Harry Potter and the Power of the Past
Disclaimer: All JKR's, not mine.
Summary: This is a complete AU- Harry Potter is a 21-year-old wizard, who's on top of the world. He's rich, in love, and loved by all, but his life is turned upside down as a spiral of events leads to the ultimate battle between good and evil. Can Harry lead the fight for the light, but yet manage to keep his life together?
A/N: Thanks for the reviews everybody. Oh, and review again!
S/N: There are only three more chapters (including this one) before the epilogue, so it's coming to an end very, very soon. This chapter is just part one of a two part chapter, so be ready for the next one! Also, I've made a lot of progress on my other story, Harry Potter and the Turning of the Sun, so stay tuned for that.
S/N 2: I suggest reading chapter 20 before reading the next two chapters, because there is a scene in that chapter that is pivotal to the end of the story.
Chapter 39: One, Two, Voldemort's Coming For You
"It would have been easier with the Elder Wand, but Lord Voldemort does not need a silly little stick to perform great magic." Voldemort muttered in arrogance, earning the praises of his loyal and fearful Death Eaters. They all flocked behind him, their black robes billowing in the wind, while the light from their wands illuminated their masked faces—some had metal masks covering their entire face, while the original members had bone masks which stopped above the top lip. "Do it now, Crouch." Voldemort sneered, looking over to his left hand man with his crimson red eyes.
"Morsmordre!" Barty Crouch, Jr. yelled out, thrusting his hawthorn wand into the air and releasing a smoky green curse that made the Dark Mark appear in the cloudy night sky.
Harry and the rest of the gathered wizarding folk on the lawn looked up to the sky as the Dark Mark appeared high above them, which made many of them take a step back in fear, the realization that they might die finally hitting them like a blow to the chest. "That's a sign of something," Sirius muttered next to Harry's side, as his eyes roamed about the lands, searching for what the signal could be for. The Death Eaters were still far off from them, but the trees of the forest began to bristle, as if some great storm was coming from there.
Then, at the edge of the forest, four Death Eaters crept out of the shadows, garbed in their black robes and masks: three of them had bone masks, while the fourth was wearing a silver mask that had tribal markings carved upon it. Behind the Death Eaters, two male giants appeared; each of them knocked over five trees with a swing of their enormous wooden clubs, creating a large patch of open space where a dense part of the forest once was. Three mountain trolls then came into view, as well; the trolls were a bit smaller than the giants, and each was holding a large boulder over their heads. One of the Death Eaters sent a spark up into the air, and at once the dementors that were floating above the forest descended down upon the group of Hogwarts' protectors. The previously conjured Patronuses protected many of them, but the unfortunate members at the back of the group were able to feel the full effects of the evil beings, and as a result, their happiness was sucked out of them as their worst memories flooded their mind.
A Death Eater whispered something to the trolls, and suddenly, one of the monsters tossed the boulder that was in its hand towards the castle of Hogwarts; it made contact with one of the ramparts, and pieces of stone crashed down to the ground, just missing the group of protectors by mere feet. The other troll tossed its boulder at the group itself; as it rolled toward them, however, it was blasted apart by Gawain Robards with a simple Reductor Curse, preventing it from hurting anyone. The blasted rock created a cloud of gray dust in the air, making some of the protectors cough as they swished their wands in an effort to clear away the dust.
The Death Eaters at the gates began to walk up the path that led to the grass that the group of protectors was standing on, but they were still in the distance, nearly a half of a mile away. Voldemort stood behind them and turned his attention back to the gates, back to the wards of Hogwarts that were meant to protect the school from intruders. He muttered a spell and twisted his wand, watching with apt anticipation as the black metal gates hovered in the air for a second and then snapped back into place, as good as new. He didn't want to have to come back down after he captured the school to replace the wards, knowing that Aurors and Ministry Officials would hear about Hogwarts' fall and eventually come to take it back. When he turned around to face the Death Eaters, he noticed for the first time that they were nowhere to be seen—he had seemingly taken more time revamping the wards than he thought he had.
Just as the Death Eaters arrived at the grassy area, the giants that were at the edge of the forest came rushing out, brandishing their clubs with unbridled rage. From the west side of the castle, out of the shadows came Hagrid, who arrived with a herd of hippogriffs and invisible thestrals, another giant that was not nearly as big as the Death Eaters' giants, and a large, three-headed dog that looked to be foaming at the mouth all behind him. "Go, Fluffy!" Hagrid commanded, gesturing to the giant that was making his way towards the castle.
The dog barked out, a terrifyingly loud bark, and ran at the giant, his three-heads barking and growling and showing his numerous fangs. Fluffy jumped at the giant and knocked him to the ground with a thundering clash, almost crushing a group of Aurors who were fortunate enough to be able to leap out of the way. The giant tried to throw the dog off of him, but the dog was much too strong, even for the giant's massive strength. Instead, the giant tried to protect himself from the dog's teeth, hoping that the dog would grow tired sooner or later.
"Grawp, just like we talked about." Hagrid said to the smaller giant, whom Harry knew was his brother, though he had never seen him before. Grawp stomped towards the second Death Eater giant, who brought his club over his shoulder and then turned his attention to the smaller giant. Suddenly, the giant started swinging his club wildly in the air, as both the invisible thestrals and the hippogriffs began to peck at him from the air, hurting and frustrating him enough that his size advantage over Grawp was minimized. Grawp, after receiving instructions by Hagrid, brought his fist straight up into the giant's chin, knocking the giant back onto his heels.
One of the Death Eaters that was standing at the edge of the forest waved his wand in a circular motion, conjuring a wooden flute out of thin air. He took a step towards Fluffy and began to play a soft melody on the flute, a melody that seemed out of place due to the battles that were taking place all around the area. The gigantic dog reacted almost immediately, with his six eyes dimly falling closed, before his body collapsed onto the ground and he began to snore loudly. The giant pushed the dog off of him, and just as he was about to swing his club down at the dog in an attempt to kill it, he was attacked by a group of Aurors, who were using whatever spells they knew would effect the massive brute and penetrate his thick, impenetrable skin.
