Kapitel 1561: 23
Chapter 23: The escalation?Notes:
Good morning everyone, I hope all of you had a nice Christmas.
Here is the latest chapter, one I think most of you will like. Things might seem to escalate. Have fun reading it.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After the destruction of the diadem horcrux, Harry and Hermione took the rest of the afternoon off. Once they had left the Room of Hidden Things, the two kids entered the Room again, this time a more comfortable shape and appearance, similar to the sitting room at Potter Manor. Remus and Minnie went into the dungeons to meet with Severus and keep him informed.
The potions master was just finishing up some stuff he had to do for Dumbledore, when the others entered. He looked up and immediately asked what was going on. Usually they didn't meet so publicly and they were grinning.
"We found it. We found the god-damn diadem, Harry destroyed it. Riddle just put it in a drawer on top of some old book. Yes, wrapped in a silk cloth, but still pretty obvious. What an arrogant bastard, as if he'd be the only one to find the room."
Severus smiled. Just two years back Minnie had never even expected to ever see him smile genuinely.
"That's…fantastic. The last thing I expected today. Give me a minute to clean up my workstation and I'll fetch us a bottle of scotch to celebrate."
Just a few minutes later they were all sitting in Severus' office and drinking, the mood was fantastic. Little did they know that all of that was about to change.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Severus put down his glass, opened the door and slipped out. Both Remus and Minnie were both able to overhear the conversation between Severus and Adrian Pucey, a fourth-year Slytherin.
"Professor Snape, the headmaster and Lady Bones are summoning you, they need you near Lady Bones' quarters. It's because of Roger Davies."
Minnie and Remus looked at each other, both wondering if there was something wrong, if another petrification had happened.
"Yes, what is the matter with Mr. Davies? Was there another petrification?"
"No, professor. He's dead."
After hearing that, the other two professors left Severus' office, ignoring Pucey's confused facial expression. They all followed the student, only Remus allowed himself to fall back for a few seconds and send a mirror message to Harry and Hermione, telling them to come and meet them near Bones' quarters.
Upon entering the scene of the crime, Minerva walked up to Filius, who was currently standing next to the body, putting a hand on his shoulder. He gave her a sad smile, but then continued to perform dozens of different charms to analyse everything, though he remained clueless for the moment.
Remus started comforting some of the Ravenclaw students who had been close to the boy. By now most students had heard and many of them were gathering near the scene. Amelia and the aurors, which she had called, were at least keeping them out of the line of sight. The DADA professor, well-liked by all four houses, then addressed all of them, asking them to reconvene in the great hall, where he would stay with them and give them the opportunity to talk to him.
Harry, now finally arriving with Mione, then hid underneath the invisibility cloak, so they could join Amelia, Severus and Minerva once all the others were gone. That didn't take long, not only did the students leave pretty quickly, but Albus Dumbledore got sent away as well. He was as uncooperative as always, claiming Hogwarts was outside of ministry jurisdiction and wanted to cover up the whole thing. Amelia wasn't gonna let that happen, so she ordered one of her aurors to escort the headmaster back to his office.
"Harry, Hermione, I am pretty certain you're still hiding out there. Now you can come forward, you can trust Filius."
Upon hearing Minnie address them, Harry pulled off the cloak and walked up to them. In the immediate vicinity of the body, there were only Minnie, Amelia, Severus and Filius, so they decided to talk more or less freely now.
"How much does Professor Flitwick know, Minnie?"
The half-goblin, very surprised to actually hear Harry addressing Minerva that way, did know most of the whole thing. He had started asking questions after noticing some of the unusual behaviour this year and the interactions with both Remus and Severus (one he shouldn't know at all, and the other should hypothetically hate him, but he had spotted them in a more private setting a few times).
"He does know most of it, saw you and Severus, as well as you and Remus interact differently than you all act in public. Filius also guessed that it's a basilisk and filling him in was the easiest way to keep everything together."
Now Mione was getting a bit upset, because once again Minerva had told someone, totally ignoring the risks that brought to the timeline.
"Doesn't seem like that worked out. Last time we had a few petrifications, that's not too bad, I speak from experience. But now, look at that! Roger is dead! That's horrible! Now we have no idea what's going to happen, no way to prevent Riddle from taking over the world again. If we now destroy the diary and the ring, then his spirit is still out there, probably latching onto an animal or a weak-minded person. We have no idea what will happen now!"
Now Severus spoke up.
"Are you two finally gonna call it?"
