Don't Fear the Reaper
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter does not belong to me.
-oOo-
A/N: A short four-part dribble that just wouldn't let me go over the last week.
As a WARNING, this is a tragic story with a bit of an uptick at the end. It is darker than my usual writing, a bit gory at times and not for those that like fluff, since there really isn't any.
Harry will find his true powers after the loss of people he cherished. With these powers, he will make sure that all those that hurt him, his family, friends and others are dealt with. What else is someone to do if they Don't Fear the Reaper…?
Dumbledore bashing ahead, as well as fighting, death and mayhem.
Pairing is Harry/Hermione, but in a very tragic way.
-oOo-
Chapter 1
-oOo-
July 28, 1996
London, England
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod, your staff, give me comfort," Harry repeated.
It was all that he had been repeating for hours now. The priest had said it across the hall to a woman that had died shortly after.
He had been at the hospital for a day now.
"… the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil…" his whispers echoed in his ears.
He had been taken here yesterday after he had walked out before a lorry. God, it had hurt as he was hit, thrown before the vehicle, then rolled over. It felt like he had a few broken bones and ribs. His breathing had been laboured. He was welcoming the blackness of death… then it happened again.
While people were screaming and trying to get to him under the lorry, he could feel himself start to heal. A tear left his eye as he finally came to the realization that he couldn't die. This was the fifth time he had tried, and for the fifth time he found himself alive.
They had taken him to the hospital. He was covered in blood. Some of his bones were still broken and he couldn't breathe easily, but he was alive. Less than twenty-four hours later, he was sitting up and his body felt just about right again.
"… your rod, your staff, give me comfort," he said for perhaps the hundredth time.
"Why do you keep repeating that?" a bushy hair girl asked from the chair near the window.
"…I fear no evil…" he replied. "Even though I walk through…"
She shook her head and went back to reading her book.
It was an hour later when a rather frantic Remus Lupin and Tonks found him. By then, his throat was so sore, he had stopped talking.
"Harry?" Remus said as he rushed into the room. "Dear Merlin! We found you. Tonks, let the Order know. Merlin, how are you?"
Harry just stared ahead. Hermione had left him a little bit ago. Not having her here had him feeling so empty.
"Harry?" Remus asked again, as though it wasn't the first time. He looked up to the man, his sunken, haunted eyes making the werewolf take a step back. "Are you alright?"
Tonks was now in the room looking at a metal box. "Remus, he was hit by a lorry and has some head trauma and a host of other injuries. How is he sitting up?"
"Have you taken care of the staff?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, but it would be better if Shacklebolt or Moody were here to help," she said. "Remus, he doesn't look good."
"I know. You take care of everything here. I'll get him to Hogwarts. Come on, Harry," Remus said, coming over to the bed to carry him away. Harry let his body go limp. He really didn't have anything to live for.
A while later Madam Pomfrey was talking quietly with Remus, Tonks, Professor Dumbledore and Mr Weasley.
"I can't find much wrong with him except he needs to eat more. All the wounds that were documented by the Muggle healers have mended themselves," Pomfrey was whispering.
"Why isn't he saying anything then? He just stares at that wall or the chair?" Mr Weasley asked.
"I don't know. His reflexes are normal. He hasn't said a word to me, though. Did he say anything when you found him at the hospital?" she asked Remus.
"Nothing. I think sending him to Privet Drive was a mistake this year," Remus told Dumbledore.
"There was no better option. He needs his mother's protection until Voldemort is defeated or he turns seventeen," Dumbledore told them.
Hermione put her book down in her lap. She was sitting in the chair next to his bed. "They are very worried about you," she told him.
Harry didn't say anything.
"You should talk to someone," she encouraged.
"I can't die," he replied.
There was a sad look to her. "It's not your time, Harry. I think you should talk to them. You need someone."
"I can't die," he repeated. He had tried. God, he had tried. Drinking Bleach. Taking all his aunt's depression meds. Jumping before that lorry. Slitting his wrists. Trying to starve himself. "I can't die."
"I don't want you too. Not yet," Hermione told him.
"I don't want to live. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you walk with me; your rod, your staff, give me comfort," he told her.
"It is not your time, Harry. You need to talk with people. Find someone you can confide in. Find someone you can love," she encouraged.
