Chapter Ten
It's not every day you get to turn yourself in to the Aurors for doing the sorts of thing that it turns out I had been doing. They had been a little unsure of how to proceed at first, so they put me in an interrogation room with Inspector Moody and three other Aurors, and I told them everything I knew. As much as I knew.
Chapters are sprouting in at least five or six other major cities already. This is tightly-regimented organization, with many cells capable of operating completely independent central leadership. Look, go to that house, ok? Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. That's our headquarters. In the back, buried in the garden, you'll find the body of Hermione Granger. In the basement, you gonna find some cauldons used very recently to make large quantities of demon powder. I believe the plan is to blow up these important wizard buildings across England and Europe.
"Why these buildings? Why the wizard world?" Moody asked me, when I was done.
"Cause enough of a ruckus, the Memory Charmers can't hide it form the Muggles. It'll force the Wizard and Muggle worlds into a confrontation, and the Wizards will have to seize control or be destroyed. It has to be done now, while magic can still beat Muggle technology."
Moody grunted and picked up some files. "Keep him talking. I need to send an owl." He left the room, the door clicked shut, and the three Aurors turned and smiled at me.
The tall black Auror was beaming. "I really admire what you're doing."
"What?"
"You're a brave man to order this," he continued. The three pulled out their wands. The female Auror with short spiky purple hair spoke next.
"You said if anyone ever interferes with Dumbledore's Army, even you"... There was a snap-hiss as the third one's wand erupted with a blade of blue-white energy.
"We gotta get his balls," said the third, a square-jawed wizard with thick straw-colored hair.
"It's useless to fight," said the black one.
"It's a really powerful gesture, Lord Voldemort. It'll set quite an example," said the woman. I stood up and backed away from them, towards the door. "You're making a big mistake," I said. I am Harry's cold sweat.
"You said you'd say that."
"I'm not Lord Voldemort!"
"You told us you'd say that, too," said the purple-haired girl.
"Okay. I'm Lord Voldemort. Listen to me. I'm giving you a direct order. We are aborting this mission right now."
"You said you would definitely say that", said the black one. All three lunge at me and grab me. The woman tears the bottom of my robe off, the other two holding me down. "Are you out of your fucking minds? You're Aurors!" I screamed. There was a knock at the door, and we all froze.
"Is somebody timing this?" said the square-jawed one one. Then, to me, "Keep your mouth shut. Shit!"
The woman went over to the door. It cracked open, and I could hear Moody talking on the other side. "Some of this info checks out. Let's go over to that house on Grimmauld Place."
The woman nodded, then closed the door. Too late, I yell "Hey, wait!", but he doesn't hear. His magic eye must not be as magic as I thought. I struggle against the Aurors, flailing my arms and legs desperately. "Sir, we have to do this," one of them says. "You're going to fuck up the time", says another. And then there's a distraction when they're looking for a rubber band, and somehow I grab a wand out of the square jawed one's hands and have it pointing at all of them, I'm off the table and backing against the wall brandishing it at them.
"Stay away from me! Drop your wands! Fucking drop it!" They comply, and lower themselves to the ground when I order them. My robes are still wide-open, I'm shaking from the adrenaline, and holding an unfamiliar wand on three fully-trained Aurors. I back away, towards the door.
"The first who comes out of this fucking door gets... Gets a hex salad, you understand!" I yell. Then I open the door, and slip out into the hall, down the elevator shaft, into the lobby where I leap over the turnstiles, over the marble and tile floor, and dive into a fireplace just as another wizard exits, blowing past him, getting out of the Auror's Station, going somewhere, anywhere, anywhere other than here. I don't remember where I emerged to or from, just that I kept going from fireplace to fireplace, to try and lose any pursuit, running and yelling and ducking and dodging.
And then I found myself standing on the street in Hogsmeade in the middle of the night, staring up at the castle of Hogwarts on the hill far off in the distance. One of the files was still in my hand, for the castle. Without hesitating, I turned and ran up the road to Hogwarts. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped acid. Then I ran some more.
The gates were locked and warded, and Voldemort appeared, standing on the other side, taunting me.
"What the fuck are you doing? Running around with your robe wide open? Man, you look like a crazy person!"
"No, I'm on to you," I say. "I know what's going on here."
