Fic: Dare you to move [ G - Gen ]
Title: Dare you to move
Author: mithborien
Rating: G
Word Count: 4316
Summary: “We’ll be heading off now?”
Warnings: Is not actually a crack!fic.
Author’s Note: This was written for jamie2109 and nocturnali AWDT prompt which celebrated it’s first birthday last week. Congratulations! And while this week’s prompt was to pick any prompt from the list of the past year, I had to go and pick every single prompt. All, what I assume is, 52 of them. As a result, the title, summary, subheadings and whatnot may not relate exactly. I think, however, considering the number of prompts I did a fairly good job :) The list of prompts is here so y’all can go and check if I missed any :P
I only cheated on one prompt however and that was to turn to page 347 in a thick book other than HP and use the first whole sentence. That sentence I used for the summary and had to flick through a couple of books before settling on Terry Pratchett’s ‘The Truth’.
Also, the Dumbledore prompt about the macaroons was from beren_writes‘s fic Gold Tinted Spectacles.
This is also un-beta’d. Feel free to point out any grammatical errors but not any gaping plot holes because like I said, a year’s worth of prompts dammit.
~
It was a summer rain.
A gentle patter against the roof that made the ceiling hum and sunlight fractured when it managed to break through the clouds. It was a beautiful day, the kind filled with hope and dreams and half remembered promises.
It was not the kind of day that is generally associated with goodbyes and battle plans.
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused.
“Pass the marmalade.”
Harry frowned. “What on earth do you need marmalade for?”
Fred (or was it George? Harry had a hard time remembering faces these days) looked up with a grin from behind some crates and mockingly shook his head.
“Trade secrets,” he said in a loud whisper. “We could tell you but well…”
“We’d have to kill you,” George finished off from where he was hunched over a cauldron, mixing some oily liquid, “and that would complicate matters.”
A long time ago Harry would have smiled at such a joke but now he just looked blankly at the tables of equipment and boxes of various items from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes as the twins continued to work. “How’s it going? Do you think you’ll have everything ready in time?”
Fred scratched his head. “Hard to say.” He grabbed a sheaf of parchment from one of the tables and moved out to hand it to Harry. “Here’s what we’ve got.”
Harry took the sheet and frowned. “What on earth are you wearing?”
Fred actually looked embarrassed and picked at the seam to what seemed like the leather trousers he was wearing. What made them different to ordinary trousers was the bright silver strip down each side of the leg.
“They’re a new version of those shield charmed clothes we came up with a year ago,” George supplied. “More effective. However the spells we used kinda turn everything bright silver. We’re working on it but-”
“Doesn’t matter,” Harry said. “We’ll put a camouflage charm on them to hide the brightness but otherwise I don’t care what they look like as long as they work.”
Fred nodded and remained silent as Harry perused the rest of the list.
“Is this all?” he finally asked.
Fred shrugged. “Best we can do I’m afraid.”
“What about the poison antidote applicators you were working on?”
Fred’s face lit up and handed Harry a small tube from his pocket “We think we’ve got it.”
Harry looked down. “That’s lip gloss.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is. It says so on the side.” Harry pointed where the words Lady Luana’s Lovable Lip Gloss could be seen.
Fred paused. “All right, so it originally was lip gloss but we found that the ingredients in it were the best to use to create the antidote balm and well, it’s already in a handy application tube, isn’t it?”
Harry blinked owlishly. “Lip gloss is for girls.”
Fred glared at him and aimed a lazy slap to the back of Harry’s head. “They’re a good idea and a cheap backup solution. Grow up.”
Harry actually smiled at that then turned to George. “What about the Marauder’s Map? Can we fix it?”
George dragged a dusty, stained piece of parchment towards him across the bench. “Whatever Wormtail did to it, we can undo it. I’m sorry. We can’t get it to work.”
Harry nodded. “It’s a shame to lose it but I don’t think we’ll be needing it. Keep working.”
The twins nodded and went back to discussing various charms and spells and potions that could be adjusted into a defensive or offensive application.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Harry heard George say as he left the room and chuckled quietly to himself when Fred replied, “Are we having fun yet?” and the resulting sound of a solid, inanimate object connecting with what Harry could only assume was Fred’s head.
Better to rule a day in hell, than to serve an eternity in heaven.
The next room was distinctly quieter than the one the twins had commandeered and Professor McGonagall was waiting at the door to usher him inside. Of course, this room was filled with practically what was left of the faculty of Hogwarts and a good number of the Order of the Phoenix members so the mood was bound to be a little more sombre.
“First off,” Harry said as his old Transfiguration Professor sat down, “I would like to thank you for trusting me these past couple of weeks, months even and doing what was needed to be done.”
“Think nothing of it, laddie,” Moody said, voice just as hoarse as normal. “You said you had a plan and we believed you but now is the time to tell us the truth. I want it all and I want it now.”
Harry sighed. “I know and the truth is what you all deserve. The fact that you risked your lives for me on nothing but blind honour is-”
“What we had to do,” Kingsley Shacklebolt said as both Mundungus Fletcher and Arthur Weasley nodded. “Think nothing of it.”
Harry shut his eyes. “Of course and you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”
“We know, Harry,” Mrs Weasley said with an encouraging glance. “But things are serious now. We need to know what is going on.” Her husband gave her hand a reassuring shake but not even Harry could miss the strained appearance on her face. Bill and Fluer were sitting behind them silently, also holding hands tightly and Harry knew how deeply the loss of Charlie and Percy had affected the Weasley family. He didn’t want to worry them even more.
