Chapter 12: The Battle of Little Hangleton
Harriet felt the impulse to face Voldemort lessen the moment the portkey Barty Crouch Jr. had given her pulled them away. This had been a colossally bad idea. Harriet didn't know why she had obeyed Crouch Jr. But Harriet hadn't quite lost her senses entirely. She pulled out her wand, and prepared for battle.
As soon as the portkey reached the end of its route, Harriet let go. She landed on her feet, and immediately dodged.
"Harriet!" screamed the voice of Angelina from not far away, "What the hell are you doing?"
"This!" yelled back Harriet as she cast a protego and leapt behind what seemed to be a large gravestone.
She was in a graveyard. Not a huge one, but it was a graveyard. Fantastic. Atmospheric even. Maybe it was even horribly portentous.
"Harriet," came the voice of Hermione in Harriet's mind, " where are you?"
"A graveyard somewhere," thought Harriet, " I'm guessing in England somewhere, but I really can't tell."
"Are you safe?" asked Hermione.
"Definitely not," thought back Harriet.
"Good night Potter," said the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange, close behind her.
Everything went black.
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Hermione slowly let go of her runestone. Whatever had happened, Harriet was no longer capable of answering. Maybe she was unconscious, maybe she was disarmed, either way, Hermione had to figure it out.
"Dumbledore," she said to herself, "I need to tell Dumbledore."
"Tell him what?" asked her father.
"No time to explain," said Hermione, "Stay here. I will be back back shortly."
Harriet ran forward towards ground level. She leapt down to where Dumbledore was conferring with Sirius and the Minister.
"I have information," said Hermione, quietly, but firmly.
"What information could you have that might be useful?" asked Crouch.
Hermione looked for Morgana. She was nowhere close by. "Harriet and I have linked blood runestones. We can communicate. She was able to tell me that she was in a graveyard."
"A graveyard!?" said Dumbledore, his tone serious, but still quiet.
"That doesn't narrow things down very much," said Crouch, "and why would they take her to a graveyard? Do they mean to kill her?"
"No, it has to have something to do with resurrecting Voldemort," said Hermione, "Nothing else would get your son to expose himself like this."
Crouch flinched, but didn't correct her.
"Hermione is right," said Dumbledore, "I know where they are. It is a town called Little Hangleton. It is where Voldemort's father is buried. The fool."
"Assemble as large a force as you can at the Ministry," said Dumbledore, "I will meet both of you there soon. It is possible that Voldemort has committed a serious error, and I will be able to apparate us there easily. It is also possible that we will have to use a projecting portkey, so Sirius, if you could contact Cornelius…"
"Right, I'll get that started," said Sirius.
"Is something wrong?" asked Hermione.
"I have been to Little Hangleton only once, and it was a very long time ago," said Dumbledore, "I cannot recall more than a couple of distinct locations. It would not be a difficult location to make largely inaccessible to me, but with the help of Fawkes, I will try."
Suddenly, Dumbledore's phoenix appeared. With a wave of his hands, Dumbledore gripped the phoenix, then disappeared.
"Well, we need to move," said Sirius who began sprinting for the edge of the Hogwarts wards.
Hermione walked back to her parents.
"What was that about?" asked Helen.
"I'll tell you later," said Hermione, eyeing Morgana, "Some parts of it still might be a bit dangerous to talk about."
"Dangerous?" asked Helen, her tone shifting.
"In the sense that we don't know who may be listening," said Hermione, exasperated.
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Harriet awoke, her head foggy. She was bound and gagged, and suspended on something, leaning over a boiling cauldron. Fantastic. Bellatrix and Crouch Jr. were there. So were Cedric and Angelina (both bound and gagged), and neither looked all that much worse for wear. There was a large snake behind them, and Bellatrix was carrying a bundle.
"She's awake," said Crouch. He reached up and grabbed the side of her face. It was almost a caress at first, but then he grabbed her ear and twisted it hard. Harriet growled.
"Very awake," said Crouch.
"Good," said Bellatrix, "Are you sure you wish to do this? I am willing!"
