An inhuman wail split the air, startling Hermione so badly she knocked the potted plant over. Harry shot her a concerned look just as a bright flash of light lit up the inside of the house. The wards had dropped.
"It's starting," he told her unnecessarily, his mouth firming into a grim line.
James and Lily burst out of the common room, both looking around frantically. James held Lily back with a hand as he crept up toward the windows on either side of the front door. Lily rushed out to the side door.
"I count two, Lils. How many do you see?"
She craned her neck, trying to peer out into the darkness that had settled around the house. "I can't be certain, but there looks to be six back here--"
A trilling call erupted in the night air; all at once soothing and frightening. It was a song meant to rally the troops and send enemies scattering to the four corners of the earth.
"Fawkes and Dumbledore just showed up," Harry said, steadfastly watching over his parents.
As if she could hear him, his mother echoed his declaration. Lily then quickly amended her earlier statement to mean that there were six Phoenix members in the back.
"That's a relief," James murmured, throwing open the door and firing off a sequence of spells.
"James I don't have my wand!" Lily cried as she frenziedly patted her pockets.
"Morgana, Lils! Run upstairs!"
"First let me throw open the back door--"
"No!" James shouted taking his attention off the Death Eaters for a moment. A spell whizzed by his ear. Cursing he swung around and shouted rapidly, "Confundo! Conjunctiva! Mobilidrytt! There could be Death Eaters. Get your wand!"
"I'm going! I'm going!" she shouted, racing away from the side door without another thought. As she ran by the dining room, Harry and Hermione could hear her muttering, "I can't believe I left it on the nightstand."
Harry crept closer to the doorway, watching his mother's progress up the stairs. He turned around and whispered to Hermione. "Follow her please and be careful!"
"On it," she murmured and crossed the length of the dining room swiftly.
Loud scuffling noises and shouts rang in the backyard as the Order grappled with the unseen Death Eaters. James threw a glance over his shoulder, checking on the help that should be arriving soon. Harry nearly growled. It wasn't smart to look away from your enemies.
A blue spell hit the doorjamb, missing James by centimeters. He cussed wildly and threw eight spells in quick succession. Half of them were schoolyard jinxes, meant to be dodged so that the unfriendly hexes would strike. A green killing curse blew pass James who ducked. Harry flinched as it hit the floor, breaking the stone up and scattering it everywhere. He had to dodge the larger pieces of debris.
Fawkes trilled again, announcing the wizard at the side door. Dumbledore unlocked the door with the complex unlocking charm his mother created and stepped inside. He surveyed the hall, wand at the ready.
"We think one got into the house," Dumbledore announced, conjuring a phoenix Patronus and pulling from his temple a thought. A single word united the two and it was off, flying up the staircase and out of sight. "I warned Lily. Do you need help James?"
"Is the cavalry far behind you?" James asked, quickly blocking a nasty curse thrown at him behind two moderate ones.
"Sirius and Remus are tying up the loose ends with the one we captured. They'll be along shortly."
James nodded. "Good. Go and find Lily."
Harry heard a feminine scream and only had to look at the faces of the two men in the hall to know it wasn't his mum's. It was Hermione's. Harry waffled for a moment with indecision. He stayed, daring not to risk revealing his presence to Dumbledore and ducked back around the corner of the wall as the wizard hurried by on his way up the stairs.
A thin man rushed through the side door calling out for James.
"Remus! Come help me! Quick-- Tarantella! Pigmentum! Brecanbainam!"
"How many?" Remus asked, joining James by the front door.
"Two," came the terse reply. "They're sharp too."
"That's an oxymoron," Remus murmured, throwing a set of jinxes at one of the Death Eaters outside.
Harry couldn't tell what was happening anymore. Remus was blocking his line of sight. He felt around for the new warding that was about to be set up and hit a small shimmer that connected to Bill Weasley. Harry had never felt anything like it before, but with adrenaline pumping through his veins and the tons of raw magic filling him, he had done the improbable. Master warders were the only ones who could do it and they had years of experience under their belts.
Deciding to shrug it off, Harry concentrated on one clear fact: the wards weren't going to get up in time. James whooped signaling the change in the course of the skirmish. The Death Eaters were being driven back and without the wards up, they were going to escape! Harry threw some of the power at his command down the shimmering line of ward magic to Bill. A disorienting afterimage crossed Harry's vision. Focusing on a piece of debris helped to rid him of it.
"Aggh!" Remus garbled, collapsing into a boneless heap. The curse had hit his chest and where it made contact the fabric was singed, exposing the burnt skin beneath.
