Chapter 43: Graveyard
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. IT BELONGS TO JK ROWLING.
A/N: Read, enjoy, and remember not to take either life or my writing too seriously.
The name seemed familiar to Ron but he couldn't place it. But that wasn't surprising as Ron's mind and body were frozen in panic and confusion. 'WHAT? WHO? Where's the cup? The galleons? Why am I being tied up?' He mentally cried out.
He opened his mouth and for the first time in a long time, sounds poured out as the silencing spell broke. He wanted to say something, anything, but only garbled nonsense poured out in his panic. When Wormtail had checked every knot, he pulled a length of material from his robes and shoved it into Ron's mouth, cutting off even the sounds Ron could make. As Ron tried to look around, he found he could only look directly ahead of him.
A rustling noise from near his feet caught Ron's attention and, after struggling, he was able to look down slightly and immediately wished he hadn't been able to. He saw a gigantic snake slithering through the grass, circling the headstone where he was tied. Right before passing out in fear, his last thoughts were, 'Why does Harry Potter always get the easy ones?'
When he came to, Wormtail was pointing his wand at him. Twenty feet behind Wormtail was a huge cauldron. It was big enough for someone to sit in. The first thoughts Ron had when he saw it were: 'It would be great to make stew in that size a cauldron!' The cauldron seemed to be filled with water and a fire was burning underneath it. 'Maybe that's what he's going to do. Could Wormtail be in charge of the feast?' Ron thought hopefully. The grumbling in his stomach concurred.
Wormtail picked the baby back up. "Harry Potter," the baby said.
Ron just stared at the black and red evil baby thingy who spoke almost perfect English, though with a hiss.
"Do you know who I am?" The baby asked as coldly as his high-pitched voice could muster.
'Someone keeping me from my stew!' Ron tried to yell in outrage, but it only came out as "mmmhhmmhmm" through the material in his mouth.
"It's been three years since you banished me from Quirrell. Remember now?"
'Quirrell? But… but... that was… AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!" Ron froze in panic. His eyes were wider than when he looked upon a Christmas feast. He tried to shout "I'M RON WEASLEY, NOT HARRY POTTER!" But still only "MMMMMHHHHHMMMM" came out from the material in his mouth.
"Ah... I see you know now. Excellent. Keep struggling, it only makes my victory all the sweeter. You see, I'm going to use your blood to give me a new body."
'BLOOD?' Ron thought as he struggled even more.
A high-pitched cackled came from the evil infant. "And then I'm going to torture you as you've tortured me all of these years, and especially these last few weeks! Do you know the pain you've caused me while you were busy shagging that mudblood of yours? Yes, I know of her. I'll be torturing her in the future.
A nice present for my most faithful servants. Did you really have to do her four or five times a night for the last month? I suffered night after night, writhing in agony every time you two enjoyed your little pleasures, but tonight you will suffer! You will suffer more than you can ever imagine."
Ron's eyes widened even more as, again, he tried to shout out that he wasn't Harry Potter, but the only thing that came out of his body was the urine pouring down his leg, though no one noticed.
The baby looked at Wormtail. "Is it ready?"
They both glanced at the cauldron where the liquid began not only to bubble, but to send out fiery sparks, as though it were on fire. The steam began to light up as the whole surface of the water was now alight with sparks. It might have been encrusted with diamonds.
"It is ready, Master."
"Now then."
Wormtail carried the hairless red-black Most Evil Baby thingy to the cauldron and lowered it in. If Ron hadn't been too terrified of what was going on, he would have heard it hit the bottom of the cauldron with a thud.
As he imagined the torture he had in his future, the other thing Voldemort had said came back to him. 'Shagging that mudblood?' What that meant immediately jumped into his mind.
'Harry's been shagging Hermione? Four or five times a night? I'm tied to a bloody tombstone and Harry's shagging Hermione?' Ron tried to raise a hand as he struggled to free himself just as the jealousy overcame him. Wormtail noticed the movement and looked up to make sure the knots were still secure, but that was the last thing he remembered outside of an explosion.
The rumbles started deep inside of Ron as he imagine his two ex-friends in bed together and the next second, with an explosive force that actually managed to singe the hairs on his own buttocks and enough force to crack the tombstone behind him: "PPPPPPWWWWWTTTTTTTPPPPP PPPPP WWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPPWWWWWTTTTTTTPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPPWWWWWTTTTTTTPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPPWWWWWTTTTTTTTTPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPPWWWWWTTTTTTTPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP PPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPP TTTPPPPPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPP!"
The cauldron just happened to be twenty feet in front of Ron, and the volume of gas that was dispersed into that area immediately connected with the flames under the cauldron.
The resulting explosion superheated the liquid in the giant iron pot which immediately steamed the infant thingy that lay at the bottom to death. It also threw Peter Pettigrew several hundred feet, leaving him unconscious and smoking, but alive.
The tombstone Ron was attached to uprooted and it and Ron were also thrown some distance. Between the fear, the explosion, and him hitting his head when he hit the ground, Ron lapsed into unconsciousness. The large cauldron rolled over on its side, flattening Nagini and dumping the infant lobster thingy out onto the ground.
The extremely large amount of magical energy contained in the contents of the cauldron were released in the explosion. That amount of energy being released registered quickly in Auror Headquarters. Since it was a known muggle location, several Aurors were dispatched to investigate. Two of those sent were Kingsley Shacklebolt and the newest Auror, Nymphadora Tonks, fresh out of Auror training.
