Next chapter. only two more to go before this series is finished, then one w/ deleted scenes. Review and they'll come faster. Our goal is 150 reviews by the end. Think you can do it? All we own is the plot and our ocs.
Chapter 42
The Power the Dark Lord Knows Not
Heather and Nicole landed in an abandoned hallway of the prison, both looking around wildly for a guard of some sort-there was none. They glanced at each other in suspicion, and began searching for Sirius.
"This is creepy," Nicole muttered as they went through their fifth Death Eater-less corridor. Parts of the walls were missing and moonlight was pouring in, casting eerie shadows on the stone. Their footsteps echoed forever, and the ceiling looked like it was about to cave in. There wasn't any sign that someone had been there since the prison was broken into, and it was getting rather unnerving.
"I know," Heather agreed, looking up from the map. "You think he'd put someone out here, right? Unless he wants us to find Sirius…"
"Like a trap?"
"Exactly."
"Oh well," Nikki shrugged. "Don't care anymore."
"I know the feeling. Now, if I were Voldemort, I'd put Sirius in his old cell, which is just about 100 yards that way," Heather pointed to their left.
"So we just go in, rescue Sirius, reactivate the Portkey, and leave, right?"
"In theory, yes…" Heather replied. "However, I highly doubt it will be that easy."
"You never know, we haven't had any problems yet, right? I mean, Voldemort could have gone insane or something."
"That would only make things worse. Though, Sirius seemed convinced that he's already a bit mentally ill. Harry told me once that Voldemort is actually a half-blood. His father was a Muggle."
"He's a half-blood and he's trying to destroy Muggles and Muggleborns?"
"Yes, a bit crazy, isn't it?" Heather remarked.
"I've got a question, though. Why do most people here call him You-Know-Who? Is it forbidden to say his name or what?" Nikki asked.
"People here are terrified of him. They thought that by saying Voldemort's name, it would bring him to them."
"But you and Sirius say it," Nikki pressed. "So do Ron and Hermione."
"Harry got them to say it. He'd never been brought up to fear the name, because he'd never heard it," Heather explained.
"Why fear it in the first place? So what, he's evil. There've been other Dark Lords-" Heather cut her off with a wave of her hand and motioned for her to stop. They tiptoed up to an old metal door and strained their ears to make out Lord Voldemort's cold, mocking voice.
"Has the mutt had enough yet? Or would you like me to continue?"
"Just kill me already," Sirius's hoarse voice answered.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Black? To be with all the precious little Potters again?" There was silence as Voldemort paced back and forth. "Well, I must say that you have grown rather boring to play with, you don't even seem to care about this lovely veil sitting next to you. Perhaps I'll have you put down. Your fiancée would probably put up more of a fight anyway, wouldn't she?"
"Leave Heather alone," Sirius snapped angrily.
"Why? It's much too fun to torment everyone you care about." Beside Nikki, Heather was shaking with rage, her eyes blazing with utter loathing.
"Professor, what are we going to do?" she asked quietly.
"We're going to go in there and destroy him."
"We can't," Nikki reminded her.
"Then we're going to go in there and die in the process of trying to destroy him."
"Heather?"
"He killed my sister, my brother-in-law, my nephew, my parents, and it'll be over my dead body if he kills my fiancé!" she snarled viciously, kicking the door open and sending a mass of spells throughout the area. "I DO!" Heather roared as Nikki ran in as well, throwing every curse, hex, and jinx she could think of at the Dark Lord.
"What, do you want to play as well?" he sneered, knocking both of them onto the ground with a wave of his hand. Neither of them could move, and Voldemort snapped his fingers, making them appear next to Sirius's bruised and bloody form. "Look, isn't it cute? Now, who should I kill first? Not Black, of course, it'll be much more entertaining to see his reactions, hmm…"
Nikki glanced around the room as Heather and Sirius whispered frantically to each other, looking for a way out. Nicole was pretty sure this room never existed when Azkaban had prisoners in it, but one never knew. It was filled with numerous dark artifacts designed just to inflict as much pain as possible. Off to the corner was the Black Veil. They'd covered that in Salem's History of Magic Class, which was a lot more interesting than Binns. Rumors were that Salazar Slytherin had created it, to dispose of Muggles without having to dirty the wizard's magic in the process. Despicable.
"Why not little Harry's girlfriend?" Voldemort suddenly hissed in morbid delight. Nikki yelped as his long fingers dug into her neck, drawing blood. "You want to see Harry again? So be it!" he roared, pointing his wand right at her heart. He had almost finished the Killing Curse when an unearthly screeching filled the room. Voldemort lowered his wand in shock and scanned the chamber madly for the source of the noise.
A blazing heat suddenly whipped through the room and Voldemort cried out in pain. Whatever spells he had placed on Sirius and Heather vanished, as did those on Nikki, who began struggling violently. The wounds Sirius had sustained over the course of the week were instantly healed, and both he and Heather got up slowly, searching for the cause of the odd magic.
