Disclaimer: This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy. No ships. Bashing around everyone.

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These chapters (33 to 36) were written first and guided the whole story about the diaries of Lily Evans and Magical Null Space. Then we'll get to what happens afterwards and in winter and spring terms 1996.

The previously published '33. Trial' chapter comes after these chapters. Apologies.

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36 Casting IFI /20 December 1995

The next morning, there was nothing about a disaster at Azkaban in the Daily Prophet. Harry decided he would always remember to take the time of day into account when planning a Magical Null Space event. Studying the staff table, he could find no twitches or signs in the public faces of the adults to indicate they were hiding new secrets. Even the headmaster appeared invested in his Full English breakfast, though the Scottish McGonagall refused to hide her disdain for the meal preferred by the Sasannach (Englishman).

Today, Harry would strike at one of his enemies – the Dark Lord Voldemort. His opponents were both Dark Lords who moved in the shadows to manipulate pawns and strike at threats before battle could erupt. Suddenly, Potter put down his mug of tea; the realization struck him that HE was on his way to being a dark lord! He moved in the shadows as carefully as Tom Riddle. Albus Dumbledore stood in the full light of day but manipulated people and events behind the scenes to a greater extent than Riddle.

Since August, Harry Potter had hidden in the shadows and used unknown tools. He eliminated potential assets for his enemies and struck with unexpected but piercing wounds before withdrawing rather than offering full battle. Covering his mouth with his hand, he fought back the expression of emotion – laughter or sorrow – he wasn't certain which.

The whole of the afternoon, Harry remained in the Gryffindor Common Room, reading what appeared to be a book on Theories of Transfiguration: Existing Objects vs Raw Material. Today, the jail keeper who snooped would be Judas Goat. Remembering Dobby's admonition that forbid pranking Miss Kitty until after his OWLS were completed, Harry didn't set any traps in the room for the eventual visit.

But he did complete multiple partial transfigurations of sofas around the room. The first one he transfigured into half automobile and half sailboat. The second he transfigured into a barrel of brooms that appeared to be a Weasley Whiz waiting to be fired off as a dozen fireworks. The third sofa, he transfigured into a boulder and giant lemon drop. The dividing line between the two halves of the transfigured sofa was hard to discern as he admired his work.

After preparing the battlefield, he spent the next hour remembering the details of the horrible night when his parents died. Thanks to the Dementors who floated around Hogwarts for the whole of his third year, Harry had vivid memories of his mother holding him close while sounds of the battle in the lounge filled the air.

Then Riddle burst into the nursery and his mother placed herself between the Dark Lord and him. He remembered her plea and the Dark Lord's dismissal of her love. Then there was a green light, and his mother fell.

In the memory, Harry noticed the shimmer of magic that remained after his mother fell to the floor. The protective shields she'd created attempted to thwart the Dark Lord's spell but failed to stop the AK spell. But the power remained and was pulled toward the protective runes that were tattooed on the baby's skin. Three times as much protection rolled around infant Harry now.

The monster raised his wand and cast the green light again, but this time the protective spells reflected the light back and forth for a moment before reflecting on Riddle and threw the man – monster – back against the wall of the nursery. The figure fell like his mother did as if strings had been cut from a puppet. There was a moment of pain as something cut his forehead and there was blood, but baby Harry could still see Mummy lying still on the floor and the monster smashed against the wall before it vanished.

Then the red eyes returned, rising out of the monster's body in a mist and fleeing out of the window.

The house was quiet, and baby Harry heard someone coming up the stairs. He stared as a tall, dark stranger entered the room, used his wand to vanish the still- corpse of the dark lord, and then gathered Mummy in his arms.

'Snape! You mourned my mother and yet hated me! Bastard!' Harry thought. 'There'll be no forgiveness.'

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It was almost 3:00 PM before the porthole opened to allow Minerva McGonagall into the Gryffindor Common Room, a place she seldom visited while full of students. Upon seeing the transfigurations, she immediately fussed at the dark-haired teenager.

"Potter! What is this?" the witch asked in her usual brusque manner.

Looking up and crinkling his eyebrows as if he didn't understand the question, Harry asked, "Practice for OWLS? Multiple transfiguration of a single object is a requirement for an Outstanding score."

