Ch. 5— Voldemort's Final Defeat
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Hermione, Severus, and Erik arrived right as the ceremony was beginning, and there was a fine assortment of magical folk gathered around the steps to the Ministry of Magic waiting for the presentation.
As people caught sight of her, they gasped, and the crowd parted. Squeezing and letting go of the two arms beside her, Hermione took a step away from them and made her way down the carpeted aisle toward the front steps of the Ministry.
There was murmuring immediately upon seeing her and lots of camera flashes. She looked behind her, Erik and Professor Snape wearing the invisibility cloak were nowhere to be seen.
She straightened her shoulders, drew a deep, centering breath, and looked straight up at Harry, and his expression was one of disbelief as he looked at her.
Hermione could see that this was not her friend. He looked so 'clean-cut' and tidy. His hair, for once, behaved, and Hermione got the double-image of a young Tom Riddle supplanted in the body of Harry Potter. A frightening prospect.
And too, Riddle in the guise of Harry was looking at her with such lascivious desire as his eyes took in the costume she wore. Harry, no matter what she wore, would never look at her like that: with such lust and avarice in his expression.
Hermione's heart began to beat frantically.
Remembering she needed to project confidence, she stood at the bottom of the stairs on the carpeted aisle and waited with that knowing look she'd given to both her men.
This was it.
The final confrontation for Lord Voldemort's last soul shard, and if this didn't work….
There was talk among them all at her arrival now, and Harry broke rank and began to come down the stairs towards her, his expression screaming 'mine' as he stared at her, when an ordinary man dressed in muggle clothes bumped into him on the stairs and said something.
Hermione watched as the ordinary man handed Riddle the coins, and Riddle, his eyes having never left Hermione, automatically put the coins on his tongue. She felt pressure at her elbow and realized Professor Snape was right beside her as she stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't believe it!" the announcer said, "Hermione Granger is back among us! Can we have three cheers for both our heroes of the wizarding war!"
Harry Potter reached the bottom of the stairs, his eyes only for her, and he was reaching for her. "Hermione Granger. You've arrived to meet your destiny, have you?" Riddle asked her.
And Hermione saw he meant to kiss her and claim her as his own in front of the Ministry as he drew her into his arms and tilted her jaw in his hand. Hermione's eyes widened when Riddle ducked his head down on quest with meeting her lips as the cameras took picture after picture.
But the coins activated on his tongue as their poison and cure did their work, and Harry's eyes rolled back in his head as he collapsed like a marionette whose strings were cut inside the circle of her arms.
"Harry!" she shrieked, following him down as the crowd gasped and cried out.
Distantly, a violin began to play, and Hermione looked around. It was Erik, it had to be, and he was playing that spell The Resurrection of Lazarus.
The crowd around them surged forward, trying to see what had happened as, panicked, the announcer asked, "Did Harry fall? What's happening down there?"
A hand reached out from nothing and felt the pulse on Harry's neck. "He's gone," Severus Snape said quietly from beside her.
"No!" she shrieked. "Harry Potter, you come back to me!" she ordered and thumped him on the chest right as Erik played the climax to the piece.
Harry coughed, spitting out a coin, and it went rolling down the steps to land at the foot of the stairs.
"Charon said I overpaid," he gasped and coughed with tears in his eyes, looking at Hermione while she let him recover.
She huddled beside him as the crowd began to push and surge around them, trying to see what was going on. Pictures were still being taken, and the place was reaching pandemonium-level chaos.
"Hermione!" said Harry above the crowd's amazed exclamations.
"I say now, what's the meaning of this?" the interim Minister of Magic Hortencia Moffet asked from the dais at the top of the stairs as witches and wizards began crowding around them. Still wearing the invisibility cloak, Professor Snape drew Hermione to her feet, and she reached out for Harry.
"Feel like an inquest?" she asked, grinning.
Harry shook his head. "I don't really know what's happened since…" he drew back and then his eyes widened as he looked around. "We've got to go, Hermione. Now!" And Harry's voice was shrill.
Hermione looked around for Erik, and finding him within arm's reach, caught him by the elbow. Professor Snape was still beside her as was Harry, and she said, "Hold onto me, we're going back to Erik's."
"Who's Erik?" Harry asked, but then she turned, and the four of them were apparating to the house by the underground lake to the crowd's shocked amazement.
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"You've been living here?" Harry asked, looking around the shore of the underground lake towards Erik's house.
"I've been hiding here, yes. What do you remember from returning to the Burrow after the battle at Hogwarts until now?"
Harry shook his head, but then looked up to find Professor Snape taking off his dad's invisibility cloak. Harry shrieked, "What's Snape doing here, Hermione?" he demanded.
"You will calm yourself and remain so," Erik ordered of her friend, and immediately her friend's expression soothed.
"I will answer all your questions," said Hermione, "but Harry, I need to know what you remember?"
Harry shook his head. "It seems like a dream. I was at the Burrow, and then I had a headache, the worst I've ever had, and I went to lay down…" He looked around. "I woke up outside the ministry and spat out that coin. How long have I been asleep? What's happened?"
"Oh, Harry!" And Hermione drew him in her arms. "You were a horcrux possessed by Voldemort. His final one. You're telling me you don't remember any of the last few months? None of his plans?"
Harry drew back from her and shook his head. "It wasn't like I was dreaming, Hermione. I just wasn't there. I knew we needed to leave the Ministry, though. Although, I can't tell you why."
Hermione looked up to find Erik and Professor Snape near her. Professor Snape turned on the wizard's wireless.