As many of the Hit Wizards and Aurors fought off the giants along with Grawp and Hagrid, the Death Eaters finally started to appear, their numbers great. Many of the members of Voldemort's army were wearing normal robes and lacked the distinctive masks of the Death Eaters, while some had black robes but no masks, and the rest were clad in the usual black robes and masks. The army stopped nearly fifty feet away from the Order, standing shoulder to shoulder, with Barty Crouch and Bellatrix Lestrange in the middle, their identities hidden by their bone masks. "Those aren't just Death Eaters," A Hit Wizard in the middle of the group said, loud enough for everyone to hear him. "Those are Hogsmeade citizens."
"Imperiused citizens." Kingsley scowled, angry at the Death Eaters lack of honor. His gaze then went skyward when he saw a figure come flying over the grounds, a plume of black smoke following in his wake. "He can fly? How can he do that?"
"That's…that's not possible." A Ministry Official muttered in fear, his eyes wide at the sight of Voldemort flying unaided through the air. It went against everything that he knew about the magical laws, everything that he had learned throughout his career; if Voldemort wasn't bound by the magical laws of everyone else, what hope did they have against him?
Voldemort landed in between the two groups, around forty feet away from Harry and the rest. Voldemort's red eyes moved off of Harry and over to the giants in the background, who had both been downed by Grawp and the Aurors who were fighting against them, which made him give a slight growl of frustration. "You have escaped me twice before, Harry Potter, but unlike your parents, you will not make it to three times." He said, suddenly, returning his gaze to Harry.
"This side, guard the forest." Gawain Robards pointed to the group of Ministry Officials who were standing across from the forest. "This side, take out the Imperiused wizards." He said, speaking about the group of Ministry Officials who were closest to the lake. "The rest take the Death Eaters."
"We'll see about that, Voldemort." Harry replied, taking a deep breath as he gripped his wand. He couldn't bring out the Elder Wand yet, not until he got word from Kylie and Snape that the snake was dead—if he did use the Elder Wand, it would ruin his plan. Until then, all he could do was stall, to defend himself and not go on the offense in the hopes that he would be alive when Kylie and Snape accomplished their task.
Voldemort stared at Harry, his red eyes burning in rage at Harry's lack of respect. "You are just like Dumbledore before I had him killed, with neither of you understanding how special I am. Only I am worthy of ruling this castle!"
"This is not a castle to rule!" Harry screamed out, feelings of anger overtaking him for a brief moment at the mention of Albus Dumbledore. "This is a school, a place to teach the young, to teach the generations of the future; even Salazar Slytherin knew that, Voldemort. And, in case you have forgotten, Salazar was driven out of his own school by a mere muggle lover and blood traitor in Godric Gryffindor." Harry said, emphasizing the word mere, knowing that the greatness of Godric Gryffindor would offend Voldemort.
"Do not dare tell me what Salazar did and did not know, mudblood." Voldemort scathed, fondling his wand in his right hand, anticipating the duel that was coming.
"Mudblood?" Harry sneered, a mocking smile appearing on his face as he thought of his next words in his mind. "We're both halfbloods, you and I. After all, isn't that why you chose me that fateful night? Plus, while I do not hail from Slytherin's line, we both are descendants of the Peverells, Voldemort, which means, in a way, that we're related to one another, however distant that relation is."
"Doubt that." Voldemort replied, though the look on his face betrayed his seeming indifference.
"And you know what else?" Harry added with a gleeful look on his face, knowing that with each passing word, Kylie and Snape were inching closer and closer to success. "Dumbledore was also a descendant of the Peverells."
"So then only the strongest members of our society are from our family." Voldemort said, wondering just how much Harry knew about his genealogy. He must have learned of my Gaunt heritage from that miserable Dumbledore, he thought to himself with a scowl taking shape on his face. "Don't you see, Potter? We were meant to rule! Join me, Harry Potter, and you shall rule by my side."
"Don't even bother; you're going down tonight, Voldemort. You see these people behind me?" Harry asked, gesturing to all of the people that were gathered behind him, ready to fight for what was right and noble. "I'm here to protect all of them."
"I ask you for the last time, Potter, join me or die." Voldemort again granted Harry a chance to be on his side, to fight for his cause. "I only asked your parents to join me once, consider this a compliment."
"I will never join you." Harry growled in fury, disgusted that Voldemort would dare speak of his parents.
"So be it." Voldemort growled as he raised his wand, which resulted in one of the Death Eaters at the forest's edge slipping back into the shadows of the forest, while the main group of Death Eaters began their charge. Without saying another word, Lord Voldemort sent a powerful curse at Harry, just as Harry took a few steps up to begin their duel.
At the end of the line of Death Eaters stood Mulciber, the Death Eaters' Imperius Curse specialist, who looked over to his army of Imperiused wizards and witches from Hogsmeade. He raised his wand high into the air, sent out a few green sparks from its tip, and then led them in a charge against the Aurors, who were trying to stun the innocent, rather than use lethal force against them. The use of Imperiused citizens put the Aurors in a particularly unpleasant place, as it was hard to try and fight non-lethally when an opponent was throwing lethal curses with no regard. Even so, the Aurors had to admit with indignant respect that it was impressive that Mulciber was able to curse so many residents of Hogsmeade, who numbered around twenty, since it was difficult to keep attention enough to Imperiuse even one person, let alone twenty like Mulciber had.
One Auror managed to stun the few wizards that were in between Mulciber and herself, and then sent a jinx the Death Eater's way. The Death Eater dodged and sent the Killing Curse back at the Auror, who dove out of the way but was then attacked by an Imperiused witch. Quickly, the Auror stunned the Imperiused witch, but just as she was turning around to face Mulciber once more, she didn't see the green light of death hit her in the face before she was dead, and she immediately fell to the ground with a loud thump—her body was cold and lifeless, and her eyes were still open as she became the first causality of the night.