"The test will be sequential transfigurations of an object such as a stone into four different items specified by the expert who is administering the exam," McGonagall fussed. "Not this…half and half kerfuffle."

"Are you certain, professor? Yes, of course you are certain," Harry replied. "Well, that makes this a wasted afternoon!"

"And I suppose you expect me to repair your mistakes?" asked the witch with a particularly sour expression on her face – one she saved for the muggleborn students.

"Never, Professor McGonagall," Harry immediately replied. "Each person should be responsible for their own mistakes. Yeah?"

Crossing her arms, Minerva frowned and said, "Well then, fix this or I'll assign you detention for three nights in January with Mr Finch washing…"

Now, Harry stared coldly at the professor and Minerva remembered that look – not on the face of James Potter but in the eyes of Lily Evans during every conversation following Halloween 1975. Minerva hoped to be named as godmother to the first son of James and Lily, but Lady Potter selected Lady Alice Longbottom immediately when asked to name the godmother of her newborn son.

This afternoon, Minerva worried for a moment the boy knew things…but there was no way possible.

Without waving his wand, each transfigured sofa returned to its original form and the magic of the transfiguration sparkled around the room, almost like a Patronus.

"How did you do that? So easily?" she asked.

Harry bowed his head and replied in a pureblood response, "Family magic is a private matter, professor. I cannot discuss it with someone unrelated to me."

"The Potter family does not have any magic such as that!"

A look of honest surprise on his face Harry asked, "How do you know the Potter family magic?"

He took a step forward, his face now resembling Fleamont Potter when he was irritated. "Are you a missing relative?"

"No, no, Mr Potter, but your father…James shared many things from his family magic with me while working on his mastery."

The same Potter face demanded, "Was my father your apprentice?"

Uncomfortable now, Minerva replied, "Only informally…because of the war we never formalized the agreement."

Harry's face shut off all emotion and he replied, "I hope you have kept all such matters of Potter Family Magic secret as would be expected between a Master and an Apprentice."

McGonagall didn't answer and Harry took a moment to consider how to proceed. Finally, he took a deep breath and stated, "Professor McGonagall, perhaps you should remember that I have two parents – in addition to family magic from my father's side of the family, there is family magic from my Evans ancestors."

"Muggles don't have family magic!" McGonagall insisted.

Inclining his head once again, Harry repeated the earlier response, "Family magic is a private matter, professor. I cannot discuss it with someone so totally unrelated to me as the transfiguration professor in my school."

Huffing in frustration, McGonagall turned to leave the Common Room before she remembered, "Your presence is required for supper this evening in the Great Hall! We shall have an informal celebration of the Yule Holiday."

"Yes, of course, professor," Harry replied. "I shall get my exercise before then but appear on time."

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IFI Malfoy Manor / 20 December 1995 part 1

As time for supper drew closer, Harry left Gryffindor Tower, throwing his cloak of invisibly over his head to hide from the portraits and professors. He climbed to the seventh floor and hurried inside the Room-of-Requirement. There Harry blinked twice when he found three full covens of elves – thirty-nine in total – waiting with Dobby.

The golden pentagram embedded had been polished until it gleamed in the late afternoon sun shining through windows magically set in the walls. Today, the covens of elves would help power and guide the IFI spell as it summoned the corpse of Tom Riddle who had named himself Lord Voldemort.

"I have a clear vision of the corpse, and I have Draco's vision of the fireplace," Harry announced. "I remember vividly the moment the Dark Lord fell from his own reflected spell that tried to kill me."

Dobby was quiet and sad, feeling the emotions flowing from Mr Harry Potters that evening.

With nothing left to be said, Harry moved to the South point of the pentagram. There he chanted the IFI spell to remind magic what had been sent to Magical Null Space – the corpse of the Dark Lord. And as he chanted, Harry walked counterclockwise around the pentagram three times. He passed the East point but stopped at the point for North. There he bowed once toward the centre of the magic pentagram. Then he continued, walking passed the west point and returning to the south point again.

At the South point, Harry bowed once toward the centre of the pentagram and then began walking again, constantly reminding magic of the corpse had been removed from the earth. There was a fullness to the magic building in the room because of the covens of elves helping with the spell.