The screeching got louder and louder until it was impossible to hear anything else; while it didn't bother Heather, Sirius, or Nikki much, it seemed to be poison to Voldemort, whose face was contorted in agony. An intense, blinding fire swept through the room, knocking Sirius and Heather off their feet. The Dark Lord remained standing, but he was visibly weakening. The flames died down, and Sirius gaped at the sight of the Black Veil, which was in ashes.
More intimidating was the glowing figure standing before it, radiating power stronger than Dumbledore's. Voldemort's pale face got even paler, and he took several steps back, still clutching Nicole. Sirius and Heather stared at it, dumbfounded by the being.
"What are you?" he demanded, fear seeping into his voice. "The Dark Lord Voldemort commands you to reveal yourself!"
"You are not in the position to be commanding anyone, Tom," the figure sneered, and Voldemort gasped in angry realization. Standing in front of him, more powerful than ever, was Harry Potter. "You!" he growled.
"Yes, me. Didn't like those voices much, did you?" Harry was whispering, his green eyes narrowed menacingly, but the Dark Lord made out every word. "Those would be the screams of everyone you ever killed. And believe me, they're not very happy with you."
"How would you know? How are you here? Answer me!" Harry laughed quietly, moving towards him.
"'The power the Dark Lord knows not,' remember? Or did Snivellus forget to give you that part of the Prophecy?"
"Why is it that every time I try to kill you, you don't die?" Voldemort roared, tightening his hold on Nikki.
"Because, you are an evil, heartless fool. And as long as you stay that way, you will never receive what you desire," he replied softly, moving closer. "Now let Nicole go, before I'm forced to hurt you."
"I think not. The girl wants so dearly to join her parents, who am I to deny her that privilege?"
"I don't believe you heard me, Tom. Let her go." Voldemort cackled in response and raised his wand to her temple. "I said, let her GO!" Harry thundered, sending a wave of fire at the Dark Lord; he screamed in utter pain and terror and released Nikki. She ran to Harry and he put his arm protectively around her, then motioned for her to go by Sirius and Heather, turning back to Voldemort.
"Stay away from me…" Voldemort warned, inching closer and closer to the door.
"I vowed once that you would pay for the pain you've caused, and I intend to fulfill that vow," Harry stated, once again talking ominously quiet. "Prepare to die." Another bolt of flames shot at the Dark Lord and he fled, shrieking horrifically. The glow around Harry subsided and disappeared altogether. He turned to Sirius, Heather, and Nikki and smiled sheepishly, then groaned and swayed dangerously. His godfather rushed up to catch him before he fell, holding Harry close and gently shaking him.
"Harry?" he asked softly. "Harry, are you alright?"
"Unnh…I would not suggest doing that right after you've stopped being dead, it gives you an awful headache," he replied, rubbing his eyes. Sirius chuckled and repositioned Harry so that he could rest his head on Sirius's shoulder.
"You just took twenty years off my life, you realize that?"
"Twenty years off all our lives," Heather corrected. "Harry, we've missed you so much…"
"I've been gone for two hours and suddenly my fan club has tripled in size," Harry joked, while Sirius, Heather, and Nikki turned to him in confusion.
"Two hours?" Nicole repeated, staring at him. "Harry, you've been, well, I guess dead, for a week."
"What?" Harry cried, bolting up. Sirius immediately held him back. "So, I've apparently been gone for a week. What's happened? And where are we?"
"Azkaban," Heather answered. "The Order has been in disarray, Sirius was captured and taken here, and Nicole and I were going to rescue him when our plans kind of went south and Voldemort captured us as well."
"Harry, I'm so sorry, I should have protected you," Sirius sighed suddenly, gripping him tighter.
"Sirius, shut up, it wasn't your fault. And it wasn't yours either, Heather," he added. "Which reminds me…Sirius, Mum and Dad say you're an idiot for blaming yourself for their deaths, and they say they're sorry for you being sent to Azkaban. Heather, Mum says you shouldn't worry about pretending to be dead and that Dumbledore probably wouldn't have let you raise me anyway. And Nikki, my dad thinks you should die your hair all red. Something about a Potter tradition of dating redheads."
"So, you really were dead?" Heather breathed after the account.
"Well, not according to them, I wasn't. But I wasn't alive, either. I don't know, I was too stunned by seeing them to really understand."
"You can talk more about it later," Nikki suggested. "We should leave before Voldemort comes back with reinforcements."
"Right," Sirius agreed. "Harry, can you walk?"
"I'll be fine," he muttered as Sirius released him and helped him up. He kept an arm around Harry, just in case. Harry didn't protest. "Sirius, here, take Flint's wand." Sirius nodded in thanks and slipped it into his robes. Heather took the map they had used to get there and attempted to reactivate it-attempted being the key word.