It hurt too much. He couldn't love again. "Even though I walk through the valley…"
He didn't notice the small group looking at him. "Who is he talking to?" Dumbledore asked with great concern.
Pomfrey shook her head. "I'm not sure he isn't in his right mind," she whispered back.
"It's a quote from the Bible. It's usually given in the Last Rights or when someone dies," Tonks said with fear.
"I told you that he shouldn't have gone," Remus said a little angrily.
"Can you not use a different line?" Hermione questioned. "There are other passages that hold more hope."
Harry couldn't think of any more fitting. "… of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you walk besides me…" he stated, trying not to look at the hooded figure who stood on the other side of him. The spectre had been there for weeks. Hermione gave a 'help me' look to the figure.
"…your rod, your staff, give me comfort," Harry said.
"Poppy, what can we do?" Dumbledore asked, fear lacing through him. If Harry had lost the plot, what was he going to do to defeat Voldemort. The Prophesy was very specific, but there would be no hope of the boy surviving like this.
"Perhaps we could ask a mind healer?" Mr Weasley suggested.
"I will talk with Severus," Dumbledore said.
"I don't think you should. Harry was very upset with him last year," Remus told him.
"We cannot get St Mungo's involved in this," Dumbledore said.
"We should," Madam Pomfrey replied.
"Is it safe to trust them? You-Know-Who has been very active since the night at the Ministry. I don't know if we can trust anyone outside the Order at the moment," Mr Weasley said.
"I don't trust Severus with Harry in this state," Remus countered.
"There isn't another," Dumbledore said. "I also think that Harry and Severus were able to make a bond this past year during their occlumency lessons."
"I don't think you heard the same thing Sirius and I did," Remus countered. "I don't want Severus near him."
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…" Harry repeated for the umpteenth time.
-oOo-
That night…
Hogwarts, Scotland
Severus was stalking towards the hospital wing. He had been called back earlier in the day but had still been tending to his Dark Lord. Potter had done some real damage that night of the DOM and Severus was just starting to get ahead of the rot in the homunculus that his Master called a body. Why the man decided to possess Potter he would never know, but the protections the Dark Lord thought he had absorbed during the ritual did not seem to hold anymore.
Now, instead of doing his duty, he had to sneak away for a few hours to pander to his other Master. Slamming the doors open, Poppy rushed out of her office. "What is the meaning… oh, Severus, you finally made it. Don't slam the doors like that when I have a patient," she lightly scolded him.
He rolled his eyes at her. "Where is he?"
"Just over there. I would be gentle with him. Potter doesn't seem right at the moment," she told him.
"Obviously," he sneered. "Otherwise, I would not have been summoned."
"Severus, I mean it. He is still my patient and if you cause him any harm I will ban you from the infirmary," she warned.
Severus just frowned, then stalked off to a set of curtains that had been indicated.
When he threw them back, Potter was sitting up in bed. He was looking at the chair. "Why can't I come with you?" the boy asked. He was talking to nothing. "I don't want to be here anymore," Potter said in a whine.
Could the boy be anymore pathetic? "Right, Potter, no more pretending. What is wrong with you?"
Potter shifted to look at him. Severus hated the spawn of Potter, but even he was a little concerned to see the slightly emaciated look, his sunken eyes and the dull quality to the emerald orbs that usually held so much defiance like his father. Now, they just seemed to hold death.
After a moment, Potter looked back to the chair. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…"
Severus had to supress a shiver. His mother had fallen into the Muggle's religion as she got older. He still felt at times that giving up her magic had led to the way their lives went.
Grabbing the boys chin, he pulled his face up to regard him. Potter didn't resist. All he kept doing was repeating that inane prattle. Perhaps Dumbledore had been right this time and Potter had finally gone round the twist.
A slight evil smile came over his face. He had never bought into the whole Boy-Who-Lived, finding the Potter boy to be a waste of time. Now it appears he had been correct for all those years. With a savage glee, he brought his wand up. Severus would like nothing else than to tell Albus the boy was a waste of flesh now. "Legilimens!"
He was immediately let into Potter's mind. There wasn't even the pitiful fight or barrier that had been there before. His glee at knowing the boy was so week was short lived. He broke in, but was surprised to find nothing.
