A/N: I hope you guys are fine. Sorry for the delay, this chapter was a bit hard to write and it is pretty lenghty too. Hope you like it and review.
To Deevelop: It wasn't Draco but someone close. You'll find out in this chapter.
Confrontations:
Lily's perspective:
Darkness, Darkness, Darkness.
Memories filled her brain attacking her with their vividness and intensities. Memories of killing, curses flying in every direction, memories of cries, shrieks, memories of dead people. Memories of horrific laughter, cacklings.
Lily woke up in a familiar four poster bed. She had been here before. But at this time, she didn't care where she was. She only felt a single thing, pain, only pain. She felt as though it was going to rip her apart. She tried to move but couldn't.
"Is Lily awake?" a familiar voice spoke.
"No, dear." someone replied.
She tried to speak but couldn't. What left her mouth was only a groan. She heard footsteps and the hangings of bed being drawn.
"Lily," someone muttered. She was now recognizing her surroundings. She was in the hospital wing. Slowly, she remembered everything that happened that night.
"What happened?" she asked.
" You exhausted your magical core. You have been unconscious for two days." Madam Pomfrey told her," how are you feeling, dear?" she asked.
"Pain," she muttered.
"Take this potion, you'll feel alright." she said as she handed her a vial of potion.
She took it from her and gulped it straight away. That had a warmth sensation on her body.
"I'll call Dumbledore." she told her," your friends are here to check on you." she added. Friends?
Harry, Ron and Hermoine came into sight.
"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.
"Fine." she replied. But their expression still remained tensed. She remembered what she had said to them at that night in Common room. It was awkward of her.
"I am fine," she said trying to reassure them.
"We got really worried." he told her. "Everyone in the common room was worried about you."
"Ohhh..." she muttered. Great now, Zean has got another thing to pester about.
They told her about the rumors that had been circulating in the school.
"Really, they think that I used dark magic."
Dumbledore entered the Wing followed by her father, The last person on the earth she wanted to see right now.
"Lily, my dear," he said as he rushed towards her bed.
"I don't want to see you," she told him. His worried expression changed into a stern one.
"But- Why?" he asked.
"Because you don't ever cared and now you are here telling me that I am dear to you." she said her tone a bit louder now.
"But, " he had grabbed her hand.
"I said go away!" she snapped, getting her hand out of his hold.
"Lily you know I care, You are my whole world," he exclaimed. That made her blood boil.
"So now you care," she had climbed down her bed despite the pain in her whole body, "so now you care!" she said her voice more loud.
"Lily," he said trying to get a hold of her.
"Leave me!" she said," You never cared father... You never cared." she tried hard not to cry.
"Its not like that Lily."
"Did you sent a single letter-a single letter to me to reassure me, saying that everything would be fine." she shouted," or a single pat on my shoulder to reassure me when I was told everything."
"Lily, I was busy." he said.
"Busy- Every father has time for their children. You have seen the Weasely's, they may not be rich but they are happy. Ron tell him," she said turning towards him.
"Lily calm down! " Dumbledore said.
"I'll not," she countered," let me tell him that how worse he is!" Her father was now standing still at a single position.
"Lily cry your heart out, call me whatever you want to." he said.
"Shut up! Don't try to sound innocent," she shouted, "Did you ever sent me a Christmas present or my birthday present? Did you? Or even wished me. Whenever-whenever I asked you just said you were loaded in work."
"Yes I was"
"No you weren't- nothing is important than family. You might be the Lord of Lords, father, but you failed to be the a good father. You could have left the MAUSCA , you could have came here, at least we would have enjoyed our lives, but what you cared about was your reputation." tears started to roll down her she wiped it off quickly. She didn't wanted to cry, she wanted to make him cry. "I might not have been standing here in the hospital wing, if you cared for me. But what you care is your stupid legacy."
"No its not like that, you don't know how much I care." he said.
"You care for the heir, father, not for your daughter." she told him. He tried to walk towards her, "Get out!" she shouted.
"Go away Mr. Everligh." Madam Pomfrey said now.
"Go to my office, James, we will talk later." Dumbledore said gently, patting his shoulder.
She just climbed up her bed but she noticed someone in the bed besides her. To her horror, it was Zean Lestrange. What is he doing here? Did he heard everything?
It don't matters,' she thought.
"How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked after she calmed down a bit.
"It doesn't matters," she said, "what happened to me?" she asked, pointing towards the bandages on her face.
"Will you please leave?" he asked the Harry, Ron and Hermoine.
"Okay," Harry said and they left.
There was an uncomfortable silence between them after which Dumbledore casted a silencing charm.
