The wonderful world of Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.
A huge thank you to every one of you who hit on this story to read it, and many, many thanks to every wonderful person who left behind a review. Thank you! One more chapter to go after this and then this fic will be done!
Harry Potter and the Trip to the Past
Chapter – 33
Harry landed gracefully, and allowed himself to be stunned on arrival by someone in a hooded robe. It was sometime later that he was woken up, to find himself tied to a tombstone. There Voldemort was; an ugly baby, and Bellatrix tending to him and the cauldron. Harry was pleased to see Nagini slithering about. He kept as still as he could and watched as Bellatrix started the ritual ...'Bones of the father ..."
Apparently she was going to be the willing servant. Harry watched as a relatively sane and rather frightening Bellatrix come to him to take blood; Harry struggled a bit, but of course that was worth nothing.
She leered at him, as she jabbed him with her knife and held a vial to his arm. "Good Potter! Itty bitty Potter, now come on give me some blood!"
"Go away, you insane hag!" he sneered.
She scowled and hit him with a sharp stinging hex. Before she could do more however, and she was planning to, Harry saw, an irritable voice called over to her. "Bella! Will you come here? You can play with our guest later."
"Yes Master!" she called. She leered at Harry, smiling in an insane way and turned away, making Harry shudder. He looked at where she was going, to the same ugly baby like thing Voldemort had been. He was bundled up in blankets, fidgeting inside. Harry wondered what would happen, when Voldemort returned and took aim at him. He sighed, why oh why had he needed to come into the past; of course seeing so many people alive and well was all extraordinary and wonderful and Harry counted that amongst his blessing, but at times like these he could not help but think of the rather peaceful future he had left behind.
He watched as Bellatrix tended to the cauldron and all too soon a scaly Voldemort rose up from it. Merlin he was ugly was all Harry had time to ruminate, when a cold, high voice demanded of Bellatrix, "Robe me!"
Bellatrix was obviously delighted as much as Harry was obviously disgusted. "Master!" she gushed, even as she held out his robes and gave him his wand. Voldemort was looking as much as he did the last time. Harry watched as he held his Yew and Phoenix feather wand to him, caressing it with what appeared to be fondness; who'd have thought? Harry wondered sourly, Voldemort could feel positive emotions. He was bald, with slits for nostrils, pale and snakelike. Nagini suddenly slithered from nowhere and came to him to be petted.
This Voldemort, to Harry's surprise healed Bellatrix's hand first, giving her the same silver hand as he gave Pettigrew, before he pressed his wand on her Dark Mark and called for his followers, the Death Eaters. Harry supposed Voldemort cared more for a loyal Bellatrix than a snivelling Pettigrew.
Soon, there were pops all around them, as Death Eaters started coming into the graveyard, following their Master's call; Harry was still being ignored. He wondered for a minute whether he should remove his binds wandlessly, but he decided to wait and see if events happened as they did the last time.
They happened just as they did last time, only there were fewer gaps between the Death Eaters because Bellatrix and Snape had come this time. Crouch Jr. was nowhere to be seen, so Harry hoped Snape had done his job outing Crouch Jr. Harry took a moment to think of Snape and sighed internally; he had treated Snape poorly by dumping all the information flippantly and uncaringly; but Snape being Snape had pushed aside that hurt and had concentrated on the job at hand. Harry sighed again.
"... Look at me all nostalgic; it took you my followers," he whispered, and yet his voice carried all through the graveyard as he pointed out the obvious to them again; "thirteen years to restore me to my body and even then it took my beloved follower Bellatrix to escape from Azkaban to call me; there were others who enjoyed being the cream of society and yet they made no move to find me, me, as you all knew, has journeyed further than anyone on the road to immortality." Voldemort walked around the circle and paused in front of Lucius Malfoy. "Lucius," he whispered almost hissing and Harry was gratified to see Lucius Malfoy flinch, "you never bothered to find me, did you? You, with so much at your disposal."
Lucius Malfoy stuttered, "My Lord, I tried ..."
"It is obvious you did not try enough, Lucius." Voldemort said cuttingly. Lucius fell silent, knowing that more talk would only get him cursed.
Voldemort walked behind his tense Death Eaters. "Severus!" he called, when he was behind Snape.
"My Lord?"
"Know that I don't blame you. You could not have done anything more than what you did. I hope you have information about Dumbledore and his pathetic Order?"
"Yes My Lord, I do." Snape said softly.
"Good, good! McNair, Avery, Rookwood, I hope you can give me inside information about the Ministry and the Department of Mysteries?"
"Yes My Lord!" they all chorused.
Voldemort smiled nastily. "Well we shall see what use your information is, won't we? But first we shall attend to our guest. Harry Potter!"
"Yeah, yeah, what?" Harry asked him insolently.
Voldemort looked at him thoughtfully. "So much courage and all for naught." He walked over to Harry, whose head exploded in a world of pain and placed a long finger beneath his chin and lifted his head. "Harry Potter! The Boy-Who-Lived! I am going to take away that title and give you the title of the Boy-Who-Died tonight." he said, walking away.
"You can try I suppose! Try, try and try again until you succeed eh Voldy!" Harry taunted through his pain. "Better try now, because you've got all your itty bitty followers to resurrect you once again. And again. And again! At least as long as they all have their hands though," Harry added thoughtfully, "you could start with their feet once their hands have gone into the resurrection cauldron."
There was hiss at this defiance and the Death Eaters moved restlessly as Voldemort swirled with anger at this disrespect and raised his wand.
Harry snorted. "Yeah Snake Face! Kill me, when you have me bound and without my wand. That's what great Dark Lords do I'm sure. Perhaps you feel you have a better chance this way? Go on." Harry replied scathingly, bracing himself for a Crucio, which did not come to his surprise. Voldemort glared at him for a moment and turned to Bellatrix.
"Bellatrix, untie him and give him his wand." He ordered.
Bellatrix was clearly unhappy, but she hastened to obey and Harry was, in a minute, rubbing his wrists, where the magical ropes had cut into his skin. He caught his wand as Bellatrix threw it to him and sneered once more at her. "Thank you my dear Bellakins!" he smiled without humour, which turned into a real grin, when she snarled at him.
"Have you been taught to duel, Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked.
"Oh yes; we had an enlightening session in Lockhart's classes, when we had an exhibition of fine acting about how to defeat a werewolf with howls and wolf dancing." Harry deadpanned.
