Chapter 15
A/N: Long overdue chapter, no gonna say much here other than sorry, explanation is gonna be at the bottom. Let's get straight into it now:
Harry ventured back into Diagon Alley and wandered around.
He managed to get seven more outfits similar to this current one, long sleeved shirts and dress pants. He grabbed mostly white and sterling gray shirts with only black pants, but he also grabbed a crimson shirt to show that he had still had Gryffindor in his heart.
He also upgraded his under clothing as well, deciding to do away with the basic tighty whitey underpants that Dudley wore to something more fitting of someone of his size.
Both sales ladies were nice enough to shrink his bags for him so that he could put them in his pockets. It wasn't until he ventured up the alley towards the lesser used stores that Harry came across something that drew his eyes.
"Oscar's Magical Glasses and Eyewear" read the sign above the door. Harry pushed it in and walked into a store that was lined wall to wall with different glasses frames.
"Oh, hello there." said a cheery short man Irish in a black 3 piece muggle suit. His top hat was also black and his face was groomed with a thick mustache and beard. You could see his brown eyes shining brightly contrasting with his pale skin
"Hello, I saw your sign and was interested" said Harry
"Ah yes Mr. Potter, I have been expecting you for quite some time now. You are about 3 years too late, I mean I did your father's glasses for years. I assumed you would have been brought here by someone, it looks like you're using muggle glasses at the moment" said Oscar with a frown.
"Yeah you have the correct, these are muggle lens and they're the worst." stated Harry, his irritation at no one mentioning that he could get new glasses, ones that would fit his undoubtedly worse eye sight then the strain on his current lens.
Oscar shook his head and said "Well, Mr. Potter what will it be. Magical lens or contacts?"
Harry blinked at the question and asked "Contacts? What is the difference?"
"It is quite simple laddy, if I put contacts on your eyes, you'll never need another pair of glasses again. They will automatically adjust to your eyesight and automatically correct it. Your father choose lens because I can add perks to them. He was particularly fond of the X-Ray vision perk that I added back in the 70's." exclaimed Oscar
Harry bit his lip and while having glasses were part of his look, they tended to get lost in battle to much for his liking. Plus, he knew that Voldemort was back, he didn't want to see underneath Old noseless' robes, he wanted to be able to see in the fight that was surely going to come.
"I am going to go with Contact lens, they fit my life style just a bit more than glasses do" decided Harry as he took off his glasses and put them in his pocket.
Harry sat down in the chair and Oscar placed a blind fold covered in runes tightly around his head, obviously covering his eyes.
Darkness consumed all of Harry's vision and Oscar took a step back and pulled out his wand, allowing the runes to reveal what was wrong with Harry's eyes.
"My goodnes, Mr. Potter, how have you been walking around? You lens don't fit your vision at all. You should have gotten new lens at least 3 or 4 years ago? Your guardians should have been all over this" exclaimed Oscar
A bubble of lava exploded in Harry's chest as his anger grew and Oscar paled as he felt a wave of hot magic pass over the store before he gulped and pushed through the feeling and continued onwards reading the runes.
"So, Mr. Potter, this is rather simple to perform and explain. The blindfold that you are wearing now has ruins and enchantments woven into the fabric of it. The enchantments will turn the blind fold into contacts that will forever coat the surface of your eyes. The runes will automatically correct the contacts to whatever your vision needs to be perfect."
Harry nodded, his anger subsiding for the moment as he gave Oscar the blind thumbs up, no knowing what direction the older wizard was in.
"I am going to perform the ritual now, this might sting for a second, but you will find that it will be over in the blink of an eye." said Oscar as he tapped his wand to the surface of the blind fold as he started pouring magic into it.
The runes lit up as they were activated and Oscar carefully made sure that there was no issues with the runes and activated the rest of the ritual. A bright flash went off as the runes morphed into the correct numbers to fix Harry's eye sight before the blindfold hissed and turned see through.
Oscar took a step back and watched as the once black blindfold hissed and melted into Harry's skin, the runes now surround his eyes, which were closed in pain before the runes flashed one last time and the ritual was complete.
Harry blinked and gasped as he saw the world clearly for the first time, his new eyes having the slightest gleam of magic behind them, they weren't glowing per say. But if you looked at them, you could swear that you could see a them lighten up every now and then with a tiny pulse of light making the green look like the curse that left Harry with that scar on his forehead.
"Well, how do you like it Mr. Potter?" asked Oscar with a bright smile, already assuming the answer that he would receive.
"This is the best thing that I could ever ask for" muttered Harry before he gave a lopsided grin and said louder "I can't possibly thank you enough, how much do I owe you?"
"How about nothing, you've free our nation of You Know Who in the past , and if you are telling the truth about him being back, you will do it again in the future. That is payment enough" said Oscar before he shoo'd Harry out of his shop.
Harry walked out back into the alley and took in the sights, his eyes scanning the masses of people like never before, taking in everything at once. And he smiled, truly happy to have the ability to see clearly for the first time.
Harry woke up with a pounding headache, he was certain that wasn't his memory, that meant that the memory belonged to the Harry that he had replaced. Hopefully that was what Harry was thinking, because surely there wasn't a third version of him running around right? One dead one and one living him was more than enough in his opinion. Or maybe this was his own memory, he wasn't currently wearing glasses and he seemed to be doing fine.
