Chapter 13: Dream Come True

"It's amazing," said Harry, lying in the warm glow of the setting sun outside the Forbidden Forest. "It does not feel like we've been here two months."

"More like two weeks, or two days even." Ron was lying head to head with him, their feet pointing in opposite directions. Their heads weren't touching, though; there was something in between them.

I guess I don't lose track of time as easily, said that something. Because I have the once a month changes. But I know what you mean. It almost doesn't seem real that tomorrow's Halloween.

"Professor Flitwick said we're going to start levitation tomorrow," said Neville, who was making the west to Harry's north, his feet pointing back towards the castle. "Wasn't that amazing, when he made Trevor fly around the room like that?"

"And my dad and mum say Hogwarts holiday feasts are fantastic," said Ray, who completed the circle with his feet pointing towards the forest. "Better than even Dobby can do."

"Who's Dobby?" asked Harry.

"Our house-elf. I like him, he practically brought me up... what was that?"

"What was what?" asked Ron, sitting up.

"I thought I saw something." Ray was sitting up too. "In the forest. It almost looked like a centaur!"

"I think there are centaurs in there," said Neville. "They live there, but they don't like humans much."

"Maybe we can go in and have a look." Ray got to his feet. "Just a quick peek before we go inside."

"Why should we go in?" asked Harry. "It's not nearly curfew yet."

"I have something I need to do. But there's time beforehand to look for a centaur."

Zelda stood up and sniffed. I don't smell centaur, she said dubiously. I smell... I don't know what I smell. But I don't think it's centaur.

"Have you ever smelled centaur before?" asked Ron.

No.

"Then how do you know?"

I... I guess I don't. But I'm not sure about this, Ray. Didn't Hagrid say there were things in the Forest that shouldn't be there?

"He said the animals were restless," recalled Harry, thinking back to their last visit with Hagrid, a few days before. "But he said it would pass off soon, too. Come on, Zelda, we're only going a few steps in. We won't even lose sight of the castle. How bad can it be?"

I don't like questions like that, grumbled Zelda. They're looking for the wrong answers.

But she trotted ahead of the boys, into the forest, sniffing around.

This is odd, she announced as they came up to the clearing where she'd stopped.

"What is?" asked Neville.

It's not a smell, exactly. It's more like a... not-smell. As if there ought to be a smell here, but there isn't. She lifted her nose into the air. But there are some very nice flowers around here somewhere.

Neville sniffed the air himself, then gasped in delight. "Nicholas blooms!"

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"They're rare, even in cultivation – I had no idea they grew around here!" Neville hurried off between the trees.

"I'll go with him," said Ray. "Just so he doesn't get totally lost."

"So what do we get to do?" asked Harry as Ray vanished behind a tree.

"Don't know." Ron looked around. "Look at the trees and the rocks, I guess." He bent down and picked up a largish pebble. "Look at this one. All smooth. And then this one right next to it is spiky all over."

Harry accepted both rocks and ran a finger along them. "I wonder how they got that way." He dropped the smooth one to the ground and slipped the jagged one into his pocket.

Ron shivered slightly. "Does this place seem a bit creepy to you?" he asked.

"A bit. I almost feel like we're being watched..."

Zelda turned around to say something, but instead howled in alarm. DUCK!

Harry and Ron flung themselves flat on the ground as Zelda leapt over them, snarling. Harry looked up just in time to see a red flash of light catch her in mid-leap and drop her to the ground. He was already fumbling for his wand, Ron doing the same, as two men in white masks and black cloaks emerged from behind the trees...

"Locomotor Mortis!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at one of them.

The man's legs snapped together, and he fell to the ground with a curse. Ron rolled out of the way of a spell from the other one and aimed his wand. "Incendiam Azuris!"

The robes of the wizard not lying on the ground burst into bright blue flame in several places.

We're not going to be able to keep this up for long, Harry thought desperately. We have to run...

Neville bent over the plant he had found, sniffing the wonderful odor happily. It was like the aroma of a cake fresh out of the oven, just begging to be eaten. "I'll have to tell Professor Sprout they're here, she'll want to take a few of them for the greenhouse. They're very useful. If you eat them, they give you a burst of energy."