Everyone knew what he was talking about. Harry and Mione looked at each other, then Mione answered.
"No, not yet. In the original timeline Harry had gotten ahold of the diary and spoken to Tom, probably severing the connection between Ginny and Riddle. We have no idea how strong he is, since that didn't happen and they're still connected. Before we do anything rash, I'd say we steal the diary."
And that was exactly what they then prepared to do. On the following day, a Sunday, Harry and Mione would study in the common room, hoping that at one point it would be empty. Then Hermione would sneak up to Ginny's dorm and snatch the diary out of her trunk or bed or wherever she had it. Harry would be the lookout during that, even though Mione would use the cloak. What they would do then was still undecided.
If they would just eliminate the horcrux, then they'd need to find a plausible solution to why the attacks stopped. But on the other hand they couldn't plant a horcrux on a first-year on purpose, that'd be just cruel.
While they were going over their plans, Filius Flitwick was deep in thought. All year long it had bothered him about what was going on with the young Mr. Potter and his brilliant friend, Miss Granger. Despite the fact that the animosity between him and Severus was well-known, if not even encouraged by the headmaster, he had seen them interact very differently a few times, as if they'd be friends. And Remus…he was so sure that he and Harry had never met, Dumbledore had prevented that (Filius had always been unhappy about Harry's living situation, but the headmaster had been ignorant, no matter how often he had tried during the last decade). Still, they too acted as if they'd be very close. And their school work…flawless. It had taken him a while to see it, but they were dialling back their power and playing down their skill. He had only realised that because he had witnessed Mr. Potter casting silently, even though the boy probably didn't realise he had done so.
And just because Dumbledore said that he was living with the Dursleys, that did not necessarily have to be right. Minerva had complained last year, maybe she had saved him. With that thought in mind he managed to find and bypass all the notice-me-not charms, be it on the clothing or the school books. A watch, previously belonging to James Potter, Miss Granger wearing Lily Evans' necklace, and all the books…even from afar he recognised the handwriting.
Then the dawning realisation when it came to the basilisk. He wasn't stupid, obviously it had to be one. But when he saw that Harry spoke Parsel, he feared that the boy wasn't himself, that he was doing all of that. Not that he thought Harry would do something like that, but there were a lot of mysteries surrounding the boy.
That was when he decided to visit Minerva and tell her all about his findings.
She in turn then began to tell him a story about two time-travellers, soulmates, who were here to fix a lot of wrongs. That he didn't expect, not at all, but it made more sense than Harry being behind the attack. And while he was no big fan of the "we'll try to let everything happen the way it did originally so Riddle comes back and we kill him," he saw the need for it. Horcruxes were a very cruel kind of magic.
And all of Albus' doings…he couldn't believe it. No, he actually could, but he didn't want to believe it. Even though it wasn't beneficial in regards to the big picture, he so badly wanted to throw Albus out of Hogwarts. Maybe the death, which was quite horrible, Roger had been a smart and nice student, would make things go crazy.
Sunday morning, Ginny left the common room together with one of her year-mates, Demelza Robins, to head down to breakfast. Harry and Mione had already eaten, they were after all friendly with the house-elves and had sneaked into the kitchens at the crack of dawn. Currently they were sitting over a charms essay, now, after Flitwick was in on their plans, using their full knowledge. No longer having to dumb down their schoolwork in charms (as well as transfiguration, potions and this year DADA) was pretty nice.
Once the majority of people were gone, Mione got up and walked up the stairs, to where the girl dorms were located. Harry was the lookout, he had his communication mirror in his pocket, ready to call Mione.
Hermione went into her own dorm, which was empty. Then she put on the cloak, grabbed Luna's dream catcher - though Horcrux catcher would be a good name too - and headed for Ginny's dorm.
The room itself was a bit of a mess, but Mione had no problem finding Ginny's bed and trunk. After all, she had been up here in the previous timeline. Firstly she swept the whole bed, but without any success. The only thing she found there, stashed under the mattress, was a picture of Harry, probably one of Colin's snapshots, with little hearts drawn all over it. That girl was just…
Mione had to admit, she was jealous and couldn't deny her feelings for Harry. Ever since she found herself back in this timeline, able to remember the moments with Ron (luckily none that were more than adoring him from afar, even with love potions that boy was too much of a coward and idiot to make a move, thank god. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to resist killing him.) without feeling the effect from the potions, she realised that she didn't love him. She never had. It was Harry. Without love (and probably friendship) potions, she wouldn't have been able to endure Ronald and his attitude.