Harry took a deep breath. “Before Dumbledore died, he showed me some information, some important information that he believed was the key to killing Voldemort. It was this information that I have been acting on these past months.”
“Tell us,” Moody said, leaning forward.
“I can show you,” Harry said and moved to the far corner of the room where an object was shrouded in a dusty sheet. He dragged the table to the centre of the room and pushed off the sheet.
“Dumbledore’s Penseive,” McGonagall exclaimed. “That is supposed to be locked up in the Headmaster’s office. In my office!”
“And it was,” Harry muttered, refusing to meet her eyes, “until I took it.”
“How?”
Harry fixed the Professor with a blank look. “You probably don’t want to know.”
“Never mind that,” Moody said and gestured to the Penseive. “Show us.”
Harry took out his wand, waved it over the swirling mists and a ghostly figure sprang up immediately.
"Why don't we all sit down," Dumbledore decided with a smile. "I rescued some very fine macaroons from the staff room and it would be a shame to waste them."
“Er,” Harry fumbled with his wand. “Sorry, wrong memory.”
There was a brief round of chuckles but everyone fell silent as another figure materialized.
“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…”
Harry prodded the ghostly figure of Professor Trelawney and she receded slowly back into the silver mist.
“That was the full Prophecy in case you didn’t realise,” Harry said. “Dumbledore was the one who heard it.”
Moody leant back with a sigh, Professor McGonagall looked shocked while the rest of the room looked as if they didn’t know what to think.
“Is it true?” Bill finally asked.
“Is what true?”
“Do you have the power?” he clarified. “The power to vanquish the Dark Lord?”
Harry looked at his feet then looked up at the scars that marred Bill’s face. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Dumbledore said the Prophecy wasn’t that simple. But while I may not know if I have the power to defeat Voldemort I do know of a way to kill him.”
“How?”
Harry lifted his wand again and motioned for everyone else to join him. He pointed to the Penseive. “I’ll show you,” he said, then proceeded to conjure up all the memories Dumbledore had showed him that pertained to Voldemort and Horcruxes.
When he was finished, the room seemed if it was possible, even more somber than when he had first entered.
“Horcruxes,” Moody murmured. “So that’s how he did it.”
“Seven times,” Professor McGonagall whispered. “It’s unthinkable.”
“But he did do it,” Harry said. “He made seven Horcruxes, including himself.”
“So your plan is too find and destroy the Horcruxes,” Moody surmised. “And then kill Voldemort.”
Harry nodded. “Except I have already found and destroyed six of the Horcruxes. All that’s left now is Voldemort himself.”
It was almost as if a ripple of shock flowed through the room.
“Are you serious,” Arthur asked, mouth hanging open.
Harry smiled. “It’s what I’ve been doing all these months.”
“Does Voldemort know?” Moody asked, his blue eye going crazy.
“He knows some of them have been destroyed but with the trouble you guys have been giving him I don’t think he has had the time to make more.”
“So what’s you’re plan now?”
Harry bit his lip and looked out the window. The reflection that was returned was more man than boy with pale skin and shadowy eyes. There was only one path for him to take now.
“What we need is a diversion,” Harry said firmly. “Bigger and better than before. We know the locations of most of Voldemort’s hideouts and strongholds from the Death Eater we captured two months ago.”
“He couldn’t hold his tongue,” Moody muttered darkly to himself but Harry ignored him. No one was proud of what happened that day but the information they gained had been vital.
“This will be the final battle,” Harry continued. “We need to hit every Death Eater target with everything we have at the same time. We need to be loud, explosive and as damaging as possible. Make them think we have an advantage and are coming to end this war.”
“We don’t have enough men to do that and win, Harry,” McGonagall said.
“I know,” Harry replied, feeling his voice start to break. “But you won’t be trying to win. All you will be doing is creating a distraction to give me path through to Voldemort.”
“So you can kill him?” Mundungus asked.
“Yes,” Harry said simply.
Mundungus threw back a chuckle. “Oops. Sorry, I fell asleep because what you said couldn’t possibly be a real plan.”
“Fletcher,” Mrs Weasley said sharply.
“What? I’m only saying what we’re all thinking. The boy’s plan, while admirable is lunacy.”
The started arguing but Fluer’s dead quiet whisper silenced them both. “We’re all going to die.”
“See, thankyou, pretty lady,” Dung exclaimed. “Exactly my point!”
“But we are all going to die someday,” Fluer continued, the dead look disappearing from her eyes. “And I would rather die fighting for something good. I’m with Harry.” Bill gripped her hand even tighter and his lopsided grin threatened break from his face.
It took a moment but soon the entire room was filled with proclamations of support.
Love vanquishes time. To lovers a moment can be eternity, eternity can be the tick of a clock.
Harry escaped from the room as soon as possible, their backing and gratitude almost overwhelming when in his heart he knew he was sending them to their deaths.
A series of muffled curses interrupted his thoughts and the smell of soap and antiseptic wafted down the hall so Harry continued on to where one door was cracked open slightly.
“You’re invading my privacy. You do understand privacy, don’t you?” Lupin’s irritated voice could now be clearly heard and Harry pushed the door open slightly to see Tonks trying to get Harry’s former Professor back into bed. Stark white bandages, stained here and there with blood were wrapped around his body and Harry could clearly see the pain on Remus’ face.
