Harry and the examiners came into the Hall together in good spirits as they all felt the exams had ended on a high note. Harry still felt a little overwhelmed at the praise he had received from these experienced educators and was giving a career as a professor when all this was over some serious thought. He couldn't wait to tell Hermione all about his experiences. As thoughts of his girlfriend crossed his mind he automatically scanned the Great Hall for her. Not seeing her he uneasily decided that she was probably in the Room or the common room of Gryffindor Tower and forced his attention back to the still bantering examiners around him.
As they walked towards the expanded head table a shadow detached itself from the rafters and soared down towards Harry. A loud caw grabbed the young wizard's attention and he held up his arm in confusion for the large raven that was approaching him. When the bird had landed Harry saw that it had a scroll tied to its leg. As soon as Harry had removed the scroll the bird took wing and flew out of the Hall. Seeing that the scroll was indeed addressed to him Harry unrolled it and started to read.
Harry Potter,
I have your little mudblood whore. Unless you wish to receive her piece by piece via owl post you will come and find me. I would tell you to come alone but that won't be necessary as we're under a Fidelius Charm. Dear Hermione awaits you here: the throne room of Lord Voldemort is in Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton. Careful now, don't burn yourself.
Lord Voldemort, the Immortal
As soon as Harry had finished the letter it burst into flames. His thoughts were racing in an attempt to come up with a plan. Judging by the content of the letter Riddle must be planning some kind of trap. Not like it matters if the bastard has Hermione. The very thought sent fury boiling through his veins like lava. Magic started leaking out of Harry as his control slipped under his rage. A powerful wind started blowing around him like a tornado tearing at his robes and hair. All of Hogwarts was treated to a demonstration of exactly how powerful Harry Potter could be and for most it far exceeded what they had imagined.
Harry spun on his heel as a red mist descended over his vision. Riddle had gone too far this time and Harry was going to make him pay. As he stalked out of the Great Hall he called out to his elves.
"Winky, my armour! Dobby, get the sword!" The elves popped in with the requested items as Harry passed through the doors. He ducked into an unused classroom, threw his robes to the side and started pulling on his armour. He took his invisibility cloak from his schoolbag and stuffed it into a pouch on his waist that had once held balls of Gillyweed. He was just putting on the gloves he had added to the ensemble after the graveyard when the door opened and Luna and the twins burst in.
"Harry! What's happening?!" Luna cried out. Harry slid the Sword of Gryffindor into its scabbard as he answered her.
"Riddle's taken Hermione. I'm going after her." Luna looked shocked at the news that one of her best friends might be in the hands of a madman.
"Are you sure she's gone, little brother? How would Death Eaters even get in here?" Fred asked carefully. Harry hesitated for a moment before he turned to the elves who were still waiting in the room.
"Dobby, Winky, check the Come and Go Room. If Hermione's not there, report back immediately." The two elves popped out Harry pulled the Marauders' Map from his bag and spread it out on the floor before activating it. All four friends pored over it looking for a dot labelled 'Hermione Granger'. Dobby soon popped back in and reported that the Room was empty. Minutes later they were forced to conclude that Hermione really wasn't in the castle.
"I didn't see Snape or Malfoy either. It may not mean anything, but if it does Dumbledore's going to be out a Potions teacher and a prefect." Harry growled as he strapped the sword to his back. Folding the map back up he handed it to the twins. "Keep an eye on it 'til I get back, yeah?" he said. For once neither Fred nor George had words to lighten the mood. Instead they grabbed him in a hug.
"Be careful, little brother." Fred began.
"And bring her back." George continued. When the twins let go Luna was there to grab a tight hold of Harry. She was sobbing too hard for any words to make it out but it was clear that she was hurting. Harry hugged her back and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. When she wouldn't let go he passed her on to George who held her back with a solemn nod.
Harry turned to the door and wrenched it open as he stalked out. Out in the Entrance Hall there was a gathering of staff, students and examiners.
