Chapter 136

Voldemort watched as his faithful followers exited Azkaban, cringing a little in the late afternoon sunlight. Some of them straightened and looked hopeful when they saw the Dark Lord waiting at the edge of the pier.

The thirty or so Dementors that remained after their battle with dragons were eager to join Voldemort. He sent them to hover around one of his few remaining hideouts in the forbidden forest and promised them that soon they would be turned loose on Hogsmeade, and perhaps on Hogwarts. They just needed to be patient.

The newly freed Death Eaters were, one by one, were given portkeys to the Black Manor where they could get patched up and ready to fight.

Bellatrix, of course, cast herself to Voldemort's feet and pledged her renewed loyalty to him. The LeStrange brothers immediately raved about revenge and killing enemies. Voldemort suspected they didn't care who they were pointed at and turned loose on.

The other prisoners were brought out, one by one. There were fifty seven inmates who were not Death Eaters. People with short sentences tended to just be kept in the ministry holding cells. The Wizengamot was also very fond of public service as punishment, or to shorten sentences with. Fudge was very much in favor of free labor for the ministry. Occasionally someone would get a week or two at Azkaban as a salutary lesson to show a miscreant that they really didn't want to go down a life of crime.

Therefore, most of those in Azkaban tended to be the worst of the worst. Voldemort looked them over and offered most of them a chance to join up with him. Claudius Smith as well as many others accepted immediately.

Roger Hopkirk shrank from the idea of joining Voldemort. Yes, he was unhappy with the ministry and would have welcomed another chance at getting back at any number of people, but becoming a Death Eater was a step too far.

The remaining prisoners were too old, too mad or just not suitable. Like Rufus Scrimgeour who was kneeling next to Roger with his back straight and a look of disbelief on his face.

In spite of the evidence he really had thought the 'renewed Dark Lord' was really a pretender. It was now all too obvious he was wrong. Only Voldemort had been able to brand his followers with the Dark Mark, and he had just branded thirty two new followers before Rufus' very eyes.

Still, he was not going to show weakness in front of the Dark Lord. He was too Slytherin for that. Voldemort stopped in front of Rufus, smiling maliciously. "Well, I must thank you for punishing my traitors for me; though I'm glad you left them alive for me to kill."

"They deserved their punishment for ever having followed you at all." Rufus answered flatly.

"So, no chance then that you'll decide to join me then?" Voldemort actually chuckled, with the Death Eaters present echoing his amusement. They were relieved that there were others for their leader to vent his anger on.

Since Voldemort had shared Harry's pain two days ago he'd been quite touchy. No one was safe from his anger. No one knew why, he'd luckily been alone at the time or he'd have had to kill anyone that had witnessed his weakness.

Rufus didn't answer the question, just glaring at Voldemort. That was fine with the Dark Lord and he cast the Avada Kedavra at the ex-Auror with a pleased smile. The prisoners nearby cringed and ducked, making Voldemort look them over with another slight smile. He waved the newer recruits over. They were needing to practice their unforgiveables, after all.

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Harry shuffled around the library in the house after returning from Tom's every growing library of memories. He and Tom had been spending a lot of time together the last two days, Tom was still in shock over the potion's failure. Severus was silent and withdrawn although he recovered long enough to reassure Rosmerta that it was 'just a setback' and they needed to reformulate the potion to make it work.

Harry was sure that Rosmerta was not fooled, but Severus seemed to need to keep up the fiction to hold himself together at present.

Draco had sent over his trunk and a list of homework from his missed classes and the essays they were to do over the Christmas break. He also sent the news that Umbridge had befriended Blaise, Neville and Crabbe and they had spread the tale that Harry had attacked a teacher in a fit of madness and was on suspension until the board of Governors could decide on whether he would be allowed to take his OWL's or be immediately expelled.

At the moment Harry simply couldn't find a reason to care about that. Although he'd been touched by the letters Draco had forwarded from friends. The one from Hermione had made him chuckle, with her citing dozens of rules that and precedents that Harry needed to invoke to keep from being forced out of school.

