Chapter 2: Clone of the Original Bastard

Disclaimer: I just own Dra- (you: #hits on head#) Oww… #sigh# … I just own Har- (#hits again#) Oww… I own Ro- (#hits one more time#) OWW! #glare# FINE! I BOUGHT LIFESIZE VERSIONS OF THEM OFF E-BAY! HAPPY?

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Note:

This story won't be very many chapters… It is on purpose. The real storyline starts with the 'Sequel'… actually… I don't know if I should call it the sequel or not… cuz this is the prequel… so… hmm…

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#blah, blah, blah#: speech in Parseltongue

Blah blah blah: spell or accented word

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>>October 31, 2005/ November 1, 2005 >>

Harry looked around the deserted graveyard, still clutching the now inactivated Portkey in his hand. It was virtually untouched from when he had last seen it 3 years previous. The cauldron, now rusting from the weather, that had resurrected Voldemort still stood at the base of one of the larger headstones in the graveyard. Harry shivered as a chilly wind brushed over his arms.

The graveyard, now that he had a chance to see it in detail (even though it was extremely dark out) looked like no one had been buried in there for years. It had to be at least a couple miles big in either direction. The gravestones that he had come across were no younger than 50 years at least.

Harry thought he saw a few rundown buildings in the distance, but in the dim light, he couldn't be sure from that distance. Harry stood there, waiting, in the dark. He didn't want to light his wand for fear of giving the Death Eaters an advantage of, number one, being able to see him by the light, and two, not being able to see them from being blinded by the light.

He looked at the Triwizard Cup still in his hand. He put it on the ground and duplicated it for effect. Then he concentrated on where he wanted it to connect to, and whispered, "Noloportus." The cup glowed a brilliant blue that Harry could have been sure was seen for miles, but no one showed up. He was pretty certain that it worked because the book had described it.

Standing back up, he cast another timed release spell so that it wouldn't activate if he picked it up and he shrunk it so it fit easily in his palm and also in his robe's pocket. He looked towards the place where he and Voldemort had dueled, and saw something move on the ground.

The enormous, shadowy form literally had to slither across the ground before Harry realized that it was Nagini, Voldemort's precious snake… and the second to last remaining Horcrux. He, Hermione, and Ron had destroyed two Horcruxes when it had taken Dumbledore a few years just to find one, but the last two were still in Voldemort's possession. They had found Hufflepuff's cup and had found the person that had eventually destroyed Slytheren's locket fairly easily, it seemed to Harry.

The other artifact that they had destroyed was a jeweled cane with a large silver raven perched on top. It was the harder of the two to find since they hadn't known what to look for; but since the only artifact in existence that belonged to Gryffindor was never in Voldemort's possession, that narrowed the list down a bit. Hermione had amazingly found an old journal in Hogwarts that belonged to one of the four founders and it had mentioned that Ravenclaw was very fond of the cane that Gryffindor had transfigured for her. So, they somehow managed to find it.

Harry shivered again when the snake came closer, it's eyes shimmering a bright greenish; the color of the killing curse. 'If I could somehow keep a hold of it… I could use it as insurance that Hermione and Ron get out of here… then I could kill it and then even if I don't survive, the Order would have a fighting chance at killing Voldemort…' Harry swallowed at the suicidal thoughts. It scared him… that there was a pretty good chance he might die this very night.

Harry practically willed the huge snake to just try to take a shot at him. The snake, sensing that he was not afraid, slithered closer, it's eyes never leaving Harry's.

#Grrreetingsss, t-ongue brother…# Harry started. How did she realize that he was a Parselmouth? #Do not look ssso sssurprised t-ongue brother, hisss knowledge isss not f-ar from my own th-oughtsss# she hisses soothingly, gliding closer the whole time. Harry then realized and fully appreciated the size of the snake. He bent down to see her better.

#Then you know of his workingsss?# he asks. He didn't exactly translate it right since before he only had to say a single sentence or a short string of words. Never an actual conversation. It was slightly unnerving now that he thought about it. 'I guess that's why others are so disturbed by it.'

#Yesss… wouldn't you like to know…# She was now even closer, her nose about five feet away from his head. She swayed her head back and forth, her eyes reflecting the almost nonexistent light. Finally, Harry realized what she was doing and blinked for the first time since he had looked into her eyes. He snapped his head back as she lunged at his face.

