Assassins in the Wizarding World.
Chapter Nineteen: Questioning Riddle (Part Two)
Previously in the last chapter.
'Okay, I'm not sure how long I can stay conscious, but I'm just going to ask Riddle about the Dark magic in my scar,' Harry thought, as he struggled to stand up. Exhaustion was starting to take over him, but he would be damned to let the Elemental Trials end from him being exhausted. 'I was going to ask about the Death Eaters, but I decided I don't care. They can burn in hell.' After a few more moments of struggling, Harry managed to stand up from the ground, even though he did stumble a bit. 'Alright, time to continued on with the interrogation.'
With that in mind, the Ice Elemental walked over to the under the Truth Potion Riddle to ask about the topic of Dark magic that resides in his scar.
If only Harry knew how his life was going to change when Riddle answers that question.
(In the Present; At Hogwarts; With the Crowd)
To say, the atmosphere at Hogwarts was dark would be an understatement because it was very dark and tensed, all because of what everyone just learned a moment ago. They had learned, from Riddle's interrogation, that the Potions teacher at Hogwarts, Severus Snape, had not only sold out to Potter's to him because of a prophecy, but the Longbottom's as well, making the two Most Ancient and Noble Houses almost extinct. Luckily, the two boys survived, but the parents had met very sad fates. James and Lily Potter were met with death because of the Killing Curse, while Alice and Frank Longbottom were met with insanity because of the Cruciatus Curse.
But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was when Riddle revealed about Dumbledore knowing the prophecy and defended Snape from being sentenced to Azkaban, even though he didn't really say that last part, but everyone can get the picture.
Which is why Dumbledore is finding himself being glared at by everyone in the stands, even Minerva, who was very angry for the first time in her life. She couldn't believe her friend had not only protected the Death Eater that sold the Potter's out to Riddle but had him teach Potions at Hogwarts and ruined many student's future careers.
Not many people in Britain knew about this fact, except the other countries, but Potions is a very important subject for all types of jobs in the Magical World, such as becoming Healers, Aurors, Hit-Wizards and Curse-Breakers. Without achieving either an Exceed Expectations or Outstanding in Potions, you won't be able to become one of those things you wanted to be when you got older.
Minerva had tried telling Dumbledore about Snape having too much leeway and needed to cut down on his very strict teachings, but he wouldn't listen to her advice and continues to let Snape do whatever he wants. What made it more irritating, for her at least, is that no one was willingly to do anything unless the matter was pushed. She sometimes cursed Fudge for not doing anything since he was absolutely useless, but she also cursed herself for not offering any sort of help or advice to the students. It was thanks to Leone's and Harry's words that was causing Minerva to do what she should've done in a long time: Helping the students with their future careers.
Of course, it wasn't easy to offer help or advice because the students were wary of Minerva, due to her biased attitude. Every time she has a meeting with a student to talk about their future career, it broke her heart to see the wary and disbelief look in their eyes, as if they couldn't believe she was offering help or advice when she has never done that before, including her own House. She was sure the older students, namely the Sixth and Seventh years, had warned the younger students about her not helping anyone and she was determined to change that, even if it took her the rest of her life.
"I can't believe Snape was the one who sold the Potter's out to Riddle!" Susan growled, feeling rage coursing through her body, as she glared hatefully at Dumbledore. She wanted nothing more than to pull out her wand and cast a lot of lethal spells at him. She had once respected him because of his actions against Riddle, but that respect was lost when she learned Dumbledore left Harry at the Dursley's without even bothering to check up on him.
"I know, and Dumbledore let the bastard teach here to ruin the student's careers!" Leone growled, releasing a large wave of killing intent, while also glaring hatefully at Dumbledore. "You got nothing to say for your Head of House's defense, Daphne? Knowing you, I bet you're going to side with the Slytherin House instead of supporting Harry."
"If I didn't know what Snape did, Leone, I would've defended him!" Daphne hissed angrily, not liking Leone's tone. While she may not support the Blood Status like her fellow Neutral Slytherins, it didn't mean she was going to let some Muggle talk to her like that. She will not allow it. "But don't you dare say I'm going to side with my House because I'm not! I'm supporting Harry!"