'Sheer pandemonium has rocked the wizarding world today as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger appear on the steps of Ministry of Magic where Harry Potter fainted, and then was revived, and promptly disapparated from us all. Aurors are on the lookout for both for questioning regarding Miss Granger's absence from the wizarding world and Potter who's now missing. The ceremony and its award have been postponed while answers are found.'
Harry looked accusingly up at Professor Snape, and before anyone could react, drew his wand on him. "What are you doing here, sir?" Harry hissed.
"Give your wand to Hermione and listen very carefully to what's going to be told you. You are calm and rational. You will do as instructed," said Erik.
Blinking dumbly, Harry passed his wand to Hermione and stood there expectant.
Hermione began, "Professor Snape is not who or what you think, Harry. He and Professor Dumbledore had a plan for him to die for Professor Snape to become Headmaster in order to protect the school from Voldemort and for Professor Snape to get closer to Voldemort's inner circle. The headmaster was already dying. Professor Snape tried to save him as much as he could. That night, he was poisoned fatally by what he ingested while in that cave. That, in addition to the curse at his hand which was killing him caused him untold amounts of agony. You know this, Harry. You were the one to spend as much time with him that night as you did. Professor Snape was performing a kindness in euthanizing him—"
Harry shook his head violently.
"Would you like to speak to Albus yourself, Potter?" Severus asked from Hermione's left. "I've the Resurrection stone. It was in the snitch Albus gave you to carry. It's what was supposed to 'open at the close'." Without waiting on Harry's decision, Professor Snape withdrew the stone from a pocket in his robes and turned it thrice, saying, "Albus Dumbledore."
"Harry," said the headmaster kindly upon seeing him.
Harry, looking overwhelmed, centered his gaze on the ghost of the headmaster and was stricken dumb. "It's good to see you looking your old self, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore.
Harry shook his head. "I've lost time. And you were murdered, sir," he said to Dumbledore. "I saw him do it." He pointed at Severus Snape.
The headmaster shook his head. "I'm afraid, while that statement is true, young Harry, it's not at all true. As Miss Granger stated, 'I conscripted Severus' services in euthanasia'. I'd been fatally poisoned in that cave, and due to the curse from the ring earlier in the school year, I was in for an agonizing death had Severus not intervened to perform a mercy. A very useful mercy as it turned the tide of war in the direction I wanted. And with my death, the war was fought with fewer casualties than would've been had Tom's war of attrition continued."
"What happened to him, sir?" Hermione asked. "Tom's last shard of soul?"
Professor Dumbledore smiled. "It's all the celestials are talking about. Apparently, when you died upon the stairs of the Ministry—"
"Hold a minute!" said Harry incredulously. "I died?"
They all of them nodded.
Professor Dumbledore continued, "When you died, Charon was immediately present to attend your vessel—not just you but Tom's as well." And Professor Dumbledore looked gleeful. "Word is Charon spared not a glance for you, telling you only you've overpaid and dragging the remainder of Tom's soul in shackles to his ferry for parts unknown. The music that was played by that muggle there—" and Professor Dumbledore pointed at Erik, "—as well as the potion given to you by Severus aided in your almost immediate resurrection. You died this day, and yet, were reborn. Pretty good work, you three, if I do say so myself."
"So, does that mean Riddle's plans are over?" asked Hermione to them all.
Harry shook his head. "I remember very little. Nothing of his scheming. I do remember lots of anger towards Ron though." Harry's eyes widened. "He's imprisoned at the Burrow. Hermione we've got to go—"
"Stay still," Erik ordered. "Nothing's so urgent as needs to be attended without first making a plan and making certain the five of us are on the same page."
Harry's posture relaxed as he looked at Hermione and nodded to Erik. "Who is this guy?" he asked.
Severus smirked. "He's the Angel of Death."
"The original O.G.," Hermione chimed in unhelpfully.
"I'm Erik," said Erik, holding out his hand regally for Harry to take, "and you're Harry Potter, Hermione's best friend who's to be treated as her brother."
Harry grinned and shook the opera ghost's hand.
"I can say with certainty," Professor Dumbledore interrupted, "the remains of Tom Riddle are at an end. As for his plans for the wizarding world…." Albus shrugged. "Good luck, my fellows," he bid them goodbye, "I'll always be here if you have need." He nodded towards the stone Professor Snape held, "And I look forward to the day we're reunited again, ta-ta."
The headmaster faded away, and Harry was then looking up at Professor Snape in a new light. "I'm… sorry, sir," Harry told him. "I'm sorry."
Severus shook his head. "You've nothing to apologize for, Potter. You believed what we wanted you and the rest of the wizarding world to believe."
"But now what's to be done?" Harry asked, looking at the other three.
Hermione said, "Do you remember anything about what Voldemort was doing?"
Harry shook his head, but then looked at Professor Snape. "You can read my mind. Go back to earlier today. I knew we had to get out of there; I just don't know why. Perhaps, you could—" and he gestured to his mind.
Professor Snape whipped out his wand and said, "Legilimens." A moment later he pulled away looking disgusted.
"You might as well've been lost in fog for all the good your memories will do you of the last three months. We need to contact the Burrow but to do so with the utmost secrecy."
Hermione bit her lip, then her eyes widened as she dove for her beaded bag and the enchanted galleon within it. It flew to her open palm, and she tapped it with her wand. "Do you think Luna will still have hers on her?" asked Hermione to Harry.
Harry shrugged and once more looked around, looking lost.
"Explain, Hermione," said Erik, nodding to the coin.