Remembering what he had to do today, Harry summoned the tiny trunk that Narcissa was living in and with a wave of his wand, he conjured a large eagle to take the trunk to the agreed place. Draco and himself had a deal and he did try to keep his agreements in general, even for a prick like the blond Malfoy.
Draco would be spending the Hogsmeade day with his mother, a gift from Harry to Draco. Harry had already gifted the mother Malfoy with a glamour enchanted to allow only Draco to see her. Harry, himself, would be spending his day doing some practice in the Room of Requirement.
Hermione and Fleur would both be joining him in the Room, not that the other was aware of the other. As his best friend in this world, Harry was sure that Hermione would be 100 percent accepting of Fleur and her presence in his life. I mean, it's not like Hermione had a large crush on him.
Walking past his still sleeping classmates, Harry continued down the stairs and out of the common room, making his way up to the seventh floor. He arrived first and he could feel the shift in magic as Fleur made her way closer under one of the invisibility cloaks that he made. Hermione was the last of them to arrive and Harry quickly opened the room and ushered both of them inside.
Fleur pulled off the cloak and Hermione gasped before asking "What is she doing here?"
"I should be asking the same thing" retorted Fleur
Harry groaned and snapped his fingers, creating a barrier of wind between the two fiery females.
"She's here because I asked her to be here" said Harry
"Me?" both of them asked
"Yes" said Harry getting annoyed, the barrier of wind growing icy and the temperature in the room dropped as a result of his growing sour mood.
Hermione nodded and Fleur crossed her arms in front of her chest, pushing up her already attractive bosom slightly, catching Harry's eyes for a brief second before she smirked and nodded as well.
"Now that we are all the best of friends" said Harry as his wand slide out of his sleeve and into his hand, "That means we can get to the fun part of why I called you guys here, the dueling"
"But there is three of us, are we taking turns?" asked Hermione as she gestured in a circle at all three of them.
"No" replied Harry as his wind barrier broke down and there was nothing keeping Fleur and Hermione physically from attacking each other anymore.
"So, it is as they say 'A free for all' is it?" asked Fleur as she gave a side eye to Hermione, highlighting her desire to do nothing more than attack the bushy haired girl.
Harry sighed "No, that's not it either"
There was a paused moment of silence where neither girl put it together despite being smart enough to do so.
"Both of you are not strong enough to face me by yourself. Hermione, you should know that because I already gave you a lesson on humility" stated Harry /
"Actually it was a lesson on defensive tactics" corrected Hermione
"Right, like I said, a lesson on humility" continued Harry before he addressed Fleur, "And you Fleur, were there when we fought the death eaters and you saw that even in numbers, they stood no chance against me"
Fleur's face dawned a look of understanding and she said "You want both of us to take you on"
"Yes" said Harry and he was forced to throw up a quick wordless shield to protect himself as soon as he said that.
Because Hermione quickly shot off a stunner as Fleur shot flames out of her wand as soon as he said yes. A large grin appeared on his face as he slashed his wand, sending a blade of wind so sharp that it shattered his own shield, but forced them two of them away from each other as it ripped up the ground.
Dust fulled the air and Harry leaped up into the air, rising above the dust cloud with his wind elemental ability before scanning the room for both of the girls. They weren't in the dust cloud, which meant-.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by ropes shooting at him from two different angles and Harry dropped his wind ability to fall to the floor to avoid them. Upon landing, Hermione and Fleur launched a combined volley of spells at him from either side of his body, forcing him to split his attention and spells between the two of them.
Harry dropped his shield and absorbed the disarming spell from Hermione causing his wand to shoot off into the air as the blasting curse from Fleur warped around his body and slammed into Hermione much to the girl's surprise. Harry held his hand out and the Elder wand flew back into his hand and purred with delight.
"Enough of this defensive shit, let's see how you guys handle me pressing you" said Harry before he whirled around, firing off a trio of a stunner, disarming charm, and a jelly leg at Hermione and then an Aguamenti, Anteoculatia, and Appare Vestigium at Fleur.
Hermione's shield shattered under the force of the stunner and the disarming charm was barely batted to the side before the Jelly leg curse slammed into her chest and she collapsed to the ground.
Fleur did slightly better as she canceled out the blast of water with a powerful flash fire of the Veela nature based on how strong it was, the smokescreen covered the Anteoculatia spell which shot through it and slammed into her face.
Fleur gasped as she felt the painful sensation of being forced to grow antlers coming from the top of her head that the third spell hit her and she didn't even realize it. She slipped into the smokescreen and tried to cancel the antlers spell on her head and she never realized that the third spell that hit her was causing her to leave behind foot prints.
With Tom Riddle:
Tom was in a rather jovial mood considering that he was still recovering from the duel with Harry in the grave yard. His body was sluggish to respond to his commands and his magic was refilling at a lesser level than he could remember. No, that last part wasn't true, he just had so much more magic than he could ever recall having that it felt weird to still feel the oozing sensation of his magic replenish.
His followers were off doing their day jobs, the ones of them that were allowed to go out into public without causing mass panic that was. Bellatrix was off terrorizing a muggle airport. He dislike the senseless attacks but since he was unable to lead them on any of his much more guided ventures, he had to throw the hungry wolves something.
A lot had happened since he had taken over his body, he had battled Harry twice, one with Dumbledore and once without the old man. Both of them had resulted in his defeat. And trust Tom, he was just as surprised as anyone by the outcome. He was more magically powerful than ever, yet Potter and Dumbledore had been able to match him blow for blow.
