Chapter 21
Duel Preparations, Part 3
Wednesday, 24th July, six days till the Duel
About 6:30 p.m., Potter Manor
The Potter Manor head house-elf, Greyclay, just had elf-popped Harry, Hermione, Neville and Daphne to Potter Manor from the basilisk tunnel.
Now Harry shook Neville's hand, and hugged (and kissed) Hermione and Daphne. Harry told each of the three teens, "Thanks for your help today in researching Parseltongue spells. When I win the Duel, it will be because of you."
Just before the others left Potter Manor, Harry again hugged and kissed Daphne (and Hermione). Harry murmured to Daphne, "I'm glad I'm betrothed to you."
Daphne looked shocked.
Meanwhile in the headmaster's office, HSOW&W
Dumbledore still was angry that Harry had slipped into and out of the castle without seeking the headmaster's permission; and furthermore, Harry had thwarted Dumbledore's plans to make the boy leave the castle empty-handed and Obliviated.
It's time, angry Dumbledore thought, that the boy be reminded of his place in the world. Dumbledore sat down and wrote Harry a letter—
Dear Harry,
As many times as Professor Snape has loudly spoken of your "immaturity," I must agree with him now. You are not ready to duel Tom Riddle, and it was foolish to challenge the Dark Lord to a duel on 30th July.
For your own protection, I as headmaster deny you permission to use the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch for your duel. Also a consideration: Even if no children are present at school on 30th July, I refuse to drop the school's wards during the time that Tom and his Death Eaters would be present at the pitch.
I am disappointed in you, Harry. I know you grieve for your godfather, but it is time to lay your grief aside and to grow up.
Regretfully,
(signed) Albus Dumbledore
Ten minutes later
Still in the headmaster's office
Filius Flitwick walked in, showing his usual cheerful face. "Good evening, headmaster, I have a request. I need time off for personal reasons. I shall return to the castle on 1st August."
Dumbledore took a breath to say yes—then remembered that Flitwick was the best duelist in the school, whilst Harry planned to duel the Dark Lord in six days. Does Filius want time off so that he can spend six days training Harry how to duel? So instead of quickly agreeing to Flitwick's request, Dumbledore asked, "What are the 'personal reasons' for which you wish to leave the school, Filius?"
Flitwick's smile disappeared. "My 'personal reasons' are personal, headmaster."
"And if I refuse you permission to leave, because I suspect you plan to meet often with Harry?"
"My contract states that my time during Summer Break is entirely my own, up to 25th August. But if you insist that I must stay here, despite the contract—"
Flitwick waved his wand, and a half-foot parchment appeared in front of him. Flitwick's free hand snatched the parchment out of the air.
"—then honour requires I must, most regretfully, submit my immediate resignation."
"Filius, you don't want to do anything foolish, such as severing your employment with the best magical school in Europe."
Flitwick said, "You joke, headmaster. Hogwarts is not the best magical school in Europe; talking to the professors at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang made this quite clear. Within Wizarding Britain, Manchester Magical Academy averages 50 percent more Outstanding N.E.W.T. scores per student than does Hogwarts."
Flitwick looked hard at Dumbledore and added, "I have standing job offers from Manchester Magical Academy, Beauxbatons and Gringotts—or I could turn pro on the magical dueling circuit. So, Headmaster Dumbledore, do you truly want to play the same power-games with me you play with Harry Potter?" Flitwick held out his resignation letter so that it almost, but not quite, touched the top of Dumbledore's desk.
The results were that Flitwick got his week away from the castle, and Dumbledore got angry again.
Minutes later
An owl delivered to Dumbledore, Harry's reply to Dumbledore's letter—
Headmaster,
I laughed at your statement that explained why you were refusing me usage of the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch for next Tuesday's Duel with Tommy. You claimed your reason was "for [my] own protection." Coming from you, the wizard who personally left me with the Dursleys and never looked in on me afterwards, "[I'm doing this] for your own protection" was a knee-slapper! Next time, tell me that Professor Snape works a second job as a birthday-party clown—such a statement would be easier for me to believe.
But I figured you'd pull something like this, whilst giving me a flimsy excuse to "explain" it, so I've already taken action. I've talked to Puddlemere United and the Holyhead Harpies about using one of their Quidditch stadiums. Both Quidditch clubs agreed quickly, once I offered to pay for all repairs caused by spell damage. In return for this guarantee, I asked each stadium to put certain names on their wards-enforced "shit list" during the day of the Duel.
What I'm saying here is that if I'm forced to have my Duel somewhere other than Hogwarts, then certain people will not be allowed to stand with me on the pitch during the Duel, nor will they be allowed to watch the Duel as spectators; stadium wards will keep them away. Those people will be: Molly Weasley, Elphias Doge, Severus Snape, Mundungus Fletcher—and you.
So if you want to bask in reflected limelight next Tuesday, this will happen only at Hogwarts. Be assured that the Duel between Tommy and me will happen next Tuesday, regardless of what you do between now and then.
Harry
P.S. According to Hogwarts: A History, which a close friend of mine reads for entertainment, the Hogwarts Castle wards do not reach to the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. So your statement that "I refuse to drop the school's wards during the time that Tom and his Death Eaters would be present at the pitch" is misleading. I just thought you should know that I know that you tried twice in one letter to lie to me.
Dumbledore, reading Harry's letter, wanted to snarl. He had been completely outflanked by the boy—how had this happened? Dumbledore's only choice now was to write back and to tell Harry he was permitted to use the Hogwarts pitch, because of some made-up reason; the duel being held anywhere that Dumbledore was put on a "shit list" was unacceptable—
Because for glory-hog Dumbledore, not being the centre of attention was annoying, but being banned from an event that everyone was talking about, was downright painful.
But clearly Harry had figured this out; Dumbledore the manipulator hated the idea that he himself had been easily analysed, then manipulated.
Not quite five days later
Monday, 29th July, about 6 p.m.
Eighteen hours till the Duel
In the potions laboratory of Malfoy Manor
Severus Snape was brewing a Blood-Replenishment potion; he was alone in the laboratory. As brewing-requirements allowed, he meanwhile was writing with a quill on parchment. Anyone watching from a distance would presume that Snape was writing technical notes about the potion-brewing.
But such a presumption would have been wrong.
When Snape had finished his writing, he did a bit of foolish wand-waving, in order to instantly dry the ink. Snape folded the parchment, then charmed a wax seal to hold the folded parchment flat.
Snape's face and voice were emotionless, as usual; but his mind was jumpy and scared. He thought, If Voldemort reads what I've just written, I'm dead.
Speaking barely above a whisper, Snape said, "May I have a Hogwarts house-elf, please?"
Pop. The house-elf said, "Professor Snapey, how can Swotty help you?"
Snape handed over the wax-sealed parchment. "The first of September, after the Sorting—if I'm in the Great Hall, give this back to me. If I'm not in the Great Hall, give this to Harry Potter. If neither Potter nor I are in the Great Hall, give this to Minerva McGonagall."
"Swotty will do this," the house-elf promised. Pop—both Swotty and the folded parchment disappeared.
Snape let himself breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile in Greengrass Manor
Eighteen hours till the Duel
Daphne Greengrass was dining with her family. Her mother noticed Daphne fidgeting. "Are you worried about Harry tomorrow?" Opal Greengrass asked.
Daphne replied, "Not as much as a week ago, no. Harry's been dueling almost nonstop with Professor Flitwick, and Harry was already an outstanding duelist in fifth year. I'm not relaxed about his chances tomorrow, but I'm not frantic, either."
Astoria asked, "Are you scared for yourself, then? Tomorrow, you and Granger will be standing with Potter."
Daphne looked at her sister with pursed lips. "Use their first names, Tori. After all, one day Harry will be my husband, and Hermione will be my co-wife. Referring to them by last name makes it sound like they're unwelcome strangers."
"But Gr—but Hermione is a Muggle-born."
"She is—and she regularly earns better marks than every Pureblood in our year. So much for 'Pureblood superiority'! Anyway, I'd hoped for better from you, Tori. I know you fancied Draco Malfoy—do you need to talk like him too?"
Astoria, her cheeks red, suddenly took a keen interest in the food on her plate.
Cyrus Greengrass said, "I think you girls got sidetracked, but Daphne, I wish to hear your answer to Astoria's question. Tomorrow you will be standing with Harry and facing You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters; how much does this frighten you?"
"It terrifies me, Father—it terrifies me as much as when students at Hogwarts were being petrified during second year, and nobody knew who was causing it, or how."