"He heard everything," he told her.
"I don't care," she said," What happened to me?" she asked again." because I didn't do anything that could have exhausted my magical core that much."
"It unsealed itself," he told her. A sharping pain rose in her chest, how could it- but it had to happen one day or after. Why not now?
"Ohhh..." she mumbled.
"And this scar is due to the same reason, but it will heal." he told her," but from now on you would have to control your emotions and magic, otherwise same thing will happen which happened two days ago."
She nodded.
"Your emotions took over and your magic rushed out and that's what caused it to happen."
"What happened to him?" she asked, gesturing towards Zean.
"You don't have to worry about him, he'd be fine." he said.
"But what happened to him?"
"Its not your concern," he told her," you focus on yourself and do what I said."
She just nodded. After a moment, Dumbledore left, leaving her with a flood of thoughts.
What happened to him?
I didn't use any hex or curse which could have made him to end up in hospital. And she didn't care if she did. He had aroused her. And he was the reason that that thing unsealed itself.
What about Harry and his friends. Should she hide the truth from them? Maybe they could help but -no she will not talk to them about that.
They ought to know, Lily.' a part of her said.
"Take this potion dear, you'll feel fine." Madam Pomfrey said handing her a potion.
She sat up and drank the potion slowly, her mind racing with thousands different thoughts. But after she finished it, sleep took her into its arms and she slept, forgetting all the thoughts, all her worries.
Madam Pomfrey made her stay in hospital wing for few more days. She left the hospital wing at the evening of Monday feeling much better. She went straight to the great hall for dinner, which she was dreading for because of the stupid food she had to eat at the hospital wing. Remus had given her some chocolates which Madam Pomfrey confisticated and gave them both a long lecture. And her father didn't pay her any other visit, for which she was thankful. The Great Hall was brimming with students, chattering and laughing as though there was nothing else in the world. The Griffindor quidditch team along with Harry, was seated at a corner chatting excitedly about something. Stella waved at her when she saw her enter the Hall and gestured her to sit beside her but she politely refused telling her that she wanted to talk to her teammates. She walked towards them.
"Hi, beautiful," Fred said as she joined them.
"Shut up! Idiot," she said.
"I was just-" he spoke but Oliver interrupted.
"Sit down, Lily," he said, "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Fine," she replied.
"You must feel fine because the Quidditch season is going to get started." he told her excitedly.
"Griffindor Versus Slytherin," Angelina told her.
"And we are going to give them the biggest defeat," George announced.
"Of course we will," she replied, "found a seeker?" she asked as she filled her plate with food.
"Yes," Oliver said.
"Who?" she asked.
"The one sitting there, you see the one with glasses, who has a pretty scar on his forehead." Fred said, pointing towards Harry.
"No way," she spoke, mildly surprised.
"Yes he is the seeker. McGonagall chose him," Oliver said.
"I trust McGonagall's choice but he is a first year." she said.
"Don't underestimate my power," Harry said,
"He is really good, better than you. That is why we are so confident." Oliver said.
"Really," she said. And the others nodded.
"Okay then, Welcome on team, Harry, and I really want us to win this years cup" she told him.
"And Lestrange too is in the hospital wing," Angelina said," I hope he remains there for a month or so."
"Did they found out who did that?" Harry asked.
"No, the ministry just abdicated from it. One day It was all over the Daily Prophet and the next day, It was as though nothing happened," Oliver told them.
"What happened?" she asked curiously. What happened to him that involved the Ministry.
"Don't you know, someone used Cruciatus on him." Oliver told her.
"And some Slytherins said that you did it," George said, contemptating his laugh.
"Really, I was in the Hospital Wing with a hawk like Madam Pomfrey to watch over me," she said.
"Leave it, they are complete idiots," Oliver said, "you would have to face such rumors for a week or so."
"Many Rumours," Fred added.
Cruciatus, on a young boy and under the nose of Albus Dumbledore." And the ministry didn't inquire?"
"No," he said.
"They didn't inquire because of his family, they were all death eaters and so they didn't consider it important enough." Angelina said.
"Leave that topic," Alicia said,
They talked about their strategies and a lot more. Leaving the table, she went to her dormitory and climbed on her four poster bed, drawing its curtains, she isolated herself from the world.
It was not until a two weeks when Harry and his friends (the vouyager trio, thats what she had started calling them) came and sat by her. It was her first Hogsmade visit this year and she really wanted to go because of the exhausting enviornment of the school, tons of homeworks and Quidditch practices, with Dumbledore's training lessons made her feel nauseous. Dumbledore had just told her about that thing and no practical work had been done yet. She just discussed about the sensations she felt in herself and that the pain she felt from it especially in Quirell's classroom.