"It will be my amends for not finding him sooner," insisted Jr.
Bellatrix nodded approvingly, then poured the bundle in her hands directly into the cauldron. The cauldron began to sizzle.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!" cried out Bellatrix as she dropped a bone into the cauldron, her voice full of anticipation.
The cauldron began to bubble violently. Bellatrix frowned. Something was not quite right, but she continued.
"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master," intoned Bellatrix, almost ecstatically.
At that moment, Crouch slashed his hand with a knife. When Harriet could next see, his ring finger on his left hand was gone.
The Cauldron began to bubble over.
"What is this?" demanded Crouch.
"The blood, the blood," screamed Bellatrix. Pulling out a knife she hacked at Harriet's arm with a knife, causing a sharp pain.
"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!" howled Bellatrix as she flung the blood into the cauldron.
A howl of pain came from the cauldron. Whatever had just happened to the horrible creature she had just thrown in, it was worse than being boiled alive. Yet it was also clear that whatever else was happening, the magic was beginning to work.
Please be dead, please be dead, thought Harriet. But she knew better. Nothing could truly kill him so long as he had his horcruxes.
The water had become a strange fog, which then slowly congealed into a person. He stood, naked, in the cauldron which he had been thrown into. His face had a flattened nose with slits instead of nostrils, and his eyes were the eyes of a snake.
He also, Harriet noted, had a tiny penis. She was definitely going to bring that up at some point.
"Robe me," said Voldemort, noting how Bellatrix was practically drooling over looking at him. Harriet had to assume that Bellatrix hadn't seen very many naked men if she found Voldemort's body attractive. Her husband's deficiencies must be enormous.
Bellatrix stumbled over herself to give Voldemort a robe.
"What went wrong," said Crouch as he quietly healed the wound he had inflicted on himself. The finger didn't come back, but there was only a scar where it had been.
"I do not know," said Voldemort, "but the spell worked." He stepped out of the cauldron. He looked at the bones of his father laying strewn on the ground by the cauldron.
"There is already blood on these!" he said angrily, "Someone… someone sabotaged the ritual."
"Dumbledore?" asked Bellatrix.
"Perhaps," said Voldemort. He turned to Harriet, uncertainly. Then he extended one finger, and poked her forehead.
Harriet felt a vague warmth when his finger touched her. Voldemort, however, felt more. He screamed in pain, then pulled back his finger. But Voldemort's hand was undamaged. Completely. His finger hadn't even changed colour.
"Well it appears as if I haven't completely overcome this blasted protection," said Voldemort, "But at least I can touch her. Even if it is painful, it is no longer lethal. Let us see…"
"Crucio!" cast Voldemort.
Angelina and Cedric had both been watching all of this, and they both began struggling against their bonds. Harriet herself felt an incredible pain. Yet it wasn't as bad as the pain she had felt when Umbridge had used the cruciatus on her. She inhaled sharply, but she found she could handle the pain.
"Effective," said Voldemort, "but not completely effective." He stopped casting.
"Well, it will be enough to kill her," he said, "Bellatrix, your arm."
Bellatrix extended her arm, exposing her dark mark. Her grin was the most terrifying thing Harriet had ever seen.
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Sirius was pacing up and down in the Department of Magical Transportation.
"It will be okay, Sirius," said Fudge, "See here are the portkeys. I've had five prepared. You will be able to deploy fifty people."
"Yes, but…" began Sirius, but he trailed off. How could he explain his discomfiture?
Dumbledore and Crouch both ran in.
"We'll have a big force to accompany us to Little Hangleton," said Crouch.
"Unfortunately, we will need the potkeys," said Dumbledore, "I couldn't apparate to the Gaunt shack, the closest I can get is Great Hangleton."
"Little Hangleton, Little Hangleton, nope, we don't have that in our library," said the wizard who was adjusting the portkeys, "We have all the calculations for a portkey done for Great Hangleton, but Little Hangleton isn't complete yet."
"How long will it take," demanded Crouch.
"Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes," said the wizard, "Sorry, but given that no magicals have lived there for decades, a town that small didn't have precedence over larger towns."
