~Chapter 36~ Consequences – 26 September 1996
Notes: Sorry for this very late chapter. Work has been hectic (Working 'til after 12 each night to get all the work done that the woman in charge suddenly gave us on top of our normal work), and as a result, I sometimes forgot to eat and take vitaC and all that jazz so I ended up sick. Luckily, I slept throughout yesterday and last night so I feel coordinated enough to bring you this chapter lol. I am going to try and release another chapter after this once I typed it up, and then only the Epilogue awaits :) Hope you enjoy it.
~Voldemort~
He knew the very moment his deepest fears came true as his mind clouded over with memories of another life that he'd never lived. He tried to fight through the fog as familiar, and yet still mostly unknown, memories assaulted his senses.
He watched from a first-person view as a familiar form stood off against his own. Watched in awe as his mate bested him again and again but unlike the awe he currently felt, he could feel an immense madness that resided in the form that he was currently trapped in, and no matter how he whispered words of assurance and outrage, the husk never strayed from its path.
Instead, his anger seemed to fuel the husk until he could only watch helplessly once more as the Death curse was cast from his wand. It struck his mate and madness consumed him even further, no matter how much he tried to reassure himself that his mate wouldn't be able to die.
Fear is an irrational thing, after all. It takes no sense or meaning from anything but the vision you think you see before you and suddenly Voldemort found himself in control of his own body once more. Before him, stood the snake-faced version of himself and next to him he caught a glimpse of Dumbledore's body slowly shriveling into nothing with cries of excruciating pain. The ritual had mostly run its course.
Yet he didn't feel the relief he thought he would. Instead, he suddenly found it quite ironic that he now faced himself as a threat to his mate's happiness, but he refused to let it drag on longer than it needed to.
With a simple thought, he summoned the sword of Gryffindor and thrust it through the second version of himself, and for a few moments, the beast inside him roared in triumph. But then he almost felt himself shatter as the other version of himself smiled and faded away, as if it played some sick trick, and he found himself holding the hilt of the sword that now protruded from Harry's back.
His mate looked down in shock, before looking up again to catch his gaze, but instead of betrayal, he only saw the love his mate had for him mixed in with a knowing gaze as if he could guess what had happened, "You know, normal couples talk it out like civilized people. We aren't even married yet and already it looks like we need couple counseling."
Voldemort wanted to cry out that this wasn't a joke, but he was interrupted as the sword suddenly started glowing and Voldemort had to release the sword to not get burnt.
A moment later, the sword seemed to sink into Harry's skin and the wounds magically healed before he could even think of casting a healing spell on his mate. Voldemort wanted to step closer to Harry to see if he was truly healed, but he was unsure about whether it would be ok to do so.
His doubts suddenly came back to the forefront of his mind. What if it happened again? It felt like he was always hurting his mate given their past. Would it be safer if they weren't together? What if…
Voldemort went crosseyed as he saw Harry's hand move towards his forehead. He didn't really comprehend what was happening until a sharp pain flashed through his head and he glared at his mate, who simply smiled sadly at him after flicking his head like a small child's, "It wasn't you, and I'm fine, see?"
Harry turned once as if to make a point before he frowned, "Though I don't know how."
His words were barely cold before a jovial Godric appeared and Voldemort glared at the man, "I thought you said that the sword would ensure that I wouldn't hurt Harry!"
Harry looked between them in confusion, "You mean you trusted a Gryffindor to come up with a survival plan that didn't carry any risks?"
An affronted, "Hey!", from Godric was followed by a snicker, and Harry and Voldemort fully turned to find a beautiful woman standing behind Godric when he finally stepped out of the way.
She had petite elf-like features, but the slight scales over her forehead, cheekbones, neck, and wrists, revealed that she had some kind of heritage.
She bowed slightly to them, and Voldemort and Harry bowed back, unable to help themselves due to the grace the woman showed. Godric seemed to get a kick out of their actions and he smiled, "Voldemort, Harry, this is Namiko, otherwise known as Rowena Ravenclaw. She changed her name after getting into a fight with her parents."
Godric yelped as he was sprayed with a face full of water and Rowena glared at him, "Apparently you still haven't learned about what is appropriate to reveal and what isn't," she sighed and turned to Voldemort and Harry, "but if you must know, it was because my parents expected me to be happy to get married to someone they chose and to stay at home and pop out as many grandchildren as I could, while I, on the other hand, wanted to join the warriors' division. They refused to see reason and even tried to lock me away in my room until the wedding, so I planned an escape."
Her expression became sad as she glanced toward the floor, "Unfortunately I am the only one left now. A terrible earthquake happened a year later according to the muggles on the seashore and when I returned under disguise to see if they were alright…the entire city had been buried in lava for almost two years already and I only found the diadem that my mother often wore."
Harry and Voldemort didn't know what to say to that, but she shook her head and smiled kindly at them, "No need to worry about it, it happened a long time ago." She then focused her attention on Voldemort, "Godric brought me here just in case the ritual had some side effects, but I am glad to see that there are none."
Godric nodded then mumbled something that sounded like 'found her sleeping with the fishes, like some fairytale princess'.
Voldemort saw Rowena freeze before a scary smile crossed her face, "I think we should go for now and leave you two to rest, apparently Godric forgot his lessons about how to be polite in public." With that, she dragged the man off and Voldemort couldn't even feel sorry for him because he'd brought it upon himself.
