper.

Harry had to do something, he had to react – and yet he couldn't move.

"For the last time Harry, turn around!" This time Voldemort's voice sounded very strange, almost pleadingly. Harry slowly moved his feat and found himself face to face with his archenemy. No pain was running through Harry's forehead, his scar didn't even pinch. He wondered why his senses hadn't warned him about Voldemort's approach as they had usually done, by a sting in his scar. Harry backed away some steps as Voldemort pointed his wand directly at Harry's chest. He knew that Voldemort now had the long-awaited chance of killing him and making his evil plan to rule the world come true. Harry would never reach his wand in time to defend himself against the Dark Lord. Harry decided to try anyhow, seeing no other way out. As if Voldemort had guessed Harry's intention, he pointed his wand at Ginny.

"Give me your wand Harry! Or your little friend will never wake up again…"

Harry had no choice but to throw his wand at Voldemort. He caught it and clapped his hands. Thick ropes out of nowhere tied themselves around Harry's body.

"Well, young Harry! Caught you again, haven't I? How long have I been waiting for this day to arrive? Too long have I wasted my precious time in seeking your destruction. Here and today your life will end!" Voldemort laughed hard and his eyes showed a great triumph.

"If you want to kill me, please do it. But let Ginny go, she has got nothing to do with it at all. This is between me and you!" Harry was prepared to die, if only Ginny would be safe. Voldemort had trapped him again, but Harry wouldn't allow that innocent people would die.

"Let her go? No Harry that would not be a very good idea. We still need her… Patience, you will die tonight and as for your little girlfriend, we will see…"

"She is not my girlfriend anymore" Harry said bitterly.

"Then you wouldn't mind me killing her. Why are you worrying about her if she doesn't mean anything to you?" he asked sadistically.

Harry bit his lip and remained silent. Voldemort grinned evilly. "I see… Great Harry Potter, full of human emotion… that's your problem!"

"What do you need her for anyway? She's no use to you" startled Harry.

"I will tell you soon enough. Now Harry, I am turning you around so you can see your girlfriend one last time. I want you to be comfortable in your remaining time on this planet." He pushed Harry hard and the ropes turned so Harry was standing in front of Ginny.

"There is so much I want to explain. Know this, my boy. I want to see you dead more than anything in this world, but you shouldn't die in ignorance. By the way… I think Miss Weasley would like to hear part of my little story as well."

Voldemort was slowly walking towards Ginny, pointing his wand at her. Harry struggled to get free, but the ropes didn't loosen. He couldn't move his hands or feet and had to watch the Dark Lord threatening Ginny. Harry wanted to scream, but his voice betrayed him. With a rising fear he watched as Voldemort tapped Ginny with his wand. "Enervate!" Voldemort spoke and Ginny's eyes opened. She let out a shriek as she realised who the creature standing in front of her was. Voldemort covered her mouth with one hand, wand still in the other.

"You must be quiet, otherwise somebody will hear us and I will have to kill you both without telling my little tale. Once I take my hand away, you won't make a sound, right?"

Ginny nodded. Tears were running down her cheeks and she had to fight off a faint. When she saw Harry, she relaxed a bit, feeling more secure in his presence.

"Ginny, are you okay? Everything is going to be fine" he said comfortingly. Ginny nodded slowly.

"Oh isn't that sweet?" Voldemort asked ironically. Then he turned again towards Ginny. She tried not to look at him. "You needn't be here if it wasn't for Harry! If you die tonight, it will be entirely his fault. All this misery you went through during the past few months wouldn't have been necessary if your boyfriend had told you the truth!"

Ginny looked up. Harry felt that she searched for an explanation in his eyes, but ashamed of what he had done to Ginny, he looked away.

"Maybe you want to tell her now? Look into her eyes and tell her the truth, the reason why we are all here tonight!" Voldemort seemed to enjoy himself very much. Harry still avoided Ginny's eyes. None of this should've happened. This had been his plan. The wish of protecting Ginny had blinded him and he hadn't been able to see his fault earlier.

"No? Maybe later" added Voldemort, shrugging.

"I will tell you my part of the story; maybe this will explain some things to you. It all started with my unfortunate childhood. My parents had only known each other for a very short time when my mother became pregnant. She was happy and planned on having a family with my father. She loved him more than anything else and so she decided to tell him the truth. She didn't want her witchcraft to be a secret between her and my father. But he left the minute she confessed her magical powers to him. He didn't want to be in contact with anything concerning magic or wizardry. He fled the town the same day. From that day on, my mother and I lived alone until I was five. My mother became very ill, but before she died, she told me this story. After her death, I was brought to an orphanage as my father was not to be found and I had no other relatives. I was a very difficult child and transferred from orphanage to orphanage. I didn't get along with the muggle kids, knowing that I was different and of a greater power than those meaningless unknowing worms.