He knocked slightly on the door then opened it wide when the two of them looked up.
“Oh good,” Tonks said relieved. “Maybe Remus will listen to you if you tell him he should get back to bed.”
Remus growled at her. “We don’t have the time for me to stay holed up in bed.”
“Think you can fight in your condition?” Harry asked before Tonks had a chance to open her mouth.
Remus paused, snapped “Don’t touch that!” when Tonks tried to adjust one of his bandages then turned back to Harry. “With a couple of pain numbing potions I should be fine.”
Harry nodded. “Good. See Tonks, he’ll be fine.”
Remus turned to her, smiled and nodded but Tonks just groaned. “Just because you’re men doesn’t mean you have to be all brave and deny the fact that you so dearly need more time to rest.”
Remus was turning to start another argument with her when Harry said, “I just told them my plan.”
Both fell silent. They knew exactly what plan he was talking about when Harry had broken down a couple of weeks ago and confessed what he was planning. Rather than shout and condemn him both had talked him into continuing with the plan and Lupin had confessed in turn to him that at least he had a plan because no one else in the Order had anything that was close to being successful.
“How did it go?” Tonks asked softly.
Harry shrugged one shoulder. “They agreed. Completely. Planning their deaths as we speak.”
“Harry,” Remus began.
“Don’t,” Harry said as he shook his head. “The chance of them dying in this is close to fatal and if they don’t die they will probably be seriously hurt.”
Remus looked liked he was about to argue but Harry just stared hard at the wounds that covered his body, wounds that had not been caused by the full moon three weeks ago and Remus fell silent.
“I don’t need you to lie to me,” Harry said.
“Then why are you here,” Tonks asked, wrapping up some bandages.
Harry smiled. “Just to see you. And to know that’ll you’re with me.”
Tonks smiled and took Remus’ hand when he offered it. “We’re with you, Harry,” she said.
“To the end,” Remus added.
Harry laughed. “Well, if this doesn’t work, it will be the end, won’t it? Get some rest.”
He left the room to the sound of Remus complaining and Tonks telling him to have some chocolate.
Love is not a fire to be shut up in a soul.
Ginny was alone in a darkened room when he found her. Sitting on a window sill with her forehead pressed against the glass, red hair damp from her recent shower. He probably shouldn’t be here, their relationship had been rocky as of late, ever since she had forced him to tell her what was going on and his continual refusal to let her go out and fight.
“Sometimes I dream, you know,” she whispered before he had a chance to speak. “I dream of what might have happened if Voldemort had never existed. We wouldn’t be fighting this war for one thing, I wouldn’t have had to go through the deaths of two of my family and we wouldn’t have to pretend like our relationship doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter,” Harry said quietly, silently gearing up for another argument. “That’s why I want you to stay here.
“I won’t,” she replied sharply, face taut and didn’t say anything more.
Harry ground his teeth together, glaring. “I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“I don’t need you to save me,” she shot back. “I don’t need you protect me.”
Harry groaned and turned away. “That’s not what I… Look, I thought we agreed-”
“I didn’t agree to anything, Harry,” Ginny said fiercely. “Did you honestly think I would just give up because things were getting dangerous? Do you remember what I told you at Bill and Fluer’s wedding?”
Harry frowned. That had been one of the last happy days he remembered after Dumbledore died but even that was hard to remember considering he had gotten a little drunk that night.
When she saw he wasn’t answering, Ginny got to her feet. “I said I would give you a year to stop that, a year to get over those stupid noble sentiments. It’s been a year.”
Harry swallowed and looked away. “This is different. This is it, the end and I am going to have to do some things that are pretty horrible. Things that I don’t know if I’ll be able to do and I won’t be able to think if I know you’re in danger.”
“You have no proof,” Ginny said.
“Proof of what?” Harry asked, momentarily confused.
“That you won’t be able to think,” Ginny explained. “You have no proof. You have no proof that you won’t be able to do what you need to do. You have no proof that you will falter or fail so until you get proof I don’t think you have any right to say what’s going to happen and how I might affect that.”
“Ginny-”
“No. Is there something I should know? Some vague piece of information that you have been hoarding that makes you so certain of the outcome? No. In which case you do not know how this is going to play out but you do know that you need every little piece of help you can get. Somebody told me once that we would have to choose between what is right and what is easy. Easy would be standing aside and letting others fight and I have never done what is easy.”
Harry sighed. “I am not asking you to do what is easy and I am not asking you to do what is right. I am just asking.”
Ginny closed her eyes, forehead creasing up before she moved to stand before him. Harry refused to look at her but before he could say anything else she flung her arms around him, hugging tightly and there was nothing he could think of besides hugging her back.
“Don’t forget about me,” she whispered. “Don’t forget about me when you’re out there.”
“I couldn’t, even if I tried,” Harry whispered back, burying his noise in her hair.
“Good,” Ginny murmured, mouth against the skin of Harry’s neck. “But I can’t just stand back and do nothing. I tried and I can’t. No more than you can walk away from You-Know-Who.”
“I know.” Harry sighed again. He knew from the moment he walked in the room he wasn’t going to be able to stop her. No one ever could.
“You’re sexy when you’re angry, you know,” Ginny said when the silence started to linger.