"My schoolmate Luna lives in Ottery St. Catchpole next to the Weasley's Burrow. She could help us by spying on them and reporting back."
"And the coin?" asked Erik.
"It's like a communication device… I can send a message, and it's very discrete." She tapped her wand, and her message was sent.
While they were waiting, Hermione dug in her beaded bag for a change of clothes, and asking the three men to turn around, changed from her Lady Liberty outfit to denims, a t-shirt, and some socks and trainers. She finished by putting her hair in a utilitarian bun and donning a jacket.
A moment later her coin heated up. "You can turn around now; I'm decent. Luna says, 'come on'. Feel like a visit to the Dirigible Plums again?" she asked Harry.
"As long as we're not served more gurdyroot tea." And Harry tucked himself into Hermione's side in an embrace of long-familiarity. Professor Snape and Erik reached for her shoulder and other side, respectively.
And the four of them turned.
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This time, as with the last, Erik was able to stomach the sensation, grateful when they touched down on terra firma once more. He looked around. Darkness had fallen in this part of England, but only just, and in this backwood, country place, nighttime critters of the springtime were just beginning to make their presence known.
His Punjab lasso was at the ready, waiting and expectant. He looked over to find Severus had his wand drawn as did Hermione. She gave Harry back his wand, and together the four of them began making their way to the oddly-shaped structure that had to be housed by magic, because to Erik's architectural eye, what he was looking at was an impossibility.
"Hullo, Harry, Hermione," said a bell-like, dreamy voice from the back garden. Erik turned the corner and beheld a lovely young, blond woman with violet eyes in gardening clothes. "It's the gibbous-balm leaf harvest, and it must be done by the light of a full moon, so tonight's going to be busy," she explained. "And you've brought Professor Snape as well as another," she nodded to Erik.
Erik watched as she took off her gardening glove and held out her hand to him. "I'm Luna Lovegood."
"Erik Chastaine," Erik introduced. "You're taking this all very calmly," he observed, releasing her hand.
She shrugged. "Explanations will come. I'm here for my friends. Would you like to stay for supper? Daddy and I have plenty."
"Luna, thanks for the invitation, but we're here on a bit of a mission" Hermione led. "Have you noticed anything peculiar about Harry lately?"
Luna looked at Hermione. "Oh? You mean was he possessed by what remained of Lord Voldemort and has been impersonating Harry for months? Is that what you mean?"
Hermione looked at Harry, and Harry looked at Luna and nodded.
Luna nodded. "Yes. I was there, the day you were taken over by Voldything's essence. No one really noticed when I left as Voldything-Harry, was casting 'Imperius' left and right, and I've tried to keep to myself since. I knew Ron and the others were in trouble, but without knowing how to help further—" she shrugged airily, "I focused on the harvest and waited." She patted the pocket that held her coin.
Hermione launched herself at Luna. "I'm so sorry. This had to have been so hard on you!"
Luna hugged her back, and it brought tears to both witches' eyes.
"Watching our world get darker and darker with a 'victory for the light' proclaimed. That was hard," said Luna. She kept hold of Hermione and looked over at Harry. "Are you really alright now, Harry? Really?" she asked.
Harry took her in his arms and hugged her, and Luna hugged him back just as fiercely, grabbing for Hermione and bringing her into the fold.
The three of them held there, and not a few tears were shed, and then Luna said, "I haven't been back to the Burrow since, and neither has daddy. We haven't published anything for fear of reprisals, and no one besides ourselves and the Weasleys, know what truly happened that day."
"Do you want to come with us, Luna?" asked Hermione. "You and your father?"
Luna nodded she would, but said, "Not daddy. He's… the war's been hard on him. Best this is wrapped up tonight if possible." And withdrawing her wand, she sent her patronus hopping to her father explaining where she was and why, and then she nodded she would lead the way to the Burrow.
The five of them began to walk in the moonlight.
"So, are you an honest death eater, Headmaster Snape?" Luna asked her old potions professor baldly, looking back at him.
"I am honest and have not been a death eater in decades, Miss Lovegood. And too, I've been working to undermine Riddle's regime since before you were born."
"Then you must feel enormous satisfaction at a job finally well-done." She smiled airily at him.
"I'll feel more when the future for all of us is made more certain," said Severus.
They turned a corner in the lane, and Weasley's Burrow appeared before them.
If Erik's architectural mind was flummoxed with what he'd seen at Miss Lovegood's, this was something to send his well-organized mind into a tailspin. This house shouldn't exist in nature. By all the laws of nature, it should not. And yet, there it stood looking one breath away from collapsing at any minute.
There were voices shouting from within, and one was Ronald Weasley's. Hermione winced, not looking forward to the confrontation to come.
"She appeared looking like 'Our Lady of Hope'. Harry collapsed. He revived, and then they apparated and were gone, Ron," explained Bill.
"Harry has her!" screamed Ron. "I know it!"
Severus, like the other four of their party, looked in the side window at the scene before them.
Arthur looked catatonic and was unresponsive, seated as he was on the sofa by the fire. Ronald was freed and pacing the confines of the room, worrying the carpet. Molly fretted over her family as her family gathered around.
"And nobody knows where they've gone?" asked Molly.
Luna tapped a finger on the glass.
Wands were drawn, and Hermione as well as Professor Snape put up a strong shield charm for any who would think to hex first and ask questions later.
"Oy! Wot's Snape doin' here?" asked Fred.
"And Harry, or should we say 'Voldemort'," Bill spat, his wand drawn.
