Thank You Lord Voldemort
Chapter 26 - Thank You Lord Voldemort
From the previous chapter:
"Come to the Great Hall. There is an attack in Surrey."
"Surrey?"
Harry's eyes hardened, his fists clenching. "I guess this is it then," he said, heading for the door.
"Harry, are you daft? This must be a trap," Severus quickly said, as he grabbed Harry's arm.
Harry turned on him, face stony. "Voldemort may think it a trap, but we are ready for him and he will be destroyed this time." He didn't understand why Severus couldn't just trust him about this. Luckily Harry had enough faith for the both of them.
The Great Hall was in an uproar when Harry got there. People were shouting, hugging, crying, and saying goodbye to their loved ones.
Taking a seat next to his friends, Harry let Albus lead the way.
"Members of the Order and members of, ah hem, Dumbledore's Army, it is time now to carry out our plans. When we get to Surrey, it is likely there will be large numbers of Death Eaters present, though they will most probably not be visible right away. Stick with your groups, stick to your tasks, and come back safely. Those of you unable to Apparate will be traveling by Floo to a house a couple of blocks away from our target. Your group leader will know where you are to be deployed. Once you are close, he or she will activate a DA Galleon, and the rest of us will Apparate in."
As soon as Albus had stepped down from the head table, an organized chaos ensued. All of the fifth and sixth years were being led to the Floo, accompanied by several Order members. Meanwhile, the Hogwarts staff, accompanied by students who had recently finished school, and the rest of the Order, walked out to the gates, ready to Apparate to the location. Harry tried several times to speak to Severus or his friends, but he couldn't seem to form the words. Merlin how he wished he could just go alone. He couldn't bear it if something happened to Severus or Hermione, or any of the Weasleys. He gave each of them a hug, knowing it wasn't enough, hoping that they would all arrive back here in one piece.
While Harry waited for Albus' signal to Apparate, he ran his plans over and over in his mind. It made him a bit nervous to know that Voldemort would have a much larger repertoire of curses than he would. Suddenly, Harry considered himself woefully under prepared, and began nervously adjusting his robe. How was he going to accomplish this? He wasn't even sure that Voldemort could be killed, let alone whether or not the spell he planned on using would work. With a deep breath, he steeled his nerves. It didn't matter that he hadn't memorized a spell book, did it? He was powerful, much more powerful than Voldemort, and he would defeat him. No, he would obliterate him. By the time this was finished, the Dark Lord's soul would be residing in the deepest level of hell, and there wouldn't be so much as a grease stain left to mark the spot where he'd been standing.
The more his thoughts ran, the angrier he became. He could feel his magic coming to the surface, building in intensity.
Albus raised his hand, giving the signal, and Harry Apparated to the street outside of Number 4 Privet Dr.
The first thing Harry noticed was the sound, the sound of screaming. He looked up at the house to see a Death Eater holding his aunt up to the window.
"Harry, do not go in there. That is what he wants," Albus said, quickly.
Harry had to keep from rolling his eyes. As if he couldn't tell that on his own.
In a few moments, Albus had a handful of Order members, those who were Aurors, go to try and save the Muggles. The first one to get to the door, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was instantly whisked away. The door had obviously been made into a portkey. The rest of his team took no time to think on that and ran through the now-open doorway.
Harry watched the windows light up with the flashes of curses being firedHe almost felt bad that his relatives might be injured or worse, but he couldn't dwell on that right now. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like hundreds of Apparation pops all around them.
They were surrounded by Death Eaters.
Harry felt himself get roughly pushed to the middle of his group. He would have felt offended, but he knew his place. Being the only one actually powerful enough to destroy Voldemort, it wouldn't do for him to be killed before he had the opportunity to do just that.
Through the gaps in the Order and D.A. members surrounding him, he could tell that those that had traveled by Floo had reached them and were surrounding the Death Eaters nicely. Being trapped between two circles of the fighters for the light, the Death Eater's numbers were steadily dropping. Ron's strategy was holding up well. Unfortunately, Harry could see that several of his own allies were on the ground as well, and he doubted that the Death Eaters were using pleasant curses. He was just grateful that he couldn't make out the faces of the fallen, and that there wasn't enough time in battle for anyone to hold the Cruciatus curse on anyone for too long. Hopefully those that were down hadn't suffered.
A loud pop sounded right next to his ear, causing him to stumble. When he looked up from where he had landed on his rear, he looked straight into the snake-like face of Voldemort. On his hands and feet, Harry scrabbled back like a crab until he was a few feet away, out of arms reach.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed, "good of you to know your place." Voldemort was glaring down at his position on the ground.
Harry jumped to his feet in a hurry. The Order members that had been surrounding him broke off to battle the Death Eaters, leaving Voldemort to him. With his wand out, Harry had several curses on his lips and waited for Voldemort to make the first move.
"It seems that you have learned something over the past three years. Things would have been much easier if you had just run into the house. That fool who did rush to the door...well lets just say I was not pleased to see someone other than you land in my cell."
Voldemort's little speech did nothing more than to fuel the fire burning within Harry's magic. He could no longer wait for Voldemort to fire first; he would lose control of his magic by then.
Harry shouted, "Pello," the banishing charm. Voldemort blocked it, but the power behind it still sent him back a few feet.
Without standing back up, Voldemort shot of the killing curse which Harry dodged. Missing its target, the curse hit a Death Eater that was dueling against Ron.
