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batsutousaiTitle: Xerosis
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Beta:tsuki_no_suzu & magickmaker17
Rating: T
Pairings: Voldemort/Harry (post-Harry/Ginny)
Warnings: SLASH, AU, character death, super!Harry, Dark!Harry
Summary: Harry's world ends at the hands of those he'd once fought to save. An adult-Harry goes back to his younger self fic. Super!Harry
Chapter Five, Part One
-0-
Harry supposed things were a little hectic, what with the Tournament and Voldemort's return – and bi-weekly attacks – but he was still rather amused by how long it took Dumbledore to call him on his change in friends. It was the first Monday of winter holidays when he got the note asking him to drop by the Headmaster's office and he smiled at it before slipping it into a pocket. "The phoenix has come calling at last," he commented to Luna, who sat on his right.
"If you don't return in two hours, I'll sing a fitting eulogy at your funeral," the blonde promised.
"Don't forget to mention how tall I am," he reminded her as he stood.
"Potter," Morag commented drily from across from him, "you're not that tall."
"Next to Professor Flitwick, I'm practically a giant," Harry disagreed cheerfully.
"Who's the phoenix, by the way?" Stephen asked.
"Practically my grandfather," Harry offered. "Or so he'd like to think." Then he walked off, starting the long trek to the Headmaster's office.
When he got there, Dumbledore called him in and offered him sherbet lemons and tea. Harry accepted the tea, silently tested it for the Veritaserum he knew would be in it, then pretended to drink, absently vanishing a bit to make it look like he was actually swallowing it.
Dumbledore smiled and leaned forward. "Harry, my boy, I've been remiss in not speaking to you. How has your time at Hogwarts been so far?"
Harry had been dosed with the truth serum enough times in his long life that he had no difficulty in faking the absent stare. "It's been fine. I've made some excellent friends and learned so much," he replied with very little inflection. "I wish Professor Snape wasn't such a git, though."
Dumbledore smiled fondly at that. "I'm glad you're enjoying your time here, my boy. Now, I've noticed that you haven't been spending time with Miss Granger or Mr Longbottom of late."
Harry forced himself not to react to the absence of his Ravenclaw friends in the implied question. In the Headmaster's black and white world, Gryffindor was the only House that mattered. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff was just gravy. "We had a disagreement," he replied, absently pretending to sip more tea.
"What was your disagreement about, my boy?" Dumbledore wondered, the perfect image of a grandfather.
"Whether or not mundanes needed to die," Harry answered, absently looking around the room. "That's a cool toy."
Dumbledore stared in disbelief at the boy for a long moment, before asking, "Mundanes are muggles?"
"Mmhm."
"And... which side of the argument were you on?"
Harry turned back to the Headmaster, eyes sharp. "Why, on the opposite side from yourself, Headmaster," he said with a pleasant smile. "After suffering through the Dursleys for ten years, did you honestly think I'd come away as a well-adjusted, merciful saviour? I spent ten years doing their laundry, making them meals, listening to their hateful comments about me and my parents. I spent seven years bearing the marks of Dudley's amusement, and not a single mundane ever asked if I was okay. Not a single one wondered if I was getting the love I needed at home."
"My boy–"
"Don't act like you cared," Harry hissed, leaning forward over the desk. "Don't act like you looked any closer than to see if I could still smile, could still love. And don't mistake my fond memories of my mother as any form of fondness for those mundanes. Petunia and Mum may have been sisters, but they were completely different people."
"Oh, Harry..." Dumbledore whispered as Harry took a breath to control himself. "Oh, my boy, I have let you down..."
"You have let a great many wizards down in your life," Harry whispered. "Your own brother, Professor Snape, Lord Voldemort... Perhaps you're too old for this post. Perhaps you should retire and finish your life in quiet, contemplating your failings." He smiled coldly and got to his feet. "Goodbye, Albus Dumbledore." He lifted his wand and pointed it at the old wizard's heart. "Avada Ked–"
§
Harry gasped and sat up in his bed, one hand held over his thundering heart. That hadn't happened. Yes, Dumbledore had called him up. Yes, he'd tried dosing Harry with Veritaserum. Yes, he'd asked about Harry's flagging friendships. But Harry had explained it away as a fight over something so simple: Harry's friendship with Lillian. Dumbledore had been very understanding while Harry wove a complicated story about his other friends hating Lillian and giving him an ultimatum – them or her – and him not willing to lose any of them, but his inaction lost him Hermione and Neville and Terry and Li anyway. And Lillian had been very understanding about the whole thing and he was so glad she was his friend and Luna too...
Dumbledore had bought it, of course. He loved stories like that, loved giving second chances.
But Harry hadn't broken his cover, no. He hadn't killed the old man, certainly!
So where had the dream come from? Voldemort? Repressed emotions? The need to kill something?
"Well, I haven't been on a raid since before the First Task," Harry reminded himself. He'd been so busy doing his homework and dealing with a school full of teenagers who couldn't seem to decide if they liked or hated him that he hadn't been able to slip out and join Voldemort on his bi-weekly raids. The Dark Lord had understood, and Harry hadn't thought it would be a problem, having spent his first year without leaving the building to kill anyone. But first year hadn't been this obnoxious and he'd had ten years before then to get the killing out of his system. But now...
Harry slipped out of bed and pulled out his Cloak and time-turner, then shadowed to a mundane village he knew of. A twist of his time-turner and he was ready to collect the souls of mundanes just going to bed. A village fire wouldn't be too much trouble to fake.
-0-
The Yule Ball was far more pleasant the second time, Harry decided. It helped that he hadn't been required to attend, and that he hadn't struggled about whom to ask. It also helped that he knew how to dance, and didn't mind it so much. And, of course, Luna didn't have the impression that this date meant anything beyond that they were friends.
Luna also looked lovely, far lovelier than Parvati, who sat angrily next to Ron on the other side of the room. Luna and Harry had done their formal robe shopping together, coming dressed in similar blue-grey robes. Harry had gotten her an earring and necklace combo of a moon set with sapphires, which matched the colour of her eyes almost perfectly. He'd also found her a gold hair clasp with dangling hearts and helped her put it in her hair. Without the odd jewellery and with her hair up, she looked absolutely stunning, and Harry couldn't help the smirk that took over his lips when he caught some of their classmates' stunned looks.
"Well, well, Loony. You clean up pretty well," Lillian commented as she and her date, a fifth year named Terrence Higgs, stopped at their table.
Terrence had gone with the clichéd Slytherin green and silver, but Lillian had pandered more towards her own looks. She'd hunted down some beautiful bronze robes which matched her eyeliner and helped bring out the flecks of bronze in her eyes. She'd left her long black hair down, but twisted it in some silver strands of something – Harry wasn't honestly sure what – so it rested over her right shoulder and caught the candlelight of the hall. She'd gone with plain silver studs for her ears and worn the silver and gold lily pendant she'd received just that morning as a Christmas gift from Harry.
"You don't look too hideous either, Moon," Luna replied, smiling a bit absently at the older girl.
Harry rolled his eyes, then motioned to the empty seats. "You look fantastic, Lil." He glanced at the Slytherin boy. "Higgs."
"Potter," Terrence replied politely enough.
Lillian smiled at her date and let him pull out a chair for her next to her friend. "So, I know you've heard that Millie and Trace both had to go home, but you'll never guess who Morag caught!"
"Victor Krum?" Harry suggested, amused.
Lillian gently smacked his arm. "You're no fun. Isn't it exciting? I heard he asked your mudblood, Granger, but she turned him down. Can you imagine?"
"Hermione went home for the holiday," Harry pointed out.
"I bet she's just making sure her parents aren't dead." Lillian sniffed. "Stupid mudblood. Like the Dark Lord has any interest in her parents in particular."
"Mind if we take these seats?" a familiar voice asked from behind the open seats across the table.
Lillian immediately sneered at Terry, Li and their dates. "We don't want a bunch of mudbl–"
Harry shot her a look and her mouth snapped shut, then he looked curiously at his friends. "If you really want to sit with us, you're welcome to them."
"Harry!" Lillian hissed.
Zacharias Smith, Li's date, sat while Li and Terry traded looks. Once those two had taken seats, Padma Patil slipped into the open seat next to Terry.
Before anymore could be said, the three Champions entered and made their way up to the top table. Once they were seated, Dumbledore made a show of how they should order their food and everyone set about doing it, many delighting in the ability to order whatever caught their fancy, rather than having to ask for it to be passed down the table.
At Harry's table, orders were murmured and they ate with only the occasional mention of how nice someone looked.
Once the dancing was started, Lillian flounced off with Terrence, leaving the Ravenclaws and single Hufflepuff to 'talk like Gryffindors'. Harry leaned forward, eyeing his friends curiously. He wasn't about to start talking, but he saw no reason to walk away, either. Padma and Zacharias sat back, content to let the talk flow. Harry couldn't help but wonder how much the two had been able to figure out. Padma would probably have a better idea of things than Zacharias, but the Hufflepuff had proven himself to be quite Slytherin-like in Harry's original life.
Terry and Li traded looks, then glanced back at Harry. "Harry, I'm–" Terry started.
"We are," Li insisted.
"Yeah, we. Both of us are sorry, for acting like..." Terry frowned.
"Mice fleeing in terror?" Zacharias helpfully suggested.
"Do not be a prat," Li ordered her date.
"You knowing we were going to react that way doesn't absolve us," Terry added, frowning a bit. "We've been friends since first year, back when everything in the magical world confused me and Li only knew a little bit of English. Without you, we would have been lost."
"You'd have managed," Harry commented, shaking his head. They had, in fact, during his first life.
"Maybe so, but not as well," Li pointed out. "You have treated us, always, as your friends. Even back in second year, when we spoke so often of Lockhart–"
"Can we not mention the peacock?" Harry requested.
Li grinned. "Even then, you were our friend. You avoided us a bit, yes, but if we really needed you, you came."
"Even that one time Li asked for your help about deciding on which robe to wear to Lockhart's first class," Terry added, smiling a bit.
"Not mentioning the peacock!"
"Although, to be fair, as soon as he realised what you were asking him for, he sort of ran out of the common room, fingers in his ears and shouting at the top of his lungs," Padma offered.
"In Czech," Luna helpfully added.
"I'm multilingual," Harry defended, then turned to his date with an odd look. "How did you know that was Czech, anyway?"
"I asked the Bi–"
"Anyway!" Terry interrupted, knowing Luna well enough to expect her answer's uselessness. "What Li and I are trying to say is, you're our best friend, have been all along. You've forgiven us our faults, why can't we forgive you yours?"
"Forgive his faults?" Lillian snorted, stopping behind the mundane-born. "You are disturbingly Gryffindor. Harry, they honestly consider you the one at fault?"
"Why don't you bloody well shut up, Moon?" Terry hissed, turning to look at the Slytherin.
"Why should I, mudblood?"
Harry opened his mouth to tell them to quit it when a hissing reached him. To anyone else, it would sound like a whisper, but to a Parselmouth, it was communication, and there was only one other Parselmouth in the world other than Harry. :I'll be calling Severus tonight. If you want to attend – and I suggest you do so, Potter – the meeting will be shortly. Enjoy your ball.:
The others had all stopped arguing to eye Harry a bit strangely while he cocked his head to one side and frowned. Then, suddenly, he cast a silent tempus before turning to look at the head table. The others followed his gaze and they all were watching as Snape suddenly jerked in his seat and grabbed his left arm. Panic and fear flashed in his eyes for a brief moment before he looked as calm as ever, though he was paler than usual. The students watched as the man hurried over to the Headmaster before leaving the Hall.
"Hmm..." Harry rubbed at his chin. So, Snape was definitely still working for Dumbledore at the moment, not that there was ever any doubt. By his fearful look, he probably thought he would be killed that night. Unmindful of his friends, Harry silently cast the Parsel communication spell and murmured, :Snape is on his way. If we let him go tonight, let me know the moment he leaves. I'd like to know what he says to Dumbledore afterwards.:
"You're a Parselmouth!" Lillian realised, eyes wide.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the students on the other side of the table. The three Ravenclaws and Zacharias had all gone pale. Lillian looked shocked, while Terrence looked almost greedy. "Funny you mentioned Czech earlier, Luna," he said, wand in one hand under the table, "as I happen to know of this wonderful Czech spell for keeping secrets. It goes something like jen pamatovat, nikdy mluvit."