Then Daphne raised her chin, as she eyed every other member of her family. "But though I'm frightened, tomorrow at high noon I will stand next to my future husband and I will save him from his enemies."
Daphne had a second reason that she was nervous tonight, but she spoke not a whisper of this to her family. Daphne knew that Harry planned to attack Malfoy Manor tonight, and he might well be dead by sunset.
Meanwhile in Potter Manor
Eighteen hours till the Duel
Pop. Greyclay brought Hermione to the library of Potter Manor, where she joined Fleur, "Mad-Eye" Moody, George and Fred—and Harry. Everyone except Hermione was gripping a flying-broom.
Harry was wearing the same magic-radio headset that he had worn on his Malfoy Manor scouting mission, eight days ago. He handed the duplicate magic-radio headset to Hermione, who placed it on her head. Harry and Hermione briefly turned their backs on each other and did radio-cheques; their headsets turned out to be working fine.
Then Harry ordered, "Everyone please face the portraits."
When Harry, the other four broom-riders and Hermione all were facing the portraits, Harry said, "Mum, Dad, Grandfather, Grandmother, ancestor Potters, the six of us leave to attack Voldemort at Malfoy Manor, in a way that's never been done before. Best-case scenario, we're about to put ourselves into the history books—and not for goblin rebellions! Worst case, Hermione will be the only one of us alive at sundown."
Hermione slapped Harry's arm. "Prat! I expect you to be healthy and kissing me at sundown."
Portrait-Lily said, "I'm so proud of you, Harry. I'm sure you'll do fine." Then Portrait-Lily's voice turned businesslike. "Hermione, the tracking-charm that you cast on Harry's broom, eight days ago, should still work. So my only worry is that you'll do a bad job of navigation whilst Harry and his group are in the air."
Hermione squared her shoulders. "I won't lead him astray, Lily Potter. This I promise."
Harry rubbed his hands together. "Well then, you four, shall we go outside and begin the work of ruining Lord Voldemort's plans, and of hopefully ending his life?"
Minutes later
At Potter Manor's Quidditch pitch
On the pitch stood Harry, his four broom-rider volunteers and Hermione (who had asked if she could watch).
Harry said, "First, some business. Twins, I know you two played Quidditch whilst in school. Fleur, Alastor, how about you?"
Mad-Eye said, "I was a Chaser."
Fleur said, "I did not go for ze team, but often I played ze friendly match with ze yearmates."
Harry said, "Good enough. Now I'll tell you more about the mission. I told you we'll be flying more than a hundred feet high. Actually, I still won't tell you the exact height, but heading to Malfoy Manor, we'll be flying more than five hundred feet high."
"Blimey," Fred murmured. George, Mad-Eye and Fleur simply stared.
Harry said, "And this will change how each of you ride your broom. But before we mount our brooms, I want the five us to form a circle. Everyone get your wands in hand. Now, starting with Fleur, I want you to cast the Sticking Charm to glue your right-side neighbour's wand to his hand, then your right-side neighbour will cast the Sticking Charm on his right-side neighbour's wand, etc."
When that was done, Harry said, "Everyone please mount your brooms now. Brooms close to me, at three feet or one metre above the ground."
After this was done, Harry said, "Notice how all of you are sitting: straight up, so that you can look forwards and look about. Now, also notice how all of you have your hands placed: holding the back of the broomstick and both hands placed just a little forwards of your bits. Now, if you don't already have your hands set this way, put your wand-hand close to your bits and your free hand forwards of your wand-hand." Harry paused whilst the other four obeyed. "This is the position I want you in as we fly to Malfoy Manor; I'm calling it 'flight position.' "
Harry continued, "With your wand-hand gripping the broomstick, slide your free hand forwards along the broomstick shaft and bend your upper body forwards. When you've bent enough forwards that you can see the ground below you, have your free hand grab the broomstick firmly and lock your elbow. Then your wand-hand should let go of the broomstick; bring your wand-hand out in front of you with your wand pointed straight down. Everyone try it now."
Seconds later, Harry said, "I'm calling this posture 'attack position.' Everyone practise attacking: Fire a Stinging Hex at the ground directly below your eyes."
Nobody seemed to have a problem achieving this. Harry asked, "Any questions?"
Fleur asked, " 'arry, in ze 'flight position,' why do we put our hands this way?"
Harry answered, "Because when we get where we're going, we will be looking straight down and firing our wands straight down. Before we do this, each of us must move our free hand along the broomstick as we lean forwards. When you're high up, this will be scary enough when you start with your hands set right. If you start with your hands set wrong, so that you wobble a bit at first, getting into attack position becomes absolutely terrifying."
"Makes sense," George said.
Harry asked, "Hermione, are you ready to go? Any problems with you?"
Hermione answered. "None. I'm ready when you lot are."
"Kreacher!" Harry said.
Pop. The elderly house-elf appeared. "How can Kreacher serve the Lord Black?"
"Is everything set for Plan One? Or are there any problems I need to know about? I've already tweaked the ward ledger."
"Plan One is ready to go," Kreacher said. "The Black family townhouse is ready to receive its special visitor."
"Thank you, Kreacher. You may go." Pop.
"Dobby!" Harry said.
Pop. Dobby appeared, standing on the Quidditch pitch. His head was forwards and to the right of Harry's bum on the broom.
Grinning Dobby asked, "How can Dobby serve Great Harry Potter Sir?"
Harry asked, "Dobby, can you elf-pop onto the very front of this broom handle, so that you're astride it and facing me?"
"Not a problem, Great Harry Potter Sir." Pop.
But it turned out that there was a problem: As soon as Dobby was sitting on the forward end of the broomstick, the broomstick dipped ten degrees down. Harry's previously-stationary broom began to slowly move both forwards and downwards.
Harry asked, "Dobby, can you make yourself weightless?"
"Master Harry Potter is so smart! Yes, Dobby can make himself weightless."
"Brilliant! Get off the broom and back on the ground"—pop, Dobby did this—"and wait till I'm back where I was." Seconds later, when Harry was three feet off the ground and his broomstick was level, he said, "Weightless Dobby, come to me."
Pop. Dobby, as previously ordered, now was sitting on the end of Harry's broomstick and was facing Harry. But this time, Harry's broomstick did not tilt or move.
Harry said to Dobby, "The next time I call you, I will be high in the air. Please appear astride my broom, weightless, facing me. Goodbye for now."
"Dobby will do his part to help Great Harry Potter Sir rescue people and house-elves." Pop.
The twins asked, "Harry, what's up—"
"—with your house-elves?"
Harry answered, "Whilst the five of us are bringing down death and destruction on the Death Dunderheads, Dobby and Kreacher will be carrying out humanitarian rescues."
"You're a good man, Harry," Hermione said, smiling at him.
Harry said, "Oi, team, I want all of us to spend five minutes shifting between flight position and attack position; when you're in attack position, fire stinging hexes at the pitch directly below your eyes."
Harry caught the twins rolling their eyes at each other.
"Mates, I know what you're thinking. When you're three feet off the ground, spending five minutes on this seems like pointless busywork. But when we're over Malfoy Manor, more than five hundred feet above the ground, you'll be glad we had this practise time."
Five minutes later
Still at Potter Manor's Quidditch pitch
After the poor Quidditch pitch repeatedly had been stung with hexes, Harry said, "Everyone gather round. Hermione, you too."
When all eyes were on him, Harry said, "I've challenged Moldyshorts to a duel tomorrow. I'm sure he plans to show up.
"I'm also sure that tonight he's meeting with all his Death Eaters. Now, if Voldy were an honourable man, tonight's meeting in Malfoy Manor would be a brief one. 'Oi, lads, tomorrow I'll be dueling the Boy Who Lived at the Hogwarts pitch. Go home, spend the evening with your spouses and your sprogs, and I'll see you lot tomorrow at Hogwarts. Afterwards, I'm buying the firewhiskies!'
"In other words, if Voldy were an honourable Dark Lord, then when we blew up Malfoy Manor, the only evil blokes to die would be Voldy and Lucius Malfoy, because all the other Death Eaters already would have left.
"But Voldy isn't honourable. He's a murderer, a liar, a thief, a bully and a fraud. Right now I'd bet my entire trust vault that he's ordered everyone who even thought of taking the Dark Mark to come to Malfoy Manor, and the lot of them are in Lucius's house, plotting evil deeds that they intend to carry out tomorrow.
"Dumbledore is probably worried about Voldy and all those Mortis Munchers in one place, plotting. But I'm not worried, I'm excited. Because once the five of us ride high to Malfoy Manor, we're going to find ourselves in, to use a Muggle expression, a 'target-rich environment.' And there will be justice in us making a deadly sneak attack on murdering and raping terrorists."
