Chapter 16
Episode- The Queen of Hearts
Our world, 28 years ago, Voldemort's secret hideout,
The moment that the dark curse was enacted. Voldemort felt an intense sensation through his body like an adrenaline rush. And he knew exactly what it meant.
He was in a war plan meeting with his death eaters. They were standing over a table looking at some battle plans. The Ministry Of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix are planning a counteroffensive.
Voldemort then stood up straight and stared off with a far off look.
Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, and Regulus Black were there.
"Is something wrong my Lord?" asked Lucius Malfoy.
"Something's come up." said the Dark Lord. "I have some personal private business to attend to. Severus, Bella, Lucius, tend to management over the other Death Eaters until I get back. I may be gone a few days. Perhaps a week. Dismissed."
Accepting the Dark Lord's word they started walking away.
"Regulus. A word." said the Dark Lord.
The Young Brother of Sirius Black paused and then turned around and faced his master.
"Is everything alright young Regulus?" asked the dark lord as he used legitimacy to try and read Regulus's mind.
Regulus Black knew what the dark lord was trying to do and used occlumency to close off his mind.
"Of course my lord." he said straightforward with a serious voice. "Why?"
"Lord Voldemort is very observant of those that he entrusts his trust too." said the dark lord referring to himself in the third person. "And I can't help but get the feeling that you don't want to be here."
He said this with a subtle passive aggressive accusatory tone.
"You came to me willingly and you offered me your services."
"My Lord," said Regulus, trying to be convincing, "you can rest assured that I believe in the cause. I am proud to be here doing my work in your service. And that my faith is unwavering."
"Lord Voldemort just seems to have a feeling that your heart isn't entirely in it."
"My devotion to you is adamant." he declared.
"I will need you to prove it."
"I will do whatever you command, my Lord."
"I require a service of you. I need a house elf."
"A house elf, my lord?"
"Yes. I require of this house elf for…a service."
"I volunteer the Black family house elf, Kreacher."
"Very well. I shall require this elf by the time I return."
12 hours later, several miles outside of Storybrooke -
Voldemort had transported himself across the Atlantic Ocean by use of an illegal portkey.
He was walking down the muggle Highway to a remote secluded location Northeast of the city of Portland.
And then he felt it. A modified version of an anti-muggle cloaking spell. In order to keep out unwanted guests.
With a wave of his wand he stepped right through it. It was powerful. But then he was the one who designed the curse. He had made all kinds of modifications. When the curse was enacted, and brings people to this land from the Enchanted Forest the curse would extract knowledge and information from the space-time Continuum and transfer that information into the minds of the people of the town, to make them believe that they were modern-day Americans. And a memory charm to modify their identities, though they will still retain their original behavioral personalities. And a modified confundus spell to make them oblivious to the fact that they don't age or that everyday is the same.
He saw the sign, 'You Are Now Entering Storybrooke'.
He kept walking for a little while and then entered the town. Cars. Electronics shops. Grocery stores. Mechanics garage. Diners and Inns. And a clock tower. The time said 8:15, but the minute hand wasn't moving as the minutes passed by.
Rather than a disillusionment charm, he decided to walk among the people in plain sight though he did wave his wand over his face to transfigure his face so that his facial features look normal and even gave himself hair. He then transfigured his Wizards robes into a suit and tie.
He walked up and down the street. He admired his curse with a sense of pride. These people had permanently lost their happy endings. He never thought that the curse would actually be able to be enacted.
And then from across the street he saw him. Rumpelstiltskin. He was well dressed in a suit and tie and he walked with a cane. He in no way looked like The Dark One. His oddly colored reptilian skin was normal. Though that too was part of the curse, all but basic animals, every non-human was transformed into a human.
And then he saw her. Her royal majesty, Regina, the queen. Though she had no idea who he was in his disguised form, they had met once before. He had kept in touch with the Enchanted Forest ever since he first learned how to make his horcruxes.
She had exited the diner and inn referred to as Granny's. He followed her until she came to a mansion. She entered through her front door and then closed the door. He walked up to the door. He knocked.
A few moments later the door opened and he was greeted by her.
"Can I help you?" she asked with confusion to why he was there.
"That is yet to be seen." said Voldemort. "Your majesty."
"Who are you?" she asked.
He waved his wand over his face and transfigured his face back to normal.
"Lord Voldemort." said Regina in recognition. "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to admire the curse…madam mayor."
"I thought this was a world without magic." said Regina.
"That's only half true." said Voldemort. "Unfortunately for you you cannot tap into the magic of this world. That is what makes it a world without magic. But I'm not here to explain the details. When the curse was enacted yesterday, I sensed it. I had to check it out. But, do tell me, how in the world were you able to enact the curse? You needed to sacrifice the heart of the thing that you love the most. And if you loved something that badly, you wouldn't be able to do it."
"I loved my father with all my heart." said Regina with emotion. "But it was the price not just for my happiness but for the justice that I am inflicting on the ones who have wronged me."