Dumbledore was always a mystery, nobody knew how strong he actually was, not in this world or back in his home world. He was just powerful, it was a known fact that the bearded man in the colorful robes was not to be messed with. After all, nobody dresses that awful if they can't stop people from bagging on them.
But Potter, he was powerful sure, but he lacked the ability to guide his magic as well as Tom and Dumbledore did. That mostly came with experience in experimenting with your magic. Don't let the twinkling eyes and soft smile fool you, Dumbledore meddled in magic as dark as anyone else had in the past, he just gave it up unlike most. Some people say it was the betrayal of his boyfriend, some say it was the death of his sister, Tom said it was because he was weak.
Anyway, back to Potter, he lacked the control of a Tom or Dumbledore, but also the knowledge of magic that they did as well. Tom and Dumbledore had decades of spell casting to fall back on, Potter was 16 years old, he didn't have half a decade to fall back on.
Yet, he was still able to step into their duels with an arrogance that made even Tom respect his ability. But why was that? The prophecy? He had never heard all of it, when he had ventured to retrieve it back in his home world in 1996, Harry Potter had blasted him through the veil and he had been cast into a void of magic.
Maybe this was what the prophecy had been referring to, Harry had been marked his equal by his spell leaving that mark on his forehead, but what was the power that he knew not? Was it the power of instant understanding? Tom, while a great student, had to work on knowing things. It had taken him years to build up his understanding of how magic worked, which is why his horcruxes had been poorly made.
Was it just magically given might to match him? Like by giving him the scar, did Tom make it so that no matter how powerful that he became, Potter was destined to be able to match him? Tom, didn't think so. Mostly because Harry had been rather pathetic running away from the giant Snake and hadn't been able to match him and Quirrel very well in the Chamber of Secrets.
So, what was the power? Maybe if he knew the rest of the prophecy, he would be able to answer that question. Perhaps a trip to the Department of Mysteries was in order in this world as well. One of his followers was a worker there, surely he would be more than willing to allow his master into his work because the other option was death.
Speaking of death, Tom was quite happy with his decision to reclaim all of the parts of his souls from his horcruxes back into his body. The parts of his soul did nothing to increase his power or extend his life at this point. They didn't make the trapped Lord Voldemort in his head any stronger, he was in no threat of losing control of his new body.
Tom shivered as he felt his body return to his peak and he mentally pushes the dark mark and summoned all of his followers. Now that he was back at 100 percent, it was time for them to have a meeting about getting to the rest of his plan. They, more like he, had a strict agenda that he was trying to push and it was time that the rest of them got the memo.
Tom was not Lord Voldemort, things were going to be different this time around. He was not filled with the youthful violence that made Voldemort fail, he was willed the the elderly anger that would bring about success this time around.
Back at Hogwarts:
Harry's eyes jumped back and forth between to two girls, both of them in worse condition than him. The lone time that they had caught him had merely ripped his robes. Hermione had been forced to vanish her robes when he set them on fire, so she was just wearing her school uniform and Fleur had been forced out of her clothes as well when he transfigured what she had been wearing into honey and conjured a large black bear to attack her. That is why Fleur was wearing a conjured summer dress that Harry was constantly thinking about dispelling if she got too mouthy.
All in all, Harry had been a single step ahead of both of them during the duel, even if Harry would give them the credit that they had made several adjustments that had brought them from getting bitch slapped around to making him try.
Hermione stood at his 10 and Fleur stood at his 2:30, they had been trying almost all day to force him between them and found that it didn't work. So, while they were not bundled together at the same spot, they were close enough to protect one another.
Hermione shot out a cutter and Fleur sent shards of rock at him, Harry banished the rocks at Hermione's cutter before he used the Nebulus charm to create a thick magic resistant fog around Fleur.
Fleur banished the fog up to the ceiling, and was hit with Impediment Jinx, slowing down her limbs. Harry could see the slow snarl appearing on her face and he blew her a kiss before turning his attention to Hermione. He peppered the ground with stunners, forcing her to jump and slide around to avoid the spell.
Finally, tired of playing with his food, Harry bumped her with a wall of wind from behind and watched as a Stunner hit her squarely in the chest and then hit her with a silencing charm and conjured a blindfold around her eyes.
He ended his Impediment Jinx on Fleur and summoned her conjured dress and wand from her, leaving the French witch naked and angry.
Harry's magic filled the room and the temperature grew warmer by the second until even Fleur was sweating.
"You performed rather well" said Harry, a teasing hint to his voice, but over all rather truthful.
"You think so?" questioned Fleur, "If I did so well, why am I standing here missing both my clothes and my wand?"
Harry allowed a confident smile to grace his face as he waved his elder wand and Fleur was ripped from her spot over to him, her body gently bumping into his body.
His non-wand hand slipped around her waist and he didn't mind the feeling of her slick sweat covered body against his clothed body.
"You're like that, because that's how I like you" said Harry as he leaned in and whispered it directly into her ear.
Fleur shivered and asked "Is that so"
Harry nodded and whirled Fleur around before pushed her down onto all fours, Fleur gasped at the motion as she landed on a soft bed on her hands and knees.
"Wait, your friend" stammered Fleur as she felt the tight yet gently grip of Harry;s hands on her hips.