Harry pulled a few books from the shelves to start on his Charms essay. Professor Flitwick's homework was always the easiest to get done. If he did return to school, he needed to study.

Harry heard a knock at the floo and listened as Severus answered it. The Headmaster had arrived. The door was ajar enough for his to see the two face off, clearly they both expected an argument or maybe an all-out battle, if the wand clenched in Severus' hand was any indication.

Severus was relieved that Harry was with Tom at the Reserve library. He knew that once he'd sent the owl to Albus saying the potion had failed that there would be a visit.

Albus fidgeted a little, not really wanting to start this conversation. He decided to start with other news. "We have grim news from Azkaban. The Death Eaters imprisoned there have been freed and all the Dementors have fled. Presumably they have joined Voldemort."

Severus was taken off guard by the news, but not for long. "Well, we knew he wouldn't leave them there. He needs their expertise as we've robbed him of so many supporters."

Albus nodded, "Yes, we need to defeat him before his forces grow any stronger. It is, of course, useless to do so if he remains alive no matter how many times we kill him because of the remaining horcrux."

Severus stiffened. The gauntlet was now thrown down. "I realize that the potion not working has you troubled. It worries me as well. That doesn't mean I'm willing to let my son die so that you have your easy victory."

Albus clenched his teeth, but he'd known Severus would not give in readily. It was why he'd not wanted Harry in Severus' care to begin with. "No victory over Voldemort will be easy. We will likely pay a very high price for it in lives. I'm not willing to let hundreds die uselessly because I refuse to let Harry die instead. Everyone's life is important, and I wouldn't ask Harry to sacrifice himself because it is easy."

Albus could see Harry watching and listening through the slightly open door. He caught Harry's eye very briefly, but long enough that he knew that Harry had received the message.

Severus was not through with Albus, though. "I don't want to hear about the Greater Good, Albus. Nor do I think we have to throw Harry under the bus this instant. There must be a way to undo the Horcrux. You may have given up, but I have not."

Albus sighed; Severus could be so very stubborn. "Severus, you are grasping at straws …."

"Of course I am grasping at them." Severus shouted at Albus. "I won't just let Harry die without a fight! What did you think we should do, just march up to him and say 'sorry about your luck' and cut his throat like the sacrificial lamb you seem to see him as?"

"Of course not." Albus said, appalled. "I don't intend to just kill him."

"No, you won't do it, yourself." Severus' voice dripped ice. "But you'll arrange a heroic death, I'm sure. Battling dragons, perhaps?"

Albus and Severus' glares clashed with each other for a few endless moments. Albus didn't like the implication that he'd hoped to have Harry die in the Triwizard tournament.

Albus firmly told himself that he hadn't expected Severus to admit on the first try that the Horcrux was not going away and he should have expected to essentially be called a would-be murderer. It still stung, though. There was a time when Severus would have heeded Albus, even in something this dire.

"You know what must happen, even if you are denying it for now." Albus' voice was icy as well. "I don't say any of this lightly and I wish it was not this way. You've never flinched from hard choices, I expect you to see that this will be your hardest."

Albus glanced once more at the pale face of 'The Boy Who Lived', and left back through the floo.

Harry backed away quickly before his father could see that he had witnessed the exchange. He heard Severus storm through the house and down to the lab and sighed in relief.

Some part of him had understood that if the horcrux couldn't be removed with the potion that he would have to die so that Voldemort could be killed, even before Dumbledore had said so. It had warmed him to hear Severus refuse to consider giving up, and he knew that the rest of his family would do so as well.

He couldn't let them die in a futile fight against the Dark Lord, though, or anyone else. It wasn't right.

Still, he wasn't sure what to do, just kill himself? He shied from the idea of suicide. That seemed equally wrong. The Headmaster likely favored some epic battle scene, and part of Harry liked that as well. He wished he could talk to any of his family about it, but even Sirius would be packing him off to the other side of the world to keep him safe.

Harry already knew the argument his very Slytherin father would be using to persuade him. Harry had resided in Slytherin long enough to anticipate the angle Severus would pursue. He would start with how much his family loved him and that they could not bear to lose him. Then he would mention that his mother and father, James and Lily, had died so that he could live and that to let himself die 'so that the Headmaster's timetable wasn't behind schedule' was to say that their sacrifice was irrelevant.