Voldemort laughs, and I grab a rock and throw it at him laughing behind the gate. The rock crashes and clatters, without making so much as a dent. I grab the wand I took from the Auror, and in a blind leap of faith point it at the locked gates and yell "Alomohora!" Responding to the wand, the gates swing open, and I pound up the gravel path to the castle.
Deep in the dungeons, in the open spaces that are used for storage or flood control or whatever, are dozens of barrels sitting around the foundation columns. Demon powder.
Voldemort is sitting on top of one of them as I approach, eating an apple. "Now what are you doing?"
"I'm stopping this," I say, looking at all the barrels.
"Why? Greatest thing you've ever done, man."
"No, I can't let this happen."
"You know, there are ten other bombs in ten other buildings," he smirks.
"Goddamnit. Since when is Dumbledore's Army about murder?"
"The buildings are empty. Security and maintenance are all our people, and Hogwarts is out for the summer. We're not killing anyone, man, we're going to make them kings!"
"Hermione is dead! They used the killing curse on her!"
"If you wanna make an omelet..." Voldemort shrugs.
"No, I'm not listening to you, you're not even there."
I pry open the lid of the barrel with a dozen wires sprouting out of it and look inside. The inside hums quietly with a thick multicolored web of spell energy, all contingency chain-reaction spells set to detonate all the barrels from this primer barrel, and prevent people from doing exactly what I'm trying to do now. Defusing the entire setup is as simple as dispelling the correct enchantment in the chain.
"Wouldn't do that," Voldemort says. "Unless you know which spell is what."
An hourglass sits horizontal, rubies sliding from one side to the other. There isn't much time left.
"If you know, then I know." I slowly lower the wand into the barrel, and suddenly Voldemort is peering over the edge with me, his face directly in mine.
"Or: Maybe I knew you'd know, so I spent the whole day thinking about the wrong spells."
I stare at the network of quietly humming energy, following paths. Red to blue to green to yellow to purple back to green... I place the wand near the green spell, pulsing quietly.
"You think?" Voldemort asks. I tighten my grip.
"Oh heavens, no, not the green one. Dispel anyone but the green one."
Deletrius!
The entire spiderweb fizzles into nothing. The hourglass stops moving.
"I asked you not to do that!" Voldemort lunges at me, knocking me on my ass. I stand up and wave the wand at him, a concussive spell. It goes high, and impacts into the stone column.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Voldemort yells, spreading his arms wide. "Okay! You are now firing a wand at your imaginary friend, near FOUR HUNDRED GALLONS of DEMON POWDER!!"
Voldemort advances towards me, and I fire again, out of reflex. He screams in exasperation, punches me in the face, and grabs the wand out of my hand. The last thing I see is the cold stone floor rushing up to my face as I fall unconscious.
"THREE MINUTES. THIS IS it. The beginning. Ground zero."
I think this is about where we came in.
"Would you like to say a few words to mark the occasion?" Voldemort asks me, removing the wand from my mouth.
I still can't think of anything.
"Ah. Flashback humor." He twirls the wand around in his hand, moving towards the window. "It's getting exciting now... Two and a half. Think of everything we've accomplished, man." Below, the Durmstrang ship is sitting in the lake, the Beauxbatons carriage on the lawn outside the Great Hall, quietly brought here by the house elves, now empty.
A Knight Bus slams into existence outside the gates, and a dozen house elves emerge. Carrying Ginny between them, they tromp up towards the castle. I can hear her screaming, all the way up here.
Why is she here?
"Tying up loose ends."
I look over the edge, at the destruction running rampant in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Since I disarmed one set of bombs here, Voldemort did the next best thing and called as many house elves as he could to the castle, to destroy everything else by hand. Every other bomb is going to go off, so the wizard-Muggle war is still only two minutes away.
I know this because Voldemort knows this.
I'm begging you, don't do this.
Voldemort sneers. "I'm not doing this. We are doing this. This is what we want."
No, I don't want this.
"Right, except 'you' is meaningless now. We have to forget about you."
Jesus, you're a voice in my head.
"You're a voice in mine!"
You're a fucking hallucination, why can't I get rid of you?
"You need me," he says.
No, I don't. I really don't anymore...
