Lizzie Heart and the Years after Hogwarts.
Chapter Six: Questions and Answers.
"Any questions?" Harry asked the bemused faces of the top, most respected journalists of the wizarding world. There was silence, a yawning empty silence. Their faces were dropped. Lizzie looked at Harry who was smiling triumphantly at the crowd. Trust him to be cocky about it.
A squeaky reporter broke the silence. "Yes, I have one question. How did you destroy Voldemort?" The rest of the reporters started muttering amongst themselves.
"What do mean by that?" Harry questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I'm curious."
Lizzie saw in the corner of her eye Remus and Alex fidget in their seats, whilst Ron sat up slightly and Hermione move uneasy and shot a quick, worried glance at Lizzie.
"Well," the reporter piped up, "A boggart can't actually kill a person, they just frighten people. So how was Voldemort destroyed?"
Lizzie momentarily looked at Hermione. This was the part she had been dreading Harry telling everyone else.
Harry sighed, "Of course, boggarts can't actually do the physical killing." He paused in thought; Lizzie closed her eyes as they involuntarily began to tear. "I did the killing, I killed Lord Voldemort." Harry finished defiantly.
Another rush of mumour ran across the room excitedly. Lizzie looked up at Harry, who was staring at her. A sigh of relief flushed through Lizzie's mind.
A pushy female reporter came into view, "How? How did you kill him?"
Harry looked up from Lizzie, "As you might as well guessed, Voldemort was startled by the boggart. It showed him his worst nightmare. The key to successful duel is to catch your opponent off guard. That's simply what I did." He shot another glimpse at Lizzie, who was looking at the table, in her own little world.
"Yes, but what curse?" A journalist at the back shouted.
"It isn't well known. Well, it's only over 2 years old. You see, Voldemort was much more then just a wizard. He had the cataclysmic power to rule the world and be a sorcerer forevermore. We needed a spell that would work to a much more higher degree then to any that are in books. We needed to formulate a new curse, spell, jinx, hex of whatever you might call it." Explained Harry, who then turned and nodded to Remus.
"And that's what we did. Well, what Hermione and I did." Remus continued. A further reporter interrupted.
"What!" he exclaimed, "You, a werewolf, and a eighteen year old girl? Are we meant to believe that? Are we meant to believe that some unpredictable, prototype spell defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Named?" He argued incredulously. Alex's anger was rising, and so was Harry's, how could they still not believe?
"Ok, fine!" Alex yelled and standing up in her seat, "You tell us how Voldemort – and DON'T shudder at the name – you tell us how Voldemort was defeated then? If your such a know it all?"
Remus yanked Alex's arm and she sat down again, infuriated. Though not saying anything, Lizzie firmly agreed with what her sister had just said. The newspaper reporters were a load of arrogant jerks.
"For once, we are telling the truth and you should all be listening. This press conference is only going to happen once. So let us get on with it." Hermione stated and the reporters all hushed.
"Right – as I was saying. Hermione and I formulated a spell," Remus carried on as if nothing had happened. "It was called the Esperar Verdugo, I have been disallowed to explain it fully since it is more lethal the Avada Kedvara, and will therefore become an Unforgivable Curse soon enough. It took us a long time to work and lots of long calculations."
Hermione spoke up, "It was our contribution to the fall of Lord Voldemort, and that's why were here."
The reporters began to scribble what they had heard.
Remus sat back in his chair, relieved and looked at Harry. He was sweating and was clearly nervous. Remus turned his head and glanced at Alex, who looked extremely anxious. Remus kindly took Alex's hand and enfolded it in his.
"Alright," another journalist called out, "So there was this special spell, but how did you get to Voldemort? Where was the final battle?"
Harry nodded at Ron, so he could explain. It was, after all, his idea.
"It was at Hogwarts." Ron started, "One of Voldemort's main aims was to indoctrinate the young wizards and witches into his way of thinking, and that impulse became much stronger once Dumbledore had died. So his first step was to take over Hogwarts, and we allowed him to come, thinking it was his idea."
The reporters furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.
"How do you know?" said a plump witch at the front, "How do you know that he wanted to take over our children first?"
"Again, with the research we did throughout our seventh year," said Harry, "We found that Tom Riddle applied for the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts when he was only just becoming known as Lord Voldemort. Ron, you carry on."
Ron took a breath, "Right – well we lured Voldemort into Hogwarts and surprised him with the boggart basically."
You could see that the reporters were not entirely happy with this explanation whatsoever.
"But how?" many reporters asked at once.
"The Order had a spy on the inside, we got information and he give Voldemort false information, unfortunately Severus Snape died when he was found out. Murdered by the Malfoys." Remus clarified.
At this moment the whole room erupted in talk and uproar. One of the most respected pureblooded families Death Eaters?
"Will you be quiet please," The Ministry Official bellowed over the muttering heads. The room silenced swiftly. "Now, this conference must end quite soon. Last questions."
Arms shot up and an explosion of voices headed in Harry's direction. Harry leaned back in his chair, feeling uneasy about the sudden rush of voices. The Ministry official frowned at the reporters.
"ONE AT A TIME!" he hollered.
