Chapter 29 - Azalea Potter
Lizzie felt like she'd known this for some time and the denial came crashing down on her body. The only thing that had once cast doubt was Dumbledore's claim that he wasn't convinced a horcux could survive in a living being when they discussed what Nagini was. Nagini was dead and animated. Lizzie now thought the same of herself. The part of him that animated the long dead part of her wasn't just power and control, it was in fact an eighth piece of his soul.
Lizzie couldn't wrap her mind around Snape's guilt without spiraling into immense guilt of her own, and knew, like Dumbledore, what it felt like to be responsible for death. Dumbledore never forgave himself for Ariana, Lizzie had never forgiven herself for Melody, Cedric, Sirius, and so many others, and Snape had never given himself of a shred of grace or forgiveness for Lily. Meanwhile, Voldemort relished in it with Leah and the others, and the girls in Surrey he used Lizzie as a vessel to murder.
Chills broke out over her skin and she stood up, massaging feeling into a blotchy and swollen face from the devastation of the evening. She took a rattled breath and her legs to the door to make her way down to the forest. On the damning march through this castle, the only home she'd known, she considered the possibilities she faced when she did meet her enemy, her counterpart, and her maker. Would he kill her? Would it hurt? Would he keep her? That possibility made her tremble because there would be no hope of an end for anyone until she was dead at his hand.
Then there was Nagini. Lizzie considered a way to get Nagini from his side without his knowledge, and wasn't even the slightest bit certain it would work. It would require a degree of occlumancy and legilimancy that she hadn't remotely mastered. It would require a transformation she didn't think she had direct control over. But it was the only opportunity while alive to get rid of his anchors to the mortal world.
"Lizzie," she stopped in her lost thought process to see Neville. Oliver Wood was carrying a student back to the Great Hall and Neville was on the lookout for casualties. He could see the pain in her eyes and rushed toward her for a warm and reassuring sort of hug. Lizzie's chest started to heave with dry sobs since no tears were left in her body.
"I know... but we'll keep fighting," Neville said, grounding her by the shoulders.
"Neville, can you do something for me?" She asked. He nodded with a nervous and concerned expression in his eyes.
"The snake, Voldemorts snake... she might be up here soon. If I'm not here, please kill it," Lizzie said. Neville frowned with unmasked confusion.
"Ron and Hermione know... but just in case... this will work to kill it," she said. Lizzie handed him a basilisk fang.
"Lizzie, where are you going?" He asked suspiciously.
"Tell Ron and Hermione that I'm the last one, they'll know what that means. Tell Charlie that I know I haven't said it, but I don't blame him and I... love him," her voice cracked at the last word. "I love all of you, and you're going to be safe because of that, I promise," she added, but knew that would only work if Voldemort did in fact decide to kill her.
"Are you going to the forest?" He asked.
"I'm going to end this. Just kill the snake when she comes. Please," Lizzie said.
He nodded and she headed down the steps and into the courtyard for a descent into the forest.
Had she been certain he'd kill her, Lizzie thought she would welcome this, maybe even look forward to it. The uncertainty of his intentions were making her exceptionally anxious. Lizzie reached into her pouch and pulled out the snitch. She could see the quidditch field from the distance, ignited in flames from the dragon seige. She thought of Charlie and her insides hurt. She thought of her dad, smiled slightly at the thought of being the seeker of the century, the seeker of truth, the seeker of horcruxes, and then she remembered the snitch and the stone.
"I'm ready to die," she whispered and pressed the golden ball to her lips. It opened mechanically and the stone dropped into her hand with the same triangular marking from the story etched into its face.
She turned it thrice in hand and opened her eyes. A little girl she recognized stared back with a weak smile. Lizzie inhaled and felt she looked smaller than she remembered, but that was perception since more than seven years had since passed.
"Did I kill you?" Lizzie whispered before she caught the words.
Melody shook her head no. "I hoped you would come with me. But I knew that wasn't you," she said.
"Why did you jump, then?" Lizzie asked.
"Because I loved you," Melody said.
"We could have escaped, you would have been able to come here," Lizzie said.
"No. Lizzie, I loved you. I knew you wouldn't love me like that back, and I hoped we could just remain the way we were, but on the other side..." she said. "Too young for that to matter yet..." she added. Lizzie didn't have words for a moment.
"I'm sorry," Lizzie said, guilt rushing through her veins.