Harry sat back, a faint smirk on his lips as the six on the other side of the table all tried to talk about him being a Parseltongue, only to find themselves incapable. While they were having a minor panic attack – which Harry felt a little bad for, really, but he didn't need Dumbledore getting suspicious about his unusual gift – Voldemort's voice drifted back to him. :Are you incapable of going back yourself once you know for sure?:
Harry's – or more likely Xerosis' – voice commented from near Voldemort, :You're an idiot. Everyone knows you can only have two versions of a time-turner in existence at any given time.:
:Shut up, Potter!: Voldemort snarled. :You attacked the Ministry and you didn't think to grab a second time-turner?:
:And do what with it? I'd have to switch time-turners in between uses. Do you know how utterly obnoxious that would be? I'd probably– Ah. Snape just apparated in downstairs. Harry, the meeting will take approximately an hour. I'll have the red-eyed git let you know exactly when Snape is off.:
:Don't refer to me as a git, Potter!:
:Oh, and obliviate Higgs, won't you? He's not worth the security risk.:
Harry shrugged to himself and absently shot an obliviate at the older Slytherin, commenting, "I have more faults than I think you could forgive, Terry. I once asked you if you'd feel sad if your brother died, and you told me you would. I wouldn't. In fact, I'd happily wring his neck." He stood, hand held out to Luna. "When you can forgive me for that, we'll have this talk again. Come on, Luna, this is my favourite song."
Luna smiled a bit absently and allowed Harry to lead her out to the dance floor. After a moment, she asked, "When are you leaving me for your meeting?"
Harry smiled at her fondly. "Approximately an hour."
"I have to share you with Moon, though, don't I?" She looked up at him with sad eyes.
Harry chuckled and kissed her cheek. "I do so adore you, Luna."
Luna's eyes lit up. "Does that mean I'm your favourite?"
"Like there was ever a doubt. Don't worry, Luna, I'll never have anyone I'm more fond of then you."
Luna's smile turned a little odd. "You shouldn't make promises you cannot keep, Harry."
Harry frowned and shook his head. "Don't be silly."
"I wonder," Luna commented, "whether it was Ginny Weasley you loved, or the monster who lived silent within her."
Harry stopped, watching the girl with wide eyes. "What do you–?"
Luna's smile was back to its usual absent self. "If you don't want to dance, you should get me some punch. It's only polite."
Harry stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Sometimes, my dear, you are distinctly unsettling."
"Thank you, my Lord."
He shook his head and took up her arm again. "One more song, and then I'll get you two cups of punch. Agreed?"
"Of course." Luna smiled at him as he started around the dance floor again.
One day, perhaps, he would understand his best friend. But not today.
-0-
Xerosis was leaning against the far wall, hiding in the shadows, when Snape finally walked in. The man walked quickly up to Voldemort and knelt, not even sparing a glance for the second chair. Voldemort didn't look up from the report he was reading about the most recent raid. Xerosis made a mental note to steal the parchment later, since the Prophet never reported everything that had happened, and he was tired of getting shoddy news.
"Severus, I've had some very...disturbing news about you," Voldemort finally said, glancing up from his parchment.
Snape remained motionless, but Xerosis thought he caught a faint gulp.
"Xerosis," the Dark Lord called, glancing up at the shadowed corner, "your chair grows cold."
"Hm, I suppose it does," the boy agreed, stepped smoothly from his hiding place and taking his usual seat. "So this is your double agent."
Snape glanced up through his hair and tensed as he saw the apparent vampire, who bore a striking resemblance to James Potter, with his short hair and the shape of his face, but his eyes were far lighter than James' had been. Harry Potter had slightly longer hair and his eyes had never been quite as creepy as the child sitting next to the Dark Lord, though they appeared to be around the same age.
"Yes." Voldemort's lips curled with a cold smile. "Ah, of course. Severus, this is Lord Xerosis, my partner. I don't think you will have heard of him."
"That is rather obnoxious, you know," the boy commented. "I spent so much time wrecking the Ministry and making that new statue and what does the magical world think of me?"
Voldemort shot the teen an amused look. "That you're my latest conquest?"
"No offense, Voldemort, but ew."
The Dark Lord snorted.
Xerosis leaned forward quickly, causing Snape to jerk back in surprise. The boy smiled widely at him, flashing fake fangs, then said, "Hello, little spy. I've heard all sorts of stories about you and your misdeeds. Your crush on Evans. Your long-time rivalry with James Potter and the life debt you once owed him, but now owe his son." He tapped his chin. "You owe Harry Potter a life debt. How are you at all useful?"
Snape turned to Voldemort. "Please, my Lord, I am in Dumbledore's employ! The old man trusts me! I... I'm part of his Order!"
"Crucio," Voldemort cast, then turned to his partner while Snape writhed. "Your appearance is disturbing my minions."
"I'll work harder on growing up," Xerosis replied, rolling his eyes.
"See that you do." Voldemort removed his curse and considered his Death Eater while the man gasped and regained his kneeling position. "Severus, I will forgive your slip this time, but don't forget the next time that when Lord Xerosis is in attendance, you will address him as you would myself."
"Apologies, my Lords," Snape gasped.
"Being part of the Order could be useful, I suppose," Xerosis commented, "but only if he doesn't leave anything out of his reports."
Voldemort glanced at him. "Do you have a way to ensure he's telling the truth? Preferably one that leaves him capable of continuing to be useful."
"Take all the fun out of my life why don't you," Xerosis griped before snorting. "I have a few things up my sleeves."
Voldemort glanced back at his minion, who was watching them both with fear in his eyes. "Severus, here's your first chance: I want to know everything that Dumbledore has planned since I announced my return."
"I want to know how long Dumbledore has suspected you've been back. And did our spy tell him."
Snape looked between them, then nodded and quickly explained the actions that Dumbledore had taken so far, including recruiting numbers. He explained the arguments that Dumbledore had been having with Fudge about how they would handle Voldemort's return. As it was, the Ministry and the Order were utter crap at working together. (Things were getting a little better since Tonks had just graduated auror training and was a member of the Order. The Weasleys had also joined – they hadn't during the first war due to having so many small children around the house – which gave the Order at least two Ministry personnel.)
It turned out that Dumbledore had guessed about Voldemort's return almost as soon as Quirrell had disappeared. When the professor had just up and left, Dumbledore had checked on the Stone and, finding it missing, went to find Snape. The old man had been in the room the moment Snape's mark had turned black to announce Voldemort's return to life. Dumbledore had only been able to gather a small group of the 'old crowd' without any solid proof, but they'd been making plans for years, for all that they'd been such a small number.
When Snape hadn't been called after two years, the Order had started falling apart again, insisting it was just a false alarm. That none of the Death Eaters in Azkaban had been freed was also a point against Voldemort's return. Dumbledore had tried to argue against the Tournament, but his claims of it attracting trouble had fallen on deaf ears.
When the unveiling had occurred on Hallowe'en, no one had been ready for it, not even the Order, although they'd started recruiting early the next morning and the older members had all reported to Dumbledore as soon as the news got out about the attack. However, without Snape spying, they were unable to figure out when or where Voldemort might attack. It didn't help that the Dark Lord had done a fair bit of attacking magical people last time, but this time he was focussing more on the mundanes, which was way harder to predict.
The two Dark Lords considered Snape's words while the man stayed still on the ground before them.
"You loved Lily," Xerosis murmured, "and you were once friends with her. Why did you ask for her safety?"
"My Lord–" Snape started.
"And Snape, don't give me any bollocks about how much you loved her. She might have forgiven you for putting her family on the line, but how did you expect her her to forgive you for saving her, while her family died?"
Voldemort sat back with a faint frown, not sure he understood the point of his partner's question, but willing to let the teen do as he pleased. Xerosis knew far more about Severus' motivations than he did.
Snape swallowed and looked down at the ground. After a long moment, he said, "Perhaps she would never have forgiven me, but at least she'd still be alive. She was... an amazing woman, able to charm everyone around her, even the purebloods who snubbed their nose at her dirty blood. I thought, maybe... maybe she could end the war, one way or another. Without Potter and his spawn, she could focus on finding a way to end things."
Xerosis glanced for a moment at Voldemort, who was sneering at the words of his minion, then glanced back at Snape. "You would have taken away her reason for fighting," he commented and Snape flinched.
:Potter, I grow tired of this,: Voldemort warned and Snape flinched again at the sound of the snake-tongue.
Xerosis waved a hand at him. :Yes, I know, your whole 'love is a weakness' shtick. Well, you can continue ignoring it, but if you want Snape back, you'll have to use love against him. You be silent and I'll handle him.:
Below them, Snape had tensed, his wide eyes disbelieving. This creature, this second Dark Lord with a child's body, was a Parselmouth? No wonder the Dark Lord was letting him play second leader.
Voldemort hissed wordlessly, displeased, but motioned for Xerosis to continue.
The teen smiled faintly. "Perhaps you weren't too far off the mark, Snape, as Lily's sacrifice is what ended the war. Not permanently, no, but it did bring it to a momentary end. If Voldemort–" Snape flinched again. "–hadn't offered to let her live, Harry Potter would have never survived that curse." Xerosis paused and blinked in thought. "Does that mean you were truly the one to bring a holiday to the war, then?"
"Xerosis," Voldemort growled.
The teen smiled at him. "You're fun." Then he looked back at Snape, who was once again frozen in disbelief. "Snape, here's what you can do: When you report to Dumbledore tonight, tell him about me – you can even tell him about my being a Parselmouth and my disturbingly similar appearance to James Potter – and you can tell him about our inquiries into the doings of the Order. Leave all mention of Lily in your mind. Think about things, certainly, but don't mention her."
Snape swallowed and whispered, "Was that all, my Lords?"
Voldemort glanced at Xerosis, who smirked knowingly, then sneered down at his minion. "Not quite. Crucio."
After a long round of Cruciatus, Voldemort finally let his spy go, then sent Harry a message letting him know Snape had left. Once that was taken care of, he turned to the apparent vampire next to him and scowled. "Leave out all mentions of love next time, Potter."
Xerosis chuckled. "You're fun."
"Potter!"
The teen turned sideways in his chair and hooked his legs over one arm. "Snape did – will do – as ordered. Gibbering a bit, but he does act well. If nothing else, the overuse of the Cruciatus has assured Dumbledore that you're still mad as a hatter, even if he's confused by why you'd share power. He probably thinks I'm the sane one of the operation, if nothing else."
Voldemort snorted. "You're not sane."
"Yes, thank you." Xerosis rolled his eyes. "But I speak the Language of Love, which Dumbledore believes whole-heartedly in, so he'll see me as the real threat of the two of us."
"I might just throw up," Voldemort grumbled, then glanced thoughtfully at the teen, who was chuckling. "I will admit that, if not for you, we wouldn't be doing half as well."
"Hm. No, you wouldn't be," Xerosis agreed with the wisdom of someone who'd lived through this war once before. "But as awesome as I am, I still don't know what to do about Snape. Given, I've never much liked the man, though I did name a kid for him–"
"I think my mind just imploded."
"Shut up."
Voldemort snorted and relaxed back in his chair. "How do you intend to keep an eye on his actions?"
Xerosis sighed. "It will take some work, but once I've managed to figure out when and where the Order meetings are, I can easily slip inside and attend them. The only real problem, I think, will be if Dumbledore does as he did last time and puts the building under Fidelius. On one hand, that could wreck everything. On the other hand, being who I am to him and his organization, I might well be invited in."
Voldemort nodded, looking thoughtful. "You're supposedly the one who can defeat me. In your last life, you and I often faced each other, isn't that right?"
"Mm-hm."
"Then we shall have to contrive a meeting to assure Dumbledore that you're still on his side. He'll almost certainly allow you into his meetings then."
"Or, at the very least, his meeting place," Xerosis agreed. "January fourteenth is the first Hogsmeade visit of the new term. Perhaps it's a bit clichéd, but an attack on the students would properly assure Dumbledore that you're still the same, insane Voldemort as thirteen years ago. Without Xerosis there, it can be assumed that you – or some of your Death Eaters – got tired of only attacking mundanes and needed to take out some mudbloods."
"Again, assuring him you are the sane one." Voldemort rolled his eyes. "How does focussing on muggles make you the sane one, anyway?"