Molly came out of the front door and threw the first curse towards Harry. "HOW DARE YOU COME BACK HERE?!" she roared. With a wand wave, she was tearing through the strong shields Professor Snape and Hermione cast and slapping Harry across the face with her magic.
"Mrs. Weasley, don't!" Hermione cried.
"YOU ARE A WOMAN OF PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING," Erik sang, "PUT AWAY YOUR WAND AND LISTEN TO WHAT'S BEING DISCUSSED."
With relief, Hermione watched as Mrs. Weasley did immediately as Erik compelled, her expression expectant as she looked between them all and waited for explanation.
"I am no longer Voldemort," Harry told them all. "I was. And I honestly don't remember any of it, but I can say for certain I no longer have him inside me."
Hermione nodded. "It's true. Harry died today upon the steps of the Ministry, and he was brought back. Voldemort's dead. We did it!"
Disregarding Hermione's words, Mrs. Weasley looked at Hermione skeptically. "Where have you been, child?"
Hermione looked between Professor Snape and Erik. "It's a long tale, and one that I'd love to have inside if you'd like to hear it, wands put away for the telling?"
"Then you're not here to cause trouble?" asked Mrs. Weasley, looking uncertainly between the five of them.
"The hell he's not!" Ron roared, and a curse was flying from Ron's wand straight towards Professor Snape. Severus shoved Hermione out of the way right as the phantom wielded his Punjab lasso and a garden gnome intercepted the curse before it connected with Severus Snape.
The gnome shattered into a million bits.
"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!" Molly roared. "Get back in the house!"
"But mum!" Ron bellowed. "It's Snape!"
"Now!" she ordered, and as matriarch, she would be obeyed. She drew a deep, calming breath and said, "Obviously you know things I do not, so please, if you're not here to cause trouble, then do come in and have a cuppa." She smiled, and it held all the grace of an Englishwoman welcoming old friends for a social call.
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In short order, Erik was relieved his cloak and given a chair by the fire as well as a warm beverage and an offering of delectable-looking iced raspberry scones. Hermione, Severus, her friends Harry and Luna were all given the same treatment, and they were surrounded by Weasleys.
Harry looked to Ginny.
Ginny looked away, uncertain.
Harry gulped. "Ginny—"
"Harry," Hermione led, "they should know you've been possessed by Lord Voldemort's last soul shard for the last few months."
"I'm aware," Ron said bitterly. "The only one of us that's been—"
"No!" Ginny roared, her tone just as bitter. "The only one of us to be constantly vocal about it, surely. But believe me, Harry, I knew!" And the accusation in her eyes as she looked at him could've tempered metal.
"I'm sorry, Ginny. It was beyond my control." The black-haired, bespectacled boy looked around him at them all. "Believe me, I would've changed it if I could have."
"Are you back?" she asked.
Harry stood up and held out his hands to her. "I'm me. All of me. I don't remember anything really of the last few months except being extraordinarily angry at you, Ron, but—" Harry shrugged.
Ginny flew to him and hugged him, and then hit him on the chest. "The things you said to me as him, Harry Potter!"
Harry closed his eyes. "I don't want to imagine it, Gin. Can we please try to forget?"
She pulled back and sniffed. "So, it really wasn't you? You really are back?" There were tears in her eyes.
"Oh, Gin," Harry said and held her close as Ginny cried. He eventually sat them, drawing her in his lap where they stayed embraced.
"Well," Molly said as she dried her eyes, "then give us some explanation. We've been held captive and imperius'd for months, some of us, unable to tell the truth of the matter while Voldemort still continued to do unspeakable things." She shook her head.
Hermione looked to Professor Snape, and Professor Snape nodded she should begin. "It all started the night of the battle at Hogwarts, but maybe I should go back further. When we raided Godric's Hollow last Christmas, Harry and I were almost caught. Does everyone remember?"
Everyone but Erik nodded solemnly.
"Bathilda Bagshot was a collector of fine curiosities and one of those was a very advanced time turner, one that could journey both backward and forward in time."
"Merlin's scrote," said Fred.
Hermione nodded. "I didn't tell you, Harry." She licked her lips. "Knowing you, you'd want to go back to 1981 and try to change the events surrounding your parents' deaths, and although I knew that was an impossibility, I didn't want you to be sidetracked from our quest at finding the remaining horcruxes. Horcruxes that I was trying to find the whereabouts for using the time turner while you stood guard over me and thought I slept."
She licked her lips. "I'd packed every book I ever owned from my personal library as well as those books we took from the headmaster's office and some from Grimmauld Place. They were all in my bag. You know how many there were."
Both Harry and Ron nodded.
"The night of the final battle when we'd destroyed Helga Hufflepuff's cup, and I left the Chamber, Ronald, I went looking for Harry and was climbing the staircase up to the Room of Requirement where I thought one of the last remaining horcruxes would be hidden.
"Professor Snape was going down the stairs as I was coming up. He stopped me, demanded to know where you were, Harry, as he needed to tell you important information regarding your condition. I gather you now know what that information is?" Hermione asked, looking at his faded scar.
Harry nodded.
"We fought. He wanted to give me information via 'Legilimens', and I still thought him a bit of a villain. Errm, he disarmed me of my wand, and I began hitting him with my bag, and then, there was this crunch, and then darkness. And it felt like the world was spinning away.
"I came to consciousness to find Professor Snape giving me back my wand and realizing we'd not only traveled in time but space as well to Paris, France, April 9, 1881."
Mrs. Weasley gasped.
Hermione nodded towards Erik. "That's where things get a little bit stranger than fiction. The man you have here with us today is no ordinary muggle man. Ginny, do you remember the novel I was going to lend you: The Phantom of the Opera?"