When Harry completed the third pass around the pentagram, he stopped at the South point, bowed once toward the centre and then began walking clockwise. He passed the western spot and returned to the North where he bowed, and then continued passed the East point to the South, circling the pentagram with seventeen steps. This time, while he walked, he asked magic to return the corpse that had been sent to Magical Null Space by the spell fourteen years before.

When he completed the third pass around the pentagram, Harry realised he was clear-headed. Smiling broadly, he turned to the three covens of elves who helped him freely this afternoon, and he bowed to them. The elves grinned and popped away until it was time for the second IFI spell.

Harry planned to wait no more than ten minutes before performing the IFI again to destroy the Dark Lord and his minions, but he noticed another elf pop into the room and whisper to Dobby. His little friend announced, "Whiskers and Severe Snapes climbing stairs looking for Mr Harry Potters! They must not finds Come-and-Go room."

Prepared to distract any adults who intruded on the seventh floor, Harry grabbed a stack of books and said, "I'll distract them. Keep everything ready to cast the spell again."

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Books, Occlumency, and a Summons

While pulling his way up the seventh staircase, Albus Dumbledore wished he'd come alone to search for Harry Potter. He couldn't apparate with Severus within the castle – he could apparate within the wards but there wasn't any side apparition allowed. But it was important to inconvenience Severus before he left for the Yule Celebration at Malfoy Manor. The potions professor would not have an opportunity change into fresh robes before departing to meet with Lord Voldemort for the first time since his resurrection.

Severus complained about the need to search for the boy and voiced the opinion that the portraits, house elves, or wards themselves should be able to tell Dumbledore where the brat hid from him.

"Are you looking for me, professors?" asked the hated voice. Looking up the two wizards found Harry Potter standing at the top of the stairs with two books and one scroll in his arms.

"Harry! There you are!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "I was worried when you left the Great Hall so quickly after the meal."

Coming down the steps slowly, Potter replied, "Thank you for your consideration, Headmaster. However, I remembered some books and a scroll I found the other day. I wanted to retrieve them to deliver to the professors."

Once Harry was close enough, Snape grabbed the items and threw them over the staircase. The youth immediately fell back on the stairs and crawled backwards above the physical reach of the hated professor.

Ignoring the boy's actions, Dumbledore chided the Potions Professor, "Severus, that was uncalled for!"

"What books did you attempt to steal Potter?" Snape asked with a sneer on his lips.

"I didn't steal anything, Professor Snape. I found them in the Room of Requirement and thought to share them with the students who are revising over the winter break."

"There's no such thing as the Room of Requirement!" Snape insisted. "You took these books from the library!"

"Severus, the elves call it the Come-and-Go-Room," Albus said, focusing on Harry Potter who merely smiled and stared at the braid in the headmaster's beard, "…and few people can find the door."

Harry explained, "The first book is for the Gryffindors to use in Remedial Transfiguration. The second book is for the Puffs to use in their Remedial Charms class. The scroll is a first edition of Professor Dumbledore's paper on the twelve uses for dragon's blood. I think it was printed in 1894…just over a century ago."

"I lost my copy back in 1925," Dumbledore admitted. He glanced over the staircase at the collection of papers far below. "It appears that they disintegrated when they hit the floor."

Potter added, "That's correct professor – it's not the fall, it's the landing that kills you."

"Now, now, Harry…"

"Mr Potter," Harry corrected the headmaster innocently.

Pursing his lips to be corrected by a boy, Dumbledore conceded, "Very well. Mr Potter, I am concerned about the connection between your mind and the Dark Lord. Has he made any attempt to contact you in your mind during these lonely days of the winter break?"

"There's been nothing sir," Harry replied and then fell silent.

So, Dumbledore continued, "I have decided that Professor Snape will teach you Occlumency beginning in the new year. This will allow you to protect your mind against Legilimency."

"Occlumency? Legilimency? Like reading someone's mind? Like you both do?" Harry said but halted and apologised. "Forgive me for making a baseless accusation about two upstanding professors at Hogwarts."

Growling, Snape ordered, "Potter! Look me in the eye!"

"Are you sure professor?" Harry asked, innocently.