"I think I've heard of them," said Ray, fingering the blue and green blossoms. "Aren't they an ingredient in some energy-restoring potions?"

"I don't know..."

A howl snapped both boys upright instantly.

"Zelda!" Ray gasped. "Something's wrong!"

They pelted back to the clearing where they'd left Ron and Harry and froze in the space between two trees. Neville's eyes were fixed on the battle, but Ray, he noticed suddenly, was staring at the wizard who was now putting out the flames on his robes with his wand. He had pushed his sleeve back to do so more safely, revealing a bracelet very like Ray's own.

"Father," Ray breathed, his eyes far away. Suddenly he turned to Neville. "Neville, listen to me. You have to do something, and you have to do it now."

"What?"

"Hit me, and run."

"Hit you? Why?"

"Please, don't ask. Just do it. Run to the castle, tell them Lucius Malfoy got onto the grounds and kidnapped Harry and Ron, he's taking them to his manor... please, Neville, you're our only chance to get help, you have to..."

Neville glanced once more at the battle, which Harry was now fighting alone, Ron having been felled by a hex. Without speaking, he put the flower he'd picked into his mouth and drew back his hand.

"OW!"

Potter jumped at the sound. Lucius Stunned the boy quickly, before he could recover, and turned to see his son come staggering out of the trees, hands clapped over his eye. "Father, I'm sorry – I couldn't stop him – he hit me and ran..."

"Who's this?"

"The Longbottom boy, sir. He was with me, I tried to stop him, but he hit me and ran away, he's on his way up to the castle..."

Lucius swore. "We shall have to move quickly, then. Did he recognize me?"

"I don't think so, sir."

"As a matter of fact, Draco, how did you recognize me?" Lucius unmasked, looking critically at the face so like his own.

"Your bracelet, sir." Draco pointed at the charmed strip of leather Lucius was careful always to wear around his right wrist. "I've never seen you without it."

"Lucius, there isn't time for this," interrupted Patroclus Nott, who had been trussing up the two boys. "We have to get going, past the Apparition boundaries..."

"You must come with us, Draco," said Lucius. "The boy will doubtless testify, your trying to stop him fetching help for the so-saintly Mr. Potter will be held against you... besides, after tonight, it is possible that you will not need to return here." He smiled. "I can teach you the basics of magic, and the Dark Lord himself will instruct you in the rest."

"The Dark Lord?" The boy paled. "Sir... do you mean he might return?"

"Come, we must be on our way. We shall speak more of this at home." Lucius bent and awakened the bitch, who looked wildly around for a moment, then growled at him. "Control her," he demanded of Draco. "Bring her to heel right away, she must come as well."

Draco placed two fingers on his bracelet, and the wolf whined a little, then got shakily up and stood beside Draco, taking no further notice of anything else.

"Sir," said Draco hesitantly as he walked beside Lucius and Patroclus through the forest, each wizard levitating one unconscious boy with his wand. "Sir, I'm frightened."

"Frightened? Of what?"

"Of them, sir." He looked towards the two boys. "They're going to think I set this up. Because it was my idea to come into the Forest, and then I left with Neville... Longbottom... they're going to think it was me. They might want to hurt me."

"Do not fear, Draco, they will have no opportunity to do so. The Dark Lord does not make mistakes twice."

The boy looked unconvinced. "Zelda probably wouldn't attack them," he said, looking at his bitch, who was trotting at his heel. "She's been making friends with them these two months, she'd be confused if I ordered her to attack. And H... Potter's a lot better with his wand than I am."

"He has no wand now, and is unlikely to gain one." But Lucius could understand his son's fear. He recalled what it had been to be eleven; most of his thoughts had not been rational, so it seemed only likely that his fears had not been, either.

Something occurred to him. "Caesar has never met these boys. He has no reason to be friendly towards them. Would you feel safer if you were protected by him, as well as by your own Zelda?"

Draco stared at him, looking absurdly hopeful. "Sir... could I? Really?"

Another facet of being eleven, Lucius remembered, was that he had been easily pleased by relatively small things. "Yes. You may. As soon as we reach home, I shall give the bracelet to you."

Draco's smile was almost luminous, and Lucius reflected with pride that his son would be highly sought-after in the marriage market when he reached the proper age. He had done well in that vein. Very well indeed.