"Remus!" James shouted in distress, glancing away from the enemies again.
Harry saw Lucius separate from Watson in that instance and sidle out of sight. Biting back a warning, Harry just gripped his wand tighter. Spellfire broke out again, but James had trouble getting back into the swing of things. Harry threw a shield or two at Remus' crumpled form when he saw spells fly off target. James was too busy struggling with the Death Eater to notice the translucent shimmer of a shield being cast.
Then a sickly fuchsia curse broke through James' shield, toppling him. Harry glanced over his shoulder quickly looking for Sirius but couldn't spy the dog animagus anywhere. As he turned back, Lucius snuck into the house. Harry was too slow to fire and could only watch the older Malfoy disillusion himself and shimmer out of sight.
Cursing his stupidity, Harry cast several wet paint spells at the walls hoping to reveal Lucius. The paint hit the walls and slopped uniformly down into a puddle on the floor.
Lucius was driven out of Harry's mind as Watson's heavy footfalls plodded onto the porch. "Not so tough are you, Potter," he sneered, spitting on the ground beside the prone figure of his father. "You and your wolfie are no match for me," he chuckled evilly, kicking Remus in the ribs.
Harry looked for Sirius again, but the muffled oof that escaped his father's prone form reminded him that not everything viewed on the board was as it seemed. The green glow of the killing curse illuminated the tip of Watson's wand and Harry burst into action. He banished the vase from the sideboard towards James. The killing curse struck it, sending shards flying as it shattered into a dozen pieces.
A black dog flew past the dining room at the same moment, transfiguring back into the tall charming man it started off as. "James!" Sirius bellowed, his angry countenance frightening Watson back a few steps. "Get away from him you filthy bastard!"
Sirius hurled six spells sharply, their aim true. Watson stumbled back trying to desperately defend himself from the onslaught. He managed to get a few in, but so enraged was Sirius that his magic was shorting. Spells leapt from his wand that he didn't say or formulate, shields shimmered into view when he didn't defend himself. Harry never saw accidental magic work so hard to keep someone safe. Stunners whizzed out of Sirius' wand in a complicated pattern that couldn't be dodged. Watson dropped like a stone.
Sirius sagged suddenly, the flow of adrenaline and accidental magic leaving him weak and shaking. Harry cast a simple invigorating spell and saw the effects immediately. Sirius straightened and jogged back to Remus and James. He ran a few prognosis spells, frowning heavily at their results. Eventually he cast a mobilicorpus on both of them and led them back into the house.
Bill Weasley ambled inside looking sprightly. "Easiest bit of warding I've ever done. Record timing too," he said before noticing the floating men. "James and Remus! What happened?"
Sirius shook his head. "Bloodsucking Death Eaters happened."
"Vampires?" Bill asked confused. "I thought we were still trying to persuade them not to join You-Know-Who."
"Not vampires."
"But you--" Bill shook his head. "Never mind. I've got Portkeys for Dumbledore's office. Let's strap them on and give the trigger words. Poppy will take good care of them and then we can go find Dumbledore and Lily."
Sirius held his wand at the ready. "You do the Portkeys, I'll stand guard."
Bill nodded and pulled out of his pockets two gold medallions on leather. He strung them around their necks and waved a hand over them, muttering quietly. In a flash Remus and James disappeared and Bill stood up.
"Did you capture any Death Eaters?" Bill asked, brushing off his hands.
Sirius jerked his thumb to the left, indicating Watson, who was still stunned. "Think him over to Headquarters?"
"What'd he do about that female we caught in the back?"
"Sent her to Moody at Headquarters."
"Then Headquarters for this one."
Bill unsuccessfully summoned for wands on the unconscious Death Eater and by using similar spells made sure the bloke was clean before sticking a large red button on the man's forehead. "Prisoner," said Bill and the man was no more.
Harry watched them climb up the stairs to find the Headmaster and his mother. Fervently he hoped Hermione was all right. He rested his hand on the banister and listened for the sound of their footfalls. He waited until the duo was halfway up the stairs before he followed a few steps.
Thunder ripped apart the sky outside, causing Harry to jump. A flash of light echoed in the sky--a reversal of natural law, and suddenly there was a cloaked figure standing in the front of the property.
Voldemort's red eyes gleamed dangerously in the night. His eyes seemed to spy Harry who was rooted to the spot. Suddenly the wizard cackled, throwing his head back with abandonment as he laughed.
"Come out, come out, Potter."
