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🕑 Added 2022-10-13 02:24:25 +0000 UTCChapter 29- Death's Due
The entire family had descended into misery. Joy was absent from the household since the fateful day. They were rarely seen outside from their manor. News had spread around Wizarding Britain about the attack. To the added misery of the Potters, the news about Bellatrix’s miscarriage and her condition had been leaked to the Daily Prophet.
Charlus, Arcturus or Harry would have torn into the newspaper office, if they had paid attention to the news. Harry and Bellatrix had shrunk into their own. It had been days since the two had spoken a word. She had not left his side and he had been with her for every moment of the day.
They had locked themselves in their room and none barring Narcissa or Andromeda could go in. The two women tried hard to bring the two of them out of their current state, but it was futile. The other members of the family had not seen the two of them since that day and if not for Narcissa and Andromeda telling them about their condition, none would have known.
Dorea and Narcissa had not stopped going through the vast resources in the family library. They had been looking for a solution that thus far had evaded them. What they did know was Bellatrix was a very strong girl. She won’t take any hasty decisions and try something that she should not. In the situation the poor girl was, anything was possible.
Harry had promised that he would not leave her side and he kept up with his word. He tried his level best to comfort the girl, despite the pain in his heart. She wouldn’t sleep. She wouldn’t eat. She wouldn’t talk much. Harry had been patient throughout all of this. He made sure she ate and slept, even though his attempts at getting her to eat were humongous.
“Bell?” The girl hummed quietly. Harry pulled the girl close to him and she snuggled into his side. “I am fine, Harry.” She whispered.
“You need to let go, love. I know it's killing you, but you have to put it all out.”
“You just don’t understand, Harry.” Bellatrix began. Her tone was an annoyed one. He tells her this every single day. He tells her this every hour and every time he says that, it just annoys her.
“You won’t understand.” Harry held her hand in his. “Then talk to me, love.”
“You just don’t get it.” Her eyes began to tear up. “I lost my baby. I lost him before I could name him. I lost him before he could call me ‘Mama’. I lost him before he could call you ‘daddy’. I lost him before he could take his first steps. I don’t get to see him do his first bout of accidental magic. I won’t see him light up at the thought of stealing our wands and trying to do magic on his own. I don’t get to see his Grandparents doting on him. I don’t get to see him go to Hogwarts. And now, I won’t have the opportunity to ever have a child.” She screamed and Harry felt her magic flare forcefully.
“Everybody else will have kids with their husbands and I can’t give you one.” She raved and started crying freely. Harry held the girl in his arms and let her vent. She cried and Harry just let her cry. He wanted her to vent. He was fed up with her being quiet and suffering by herself.
“I understand.” Harry whispered once she had begun to calm down. “I don’t think I will ever know what you are feeling, but I myself am devastated that something like this happened. But we have to live with it, my love.” He whispered. “We have no choice but to live with it.”
Bellatrix pushed him away, her eyes red with anger. “Get out!” She whispered, but the anger in her tone was not missed by Harry. “Get out of my sight.” Harry stood up and calmly left the room. He heard an ear splitting scream from behind him, but he decided not to go against her orders.
The others in the Manor came running towards his room in worry. Harry didn’t speak a word when prompted and just continued to wherever he was going. With every step he took out of the Manor, he felt his strength wavering. He felt all his assurances escaping his own ears. He had to be strong for her, but out here, he felt no need to remain strong.
Holding back all these days took a toll on his mind and he felt himself cracking. He remained strong for Bellatrix, ignoring the pain in his heart. He collapsed on the stairs of the Manor and he cracked completely. He felt no need to hold back anymore as he cried freely for the first time in many days. Bellatrix was right. He didn’t get how hurt she was, but it was the same the other way around.
She too didn’t get what he was feeling. She didn’t need to know it, but when she screamed at him, he was actually hurt, even though he had expected it. She said it was a boy. A young boy looking like him or Charlus or James with striking violet eyes. His mother’s eyes. He felt his heart clench painfully. He was sick and tired of all of this.
“You are fate’s plaything for real, Potter.” He whispered as he drowned in his sorrow. He didn’t know how long he sat there and he didn’t care. Bellatrix’s voice rang through his mind. A young boy with bright violet eyes and his facial features running around making ruckus around the manor, chased by his mother who looked disheveled chasing the naughty youngster around.
The little boy would run and hide behind him making sure that he was out of his mother’s line of sight. “Hide me Dad.” He would whisper and Harry had to smile and make sure that he keeps Bellatrix from seeing him just to make the little runt happy.