Harry leaned over her, his clothes gone with a wordless vanishing charm, and whispered in her ear "She was so jealous of you earlier, let's give her something to really be jealous of"
And with that, Harry pushed forward and Fleur gasped "Oh Harry"
The next day:
Harry had not spent Saturday with the rest of the students down in Hogsmeade, instead opting to duel with Fleur and Hermione all day. Which meant that he was completely ready for the first dueling class he would be holding on the following (today) day, Sunday.
He woke up nearing the end of breakfast, eating a rather large helping fruit rather than anything like eggs or toast. Hermione couldn't look out him without turning bright red and Harry understood why that was. The first time was probably bad enough to be forced to listen to, but the second and third time was mostly him just getting caught up in the moment.
But by the time the third time came and went, his magic had worn off and Hermione had not been in any way, shape, or form been forced to stay and watch for the fourth time. That was all on the bookworm, which is probably why she was turning red every time she so much as looked at him, but that was on her not him.
Breakfast ended and all of the students who were going to stick around kind of just stood there as Harry waved his wand and all of the tables were shrunken and pushed to the side. The room filled with "OOO's" and "Ah's" but Harry ignored them. If this was all that it took to impress them, they were in for a rather long day.
Dumbledore spun his wand around and the room hummed with the force of his magic, his ability to weave magic being second to none, and in a shimmering blue barrier appeared around the room. Harry flicked his wrist and silently used a semi-dark cutting curse on the barrier and was pleased with how easily the spell was absorbed by the blue barrier.
"Excellent work Dumbledore" said Harry as he walked up closer to the headmaster, "How do you want to start this?"
"I think I will defer to you in this situation, you've already done this before" said Dumbledore, "I trust that you know what you're doing"
Harry nodded and pointed his wand to amplify his voice, "Hello, my fellow students of Hogwarts, happy to see people from all four houses here today. I was almost certain the Ravenclaws were gonna be smart enough not to show up and watch me wipe the floor with the entire house"
His joke hit rather well and there was a scatter of laughter, the Slytherins were clearly happy not to be the butt of the joke from him and he knew that the Ravenclaws could hand it. Hufflepuff would not have taken the joke well either, they were constantly the butt of the joke, being seen as the House of Leftovers, like bad takeout.
Harry continued, "I actually need a volunteer and since I am the source of all of Ravenclaw's anger, I ask that you give me your best dueler"
The Seventh Year Prefect from Ravenclaw stepped forward and Harry gestured to him to stand on either end of the platform, allowing his opponent to have the advantage of picking his favorite side.
Harry winked at Dumbledore and stood across from the Seventh Year and turned to the crowd, "Try to pay close attention to what happens"
Turning to the Prefect, Harry said "Feel free to start whenever you want"
"But you haven't even drawn your wand yet" protested the Prefect
"Oh that, don't worry about that. It doesn't matter if I'm holding a wand, reading a book, this is just for example" countered Harry as he summoned the newspaper from the teacher's table and started reading.
The Prefect grit his teeth and shot a disarming spell at Harry who made a show of crumbling the newspaper and tossing part of it into the way of the spell.
"I don't care much for wizard robe length politics" commented Harry as the Prefect watched his spell be defeated by a crumpled ball of paper.
"I am much more of a sports fan" continued Harry before he gasped in mock horror, "Aye Ron, the cannons lost again"
Laughter swept through the room and the Prefect shot a stunner at Harry that he used the newspaper to absorb before tossing the sports section on the ground.
"Ok, we can start whenever you're ready, I appreciate you waiting for me to read" said Harry
The Prefect had rage in his eye as he blasted a heavily overpowered Stunner at Harry who simply watched it as it got closer and closer to his body before bending around his torso and racing back towards the Prefect who was too surprised to do anything other than watch as he was taken out by his own stunner.
He dropped the ground and Harry took a bow to the speechless crowd, as a smile graced his face.
"Now as you see, just because you have some power and know some spells does not mean that you are equipped to actually win a duel. This *points out the laid out Prefect* guy literally defeated himself" explained Harry
"So, you're not going to show us how to actually duel?" asked one of the Hufflepuff, a fourth year or something, Harry didn't know his name.
"Oh no, I will. I just had to give an example that there is more to dueling than simply throwing spells around. I pissed this guy off and he ended up defeating himself without me lifting a finger" said Harry before he waved his hand and the Prefect was woken up from his stunned form.
"Now, who wants to learn how to fuck shit up?" asked Harry to the masses, and Dumbledore couldn't suppress the groan that left his mouth as he watched nearly 450 kids all eagerly agree.
The next morning:
Nearly half of the students who trickled into breakfast were limping, mostly from their efforts against each other. But Harry had humored several of the students and dueled them instead of just correcting them as he was content to do from the sides.
Harry was rather pleased with how it went, because everyone now knew that he was the unquestioned strongest student inside of Hogwarts as he finished the session by taking on the four most confident people there (one from each house because Harry was all about beating everyone with equality).
He had floored them and he wished Hermione and/or Fleur had shown up to give him a real challenge, make his break a sweat as apparently the Hogwarts DADA professors had been half assing it for years before Harry had come to Hogwarts.