Voldemort raised his wand, "Imperio! Bow Harry Potter, bow to death!"
Harry stood still and laughed at Voldemort.
"Oh please! You tried to kill me last time and we all know how that turned out; what do you think is going to be different now?" Harry goaded him, hoping he would bypass the Crucio and hit him straight with an Avada. The gasps all around him showed that the Death Eaters were stunned at the fact he had broken Voldemort's Imperio, and Voldemort's own lips tightened in anger, distaste and displeasure.
Harry squirmed when Voldemort stared at him nastily for a long moment. He was, however, alert for the smallest movement from Voldemort. When Voldemort raised his wand high, Harry stood his ground and stared back.
"Not scared Harry Potter?" Voldemort enquired softly.
"No." Harry said shortly.
"Well we shall see. Crucio!" he called, and to his shock Harry calmly stepped aside, letting the curse hit a random tombstone behind him.
"Now, that will not do Harry Potter! Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!" he hissed angrily. Harry, who had been expecting something like this stepped aside for the first two curses and bent rather acrobatically for the third to pass him harmlessly.
"That all?" he called back to Voldemort, who replied by casting a nasty blood boiling curse at Harry, who deflected it towards McNair rather expertly. Voldemort was shocked, even as McNair screamed in agony and fell silent forever a few seconds later. All the Death Eaters took a step back.
Harry was still to cast a curse of his own, a fact he had no doubt infuriated Voldemort like anything. It was at this time, that Snape decided not to wait and spoke the password to destroy Nagini. Harry heard a pained screech in Parseltongue, before Nagini exploded into a hundred pieces. A gory end for the huge snake, Harry thought even as he saw Voldemort turning around in disbelief. That disbelief turned into outrage and Voldemort swirled to face Harry, his wand held high in his right hand. Harry swiftly put his wand into his wand holster. He grew still as he thought of his parents, his past and present friends and family and felt a peace grow inside him even as Voldemort screamed in absolute fury, "Avada Kedavra!"
Harry took a deep breath and opened his arms wide in acceptance of that curse that would render Voldemort mortal. The curse hit him, and he knew no more.
Harry Potter and the Trip to the Past
Harry opened his eyes to find himself in Godric's Hollow. He smiled as he looked around.
"Harry!" a voice called out to him.
"Mum!" his smile broadened as he turned around. "Dad!" he called to the person who was striding alongside Lily Potter towards him.
"Oh Harry!" his mother hugged him tearfully.
Harry did not say anything as he allowed himself to be washed in love as his parents hugged and fussed over him. He felt a peace invading him so strongly that for a second he was sure he wanted to go onwards. How much had he longed for this, this simple love, all these years? While he did have them for many, many years in their portrait form, there was still something about being shown that love physically, so openly, and so unconditionally. And whatever their faults both of them loved him absolutely. He knew that and that he loved them too. Fiercely.
After a peaceful silence, Lily stepped back and led Harry to the sofa in the drawing room and all three of them sat down, Harry in the middle.
"How much you've gone through, Harry? I don't think I could done what you did son. I could never ever have stepped away from Lily, and I would have probably done everything to be with her again."
Harry smiled sadly. "I don't think so Dad. I don't think you'd have thought only of Mum if choosing differently meant you could have saved a whole bunch of people from dying. I know I saved two people at least; one was Sirius early from Azkaban, and Cedric who lives today. Hopefully Voldemort will die today and in doing so, Luna's father, Florean Fortescue, Charity Burbage and many others will live. I have to think this is worth my life with Ginny and ... my children." A sob escaped Harry as he gave into his emotions. His parents held him tenderly as he continued to mourn all that he lost, and that which he may not get back at all.
"Thank you." Harry said a while later, a tremulous smile beginning to form on his face. It had been a tough last year, and the last few weeks had been very emotional for him, and it was a relief to have a chance to get all that off his chest.
"You are welcome Sweetie!" his mother cooed, patting his hair, looking a bit anxiously at him.
"Hey! You know I came back to the past? How?"
James Potter smiled. "Yes, Harry we knew, we're in your head after all. How will we not know?"
Harry blinked. Okay that was confusing to have Dumbledore's words thrown at him by his father of all people; it was weird, Harry decided. "Are you inside my head or are you really from the death plane?"
"We are inside your head Harry, and we are also dead." Said James Potter infuriatingly and Harry decided to let it be, before he developed a headache and a tic in his eye from thinking too much. He decided to take it on when he went on to his next adventure. Until then, this could wait.
"Well!" he heaved a huge sigh.
"Go on Sweetie!" his mother said softly. "Go on and make a happy life for you, with someone whom you'll be happy with and who'll be happy with you. Be happy above all Harry." she finished firmly pulling him up to his feet and the pulling him down to kiss his forehead. James Potter hugged him hard.
"See you later!" Harry swallowed and then he felt the mist cover them and slowly he felt an awareness creep into him as he entered the land of living and found himself face down in the graveyard. He slowly turned his head to find a hand stopping him. "Thank Merlin!" a voice he knew so well muttered. A second and a Disillusion Charm later, Harry stood up and moved away from Snape, who moved away too, disillusioning himself on the way.
Harry Potter and the Trip to the Past
So Voldemort had fallen down too. Interesting. Harry figured since his blood was running through Voldemort, it was cursed blood for him, while protection coursed his own from his mother's sacrifice. Cursed blood. Harry wondered what Voldemort would think of that. The blood of his mother protected Harry from Voldemort, so that blood taken from Harry forcibly would not help Voldemort against Harry at all. If only Voldemort thought a bit, he would have been wary of touching Harry or taking anything from him, until he had figured out the repercussions of such an action. But, Voldemort was an idiot. Too arrogant for his own good and that had been his downfall the first time and it would be this time too.
Harry moved quickly away from Snape and completely making himself completely invisible, raised his arm. Voldemort was getting up and he was already looking for Harry. Wasting no time he took a deep breath and whispered "Avada Kedavra." A brilliant green curse whizzed from his wand and hit Voldemort right in the centre of his chest.
Voldemort died that second with a shocked look on his face. No fanfare. No shouting. No egoistical talking to and fro. No taunting. No big words. He just died. Harry wondered for a second whether he should have told Voldemort that all his Horcruxes were gone and now when he died he would not be resurrecting again, but then he shrugged even as he turned and took aim. He was a lot older than his fourteen year appearance showed and he knew from bitter experience that you put your enemy down swiftly when you had the chance; else they escaped or hurt you and yours. Of course taunts made by the opposite side had also worked in his favour; another reason never to talk, when action could solve everything better, swifter and cleaner.