"Lily, we wanted to talk to you,"Harry said.
"Yes," she replied softly, as she took a bite of her toast.
"Not here, somewhere else," he said.
"Can we talk in the evening, I am going to hogsmade," she told him.
"Okay, at five in the evening, at seventh floor." he said.
"At seventh floor?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Okay," she replied and with that the trio left.
What is on their mind? she thought to herself.
She took the carriage to Hogsmade which she shared with Cedric Diggory and a Ravenclaw -Roger Davies, she recognized, he was selected as the Captain for Ravenclaw Quidditch team and another ravenclaw girl.
"Hi," she said as she sat in the carriage.
"Oh Hi," Cedric said, "We were just talking about Quidditch,"
"Ready to crush everyone?" she asked them both.
"Yeah," Davies said and Cedric nodded.
"Especially Slytherin," Davies said.
"Yeah, Oliver is making us train five days a week," she told them, " for the first match with Slytherin,"
"Yes, you guys must be," Cedric said, "you playing as seeker?"
"Umm... no someone else, its a top secret according to Oliver." she said, reluctantly. They were not going to tell anyone about their strategies nor about team mates.
"Oliver and his strategies," Davies mumbled rolling his eyes. Cedric and the other girl laughed.
The carriage stopped and they all said their goodbyes. Apparently, Davies was on a date with that Ravenclaw girl and Cedric was with his friends. So Lily found her all on her own. She first went to Honeydukes where she bought tons of sweets, some to send to Remus, and some for the voyager trio. Then she went to the Toms and Scrolls to buy some books. As she walked down the pathway towards Hogwarts after she had done her shopping, when she heard a slight voice of someone talking. At first, she thought to just leave but then when she got the view of the person in question, she was mildly shocked to see Zean talking to himself sitting behind a tree trunk. Did The cruciatus had some effect on him?
"Oiii... what are you doing here? she asked.
He looked here and there to see who called.
"I am behind you Idiot," she said.
"Fuck off," he said, shoving his hand as he saw her.
"You are drunk?" she asked, getting an idea from his tone and red face.
"So what? its my life," he said.
"I forgot that it was your life," she replied angrily. And she started to walk away. But something in her heart said
Don't leave him.
"Urghh..." she muttered, as she turned back towards him, "come on I'll take you to school." she said, offering him a hand.
But he didn't respond," If someone finds you here in such a condition, you will be banned from Hogesmade. No one will help you then,"
"If you want to help me, unveil that Lucius," he mumbled.
"What?" she asked, shocked.
"Yes, Lucius, you are the only one who can do it, you are his daughter, of that Lord of Lords," he said, his mouth twitching a bit as he said.
Lily felt as though someone had dropped a bucket of cold water. So he heard everything, she thought. Cursing herself.
"Why Lucius-did he?" she asked, biting her lip."did he-"
"Yes he tortured me, and he always does, whenever he feels that I am a disgrace," he said, lost in thoughts.
"Why didn't you tell Dumbledore?" she asked curiously.
"Because no one will take me in except him," he shouted, "no one else." he mumbled. That made something in her heart break.
"No one of your mother side?" she asked softly.
"Ohh Really?" he asked a grin at corner of his lips, as he stopped what he was going to say. "Just leave." he said.
"I'll not," she said, "come with me. I cannot leave you here in such condition."
He sniggered.
"You have gone crazy," she said disgustingly.
"Ohhh... really," he said, "I am alright. I can go on my own." he tried to stand up taking the support of the trunk, but fell down and threw up.
"Urghhh..." she said, as she drew her wand," Scourgify" she said and it cleaned up.
He tried to stand up but lost his balance. She offered him a hand and he took it this time. She gave him support. And they started walking towards the castle.
"Try not to be seen," she said as they entered the castle. He was now completely leaning on her. They quietly and slowly made their way to the dungeons.
"Leave me here," he mumbled as they reached the gargoyles.
He gave the password and entered without saying a word, leaving her to her own. Such a bastard.
She just left the dungeons quietly thinking about what she was just told. Lucius Malfoy... Remus had once told her that he was a death eater before and had got his name cleared by stupid excuses. But he could do such a thing... to a boy who was only fourteen or fifteen. Why did Zean end up there? She thought. She had to find out what the matter was.
She glanced at her watch, thirty minutes were left in her meeting with the Voyager trio. After putting the things she had bought in her dormitory, she quickly made her way to the seventh floor. The trio was standing near a door which Lily had never seen their before. Who are these people, she thought wondering how they had made the door appear from nowhere.