"Clearly I'm not as sane as he is, but I'm more sane than you," Xerosis commented drily. "Attacking the mundanes makes us more unpredictable, for one thing, and it keeps us from needlessly cutting down our own numbers. It's sensible as an attack strategy, not necessarily as an actual mindset."
"True. You're a Ravenclaw, how would me attacking Hogsmeade get you to act?"
"What, like I don't have friends?"
"Potter, keep your emotions to yourself."
Xerosis let out a loud laugh and had to grab the back of his chair to keep from falling to the floor.
Voldemort sneered. "I swore to leave your little friends alone."
Xerosis cocked his head to one side. "Actually, technically, I think you only swore not to kill them."
The Dark Lord shot him a curious look. "What's this, Harry Potter allowing me to torment his friends a bit? Have they finally irritated you with their love of muggles?"
"Tom, do me a favour and shut up," Xerosis muttered, sneering. "I'm saying you can torment them a little because two of them are mudbloods and it makes sense you'd target them. Also, it would get a plausible response from even a Ravenclaw, especially the sort of Ravenclaw that I appear to be with friends from three different Houses and two different years."
"It is disturbingly Gryffindor of you," Voldemort agreed, amused.
Xerosis just sort of stared at him for a long moment while Voldemort smirked. Finally, the teen said, "They're only fourteen and fifteen, however, so do try to be gentle with them. Well, as gentle as you ever get, I suppose."
Voldemort snorted. "I don't know what your mudbloods look like."
"What, you're not a mind-reader?"
"Potter, don't play muggle, it's beneath you."
Xerosis rolled his eyes and conjured a picture of his friends. As he named each of them, the picture zoomed in on them. "Terry Boot, Ravenclaw, mudblood. His mundane brother is abusive. Hermione Granger, Gryffindor, mudblood. Her parents are dentists and, for all that she was tormented in school for her intellect, she has a hard time seeing the evil in people, though she does seem to understand it exists. Li Su, Ravenclaw, half-blood. Her mother was killed in a mundane revolt in China before she and her father moved here. Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor, pureblood. He's the other child of prophecy and is actually surprisingly willing to support me in my hatred of mundanes. Luna Lovegood, Ravenclaw, pureblood. Her father runs the Quibbler and she knows what I am. Lillian Moon, Slytherin, pureblood. You've already met her."
"You told one of your friends about your dementor abilities?"
Xerosis smiled wryly. "She sort of figured it out herself." When Voldemort shot him a disbelieving look, the teen shrugged. "You'd have to meet her. Luna's an odd duck, but she's also my best friend. On that note, you should probably make as much a point about attacking her as you do Hermione and Terry. She won't mind."
"It makes an odd sort of sense that your 'best friend' would be as mad as you are."
"Almost as much sense as counting the man who tried to kill you when you were one among your friends."
"...Potter, keep your emotions–"
"–To myself, yes, I know." Xerosis waved a hand at the Dark Lord.
Voldemort scowled. "Anyone else I should specifically target?"
"Well, I'm technically on the outs with everyone but Luna and Lillian... Attacking Neville's good for posterity, I suppose."
"Other child of the prophecy, of course." Voldemort nodded and considered the picture a bit more, then waved his wand to disperse it. "The fourteenth?"
"Yes." Xerosis grimaced a bit. "Try and only bring Death Eaters who can behave, please? Not Bella, certainly."
Voldemort snorted. "I wouldn't bring Bella near children unless I intended for a couple of them to die. What time should all of your... friends be in Hogsmeade?"
"We usually lunch at the Three Broomsticks around one, assuming we can find a table. Whether everyone will stick to that when they're not talking to me, I can't be sure, but they'll definitely be in the village by then. We're all fourth years, so no one should see any point in staying behind, and if someone looks like they will, I'll find a way to get them there."
"I'll plan to attack a little before one, then. Pick your mudbloods, Longbottom and Lovegood out of the crowd, Crucio them a bit, then face off with you?"
Xerosis nodded, looking thoughtful. "Might as well grab Li with Terry, since they tend to stick together. I can probably get Luna to leave me for Terry and Li just before one, to make it easier to get to her. Knowing how most magical people react to your presence, there will probably be a stampede, which should give me a reason to come to the rescue a little belatedly." He grimaced a bit, feeling bad for knowingly causing his friends harm, but it needed to be done. "I will attempt to get them all in a general area to make attacking them easier, but I make no promises."
Voldemort shrugged. "I can direct the Death Eaters to bring them to me."
"Just make sure you bring Death Eaters that can think for themselves," Xerosis grumbled.
The Dark Lord shot him an amused look.
"Assuming you even have any," the teen added, flashing a smile at Voldemort.
Voldemort snorted. "Potter, go back to school."
Xerosis chuckled and slipped from his chair and into the nearest shadow and back to Hogwarts.
-0-
"We are not eating with them," Lillian hissed as soon as Luna was off on Harry's task to hunt down his other Ravenclaw friends with an offer of lunch.
"We always eat together," Harry pointed out a bit absently as he checked the pocket watch his Slytherin friend had given him for Christmas.
"Yeah, before they got all protective about the muggles."
"Potter, if you want to eat with your mudbloods, we'll happily leave you to it," Morag cut in, rolling her eyes.
"There's nothing saying we have to eat with them," Tracey agreed.
Lillian grimaced a bit, then glanced at Harry and rolled her eyes. "Merlin, Harry! What is it with you and that watch!"
Harry held a finger to his lips and leaned back against a nearby wall. He slipped the watch into his robe pocket as the screams began. "Feel free to start running for the school," he offered. "I doubt you'll want to stick around."
"What's going on?" Lillian demanded as people who had been calmly milling about started running every which way.
"Hm? Oh, the Dark Lord is paying a visit." Harry flashed the three girls a sharp smile.
"The Dark Lor–?" Morag started before she caught sight of the pale-skinned man with insane red eyes. "Merlin!"
"Why is he–?"
Voldemort started laughing and Harry's over-sensitive ears caught the sound of Luna and Hermione screaming. "That's my cue," he said, pushing himself off the wall and pulling out his phoenix wand. "I'll see you back at the school."
"You–" Lillian grabbed Harry's arm even as her friends all turned back towards the school. "Did you plan this with him, or–"
Harry leaned forward, getting in Lillian's face, bright green eyes intent. "I'll see you back at the school, Lillian."
Lillian let out a gasp and stumbled backwards. Shooting one last disbelieving look at him, she turned and fled, joining in the crowd of other students fleeing towards the school.
And then, loud and shrill above the crowd, Luna screamed, "Harry!"
Harry swallowed his pain at letting his friends be tortured, then set his shoulders and put on a concerned face. "Luna?" he called back, jumping into the crowds and pushing against them.
"Harry!" Luna screamed again, and her voice was accompanied by Hermione and Neville.
Voldemort laughed, and the fleeing people let out sounds of terror and doubled their attempts to flee. "Oh, you fool, fool children," he said. "Calling for your saviour."
"No!" Harry shouted, doubling his efforts against the crowd. "Let them go, you monster!" But who was the monster? The one casting the spell, or the one that had allowed him to?
Deep inside him, a small boy cried out for the friends he'd pointed out to the Dark Lord. The friends he'd told the man he could torture.
The next few moments, as Harry fought against the crowd and his friends screamed seemed like one long, terrible blur. And then, finally, he broke through and he found himself standing just behind his three friends as Voldemort ended his current round of Cruciatus. Harry briefly wondered about where Terry and Li were, but then he was dashing forward and getting between his friends and the Dark Lord before the man could cast again.
"Let them go!" he shouted. "I'm here, now let them go!"
Voldemort smiled cruelly. "Brave little Potter," he murmured, "ready to sacrifice everything for a mudblood and some blood traitors. How far the name 'Potter' has fallen."
"Fallen?" Harry demanded, losing himself in the Gryffindor he'd long ago buried. "I'd say it's risen, first by your defeat at the hand of an infant, and now with me standing against you. You're an abomination, Voldemort! An abomination of all things magical, with your hate of the very thing you are!"
Fury roared in red eyes, announcing to all in attendance that Harry had hit a nerve. "Crucio!" the Dark Lord snarled.
Harry bit his lip against the pain, refusing to scream. Refusing to give anyone, not even Voldemort, that much power over him.
Green and red duelled as the pain curse was ended. And then, as if by some silent signal, Harry was rolling away and reaching for his wand at the same time as the Dark Lord shot a Killing Curse which went wide, missing Harry's helpless friends as much as it missed the green-eyed teen.
Harry tossed a shield spell over each of his friends, dodging the Dark curses Voldemort shot at him. Adrenaline brought a grin to Harry's lips as he ducked another curse and finally returned his own spell. He didn't remember having this much fun in a duel since...
...since the Final Battle, all those decades ago.
Voldemort tossed Dark curse after Dark curse, usually aiming for Harry, but sometimes he'd turn on one of Harry's shuddering friends and the teen would be forced to stop dodging and come to their rescue, occasionally with a summoning charm, but usually with another shield spell. When he wasn't protecting his friends, Harry was casting the lighter spells he knew, trying to keep them to those learned in fifth year and below, considering that a Ravenclaw might very well go searching for harder spells.
And then, a new player emerged and Voldemort found himself faced with Albus Dumbledore, resplendent in bright orange robes. Harry's eyes followed the old man's wand for a moment, hungry, before he forced himself to turn away and run to his friends. "Hermione! Neville! Luna!"
Hermione and Neville had crawled or been summoned closer and were leaning against each other, quietly crying. Luna curled on her side near them, offering Harry a strained smile.
It took Harry a moment to decide between the Gryffindors and his best friend before he was kneeling at Luna's side and gently lifting her head into his lap. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
One shaking hand with a radish ring gripped his. "It was my choice," she replied before coughing.
Harry snapped his wand in a too-familiar healing spell and relaxed when he found nothing but the expected damage from Cruciatus exposure. Voldemort hadn't over-done it on Luna, at least. "Can you move?" he asked, running a gentle hand through her hair.
Luna smiled. "Not like you can," she offered.
Harry's lips twitched with a small smile and he leaned down to whisper into her ear, "After a while, you start to develop a resistance to the Cruciatus."
Luna let out a half-wheeze, half-laugh and let Harry help her to her feet. He supported her as they stumbled over to Hermione and Neville.
After casting the medical scan again and assuring himself the Gryffindors were fine, Harry slumped a bit, his adrenaline gone with his relief. He may have some resistance to the Cruciatus, true, but no one cast the pain curse quite like Voldemort; it had taken a lot out of him.
Hermione reached forward and touched one of the burns on Harry's arm that had gotten past his defence. He winced slightly and she bit her lower lip between shaking teeth. "Oh, Harry..." she whispered.
"I'm okay," Harry assured her.
Hermione let out a strangled sound and half-fell forward against his chest, shaking arms wrapping around his waist. She shook with sobs and the after-effects of the Cruciatus and Harry gently wrapped his arms back around her shoulders, quietly shushing her. Luna leaned against him, eyes slipping shut with exhaustion. Neville met Harry's gaze for a long moment, deep pain in his dark eyes, and Harry reached out one hand for the pureblood to take and squeezed his hand when he did.
Cracks of apparation let them know that the Death Eaters and Voldemort were all gone, and shortly after that someone – McGonagall, Harry recognised through his exhaustion – conjured a large stretcher for all of them and ferried them up to the castle together while Dumbledore, Moody, Flitwick and Sprout remained to help with the villagers and distract the people away from the four students.
Harry forced himself to remain awake long enough to ensure that Madam Pomfrey had a stock of potion for the Cruciatus and take his dose. Then he let himself slip into blissful sleep, even as he was being separated from his friends and ferried to a bed.
-0-
"You could have been killed!" Lillian hissed.
Harry tiredly rubbed at his forehead. "I did what I had to do."
"But fighting the Dark Lord? You're fourteen!"
"He was torturing my friends! If that was you under his wand, would you prefer I save myself?" Harry snapped, already done with the argument. Lillian knew he had had some sort of part in planning of the attack, but that didn't keep her from yelling at him about it. And he understood, honest he did, but she didn't honestly think he would have gotten himself into something he couldn't get himself back out of, did she?
"I'd have expected you to do the Slytherin thing and save your own bloody arse! You stupid, idiot–!" Her shouts broke off with a sob and she covered her face with her hands.