"STUPEFY!" he shouted, a lucky reflex. The snake crumpled at his feet and then the air was filled with deafening noise as about twenty-five odd people in black hooded cloaks Apparated to the graveyard, all of them at the same time and all of them holding their wands in the air, the Lumos spell already activated. He was immediately surrounded in an impenetrable circle of black masses.

Harry automatically pointed his wand at the snake's head. His eyes searched the faces under the robes until they landed on a figure with a distinctly un-earthy feel to him. He narrowed his eyes in a glare. Harry could practically feel Voldemort's sinister smile spread as he stepped forward from the black mass of his followers, who spread out to cover the hole that his absence made in the circle.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry shouted at him. His red eyes flashed angrily, but he held his arm out and two Death Eaters that were outside the circle glided into the inner circle. Both of them were dragging a body behind them and they threw them unceremoniously at Harry's feet after casting the "Ennervate" spell.

Both Ron's and Hermione's eyes fluttered open after a second and then both of them gasped as they got their bearings. Hermione's eyes found Harry's fearfully. Her bottom lip trembled and she worked to swallow. Neither of them had ever been this close at one time to the whole group of the Death Eaters, let alone to Voldemort himself.

"H-harry…" she whimpered. Then she must have realized what Harry had done to get them back and her eyes practically lit on fire. "Harry," she said, a note of warning in her tone. "Please tell me that you didn't do what I think you did to get us back…" Harry stiffened and his eyes left her gaze hurriedly. Ron's eyes widened. Neither of them had been tied up, so Hermione stood up unsteadily. Harry grabbed her elbow until she stopped swaying.

Harry stood in front of them so that there was a circle where none of the men in black cloaks couldn't see what they were doing, his hands behind his back. He shoved the Portkey into Hermione's hands and she must have realized what it was because she told Ron to grab a handle of it. She put it forward for Harry to grab also, but he walked forward at the same time, forcing them to cover it by letting their robe's sleeves down over their hands so that it merely looked as though their hands were intertwined.

Harry stopped about fifteen feet in front of Voldemort, (about five feet in front of Hermione and Ron) but only because his scar seared so badly that he clapped his hand to his head and held it there till it subsided slightly.

He looked fixedly at Voldemort and stated boldly, "Alright… now let them go." Voldemort's cruel laugh sent Harry's scar prickling and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He narrowed his eyes.

"Foolish boy… You really think I would let them go?" He laughed again. "Not when there is an anti-Disapparation spell around a five mile area centered at this spot. Only my Death Eaters can leave now." Harry raised his wand threateningly. Voldemort stopped laughing and just smirked at him. "Are you planning on dueling your way out of here then? Your pitiful friends-" he hissed, "-don't even have their wands. How do you expect them to help you in the least?" Harry just stared at him, his gaze level and bored, having heard Hermione and Ron making their way towards him. He waited a minute and then suddenly smirked.

He spun around and, having seen Hermione holding out the cup for him to hurriedly grab, he unloosed the timed spell. It took Hermione only a few seconds before she realized what Harry had done. Harry turned back around as they disappeared and heard her scream his name as they disappeared.

Harry wasted no time. This was going to be the final battle. And Harry vowed to end it that night.

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Harry looked around to where he had left Nagini and then yelled, "Sectumsempra!" when he saw the snake had woken up and was speeding towards him. The snake kinda does a weird acrobatics because it had been in mid strike when Harry's spell had hit her. Nagini slumped motionless to the ground, dark blood spreading across the ground. The spell, meant to only wound humans, was powerful enough to kill her.

He heard shouts and yells all around him and looked up just as a flash of green light made it's way towards him. He dodged it and then yelled, "Muffliato," hoping it would help them from coordinating anything. About half of them shielded themselves from the spell. Three of them cast the Crucio spell at the same time, but Harry dodged the one from the tall skinny one and shielded himself from the other two, bulkier forms.

Harry shouted "Reducto," which blasted five Death Eaters backwards, and dived through the opening of the circle that it created. He dodged a few spells that had been cast over his head.