"Harry, I must ask what you intend to do." Dumbledore spoke up from the front of the gathering. Harry shot his once respected headmaster a glare.
"I intend to put Riddle and his inbred menagerie down like the mad dogs they are and get my girlfriend home safely." He snarled out. Dumbledore blanched behind his beard at the venom in the young man's voice.
"Harry, you know what your role is in the fight against Tom. Will you risk that, risk the world, over your teenage hormones?" Dumbledore asked trying to talk Harry out of a futile application of violence.
"I'm not 'risking it', old man. I'm ending it; one way or the other. Why don't you go back to your office and sit on your arse? You're good at that." Harry's fury, banked by his friends, was being stoked back up to a full blaze by the aged wizard in front of him. Dumbledore drew his wand out, but didn't point it at Harry just yet.
"I can't allow you to this, Harry. You are clearly not in your right mind. If you'll come with me, we'll-" Exactly what Dumbledore wanted Harry to do would remain unclear as he suddenly went flying into a wall courtesy of Harry's Disarming Jinx.
"You may be willing to sacrifice the innocent for the sake of the guilty, old man, I am not! I will remind Riddle why the darkness flees before the light!" With that Harry whirled around and ran out of the castle. For a while nobody in Hogwarts made a sound. After a few minutes it was a low whistle from Professor Marchbanks that became the first noise anyone dared make.
"By the ancients, that boy makes me wish I was 120 years younger." The ancient examiner said in a wistful voice that would probably have gone unheard except for the complete silence that was still hanging heavily over the Entrance Hall.
"I've thought something similar on occasion." came Professor McGonagall's equally distant and longing answer. Both witches realized simultaneously that everyone had been able to hear what they had said and blushed heavily. "I think that's enough excitement for tonight. Everyone back up to your common rooms." McGonagall ordered in an attempt at her most authoritative voice.
"No!" McGonagall whipped around in surprise as a voice countermanded her. Standing behind her was Luna Lovegood looking unlike anyone had ever seen her. The tear-tracks were still visible on her cheeks but her hair seemed to float around her and her eyes shone with an almost otherworldly authority. For a moment Minerva allowed herself to imagine that she was face to face with a Faery Queen and it did not take a lot of effort. "Professor, my friend and teacher, my brother has just gone to war to save the woman he loves. I don't want to wait for word of what happened cut off from most of the other people who care about him. Please, let us wait for him together in the Great Hall."
"You tell 'em, Auntie Luna!" came a voice from the crowd that was quickly joined by more calls to let them await the outcome of a battle they couldn't see, together.
"Very well." Minerva relented. I could do with the company anyway. "Give the elves a chance to rearrange the Great Hall and we'll wait there. Poppy, do you need some help getting Albus to the Hospital Wing?" At her decision there was a loud cheer from the students who turned to the Great Hall to keep an eye on when the elves would be finished. Poppy started in surprise and looked over at where her employer was lying in an unmoving, crumpled heap on the floor.
"I'll manage, Minerva, thank you for asking." she said crisply as she flicked her wand and started floating the unconscious wizard up the stairs towards her domain. Soon the students were once again pouring into the Great Hall, which was now filled with cushy purple sleeping bags that would be familiar to anyone third year and up. Steeling herself to spend a night watching nearly 500 teenagers, Minerva cast one last look into the gloom visible through the front doors. Come back to us, Harry.
:-:-:-:-:
With a soft pop a lean, shadowy figure appeared on a country lane. It looked around and started walking resolutely. Harry Potter had come to Little Hangleton. Be patient, Mi. Hang on just a little longer. I'll end the bastard for dragging you into this.