A small smile grazed his face as he was seemingly lost in the memory. Suddenly, he felt his vision go black. The next thing he knew, Tom Riddle stood in front of him, and in front of him, stood his little boy with a knife near his throat. The Dark Lord smirked nastily as he regarded Harry with a look.
“You shouldn’t have messed with me, Harry. Just for that, you get to see your son die.” He laughed. Before Harry could move, Tom slit the young boy’s throat. Harry watched as the violet eyes of his son that had frozen in fear now went dull with no emotion as he fell in a heap, dead.
He jerked awake from the crazy vision that flitted through his brain. That vision was disturbing and that somehow highlighted his failure as a father. His breathing quickened and he felt his heart rate raise rapidly as he began hyperventilating. He almost seemed ready to faint when he felt a hand on his shoulders.
“Breath, Harry.” The voice whispered softly, caressing his shoulders. “ Breath in and out. Slow and steady.” Harry listened to the voice and he felt himself regaining a hold on himself. “Relax, Harry.” His vision returned and when he could see clearly, he turned around to thank the person helping him.
“Thank you, Lily.” Harry greeted before turning back to stare ahead.
“Narcissa is talking to Bellatrix and so are the others. She will be alright. Everything is taking a toll on her. I know that it is difficult for you, but I ask that you bear with her.” She sat down next to him, with a bit of difficulty. Lily was due any moment now and for some reason, that fact was seeming incredibly painful for Harry, much to his shame.
“How are you doing?” He questioned. Lily nodded. “I am fine, Harry. But we should not talk about it. It will happen when it is supposed to.” She muttered. “What about you?’ She questioned.
“What about you, Harry? It’s enough. You have been keeping all of it to yourself and that is not good.”
Harry shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know anymore, Lily.” He whispered. “I feel weak. I feel useless. I feel like an honest waste of space. Just like my relatives branded me all those years ago.” He explained.
“I think about those words every day and with each passing day, I feel like they were telling the truth.” Harry looked away. “The thing is that, I feel the same way too.” He said.
“I feel like I proved everything my relatives used to say about me. Worthless, useless, waste of space.”
Lily clutched his hand. “At times like this, we feel like the entire world is against us, Harry. Everything feels insignificant. I can’t begin to understand what you are feeling Harry. It is scary to fathom something like that. You and Bellatrix have every right to feel sad. But you need to let go, Harry.” She said.
“You have suffered enough. It has been extremely painful to the two of you, but we must look forward.” She explained. “Bellatrix is alive and alright. That is the most important thing right now.” She pointed out.
Harry nodded. It was a huge relief that Bellatrix was alright. Tom was not someone who would spare a person when he had them at his mercy. This move was particularly one made to hurt him and send a message.
He heard a hoot and he saw an owl flying around the ward line. Harry closed his eyes and he allowed entry and watched as the owl swooped down towards him. The owl landed in front of Harry and extended his feet and Harry found a letter tied to its feet. Harry gently pried the letter from the bird and watched as it flew away.
He rolled open the letter and held it out. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head before he could read a bit more clearly.
Dear Harry,
I see that you liked my gift very much. In my defense though, you really forced me to send a gift in your honor. After your particular gift, I really had to be polite and return the courtesy. I really wanted to write a letter immediately, but I guessed that you were busy. I made sure that my owl waits for you to take some time off your busy schedule. I was eagerly waiting to make sure that you received a letter. A letter was the best way to give you an answer.
While you can enjoy this letter, I have a final offer, Harry. It will just be me and you. One last confrontation, Harry. No interference. No loss of lives. Nobody will die for us. Just you and me. When you are ready, just say ‘Salazar’.
See you soon, Harry Potter.
Harry’s fists began shaking uncontrollably as he crumpled the paper. He let the paper fall down. His rage grew to unbearable amounts as his magic went too dense.
“The fucking bastard!” Harry hissed quietly, not noticing the girl next to him. He summoned the letter to his outstretched hand and with a muttered ‘Salazar’ he popped away.
Lily, who was rooted to the spot next to the boy, watched him go. She stood up as fast as she could and walked as quickly as her legs carried towards the upstairs of the manor. She walked upto the room where the members of the family had gathered and caught their attention.
“Harry left.” She broke. “He received a letter from him and he challenged him to a one on one. I think it was a portkey and he left immediately.” She explained.