Speaking about potions, that was the next thing out of the ordinary she found. And quite a lot of them. But what she couldn't do was take them. Not now at least. And if she'd use a switching spell, she'd ruin the evidence. Despite the Lord rings, they would need to be on the lookout.
After nearly twenty minutes of searching, Mione was on the verge of giving up. There was no way she could have missed the diary here. Could it really be that the girl was running around Hogwarts with it? She pulled out the "Horcrux catcher," and to her dismay it was not glowing. She could have saved so much time if she'd just done that first, but she had been so sure of it.
Hermione tapped on her mirror.
"Is it clear to come down? It's not up here."
"Wait what? As if she's walking around with it. But sure, you can come down, I'm alone here."
Now they went down into the great hall, where the girl was still having breakfast, one of the very few who was still sitting here. Finding out if she was walking around with it was rather simple. Harry just walked past Ginny, heading for Minerva at the High Table, while Mione was underneath the cloak with the Horcrux catcher, walking next to him. That way he could prevent people running into Mione while standing invisibly behind Ginny and no one would wonder about the glowing item in Mione's hands.
Harry walked extra slow, giving Mione enough time to check, then he addressed Minerva, asking her to come with him. Since no other teacher was currently around, he didn't even have to hide his request with another phrasing.
Once out of the great hall and in an empty corridor, Mione pulled down the cloak, telling them her findings.
"She doesn't have it. Ginny doesn't have the diary!"
Hermione was panicking. If Ginny didn't have the diary, then who had it? What had they done to change the timeline so much?
The five plus Amelia Bones were now discussing their plans, because now everything had changed at once. Sure they could move forward and initiate damage control, but that wouldn't solve the diary issue. Especially because they had no idea how much of the victim's power it had drained. Last time, Harry had already been in possession of the diary, severing or at least interrupting the connection with Ginny. That meant that they had no idea when Tom could manifest a body. The diary was the biggest of all soul fragments, it was probably very strong, for example in comparison to the locket. That would have taken years to drain enough power, if they wouldn't have switched who carried it regularly.
"But don't you have any idea who could have it? Come on, Lucius would surely have picked a person close to you two, anyone behaving strangely all year long? And you three are teaching, you should be able to come up with possibilities too."
Amelia Bones was not too happy with them. She demanded that each of them would start compiling a list of names, which she would then compare. After that they shouldn't have too many names left, and those they could check.
Then the head of the DMLE turned to Harry.
"Any chance you could go down into the chamber and kill the basilisk? Or simply talk it down?"
"I mean killing it could be doable, but difficult after all. Besides, what would be your cover story for that? And if we manage to defuse the whole situation I'd like to keep her and give her refuge at Potter castle. Haven't been there, but the elves said it's on a small island off the coast and it would have enough space. As Lord Slytherin I could probably talk her down eventually, but with Riddle manipulating her since the forties? He'd need to be out of the picture to be sure, I'm not willing to take that risk."
Shortly they all went their separate ways, everyone now wanting to work on a list with potential names on it. On their way back into the common room, Harry had to endure Mione asking him if he was serious about keeping the basilisk, but when he explained her that she had cried out in pain during their fight, probably brainwashed by Tom, and he'd try to get her to feel well again, she smiled.
"And come on, Mione. She knew Salazar, and he told me back in afterlife that he had raised her personally. She's been at Hogwarts for a thousand years. Can you imagine a better pet than Salazar's best friend and familiar, and one that had witnessed all of Hogwarts' history? I'll even translate for you."
Now that was something that Mione couldn't say no to.
But then their conversation topic changed and they discussed who could have the diary, if not Ginny. They were pretty sure that they could exclude their closest friends, that they would have noticed. Daphne and Neville surely not, and neither Susan or Hannah. Parvati was acting strange on occasion, maybe she had it. With Lavender they had hardly anything to do, maybe it was her. Before Christmas they would have considered Lisa Turpin with the mood she was in, but now they knew where it came from. Mione even speculated it could be Ron, making his animosity even worse, but Harry thought he'd have felt that. Tracey came up too, but Harry was pretty certain her behaviour was mainly because of Neville's and Daphne's friendship and then relationship, but it could be that it was her. Any of the other Slytherin girls could be the diary owner too, those they didn't know very well. Anything in upper and lower years they couldn't say and would have to rely on the teachers.
Until dinner that day, all of them were quite busy making lists, which they'd compare on the following day - a Monday - after classes, so the teachers had some more time to look at their students' behaviour, now knowing one had the diary.