Two loud cracks sounded through the halls of Malfoy Manor, as Patroclus Nott materialized with Harry Potter slung over his shoulder and Ron Weasley loosely roped to his side, and Lucius Malfoy a moment later with his son Draco pressed against him and the boy's bitch-wolf huddled at their feet.

"Here, then," said Lucius, pressing two fingers of his left hand against his bracelet. "Diffindus Armilla!"

The bracelet opened where his fingers were pressed. Quickly, he took it from his own arm and placed it around Draco's, overlapping the ends and mentally reciting the more complex incantation that transferred the magical control intrinsic to the object from himself to his son.

The two ends grew together, seamlessly, as if they had never been apart. Draco ran his fingers across both of the armlets he now wore and turned a radiant face up to his father. "Sir... I can never tell you what this means to me. Thank you. Thank you so much. I've been wishing I could do this all my life..."

Lucius laughed. "Away with you, boy, get to your room," he said indulgently. "Call Caesar to you there, tell him what is going on, make it clear that you are the master, and remind him who pays if he disobeys. I shall call you when it is time for you to see what will go on here tonight."

For what will go on here tonight is precisely what I would have you see, my son, he thought as he watched Draco run away down the long hallway, the bitch beside him. The triumph of the Dark Lord against all odds. And his defeat of the one who once defeated him.

Once Potter is dead, my master will be unstoppable...

Ray rounded the corner and had to stop, leaning against the wall and sliding down to sit. He was shaking all over, so happy he couldn't breathe, and terribly frightened at the same time.

He hadn't lied. He had been dreaming of this moment his whole life. And he was discovering that in many ways, having a dream come true was utterly terrifying.

Of course, being in the same house as Lord Voldemort, and knowing that some of his best friends were in danger of their lives, was utterly terrifying in all ways.

He's going to try to kill them... he's got some of his power back, and he's going to try to kill them...

Operative word, try, said a strong, calm voice. Because we're not going to let him. You have ladies coming, Ray, mind your manners.

Ray twisted around and got onto his knees as his mother came around the far corner, the one he hadn't come around himself. "Ma'am," he said formally, looking up at her. He glanced at her companion, but did not speak.

"I understand, Ray, that you have been granted control over Caesar," said Narcissa.

"Yes, ma'am."

"This would seem to be an opportunity not to be wasted." She pulled back her right sleeve. "It would be wrong of me to stand in your way." She placed two fingers of her right hand on the neck of the full-grown wolf standing beside her, and two fingers of her left hand on the bracelet she wore, almost identical to the two on Ray's wrist.

The collar the wolf wore split and fell away. She closed brown eyes, as if in pain, or joy too great to be endured.

"I must admit that I had anticipated this, in some respects," said Narcissa. She removed an envelope from an inner pocket of her robes. "This is for you, my son – for so I may still call you, for the moment, I think."

Always, Narcissa, said the wolf, opening her eyes. Always, if he will have it so. She shot Ray a look that meant he had better have it so.

"I will," said Ray, standing up. He would have anyway, her look only reinforced it. "Always my mother." He held out his hand to her.

"I thank you both," said Narcissa, taking Ray's hand formally for a moment, then closing it around the envelope. "As I have done for Calpurnia, my son, you should do for Griselda. She is waiting."

Ray flushed and turned to Zelda, who was indeed standing awfully close to him. You should have said something, he grumbled silently, stuffing the envelope into his robes and placing his hands in the pattern he knew so well.

You were busy with them. I didn't want to bother you. Zelda sighed in relief as her collar fell away. Two down, one to go...

A male wolf came around the corner, head held high. Narcissa, he greeted the woman.

"Caesar." Narcissa went to one knee and looked into his blue eyes. "Our bargain is complete. Both sides have what they wished."

Are you certain? You seem to get very little from the deal.

"I have had my time with Lucius. I now want my freedom, which he will be only too happy to grant me once he hears my story. As for the rest..." Her eyes rested on Ray. "It was never mine to begin with. Both sides are satisfied. Our bargain is complete."

Then so be it. He bowed to her, lowering his front half to the ground, then rising again. You have been a good friend. We shall miss you.