Harry looked around, his eyes glowing with fervent passion. "Any questions?"
Nobody had questions. All four broom-riders looked eager—plus Hermione looked eager.
"One last thing," Harry said. "If we do a good enough job this evening, neither Voldy nor his sort will be alive for the Duel tomorrow. Defeating him in the Duel will be nice, but winning by a forfeit would be even better."
Then Harry gave his team a bloodthirsty grin. "All right, lads! And mademoiselle. Let's ride to Malfoy Manor and give Tom Marvolo Riddle what he so richly deserves!"
Chapter 22
Kill da Wabbit
6:14 p.m., eighteen hours before the Duel
Still on Potter Manor's Quidditch pitch
Harry said to his four broom-flyers (and to listening Hermione), "Before we begin, two things. First of all, do you four know how to Rise and Drop on a broomstick? It's not a move you would ever make in a Quidditch match. You don't move forwards or backwards, or left or right, you just move straight up or straight down whilst the broomstick stays level with the ground."
The twins smirked at Harry, whilst "Mad-Eye" gave Harry a look of Don't try to teach your grandmother how to suck eggs. But Fleur said, "I do not know what you mean. Other than ze Quidditch, all my flying is in my Firebird form."
Harry said, "Imagine you're floating on your broom, not moving in any direction. Overhead is a construction crane. A cable comes down from the crane, and I wrap the cable around your broomstick. When the crane operator takes in cable, you rise straight up. When the crane operator lets out cable, you sink straight down. But other than moving up at a steady speed or down at a steady speed, your broom doesn't move."
"You can do zis on ze broom?"
"Yes. Try it now."
Once the idea was explained to Fleur, she picked it up on the first try.
Harry said, "My second topic, which is an order: From now till we've returned to the pitch and I've taken off this headset, don't use any names. I'm not 'Harry," I'm 'Leader.' Hermione is 'Base.' And you lot are"—Harry pointed at Alastor, then Fleur, then Fred, then George—" 'One,' 'Two,' 'Three' and 'Four.' Understand?"
George said, "I understand you perfectly, but Three is the thicksort."
Fred replied, "At least I'm not ugly, Four."
Grinning Harry said, "Stop, you two. Time for talk is over; let's get going. Let me cast this Parseltongue group-disillusionment spell, then you follow me as I rise up. Hermione, I'll turn the headset-radio back on when we've reached cruising altitude."
Hermione nodded. "Harry? Come home."
Harry did not reply; instead, he and his broom silently rose higher off the ground.
Minutes later
1,007 feet above Potter Manor's Quidditch pitch
George asked, "Just how up are we? I'm sure we're much more than five hundred feet up."
Harry grinned, even as he was shaking his head. "I'm not telling you. This is one secret I'll take to my grave."
Fleur asked, "Is zis why you have hissed at your wand, and your wand has hissed back? To keep ze secret?"
"Exactly."
"Good planning, Leader," said Mad-Eye. "What we others don't know, we can't tell."
Harry reached up and tapped his headset twice with a finger; immediately he heard a bell ring to let him know that the radio was turned on. "Base, this is Leader. Give us a course to our target."
In Harry's left ear, he heard Hermione's voice: "I couldn't find out wind speed and direction here, so it'll take me a while to figure out how to correct for drift. Figure that I'll be leading you lot on a merry chase at first. But let's start with a heading of Delta Delta Juliet."
"Heading of Delta Delta Juliet," Harry replied. "Leader acknowledges." This translated to a bearing of 117, which was roughly east-southeast.
An hour and a half later
In Harry's left ear, Hermione was singing. "La-la-la LA la, la-la-la LA la, la-la-la LA la, la-la-la LAA."
Harry asked, "What are you singing?"
Hermione replied, " 'Ritt der Walküren,' Ride of the Valkyries, by Richard Wagner." Then keeping the melody but changing the lyrics, Hermione began to sing, "Kill da WABbit, kill da WABbit, kill da WABbit, kill da WAB-BIT—"
Hermione interrupted her singing to tell Harry, "You're three miles from target, Leader."
Harry replied, "Three miles from target, acknowledged. Going silent in five seconds, Base. I'll have a status update for you soon." Unless I die in the aerial battle, Harry did not add.
Hermione's voice almost was calm. "Live long and prosper, Leader. Base out." Harry tapped his headset twice to turn broadcasting off.
He called out to the broom-flyers, "We're three miles out. Slow down to match me." He magically braked his broom and kept braking, till his ground speed would have been legal in any school zone in any Muggle Britain city. By the time Harry was again surrounded by his broom-flyers, he was almost on top of Malfoy Manor. Up here, Harry could see the manor house clearly (because he remained unaffected by the manor house's Fidelius charm), but none of the other four people could see the manor house.
"I see it," Harry said to the broom-flyers. "We're almost at Malfoy Manor, almost there, we're—"
Around Harry, all four broom-flyers gasped. George said, "Merlin, it just appeared."
Harry grinned. "And this, lady and gentlemen, is how to outsmart a Fidelius charm! And oh, by the way? We five are now insidewhatever wards Lucius Malfoy has up."
Four broom-flyers now grinned at Harry; those grins were bloodthirsty.
"Stop motion. Shift to attack position," Harry ordered. Everyone, including Harry, did so.
Harry said, "Now, you four are going to cast Bombarda Maxima—it's Bombarda times ten—at the four corners of the house. The wand-motion for Bombarda Maxima is a forward thrust. One, you get the near-left corner of the manor house; Two, you get the near-right corner; Three, you take the far-left corner; Four, you get the far-right corner. When you each cast your Bombarda Maxima spell, put your heart into it—make your intent be that your corner of the house gets turned into gravel and matchsticks. You four will fire together when I count down to zero. Any questions?"
Moody asked, "What will you be doing, Leader, whilst we four are blowing up the corners?"
"I'll be using the Bombarda Maxima spell on the middle of the roof, and I'll be firing a second before the rest of you do. So hopefully tonight, I can fulfill the prediction."
"Weightless Dobby, come here!" Harry called. Pop. Dobby appeared astride Harry's broomstick.
Harry said to Dobby, "Plan Two first, then Plan One. Go." With a pop, Dobby disappeared. "Counting down: Three—"
None of the evil wizards in the Malfoy Manor dining room noticed, nor did any of the werewolves in human form notice, but every Malfoy house-elf elf-popped out of the manor house, onto the lawn or gardens that surrounded the manor house. Dobby alerting the house-elves when the manor house was about to be destroyed, was Plan Two.
Plan Two assumed that the abused house-elves of Malfoy Manor would give no warning to their human masters; that the Malfoy Manor house-elves would be obedient but not loyal.
The house-elves, on their own initiative, did something that Harry had not known about and had not planned for: The house-elves rescued Florean Fortescue and Garrick Ollivander, who had been held prisoner in the manor house's dungeon. Once rescued, the two injured wizards were laid out flat on the lawn.
"Two," Harry said.
Dobby elf-popped into the Malfoy Manor dining room, by the chair of Narcissa Black Malfoy. Dobby laid his hand on Lady Malfoy's robes-covered leg, then Dobby elf-popped himself and Narcissa to Grimmauld Place, where Kreacher was waiting. This was Plan One: to rescue Narcissa.
Severus Snape just happened to be looking in the right direction to see a house-elf pop by Narcissa Malfoy, to recognise the elf as the former Malfoy elf who was now Harry Potter's elf, then to see both house-elf and Narcissa disappear with a pop.
Why did Harry Potter's elf take Narcissa? Snape wondered.
In answer, a picture appeared in Snape's head, of Harry Potter bursting through the doors into the dining room, with a wand in each hand, shooting Avadas at Voldemort and at anyone else he could hit.
Had Snape stopped to think about it, he would have realised that his idea was impossible. But Snape did not stop to think; instead, he acted. Snape dived under the heavy granite table. This turned out to be the right thing to do, though Snape did it for the wrong reason.
Contrary to Harry's expectations, one Malfoy Manor house-elf was loyal—or at least, was loyal enough. Malfoy head elf Chunky elf-popped from the lawn into the dining room, grabbed Lucius Malfoy's hand, and elf-popped the wizard out onto the lawn.
Harry said. "One. Bombarda Maxima!"
If things had gone according to plan, Narcissa Malfoy was out of Malfoy Manor, and the house-elves also were out of Malfoy Manor. Harry had no reason to hold back now, so he intended that this entire building, and everyone in it, be gone.