"Never be sorry, you made life bearable. But I knew you weren't always you. At the end of the day, I still would have jumped," she said.
"I tried to follow... the train..." Lizzie said, her voice was drying out.
"I know. But I'm glad it didn't hit you," she said. "You got to know what family was like and everybody deserves that before they die. I went home to my mom and knew I'd see you again one day," Melody said. "Go home to yours and then we can catch up," she smiled and Lizzie nodded as tears fell from her cheeks.
Lizzie gripped the stone and she disappeared. She wasn't ready to see her parents yet but there was someone she desperately wanted. She reached for Cedric when he appeared but couldn't touch him. His eyes were sad for her disappointment, but he smiled crooked.
Lizzie exhaled a shaking breath. "You broke the promise," she said. His face fell a little.
"I never intended to keep it," he admitted. His voice relaxed her and she ached for it.
"You're the strongest person I know. But nobody protected you, and I was never going to just let you die...you expected me to live with that?" He asked.
"I would have died ten times over for you, Ced," she said with welling eyes.
"I know that, and that's why it had to be me," he said with a cracked voice.
"I miss you," she whispered.
"I'd rather be watching you be free of this and living your life, but seeing you soon, and holding you soon, is the next best thing," he said. Lizzie bit the insides of her cheeks and nodded silently at the sentiment, mourning the lost opportunity. "I love you. See you soon."
"I love you too," she choked and gripped the stone.
When she looked up, her mother looked back, her father and Sirius on either side.
There was a long pause of silence.
"You're incredible," Sirius said and looked at James who looked back at Lizzie with immense guilt and longing. There was silence while he took in his daughter and dwelled on the loss.
"They say it's impossible to feel pain on this side of life. They say pain here simply doesn't exist... but nothing has been more excruciating than watching my daughter suffer and not being able to do anything," James said. Lizzie swallowed back tears.
"You never left my arms, I hope you know that," her mother said. "You were so brave, and our love only grew, you're more than I ever thought you would be, and I thought you'd be incredible..."
"I'm far from it, I never wanted you to die for me," Lizzie said. "I resented you for not taking me with you," she admitted shamefully. "I'm sorry."
"I don't know what he's going to do..." Lizzie said with a trembling voice.
"He's going send you home to us, whether he wants to or not," Lily said. "I promise."
"The day on the train tracks, was that you?" Lizzie asked. Her mother nodded.
"You'll see what it's like, and there's nothing to be scared of," Sirius said.
"I have one more thing to do. But I'll see you soon," Lizzie said.
Lizzie made her way through the forest with the cloak until she reached the clearing where the survivors of Voldemort's army were huddled around him waiting. Lizzie pressed her back to a tree out of sight and closed her eyes, imagining Nagini's headspace in the times she was involuntarily hostage to it. It took intense concentration not to fall into Voldemort's instead, but after several attempts she felt in the skin of the great snake. She seemed to transform herself naturally and effortlessly into the alternate animagus, the one Voldemort knew nothing about. They were not exactly twin serpents but in the dim light she doubted he would be able to tell.
As Lizzie slid into the clearing, Nagini slid out and up toward the castle on her own, guided by Lizzie's direction, impersonating the will of her master. Lizzie felt a push back from whatever was inside her resisting her manipulation of the entangled connection. Nagini no longer had will of her own, which Lizzie gambled would work to her advantage. She was bewitched and the magic to do so, much like most of the magic in Lizzie's ability, was often confused by who exactly was in control. Lizzie was weary in this form of the death eaters, but they cowered back from her anxiously. She saw Hagrid bound and it took all she could not to break focus.
Neville headed into the Great Hall after Lizzie's departure and sat next to Remus who was coming around slowly from the injuries. Charlie sat across from him, wiping his bloody hands from helping Poppy tend to several of the injured, while the rest of the Weasley family was still surrounding his lost brother.
"Where is she?" Remus asked painfully, wincing in pain as he tried to sit up. Neville exhaled.
"She..." he glanced up at Hermione who could tell something was wrong and came over with Ron. "Did she give you these?" Neville asked, holding up the fang. Hermione nodded with her eyes. "She said the snake would be coming... just the snake. Told me that we needed to kill it, ring any bells?" He asked.
"We do need to kill it, she went after it alone?" Ron asked.