Usually, Potter was a swirl of emotions. He thought about his friends. His pathetic godfather. The way his parents had sacrificed themselves. His classes. The way he felt when everyone mocked, criticized, or denigrated him. Snape particularly liked those memories. It was a fitting punishment for the son of his most hated rival.
None of that was here today. If the boy had cracked, he should have even less control than he had before. The blank plane of nothing that was before him was slightly disturbing. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for he walks besides me," the voice in Potter's head said.
A chill ran through Severus.
"Why are you here?" a very familiar know it all voice questioned.
Severus turned to see the hated girl. He had toasted a cup of fire whiskey the night he found out that Dolohov had killed her. Looking at her, he sneered. She looked like she had in his last class, with a Gryffindor trimmed school robe, skirt and stockings. Potter must like the schoolgirl thing. Personally, it did nothing for Severus, having spent far too much time around annoying brats.
"Even in death Potter can't let you go," Severus said, hoping to get a reaction and to get beyond this desolate plane.
"I think you have it wrong, professor. It's not that he can't let me go, like you. It's that he longs to join me," she told him in a teacher's tone.
His sneered grew. "Don't lecture me, girl."
"I'm not, but I can tell you Lily Potter is not pleased with you, Sevie" she told him. "She is rather upset with you and so many that were supposed to take care of and look over Harry.
Severus paled some. Only Lily had ever called him that name. "How do you know that?" he hissed at her. This apparition in Potter's head was starting to get to him.
"You must know the Potter's connection with Death? He has allowed me to guide Harry, to keep him company until his job is complete," she said in a rather forlorn tone.
"Potter uses you as a guardian?" he asked with disdain.
The girl shook her head, her more curly hair from the last year flouncing around her head. "I am more his desires and conscience. That is his guardian," she said pointing behind him.
Severus snorted before turning. If this was the best Potter could do, then he should be able to break into the boy's inner mind quickly. When he turned, his eyes turned up. He involuntarily turned his whole head up to look up at a cloaked figure. In one hand the figure held a thick wand, almost a rod. In the other was a staff with a large, hooked blade on the top.
The malice coming off the thing had him stumbling back. It scared him enough that Severus tried to back out of Potter's mind. He felt a small tinge of panic take up in him when he couldn't leave. No one had ever kept him from retreating before.
"I'm sorry, professor, but Harry and his guardian are quite upset with you. He thinks you are part of why Sirius and I died. It is an anger I can't calm. Death wants its due as well. You really should have been more polite. I hope Lily has some compassion for you," Granger told him.
"I do have one question before Death decides your fate. Why did it take so long for Dumbledore and everyone to arrive at the Ministry?" she asked.
Snape thought he might finally have a way in. "Did you really think I would tell Dumbledore or the others right away? Black tried to kill me once. I thought it fair I return the favour on his godson."
The girl looked so disappointed in him. "I had hoped you would have repented. I hope Lily has no mercy on you for what you did to Harry and others," she told him. The girl looked in amused horror as he felt something burn from his chest to his groin. He turned to see his cloak and clothes cut open. The curved blade was not far from his stomach. He started to scream as his intestines fell out. He could feel the pain…
-oOo-
In the Infirmary…
Poppy didn't agree with this, but she knew that something had to be done. She would have preferred a mind healer, or Albus, but he had insisted on Severus. Trying to get Harry out of his stupor would work best with someone he trusted.
She was taken out of her thoughts when a blood curdling scream ripped through the curtains around Harry's bed. Her wand came out. Ripping the curtains open, she found Severus curled into a ball on the floor, screaming as though he was in the worst agony she had ever heard.
"Dear, Merlin. What happened!" she exclaimed, moving to the downed man.
He was balling up as he screamed bloody murder. Her wand came out. She was just starting her diagnostics when Severus suddenly straightened. He arched his back, throwing his head back and feet out straight. His muscles were so tight that before she could do anything, there was an audible crack. Severus instantly quieted, then slumped, as though all his strings had been cut.
She looked on in horror at the look that was still etched into his face. She ran her wand over him. A hand went to her mouth to find he was dead. He had somehow snapped his own neck.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am death," Potter said from above her.
She looked up to see Harry staring at Severus with eyes so cold she shivered.
After a moment, they took on the more vacant stare he had had since coming here. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for he walks besides me," Harry repeated for the hundredth time today.