Less than a second apart, Voldemort saw a house-elf disappear with Narcissa Malfoy, and a different house-elf disappear with Lucius Malfoy.
Treachery! Voldemort thought.
Snape had just dived under the table when—BLAM!—Voldemort heard a painfully loud explosion upstairs. Voldemort immediately dived under the table as well. He gave no thought at all of trying to save the lives of his Death Eater minions.
Only when it was too late did Voldemort remember that he had left Nagini slithering on top of the granite table. By the time Voldemort thought about imperiled Nagini, most of the manor house was raining down about him.
"Zero," Harry said.
Three male voices and one female voice screamed, "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
Four beams of aqua-coloured light zoomed down towards the four corners of Lucius Malfoy's most prized possession.
There everyone had been, plotting the Dark Lord's conquest of Hogwarts, then the Ministry of Magic, then Wizarding Britain—when suddenly, everything had turned to shit.
One second, Lucius Malfoy was sitting in the packed-solid dining room, next to his silent wife Narcissa. At that moment, Lucius and a horde of other Death Eaters, and also werewolves in human form, were helping Voldemort to plan the conquest of the Ministry of Magic. (After Potter and Dumbledore were both dead, of course.)
The next second, Narcissa was elf-popped away, without Lucius expecting this or ordering this.
Right afterwards, Lucius felt Crunchy's tiny hand grasp his, then suddenly Lucius was outside in evening daylight, on his own front lawn.
Lucius was pulling his foot back, to angrily kick Crunchy all the way to Spain, when the roof of his manor house imploded—BOOM! A second later, his manor house was hit by a bigger and louderexplosion that sounded like the end of the world had come.
Along with what Lucius heard, Lucius saw his house's complete destruction within seconds, as if a titan's flat hand slammed down on the top of Lucius's manor house. As the top of the house came down, the sides of the manor house came out. Debris shot out sideways in every direction, moving faster than a piercing-hex.
Suddenly Chunky elf-popped Lucius far away from the exploding ruin of his house—and in doing so, saved Lucius's life for the second time in under five seconds.
About a thousand feet above ruined Malfoy Manor
Harry summoned Dobby again; Dobby again appeared astride Harry's broom. Harry asked his house-elf to remove the dust-clouds so that Harry could see the damage to Malfoy Manor.
Dobby made a wind blow, which revealed the ruined manor house. Harry, looking about, saw that all four broom-riders were smiling now, but Dobby had the biggest smile of all. "Bad former master Lord Blondy gets payback from the Great Harry Potter!" Dobby exclaimed.
Harry asked, "Any problems, Dobby? Or is there anything else I should know about?"
Dobby's ears drooped. "A problem, yes, Great Harry Potter Sir. Lord Blondy was keeping two wizards in prison in dungeon, to ask them questions and hurt them. Malfoy house-elves rescued the wizards, else the two wizards would have died when you made house fall down."
"Where are the two wizards at now? And you say Malfoy has imprisoned and tortured them?"
"They're on the lawn, safe for now. But house-elf Chunky saved Lord Blondy—"
"Damn," said Harry.
"—and Lord Blondy might hurt the wizards if he sees them on his lawn."
Harry asked, "What about Narcissa? Is she safe at Grimmauld Place?" Dobby nodded. "Dobby, I want you to elf-pop the two wizards to Saint Mungo's, and stay with them till the Healers admit them to hospital. Go, before Lucius tries any shit with them." Pop—Dobby was gone.
Now Harry looked around at his four broom-riders and said, "I badly want to blast the manor house again, but I'm feeling a bit woozy. I figure you lot feel woozy too. Hit the house again, or not? Give me your thoughts."
Lucius still was staring towards his once-grand house, which mostly was hidden within a huge dust cloud.
Suddenly a wind came and blew the dust-cloud away, and Lucius clearly could see what was left of his centuries-old house: almost nothing.
Lucius heard screaming that came from the dining room. Lucius did nothing to help the injured Death Eaters; his attitude was They're all Purebloods. If they can't rescue themselves, they deserve to die. Lucius likewise did not concern himself with the werewolves in human form—If the Dark Lord wants the mongrels healthy, let himheal them.
Idly, Lucius wondered if Voldemort had survived. Lucius realised he did not care whether the Dark Lord was alive or dead.
Belatedly, Lucius realised that all the wards were intact, and had signaled no attempted intrusions. How could we be attacked without the wards falling? he wondered. He could not begin to guess.
Minutes later, in the ruins of Malfoy Manor
Lucius had been surprised at how long he had had to wait after he had Summoned his broom. When the broom finally came to his hand, many of the broom's twigs were broken, and a foot and a half of the broomstick shaft had been broken off.
Once Lucius mounted his broom, he silently glided over the debris that lay inside his house on the ground floor. But Lucius kept far away from the ruins of the dining room—if the Dark Lord were alive now, he would be burning with rage; and a healthy, unharmed Lucius would become the main target of the Dark Lord's fury.
Lucius on his broom glided over a white bed-canopy, with white paisleys embroidered into it, that lay strewn across the floor. Five minutes ago, the bed that the canopy had been part of, had been on the manor house's top floor.
Elsewhere on the floor, Lucius spotted a torn roof tile.
Snapped structural timbers lay about the floor. A delicate end-table that Narcissa had bought in Paris was now smashed to pieces under one such timber.
Many of the walls and ceilings were gone; looking about, Lucius could see many patches of blue sky. Yet the bad news was not completely bad—in a corner of the firewhisky room, which was also a corner of the manor house, two brick walls still stood, though only to waist height—
Suddenly an aqua Bombarda Maxima spell slammed Lucius to the floor, with such force that Lucius hitting the floor broke his legs. However, at the same moment, this spell made the brick wall that was in the corner of the room explode into fragments. Those fast-moving chunks of brick rendered Lucius Malfoy forever uncaring about his broken legs.
Meanwhile in Number 12, Grimmauld Place
Narcissa gasped as she felt her husband die.
Meanwhile, one-thousand-plus feet above Malfoy Manor
"Whoa," said Fred Weasley, as he swayed back and forth. "I don't think I'll stay on my broom if we blast them a third time."
"Okay," said Harry, "I'll stop with two blasts. Great job, people, let's head home. Everyone, move to flight position."
Harry tapped his headset twice with a finger; he heard a bell ring in his left ear. He said, "Base, this is Leader. Come in, Base."
With no pause at all, Harry heard Hermione say, "Leader, this is Base." Hermione sounded happy. Her voice then said, "Request mission-status report."
Harry said, "Mission status is...," then he began singing, "Celebrate good times, come on! It's a celebration."
Meanwhile in Malfoy Manor
After the noise of the second magical blast had faded away, all the groaners and screamers of a minute ago now were silent. Malfoy Manor now was as silent as the Little Hangleton graveyard. Voldemort was not accustomed to feeling spooked.
When Voldemort (and Snape) managed to climb out from under the cracked, collapsed granite table, in the ruined dining room, the Dark Lord discovered that Nagini was dead. The big snake was buried under debris. Voldemort also discovered that the horcrux in Nagini was destroyed.
Voldemort was surprised to discover this. He had expected that if one of his horcruxes were destroyed, he would have felt the loss.
Still, he was much more annoyed by the loss of his familiar than by the loss of his familiar's horcrux. The loss of Nagini's horcrux is not a big problem, Voldemort thought. I have four more horcruxes still in play.
However, the much bigger problem for Voldemort at the moment was that, so far as he could figure, Snape and Lucius were Voldemort's only two minions still alive—and who could guess when Lucius would return from wherever he had gone?
The Healers at Saint Mungo's contacted the DMLE and told them that Harry Potter had attacked Malfoy Manor, and that there were dead and dying people at Malfoy Manor who needed rescue and recovery.
Aurors and Healers Apparated to just outside the wards of Malfoy Manor, intending to perform a Search and Rescue.
But the rescuers could not see the supposedly-destroyed manor house, nor could they enter the manor house to perform rescues. The Fidelius charm still was in effect, and all the wards were up!
The rescuers were puzzled and confused about how Harry Potter had destroyed the manor house whilst leaving the wards unharmed. In their puzzlement and frustration, the S&R people became talkative—other Aurors, Healers and, later on, friends and family, all heard about what Harry Potter had done to the Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor.
Harry Potter gained as much mystique on 29th July 1996 as he did on 31st October 1981. The legendary "Boy Who Lived" became a legend again, because of him perpetrating the magical-world version of a "locked-room mystery."