Yawning as he took a seat, Harry summoned a newspaper from the closest Gryffindor student, a small mousy faced third year who said "Hey" before he realized Harry had summoned the paper from his hands and said "I wasn't reading that anyway"
Harry had cream cheesed covered toast with tomato in his left hand, the stolen newspaper leaning on the table but also in his right hand. Life was good, or at least it was until he took a bite of his toast and read the main headline of the day for the post, causing him to choke on the delicious tomato and cream cheese combo.
"The Dark Lord storms The Ministry of Magic"
Harry looked up at Dumbledore who looked as taken back as he did and both of them stood up, walking towards each other.
"How's the leg?" asked Harry
"It will hold up" answered Dumbledore
"I hope so" said Harry
"Do you have any idea what Tom might want from the Ministry?" asked Dumbledore as the pair of the exited the Great Hall
"The veil that I pushed him through is down there" said Harry
"I suspect that we might have a chance for you to end this once again in the same spot than Harry" stated Dumbledore as they finally reached outside.
"Good" said Harry as Dumbledore grabbed his hand and the pair of them apparated out of Hogwarts.
Chapter 16
Harry and Dumbledore arrived outside of the Ministry of Magic on the muggle side and found themselves among most of the employees from the government standing there. Harry could feel a bubble of magic around them, someone had done some quick thinking and set up some Muggle Repelling wards. Which was good when you had a couple hundred wizards and witches standing on the streets of London at nearly 9 in the morning.
Fudge marched up to Dumbledore and said "You have to do something about this"
"That is quite literally why we are here" interrupted Harry causing Fudge to look at him and narrow his eyes.
"Mind your tone wi-" Fudge suddenly went silent and Harry smirked as he managed to wordlessly and wandlessly silence the Minister.
"Ok, Dumbledore and I are going to shatter whatever wards they have around the ministry" stated Harry loudly, trying to make sure that everyone heard them.
"I don't believe that will be needed Harry" said Dumbledore
"Why not?" asked Harry
"Because Tom didn't bother to put any wards up, he is inviting us in" said Dumbledore, his tone sounding as concerned as Harry felt.
Amelia Bones pushed her way through the crowd and Harry was surprised that rather formidable witch was still alive. Tom had gone to kill her personally back in their shared home world, mostly because the woman was an absolute monster in terms of dueling.
"Albus, please tell me that you have a plan other than taking Potter with you into the bowels of the Ministry and fighting You Know Who" questioned Ms Bones
"Oh actually it is Potter who is taking me along with him" joked Dumbledore as he opened the door to the phone booth and Harry stepped inside of it.
"Dumbledore" growled Amelia but the old headmaster didn't bother responding as he too, stepped into the phone booth and punched in the correct code to send them down into the Ministry.
"She seemed very angry with you sir" commented Harry
"She had these things called standards Harry" replied Dumbledore, "You'll find that women are full of them"
"I have standards" said Harry
"Sure and my parents are going to get those grandchildren any day now" retorted Dumbledore.
Harry couldn't help but chuckle as the two of them stood in the lift that finally stopped in the Lobby of the Ministry.
The trio of Death Eaters waiting for them did not look all that confident about their ability to take on Harry and/or Dumbledore based on the way that they were shifting in their stances.
"Hello, is that Avery? And little Samuels? And you're a little difficult to name but I want to say Davis" commented Dumbledore with a friendliness in his tone that honestly didn't align with the situation.
The masked men were shocked that Dumbledore had managed to piece together their identities so easily.
"Oh come on now, surely you have come to realize that a teacher never forgets a trio of troublesome students, the three of you stole every pair of knickers in the Ravenclaw tower belonging to a fifth year and up back in what was it? 1972 no 1973" said Dumbledore before Harry rolled his eyes and waved the Elder Wand, ripping the trio's wands away from them.
"So why did old Voldy Moldy put the three of you up here?" asked Harry
The lead one of the trio, the one that Dumbledore had called Samuels stepped forward and said "Our Lord wishes us to escort you down to the Department of Mysteries"
Ropes shot out and wrapped around all three of the death eaters from the end of Dumbledore's wand, before he stepped past them and said "Don't worry, I know the way, you three stay here. You seem rather tied up at the moment, we'll go on without you"
Harry groaned in disgust at the pun and followed Dumbledore to the second lift further into the ministry and the two of them stepped in and once again Dumbledore knew what to push to get the lift going to the correct location.
"What do you think that we're going to find down there?" asked Dumbledore to Harry, Harry had been here before. He told Dumbledore that this is where he had defeated Tom back in his world. Dumbledore was going to defer to Harry in this setting, it was the way that he believed that the prophecy would allow this Harry to fulfill it.
"I imagine we're going to encounter a bunch more death eaters, the inner circle to be precise. They're maybe duel us, maybe just push us forward to Tom, then gang up on us" thought Harry
"Best to be on our guard, no matter what then" said Dumbledore and Harry nodded in agreement. They both had their wands ready and when the doors opened, they found nobody was waiting for them. In fact, a quick detection spell from Dumbledore revealed that there wasn't anyone in the room in front of them.
Walking forward, they continued on into the Department of Mysteries and came to a stop in a room with 12 doors. Of the 12 hours, only one of them was open. Harry knew before they even looked inside that this would be the door that led to the Hall of Prophecies.
"Knowledge it is then" muttered Harry as they approached the door, they stepped through it and found the rows of prophecies had been smashed, leaving shards of glass and wooden debris all over the ground.