The Death Eaters, meanwhile, had just charged towards the Order of the Phoenix and the Hit Wizards, who met them head on, and the two forces divided up into individual duels. Bellatrix Lestrange threw Killing Curses with reckless disregard, coming just as close to hitting friend as foe; she cackled madly as she saw a male Ministry Official fall to the ground, dead, and then moved onto her next victim. Tonks, all the while, had just started a duel with a short, squat witch, who had a bone mask covering her face, though Tonks knew who was beneath it: Alecto Carrow, sister of Amycus. Near them, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange were dueling two Hit Wizards, who were putting up a decent fight against the powerful brothers, though one could see that the Hit Wizards were entirely fighting a defensive battle.
In the center of the lawn, Harry and Voldemort brandished their wands against each other faster than the eye could see, both parlaying, blocking, attacking, and dodging in fluid motion. Sirius watched the exchange for a few moments, his eyes open in amazement as he saw the pair, wondering just how much magic Voldemort knew in his dark mind. "This is a classic case of an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force." Sirius noted, continuing to watch as Harry and Voldemort dueled. He remembered the times when James would duel Voldemort during the first war—he needed Lily there with him in order to even survive, let alone thrive like Harry seemed to be doing. An attack to his left brought Sirius back to his senses, and he swiftly dove to the ground, allowing the deadly curse to fly safely over his head. Quickly, he sent a stunner at the Death Eater who dared to attack him, diving himself into the battle just like the rest of his Order comrades.
"Is this the great magic that was prophesized that you would have? I was better than you are when I was a first year." Voldemort mocked Harry, blocking a curse that the younger wizard had sent at him with a lazy flick of his wand. "Not trying to kill me, I see."
"There are worse things than death, Voldemort." Harry replied, though he knew he would be trying to kill Voldemort eventually: not yet, not then, though.
"Only the weak believe that!" Voldemort shouted, tossing a crimson curse towards Harry, who summoned a bronze shield to block it. The curse bounced off of the metal shield with a loud clang, before fizzling out and leaving no lasting effects.
"No, only those who are the masters of death believe it." Harry returned, running his wand an inch above the snow: as he ran his wand, an invisible force pushed the snow towards Voldemort, which rushed at the Dark Lord like an avalanche. Voldemort waved his wand and transfigured the snow into deadly icicles, and then jutted his wand out towards Harry, making the icicles fly back towards the younger wizard. Harry quickly dove out of the way, rolled back onto his feet, and used the bronze shield to protect himself from the rest of the icicles. "That was close," He whispered to himself, hoping that Nagini was almost dead because he didn't know how long he could last by stalling the way he was.
Meanwhile, in the Death Eater compound, Kylie, Snape, and Rosier each inched closer and closer to the stone throne that Nagini had slithered under. The trio had attacked the snake just moments before, each missing with their respective curses, and the snake had managed to escape to her safety spot under Lord Voldemort's throne. Kylie moved around the throne so he could take a peek under it, and when he bent down on his knees and put his face to the floor, he saw Nagini, protected by a sphere-like orb of purple energy.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you just did this?" Snape questioned sarcastically, as he flicked his wand towards the throne and tossed it across the room, where it crashed against the wall and fell to the ground with a loud thump. Snape moved his gaze from the stone throne to the spot where Nagini's orb shield was revealed: it was a round sphere of purple energy that seemed to protect her from outside forces. "Stupefy," Snape chanted, pointing his wand down at the sphere. The red jet of light rushed towards the sphere, where it bounced off and was deflected towards Rosier, who was hit with the spell as a result and fell to the ground, clearly unconscious.
"Subtlety isn't your thing, is it?" Kylie growled to Snape, running his wand over Rosier's frame and performing the Rennervate spell that would wake the man up. "Not that I think that this thing can deflect a Killing Curse, but let's not try it, okay?" Kylie said, taking a step closer as he levitated the sphere higher into the air so it was around eye level. He brought his wand up to the sphere and poked at it, noticing that the wood of the wand wasn't allowed to enter the sphere just as the Stupefy spell wasn't. "Shut up," He said to Nagini, as the snake hissed angrily at him.
"Why do I get the feeling you're about to do something incredibly stupid?" Snape drawled, as he watched Kylie playing with the sphere.
"I'm going to reach in there, grab the snake, and pull it out. When I do, be ready to kill it." Kylie said, staring over to Snape and Rosier. "We'll go on my count, ready? One, two, three, go!" He said, thrusting his left hand at the orb of energy. His hand entered the sphere, which felt like pudding in his mind, and he reached out for Nagini, who tried to bite him, though the small sphere prevented her from really defending herself against him. He grabbed her head, her forked tongue hissing wildly at him, and when he tried to pull his hand and the snake out of the sphere, he realized for the first time that his hand was stuck. He tried and tried, but his hand could not come out—he even tried pushing Nagini out of the other side of the sphere, but she couldn't move out of the sphere, either. "Flesh can go in, but it can't get out." Kylie said in a panicked tone, as Nagini started to slither her way out of his grip.
"You can't move at all?" Rosier questioned, as he took a step forward, having just awoken from his spell induced stupor.
"No!" Kylie yelled out in pain as Nagini sunk her fangs into his hand. "Merlin, this isn't good."
"Don't let the snake bite you again, boy." Snape scowled, trying to think of a spell that would break the sphere's power. "Penetrare!" He shouted, moving his wand in a strange way that neither Kylie nor Rosier recognized. The sphere shimmered for a second, but ultimately resumed its natural state, apparently unaffected by the spell.
Kylie grabbed Nagini by the throat, and quickly ran over to the stone wall and bashed the sphere against hard rock. Again, again, he punched the wall, hoping that the sphere would break due to the physical force being applied to it, but after a few more bashes, he stopped, his breathing heavy and the sphere just as strong as it was before. "Well, that didn't work." He muttered in a downtrodden tone, knowing that this wasn't good: if they couldn't get the snake out of the bubble, how would they ever kill it and destroy the Horcrux inside?