Harry's eyes were drawn to the small cabinet and he found himself going to it and pulling out the small stone in there. The resurrection stone could help him with this. He could ask the parents that he could not really remember about this. Would they understand that he couldn't allow others to die so he could live, and in doing so allow Voldemort to continue to live as well?

He could hear Severus coming back up the stairs from the lab. His steps were slow. Harry suspected that Severus was trying to convince himself that fleeing to New Zealand and living in hiding until Voldemort's reach extended even to there was a viable option.

Harry quickly dropped the stone into his pocket and reclosed the cabinet. He moved quietly and got to the front door. He opened it and closed it rather loudly and acted like he had just arrived home. He managed a grin and got a tired smile in return from Severus.

"Would you like to trounce me in a chess game, dad?" Harry asked brightly. "You might pound a little strategy into me if you try really hard."

Severus smiled more sincerely and relaxed. At least Harry was calming after the failure of the potion. But Harry would be less calm when he was told he would not be returning to Hogwarts. Severus no longer trusted Albus to not 'do what must be done' with Severus not there to stop him.

"Of course, set up the pieces and I'll ask Tinker for some refreshments." Severus returned quickly and set out to try and not beat Harry in less than a dozen moves.

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Voldemort was wary of doing much exploring of the connection to Harry after enduring whatever torture had occurred the day after Harry's ejection from Hogwarts. He was quite pleased with that DADA teacher Pius had sent. She wasn't marked as yet since they needed place her under Dumbledore's very nose.

Voldemort was less pleased with enduring the level of pain that had come through the connection. Still, after a couple days he started with the dreams of prophecy spheres and corridors again. He almost had everything set in place for his trap and he wanted it as fool-proof as possible.

Christmas break finally started and the rest of Hogwarts emptied. This meant that the students could gossip with family and family friends better and spread the rumor that Harry Potter was becoming a bit unstable, the poor dear, likely because of all the turmoil that had occurred lately in his life. Rufus had been given little in the way of tribute when his body was found outside of Azkaban, and now he was getting vilified as causing a bit of a breakdown in their 'Boy Who Lived'.

This wasn't precisely what Voldemort had been after, he'd been hoping they would call Harry a menace to society, but maybe getting Harry Potter labeled as a bit barmy was better than nothing.

A few days into the Christmas break there was a large party for the children at the primary school that Beth and Tori attended. Petunia and Rosmerta were accompanied by Dora, who had volunteered to help oversee the children.

Severus had taken a count of the children at the school and had asked the company that made the miniature dragons to send an advance order of the new Chinese Fireballs that were to be on the market in two days. Even with the discount they offered him it was a bit expensive, but Rosmerta liked to surprise the children and Severus had been unable to say no to both her and Beth.

Voldemort had been watching, carefully, through Harry's eyes whenever he could and finally saw his opportunity. Harry was rarely alone, but at that moment he was. Rosmerta and Beth were at the party with Dora. Severus and Tom were at the Reserve library and there were no visitors, for once.

Death Eaters immediately struck the school, hoping to snatch Beth but were thwarted by the ministry safeguards that placed it on lockdown when someone not recognized by the wards tried to enter. Voldemort had half expected that, so a further ward was placed over it by the Death Eaters, stopping anyone from leaving or communicating with the outside.

Voldemort and his own strike team went to the Ministry. It was late afternoon, and as it was Friday and Monday was Christmas they had shut down early. Only a handful of people were still there. They arrived in ones and twos and stunned the guards at the entry point quickly before they could hit any alarms and made their way to the Department of Mysteries.

He'd hoped to have Potter's real little sister, but he could just pretend if he must.

Voldemort had seen Beth through Harry's eyes often enough to build a construct of her in his mind. He started with making Harry hear her scream Harry's name, sobbing and pleading with Harry to help her. When he was sure that he had Harry's full and terrified attention he let Harry 'see' her.

He had plenty of memories of tormenting victims to draw on to send an image of Beth cowering on the floor of the hall of prophecy, crying and pleading for Harry to come and save her.