"Mr. Potter? Who taught you to duel so expertly?" A skinny witch shouted above the rest.
"Well, that was Alex. My sixth year Defence teacher." Harry said, pointing at Alex. The faces of numerous journalists looked that at Alex expectantly.
"Yes, I taught Harry and Lizzie to duel. Though they was already pretty damn good. I told them everything Mad-Eye told me. Constant vigilance is the key to a effortless duel." She told them, her violet eyes beaming brightly out of pride.
"Harry, what is Voldemort's boggart then?" A stout wizard inquired.
Harry shuddered, "It was his pale ghastly self, dead in a pool of blood. An image I would never like to think of or see again."
"What did you do to help the fall of the Dark Times, Miss Heart?" A tall wizard called from the back, "You were taught to duel by your…aunt is it?"
"Sister." Lizzie answered.
"Right, well you were taught to duel by your sister, so what did you actually do to help?"
Lizzie didn't know what to say. She helped sure; she was standing right behind Harry as his second during Voldemort's last duel. But what did she actually do?
All the reporters were waiting, their faces gazing on Lizzie's, expecting some heroic answer. She glanced at Harry with a pleading look on her face.
"Lizzie was with me until Voldemort's end." Harry said suddenly, "She was with me thick and through. We battled together and saw him die together."
Why was she doing this? Why should she hide it from them anymore? She had to tell them.
"I had another purpose too." She said, without really thinking about what she was saying, "I was bait, the bait for Voldemort to come to Hogwarts. Or really for his Death Eaters to come to Hogwarts." She breathed as tears watered the backs on her eyes, "When I lived in Italy, a long time ago, I played Quidditch nationally as most of you probably know. I had a relationship with the Italian Stallion seeker, Anthonio Martini."
The audience of reporting journalists gasped, especially the gossip columnists.
Lizzie carried on trying hard to get the story straight, "When I moved to England when I was sixteen, me and Anthonio kept in touch through owls. He kept saying he'll visit me, and he did once. He came with his friends, his filthy disgusting friends, the Death Eaters."
The reporters took a massive breath as they heard this.
"Anthonio Martini was a Death Eater, and was there when they killed my Mum." Tears trickled slightly down her cheeks, "I couldn't believe it at first, but then again, Anthonio was full of surprises." Lizzie chuckled lightly. "He kept sending owls afterwards, asking to see me. So, when Ron, Harry and Hermione came up with the boggart thing, I knew a way we could get the Death Eaters to Hogwarts, they just needed to persuade their Master to join the party."
There was silence in the room; nobody spoke for about a minute. Some reporters were jotting more and more notes down on the miniature parchment books. Other just looked muddled, still trying to think for a hole in the story, just so they could work out a way of them lying. The Ministry Official walked once more in front of the table.
"Alright, time's up. Thank you Mr. Potter, Miss Heart, Miss Heart, Mr. Lupin, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley. You six have truly changed the way the Wizarding world lives forever, no longer in fear." He smiled and walked towards the door they had come through for what seems hours ago. Harry stood up, and guided them all through the door.
Once Ron had closed the door behind him, they all looked at each other for a second.
"Well thank Merlin that's over!" Ron said.
"I agree." Hermione added as Ron wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Come on," said Remus, "Butterbeer at Lupin Lodge?" he offered cheerfully. The others nodded. "Ok, last one to apparate doesn't get an chocolate." He teased and apparated straight away with a pop. Alex joined with a second pop. Ron third and Hermione fourth. That left Lizzie, standing and looking out of the window. Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He was fed up with this distance. It was time he did something about it.
"Lizzie, you know that that blue sky isn't real right?" He said, standing next to her.
"Hmm," Lizzie said dazedly.
"Earth to Lizzie?" Harry mocked, smiling.
"Yes, I know the sky isn't real in the windows. The Ministry is underground." She simply said, staring out the window, "Harry, why did you decide to say now?"
It took a while for Harry to realise what Lizzie was talking about. He paused and stood in thought. "Because I thought it was time."
"But what now? Are you just going to become Mr. Normal Joe? Live a normal life?" Lizzie asked, finally turning to look at him. He looked at her with his brightly shining emerald eyes.
"That's the plan." He smiled.
"Don't you realise Harry? You will always be The-Chosen-One or The-Boy-Who-Lived or The-Boy-Who-Defeated-You-Know-Who." Lizzie said, almost witheringly.
"You know I don't want it, Lizzie. I want a normal life, I want to just be an auror and settle down now. That's why I did it, well, that's half the reason." Stated Harry.
"Well, what's the other?" Lizzie inquired. Though half expecting one answer.
"Because of you." Harry said, taking her hand. "You have not been yourself recently. The burden of being a pawn in one of Anthonio's games scarred you, and left an open wound." He looked directly into Lizzie's ultra-marine eyes; "I still care for you, no matter what you did in the past. I only wanted to heal the wound."
Tears were falling from Lizzie's cheeks. Nobody could ever see her real emotions; see what she's feeling. Nobody could read Lizzie, nobody except Harry.
A/N: Ummm, just to say, I did not make up Voldemort's boggart. JKR said that that would be his boggart in the interview where I got the boggart idea.