I received the official Hogwarts letter on the day of my eleventh birthday. I was glad to leave the orphanage and visiting another school. On September the first, I travelled to King's Cross and arrived in Hogwarts. In Slytherin I found people thinking like I did and for the first time in my life I had real friends. I was a good student, a role model for some and in my fifth year, I was made prefect. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to spend the summers in the castle and I had to go back to the home. In my sixth year, my friends became more and more loyal to me. I became the leader of our little gang and changed my name. Among my friends I was called Lord Voldemort. I laid down the stupid name my mother had given me. I planned to take revenge on every single person who had ever done any harm to me. The first ones to suffer should be the mudbloods in the castle, because they were muggles in my eyes and I hate all muggles. I had read everything about the legendary Chamber of Secrets, built by Salazar Slytherin many centuries ago. Due to my ability of speaking Parsel, I was able to open to Chamber and command the large basilisk that had been waiting for a new master. At first, I meant to scare people in writing bloody messages on the wall, but then I wanted more. My desire was to see the school freed of all the mudbloods. The purity of the wizard blood was very important and had to be reassured. In one of the bathrooms lay the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and one day, my basilisk killed a mudblood girl. Afterwards, everyone panicked and the pupils were in great danger. My plan had gone slightly wrong and to prevent Hogwarts from closing down, I needed a scapegoat. If I hadn't managed, it would've meant a return to the orphanage for me. Fortunately I found out that Hagrid had raised a large spider in secret and I used him as a possible suspect. Hogwarts was saved and Hagrid expelled. The Chamber of Secrets remained closed at my time in Hogwarts. Dumbledore was having a close look on me; he knew that Hagrid was innocent.

During the summer holidays in the orphanage, I accidentally overheard a conversation between two orphanage workers. They had finally found my father's address and whereabouts. That same night, I broke into the office, stole the address and travelled to Little Hangleton. I found my fathers house. I slowly opened the door, crept inside and found him in the living room, where he sat together with his new family, all of them muggles. I was angry and disgusted by the sight. I stepped forward and told him that I was his son, but he wouldn't believe me. He had denied my existence all my life. I raised my wand and killed my father, his wife and his son with the Avada Kedavra curse. Very satisfied about my revenge, I returned to the orphanage. From that day on, my plan was to kill as many muggles and mudbloods as possible. Back at Hogwarts I trusted my friends with my vision. Loyal as they were to me, they agreed in getting rid of impure families after our graduation. We overran whole muggle cities, always keeping our eyes fixed on our goal. After some time a group of muggle-loving wizards showed up and tried to fight us down, but they didn't succeed. Those were great days. I knew who my arch-foes were and wanted them to be out of my way. No Auror would stop me from making my plan come true. One of my faithful servants was lucky to hear part of a prophecy made by a certain Sybill Trelawney. Believing to make the right choice, I went on looking for you and your family, Harry. Having Wormtail as secret-keeper was very lucky for me, but not so lucky for your parents. They shouldn't have trusted their friend. I found you, entered the house and got rid of your parents. Then I turned to you. If your foolish mother hadn't died in order to protect you, I would've killed you too. As you already know the spell backfired and I lost a great deal of my powers.

Being nothing more than a shadow, I could only possess other people and I knew that without a special potion containing your blood, so I had your mother's protection running through my veins, I would never be able to achieve victory over you. But I failed again. The connecting of our wands had been so unpredictable that it destroyed my beautiful plan. I didn't give up and quickly thought of something new to get you into a trap. Knowing that I hadn't heard the whole prophecy, I lured you into the Ministry of Magic so you would pick up the prophecy. My Death Eaters were supposed to take the prophecy from you and bring it straight to me. But you crushed it and now the prophecy is lost forever. To make matters worse, that old fool Dumbledore once again prevented me from killing you! But not tonight, oh no! Tonight it will end!" Voldemort laughed evilly.

"Then do it, let's not loose time" answered Harry.

"Patience Harry. You don't want to die, do you? No? Well, than let me finish my tale, afterwards you will see the end of the path. Now you will listen to me!

After the loss of the prophecy, I drew back to a safe place where I could hide from the aurors. Some of the Death Eaters were caught and sent to Azkaban, but I convinced the Dementors on turning to my side. I promised them human souls and they let the prisoners walk free. I called all my servants to me and together we created a new plan for your destruction. The ancient powers of the London Eye allowed us to watch you once a day. At first you seemed to notice our observation somehow, because you tried to shut your mind to our search. We were able to purify our controlling techniques so you weren't aware of us watching you anymore. We wanted to use the old and mighty forces of the London Eye to kill you, but this would have been too easy. No, during one of my gatherings, I explained to all my Death Eaters that I wanted to be the one killing you and I wanted to enjoy the moment. You would have to suffer and have a very painful death, so I could take pleasure in seeing you die. I had been suffering for thirteen long years, before finally regaining some of my initial powers. My faithful spy inside the castle told me something that was of a great value for me. Harry Potter was in love and had a girlfriend. That was the best weapon against you I could hope for. I have made experience with your want of playing the hero and showing off all the time, so I took profit of your rescuing other people. All I had to do was waiting for an opportune moment to weaken you. I wanted you to watch your girlfriend die. Only such a big loss would have made you angry enough to go looking for me. Unfortunately, my servant failed me twice. You should not have been the one to catch the Influenza Charm and you shouldn't have known about the fire of the Underworld in that classroom. Twice you came in time to rescue Miss Weasley. My loyal servant was very afraid that I might get angry and promised me to bring Miss Weasley directly to me. So that is why we are here. Now Harry, before you die, I want you to tell me some things about you… Where is the group of wizards fighting secretly against me? Where is their hideaway?"