Harry could hear Voldemort laughing at her, telling her that Harry was a coward and didn't care enough about her to bother risking his own skin.

The image was playing out in front of him as if he was Voldemort, torturing his little sister with his own spells, adding another layer of guilt.

Harry was alone and the screams of Beth echoing in his ears drove any thoughts of gathering a team out of his head. He knew what Voldemort wanted. He wanted the prophecy. Only Harry could give it to him. He knew with grim certainty that the Dark Lord would kill both him and Beth when he got it. He would need to be strong and refuse to retrieve the prophecy until Beth was safely away and that would take all the cunning he possessed.

He grabbed his invisibility cloak, he might need it for Beth to get away and ran toward the floo.

Voldemort sent on as much sense of panicked urgency and fear as he could to Potter, hoping for an unreasoned response. Harry looked around frantically. No one was within easy reach. It would take time to even run to the Reserve Library to fetch Tom and Severus. Finally he threw powder into the floo and ran through the ministry atrium.

He gripped the Danburite crystal as he ran by the downed Auror guards and sent messages through it to Tom and Severus that Voldemort had kidnapped Beth and was holding her until Harry gave him the prophecy. He sent as much information as he had and hoped they would be there to take Beth to safety if he got her away from the Death Eaters.

He got to the area where the Dept of Mysteries was and cursed. He had heard that the round room with doors that whirled around you was a pain to try and navigate. If you didn't know the doors you were lost. He spotted the small rune bedside the doorknob that Lucius had told him about that indicated it was the right one. When they had fetched the Mirror of Erised, Arthur had pointed it out to Lucius.

Harry entered the Dept of Mysteries corridor and sighed. It looked just like his 'dreams' and he walked down the hallway with dread. He knew exactly what door had the prophecies and he now had time to consider that this could all be a trap. Severus had told him often enough that Voldemort liked to mentally torture people. He knew how to plant false visions.

Still, it didn't matter. If they had Beth, he had to do this. If it was a trap …

Well, he had taken the Headmaster's words to heart. He couldn't let others die for him. With luck the Dark Lord was here and Harry would face him willingly. Oh, Harry intended to fight, but he had no illusions that he could win. The horcrux would be destroyed and Harry's family, his father especially, would no longer have the horrible dilemma about his scar.

Harry opened the door and saw the endless shelves of prophecies. Amazing. Had there really been that many made? They seemed to be arranged by year and he wandered down to the correct row and then to the right shelf. He'd been there several times in his dreams, so it wasn't like it was difficult.

He hesitated, should he take it down or wait? Well, he could threaten to smash it if they refused to give him Beth. He took down the globe with the eerily swirling mist. He could almost make out the figure of Sybil Trelawney in it.

He was rewarded by the immediate appearance of several Death Eaters in their horrid masks. They were led by Bellatrix who was a bit cleaned up, but still looked quite demented.

"Well, look who we have here. Itsy bitsy baby Potter." She cooed at him.

"Those dementors really took a toll on your intellect, didn't they?" Harry asked with mock concern.

Bellatrix's face darkened in anger and she hissed. "Had over the prophecy Potter, before I crucio it out of you."

"Show me my sister or I'll drop it on the floor." Harry returned, feigning unconcern.

Bellatrix blanched, he Lord would not be pleased at that. "We'll give you the little guttersnipe that good old Sev adopted as soon as I have that prophecy."

Harry's fury burned, but he settled for sneering. "She already has more power than you. She speaks to dragons and will be prized by the wizarding world. What do you offer, besides madness and no interest in reproducing?" He knew the taunt about no children was hitting below the belt, but his temper close to boiling.

Bellatrix shrieked in fury and would have thrown a curse but the two wizards at her side grabbed her wand arm.

While they calmed Bellatrix the crystal grew warm Harry's pocket next to his wand. He gripped it and heard Severus. 'Beth and the others are safe at the school. They are in lockdown, but the ministry is in charge there. Don't go in the ministry.'