“Do you know where?” Lily shook her head. “He used a portkey trigger. There was no mention of where he would be going in the letter.” The family knew that this day was coming. Ever since that fateful day, the family had been baying for the bastard’s head.
When they heard that Harry had left to fight, they were not scared or worried. They knew that Harry needed this to put himself at ease and to put an end to once and for all.
—--&&&--------
Harry arrived at what seemed to be like an abandoned barn. He felt the presence of extremely powerful wards around him. He spared a glance around the place and sure enough, the place was deserted. He was quick to recognise the magical presence near him.
“Come out.” He whispered. He looked around wanting the man to come out. His request was granted as the man appeared out of thin air. Harry stared blankly at the man. He recognised Nagini on the man’s shoulders. The snake was resting on the man’s shoulder and it raised its head baring its fangs threateningly. The snake had haunted his dreams back during the start of his fourth year and he wouldn’t forget it easily.
The two of them faced off, staring at each other. Red and green stared off, not backing away from the psychological battle that the two of them were seemingly engaged in.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon, Harry.” The man’s now raspy voice rang around the barn.
“Not that I am complaining. I am glad that you decided to come so quickly.” He chuckled.
“Just like I said, it's just me and my familiar, Harry. I promised that there would be no interruptions. There will be no interruptions.” He waved his hand around, towards the barn.
“Anyway, I would like to apologize for the unfortunate incident that took place, Harry. It pains me to spill magical blood, especially one from such a prestigious bloodline.” Harry’s body shook with barely restrained fury at those words.
“Don’t speak a word.” Harry growled. Tom shook his head. “I need to say my piece, Harry. I am no monster.” Harry bit back a retort at that. He wanted to yell out what kind of man the bastard was. He wanted to point out that this was not the first time that he went after a child, but he then decided against it.
“I wanted nothing to do with the little one, but you didn’t leave me with a choice.” He pointed out.
“Do you know how long it took to build my empire, Harry?” He questioned looking lost for a moment. “Ever since I stepped foot into Hogwarts, I wanted to be great, Harry. There is nothing wrong with that. But the moment I was sorted into Slytherin, I started my walk towards that Greatness.”
The woosh of the air was the only thing heard among the din of silence. “It was not easy, Harry. No. The slytherins hated me. I was a mudblood in their eyes. And they took pleasure in pointing it out to me most of the time.” His voice held a tinge of anger.
“I took all the abuse. I never forgot.” He grinned. “Then, I found out that I was a Slytherin by birth. By blood. When I found that out, I laughed as if I was crazy. I was the blood descendent of the Founder of Hogwarts. I was better than all those purebloods. I was not a mudblood.”
“It was then that I decided that I have the perfect way to pave my way to the future. The power of blood purity.” He explained. “I took it.”
He began walking from side to side. “A powerful name. Display of forbidden magics and the sound of parseltongue was enough to make sure that these purebloods flock to me. They were ready to pledge their alliances, their support, their money and most of all, their loyalty.”
He sighed. “Rome was not built in a day, Harry. But it certainly went down in a single day.” He said. “That is what you did.” He turned to face Harry.
“You came in and took away my empire. You took away everything I built from the ground. That was punishable, Harry. I punished you accordingly.” He chuckled.
“I took away your child.”
“Die!!!!!” Harry roared as his wand shot a powerful beam of sickly yellow spell towards the Dark Lord. Tom nimbly sidestepped the spell, grinning all the while.
“That was rude, Harry.” He tutted, taking considerable joy from the younger man’s anger.
“You have to wait until after we are done with talking before giving your answer.”
Harry slashed his wand vertically and a whizzing sound of the spell was heard as the light blue spell slammed against a quick shield from the Dark Lord.
“Quite a temper you have there, Harry.” His condescending tone was grating Harry’s nerves.
“Tell me Harry. You destroyed years worth of efforts, planning and scheming for what? For those three girls? You should not have meddled with me, Harry. Not especially with my affairs with the Blacks.” He pointed out, still not making a move.
“Last time, my boy. Join me. Join me Harry and we can make this world a better place. People like me and you and have the power, Harry. We can gain everything we lost.” Tom supplied,
Harry lowered his wand. He stared at the man. “My son?” He whispered and Tom cocked his eyebrow. “I am sorry?”
“Can you give me my son back?” Harry questioned. “My Bellatrix. Can you give her motherhood back?” He questioned. The man frowned and then shook his head.
“Lost lives cannot be brought back, Harry.” He shook his head. “No. But I can help young Ms Black. I can give her back her childbearing ability.” He smiled at the young man. “You just have to shake my hand, Harry. Accept my offer. Accept a place next to me.”