Voldemort smiled in dawning comprehension at her last sentence.
"Petty vengeance." said Voldemort. "The ultimate motivation."
"What do you want?" asked Regina.
"As I said, just admiring my work." said Voldemort. "After all, I did create the curse."
"I thought Rumpelstiltskin created the curse." Regina said with confusion.
"No, I created it. And then I gave it to him. Or rather I traded it. And just before I gave him the scroll I produced a single drop of my own blood and enchanted it and then placed that Enchanted drop of blood onto the parchment so that myself and the curse would always be connected."
"With all due respect, dark lord, this is my town. The people of this town are my slaves, and I certainly hope that you don't have any diabolical plans for this town. These peoples' Eternal suffering is for my amusement."
"Relax your majesty. You can rest assured I have the rest of the world to myself. You can keep this little plot of land. We'll keep in touch."
He turned and left.
Present day
Voldemort, Delphi, Nathan, and Euphemia were in the car after they passed the sign welcoming them to the town where then out of nowhere a semi-transparent rainbow colored pulse wave washed over them in the direction of the Northeast and they felt the blast of wind. Nathan was the driver, and he slammed on the brakes in surprise.
"What was that?" asked Euphemia.
"A powerful dark curse has been broken." said Voldemort. "By use of light magic. I expect we may encounter a few surprises."
Nathan then kept driving.
"I will conjure us some shelter out in the woods." said Voldemort. "Remember it shouldn't be too difficult to blend in. Hide in plain sight."
"Just out of curiosity my lord," asked Nathan, "what are we doing here?"
"That will be made clear to you soon enough. But if all goes according to plan I will be able to restore my magic to its full strength, and then maybe even become stronger."
Harry's eyes opened wide and he gasped taking in a breath of air. He looked Ginny in the face.
"Ginny." said Harry with relief. "I love you."
"I love you too Harry Potter." said Ginny.
Harry sat up and they wrapped their arms around each other and locked lips.
When they pulled apart Harry looked Ginny in the eyes.
"Ginny, will you marry me?"
Ginny then had a look of confusion.
"You've already asked me that, and I think I've already answered that question."
"No, you misunderstand." Harry clarified. "Will you marry me this week? Here? In Storybrooke?"
"What's brought this on Harry?" asked Ginny.
"Let's just say that when you spend nearly a day in the fiery Red Room of a hell-like afterlife, it gives you a little perspective. And I want to be married to you now, and cherish every moment."
Ginny smiled.
"Well, I don't have a game for another two weeks, so as long as we can be married before then, there's nothing that I'd rather do."
It was then that they were interrupted by Grumpy.
"I don't mean to interrupt this little reunion, sister, but we have a situation. Rumpelstiltskin and Regina stole all of the fairy dust from the mines."
"What?" said Harry.
"They're up to something."
Regina and Rumpelstiltskin were approaching the well of regenerative Waters after using the fairy Godmother's wand to extract all of the magic from the fairy dust in the mines for the task of blocking the portal from the Enchanted Forest Storybrooke.
Then out of nowhere they felt the semi-transparent rainbow colored pulse Wave wash over them from the West.
"It looks like the elf has returned with young Ms. Weasley." said Rumpelstiltskin.
"Harry Potter and the others may follow." said Regina. "Let's get this over with."
The Enchanted Forest
Emma, Mulan, Gandalf, Hermione, and Mary Margaret ran towards Lake nostos
at a flat-out Sprint. Prince Philip and Aurora had stayed behind on the grounds that Aurora could be controlled because Cora had her heart.
And just in the nick of time, they came to the lake as the portal had been opened. Captain hook, and Cora were holding hands with the compass together.
Hermione pointed her wand.
"Expelliarmus."
A jet of red light shot out of the end of Hermione's wand and hit Cora in the hand, and the compass went flying out of it and it landed in the sand of the Lakeshore.
The five of them then surrounded the pirate and the Sorceress on all sides.
"You're outnumbered. And you're no match for all of us." said Emma. "Give up."
Captain Hook drew his pirate sword.
Cora conjured a fireball in her hand.
"On the contrary," said Cora with a devious smile, "you are the ones who are outnumbered."
And then from around the corner came all of the villagers that had their hearts ripped out. A ravenous horde of zombies.
"I'll handle them." said Gandalf.
"I'll help you." said Mary Margaret.
"Me too." said Mulan
"I'll take Cora." said Hermione.
"I'll take the pirate." said Emma.
Storybrooke
Rumpelstiltskin had cast the spell on the well. That was it it was done. Anyone who comes through will die.
Now he and Regina waited.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
Regina turned around and there she saw her son Henry. Behind him was Red Riding Hood, Granny with a crossbow, the Six Dwarfs wielding pickaxes, and the house elf Kreacher, and Harry, Ron and Ginny with their wands at the ready.
"Henry, you shouldn't be here."