Harry sighed. Sometimes, Lillian was so much more mature than his other friends that he completely forgot that she was only fifteen. He reached out his hand and touched the side of her face. "Lil, I'm sorry," he whispered and quickly found his arms full of Slytherin girl. He hugged her gently, absently noting that her hair was a mess and there was a blot of ink on one sleeve. He really must have worried her, for her to have lost her usual care for her appearance.
Finally, the girl pulled away, dragging a sleeve across her eyes to hide the evidence of her crying. "Stupid half-blood," she muttered.
Harry smiled and pulled a tissue out of the box next to his bed. "Silly pureblood, not trusting me," he replied quietly as he leaned forward to wipe away the liquid she'd missed. "I'm not suicidal, Lil."
She huffed at him a bit. "You went rushing in like some sort of reckless Gryffindor, fighting the Dark Lord like you thought you had a chance."
Harry smiled knowingly even as Hermione, two beds down, couldn't hold her tongue any longer and snapped, "Someone has to fight that monster!"
Lillian's eyes darkened with anger and she leaned around Harry to snap, "You're only saying that because you're a mudblood! Maybe we would have been better off–!"
"Lillian," Harry said quietly, steel in his voice.
The Slytherin's mouth snapped shut and she turned away, flushing an angry red.
Hermione's eyes lit with victory and, the next bed over, Neville sighed before commenting, "Hermione, give it a rest. Please?"
"But, Neville–!"
Neville frowned at her, then glanced past her to where Harry was quietly murmuring to Lillian. Luna watched him with wide, innocent eyes that knew too much. "Hermione, think. V-Vol..." He swallowed and shook his head. "You Know Who is cruel and vicious. He doesn't leave opponents alive unless it benefits him in some way."
Hermione blinked. "So?"
"We're still alive," the boy said, eyes flickering to Luna's again. He shuddered as a smile curled her pale lips.
Hermione blinked again, then her eyes widened in understanding. "Why would Voldemort leave us alive? I'm muggleborn and you're from a family that's always fought against him. So why would he–?"
The girl fell silent as a silencing barrier fell over their little corner of beds and the two Gryffindors turned to where Harry was watching them, wand twirling in one hand while the other held his chin. Lillian sat beside him in her visitor's chair, watching them defiantly.
Luna helpfully offered, "You thought it would be Hermione who caught on faster."
"Hm. So I did," Harry agreed, absently reaching into his hospital robes and pulling out a sickle, which he flipped to Luna. "Sorry, Neville."
Neville shook his head, hand buried in his sheets as it shook with the memories of the Cruciatus. "You want the muggles dead, same as Him," he said, meeting Harry's eyes in spite of his fear.
Harry's eyes were sad even as his face remained blank. "Yes," he agreed.
"And muggleborns?" Hermione demanded, one hand grasping for her wand.
"That, Voldemort and I do not agree on," Harry replied evenly, apparently not noticing Lillian's violent twitch at the Dark Lord's name. "Hermione, if you point your wand at me, I will curse you," he added as the girl's fingers closed around the vine wood handle.
Hermione's shoulders tensed, but she left her wand turned slightly to one side, still gripped in one hand.
"You've... you've spoken to Him, then," Neville decided, swallowing with difficulty. He wished his own wand was in his hand, but it lay just out of his reach on the table behind him.
Harry considered them for a moment, then inclined his head. "Yes."
"And that attack...?"
Harry's eyes closed, briefly, in regret. "I'm sorry for that," he allowed. "I... never wanted you hurt. Any of you." His green eyes flickered over his three friends while the hand holding his wand touched Lillian's hand, silently including her. "But our choices were few."
Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "You asked him to torture us?!"
"No."
"Then what?! You mentioned your friends in conversation and the two of you just thought it might be fun to have us tortured for your amusement?"
"Do not think, for one moment, that I got any amusement out of that," Harry spat, eyes flashing with fury as the temperature around them dropped. "Don't think me so heartless–"
"What do you expect us to think?" Hermione demanded. "You go around hating muggles and talking to Voldemort about attacking Hogsmeade and torturing us–"
"You have no idea what mundanes are capable of!" Harry shouted. "You can't even begin to imagine what those... those monsters are capable of!"
"And you can?"
"He doesn't have to imagine," Luna quietly cut in, shivering absently in the cold. "Harry, it's a bit chilly in here."
Harry breathed in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, forcing his power back. "Sorry," he whispered, silently casting a blanket warming charm for the others.
Luna smiled at him and snuggled down in her covers.
"What did Loony mean?" Lillian asked while the Gryffindors were still busy processing the youngest witch's comment.
Harry shot his best friend an irritated look and she blinked innocently at him before commenting, "They have the right to know."
"Know what?" Hermione asked, drawing her blankets closer around her. "What aren't you telling us, Harry?"
Harry's eyes flickered to Hermione and Neville, then to Lillian, sitting at his back with a thunderous expression. With a sigh, he leaned back against his pillows. "This is my second life, a second chance, really. The first time, I fought Voldemort and won and became an auror and had a family and everything. It was..." He smiled faintly, pain dark in his eyes. "When we were almost seventy, the mundane Prime Minister who had just been voted in was the sort of man who hated magic. He lashed out, telling the rest of the world about us during a worldwide broadcast.
"We never stood a chance. Once the mundanes knew about us, they did everything they could to destroy us. They attacked anyone even suspected of having magic, even children." Harry closed his eyes against the horror in their eyes. "They hunted us down like animals until only a handful remained, running through dying forests and struggling to survive for even another hour."
"You..." Neville breathed.
Harry chuckled bitterly. "I was killed with a shotgun," he offered, glancing at Hermione, the only one who would truly understand his words, "like some sort of game they'd been hunting. When I got to Purgatory, I was given a choice: Live, or die and go to hell for my crimes. I chose to live, to change the world. To kill the mundanes before they could kill us."
Hermione looked away from those bitter, too-old eyes. She looked down at her wand, remembering how happy she'd been to join this world. Remembering how amazing it had felt to know that there was another world she could explore, more things to learn, wonders to see.
"At that party," Lillian murmured, breaking the heavy silence, "when you were disguised as a vampire, you said... You said you were, ninety..."
"I'm ninety-eight, counting both of my lives together," he murmured. "I restarted this life the moment my father died. My first memory is of my mum telling me goodbye." His jaw clenched. "She was mundane-born, same as you, Hermione. Same as Terry."
"The muggleborns were as much a victim as the purebloods," Neville murmured, feeling sick to his stomach. His friend had lived through so much, and still he fought.
'I knew a long time ago that this would happen,' Harry had said back in the library those many months ago, after Hermione had stormed off.
"Why did you befriend us on the train?" Neville wanted to know. Needed to know. "Why didn't you just walk away?"
Harry considered him, head cocked to one side. "Why? Because you were my friends. Because, once upon a time, when the world was falling apart around my ears, I had five best friends who stood beside me, three of whom are in this room. And because I'm a selfish old man."
Hermione looked up at the boy she'd turned her back on because he saw a different world from her, because he'd looked beyond the happy stone walls protecting them and seen a threat. Harry had never been anything but kind to her, and she had hated him because he saw the world differently from her. She was no better than Lillian and her fellow purebloods, seeing only the surface, not bothering to look beneath. Not bothering to wonder what terrible things must have turned her friend into a muggle-hater.
Hermione burst into tears, hating herself.
The others were silent for a moment, shocked, and then Harry was scrambling from his bed and over to her, gently pulling her into a hug. "Shush, Hermione. It's okay..."
"I-I'm s-so-sorry," Hermione sobbed, burying her face in the stiff hospital robes.
"I know," Harry whispered, laying a gentle kiss against her bushy hair. "I've already forgiven you." He smiled. "I could hardly blame you for being yourself, now could I?"
Hermione just held him tighter, silently swearing to herself that she would stand by Harry no matter what. Because he was her friend and he cared for her in spite of her faults. Because he had never stopped being her friend, no matter how much she scorned him. She could never repay him for that, but she could try.
-0-
Following the Hogsmeade attack, Harry suddenly found himself being the centre of attention everywhere. In his classes and the hallways, he found people hopefully looking to him, expecting him to save them. Inside, he sneered at them and how pathetic they were, but outwardly he smiled uncertainly at them and hid behind his friends when he could.
He also found that, after telling his friends the truth, Neville, Hermione and Lillian were closer to him than ever. The three of them had even come to a silent agreement to leave their arguments behind them and made a point of keeping wide-eyed students from mobbing him in the hallways or awkwardly questioning him in classes.
The other good thing to come from the Hogsmeade attack was Sirius' insistence that Harry be allowed to stay at the Order Headquarters that summer while the wards around his and Sirius' cottage were upgraded by a well-paid goblin team. The new wards would keep anyone Sirius or Harry didn't officially welcome onto the property out. That meant no more stalking from Barty, but Harry could deal with that. (He'd just have to stalk his favourite Death Eater at Malfoy Manor, instead.)
But once summer started, Harry would finally be able to watch Snape at the the Order meetings and they could decide where he stood. Harry might have to manipulate him more, but that wouldn't be too hard. In fact, it might even be fun.
As the end of the year finally drew to a close, the TriWizard Tournament ended, with Krum coming out with the Cup first, expression victorious. Cedric reached the centre second, putting Hogwarts in second place and making Beauxbatons the last, much to their disgust.
Finally, the students were climbing onto the train, laughing and giggling about their summer plans.
Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna settled in their usual compartment, Luna sitting on the ground at Harry's feet. Hermione was curiously asking if the position was comfortable when the door opened to show a nervous Li and Terry.
"May we... join you?" Terry asked.
"You may," Harry agreed, "if you want to."
Terry met his unflinching gaze and nodded. "Yeah."
Everyone shuffled a bit to accommodate their additions. Conversation picked right back up, Luna politely asking Hermione, "Would you like to try it? I find it's most soothing."
Hermione considered that for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm not quite as small as you, Luna."
"Suit yourself," Luna replied, leaning back against Harry's legs and smiling when a hand carded gently through her hair.
They had been travelling for a good two hours when Terry finally cleared his throat and Harry glanced at him from over his Quibbler. "I..." Terry shook his head. "A, uhm, a gay couple moved in down the street from us just after Christmastime. My brother... Well, he's being... difficult."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "He's attacking them?"
"Verbally," Terry agreed quietly. "One of them's kind of big, Mum was saying, so he's not about to go trading blows with them, but he's been really rude. Mum tried to get him to stop, and when he wouldn't, she kicked him out of the house." He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, which he handed over to Harry.
Harry raised an eyebrow at the contents. "An address?"
Terry licked his lips. "My brother's. I..."
Harry smiled knowingly. "It's different when it's other people who are being attacked."
Terry looked away, which was as good an agreement as anything.
Harry leaned forward, lips curled with a sharp smile. "Terry, if I go to visit your brother, you'll never see him again."
Terry took a deep breath, then looked up at Harry, scared but determined. "Good," he whispered.
Harry gently reached up and patted Terry's cheek before sitting back and slipping the paper into a pocket. "As long as you understand that," he offered, picking his magazine back up.
There was a long silence, and then Hermione said, "Just... make sure he suffers a bit."
Green eyes smirked at her from behind the Quibbler. "Don't worry, Hermione, he'll get what's coming to him."
Terry shuddered minutely, but there was a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Harry smiled back at his article. At the beginning of the year, he didn't think he'd have any friends left, and here he sat, with those same people from the start of the year. Maybe things were a little more strained, but they were still there.
Harry hadn't lost anything, after all.
-0-0-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Aaaaand... another rushed second half. *sigh* Oh well. Forgive me?
I never intended for Hermione and Neville to find out the truth, and certainly never Lillian. That part just sort of wrote itself. (On the other hand, it's the only part of this chapter that didn't give me fits, so...)
Further debate about Harry sort of handing them over to Voldemort was ignored for the moment. It may come up again in the future, may not. Haven't decided yet. XD
Kudos to Mari23 (FFN) for catching a boo-boo in the Czech spell.
