Chapter 8 There goes Voldemort and a few others
AN: Thanks to my betas, poisonivy9675, darrelldeam and alix33, for looking this over. All mistakes are my own.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Hpbvshpbvs
A week after the break, Kala, Harry, Hallie and a female vampire were deep in the Forbidden Forest at midnight, in the clearing where the dragons had been.
The stars were bright and the moon was full. The trees cast foreboding shadows on the four there. A sacred circle was created with four candles, some animal bones, runic stones, burning incense and something called an Orb of Thesulah. Kala sat in the middle, while Hallie had the vampire caged outside. Harry was as far back as he could be, but still able to see the ritual.
Kala was chanting the Ritual of Restoration:
Este scris, această putere este dreptul poporul meu de a conduce.
Nici mort, nici al fiinţei,
te invoc, spirit al trecerii.
Redă trupului ce separe omul de animal.
Aşa să fie cu ajutorul acestui!
The vampire was fighting for all she was worth, snapping, snarling and trying to get out of the cage. When the last words were spoken, Harry fell to his knees, his scar split open and a black mist burst out. It was joined by a Dark wraith. Both the soul parts were screaming defiance as they descended on the undead woman.
The vampire threw back her head and yelled to the skies in pain. When she stopped thrashing, Hallie gave her a wicked smile. "Hello, Tom," she said.
"What have you done to me, you foul creature," the now ensouled vampire yelled, as she —he? — tried to get loose.
"Why, Tom, I've given you what you've always wanted, honey," the vengeance demon said in a mockingly confused voice. She morphed in to her demon face and said in a haunting tone, "Immortality."
That caused Voldemort to pause, he could use this, if he still had his magic. He felt deep inside and a devious grin came upon his now feminine face. "I can still rule the world," he said in a high pitched voice, a wicked grin spread across his face.
"Think again, honey," Hallie said smugly. "I'm going to introduce you to a military group called The Initiative."
"And what can a bunch of Muggle soldiers do to the most feared Dark Lord?" he asked in a smug superior voice, trying once again to break free of the cage, but without a wand he was well and truly trapped.
"They're going to take your dead ass and shove a computer chip up your brain, so that every time you even think of hurting someone, you will get a vicious headache. Why, you can't even order your minions to hurt anyone," the wish demon explained sweetly, a bright smile on her face. Vengeance was good.
"I am a Dark Lord; I can handle a little pain," the vampire hybrid boasted.
"If you say so, honey," Hallie said. "Oh, and that magic of yours won't work against anything living," she finished and then she blinked and knocked him out, causing the female body to slump in the narrow cage.
Harry, who had regained his footing, came over and asked, "Will it really work?" He wasn't sure about setting this hybrid on the world, but Hallie had only done good so far… mostly… well, for him anyway. "Won't magic make it malfunction?"
"You know that curse the Crucio?"
"Yeah, Crouch Jr. told us about it," Harry said, still confused, shuddering at the memory of the spider's pain. He was glad that sadistic man was dead.
"Well this chip is worse. Every time he— well she— so much as thinks about hurting a human she'll collapse in pain so bad she'll wish that someone would stake her. And don't worry, cutie, I'll make sure it's impervious to magic." Hallie winked at the dark-haired teen, and then brightened more and added, "Also I'm going to be sending her to Sunnydale, where a new Vampire Slayer will be living in a few years." She shrugged her shoulders; this would be the final part of punishment of Voldemort: he would either live or die, but he would always be controlled.
"What happened to the vampire?" Kala asked, coming up to the group, "And what about the happiness clause?"
"She's still in there; she's just in the back of her mind now. She'll suffer just as much as old Voldie. The clause only works if someone can feel love, something Voldie can't feel, and probably never will," Hallie explained. It had been her doing that didn't call the soul of the dead female. A little twist of magic and only the Dark Lord's soul came. The vengeance demon gave them a jaunty wave and then winked away with the new ensouled vampire.
"Do you think it will work?" Harry asked the young gypsy. This was a new type of magic to him, so he was concerned about if it was powerful enough.
"My people used this ritual once before, about a hundred years ago, on a very deranged vampire called Angelus. He killed our princess and had to be punished," she explained as she gathered up the items from the circle. "He now lives in alleys eating rats."
"If it is such a sacred ritual, why did they allow you to use it on Voldemort?" the confused teen asked. "Not that I'm not grateful, just trying to understand."
"One of our seers saw that your Dark Lord would attempt to sway us over to his side, and then try to kill our clan when we refused. It was an easy decision to make," she explained. They were now walking through the forest, careful not to make much noise.
"Oh, well, that's good then," Harry said honestly grateful. They continued on in silence. "I'll see you around, Kala, and thanks again. Be sure to thank your clan leaders as well." He parted with her at the edge of the forest and threw his Invisibility Cloak on and made his way to his dorm.
A few days after the ritual, as everyone was sitting down to lunch, five wizards in red robes came through the doors. They went to Headmaster Flanagan and whispered to him why they were there. The rotund man just nodded his head sadly and waved them away to do their job. Snape was arrested and to everyone's surprise, he went peacefully.