"Hold out your arm." Snape said, and when Kylie did, he cut his wand through the air and released a whip of fire, which hit the sphere straight on. Like the spells they tried before, the fire-rope was deflected off of the sphere, not affecting it at all.
"Don't even think about cutting off my arm." Kylie growled after seeing the look that was in Snape's eyes.
"That wouldn't help, but…" Snape trailed off, poking at the sphere with his wand. "Rosier, do you have any suggestions here?" He questioned the older wizard, wondering if he was missing something that they could try.
"I was going to suggest what he said, you know, chopping off his arm." Rosier answered, giving out a wheezing laugh and shrugging his shoulders.
"Great," Kylie sighed, rolling his eyes at the thought of losing his arm.
"I know a spell that might work, but it could very well kill you in the process." Snape muttered, studying the sphere a bit more with his wand.
Kylie looked down at the floor, biting his lip, and then his eyes flicked up to Snape. "Promise me that you'll kill the snake and get the prisoners out. Promise me." Kylie said in a tone that both Rosier and Snape knew was important.
"I will," Snape nodded, staring straight into Kylie's eyes, promising him that he would carry out the rest of the deeds if Kylie was to fall.
"Do it." Kylie whispered, turning his face away from the sphere, wondering what Snape was going to do. He gripped down on Nagini even harder, feeling the snake moving furiously in his grasp in an effort to free herself. He felt himself getting drowsy due to the poison that the snake had injected into his hand, but he paid it no mind, wanting to make sure that the snake was destroyed first.
With his eyes closed, he heard Snape whip his wand through the air, and he could feel the spell racing towards him like some great beast. When the spell made contact with the sphere, there was a loud rumble and the sphere exploded outwards, sending a shockwave out that knocked all three of them off of their feet. Nagini slithered out of Kylie's grasp as he was thrown to the floor, and she raced towards the doorway of the room, intent on escaping to safety. "Get up," Snape snapped, as he rose from the floor; he had a large gash above his right eye. "The snake is getting away!"
Kylie staggered to his feet, and bent down and picked up his wand that had slipped out of his hand from the force of the shockwave. "Avada Kedavra!" He screamed out, throwing the Killing Curse towards Nagini just as she slithered out of the room. The curse sailed above her tail and slammed against the wall, scorching the stone a bit.
Rosier was the first to chase after her, and when he entered the hallway that Nagini had slithered into, he raised his wand and threw the Killing Curse at her just as Kylie had done seconds before. It just missed her, and bounced off of the stone floor and then off of the wall, before fizzling out on the ceiling, leaving a large scorch mark in its wake. He chased after her, his footsteps pounding off of the stone floor along with Snape's and Kylie's. Again, he threw a Killing Curse, but this time, he managed to hit her, and she went limp for a few moments, allowing the trio to make up some ground on her. As they got within ten feet of the snake, it flinched a bit and started to resume its slithering, desperately trying to get to safety, to protect the piece of soul that was inside, the one thing that was keeping her alive.
Sectumsempra, Snape thought silently, as he slashed his wand through the air in the direction of the snake's body. Like an invisible sword, deep cuts began to appear on the snake's body, with blood pouring out in all directions. Again, Snape slashed his wand, and in one final hiss of displeasure and a scream that was akin to a human's, the snake was dismembered, destroying the soul that was controlling it.
"Velehieb!" Kylie shouted as he twirled his wand, hitting the two snake pieces with a yellow energy beam that looked like an arrow. "It didn't move, I guess it's definitely dead, destroyed."
"Well done," Rosier nodded his head to Snape, slightly out of breath due to his old age.
"Lets go, we still need to free the prisoners." Kylie murmured as he rubbed his left hand, knowing that he needed to hurry before the venom from the snakebite by Nagini killed him.
Back at Hogwarts, Hagrid and Walden Macnair were locked in a duel—Macnair using his magic and Hagrid using his half-giant strength and resistance. Macnair twisted his wand, and Hagrid screamed out into the night as he was hit with a Conjunctivitis Curse in the face. Hagrid's eyes immediately puffed closed, forcing him to swing his large fists wildly in the air in an effort to hit Macnair as the wizard started to close in on him. "And the half-breed goes down with his eyes closed, not even able to defend himself. How pathetic," Macnair scolded in a mocking tone, gripping his wand and aiming it straight at Hagrid's heart. Just as he was about to throw the Killing Curse, he heard a loud thundering sound from behind him and he quickly spun around, trying to see what it was.
"Hagger?" The giant Grawp said dumbly, looking over to his half-brother Hagrid. He ran at Macnair with thundering steps, brandishing a giant's club, as the Death Eater moved in on Hagrid.
Macnair, who had just heard Grawp coming at him, quickly flung the green Killing Curse that was meant for Hagrid at Grawp. Grawp swung at the green ball of light with his club, knocking it like a baseball into a tree, which immediately burst into flames; the club started to smolder as well, forcing Grawp to throw it away onto the ground. Macnair started to back away in fear, and just as he turned to run, he was hit with Grawp's open right hand and sent flying into the air. He soared over the battlefield and landed in the center of the lake with a splash, where he was immediately dragged down into the depths by the merpeople, never to be seen again.
A little away from Hagrid, Sirius had just finished off a duel with a Death Eater he didn't know when he saw a short, pudgy Death Eater at the edge of the forest in the corner of his eye. It was the same place that three other Death Eaters, who had led the giants, trolls, and dementors, had stood before the battle erupted. Quickly, Sirius darted towards the Death Eater, knowing somehow that it would be Peter Pettigrew, the man he hated most in the world, even more so than Voldemort. The Death Eater immediately saw Sirius, and began to run the opposite way, away from the battle and away from the charging Sirius. Sirius threw a curse at the Death Eater, but the wizard managed to deflect the curse down to the ground, showing surprising skill with a wand.
Sirius continued the chase, and as he neared the slower Death Eater, he swung his wand at a log that was off to the side. As a result, the log went shooting through the air, knocking the Death Eater down onto the ground, where his bone mask slipped off of his face, revealing his identity. "I knew it was you!" Sirius yelled, seeing that the Death Eater was Peter Pettigrew.