Harry turned to Bellatrix, who was gaping at Voldemort's fallen figure. "Avada Kedavra!" and again turned towards the bewildered Death Eaters and muttered the same curse at Rookwood, Avery and Mulciber. Meanwhile Snape had stunned the rest, taking away their wands as they stood shocked and horrified at what had happened to their Lord and Master.
In three minutes, Harry and Snape were the only ones left standing. Harry removed his Invisibility/Disillusionment Charm, and a second later Snape removed his own Disillusionment Charm and they both stood staring at each other.
"How did you survive that again? I saw him hit you." Snape asked his eyes slightly wild, panicked and relieved all at the same time.
Harry grinned in relief. "Snape, in case you've not noticed, Voldemort's dead. Dead. Dead. Dead!" he chanted and then he calmed down a bit. "My mother's sacrifice saved me Snape. Once again. She died so that I could live, and that's what happened. Voldemort made a stupid mistake today. A lot of mistakes actually. One, he took my blood, without researching the effects of such an action."
"That affected him?"
Harry walked around, and cast his stunners at all of the fallen Death Eaters. "Yes of course. My mother's sacrifice runs through me. Voldemort thought once he took my blood, my mother's protection will fail. He was proved wrong."
"But you are over seventeen!"
"Yeah, but my mother never set an age limit for that protection. I don't even think she knew she was protecting me. Voldemort killed my father straight away, but he gave my mother a choice to stand aside, to live, so that he could get to me."
Snape drew a sharp breath. "What? The Dark Lord ..."
"Call him Voldemort. He is really dead this time!"
Snape ignored him and continued, "He gave Lily a choice?"
"Yeah. He did. He told her to stand aside three times; told her that she did not need to die, why?" Harry stopped in the middle seeing Snape's stunned expression. "What's the matter?"
"The Dark Lord did spare her. I asked him to spare Lily's life, but I knew I could not ask him for Potter's life; everyone knew we were enemies and I could hardly ask him to spare you, you who he thought could vanquish him. So, I asked him to spare the life of the girl I ... I loved and he agreed. But I knew Lily would want you and Potter alive to be happy, so I came to Dumbledore."
"You cared about Dad's life?" Harry asked stunned.
"No I did not particularly care for Potter's life. He was not a friend." Snape replied honestly. "But by then, my eyes were opened to what signing up for the Dark Lord meant, and I never ever wanted to kill anyone at any time, how much ever I might have hated a few of them, and I really disliked your father and his little friends." Snape looked pensive. "Sometimes I think back to what prompted me to join, and I can't think of a reason the Dark Lord looked attractive, except that I wanted to escape my life."
"At the cost of doing away with Muggleborns?"
Snape looked bitter with himself. "I did not particularly care about his goals and ideals at the time, nor did I take care to think about who will be affected by the principles of the Dark Lord. I wanted to escape the life mine had been until that moment." He shrugged and looked miserable. "I was taught a lesson I would never forget. I caused the death of the only person who cared for me for a while, apart from my mother. I became responsible for her death and tore apart her family."
Harry did not say for a minute, as he thought furiously, many things falling into place and making sense. "Did you really ask Voldemort to spare my Mum's life?" He knew Snape did; he had watched the memories, it was a stupid question, but he could not think of anything else to ask.
"I did and the damn man promised. To think he actually kept up his promise, and then went on to kill her. Bastard!" Snape smiled bitterly.
Harry exhaled noisily as he went up to Voldemort and transfigured him into a matchstick and then set him aflame. He turned to do the same to the other Death Eaters who had died and then vanished the ashes and sat down beside an old tomb. Snape came and perched on top of it. "I think I know what happened that night, why I lived. When my Mum died, her death saved me and gave me a protection that Voldemort himself could not break, because he had given it to her in the first place."
Snape who was looking utterly defeated looked up at that. He frowned. "What? The Dark Lord gave you the protection that helped you survive him? How did that happen?"
"Harry took a deep breath. "This is a guess, but I think I'm right on the money. When you asked Voldemort to spare Mum's life, he agreed. At that time nothing happened. But for some reason he wanted to uphold the promise he gave you, maybe because he thought he'll get a greater hold on you, or because he thought he could hold Mum and by doing that, make you his completely," Snape's lips thinned and he scowled at hearing that, but Harry went on.
"For whatever reason, he decided to spare Mum's life. I know that because I hear them when the Dementors come near me; the last moments of my parents life." Snape made a sudden movement as if to comfort Harry, but stilled again, looking at Harry intently, willing him to continue.
"Voldemort gave Mum time to step aside. He killed my Dad first and then came up to the nursery where Mum was with me. He told her to step aside three times, before he killed her and approached me."
Snape frowned. "I don't understand."
"Voldemort began by honouring your promise. Now remember Magic is something one cannot point out with precision as this or that. Magic is. She is everywhere and in everything, and for those with the special ability to work her, she resides mainly in their intent, and when one uses Magic with a lot of emotions running high, that intent manifests itself in tune to the situation at hand."
Snape was still frowning, trying to make sense of Harry's words. "I agree Magic at its most unfathomable is mostly intent, but ..."
"You were desperate for Lily Evans to live, to live at any cost, that you went to Voldemort and begged him for her life and then to make her and her family doubly safe, even though you cared not much for her husband and child, you went to Dumbledore, knowing to her, they were the most important persons in her life and happiness."
Snape's lips twisted bitterly, but he gave a short nod.
"That desperation was caught by Magic when Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow and gave my Mum a choice to step aside. My father was desperate to keep my Mum and me safe from Voldemort, but that did not help my Mum, because there was no intention on Voldemort's part to save him. But your desperation to keep my Mum safe from Voldemort was combined with Voldemort's intention to spare my Mum honouring your request. In the nursery my Mum was desperate for me to live and be protected from Voldemort. So, when Voldemort gave her three chances to step aside and then kill her, Magic took over."
"How?" Snape asked now deeply interested but looking incredibly sad as thoughts of Lily invaded him.
"Well the first time Voldemort gave my Mum a chance to step aside the promise he gave you took hold." Snape took a sharp breath, beginning to understand.