Harry grimaced; he'd hoped that Severus would never realize he'd been courting death. With Beth safe his father would know Harry wasn't here just to rescue her after all if he didn't try to escape. He spoke back to Severus briefly. 'I'm already there, and Death Eaters are in front of me. Don't know if I can escape but I will try.' He broke off the exchange and pulled out his wand.

"Well, you're lying about having my sister." Harry said. The Death Eaters froze and stared at him, wondering how he knew that. "I guess I should just leave, then." Harry cast a rather overpowered bombarda at the shelves, bringing them down on the small crowd of Death Eaters and then ran for it.

He got to the hallway and ran through another door, finding a room full of hourglasses and watches. Then a room full of odd jars and a tank of brains, spells followed him here and there, breaking clocks and jars. He ducked through doors and tried slamming more than one door open and then shut again and lost them briefly as he entered a large room full of bleacher type seats and an arch with a fluttering veil hanging from it.

Harry ran up the odd, rocky slope and hid on the other side of the stone arch. To his dismay the Death Eaters slowly surrounded him and one of the Death Eaters he didn't recognize stood just feet away, holding out his hand. "The Prophecy if you please, Mr Potter."

Harry was about to give him a searing reply when a pain shot through his head and a door was flung open at the top of the seating area. Voldemort strolled in and smirked. "Best do as he says, Harry."

His answer was a series of loud cracks from apparating wizards and witches. Hugo had used his status as a high-ranking Auror to get everyone apparated straight into the Ministry and then to the room that Harry was occupying. Lucius, Severus, Sirius, Remus, Tom and Albus were there along with a Hugo that was panting from exertion and a definite fire-fight ensued.

Albus and Hugo flung themselves into pushing Voldemort back out the door and Harry pulled out all the curses he knew from the dueling club, and tried to help his rescuers. Sirius reached Harry's side first and there was a pitched battle with Bellatrix.

"So ickle cousin Siri wants to play?" Bellatrix giggled and sneered at Sirius. Harry and Sirius both threw curses and she batted them away, though with difficulty. Harry could see Severus and Tom down a pair of Death Eaters and Remus forced another to apparate away and not return. Lucius guarded their back and downed one of his ex – inlaws, Rabastan he thought it was.

Sirius gave her a fierce smile and cast another saber curse. He was hampered by shielding Harry as well, but Sirius was not going to back down from his mad cousin. "Shut up Trixie, you sound like a damn idiot."

Bellatrix screamed in rage and cast the Killing Curse at Harry, knowing Sirius would try to save Harry. Sure enough Sirius pushed Harry out of the way and was hit by the curse that pushed him on through the veil.

But Harry had a tight grip on Sirius' arm and was pulled through the archway as well. The room fell silent as the combatants realized that 'The Boy Who Lived' was dead along with his godfather.

Severus howled in denial at what he was seeing and tried to run to the veil and was stopped by Lucius. Tom nearly collapsed to the ground, but was held up by Remus who started weeping. He was unlikely to survive both Harry and Sirius dying. He could feel Mooney howling and knew it was just time before he would curl up and look for death, himself.

Bellatrix screamed in laughter and apparated away along with all the Death Eaters that were able to. Voldemort snarled in fury, he'd wanted to kill the boy. He was quite sure that it was imperative that he do so.

Moments later Sirius and Harry's bodies were spat back out from the veil to lay on the rocks, making the horrified onlookers freeze in dread.

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Harry felt a searing pain in his head as he and Sirius landed on the other side of the veil. Sirius and he both fell to their knees, wheezing in pain and confusion. Harry could feel blood, or something, oozing down his face from the scar. There was a whimpering whine a few feet away and he could see a huddled form crouching by a rock but there seemed to be a mist obscuring everything. Harry dropped the prophecy and it broke on the rock beneath them. Harry listened to Sybil droning on about he and the Dark Lord with little interest.

A tall figure in a swirling grey cloak strode up to them, and Harry and Sirius froze in dread.

Death really needed no introduction.

"Well, this is a bit of a surprise, gentlemen." Death's face wasn't really a skull, but it gave the impression that very little flesh and skin covered the skull and the thin lips barely smiled. "I was not expecting either of you quite yet."