As he moved down the lane he kept his senses extended and paid careful attention. The moment he felt an increase in the ambient magic he stopped in his tracks. There! Behind the hedgerow. Harry's wand was a blur as he started dismantling the magic in front of him. He was relying on every curse breaking trick he had ever read about and knew that half of them were only working because he was massively overpowering them. It only took him five minutes to reveal the old Gaunt shack, but a further twenty to dismantle all the traps. When the final ward shattered Harry stalked into the ramshackle old hut and magically ripped out the floor. There, winking at him, was the ring; the last of Riddle's disgusting abominations. In his mind he could hear whispered promises of seeing his parents again if he would just put the ring on. Those whispers were nothing compared to the screaming that he needed to destroy the thing as quickly as possible so that he could go rescue Hermione. The Sword of Gryffindor came ringing out of its scabbard and Harry thrust it through the ring splitting it completely in two. A quick check showed no active magic, so Harry pocketed its remains. His business completed here he headed back out and put his invisibility cloak on. Checking that it wouldn't suddenly slip loose he apparated to the graveyard he had awoken in a year ago.
Invisibly, Harry slipped between the tombstones. He considered himself lucky that he almost immediately stepped on a twig so that he remembered to cast a Silencing Charm on his cloak. It was an unfortunate side effect of dragon-hide that he couldn't directly Silence the spell-resistant material. Carefully he continued on until he came to the ward line around the old Riddle Manor. Careful probing revealed that Riddle was relying almost exclusively on the Fidelius to provide security and had only a very basic ward set aside from that. With an unseen grin Harry began waving his wand again. This ward set was so basic that he was able to quickly finesse a gap in the wards and slip through. Harry knew it wouldn't be long now before he would no longer be able to just hide and he would have to fight. Fight and kill. If it will save Hermione I will end every other living thing in this house.
Harry didn't encounter any kind of security as he slipped across the lawns of Riddle Manor which put him mightily on edge. After the pathetic wards this was just starting to scream trap, but thoughts of Hermione pushed him onward. He snuck his way around the house until he came to the front door which he could see was guarded by two Death Eaters. Their body language indicated that they had been here for a while already and were probably a pair of grunts. They were leaning against the wall next to the doors and one of them had his mask up on his head so that he could smoke a pipe. Harry moved away from the wall of the house and lined up his shots. Quick as a flash he cast two Piercing Curses. The nearly invisible spells slammed into the guards' foreheads, leaving a neat two inch hole between their eyes as the corpses slid down the wall and to the ground. Harry ran up to the door and tried it. It opened without protest. He slipped inside and looked around.
Harry found himself standing in an opulent entrance hall. He quickly realized that he had no idea where Riddle and his merry band of sadists were, let alone where they might be keeping Hermione. He closed his eyes and strained his ears and magic to see if he could pick up any clues. He thought he might have heard something coming from up ahead but couldn't tell if it was coming from upstairs or downstairs. Harry did a quick, silent sprint past the doors on the ground floor, but didn't manage to pinpoint where the sound might be coming from.
Quickly Harry climbed the stairs. Again he flitted from door to door, listening carefully for any hint of who might be inside. As he crept down the hallway the muffled sound of voices grew clearer and was interspersed with occasional laughter. Harry hurried as much as he dared. When he reached the door the voices seemed to be emanating from he paused to check it for any kind of active magic and, finding none eased it open just a crack.
The voices became more pronounced. There were two of them and Harry could have sworn they sounded familiar. He widened the crack just enough to look through and was greeted by an empty landing. He could see that there was a large room stretching out beyond the landing and assumed that's where the speakers were. Since there wasn't anyone in sight Harry slipped through the door being careful not to make any sudden moves or loud noises.
Once he was on the landing he could see that he had come out near a pair of sweeping staircases that lead down into a massive ballroom. Harry's mind barely registered the ridiculousness of a pair of sweeping staircases being the only entrance to a room. He crouched behind the railing around the landing to remain out of sight. He could hear the voices clearly now. Snape and Malfoy. I was right.