"My fault," said Dumbledore freely, "I should have made it a priority, given the location's importance to Lord Voldemort."
Sirius waved away Dumbledore's explanation. The effort to make every town in the UK reachable by portkey had been underway for almost 30 years now. There wasn't a block in London they couldn't set up a portkey for, most major cities had multiple locations mapped, and almost every town of even halfway decent size had at least one location. Even if Dumbledore had emphasized the importance of Little Hangleton, it was unlikely that the location would have been prepared yet. Simply put, the inertia of the whole project was against them.
"She will be fine," said Dumbledore, his hand on Sirius' shoulder, "Voldemort will have to duel her. She will hold out long enough."
"I wish I knew what the Guardians were doing," said Sirius, "They said they were watching her."
He hoped it was true. He hoped they intervened.
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Hermione was pacing back and forth. She wished she was out there, doing something. She knew it wouldn't do any good, but staying here felt wrong. If Harriet was able to contact her again she might do some good.
"Harriet will return," said a soft voice. It was Morgana.
"What?" demanded Hermione, "How are you so sure?"
"I taught her how to elf apparate," said Morgana, "She will escape. She may not succeed, but she will escape."
"And if they take her wand from her?" demanded Hermione.
"They will give it back, eventually," said Morgana, "Voldemort will have to prove that he can defeat Harriet after all. She will escape."
Hermionr stopped. She remembered the look on Harriet's face. Changing like a light switch. The geas.
"Harriet's task was to face Voldemort," blurted out Hermione, "Which means…"
Hermione felt her eyes go wide as she stared at Morgana in horror. Morgana was working with Voldemort!
"I am not working with Voldemort," said Morgana insistently, "I am working against him. I am only missing a couple pieces and my plan will be complete. And then Voldemort won't trouble us ever again."
And it all snapped into place. Morgana intended to use Voldemort to gain access to the Darkness, then would kill him. Harriet would play a part in that. That was why Harriet was needed. And then they would rule the world together.
"You see, don't you," whispered Morgana, "Of course you do. You know the true cost of allowing those without vision to rule. You could join us, you know. You and me and Harriet, all three of us fixing the world. Together. I know you want to."
And for one brief second, Hermione considered it. With the power Morgana was offering, she could right all the wrongs, bring equality to the magical world, even publically admit her feelings for Harriet. She could make everything better.
The moment passed. That was folly, and Hermione knew it. Becoming a tyrant wouldn't fix anything.
"Go to hell," said Hermione, then she ran off.
She was about to try and report Morgana to Snape, but stopped herself. That wouldn't do at all, would it? Snape couldn't take action against Morgana for acting with Voldemort, it would blow his cover, which he was about to need to reestablish. Hermione returned to her parents.
"Any news?" asked her father.
"Nothing yet," said Hermione. Waiting.
It really was the hardest part.
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Voldemort was being careful.
It had taken Harriet a moment to see it, but he had forbidden his Death Eaters from revealing their faces. He was afraid someone might escape. Harriet wondered about that. It didn't seem in character for him. But maybe the fiasco with the blood and his resurrection had made him cautious.
Still, Voldemort was excoriating his Death Eaters. One Death Eater in particular was being singled out for lying about looking for Voldemort after Crouch had given him a tip. Harriet suspected that this was Lucius Malfoy, but despite the similarity of the voice, she couldn't say for certain.
Yet this caused Harriet a brief moment of thought. Lucius might be a pureblood bigot, but he wasn't a true believer in Voldemort. She wondered how many others fell in the same boat. And what it would take to break them away from Voldemort's influence.
"All of this, all of this, has made me very, very angry," Voldemort was saying, "Yet all of you still stand here. That at least puts you above the traitor, who will be dealt with. Yet you all have a great deal of work to do. Your service to me must be tireless!"
"But to the matter at hand," he continued, "Harriet Potter. Never has there been a more fortunate person. Her muggleborn mother called on ancient magic. Something so simple that I overlooked it. A loving sacrifice. It rendered her immune to my magic."