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
Pro - If We Could Only Turn Back Time / 1 - Long Road
2 - Never As It Seems ||| 3 - The Bad Man, the Sad Man ||| 4 - Armies of Robbers and Thieves
5 - Fear Falls Like Rain ||| 6 - Rage Like Fire ||| 7 - Born From Conflict
8 - Reach Any Star ||| 9 - Cold Fields ||| 10 - Ice Inside Your Soul
11 - King of Anything
Author:
batsutousaiBeta:
tsuki_no_suzu & magickmaker17Rating: T
Pairings: Voldemort/Harry (post-Harry/Ginny)
Warnings: SLASH, AU, character death, super!Harry, Dark!Harry
Summary: Harry's world ends at the hands of those he'd once fought to save. An adult-Harry goes back to his younger self fic. Super!Harry
Chapter Five, Part One
Harry supposed things were a little hectic, what with the Tournament and Voldemort's return – and bi-weekly attacks – but he was still rather amused by how long it took Dumbledore to call him on his change in friends. It was the first Monday of winter holidays when he got the note asking him to drop by the Headmaster's office and he smiled at it before slipping it into a pocket. "The phoenix has come calling at last," he commented to Luna, who sat on his right.
"If you don't return in two hours, I'll sing a fitting eulogy at your funeral," the blonde promised.
"Don't forget to mention how tall I am," he reminded her as he stood.
"Potter," Morag commented drily from across from him, "you're not that tall."
"Next to Professor Flitwick, I'm practically a giant," Harry disagreed cheerfully.
"Who's the phoenix, by the way?" Stephen asked.
"Practically my grandfather," Harry offered. "Or so he'd like to think." Then he walked off, starting the long trek to the Headmaster's office.
When he got there, Dumbledore called him in and offered him sherbet lemons and tea. Harry accepted the tea, silently tested it for the Veritaserum he knew would be in it, then pretended to drink, absently vanishing a bit to make it look like he was actually swallowing it.
Dumbledore smiled and leaned forward. "Harry, my boy, I've been remiss in not speaking to you. How has your time at Hogwarts been so far?"
Harry had been dosed with the truth serum enough times in his long life that he had no difficulty in faking the absent stare. "It's been fine. I've made some excellent friends and learned so much," he replied with very little inflection. "I wish Professor Snape wasn't such a git, though."
Dumbledore smiled fondly at that. "I'm glad you're enjoying your time here, my boy. Now, I've noticed that you haven't been spending time with Miss Granger or Mr Longbottom of late."
Harry forced himself not to react to the absence of his Ravenclaw friends in the implied question. In the Headmaster's black and white world, Gryffindor was the only House that mattered. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff was just gravy. "We had a disagreement," he replied, absently pretending to sip more tea.
"What was your disagreement about, my boy?" Dumbledore wondered, the perfect image of a grandfather.
"Whether or not mundanes needed to die," Harry answered, absently looking around the room. "That's a cool toy."
Dumbledore stared in disbelief at the boy for a long moment, before asking, "Mundanes are muggles?"
"Mmhm."
"And... which side of the argument were you on?"
Harry turned back to the Headmaster, eyes sharp. "Why, on the opposite side from yourself, Headmaster," he said with a pleasant smile. "After suffering through the Dursleys for ten years, did you honestly think I'd come away as a well-adjusted, merciful saviour? I spent ten years doing their laundry, making them meals, listening to their hateful comments about me and my parents. I spent seven years bearing the marks of Dudley's amusement, and not a single mundane ever asked if I was okay. Not a single one wondered if I was getting the love I needed at home."
"My boy–"
"Don't act like you cared," Harry hissed, leaning forward over the desk. "Don't act like you looked any closer than to see if I could still smile, could still love. And don't mistake my fond memories of my mother as any form of fondness for those mundanes. Petunia and Mum may have been sisters, but they were completely different people."
"Oh, Harry..." Dumbledore whispered as Harry took a breath to control himself. "Oh, my boy, I have let you down..."
"You have let a great many wizards down in your life," Harry whispered. "Your own brother, Professor Snape, Lord Voldemort... Perhaps you're too old for this post. Perhaps you should retire and finish your life in quiet, contemplating your failings." He smiled coldly and got to his feet. "Goodbye, Albus Dumbledore." He lifted his wand and pointed it at the old wizard's heart. "Avada Ked–"
§
Harry gasped and sat up in his bed, one hand held over his thundering heart. That hadn't happened. Yes, Dumbledore had called him up. Yes, he'd tried dosing Harry with Veritaserum. Yes, he'd asked about Harry's flagging friendships. But Harry had explained it away as a fight over something so simple: Harry's friendship with Lillian. Dumbledore had been very understanding while Harry wove a complicated story about his other friends hating Lillian and giving him an ultimatum – them or her – and him not willing to lose any of them, but his inaction lost him Hermione and Neville and Terry and Li anyway. And Lillian had been very understanding about the whole thing and he was so glad she was his friend and Luna too...
Dumbledore had bought it, of course. He loved stories like that, loved giving second chances.
But Harry hadn't broken his cover, no. He hadn't killed the old man, certainly!
So where had the dream come from? Voldemort? Repressed emotions? The need to kill something?
"Well, I haven't been on a raid since before the First Task," Harry reminded himself. He'd been so busy doing his homework and dealing with a school full of teenagers who couldn't seem to decide if they liked or hated him that he hadn't been able to slip out and join Voldemort on his bi-weekly raids. The Dark Lord had understood, and Harry hadn't thought it would be a problem, having spent his first year without leaving the building to kill anyone. But first year hadn't been this obnoxious and he'd had ten years before then to get the killing out of his system. But now...
Harry slipped out of bed and pulled out his Cloak and time-turner, then shadowed to a mundane village he knew of. A twist of his time-turner and he was ready to collect the souls of mundanes just going to bed. A village fire wouldn't be too much trouble to fake.
The Yule Ball was far more pleasant the second time, Harry decided. It helped that he hadn't been required to attend, and that he hadn't struggled about whom to ask. It also helped that he knew how to dance, and didn't mind it so much. And, of course, Luna didn't have the impression that this date meant anything beyond that they were friends.
Luna also looked lovely, far lovelier than Parvati, who sat angrily next to Ron on the other side of the room. Luna and Harry had done their formal robe shopping together, coming dressed in similar blue-grey robes. Harry had gotten her an earring and necklace combo of a moon set with sapphires, which matched the colour of her eyes almost perfectly. He'd also found her a gold hair clasp with dangling hearts and helped her put it in her hair. Without the odd jewellery and with her hair up, she looked absolutely stunning, and Harry couldn't help the smirk that took over his lips when he caught some of their classmates' stunned looks.
"Well, well, Loony. You clean up pretty well," Lillian commented as she and her date, a fifth year named Terrence Higgs, stopped at their table.
Terrence had gone with the clichéd Slytherin green and silver, but Lillian had pandered more towards her own looks. She'd hunted down some beautiful bronze robes which matched her eyeliner and helped bring out the flecks of bronze in her eyes. She'd left her long black hair down, but twisted it in some silver strands of something – Harry wasn't honestly sure what – so it rested over her right shoulder and caught the candlelight of the hall. She'd gone with plain silver studs for her ears and worn the silver and gold lily pendant she'd received just that morning as a Christmas gift from Harry.
"You don't look too hideous either, Moon," Luna replied, smiling a bit absently at the older girl.
Harry rolled his eyes, then motioned to the empty seats. "You look fantastic, Lil." He glanced at the Slytherin boy. "Higgs."
"Potter," Terrence replied politely enough.
Lillian smiled at her date and let him pull out a chair for her next to her friend. "So, I know you've heard that Millie and Trace both had to go home, but you'll never guess who Morag caught!"
"Victor Krum?" Harry suggested, amused.
Lillian gently smacked his arm. "You're no fun. Isn't it exciting? I heard he asked your mudblood, Granger, but she turned him down. Can you imagine?"
"Hermione went home for the holiday," Harry pointed out.
"I bet she's just making sure her parents aren't dead." Lillian sniffed. "Stupid mudblood. Like the Dark Lord has any interest in her parents in particular."
"Mind if we take these seats?" a familiar voice asked from behind the open seats across the table.
Lillian immediately sneered at Terry, Li and their dates. "We don't want a bunch of mudbl–"
Harry shot her a look and her mouth snapped shut, then he looked curiously at his friends. "If you really want to sit with us, you're welcome to them."
"Harry!" Lillian hissed.
Zacharias Smith, Li's date, sat while Li and Terry traded looks. Once those two had taken seats, Padma Patil slipped into the open seat next to Terry.
Before anymore could be said, the three Champions entered and made their way up to the top table. Once they were seated, Dumbledore made a show of how they should order their food and everyone set about doing it, many delighting in the ability to order whatever caught their fancy, rather than having to ask for it to be passed down the table.
At Harry's table, orders were murmured and they ate with only the occasional mention of how nice someone looked.
Once the dancing was started, Lillian flounced off with Terrence, leaving the Ravenclaws and single Hufflepuff to 'talk like Gryffindors'. Harry leaned forward, eyeing his friends curiously. He wasn't about to start talking, but he saw no reason to walk away, either. Padma and Zacharias sat back, content to let the talk flow. Harry couldn't help but wonder how much the two had been able to figure out. Padma would probably have a better idea of things than Zacharias, but the Hufflepuff had proven himself to be quite Slytherin-like in Harry's original life.
Terry and Li traded looks, then glanced back at Harry. "Harry, I'm–" Terry started.
"We are," Li insisted.
"Yeah, we. Both of us are sorry, for acting like..." Terry frowned.
"Mice fleeing in terror?" Zacharias helpfully suggested.
"Do not be a prat," Li ordered her date.
"You knowing we were going to react that way doesn't absolve us," Terry added, frowning a bit. "We've been friends since first year, back when everything in the magical world confused me and Li only knew a little bit of English. Without you, we would have been lost."
"You'd have managed," Harry commented, shaking his head. They had, in fact, during his first life.
"Maybe so, but not as well," Li pointed out. "You have treated us, always, as your friends. Even back in second year, when we spoke so often of Lockhart–"
"Can we not mention the peacock?" Harry requested.
Li grinned. "Even then, you were our friend. You avoided us a bit, yes, but if we really needed you, you came."
"Even that one time Li asked for your help about deciding on which robe to wear to Lockhart's first class," Terry added, smiling a bit.
"Not mentioning the peacock!"
"Although, to be fair, as soon as he realised what you were asking him for, he sort of ran out of the common room, fingers in his ears and shouting at the top of his lungs," Padma offered.
"In Czech," Luna helpfully added.
"I'm multilingual," Harry defended, then turned to his date with an odd look. "How did you know that was Czech, anyway?"
"I asked the Bi–"
"Anyway!" Terry interrupted, knowing Luna well enough to expect her answer's uselessness. "What Li and I are trying to say is, you're our best friend, have been all along. You've forgiven us our faults, why can't we forgive you yours?"
"Forgive his faults?" Lillian snorted, stopping behind the mundane-born. "You are disturbingly Gryffindor. Harry, they honestly consider you the one at fault?"
"Why don't you bloody well shut up, Moon?" Terry hissed, turning to look at the Slytherin.
"Why should I, mudblood?"
Harry opened his mouth to tell them to quit it when a hissing reached him. To anyone else, it would sound like a whisper, but to a Parselmouth, it was communication, and there was only one other Parselmouth in the world other than Harry. :I'll be calling Severus tonight. If you want to attend – and I suggest you do so, Potter – the meeting will be shortly. Enjoy your ball.:
The others had all stopped arguing to eye Harry a bit strangely while he cocked his head to one side and frowned. Then, suddenly, he cast a silent tempus before turning to look at the head table. The others followed his gaze and they all were watching as Snape suddenly jerked in his seat and grabbed his left arm. Panic and fear flashed in his eyes for a brief moment before he looked as calm as ever, though he was paler than usual. The students watched as the man hurried over to the Headmaster before leaving the Hall.
"Hmm..." Harry rubbed at his chin. So, Snape was definitely still working for Dumbledore at the moment, not that there was ever any doubt. By his fearful look, he probably thought he would be killed that night. Unmindful of his friends, Harry silently cast the Parsel communication spell and murmured, :Snape is on his way. If we let him go tonight, let me know the moment he leaves. I'd like to know what he says to Dumbledore afterwards.:
"You're a Parselmouth!" Lillian realised, eyes wide.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the students on the other side of the table. The three Ravenclaws and Zacharias had all gone pale. Lillian looked shocked, while Terrence looked almost greedy. "Funny you mentioned Czech earlier, Luna," he said, wand in one hand under the table, "as I happen to know of this wonderful Czech spell for keeping secrets. It goes something like jen pamatovat, nikdy mluvit."