Ginny nodded.
Hermione nodded to Erik. "He exists, Gin. Somehow, the time turner broke on Erik's novel, and brought us straight to the Palais Garnier in 1881."
"You mean you're from the Victorian Era?" asked George to Erik.
Erik nodded.
Fred looked to George. "Wicked."
"Well, 'Victorian' isn't the only moniker Erik is known for. He is the Phantom of the Opera."
"He doesn't look like a ghost," said Percy.
Erik disappeared before their sight. He was seated there, and then he wasn't, and everyone looked around, only to find him on the other side of the room, waving from the jam of the doorway.
"Wicked," said George to Fred.
"Hold a minute," said Ginny, "didn't you say he's got some mystical, magical way with his voice… am I remembering that right?"
Hermione nodded. "He can mesmerize with the sound of his voice. Which is very important for the next bit of our tale." Hermione gestured that Erik should come resume his seat beside her and when he did, she continued, "While the three of us were discussing this new turn of events, another staircase appeared within Erik's home in the fine particles of sand that had been broken during Professor Snape and my tussle."
She bit her lip, then looked up at Harry. "What happened after the Battle at Hogwarts? Did Neville kill the snake?"
Harry nodded. "The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw was a horcrux, and it was hidden in the Room of Requirement. Well-reasoned, there. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle tried to fight me for it. Crabbe cast 'fiendfyre', and it killed him and destroyed the diadem and the Room. Later that day, Neville withdrew the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and cut the snake in two. Riddle left after, screaming about Snape's absence, realizing his time was almost through, and I returned to the Burrow with Ron where we stayed for the next month, fighting in skirmishes with other death eaters and trying to find your whereabouts, Hermione. We'd combed Hogwarts for weeks trying to find you—"
She shook her head. "I was more than a hundred years in the past. But I was only there for scant minutes, Harry." She gulped, then looked up at Professor Snape. He nodded. "Another staircase appeared in Erik's home, and Professor Snape, Erik, and I went toward it and climbed. We didn't know where it was going or when. We only wanted to get back home."
She looked right at Harry. "It delivered us to September 24, 1998."
Ginny gasped.
Hermione nodded. "Right to the Malfoy's throne room. And Erik, using the mesmerizing power of his voice, convinced all the assembled death eaters to kill themselves one after the other. Professor Snape threw the final curse that killed Voldemort's resurrected form—"
"—and conscripted you into service as his final horcrux, Potter," said Professor Snape.
Harry nodded. "That's the last day I truly remember. Ron and I were in a spat about the Cannon's chances in the playoffs this year. I had a headache, so I went to lie down and then… nothing."
Molly took up the narrative, "It was like night and day had been switched on you, Harry, m'boy." She shivered and looked towards Professor Snape. "Arthur was imperius'd first." And they all looked to the seat where Arthur Weasley sat looking vacantly at the fire. "Tom Riddle's continued occupation broke something within him, I think."
Harry looked dismayed.
Mrs. Weasley tutted. "It's not your fault, Harry dear. But it remains to be seen if we can get him back…."
"I'll do my best to resolve this, Molly," said Severus soberly.
She nodded and dabbed at the corner of her eyes with her apron. She smiled at Hermione. "Go on, dear."
Hermione looked to Professor Snape. "Once Voldemort's resurrected form had fallen, Professor Snape, Erik, and I left Malfoy Manor for Professor Snape's house in Spinner's End. I sent you that note, Harry, but I guess you don't remember—"
"I do," spat Ron. "It sent Riddle into a rage, and when Snape showed back up here expecting to find Harry, Snape barely left alive. Something Voldemort almost did right in my opinion."
"Ron!" shrieked Hermione.
"No," said Severus, "let the boy think what he wants. Riddle in the guise of Potter and I did duel, and I must say the Dark Lord's wand work from your subpar wand was inspired, Potter, but still he did not catch me, and I returned to my holdings in Spinner's End to gather Miss Granger and Mr. Chastaine and take them to Albus' cottage: his secret-kept resort."
"Where we hid, Harry, and plotted a way to free you all." Hermione bit her lip. "Professor Snape sacrificed his life to see to it you were freed. And that's no exaggeration."
Harry looked towards Professor Snape, and jostling Ginny to his other knee, he held out his hand to his old professor. "Sir?"
Professor Snape's expression was surly, but he did shake his hand.
"We were able to disentangle your essence from that of Riddle's, and you're able to move on from it and live your life," finished Professor Snape.
"And that just leaves 'Level Three'," said Hermione to them all.
Bill nodded to Fleur and said, "Yes, Riddle's 'Level Three'. Riddle, in the guise of Harry, was starting the whole sordid business up again, once more trying for political intrigue and power. There were those he imperius'd. I was one of them. Dad was another. The interim Minister of Magic Hortense Moffet, occasionally, as well."
Harry paled.
"Do you know what was being planned?" asked Hermione.
Bill nodded. "There was to have been a disturbance at the award ceremony today. 'Mudbloods Run Amok' was going to be the newspaper headline. There would've been fatalities due to muggleborn protest. Really, they were just 'Level Three' death eaters dressed as muggleborn protestors going to cause mayhem and mischief."
"And when I showed up—" led Hermione.
Bill grinned and laughed, his scarred face mirthful, "When you showed up, looking like Lady Freedom herself, all plans were off, and I knew you were there with a plan to save us."
Hermione grinned. "Well, me and these two." She looked between her two men. "I couldn't have done it without Severus or Erik."