"You're trying to stop them from coming through, aren't you?" asked Henry.
Regina paused for a moment to collect her thoughts.
"Henry, you don't understand. We can't let Cora come through."
"Mom, please!" said Henry with urgency in his voice. "You told me that you were trying to change. You told me that you wanted to be a better mother to me. So prove it. Give Emma and Mary Margaret their best chance to come through."
Regina's demeanor then changed. She looked her morseful. She looked conflicted.
If Emma and Mary Margaret couldn't come through then that would be one less mother and grandmother to vy for Henry's attention. While simultaneously she had to consider, she claims under the guise of stopping her mother and protecting Henry that she's doing this, but a part of her wants her revenge against Snow White and to get rid of Emma Swan. No, she had to be the better mother. The better person. She made a promise to henry, and now she had to live up to it.
She went over to the well. She held out her hands. And some green electricity came out of the well and her hands started to absorb it.
The Enchanted Forest
Deciding not to use her gun, Emma engaged in a fierce sword fight with Captain hook.
Gandalf, Mulan, and Mary Margaret use their swords to cut down zombies, one after another.
Cora hurled a fireball at Hermione, and she deflected it with a flick of her wand. Hermione then sent multiple powerful offensive Spells at Cora, abandoning all restraint and aiming to kill. Cora deflected every spell with a wave of her hand. Cora then conjured a bolt of energy in her hand and hurled it at Hermione. Hermione's Shield charm was just barely able to stop it and she felt it really hard. Hermione continued to send Spells at Cora but Cora deflected them with ease.
Hermione then made a calculated judgment based on the immediate data of their battle. Cora really was too powerful for her. Her, Hermione, the most talented witch in her year. Standing up to Cora in a Wizard's duel felt like trying to stand up to Bellatrix Lestrange, and that was when she had Ginny and Luna helping her.
Hermione pointed her wand at the Sand in front of chorus feet.
"Confringo."
The resulting explosion blew Cora back. Aurora's heart flew up in to the air and then landed in Mulan's hand.
Cora got to her feet and then blasted Hermione from her hand with a continuous sustained stream of dark magical energy. Hermione countered with a continuous sustained spell from her wand. The two spells met half way and canceled each other out on the point of contact. But Cora's spell was more powerful and it began to reduce distance between itself and Hermione.
She was almost about to lose when an arrow came at Cora. Cora dodged to the side in a split second and grabbed the arrow with her bare hand breaking the spell.
Hermione was about to use that moment of Cora's distraction to get a shot in, but Cora was way too fast. Cora hurled a fireball at Hermione which she just barely activated her Shield charm in time but she took the full brunt of it and it knocked her back. Fortunately The Shield charm prevented her from getting burned.
With a wave of Cora's hand she knocked the bow and arrow out of Mary Margaret's hands. And by use of telekinesis she pulled Mary Margaret right up to her.
"You know, it's probably a good thing that you're here." said Cora with a smile. "Because I get to bring my daughter a gift. Your heart."
Right at that moment, Emma managed to kick Captain Hook and the balls and he went down. She turned towards Cora and Mary Margaret and ran towards them.
Cora thrust her hand forward but right at that moment Emma pushed Mary Margaret out of the way and Cora's hand magically passed right through Emma's clothing, skin, and bone and her fingers wrapped around Emma's heart inside her chest.
"You foolish girl." said Cora in reprimand. "But maybe this will do just as well."
She pulled, But A Magical Force prevented Cora from ripping Emma's heart out.
It was then that Emma's body began to Glow with white energy and then spherical Shockwave of white light rippled out in all directions blowing Cora backwards.
"What in the world was that?"
"It was magic." said Hermione. "Very powerful wandless Magic."
Gandalf and Mulan had finished with the zombies.
"Go." said Gandalf. "Take the compass and find your way home."
"Accio compass." said Hermione as she pointed her wand and the compass flew up into the air and into her hand.
They all grabbed hold of each other and then they jumped into the portal in the water.
Gandalf and Mulan ran back to Phillip and Aurora.
Storybrooke
Regina's hands continued to suck green lightning and electricity out of the well until a magical Shockwave blew her back. And the portal inside the well had stopped.
Everyone watched, tense in anticipation.
Until suddenly they heard sounds and movement inside the well.
Then they saw Emma trying to climb out of the well.
"Emma!"
"Mom!" said David and Henry as they ran forward to grab her arms to help pull her out.
"Hermione!" shouted Ron as he ran forward.
"Henry!" said Emma as she wrapped him in a bone crushing hug and planted a big kiss on his forehead after she got out of the well.
Ron and Harry pulled Hermione out and then Ron and Hermione locked lips.
Emma turned back to the well to join David as the two of them helped pull Mary Margaret out.
"Snow!" said David with relief as the two of them looked in each other's eyes.
"Charming!" Mary Margaret returned. "You found me!"
"I will always find you!" he said with determination.
And then their mouths met.
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