"Don't vanish it" whispered Harry as they slowly crept forward, Dumbledore nodded in agreement. Neither of them wanted to alert Tom to their presence.
"By all means, allow me" said a calm voice from the other end of the room and all of the mess disappeared, "You must forgive me, sometimes I forget my manners"
"Worse things happen to men our age Tom, our minds tend to slip as we got older" said Dumbledore
Tom smirked and black smoke filled the room encircling Harry and Dumbledore, before solidifying into the rest of the Death Eaters.
"Tell me, are you afraid Potter?" questioned Tom
"No" said Harry as he gripped his wand, certain of his ability to match Tom in a duel to the death. The Elder Wand hummed with delight in his hand and he felt his magic pulsing, begging to be unleashed with deadly intent.
Tom smiled with glee, his pale features looked rather unnatural twisted like that, but he held up his non wand hand and showed the small orb that only he and Harry could touch.
"Let's find out what makes you so special" stated Tom as he smashed the orb. The smashed orb have way to figure that rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly, her feet in the basin. But when Sibyll Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual voice nor the fake mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her use once before.
"the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. . . . Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies . . . And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not . . . And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. . . . The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies. . . ."
The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass of shard and vanished.
Tom glared at Harry with eyes that were the same red as his Lord Voldemort persona.
"A self fulfilling prophecy" hissed Tom, the ground wiggled underneath his feet and stone snakes erupted from the ground, circling Harry's feet.
"That's what you get for not sitting back and thinking Tom" retorted Harry as he used some wind to shred the stone snakes.
Several of the death eaters raised their wands in response but Tom stopped them with a gesture of his hand, "No, he is mine and mine alone"
They looked displeased with those word being uttered but none of them dared to speech against their master's commands.
Dumbledore's presence also made them uncomfortable, the man was ancient, yet they knew that he wasn't regarded as one of the strongest men in the world because he was like a grandfather to half the world.
Harry stepped forward, his wand held tightly in his hand and Tom stepped forward as well.
"Last chance to give up and get a simple death, roll over like your whore of a mother did" taunted Tom
"Riddle me this Tom, who has two thumbs and about to lose to a 16 year old?" asked Harry
Tom growled and a flash of green shot out of his wand, but Harry summoned a pebble into the way and banished the resulting dust into Tom's eyes. Tom sent the dust flying back towards Harry while transfiguring it into shards of glass.
Harry sidestepped and the glass sliced into one of the death eaters behind him. Dumbledore took this chance to blast half of them off their feet before they could even think to attack him before turning his wand on the others.
Harry dodged a bright silver curse and managed to hit Tom with a Everte Statum that sent him flying backwards. Harry's eyes followed his form and he slashed his wand, sending out a trio of cutting curses at the back some of the Death Eaters' who had tried to sneak behind Dumbledore.
Their pained screams were the confirmation that his curse had hit their desired targets, Harry pointed his wand off and let off an Expulso that caused the ceiling above them to explode and rain down stone debris on the death eaters and Tom.
Using his wind ability, Harry grabbed onto Dumbledore and the two of them were carried through the hole by his magic before black spell crashed into the ceiling above him and sent him crashing down to the ground.
Dumbledore groaned in pain as his older body struggled to withstand the harsh landing and Harry looked at the office environment around him before Tom came flying through the hole himself, his feet standing on black vapor as he glared at Harry.
"Running away are we?" asked Tom with a tsk
Harry shot out another Expulso at the ground in front of Tom, but Tom managed to shield against it and the green killing curse flew out of his wand towards Dumbledore, but Harry summoned an office chair into the way to protect the old headmaster.
Tom launched spell after spell at Dumbledore, forcing Harry to defend instead of attack. Finally, an orange curse hit Harry in the arm and he immediately felt his blood start to boil. Gritting his teeth, Harry cast the blood freezing curse on himself and nearly sighed in relief at the sensation before he summoned parts of the wall behind Tom, stabbing the dark lord in the back with parts of dry wall and small shards of brick.
Tom hissed in pain before slashing his wand and making it all disappear before Harry pushed him back with a giant swat of wind before he forcibly woke Dumbledore up with a burst of magic.
"Get up old man, neither you nor I can afford to die here. This would be way too pathetic for either of us" commented Harry as he helped Dumbledore to his feet.
"Where is Tom?" asked Dumbledore
"Somewhere over there" gestured Harry as he tugged on Dumbledore, pulling him out of the office area and into one of the hallways.
The wall exploded and Harry managed to shield both of them fast enough for them to not take any damage. Pushing Dumbledore towards where the lift was, Harry turned to face Tom.
Tom came gliding in on a massive summoned snake and Harry managed to hit him with Ebublio.
Tom snarled angrily as a bubble formed around him and he was lifted off of the snake, his attempt at blasting the bubble resulting in his own body being blasted by the backlash and he collapsed in the bubble.
"Release me" demanded Tom
"No" said Harry as he turned and ran away, making his way back to the lift before the pair of Dumbledore and Harry climbed inside, the doors opened to let them out into the lobby and they stepped out.
There was a pop and Tom and Bellatrix were standing in front of them, cutting off their escape. But this was actually where Harry wanted them to be, little known to Tom.
"I have nothing more to say to you, Potter," he said quietly. "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry didn't have to do so much as think before the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting Harry.