A moment later Voldemort froze in realization and glanced at Harry, "He didn't even tell us why he suggested the sword and how your wound healed." His mind suddenly came to a stop as he noticed something else.
He frowned as he came to stand next to Harry. It hadn't been his imagination, Harry was taller.
~Harry~
Harry felt slightly confused as Tom frowned and stepped closer to him, but then he noticed that he didn't have to strain his neck so much to look at his mate. He glanced down at himself with wide eyes as he noticed that he'd gotten slightly taller. Not enough to notice at first, but enough for Tom to notice. Other people might simply think it was a growth spurt.
He looked at Voldemort, "Can you perform the age spell on me?"
Voldemort nodded and cast the required spell, but the results had them staring at the numbers in confusion. Instead of the expected 16, the spell now showed that he was 18 years old. He glanced at Voldemort, "This can't be right, there wasn't another me left in the other world."
A cold feeling revealed the appearance of Death, and the being looked slightly sheepish for once, "A part of you was still left behind when you transferred over, otherwise your body wouldn't have been able to handle the strain. That part of you has now merged with you once more, with the added benefit of aging you slightly."
The being gave a knowing smirk before he disappeared and Harry suddenly felt like prey under Voldemort's gaze. He yelped as Voldemort reached for him before he escaped the man's clutches and held up his hands in a universal stopping motion, "We need to talk to the others first and see if they are ok."
Voldemort paused before nodding with a sigh and pulling Harry into his arms anyway, "I suppose I have waited this long, I guess I can wait a bit longer." He held Harry close, with Harry's back to his front, and Harry could feel the proof of the man's arousal against him. Like a switch was pulled, Harry felt his only body heat up in response and he turned to mock-glare at the man, "You are doing this on purpose!" The innocent smirk he received in return was proof enough, though the man didn't do anything further than that.
He did however bend down and whisper into Harry's ear, "If I have to suffer a little then I would rather not do it alone, besides, it might give you some extra incentive to be quick about greeting your friends."
Unfortunately, Voldemort's words had the opposite effect as Harry finally realized that he'd be able to meet his friends again. He skillfully stopped himself from pointing out that he could sense that the Dark Lord was pouting behind him. Voldemort gave a heavy sigh before he apparated both of them
They made their way to Malfoy Manor, where it had been decided that everyone would gather together because it was safer than allowing everyone immediate access to Slytherin Castle.
Once they arrived, Harry found his friends and a few others watching the founders in surprise, but it suddenly hit Harry that Helga Hufflepuff hadn't made an appearance yet. He decided to ask the founders about it a bit later as he turned to his friends with a wide grin.
There was a split-second of silence before they stormed at him and Voldemort had to back away quickly to get out of the line of fire. Harry laughed as they all tried to talk at once, but then he noticed that he also didn't see children running around.
He looked at Hermione and Ron before glancing at Luna and Neville, and everyone seemed to freeze as they recognized the tone of his voice, "Where are the kids? I guided them through, but I don't see them."
Surprisingly, Luna stepped forward, and spoke without riddles for the first time in a long time, "Their souls are still there Harry because they haven't been born in this world yet, but Death gave his promise that they will be reunited with us again in the future, it is just going to take a bit of time. They are still meant to be born here after all."
Harry wanted to say something, anything, to apologize for dragging them away from their children, but Hermione gave him a stern look and he let it go.
He was then suddenly dragged in between two twins as they each threw an arm around his shoulders, "Now, we heard that we have a very scary Dark Lord that we need to lecture about keeping our little brother safe and happy, so where would this Dark Lord be?"
Harry bit his lip with laughter as he saw the expression of horror and disbelief on Voldemort's face and he caught the 'don't you dare' message that he mouthed, loud and clear. But since when did he do what was expected of him?
He cheekily pointed towards the Dark Lord and the man half-heartedly glared at him. Visibly stopping himself from going for his wand, but the twins' reactions were hilarious as they abruptly turned around. Clearly, they hadn't expected the man to be amongst them already.
They stared at the man with wide eyes before they looked at each other, "We die as lions?"
Voldemort's mouth twitched slightly with humor but the twins leaped on the small sign of humor as if it was a glass of water in the desert.
They didn't dare get too close as they lectured him and they kept eyeing Voldemort's hand to make sure that he wasn't reaching for his wand while the rest of the group tried valiantly to keep their laughter in check. Even the Death Eaters weren't immune to the absurdity of the situation and Bella had to leave the room halfway through the lecture. Her cackles echoed throughout the halls, causing a few others to lose their grip on their laughter, and the room emptied out quite quickly after that until Harry decided to save both his mate and the twins from the awkwardness of the situation.
The twins looked at him with fake tears in their eyes, "Why didn't you come to save us sooner, dear brother?"
Voldemort chuckled and the trio looked at him in surprise, "Some of their threats could be quite useful if they are successfully able to implement them. It's no wonder you called them a pair of genius inventors."
Harry grinned as he saw the twins blink in confusion before straightening themselves up with pride, "That is just the thing, they already invented all of those."
Voldemort blinked in shock, "Even the…?"
Harry's grin widened and he nodded as Voldemort suddenly became very pale and it was clear that his respect for the duo skyrocketed.
They spoke a bit more about the inventions before the twins parted and Harry suddenly felt extremely drained. He dragged Voldemort to the apparation room before they apparated home and after a quick shower he was only too happy to snuggle up with his mate. He could sense that the earlier incident still bothered Voldemort, but he could do nothing about it until they cornered Godric the next day.