"And I you. You have taught me much in these years. I shall miss our conversations." Narcissa rose abruptly. "I will intrude no longer. Farewell."

She turned and walked around the corner and out of sight.

Ray was beside the wolf in an instant, right hand against the collar, left on the bracelet, praying that he truly did have control, that it wasn't some kind of trick...

The collar fell limply to the floor.

Zelda growled at it. Take that, you nasty thing.

Silly Kitten, said his dad affectionately.

Dear God. His mum had closed her eyes again. It's true. It's really happening. We're free.

Free.

The word hit home for Ray, breaking through the bubble of unreality that had formed around him as soon as he'd seen his mother. He moved backwards to sit against the wall, shaking again. He'd been convinced this was all a joke or a game, that his father really knew what was going on and would stop it before it went too far, that there was no way it could be real.

But it was.

His breathing was shaky, he was going to laugh or cry in a moment, and he didn't know which. He suspected both.

It's all right, little fox, said his mum softly. Everything will be all right now. She slipped past his dad, happily scuffling with Zelda – he'd have to start using her real name at some point, but not right now – and sat down next to him, letting him put his arms around her neck and cry into her fur as he had always done when he was little. Did you take your potion tonight?

No, I was going to run back to the dorm and do it...

That's all right. In fact, that's excellent. Just think of dear Lucius' face in about half an hour. Won't that be amazing?

Terrific. Ray smiled through his tears. And after I see him like that, I never have to see him again. Ever.

That's right. Not ever again. His mum's power, no longer curtailed as it had so long been, flowed around them, carrying them both away to a place where they could hold each other in their arms. Though he knew they couldn't stay there long, it was just what he needed at the moment.

The thought and the memory would give him the strength to fight, until the moment when it all came true.

Harry had never been more scared in his life. One instant he'd been in the Forest, fighting, unable to run now because that would mean leaving Ron behind, and the next he was here, wherever here was. He felt stiff, and his wrists hurt. Rope burns, he decided when he brought them around to his front and looked at them.

He sat up slowly and looked around. A dark, cold stone room was lit by only two torches on the walls and a small fire in the fireplace in the other wall, which was mostly blocked by a large armchair anyway. Ron was lying next to him, shivering, his eyes closed, but Harry could hear his breath catching and knew his friend had to be awake.

"Come on," he breathed, pulling Ron's sleeve. "Come on, we have to get out of here... we can't just sit here and let them do anything they want... we have to fight, we have to try..."

"You can try," said a voice from the other side of the room. Ron had opened his eyes, but shut them again quickly at the sound of the voice. It sent chills down Harry's spine for no reason he could think of, and he had the strangest feeling that he'd heard it before, somewhere, sometime...

"You can try," the voice repeated with amusement. "But you will not get far. Turn my chair around, Wormtail."

Harry's head snapped to one side as a small, mousy man emerged from the shadows. He was on his feet without realizing it. This man was the reason his life had turned out as it had, the reason he had no parents, the reason his godfather had spent ten years as a dog...

But he couldn't do anything. He was eleven years old, barely two months into his magical education, and he had no wand. There was nothing he could do, though every bit of his body longed to hurt the man, to make him pay.

Ron had his face in his hands. "It's not happening," Harry heard him whimpering. "It's not happening, it's not real, it's not happening..."

Wormtail had his face averted as he turned the armchair around, and Harry saw the look of revulsion on his face as he did. And then the chair was facing them, and Harry understood it.

The thing in the chair was horrific, shaped marginally like a human child, but in no other way like one. It was worse than any of the disgusting creatures Harry had ever seen or read about, because that was the way they were meant to be by nature, and there was nothing natural about this hairless, scaly-looking thing – it appeared to be covered with reddish-black scabs, with thin, feeble arms and legs, and a face that Harry knew suddenly, beyond a doubt, he had seen before.

His mouth opened, and one word came out.

"Voldemort..."

Ron whimpered again. He was curled into a ball now, his arms over his head. Harry wanted to do the same, but he was trapped by Voldemort's red eyes, unable to look away.

"You recognize me, then," said the most powerful Dark wizard in a hundred years. "I thought you might. Ten years, Harry Potter. Ten years since last we met. You have increased. I have decreased. But that shall be reversed on the morrow."