9:23 p.m., about fifteen hours till the Duel
Potter Manor
Daphne and Neville had not been at Potter Manor when Harry and the broom-flyers had left, but those two friends of Harry's, along with Hermione, were waiting when Harry and the broom-flyers returned. Everyone felt true relief at the five flyers' safe return, because the sun had set twenty minutes earlier.
Harry allowed himself five minutes to celebrate, then sent the four broom-flyers home, along with reminders of their Unbreakable Vows to keep their mouths shut.
Then Harry turned to Daphne. "May I borrow you now, to come with me when I talk with Narcissa Malfoy?" At everyone's confused look, Harry explained, "Just before the attack, I elf-popped Narcissa to the Black-family townhouse."
Hermione said, "Erm, she's Draco's mother and Lucius's wife. Why did you save her?"
"Because in the other 1998, she lied to Voldemort and saved the other Harry's life, out of love for her son."
The others in the room nodded, understanding that Harry would feel the need to repay a life-debt that he himself did not owe.
Harry called for Kreacher, and Kreacher elf-popped Harry and Daphne into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, since the kitchen was where Narcissa was.
Harry introduced Daphne to Narcissa; Narcissa immediately noticed the Black betrothal ring that Daphne wore.
Narcissa asked Daphne, "Are you here as the future Lady Black, to whom I must defer someday?"
Harry said, "Daphne also is here because she's my Pureblood Advisor. I ruined my relationship with your son, Narcissa, before it had barely started, because I unknowingly committed an etiquette breach. I don't want to repeat such a mistake again and make an enemy of you."
Daphne asked, "What was the etiquette breach?"
Harry answered, "During the firstie trainride, Draco put his hand out to shake. I was offended because of things he'd said about Ron Weasley, so I didn't shake Draco's hand."
Narcissa nodded. "In his first letter home from Hogwarts, Draco spent a foot of parchment ranting about that moment. He wrote, 'If Scarhead and I were older, I would have challenged him to an honour duel!' "
Harry bowed his head to Narcissa and said, "I never apologised to Draco for that, even after I learnt of my blunder, but belatedly I apologise to you, Draco's mother."
Narcissa turned toward Harry, and her posture stiffened. "Apology accepted," she said formally.
Silence.
Narcissa's posture and voice stayed formal: "Lord Black-Potter, why am I here? I felt Lucius die"—Harry's eyebrows shot up—"and our house-elf Chunky tells me that Malfoy Manor is destroyed. Why did you save me?"
Harry spoke just as formally: "Widow Malfoy, am I correct that you have never taken the Dark Mark?"
Narcissa pulled up her left sleeve, then her right sleeve, to the elbow. "This is correct, Lord Black-Potter, as you can see."
"Why not?" Daphne asked. "Your husband took the Mark, and Draco too, so why not you?"
Narcissa answered stiffly, "I try to avoid Muggles; and Muggle-borns always are louts, but I have no wish to murder any of them in order to 'earn' my Mark."
Harry felt relief. "Good enough. I forbid you to spout Blood Purity nonsense in my hearing, or in the hearing of Hermione Granger, the future Lady Potter. Blood Purity talk always sets my teeth on edge." Narcissa nodded stiffly. Harry continued, "It is my keen hope that you two, Narcissa and Daphne, shall train both Hermione and me in proper wizarding-world behaviour so that we do not come across as louts."
Narcissa looked like she had just been slapped. Daphne said to her, "Whatever Draco has written to you about Hermione, she is actually much nicer in person. And Harry? Definitely nicer in person." Narcissa looked dubious.
Harry drew his wand, then said, "Narcissa, you have questions, and it's time I answered them. First, why are you here? Because I wanted to kill everyone who was in Malfoy Manor tonight, especially Voldemort but also Lucius, but I have no quarrel with you."
Before Narcissa answered, Harry pointed his wand at the ceiling. "I, Harry James Potter, do claim the House of Malfoy by Right of Conquest. I claim all Malfoy coinage, property and debts as my own. As the new Lord Malfoy, I swear by my magic I shall honour the 'widowhood' terms of Narcissa Black Malfoy's marriage contract. So mote it be."
Light flashed. Both Daphne and Narcissa were staring at Harry.
Harry spoke formally again, with his wand still pointed straight up: "I, Harry James Potter, who is Lord Malfoy by Right of Conquest, do declare the House of Malfoy to be extinct. I do not name anyone as Heir or Heiress Malfoy, and nobody may claim Lordship of the House of Malfoy after I die. So mote it be."
Light flashed again.
Daphne breathed, "Merlin, Harry. First you kill off the Malfoy men, then you kill the Malfoy House too."
"Exactly," Harry replied.
Harry's wand still was pointed straight up. "For a reason I choose not to state, whatever life-debt that Narcissa Black Malfoy owes to me, Harry James Potter, is forgiven. The only obedience she owes me is as a Black daughter to the head of House Black. So mote it be."
Light flashed again.
Narcissa looked gobsmacked. "You hate what I believe but you save my life anyway, then you don't even require me to repay a life-debt? Why?"
Daphne smiled at the older woman. "Because Harry is generous this way. With each passing day, I become more and more glad that one day I shall marry him. Hermione has another explanation: that Harry has a 'saving-people thing.' "
Harry called for Chunky, introduced himself, then sent Chunky to fetch the Lucius Malfoy-Narcissa Malfoy marriage contract from the Malfoy family vault at Gringotts. Once Harry had the contract in front of him, he, Narcissa and Daphne discussed Narcissa's living arrangements. It was jointly decided that Narcissa would live at the Black-family townhouse at Grimmauld Place till soon before Harry and Daphne would wed; then the question would be revisited.
The time was close to 10 p.m., and Harry presumed that he and Daphne now would leave for Potter Manor. Instead, Narcissa said hesitantly, "Harry? I wish to point out something, because I've come to know the Dark Lord quite well over the years."
Harry and Daphne shared a worried look. "Go on," Harry said to Narcissa.
"You used the Right of Conquest rule to seize House Malfoy. If Voldemort defeats you in tomorrow's duel, he can use the rule too. If he defeats you, he could have the wealth of House Potter, House Black and House Malfoy at his fingertips."
Harry looked at Daphne and sighed. "Great. As if the wanker doesn't have enough reason to kill me."
Tuesday, 30th July, about 11 a.m.
One hour till the Duel
Gringotts Bank
Harry asked to meet with Director Ragnok; the request was granted.
Harry said to Ragnok, "You keep lifestones for all your vault-holders, so whenever a head of House dies, you know immediately. What heads of House have died since 6 p.m. yesterday?"
Ragnok asked Harry why he wanted to know. Harry answered the question, explaining in depth.
Ragnok's answering smile showed teeth; it was the smile of an eager warrior, not a placid banker. Ragnok magically compiled a list of the heads of House who had died after Harry's attack on Malfoy Manor, then Ragnok slid the parchment across the desk to Harry.
Meanwhile at Snape's house in Spinner's End
The giants had sent Voldemort a message this morning: After his defeat last night by Harry Potter, Voldemort would not be joined by the giants today in fighting Harry Potter. Voldemort was on his own.
The werewolf packs had sent Voldemort a message this morning: After his defeat last night by Harry Potter, Voldemort would not be joined by the werewolf packs today in fighting Harry Potter. Again Voldemort was on his own.
The vampires reminded Voldemort that they couldn't fight during daytime, so sorry.
Voldemort should have been scowling because of these three messages, he should have been snarling, he should have been causing someone pain. But instead, if Voldemort were the sort of bloke to smile, he would be smiling now.
Why? Because the Dark Lord had a plan.
So Harry Potter had pulled a sneak attack on him last night? Well, sneak-attacking was a game that two could play! In one hour, Harry Potter would be surprised, then he would be scared, then he would die.
Chapter 23
High Noon
Tuesday, 30th July, 11:50 a.m.
Ten minutes till the Duel
Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
Petunia Dursley was sitting and watching the telly in the sitting room, a perfectly normal activity, when she heard a Pop! sound come from the kitchen.
From time to time during the last few years, Petunia had heard the same Pop! sound come from Harry's closed bedroom door. Whenever this happened, always Petunia had heard Harry's voice and an excited second voice, just before or just after the pop.
Now Petunia considered hiding in the sitting room, avoiding whatever had made the Pop! sound. But then Petunia imagined Lily saying You coward! So Petunia, though she was frightened, made herself walk into the kitchen.
Nobody was in the kitchen, to Petunia's huge relief. But on the kitchen table lay a letter that had not been there before. The letter was addressed to "Vernon and Petunia Dursley."
Petunia recognised Harry's handwriting, though the letter looked like it had been written with a quill pen on strange paper, instead of having been written with a normal Biro pen.
