Tom Marvolo Riddle, self-titled Lord Voldemort, screamed his outrage. All his followers were dead or without magic. All his hiding places in Great Britain had been found and all the dark talismans and other objects he might have used had been taken and destroyed by the accursed goblins or locked in heavily warded vaults. Only his familiar, Nagini, remained.

He could no longer draw on the magical strength of his Dark Marked minions. He had never told them that he could drain their magic dry if he'd wanted to. That he grew stronger as they became weaker. But they were all gone. "A slave cannot be a master," the mysterious voice had said.

Dumbledore had made it so easy to deceive them by destroying all the research articles, all the printed mentions related to the creation, uses, and even the removal of the Dark Marks. Those few copies that did survive Dumbledore's purge were hidden in heavily warded private libraries.

Every one of them had believed his lies until it was too late for them. He'd said it was just a magical tattoo to show their allegiance to him until the mark seared into their skin and they knew they'd sold their souls for lies.

He'd spent the last week since the 'cleansing' hiding in a now abandoned building in Diagon Alley. The former owner had been a follower but not a Death Eater and Riddle really didn't care what had happened to him. But now he was out of food. Nagini could hunt for herself but Riddle needed something more than rats and mice, assuming Nagini would or could bring any of her hunt back to him.

She was his familiar but had been showing more and more signs of independence since the 'cleansing'.

Riddle snorted at the euphemism. Cleansing. Mass murder of lords and heirs of the dark families that happened to have sided with him using the magic of the Dark Mark against them. And those who had actively supported erasing Mudbloods from their society had been reduced to muggles.

And they called him a mass murderer.

He cast a glamour on himself to hide his incomplete face and death white skin before opening the door.

Fortesque's ice cream shop was still closed, but Flourish & Blotts was busy. It had been announced that Hogwarts would be reopening by the end of the month with Minerva McGonagall appointed the new head mistress and new book lists had been sent out due to new classes being added.

Riddle listened as a trio of young passersby chatted about the new classes and bemoaned the extra work catching up would entail.

"At least we should have a DADA instructor that will last more than one year," one of the boys said.

"What, you don't want a repeat of pixies getting loose so we have to rescue the professor?"

"I'll be happy to have one that actually teaches us something," the brown-haired girl said.

Then Riddle saw it, the lightning scar on the dark haired boy's forehead. "Avada Kedavra!"

The killing bolt sped out. The ginger haired boy dove for the ground, dragging his two companions with him. Then the bolt flared backwards, striking its sender. An invisible scythe cut through Riddle's body and snagged his tattered soot black soul, dragging it out of him.

Riddle died.

Several adult customers from Flourish & Blotts had heard the killing curse being cast and had run out with their wands at ready.

"Who fired the curse?" someone asked.

"He did," the girl answered, pointing at Riddle's body.

"And why are you all still alive?" someone else asked.

Potter held out his hand and the wand still clenched in Riddle's hand twisted free and flew to him. "He tried to use my wand against me. It objected, strenuously."

Thanatos and Hades were undetectable as they stood watching. Hades chuckled. "You did say Riddle would die as the Ladies Fate foretold."

"Well, maybe a little early," Thanatos admitted. "No sense dragging out a foregone conclusion. I gather that Hecate is putting precautions in place to keep this from happening again for a long time."

"Consanguinity to be calculated back seven generations," Hades stated. "Steps are to be taken to protect and nurture Newblood and half blood children. For the Western Isles, steps are to be taken for Newblood houses to have some sort of representation in the Wizengamot as well as stricter rules established for replacing dead Noble or Ancient houses. And under no circumstances will the head masters of any major school be allowed promotion or election to a political office."

"As I recall you tried to put that into Hogwarts charter originally."

Hades shrugged. "The others never fully understood how easily a clever predator can fool honest people. That level of paranoia about the future was too Slytherin for them. Just for the record, I do regret coining the term mudblood, but it seemed so à propos at the time. They did claim to have been made from dirt."

Hades straightened his cloak. "I have to get back. Can't trust the inmates or the guards very long. Come over for drinks, Thanatos? I have some well aged firewhiskey that deserves to be drunk socially."

"I think I will, Hades. And I'm sure Hecate will join us as soon as she's satisfied the Magicals will actually go in the direction she's pointing them."

Hades snorted. "After that show, they wouldn't dare. It's not wise to mess with an annoyed badger."


A/N: And the power Voldemort knew not? Canon says 'Love'. But really, it was blow back from Harry's wand in Voldemort's hand that killed Voldemort.

That's my take and I'm sticking to it.