"Good, because I was afraid that I might have to do some…unpleasant things to you."
Daphne's bright blue eyes flashed dangerously. "Was that a threat?"
"I don't know, Daphne, was it a threat?"
"Ladies, please," Tatsumi spoke up, bravely standing in-between Daphne and Leone, who were glaring at each other. "Try not to create a scene. It's bad enough Esdeath had created one when she cut off Dumbledore's arm and the last thing everyone needs is you two fighting because of picking sides, so please don't fight."
Daphne and Leone didn't say anything but merely let out a huff before facing away from each other with their arms crossed.
"That was impressive, Tatsumi," Cedric muttered, staring at the brown-hair assassin in awe, along with the champions and their hostages.
"When you're dating three women you love, Cedric, there is always going to be a lot of arguments, and someone will have to break it up, which is usually me. Consider this a bit of advice in the future."
(With Harry)
Despite Harry wanting to ask Riddle about the Dark magic in his scar and be done with the interrogation, he was still curious about the Death Eaters. Ever since he heard of them after the Quidditch World Cup attack, he had been asking questions to himself. Why did the Death Eaters appear thirteen years later when Riddle was defeated? How did they manage to bribe themselves out of Azkaban? Why attack the Muggles when they didn't do anything wrong?
The answers to Harry's questions were so obvious an intelligent First year who had been raised in the Magical Wolrd could've answer them. The first reason why the Death Eaters appear thirteen years later was because they wanted to show the Wizarding World they were not gone; they were still active and waiting to take their revenge for the fall of their master.
The second reason why the Death Eaters manage to bribe themselves out of Azkaban was because they had blackmailed the weak-minded workers to not use the Truth Potion on them. It makes great sense to use blackmail since Death Eaters have many connections in the Ministry and they use their cunning skills to make sure no one blabs about them. Well, the blackmail part and the fact many people in the Ministry bought the Imperius Curse lie.
Personally, Harry couldn't help but sneer at the people who bought the Imperius Curse lie. Do they have no brain cells or was it because they believe the Blood Status? If he was the Minister of Magic, he would see to all Death Eaters, no matter if they're Purebloods, sentenced to either the Dementor's Kiss or the Veil of Death, though mostly the Veil of Death since it's very rarely used.
The third and final reason why the Death Eaters like attacking Muggles was because they think it's fun to attack people who doesn't have magic. Harry had been greatly confused at first since he wasn't sure why the Death Eaters attacks Muggles, but when Daphne told him the reason why, he understood. It was because of the Blood Status; the bigoted Purebloods in Britain believed they were superior than Muggles and thought the only way to know they were better was to attack the Muggles.
Normally, the bigoted Purebloods wouldn't attack Muggles because it will harm the Statue of Secrecy, even though it was a joke now because of Britain's outdate laws, but thanks to Voldemort's insane idea of wiping out Muggle-borns and Half-bloods, they began attacking them. It was…pathetic to see Purebloods tear the country apart not only because of the Blood Status, but because they believe they were superior than Muggles.
Well, Harry was planning to change all that. He was going to cleanse the filth out his country and restore it to its former glory. There will be no more people believing the stupid Blood Status, no more people calling Muggle-borns Mudbloods, no more people threatening other people with their family names and no more people becoming short-minded of the Dark Arts. No more of those stupid reasons bigoted Purebloods love doing. The only thing the bigoted Purebloods should care about is their life and Harry was going to make sure the message sinks into the Pureblood's heads, including the thicker ones. If they didn't like it, then they can leave Britain.
Harry was also going to restore Hogwarts to its former glory by getting rid of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, as well as getting rid of useless teachers. There are teachers that can stay at Hogwarts since they're doing a great job of teaching proper education and those teachers are Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, Septima Vector, the Arithmancy teacher, Bathsheba Babbling, the Ancient Runes teacher, Pomona Sprout, the Herbology teacher, Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher and Alastor Moody.