"She... said she doesn't blame you," Neville said to Charlie, who frowned and looked punched in the gut with shame. "She sent her love... said that should keep us safe, and said that she's the last one..." Neville added. "What does that mean?"
Hermione took a few steps back shaking her head. "She went to the forest. If she's the last one... the last... he can't die until she does," she said in a dry and trembling voice.
Charlie stood up abruptly and scowled at Neville. "You let her go down there?! She's handing herself over?!" He shouted.
"She's trying to sacrifice herself... like Lily..." Remus said but his face was flush white and he looked ready to faint.
Charlie tossed the chair he was in at the wall and paced, grabbing hard fists of his hair. His heart was clearly beating out of his chest and his temples were noticeably throbbing with each pounding beat of the internal drum.
Hermione whimpered and tears streaked her face. Ron held her to keep her knees from buckling. Neville clenched his jaw, feeling intense messengers guilt and then bit down with resolve. "It can't be in vain... we owe her that," he said.
Charlie stormed out toward the courtyard and Neville and Ron followed him, Hermione in Ron's wake while Poppy stopped Remus from impulsively standing up. Charlie was about in a full run, when he stopped suddenly.
At the edge of the courtyard Nagini's body waved across the stone floor. Charlie froze and pointed his wand, but the spells didn't work. Neville gripped the fang while Ron and Hermione moved to opposite ends of the courtyard to close in on the great serpent. Charlie backed up several steps and rounded the edge of the courtyard to block the entrance. The snake followed his movement.
Lizzie's connection with Nagini broke suddenly. She'd picked up on the trap, the fight mode from that horcrux, pushed back. Lizzie, in her own form as a serpent, could see the girl she saw in Bathilda's bedroom in Godric's Hollow pacing between the trees looking furious and flustered. But she stopped and didn't proceed to reveal Lizzie or attack her like the others had. Lizzie got the impression her portion of that split soul wanted freedom from Riddle as much as Lizzie did.
In the courtyard, Nagini became feral and disenchanted from Lizzie's control. She snapped at Charlie, who was defenseless except his wand which posed no harm on the already in most respects, dead creature. Neville made a distraction to curb the attack in his direction. Ron attempted to lunge at the beast with a fang of his own, but took a nasty bite to his thigh and crumpled in lopsided pain. Neville quickly pulled him out of range, and tossed his basilisk fang to Charlie who was again the primary subject of Nagini's attention. Charlie caught it but failed to pierce the beast, diving out of the way of a lethal strike. Hermione ran to Ron's aid, applying pressure to the wound, and the snake diverted her attention to the injured pair as easy prey.
Neville scanned the ground for a rock, and Ron threw himself on top of Hermione to shield her from Nagini's attack. In the rubble, Neville noticed a brown fabric and what looked to be a glittering ruby. In shuffling the rocks, he uncovered an even further tattered and torn sorting hat, with the sword of Gryffindor's hilt poking from the charred brim. Neville hoisted it and bolted for Ron and Hermione, Charlie dived for them to pull them out of range.
As Charlie lunged for them, he noticed the sword and pushed their bodies flat to the floor to be out of range of the blade's trajectory. Nagini reeled backward, ready to strike at not one victim but her pick of three, and with a sudden sharp slice of the silky skin, her head, with fully beared fangs, dropped with a loud thud to ground beside them, and the rope-like body crumpled in a pathetic coil. Neville took several steps backward while his ears rang in pain. Black smoke engulfed them and a cry could be heard from afar, muffled in the forest depths.
Hermione took heaving breaths and knew it was coming to a close, once Lizzie was gone, if she wasn't already, they'd need to kill Voldemort, he would be mortal. Her heart seized around the reality of losing her closest friend, while her rational mind wasn't confident anyone but Lizzie could face him. But the more she looked at the emanating resolve in Neville, she thought he might be the only one who stood a chance, and that it was the reason he was the only person Lizzie told.
Lizzie felt the moment Nagini died, and Voldemort did too. Even concealed as the serpent's doppelganger, coiled tight near him as he ignorantly waited in silence for Lizzie to arrive on two legs, she felt the loss of a fragment, like the aftershocks of an earthquake.
