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Bella's screams were loud enough to reach the heaven's above as she knelt by Harry's lifeless body. His eyes were still open. He didn't have the strength to close them. Harry still had the locket on but he was too weak to approach him and pull it off him. He disguised his inability to touch him as disgust and contempt and contented himself with it,
"Take him away and bury him in an unmarked grave in the forest."
Bella screamed louder and the sounds she was making were enough to rend his heart. It took him everything he had in him to keep his voice from quivering,
"Get him away from here, Bella. Or I shall cremate his body right here."
Bella's howled,
"HOW COULD YOU? HE ONLY WANTED TO SAVE US, AND THIS IS WHAT HE GOT FOR HIS GOOD INTENTIONS?"
He didn't have an answer for her. Harry had been the personification of everything good and pure. He'd been the epitome of bravery and beauty. He'd destroyed all that. He'd finally killed him. Harry was dead…He was gone forever...
Bella's howls of agony continued to reverberate around the chambers and he'd never heard a more desolate sound. He rose to his feet and Bella must have gotten the warning because she bent over Harry's lifeless and finally closed his eyes with trembling hands. But even when those emerald eyes were out of his sights now, they hadn't left his mind. He could still see them sparkling with life and vitality. He could still hear Harry's soft, carefree laughter, he could feel the softness of his skin, he could still taste his lips on his….
Enough…One more thought about Harry and he was certain that he would lose his grip on sanity. He watched as Bella gathered Harry's lifeless form in her arms with the utmost care and carried him away.
Everything would go back to normal now…. Everything would be as it once had been…
He lay face down, listening to the silence. He was perfectly alone. Nobody was watching. Nobody else was there. He was not perfectly sure that he was there himself. A long time later, or maybe no time at all, it came to him that he must exist, must be more than disembodied thought, because he was lying, definitely lying, on some surface. Therefore, he had a sense of a touch, and the thing against which he lay existed too.
He lay in a dark, hazy mist, though it was not like mist he had ever experienced before. His surroundings were not hidden by cloudy vapour; rather the cloudy vapour had not yet formed into surroundings. The floor on which he lay seemed to be pure black, neither warm nor cold, but simply there, a flat, blank something on which to be. He sat up and ran a hand over his throat. The locket was gone, along with the cut. He touched his face. He was not wearing glasses any more.
He'd died, hadn't he? Voldemort had slit his throat and watched him as the life had drained out of him. The sound of a child crying, reached his ears and he rose to his feet and walked a little distance to investigate it but there was nothing there except for that fog and then a voice, he recognized called his name. He spun around and saw that hateful man walking towards him. Albus Dumbledore…The crying grew worse…more shrill and desperate…Harry felt overcome by the need to soothe whoever was crying. He scanned his surroundings but saw nothing. Despair welled in his heart. He hated this helpless feeling. He was forced to focus on the evil that stood in front of him…the man who had ruined Tom…sullied him…taken away his innocence…
Dumbledore grinned and the expression forced him to shiver,
"Harry Potter..."
Harry took a step back and Dumbledore strode forwards. Harry's back hit something solid and he turned and realized that it was an immaculate black wall. He was trapped. He turned around and saw the way Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with glee. He took another step closer and raised a bony hand to touch him. Harry's breaths came in short, shallow pants as he plastered himself to the wall and tried to avoid his touch, but it was futile. Dumbledore's fingers caressed his cheek and he whispered,
"You have fought valiantly, my boy."
Harry turned his head and Dumbledore chased his cheek with his fingers before grabbing his jaw and making him face him. The crying turned into begging and Harry's heart thudded in his chest. It was Tom's voice…Tom…where was he? He looked over Dumbledore's shoulder, his gaze searching for the little boy,
"Please…No…Please, Professor…Please…Don't…Don't do this to me…"
Dumbledore forced him to face him again and Harry watched his smirk widen,
"You hear it."
He had to save him…he had to save Tom…Harry struggled against Dumbledore's grip but he held him immobile. The begging turned into jarring, agonizing screams,
"NO….NO….NO…STOP…PROFESSOR STOP….IT HURTS….IT HURTS…MAKE IT STOP…"
Harry squeezed his eyes shut as his brain conjured everything that the man standing in front of him had done to Tom. White hot rage burned his insides and his hands balled into fists. The grip on him vanished and he opened his eyes to find a surprised look on Dumbledore's face and his blackened hand…He'd been holding him with that hand, hadn't he? Harry tasted the sweet taste of victory, but it was short lived because Dumbledore's malicious grin returned, and Harry finally saw Tom appear through the dense fog. He wasn't wearing a shirt, only a pair of white shorts…his pale skin was covered in purple bruises, his lips were bloody and swollen, his brown eyes were barren and lifeless, his dark hair were tousled, and Harry saw a track of dried blood running down his inner thigh and disappearing into the blood-soaked shorts.
Harry's heart broke into a million tiny pieces and he was about to lurch forward when Dumbledore came to stand in front of Tom,
"You had your opportunity, Mr. Potter. You failed. Tom has proven that he belongs to me and me alone…"
Harry took a step closer and shouted,
"No! No, he's not yours."
Dumbledore laughed darkly,
"My darkness won. Tom murdered you, did he not? Your light lost…You lost, Mr. Potter…"
Tom whimpered behind Dumbledore and Harry shook his head,
"No, I haven't…I haven't lost…I won't give up…I'll save you, Tom…I swear I will."
Dumbledore laughed again, and the sound echoed around the fog,
"You have died, Mr. Potter. How do you ever hope to come back to life?"
Tom sobbed again, and Harry ground his teeth,
"No... He's not yours…You ruined him, and I'll do whatever it takes to get him away from your evil clutches…"