Petunia broke the wax seal(!), opened up the strange paper and began to read.
Meanwhile at the Quidditch pitch, Hogwarts SOW&W
Whenever school had been in session, Dumbledore always had arrived "fashionably late" to the Great Hall for meals. His clear intention had been that all eyes would be upon him as he walked to, and sat upon, his golden throne. In contrast, today on the Quidditch pitch, Dumbledore was early when he approached Harry, Hermione, Daphne and Neville. The headmaster's eyes were a-twinkle and he wore a grandfatherly smile on his face.
The headmaster today was wearing lemon-yellow robes and a lavender cap. Hermione muttered, "Oh my, they can see him from space!"
Dumbledore glanced at Harry's close friends, then said, "Harry my boy, the first thing we need to do is to move your betrotheds and Mr Longbottom back to the castle where they will be safe."
As frowning Hermione and Daphne drew their wands, Harry chuckled. "Ah, Albie, I was wondering how you would try to take over and try to separate me from my friends. There is no 'we.' This is my show, not yours, and your place is there"—Harry pointed to where Hogwarts faculty had gathered, about twenty yards away—"with McGonagall and the other professors. You are dismissed."
"Harry, I must insist—"
Harry glanced at Hermione and Daphne. "Now," he said.
"Stupefy," Daphne and Hermione said together. Two red spells hit Dumbledore, who dropped to the ground.
"Need some help with Mr Inconspicuous there?" a young brunette asked. Harry did not know her name, but she had been a Slytherin prefect during Harry's first three years.
Harry said, "Yes, thank you, erm..."
"Gemma Farley," Daphne prompted.
Then Daphne said to the girl, "Gemma, it's good to see another Snake on Harry's side."
Gemma sighed. "There aren't many of us Snakes opposing You-know-Who, that's for sure."
Then Gemma looked Harry in the eyes. "Five years ago, I told firstie Daphne that Slytherin is the House for cunning and ambitious people, not evil people. I believed this then, I believe it now, and I believe You-Know-Who is a disgrace to Slytherin. I'd face him today myself, if I were better at dueling. My mother is a Muggle-born, and You-Know-Who wants to kill her!"
Then Gemma gave Harry a crooked smile. "Sorry about the rant. I'll go deliver Mr Twinkle-Eyes to Professor McGonagall, hopefully before the show starts."
Then Gemma paused. She looked Daphne, Harry and Hermione up and down and said, "You three look fabulous. Harry and Miss Granger, the Muggle clothes are a good choice for you today. Don't let Malfoy or his sort tell you differently."
Hermione said, "Draco is dead. Actually, both Malfoys are dead—Harry killed them both. Harry is Lord Malfoy now."
Gemma's eyebrows shot up. "Would I be a bad Slytherin if I said, 'I'm glad the blond boys are dead'?"
Daphne asked testily, "Gemma, why did you just address my betrothed, Lord Black-Potter, so familiarly? 'Harry,' really? He is the Lord of two Ancient and Noble Houses. Not to mention, he's a Lord however the Malfoy line fits in."
Gemma smiled patiently at Daphne. "Yesterday your betrothed was the Lord of two Houses. Tomorrow he will be the Lord of two Houses. But today, wearing the fabulous Muggle clothes that include a cape? Today to Muggles and Muggle-borns, Harry is a superhero."
As Gemma Farley walked away, levitating unconscious Dumbledore, Neville laughed. "Harry, I can't believe that you Stunned Dumbledore!"
Harry said piously, "It wasn't me. It was Daphne and that chronic disrespecter of authority, Hermione Granger, who Stunned him."
Hermione grinned, whilst Neville said, "I wonder what Rita Skeeter would say if she'd heard all this?"
Harry's grin was evil. "Let's ask her."
Harry pointed his wand at Hermione, said "Homorphus animagi," and blasted her.
Nothing happened.
Harry bespelled Daphne—still nothing.
But when Harry cast his spell on Neville, Neville fell over when he suddenly had a blond woman in his hair.
There was a heavy Auror presence at the Quidditch pitch; the Aurors were intended to fight all the Death Eaters who would come to the Duel. But the youngest Auror was ordered away from the pitch towards a holding cell, escorting an unhappy and handcuffed unregistered beetle animagus.
Meanwhile, Hermione had conjured a child's periscope, and was using it to look over people's heads to spy on the faculty. "Professor Dumbledore is awake," Hermione informed her friends, "but now he's standing behind the other professors."
"He's planning something," Daphne said. "I don't like this."
Harry beckoned his three friends to come closer. He asked quietly, "Is everyone wearing their no-mental-magic rune sheets under their clothes?" Neville, Daphne and Hermione all nodded.
Meanwhile at Number 4, Privet Drive
Petunia read the letter that Harry had written to her and to Vernon—
30th July 1996
Back in 1981, the evil wizard who named himself "Lord Voldemort" murdered both my parents, and tried to murder me. I lived and Voldemort died (technically), but to this day, nobody can explain what happened that night.
A year ago, Voldemort regained a solid body, by use of an evil ritual in which I was an unwilling blood-donor. A month ago, I was told about a prophecy that says I alone have the power to "vanquish" Voldemort. Note that the prophecy doesn't say that I will kill him, only that I can.
A week ago, I challenged Voldemort to a duel. Today at high noon, I face him.
If you see me at the house tonight, it means I've won the Duel. If I'm not at the house tonight, it means I'm at Saint Mungo's (the wizarding hospital), I'm celebrating with my friends or I'm dead.
If I'm dead, my friend Hermione or her parents will telephone you soon, about coming to this house and collecting my few personal effects. I TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT YOU WILL WANT TO KEEP NOTHING THAT I OWN AS A REMEMBRANCE AFTER I AM GONE. Dudley is welcome to take his clothes back, since they never fit me at all.
I won't write "It's been nice knowing you," because this would be a lie. Nor will I wish either of you "Good luck," because you certainly don't deserve it. "I hope Voldemort's thugs don't kill you" is as friendly a sentence as I can honestly write to you.
Petunia rushed to the telephone and called Vernon at work. Then she spent the rest of the day waiting for the telephone to ring or for Harry to walk down the stairs.
12:01 p.m. at the Quidditch pitch
Once a minute since Harry had arrived at the Quidditch pitch, he had cast the Parseltongue Parsel-spell-detection spell, but had gotten no hits. Finally, he got two hits.
Harry was surprised; he had expected more Death Eaters to be coming. Harry thought, Hot damn, blasting Malfoy Manor actually worked!
The source of the Parseltongue spells was not anywhere near the destroyed Malfoy Manor. No, the spells had been cast from somewhere in the Midlands. Cokeworth maybe, where Harry's mother Lily had grown up?
Harry yelled, "Voldemort is coming! Places, everyone!"
As Harry expected, soon two (and only two) flying-black-smoke balls landed on the Quidditch pitch; these transfigured into Voldemort and Severus Snape. The duo arrived with wands out, but pointed over Harry's head.
Harry drew his wand then, but did not cast any spells—two actions which all his allies copied.
Nagini the horcruxed snake had not been brought to the pitch by Voldemort. To Harry, this was great news.
So who was here to fight for Voldemort? Only Voldy himself and Snape. Whilst who was here to fight for Harry? Hermione, Daphne and Neville. The Order of the Phoenix, except for Remus, Mundungus, Severus and ex-members Elphias and Molly; Dumbledore was here, but was distrusted. Arthur, Bill, George, Fred and Ginny Weasley; plus Fleur Delacour at Bill's side. Daphne's Slytherin cousin Millicent Bulstrode, and Daphne's Slytherin friends Tracey Davis and Blaise Zabini. Gemma Farley, formerly of Slytherin. Almost all of the students whom Harry had trained in Dumbledore's Army last year; Luna Lovegood now gave Harry a dreamy smile. Many Hogwarts professors, including the distrusted Dumbledore. Lord Cyrus Greengrass. Many Aurors. Nymphadora Tonks (as one of the Aurors) and her mother, Andromeda Tonks (amongst the Healers).
Today it was the case that Harry's allies and defenders vastly outnumbered Voldemort and his one defender. This was quite a change from last time.
The Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, according to elderly Harry, had happened at night; but fortunately, not during a full moon. That timeline's Voldemort had brought werewolves (in human form), vampires, giants and many, many Death Eaters; acromantulas were attacking both sides.