"Um…I believe there are anti-Portkey wards put up around the prison."
"Now what?" Nikki questioned.
"There's got to be a fireplace, right?" asked Harry.
"Wrong," Sirius remarked. "The only way to get out of Azkaban is to cross the ocean." The four of them exchanged nervous glances, then Sirius shook his head in recollection. "There is one place that was rumored to have a fireplace, but no one was ever sane enough to prove it."
"Time to prove it, then," Heather stated, looking down at the parchment. "Where was it?"
"You'll never know," Bellatrix cackled evilly from behind them.
"Dang it woman, you're really starting to annoy me!" Nikki shrieked. Sirius and Heather immediately drew their wands and made a kind of human shield in front of Harry, blocking him from view. Malfoy, Rabastan and Rodolphus stood next to her, smirking wickedly.
"So the dog's out of his cage, is he?" mocked Bellatrix. "Dear little Sirius isn't going to help you win this war, though. You're done for."
"We'll see about that," Heather jeered. She, Nikki, and Sirius immediately started dueling, and weren't doing that badly, either. Harry watched on, annoyed that even his girlfriend was trying to protect him, when he was hit in the back with the Cruciatus curse and couldn't resist screaming. Sirius turned around sharply, only to be hit with the same spell from Malfoy. That left just Nicole and Heather fighting who-knew-how many Death Eaters, and weakening as each second went by.
All of a sudden, a large number of spells went flying through the air from behind the Lestranges and hit many of the Death Eaters, ending the Cruciatus on Sirius and Harry. Even with the extra help, however, there were too many for them to handle, and before he realized it, Harry sent off a ring of fire that somehow caused each of the Death Eaters to vanish.
"What in the world was that?" Tonks yelled. She and Bridget had convinced Remus that he needed to rescue Sirius as well, and it was the three of them that had helped Nikki and Heather.
"The power the Dark Lord knows not, that's what," Heather replied. Tonks and Bridget stopped in their tracks and shared looks of confusion while Remus, realizing what she had meant, sprinted full force toward them and knelt down to embrace Harry.
"You're alive," he whispered.
"Yeah, I know. My parents say that you're supposed to keep Heather and Sirius in check and have fun at your wedding, whenever that is."
"Keep them in check!" he cried. "What about you?"
"Well, yeah, me too."
"Harry, lie down," Bridget ordered. Heather had just explained to her and Tonks the current situation, and Bridget took it upon herself to make sure Harry was fine after his experience with the Veil. "You're magically exhausted; besides that, as healthy as you were before any of this happened. I'd suggest not trying to throw fire at Death Eaters for awhile."
"Right, I'll remember that."
"It's good to have you back, Harry. We missed you!" Tonks wailed, giving him a hug rivaling that of Mrs. Weasley. "Now, how do we go home?"
"Swim," Sirius responded.
"Very funny," Remus remarked.
"Not kidding. Unless you can find the one place in this building that's rumored to have a fireplace."
"You're joking, right?" Bridget laughed.
"If I was, would we still be here?" he questioned.
"Well, according to the lovely map I have here," Heather interrupted, "there could potentially be a fireplace in the room right here." She turned and opened an old wooden door, walking cautiously into it. "AHA! Fireplace!"
"We have no floo powder," Nikki mentioned.
"We also have a much bigger problem," Remus announced, staring at something down the hallway.
"Dementors…" Tonks moaned.
"Now what?" Bridget shrieked. Sirius and Harry both started shivering.
"There's no way anybody but Harry could fight off that many Dementors," Remus explained. "We're in trouble. Lots of trouble."
"We're trapped," Heather gasped.
"Bridget," Nikki began, "would it be alright if Harry used more magic?"
"The amount of concentration and power the Patronus charm takes would probably put him in a coma," she replied.
"That's not what I meant. You know how Fawkes can go from place to place in a flash of fire? I think he can take others with him…" she trailed off, glancing at Harry.
"It's too risky!" Heather protested. "He'll hurt himself!"
"And I'll hurt all of you if I don't," Harry muttered with determination.
"No, Harry, you can't!" Remus argued.
"I don't have a choice!"
"Just let him do it," Sirius suggested. "He's proved he can take care of himself." Harry closed his eyes, concentrating on where he wanted to be. Remus, Heather, Sirius, Bridget, and Nikki all held onto him, and the next moment, they were in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"Harry, you did it!" Nicole exclaimed.
"Hooray for me…" Harry murmured, before collapsing into Sirius's arms.
We're now laughing hysterically. You thought we killed Harry! HA! Anyway, to clear things up...what Harry's been doing for the past week (or two hours, depending on how you look at it) will be covered in the next chapter. Now, about the "Final Confrontation." Did we ever say who's final confrontation it was? No, we didn't. It happened to be Sirius and Snivellus. That ought to teach you not to jump to conclusions when dealing with us. HEEHEE! Please review!