"Why do you continue to resist, just give up and die" snarled Tom
Harry felt his magic bubble up inside of his and he felt a twinge of worry at what had happened the last time he faced Tom, the usage of such magic had triggered the ritual that had brought him and he was worried about that happening again.
What Harry didn't have to worry about was the fully alert Dumbledore standing in front of the golden gates trading spells with Bellatrix.
Tom raised his wand and sent another jet of green light at Harry, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak; next second he had reappeared behind Tom and blasted him with heated air, causing his skin to blister.
Dumbledore hit Bellatrix with a spell causing her to scream and sent spells aimed at his chest, but Dumbledore's ability to either sidestep or use the debris to block was superb. Harry glanced at them again as Dumbledore shattered her shield and sent her through the fountain.
Harry sent the spear that the part of fountain flying through the air and Tom tried to redirect it, but the golden spear was too quick and it went right through Bellatrix's skull, killing her instantly.
"That was not part of the game, Harry" hissed Tom
Harry sent a powerful gust of wind, but Tom batted it to the side and with a precision that was not seen, hit Harry in the face with a spell that Harry didn't know and he wouldn't be able to figure out as it immediately knocked him out.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER, YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR NOT WRITING ME THIS PAST SUMMER" screeched Hermione causing Harry to look at the bushy haired girl.
"You wanted me to write you back? Why did you say so?" asked Harry
"What are you talking about? Why else would I owl you, if not to have you respond?" questioned Hermione
"I don't know, maybe so you can give me a weekly status update. I never got a letter before; how would I know the proper procedures of owling someone." Said Harry in his own defense
"How do you not get letters? You are the most famous person in all of Britain" said Hermione with narrowed eyes
Harry shrugged and didn't try to explain that he didn't want people writing him. It was a losing argument after all.
Just then the compartment door opened and in slid Daphne Greengrass.
"Hello Daphne, you are looking as attractive as a 13 year old girl possibly could" said the ever emotional Harry, who had given her the up and down look upon entering. This caused Hermione to glare at Harry.
"Thanks Potter, it was very nice to hear from you this summer. You didn't return any of my letters last summer, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that you bothered to respond this year." Said Daphne as she sat down beside Harry.
This caused Hermione to turn and glare at Harry again.
"You didn't respond to my letters" Hermione stated again.
"Daphne told me to reply at my earliest convenience, which means that I had to reply. She was constantly asking me questions like "How is your summer going?", "Do you want to visit my manor?", "Do you think that my bum is big enough?". All of your letters were like status updates on what you were doing in France" explained Harry
Daphne blushed at the bum part of Harry's explanation and said "That was supposed to be private"
"Sorry Daphne, Hermione here is a bit nosy and tends to forget her manners at times. You've been here for almost 3 minutes and still no form of greeting has been offered in your direction. It is a shame really, she is the one who gives us Gryffindors a bad name." said Harry with a small smile tugging on the edges of his lips.
Hermione looked at Harry and Daphne when they both cracked, with Daphne letting out a small giggle and Harry smiling normally and realized that they were having a bit of fun at her expense.
"That wasn't funny guys" said Hermione with a frown on her face
"If you have to say that it wasn't funny, that means it usually was to everyone else" stated Daphne.
The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.
Having decided that whatever was going on, Harry closed the door and sat back down next to Daphne.
"Shouldn't we go check to see what is wrong?" asked Hermione, only to have Daphne and Harry give her a look.
"Hermione this is not an 'Us' problem, this is a school problem. Let them figure it out." Said Harry, who was 100 percent to mind his own business. Something Daphne was also more than willing go along with not getting involved, it was the Slytherin thing to do.
Hermione growing tired of the darkness in the compartment, cast a quick Lumos with her wand. Suddenly, the door slid slowly open without anyone in the compartment having even reached for the door.
Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the pure white light that was coming out of the end of Hermione's wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry's eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water, it was downright zombie-ish
But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Harry's gaze, the hand was suddenly with drawn into the folds of its black cloak.
And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck some- thing more than air from its surroundings.
An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart. . . .
Harry's eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn't see. He was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder. And then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside, NOW!"
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead" cried out the female voice before she pleaded one last time "Not Harry! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy. . . ."
The Mirror of Erised flashed through Harry's mind and he could suddenly imagine the woman with the red hair and the same green eyes of his, saying these words. Pleading with a person who would kill him, but who?
Harry blinked and all he could see in the darkness of his lack of vision was a pair of glowing angry red eyes. Lord Voldemort has no mercy you silly girl
When he opened his eyes, they matched the ones he had seen during his blink. His wand, already in hand, raised and Harry glared at the sorrow inducing creature who had entered the cabin and repeated the words that were being whispered in his head.
"Expecto Patronum" cried out Harry and a blob of white mist sprung from the end his wand and slammed the dementor back. As is landed in the hallway, a much more powerful Patronus came speeding down the hallway and slammed into it, causing it to flee the train. A man came strolling down the hall and stopped at the compartment that Harry and his associates were in.
"You lot okay, Dementors can be a bit of nasty work if you don't know how to defend yourself." Said the man, who was dressed in slightly subpar clothing, as if they were from a thrift shop.
Hermione was the first to speak "Yes sir, it entered the train and the whole train got very cold, then the dementor started to suck the happiness out of the train before it started advancing itself towards us. Upon opening the compartment door, it looked at Harry before Harry casted a white mist that blasted it back into the hallway where you took over it. Mister?"