"I told the senile old fart that you doubted my loyalty to the cause and had demanded that I bring Potter to you, My Lord. The old fool wouldn't stop bleating about how that could never be allowed and how the little shit was too important to risk like that." Snape's oily tones carried all their usual disgust when speaking of the last of the Potters. "When he finally ran out of nonsense I told him that you had ordered young Draco to obtain the mudblood or his family would die and that my help in this might buy me some time away from your all-knowing gaze." Harry could feel his blood boiling as he heard Snape laughing it up with the rest of the Death Eaters. Malfoy apparently recovered first and picked up the tale.
"I was called into the old muggle-lover's office with no idea why I was there, My Lord. Professor Snape was there too. When I saw the mudblood walk in I was about to object to being exposed to such filth when the stupid old goat actually stuns her and turns to Professor Snape with this mournful look on his face and says 'This sacrifice must be made, my friend. Make sure you use it well.' He's practically told us to go and fuck the useless thing!" Harry was enraged by the tone of the albino little shit and found himself moving towards the steps even though he didn't have a plan yet for how to take on however many Death Eaters and their degenerate master. The stairs were designed to allow debutantes arriving for a ball to make a grand entrance and that meant that they were in full view from every corner of the ballroom. Harry tried to slow down as he started down the stairs so that his cloak wouldn't flare around him and give him away but halfway down the stairs he had stopped dead.
He had noticed that there were about fifty Death Eaters lined around the edges of the room. More of those ancients-damned mercenaries. In the centre of the room Riddle himself sat on an enormous throne made of what looked like obsidian, listening to Snape and Malfoy tell their story, his chin resting on one hand, his mouth quirked in a small, vicious smile. All of these things might have been considered enough to stop a sane man in his tracks but for Harry it was the sight of Hermione. Hermione, completely naked with her wrists chained to the floor behind her, forcing her into a kneeling position with her breasts pushed out for everyone in the room to leer at. He could see the tears running down her face and the bruises on her body. He was brought out of his shock by Riddle's hissing, high-pitched voice.
"You have executed our plan well, my loyal servants. As a reward I will let you have use of the mudblood before your brethren. I want her broken body to greet Potter when he arrives. Considering the speed of his broom I expect that he will be sighted within the hour, so you may begin. Do remember to remove the Silencing Charm." Harry could feel a red haze descending over his vision. His blood was pounding in his ears and all rational thought went out the window. He didn't bother analysing the first plan to come to mind and instead jumped right into the fray, literally.
Harry vaulted over the stairs' banister in an effort to get to the floor more quickly. His invisibility cloak flapping about him drew gazes to the odd sight. As soon as he landed Harry slammed the tip of his wand into the floor and screamed out "Terra Forma!" All around the hall, wherever Death Eaters were standing, a forest of jagged rock spikes erupted from the floor at various angles. The suddenness of the assault meant that the Death Eaters had no time to react. The spikes tore through their bodies with tremendous force, ripping limbs and organs from their intended positions. Within seconds the screaming of the last Death Eater stopped and all that was left was the sound of blood trickling onto the stone floor. All around the room there was not one Death Eater left in one piece. In front of what was left of Riddle's throne there were two bristling outcroppings, the few rags of flesh hanging off of them all that remained of the pair that had stolen Hermione. Riddle's throne itself was also broken by the shards of stone jutting up from the ground. Hermione was left looking a little wide-eyed and blood-spattered but otherwise untouched by the sudden butchery.
Harry stood up slowly from where he had landed, not caring that the cloak slipped from his shoulders and watched as Hermione's eyes snapped towards him radiating an odd combination of relief and fear. As her eyes darted back to the throne Harry saw what had caused the fear: there were no signs that the stone spears had even touched Riddle and no sign of Riddle, come to that.
"Avada Kedavra!" Harry flung himself out of the path of the sickly green curse that came flying towards him from the other side of the wrecked throne. Looking at the source of the curse he saw Riddle looking absolutely enraged. He had a nasty looking gash that stretched across his chest and was bleeding a black ichor freely. "You're early, Harry Potter. I had not expected you to arrive so soon. I had not expected you to be so bloodthirsty either. Whatever will dear, old Dumbledore say when he hears his Golden Boy is dealing death?" Riddle's sibilant hissing seemed even more ominous with the steady dripping of blood on stone in the background. Harry didn't let it distract him though.