Pettigrew jumped to his feet, holding his wand in front of him, readying himself for the fight. "Sirius," He replied, thrusting his wand towards the other wizard and releasing a purple jinx.
Sirius managed to evade the attack, and quickly returned it with a disarming jinx, knowing that if given the chance, Peter would concoct a plan to escape from his clutches once again. Immediately, Pettigrew's wand jumped out of his hands, flew through the air, and landed in the muddy snow about five feet away from him. "Well, well, well, for so long I have dreamed of this moment." Sirius whispered with wide eyes as he inched towards his former friend, his wand held threateningly in his hand.
Peter stared at Sirius with fear in his eyes, hopeful that he could somehow talk his way out of the situation. "Please, wait, let me explain!" Peter squealed as he moved back from Sirius, before slipping and falling onto his back.
"I DID MY WAITING! Twenty years of it in Azkaban!" Sirius yelled out, breathing heavily. "I spent twenty years of my life in Azkaban because of you, Pettigrew." He whispered darkly, as he started towards the wizard. This was scarier to Peter than Sirius yelling or screaming, as Sirius' temper was usually explosive, but when he was truly angry to the soul, he managed to control himself, something that Peter had only seen once before when they were in Hogwarts.
Sirius crept closer to the downed Pettigrew, his wand held in front of him and a deep scowl on his face. "Please, please, Sirius, my old friend, spare me." Peter begged, falling backwards again as he tried to get away from Sirius.
"Spare you? Spare you? You dare ask me to spare you? After what you did to James and Lily, you dare ask me to spare you?" Sirius barked out, his eyes wide as rage consumed him. "After what you did to Harry, you dare ask me to spare you? After what you did to me, you dare ask me to spare you?"
"You know not the powers the Dark Lord possesses!" Peter squealed like a coward, remembering that fateful night when he dedicated his services to the Dark Lord. That night was forever etched into his memory, it was the night he sold his soul to the darkness that was inside him. "He would have killed me!"
"Then you should have died!" Sirius erupted, his anger finally overcoming his control. Azkaban had taken much from him, but his temper was not one of the many things taken. "You should have died like we would have for you. You should have died protecting your friends."
"I was never as strong as you," Peter cried, hoping to escape Sirius' wrath. He would do anything to survive, to live another day, even if it cost him his dignity and pride.
"That isn't going to work anymore, Peter, not at all. I've seen your true self: conniving, wily, and yes, even powerful." Sirius spoke, his voice cutting Peter to the bone. He had witnessed Peter's brilliance the day after Voldemort killed the Potters, and then he witnessed the rat's bravery during their last meeting, so many months ago when Dumbledore was still alive and Cedric still had his real hand. "It's over now, Peter."
"Please, please, spare me!" Peter chirped as he bowed deeply, his eyes searching desperately for his wand. If only he could find it, if he could reach it, perhaps he would have a chance to save himself from certain death.
Don't kill him, Sirius suddenly heard a voice say in his head, though it wasn't his own. Don't become a murderer for this scum, another voice said, this one harsher than the first; Sirius recognized that one from his childhood and his teenage years because he had fought with it so many times during his early life. Spare him, be the bigger wizard, a third, this time a female voice said, as Sirius took a step back in confusion. He bit his lip as he watched Peter scramble in front of him, and just as Peter threw a ball of snow into his eyes, he released a stunner at the smaller wizard. The stunner made contact with the wizard, and Peter fell to the ground, stunned, a look of utter surprise on his face. "You're lucky they're more forgiving than I am, Peter." Sirius muttered, knowing who the voices were because they were etched into his memory: James, Regulus, and Lily, respectively. He then turned around and scanned what was happening with the other fights, trying to figure out where he needed to go, who he needed to help. He saw that Neville Longbottom and Despereaux Barnaud were struggling with three Death Eaters they were fighting off, and he quickly made his way over to them, hoping that he would get their in time to help them.
Near to the forest edge, Bill Weasley had just sent a curse at Fenrir Greyback, as he rushed towards the werewolf with his wand raised. Greyback had just entered the battle with a bunch of his werewolf brethren, but luckily since it was not a full moon that night, they were human—even so, their wolfish traits were still very much apparent. Greyback ducked away from the curse, and with speed no normal human could have, he closed the distance between Bill and himself to a mere five yards. "Expulso!" Bill yelled out, pointing his wand at the ground underneath Greyback's feet.
Greyback went flying through the air in result, but somehow managed to land on his feet, and was now closer to Bill than he was before. "Naughty, naughty." Greyback snarled, showing his fangs, which were sharp enough to draw blood just by running a finger along them. "I have always liked the taste of redheads, especially purebloods." He licked his lips, as he jumped towards Bill quicker than the wizard could react. Bill gestured ineptly with his wand, but he was struck in the face with Greyback's claw-like fingernails, creating a deep gash, the force of which knocked Bill back onto his heels and disoriented him a bit. Then, before Bill knew what was happening, Greyback pushed him down to the ground, jumped on top of him, and began to use his fangs to gnaw into Bill's face.
"Bill!" Fred Weasley screamed, rushing over to save his brother from being maimed by the werewolf. As he neared the pair, he sent a repulsion jinx at the werewolf, which knocked Greyback off of his bloodied older brother and onto the ground a few feet away.
Fenrir Greyback looked up at Fred with his cold amber eyes, as he wiped off the blood that was on his lips and chin with his black sleeve. "Little weasel wants to play, does he?"
"You bet I do." Fred angrily replied, throwing a curse at the werewolf.
Greyback dodged to the left, allowing the spell to fly past him and off into the distance. Fred threw another curse at him, and after dodging once more, Greyback gave the redhead a mocking smile. "Too slow, aren't you?"
"If you say so," Fred muttered, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white globe that was about the size of a tennis ball. He threw the globe onto the ground, near Greyback's feet, where it exploded outwards and released a puff of black smoke that morphed into a cloud of darkness that expanded larger and larger. "Stupefy!" Fred called out, releasing a jet of red light from his wand tip, which raced towards the confused Greyback.