"Severus?" Ron asked incredulously. "You call the git 'Severus'?"
Hermione glared.
"Quiet, you git!" said Ginny to her youngest brother. "Can't you see he saved us all?"
"He's still responsible for Dumbledore's murder! Or did everyone just forget that?" asked Ron.
"About that…" led Hermione.
"I've a magically binding letter from Albus explaining the reasons as well as his motivation for choosing to die as he did. It was assisted suicide," explained Professor Snape.
Ron snorted. "Like hell."
"It was, Ron," Harry insisted. "I got to talk with the Headmaster with the Resurrection stone. Professor Snape has it, and he can bring it out and show you if you need more proof."
Everyone looked towards Professor Snape.
Professor Snape brought out the rock, but instead of calling forth Albus, said, "Lily Potter."
Harry set Ginny away from him and shot to his feet. "Mum?" he asked incredulous.
"Harry," the ghost of Lily Potter said smiling, coming to stand toe-to-toe with her son. Harry was only a little taller than she. "You did so well, my son, and I'm so proud of you!"
"But what of what Riddle was planning? What I've done as him—" Harry asked his mom.
She shook her head. "It's in the past. Is there someone within the ministry you can trust to help resolve things?" She looked around the room at them.
"There's Kingsley Shacklebolt," said Bill.
Fred and George nodded. Fred began, "He more than suspected Harry wasn't who he said he was. If we tell him what's happened—"
"—he's bound to step in to help," ended George.
"I'll send the patronus," said Bill, and with a wand wave, a wolf was springing from his wand with a message for the Auror.
Hermione reached for Severus' hand and held it. "You're not leaving my side."
"What's this then?" Ron bellowed, coming to stand before her. "You actually give a damn about the greasy git? Let go of his hand, Hermione!" he demanded reaching for her.
"Ron—" she led gently, still keeping hold of Severus' hand, and looking up at her old friend.
"LET GO OF HIS HAND!" Ron yelled and began to forcefully pull her—
"You will sit down and behave like the child you are by being seen but not heard. Do you understand?" ordered Erik. To everyone's amazement, except Professor Snape's, Erik's and Hermione's, Ron nodded and did exactly as instructed by Erik.
"How?" asked Fred.
"Wicked," said George.
A bolt of lightning appeared a moment before a crack of apparition, letting them all know Kingsley Shacklebolt had arrived.
"Are you ready for this?" Hermione asked Professor Snape.
Severus nodded and withdrew the folded parchment guaranteeing him his freedom in a just court of wizarding law. Hermione let go of his hand but stayed stuck to his side as everyone tried to speak at once to tell the lead auror what transpired.
Kingsley let them, getting bits and pieces of the tale before his eyes met and held Severus Snape's.
"You've a lot to answer for, headmaster," the dark-skinned wizard told him.
Severus nodded.
And then Kingsley looked at Harry. "So, you say you do not remember anything of the last few months?"
Harry winced.
"Not since September 24th of last year, sir," said Hermione. "That's when Tom Riddle's resurrected form died from the combined efforts of Severus Snape and Erik Chastaine. Draco and Narcissa Malfoy were witnesses as was I, myself. I will testify that Voldemort died that day—"
"—and then began possessing Potter as his final horcrux," finished Professor Snape.
"Horcruxes?" Kingsley said, looking disbelieving between them all.
Harry, Hermione, and Professor Snape nodded. "He'd made seven," said Hermione.
"Merlin's scrote! Seven!" said Shacklebolt.
Hermione and Harry nodded. "We were sent by Dumbledore on a quest to destroy them. He left Harry the Sword of Gryffindor in his will, remember?"
Kingsley nodded.
"The sword's impregnated with basilisk venom. It can kill a horcrux, and it dispatched two: Riddle's snake and the locket," answered Hermione. "The rest was through sheer luck."
"And the final one?" asked Kingsley, looking at Harry uncertainly.
"Was given to Charon on the stairs of the Ministry of Magic today," explained Professor Snape.
"You involved a Greek god?" asked Kingsley to Severus Snape.
"He very much wanted involved when he found out what Tom Riddle had been up to regarding his soul," answered Severus. He began rolling up his sleeves. "I am unmarked, Kingsley. He's gone for good." As one, they all of them examined Professor Snape's unmarred forearm.
"You understand I still must take you in—" the dark-skinned wizard led.
"You will not," exclaimed Hermione, looking at Kingsley. "Not after you've read these papers absolving Headmaster Snape from all wrongdoing regarding the death of Albus Dumbledore. We also have his testimony as per a magical artifact we have in this room that can call him forth from beyond the veil if needed."
She nodded to where the figure of Lily Potter stood beside her son, and the ethereally beautiful deceased woman waved back as she continued to talk to her boy.
Kingsley's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Dead man can tell no tales."
Hermione pointed to the packet of parchment. "This one still has tales to tell. Please read. Please understand Professor Snape hadn't a choice in the matter at all, and when it comes down to it, that night he was performing a kindness. For how mercifully would Albus Dumbledore had died with that potion coursing through his veins from his flight with Harry and the curse that took his hand working its way slowly across the rest of his flesh?"
Kingsley looked at her knowingly. "Look into becoming a barrister for the defense, Miss Granger." He reached into his pocket and withdrew some spectacles, and putting them on, proceeded to unfold the packet of parchments and read.
"Would anyone like a fresh cuppa?" asked Mrs. Weasley. Hands abounded, and Molly busied herself with the business of hosting, contented to finally be at the bottom of this sorted business.
Succumbing to temptation, Erik bit into a scone and grinned his thanks.