Voldemort let out a cry of pain that shocked his death eaters and sent a wave of apprehension through the congregation of servants. He whipped his head around and looked at her with narrowed eyes. Lizzie slid into the clearing, not yet breaking this animagus form, and he watched closely. She knew he knew she wasn't Nagini and tried to block his invasion of her mind to no avail. To end the intense pain he was inflicting, she transformed. Her limbs were suddenly weak and she couldn't stand. He glared with mad reproach and rage. With her head down at the ground, she could see the hem of his cloak almost glide until he towered directly over her. Lizzie was shaking too hard to look at him. Hagrid let out a yell of protest that was swiftly silenced.
"Look at me," he hissed and she reluctantly obliged. He hit her hard so she'd fall flat on the ground and then sent the most excruciating cruciatius through her bloodstream until every nerve ending screamed.
He stopped and paced angrily. The air was completely silent aside from the echo of her screams still pinging off the trees.
He stared down at her with intense consideration. "Infuriating, but impressive," he whispered. Lizzie knew better than to think it a compliment. Two of his deatheaters seized an arm each and propped her roughly onto her knees. Voldemort knelt in front of her, inches from her face and forced peircing eye contact.
"No," Lizzie breathed, she could read his intentions. She saw herself at his side, a replacement to the serpentine servant she'd robbed him of. A sinister smile broke across his mouth.
He unzipped her jacket and undid the lower buttons of her blouse. Lizzie struggled in the grip of the death eaters but Rebastian and Redolphus held her steady. "You're not mine anymore, how did you manage?" He asked. He moved a hand across her stomach pervasively. Lizzie looked down at the ground and he snatched her chin in a firm grip. She tried to keep her lower lip from trembling violently in response. "That could work to my advantage," he said. Lizzie was pale and flushed.
"Please, kill me," she managed to say in as meek of a voice as possible. He stopped and looked at her with amusement. The cackle was bone chilling.
"The girl who lived, wants to die?" He sneered.
"I'm not done with you yet - and don't believe your soul should ever pass on. You won't ever get the luxury of painless existence, not from me," he hissed. He gestured to the death eaters and then lifted her up to her feet.
"Let's pay a visit to castle, shall we?" Voldemort asked. He wrapped long fingers around her jawline and neck and smirked at the way her heartbeat in her neck. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of the chance to say goodbye," he said close to her face. She didn't have to use her imagination about his intentions and should have known revealing the serpent animagus would backfire into being some type of brood mare for his plans and gain, so long as she was stripped of any real power.
The funeral drum beat in Lizzie's chest, except what she feared was worse than death. She was defenseless, her magic was muted, and she was at his mercy.
The Lestrange brothers had a firm grip on each of her arms on the walk up to the castle. Hagrid's footsteps shook the earth behind her and echoed on the bridge to the courtyard. Her feet were numb but moving nonetheless. Lizzie could feel herself screaming on the inside not unlike the wail of desperation she emitted years ago when the train suddenly rushed past despite her every intention to die on the tracks. If he wasn't going to kill her, she was doomed, and there wouldn't be anything she could do for the others.
Figures gathered around and the sound of shuffling of feet from the castle's army hit the air like popcorn in a hot pan. She thought of summers at the Burrow for a fraction of a moment and then her heart sank when she could see, just by the tops of their heads alone, several Weasley's emerging from the Great Hall in defense of the school. Voldemort stopped his army short of entering the courtyard or apprehending anyone and Lizzie felt a shove forward that lost her her balance while Voldemort flicked his wand to ensure she couldn't get up off her knees.
"Your hero... caught fleeing while you all laid down your lives... nothing like the disappointment of a false idol," Voldemort hissed.
"Crock of lies!" Hagrid growled. There was a quick swish and a strangling noise. Lizzie turned her head to see a rope constricting around his throat.
"Stop!" She shrieked, sudden panic washing over her. "For the love of God, Riddle, stop!" He shot her look of pure disdain and released Hagrid as he approached her in fury. Lizzie braced for a blow she could hardly feel, but the ringing and blood pooling in her ear made it real. The ringing picked up to a pitch high enough to keel over a dog. It stopped sharply and Voldemort towered over her menacingly.
"You... will lose your tongue if you speak again," he hissed. "What's wrong, Azalea? You're too proud to beg for your life anyway..."
Lizzie shook her head in wide motions. "You have to kill me," she said with a strained voice. His eyes narrowed and he crouched in front of her, picking up her chin in his long finger. He didn't need to speak words for her to know she was destined for a life like Bellatrix's. He gave her every torturous image until her shoulders shook in terror and pure dread.
"So much pain and suffering felt by these people you claim to love - lost loved ones, broken families, all for a girl who knows no family," he announced.