"I'm sure he'll say the same thing as last time. It didn't make an impression then either." Harry bit back while looking for an opening or an indication of what Riddle would do. "So what did you have to sacrifice to get those reflexes?" Riddle just snarled wordlessly in return and started circling around so the remains of Snape of and Malfoy wouldn't block his spells. Harry tried to match the movements as best he could without putting Hermione in the line of fire.
When it came, the attack was undeniably vicious. Riddle's wand started spitting out dark curses at an impressive rate. Harry did his best to avoid getting hit by dodging and summoning the results of his previous spell work in their path. Some of the effects of those curses on summoned body parts were grisly enough that Harry redoubled his resolve to make sure that he would not be hit with any of them.
Even Riddle could not keep that barrage up forever and eventually the rate of spells slowed, giving Harry some room to retaliate. "Defodio. Animorphus." Riddle deflected Harry's Gouging Spell to one side causing a massive crater to appear in the floor while blocks of debris flew through the air. Harry's transfiguration spell turned those rock blocks into a pack of mongooses that charged as one for the Dark Lord's ankles. Riddle was forced to divide his attention between blasting the transfigured animals out of existence and trying to fling curses at his young opponent, allowing Harry to press the attack even further. It didn't take the man renowned as one of the most fearsome Dark Lords in history long to regain even footing in the fight though.
The battle raged back and forth between the two men. Harry was using every trick and spell he had learnt over the course of the war in the previous timeline as well as his training in the Room of Requirements. He transfigured debris and summoned anything that was loose enough to respond. He dodged whenever he could to spare his core as much as possible after he had already been using magic since arriving in Little Hangleton. It quickly became clear that Harry would be hard pressed to match Riddle in a pure exchange of curses but Riddle had a tendency to ignore the terrain around him.
That did not mean that he was completely incapable of seeing his own potential weakness, as Riddle proved when he managed to animate some of the more intact corpses to create inferi while Harry was distracted keeping a conjured black mamba away from Hermione. The move proved ineffective as Harry demonstrated great proficiency with the Flame Whip Curse which tore through the inferi and eventually had to be blocked by their master.
Harry in turn animated Golems from the stone that lay around them and, with the blood drenching them, they turned out to be harder to destroy than normal but Riddle proved himself up to the challenge by firing off a barrage of Gouging Spells that ripped through the sturdy constructs after simple Reductors didn't work.
As the battle progressed the two combatants abandoned the use of traditional, structured spells and simply threw their wills backed up by their magical power across the room at each other. Sheets of magic washed against each other and set the air to crackling around them. Storms of fire and hails of conjured weapons rained down on the two opponents. Hordes of animals rose from the debris around them and were blasted into rubble.
Banter had long since been abandoned by the two enemies as they needed every breath to keep moving, to keep casting at their opponent. The battle proved that the prophecy had been right to mark them as equals as they tore at each other's defences. The longer the battle raged, the more trouble both Harry and Riddle had keeping all their opponent's attacks at bay. Spells started slipping past shields and making contact with their intended target. Between Harry's armour and Riddle's use of enhancing rituals even that progressed evenly.
Neither of the two men knew how long they had been locked in battle but both their chests were heaving for breath and sweat was running down their bodies in rivers. Harry was surprised when Riddle straightened up and a pulse of magic travelled through the room as the Dark Lord screamed out "Enough!". Harry looked around trying to find the effect that the magic he had felt had brought about. Seeing nothing, his attention shifted back to the panting wizard across from him.
"Enough of this, Harry Potter. You have fought valiantly. I do believe I have never had to work so hard to destroy an enemy, but destroy you I will. For all the power you wield, you are still weak. You still care!" Voldemort's wand whipped up, but it wasn't pointing at Harry. The younger wizard suddenly realized that he had lost track of his position relative to Hermione and it was at her that Riddle's wand was pointed.