"What is this?" she asked looking with amazement at the door.
"The Room of Requirements," answered Harry.
"Huh? The Room of Requirements?" she asked. But they had already entered the room, beckoning her in.
As she entered, she was greeted by an empty room with a marble floor. The Room was huge and it resembled to one of the rooms in her Manor. Harry pointed his wand at his head and withdrew a silvery thing, which he threw at the floor and it caused a ripple in the floor. Suddenly, they were in another dimension, in another place which looked to be a graveyard.
"These are my memories," Harry said," from our previous dimension."
"Where are we?" Memory Harry asked.
Other boy who was Cedric got to his feet. Looked around and pulled Memory Harry to his feet. Memory Cedric looked down at a Cup and then up at Harry. "Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?" he asked.
Nope," said Harry. He was looking around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly eerie.
"Is this supposed to be part of the task?"
"I dunno," said Cedric. He sounded slightly nervous.
"Wands out, d'you reckon?"
"Yeah," said Harry, They pulled out their wands. Harry kept looking around him.
"Someone's coming," he said suddenly.
Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Harry couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holding its arms, he could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And — several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time — Harry saw that the thing in the person's arms looked like a baby . . . or was it merely a bundle of robes? Harry lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cedric.
Cedric shot him a quizzical look. They both turned back to watch the approaching figure. It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second, Harry and Cedric and the short figure just looked at each other.
From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare."
A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "Avada Kedavra!"
A blast of green light blazed through Lily's eyelids and she turned to see memory Cedric dead. She gasped in horror as the memory Harry called his name again and again but the light in his eyes had gone. It happened in real, Cedric died in the other dimension or to say precisely, he will die. She wound a warm hand closing on hers. It was Harry's.
"It happened but its just a memory. We'll not let that happen again." he whispered.
The memory continued. The short man in the cloak had put down his bundle, lit his wand, and was dragging memory Harry toward the marble headstone named TOM RIDDLE.
Memory Harry was slammed against the headstone and tied with it. "You," Memory Harry gasped as he got the sight of the person under the hood. But she didn't got the look of the man's face.
That man had conjured a cauldron.
And they heard the high, cold voice again. "Hurry!" The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now. It might have been encrusted with diamonds. "It is ready, Master."
"Now . . ." said the cold voice
The man pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them, and Memory Harry let out a yell that was strangled in the wad of material blocking his mouth. Lily gasped in horror as she thought of the one person who it could be. "Voldemort," the name left her mouth in a mere whisper. Harry's grip tightened on her hand.
The man was speaking. His voice shook; he seemed frightened beyond his wits. He raised his wand, and spoke to the night.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"
The surface of the grave at Memory Harry's feet cracked. Horrified, Harry watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at the man's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The diamond surface of the water broke and hissed; it sent sparks in all directions and turned a vivid, poisonous-looking blue. And now the man was whimpering. He pulled a long, thin, knife and cut off his arm.
"Flesh — of the servant — w-willingly given — you will — revive — your master."
The man was gasping and moaning with agony. The man stood in front of memory Harry and said, "B-blood of the enemy . . . forcibly taken . . . you will . . . resurrect your foe." memory Harry could do nothing to prevent it, he was tied too tightly. . . . Squinting down, struggling hopelessly at the ropes binding him, he saw the shining silver dagger shaking in man's remaining hand.
The cauldron shimmered and bubbles from it erupted as the man dropped the blood in it.
"Robe me," said the high, cold voice from behind the steam, and the man sobbing and moaning, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one-handed over his master's head. The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at memory Harry . . . and Harry stared back.
It was Lord Voldemort. The man who had destroyed her life, the reason she was in pain every single moment. Had it not been for her mother, he and his followers would have killed her. The vivid memories of that night, the cackling laughter of a woman, the green light still haunted, the screams of her mother were ringing through her ears. She didn't remember the whole night but a few glances which she had in her dreams. Would it really happen in this dimension?
The memory changed again and six teenagers were running in an unknown place. She recognized four of them, Hermoine, Harry, Ron and the other one was undoubtedly Neville Longbottom. The other two were girls, a read haired girl and a blonde, both looked about of the same age.