Though, if Harry was honest with himself, he would prefer having a proper Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He loves Hagrid greatly as a teacher and doesn't want him to lose the job – the giant man does deserve the Professor title because he knows every type of creature in the Magical World, both Light and Dark – he just wants to make sure Hogwarts receives the education students need for OWLs and NEWTs. When he gets back, he will talk to Hagrid about teaching the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh years, while getting a proper Care of Magical Creatures teacher to teach the Third and Fourth years.
The teachers that needed to leave Hogwarts for good are the following:
Severus Snape, the bitter Potions teacher who loves destroying student's careers because he can't even grow the hell up and let go of the grudge James and his friends did to him when he was at Hogwarts.
Cuthbert Binns, the History teacher, needed to go because he was a ghost and doesn't teach the students about, well, history. All he does was put the students to sleep with his drone-like voice.
Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher, definitely needed to go because she was an old fraud and can't even teach a class without being drunk.
Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher, can stay in Hogwarts since she's a good teacher, but needs to take a vacation in the Muggle World to learn more about the Muggles. The only thing she teaches in her class is plugs and that was something Harry needed to change because the Wizarding World needed to know about the dangers Muggles can be, which is their destructible weapons, namely guns and bombs. By having a proper Muggle Studies teacher, the students, namely the Purebloods, can learn about the Muggles and how they operate without magic.
The final teacher that needs to leave Hogwarts is Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, the man with too many titles, the man who is too soft to punish the students and use violence in the First Wizarding War and the man who protected the Death Eater that sold Harry's parents to Riddle. Harry was conflicted; on one hand, the old man was a great Headmaster and a very powerful Wizard, but he has a tendency of not listening to people because he thinks whatever he's doing is right.
Don't get him wrong, Harry does respect Dumbledore a lot since he has good intentions for everyone – one of the good intentions was having him, Harry, raised in the Muggle World so that the fame he received from Halloween won't corrupt him to be an arrogant, short-sighted, prejudice bully – and has his heart in the right place but the reason why the Ice Elemental doesn't like the man is because he keeps secrets to himself and doesn't bother to tell anyone, not even his most trusted supporters. Okay, Harry has taken a leaf out of Dumbledore's book by keeping secrets to himself – one of them being an Elemental and being abused by his relatives – but he had very good reasons why he kept secrets! Yeah, good reasons!
Anyways, does Dumbledore tend to believe he can solve or handle anything just because he is the most powerful Wizard in the world? Because he thinks he has a lot of knowledge and experience that other people don't have? If that's true, then Harry needs to do everything in his power to replace Dumbledore with a new Headmaster or Headmistress.
It was going to take a lot of hard work to restore Britain and Hogwarts back to their former glory, but Harry was determined to change it, even if it meant doing things he didn't want to do, which is executing people.
However, before Harry can restore Hogwarts and Britain to their former glory, he needs to finish the Elemental Trials and learn about the Death Eaters. The only way to learn about the Death Eaters is to questioned Riddle, who was still frozen and still in the Truth Potion state. Said state was almost on the verge of vanishing and becoming self-aware, only for it to disappeared when Harry forced him to swallow another three drops of the Truth Potion. The Ice Elemental didn't want to think what would happened if the Truth Potion state vanished.
Back to more important matters. Harry needed to ask Riddle about the Death Eaters but wasn't sure what question to ask. Hell, he couldn't even think about a question to ask because of his extreme anger towards person who told Riddle about the prophecy, Severus fucking Snape. If there was one thing he needed to do when he gets back from the Elemental Trials, it was learning to control his emotions.
In the end, Harry decided to ask Riddle a rather prejudiced question, a question that was going to create a massive shockwave in Hogwarts, while sending Daphne in a fit of rage.
"Do all Death Eaters come from Slytherin House?"
(Back at Hogwarts; With the Crowd)
"Why is Harry taking so long to ask Riddle another question?" Hermione asked, as she stared at Harry's screen with a worried look on her face. "The Truth Potion state is almost on the verge of vanishing."