As the Aurors and Snape got to the door, Snape turned and barked, "Potter, tell your mother I forgive her this. I just hope one day she'll forgive me." And without waiting for an answer he turned and nodded to his escort. They left the Hall, the students were stunned and didn't know whether to cheer or be upset. Harry didn't wait to see. He rushed to the Potions classroom to find out what the man was talking about. His mother's portrait was fuming, cussing and pacing. Her words were indecipherable like she was too upset to think straight.
"Mum, what happened?" Harry asked as he skidded to a halt in front of her. "The Aurors just came and arrested Snape. He said something about forgiving you. Why?"
"That man is the reason you are an orphan. He was the one to tell Voldemort about the prophecy," she spat, pacing as much as her frame would allow.
"What prophecy?" Harry asked, confused.
Lily sighed, stood still in front of her bewildered son and explained, "There was a prophecy about the one who could kill the Dark Lord, born as the seventh month died. That was either you or Neville. It was the reason we went into hiding. I would have told you all this had I lived. I don't understand why Dumbledore didn't."
"So Snape is the main reason for my whole life being shite? Can they arrest him for that? I mean, is it illegal?" Harry asked angrily, ignoring the rest of her statement. Dumbledore always kept his cards close to his vest. It was nothing new to the teen.
"No, they can't, but they can arrest him for the years of the emotional abuse that he did to the students of Hogwarts," she answered smugly.
"I thought that you were going to turn him around. He seemed more in control than before." Harry pulled up a stool in front of the picture.
"That was until I found out what happened. I knew he was holding something back." She sighed sadly, they had all been hoping that Severus would come around; his guilt however was eating at him and keeping him the bitter man he turned into. She blamed the Headmaster for making Severus take a vow to protect Harry when he was younger. It only solidified the fact that he failed at protecting his only friend. She was still angry at her childhood friend for turning Dark, but, after all that he had been through she did understand. This bit of news, however, was not easily forgiven. No, Severus needed to be punished and being arrested for child abuse was the only way they could get that done.
"So, why can't he be tried as a Death Eater?" the dark-haired teen asked, bringing the portrait out of her musings.
"He already had a trial and was found innocent. You can't try someone twice for the same crime," Lily explained, none too happy.
"Oh, so how did the Aurors find out about the abuse? I mean, why now? He's been abusing kids for years," Harry wondered out loud. "There had to have been loads of complaints."
"When Sirius found out Severus was the catalyst to our deaths, he told the Ministry about the way he treated you and Neville, and since he was extra abusive to you two, plus, you're the Boy Who Lived— they listened. That and the professors informed them of all the times Dumbledore squashed the reports from before." Lily was beginning to hate the Headmaster for all of his manipulations. If he just kept his crooked nose out of other people's business then life would play out the way it was supposed to.
"Huh, well I hope he gets what he deserves," Harry said furiously. Before he knew about this he actually had hoped the man would change, but now…
"He will, though, it probably won't be too bad. Remember, he did turn spy to try and save us. However, from what he confessed, if it hadn't been my life on the line some other family would have died, and he might have stayed a Death Eater. So it will be touch and go for a while," Lily explained, calming down a little. "There is good news," the portrait added, a small smile gracing her lips.
"Really? What?" the dark-haired teen asked, grasping for anything to lighten the mood.
"I get to roam the castle. Now that Severus is no longer my priority I don't have to stay in this musty classroom. Sirius says he'll bring your dad from the Manor. Then you can take us home during the holidays," the redhead answered, a brilliant smile lit her face. She even demonstrated by moving to the next portrait in the room, a dark picture of some embryo floating in green goo. She shuddered and quickly made her way back to her own frame.
"That's great!" Harry shouted. "I'll get to see you all the time."
"Yup, we're going to stay in the History classroom, except during classes, and then we'll be talking to the other portraits, maybe get some more dirt on Albus."
The two talked until dinner, and when Harry left the room, his mother followed and gave small stories about her time here in the castle.
Harry was sitting down to breakfast the next day when the Quibbler was delivered. The Headline read: Bartemius Crouch Senior Sentenced to Life in Azkaban. The article went on to tell how the ex-Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, current Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation was found guilty of breaking his son out of prison, replacing him with his polyjuiced dying wife and using the Imperius Curse to keep Jr. restrained for years. The whole plan was because his wife wanted her son out of prison, and to see him one last time before she died. It was her dying wish. The article went on to tell how Sr. was demoted in the first place, also having to do with his Death Eater son.
"Well, that's strange. First the guy does everything he can to get his son sent away, and then he does a complete turnaround to get him out," Harry said after reading the article.
"Not really," Neville disagreed. "He was only fulfilling his wife's dying wish. I think if I loved my wife enough I would have done the same."
"I'm not sure if I can agree with you there, mate. I mean, yeah, loving your wife is all well and good, but this guy was the Head of the DMLE. He knew the price to pay for his actions. That and I think he hated his son. I'm just glad the Weasleys took in Winky; she was their elf, you know? Now that I think about it, that man knew his son cast the Dark Mark that night of the World Cup. I almost got arrested for that. His son used my wand," the dark-haired teen argued. He knew it was because of Crouch Sr. that his godfather was imprisoned and couldn't raise Harry. Served the man right.