"Diffindo!" cried out Voldemort, pointing his wand at Harriet's face. Pain blossomed on her cheek. He had cut her only superficiality, as a demonstration. No, not a demonstration, as a test. He hadn't been sure he could hurt her, even from a distance. Apparently he could, because Voldemort hadn't flinched as he hurt her.
"Not anymore, it seems," said Voldemort, his face now grinning.
A wave of his wand released Harriet from her bonds. And a nod from Voldemort saw Bellatrix throw her her wand. Harriet picked it up, still on her knees.
"Hermione," thought Harriet, "Voldemort has returned, and I am about to fight him. I… I love you."
"Help is on the way Harriet," replied Hermione, "And I love you too."
It was too much to hope that Hermione meant what Harriet hoped. She sighed, then stood up.
And as she looked at Voldemort, she realised that the entire world had frozen. A time stop, thought Harriet .
"Listen very closely, Harriet Potter," said a voice in her head. It was a woman's voice, but somehow different, as if it wasn't human.
"I am Valerii, a Guardian of Atlantis," sadi the voice, "I have been keeping an eye on you from the moment you left Hogwarts. I am not allowed to intervene in this battle directly, but I can advise you, and I can stop time. For a short while, at least. But it is tiring for me. So you must listen to what I say the first time. You are not prepared to face Voldemort. But follow my instructions, and you will be."
"I understand," thought Harriet.
"I will make this as short as I can," began Valerii, "You have used the magic of the Atlantean keystone at Hogwarts to empower your magic in every battle you have fought so far. You do not have that now. If you try to overwhelm Voldemort with your power right now, he will crush you. Yet, because you passed the test in the Path of the Founders, and because you spoke the oaths of the Guardians, you can now link to the Avalon keystone, like any Guardian of Atlantis. That will give you the power edge again. But because you have been at Hogwarts, under the influence of another keystone, this is the first chance I have had to teach you how to use this power. It will take time to activate."
"The good news is that you don't have to do anything special, just cast spells, and the extra power will come to you eventually," continued Valerii, "but until then you must fight defensively. Once you contact the power it will still take time to get to full power. You will be able to slowly ratchet up the strength you use. But even at full power, you will not be able to meaningfully hurt Voldemort. Embarrass him, yes, maybe even completely mortify him. But his horcruxes make him very resistant to hostile magic in addition to his immortality. Therefore your goal must be to escape with Cedric and Angelina."
"I understand," said Harriet.
"Good luck, Harriet Potter," said Valerii, and suddenly the world jerked back into motion.
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Angelina wasn't quite sure, but Harriet seemed to blur for a moment as she readied herself as she stood. It was like she had moved from a simple standing position to a ready stance instantly. Apparently Voldemort had noticed it too.
"Your tricks may fool others," said Voldemort, "But I am not easily fooled."
"No tricks yet," said Harriet, her eyes narrowing.
"Now, now," said Voldemort, "Is that any way to speak to the Dark Lord? Kneel to me! Imperio!"
Harriet clearly felt the power of his spell hit her. She flinched away from it. But it was powerless against her. It found no egress in her mind.
"Sorry," said Harriet, "I don't kneel for people who hide behind stupid titles like Dark Lord, or Lord Voldemort, or the ugliest, dumbest man alive… oh sorry, that was me calling you that."
"Crucio!" screamed Voldemort.
Harriet just dodged, sending a stinging hex in reply. "Oh you've gotta do better than that. You only get one free Crucio, then you have to earn them."
"You think this is funny?" demanded Voldemort.
"I think your face is funny!" snapped Harriet lightly, cringing silently at how lame that comeback was.
Voldemort sent a flurry of killing curses at Harriet. Harriet dodged some, and sent various rocks and clumps of dirt to intercept others. It was a very defensive style, and Angelina could see Harriet was straining to keep up. But she was keeping up. Barely. Yet there was a confidence in Harriet's face. She knew that Voldemort didn't want to bring out the big guns, didn't want to actually treat her seriously. He wanted to show that he could kill her with the killing curse alone, that she was a trivial nuisance to him. But Harriet was denying him that.
