The world had been completely destroyed. I really dropped the ball there, following the old man's advice for so long was a mistake. After Albus died, Voldemort's forces grew exponentially, which is to be expected I suppose. I'm only 23 damn it, why did I have to be the leader? I was a kid! I still am. Not much effect that has now though, I was the second oldest person in the world now, after Tom. It had to end like this, the two of us together.
I walked through the lonely barren streets, shells of buildings dotted every couple hundred metres. The first thing they did after Albus died, was raze London. They succeeded, we severely underestimated their forces. The attacks on muggle villages must have only been recruits. There were thousands of them, no, tens of thousands. They simply apparated into Diagon and destroyed everything, even Gringotts fell. The Goblins offered more resistance, they were only slowed by cutters and bludgeoners - which bounced off their armour and shields.
The Ministry crumbled quickly, even the Order could have overpowered them.
Which unfortunately brings up that thrice-damned Order of the Phoenix. They refused to listen to me, even though it was the Old Man's final instructions. They preferred to bicker amongst themselves every meeting. It stopped momentarily when Fawkes appeared and landed on my shoulder when I was about to disband the bloody thing. They were apparently intelligent enough to remember which Phoenix they were named after.
The welcome lapse in chaos helped me establish things. Most of them only survived the first war because they were useless in a fight. Even Ron or Ginny could out-duel the lot of them. It became my responsibility to train them, I thought my days of teaching Dumbledore's Army were over.
It was at that point where I really questioned if we'd win. How couldn't I? Was he wizarding world really relying on some old codgers, ministry pencil pushers, and children?
I trained with Moody and Remus. The ex-auror training magical combat, the Marauder; hand to hand. That helped against a lot of what Tom was throwing at me at the time. But one thing Tom Riddle is not, is stupid. After he found out sending grunts to capture me would only result in failure, he sent his best. Werewolves, inner-circle members, vampires, hordes of Dementors, and the occasional giant.
We lost a lot of men protecting me. I should have hid to begin with. I was only getting them hurt for no gain. Being around me quickly became a death sentence. Only Hermione and Ron stuck with me.
Hermione and Ron were both liabilities in the war though. They ended up being opposites of each other, coincidentally. She was by far the most knowledgeable of the three of us, but got stage fright when push came to shove. Ron meanwhile, was by no means planning on becoming a teacher, but the twins, and the innate physicality of having 5 brothers, meant he could handle himself well enough. But lacked the background to best any of the real deal.
Hermione was the first to die, and the first person in The Order to die that I actually knew. This hit home the fact we were losing. It was a noble death. She stunned four death eaters on the way out, they were waiting for her in her parents house. The sheer number of them over powered her. Alone and terrified, it was a real shock. Ron could barely take it and was nearly suicidal. I was the one who opened the box delivered to us. Her head, ripped from her already dead body it seemed. Along with some more photos of what the scum did to her and her parents bodies. I destroyed them before any of the others saw.
The old Harry Potter, the one who died in his sixth year at Hogwarts, would never have expected treachery. But the new, paranoid, battle scarred Moody-esque Harry Potter saw it a mile off. Ron was especially hurt by Hermione's death. He took it as a realisation he was on the wrong side. Yes, good old Ronald Bilius Weasley isn't as loyal as he seems. No he took himself as some sort of spy didn't he? Thought he'd try and fool me?
2 weeks it was, between their deaths. It took Ron days to turn to the Death Eaters. One Order meeting I saw him taking notes for Merlin's sake! The day after I cornered and questioned him. I didn't even need to use Veritaserum or Legillimancy. He just blurted it out.
"Harry can't you see? We were never going to win, you're only delaying the inevitable." he spat at me.
My former best friend was about to try and convince me to join effing Voldemort. For both our sakes, I sent a strong blaster at his temple from the wand I confiscated.
The hardest part was telling the Weasleys about their son's treachery. Molly took it hardest, seemingly going through every stage of grief before my eyes. Arthur was silent, which was worrying. Only Mad-Eye and Remus understood why I had to do it. I was around them so much I now saw them as my closest friends, in a sort of twisted way. Most best friends don't try and rip chunks out of one another. Apart from me and Ron.
So there, you're all caught up, unless you particularly care about how every single person I know died? I don't want to think about my every failure you greedy bunch. Voldy took care of the muggles easily enough, bringing in some Necromancers from Africa and South America. It eventually reached the point where there were as much Inferi as humans. We'd taken the precaution of burning any corpse we saw after and incident with a set of young parents being AK'd before our eyes, then their animated bodies ripping their children to shreds.