Harry laughed. “Water is sexy,” he whispered back and laughed even more when he felt her puzzled frown against his face. “Makes your hair curl and stick to your skin,” he clarified as he dragged a hand through her hair, breathing in the damp flowery smell. “It’s nice.”
Ginny just smiled and hugged him even tighter.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Ron and Hermione, against all odds, were playing some sort of game in the last room of the house, invloving a ball and a flying ring and no discernable rules that Harry could see. He caught the ring as it flew past his head.
“Hey,” Ron protested. “I was just about to score!”
Hermione snorted. “No, you weren’t.”
Their mirth fell silent when they see the look on Harry’s face.
“You’ve seen everyone then?” Ron asked.
Harry nodded. “The Order is planning the attacks, Remus is resting and Ginny refuses to stay safe.”
Ron nodded in return. “Sounds about right. Things, er… are all right between you two though?”
Harry sighed but nodded, dropping down tiredly into an armchair. Ron and Hermione sitting side by side on the couch opposite him.
“I knew she wasn’t going to stay behind, not this time but I had to try. Funny thing is, I want her by side more than ever now.”
The other two remained silent. There wasn’t much they could say to make things better and everyone knew it.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Harry admitted finally.
Ron shrugged. “Well, you haven’t done it yet. You don’t know whats going to happen.”
Harry buried his head in his head, messing up his hair even more. “In a couple of days, we are going to be out there fighting for our lives. Against people that we know, faces we recognise, people we… people we went to school with.”
“Draco’s beyond redemption now,” Hermione said quietly.
Harry groaned. “It’s not about him. It’s just… we went to school with him and even though Draco Malfoy was an insufferable little prick he was still… He was still a person. He was still real and we are going to go out there and try to kill him.”
“He’ll try to kill us first,” Ron pointed out.
“I know, I know. I understand. I get it. I just don’t have to like it. It shouldn’t have to be like this.”
“Have you heard that there has been trouble in the Death Eaters,” Hermione piped up. “Arguments and the like. There may not be much of a fight.”
“Yeah,” Ron brightened. “Wouldn’t it be good if they finsihed each other off?”
Harry smiled slightly. “That can be our Plan B. It’s all we’ve got.”
“How did the other’s go for the plan now they know what it is?” Hermione asked.
“I think they realised they didn’t have a choice. I told them my plan was working and then they supported it completely. Probably to their deaths.”
“They knew that from the beginning, Harry,” Ron said in response to the ashen look on Harry’s face. “They knew this war might claim their lives in a heartbeat. You’re giving them a chance to succeed while doing so.”
“I know, it just seems like this is my life. Always has been. Always will be. Causing people to die.”
“You might cause a lot of people to live, as well,” Hermione murmured. “I think that is a worthy risk.”
“Maybe,” Harry said noncommittedly.
Ron closed his eyes. “You didn’t come here to be reassured, did you?”
Harry shook his head. “No, I just came here to see you guys. Just to be with…”
“We know,” Hermione said.
“Wanna play?” Ron offered, holding up the ball. “Keep your mind off things.”
Harry looked at the ring in his hand which was now buzzing with the anticipation of the renewal of the game. “Sure,” he said with a smile.
“It’s gonna have to be every man for himself,” Ron said. “If we’re only playing with three. Of course,” he added exaggeratedly. “Since Harry is this big, brave hero I should really get Hermione on my side.” He tipped an outrageous wink to her as Harry sniggered. “What do you think? Are you gonna be my girl?”
Hermione just glared at him. “I won’t be anything if you keep that up.”
Ron laughed. “Do I need to buy you flowers to make it up to you then.”
Harry burst out laughing at the insulted look on Hermione’s face. “You two give love a bad name.”
Before Hermione could reply he threw the ring up into the air and Ron cheered.
A light shines on my way.
Harry spent the rest of the night waiting in the small alcove under the stairs. The spot was suitably poetic and significant in his mind but he only lasted a couple of hours before the crick in his neck convinced him to move.
The house was mostly silent, planning that had continued late in the night had finally been abandoned to be perused and corrected in the morning.
He could feel the coming battle in the chills that kept racking his bones. It was the kind of cold that gave you goose pimples and made the hair on the back of your neck start to rise. It was a warning that something wasn’t quite right.
But there was nothing he could do because he knew things weren’t right. People shouldn’t be staking their lives on just him and a slim chance of success. They shouldn’t have to fight a war just for basic human rights. Desperate hopes and crawling self doubt kept assaulting his mind and he couldn’t get out of his head the image of everyone he loved lying dead in the dirt.
He had been dreaming lately. Dreams of blood and terror and people falling. He kept forgetting spells and his hands shook whenever he looked at them. He handles the stairs every morning with care for a fear that he’ll fall and crack his neck. He jumps at shadows and is paranoid enough to keep checking his back. He knew that if this wasn’t ended soon, this contention between him and Voldemort then he wasn’t going to last. He wasn’t going to survive.
He heard a door open somewhere behind him, deep in the house. Obviously someone else couldn’t sleep but Harry didn’t want company at the moment. Didn’t want someone to remind him just what they had to lose.
So he just pushed himself deeper into the shadows and stared out the window watching the heavens unleash their so called fury.
It was a dark and stormy night.
Except this wasn’t the beginning of a story, it was the end and Harry hated to think of how much worse the morning might be.
Voldemort was out there waiting for him.