"You fight pretty well, for a man with a tiny penis," said Harriet deliberately.
Angelina had to admit, she had also seen Voldemort's manhood, and it was quite small.
"The little girl talks about what she doesn't know!" spat Bellatrix.
Harriet grinned, "Man, how tiny is your husband's little man that you think that miniscule thing was even average sized? I've seen boys my age with bigger tackle. That isn't a boast. Is Nott here? Cause your son has a bigger cock and balls than Voldemort!"
"SILENCE!" screamed Voldemort, unleashing a torrent of spells at Harriet. She laughed as she dodged them.
"For a young girl, you have a very dirty mouth," said Voldemort, trying to regain his composure, "Should I cut out your tongue after I kill you? Or just drop your whole head in acid?"
"Tiny Tom, sounds great, doesn't it," quipped Harriet, "And if I am such a little girl, why haven't you fucking killed me?"
And with that Harriet flourished her wand to ward off another spell, and something in her eyes came alight.
"You are right," said Voldemort, "I have been playing my cards close to the chest, but I am surprised at you. After all, my hole cards are in plain view. Take the prisoners!"
Two Death Eaters stepped forward. Angelina felt herself forced to bend forward at the waist, and felt a wand placed to her head. From the sound of it, Cedric had suffered the same fate.
"So," said Voldemort, "Which one should I let live? We will kill the other one."
"What?!" demanded Harriet angrily.
"Say a name, or they both die," said Voldemort.
Angelina forced her head up. Her eyes made contact with Harriet's. Do not save me, thought Angelina, do not save me! Save Cedric. He didn't willingly choose to be your friend!
Harriet saw the look in her eyes and nodded sadly. "Cedric," she said, "Save Cedric."
"Kill the boy," said Voldemort.
Angelina felt the man holding her release her, as she heard a rough voice say " Avada Kedavra." She turned in time to see Cedric's body hit the dirt.
"You don't have any control here Potter," said Voldemort.
Angelina didn't even see Harriet move. One second her wand was down, and the next the Death Eater who had killed Cedric was on the ground screaming. Blood was pouring out of his arms, where his hands had used to be and his stomach, where there was a lot of red stringy stuff hanging out of his gut. His intestines.
Angelina turned back to Harriet. There was a look of pure rage on that face. Harriet lifted her wand… and then suddenly Harriet was in a ready stance. The rage on her face was still there, but it was more controlled. Angelina wondered, was Harriet stopping time or something?
And then Harriet's eyes burst into flame. She turned to the Death Eaters, who were all suddenly taken aback. Even Voldemort looked uncertain. In the silence that suddenly struck, the screams of the man who had killed Cedric continued to ring out.
"If any of you even think about harming Angelina, I will make what I did to that man seem like a gentle tickle, and you will feel it for a long time," said Harriet, her voice calm but clear and deadly serious, "If you actually kill her, I will make you suffer in ways you can't even imagine."
The Death Eaters all collectively took a step back, even Bellatrix. Only Voldemort stood his ground, but his face was stunned, as if he couldn't believe what was happening. Moments later the screaming slowly died down. The Death Eater had gone unconscious, and was now probably almost dead.
"Do I have to make the first move?" demanded Harriet.
Voldemort struck. His attacks came much faster now. They were still conventional attacks, mostly killing curse or curses designed to break her guard, but they came in a flurry of attacks, far faster than before. Yet it didn't matter. Harriet's reflexes had begun to pick up, and while initially she was driven back and on the defensive, each defensive spell came quicker. Soon Harriet was matching Voldemort spell for spell.
There was something wrong though. Angelina hadn't noticed it at first, because they had cast fewer spells at first. But the accuracy of their spells was off. For some reason, their spells seemed drawn ever slightly towards the spells of the other, never quite colliding, but making scoring a killing blow difficult for Voldemort. Given that the effect was happening to both of them, Angelina suspected something was up with their wands.
After a particularly fierce exchange, Voldemort wiped his forehead. He was sweating! Harriet was getting the better of him.