"Avada-" Harry hadn't waited for Riddle to finish his incantation and was already conjuring a shield in front of his girlfriend. The large rock wall he had intended to protect her never fully materialized as Harry's concentration was broken by a second incantation. "Crucio!"
Pain.
Harry's awareness shrank to nothing more than the sensation of pure pain. Pain that seemed to go on for hours on end. When the curse finally lifted, Harry slowly felt rational thought returning to him. Fuck. That was a feint. His brain clearly felt that the obvious should be stated. Hermione! Is she alright? Desperately Harry forced his body and mind to focus on the world around him. When his eyes and brain finally managed to start communicating in a meaningful way the first face Harry saw was the last one he wanted to see.
"I told you, Harry Potter: you are weak. If you had been willing to let that mudblood die you might have been able to defeat me, temporarily at least." Voldemort was smiling through his exhaustion, already revelling in his victory. "Now I have your wand, and I have you and that little girl at my mercy. What shall we do now, hmm, Harry? You know, of course, that you must be punished for the trouble you have caused me." Harry could tell that Riddle was enjoying this and mostly ignored the man as he focused on trying to regain as much control over his body as possible. He didn't know if he would get an opening to turn the tables on Riddle, but damn it he would be ready to seize any opportunity that presented itself. He was distracted from his efforts by a stinging sensation as his head snapped to the side. Riddle pulled his boot back from where it had made contact with Harry's jaw.
"Pay attention, boy. From now on I am the centre of your world. I am your Lord and Master and your only concern need be how best to please me." Riddle was seething at his victim's lack of attention. "Perhaps I should remove any distractions before I break you, hmm? Yes. Yes, I do believe I like the idea. You will lie there helpless and watch as I end your whore, Harry Potter. Look at her now and say good bye." Riddle dissolved into mad cackles which ended abruptly as he raised his wand and pointed at Hermione once more. "Avada Kedavra!"
Hermione had been awed watching Harry and Riddle duel. The magic on display had been beyond anything she had ever imagined. At no time had she doubted that Harry could pull through. When he had rushed to her defence, as he had several times already, and paid for it she had been horrified. He could have won if not for me flashed through her mind. She had been forced to watch as the miserable bastard held Harry under the torture curse. It was much worse than watching that memory had been. When he finally let up it had taken Harry a few minutes to recover himself enough to even be aware of what had happened. Riddle's taunting was like acid to Hermione's heart until she realized that Harry wasn't paying any attention to the madman. He's working on a plan to get out of here. I just need to make sure I'm ready to help.
Unfortunately, it looked like Riddle had caught on to Harry's planning almost as easily as she had. When she heard his threat Hermione went numb. She could see the look of horror on Harry's face and Riddle's mouth forming those fateful words. She saw the green curse erupt from Riddle's wand as if in slow motion. Somewhere she realized that imminent death was making her mind work much faster and that time was really passing as normal. Although if we take into account the observation principle from quantum mechanics…no! Those will not be my last thoughts. She once again locked her eyes on Harry's face. If she was going to die she wanted him to be her last thought. Even that seemed to go wrong as something appeared in front of her blocking her view of the man she loved.
Harry heard Riddle start the incantation and knew that this time it would not be a feint. As the world seemed to slow down around him Harry was desperately running through any options he might have to stop that dreaded curse from hitting Hermione. It's no use. The only way to block that damn thing is… Harry's mind screeched to a halt as a mad plan occurred to him. No time to analyze his chances of success. Harry mustered all the mental focus he had for one last feat of magic. I'm sorry, Hermione was Harry's last thought before he apparated himself right into the path of the Killing Curse. He felt something strike him in the chest as he heard the rushing sound of approaching death. By the time his limp body bounced off of the flagstones, Harry Potter knew no more.