"Mum's a good cook, eh?" asked Fred.
"She's the best," said George. "Say, are you a wizard?" he asked, looking at Erik in his muggle clothes skeptically.
Hermione smirked and said, "No, he's a magician." She nodded to Fred and George. "Erik, you'll get along with these two like a house afire with the practical jokes you can play. These two own their own wizarding joke shop."
"A fellow prankster! Hear that, George!" said Fred in pride.
"I've only one good ear now thanks to Snape, Hermione, but I heard you loud and clear, Fred!" George looked Erik up and down. "You seem ordinary enough."
Hermione grinned and laughed. "Appearances can be deceiving. Erik's tricks and traps are the stuff of legend."
"Muggle legend," Ron said, his surly tone belying his mood. "He's an ordinary muggle, Hermione! And you brought him to my home."
"He destroyed Voldemort, Ronald," insisted Hermione, "There's nothing ordinary about Erik."
"And is it like that, then? You defending the Greasy Git and coming back here with a ring on your finger, looking for all the world in love with him—" Ron pointed to Erik.
Hermione gulped and looked down at the sapphire ring on her finger. "Erik did gift this to me. He and I are in a relationship, Ronald."
"And me?" Ron uttered, his tone low. "You said we'd discuss 'us' afterwards—"
She shook her head. "I told you at the time how I felt. You left us—"
"It was a mistake!" he roared and shot to his feet. "It was a mistake! That damned locket affected me more than it did you or Harry. It made me see things, hear things! And we were wearing it around our necks like some demented game of exploding snap! And then you splinched me! And you're telling me that you feel nothing for me—"
"But friendship," insisted Hermione. She looked around. She had everyone's attention in the room now besides Kingsley as he continued to read Dumbledore's final testament. She gulped and said, "I've moved on, and my affections are elsewhere, Ronald. I'm sorry."
He scoffed. "Oh, well that's just perfect. My best mate's gone and been possessed by the last bloody horcrux on Earth, and my girl—"
"I was never 'your girl'," Hermione insisted flatly.
"Could've fooled me," said Ron. He crouched until he knelt in front of her. "We kissed the night we destroyed the cup, Hermione."
"And I told you at the time how I felt, that too much had come between us, and you sent me out of the Chamber alone to find Harry and fight in a battle by myself. And I knew at that moment any romantic inclination I had for you was through. And that's when I ran into Severus and these events begun. Our nascent romantic relationship never even started, Ronald, and my affections are now spoken for."
Ron looked at Erik and narrowed his eyes.
"What's the muggle got that I don't?"
Hermione pursed her lips but said nothing.
'The ability to take 'no' for an answer, for one, sirrah,' said an umbrella stand by the front door.
'The ability to occupy Hermione's fertile imagination and keen intellect with subject matter she finds of merit and worth,' said the lamp above them, having everyone look up, and Hermione smile.
'The ability to mesmerize with my voice: everyone blow Hermione a kiss', bid the grandfather clock in front of them, and Hermione laughed when everyone besides Professor Snape and Kingsley Shacklebolt did, including Ron.
'And the artful ability to render her breathless.' This alone was said for Ron's benefit as Erik had directed his voice for Ron alone, and Ron watched as Erik drew Hermione in his arms and kissed her breathless.
"He's only a muggle," exclaimed Ron.
Hermione pulled back and said, "Yes. Keep thinking that, won't you?"
"Alright, oh-ho! You've got to tell me how you're doing that with your voice," said George, coming to stand beside them.
'It's all to do with the power of the belly,' explained Erik in mimicry of his book, having his voice surround them all in stereo before he had his mug talk in a small voice, 'it's very simple, once one realizes how to control one's diaphragm.'
"Wait, this can be taught?" asked Fred. "Oy! We want in!"
Hermione laughed.
Ron bellowed, reaching for his wand, and drawing it on Erik. "Wizard's duel. You and me!"
"Ron, don't!" Hermione shrieked, but it was too late.
Erik's Punjab lasso shot from up his sleeve and wrapped around Ron's wand. Erik tugged, and Ron's wand went sailing into the palm of Erik's hand within the time it had taken to blink. He examined the polished wood before rolling it dexterously in his fingertips in an impressive show of legerdemain. "I accept," said Erik, standing to his feet.
"Oh, little bro," said George, his tone filled with dread.
"Looks like Ron Ron is in t-r-o-u-b-l-e," spelled Fred.
Molly rose to her feet and came to stand before Erik. Erik looked at her and said frankly, "You cannot control your youngest son, and he's an adult fully grown able to challenge another adult to a duel. One in which he is outmatched and outclassed for being thought of a wizard fighting 'just an ordinary muggle'." Erik's eyes met Ron's. "I may be an ordinary muggle to you, boy, but trust me when I say I've forgotten more about magic and cleverness than you'll ever know, and the day you can pull a trick on me and live to tell the tale is the day I retire from my magician's trade."
So saying, he handed the wand to Molly and stowed the Punjab lasso back up his sleeve for safekeeping.
"So, errm, 'ermione…." led Fleur, holding a sleeping Victoire and coming to stand before them, "did you zay 'e iz zee Fantome of zee Opera?" She nodded to Erik. "As in zee one from zee novel?"
Hermione nodded.
Fleur gushed in French at him, "Oh my! Your exploits and love story are legendary at Beauxbatons where I'm from! The tale of the lonely opera ghost finding and losing love! A classic!"
Hermione blushed.
Fleur nodded. "But… I can zee you've found love again and which way zee wind blows, non?" she asked, nodding toward Hermione.