"It seems I was wrong to doubt just how dangerous you would be," said Voldemort.
Harriet sent a little spell towards Voldemort. It wasn't an attack. Maybe she was just testing him. But suddenly she grinned again.
"Damn straight," she said, her face suddenly full of some strange fey confidence, "Do you know what the best part is?"
"What?" demanded Voldemort.
"At any point up till now, you could have unleashed a combination of powerful sorceries I could not have matched," said Harriet, "But you have failed to understand that I haven't been gaining confidence, or at least not just that. I have been gaining power. And now, now I have the strength to actually oppose you."
And suddenly the light returned to Harriet's eyes. Not just her eyes, but her whole body. And it wasn't a fire, but a pure white light that emanated from the very core of her being.
"I am the Chosen One, prophesized to defeat you, Tom Marvolo Riddle," shouted Harriet, "And one way or another, no matter who gets in my way, I will defeat you."
Angelina looked around. The Death Eaters were cowering before her, all of them. Even Voldemort had taken a single step back in his uncertainty.
But Angelina did not fear Harriet. In that glowing face she finally saw hope. Harriet was going to win this. Angelina knew it.
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Harriet was cringing internally from the corny lines she was delivering. Of course Harriet had no interest in any of this Chosen One nonsense she was spouting. But with the help of her aura she was making it play hell with the Death Eaters' morale.
When the first trickle of power had come to her earlier, she had nearly lost it. Cedric's death had very nearly sent her into a dangerous revenge spiral. Luckily, Valerii had frozen time for a few moments to give her time to recover. And in truth, Valerii had complimented her for killing the Death Eater. It had punctuated the effectiveness of her aura. The Death Eaters did not want to fuck with her as she was now.
"You are right," replied Voldemort, "I have been playing around. Time to get serious."
"Time for you to get out of here," said Valerii, as time stopped again.
"How?" asked Harriet, " I can't get to Angelina fast enough. He's watching her."
"Look for an opening," said Valerii.
Harriet took the offensive as time resumed. Not recklessly, but aggressively. As she hurled spells, she tried to get closer to Voldemort. At first she didn't see an opening. But then Voldemort slipped up. He was just a moment slow.
Harriet sent three spells at him almost simultaneously. He dodged one and blocked the second. The third spell was a blasting curse though, and it hit him dead on. Voldemort was thrown backwards.
Harriet grinned in triumph, but her grin quickly wore off as Voldemort stood up. His robes were shredded up top, and there were cuts and abrasions all over his chest, but none of it seemed to be serious. He really was resistant to her spells. Well she might not be able to kill him yet, but she could humiliate him.
"So we do this the hard way," said Harriet.
She attacked, but this time her attacks were just a cover. Each spell let her take a few steps closer. Voldemort wasn't reacting to this, he probably thought he had the advantage closer up. And if Harriet intended to fight fair, that might have been the case. Instead she launched onto another combo, this one targeted behind Voldemort. Voldemort leapt forward. And so did Harriet.
Voldemort barely had time to react before Harriet's fist slammed into Voldemort's face. Unfortunately Harriet's fist didn't do a whole lot of damage (which caused Harriet to make a mental note that she needed to do some strength training) but it wasn't the physical damage that counted. The protection in Harriet's blood did its work, and Voldemort screamed in rage and pain.
Harriet wasn't done though. With precise aim, she raised her knee up into Voldemort's crotch. He howled in pain and doubled over as Harriet sidestepped behind him. With her wand hand she grabbed the back of his tattered robe and pulled them up to reveal his bare buttocks. As she pulled the robe to his neck she cast a petrificus totalus. And with her free hand she threw all her strength into spanking the Dark Lord. She got in three swats before she saw his rage beginning to build. She dropped the petrification spell and propelled herself away in a single jump, just moments before he unleashed a wave of magic and fury.
"I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL OF, POTTER!" he screamed.
He thrust put both arms, then brought them together above him. The stone tombstones nearby all tore out of the ground nearby into a huge pile of rock over Voldemort's head. He then dropped his arms to point at Harriet. The rock surged toward her.