Neville just shrugged his shoulder and said, "We'll just have to disagree on this."
It was about then that a commotion was heard at the entrance of the Hall. Ron was screaming at Pansy Parkinson to leave him alone. She was hanging off of his arm and making doe eyes at him. Harry, Neville and most of the Gryffindor table burst into laughter at his predicament.
"You know she asked him to the Ball, right? You should have seen it, Harry, he ran from the Hall so fast you would have thought hellhounds were chasing him," Seamus said between chuckles.
"I thought Parkinson was dating Malfoy?" Harry said confused.
"She was, until she found out how poor he was. Dumped him right here the day after break started. It wasn't a pretty sight. I almost felt sorry for the guy," Neville said with a small shake of his head.
"I'm almost sorry I missed that," Harry beamed. Not that he would change meeting his dad, but still, it would have been quite a sight. "So how long do you think it's going to last?"
"I give it one month," Dean said decisively. "After she can't change his eating habits or she doesn't get presents, she'll back off."
"You're probably right," Harry agreed.
"Yeah, but then others are going to start chasing him," Neville said then looked at his friend. "I thought he apologized to you?"
Harry rubbed his nose and said, "He did, but we aren't as close as we once were. I don't really understand why he is still being punished."
"Maybe, he isn't quite as sorry as he let on," the sandy-haired boy speculated. "Or it could be that Fleur asked you to the Ball. He tried, you know, she turned him down flat. He might still be jealous about that," he pointed out.
"Maybe," Harry agreed, then shrugged it off; he couldn't control what people felt.
It was about that time that Fleur came and sat next to Harry. "'arry, are we still going to 'ogsmeade zis weekend?" she asked, placing her hand on his arm.
"Yup, I can't wait," Harry smiled. The other boys gave out wolf whistles and Harry just ignored them.
"Zen I will see you at eleven on Saturday, 'arry," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, causing more catcalls.
Harry nodded his confirmation with his face beet red. She winked at him and left the table to rejoin her schoolmates.
"Ooh, Harry has a date," Neville sing-songed as he nudged his friend.
"Leave off, will ya? It isn't anything serious, this is just my way of making it up to her for not being here for the Ball," the still blushing teen protested. He felt he was a bit too young to be all that serious about someone as beautiful as Fleur.
The young couple did go to Hogsmeade and had tea at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, which made Harry uncomfortable, but Fleur was right at home in such a romantic environment. It was the Veela that decided they would keep in touch until Harry was a bit older and more mature, and then they would see if dating was for them. She would be taking a job at Gringotts, making it easier to meet.
A week later there was another headline in the Quibbler: The Dementors are Suffering From Unknown Pain Curse. The article went on to say that their cries could be heard throughout Azkaban, causing the prisoners to scream with them. Now for some reason the Ministry couldn't control them or make them leave Azkaban; it was like they were chained to the island.
"Well, that's weird," Seamus said, grabbing some bacon.
"I know," Harry answered, wondering if this had to do with his torment by their hands last year.
Luna came and sat next to him. "You know, Harry, you shouldn't think about things so hard. The wrackspurts are going to infest you if you keep it up," she said dreamily, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, little Luna, I'll stop," the dark-haired teen said, patting her head. And really, even if it was the wish, there wasn't anything he could do about it.
"Daddy is ever so thankful that you like us," she went on, nodding her head against his shoulder. "He found a way to photograph the nargles just last week. See, there's a picture on the second page." She grabbed the newspaper and showed the picture of an enlarged creature, which looked like a tiny floating worm with fur. The accompanying article went on to tell what they were and how they affected your thinking and to stay away from mistletoe as that is where they bred.
"I'm glad to have you as a friend, Luna," Harry said, dropping a friendly kiss on the top of her blonde hair. He looked at the photo and shuddered. Those had been floating around his head? He was glad they were gone now.
Severus Snape was found guilty and sentenced to three years in Azkaban, thanks to all of the students whose careers he destroyed testifying against him, even some of the graduated Slytherins who had been let go of their positions because they really didn't know potions. Harry and Neville were questioned, but since they were still in school all they needed to do was give statements on their treatment in class. Dumbledore tried to stand up for him, but because of his own misdeeds at Hogwarts he wasn't listened to. Casting even more doubt on his reputation. After Snape served his time, he disappeared and was never heard from again.
After a year of torment a portal opened and Dementors fled to another dimension that only demons populated. Before they left, many of the Death Eaters and other prisoners either dropped dead or had their minds broken from the mournful cries of the soul suckers. Only the strongest survived. Wormtail was not one of them (thanks to the wish he couldn't transform), neither was Crouch Sr. Snape somehow made it through with little damage. The rest were crazier than ever, especially the Lestranges, who never saw the light of day. The goblins took over guarding the prison, for a large fee.
Now that most of his tormentors were gone from the castle, Harry wondered just how the rest of his wish would play out.
Hpbvshpbvs
AN: I took the Ritual off the Buffy wiki; I didn't change it because I have no clue about the Romanian language.
Thank you everyone for you suggested punishments.