"Insolent boy!" Snape declared and raised his wand to threaten the boy. When Dumbledore said nothing, Harry pursed his lips and looked into the eyes of Severus Snape.

Unlike the boring mind that Snape thought he remembered from last summer, Potter's mind was a whirlwind of images that overwhelmed the potion master's head – Quidditch balls, golden snitches, Dementors, and the lifeless body of a beautiful woman with red hair. Snape attempted to withdraw but suddenly Lily was alive, laughing and holding out her hands to Severus like she did when they were children. He hesitated long enough for a blinding headache to be born in his mind.

"No," Snape said, attempting to break away but Potter's mind held him for an endless second. The boy's defences were formidable. Using all his mental strength, and pulling back from the intrusion into Potter's mind, Snape grabbed hold of the staircase railing to remain standing but dropped his wand and let it roll down several trends. He'd escaped only because Potter permitted him to leave.

"His mind…the boy's mind is well protected," Snape said simply. "He doesn't need any training."

Before Dumbledore could comment, Snape growled again, "Elf! I require a headache potion.

Only moments after an elf appeared with the required potion that the wizard chugged down, Severus Snape bent over once again, his right hand clasped around his left forearm as he moaned in terrible pain.

"The Dark Lord demands that I come to him!" Snape said before he turned hurried down the stairs without another word.

Torn for a moment between continuing to talk to Harry Potter, or to counsel his spy, Dumbledore attempted to chase after Severus. The younger man vanished from sight and when Dumbledore turned around, the staircases seemed to have grown steeper and young Mr Potter had vanished. Dumbledore continued down to the ground floor and used the Elder Wand to repair the books. During dinner, he would deliver them to the appropriate professor to use in their revision classes.

The first edition of his paper on the twelve uses for dragon's blood would find a place of honour in the bookcase behind his desk. He smiled as he whispered to the walls and paintings that were listening most intently, "It will hang beside my Order of Merlin, First Class."

Standing up and debating another discussion with Harry Potter or returning to his office for class of spirits before dinner, Dumbledore was startled by the appearance of the honey badger Patronus of Amelia Bones. The message in Amelia's voice was chilling, "Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Minister Cornelius Fudge authorised me to inform you that yesterday afternoon, the prison at Azkaban was destroyed with the loss of all prisoners. The attack occurred during the shift change while all Aurors were outside the prison. And it appears that the Dementors were also trapped inside the prison."

The message continued, "Minister Fudge feels his advisors are not providing him with adequate advice and asks if you would come to his office in the Ministry for Magic immediately."

Albus Dumbledore experienced two successive emotions – the first feeling was elation that Fudge realized he must listen to Albus, and the second feeling was fear that the Dark Lord already was moving, only six months after his return. The headmaster used apparition to return to his office and then used the floo to enter the Atrium at the Ministry for Magic, all concerns for Harry Potter buried under this new worry.

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IFI / 20 December 1995 Part 2

With Snape and Dumbledore diverted from their search, Harry made certain there were no tracking spells on his person, clothing, wand, or glasses. Then he carefully returned to the Room-of-Requirement and found the thirty-nine elves waiting patiently once again.

The golden pentagram embedded had been polished until it gleamed in the wizard lights that had replaced the magical windows.

Twice in a single evening, three covens of elves would help power and guide the IFI spell as it summoned stone to bury the Dark Lord and his minions – tonnes and tonnes of heavy, dense stone.

"I have a good vision of the ballroom in Malfoy Manor. Draco provided ample images while bragging about his family's wealth," the young wizard told the elves.

Dobby asked, "Mr Harry Potters, where be you…what stone be you calling back from Magicalness Nullified Space No Where?"

"I am calling back the stone the goblins carved out of the English bedrock to make Gringotts. There are some natural caverns they reached I am certain, but the vaults, tunnels, and work areas are all carved with Evanesco. There'll be many tonnes of stone falling on Malfoy Manor in a single moment."

The elves watched expectantly as Harry moved to the southern point of the pentagram. There he chanted the IFI spell to remind magic what had been sent to Magical Null Space – the dense stone that lay underneath London and the surrounding area that the goblins had reached. Once again, Harry walked counterclockwise around the pentagram three times chanting the IFI spell and naming the stone to retrieve.