"Ministry of Magic," Harry told her," Departement of Mysteries, our fifth year,"
The memory Harry and his friends were being chased by hooded figures, Death Eaters. The memory shifted again and it was that of people fighting. Curses, hexes, jinxes being thrown from every direction. Harry and Neville were among them but the others were nowhere to be seen. There were Death Eaters and some other people who she thought were fighting from Harry's side. Lucius Malfoy was trying to take something from Harry when a man whom Lily thought she had seen somewhere, grey eyes and black hair, threw a curse on him. "Don't you dare hurt my godson," he said as the curse from him hit Lucius in chest. Remus was also fighting with a death eater. Everyone in there was fighting so fiercely that all their wands were a blur. "Tonks," Memory Remus shrieked as a women fell to the floor apparently due to a curse from that woman. She laughed hysterically and that reminded her of the night her mother died. The same cackling laughter, Bellatrix Lestrange. Lily's hand closed into a fist on seeing her. There was no else wish of her other than to kill that woman. The other man who had cursed Lucius, and had just now took off another death eater was now fighting her. "Sirius Black, my godfather," Harry told her and had now a grim expression on his face. Ron and Hermoine were now standing close to him. The man which Harry told her as Sirius, was throwing curses on curses at Bellatrix. He just ducked the red light from Bellatrix wand," Come on you can do better than that," he said, his voice echoing in the whole cavernous room. When a curse from Bellatrix hit him in the chest, his laugh had not gone from his face, when he fell back in the veil. Memory Harry who was taking Neville up the stairs,who jumped off the stairs. And Dumbledore who had joined them a few minutes ago turned towards the dais too. She heard Bellatrix triumphant scream and her cackling laughter, and Memory Harry's yells of Sirius's Name. She looked towards Harry who was trying to hold his tears from falling on his cheeks. Memory Remus was holding Harry who was calling Sirius name nonstop with the thought that he might come back, but he didn't.
There's nothing you can do, Harry —"
"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"
"It's too late, Harry —"
"We can still reach him —" Memory Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Remus would not let go. . . .'
"There's nothing you can do, Harry . . . nothing. . . . He's gone."
The memory shifted again and there Dumbledore and Voldemort were fighting in the Ministry's atrium. Lily had never witnessed such a fight. A fight between the Dark Lord and The greatest wizard of the time. Suddenly, Voldemort disappeared and her gaze shifted towards memory Harry who seemed to be dying.
Memory Harry spoke in a horrific voice,
"Kill me now, Dumbledore. . . ." Voldemort was inside Harry, he was speaking from inside of Harry.
"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy. . . ."
"Let him kill us. . . . End it, Dumbledore. . . . Death is nothing compared to this. . . . And I'll see Sirius again. . . . " And Lily's eyes filled with tears at that.
Memory Harry seemed to fight himself. And after moment he succeeded in that,
"Are you all right, Harry?"
"Yes," said Harry,
"Yeah, I'm — where's Voldemort, where — who are all these — what's —"
The Atrium was full of people. The floor was reflecting emerald green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall, and a stream of witches and wizards was emerging from them. As Dumbledore pulled Harry back to his feet, Lily saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward. "He was there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a point and saying, "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear, it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and Disapparated!"
"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pajamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles.
"Merlin's beard — here — here! — in the Ministry of Magic! — great heavens above — it doesn't seem possible — my word — how can this be?"
"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, apparently satisfied that Harry was all right, and walking forward so that the newcomers realized he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands, others simply looked amazed; the statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his slipper-clad feet left the floor),
"You will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."
"Dumbledore!" gasped Fudge, apparently beside himself with amazement.
"You — here — I — I —" He looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him, and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"
"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men — and win again!" said Memory Dumbledore. "But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!"
"I — don't — well —" blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well — Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see . . . Dumbledore, you — you will need to tell me exactly — the Fountain of Magical Brethren — what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard, and centaur.
But first I need to send Harry back," said Dumbledore and the memory vanished again.
In the next memory they were in the astronomy tower. Where Dumbledore was standing looking really weak, surrounded by death eaters, Bellatrix and Draco Malfoy were their too. The door behind them opened and Snape stepped in.
"Severus, Please," Dumbledore said, as though begging for mercy.
Snape hesitated and drew his wand at Dumbledore, "Avada Kedavra," he spoke and Dumbledore fell back, slipping through the windows of the tower and falling on ground. Lily had to take in what happened," Dumbledore died" she whispered, "Snape?" she looked towards Harry in a questioning look.
"Its not what it looks," Harry said and the memory changed again.
They were in Hogwarts, and apparently it looked like a battle. Memory Harry was in the Great Hall, and their were what seemed fifty dead bodies of people. Harry went towards the group of red heads kneeling over the dead body of their brother, Fred. George was hugging his brothers dead body, and calling his name again and again. Besides them lay the dead bodies of Remus and the other woman she saw in the department of Mysteries, Tonks.
Lily felt her heart sunk. "No, No" she mumbled holding her tears."Its just a memory, Remus is alive," she told herself.