“You fucking bastard.” Harry whispered and Tom’s eyes widened in surprise as a pale pink spell slammed into him without a warning. The Dark Lord and his pet snake were tossed away from their spot and Harry watched as his spell enclosed the two of them before a pink bolt hit the Dark Lord head on.
Harry watched as the Dark Lord’s face got burned and charred under the assault of the spell.
Harry watched him scream in pain, but for some reason, it didn’t soothe him, nor did he feel anything. He knew the man was lying. There was not a single thing his mother didn’t look into in the hopes that something could be salvaged, but it was no use.
“You have the nerve to ask me to join you after everything you did.” He whispered as the Dark Lord stood up shakily. “You won’t be breathing after I am done with you, Tom.” Harry raised his wand.
“Very well.” The Dark Lord chuckled, before his face turned feral. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Two beams of huge size left both their wands at the same time before slamming into each other’s spell with a loud gong.
The two wizards were not idle for a moment. Their wands were a blur as they traded spells on each other. Every spell had an answer. Every attack had a counter. None were willing to give an inch to each other.
Harry was more effective. He was able to move around with much more practiced ease, his spells packing extreme power as he gained the upper hand. Every single skill he had in his book was being employed as Harry moved forward towards the Dark Lord.
He was half a dozen feet away from the man and had him completely overwhelmed when he felt lethargic for no reason. He had no idea why, but he felt drowsy. He heard a chuckle from his nemesis.
“Excellent Nagini.” He hissed in parseltongue and Harry finally found the reason for his weakness. The snake slithered out from next to him towards its master.
Harry collapsed onto his knees, his wand resting to his side.
The Dark Lord stepped towards the fallen man, his eyes gleaming in triumph.
“The final and most important lesson that you won’t learn at Hogwarts, my boy. Winning is important. Not how. Cheating is part of the game.”
Harry coughed a couple of times and the man knelt down next to him.
“The funny thing, Harry. You thought that I could be killed.” He shook his head.
“You didn’t learn a thing from my story, Harry. That is very ignorant of you. Did you honestly think that a person who planned all this will not have a contingency plan?”
“We could have made a great team, Harry. I am sad that it wasn’t meant to be.” He tutted.
Tom heard a weak chuckle from the now fallen Potter. He was confused. “Is there something funny, Harry?” He questioned.
“You never did get the moral of the story, did you?” Harry coughed once more. “Nobody can escape death, Tom Riddle.”
Before the Dark Lord managed to get a word out, Harry raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A sickly yellow light zoomed through and caught Tom’s arm. Harry stood up, taking joy in the shocked features of the man.
Tom’s left hand shook strongly and the man screamed high into the air. Harry watched the hand rot. He should have got the man’s wand hand. The hand disintegrated into a limp structure.
“Venom? Seriously?” Harry wheezed as he shook his head, clearing his senses.
What the Dark Lord didn’t know was that the venom running through Harry’s veins had a small quantity of Basilisk venom, enough to kill an elephant and more than enough to negate the effects of the poison of a snake like Nagini. He was certainly not telling the man that.
Harry this time, felt the presence of the snake which had slithered towards him in an attempt to have another bite. He was not making the same mistake twice. He slashed his wand towards the snake, freezing it in place. This time, Harry felt another source of magic. A third smaller presence that was way too familiar. He frowned as he cast a homenum revelio.
His wand glowed three times.
There should have been just two glows. Where was this third glow coming from?
For some reason, that snake felt out of the ordinary for Harry. He fired a cutting curse at the snake and when the end result was not what was expected of a snake like that, Harry’s doubts were confirmed.
He was quick to make short work of the snake as he raised his wand and a jet of sickly green light raced towards the snake. Imagine his surprise when he heard a wailing noise and the snake exploded emitting a black inky mass from its body. The black mass evaporated slowly leaving behind a charred and mangled body of the snake.
“Horcrux? He made a snake into a bloody horcrux?” Harry whispered to himself his face contorted into a four expression.
Tom’s screams reduced as he saw his familiar explode. The man’s eyes had lost the teasing lilt and now hardened. He stared hard at Harry.”Avada Kedavra!” He roared and a green beam raced towards Harry who raised his hand, summoning a stone into its path.
“Wandless magic…?” Tom slurred, surprise etched on his face.
He waved his hand over the rotting flesh and hissed painfully as it glowed before turning silver. Harry was reminded of the night of the last task of the TriWizard. He had seen Pettigrew get his hand back after chopping it off for the ritual.