Like each time before, Harry walked passed the East point but stopped at the point for North. There he bowed once toward the centre of the magic pentagram. Then he continued, walking passed the West point and returning to the South point in seventeen steps.

At the South point, Harry bowed once toward the centre of the pentagram and then began walking again, constantly reminding magic of the corpse had been removed from the earth. The magic building in the Room of Requirement made Harry's skin crawl with goosebumps and more elves popped into the room to enjoy the show.

Once the third pass around the pentagram was complete, Harry stopped at the South point, bowed once toward the centre and then began walking clockwise. He passed the Western and returned to the North where he bowed, and then continued passed the East point to the South, circling the pentagram with seventeen steps. This time, while he walked, he chanted the IFI spell and asked magic to drop the stone – all of it at once – upon the roof of Malfoy Manor pictured in his mind.

When he completed the third pass around the pentagram, Harry had to sit on his bum, but he laughed clear and bright. Magic had pulled the stone dug out by goblins in almost 1600 years since they arrived in Britain while the Romans ruled parts of the island.

After inspection by Dobby, Harry was allowed to begin his descent to the Great Hall for supper. He would eat a prodigious amount of food, and his good humour was infectious. Without Dumbledore present, no one forbid the traditional students and professors from conducting a complete celebration of Yule.

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Malfoy Manor / 20 December 1995 Part 2

Snape arrived at Malfoy Manor at the same time as five other single wizards. The men hurried along the gravel drive to the doors of the Manor House. The Dark Lord had scheduled staggered arrivals to allow him to speak with each Death Eater separately. For the change in plans to have occurred, every Death Eater understood there was a problem, and they hurried through the front door. They did not wish to earn the Dark Lord's attention or displeasure.

Tonight's banquet to celebrate Yule included every free Death Eater as well as their spouse and school age children. In the entry hall, Severus found the Hogwarts students huddled together with tear-stained faces or blank expressions of shock. He pulled out seven calming potions and began to share the potions among the students when a voice called out to him.

"Severus! Leave them! Come!" called Narcissa Malfoy at the top of the staircase. "There's not a moment to lose! Come!"

Seeing Draco about to speak aloud, his mother said, "No! I told you to remain silent! Do you want to attract the Dark Lord's attention like Marcus Flint?"

Draco and the other children covered their mouths with their hands and scurried to the shadows underneath the free-standing grand staircase. While Snape climbed the stairs, Narcissa cast a Notice-Me-Not spell on the huddled children.

As he followed her up the staircase, Severus asked, "What has occurred that I have been summoned earlier than planned?"

"There have been two unexpected developments – first the Dark Lord was furious and now he is inconsolable. He wants you to help him with a spell… I'm not certain what is happening," replied Narcissa nervously. "He arrived in a swirling black cloud with a giant snake and his appearance petrified the children. Young Marcus Flint screamed in fear."

"To repay this lack of respect, the Dark Lord who pulled the boy's heart from his chest with a spell and fed it to his snake while it was still beating," she said with an obvious tremor in her voice. The perfect pureblood princess, Narcissa Malfoy never betrayed her emotions in public, so the wizard knew she was shaken to the core.

Gathered her thoughts, Narcissa continued, "The Dark Lord was angry when he arrived in that ball of black smoke. After admonishing Flint's father and mother for raising a useless fool, his next words were that Azkaban had been destroyed!"

"Destroyed?" Severus asked. "There's been nothing said…"

"The Dark Lord said that all the prisoners and Dementors were dead – trapped inside the stone."

Severus considered the amount of power such a feat would require and repeated, "There's been nothing…Dumbledore has said nothing, and he would have told me if he knew."

"That is unimportant, Severus," insisted Narcissa as she drew him closer to the closed doorway to the Malfoy ballroom that covered this floor of the manor house. "We moved the children from the room while the Dark Lord raged that his faithful followers were dead in a tomb of stone. He moved toward the throne at one end of the room…with the snake."