"Lupin, Mr. Lupin. You managed to cast the Patronus Charm, that is highly advanced magic for any student to master." Supplied Lupin before he addressed Harry
"Well, when you hear that they are going to put dangerous creatures on the school grounds, you should always know what the creature is and how you can defeat it, if not just fend it off, Mr. Lupin sure." Replied Harry
"Well, I think that is an excellent way of thinking. 15 points to Gryffindor for using an advanced charm to defend yourself and your friends …err I haven't caught any of your names"
"Hermione Granger"
"Daphne Greengrass"
"Harry"
"Harry!" cried out a voice from the real world and not his memory, Dumbledore's voice
Harry's eyes shot open and they glowed with power, his eyes glowed with power that Dumbledore and Tom had never seen before.
Harry floated up to his feet and he turned his wand on Tom, golden flames shot out of the end of the wand and Tom's screamed in pain as his wand shattered in his hand, filling his long thin pale fingers with fragments of wood.
Harry slashed his wand and more golden flames erupted in a massive slicing wave of magic and Tom could do nothing as the golden flames raced towards him in a blur and the flames ate their way through his right arm.
Hissing pain, Tom popped away, forcing his way through the wards of the ministry, but Harry knew that he had gotten the best of him in his enraged state. The arm that Tom had left behind, sliced off at the shoulder was a surefire sign of his defeat.
Dropping to his knees, Harry reached up and felt his face, the right of it had skin that felt strangely textured, like it had been ripped off and sloppily glued back on.
"I am sorry Harry, there is nothing more that I could without knowing the exact curse that Tom used on you" commented Dumbledore as he conjured a small mirror and handed it to him
The most of the right side of his face had crumpled up skin, a large angry red pulsing crescent of skin highlighted his once smooth pale feature.
"Don't worry about it professor, what's another scare for the boy who lived, the man with is more known for his scar than being his own person" commented Harry bitterly
"I have failed you time and time since you've come to this world, perhaps I can do something about the scar in due time. Severus is quite brilliant with counter curses, if we have him take a look, he can probably cure it" said Dumbledore
"Don't worry about it, I'm just mad that I didn't get him good enough to kill him here. I should have went for the head" grumbled Harry
"Next time" said Dumbledore as the Lobby became flooded with Ministry workers and the media members taking photos of everything in sight.
"Oh my, that's Bellatrix LeStrange" gasped a reporter as they came across her corpse, Harry grimaced as he realized that he had caused quite a bit of damage.
"Mr. Potter, did you duel You Know Who today?"
"Mr. Potter, did you see who killed Mrs LeStrange?"
"Mr. Potter, did you accomplish what you came here to do?"
"Mr. Potter, whose arm is that?"
"Mr. Potter, did you win today?"
The questions rained down on him from all directions and Harry had a tough time figuring out who was asking what and how to answer this question or that question first. His display of magical power had left him fatigued and his stomach growled for food.
He felt dizzy and he felt bile threatening to climb from his stomach and explode out of his mouth. But luckily for him, Dumbledore came to the rescue, putting his arm around Harry and answering questions.
"Harry did duel Tom Riddle Jr tonight here in this building, Bellatrix and I were in the middle of a duel when Harry decided to see if he could help me and Bellatrix was unable to avoid the spear, we came to force Tom and his followers from the ministry and make sure that the ministry suffered no casualties, that we did with complete success. This is the arm of Tom Riddle, You Know Who, Lord Voldemort, whatever you want to call him. Harry managed to disarm him in the most literal sense of the word. Today was a win for us"
Dumbledore's answers were short and to the point, nobody had much else to ask and Harry blinked as Fawkes came and landed on his shoulder before in a burst of flames, he was sitting back in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
"You did well today Harry" said Dumbledore as he sat down behind his desk, his shoulders slumping and his body twitching in pain, "I know that I would not be alive without you there beside me today"
Harry let out a sigh as his body slumped in the chair, the pain of hunger in his stomach growing greater by the second.
"Where do we go from here?" asked Harry
"I believe that we have strayed from the time line that you grew up in and are closer to complete chaos than anything Harry. Where we go from here is to finish this as fast as possible" suggested Dumbledore
"He's powerful, his magic might still be adjusting to his body but I can't deflect his spells like I do with other people's spells. He's only going to get stronger and more accustomed to having a body, the faster that we kill him, the better" agreed Harry
"I will be with you every step of the way, I have also continued my research into the ritual that brought you here. We may have to recast it to keep you here, but if we do that, we cannot counter it and send you back" stated Dumbledore
Harry looked at the old tired wizard and wondered what it would be like to be so elderly and yet the entire world was constantly leaning on you for answers and support. Dumbledore was a much better person than he could or would ever be. He didn't care about the public that much and he was unwilling to sacrifice so much for so little.
"You do whatever you need to do to make this work, if I am stuck here, there are worse places to be stuck" admitted Harry
"Ah yes, the budding love between yourself and Miss Delacour" nodded Dumbledore
"Love, lust, whatever you want to call it. I plan on enjoying it as long as I can" said Harry with a tired smile.
"And with another near scar on your face, I'm sure your legend will grow. The photo of Tom's arm in the papers, you're continued presence in the school. I do not envy the female attention that you will draw Harry. Good night" said Dumbledore as they both slowly rose and intended to make their way to their beds.