Notes: Attention all Harry Potter fans! Send Christmas notes to Dan, Rupert, Emma, or JK through my forums, BTV School. Go here: beyond theveil site.tk (take out the spaces - it won't let me post the regular url) and go to the board titled Goblet of Gifts. I really need people to participate in this so join in if you can! Thanks!
Story notes: Snape will play a part later. You won't see it right away because it's not directly Harry's experience - he has to hear about it later. That happens a lot in this chapter, but I'll clear everything up in the chapters to follow. And now for the climax... The beginning of the chapter will be confusing, but just go with it.
Bad word alert.
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Draco dragged Harry in the old orphanage by the collar of his shirt. The Death Eaters stopped to look. Some gasped in total shock. Others congratulated Draco. Snape walked behind him, kicking Harry every so often. Harry was dragged into a back room with an old stonewall that was collapsing at some points.
"Oh my Draco. I see you've brought me a present," a slithery voice said. Voldemort was sitting in the center of the room on a raised platform with large stairs on all four sides, made of the same stone as the walls.
"Yes," Draco said, bowing to the Dark Lord and then throwing Harry onto the stairs, being very careful to avoid Voldemort's eyes. "I found him outside and thought it would please you to see him."
"Is this true, Severus?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes, my lord," Snape said. "Draco caught him all on his own." The two of them looked at each other for a moment, both trying to read the other's mind.
"Very good Draco," Voldemort said. "I must remember to reward you. You may leave." Draco and Snape turned to leave. "Not you, Draco. You could use a lesson in death, and you just dragged me in the perfect example." Snape left and Draco walked around the raised platform to watch from the back.
Harry watched himself being tortured by Voldemort. That Harry wasn't the real Harry, of course. The real Harry was standing behind Voldemort, polyjuiced to be Draco, and the real Draco was changed to Harry. But Harry couldn't think of that. If Voldemort suddenly decided to read his mind, the plan would be ruined, and then what?
Draco was pulling off the act perfectly. He fought back as hard as he could, but was always shot down by Voldemort. It went on like this for a while: Voldemort hexing Draco (as Harry) over and over, and Draco trying helplessly to fight back. Finally he gave up and sank to his knees in front of Voldemort, the hood of his cloak falling over his head.
Suddenly the room became blurry. The potion was wearing off quickly. Harry pulled out his second pair of glasses, which he had thankfully had the foresight to bring along.
"Draco, pay attention." Voldemort was saying, pointing his wand at Draco but not turning around. "It is always the way of the courteous killer to ask the victim if he has a last request. So, Potter, anything to say for yourself?"
"Yes." Draco said, his voice still sounding like Harry's. Harry could now feel a severe burning on his forehead, a sure sign that the transformation was complete. Okay Harry, he told himself. This is it...
"And what is it?" Voldemort said, becoming impatient.
Draco raised his head, allowing the hood to fall. Voldemort stumbled for a second, a little shocked at the transformation. Draco glared at him. "Go to hell!" Draco yelled as loud as he could. Voldemort spun around to look at what used to be Draco.
"Avada kedavra!" Harry screamed. The spell hit Voldemort in the right shoulder and sent him falling backward, but not killing him. Harry suddenly felt very dizzy, but he shook his head and it passed. Voldemort lied there for a second, and then got up slowly. He went over to Draco, who hadn't moved.
"You little -"
"Hit him again!" Draco said.
"Avada kedavra!" Harry said again, and again Voldemort fell backward, still not dead. Why won't he die?
"You have to mean it Potter," Draco said, "or else you'll just keep knocking him backward. You have to -"
"Oh, shut up." Voldemort said. He flicked his wand toward Draco. Suddenly Draco was sent flying through the air. He collided with the stonewall, causing some of it to fall off, and then landed in a heap on the floor. Voldemort stood up again and walked slowly toward Harry.
Okay, stay calm, Harry told himself. You can do this. Just think about everything he's done to you. He tried his hardest to get angry at Voldemort, but fear overcame anger every time.
"So, we meet again Harry." Voldemort was saying. "If that's who you really are." Come on Harry, he said to himself. This is your chance. Why did you choose now to be afraid?
"Avada kedavra!" Harry tried again, and again it didn't work.
"That is getting so annoying." Voldemort said, getting up yet again. "Didn't that old fool Dumbledore teach you anything useful? You can't kill me! I can't die!"
"Really? All the horcruxes I have piled up at home say differently."
Voldemort glared at him. "You couldn't get them all though. Two of them are with me, and only I know where they are at."
"Well, let's see. I got the diary, the book, the cup, the locket... Dumbledore got the ring... and if you were paying any attention you would know not to trust your Death Eaters with information like that."
"What?"
"You might want to see where dear Severus has gone. We both know he doesn't like hanging around with the other Death Eaters."
"Snape doesn't know where they're at."
"Yes he does. You just told him, before he left." Voldemort stared at him, trying to read his mind, and Harry stared right back, knowing he wasn't going to see anything. "I'm a lot better at occulmency than I used to be."
"Avada kedavra!" Voldemort and Harry said at the same time. Their wands locked, just as they had the last time they had tried to duel. Harry let go quickly, sending both spells into the floor.