"Impedimenta," he shouted at the man that had been running at him from the right. The man tripped and stayed down and Harry dived behind a headstone just as something hit it with enough force to cause it to rend in two. Harry felt a few fragments hit him in the back and in the head, a couple giving him deep cuts on his face and a deep one on his neck.

He crept behind another one nearby, careful not to be seen. He heard a few shouts from the left that sounded like "Incarcerous" and he heard someone curse a few times. 'Hopefully they're getting confused in the darkness.'

Harry saw someone go past the headstone, but he didn't see him, so he softly cast a Confundus Charm, which sent the man off the opposite way from where Harry was. Harry heard him call out a false alarm and a few others scrambling after him. Harry was about to move to another spot, less they get too close, but a second, a woman, her wand lit, caught him.

Harry Silencioed her, but she cast a nonverbal spell. Harry caught the full blow of the Relashio spell and got blasted into a smaller and slightly crumbling headstone. Harry's vision darkened for a second, but he rolled to the side just as the Death Eater cast another spell which actually shattered the stone grave marker. His head still spinning, he saw the woman advancing again.

'Shit… Levicorpus' Harry saw the woman fly straight up into the air by her ankle and winced. 'Not the best spell…' He quickly moved away from the woman, who now was signaling to the others that she was in trouble. Harry stuck to the darkest shadows as he made his way across the lawn. He dove to the ground when a sudden flurry of Cruciatus Curses flew at about chest height towards the direction he had disappeared in, so Harry changed course hurriedly. He ran bent nearly in half for about five minutes before he stopped again.

'If I get too far away I'll not be able to circle around them.' That was, in fact what he had accidentally started to do, but that, now that he thought about it, was the best plan of attack.

"Dismentia" he whispered. It was another spell from one of the books in the Room of Requirement. It would displace the noise caused by the spell and make it sound like it came from another place.

"Avis Maxima" he whispered, even quieter. When his wand should have gone off like a gun, the noise sounded like it had come from near where he had disappeared from the Death Eaters last. It sounded to Harry like the noise came from about fifty feet in front of the closest lit wand, still a ways to Harry's right. He couldn't see the men from where he was sitting, so he couldn't check to see if it worked as a diversion. About twenty or thirty small birds had shot out of the end of his wand when he had said the spell. They started twittering madly as they scattered into the air, so Harry quickly spun around in place and peaked around the side of the headstone.

About three or four Death Eaters were close enough for a clear shot, but the spell worked to Harry's advantage because it didn't have to actually hit them, just be directed towards them. Three of them were using 'Lumos' to light the others' ways, so Harry pointed his wand at them and whispered, "Oppungo Multiplus." Harry quickly ducked down as their howls of pain fill the air. He stayed low to the ground as he ran away, angling to the left, from the lighted area where the Death Eaters were.

He stopped behind a large headstone with a stone angel standing on top of it to catch his breath. He slumped down and panted for a second, still listening to the shouts from the men that were still getting attacked by the clawing and pecking little birds. Harry rubbed the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, wincing a bit when the salt from the sweat mingled in his cuts. He stuck his head above the top of the stone to check if any of the bobbing lights coming from the wands were coming closer, but about half of them were pretty much centered back where his last hiding spot was. The rest were spread out in random places, yet none of them were very far past Harry's spot.

'Yeah… real smart Harry… act don't think… things always go wrong when you think instead of act… ri-ight…' he added sarcastically to himself. 'Okay… if I can get over there without anyone seeing me, I can kill Voldemort… no prob…' Harry looked up at the stars and almost sighed at the impossibility of the situation.

He turned and looked over the top of the headstone again. He could only make out about twenty of the thirty-ish Death Eaters. There was about ten or fifteen Lumos spells going, so they were most likely paired up in twos. They were all congregated to Harry's left and he could see a small trembling form near a larger one that hadn't moved from where the circle had been. "Coward…" Harry growled under his breath. "He hasn't moved a foot…" His breath caught in his throat when he heard a soft footstep behind him.

Harry turned around slowly and was greeted by a wand at his throat. Lucius Malfoy sneered at him in the traditional Malfoy way. Harry gritted his teeth as Lucius opened his mouth to call out to the others. But before he could, a voice called out behind him, "Silencio." Malfoy opened his mouth and closed it a couple times experimentally before he rounded on the person that had cast the spell. The man behind him disarmed him quickly and then, as Malfoy stood there in shock, he punched him as hard as he could in the jaw.