Harry sat back, a faint smirk on his lips as the six on the other side of the table all tried to talk about him being a Parseltongue, only to find themselves incapable. While they were having a minor panic attack – which Harry felt a little bad for, really, but he didn't need Dumbledore getting suspicious about his unusual gift – Voldemort's voice drifted back to him. :Are you incapable of going back yourself once you know for sure?:
Harry's – or more likely Xerosis' – voice commented from near Voldemort, :You're an idiot. Everyone knows you can only have two versions of a time-turner in existence at any given time.:
:Shut up, Potter!: Voldemort snarled. :You attacked the Ministry and you didn't think to grab a second time-turner?:
:And do what with it? I'd have to switch time-turners in between uses. Do you know how utterly obnoxious that would be? I'd probably– Ah. Snape just apparated in downstairs. Harry, the meeting will take approximately an hour. I'll have the red-eyed git let you know exactly when Snape is off.:
:Don't refer to me as a git, Potter!:
:Oh, and obliviate Higgs, won't you? He's not worth the security risk.:
Harry shrugged to himself and absently shot an obliviate at the older Slytherin, commenting, "I have more faults than I think you could forgive, Terry. I once asked you if you'd feel sad if your brother died, and you told me you would. I wouldn't. In fact, I'd happily wring his neck." He stood, hand held out to Luna. "When you can forgive me for that, we'll have this talk again. Come on, Luna, this is my favourite song."
Luna smiled a bit absently and allowed Harry to lead her out to the dance floor. After a moment, she asked, "When are you leaving me for your meeting?"
Harry smiled at her fondly. "Approximately an hour."
"I have to share you with Moon, though, don't I?" She looked up at him with sad eyes.
Harry chuckled and kissed her cheek. "I do so adore you, Luna."
Luna's eyes lit up. "Does that mean I'm your favourite?"
"Like there was ever a doubt. Don't worry, Luna, I'll never have anyone I'm more fond of then you."
Luna's smile turned a little odd. "You shouldn't make promises you cannot keep, Harry."
Harry frowned and shook his head. "Don't be silly."
"I wonder," Luna commented, "whether it was Ginny Weasley you loved, or the monster who lived silent within her."
Harry stopped, watching the girl with wide eyes. "What do you–?"
Luna's smile was back to its usual absent self. "If you don't want to dance, you should get me some punch. It's only polite."
Harry stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Sometimes, my dear, you are distinctly unsettling."
"Thank you, my Lord."
He shook his head and took up her arm again. "One more song, and then I'll get you two cups of punch. Agreed?"
"Of course." Luna smiled at him as he started around the dance floor again.
One day, perhaps, he would understand his best friend. But not today.
Xerosis was leaning against the far wall, hiding in the shadows, when Snape finally walked in. The man walked quickly up to Voldemort and knelt, not even sparing a glance for the second chair. Voldemort didn't look up from the report he was reading about the most recent raid. Xerosis made a mental note to steal the parchment later, since the Prophet never reported everything that had happened, and he was tired of getting shoddy news.
"Severus, I've had some very...disturbing news about you," Voldemort finally said, glancing up from his parchment.
Snape remained motionless, but Xerosis thought he caught a faint gulp.
"Xerosis," the Dark Lord called, glancing up at the shadowed corner, "your chair grows cold."
"Hm, I suppose it does," the boy agreed, stepped smoothly from his hiding place and taking his usual seat. "So this is your double agent."
Snape glanced up through his hair and tensed as he saw the apparent vampire, who bore a striking resemblance to James Potter, with his short hair and the shape of his face, but his eyes were far lighter than James' had been. Harry Potter had slightly longer hair and his eyes had never been quite as creepy as the child sitting next to the Dark Lord, though they appeared to be around the same age.
"Yes." Voldemort's lips curled with a cold smile. "Ah, of course. Severus, this is Lord Xerosis, my partner. I don't think you will have heard of him."
"That is rather obnoxious, you know," the boy commented. "I spent so much time wrecking the Ministry and making that new statue and what does the magical world think of me?"
Voldemort shot the teen an amused look. "That you're my latest conquest?"
"No offense, Voldemort, but ew."
The Dark Lord snorted.
Xerosis leaned forward quickly, causing Snape to jerk back in surprise. The boy smiled widely at him, flashing fake fangs, then said, "Hello, little spy. I've heard all sorts of stories about you and your misdeeds. Your crush on Evans. Your long-time rivalry with James Potter and the life debt you once owed him, but now owe his son." He tapped his chin. "You owe Harry Potter a life debt. How are you at all useful?"
Snape turned to Voldemort. "Please, my Lord, I am in Dumbledore's employ! The old man trusts me! I... I'm part of his Order!"
"Crucio," Voldemort cast, then turned to his partner while Snape writhed. "Your appearance is disturbing my minions."
"I'll work harder on growing up," Xerosis replied, rolling his eyes.
"See that you do." Voldemort removed his curse and considered his Death Eater while the man gasped and regained his kneeling position. "Severus, I will forgive your slip this time, but don't forget the next time that when Lord Xerosis is in attendance, you will address him as you would myself."
"Apologies, my Lords," Snape gasped.
"Being part of the Order could be useful, I suppose," Xerosis commented, "but only if he doesn't leave anything out of his reports."
Voldemort glanced at him. "Do you have a way to ensure he's telling the truth? Preferably one that leaves him capable of continuing to be useful."
"Take all the fun out of my life why don't you," Xerosis griped before snorting. "I have a few things up my sleeves."
Voldemort glanced back at his minion, who was watching them both with fear in his eyes. "Severus, here's your first chance: I want to know everything that Dumbledore has planned since I announced my return."
"I want to know how long Dumbledore has suspected you've been back. And did our spy tell him."
Snape looked between them, then nodded and quickly explained the actions that Dumbledore had taken so far, including recruiting numbers. He explained the arguments that Dumbledore had been having with Fudge about how they would handle Voldemort's return. As it was, the Ministry and the Order were utter crap at working together. (Things were getting a little better since Tonks had just graduated auror training and was a member of the Order. The Weasleys had also joined – they hadn't during the first war due to having so many small children around the house – which gave the Order at least two Ministry personnel.)
It turned out that Dumbledore had guessed about Voldemort's return almost as soon as Quirrell had disappeared. When the professor had just up and left, Dumbledore had checked on the Stone and, finding it missing, went to find Snape. The old man had been in the room the moment Snape's mark had turned black to announce Voldemort's return to life. Dumbledore had only been able to gather a small group of the 'old crowd' without any solid proof, but they'd been making plans for years, for all that they'd been such a small number.
When Snape hadn't been called after two years, the Order had started falling apart again, insisting it was just a false alarm. That none of the Death Eaters in Azkaban had been freed was also a point against Voldemort's return. Dumbledore had tried to argue against the Tournament, but his claims of it attracting trouble had fallen on deaf ears.
When the unveiling had occurred on Hallowe'en, no one had been ready for it, not even the Order, although they'd started recruiting early the next morning and the older members had all reported to Dumbledore as soon as the news got out about the attack. However, without Snape spying, they were unable to figure out when or where Voldemort might attack. It didn't help that the Dark Lord had done a fair bit of attacking magical people last time, but this time he was focussing more on the mundanes, which was way harder to predict.
The two Dark Lords considered Snape's words while the man stayed still on the ground before them.
"You loved Lily," Xerosis murmured, "and you were once friends with her. Why did you ask for her safety?"
"My Lord–" Snape started.
"And Snape, don't give me any bollocks about how much you loved her. She might have forgiven you for putting her family on the line, but how did you expect her her to forgive you for saving her, while her family died?"
Voldemort sat back with a faint frown, not sure he understood the point of his partner's question, but willing to let the teen do as he pleased. Xerosis knew far more about Severus' motivations than he did.
Snape swallowed and looked down at the ground. After a long moment, he said, "Perhaps she would never have forgiven me, but at least she'd still be alive. She was... an amazing woman, able to charm everyone around her, even the purebloods who snubbed their nose at her dirty blood. I thought, maybe... maybe she could end the war, one way or another. Without Potter and his spawn, she could focus on finding a way to end things."
Xerosis glanced for a moment at Voldemort, who was sneering at the words of his minion, then glanced back at Snape. "You would have taken away her reason for fighting," he commented and Snape flinched.
:Potter, I grow tired of this,: Voldemort warned and Snape flinched again at the sound of the snake-tongue.
Xerosis waved a hand at him. :Yes, I know, your whole 'love is a weakness' shtick. Well, you can continue ignoring it, but if you want Snape back, you'll have to use love against him. You be silent and I'll handle him.:
Below them, Snape had tensed, his wide eyes disbelieving. This creature, this second Dark Lord with a child's body, was a Parselmouth? No wonder the Dark Lord was letting him play second leader.
Voldemort hissed wordlessly, displeased, but motioned for Xerosis to continue.
The teen smiled faintly. "Perhaps you weren't too far off the mark, Snape, as Lily's sacrifice is what ended the war. Not permanently, no, but it did bring it to a momentary end. If Voldemort–" Snape flinched again. "–hadn't offered to let her live, Harry Potter would have never survived that curse." Xerosis paused and blinked in thought. "Does that mean you were truly the one to bring a holiday to the war, then?"
"Xerosis," Voldemort growled.
The teen smiled at him. "You're fun." Then he looked back at Snape, who was once again frozen in disbelief. "Snape, here's what you can do: When you report to Dumbledore tonight, tell him about me – you can even tell him about my being a Parselmouth and my disturbingly similar appearance to James Potter – and you can tell him about our inquiries into the doings of the Order. Leave all mention of Lily in your mind. Think about things, certainly, but don't mention her."
Snape swallowed and whispered, "Was that all, my Lords?"
Voldemort glanced at Xerosis, who smirked knowingly, then sneered down at his minion. "Not quite. Crucio."
After a long round of Cruciatus, Voldemort finally let his spy go, then sent Harry a message letting him know Snape had left. Once that was taken care of, he turned to the apparent vampire next to him and scowled. "Leave out all mentions of love next time, Potter."
Xerosis chuckled. "You're fun."
"Potter!"
The teen turned sideways in his chair and hooked his legs over one arm. "Snape did – will do – as ordered. Gibbering a bit, but he does act well. If nothing else, the overuse of the Cruciatus has assured Dumbledore that you're still mad as a hatter, even if he's confused by why you'd share power. He probably thinks I'm the sane one of the operation, if nothing else."
Voldemort snorted. "You're not sane."
"Yes, thank you." Xerosis rolled his eyes. "But I speak the Language of Love, which Dumbledore believes whole-heartedly in, so he'll see me as the real threat of the two of us."
"I might just throw up," Voldemort grumbled, then glanced thoughtfully at the teen, who was chuckling. "I will admit that, if not for you, we wouldn't be doing half as well."
"Hm. No, you wouldn't be," Xerosis agreed with the wisdom of someone who'd lived through this war once before. "But as awesome as I am, I still don't know what to do about Snape. Given, I've never much liked the man, though I did name a kid for him–"
"I think my mind just imploded."
"Shut up."
Voldemort snorted and relaxed back in his chair. "How do you intend to keep an eye on his actions?"
Xerosis sighed. "It will take some work, but once I've managed to figure out when and where the Order meetings are, I can easily slip inside and attend them. The only real problem, I think, will be if Dumbledore does as he did last time and puts the building under Fidelius. On one hand, that could wreck everything. On the other hand, being who I am to him and his organization, I might well be invited in."
Voldemort nodded, looking thoughtful. "You're supposedly the one who can defeat me. In your last life, you and I often faced each other, isn't that right?"
"Mm-hm."
"Then we shall have to contrive a meeting to assure Dumbledore that you're still on his side. He'll almost certainly allow you into his meetings then."
"Or, at the very least, his meeting place," Xerosis agreed. "January fourteenth is the first Hogsmeade visit of the new term. Perhaps it's a bit clichéd, but an attack on the students would properly assure Dumbledore that you're still the same, insane Voldemort as thirteen years ago. Without Xerosis there, it can be assumed that you – or some of your Death Eaters – got tired of only attacking mundanes and needed to take out some mudbloods."
"Again, assuring him you are the sane one." Voldemort rolled his eyes. "How does focussing on muggles make you the sane one, anyway?"