Before Voldemort could realize what had happened, Harry hit him twice in a row, making both of them very dizzy. Harry fell to his knees, unable to stay balanced. Why is this happening? Harry wondered, holding his head to try to make the room stop spinning. I want to kill him, not myself.
Voldemort had now stood up and was standing over Harry. He flicked his wand again, sending Harry flying just as Draco had only a few minutes before. Harry felt something in his left leg crack, and he fell to the floor, in more pain and more dizzy than ever. "Oh, does your head hurt?" Voldemort asked. "Poor baby... I should be nice and make your pain stop. But, then again, when have I ever been nice to someone who wants to kill me? Cruc-!"
Before he could get out the rest of the spell, another counteracted it. "That's not very nice," they heard. Harry's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He looked up quickly, ignoring the dizziness. Ginny was standing over him, her wand pointed at Voldemort.
"Avada kedavra," Harry said again, making Voldemort fall back yet again, and making Harry so dizzy he was almost sick. Ginny knelt down next to him. "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't leave you behind."
"Well you have to. Get out now before -"
"No! I won't."
"Ginny -"
"I'd rather die with you then live knowing I left you alone to get slaughtered."
"Did they get the other horcruxes?" Harry asked quickly. Voldemort began to get back up.
"I think so."
"Did they or didn't they?"
"Yes they did."
"Then why can't I fucking kill him!"
"Because I can't die." Voldemort said, advancing toward them. "How many times must I tell you?" Harry stood up as best as he could and pushed Ginny behind him. Voldemort laughed. "Ah, young love. So touching." Ginny stepped out slightly, as if to protect Harry as well. "No, no young missy. If anyone is going to be heroic it has to be the hero. Unfortunately I don't see one here, but seeing as your so willing to act like a hero, then you should be willing to die like a hero."
Ginny stepped in front of Harry with a very determined look on her face. "Ginny!" Harry said. He tried to push her back, but it was too late. Voldemort jerked his arm violently, flicking his wand in the same way he had already done twice that night, sending her flying across the room and slamming into the wall. She dropped to the ground, and part of the stonewall fell on top of her.
Harry's mind wanted to scream, but his body wasn't getting the message. He stared at her for a few seconds, hoping and praying for her to get up, but the only motion was from the blood that was slowly leaking out of her head.
"The hero's weakness," Voldemort said, now standing back on his stone platform. "Yes, I had guessed it right, as I usually always do."
Harry turned to him slowly. He walked up the stone stairs, half dragging his left leg. His entire body shook - not from fear, but from anger.
He wanted to say something to Voldemort, to get out all of his feelings about him. He wanted to say: you killed my parents, my friend, my godfather, and my father figure. You hurt my friends and family. You hurt my wife. And now it is my turn to hurt you. Die you fucking bastard! He wanted to say all this, but only two words actually came out.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" An intense green light shot out of his wand, making him fall backward onto the stairs. A violent pain shot through his head and all down his body. Harry screamed. The pain was too much for him, and he almost blacked out. But then, just as suddenly as it had happened, the pain stopped, and Harry was left lying on the floor gasping for breath trying his hardest to stay conscious.
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Harry looked at the stone ceiling, wishing more than anything that the pain in his leg would stop. He lifted himself onto his elbows. On the stone platform above him was what used to be Voldemort, dead at last.
Harry would have laughed had the pain not been so bad. He looked to his left leg. His pants were soaked in blood. He rolled back the pant leg slowly. His left shinbone was sticking out of his leg just below his knee. Harry turned his head away. He needed to stop the bleeding...
Bleeding, Harry thought. Ginny...He turned his head quickly to where Ginny was lying. He thought for a second that it all had been a dream, but it had not. She hadn't moved, and the pool of blood around her increased by the second.
No, Harry thought. No, no, no. He flipped himself onto his stomach and pulled himself to her with his arms, ignoring the pain in his leg. No, no. It can't be. No, never.
He splashed through her blood and pulled her head into his arms. Her skull had cracked just above her right ear, and her blood dripped through his fingers. Stop the bleeding, Harry thought. Save what blood she has left, if there is any. He set her back down gently and then pulled off his shirt, wrapping it as best as he could around her head. But the blood still continued to drip, soaking the shirt quickly.
He pulled her closer to him. He needed to get help, quickly. But he couldn't walk, and no one would hear his screams through the stonewall. The others were supposed to be out there fighting the Death Eaters, but they should have been in to help him by now.
He looked down at Ginny. Her pulse was weakening... He was losing her. "No," he told her. "No. Don't you leave me here. No! I love you too much to let you die. Don't leave me." Harry screamed again, not from the pain in his leg, but from the pain in his heart. He glanced down at his leg. There was no point in stopping the bleeding now. If Ginny's not going to live, then I'm certainly not going to live either.
Harry lied down next to Ginny, holding her close to him. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he nuzzled his face into her blood soaked hair, waiting for the darkness to come and end everything.
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End notes: The story's not over yet. Did I make you cry? Good, that was the point of it. Don't forget about the Goblet of Gifts!