Harry wasn't sure, but he could've sworn he heard either a snap or a popping sound as the man's fist connected. Malfoy flew about five feet and then skidded to a halt, unmoving.

"Waited six months to do that…" the man grunted. Harry looked up into the dark grey eyes of his rescuer, Draco Malfoy. Harry just sat there, dazed, until Draco actually lightly slapped Harry to his senses.

"I swear if you don't bloody come to your senses, Potter…" Draco panted, his eyes narrowed in either anger or distaste… 'or both,' Harry added. Harry could see a trail of blood on his cheek and a large cut on his forehead.

"You… your actually bloody helping me?" Harry whispered ferociously. Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"You really are a bloody git aren't you… I can't believe you haven't heard all the shouts about a traitor!" Harry shook his head angrily and stood up so he wasn't looking up at Malfoy.

"I was just a tad bit busy!" he snapped. Harry grabbed Malfoy suddenly by the nape of his neck and pushed him forward into the ground behind the angel as a light bobbed by them. Harry hoped they wouldn't see the unconscious form of the senior Malfoy on the ground. Draco Malfoy slicked his hair back with his free hand once they had passed by.

"You mussed my hair!" Malfoy growled in a low, dangerous voice. Harry blinked twice and then had to clap a hand over his mouth to keep from snorting in laughter. Draco Malfoy glared and then looked away, acting like he was searching for Death Eaters.

"Was that a- a joke?"

"… don't have a bloody heart attack, Potter…"

"And this coming from the original cold bastard… scratch that, the clone of him." Harry received a glare.

"I am anything but the clone of the original cold bastard, even if I do get the good looks from him…" he muttered coldly.

"Are you still on the sanity ladder?" Harry asked in a falsely cheery, yet inquisitive voice. Malfoy snorted and then turned away. 'Merlin…' Harry thought to himself, amused and slightly disturbed. Then the gravity of the situation came back full force. Harry stood in a crouch, ready to change spots again, but Malfoy stopped him.

"You do realize that I can Apparate both of us out of here?" he disgustedly spat. It was clear to Harry that he didn't want to actually help Harry, but, Harry figured, it might get him points with the good side. He shook his head but stopped when his head started to spin.

"No… you can leave but I need to end this… no matter what happens… too many people have died already…"

Harry took off running to the left again, staying bent low, but not bothering otherwise to stay out of sight. He winced when his sore back protested. He could have sworn he heard Malfoy mutter, "and he wonders if I'm on the sanity ladder…"

Harry made it halfway to Voldemort before he came across the first group of Death Eaters. Unfortunately, this group was more alert than the idiots that he had been coming across. The sudden flurry of shouts coming from the opposite direction than the last alert had come from confused a lot of the Death Eaters, but most still came running.

Harry only had a few precious moments to ditch these ones and hide before the rest came, so he stood up to full height and yelled "Expelliarmus." Of the four, only two were disarmed. The one actually held on to his wand so tight that he soared through the air towards Harry. Harry ducked, but the man's flailing boot kicked him in the side.

Harry hit the ground hard and gasped "Incarcerous" at the other one that hadn't lost his wand. It bound him tightly in ropes, but the other two, forgetting about their wands, still advanced on Harry as he lay there gasping for air, his side on fire.

Harry, at the last possible second, looked up and shouted "Reducto," sending them both flying through the air. Harry ducked low and tried to keep the others from seeing him, but one spotted him and called an alarm, throwing an Impediment Jinx his way. Harry dodged it by throwing himself over the side of a small hill he had been climbing to get away from them.

He heard a female voice mutter "This is stupid, Morsmordre" and then everything was lit up in a bright green light. Harry looked up and saw a vast, green, glittering skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke above him.

Harry winced when he was immediately spotted, but he also heard an angry yell to put the mark out, something about it attracting the Ministry's attention. Then Harry heard something that almost made his heart stop. Draco Malfoy was screaming.

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Acknowledgements:

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To: Anonymous: Random Kid- Thank you sooo very much for reviewing! #munches on cake# MY CAKE! … Yeah… I'll admit right now… I re-eally don't think I was ever on the sanity ladder… And… somehow… I was strangely reminded of Gollum when I read your review… hmm…