"Then a woman's laugh filled the room and there was a flash of magic unlike anything I've ever felt. Suddenly, there was a body – some monstrous form – laid out on the hearth of the fireplace, opposite the throne. No one moved or said anything for a moment while the Dark Lord stared. Suddenly, the Dark Lord moaned and ran across the room. He was crying and the snake seemed to try and comfort him."

"Who was it?"

Half turning away, Narcissa said, "The Dark Lord declared that it was him…himself…the original form that had been defeated in 1981."

Remembering that he had used Evanesco to destroy the Dark Lord's remains that night, Severus wondered what body appeared. He pushed by Narcissa who hesitated to return to the ballroom for another moment. She could not reach her son and get him away from the house…and she dared not desert her husband.

The wizard tried to assess the situation, but the lights were too bright, the stench of fear filled the air, and no one moved or said anything except for the golem wailing with an inhuman voice.

"My life! Return my life to me!" he demanded of the universe. "My power was absolute before that witch cursed me!"

Severus approached the Dark Lord kneeling beside a broken form of what might have been a man at one time before rituals removed its humanity. The spindly arms of the golem gathered the pitiful corpse. Severus froze for a moment – the corpse was the same one he saw in 1981.

Then the ballroom froze when the Dark Lord declared, "I still live! This body still breathes!"

There were cries of horror among the Death Eaters that irritated the Dark Lord so much that the powerful wizard cast wordless charms that sealed the doors, and made the windows impenetrable, and the walls, floor and ceiling impervious to spells.

Tom Riddle spotted the wizard he blamed for his current state – the wizard who led him into that trap in 1981. The Dark Lord hissed some command to his familiar. The giant serpent rose up, looking over the crowd of very nervous Death Eaters and their spouses. The magical familiar paused for only a moment before she slithered across the marble floor as wizards and witches screamed and tried to flee.

Severus saw Narcissa overwhelmed by wizards and witches clamouring to leave the ballroom. The proud pureblood witch slipped to the floor to be mangled by boots of Death Eaters racing from the doors to the windows trying to escape.

By that time, Nagini had caught the target of the Dark Lord's anger and wrapped Peter Pettigrew in her coils. His beady rat-like eyes bulging out of his head as his magic tried to deal with the pressure of the bands of muscle wrapping tighter to constrict his breathing and crush his ribs and organs.

Lucius Malfoy caught sight of his wife lying on the floor, her limbs arranged in impossible positions. Dashing through the mob that had been the faithful followers of the Dark Lord only minutes before, Malfoy struggled to reach his wife's side.

Tom Riddle begged, "Severus! Severus! Help me return to this body! Once I am inside, I can be restored...return to my full power."

"My Lord, this body is gravely injured," Severus said. "Place it in stasis and we can heal it…"

Refusing to think or consider other ideas, the golem growled, "No! Now! Tonight! I shall restore my power…"

Falling silent, the golem stared about the room. Glancing around, Severus saw Lucius protecting an injured Narcissa but looking confused and moving his head around as if listening to something racing toward him.

Then Severus heard the windows rattle, the walls rumble and the ceiling crack. There was loud, impossible crash as the roof of Malfoy Manor and the upper floors fell into the ballroom. The walls, ceilings, and floor smashed Severus Snape, the Dark Lord and everyone against the marble floor of the ballroom for less than a second before everything pushed through the ground floor, into the basement and then into the ground underneath the basements.

Nothing moved in Malfoy Manor underneath the fifteen hundred tonnes of stone that appeared above the roof and then fell to earth from two thousand metres.

Death had been instantaneous for the living men, women and children. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy died under tonnes of stone only one second before their son. Draco Malfoy died, and his terror of the Dark Lord ended.

Severus Snape did feel regret, remorse or anger – he died too quickly. Peter Pettigrew was dead before the stone flattened his corpse into a red paste that might have blended with Nagini's green paste if there'd been room.

The golem containing the Dark Lord was smashed as flat as everything else in the stately manor home. And when the spirit attempted to extricate itself from the tomb, it found itself exhausted and securely bound by the tonnes of solid stone bearing down on the site. Even the molecules that had been part of his spirit inside Nagini could not give him coherent thought.

Spread too thin, the spirit of the Dark Lord was trapped more effectively that any horcrux inside an object or living person protected by his mother's magic. It faded away into eternal darkness.

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