"Clearly I'm not as sane as he is, but I'm more sane than you," Xerosis commented drily. "Attacking the mundanes makes us more unpredictable, for one thing, and it keeps us from needlessly cutting down our own numbers. It's sensible as an attack strategy, not necessarily as an actual mindset."
"True. You're a Ravenclaw, how would me attacking Hogsmeade get you to act?"
"What, like I don't have friends?"
"Potter, keep your emotions to yourself."
Xerosis let out a loud laugh and had to grab the back of his chair to keep from falling to the floor.
Voldemort sneered. "I swore to leave your little friends alone."
Xerosis cocked his head to one side. "Actually, technically, I think you only swore not to kill them."
The Dark Lord shot him a curious look. "What's this, Harry Potter allowing me to torment his friends a bit? Have they finally irritated you with their love of muggles?"
"Tom, do me a favour and shut up," Xerosis muttered, sneering. "I'm saying you can torment them a little because two of them are mudbloods and it makes sense you'd target them. Also, it would get a plausible response from even a Ravenclaw, especially the sort of Ravenclaw that I appear to be with friends from three different Houses and two different years."
"It is disturbingly Gryffindor of you," Voldemort agreed, amused.
Xerosis just sort of stared at him for a long moment while Voldemort smirked. Finally, the teen said, "They're only fourteen and fifteen, however, so do try to be gentle with them. Well, as gentle as you ever get, I suppose."
Voldemort snorted. "I don't know what your mudbloods look like."
"What, you're not a mind-reader?"
"Potter, don't play muggle, it's beneath you."
Xerosis rolled his eyes and conjured a picture of his friends. As he named each of them, the picture zoomed in on them. "Terry Boot, Ravenclaw, mudblood. His mundane brother is abusive. Hermione Granger, Gryffindor, mudblood. Her parents are dentists and, for all that she was tormented in school for her intellect, she has a hard time seeing the evil in people, though she does seem to understand it exists. Li Su, Ravenclaw, half-blood. Her mother was killed in a mundane revolt in China before she and her father moved here. Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor, pureblood. He's the other child of prophecy and is actually surprisingly willing to support me in my hatred of mundanes. Luna Lovegood, Ravenclaw, pureblood. Her father runs the Quibbler and she knows what I am. Lillian Moon, Slytherin, pureblood. You've already met her."
"You told one of your friends about your dementor abilities?"
Xerosis smiled wryly. "She sort of figured it out herself." When Voldemort shot him a disbelieving look, the teen shrugged. "You'd have to meet her. Luna's an odd duck, but she's also my best friend. On that note, you should probably make as much a point about attacking her as you do Hermione and Terry. She won't mind."
"It makes an odd sort of sense that your 'best friend' would be as mad as you are."
"Almost as much sense as counting the man who tried to kill you when you were one among your friends."
"...Potter, keep your emotions–"
"–To myself, yes, I know." Xerosis waved a hand at the Dark Lord.
Voldemort scowled. "Anyone else I should specifically target?"
"Well, I'm technically on the outs with everyone but Luna and Lillian... Attacking Neville's good for posterity, I suppose."
"Other child of the prophecy, of course." Voldemort nodded and considered the picture a bit more, then waved his wand to disperse it. "The fourteenth?"
"Yes." Xerosis grimaced a bit. "Try and only bring Death Eaters who can behave, please? Not Bella, certainly."
Voldemort snorted. "I wouldn't bring Bella near children unless I intended for a couple of them to die. What time should all of your... friends be in Hogsmeade?"
"We usually lunch at the Three Broomsticks around one, assuming we can find a table. Whether everyone will stick to that when they're not talking to me, I can't be sure, but they'll definitely be in the village by then. We're all fourth years, so no one should see any point in staying behind, and if someone looks like they will, I'll find a way to get them there."
"I'll plan to attack a little before one, then. Pick your mudbloods, Longbottom and Lovegood out of the crowd, Crucio them a bit, then face off with you?"
Xerosis nodded, looking thoughtful. "Might as well grab Li with Terry, since they tend to stick together. I can probably get Luna to leave me for Terry and Li just before one, to make it easier to get to her. Knowing how most magical people react to your presence, there will probably be a stampede, which should give me a reason to come to the rescue a little belatedly." He grimaced a bit, feeling bad for knowingly causing his friends harm, but it needed to be done. "I will attempt to get them all in a general area to make attacking them easier, but I make no promises."
Voldemort shrugged. "I can direct the Death Eaters to bring them to me."
"Just make sure you bring Death Eaters that can think for themselves," Xerosis grumbled.
The Dark Lord shot him an amused look.
"Assuming you even have any," the teen added, flashing a smile at Voldemort.
Voldemort snorted. "Potter, go back to school."
Xerosis chuckled and slipped from his chair and into the nearest shadow and back to Hogwarts.
"We are not eating with them," Lillian hissed as soon as Luna was off on Harry's task to hunt down his other Ravenclaw friends with an offer of lunch.
"We always eat together," Harry pointed out a bit absently as he checked the pocket watch his Slytherin friend had given him for Christmas.
"Yeah, before they got all protective about the muggles."
"Potter, if you want to eat with your mudbloods, we'll happily leave you to it," Morag cut in, rolling her eyes.
"There's nothing saying we have to eat with them," Tracey agreed.
Lillian grimaced a bit, then glanced at Harry and rolled her eyes. "Merlin, Harry! What is it with you and that watch!"
Harry held a finger to his lips and leaned back against a nearby wall. He slipped the watch into his robe pocket as the screams began. "Feel free to start running for the school," he offered. "I doubt you'll want to stick around."
"What's going on?" Lillian demanded as people who had been calmly milling about started running every which way.
"Hm? Oh, the Dark Lord is paying a visit." Harry flashed the three girls a sharp smile.
"The Dark Lor–?" Morag started before she caught sight of the pale-skinned man with insane red eyes. "Merlin!"
"Why is he–?"
Voldemort started laughing and Harry's over-sensitive ears caught the sound of Luna and Hermione screaming. "That's my cue," he said, pushing himself off the wall and pulling out his phoenix wand. "I'll see you back at the school."
"You–" Lillian grabbed Harry's arm even as her friends all turned back towards the school. "Did you plan this with him, or–"
Harry leaned forward, getting in Lillian's face, bright green eyes intent. "I'll see you back at the school, Lillian."
Lillian let out a gasp and stumbled backwards. Shooting one last disbelieving look at him, she turned and fled, joining in the crowd of other students fleeing towards the school.
And then, loud and shrill above the crowd, Luna screamed, "Harry!"
Harry swallowed his pain at letting his friends be tortured, then set his shoulders and put on a concerned face. "Luna?" he called back, jumping into the crowds and pushing against them.
"Harry!" Luna screamed again, and her voice was accompanied by Hermione and Neville.
Voldemort laughed, and the fleeing people let out sounds of terror and doubled their attempts to flee. "Oh, you fool, fool children," he said. "Calling for your saviour."
"No!" Harry shouted, doubling his efforts against the crowd. "Let them go, you monster!" But who was the monster? The one casting the spell, or the one that had allowed him to?
Deep inside him, a small boy cried out for the friends he'd pointed out to the Dark Lord. The friends he'd told the man he could torture.
The next few moments, as Harry fought against the crowd and his friends screamed seemed like one long, terrible blur. And then, finally, he broke through and he found himself standing just behind his three friends as Voldemort ended his current round of Cruciatus. Harry briefly wondered about where Terry and Li were, but then he was dashing forward and getting between his friends and the Dark Lord before the man could cast again.
"Let them go!" he shouted. "I'm here, now let them go!"
Voldemort smiled cruelly. "Brave little Potter," he murmured, "ready to sacrifice everything for a mudblood and some blood traitors. How far the name 'Potter' has fallen."
"Fallen?" Harry demanded, losing himself in the Gryffindor he'd long ago buried. "I'd say it's risen, first by your defeat at the hand of an infant, and now with me standing against you. You're an abomination, Voldemort! An abomination of all things magical, with your hate of the very thing you are!"
Fury roared in red eyes, announcing to all in attendance that Harry had hit a nerve. "Crucio!" the Dark Lord snarled.
Harry bit his lip against the pain, refusing to scream. Refusing to give anyone, not even Voldemort, that much power over him.
Green and red duelled as the pain curse was ended. And then, as if by some silent signal, Harry was rolling away and reaching for his wand at the same time as the Dark Lord shot a Killing Curse which went wide, missing Harry's helpless friends as much as it missed the green-eyed teen.
Harry tossed a shield spell over each of his friends, dodging the Dark curses Voldemort shot at him. Adrenaline brought a grin to Harry's lips as he ducked another curse and finally returned his own spell. He didn't remember having this much fun in a duel since...
...since the Final Battle, all those decades ago.
Voldemort tossed Dark curse after Dark curse, usually aiming for Harry, but sometimes he'd turn on one of Harry's shuddering friends and the teen would be forced to stop dodging and come to their rescue, occasionally with a summoning charm, but usually with another shield spell. When he wasn't protecting his friends, Harry was casting the lighter spells he knew, trying to keep them to those learned in fifth year and below, considering that a Ravenclaw might very well go searching for harder spells.
And then, a new player emerged and Voldemort found himself faced with Albus Dumbledore, resplendent in bright orange robes. Harry's eyes followed the old man's wand for a moment, hungry, before he forced himself to turn away and run to his friends. "Hermione! Neville! Luna!"
Hermione and Neville had crawled or been summoned closer and were leaning against each other, quietly crying. Luna curled on her side near them, offering Harry a strained smile.
It took Harry a moment to decide between the Gryffindors and his best friend before he was kneeling at Luna's side and gently lifting her head into his lap. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
One shaking hand with a radish ring gripped his. "It was my choice," she replied before coughing.
Harry snapped his wand in a too-familiar healing spell and relaxed when he found nothing but the expected damage from Cruciatus exposure. Voldemort hadn't over-done it on Luna, at least. "Can you move?" he asked, running a gentle hand through her hair.
Luna smiled. "Not like you can," she offered.
Harry's lips twitched with a small smile and he leaned down to whisper into her ear, "After a while, you start to develop a resistance to the Cruciatus."
Luna let out a half-wheeze, half-laugh and let Harry help her to her feet. He supported her as they stumbled over to Hermione and Neville.
After casting the medical scan again and assuring himself the Gryffindors were fine, Harry slumped a bit, his adrenaline gone with his relief. He may have some resistance to the Cruciatus, true, but no one cast the pain curse quite like Voldemort; it had taken a lot out of him.
Hermione reached forward and touched one of the burns on Harry's arm that had gotten past his defence. He winced slightly and she bit her lower lip between shaking teeth. "Oh, Harry..." she whispered.
"I'm okay," Harry assured her.
Hermione let out a strangled sound and half-fell forward against his chest, shaking arms wrapping around his waist. She shook with sobs and the after-effects of the Cruciatus and Harry gently wrapped his arms back around her shoulders, quietly shushing her. Luna leaned against him, eyes slipping shut with exhaustion. Neville met Harry's gaze for a long moment, deep pain in his dark eyes, and Harry reached out one hand for the pureblood to take and squeezed his hand when he did.
Cracks of apparation let them know that the Death Eaters and Voldemort were all gone, and shortly after that someone – McGonagall, Harry recognised through his exhaustion – conjured a large stretcher for all of them and ferried them up to the castle together while Dumbledore, Moody, Flitwick and Sprout remained to help with the villagers and distract the people away from the four students.
Harry forced himself to remain awake long enough to ensure that Madam Pomfrey had a stock of potion for the Cruciatus and take his dose. Then he let himself slip into blissful sleep, even as he was being separated from his friends and ferried to a bed.
"You could have been killed!" Lillian hissed.
Harry tiredly rubbed at his forehead. "I did what I had to do."
"But fighting the Dark Lord? You're fourteen!"
"He was torturing my friends! If that was you under his wand, would you prefer I save myself?" Harry snapped, already done with the argument. Lillian knew he had had some sort of part in planning of the attack, but that didn't keep her from yelling at him about it. And he understood, honest he did, but she didn't honestly think he would have gotten himself into something he couldn't get himself back out of, did she?
"I'd have expected you to do the Slytherin thing and save your own bloody arse! You stupid, idiot–!" Her shouts broke off with a sob and she covered her face with her hands.