“You won’t be able to kill me, Harry.” Tom hissed confidently as the two circled each other.
“The most you could do to trouble me is to maim, but you will fail to kill me.” He whispered.
“What? Because of your horcruxes.” Harry would have laughed if he wanted to. The expression on the older man’s face was priceless.
“Impossible.” He muttered, shaking his head. How was this possible? How could he have known?
“Yeah, no.” Harry shook his head. “Your dairy. Ravenclaw’s diadem. The ring at the gaunt shack. Your damn snake.” Harry counted one by one as the man paled considerably.
“How could you possibly know that!?” He screamed as he sent a flurry of curses in Harry’s direction. Harry dodged the curses and sent forth his own curses at blistering speed.
“That is not something you need to know.” He twirled his wand pointing it forward.
The ground began to rumble and cracked right under the man’s feet. Tom couldn’t call forth a defense as he slipped on his footing, his leg crumbling into the crack. The moment's distraction was all Harry needed to make his move.
The Elder Wand glowed brightly at the concentration of magic at its tip. Harry shot a crimson beam that raced towards the man. Tom brought up a shield desperately, but it was mote as the spell blasted his shield apart and struck him on his chest.
The spell didn’t seem to cause any harm to Tom. He felt a sense of deja vu. This feeling was different. He felt totally lethargic and drained. He went to cast a spell and he felt nothing. He felt no magic flowing through his body. He concentrated hard and tried to cast a lumos of all things and screamed into the air in pain.
“What did you do to me?” He questioned, anger burning in his eyes. “Avada Kedavra! Crucio! Avada Kedavra!” He tried desperately, but it was futile. His wand didn’t respond. His wand, his precious companion felt dead.
Tom glanced down at his wand one more time and the wand slowly disintegrated into dust. Just as the wand disintegrated, he felt something being constricted in his body.
"I tied your magic and restricted its flow to the rest of your body," Harry replied coldly.
"That is impossible." He roared in fear more than anger. "Really?" Harry threw his own wand to the man.
"Cast a spell. Cast a bloody lumos, I dare you." Harry challenged. Tom followed, picking up the wand, but he decided to try it on Harry instead as he trained his wand on the boy.
"Avada Kedavra!" He tried one more time, grinning in triumph, but his smirk slid off his face as the spell failed to shoot through the wand. Harry’s face didn’t betray any emotion as he stared down at the man.
Harry flicked his fingers and his wand flew back to his hand. “It’s over.” Harry whispered, his eyes shining as tears streamed down his face. “It’s all over.”
He closed his eyes and whispered something, holding his hand out and his wand sitting horizontally on his palm. A wave of black magic rose out of Harry’s wand and connected Tom Riddle. The next moment, Harry opened his eyes and he was greeted to the sight of the Lady of Death standing in front of him, floating rather.
Tom Riddle struggled to breath as a suffocating sensation began near his chest. The moment his eyes met the eyes of the new arrival, he flinched as if he was seeing something foul. He collapsed onto his knees as he tried hard to stay in his senses.
“I did it.” Harry broke into the silence. “I did what you asked of me. You wanted him, so I brought him.” He said.
The immortal being nodded, smiling gently at him.
“Yes, dear.” She replied softly. “You kept your word, Harry.”
“I just want one thing. I want to make one request.” Harry began desperately. Her face gained an apologetic look. “I know what you want, Harry. I am sorry. That is just not possible.” She said.
“Why? You are Death. Can’t you do something about that? You brought me back in time, for Merlin’s sake.” He questioned, his visage gaining anger. The immortal shook her head.
“I am sorry, Harry. A few things are out of my reach, Harry. Even though I am Death.”
His temper that was at the peak coupled with all the disasters in recent days, he couldn’t hold on. “So what? I am just your tool to get your job done, am I?” He growled.
“You took away my unborn child for what? For doing your job? For acting as your agent? To push my family into misery?" His eyes lost the fury he felt.
"Please?" He begged desperately.
"I truly am sorry, Harry. But I cannot give back a life taken away, nor can I change another person's fate." Death replied, with finality in her voice.
His eyes hardened as she finished speaking. He dropped his wand to the floor and pulled the Peverell ring from his finger, before dropping it to the ground. He removed the invisibility cloak from within his robes and threw it down.
He stepped back from those articles and without nary a glance, turned around and walked away from the barn.
TBC-------
Comments
Michał W
Ok, so job done... now what?