"I can't fix your pain or bring back the dead, but I can ensure the reason for this despair suffers a lifetime of pain in their wake," he added. Ron was held back by George and Charlie by Bill. Lizzie's body erupted in pain and her scream was earsplitting for miles. Nothing had ever hurt that bad, blood vessels popped and she felt like a knife went straight through her brain. He ceased the assault after a few moments and she keeled forward, forehead to the stone, panting and using every ounce of willpower to pull herself upright and regain a fraction of dignity and composure.
"Now, Azalea...You took and destroyed six of my most prized possessions," he said, amplifying his voice in warning to others. "How, you'll explain to me later. Now, however, I'm taking and destroying six very important things of yours..." Lizzie's heart skipped several beats and constricted hard in her chest. She caught scared eyes with Charlie who had his jaw locked and clenched tight, pushing back a tremendous amount of antipation.
"I don't want to shed too much magical blood," Voldemort said, scanning the onlookers menacingly.
"Your best friends are a mudblood and a blood traitor who helped you destroy my property, your boyfriend is a blood traitor, and your father figures are a werewolf and a half-giant... that's five..." he said.
"I'm thinking the Weasley girl, pity..." his eyes narrowed at Ginny and Lizzie's insides turned over at his almost fetishized preoccupation with murdering girls who reminded him of Leah. He'd targeted Ginny before. Neville stepped in front of her and Molly clutched her tight. Charlie stepped ahead in outrage and tried to block Neville. "I will in place of Ginny, leave her be," Neville said.
"And who are you?" Voldemort asked.
"Neville Longbottom," Neville said, swallowing the last syllable as he said it.
Bellatrix cackled and so did Voldemort. "You're last in your line, good line too, but I suppose the Weasleys need as many daughters as they can - that's not bad blood to breed if they cease traitorous allyship," he said. Voldemort waved a wand and deatheaters swarmed the onlookers in billowing clouds of smoke. There was an obvious struggle and when they emerged, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Charlie were tightly detained. Arthur and Bill made an impulsive and combative move toward them and Charlie struggled to no avail.
They'd been disarmed, their wrists bound prohibiting magic, and were in line for what Lizzie knew could only be execution.
Everything moved in astonishingly slow motion for Lizzie. She couldn't hear the uproar and commotion but anyone looking at her on her knees could see she wasn't breathing, shock and paralysis from trauma had washed over her. She watched Remus get dragged from the Great Hall and McGonagall get struck off her feet to the ground in her pursuit to free him. He was hardly able to stand as it was and Lizzie's heart beat furiously for her godson until it felt like it stopped entirely. Charlie was forced to his knees beside her and reached for her in desperation. She met his huge eyes and didn't see a fear of death but an apology behind them.
"This is why I came alone," she said in a raspy voice and her chest constricted hard around a sob and heavy breathing.
"Well, Azalea, this is familiar to you, isn't it? I'm not giving him the choice I gave that boy Diggory. The dragon rider... wiped out a third of my army. Helped you break into Gringotts..." Voldemort stared down at Charlie and Lizzie could sense he was in pain. Voldemort was in his mind. He released his hold and looked triumphantly at Lizzie. "You should thank him, Azalea, he may have spared you the hard part of my plans," Lizzie iced over at the comment, unsure what exactly it meant, but she had her suspicions.
"You have to kill me, you can torture me, you can kill them, you can slaughter everyone I love, but I will never cease being a threat to you," Lizzie said in a low and trembling voice. He got down to look at her eye level, with a touch to her face that made her skin crawl.
"I will stamp out your soul until you're a shell of a person. But your life suits my needs. They say there are things worse than death, and I promise you will suffer all of them," he said with merth and disdain in his voice.
"Now...to illustrate the consequences..." he said, standing up and circling both her and Charlie. Lizzie watched Arthur wrap arms right around his screaming wife. With the flick of a wand all went silent. "Let their deaths be a warning..." he said with unsurmounted authority and pointed his wand at Charlie. Lizzie felt the world close in like walls and shut her eyes tight, muttering a desperate prayer under her raged breath. She thought of the freight train and how desperately she'd wished to have been flattened on those tracks before enduring any of this. She thought of the involuntary crack that moved her just inches out of the way to safety.
There was a flash of green light, a loud deafening crack, and Molly's scream reverberated across the lake.