May the better man win…
~
Author: mithborien
Rating: G
Word Count: 4316
Summary: “We’ll be heading off now?”
Warnings: Is not actually a crack!fic.
Author’s Note: This was written for jamie2109 and nocturnali AWDT prompt which celebrated it’s first birthday last week. Congratulations! And while this week’s prompt was to pick any prompt from the list of the past year, I had to go and pick every single prompt. All, what I assume is, 52 of them. As a result, the title, summary, subheadings and whatnot may not relate exactly. I think, however, considering the number of prompts I did a fairly good job :) The list of prompts is here so y’all can go and check if I missed any :P
I only cheated on one prompt however and that was to turn to page 347 in a thick book other than HP and use the first whole sentence. That sentence I used for the summary and had to flick through a couple of books before settling on Terry Pratchett’s ‘The Truth’.
Also, the Dumbledore prompt about the macaroons was from beren_writes‘s fic Gold Tinted Spectacles.
This is also un-beta’d. Feel free to point out any grammatical errors but not any gaping plot holes because like I said, a year’s worth of prompts dammit.
~
It was a summer rain.
A gentle patter against the roof that made the ceiling hum and sunlight fractured when it managed to break through the clouds. It was a beautiful day, the kind filled with hope and dreams and half remembered promises.
It was not the kind of day that is generally associated with goodbyes and battle plans.
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused.
“Pass the marmalade.”
Harry frowned. “What on earth do you need marmalade for?”
Fred (or was it George? Harry had a hard time remembering faces these days) looked up with a grin from behind some crates and mockingly shook his head.
“Trade secrets,” he said in a loud whisper. “We could tell you but well…”
“We’d have to kill you,” George finished off from where he was hunched over a cauldron, mixing some oily liquid, “and that would complicate matters.”
A long time ago Harry would have smiled at such a joke but now he just looked blankly at the tables of equipment and boxes of various items from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes as the twins continued to work. “How’s it going? Do you think you’ll have everything ready in time?”
Fred scratched his head. “Hard to say.” He grabbed a sheaf of parchment from one of the tables and moved out to hand it to Harry. “Here’s what we’ve got.”
Harry took the sheet and frowned. “What on earth are you wearing?”
Fred actually looked embarrassed and picked at the seam to what seemed like the leather trousers he was wearing. What made them different to ordinary trousers was the bright silver strip down each side of the leg.
“They’re a new version of those shield charmed clothes we came up with a year ago,” George supplied. “More effective. However the spells we used kinda turn everything bright silver. We’re working on it but-”
“Doesn’t matter,” Harry said. “We’ll put a camouflage charm on them to hide the brightness but otherwise I don’t care what they look like as long as they work.”
Fred nodded and remained silent as Harry perused the rest of the list.
“Is this all?” he finally asked.
Fred shrugged. “Best we can do I’m afraid.”
“What about the poison antidote applicators you were working on?”
Fred’s face lit up and handed Harry a small tube from his pocket “We think we’ve got it.”
Harry looked down. “That’s lip gloss.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is. It says so on the side.” Harry pointed where the words Lady Luana’s Lovable Lip Gloss could be seen.
Fred paused. “All right, so it originally was lip gloss but we found that the ingredients in it were the best to use to create the antidote balm and well, it’s already in a handy application tube, isn’t it?”
Harry blinked owlishly. “Lip gloss is for girls.”
Fred glared at him and aimed a lazy slap to the back of Harry’s head. “They’re a good idea and a cheap backup solution. Grow up.”
Harry actually smiled at that then turned to George. “What about the Marauder’s Map? Can we fix it?”
George dragged a dusty, stained piece of parchment towards him across the bench. “Whatever Wormtail did to it, we can undo it. I’m sorry. We can’t get it to work.”
Harry nodded. “It’s a shame to lose it but I don’t think we’ll be needing it. Keep working.”
The twins nodded and went back to discussing various charms and spells and potions that could be adjusted into a defensive or offensive application.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Harry heard George say as he left the room and chuckled quietly to himself when Fred replied, “Are we having fun yet?” and the resulting sound of a solid, inanimate object connecting with what Harry could only assume was Fred’s head.
Better to rule a day in hell, than to serve an eternity in heaven.
The next room was distinctly quieter than the one the twins had commandeered and Professor McGonagall was waiting at the door to usher him inside. Of course, this room was filled with practically what was left of the faculty of Hogwarts and a good number of the Order of the Phoenix members so the mood was bound to be a little more sombre.
“First off,” Harry said as his old Transfiguration Professor sat down, “I would like to thank you for trusting me these past couple of weeks, months even and doing what was needed to be done.”
“Think nothing of it, laddie,” Moody said, voice just as hoarse as normal. “You said you had a plan and we believed you but now is the time to tell us the truth. I want it all and I want it now.”
Harry sighed. “I know and the truth is what you all deserve. The fact that you risked your lives for me on nothing but blind honour is-”
“What we had to do,” Kingsley Shacklebolt said as both Mundungus Fletcher and Arthur Weasley nodded. “Think nothing of it.”
Harry shut his eyes. “Of course and you have no idea how much I appreciate that.”
“We know, Harry,” Mrs Weasley said with an encouraging glance. “But things are serious now. We need to know what is going on.” Her husband gave her hand a reassuring shake but not even Harry could miss the strained appearance on her face. Bill and Fluer were sitting behind them silently, also holding hands tightly and Harry knew how deeply the loss of Charlie and Percy had affected the Weasley family. He didn’t want to worry them even more.