There were other students, some of whom she recognized, Lavender Brown, Terry Boot, they were all first years. Mathilda Jones, a fellow Hufflepuff, Erise Escheria a seventh year Ravenclaw and so many more.
The memory vanished again and they were in great hall again.
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH." Molly Weasly Shrieked as she shot curses on curses at Bellatrix Lestrange.
The fight continued as the two witches exchanged curses, and it ended at a curse which hit Bellatrix straight in her chest and with a pop her body burst in ashes.
Lily stood their bewildered. She had never thought of Molly Weasely a powerful witch who could kill Voldemort's right hand.
The great hall had silenced at that. Voldemort who was standing a few steps away from them, shrieked and raised his wand and directed it at Molly Weasley.
"Protego!" roared someone, and the Shield Charm expanded in the middle of the Hall, and Voldemort stared around for the source as Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak at last.
The yell of shock, the cheers, the screams on every side of "Harry!"
"HE'S ALIVE!" were stifled at once. The crowd was afraid, and silence fell abruptly and completely as Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and began, at the same moment, to circle each other.
"I don't want anyone else to try to help." Memory Harry said loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried like a trumpet call. "It's got to be like this. It's got to be me."
Voldemort hissed. "Potter doesn't mean that," he said, his red eyes wide.
"That isn't how he works, is it? Who are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?"
Nobody," said Memory Harry simply. "There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good. . . ."
"One of us?" jeered Voldemort, and his whole body was taunt and his red eyes stared, a snake that was about to strike. "You think it will be you, do you, the boy who has survived by accident, and because Dumbledore was pulling the strings?"
"Accident, was it, when my mother died to save me?" asked Harry. They were still moving sideways, both of them, in that perfect circle, maintaining the same distance from each other, and for Harry no face existed but Voldemort's.
"Accident, when I decided to fight in that graveyard? Accident, that I didn't defend myself tonight, and still survived, and returned to fight again?"
"Accidents!" screamed Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and the watching crowd was frozen as if Petrified, and of the hundreds in the Hall, nobody seemed to breathe but they two. "Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and sniveled behind the skirts of greater men and women, and permitted me to kill them for you!"
"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red.
"You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people— "
"But you did not!"
"— I meant to, and that's what it did. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"
"You dare — "
"Yes, I dare," said Harry. "I know things you don't know, Tom Riddle. I know lots of important things that you don't. Want to hear some, before you make another big mistake?" Voldemort did not speak, but prowled in a circle, and Harry knew that he kept him temporarily mesmerized and at bay, held back by the faintest possibility that Harry might indeed know a final secret. . . .
"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love, which he claimed conquered death, though love did not stop him falling from the tower and breaking like an old waxwork? Love, which did not prevent me stamping out your Mudblood mother like a cockroach, Potter— and nobody seems to love you enough to run forward this time and take my curse. So what will stop you from dying now when I strike?"
"Just one thing," said Harry, and still they circled each other, wrapped in each other, held apart by nothing but the last secret.
"If it is not love that will save you this time," said Voldemort, "you must believe that you have magic that I do not, or else a weapon more powerful than mine?"
"I believe both," said Harry, and he saw shock flit across the snakelike face, though it was instantly dispelled;
Voldemort began to laugh, and the sound was more frightening than his screams; humorless and insane, it echoed around the silent Hall.
"You think you know more magic than I do?" he said. "Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?"
"Oh, he dreamed of it," said Harry, "but he knew more than you, knew enough not to do what you've done."
"You mean he was weak!" screamed Voldemort. "Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!"
"No, he was cleverer than you," said Harry, "a better wizard, a better man."
"I brought about the death of Albus Dumbledore!"
"You thought you did," said Harry, "but you were wrong."
For the first time, the watching crowd stirred as the hundreds of people around the walls drew breath as one. "Dumbledore is dead!" Voldemort hurled the words at Harry as though they would cause him unendurable pain. "His body decays in the marble tomb in the grounds of this castle. I have seen it, Potter, and he will not return!"
"Yes, Dumbledore's dead," said Harry calmly, "but you didn't have him killed. He chose his own manner of dying, chose it months before he died, arranged the whole thing with the man you thought was your servant."
"What childish dream is this?" said Voldemort, but still he did not strike, and his red eyes did not waver from Harry's.
"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realized it, because of the thing you can't understand. You never saw Snape cast a Patronus, did you, Riddle?" Voldemort did not answer. They continued to circle each other, like wolves about to tear each other apart. "Snape's Patronus was a doe," said Harry, "the same as my mother's, because he loved her for nearly all of his life, from thetime when they were children. You should have realized," he said as he saw Voldemort's nostrils flare, "he asked you to spare her life, didn't he?"
