"Jon... Sirius... Mr. Weasley..." Harry stared, stunned, at the faces that had suddenly appeared around him.
He still had no idea what was going on, but one thing was obvious.
They had all come prepared.
Even Snape, perhaps, had been ready from the very beginning.
Of everyone present, the only ones who had been kept completely in the dark were probably Harry and Voldemort.
But if anyone was more shocked than Harry, it was Voldemort himself.
The former Dark Lord stood there, staring blankly at his surroundings, at the wizards closing in on him step by step.
Fear began to creep across his face.
Because he could feel it.
The power inside this body was not his own.
It was weak. Pathetically weak. Like that of a wizard who had only just come of age. Like that of a Hogwarts student.
Had these Order of the Phoenix wizards faced him at his peak, even all together, even with Snape and Potter among them, Tom Riddle would not have felt the slightest fear.
But now, he might not even be able to handle a single one of them.
What was going on?
Why was this happening?
Tom Riddle looked around in confusion.
At last, his gaze settled on Jon Hart.
...
"Hart!" Voldemort snarled viciously, though the sound carried more helpless fury than threat now.
"Good afternoon, Tom," Jon said with a smile.
"What exactly have you done to me?" Voldemort demanded, his voice trembling.
Jon Hart was in no hurry at all.
At this moment, victory was entirely in his hands. He had every right, like some grand villain, to let Voldemort die knowing exactly why.
"All right. You may want to step back a little," Jon said calmly, glancing at the Order of the Phoenix wizards. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with my old friend."
Moody, Lupin, Weasley, and the others retreated one after another, pulling back several dozen yards.
Sirius Black gave Harry Potter one worried look, then transformed into a large black dog and backed away as well.
Now, only four people remained.
Voldemort, Snape, Harry, and Jon.
"Just as you guessed, Tom, Harry is one of your Horcruxes," Jon said slowly. "But he is also your weakest Horcrux. All you did was accidentally attach a tiny fragment of your soul to Harry when the Killing Curse rebounded."
"But on the other hand, Harry is also the Horcrux most closely connected to you," Jon continued. "Because when he became your Horcrux, he was still an infant, almost a blank slate. Your soul and his grew together for a full sixteen years. In a sense, Harry Potter is your best talisman. If you die, he dies with you, and that is usually something we would rather not see happen. Unfortunately, Tom, you never realized that."
"Harry Potter..." Voldemort's eyes snapped toward Harry, but Snape had already placed himself firmly in front of him.
"And there was only one way to solve that problem," Jon said with a faint smile. "To make you use your Horcrux, Harry Potter, to reconstruct your body."
"What did you say?" Voldemort's expression shifted.
"I'm not boasting, Tom. When it comes to Horcruxes, I may not know any less than you do." Jon spread his hands. "The piece of soul inside Harry was too weak. Once it was turned into a Horcrux, that fragment would return to you. But after being nourished inside Harry for more than ten years, that soul fragment had become far stronger than your original soul, which was already torn apart and riddled with holes."
Voldemort's hand began to tremble.
"Do you know what happens next?" Jon asked. "That fragment of your soul, the one that grew inside Harry, takes control of the rest of your soul. So the resurrected Dark Lord's real magical power is equal to Harry Potter's, not the body you once had."
...
Everything became clear.
Voldemort understood it all.
No wonder this body's power was so weak.
It was the soul fragment from inside Harry Potter that had taken control of him.
No wonder everything had gone so smoothly. No wonder Harry Potter had been delivered straight to him as if for free. No wonder Jon Hart and his lackeys had only appeared after he finished rebuilding his body.
"Then, Severus..." This time, Voldemort turned his eyes toward Snape. "Why? Why did you betray me too?"
"I'm sorry, Tom, but Severus Snape was never yours," Jon said, spreading his hands again. "He belonged to Dumbledore. Or rather, to me."
Snape shot Jon a sharp glare, trying to stop him from going any further.
Jon ignored him.
"From the moment you began planning to kill Lily Potter, he was on our side. Unfortunately, you never realized that. Or perhaps you simply don't understand love. You've never seen Snape's Patronus, have you, Tom?"
"Hart," Snape warned in a low voice.
"But I have. Severus Snape's Patronus is a doe," Jon continued. "Exactly like Lily Potter's. The two of them were childhood sweethearts. They grew up together. From the time they were children, he loved her with almost his entire life. Do you understand now?"
He saw Voldemort's nostrils flare.
"So back then, he begged you to spare her life, didn't he? When he secretly told you about that prophecy."
"He wanted to have her. That was all." Voldemort gave a cold laugh. "But once she was gone, he knew there were other women in the world. Pure-blood women. Women far more worthy of him."
"Of course he would say that," Jon said, laughing as well. "Because from that moment on, he was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. From the moment you decided to kill Harry Potter."
"Enough, Hart!" Snape roared.
"All right, I'll stop." Jon sighed. "It's just that, judging by Tom's expression, he doesn't seem to believe me."
"He's telling the truth," Snape said coldly. "We're leaving, Potter."
With that, he seized Harry Potter and forced him away from the place.
...
"All right, Tom," Jon said calmly, looking at the lone Voldemort before him. "I've said everything that needs to be said. Be a good wizard in your next life, if you can undergo Transmigration."
At the same time, he raised his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light tore through the air.
Before Voldemort could even react, he collapsed to the ground.
He was dead.
This time, truly dead.