"Voldemort as usual not understanding the deeper aspects of intent Magic gave Mum two more chances, and by then I believe Magic fully understood that this magic wielder was fulfilling a promise. Now I believe if Mum had stepped aside I would have died, since Magic would have recognised the promise as fulfilled. Had Mum even said, no I won't step aside Voldemort, then too Magic would have understood that the promise Voldemort gave to you was nullified, since the person who was intended to receive the favour refused it. Then too, I think Voldemort would have been able to kill me.
"But Mum did neither. She stood before me and cried 'not Harry; anything but Harry; not Harry'. Her only thought at that time was to save me from him. Magic meanwhile was still waiting for this transaction to be completed as it were. But Voldemort lost patience and killed her. When he did that, Magic saw that a promise made in Magic by a magic wielder was not upheld and in fact reneged in the worst way possible."
Snape interrupted him. "Made in Magic? How was that?"
"Magic is a funny thing Snape. In my third year, the last time around, Sirius and Remus wanted to kill Pettigrew and I stopped them, purely for selfish reasons, I wanted to have Sirius around me instead of in Azkaban again. But later, Dumbledore told me that by doing so, by saving Pettigrew I had somehow unintentionally created a bond that made Pettigrew owe me and owe me big. That he said would help me in the future and I believe it did; Pettigrew was about to strangle me when we were captured; he stopped for a second when I called on his debt, though that indecision killed him in the end."
Snape did not understand, mainly because he did not know all the details that happened in Harry's third year the first time around. "How does that, which I don't understand at all by the way, connect to this?"
"It's that Magic works in many ways, many times subconsciously and in ways we don't understand. I guess Dumbledore will be able to explain this better. Simply put, Voldemort agreed to your wish and request to save Lily Potter. The moment he gave her a chance to step aside that promise came alive and Magic recognised it. When he failed to fulfil that promise to you by killing Mum, Magic intervened and punished Voldemort for his betrayal to her.
"What did you want Snape, above all? Mum to be spared by Voldemort. And what did Mum want? Me to be protected against Voldemort at any cost. Since Magic was betrayed by Voldemort when he killed Mum, she punished him by giving to me what you wanted for Mum and what Mum wanted in the last moments of her life. Me to be spared and protected from Voldemort. And so I was.
"The next curse after Mum died was another Avada, which came straight at me; it hit me on my forehead, but it could not do its job because Magic would not let it; Voldemort had failed to keep his word; he started to fulfil his promise and reneged it, so his curse was blasted back at him with such force that his body was completely destroyed and even his soul shattered. While the bigger piece of his soul left Godric's Hollow in shock, a small piece of his shattered soul was hanging around, too small to be independent and too weak to go on and join the bigger part. That piece of soul latched on, not to me, but to my scar, to its own familiar magic, which was still present where Voldemort had attacked me on my forehead just a second before.
"All this happened very, very quickly and then, you know what happened. So I guess it was your request that gave me such a powerful protection in the end, even though neither you or Voldemort or even my Mum had planned it this way. It was Magic at her deepest and most unfathomable."
Harry fell silent as Snape worked out all this and a few minutes later he looked at Snape.
"Don't beat up yourself too much for spilling the Prophecy to Voldemort. You did overhear and you would have taken it to him, but also remember you could have been stopped."
Snape frowned. "I could not have."
"Oh yes you could have. Dumbledore questioned you, did he not? You were caught eavesdropping for Merlin's sake. Did Dumbledore simply send you off or did he question you?"
"Of course he did question me. I thought he was not as great as he seemed at the time, because even though he gave one of his x-ray looks, he did not see how much I overheard or if he did ... Oh Merlin! He knew! He knew what I knew and what I was going to do, and he still sent me off." Snape looked outraged. "I'm going to kill him; slowly."
Harry smiled mirthlessly. "Snape, I hate to give him let him off too lightly, but I had a lot of time to put this behind me." He raised his hand as Snape growled something uncomplimentary. "He was the leader that opposed Voldemort, the only person who rallied some brave souls to fight the terror that Voldemort unleashed, and in that war, I was expendable as were my parents." Snape hissed in fury, but Harry did not let him speak.
"It was a war our side was losing, and losing badly. At that time Trelawney made a Prophecy that you happened to overhear and not fully. Dumbledore probably intended to incite Voldemort to start hunting for the families of couples who had faced him successfully three times and wait for one of them to have a baby at the end of July. That would mean a breather to the Wizarding World in general. He did the same to me, when I was Horcrux hunting with my friends, using the Elder Wand.
"He also thought he could protect whoever Voldemort chose adequately. And he would have if only my parents and Sirius listened to him and allowed him to be our Secret Keeper. But they decided to make Peter their Secret Keeper, and the bloody rat sold them out at the first opportunity."
Snape still looked furious. "I'm still going to kill him." He muttered.
Harry shook his head. "Don't Snape. You'll kill yourself with bitterness and hate. Believe me it's not worth it."
"Maybe you should tell Black?" Snape said a nasty smile on his face. Harry shuddered. He knew what Sirius would do with this, especially if he confronted Dumbledore and Dumbledore did not deny it.
"Please don't." Harry begged him.
Snape stared broodingly at Harry. "It does not in any way make me innocent, you know."
"I never said you were. Just that you could have been stopped from doing what you did. But now its water under the bridge and Voldemort's dead, twice. Four times if you count two timelines. Please, please Snape let it be. Let's finally move on."
Both of them sat there silently for a long moment. Then Snape gave a deep unhappy sigh and stood up.
"What do we do with these?"
"Obliviate them of what happened here and send them home. They'll continue to wait for summons that will not come again."
"You don't want them punished?" Snape was surprised.
"I have punished all those I want to. They are already dead. The Carrows, Lestranges and others are in Azkaban and continue to stay there for the foreseeable future. Those who were cruel, I already have taken care of. Malfoy is the only Death Eater of note among those alive, and I want him alive for Draco. I think he'll be sufficiently cowed not to try anything funny for a long time. If we take them to Hogwarts, we'll have to tell everyone what happened, and I'm not at all sure I want to."
"Not even Dumbledore or, "Snape sneered, "The dog and wolf?"
Harry grinned. "Dumbledore, yes. No dog and no wolf."
Snape was shocked. "Why not?"
"Too complicated. Plus I'm scared they'll stop trusting me and look at me differently." Snape sneered at that again. "I'll have to tell them you knew and I don't know what that'll bring."
Snape's eyes glittered in pleasure. "I think you should tell them Potter!"