Harriet flicked her wand once, sending a silver blade of light towards the mass of stone. Luckily, her spell was attracted to Voldemort's spell, making her blade strike true. The blade was not designed to cut the stone, but the magic holding the stone. Voldemort's spell split into two new directions, taking the stone with it. Two piles of stone mostly fell harmlessly to either side of Harriet, with only a few fragments superficially cutting her arms and legs.
But Voldemort wasn't done. He surged forward, hovering over the ground but accelerating at incredible speed to maintain his advantage. Probably going for a point blank Killing Curse. Harriet knelt down and put her wand tip on the dirt.
A pillar of rock erupted from the ground, slamming into Voldemort's face. He leapt back as Harriet began casting immobilizing spells at him, spitting blood as he did so. His eyes were wild. And Harriet suddenly knew that the time had come to leave.
"Yes," said Valerii as time froze again, "He will either tell his Death Eaters to aid him, and some of them will, or he will target Angelina. He was not prepared for this battle. But now he seeks to end it by any means necessary, and will buy himself time to unleash some horror upon you. You must retreat."
"He has his eye on Angelina still," noted Harriet, "I can apparate over to her, but he would be able to kill her before I reached her."
"You need a distraction," said Valerii, "I would kill to know why your spells are both attracted to each other. It's almost like your wands share cores, but they aren't actually linking."
"Well we do share wand cores, both wands contain a phoenix feather from the same phoenix. But my wand is a hybrid wand, so my phoenix feather has a dragon heartstring wrapped around it," explained Harriet.
"But then, if you cast Priori Incantatum…" began Valerii.
And Harriet saw it! She'd read some books on ancient dueling, and one of the things that had been very different in early dueling was that they had used wand denial attacks. Most wands in the ancient world had been made of metal, so it had been trivially easy to make spells like Priori Incantatum target magnetically. This had been one of the primary reasons wooden wands became the norm in the high middle ages, and the meta of dueling had switched to favour disarming instead. Wooden wands were hard to target, at least without without a targeting aid. But the similar cores meant that Harriet could probably target Voldemort's wand directly, and lock it down.
"I know what to do!" thought Harriet.
Time resumed. And Harriet immediately pointed her wand at Voldemort.
"PRIORI INCANTATUM!" she screamed.
Voldemort saw what she had done. He knew what it meant. But he couldn't help himself. He shielded. Which instantly drew the two spells together. Harriet and Voldemort's spells collided and streams of magic collided in the air between them. Harriet and Voldemort both began to levitate as golden threads of magic surrounded them. And the song of a phoenix could faintly be heard.
But Harriet was ready. She poured her entire heart into her spell. And at the front of her thoughts was Hermione, and seeing her again. Harriet could feel her mind directly battling Voldemort's. She knew that in this state their magical capacities were directly pitted against each other, and Voldemort was slightly more powerful than she was. But with Hermione in her thoughts, and her mind focused to a point, her will was iron. The bright spot where their spells met surged towards Voldemort. And when it hit his wand, it began spewing out the last spells he had cast.
"Do not inter…" began Voldemort as his spell began to spew spells, but Harriet was already moving. She released the spell and immediately apparated. What she hadn't known was that apparating over such a short distance allowed her to hear what was going on still.
"She apparated!" screamed Crouch.
"She won't do it again!" cackled Bellatrix.
Harriet appeared next to Angelina. And then several things happened within moments of each other.
First, Harriet reached for Angelina. Then Bellatrix began casting a spell on a runestone: an anti-apparition ward. Harriet grabbed Angelina's arm. A series of sounds came from just outside the cemetery as a large number of people portkeyed in. Bellatrix completed her anti-apparition ward.
"Ministry of Magic! PUT DOWN YOUR WANDS!" came the voice of Barty Crouch Sr.
"We have Potter!" yelled out Voldemort.
"Nope!" yelled Harriet, "He doesn't! I'm outta here! Take 'em down!"
And she elf-apparated away, Angelina in tow.
XXXXX
Sirius heard Harriet apparate with a crack. He felt a savage grin go across his face.