"He desired her, that was all," sneered Voldemort, "but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him— "
"Of course he told you that," said Harry, "but he was Dumbledore's spy from the moment you threatened her, and he's been working against you ever since! Dumbledore was already dying when Snape finished him!"
"It matters not!" shrieked Voldemort, who had followed every word with rapt attention, but now let out a cackle of mad laughter. "It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love! Oh, but it all makes sense, Potter, and in ways that you do not understand! "Dumbledore was trying to keep the Elder Wand from me! He intended that Snape should be the true master of the wand! But I got there ahead of you, little boy— I reached the wand before you could get your hands on it, I understood the truth before you caught up, I killed Severus Snape three hours ago, and the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny is truly mine! Dumbledore's last plan went wrong, Harry Potter!"
"Yeah, it did," said Harry. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you to think about what you've done. . . . Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle. . .."
"What is this?" Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this.
Harry saw his pupils contact to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten. "It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left. . . . I've seen what you'll be otherwise. . . . Be a man . . . try . . . Try for some remorse. . . ."
"You dare—?" said Voldemort again. "Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle." Voldemort's hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco's very tightly.
The moment, he knew, was seconds away. "That wand still isn't working properly for you because you murdered the wrong person. Severus Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand. He never defeated Dumbledore."
"He killed— "
"Aren't you listening? Snape never beat Dumbledore! Dumbledore's death was planned between them! Dumbledore intended to die undefeated, the wand's last true master! If all had gone as planned, the wand's power would have died with him, because it had never been won from him!"
"But then, Potter, Dumbledore as good as gave me the wand!" Voldemort's voice shook with malicious pleasure.
"I stole the wand from its last master's tomb! I removed it against its last master's wishes! It's power is mine!"
"You still don't get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn't enough! Holding it, using it, doesn't make it really yours. Didn't you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard. . . . The Elder Wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, somone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world's most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance. . . ."
Voldemort's chest rose and fell rapidly, and Harry could feel the curse coming, feel it building inside the wand pointed at his face.
"The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy." Blank shock showed in Voldemort's face for a moment, but then it was gone.
"But what does it matter?" he said softly. "Even if you are right, Potter, it makes no difference to you and me. You no longer have the phoenix wand: We duel on skill alone . . . and after I have killed you, I can attend to Draco Malfoy. . . ."
"But you're too late," said Harry. "You've missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him." Harry twitched the hawthorn wand, and he felt the eyes of everyone in the Hall upon it.
"So it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" whispered Harry. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does . . . I am the true master of the Elder Wand." A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur.
Lily heard the high voice shriek as harry too yelled, pointing Draco's wand: "Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!" The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last.
And Harry, with the unerring skill of a Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward.
Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hands, staring down at his enemy's shell.
One shivering second of silence, the shock of the moment suspend: and then the tumult broke around Harry as the screams and the cheers and the roars of the watchers rent the air. The fierce new sun dazzled the windows as they thundered toward him, and the first to reach Harry were Ron and Hermione, and it was their arms that were wrapped around him, their incomprehensible shouts that deafened them.
Everyone had a smile on his face despite the number of people they had lost. Harry had avenged them all.
The memory vanished again and they were in the Ministry of Magic. Harry and the others were a bit older than before.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasely, Ms. Granger," a man on a desk stood up and bowed a bit. "Minister is waiting for you. You can go in,"
The three entered a room on whose door "Minister of Magic" was mentioned.
"Minister," said Harry with a slight bow.
"Harry, call me Kingsley, how many times have I told you that," the Minister said. Harry chuckled," Please have a seat," he said, gesturing towards the chair."You might be wondering why I have called you here?"
"Yes, but We think we have a slight idea," he replied.
"Yes, we sent many aurors there, but..." he phrased, "we think it might be a horcrux or something, because the amount of Dark magic detected from their is huge,"
"I think it is a horcrux, one might have remained." Harry agreed.
"We fear we are in the same danger once more," Kingsley sighed.
"No, we'll go. We will destroy whatever is in there." Hermoine said. But Lily could say that Hermoine was scared. Ron nodded who too was pale in face.
"We'll go. Me, Ron, Hermoine, Ginny." Harry said.
"You think Ginny Weasley can handle it," Kingsley asked.
"She insisted, and I think she can handle it," Harry said as they stood up to leave.
"Be careful- you all." Kingsley said and the memory vanished.
They were in a cave now.
"Harry, be careful." Ginny said walking behind him slowly.