Elderly Harry had been very matter-of-fact in his description of the battle, as if he were describing a jumble sale ("I saw perambulators, work boots and bottles of malt vinegar on offer, and a lady would paint your portrait in oils for five hundred quid.") But behind the plain-words description of the Battle of Hogwarts, oh, the fear for himself that elderly Harry must have felt that dark night, and the fear for his friends, and the despair! Put aside for the moment, elderly Harry's mistaken belief that the only way that Voldemort could be brought down would be for Harry to let himself die. The battle must have been terrifying for that seventeen-year-old boy.
Just minutes ago, Harry had been called a "superhero." But the true hero, the man whom Harry respected above all others, was the other version of himself who had faced all the shit of the Battle of Hogwarts—and oh by the way, had emerged alive and victorious.
For some reason, once Severus Snape found himself standing on the Quidditch pitch next to the Dark Lord and found himself facing Harry Potter and his allies, neither the Dark Lord nor Potter spoke at first.
This gave time for Snape to think about what he was seeing.
The first thing that Snape noticed about his opponents was what any Slytherin would.
Snape saw that only a few Slytherins opposed the Dark Lord. Whilst Snape recognised the faces of many current and former Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who were allied with Potter, only seven Slytherins stood with Harry Potter: Aurora Sinistra, Andromeda Tonks, Gemma Farley, Blaise Zabini, Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass. On the other hand, Snape recalled all the Death Eaters who had died yesterday in Malfoy Manor, or had died nine days ago in Diagon Alley; 95 percent of them were current or former Slytherins. Snape thought, After today, Slytherin's reputation won't be the house of Purebloods, but rather the house of Death Eaters.
Snape saw that he and the Dark Lord were outnumbered and outmagicked. Disregarding the Aurors, the Order of the Phoenix members, and the many Hogwarts student who had come to show solidarity with Potter, the Hogwarts faculty alone was more than a match for Voldemort and Snape: Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, Septima Vector, Aurora Sinistra, Charity Burbage, and the headmaster.
(Horace Slughorn and Sybill Trelawney, however, were elsewhere.)
Finally, facing off against himself and the Dark Lord, Snape saw, were Harry Potter, Daphne Greengrass and Hermione Granger. Death Eater costumes were designed to create fear, but Potter and his women were dressed to soothe hearts with hope.
Daphne Greengrass's dress robes were white, but with a thin green stripe and a thin silver stripe that ran vertically in front, just to either side of centre. Daphne's shoes, bracelet, necklace and hair-net also were white.
Hermione Granger was wearing a Muggle sleeveless summer dress, hemmed two inches above her knees. The dress was white, with a thin red stripe and a thin yellow stripe that ran vertically in front, just to either side of centre. Granger's sky-high heeled shoes were white except for yellow bows and red ankle straps. Her stockings were white. She wore white earrings and a white scarf about her neck that was tied to the side.
But it was the clothing of Harry Potter, who stood between Granger and Greengrass, that drew Snape's eyes. Potter mostly looked like he was dressed for a Muggle wedding—he wore patent-leather shoes, wool slacks, a silver-cufflinks dress shirt, a bow tie, a swallowtail coat, and a silk top hat. All of Potter's clothing, including his shoes, socks and belt, was snowy white. Round Potter's neck, draped over his shoulders and falling down his back, was a snow-white nylon cape.
Harry Potter was a Muggle-raised wizard with a Muggle-born mother, and a Muggle-born girl was betrothed to him; but until today, these were merely biographical facts about the boy. But Potter's clothing today sent a message: This is Harry Potter, who fights for the right, who shall protect Muggles and Muggle-borns from wizards and witches who would harm them. He is the Muggles' and Muggle-borns' champion. It was not merely a message of I reject the idea of Pureblood superiority; Potter's clothing sent a message of Fuck you, Tom Riddle and your ilk.
Granger's clothing, along with Greengrass's, sent their own message: We support Harry Potter, and we stand with him in his fight.
Snape realised one thing more: If Potter loses to the Dark Lord, dressed like Potter is now, the boy will look foolish; but if Potter kills the Dark Lord whilst wearing the Muggle clothes and the superhero cape, he will change the politics of Wizarding Britain forever.
Snape realised then, that he deeply respected the young man in white who stood in front of him. In fact, Snape realised, he respected Harry Potter more than he respected every other person here, and this included Minerva and the headmaster. If nothing else, Potter singlehandedly had wiped out all of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters and had killed the Dark Lord's big snake—these were notable achievements.
Snape opened his hand, to let his wand fall. Nobody on the pitch had spoken yet, so it was Snape who broke the silence—he took the last breath that he knew he would ever take, to say, "I surrender to the son of Lily Evans Potter."
"WHAT?" Voldemort screamed.
Voldemort spun around then, to shoot his favourite green spell at Snape.
After Voldemort Avada Kedavraed Snape, the Dark Lord glared at Harry. "As I killed Snape, I shall kill you and the pathetic bearded one. Then I shall be master of the Elder Wand, and I shall go on to conquer Wizarding Britain."
Harry laughed. "Dumbledore doesn't have the Elder Wand anymore. I had it, for about a minute, then I snapped it in half and burnt up the pieces." To Harry's left and right, he heard gasps, whilst Voldemort glared at him. Harry grinned scornfully; "The Deathstick is gone—accept the fact."
Then Harry said to Voldemort, "You didn't bring your giant snake with you. Because the snake is dead, right? Here is, Tom, a marvelous riddle for you: What starts with an 'H', ends with an 'X', and you have no more of?"
"I've destroyed all your horcruxes, Tom," Harry said in essence.
Disillusioned-invisible Dumbledore thought, You've just sealed your fate, Harry. Whether by Tom or by me, you will die today. Then I will kill Tom and become famous forever.
The withering curse is killing me, but I will still achieve heroic fame again before I die.
On Voldemort's face, Harry saw a split-second of panic, after Harry had told him that all his horcruxes were destroyed. Then Voldemort attacked.
One second, Hermione was watching Mr No-Nose way over there, as he and Harry exchanged witty barbs. The next second, Voldemort was directly in front of Harry. Voldemort had not used flashy black-smoke flying to move himself this time; instead, he had used simple (but noiseless) Apparition.
At the same time, Hermione heard Dumbledore's voice quietly behind her: "Imperio." At the same time, Hermione heard a bell-sound in each ear.
Dumbledore quietly ordered Hermione, "Stupefy Harry."
Dumbledore had figured it all out. After he had been Rennervated from Miss Granger and Miss Greengrass Stunning him, he had moved to stand with the Hogwarts faculty. But Dumbledore had said, "Let you younger folks stand in front of me, so you can see the duel better." Minerva had given him a suspicious look, but had said nothing. The instant that Tom had appeared on the pitch, Dumbledore had Disillusioned himself, then had hurried over to stand behind Miss Granger. Then Dumbledore had waited.
At the right moment, Dumbledore quietly had cast the Imperiuscurse on Miss Granger from behind, then quietly had ordered her, "Stupefy Harry."
This was when Dumbledore's grand plan developed unpleasant aspects (translation: when the plan turned to shit).
Hermione did a 180-degree spin. With her wand up, she yelled "Stupefy!"
Dumbledore did not have time to think No, no, this isn't what I meant! before his world turned black.
Voldemort sneered at Harry, "Potter, you think you're—"
Apparition! Suddenly Voldemort was not over there, by dead Snape, but was here, two feet in front of Harry.
"—so clever, don't you?"
Hermione, to Harry's right, suddenly spun about and yelled, "Stupefy! Hominem revelio! Expelliarmus!"
But Harry could not take time to find out what was happening with Hermione. (Or with Daphne, who just had yelled "Incarcerous!")
Even as Harry was stepping forward to meet Voldemort, Harry was hissing "§Gladius§."
When Harry was right in front of the Dark Lord, Harry's left forearm swatted aside Voldemort's right forearm (and the wand that it held). Harry bent his knees a bit, to reduce his right arm's height from the ground, then Harry plunged his sword-wand into Voldemort's abdomen, angled up.
Voldemort gasped in pain.
"Sectumsempra," Harry said. The spell was deliberately underpowered, but this made no difference when the spell was being cast from inside Voldemort's chest cavity. A front-to-back, straight-line wound appeared in the Dark Lord's shoulder, as if an invisible man had chopped down on Voldemort's shoulder with a war axe, just missing the Dark Lord's neck. Harry yanked his sword-wand down and out of Voldemort's body.
The Dark Lord did not gasp again, he did not speak, and his face did not change expression; he simply dropped limply to the ground.
Harry said to dead Voldemort, "The Prophecy is fulfilled: You have died by my hand. Literally."
The total time from Voldemort black-smoke flying onto the Quidditch pitch, to him dropping dead? Twenty seconds maybe. The Dark Lord truly had been vanquished.