"Hey, you created me!" he says. "I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility."
I do. I am responsible, for all of it and I accept that. So please, I'm begging you, call it off.
"Have I ever let us down?" he demands. "How far have you come because of me? I will bring us through this. As always, I will carry you kicking and screaming and in the end, you'll thank me."
I'm grateful to you, for everything you've done for me. But this is too much. I don't want this.
"What do you want? Wanna go back to the shit job, fucking closet home? Fuck you! I won't do it."
This can't be happening.
"It's already done, so shut up. Sixty seconds, can you see all right?"
I look down from him, staring at my hands. I can figure this out. I can figure this out. This is not for real. The wand is not even in your hand. The wand's in my hand. The wand is in my hand.
And the wand is in my hand.
"Hey, good for you. It doesn't change a thing." Voldemort is unimpressed.
I look up and stare at him for a long moment, then raise the wand and put it against my temple.
"Why do you want to put a wand to your head?" Voldemort asks.
Not my head, Voldemort. Our head.
"Interesting," Voldemort says as he moves away from the ramparts towards me. "What are you going to do with this, Quidditch-boy? Hey, it's you and me." He holds out a hand. "Friends?"
Voldemort, I want you to really listen to me.
"Okay".
My eyes are open.
I move the wand up, place the tip against my skull, and scream out a spell. Pain explodes in my forehead, unbearable pain unlike any I've ever felt before, wracking my entire body. The world goes green and smells of ozone and I collapse in a heap on the floor. Blood streams from a hole in my forehead.
Though the blood is in my eyes and blinding me, I can see Voldemort standing before me, a distant look in his eyes as they take on a green tinge. He coughs a puff of emerald smoke.
"What's that smell?" he says faintly, and collapses in a heap.
The trapdoor to the top of the tower slams open, and I hear movement.
"Where is everybody?" a house elf says.
"I dunno," says another. "What's going on?"
Then one of them sees me. "Lord Voldemort!" They drop their butterbeers and rush over to me. "Sir, are you alright?" one of them asks.
I wipe the blood from my face and cough. Oh, yeah, I'm okay.
"You look terrible. What happened?"
Oh, nothing. It's no problem.
"No, no, sir, he's not kidding, you look really awful. You need medical assistance."
Look, I'm fine. Everything's fine.
More screaming, and Ginny is atop the tower with the rest of us, kicking and screaming. Let her go, I tell them, and she shoves them away as they set her on her feet.
"By Merlin's Beard! You!"
Hi, Ginny, I say lamely. I turn to the house elves. Leave her with me, get your stuff, I'll meet you downstairs.
"Are you sure, sir?"
Yes, I'm sure.
Ginny stalks furiously through the house elves as they head back towards the trap door. "You fucker!" she screams. "What kind of sick fucking game are you playing now, you-- Oh my God! Your face!" Her anger evaporates as she sees the wound on my forehead, the blood streaming down my face.
Yeah, I know.
"What happened?" she pulls a handkerchief out of her purse and begins dabbing at it.
Don't ask.
"Is that..." she begins to say. Over by the trapdoor, a house elf has picked up the wand from the ground and mutters "Priori incantato" over it. A small puff of green smoke appears, and we all hear the quiet wail of agony.
"Avada Kedavra?" she says in disbelief, dabbing my forehead. "But... There's only this wound... Shaped like a lightning bolt."
The house elves descend into the tower.
"I can't believe he's still standing," one says.
"One tough motherfucker," says another.
Ginny is digging in her purse for some salve. "Who did this?"
I did, actually. I look at the last house elf, about to head down the trapdoor. "Find some gauze."
Ginny stares. "You Avada Kedavra'd yourself?"
Yeah, but it's okay. Ginny, look at me. I look into those big pretty green eyes, in the pale face with the red hair. I'm really okay. Everything's going to be fine.
There is a roar, and other towers in what will soon be what once was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy shudder. The Divination Tower shakes and leans over, collapsing as it goes, and slams down on the Beauxbatons carriage. Another roar, and the sides of the Durmstrang ship explode outward, and it begins sinking into the lake. The Great Hall, the greenhouses, all of them light up in massive detonations.
I turn to look at Ginny and take her hand.
You met me at a very strange time in my life.