Little did they know that all of that would be pointless by the end of the day, because right around now, while the whole school was gathered in the great hall for dinner, the soul piece in Tom Riddle's diary had become strong enough to manifest itself. It - no, he, for he was basically human again - wouldn't need to rely on possessing the girl anymore. No, he'd have an own body, and since it was her core that had fed him, her wand would obey as if it'd be his. Tom Riddle could - and would - finally return.
Pansy Parkinson was dead tired. She had spent the majority of the day with Millicent and the Davis halfblood, they had been looking for a clue to who might be the heir of Slytherin. Surely someone like that was worthy of their allegiance. Not that they had been successful until now.
But despite the fact that she nearly dozed off at dinner, she was the first one to notice it. Something was happening with the Davis girl.
Out of nowhere, Tracey dropped her fork. No one thought anything of it, maybe she was just clumsy or tired. But then her eyes shut and she fell backwards, off the bench, while black smoke was enclosing her. The smoke, Pansy realised, was both coming out of her bag and - as strange as it might seem - out of Tracey. Panicking, the girl opened the smoking bag and tried snatching whatever was causing that.
Suddenly, she felt pain. Pansy pulled back, but not without grabbing the object which had caused it.
This had transpired within only seconds, so once Harry and Hermione had heard the shrieks coming from Slytherin table and turned around, they were able to see Pansy dropping something on the ground. Something, which had been in Tracey Davis' bag.
It was a black diary.
"Fuck! Tracey had it. Tracey had the god-damn diary all along!"
Albus Dumbledore was confused. He did recognise the black smoke, since he had read each and every text referencing Horcruxes since realising that Harry had one in his scar. But did that mean that someone had smuggled another one of Tom's soul pieces into the school? Could that be why the basilisk was back? And what was young Harry talking about?
Remus, Severus and Minerva were already running down towards Tracey, and so were Harry and Mione. Filius Flitwick though was casting as many protective charms and spells as he could, trying to prevent the students from getting into harm's way.
Before anyone could reach Tracey Davis, a tall figure emerged out of the black smoke. It was a young man wearing Slytherin robes. Thomas Marvolo Riddle was back.
With a flick of his wand, Tom set up a protective barrier around him and called his little pet, ordering her to keep her eyes shut. He would make all of them fear him, before he would kill the mudbloods.
The quintet was already firing spells against Tom's barrier, while the students all started to panic. Some tried to make a run for the doors, but Tom wouldn't let that happen. All the exits were closed, only he and his pet would be able to come and go as they pleased.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Dumbledore beginning to move. They all had heard his attempts at ordering them to stand down, but now he was afraid the old meddler would start to intervene. So he turned around and aimed his wand at Dumbledore, but he had underestimated the man's willingness to attack, and so the holly and phoenix wand flew across the room.
"Harry, my boy. Don't do that. I fear Lord Voldemort has corrupted your soul. You need to stand down."
Now Harry snapped. After one and a half years of enduring Dumbles' idiocy, he could hold back anymore.
"Drop the act, old man. Voldemort is standing over there, he's no longer in my scar. You can thank Minerva and the goblins for that (sure, that was a lie, but he didn't want Dumbledore to know that he travelled back in time). Now, either you drop your wand, or we shall see which Peverell wand is stronger, Antioch's or Ignotus'. I don't think that you'll win, the hallows will obey their true master."
He pulled his - until now disillusioned - wand and threw half a dozen curses at Dumbledore, including the advanced elemental magic they had started training with during the summer. Only the wind equivalent of fiendfyre, a tornado, which was damn hard to control, reached its target. Now the old meddler realised that he had no idea what exactly he was facing.
This was to Harry's benefit. He used all he had, except unforgivables, to hurt the old meddler, and he was pretty successful. This duel was not at all what Albus had expected.
After dodging a pretty nasty pink curse, he didn't even want to know what that was, Harry deflected a stunner. Which, he realised, was pretty weak - for Dumbledore at least. It seemed like the Elder Wand didn't want to fight its true master, which he assumed he was, because he was Lord Peverell.
Because of that he put more power into his spells, seeing that his opponent was not able to keep up with him. With a bit of luck and the element of surprise, he'd win that fight.