Harry realised then that neither Hermione nor Daphne were looking at Voldemort; instead, they were looking away from the Dark Lord. When Harry turned round to see what Hermione and Daphne were looking at, Harry saw Dumbledore on the pitch, Stunned and trussed, and Hermione holding two wands.
Hermione shot a stinging hex at the unconscious headmaster. "Harry just did the great deed that he forever will be remembered for, and I missed seeing it because of you!"
An instant later, Daphne shot her own stinging hex at Dumbledore.
Meanwhile
Neville used his wand to Scourgify blood-spatter off of Harry's white clothing.
Whilst Neville did this, Harry switched his sword-wand to his left hand, then he picked up Voldemort's wand with his right hand. Harry used Voldemort's wand to Scourgify the blood off his sword-wand. Right after this, Harry murmured "§Finite gladium§" to turn his sword-wand back into his regular holly-and-phoenix-feather wand, and pocketed that wand. This left Harry holding Voldemort's wand in his left hand. No way in hell did Harry want to keep this evil stick as a souvenir; so Harry snapped Voldemort's wand in half, threw the pieces to the ground, then used his own wand to vanish the pieces of Voldemort's wand.
Harry then walked over to the corpse of Severus Snape. Harry picked up Snape's wand from where the potions-master had dropped it, and put the wand in a pocket of Snape's robes so that the potion-master could be buried with his wand.
Harry murmured to Snape's corpse, "I won't name a son after you, but I pledge to shake your hand when I pass over. Be proud of what you did today, professor."
When Albus Dumbledore was revived from being Stunned and was told that it was not a crime to cast a failed Unforgiveable, he thought of his situation as only a temporary inconvenience.
Yes, he would be put on trial for the attempted murder of Harry Potter, and this was scary; but the three witnesses against him (Miss Granger, Miss Greengrass and Mr Longbottom) all were minors—and furthermore, Dumbledore easily could invent plausible reasons for the three teenagers to hold grudges against him.
Besides, Dumbledore had ordered Miss Granger only to cast a Stunner spell at Harry—he was sure he could bedazzle the Wizengamot away from seeing his action as attempted murder.
Much more annoying to Dumbledore was that when he was revived, the first thing he saw was the Spirit of Hogwarts (the woman-shaped marble statue which could move and talk, and which was wearing four-colour robes that displayed the Hogwarts crest) and Minerva. Both the Spirit of Hogwarts and the Deputy Headmistress were looking down at Dumbledore and were scowling.
The Spirit of Hogwarts said, "For attempting to murder a student, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, you are dismissed from every position at Hogwarts School—"
Dumbledore said smoothly, "But I did it for—"
"Minerva McGonagall, you hereby become Headmistress, and the school wards are shifted to your control. The school charges you to repair these wards, which have been reduced to a deplorable state."
The Spirit of Hogwarts glared at Dumbledore and continued, "The Founders never intended that a cerberus, trolls, marked Death Eaters and the Dark Lord all could enter what was intended to be a haven for magical children. Nor did the Founders intend that wicked students could curse other students in the corridors. Shame on you."
Dumbledore was Portkeyed away (whilst wearing not one but two pairs of magic-suppressing handcuffs), whilst Harry walked back to stand by Neville, Daphne and Hermione. There Harry pulled a parchment list from the pocket of his swallowtail coat.
Harry pointed his wand straight up and said, "By Right of Conquest, I claim the Slytherin, Gaunt"—now he was reading from his parchment list—"Avery, Crabbe, Flint, Goyle, Lestrange, Macnair, Mulciber, Nott, Parkinson, Rookwood, Rowle, Scabior, Selwyn, Travers, and Yaxley Houses; the coinage, property and debts of these Houses go to me. I further declare all of these named Houses to be extinct. Heirs and Heiresses of those Houses lose their Heir or Heiress status, I do not name anyone as Heir or Heiress for any of these named Houses, and nobody may claim Lordship of any of these named Houses after I die. So mote it be."
Neville stared at Harry, shocked. So did a few others within hearing. But Daphne said breathily, "Ooh, what a cunning way to end the power of the Dark families."
Then Harry yelled, "I call upon the ghost of Myrtle Warren. Please come to me."
The transparent grey ghost of the bespectacled fourteen-year-old Ravenclaw student appeared on the Quidditch pitch; onlookers gasped at Moaning Myrtle's sudden appearance.
Ghost-Myrtle looked about. "Wow, sunlight—it's been fifty-three years since I've seen it. Hello Harry, you look posh in the swallowtail coat and the top hat. Why did you call for me?"
Harry replied, "In 1943, you were killed by a Parseltongue-speaking student, Tom Marvolo Riddle." Harry gestured towards the monstrous-looking corpse a few feet away. "This is Riddle—dead. You are my friend, and I have avenged you."
"Oh Harry, you are indeed my friend, and you've just proven it! This was what was holding me back: not having even one true friend. Now I can pass on."
Ghost-Myrtle stepped up close to Harry, but looked to Hermione and Daphne when she asked, "May I?" When both of Harry's betrotheds nodded, Ghost-Myrtle stepped closer, put her hands on Harry's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
Then Myrtle turned opaque, and her grey robes turned white. Myrtle rose up into the sky, smiling for as long as Harry could see her face.
6:26 p.m.
Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
The telephone rang. Petunia ran to answer it. "Hello?"
A man's voice asked, "Is this the home of Vernon and Petun—"
"Yes, yes, I'm Petunia Dursley."
"I am Dr Daniel Granger. Our daughter Hermione will marry your nephew in two years." Petunia's eyebrows shot up. Harry is engaged and he chose not to tell us?
The male voice continued, "Are you aware that today Harry fought Lord Voldemort to the death?"
"We're aware," Petunia said, "but we haven't heard how things turned out. Neither Harry nor his lot can ring us from where they're at, as you know."
"Hermione sent us an owl," the man said. "My wife and I just arrived home, so this is our first chance to ring you. Anyway, Hermione wrote to tell us that Harry killed Lord Voldemort, but Harry himself is unharmed."
Petunia released the breath she had not realised that she had been holding. "Thank you, thank you for telling us this."
The man said, "Hermione would have rung you herself, but Harry and his friends all are celebrating right now."
Now the man's voice sounded disgusted: "Harry is a hero in the magical world, Mrs Dursley, and Emma and I feel honoured that he has chosen to marry our daughter. If the magical people ever find out that your family used to beat and starve Harry, it shall not go well for you. Goodbye."
Wednesday, 31st July, 1996, one day after the Duel
Courtroom Ten, the Ministry of Magic
Dumbledore's attempted-murder trial was held the day after his arrest. His day started badly when he was informed, before his trial even began, that the ICW had voted him out of his Supreme Mugwump position.
Then, once he walked into Courtroom Ten, Dumbledore had to endure the indignity of being stripped of his Chief Warlock title, even if he would talk himself into an acquittal.
But Dumbledore did not talk himself into an acquittal. His Oi, mates, it was only a Stunner defence burnt to a crisp when Cyrus Greengrass said to the room, "A tripping hex isn't attempted murder either—unless you cast it on someone who is walking up to the edge of a cliff. Harry Potter was fighting for his life against You-Know-Who; if he'd been Stunned then, he would have been easy meat. Which is what Albus Dumbledore planned on."
Then too, Dumbledore had attempted to murder Harry Potter, who was back to being the wizarding world's darling again. As a result, the Wizengamot clearly was unwilling to be lenient.
Dumbledore was sentenced to forty years in the maximum-security wing of Azkaban, with all Healer treatments disallowed. Dumbledore recognised his official punishment to be a polite death sentence.
Meanwhile at Gringotts Bank
Now that Voldy and his Death Eaters all were dead, Harry hired the goblins to tear down and to recast the Fidelius charm on Number 12, Grimmauld Place, with Harry as the Secret Keeper.
Also, Harry hired the goblins to permanently remove all wards from Malfoy Manor—"Your last step: Take the wardstones with you!"—and to remove and destroy all Dark Magic objects found at Malfoy Manor. Harry threw in a freebie: The goblins would be permitted to keep any goblin-made objects that they found in Malfoy Manor.
That afternoon, at Potter Manor
Harry wrote duplicate letters to Auror First Class Salemia Johnson and to receptionist Heather Tidwell (both at Obliviator Headquarters)—
"For your records: Nobody in Obliviator Headquarters informed me what 'Code FW' meant, or dropped hints. All on my own, I figured out what the Code meant, and why you've made the Code so secret. I'm sure by now you've heard the rumours about Malfoy Manor."