Harry was shocked by everything he had just learned. Voldemort only wanted to kill him, because his father didn't accept a child with magical powers. That was the proof of Voldemorts insanity. Harry should have known right from the start that having a girlfriend would be a useful weapon for Voldemort to use against him. Harry was mad at himself because he hadn't seen the danger for Ginny earlier. He should never have been her boyfriend. He might have been able to save her, but now it was hopeless. There was nothing he could do to rewind time. Even though the things he had just heard were stunning him, he was able to think clearly. He didn't answer Voldemort's questions and tried very hard to keep his mind blank.

Voldemort grinned again. "Very well Harry… you leave me no other choice! Legilimens!"

At first Harry thought that he would stand the pressure on him. He kept thinking on the lake at Hogwarts. He saw the smooth surface of the water clearly in front of him and concentrated on nothing else. But then the power of the curse became stronger and Harry's protection broke down. Voldemort broke through the barrier and entered deep into Harry's mind. Harry saw pictures of the Order's headquarters, the members of the Order of the Phoenix and the large black house in front of his inner eye. He knew that Voldemort had seen it too, now the Dark Lord had the information he had been looking for.

"Just one more question… do you have any special powers?"

Harry thought back on what Dumbledore had said. His power as a spellmaker would only help him against Voldemort if the power remained hidden. So Harry shook his head. Voldemort snorted and cried: "Legilimens!"

His eyes widened in horror and he backed away from Harry. "Eleanana? She has given you your special powers? That's the reason why I can't see through…"

Harry heaved a sigh of relief. At least this bit of information wouldn't fall into Voldemort's hands. Harry tried to loosen the bonds around his hands and ankles, but they were too tight. Voldemort clapped his hands impatiently and both Harry and Ginny were rid of the ropes tied around them. Ginny leant against the tree like paralysed. Voldemort slowly went over to her, grabbed her by the shoulder and led her toward Harry.

"I will give you the one last chance to set things right. I offer you a lifetime of joy and fame. All you have to do is join me. Together we shall rule this world and every single creature living will fear us. We will be the mightiest and most powerful wizards ever!"

"Never!" bellowed Harry. "I would never join you!"

"I was almost sure you would say that. Then I will at least give you the chance to fight like a man! You should not die as a coward."

Voldemort threw Harry's wand back to him. Before the Dark Lord could utter another word, Harry had raised his wand and pointed it at Voldemort's heart.

"Release her" he commanded. Voldemort only smirked and pointed his own wand at Ginny who winced by the touch of the cold wood.

"Funny this situation, don't you think? If you kill me, I will kill Miss Weasley. And we don't want her to die, do we?"

Harry hesitated he had to find a way out of this dangerous situation. Ginny looked at Harry, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Just do it Harry. Sacrifice me, so you can kill him. It is the only way for you to save the world" she said. Harry returned her look and saw that she really meant it. Nevertheless he couldn't do, what she told him to do.

"No Ginny, there has to be another way!"

Meanwhile Voldemort seemed to have the time of his life. "You two are so sweet to each other. I almost feel like crying. I would never have guessed that teenagers could be so romantic!" He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Come on young Harry… tell her why you can't sacrifice her. You're a big boy!"

Harry sadly shook his head. "I… I can't…"

"Very well, then I don't have any use for her. I'll just get rid of her than I come to you."

Voldemort held his wand higher, pointing it at Ginny's temple. "Ava-"

"NO! Please, spare her life. It is not her fault you want me dead, let her go. This only concerns me and you!"

Voldemort kept grinning sadistically. "Lower your wand" he ordered.

Harry showed no reaction, his wand raised up in front of him.

"If you really love her, lower your wand!"

Ginny watched the scene fearfully. She was afraid of getting killed but she was even more afraid that Harry would die. She would have to make sure that Harry survived to kill Voldemort. She didn't believe that Harry would do what the Dark Lord wanted. After all, Harry didn't love her anymore.

"No Harry, don't! It's a trap" she cried in objection.

"I am sorry Ginny" Harry replied and lowered his wand.

"What! No… you lied to me!" A familiar voice was heard out of the shadows. A small creature, clothed entirely in black, emerged from under the trees.

"You made me believe you didn't love her!" it squeaked.

At last Harry recognized the voice. Unbelievingly he asked: "Cho?"