Harry took a deep breath. “Before Dumbledore died, he showed me some information, some important information that he believed was the key to killing Voldemort. It was this information that I have been acting on these past months.”
“Tell us,” Moody said, leaning forward.
“I can show you,” Harry said and moved to the far corner of the room where an object was shrouded in a dusty sheet. He dragged the table to the centre of the room and pushed off the sheet.
“Dumbledore’s Penseive,” McGonagall exclaimed. “That is supposed to be locked up in the Headmaster’s office. In my office!”
“And it was,” Harry muttered, refusing to meet her eyes, “until I took it.”
“How?”
Harry fixed the Professor with a blank look. “You probably don’t want to know.”
“Never mind that,” Moody said and gestured to the Penseive. “Show us.”
Harry took out his wand, waved it over the swirling mists and a ghostly figure sprang up immediately.
"Why don't we all sit down," Dumbledore decided with a smile. "I rescued some very fine macaroons from the staff room and it would be a shame to waste them."
“Er,” Harry fumbled with his wand. “Sorry, wrong memory.”
There was a brief round of chuckles but everyone fell silent as another figure materialized.
“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…”
Harry prodded the ghostly figure of Professor Trelawney and she receded slowly back into the silver mist.
“That was the full Prophecy in case you didn’t realise,” Harry said. “Dumbledore was the one who heard it.”
Moody leant back with a sigh, Professor McGonagall looked shocked while the rest of the room looked as if they didn’t know what to think.
“Is it true?” Bill finally asked.
“Is what true?”
“Do you have the power?” he clarified. “The power to vanquish the Dark Lord?”
Harry looked at his feet then looked up at the scars that marred Bill’s face. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Dumbledore said the Prophecy wasn’t that simple. But while I may not know if I have the power to defeat Voldemort I do know of a way to kill him.”
“How?”
Harry lifted his wand again and motioned for everyone else to join him. He pointed to the Penseive. “I’ll show you,” he said, then proceeded to conjure up all the memories Dumbledore had showed him that pertained to Voldemort and Horcruxes.
When he was finished, the room seemed if it was possible, even more somber than when he had first entered.
“Horcruxes,” Moody murmured. “So that’s how he did it.”
“Seven times,” Professor McGonagall whispered. “It’s unthinkable.”
“But he did do it,” Harry said. “He made seven Horcruxes, including himself.”
“So your plan is too find and destroy the Horcruxes,” Moody surmised. “And then kill Voldemort.”
Harry nodded. “Except I have already found and destroyed six of the Horcruxes. All that’s left now is Voldemort himself.”
It was almost as if a ripple of shock flowed through the room.
“Are you serious,” Arthur asked, mouth hanging open.
Harry smiled. “It’s what I’ve been doing all these months.”
“Does Voldemort know?” Moody asked, his blue eye going crazy.
“He knows some of them have been destroyed but with the trouble you guys have been giving him I don’t think he has had the time to make more.”
“So what’s you’re plan now?”
Harry bit his lip and looked out the window. The reflection that was returned was more man than boy with pale skin and shadowy eyes. There was only one path for him to take now.
“What we need is a diversion,” Harry said firmly. “Bigger and better than before. We know the locations of most of Voldemort’s hideouts and strongholds from the Death Eater we captured two months ago.”
“He couldn’t hold his tongue,” Moody muttered darkly to himself but Harry ignored him. No one was proud of what happened that day but the information they gained had been vital.
“This will be the final battle,” Harry continued. “We need to hit every Death Eater target with everything we have at the same time. We need to be loud, explosive and as damaging as possible. Make them think we have an advantage and are coming to end this war.”
“We don’t have enough men to do that and win, Harry,” McGonagall said.
“I know,” Harry replied, feeling his voice start to break. “But you won’t be trying to win. All you will be doing is creating a distraction to give me path through to Voldemort.”
“So you can kill him?” Mundungus asked.
“Yes,” Harry said simply.
Mundungus threw back a chuckle. “Oops. Sorry, I fell asleep because what you said couldn’t possibly be a real plan.”
“Fletcher,” Mrs Weasley said sharply.
“What? I’m only saying what we’re all thinking. The boy’s plan, while admirable is lunacy.”
The started arguing but Fluer’s dead quiet whisper silenced them both. “We’re all going to die.”
“See, thankyou, pretty lady,” Dung exclaimed. “Exactly my point!”
“But we are all going to die someday,” Fluer continued, the dead look disappearing from her eyes. “And I would rather die fighting for something good. I’m with Harry.” Bill gripped her hand even tighter and his lopsided grin threatened break from his face.
It took a moment but soon the entire room was filled with proclamations of support.
Love vanquishes time. To lovers a moment can be eternity, eternity can be the tick of a clock.
Harry escaped from the room as soon as possible, their backing and gratitude almost overwhelming when in his heart he knew he was sending them to their deaths.
A series of muffled curses interrupted his thoughts and the smell of soap and antiseptic wafted down the hall so Harry continued on to where one door was cracked open slightly.
“You’re invading my privacy. You do understand privacy, don’t you?” Lupin’s irritated voice could now be clearly heard and Harry pushed the door open slightly to see Tonks trying to get Harry’s former Professor back into bed. Stark white bandages, stained here and there with blood were wrapped around his body and Harry could clearly see the pain on Remus’ face.