Wormtail had backed away from the chair, his eyes fixed on Harry; he seemed to be trying to get something across, but Harry's mind had frozen and he couldn't comprehend anything except Voldemort's words.

"Wormtail's arrival in my hiding place came at the perfect time, for several reasons. First, that meddling Muggle-lover, Dumbledore, seems to have guessed some of my plans, or been told of them... had Wormtail delayed only another week, the fragment of my soul that animates this construction," Voldemort ran his eyes over his revolting body, "would have had no anchor in this world, and would have been forever lost. But that can now be changed.

"Secondly, I have some unfinished business at a place called Godric's Hollow. And that business commences tomorrow. Tomorrow, when my fortunes shall be restored, and all that I have lost shall return to me." The lipless mouth smiled. "But first I must secure myself against death. And that requires two things. First, a vessel – my dear Nagini has volunteered for that position..."

"I would do anything for you, Master," came a voice from the darkness. Harry jumped and stared around, looking for the speaker.

Voldemort's red eyes narrowed. "Do you understand this, boy?" he asked sibilantly.

Harry nodded dumbly.

"Odd," Voldemort said, as if to himself. "But I have been distracted. Nagini will be the vessel. But I also need a victim. A sacrifice, if you will. And Lucius and Patroclus were thoughtful enough to bring one along..."

His eyes rested on Ron.

Without thinking, Harry was in front of his friend. "Leave him ALONE!" he shouted. "He's nothing to do with this!"

"Oh, but he is." Voldemort lifted his hand, a hand which Harry now saw contained a wand, and casually motioned with it, and Harry was pushed to one side by a force he couldn't fight. "He fought against my followers. Such presumption must be punished. And after it is, after I have again secured myself against ill fortune or an unlucky curse, and after I have used you to return to my former state, you too shall perish, Harry Potter. Ten years beyond the first night I saw you, but was that not my plan to begin with?" He seemed to be talking to himself now. "And they to witness it... what bliss..."

The final 's' trailed off into a long hiss. Voldemort's eyes were almost shut, as if he were dreaming of such happiness, in his own twisted way, that he could not bear to look upon his present surroundings. Then they snapped open again. "Raise him up, Wormtail," he commanded. "I wish to see his face before I kill him."

Harry struggled against the magic holding him, but it was too strong. Wormtail was coming forward now, he was leaning down over Ron, pulling him up –

Ron seemed to find his courage all at once, or maybe it was just that Voldemort's unnatural appearance had floored him, but Wormtail was a man, and a man he could deal with. He attacked Wormtail with fists and feet, punching and kicking indiscriminately, and Wormtail cowered back instead of fighting.

"Useless fool!" shouted Voldemort furiously. "Out of my way!" His wand moved away from Harry, who was suddenly released, and flicked Wormtail and Ron apart, shoving Ron halfway across the room. Voldemort turned, leaning over one arm of the chair, and aimed his wand directly at Ron. "Crucio!"

Ron screamed horribly, falling to the floor and thrashing. Harry looked around wildly for something he could do, anything –

His hand fell against his pocket, and the heavy lump therein, the jagged-edged rock Ron had given him in the Forest –

He pulled it free, aimed as Padfoot had taught him, and threw it hard.

It struck Voldemort squarely in the forehead.

The evil wizard screamed, dropping his wand, and staggered backwards, losing his balance and falling over the opposite arm of the chair, headfirst.

There was a dull thud.

Ron's screams had stopped, he was lying very still, panting. Harry was shaking so hard he didn't think he could move.

What did I just do?

Wormtail was edging toward the door – now, before Harry could recover his wits enough to do anything about it, he shoved it wide and ran.

There was a commotion in the hall.

Ah-HA!

Gotcha!

Oh, no, you don't!

"They must be in here!" shouted a voice aloud, and Ray barreled around the door, stopping dead as he stared at something on the floor beside the armchair, something Harry couldn't see. He began to back up, slowly, jerkily, apparently not noticing anyone else in the room.

Sit down, said a man's voice firmly, and a large grey wolf, larger than Zelda, appeared around the door and gave Ray's robes a tug. Ray collapsed to the floor, still staring at whatever it was. Kitten, my love, I think we need you both in here.