"Slowly, Harry" , Hermoine said. "Ron! don't touch anything"
They were in cave, full of darkness. Harry was walking in front, wand out followed by Ginny and Ron and Hermoine as the were searching something.
"Harry potter," a voice came from the end of the cave.
"Harry Potter, the time awaits to be changed.
The History will repeat itself to bring the darkness to peak, once again. To revive the dead."
They saw a girl , lying unconcisous. Harry approached and tried to wake her up but
A blue, blinding light,
"Harrrryyyyyy." Ginny shrieked.
And it vanished.
They were back in the room. Lily could not believe on what she had witnessed right now. The girl- she was the girl. A chill of Horror swept through her. She was the reason everyone in Harry's timeline was in danger again. And all the people dead, Remus, Cedric, that woman Tonks, Fred...
"It was all that happened," Harry spoke," Everyone we loved died."
But Lily wasn't listening. She was in her own thoughts. 'What if she failed in killing that thing? It would be released and people would die again. War will begin again.'
"Lily!" Hermoine called, which brought her out of her thoughts.
"We want to save everyone, we want to proceed with caution this time," Harry told her," and in that we need your help." he added.
"Why?" she asked, trying to look calm. But her mind was racing with hundred thoughts.
"Lily only you can help and you know it," Harry intoned, " so we will once again ask. Who are you and what are you hiding?"
The question was only followed by scilence and quizzical looks.
"Lily, we know that you are not weak and nor is your family. So why these secrets and hidings. Even when everyone considers that Voldemort is dead and his followers are in Azkaban." Hermoine added.
A nasty grin spread across her face. "You guys are the first to figure that out," she said, "but to be honest, I wondered about the same thing before I was made aware of-" she stopped.
"I am Lily Aurelia Everligh," she stated, "soon to be the Lady of House Everligh... I have been made to train dueling since I was eleven, from the day I got my wand. And believe me, no one can defeat me in it. A few more years of training and I will be able to defeat Dumbledore and even Voldemort. I had no fear, I thought I was invincible until the day I returned to Hogwarts for my fourth year. " she sighed, as she started lifting sleeve of her robe to reveal a tattoo which resembled the dark mark but was not that. "I used to believe that it was a normal muggle tattoo which I and my Mum had got imprinted together according a stupid story of my father. Until Dumbledore told me a few days ago. You might know what is it?" she asked, looking at them with a questioning look.
"It was on every Horcrux! " Hermoine cried, looking towards Harry and Ron, who looked as they were going to draw their wands right now at Lily.
"No, I am not a Horcrux- At that day, I found out what I feared. I started fearing myself from that day and when you guys told me your voyage in time, it made my fear more worse." she told them, taking in a deep breadth, she asked," have you ever heard the word Arezma?"
They looked toward each other for a minute. "I t-think I have heard of i-it," Hermoine mumbled, "in the book, i took from Dumbledore's study," she told them, "but it is an impossible thing to make." she said in an accusatory tone.
"But for a person who has made horcruxes, who has killed hundred's of people it is possible," Lily said. They all gasped.
She repeated her story in front of them. She thought that they would ask questions but remained silent during it. Lily thought it was unfair to keep the cause of the twist of time hiding from them.
"This is my greatest fear, because I don't know if my dueling skills would be enough to kill it, What if I mess it all up, What if Voldemort gets the wind of this thing and try to kill me or succeeds in killing me, and it would get released and it would destroy the whole world,-or what if I become a bad person due to it and kill or hurt the only people I love. These are the thoughts, which are residing in my mind, not a moment I donnot feel it inside my body." she said as she finished telling them what Dumbledore had told her. Her voice was rattling. " We know that Voldemort hasn't died yet, he is bidding his time. Because if he died that day of Halloween, the Arezma would have unsealed itself. And that is the reason, I don't make myself much prominent. Because if I get in the eyes of Voldemort he would try to find out my little secret."
"Lily we can help. We can help you destroy it." Harry said.
She chuckled, looking towards the floor," I am the only one who could destroy it," she said, "but don't worry I would destroy even if I get myself killed doing so."
"I hope you can keep this secret of mine, as I trusted you," she said after a moment.
"You can trust us," they said in unison.
"Okay, come on, I want a good dinner because it is the only thing that can lift my mood, we will cope with things when the time comes." she said, trying to lift up everyone's mood.
"Okay," they said. It was seven when they left the Room of Requirements. Of course they had too cope with lots of things, but they will.
She wanted to ask them a hundred questions, but stopped. This is not the time, she thought.
Making their way in complete silence they reached the great Hall, which was a great place to change your mood.