Greyback managed to dodge the stunner and escape the Peruvian Darkness powder bomb, but when he exited the cloud, he had a diminished sense of direction. Before he could gather his wits, he was hit with a Silencing Charm from Fred's wand, which prevented him from speaking out loud. Fred followed the Silencing Charm up by binding Greyback with blue cords that wrapped themselves tightly around the Greyback's arms and legs, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. "Beaten by a silly gag item from my shop, huh Greyback? And you call yourself the big, bag werewolf?" Greyback's amber eyes looked around Fred, where he saw Bill still lying on the ground, unmoving and near death. As he stared at Bill's body with a vicious smile, his gaze moved over to the Death Eater that was running towards Fred, his wand raised and ready.
"Avada Kedavra!" The Death Eater yelled, luckily loud enough for Fred to hear so he could move out of the way. Another Death Eater attacked the redhead from his other side, forcing him to turn around to defend himself; that, of course, left him open for attack from the first Death Eater, who sent a dark curse meant to boil the person's blood at Fred. Fred again managed to evade the attack after using his wand efficiently to summon a shield charm that protected him from the curse.
"It's going to take a lot more than you two to beat me." Fred confidently said, knowing that he had enough skill to defeat the Death Eaters. His eyes drifted over to his downed brother, and he immediately knew he needed to hurry or else Bill would die. Throwing a curse at one of the Death Eaters, he hoped to end it quickly so he could go and help Bill as soon as possible.
The Death Eater used his wand to summon the Shield Charm, which resulted in Fred's curse bouncing off it and dissipating in the air—the Death Eater then he threw a curse back at Fred. Fred just managed to get out of the way of the curse as the other Death Eater sent a Killing Curse towards him, forcing him to fall down onto the ground to protect himself from the green light. He rolled over through the muddy snow and jutted his wand out into the air; there was a loud crack and golden light radiated off of his wand like a flame would a torch. The light condensed into a ball and flew towards the two Death Eaters, who each ran away into the forest nearby before the ball of light reached them, apparently alarmed by the spell. "What was that about?" Fred confusedly questioned as he got back to his feet, wondering what made the Death Eaters run like that. He looked over to Greyback, who was still on the ground where Fred had left him. While Greyback was still bound, Fred couldn't help but feel unnerved when he saw the werewolf smiling back up at him.
As he was staring down at Greyback, that's when Fred felt it for the first time: the icy coldness of the dementors. He looked upwards to the sky and saw three of the dark beings descending upon him, and his mind immediately exploded with the worst memories of his life. He collapsed to the ground, writhing around in agony as he tried to muster the happiness needed to summon his weasel Patronus to protect himself. One of the dementors landed next to him and reached down towards him, and then gripped him by the throat and lifted him up into the air with unnatural strength so that the two were face to face to one another. Fred's eyes were closed at first but immediately popped open when he felt the dementor force open his mouth with his decaying hand. Horrified, Fred watched as the dementor locked its grimy mouth over his own, unable to react to what he knew was about to happen. It was almost immediate: his soul was taken from him, and his all-but-dead body was unceremoniously thrown to the ground, landing just mere feet away from his almost dead brother, Bill. As Bill laid bleeding out on the ground, his gaze weakly flicked over to Fred's body and an immense sadness overcame him: his brother was dead and gone from the living world. While Fred's body would live on for some time, it would never be the same, for his soul and essence was separated, leaving his body nothing but an empty husk.
Back at the Death Eater compound, the trio of Death Eater spies crept down the halls of the dungeon, knowing that there would eventually be a trap that would try to prevent them from continuing on with their journey. "Be prepared, I'm sure its not going to be as easy as just walking in there and freeing them." Kylie noted, as the turned down the hall that would lead them to the dungeon chamber that held the prisoners. They immediately saw the two sets of silver armor that stood on opposite sides of the door—one wielded an axe, while the other had a sword resting in its hands. Hanging on the stone wall across from the armor, they saw a large woven tapestry that had a troll holding a club over a stack of dead bodies, all of which were beheaded.
They walked down the hallway, passed one set of armor and up to the wooden door and they reached out to the doorknob. Before they made contact with it, however, a wooden club swung out from the troll tapestry that was fastened to the wall behind them. As the club made contact with their bodies, they were all flung to the ground by the club blow and slid a few feet, before coming to a stop against the far side of the hallway. "What was that?" Snape murmured groggily, as he watched, horrorstricken, as the troll climbed out of the tapestry and came to life. Blood started to pour out of a wound on his forehead that he head received from the fall he took from the shockwave previous to Nagini's slaying, forcing him to reach up and wipe it so it didn't fall into his eyes.
"That's…that's not possible." Rosier said, as the troll lumbered towards them, brandishing his club in a threatening manner. It was smaller than a normal troll, but just as strong and nasty-looking, and was accompanied by a smell that made the trio nauseous.
"Averte Statim!" Kylie yelled, pointing his wand at the troll's body. The troll was flung off of his feet by an invisible force, and landed heavily on the ground, cracking the stone under his immense weight. The troll groaned, but got back to its feet without any harm coming to him; it bent down and picked up the club that it had dropped so it could resume its attack. "Glacium!" Kylie said, watching as the stone floor beneath the troll turned to ice. The slick ice made the troll slip, where it fell onto its back on the ground once more. Seemingly unhurt, the troll got back up to its feet, continuing onwards to the trio. "I could really use your help about now." Kylie muttered, flicking his eyes down to Snape and Rosier, who were both groggily getting back to their feet—they each had taken most of the club attack and had both hit the ground much harder than Kylie had. "Avada Kedavra!" Kylie hissed, watching as the green light flew towards the troll and struck it straight in the chest.
The troll fell to the ground with a thud, earning a smile from Kylie as he turned his attention back to Snape and Rosier. "Behind you," Rosier muttered, seeing that the troll was getting back to its feet, unaffected by the Killing Curse.