Coming, answered a woman's voice, and another large wolf trotted into the room, trailed by Zelda, who yelped when she saw Ron on the floor and galloped straight to him, pressing herself into his arms. The other wolf approached Harry, who was leaning against the wall, wishing he were somewhere else, anywhere –

And suddenly he was.

He looked around, startled, at the room which had materialized around him. It wasn't anywhere he recognized, but it felt homelike, comfortable. And there was a woman sitting on the couch in front of him, who smiled and held out her arms. "It's all right," she said, in the same voice which he had last heard. "Come, sit."

Harry thought he might well have accepted an invitation from the giant squid which lived in Hogwarts lake at the moment. He practically dived into the woman's arms and started to cry, harsh, painful sobs which shook him like Zelda had shaken the gnomes she'd found in Hagrid's garden...

"You're like Zelda," he said when he could speak again. "Wolf, but human. And..." He pulled away a little bit and wiped his eyes, peering up at the woman's face. "You look like her too. Are you her mum?"

The woman shook her head. "Sister," she said. "But I'm of an age where I could have been her mum, and I've been the next thing to a mum to her for most of her life, so there's no shame in your thinking that."

Memories were trailing back to Harry now, old memories of looking at photo albums, ones that didn't come out often, and the stories that went with the pictures, and other memories, hazy ones, of dreams he'd had and half-forgotten. He knew in that moment why he had thought he'd seen Zelda's face before. He had a million questions, but the one that came out when he opened his mouth wasn't the one he had thought it would be.

"What's Zelda's real name?"

He didn't want to come out. No one could make him. Coming out meant being afraid and getting hurt. So he wasn't going to come out any more.

Ron...

He knew the voice, but he wasn't going to come out for that. She could call him all she wanted. He wasn't going to fall for it.

Ron, I know you can hear me.

Of course he could hear her. He just wasn't going to answer. No matter what she said, he wasn't going to answer her.

Ron, do you still want to know my real name?

Bugger. How had she figured out one of the only things he was still curious about?

I can tell you it now. But not unless you answer me.

If she could tell him her real name, then there must not be any more danger from it. Which must mean...

"Nomorecurse?" he mumbled.

I'm sorry? Her tone was polite, but he could hear a very strong undertone of jubilation in it. Well, she wasn't going to be happy for long. He would come out long enough to satisfy his curiosity, and then he would go back in.

"Is your curse gone?" he repeated, a little more clearly this time.

What – oh. Yes. The curse is gone. I can tell people who I am now. Do you still want to know?

Ron nodded, and against his better judgment, opened his eyes.

All he could see was grey. After a confused moment, he realized his face was pressed against her side, so that he was seeing her fur. Carefully, he pulled away from her and sat up. They were much the same height when they were both sitting, he noticed. Her hazel eyes met his blue very nicely.

My real name is Hermione. Hermione Granger.

"Her-my-oh-nee," repeated Ron out loud, carefully. "That's pretty."

Thank you. Are you feeling better now?

"Yeah, a little. What happened?"

You were under the Cruciatus Curse. It causes pain.

Ron snorted. "Figured that one out for myself, thanks."

Harry threw a rock at Voldemort – oh, stop that! He's dead now, he can't hurt you!

"He's dead? But I thought he was already dead!"

No, he was just gone for a while. But now he's really dead. There was a prophecy made, that only Harry could defeat him, and he just did. He'll never hurt anyone again. Zelda's – Hermione's – voice sounded jubilant. And I can be human again every day, and even at night sometimes if I want to, with the potion.

"But I thought you couldn't do that," said Ron, confused. "Because you'd age too fast or something."

She shook her head, looking downcast. We lied. I'm sorry. We had to lie. It was the only way we could think of to explain why I had to stay in wolf form.

"But it wasn't true?"

No, it wasn't true.

"So why did you have to stay in wolf form, then?"

That, said a different voice, will be explained soon.

(A/N: And it will! As soon as I have time, and energy, to write it... whoo, this action stuff is draining. I'm not sure I'm going to want to do anything this afternoon. But I have work to do... grr...

Oh well. I'll find time. Please relieve my sadness – review! And give me some thoughts about magnifying glasses. (That's right, everyone – review topics are back!) And I still say LwoD will be updated within the weekend!)