Right before the explosion occurred, some of the deadly gas dissolved into the bubbling liquid in the cauldron. As the liquid super-heated, it fused the smell into the very soul of Voldemort as it steamed the infant to death. The piece of Voldemort's soul that had been in the body reached out to the horcruxes to preserve its connection to the physical world.
In a bank vault on the lowest level of Gringotts, a screaming black vapor poured out of a small golden cup with a badger on it, and the smell that accompanied the vapor quickly filled the chamber.
Sixty years in the future, when Bellatrix Lestrange was finally released from Azkaban, her first stop was Gringotts to fill her money bags from her vault. As she opened the door and walked into the vault, the smell that had lingered for sixty years overcame her weakened state.
Since she hadn't had time to cast the counter curse to the Germino and Flagrante curses when she stumbled into a pile of her treasure and collapsed, the treasure multiplied and burned until nothing was left but a badly burned corpse.
The goblin who had accompanied her quickly shut the vault to prevent the smell from escaping. Looking around to make sure no one else was watching, he walked away quickly. Having the wealthy but insane witch die while he was accompanying her wouldn't look good on his record, nor would the loss of so much gold.
At number twelve Grimmauld Place, a locket burst open, screaming as a black vapor poured out of it. As the screams died down, the smell that had accompanied the vapor out of the piece of jewelry quickly filled the Ancient and Noble house of Black until the whole residence smelled of rotten corpses.
A small house elf rushed into the room where the locket was located and, upon seeing the quest his master had given him many years in the past was completed, his mind cleared and he picked up the locket and placed it around his neck. Then he went in search of the last of the Blacks. Anything was better than sticking around with a smell that he could actually feel on his skin.
In a shack near the graveyard, a ring hidden under the floorboard suddenly spewed forth a screaming black cloud along with the smell of a thousand rotting corpses. Unfortunately for a certain Headmaster, the compulsion and withering curse that also were on the ring were not affected.
A little more than a year in the future, Albus Dumbledore still discovered the ring as he searched for the Hallow he desperately wanted. He still placed the ring on his finger and the curse started withering his arm away.
The Room of Requirement had two horcruxes at this moment. In a vast storage area, a thousand-year-old diadem emitted a black cloud that screamed in anguish as the large cavernous room filled with an obnoxious smell.
A couple of weeks later, Professor Trelawney stumbled into the room carrying twenty empty bottles of cooking sherry. She lapsed into unconsciousness as the smell overcame her. House elves found her a couple of days later, but the smell had permanently imbibed itself into her very skin by then.
The perfume smell in her classroom had to be increased by several factors to cover the smell. Divination quickly became a subject no one volunteered to take. After four straight years of no one taking Divination, she was let go.
Several months later, she failed to predict the cauldron she had bought from Mundungus Fletcher was made out of cheap materials. When she tried to brew a simple potion in it, it exploded, killing her instantly.
The last horcrux was embedded in the scar and soul of Harry James Potter. At the time the living part of Voldemort's soul tried to make a connection to its last horcrux, said person was lying on his back while the love of his life was sitting on top of him displaying a more physical aspect of their love. His scar immediately burned more deeply than it ever had before. Harry could feel the consciousness of Voldemort trying to push its way into his mind.
'You're my last horcrux, Harry Potter, and I will have your body as well!' Harry heard in his head. He had no idea what a horcrux was, but he knew the voice very well. "Her…mione," Harry gasped through the pain as he struggled against the possession. "It…its Vol…Voldemort. He's trying to poss…possess me. I… I can feel him trying to fill me with… with… hate."
Hermione instantly stopped her motions as she stared at her boyfriend. She could already see his eyes had turned a pinkish color and his face was contorted as he mentally took on Voldemort.
"What can I do..." She started, but then remembered Harry's words. 'Filling him with HATE? I'll help him fight it with love,' she thought determinedly. She immediately started her motions again, moving faster and faster as she laid down on her boyfriend's chest.
Between kisses, she said, "Fight it, Harry. I love you and you promised to always love me!" Tears ran down Hermione's face as she watched her love in pain, fighting for his soul.
"You can't love me, you can't make love to me, if you're filled with hate." She could see the determination of her boyfriend as he fought. "Think of our future Harry," She said as she continued showing him as much love as she could.
"You promised me WE would have children, WE would have a family! REMEMBER!"
'Family,' Harry thought and a blurry golden light seemed to appear deep in his mind. As Harry concentrated on the love he had for Hermione and of the family they would have, the light grew stronger.
'It's no use Potter, you will be mine,' Voldemort said, but the voice was now weaker.
'Family' Harry again thought and the light grew stronger and brighter. The light started pulsing Had anyone really paid attention, it would have been noticed that the pulses of light did seem to coincide with certain movement of Hermione's hips. Relentlessly the golden pushed upon the darkness until finally, it crushed it into nothingness.
Harry's eyes flew open as his body started convulsing. If Hermione hadn't been so very concerned for her boyfriend, she would have enjoyed his convulsions.
As it was, she saw the redness in Harry's eyes fade as they returned to their brilliant green. Then, she saw his scar split wide open and a black vapor and ooze pour out of it followed by a smell that was overpowering but somewhat familiar.
As Harry lapsed into unconsciousness, Hermione quickly grabbed for her wand (the wooden one, not the one attached to her boyfriend) and took care of the smell. She then collapsed next to Harry and held him for several minutes.
When she had recovered enough to walk, she got dressed and, after putting Harry's robes on him, she levitated her unconscious lover toward the hospital wing. Tears of fear, tears of hope and tears of love all poured down her cheeks as she walked beside him.
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