"What magic is this? That was a Killing Curse, you should be dead." Kylie took a step back in horror, wondering what exactly was going on. Then, behind the troll, he saw the tapestry where the troll came out flicker in the breeze, and he was immediately hit with an idea. "Unless, you're not really alive in the first place, unless you're already dead and you're just a troll version of an Inferi." He reasoned, ducking under the troll's club, which clashed against the wall, creating a large dent and cracked stone. He rolled underneath the troll's legs, and quickly ran to the tapestry and brought his wand up to the fine canvas. "And if you're an Inferi, fire should hurt you, and if it's applied to the tapestry you came from, it should kill you." A spark of blue flame jumped from Kylie's wand tip, and in one quick burst, the entire tapestry was lit up in flames.
Likewise, the troll began to burn as well, and just as the tapestry turned into complete ash, the troll did too, apparently more connected with the tapestry than Kylie had originally thought. "Are you both okay?" Kylie asked, while walking over to Snape and helping the older wizard get up to his feet.
"I'm cherry, a bit of an ache in the neck, though." Rosier answered, running a hand through his gray hair. For the first time in a long while, he felt old: he had, after all, attended Hogwarts alongside Tom Riddle and had been one of the first Death Eaters who had followed Lord Voldemort. He was apart of Tom's Slytherin gang in Hogwarts, along with the fathers of Avery, Mulciber, the Lestrange brothers, and Theodore Nott—only three of them were still alive, which included Avery, Sr., Nott, and himself, all of whom were Death Eaters. "And you, Severus?"
"Fine," Snape snapped, using his wand to touch up the gash on his forehead. He wiped the blood off with his black sleeve, not accustomed to being caught off guard like he was. He could usually anticipate his opponents' moves, but the troll coming out of the tapestry was something he had never foreseen—it was such incredible magic that he never fathomed it could be possible. In a way, he respected Voldemort's ability to wield magic, though he had seen Dumbledore wield even more powerful magic than the Dark Lord over his time at Hogwarts—admittedly, he tended to overlook some of Voldemort's skills due to his hatred of the man for killing Lily that night so long ago.
"Good, we got to keep going." Kylie said, with the bite mark on his hand that was inflicted by Nagini in the front of his mind. His hand was almost entirely purple, and he was gripping it gingerly, clearly affected by the poison that Nagini had injected in him. They walked back up to the door, and with Kylie leading the way, they reached out to the knob. Just as they were about to make contact with the metal, Kylie stopped them all, realizing that if it was him, he would have another trap set up. "I don't think it's safe, maybe we should spell it open." The other two nodded, and Kylie took out his wand and pointed it down at the key hole that was in the door. "Alohomora." He whispered, tapping the hole three times, wondering if it would work.
On his left and right side, the two sets of silver armor jumped awake, wielding their individual weapons. "What now?" Rosier muttered, gripping his wand tightly as he slowly backed away from the armor sets. He dove over to the side when one of the sets slashed his sword through the air. "Confringo!" Rosier shouted, watching as the spell created a mere dent in the armor, rather than blowing it apart like he had anticipated. He backed down the hallway as the armor with the sword came lumbering towards him, trying to think of a spell that would work against the armor.
Snape and Kylie, meanwhile, were battling the armor with the axe, each finding out that their spells were useless against it just like Rosier had a moment before. They both tried more potent magic, but like before, the armor was just dented, rather than outright destroyed like they had expected would happen. "Fiendfyre may be the only way to destroy these things." Kylie whispered to Snape, who agreed with a quick nod of his head.
"If I were you, I'd clear the hall." Snape yelled out loud, looking over to Rosier, who nodded and sprinted down to the end of the hallway, and then turned left, heading back towards the throne room. "This might get a little hot." Snape whispered to Kylie, and then brought his wand up to his mouth. Without saying the Fiendfyre incantation, he blew on his wand tip and watched as a ball of searing orange flames appeared, and once the ball was about the size of a quaffle, he jettisoned it from his wand tip and sent it flying towards the armor. Almost immediately, a large whale-looking beast took shape from the fireball and barreled down the hallway, incinerating anything and everything that it touched, including one of the sets of armor. The other just managed to escape the same fate as its twin by lying on the ground, but it got up right away after the fire-beast passed and continued on its pursuit of Kylie and Snape, charging down the hallway with its sword readied in the air.
Mimicking Snape's actions from before, Kylie brought his wand up to his mouth and blew on it. Unlike Snape's fire, a cloud of ice in the shape of a bird came forth from the wand instead, freezing the armor solid: it was unmoving, but still alive and active. Then, Snape sent out another blast of Fiendfyre, this time incinerating the stationary armor for good. "You can come back, Rosier." Kylie yelled out to the other member of the group, who returned seconds later with a smile on his face.
They all walked up to the door once again, wondering if Voldemort had spelled anymore protections into the area. "Masks on, we can't let them know our identity." Snape whispered, knowing that if the prisoners found out who they were, their covers would be ruined and they would be unable to continue working as spies if Voldemort managed to survive that night. They all put on their hoods, placed their masks upon their face, and hid who they were, and when everyone was ready, Kylie took a step forward.
Kylie brought his wand up to the keyhole and said, "Aperio," remembering that the Alohomora Spell didn't work the first time he had tried it. With a soft click, the door unlocked itself, and Kylie waved his wand and opened the door, not wanting to physically touch the wood in case it was cursed. He gasped when he saw the five prisoners, his eyes meeting Rufus Scrimgeour's angered gaze. "Is everyone okay?" He questioned in a voice that wasn't his, trying to hide who he was even more.
"Why would you care?" Scrimgeour snarled, kicking out his feet in an effort to knock Kylie to the ground. He thought that if he could just get one of them in his grasp, perhaps he would have enough leverage to bargain his way out of the dungeon, inwardly believing that they were there to torture the other prisoners.
"We're here to free you," Rosier assured them, as he ran his wand over Ollivander's shackles, freeing the great wand maker from his constraints for the first time in close to a half of a year. "We're going to get you all out of here."