It felt like Death himself walked over her as she looked between the boy and her colleague with fear. She certainly feared evil…
-oOo-
July 30, 1996
Hogwarts, Scotland
Things had been very unsettled for the last few days. No one knew what happened to Severus. As far as Poppy could find he had a severe reaction to something. Albus knew he had been working with experimental potions due to Tom's issues since the Ministry. The best he could put together was that something he had experimented with had killed him. If it was something due to him working with Harry to heal him, surely they both would have suffered if a Legilimency probe had been going on at the time.
On the contrary, Harry seemed to be in just the same position he had been for the last few days. He would talk to Ms Granger when no one appeared to be watching him. Otherwise, he only repeated that inane quote, or variations of it.
Poppy, on the other hand, was convinced that Harry had something to do with it. Whatever he had said just after Severus died had her spooked. She was spooked enough that she refused to be left with him alone.
As this situation was getting nowhere, he decided it was time to move him. Harry needed help and isolating him had probably put him into this position. Albus thought he was doing the right thing in hardening the boy. Apparently, he was more fragile than he expected. How was Harry to be a martyr and survive if he didn't want to seem to live now.
Perhaps waiting for an opportune time to help Harry and his friends had been the wrong decision. He needed Tom to come out in the open. Losing his godfather had been a step too far for the boy. Losing the last of his family had broken him. The loss of Ms Granger had been unfortunate, but he didn't think it that catastrophic. Perhaps he had misjudged the boy's attachment to her and should have let him go to her funeral?
Walking into the hospital wing, Poppy came out to greet him. "Thank goodness you are here. He needs to get out of here or you need to find a proper mind healer," she demanded of him.
Albus looked at her very curiously. She had never been anxious to be rid of a patient before. "What has happened?" he asked.
"Nothing, and that is the issue. He just keeps repeating that phrase and will only talk to whatever is in his head," she told him.
Albus frowned. He had hoped that there would be some improvement. Harry had to get out of here, but he didn't know where to send him. If he kept acting this way, he was sure the Weasley's wouldn't know what to do. Perhaps he could get Harry to Grimmauld Place and let the Order in again? Nymphadora's mother was a mind healer. Perhaps she could look at him?
-oOo-
August 1, 1996
London, England
Harry's condition hadn't gotten better, unless you counted the rocking he had started as signs of life. Remus was very concerned for the son of his best friends. He wouldn't talk to anyone. He was having conversations with the dead Hermione as though she was right next to him. His magic also felt cold. Remus had no other way of describing it.
It was early evening and he had just put a plate of food before him. "You should eat," Remus told him.
With a nod, Harry picked up his fork. Remus rose an eyebrow. It was the first time Harry had acknowledged him like that. Harry started to eat as he stared at the chair before him. "I'm eating," he told the chair. After a second, he nodded. "I can't die."
Remus frowned. He was about to say something when the fire flared. He turned to see a frightened head of a redhead. "Ron?"
"Remus, the Burrow is under attack. Ginny and I were able to make it to the Lovegoods. Mum and dad and Bill are still back there," Ron said in a panic.
"Merlin. I'll warn the others," Remus told him.
Ron pulled his head out of the fire. Remus reached for his wand, only to find his pocket empty. "Bloody hell, where did I leave it?"
The fire roared to life behind him. He spun to the green flames. "The Burrow," Harry calmly said. Remus recognized his wand in Harry's hand.
"Harry! NO!" he cried after the boy. Remus just missed grabbing him before he stepped through the flames.
-oOo-
Late in the night...
The Burrow, England
Harry stepped out of the fire into another. The Burrow was on fire. The sound of a spell fight could be heard outside.
"I am Death," Harry said to the bushy hair girl besides him.
Her eyes looked sad. "You are the one to bring those to Death that deserve it while saving those that don't."
Harry nodded. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," he started, flicking the wand in his hand. His will sent a blasting curse at the wall. It blew out, sending burning pieces of wood and splinters all over the grounds.
Someone started to scream. Stepping out of the blazing house, Harry caught a figure in black robes and a white mask on the ground, clutching at a piece of wood in his side. "Diffindo," Harry whispered in a loving way. The white cutting curse cut through the man's neck, silencing him. The figure slumped over.