"He still might be traumatized from what he had learned a moment ago, Hermione," Tatsumi replied, still feeling anger towards the person who sold out Harry's parents. "To learn your teacher is not only a Death Eater but the person responsible for causing your family to get killed by a psycho is quite enough to shock someone greatly.' His anger was replaced by sadness, and it leaked out of his voice. "Trust me, I know the feeling."
'Oh, Tatsumi…' Akame thought, sending a sad look at her boyfriend, along with Leone. 'Are you still holding onto what happened that night when you first entered the Capital? I told you to forget about it and move on because it will affect you greatly. You have already avenge your childhood friends by killing the person responsible. How much longer will that night continued to affect you?'
Akame's worried thoughts about her boyfriend were broken when Harry started asking Riddle a question, causing everyone in the Wizarding World to instantly become silent so that they can hear the said question.
"Do all Death Eaters come from the Slytherin House?"
"I knew it! I fucking knew it!" Daphne shrieked, scaring the living daylights out of everyone near her, which she noticed since she was currently glaring angrily at Harry's screen. "I knew Harry would ask that particular question when the interrogation started! I knew he would ask Riddle about the stupid 'do all Death Eaters come from Slytherin?' question! After four months of spending time together, he still kept the prejudice inside him?!"
"Well, you can't blame Harry for asking that question, Daphne," Susan said a moment later after calming down her beating heart. "Remember, he had spent three years believing Slytherin was a Dark House when he first entered the Wizarding World and when you told him the House wasn't but Neutral instead, the prejudice he had inside him disappeared. However, it must've come back when Harry started questioning Riddle."
"That still doesn't mean he should ask the question in a prejudice manner, Susan!"
"Ladies, I want to hear what Riddle is about to say," Esdeath said, giving Daphne and Susan a stern look. "Can you two be quiet?"
"Yes, Professor," Daphne and Susan replied at the same time, as they hang their heads down like children being scolded by their parents.
Esdeath nodded her head and turn her attention back towards Harry's screen, which was just in time since Riddle has replied to Harry's question.
"No, that's not true. Not every Death Eater comes from Slytherin since many of them, except a few, are Neutral. A small amount of Death Eaters comes from Ravenclaw since they are greatly intelligent and possessed dueling skills, but the large amount of Death Eaters that joins me comes from both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor."
The Hogwarts students and Professors completely froze in horror after hearing Riddle's answer, while the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students gave Hogwarts very suspicious looks. Hogwarts couldn't believe what they just heard. It wasn't possible; Riddle had to be lying. There was no way the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were Dark. They support the Light! Unfortunately, the Truth Potion cannot be fooled at all and it always force the person under it to tell the truth, no matter how hard they tried to fight it. What Riddle said was the truth.
"This…this can't be…" Minerva stuttered out, greatly horrified to learn the House she had been sorted in, later become Head of, was a Dark House full of future Death Eaters. Why? Why did they join Riddle? That was a question she very much wanted to know. "My own House…the House I was sorted in…is actually Dark…and filled with the Death Eater's children…"
Pomona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff House, wasn't that far behind to join Minerva's horrified state, but unlike the older women, she was on the verge of fainting. She couldn't believe many of her students, students that were like sons and daughters to her, join the Death Eaters to create an insane society where only Purebloods matter. There was only two questions on her mind: Why did they join the Death Eaters and what on Earth had she done to make her students go down a Dark path?!
(Back with Harry)
If the Hogwarts students and Professors were greatly horrified from hearing Riddle's answer, it was nothing compared to Harry's reaction. There was no horror on his face, no triumph, no surprise, no pity, no sadness, no satisfaction or even shock. The only emotion he had on his face was numb disbelief from what he heard.
"H-h-h-how?' Harry croaked out in his mind, feeling his hands shake from what Riddle said. 'How can many future Death Eaters that joins Riddle comes from both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor? They're both Light Houses, for Merlin's sake! I know there are a few nasty Hufflepuffs who reacted in anger when my name came out of the Goblet of Fire, only for the anger to disappeared when I was questioned under the Truth Potion, and I know there are arrogant Gryffindors in my House who believe they can do whatever they want. It's enough to make me very annoyed.'
Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts and took a breath. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about Gryffindors annoying him very greatly and a few nasty Hufflepuffs. He had more important things to worry about, which was continuing the interrogation.
"How can many future Death Eaters that joins you comes from both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor?" Harry asked in a calm voice, as if what he heard hadn't affect him. Although he did send a piercing look at Riddle. "They are both Light Houses and I don't see any of them casting Dark magic at people."
"It's because of the pranks the Marauders had done during their time in Hogwarts," Riddle explained, causing a surprised look to appear on Harry's face. What does the Marauders have to do with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor becoming future Death Eaters? "They used cruel humor on the students, even the younger ones who had done nothing wrong, and thought doing pranks on the students was 'amusingly funny'."
"I can understand the pranks since the Marauders are pranksters, but that doesn't explain why Hufflepuff and Gryffindor becoming future Death Eaters."
"The reason why Hufflepuff and Gryffindor become future Death Eaters is because the teachers, except a few, don't bother to punish the Marauders. Rather, they turned a blind eye towards the pranking and don't help the students who are pranked and humiliated. Because of that and the fact the Marauders kept doing the same cruel pranks, the students become extremely bitter to the point they wanted nothing more but to kill the Marauders and that bitterness, along with the desire of revenge, is why I had my Death Eaters approached the pranked students to recruit them."
Harry's surprised look at the beginning had changed into great shock when Riddle finished explaining about why Hufflepuff and Gryffindor becoming future Death Eaters. That was how the future Death Eaters was created? By being pranked over and over again until they become bitter and wanted revenge? All this time, he had thought the Death Eaters joined Riddle because of the Blood Status, but he was wrong. They had joined Riddle just to get revenge of the people who pranked them. Okay, nearly all the Death Eaters joined Riddle because of the Blood Status and they've been passing it along to their children, but Harry still thought it was that instead of the pranks the Marauders had done.
Thinking about the Marauders caused a dark look to appear on Harry's face. He didn't like the type of pranks they had played on the students that later became Death Eaters and he also didn't like the fact they believe they were invincible because they were in Gryffindor, a House that was now equally arrogant and bigotry as Slytherin. In the past, Harry had gone to the House because he wanted to be in the same House as his parents, but he was now regretting it after learning more about James and the Marauders during Riddle's explanation.
For the very first time in his life, Harry was glad James was dead when Riddle appeared that night on Halloween. He didn't want to become like him during his time in Hogwarts as a prankster, he wanted to become the greatest Wizard and Elemental of them all so that he can make his real mother and his grandparents proud of him. He also didn't want to become a short-sighted, spoiled, bigoted, arrogant bully towards the students, even though he doesn't interact with them since they are strangers to him, and he always spends time training with his 'mother.'
In Harry's eyes, he sees James as not only a pathetic, Light-sided fool who hates anyone that does something Dark in his eyes, but an extremely arrogant, short-sighted bully whose bigotry towards Slytherins can make bigoted Purebloods ashamed. That is why Harry doesn't consider him as his father, and he sometimes wonder if James had used a potion on Lily to make her fall in love with him.
'You can worry about James using a potion on Lily later, Harry,' Harry thought, as he shook his head to clear his thoughts once again. 'Right now, you have an interrogation you need to focus on.'
"I want to know about the Dark Mark that appeared in the Quidditch World Cup," Harry demanded, glaring at Riddle. "What is it, exactly?"
"The Dark Mark is a piece of very complicated magic I have created that not only allows the Death Eaters to communicate with me or the other Death Eaters, but to strike fear in both the Magical and Muggle World when they do raids. It's like the Protean Charm to send messages to every member whenever I call a meeting, but I made sure to place a taboo on it if some foolish person says my name."
"Why? What happens if someone says your name?"
"Anyone who says my name will be instantly met with death by myself or my Death Eaters. We always know the foolish person who dares say my name."