Snape unshackled Rita Skeeter, and then moved over to Ludo Bagman, whose face was black and blue but still very much recognizable. After freeing the former quidditch star, Snape reached down and helped him to his feet; Bagman staggered a bit but was able to stay up on his own, unlike the older and weaker Ollivander, who needed to lean against the wall for support. "I'm okay," Ollivander coughed out when Bagman made a move to help him.
Kylie moved over to the last prisoner and unlocked Florean Fortescue's shackles, granting the wizard ice cream-maker his freedom once more. "Come on, I have a portkey that will take you all to St. Mungo's, but we need to leave the area, because there are wards preventing portkey use here." Kylie said, as he moved towards the door—he allowed Ollivander to lean on him for support so that he could walk out of the dungeon.
The five prisoners and the trio of rescuers all exited the dungeon and hurried down the hall until they reached the hallway that led to the throne room. Kylie rested Ollivander against the wall and pulled out the portkey keychain from his robes, and then held it out for all the prisoners to touch. "Ready?" He questioned as he nodded his head to Rosier and Snape, who took a step back, knowing they would be able to apparate out after the prisoners left. "Sprung," Kylie whispered, pointing his wand at the keychain. The prisoners felt a pull behind their naval and in a flash they were gone, disappearing from the Death Eater compound. Once their mission was complete and the prisoners were on their way to St. Mungo's, Kylie whisked his wand through the air and summoned a Patronus that took the shape of an osprey, his animagus form. The bird disappeared as soon as it was conjured, which left Kylie hoping that it would get to Harry in time enough for it to make a difference.
In the center of the Hogwarts battlefield, Harry was still dueling Voldemort, trying to bide his time until he got word from Kylie and Snape that the snake was dead. He jetted his wand out from his chest, and a blast of fire encircled Voldemort, creating an inferno of flames that entrapped him for a brief moment. The Dark Lord waved his wand and transformed the fire into snow that fell to the ground, which was a spectacular display of transfiguration that showed a mastery of magic that made Harry gulp in fear a bit. "If that's the best you got, I think you should just give up now." Voldemort mocked, looking at Harry in visible disgust.
"It's not." Harry said, swishing his wand and muttering a spell under his breath—some spells, regardless of the caster's proficiency in non-verbal spellwork, needed to be performed out loud, just as some spells were more powerful when performed non-verbally. Before Voldemort knew what was happening to him, he was sinking deep into the earth, the muddy ground below him having been transformed into quicksand by Harry's spell. The Dark Lord continued to sink and sink, and before long, he was up to his neck deep.
"This won't stop me." Voldemort growled, and without any wand movements or spells casted, he flew out of the quicksand with a black plume of smoke in his wake. "This is useless."
"Radix mobiliarbus!" Harry said, and immediately roots jutted out of the ground and wound their way around Voldemort's arms and legs, bringing the Dark Lord to his knees. The roots continued their pressure, managing to bend the wizard backwards so that his head was nearly bound to the ground.
"Incendio," Voldemort muttered, and the roots burned up into ashes, allowing him to get back to his feet. "Impressive," He said, and without warning, brought his wand down through the air, and a great burst of energy left his wand.
Harry was hit with a gust of wind from Voldemort's wand that sent him flying into the air, where he landed on his hands and knees on the ground after using his hands to brace his fall. As he landed, he heard a pop come from his hands, and looked down at himself, wondering what it was, but after just a second of thought, he shrugged it off as hearing things and turned his attention back to the duel. He rose to his feet, turned around, and looked on as a bolt of green light was racing straight towards him. Remembering his duel with Voldemort in the Ministry Atrium, he tried to use the same tactic to escape death that he did those months ago: he tried to summon a flock of birds to take the curse instead of himself. However, as he performed the magic, a pain flashed in his hand and his wand burned white hot. He quickly looked down to see what the problem was, and for the first time, he noticed that there was a small crack in the wood in the middle of his wand, which was presumably the pop that he heard just seconds before. "Oh, no," He said, quietly, as the green light flashed towards him and hit him square in the chest.
All the while, Lord Voldemort watched the green light of death descended upon his foe, and like what Harry did just months before when they dueled in the Ministry, he attempted to save himself through the Avis Spell. His red gaze stared at the younger wizard as Harry's eyes went wide with fear, and he quickly jetted his wand out and screamed, "Avis!" Unfortunately for Harry, the flock of birds that normally would come never did. Instead, the spell produced a yellow haze, and the green light flew through that haze, and hit him straight in the chest before he could do any more wand movements. A jubilant smirk suddenly appeared on Voldemort's face, the joy at finally overcoming his enemy filling his black heart. But then he noticed it, noticed that something was awry and not right: Harry Potter was still standing.
There was a loud gurgling sound, and then a terrifying, blood curdling scream, though neither noise was coming from Harry's mouth. It seemed to be coming from his lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, the mark that was left on him after Voldemort's Killing Curse rebounded that fateful night when Harry was a baby. That same scar connected the pair through unseen magic, a line that allowed each of them to see and sense the other's thoughts. Then, instantly, the scar erupted in blood, seemingly opening up for the first time in Harry's life. Harry fell to his knees as crimson red blood came rushing down his face; his eyes were dull, though they were not lifeless. A second or two passed with Harry on his knees before, with one last groan from his scar, he fell headfirst into the muddy snow, his eyes closed and his body unmoving.
AN: Etymology of spells that I created in this chapter-
Radix Mobiliarbus- Taken from the Mobilarbus spell, this adds a specific subject to the spell, in this case the roots that were around Voldemort. Radix is "root" or "source" in Latin, Mobili is "moveable" in Latin, and Arbus is "tree" in Latin.
Glacium- Turns the floor in a specified area into ice. It comes from the English words "glacier" and "gum," which usually sticks to the floor and then your shoe.
Penetrare- Penetrates a magically created barrier, whether created by the Shield Charm or by other spells/curses. It comes from the Italian word "Penetrare," meaning to penetrate, to enter, or to pass through.