Harry laughed. "I bet you do. But if I can avoid it, all the better. What did you do with Barty Crouch Jr.?"
Snape rolled his eyes at the change of subject. Apparently he was going to let his hair down in a big way. "I stunned him a couple of times, bound him tightly, placed magic suppressing spells on him and left him in my office inside a blood ward."
Harry was stunned. "You did not tell Dumbledore? This is fantastic and will allow us to take care of the whole issue quietly."
"I was going to, but I could not get Dumbledore alone. And I did not want to waste time waiting to get him alone to tell him this. So I did the next best thing, before leaving." Snape shrugged.
"Dumbledore does not know you're here?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Oh he does. I told him that before the start of the completion, that my Mark was burning, and if I was called I would have to go, to avoid suspicion. Dumbledore agreed at once."
Harry stood up, brushed off the grass from his robes and started walking towards Malfoy. "Enervate!" he called before he hissed, choosing to use a Parsel spell, which was pretty much impossible to remove. "Obliviate!" he hissed, removing the last few hours of Malfoy's life. Even as Malfoy's eyes clouded, Harry hissed once more. "Imperio!" before switching over to English. "Go home." At this simple command, Harry removed his ropes, and a second later Malfoy left.
Harry repeated this with every Death Eater present, while Snape was busy removing traces of Nagini and the ritual in the grave yard and repairing all the broken tombstones. Once they had finished, Snape turned to Harry. "What are you going to say?"
"I'll see; I'll have to think about it. I'm not sure." Harry replied thinking about just what he could say. "To everyone, something simple; that I found myself in a forest, wondered what was happening, and then started running until I came to a clearing, called for the Knight's Bus, and here I am. So I will take the Bus after we finish here, and I think we're just about done. No one except Barty knows about Riddle House and once we meet with him, I'm sure we can contain that knowledge right there."
"You'll take the Bus from here?"
"No. I'll go somewhere in the Forest of Dean, a clearing I know and call the Bus there. You go back and stay hidden until I come."
"I can't stay hidden in the Castle without Dumbledore's knowledge. He'll know the moment I step into the School wards."
"How did he not know about Barty then?"
"Because he was not watching out for him, and by then Barty's already inside the School. I think by now, the real Moody would've been discovered." Snape said.
"Well then in that case, wait here until I get to the Castle Gates and send you a Patronus. You can come then. I'll meet them first and in that confusion you can skip inside, take Barty, off him, you can do that can't you?" Harry asked.
Snape nodded.
"Turn him into a match stick and burn him off, like I did here. Let's not take any chance, even though Voldemort's gone. Tell him it's for the Longbottoms." Harry finished grimly.
Snape nodded again and Harry wasting no time apparated to the little clearing he knew from his previous timeline, and called for the Knight's Bus. He got in and got out after a fifteen horrible minutes of rattling inside the Bus. Harry decided that this was almost the worst part of his entire night.
He got off near the Castle Gates and the moment the Bus left, he sent a Patronus to Snape and walked inside.
Harry Potter and the Trip to the Past
He walked into a great confusion. No one noticed him and a second later he saw Snape slip into the castle and run away towards his quarters, barely sparing him a glance. Harry walked steadily towards the Maze and saw Sirius and Remus sitting on the ground, Sirius his head in his hands, and Remus speaking softly to him, his face pained. Harry looked around and saw Dumbledore with Fudge and Ministry officials, and saw with happiness Cedric standing and chatting with his parents and friends.
"Sirius?" he called softly, as he came close enough to them. Sirius and Remus looked up and Harry saw tear tracks running down Sirius's face and realised how much he must have suffered in the last few hours.
"Harry!" Sirius breathed and a second later Harry could not breathe for Sirius clutching him to his chest, Remus right behind him, hugging him as well.
"Sirius! Sirius! I can't breathe!" he wheezed. "You're holding me too tightly. I'm fine."
"Oh my God, Harry, what happened to you? One minute we could see you walking towards the Cup, and a second later it's a portkey."
By then, Dumbledore, Fudge and the Ministry officials with him were striding towards Harry.
"Harry! Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked him, the moment he reached Harry, who was still held tightly by Sirius.
"Yes Sir! I got near the trophy and took hold of it, and the next second I was port keyed away to some forest. I was all alone and I immediately cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm on me and started walking. God, it was scary, but I did not dare use the Lumos Charm, in case someone noticed me. I walked until I reached a clearing, then I called the Knight Bus and here I am."
Everyone stared at him. He shrugged and continued.
"It was bizarre. I don't know who did this and for what purpose, but I'm sure they did not mean anything good. I'm glad I escaped, before something horrible could happen." Harry held out the Cup out in front of him to Cornelius Fudge, the Ministry Officials, Karakoff and Madame Maxine and the other contestants, who had come running when they saw Harry.
The Ministry officials still stared at him and then looked at Dumbledore, who continued to stare at him. Minister Fudge started to say something but fell silent at a look at Dumbledore's face.
"Are you sure no one met you Harry?" Sirius asked. "You're not hiding anything because we'll worry are you?"
Harry shook his head. "Of course not Sirius. Have you seen me hiding anything from you or Remus? This is what happened. I think someone was to get me there, but for some reason, they did not turn up. I'm guessing Bellatrix Lestrange."
Sirius growled. "She'd better not try."
"If it was her, then not only did she try, but she succeeded as well. Only I'd like to know how the Cup was charmed to be a Port key to some forsaken place."
All of them looked at Dumbledore, who frowned. "I don't know who did that, or when it was done."
McGonagall who had come up by then said, "It had to be someone here Albus. At the School."
"Moody!" Harry declared.
"What?" Dumbledore asked surprised by his abrupt comment.
"I'm sure it's Moody. Logic dictates he has to be it." Harry continued, seemingly not noticing the smiles growing on the faces of everyone there. "All our Defence Professors were there only for a single year and most of them were slightly ... um ... nuts."
Dumbledore laughed, the tension dissipating among the group. "Alastor would be very happy to know about your suspicions." He said. "I would like to see where they took you, Harry, so perhaps we could take the Knight Bus and go back to that place later, with Sirius and Remus of course." He added hastily, seeing their objections to such a plan beginning to form on their lips. "But now, it's time for the presentation ceremony."
Harry slipped out and was assaulted by his friends who anxiously demanded to know what happened. Hermione had been crying and Neville looked as if he'd like to join her. Harry calmed them down and told them what happened. "An anti climax really." He finished. He nodded reassuringly at Draco, who was hovering near them looking as bad as Neville.