The fighting around the Burrow stopped for a second.
To his right, Bill and Mr Weasley were guarding a moaning form of Mrs Weasley. Six others in Death Eater garb were trying to kill them. "It's Potter! Kill him," a man with a cane and black wand suddenly yelled.
Harry, seeing the figures raise their wands, crouched, then started to run at them. "I fear no evil, for Death walks beside me," he said, closing the distance enough to have the closest Death Eater shoot over his head. The wand Harry had stolen from Remus came up. "Bombarda!" he snapped.
He was close enough now that the figure didn't have time to shield. Instead, the killing curse died on the wand when his head suddenly blew up in a shroud of mist.
"His rod," Harry said louder, pointing is wand at the ground. When he pulled it up, a metal rod about three feet long shot up. He dodged two spells before the rod impaled itself in the chest of the next man, going through enough to stick out both sides.
Harry dodged a few more spells as the man gurgled, grabbing at the metal rod sticking out of him. After a moment he fell over.
"His staff," Harry stated. Harry picked up a branch that had been blasted off of a tree. He spun to avoid a few more curses. As he straightened out, a banishing charm sent the stick sailing at the next Death Eater. The shield he brought up was meant for a spell. The branch struck him in the chest. The man went flying through the air to impale into the ground a good twenty feet back. His body fell limp as the branch stopped.
"KILL HIM!" the man with the cane scream, starting to send only killing curses at Harry. The two others started to panic, backing away.
"For it is a comfort," Harry said, ducking and dodging more spells. He moved like a man possessed, with more agility than anyone had any right to have.
When he started to repeat his mantra, his voice rose. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am Death."
Two cutting curses hit the shield of the next man, then a piercing curse shot through it when it shattered, making a finger sized hole between the man's eyes before blasting out the back of his head. The Death Eater besides him was covered in brain, bone and hair. He panicked and started to run.
The man he knew to be Lucius Malfoy started to back track. They were probably trying to make it to the edge of the anti-apparition wards they most likely set up. Harry sent a piercing hex at the man that had turned, who fell with a scream as it when through his back out through his shoulder.
Malfoy was casting killing cursed that Harry kept dodging. "I fear no evil, for he walks besides me!"
The man stepped back, twirling to avoid an overpowered blasting curse. Harry side stepped, letting loose with a series of cutting hexes. Malfoy shielded and dodged until one of Harry's spells made it past. Malfoy cried out, dropping to the ground. Harry had gotten his wand arm. It was cut from his wrist to his elbow.
Walking up to him, Harry pulled off the man's mask. Malfoy, sweaty from the duel, gave Harry a menacing look. "You won't dare kill me, Potter. My Master will come for you."
"I fear no evil," Harry told him, raising his wand. "For I am Death. Bombarda!"
Malfoy's head wound up all over the lawn.
Looking around, it couldn't have been more than sixty seconds since he had walked out of the burning Burrow. Five men in masks lay dead on the ground. Lucius would only be recognizable by the cane at his side. He was just in time to see the one he hit through the shoulder crawl and then disappear.
Behind him, Bill and Mr Weasley were looking at him with wide eyes. The girl that he longed to see walked through the carnage. "You have done your duty tonight, Harry. You should rest now," Hermione said in a kind tone.
"Harry?" Bill asked, taking a cautious step towards him.
"I fear no evil, for I am Death," he told Bill before the wand fell out of his hand. Harry swayed, hoping that Hermione would catch him. He was disappointed as the gravel drive met his face…
-oOo-
August 3, 1996
London, England
Harry sat in the bed. He looked at his hands. He had no doubt that he ended six lives yesterday, and yet he felt no guilt about it. For the first time, his head turned away from the beautiful brunette to the tall, brooding dark figure.
It was the first time he had done so, knowing the apparition was there, but not wanting to confront this devil that he now knew was a close family friend. "Am I supposed to feel guilty?" he asked the figure.
It just stood there, silent as night on a windless moor.
"How did I move like that?" he asked.
"You don't fear Death," Hermione answered.
"I can't die," Harry said, wanting too.
"Don't wish it, Harry. If you lose yourself, I lose you," she said, the first hint of real pain entering her voice.
He turned to look at her. "If I am Death, how do I not lose myself?"