Wordlessly and wandlessly he summoned his holly and phoenix feather wand into his left hand, while distracting Dumbledore with a sectumsempra curse. Then he pointed his left hand at Dumbles.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Albus Dumbledore was exhausted. Harry Potter was, though he didn't know how, overpowering him. The boy claimed that the horcrux was gone, but how would you explain his powers then? Maybe Minerva had really taken the boy in and brought him to Potter Manor. But no, he would have heard about that, since he was still Harry's guardian. To get into the Manor, they would have needed to visit Harry's account manager, who would have informed him.
The corporeal patronus surprised him, making Albus forget his thoughts. It was a stag, how beautiful. But corporeal? How? And why cast that?
The answer to that came only fractions of a second later, when Harry's expelliarmus, cast with the other wand, hit him and threw him back.
The Elder Wand flew across the great hall, and Harry caught it with the skill and precision of a seeker, feeling the warmth in the wood and knowing it would serve him always. But not now, he thought, as he put away his holly wand and the Elder Wand. He had to deal with a resurrected Dark Lord.
Dumbledore found himself immobilised on his chair, while Harry put away the Elder Wand. He knew that he had lost his allegiance. That meant he would have to summon his original one from his office. During normal school days, he didn't carry it with him, as a spare. He was good with wandless magic, but knew that for breaking those charms he'd need a wand that obeyed him. But getting it here wasn't easy, he still had to try.
Now, with the Elder Wand in his pocket, Harry once again focussed on the Dark Lord who was resisting the other four.
"You can't kill him, he's still a horcrux manifestation! The diary!"
Upon hearing Harry, Severus leaped forward, pulling a dagger from somewhere and plunging it into the diary, but nothing happened.
"Doesn't work! And yes, that's freshly soaked in basilisk venom. I did that after Davies' death."
Tom laughed.
"Basilisk venom? Nice try, but I'm no longer trapped in there."
Mione understood.
"Damn! It's Tracey. He's connected to her lifeforce and magical core. Now he can manifest and shortly she'll die. Then he's really back."
Now Daphne cried out from somewhere, hoping that her best friend wouldn't die. She now understood that Tracey had been possessed and nothing had really been her fault.
Harry was about to perform the ritual of banishing the horcrux again, but then the main entrance into the great hall opened, and the basilisk slithered into the room.
Everyone screamed, well, everyone except Tom. He laughed.
Slowly the room got silent, everyone was afraid. Fearing that Tom might let the basilisk loose, the quintet stopped throwing curses at him for the time being. Their wands weren't lowered, but at least they had stopped. Then the Dark Lord started speaking.
"Harry Potter! I have heard so much about you! Young Tracey here was very informative in regards to that. Poor girl, she'll have to die so Lord Voldemort can live. And you, old man, defeated by your followers? Did I miss something? But anyway, today I'm not in the mood for long speeches, you all should know my basilisk by now. She's the one petrifying the mudbloods. Now, if the halfbloods want to survive, you better point out every single mudblood to me. Purebloods, I expect the same from you! I'll rid you from those that taint our magic, like my ancestor had always prayed. I AM LORD VOLDEMORT, THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN."
Before anyone could even make a move and point out muggleborns, Harry started to laugh. Everyone, including Dumbledore and Riddle, was in shock.
"Come on, Tom! You're pathetic."
"HOW DARE YOU…"
"Calling you by your name? Tom Marvolo Riddle, son of the muggle Thomas Riddle and the, well, can't call her a witch, she was nearly a squib, Merope Gaunt. You dare command the basilisk?"
"I am Slytherin's heir, my family is even descended from the Peverells! Who else could command the basilisk? And you, you're a nobody, Harry Potter! Come on my friend, go ahead and kill the brown-haired here. But don't look at her, eat her!"
He pointed at Hermione and then hissed the same thing, so the basilisk would understand.
Harry jumped in front of the basilisk and lifted his right hand, now making all his rings visible. Then he addressed the giant snake herself.
"Stay back, my friend. I'm Lord Slytherin, and you know that. You'll obey me! Your old master wanted to protect the students, not kill them. Stand down."
Tom gasped as he heard those words and as the snake bowed in front of Harry.
"See, Tom. You are nothing. You claim you are the Heir of Slytherin, but that is a lie. I am the Lord of House Slytherin, and the basilisk will obey my orders now, not yours. Who did you call a nobody? I'm the Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, the Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw and the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor. Gosh, that's not much fun to say out loud, what a painfully long list."
Then he turned his head for a moment, searching and finding Draco Malfoy.
"Oh, and before I forget it, I'm also Heir Black, and Sirius is Lord. Fuck you, Malfoy!"