He knocked slightly on the door then opened it wide when the two of them looked up.
“Oh good,” Tonks said relieved. “Maybe Remus will listen to you if you tell him he should get back to bed.”
Remus growled at her. “We don’t have the time for me to stay holed up in bed.”
“Think you can fight in your condition?” Harry asked before Tonks had a chance to open her mouth.
Remus paused, snapped “Don’t touch that!” when Tonks tried to adjust one of his bandages then turned back to Harry. “With a couple of pain numbing potions I should be fine.”
Harry nodded. “Good. See Tonks, he’ll be fine.”
Remus turned to her, smiled and nodded but Tonks just groaned. “Just because you’re men doesn’t mean you have to be all brave and deny the fact that you so dearly need more time to rest.”
Remus was turning to start another argument with her when Harry said, “I just told them my plan.”
Both fell silent. They knew exactly what plan he was talking about when Harry had broken down a couple of weeks ago and confessed what he was planning. Rather than shout and condemn him both had talked him into continuing with the plan and Lupin had confessed in turn to him that at least he had a plan because no one else in the Order had anything that was close to being successful.
“How did it go?” Tonks asked softly.
Harry shrugged one shoulder. “They agreed. Completely. Planning their deaths as we speak.”
“Harry,” Remus began.
“Don’t,” Harry said as he shook his head. “The chance of them dying in this is close to fatal and if they don’t die they will probably be seriously hurt.”
Remus looked liked he was about to argue but Harry just stared hard at the wounds that covered his body, wounds that had not been caused by the full moon three weeks ago and Remus fell silent.
“I don’t need you to lie to me,” Harry said.
“Then why are you here,” Tonks asked, wrapping up some bandages.
Harry smiled. “Just to see you. And to know that’ll you’re with me.”
Tonks smiled and took Remus’ hand when he offered it. “We’re with you, Harry,” she said.
“To the end,” Remus added.
Harry laughed. “Well, if this doesn’t work, it will be the end, won’t it? Get some rest.”
He left the room to the sound of Remus complaining and Tonks telling him to have some chocolate.
Love is not a fire to be shut up in a soul.
Ginny was alone in a darkened room when he found her. Sitting on a window sill with her forehead pressed against the glass, red hair damp from her recent shower. He probably shouldn’t be here, their relationship had been rocky as of late, ever since she had forced him to tell her what was going on and his continual refusal to let her go out and fight.
“Sometimes I dream, you know,” she whispered before he had a chance to speak. “I dream of what might have happened if Voldemort had never existed. We wouldn’t be fighting this war for one thing, I wouldn’t have had to go through the deaths of two of my family and we wouldn’t have to pretend like our relationship doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter,” Harry said quietly, silently gearing up for another argument. “That’s why I want you to stay here.
“I won’t,” she replied sharply, face taut and didn’t say anything more.
Harry ground his teeth together, glaring. “I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“I don’t need you to save me,” she shot back. “I don’t need you protect me.”
Harry groaned and turned away. “That’s not what I… Look, I thought we agreed-”
“I didn’t agree to anything, Harry,” Ginny said fiercely. “Did you honestly think I would just give up because things were getting dangerous? Do you remember what I told you at Bill and Fluer’s wedding?”
Harry frowned. That had been one of the last happy days he remembered after Dumbledore died but even that was hard to remember considering he had gotten a little drunk that night.
When she saw he wasn’t answering, Ginny got to her feet. “I said I would give you a year to stop that, a year to get over those stupid noble sentiments. It’s been a year.”
Harry swallowed and looked away. “This is different. This is it, the end and I am going to have to do some things that are pretty horrible. Things that I don’t know if I’ll be able to do and I won’t be able to think if I know you’re in danger.”
“You have no proof,” Ginny said.
“Proof of what?” Harry asked, momentarily confused.
“That you won’t be able to think,” Ginny explained. “You have no proof. You have no proof that you won’t be able to do what you need to do. You have no proof that you will falter or fail so until you get proof I don’t think you have any right to say what’s going to happen and how I might affect that.”
“Ginny-”
“No. Is there something I should know? Some vague piece of information that you have been hoarding that makes you so certain of the outcome? No. In which case you do not know how this is going to play out but you do know that you need every little piece of help you can get. Somebody told me once that we would have to choose between what is right and what is easy. Easy would be standing aside and letting others fight and I have never done what is easy.”
Harry sighed. “I am not asking you to do what is easy and I am not asking you to do what is right. I am just asking.”
Ginny closed her eyes, forehead creasing up before she moved to stand before him. Harry refused to look at her but before he could say anything else she flung her arms around him, hugging tightly and there was nothing he could think of besides hugging her back.
“Don’t forget about me,” she whispered. “Don’t forget about me when you’re out there.”
“I couldn’t, even if I tried,” Harry whispered back, burying his noise in her hair.
“Good,” Ginny murmured, mouth against the skin of Harry’s neck. “But I can’t just stand back and do nothing. I tried and I can’t. No more than you can walk away from You-Know-Who.”
“I know.” Harry sighed again. He knew from the moment he walked in the room he wasn’t going to be able to stop her. No one ever could.
“You’re sexy when you’re angry, you know,” Ginny said when the silence started to linger.