"Bellatrix!" shouted Voldemort.
"I don't know, the anti-apparition ward is in place!" she insisted.
And Sirius sent a spell directly at his cousin. The runestone in her hand flew away.
"This is your last chance!" yelled Barty Crouch Sr., "Surrender!"
"Just apparate away!" yelled one of the Death Eaters. Several, including Voldemort, tried. They couldn't.
"That's it," said Amelia Bones, standing behind the Minister with Rufus Scrimgoeur, "Take them down!"
Dumbledore, Sirius, Crouch and Amelia led almost 40 aurors against less than half that many of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. And the odds weren't getting any better for Voldemort either. Scrimgoeur beheaded one of the Death Eaters in his first attack, and Sirius struck another with lightning.
"Why can't we apparate!" demanded a panicky Death Eater.
"Potter apparated through an anti-apparition ward," screamed Voldemort.
Barty Crouch Jr. threw himself to the ground. Meanwhile Dumbledore began engaging Voldemort, and within seconds Crouch and Amelia had joined in the battle. Bellatrix went scrambling for the runestone she had dropped, but Sirius charged her and soon the two of them were sparring. The other Death Eaters were trying to flee, but they were about to be trapped up next to the house.
"Finite!" shouted Crouch Jr., who stood up, holding the runestone, "The ward is down!"
And immediately the Death Eaters and Voldemort blinked out of existence.
"Dammit!" screamed Crouch Sr., hurling his wand on the ground.
Sirius walked into the center of the graveyard. There was a cauldron there, and a skeleton laying strewn across the ground. There were also two other bodies nearby, aside from the two they had killed. Sirius swore. One of the bodies was Cedric Diggory. The other was a Death Eater. Sirius lifted the mask off that Death Eater. Macnair. No one would miss him. He'd been pretty badly mauled by a spell. His intestines were hanging out, his hands were gone and his entire front was covered in gouges. Harriet must have done this, probably after Macnair had killed Cedric. It was the only thing that would get Harriet to use this level of force.
"Crabbe and Goyle are the two we got," said Scrimgoeur, "Both dead unfortunately. Can't question a corpse."
"Actually you can," said Sirius, "But trust me, it's not a good idea."
Crouch had recovered his wand, and was now sitting on an old sarcophagus. He looked dejected.
"Not good enough," he said sadly, "Not good enough."
"Minister?" asked Amelia.
Crouch sighed. "I'm sorry. But I've failed. My son, who I refused to fire or arrest even though I knew he was a Death Eater sympathizer, just successfully resurrected You-Know-Who. I'm toast. Congratulations Sirius, you will be the next Minister for Magic."
"It's not a forgone conclusion," insisted Sirius, even though he knew it was a lie.
"I'm not going to prolong this," said Crouch, "I won't make them kick me out. First thing tomorrow, I will resign."
"You, Sirius, you will have to lead the war against Voldemort," continued Crouch.
"Bloody fucking hell," said Sirius. Then he saw Dumbledore looking at the cauldron, and the bones. They both stood for several minutes carefully examining the debris.
"Anything interesting?" asked Sirius.
"Someone put blood on these bones," said Dumbledore, "They sabotaged this ritual. Not completely, but I have a feeling that Voldemort had a nasty surprise when he tried to touch Harriet."
"Who would even know how to do that?" asked Sirius.
"Voldemort, me, Flamel and the Guardians perhaps. The Unspeakables might. And… Morgana!"
And suddenly Dumbledore's eyes went wide. "FAWKES!" he roared. His phoenix appeared once more. Dumbledore grabbed the phoenix.
"Harriet is in terrible danger," said Dumbledore, before he vanished.
Author's Note: The only thing I have a note on is Cedric. I'll admit, killing Cedric is not the most inventive use of fanfiction. Ultimately though, Cedric died because I didn't have plans for him. Fleur and Angelina both have moments where they are going to shine later on. Krum... well the less said about Krum's later role the better, but he WILL be important. But I needed someone to die so that Harriet would be willing to use lethal force.