"So, that's why everyone is so scared of saying Riddle's name," Harry mused with a small frown on his face. "It's because of this taboo he placed on the Dark Mark." He now understands why everyone in the Magical World was afraid of saying Riddle's name, even when he was defeated. It's because of the fear they witnessed during the war, and the fear will always be inside everyone, including the brave ones. "It was no wonder why everyone was so determined not to say the name because they don't want to be met with death. I wouldn't want to be met with death if I said the name. But what's the point of keeping the fear when the taboo is no longer active?"
"It's because everyone in the Magical World are pathetic wimps." Riddle somehow managed to hear the question and answered it with amusement.
(Back at Hogwarts; With the Crowd)
"TAKE THAT BACK, RIDDLE!" Everyone in Europe roared angrily at Harry's screen, greatly offended from what Riddle said about them. "WE ARE NOT PATHECTIC WIMPS!"
'I beg to differ,' Esdeath thought, giving everyone around her, except her friends and Harry's girlfriends, a sneer. 'You all can't even say his name without flinching and hide like cowards instead of fighting back during the war. You all, as Riddle said, are wimps.'
(Back with Harry)
Harry gave Riddle an annoyed look but couldn't argue with the logic since it was, after all, the truth. It must be the end of the world if he was agreeing with the Dark Lord. It was then he noticed his frozen spell on Riddle was starting to wear off, as well as the Truth Potion, which was easily fixed by channeling more magic onto him and pouring more drops in his mouth. However, because Harry had used so much magic on the ice soldiers he brutally and mercilessly destroyed moments ago, the exhaustion came back stronger than ever, making him light-headed before he thrusted his sword into the ground and leaned on it for balance.
'Shit, this isn't good,' Harry thought grimly, continuing to lean on his sword, while breathing heavily. 'I'm about to pass out and I can almost feel my Elemental Form running out. Just when I wanted to keep asking more about the Dark Mark.' He let out a heavy sigh. 'Well, can't do anything about it. I might as well ask Riddle about the Dark magic in my scar and be done with the interrogation.' Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath to composed himself so that he can ask Riddle his last question. Can't ask a question if you're light-headed.
Once he had gathered himself, Harry stopped leaning on his sword and became serious. "I have one last question I want to ask you, Riddle, and it's about the Dark magic in my scar. What is it?"
"The Dark magic in your scar, Potter, is something I had created during my time in Hogwarts to achieve immortality," Riddle explained with gleeful triumph in his voice, making Harry narrowed his eyes. "I am the only Wizard in the world to create these things and I had gone further where no other Wizard can ever accomplish."
"Once again, that does not answer my question, it was just pointless bragging. It will soon be your downfall, including your real self. Tell me the exact reason what this Dark magic in my scar is right now, Riddle, before I start doing something I won't regret." For the first time since the interrogation started, Riddle started to show resistance, making Harry's narrowed eyes narrow even more. "Answer me! What is this Dark magic in my scar?!"
Riddle tried to resist telling Potter about his greatest secret since he didn't want no one, not even his rival, to know about it. If Potter knew the secret, then his immortality, along with the treasured objects he stole during his youth, will be at risk. He had created those things to live longer and conquer the Magical World! The last thing he needed was Potter going after them so that he could destroy them.
But due to him being under the Truth Potion, Riddle caved in. "The Dark magic in your scar, Potter, is called…" Here, he tried to resist the Truth Potion again but a bonked to head by Harry made him speak again. "A Horcrux."
I know I said in the last chapter that this will be the finale of Questioning Riddle (Part Two) and the next chapter after this will be the possessed battle, but I decided to end the finale part chapter here since I had already worked on this chapter right after I posted the previous chapter and I didn't feel like writing the rest of it. I'm sorry if you guys were expecting the possessed battle but it will come, I promise.
I have some thoughts how I wanted to write the possessed battle, but I need more time to think about what other thoughts I could use for the battle. So, until the possessed battle comes, here is the finale part chapter of.
The next chapter is pretty much going to be a very shocked reaction and it will be the final battle between memory Riddle and Harry. I'm saying memory Riddle because it's not really the real Riddle and I cannot wait to write that final battle.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: A Shocked Reaction and Defeating a Memory.