In the time it took Harry to follow the path of the curse, Voldemort was on his feet again, and quickly shouted a blasting curse which Harry blocked by summoning the mask of the fallen Death Eater to absorb the curse. Voldemort followed with a charm that shot out magical ropes which wound around Harry, and he fell to the ground with a thump.
"Well, well. Not so quick then. What do you have to say for yourself?"
As defeated as Harry felt at the moment, he knew that dialogue was Voldemort's downfall. Harry knew that Voldemort would want to gloat before killing him.
"I have quite a bit to say, Voldemort."
Voldemort looked at him with disbelief. "Go on then. What are your final words?"
Harry pulled his bottom lip between his teeth as he thought of something witty.
"Thank you."
"What was that?" Voldemort sneered.
"I said, thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that. Thank You Lord Voldemort. I wouldn't want to address you without your proper title. After all, I can attribute most of my happiness lately to you." Harry had the nerve to force a grin to his face. With any luck the angrier Voldemort got, the sloppier he would get.
"Explain," Voldemort snapped.
Harry struggled slightly in his bonds, undetected as he grasped his wand, which had fallen to the ground. "It's easy. You see, it was your failed attempt at destroying me several months ago that sent me back in time twenty years. I got to see my parents, and I met a wonderful man. Then you tried to drain magic from me, which backfired, giving me more of your power."
"Enough! Avada Kedavra!"
As Voldemort shouted the curse, Harry quickly muttered "Deletrius," dissolving the ropes, and jumping out of the way of the curse.
Voldemort held his wand at his side as he spoke in a teasing tone. "Come now, Harry Potter. You are merely delaying your death."
Harry leveled his wand at Voldemort. "You will be the one to die tonight."
Voldemort had the nerve to laugh his high-pitched screech piercing the summer night air. "You silly, foolish boy. Haven't you learned anything?"
"Immobulus!" Harry's curse shot out, and Voldemort quickly moved to block it. But Harry's curse had such power behind it that it sliced through Voldemort's shield, stopping him from any movement. A look of shock was displayed clearly on Voldemort's face as he tried to fight off the curse.
"You won't be hurting anyone else ever again, Tom." Harry's voice was cold and steady. And, aiming his wand at Voldemort yelled,"
"Abuto Quingenti Aera Plures!"
When Harry shouted the curse a beam of light shot from his wand, speeding towards Voldemort. When it made contact, Harry watched as Voldemort started glowing. He could only hope that the curse he had heard of from Voldemort himself would work. But, instead of trying to de-age Voldemort, Harry had altered the curse to age Voldemort, to age him five hundred years. He figured that should do it.
The light surrounding Voldemort began pulsing before turning bright, so bright that Voldemort could not be seen. As the light faded, the sight of Voldemort caused Harry to flinch. The skin was hanging in shreds from Voldemort's bones, and he was screaming in agony. The life drained from Voldemort as his body gave way. The flesh that clung to his bones fell off, turning to dust as it hit the ground. Then, his bones crumbled into a heap. Harry watched with grotesque fascination as the bones seemed to collapse upon themselves until there was nothing more than a pile of ash.
Not until he was sure that Voldemort wasn't coming back, did Harry collapse to the ground in exhaustion, completely unaware that the battle around was all but finished.
"Harry. Harry, drink this."
"Sev?" Harry said, trying, but failing, to move."
"Yes, Harry, it's me. I need you to drink this potion." Severus' voice was soft and shaky at best.
Though he didn't have the energy to show it, Harry was incredibly relieved to know that Severus hadn't been one of the bodies littering the ground. He parted his lips as he felt the cool glass of a flask being pushed to his lips. He could barely gather the energy to swallow, but as the first bit of the potion hit his stomach he improved dramatically.
"P...Pepper up?"
"Yes. Do you think you can stand?"
Harry shook his head. "Not without a gallon of that stuff."
He vaguely heard people in the background moving around and talking. There were popping sounds, signaling the arrival of more people.
"Severus, tell me what happened?"
He could feel Severus wiping his hair from his brow, and his other hand holding Harry's. It was a small comfort as Harry could tell that he was still laying in the street. Apparently his glasses had come off at some point because he could only make out blurs.
"Harry, you did it. Voldemort is gone. The rest of the Death Eaters are either dead, stunned, or have Apparated away. The Ministry has just arrived to help transport people to Saint Mungo's"
"How did we do?"
Harry tensed as he noticed that Severus wasn't answering right away.
"Severus, please, just tell me."
"Harry, let's get you back to Hogwarts. You're too exhausted to Apparate so we will take the Knight bus."
Oh God, Harry thought, something must be horribly wrong for Severus to evade him.
"Please, Severus, I need to know."
Severus squeezed Harry's hand tightly. "While most of the injuries are not life threatening, there were a few casualties - two students, three parents, and two Order members."
"Who? Please...Ron? Hermione? Just tell me?"
Harry tried to look around for them, but still could only see blurs.
"They will be okay. Both of them were injured, but they have already been taken to Saint Mungo's. The two students were Ravenclaws. The parents w--"
"Luna? Sev, tell me."
"No, Miss Lovegood is fine, uninjured. I am not yet aware who the three parents were, I did not know them."
Harry could hear the hesitation in Severus' voice as he got to the Order members. "And the Order members, Severus?"
Severus pulled Harry up close to him, laying Harry's head on his shoulder. "We have confirmed that after Kingsley was portkeyed away from the battle he was killed. The other Order member - Merlin, I'm sorry Harry - The other member was Remus Lupin."