Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
This story still has several chapters left. Here's the latest.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
CHAPTER 36: The Bee
The bee fell down dead on Harry's chest. He flicked it off of him. He watched the bee's body grow and lengthen and morph until it was no longer a bee, but instead a man with silvery hair and a beard long enough to tuck into his belt, a man who was wearing half moon spectacles and yellow and black striped robes. He knew this man. Dumbledore had come for him after all. Now he was lying motionless on the ground next to him.
Voldemort stood and laughed.
Harry's fingers wormed their way to where Dumbledore's limp hand still held his wand. Harry slipped it inside his sleeve.
Voldemort took no notice.
"Harry, you face certain death. Any last requests?"
"Why do you want to kill me?"
Voldemort laughed, a cruel, unpleasant sound. He actually seemed amused. "I am about to end your pathetic life and you want to know why. You don't even want to beg mercy?" He almost sounded disappointed. Almost.
"No. I don't beg. Not unless it's really important. Like for my friends to forgive me. You? You aren't important enough to beg to. I just want answers."
"I want to kill you for all the trouble you've caused me."
"Funny, I'd say the same to you. You made me an orphan; it's your fault I got stuck with the Dursleys for the last sixteen years, and why I never knew my parents. You kill innocent people and I feel guilty when I can't stop it. You've hurt my friends. Did I leave anything out?" He spared a glance of his shoulder at the limp body of his mentor and friend.
"No. Is that all? Can we get on with this? I don't like people who stall and you've stalled long enough. From the looks of things, who knows how long some of them will be out." He meant the Death Eaters that had been trampled by Harry's Patronus.
Harry thought he knew what to do, but he needed more time to be sure. He turned Dumbledore's wand around within his sleeve. "Okay, okay. But why did you try and kill me in the first place? Why did you kill my parents? Was it because of that prophecy? The Prophecy of the Boy who—"
"They never told you?" He was silent. When he spoke again his voice was crueler and more taunting. "They never told you what your parents were going to do to me or why I was after them? And after you, you stupid brat child. Never? This day is monumental. The few reference books with information on the Book say that the Book of Ever burst into existence long ago, what people don't know is the truth. The truth is that it was written by the greatest Diviner of all time. This Diviner wrote down all known history, and all of his premonitions of things to come. The first witches and wizards that found it hid it from the Muggles and agreed never again to read from the book or allow others to read it after. The Book tells everything that will ever happen. Or so it's rumored. It tells the outcome of every war in history, every man who will die in it or out of it, how your friends will die…everything. This is a book for all time. I needed know what would happen. But the book wasn't always clear. Sometimes it spoke in riddles. I went to the Book, I took it and looked for pages concerning my glory. It said this:
"Following the line of Salazar Slytherin shall be:
Riddle the Young,
Voldemort the Conqueror,
Dark Lord the Destroyed.
Born again and set against his Old Foe.
Who will be the Victor?
None shall as yet know.
But soon as time is right,
Things will never be the same,
After that fatefully fatal night."
Voldemort took several steps closer to Harry, starting at him with cold eyes; close enough until he could feel his breath on him. Harry was confused this wasn't the Prophecy Hermoine had shared with him. There was nothing in here about 5 companions or Lion's Warrior or People's Protector. This was different. "I'll never forget those words as long as I live. Then it went on to talk about some boy. It's said who his parents would be, major events in his life, even who he married, but it said at the end:
"All this as yet may be
Unless before his second All Hollow's Eve
Destroyed is he.
The world's fate is in the infant's hand.
Is he to be nothing more than a child deceased?
Or will he strong and powerful stand?
"You are that boy, Harry Potter. That infant. All that was said has come to pass. And now, it's your turn to die."
"What does the Book say after that?" Harry bit his lip. Wait a minute, he hadn't been killed before his second birthday, so that meant…
"Nothing. It ends there. This is the deciding battle. Are you ready for it?"
"Yes." And with that one word he began the fight. "Stupefy!" Harry's attack caught Voldemort off-guard. The man had never expected Harry to make the first move. He was wrong. As it turns out, he was dead wrong.
Harry had been too quick for Voldemort and had hit him with the Stunner before he'd had the chance to react. Harry had put his full force behind the attack, everything he could muster. Harry knew that there would be no Dumbledore appearing to save him now, as there had been in his first year. No parents to die for him as an infant. No Hagrid to die for him like 6th year. There was only himself. So Harry spent all of himself, throwing all his power and energy into that curse, rising to stand as he did so and holding Dumbledore's wand in his hand.
All his energy spent, he collapsed and darkness engulfed him. He knew no more than that he heard himself whisper, "That was for everyone you hurt." Maybe he didn't even whisper it. Maybe he only thought it. It didn't matter, because either way, that was his last thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thanks. I hope you review and keep reading (this story is far from over!) I had an idea for how the rest of it would, go then a plot bunny crept into my head and I've been typing like crazy!