"By loving someone," she told him.
Harry looked down at his hands again. "I don't have anyone," he told her….
From outside the room, Remus was holding a tray of food, listening to the one-sided conversation. His heart was breaking to hear Harry. What he had done yesterday was appalling but given what he had lost pretty much everyone he cared for, Remus wasn't too surprised. To make sure it didn't happen again though, Remus had left his wand in the hallway.
"Good morning, Harry. Did you sleep well?" Remus asked.
Harry was still looking at the empty chair besides his bed. Harry insisted on having it there, even though no one sat in it. "The shadow of death is upon me," Harry told the chair, then appeared to listen to something no one else could hear. It was rather disturbing.
"I made a full English breakfast. Why don't you eat up, and then we can talk about yesterday. Dumbledore wants to talk to you later," Remus told him.
The sunken eyes and haunted look was etched deeper into his face. "The rod; the staff, gives me comfort."
Harry never spoke to anyone directly. "Eat up. I'll be back in a bit."
Remus was very unnerved. James had done something like what Harry had done a few times in the last war, but never against six and never anyone that had been disarmed. From what he understood he didn't even give any of the ones to attack the Burrow a chance. Not one stunner, disarming or another innocuous spell was used. Every spell was designed to kill or maim. This was not the same boy that they had sent to Privet Drive. Again, he cursed Dumbledore. They never should have left him alone or kept him from Hermione's funeral or Sirius' memorial.
Harry ate in silence and would remain so for the rest of the day.
-oOo-
August 4, 1996
London, England
Harry shot bolt upright in bed. The screams in his head wouldn't stop. He felt the Dark Lord and he was upset. "Kreacher!" he called the traitorous elf.
A few seconds later, the elf popped in. "Kreacher won't. Kreacher won't come to the nasty half blood. Kreacher wants his mistress!"
"Kreacher, get me a wand and then to Bones Manor," Harry demanded.
"Kreacher won't! Kreacher won't" the elf screamed.
Harry got out of bed. He leaned down to the thing. The elf started to shake, its tearful eyes going wide as Harry lifted his chin. "You will do as I tell you elf, or you will not join your relatives when you die," he said in a deeper voice. The dark figure to his left was channelling itself through him.
Kreacher's mouth moved a few times before snapping his fingers. A wand appeared on the bed. Harry grabbed it, feeling the power in it. It was a wand that liked battle and blood. He didn't care whose it was at the moment, just that it was eager. "Now, get me to Bones Manor."
Kreacher nodded before grabbing Harry's shirt and snapping his fingers. A second later, they were on the lawn. Not far away four people in black robes were outside a large manor where an obvious spell fight was going on inside.
"Can't we go in?" a man asked.
"We are to stay out here and make sure the anti-apparition and portkey wards stay up," another replied.
"I hear she has a looker of a niece. Are we going to let Jugson and his lot have all the fun?" a third enquired.
"I won't watch you deflower and defile another pureblood, Avery," a woman disgustedly said.
"It's not like they are good for anything else once they are a blood…" Whatever else Avery was going to say was lost as a piercing hex ripped through the back of his head. The mask exploded, spraying two of the Death Eaters in blood and gore.
The woman turned, only to have a piercing hex go right through her mask.
"Go home," he told his elf, dodging a nasty looking orange spell. Harry slashed his wand a few times as he let Death dominate him. Cutting hexes were blocked. "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" Harry screamed, aiming just between the two at a large stone. He wasn't sure his spell had been that powerful, but when it hit the stone there was a massive explosion.
Harry was sent flying through the air, landing in a lump a good thirty feet away. Pain wracked his body. His left arm was at a strange angle. His ears were ringing. He let out a scream of pain as his shoulder suddenly popped back into the socket.
Tears were streaming down his face as he sat up. There was a crater about ten feet across and three deep where the stone had been. He couldn't see any lights of spells in the manor anymore. Part of it was burning.
There was a crack that came over the ringing in his ears. Three other cracks soon followed. Three Death Eaters had appeared where the stone had been. Two of them fell into the crater. The other stumbled on the edge. The one Harry had eyes for was a man with bone white skin, a bald head and a dark wood wand.