Harry sighed. Sometimes, Lillian was so much more mature than his other friends that he completely forgot that she was only fifteen. He reached out his hand and touched the side of her face. "Lil, I'm sorry," he whispered and quickly found his arms full of Slytherin girl. He hugged her gently, absently noting that her hair was a mess and there was a blot of ink on one sleeve. He really must have worried her, for her to have lost her usual care for her appearance.
Finally, the girl pulled away, dragging a sleeve across her eyes to hide the evidence of her crying. "Stupid half-blood," she muttered.
Harry smiled and pulled a tissue out of the box next to his bed. "Silly pureblood, not trusting me," he replied quietly as he leaned forward to wipe away the liquid she'd missed. "I'm not suicidal, Lil."
She huffed at him a bit. "You went rushing in like some sort of reckless Gryffindor, fighting the Dark Lord like you thought you had a chance."
Harry smiled knowingly even as Hermione, two beds down, couldn't hold her tongue any longer and snapped, "Someone has to fight that monster!"
Lillian's eyes darkened with anger and she leaned around Harry to snap, "You're only saying that because you're a mudblood! Maybe we would have been better off–!"
"Lillian," Harry said quietly, steel in his voice.
The Slytherin's mouth snapped shut and she turned away, flushing an angry red.
Hermione's eyes lit with victory and, the next bed over, Neville sighed before commenting, "Hermione, give it a rest. Please?"
"But, Neville–!"
Neville frowned at her, then glanced past her to where Harry was quietly murmuring to Lillian. Luna watched him with wide, innocent eyes that knew too much. "Hermione, think. V-Vol..." He swallowed and shook his head. "You Know Who is cruel and vicious. He doesn't leave opponents alive unless it benefits him in some way."
Hermione blinked. "So?"
"We're still alive," the boy said, eyes flickering to Luna's again. He shuddered as a smile curled her pale lips.
Hermione blinked again, then her eyes widened in understanding. "Why would Voldemort leave us alive? I'm muggleborn and you're from a family that's always fought against him. So why would he–?"
The girl fell silent as a silencing barrier fell over their little corner of beds and the two Gryffindors turned to where Harry was watching them, wand twirling in one hand while the other held his chin. Lillian sat beside him in her visitor's chair, watching them defiantly.
Luna helpfully offered, "You thought it would be Hermione who caught on faster."
"Hm. So I did," Harry agreed, absently reaching into his hospital robes and pulling out a sickle, which he flipped to Luna. "Sorry, Neville."
Neville shook his head, hand buried in his sheets as it shook with the memories of the Cruciatus. "You want the muggles dead, same as Him," he said, meeting Harry's eyes in spite of his fear.
Harry's eyes were sad even as his face remained blank. "Yes," he agreed.
"And muggleborns?" Hermione demanded, one hand grasping for her wand.
"That, Voldemort and I do not agree on," Harry replied evenly, apparently not noticing Lillian's violent twitch at the Dark Lord's name. "Hermione, if you point your wand at me, I will curse you," he added as the girl's fingers closed around the vine wood handle.
Hermione's shoulders tensed, but she left her wand turned slightly to one side, still gripped in one hand.
"You've... you've spoken to Him, then," Neville decided, swallowing with difficulty. He wished his own wand was in his hand, but it lay just out of his reach on the table behind him.
Harry considered them for a moment, then inclined his head. "Yes."
"And that attack...?"
Harry's eyes closed, briefly, in regret. "I'm sorry for that," he allowed. "I... never wanted you hurt. Any of you." His green eyes flickered over his three friends while the hand holding his wand touched Lillian's hand, silently including her. "But our choices were few."
Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "You asked him to torture us?!"
"No."
"Then what?! You mentioned your friends in conversation and the two of you just thought it might be fun to have us tortured for your amusement?"
"Do not think, for one moment, that I got any amusement out of that," Harry spat, eyes flashing with fury as the temperature around them dropped. "Don't think me so heartless–"
"What do you expect us to think?" Hermione demanded. "You go around hating muggles and talking to Voldemort about attacking Hogsmeade and torturing us–"
"You have no idea what mundanes are capable of!" Harry shouted. "You can't even begin to imagine what those... those monsters are capable of!"
"And you can?"
"He doesn't have to imagine," Luna quietly cut in, shivering absently in the cold. "Harry, it's a bit chilly in here."
Harry breathed in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, forcing his power back. "Sorry," he whispered, silently casting a blanket warming charm for the others.
Luna smiled at him and snuggled down in her covers.
"What did Loony mean?" Lillian asked while the Gryffindors were still busy processing the youngest witch's comment.
Harry shot his best friend an irritated look and she blinked innocently at him before commenting, "They have the right to know."
"Know what?" Hermione asked, drawing her blankets closer around her. "What aren't you telling us, Harry?"
Harry's eyes flickered to Hermione and Neville, then to Lillian, sitting at his back with a thunderous expression. With a sigh, he leaned back against his pillows. "This is my second life, a second chance, really. The first time, I fought Voldemort and won and became an auror and had a family and everything. It was..." He smiled faintly, pain dark in his eyes. "When we were almost seventy, the mundane Prime Minister who had just been voted in was the sort of man who hated magic. He lashed out, telling the rest of the world about us during a worldwide broadcast.
"We never stood a chance. Once the mundanes knew about us, they did everything they could to destroy us. They attacked anyone even suspected of having magic, even children." Harry closed his eyes against the horror in their eyes. "They hunted us down like animals until only a handful remained, running through dying forests and struggling to survive for even another hour."
"You..." Neville breathed.
Harry chuckled bitterly. "I was killed with a shotgun," he offered, glancing at Hermione, the only one who would truly understand his words, "like some sort of game they'd been hunting. When I got to Purgatory, I was given a choice: Live, or die and go to hell for my crimes. I chose to live, to change the world. To kill the mundanes before they could kill us."
Hermione looked away from those bitter, too-old eyes. She looked down at her wand, remembering how happy she'd been to join this world. Remembering how amazing it had felt to know that there was another world she could explore, more things to learn, wonders to see.
"At that party," Lillian murmured, breaking the heavy silence, "when you were disguised as a vampire, you said... You said you were, ninety..."
"I'm ninety-eight, counting both of my lives together," he murmured. "I restarted this life the moment my father died. My first memory is of my mum telling me goodbye." His jaw clenched. "She was mundane-born, same as you, Hermione. Same as Terry."
"The muggleborns were as much a victim as the purebloods," Neville murmured, feeling sick to his stomach. His friend had lived through so much, and still he fought.
'I knew a long time ago that this would happen,' Harry had said back in the library those many months ago, after Hermione had stormed off.
"Why did you befriend us on the train?" Neville wanted to know. Needed to know. "Why didn't you just walk away?"
Harry considered him, head cocked to one side. "Why? Because you were my friends. Because, once upon a time, when the world was falling apart around my ears, I had five best friends who stood beside me, three of whom are in this room. And because I'm a selfish old man."
Hermione looked up at the boy she'd turned her back on because he saw a different world from her, because he'd looked beyond the happy stone walls protecting them and seen a threat. Harry had never been anything but kind to her, and she had hated him because he saw the world differently from her. She was no better than Lillian and her fellow purebloods, seeing only the surface, not bothering to look beneath. Not bothering to wonder what terrible things must have turned her friend into a muggle-hater.
Hermione burst into tears, hating herself.
The others were silent for a moment, shocked, and then Harry was scrambling from his bed and over to her, gently pulling her into a hug. "Shush, Hermione. It's okay..."
"I-I'm s-so-sorry," Hermione sobbed, burying her face in the stiff hospital robes.
"I know," Harry whispered, laying a gentle kiss against her bushy hair. "I've already forgiven you." He smiled. "I could hardly blame you for being yourself, now could I?"
Hermione just held him tighter, silently swearing to herself that she would stand by Harry no matter what. Because he was her friend and he cared for her in spite of her faults. Because he had never stopped being her friend, no matter how much she scorned him. She could never repay him for that, but she could try.
Following the Hogsmeade attack, Harry suddenly found himself being the centre of attention everywhere. In his classes and the hallways, he found people hopefully looking to him, expecting him to save them. Inside, he sneered at them and how pathetic they were, but outwardly he smiled uncertainly at them and hid behind his friends when he could.
He also found that, after telling his friends the truth, Neville, Hermione and Lillian were closer to him than ever. The three of them had even come to a silent agreement to leave their arguments behind them and made a point of keeping wide-eyed students from mobbing him in the hallways or awkwardly questioning him in classes.
The other good thing to come from the Hogsmeade attack was Sirius' insistence that Harry be allowed to stay at the Order Headquarters that summer while the wards around his and Sirius' cottage were upgraded by a well-paid goblin team. The new wards would keep anyone Sirius or Harry didn't officially welcome onto the property out. That meant no more stalking from Barty, but Harry could deal with that. (He'd just have to stalk his favourite Death Eater at Malfoy Manor, instead.)
But once summer started, Harry would finally be able to watch Snape at the the Order meetings and they could decide where he stood. Harry might have to manipulate him more, but that wouldn't be too hard. In fact, it might even be fun.
As the end of the year finally drew to a close, the TriWizard Tournament ended, with Krum coming out with the Cup first, expression victorious. Cedric reached the centre second, putting Hogwarts in second place and making Beauxbatons the last, much to their disgust.
Finally, the students were climbing onto the train, laughing and giggling about their summer plans.
Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna settled in their usual compartment, Luna sitting on the ground at Harry's feet. Hermione was curiously asking if the position was comfortable when the door opened to show a nervous Li and Terry.
"May we... join you?" Terry asked.
"You may," Harry agreed, "if you want to."
Terry met his unflinching gaze and nodded. "Yeah."
Everyone shuffled a bit to accommodate their additions. Conversation picked right back up, Luna politely asking Hermione, "Would you like to try it? I find it's most soothing."
Hermione considered that for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm not quite as small as you, Luna."
"Suit yourself," Luna replied, leaning back against Harry's legs and smiling when a hand carded gently through her hair.
They had been travelling for a good two hours when Terry finally cleared his throat and Harry glanced at him from over his Quibbler. "I..." Terry shook his head. "A, uhm, a gay couple moved in down the street from us just after Christmastime. My brother... Well, he's being... difficult."
Harry narrowed his eyes. "He's attacking them?"
"Verbally," Terry agreed quietly. "One of them's kind of big, Mum was saying, so he's not about to go trading blows with them, but he's been really rude. Mum tried to get him to stop, and when he wouldn't, she kicked him out of the house." He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, which he handed over to Harry.
Harry raised an eyebrow at the contents. "An address?"
Terry licked his lips. "My brother's. I..."
Harry smiled knowingly. "It's different when it's other people who are being attacked."
Terry looked away, which was as good an agreement as anything.
Harry leaned forward, lips curled with a sharp smile. "Terry, if I go to visit your brother, you'll never see him again."
Terry took a deep breath, then looked up at Harry, scared but determined. "Good," he whispered.
Harry gently reached up and patted Terry's cheek before sitting back and slipping the paper into a pocket. "As long as you understand that," he offered, picking his magazine back up.
There was a long silence, and then Hermione said, "Just... make sure he suffers a bit."
Green eyes smirked at her from behind the Quibbler. "Don't worry, Hermione, he'll get what's coming to him."
Terry shuddered minutely, but there was a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Harry smiled back at his article. At the beginning of the year, he didn't think he'd have any friends left, and here he sat, with those same people from the start of the year. Maybe things were a little more strained, but they were still there.
Harry hadn't lost anything, after all.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Aaaaand... another rushed second half. *sigh* Oh well. Forgive me?
I never intended for Hermione and Neville to find out the truth, and certainly never Lillian. That part just sort of wrote itself. (On the other hand, it's the only part of this chapter that didn't give me fits, so...)
Further debate about Harry sort of handing them over to Voldemort was ignored for the moment. It may come up again in the future, may not. Haven't decided yet. XD
Kudos to Mari23 (FFN) for catching a boo-boo in the Czech spell.
~Bats ^.^x
Pro - If We Could Only Turn Back Time / 1 - Long Road
2 - Never As It Seems ||| 3 - The Bad Man, the Sad Man ||| 4 - Armies of Robbers and Thieves
8 - Reach Any Star ||| 9 - Cold Fields ||| 10 - Ice Inside Your Soul
11 - King of Anything
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Date: 12/6/11 01:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 12/6/11 04:03 (UTC)