Harry laughed. “Water is sexy,” he whispered back and laughed even more when he felt her puzzled frown against his face. “Makes your hair curl and stick to your skin,” he clarified as he dragged a hand through her hair, breathing in the damp flowery smell. “It’s nice.”
Ginny just smiled and hugged him even tighter.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Ron and Hermione, against all odds, were playing some sort of game in the last room of the house, invloving a ball and a flying ring and no discernable rules that Harry could see. He caught the ring as it flew past his head.
“Hey,” Ron protested. “I was just about to score!”
Hermione snorted. “No, you weren’t.”
Their mirth fell silent when they see the look on Harry’s face.
“You’ve seen everyone then?” Ron asked.
Harry nodded. “The Order is planning the attacks, Remus is resting and Ginny refuses to stay safe.”
Ron nodded in return. “Sounds about right. Things, er… are all right between you two though?”
Harry sighed but nodded, dropping down tiredly into an armchair. Ron and Hermione sitting side by side on the couch opposite him.
“I knew she wasn’t going to stay behind, not this time but I had to try. Funny thing is, I want her by side more than ever now.”
The other two remained silent. There wasn’t much they could say to make things better and everyone knew it.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Harry admitted finally.
Ron shrugged. “Well, you haven’t done it yet. You don’t know whats going to happen.”
Harry buried his head in his head, messing up his hair even more. “In a couple of days, we are going to be out there fighting for our lives. Against people that we know, faces we recognise, people we… people we went to school with.”
“Draco’s beyond redemption now,” Hermione said quietly.
Harry groaned. “It’s not about him. It’s just… we went to school with him and even though Draco Malfoy was an insufferable little prick he was still… He was still a person. He was still real and we are going to go out there and try to kill him.”
“He’ll try to kill us first,” Ron pointed out.
“I know, I know. I understand. I get it. I just don’t have to like it. It shouldn’t have to be like this.”
“Have you heard that there has been trouble in the Death Eaters,” Hermione piped up. “Arguments and the like. There may not be much of a fight.”
“Yeah,” Ron brightened. “Wouldn’t it be good if they finsihed each other off?”
Harry smiled slightly. “That can be our Plan B. It’s all we’ve got.”
“How did the other’s go for the plan now they know what it is?” Hermione asked.
“I think they realised they didn’t have a choice. I told them my plan was working and then they supported it completely. Probably to their deaths.”
“They knew that from the beginning, Harry,” Ron said in response to the ashen look on Harry’s face. “They knew this war might claim their lives in a heartbeat. You’re giving them a chance to succeed while doing so.”
“I know, it just seems like this is my life. Always has been. Always will be. Causing people to die.”
“You might cause a lot of people to live, as well,” Hermione murmured. “I think that is a worthy risk.”
“Maybe,” Harry said noncommittedly.
Ron closed his eyes. “You didn’t come here to be reassured, did you?”
Harry shook his head. “No, I just came here to see you guys. Just to be with…”
“We know,” Hermione said.
“Wanna play?” Ron offered, holding up the ball. “Keep your mind off things.”
Harry looked at the ring in his hand which was now buzzing with the anticipation of the renewal of the game. “Sure,” he said with a smile.
“It’s gonna have to be every man for himself,” Ron said. “If we’re only playing with three. Of course,” he added exaggeratedly. “Since Harry is this big, brave hero I should really get Hermione on my side.” He tipped an outrageous wink to her as Harry sniggered. “What do you think? Are you gonna be my girl?”
Hermione just glared at him. “I won’t be anything if you keep that up.”
Ron laughed. “Do I need to buy you flowers to make it up to you then.”
Harry burst out laughing at the insulted look on Hermione’s face. “You two give love a bad name.”
Before Hermione could reply he threw the ring up into the air and Ron cheered.
A light shines on my way.
Harry spent the rest of the night waiting in the small alcove under the stairs. The spot was suitably poetic and significant in his mind but he only lasted a couple of hours before the crick in his neck convinced him to move.
The house was mostly silent, planning that had continued late in the night had finally been abandoned to be perused and corrected in the morning.
He could feel the coming battle in the chills that kept racking his bones. It was the kind of cold that gave you goose pimples and made the hair on the back of your neck start to rise. It was a warning that something wasn’t quite right.
But there was nothing he could do because he knew things weren’t right. People shouldn’t be staking their lives on just him and a slim chance of success. They shouldn’t have to fight a war just for basic human rights. Desperate hopes and crawling self doubt kept assaulting his mind and he couldn’t get out of his head the image of everyone he loved lying dead in the dirt.
He had been dreaming lately. Dreams of blood and terror and people falling. He kept forgetting spells and his hands shook whenever he looked at them. He handles the stairs every morning with care for a fear that he’ll fall and crack his neck. He jumps at shadows and is paranoid enough to keep checking his back. He knew that if this wasn’t ended soon, this contention between him and Voldemort then he wasn’t going to last. He wasn’t going to survive.
He heard a door open somewhere behind him, deep in the house. Obviously someone else couldn’t sleep but Harry didn’t want company at the moment. Didn’t want someone to remind him just what they had to lose.
So he just pushed himself deeper into the shadows and stared out the window watching the heavens unleash their so called fury.
It was a dark and stormy night.
Except this wasn’t the beginning of a story, it was the end and Harry hated to think of how much worse the morning might be.
Voldemort was out there waiting for him.
May the better man win…
~