"I'm so glad it was. I am so glad whoever it was botched up." Neville nodded. "It was terrifying Harry, to see you lift the Cup and suddenly be port keyed out of here."
"I was terrified for a moment," Harry lied. "But it's all over now." Harry reassured him and then, they walked up to the podium and waited for Harry's name to be called as the Tri-wizard Champion. Dumbledore gave a brief account of what happened when Harry lifted the Cup and then Harry was walking up the podium to Cornelius Fudge, who had remained startlingly silent until then, but then, he had no reason to be against Dumbledore; since there was no information about Voldemort's return or Barty's discovery.
"Well done Harry. Well done my boy!" he said effusively, patting Harry on the back. Harry winced and twisted his lips in a semblance of a smile and took the prize money and lifted the Cup to a tumultuous roar from everyone present. He laughed, feeling relieved it was all over and walked to Sirius and Remus who hugged him. They had looked very anxiously when Harry had lifted the Cup again, but now they were beaming with pride.
That night, having seen Sirius and Remus off after a huge Feast, and a rollicking party in Gryffindor Tower, Harry walked up tiredly to his Dorm with Neville and flopped on his bed. Moody was still absent at the Feast, and Dumbledore had looked troubled. Snape had been present, but he had looked grim as well, with McGonagall and the other teachers looking rather bewildered. Harry wondered if they had found the real Mad-Eye Moody. He thought for a second if he should go to Snape right then and with him to Dumbledore, but it was so long into the night, he decided not to. He was too tired and exhausted to do more talking. So Harry slept.
He woke up late the next morning, feeling fresh to see he was still the only one awake in his Dorm. He went to the bathroom and washed, and feeling even better walked back to his dorm to see Neville waking up. He grinned. "Hey, 'morning! I'll wait for you in the Common Room ok?"
"'Morning Harry. I'll see you there in a few minutes." And Neville ambled off towards the bathroom.
Harry walked down to the Common Room. Last night Neville and Hermione had grilled him until they were satisfied that the whole scheme was a mistake that someone made. Made by the mad Bellatrix, they concluded. They looked oddly dissatisfied, but then, Harry thought everyone from Sirius and Remus to Dumbledore looked unhappy with what had happened. You would think they'd be happy that Harry had a remarkably safe adventure, but no; they wanted something gruesome to grouse and exclaim about. Well he could do nothing about it. He was not going to explain about anything that happened last night, not if he could help it.
The three friends had a leisurely breakfast and at the end, Dumbledore stood up, asking for silence. He smiled at everyone, though Harry noticed it never reached his eye. "Today," he began, "there will be no classes to celebrate a Hogwarts victory." He waited for the cheers to die down, before he continued. "Tonight our guests will be leaving for their respective Schools. Professor Moody is unwell and he will not be taking classes this year. Your Defence Classes will be taken care of by the other Professors for the rest of the year. Thank you."
Harry was surprised at the abruptness of his announcement. A look at the other staff showed that they were too. So Moody had been found and he was going to be okay. Well Harry hoped he was going to be okay. He'd know soon. As he finished breakfast getting ready to waste the day away with his friends, McGonagall came down.
"Potter! The Headmaster wants to see you in his office. Right now. Come on."
Harry shrugged at Neville and Hermione, and walked over to McGonagall. "We'll be by the Lake Harry!" Neville said as they walked off towards the door.
Harry Potter and the Trip to the Past
McGonagall led Harry silently. "Candy Bars!" She said when they reached the Gargoyle and walked up with Harry to Dumbledore's office. He opened the door to see Snape sitting there, scowling at Dumbledore and then turning to scowl at him.
"I was tired Snape. Damn tired. I was planning to come today evening." He said and Dumbledore and McGonagall looked shocked at the familiar address, before Dumbledore's brows knit together in a frown. Harry grinned.
"I'd like to speak personally to you Sir." He said glancing at McGonagall, whose lips thinned impossibly. She opened her mouth to say something, when Dumbledore said shortly, "She'll stay."
Snape smiled maliciously. "Oh dear! Oh dear! Dumbledore is scared!" He said in a voice that reminded Harry horribly of Bellatrix. Did all Death Eaters talk like that when they wanted to infuriate someone? He grinned. "He needs back up! Will you be his back up dear Minerva?" Snape continued in a nasty singsong voice that made McGonagall grit her teeth and raise her wand and flash off a stunner.
Two shields met that stunner. Snape, who had impossibly thrown a shield while still managing to sit, smirking angrily, and Harry, who drew his wand in a flash. Dumbledore, Harry noted remained silent and did not draw his wand to help Snape.
"What's going on here?" McGonagall asked in a tight voice, her nostrils flaring in rage.
Dumbledore intervened. "Minerva, calm down. Harry, sit down. This I daresay will take a while."
Harry decided to back Snape and give Dumbledore a hard time. "What will? What has he been asking you Snape?"
"Oh you know the usual things Potter. Where did you go last night? What happened there? Did the Dark Lord resurrect? Was Harry there? Why were you so rude to me and tell me to go hang myself by my beard when you returned? Why are you growling bad, bad words whenever you see me or when I ask you something? What happened to the dreaded Dark Lord? All the itty bitty news." Snape drawled insolently, making Harry laugh loudly.
McGonagall could not believe what she was hearing. She looked at Snape as if she did not know who he was and more importantly she could not believe that someone could talk like this at all, let alone to Dumbledore. "Wha .. Snape ... Wha ..." She could not gather her thoughts enough to address Snape and so, "Dumbledore!" she turned to him desperately. "You can't let him speak to you like that and that too in front of a student no less. He owes you so much; his freedom and his very life."
She turned to Snape, who glared at her and spat on the floor. She staggered and looked down at the small wet spot on the floor and spluttered again. Poor McGonagall. Snape clearly had decided to behave very badly. Apparently the fact Dumbledore could have stopped him from taking what he heard of the Prophecy to Voldemort and did not still rankled and rankled deeply. She did not know this in the first place and nor did she know how to deal with this behaviour and Snape was obviously an expert in knowing which buttons to push in order to antagonize and shock her.
Harry turned to Dumbledore who was shocked as well, though he was still managing to control his expression and try and be calm. While it was clear to him that Snape was angry with him for something, not knowing what that was left him in a bind. He did not know how to deal with this. Harry on the other hand was snickering in amusement.