"You don't mind if we go back?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Death's chuckle was a bit raspy, like he didn't use it often. "It's not quite that simple, Mr Black." And Death looked at Harry a bit expectantly.

Harry's thoughts were racing, and he abruptly realized that Death was waiting for him to do something. No, Death was expecting him to bargain with him. After all, Harry had two of the Deathly Hallows with him.

"Are you willing to trade to let us go?" Harry asked, almost afraid to voice his hope.

Death's smile was a frightening thing, but he nodded. Sirius looked between them in alarmed confusion. Harry pulled out the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. "The two Hallows for Sirius' life and my own?"

Death nodded and reached for the two objects. Harry looked over at the huddled form. "Is that the horcrux?" He asked hopefully.

Death looked over at the form and frowned. "Yes, you need not worry about your scar anymore." Death gave him a smirk. "Good luck, Mr Potter. I don't expect to meet you again for a long while."

Death gave a shoving motion and they were thrown back through the veil.

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Severus scrambled up the rock with Lucius right behind him, and gathered Harry into a hug. "Harry?" He said in dread. He'd heard of the veil and didn't believe he would get a response. To his shock Harry coughed and wheezed.

"Too tight, dad. Can't breathe." Harry gasped and Severus loosened his grip a little.

"You're alive. I can't believe it." Severus breathed in relief.

"I traded a cloak and stone to death to get released." Harry whispered to Severus and Tom, who sat next to them.

"That's our Slytherin." Lucius choked out past his own tears and patted him on the back.

Sirius was groaning and getting helped up by Remus and Hugo. Albus slowly walked over to Harry, looking at the blood – encrusted scar with trepidation.

Harry smiled warily at Albus. "The horcrux didn't survive the veil. I'm free of it."

Albus looked surprised, but nodded happily. "That is very good news, Harry." Albus hoped that that was the case. He could look the boy over later to make sure he was correct.

Severus gripped Harry in another hug and dragged him to his feet. "Time to get home, Harry."

Sirius was wheezing out the story of Harry's bargain with Death for Remus and Hugo as they dragged him toward the door. Hugo was astounded, but it did make sense that they could trade the hallows to Death for a way back. Hugo was just as glad to have the stone gone so it would not tempt anyone to use it.

Sirius and Remus left for Grimmauld Place and Lucius left for Malfoy Manor to check on his family. Tom and Severus got Harry back home. The school had been secured and the children sent home, Beth greeted them with her new dragon and chattered to Harry about him. Rosmerta was less sanguine and cleaned off Harry's face gently, looking at Severus in question.

"He's free from the Dark Lord at last." Severus said, hardly daring to voice it, it seemed too good to believe. Rosmerta believed it, though and hugged Harry hard. None of them needed more of a Christmas present than that.

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After everyone was safely tucked in that night Tom wandered back out under the stars. He was feeling restless, but not sure why. The stars were bright and the night was calm. He was soon surrounded by dragons and that explained it. They wanted to talk to him.

"Harry's horcrux is gone. We're finally ready." Tom beamed at Yao, who was directly in front of him, along with Hazelette and the Chinese fireball belonging to Lin DaWei.

"Yes, that is why it is time to talk to you." Yao said hesitantly. "There was no sense bothering you when Harry still had that horcrux. Now that it is gone, we need to tell you …" Again the hesitation.

"Yes?" Tom asked impatiently.

"Well, there is no way to kill the Dark Lord at present." Yao said sadly. "You are forgetting, you, yourself are a horcrux."

Tom reeled back. "NO, we destroyed the Horcruxes."

"No, you destroyed their containers and cleansed and absorbed the Horcruxes." Yao answered. "You still tie Voldemort to this world."

The realization slowly sank in. How had they not seen this coming? Of course just cleansing the soul pieces and destroying what they were housed in would not break their tie to the Dark Lord.

"So, I have to die?" Tom asked. How would he tell Dora?

"We don't see any other way." Yao said.

Tom closed his eyes in horror, but he could feel the dragons gather around him closer and send waves of comfort and compassion to him. He wouldn't face it alone. Just like Yvane, some part of them would accompany him to the end.

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