I don't know the particulars of how Tom's forces waned. I'd imagine infighting was common, considering their recruiting strategy seemed to be 'join or die'. The last thing the muggle world managed was destroying most major cities with nuclear weapons. Useful somewhat, in that it only really took out Tom's men. And the entire muggle population of course.
I knew where he was waiting, King's Cross. Our mutual entry point into the magical world. Only the shell of the building stood, encapsulating mountains of rubble. I thought this was very generous of Tom, he knew my strengths lied in Transfiguration. I knew I was walking to my death though. Absolutely no one could defeat him in a one on one. After the war started he grew only stronger. Rumours of huge sacrificial rituals were thick midway through the war. I only hoped they were myths.
The area felt dense with magic, like a fog of energy.
"I'm here Tom! Come out and make this quick for me"
I shouted into the amphitheatre of destruction. A low rumble started behind me, I turned on a sixpence and drew my wand. The hair on my arms stood up as I felt the static electricity rush through me. A pile of rubble started to levitate and come together in an orb of deep violet light. Suddenly the burst out, launched in every direction. The thin skeletal figure of Voldemort floated onto the ground, the irons railings warping away from him.
"So it comes to this Potter, neither can live while the other survives was it? You must know your death is assured, you never came close to matching my level. 'The power he knows not' must be the power of failure boy. It seems all you've ever done is get in my way. You would have been a powerful servant, but alas I must destroy you, like I have this damned dimension."
It looked to me like evil and monologuing were directly proportional. Why does he enjoy the sound of his own voice so much? It's awful.
"Won't you get lonely Tom? An eternity alone."
Tom's eyes flashed red at the mention of his name. He flicked the Elder Wand between his forefinger and his thumb as I spoke, clearly impatient.
"You don't understand you little welt. I don't just have the ability to destroy the world. I have mastered creation itself. Vita In Vodha."
As he spat out the spell, a colourless beam rapidly approached me, displacing the air around it as it did.
I threw up a warlock shield in precaution, usually Tom likes to play with me before throwing the unforgivables. It burst right through it as if it were paper. It didn't pass through it like the killing curse, no it destroyed it. What the hell was that? Striking me as I tried to react, Tom didn't even attempt to follow it up, in fact holstering his want.
"Expelliarmus!"
I shouted in desperation, surely not. The worst dark lord in history defeated like this? The Elder Wand flew quickly into my waiting left hand. I did it. All the while he looked at me with a smug smile on his face. I felt a twinge in my chest looked down. Raising my hand I noticed I was fading away…
"What did you do?" I demanded furiously. My right arm was almost completely vanished.
"Goodbye Harry Potter, send my regards to Dumbledore why don't you?"
"You bastard." I said as I slowly left this mortal realm.
•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sat alone in his office on a warm late summers day. The term would start soon, and even sooner was the first staff meeting of the academic year. As he was pondering the intricacies of life itself, his Deputy Head Mistress, Minerva McGonagall, stepped out of the floo in a panic.
"Albus something terrible has happened, Death Eaters attacked the world cup. Harry was injured. He's in a dreamless sleep at St. Mungos but I've asked him to be transferred here."
"I see Minerva, get back to him now. Poppy and I will be awaiting you in The Infirmary."
This was very worrying; Harry being attacked outside of his control. Perhaps he should have made him stay with his Aunt and Uncle for longer. He walked briskly across the west wing of Hogwarts towards The Infirmary. It was close enough that using Fawkes would be unnecessary.
McGonagall walked quickly into the Hospital Wing whilst levitating Harry in front of her, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey were waiting anxiously for her. Harry looked worse for wear, bruises all over his face, dried blood in his hair and on his clothes, and one of his arms in a sling laid across his chest. The transfiguration professor slowly lowered him onto the awaiting bed.
"Merlin's beard! What happened to him?" Pomfrey said whilst performing diagnostic charms.
"Headmaster, it looks like he is the victim of the Cruciatus Curse. As well as a series of bludgeoners and cutters. He won't be back healthy for months. What reason could anyone have for doing this to a child?" she finished, then looking into Dumbledore's eyes questioningly.
Whilst maintaining eye contact with the old nurse, Albus took a peek into her mind. She was worried about Harry, suspicious of who did this, and scared for his well-being.
"Poppy, Death Eaters attacked the world cup, they were mugglebaiting and must have found Harry accidentally." Minerva responded sadly.
"Well I'm sure he'll be right as rain by September. Now Minerva we should leave and give Poppy time to treat him. I'll be wanting to have a conversation with Harry when he wakes though." Dumbledore said, turning to Madam Pomfrey for the last part.
•:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:• •:•.•:•.•:•:•:•:•:•:•:•
fff