"Potter!" shouted McGonagall outraged. "Will you stop that? Do you know why Snape's like this?"
"What? No Professor in front of his name now?" he taunted her.
"He does not deserve it." She replied fiercely. "He spits ..." words failed her, "He spits on the floor in the Headmaster's office. You have no idea how much he owes the Headmaster."
'Oh but I do!" Harry cut in. "Your Headmaster asked him what he would do in return for protecting my family, when he came to him on top of a hill was it Snape?" he glanced towards Snape, who growled again. Okay, no help there Harry thought in amusement, and turned hurriedly to his Head of House. "He came to tell Dumbledore that Voldemort had targeted the Potters and would he, Dumbledore please save them. And what did Dumbledore do? He asks him what he would do for him in exchange for that protection. Of course Snape being the Gryffindor he was, he said Anything!" and then ducked and ran behind McGonagall as a spate of spells came at him from an outraged Snape.
"Gryffindor!" he shrieked and sent some colourful hexes at Harry, who snickered at this drama queen Snape from his place behind McGonagall, who was forced to defend him, by defending herself. "Gryffindor! I'll have you know that I am always a Slytherin and damn proud to be one. You are the Gryffindor, brash and foolish idiot boy! Three Gryffindors here. PAH!"
"Yeah! Yeah! Keep saying that, the perhaps you can convince yourself. Gryffindor!" Harry taunted him from behind McGonagall.
"That's it. You're finished!" Snape declared and shot off a nasty curse that McGonagall thankfully diverted towards a portrait which shrieked and ran to the next one as her portrait burst into flames.
"STOP THAT!" Dumbledore's voice thundered around the room and everyone stopped for a minute and blinked. Then Snape scowled and turned to Dumbledore and raised his wand. "I trusted you damn it. I trusted you to be the opposite of Voldemort. Trusted that you will never ever sacrifice another for your gain. But you did, didn't you? You're no different from Voldemort and now I'm going to kill you." He glanced at Harry. "You have my back?"
"Absolutely!" Harry said raising his wand, swallowing whatever quip he wanted to say instead, seeing the angry and miserable look on Snape's face. It would be better for Snape to get it all out. And it looked as if McGonagall would need to know as well.
Dumbledore predictably frowned. "I have never ever sacrificed another for my gain. Never."
"Not even your family? Ariana?" Harry asked, unable to stop himself and he realised that he too had issues that were still unresolved against Dumbledore.
Snape and McGonagall turned to him, their expressions confused. Oops! They did not know. And now Dumbledore was angry. The room temperature had gone down by an alarming degree.
"What. Did. You. Say?" he asked in a low menacing voice and suddenly Harry knew why Dumbledore had been the one Voldemort had ever feared.
"Um ... Nothing?"
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "All these four years, I have been wondering about you. Who are you?"
"I swear on my Magic and Life that I am Harry James Potter, son of Lily Evans Potter and James Charlus Potter. Lumos! Happy?"
Dumbledore frowned. Snape laughed nastily. McGonagall gaped. Harry stared with an insouciant expression at Dumbledore.
"How did you know about Ariana?"
"Why did you let me go that night at the Hog's Head without wiping my memory? Did you want the Potters to die?" Snape asked suddenly.
Dumbledore stilled.
"Of course you did. You didn't care for their lives did you?" Snape screamed.
Dumbledore took a deep breath.
"I don't want your stupid explanations making fools of everyone. Tell me Dumbledore, did you or did you not know what I overheard and what I intended to do with it?"
Dumbledore did not answer. Snape laughed angrily.
"Of course you knew and you let me do it and live in my personal hell all these years. Knowing that I intended to harm a family meant nothing to you did it? You did not care to stop me and by doing so protect that family? Tell me now Dumbledore, how different are you from me or from Voldemort? At least I was a Death Eater desperately finding out ways to please my Lord. I had no morals and no values.
"But you, you were the Leader of the Light, the so called right side and what did you do; nothing. Simply allowed a Death Eater to make his mistakes and when he came to you, you acted all high and mighty, looking down upon me as if it was only me that made a mistake. But you made a bigger mistake and you know what, if I had not asked Voldemort for Lily's life and if he had not agreed, your precious Boy-Who-Lived would have bit the dust that night and Voldemort would have won the mental war you threw to him. Did you ever think of that?"
Dumbledore frowned. "Lily's sacrifice saved Harry."
"Then why did my father's sacrifice not save my Mum and me?"
"Because Voldemort gave her a choice to step aside. He did not give that choice to James."
"How do you know that?" Harry asked frowning.
"I used an ancient charm to see what happened in your home."
"And why do you think Voldemort gave Mum a choice? A Muggleborn over a Pureblood?"
Dumbledore started to answer then he stopped. He frowned in concentration as he thought of his reasons and found them falling short of a logical explanation.
"He gave her a choice, because Snape wanted her to live and asked Voldemort to spare her. Voldemort agreed and gave her three choices to step aside. Mum at that time was desperate for me to live; that was her only thought. She did not refuse his offer nor did she step aside and save her life. When Voldemort killed her, Magic stepped in and saved me, because,"
"Because he betrayed Magic in the worst way possible. Merlin!" Dumbledore finished softly, his face arrested by what he was hearing. "Of course! That's what happened. He started off by fulfilling a promise and then he betrayed it, and Magic punished him by giving the protection Severus wanted for Lily, to you. A double protection, a powerful one."
"And you would have known none of that when you sent me away. What if I had not requested Voldemort for Lily's life? What if Voldemort had refused? What if Lily had refused Voldemort? You bloody man, you would have lost the war then, for Voldemort would have perceived himself to be invincible at that point, and he damn well would have been." Snape bit out. "So, why didn't you stop me?"
"Because I thought I could protect who ever Voldemort chose. That I could make Voldemort defeat himself by believing in the Prophecy, which the moment he did, would allow Magic to give strength to the child he chose." He said softly.
"What?" Harry, Snape and McGonagall spoke at the same time.
Dumbledore took a deep breath. "Harry, a Prophecy is never fulfilled unless there is belief in it from at least one side; then things start moving in such a way to make the Prophecy come true. Here on that dreadful night, I would have not thought of what I did, if Aberforth, you know him?" Harry nodded, while the other two looked surprised.
"He's your brother!" Harry said calmly and Dumbledore nodded, no longer questioning how Harry seemed to know so much. Harry wondered if he had guessed or he still thought Harry was someone else.