Erik nodded towards Hermione. "I love her, yes."
Fleur studied Professor Snape, then the three of them, and then looked mischievous, saying in French for Professor Snape's, Hermione's, and Erik's hearing only, "A talented, Swedish Soprano had no hope of maintaining your affection when given the honor of sharing in the affections of a beautiful witch, non?" She winked.
Hermione's face burned, and she refused to look at Severus Snape or Erik at that moment.
Erik had no reply to give and neither did Professor Snape.
Fleur only laughed knowingly, and said, "Oh, nozzing," when asked what she'd said to the three of them to cause them to look such a way. "I was congratulating 'ermione on a job well-done. Zat's all."
"Well," said Kingsley, finally having read the last page of Dumbledore's testament, "I'm going to take these documents with me as well as the Resurrection stone in your possession, Severus. I'll get both of them back to you tomorrow, but I need more answers, and I've a feeling talking with you will only lead to more questions at the moment."
"So, what does that mean for his freedom?" asked Hermione uncertainly.
Kingsley studied her seriously. "It means, Miss Granger, that Severus Snape, you should return to Hogwarts, and don't even think about leaving the school for the next few weeks while we sort all this out. Hermione, Harry, I've no charges to bring against you. Harry, all of Riddle's scheming was just that—scheming. His plans were nascent, his want to once more divide the wizarding world to attain power staying just that—a want thanks to your final defeat of him today."
"What of the 'Level Three' marked Death Eaters?" asked Harry, adjusting his glasses.
Kingsley nodded towards Severus' arm. "Without Voldemort here, they're no longer 'marked'. His plans were terminated this time before they'd begun, and that is good work for all of us here." He looked around the room. "I urge secrecy in this matter regarding the mention of horcruxes. That word doesn't need to be bandied about, and Riddle left a large vacuum of power to fill. Best it's just forgotten in history."
"And the award ceremony?" asked Ginny. "Riddle was involving Harry heavily in politics. He was at the Ministry daily meeting with the interim Minister of Magic among others. Is he suddenly going to give up that career? How do we explain the change?"
Kingsley winced. "The award ceremony was your suggestion, Mr. Potter. Still want to go through with it?"
"No!" shrieked Harry, looking horrified at the prospect. "Please, no awards or 'Orders of Merlin'. Just 'no'."
"See, professor?" Hermione said knowingly to Professor Snape. "He's not attention-seeking in the slightest."
Professor Snape looked at Potter, unimpressed, but said to him, "And it's to your credit this is so, Potter."
"As well as mine, James, Remus, and Sirius', Sev," Lily insisted from beside Harry. She smiled for her boy. "I'm with you always, sweetheart, except during intimate times." She nodded and smirked towards Ginny. "Your dad and I love you fiercely and are very proud of you always!"
Harry nodded, his expression sad to see her go.
Lily Potter waved them all goodbye and disappeared, and Severus gave the stone to Kingsley.
Kingsley looked at Severus and held out his hand. "I'll expect to meet with you at Hogwarts tomorrow at eleven a.m."
Severus nodded. "I'll be there."
"As will I," insisted Hermione.
Kingsley's mouth twitched. "Have you the Princess of Gryffindor to fight your battles for you, Severus Snape?"
"Can you think of anyone better?" Severus countered.
Kingsley laughed and after gathering the papers and the stone, bid them 'farewell', and apparated away.
"Where are you staying tonight, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked Hermione point-blank in front of everyone.
Hermione cleared her throat and said, "Erik has a house in France underneath the Palais Garnier—"
"Non!" Fleur said breathlessly, coming to stand before them again. "Really?" she asked.
"Absolument," replied Erik.
And in her native tongue, Fleur was talking the Frenchman's ear off about her tour of the Palais Garnier and her wondering if it was truly riddled with secret passageways as she read about in his tale.
Erik invited the Frenchwoman on a tour of his home and the opera when she was free, and Fleur exclaimed this to be one of the happiest days of her life! She hugged Bill, exclaiming, "Zis is ztranger zan fiction, iz zis!"
Hermione laughed. "Fleur, you've no idea!"
"So, you're going to go home with him?" asked Ron, nodding towards Erik.
Hermione paled but held her head high. "You want to make it sound sordid, but I refuse to be ashamed of whom I love. I'm sorry it didn't work out between us, Ronald, but I refuse to live in the past or get caught up in the drama surrounding your disappointment. In the months since you left, I've wrestled with mine as regards our friendship, and I'm now determined to keep you at a distance. It's of no concern of yours who I now choose to love, Ronald. You forfeited that right when you left us the first time. You put the nail into the coffin of our friendship when you ordered me from the Chamber to go fight a battle alone."
There were gasps at that.
Ron rolled his eyes and reaching for her, "You know I didn't mean it like that! Just forgive me for it like always, and let's move on, 'mione," he insisted, trying to gather her close. "You know I love you, and we're meant to be together."
She drew away from him right as Professor Snape and Erik came to stand on either side of her, looking disapprovingly at Ron. Ron daren't reach for her now, and Hermione drew a deep breath and hugged Ginny, Fleur, Luna, Molly, and Harry goodbye. "Erik, Severus, and I'll be at Hogwarts tomorrow morning for anyone who wants to drop by. Cheers, everyone! We survived Voldemort!"
Calls and cheers of 'farewell', and 'see you soon' bid them adieu, and then they all were turning back to the shore near the house by the underground lake.
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A/N: Thank you for the follows and the favorites! Reviews are welcome. Cheers!-Lora