"Who did this!" Voldemort asked in a deathly hissing tone. He kicked at a pile twenty feet from the crater and on the far side of Harry. He noticed that it was only the top half of a body. "Find them! Bones got away! I will have my revenge!"
Harry got up, stumbling some. His side burned. He probably broke a rib or two.
"Who is that?" one of the Death Eaters asked, pointing towards him.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," Harry said loud enough to be heard.
"It's him!" one of the Death Eaters shouted. He turned to run, scrambling out of the crater.
"Coward!" Voldemort snapped, a killing curse ending the man's run.
The other two started to cast nasty spells. Harry moved like a drunken sailor, just barely avoiding the spells as he jabbed his wand as fast as he could. A barrage of piercing curses rippled through the air. The Death Eater in the crater was closest and didn't stop casting to get a shield up in time.
Harry watched rather dispassionately as a few ripped through the man. He dropped with a scream, calling out for his "Mummy!"
The other man got a shield up.
"I do not fear evil, for Death walks besides me," Harry said, starting to alternate jabbing and slashing his wand. The piercing hexes shattered the man's shield, and then he was cut as two cutting hexes crossed over him like an X. He fell in four pieces.
"The rod; the staff, are my comfort," Harry said, stopping as Voldemort just looked at him. Harry thought he saw fear on the white face.
"Potter?" the man asked with disdain.
"I fear no evil, for I am death," Harry replied, feeling the power thrum through him to see the man that had been responsible for all his pain. Harry started his jabbing and slashing again.
Voldemort turned, dissaparating and appearing just behind Harry. Harry rolled forward, a green light just missing him. Harry rolled to the side, getting sprayed with dirt as a spell dug a deep rut just next to him. Harry's wand came up. "Disgorgio!"
The sickly-looking red curse had Voldemort stepping to the side. Harry hadn't stopped, sending another blasting curse and then a few cutting hexes. Voldemort scowled as he was forced to shield. The bombarda shattered the silver shield. Voldemort stumbled, then hissed as he put a hand over his right arm as he was just clipped.
Harry jumped to his feet, his wand up.
"That was more powerful, Potter."
"Even though I walk through the valley…" Harry said.
"You waste your breath on such Muggle trivialities. Avada Kedavra!"
Harry dodged. "Frigoflamgelum!"
A whip made of black fire came out of Harry's wand. Voldemort's eyes widened. He cast another, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" as Harry flicked the black flame whip. Voldemort's spell went wide as he was forced to avoid the whip. He shot a jet of water towards Harry. When the fire whip met the water, it evaporated, but the whip kept lashing out.
Voldemort snarled at him.
Harry just flicked the whip again. The silver shield came back. It resounded with a definitive gong that echoed in the night.
"I fear no evil," Harry said louder.
"You will fear me!" Voldemort roared, a wall of energy coming out of his wand. Harry dropped the whip and took his wand over his head, swiping it down his body as fast as he could. The wave of destructive magic split around him. He dove to the ground as a sickly green light followed the waive. Voldemort screamed in rage as Harry rolled, avoiding another gouging curse.
Harry dove his wand into the ground. "His rod!" a dozen metal rods shot out of the ground.
He was able to come into a crouch, his wand up, as Voldemort brought his silver shield up again. "His staff!" Harry commanded. His wand pointed towards the ground and a metal staff about five feet tall grew out of the ground.
There was a series of cracks around them.
"Drop your wands!" an Auror commanded.
Voldemort snarled, before spinning on the spot. He dissapparated before anything could be done.
"For it is a comfort," Harry said, grabbing the staff and standing up.
"Wand down, son," an older man ordered.
"Stand down!" a woman commanded. She was limping into the circle of Aurors. "Harry Potter?"
"I am Death," he told her.
"Merlin, he fought off You-Know-Who again," another Auror said. There was a murmur as the monocle wearing woman came closer.
"Merlin, get a medic," she ordered.
Hermione came up to him as he leaned on the staff. Her hand cuffed his cheek. "You did well, luv. Rest. You will be called to judge again."
"When will I be with you again?" Harry asked her.
"When your job is complete," she told him.
Madam Bones looked at him with concern. She didn't know who he was talking too, but he was covered in cuts and blood was oozing down his face, his exposed legs below the shorts where he had been cut badly and blood was soaking around rips in his shirt. She had to move in to catch him as he swayed.