"Yes he is. Aberforth dragged Severus into the room and it was clear he had overheard something. A quick glance into his then unprotected mind told me that he had heard some but not all of the Prophecy, especially the crucial part. I presume you know the whole Prophecy?"
"I do as does Snape. I don't know about McGonagall." Harry said and turned to look at her. She dumbly shook her head. Apparently she had lost the power of speech, being in the middle of something as huge as this.
Dumbledore did not stop to enlighten McGonagall. He continued, "When I discovered that Severus had not heard it fully, a plan so brilliant it seemed to me at the time, came to my mind and I executed it then and there. I had no time to plan slowly, for I had to send Severus either with or without the knowledge of what he heard, or else capture him."
"I wish you had." Snape muttered bitterly.
Dumbledore ignored him. "I also saw in his mind the strains of dissatisfaction and hatched a smaller plan. If I sent him away at the time, he may come to me of his own volition another day and I could use him as a spy."
"What if I went around killing everyone by then?" Snape challenged him.
"Ah Severus, I would have never sent you away, Prophecy or no Prophecy, if I had seen cruelty in your mind." Snape blushed. Harry wondered whether Snape was ashamed to be seen as good. Some people were like that. Weird. And Snape was weird, everyone knew that. As if Snape knew what he was thinking, he scowled at Harry, who grinned at him and mouthed 'later'. Harry had every intention of telling him this opinion; if only to see Snape throw a hex at him or two. He did not know what this told about him, except that it made him weird too. Ah well, he turned to Dumbledore.
"I acted as if I believed Severus who claimed he heard nothing, and then I sent him on his way." He sighed. "I honestly thought I could protect your parents and you Harry. When I suggested a Fidelus Charm, it was with the intention that I would be your Secret Keeper. I suspected Sirius of being the traitor, not just because of his family, but," with a swift glance at Snape, "because I knew he was reckless and arrogant enough to do anything.
"But James was right. Sirius, he claimed was more than a brother to him and he swore one way up and down another that Sirius would never betray him. Not only that he became stubborn and insisted Sirius would become Secret Keeper, just to prove me wrong. My pleas that this was not a time for such discussion fell on deaf ears."
"What did Mum say?"
"She sadly agreed with your father. They refused my help, and went ahead with their plans. It was not until Peter was caught that I knew they had switched. I could have hexed them."
"Why didn't you give Sirius a trial?"
Dumbledore paused for a minute before he looked straight at Harry. "I never thought I could hate someone so much until that day, when I encountered Sirius laughing hysterically saying that he was responsible. My emotions got in the way of my clarity and logic and I wanted that man in Azkaban so badly that I hurt. I was fresh from coming from the Dursleys," he scowled uncharacteristically, "and when I saw the man who was responsible for you to go to that home, Harry; I could have killed him there. Minerva told me they were the worst sort of Muggles, and I did not know how to protect you from the fame which could be misused to control you or from the escaped Death Eaters who could claim you as family, which would have been disastrous, I had no choice and it was because of this man, you were there. I agreed for the first and last time with Barty to throw Sirius into Azkaban at the earliest."
Harry felt a familiar anger rise inside him as he thought of how much he suffered with the Dursleys. "You could not find anyone on this side to take care of me?" he asked.
"No, not at once. For the Ministry to agree, it had be family which meant the Dursleys or someone like Malfoy whose wife had strong familial and blood ties to you through Dorea Black Potter. If I had hesitated, there was a chance in the confusion that prevailed, that you could be taken to a home that may not be safe for you."
"You thought the Dursleys safe for me? Is that why you never checked up on me?"
"I had Arabella Figg there, Harry. I am terribly sorry. I knew they may not be loving relatives, but the way you speak, it looks as if they were not kind at all." Dumbledore looked sad and miserable. Harry nodded shortly. He had fought this fight with Dumbledore's portrait already, and he was not going there.
He looked at Snape, who stared back at him. Dumbledore had given his version, and he knew Dumbledore had done everything to the best of his ability, but after being on the receiving end, some things will always rankle, Harry decided. Like the Dursleys; like the fact his foolish parents had chosen a friend over the one person Voldemort had always feared as their Secret Keeper, you couldn't get more stupid than that; the withholding of information about the Horcrux in his head and Horcruxes in general, not to mention the absence of training. He sighed loudly. No use crying over spilt milk.
"Ok; I think we're done here. What did you want Dumbledore? Do you want to ask him anything else Snape?"
"I want to kill him."
"Be my guest." Harry said and walked to a chair and sat down. "Or do you need my help?"
Snape glared at him. Dumbledore sighed.
"I'm sorry for everything Severus. Can you forgive me?"
"Not at the moment." Snape bit out. Dumbledore bowed his head.
"Shall we go?" Harry asked.
"I'm ready." Snape said and stood up.
Dumbledore looked up at that and to Harry's shock, he bowed his head again.
"Albus, you're letting them go, without asking them about yesterday? And Potter. He's changed." McGonagall had finally found her voice.
"I am not in a position to ask them anything right now Minerva. Let them go."
To Harry's surprise, he and Snape walked off. Harry walked with Snape to his office, where Snape hunkered down in his chair and scowled at everything in general.
"Wow! I never thought Dumbledore could feel so guilty that he let us off. I mean, they way I was behaving there, I could be possessed, and you wanted to kill him and both of us refused to say anything about what happened yesterday, and Dumbledore let us off. I don't know if I should be suspicious of the old man."
Snape let out a brief bitter laugh. "We've managed to make him feel an emotion I guess he's not felt for a long time if ever. Guilt. Let him swallow in it for a while."
Harry nodded. "Yeah. Voldemort's dead and his Death Eaters are going to do nothing. I think we can wait for him to come to us. Until then, I think we can move on from this, finally." He stood up.
"I'm going to hang out with my friends. Relax and move on. What will you do? Stay on at the School?"
Snape looked startled at the last question. "Yes," he said hesitantly. "I think I will. This had always been my real home, more than Spinner's End. I think I'll stay here and torment Dumbledore. If you have any lick of sense, you'll do the same."
Harry grinned. "There is that. See you."
Harry joined his friends a wonderful day and then spent the next few days catching up with Draco and relaxing completely. He was beginning to live his normal life and he loved it so far.
It was on the day before they were to head home that Dumbledore lost his battle with himself and called Harry and Snape to his office once again.
End of Chapter – 33