The ferret's face was now quite literally red, probably even more red than all the Weasleys' hair. He was now probably upset, both at his parents for making him believe he was Heir Black and at Harry for being Heir Black. Some of that facial colour might be a blush though, being embarrassed that he had bragged with that title all his life. Harry was now grinning, upsetting Malfoy was fun, but that was now besides the point.
Now it was time to face Riddle. The basilisk, despite Tom's angry screams and hisses, slid away from the battlefield. Since Tom was still controlling the doors, she curled herself up in a corner, next to a bunch of very frightened students.
After a few seconds of staring at each other silently, they all began exchanging spells. Yes, it was five against one (Flitwick continued to build magical barriers around the students and added some spells to the already existing ones on Dumbledore) but Riddle was still very skilled. The main issue was that for the time being he wasn't fully back yet, and so they couldn't physically harm or kill him. Yes, he took some weakening blasts, but that just slowed him down.
"Help! I think Tracey's getting weaker."
Severus turned his head, looking at Miss Greengrass, who was next to Miss Davis. Apparently the girl was right. Damn. They couldn't let Riddle return fully, because then they would have two of them, and it would kill Tracey. Yes, he might be killable then, but he'd then also have full power. Nothing they could risk.
"Harry! We'll keep him busy, try your horcrux spell!"
The boy nodded, Severus was right. He took a step back, then realising that Professor Babbling had taken his place. And even though he had never seen her fight, he expected her to be quite the opponent. While walking up to Tracey, he looked at her joining the fight.
The Ancient Runes professor was damn great with elemental magic, at least that was his first impression. During her attacks she even managed to draw runic symbols with flames on the ground, which had a variety of effects. Some exploded once Riddle came close, others seemed to build a barrier or drain magical power. He had only read about that technique, maybe Mione and him could take some lessons once that was over. But now he had to focus on Tracey.
"The Lord of Potter rids you from the evil inside of you, the Lord of Potter rips away the splintered soul to free you. I summon thee, dark force, I summon thee!"
This time he had to repeat the by now familiar phrasing six times, slowly starting to feel the exhaustion, before the black shadow left Tracey's body. It tried flying to the manifested body of Tom Riddle, but luckily the barrier that Babbling had built by now, out of fire, ice, earth and lightning runes, didn't allow it to pass through. Luckily. Who knows what would have happened?
Harry attacked the black cloud so it was aiming at him. Once it was close enough he held out his hand so his Head of House rings would give him some protection, while drawing Godric's dagger with the other hand and stabbing the cloud.
As usual, the horcrux died, but at the same time Tom started to crumble to dust, screaming even louder than the soul fragment itself. With a quiet noise the wand dropped on the ground, and that was the only thing left from Tom.
Tracey gasped and opened her eyes in the same moment, now being finally herself again. The doors to the Great Hall opened all at once and as the basilisk slithered out of the hall and back into the chamber, Amelia Bones stormed in. She had been outside of the hall when the doors closed and after getting no response she had sent for an auror team. By her command, they let the basilisk slither away and hurried inside, not knowing what to expect.
Every single one of those involved in the fight dropped either on the ground or the next free seat on one of the benches, all of them being utterly exhausted. Thanks to that, the spells on Dumbledore got so weak that he broke them, standing up and looking at Harry, seemingly disappointed.
"Harry, my boy. I must strongly object to your emancipation and the Lordships. I'll tell Cornelius to revoke them. How could you…"
"Oh, shut it, old man. Your days are counted. And so are Fudge's."
Minerva looked at Harry, expecting him to say it. Severus on the other hand groaned. Yes, he wanted it to happen, but what he would have to do wouldn't be nice. No one knew about it, they'd object. It was the only possible way though.
Harry looked to Mione, who just shrugged. It was all over by now either way, no chance to fix this so the timeline would be back to normal.
"I didn't want to do this, old man, but now I'm out of options."
Everyone was staring at him, but Harry was hesitant. He really didn't want to say it, Salazar had warned him. If he'd do that, then things could go so much worse in the long term. But now he had openly battled Riddle with advanced magic, taken the Elder Wand from Dumbledore and made his titles public knowledge. It was over. He brought himself to do it, lifted his wand - well, Ignotus Peverell's wand, if we want to be precise - and pointed it at the small pendant on the necklace around his neck.
"Oh come on, fuck it. Damage Control!"
Notes:
So, here we are. It finally happened.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Thank you for reading my story and reviewing. It truly means a lot :)
A Happy New Year to all of you.
-Benedikt
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