Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 120: Fake
Harry gave Hermione a pleasant smile before turning to the others. "You should be ashamed that the student had to be the one to figure it out."
"Are those numbers correct?" Hermione asked. "Are there thousands of nuclear heads being armed? That… would be enough to destroy everything." The girl said with a horrified expression.
"Are you insane?!" Tonks shouted. "Are you trying to start a nuclear war?"
"I'll just break those machines." Voldemort pointed his wand at the large computer in the other corner of the room.
"Wait!" McGonagall tried to get in the way. "We don't know if that will do more harm than good. And that machine may be the only way to stop this."
Harry nodded. "That is a clever approach."
Sirius frowned. "He is just playing with us… If we had a chance to stop this, he would never have let us find him alone and disarmed."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Godfather," said Harry.
"Don't call me that!" Sirius snapped.
"So what… You think only he can stop it?" Hagrid wondered if that was the case, because he couldn't imagine that happening.
"I had had enough of this charade." Voldemort moved closer. "Crucio!"
Despite his lack of knowledge about Muggle weapons, he at least was aware of the danger, so he didn't dare kill Harry just yet.
"Urggg…" Harry clenched his teeth when the curse impacted him and fell from his chair.
"What are you doing?!" Shacklebolt exclaimed.
"I didn't kill him, did I?" Voldemort returned a glare. "At least not yet."
"Hehehe." Harry let out a chuckle. "That hurt a little bit."
"Shall I give you another one?" Voldemort scoffed.
"Go ahead," Harry said in a mocking tone. "See if you can do better."
McGonagall got in front of him. "Harry… please don't do this." She begged. "If there is any part of the boy I knew still in there…"
The Headmistress got closer and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Harry? Please…" She knelt at his side.
While looking into his face, she could not see what he was doing with his hands.
"Minerva!" But Shacklebolt, who was standing at one side, was able to see Harry's nails grow into sharp blades.
He moved his wand and fired a charm to push him away.
"Urgg!" McGonagall felt something hitting her throat before Harry was sent tumbling to the ground.
Tonks and Sirius grabbed her and pulled her back.
"Minerva!, oh no…" Sirius saw her grasping at the bleeding wound on her neck. Harry had somehow pierced her throat when she got too close.
"I have a healing potion." Tonks hurried to produce a flask and opened it up.
"Pour it on the wound, quick!" Sirius exclaimed. It was obvious she would not be able to drink anything.
Tonks did as he told her and emptied the flask's contents on the wound, but as she was doing this, they saw the life disappear from McGonagall's eyes, turning dull.
Sirius was holding the woman in his arms. "She's… she's dead…"
Everyone was now looking at the Headmistress with complicated feelings.
A loud laughter broke the short moment of silence.
"Hahahaha!" Harry was still on the floor, laughing like a maniac. "What a stupid woman!"
"Crucio!" Voldemort shut him up with another Cruciatus.
This time, no one complained or tried to stop him.
"I had enough of this." Shacklebolt walked up to Harry. He then produced some ropes to immobilize him. "Boy… you better start cooperating before… hmm?"
"What is it?" Hagrid saw the expression on the Minister changing.
"Hold on." Shacklebolt knelt down next to Harry and waved his wand over him. "This can't be…"
He stood up and turned to the others, who were now staring at him. "He is dead…"
"What?!" Tonks glared at Voldemort. "You killed him!"
Voldemort stood there impassively. "That's not possible. I did not hold the curse long enough to kill." If there was something he knew well enough, it was how to use that particular curse.
"No, it wasn't the curse." Shacklebolt said. "There is blood coming from his mouth and, wait… that's weird."
Sirius placed down the body of the Headmistress and approached as well.
"Is that his blood? Why is it…" Tonks looked confused at the small pool of liquid next to Harry's mouth.
"Blue," Hagrid commented.
Indeed, the blood coming from Harry's mouth was blue.
"Is this because of some ritual he performed on himself?" Tonks wondered.
"Never heard of a ritual that…" Voldemort's eyes became narrow. "There is a broken vial next to him."
"Tsk!" Shacklebolt saw it too. "I bet the bastard poisoned himself with something. I bet he didn't want to give us the satisfaction of taking him down."
"So, the poison did that to his blood?" Hagrid didn't sound too sure.
"This doesn't make any sense." It was Hermione who spoke now. "He wouldn't take the easy way out. The Demon Lord I knew took joy in watching people suffer. If he wanted us dead, he would have liked to… watch."
The girl noticed something in one corner of the room. "Is that a camera?"
"Hey! Something is happening to the body." Shacklebolt got startled and stood up from the floor before stepping back.
The magical ropes disappeared, and Harry's body started to shake.
"He is still alive?" Tonks pointed her wand at him.
"No chance. I made several scans and even checked his pulse." The Minister said with confidence.
"No…" Voldemort muttered. "This is…"
The body of 'Harry' began to change. His dark hair disappeared, and his skin turned paler and changed into a grey tone.
"This is not Potter." Voldemort gave his wand a flick and created a magical force to turn the body around.
Loud gasps of shock were heard when everyone saw what the body looked like now.
It was a humanoid being with no hair and grey skin. Not only was this a fake Harry, but no one believed it was even human.
"Could that be a demon as well?" Tonks asked.
"A shapeshifting demon? He never used one before… why now?" Sirius wondered.
"He is playing with us!" Voldemort huffed.
"No… this is not a game. It's much worse." Hermione said.
A terrible thought came into her mind, and she rushed toward the computer.