Harry cautiously stepped away from the stairs and edged toward the door, avoiding the pits and cracks in the floor. He hesitated for just a second by the door before taking a deep breath and breeching the last barrier between him and Voldemort.
Voldemort smirked. "Good. Good. Now tell me did dear old Albus let you home early for the holidays? I was expecting just your parents, but you are, as is said, a bonus."
Harry tried to speak, but had to clear his throat. "No," he croaked, fingers twirling over his wand nervously. He hadn't faced him before like this without his brother in some fashion. It was a little surreal for him, standing there before the darkest wizard in centuries and exchanging pleasantries.
"That's good. I'd hate to see Albus giving into favoritism when he's always claimed to be so impartial."
Harry fought the urge to tell him that Albus was not impartial at all. It took some effort but he managed to ignore the desire to tattle on the old wizard. "What do you want here?" he asked, having nothing better to say in the end.
"Well to kill you obviously," Voldemort said, amused, his voice slick like honey.
Harry shook his head. "No, before you realized I was here."
"Oh, that," Voldemort waved his hand. "Seems like such a small matter now."
"Do you like being the cynosure of every conversation we have or are you just this annoying all the time," Harry commented irreverently, shifting his weight into a more balanced position.
Voldemort sneered, snake-like nostrils flaring in the pale moonlight. "I think I'll put you under the imperious curse and watch you kill your parents. How would you like that Potter? Would you cry for your mummy and daddy?"
Harry said nothing, choosing to glare at the dark wizard before him and hope to bore holes in his head.
"Well, baby Potter, would you?"
"Grief is not weakness," Harry said at last, mentally urging himself to do something--anything besides conversing with Riddle, who was surely toying with him.
"All emotions are weakness," Voldemort countered, circling Harry like a snake watching his prey move closer to him.
"Then you are weakened," Harry replied, grimacing when a spike of hatred slammed through his scar.
"I am never weak," he hissed, his countenance contorting grotesquely.
"Get away from the boy!" Albus roared, bursting through the front doors in a shower of splinters.
"Albus!" Riddle hissed in surprise.
"Leave now, Tom," Dumbledore commanded, pointing his wand steady at the Dark Lord. "While you still can."
"I do not go by that common Muggle name anymore, Albus," Voldemort said lightly, throwing the first spell without an incantation.
Dumbledore blocked it easily, returning fire quickly and with intent. "Run, Harry!" he yelled, blocking a barrage of incoming curses.
"So it was the real baby Potter," Voldemort said in surprise. "I thought the dialogue was a bit wittier than usual."
Harry ducked a dark blue spell, leaping away from another fast approaching. Dumbledore jumped in front of the third, raising a silver shield that gonged loudly. "You can still get away," he said quietly. "Remember our conversation in my office. You do not have to serve him."
Harry stared at the Headmaster incredulously, his anger rising swiftly, and his skin burned with the heat of it.
"Whispering secrets, are we?" Voldemort crooned, sending a flurry of spells, all of them dangerous. "Tisk, tisk, Dumbledore. Didn't your mother ever teach you secrets hurt everybody? You. Should. Share."
The final three words were punctuated by three blazing green spells that broke through the silver shield Dumbledore still powered. He grunted, falling backwards a few paces from the spells' force.
Harry whipped his wand in Voldemort's direction and threw a series of irritating schoolyard jinxes, hoping a few of them were new to Hogwarts and unknown to the general population. Voldemort slapped them away, firing back an illegal hex, which Harry narrowly avoided. Blanching, Harry realized just how close he'd come to losing his lungs.
"Harry--" Dumbledore warned, whipping his wand in a large arc, sending Voldemort flying backwards.
The Dark Lord landed with a grunt and righted himself quickly parrying Dumbledore's spellfire so fast his movements were blurred. Harry dodged another horrific hex designed to turn one's insides to their outsides. It exploded in the grass, sending dirt and grass everywhere.
Dumbledore threw him a stern look. "You're not helping yourself, Harry, by staying here."
Harry snorted, tossing a silent accio on a tree. "You're telling me staying here and helping you doesn't prove that I'm innocent? That just bloody figures."
"Secrets again? Don't you two ever learn?" Voldemort said loudly, his voice heavy with mocking disappointment, ducking under the tree trunk as it sped overhead.
"Do I have to die for you to prove myself?" Harry asked scathingly, whipping his wand and banishing the trunk back toward the Dark Lord. Voldemort cracked it in two with an unknown spell and threw two more at them. Harry intercepted both spells, turned towards the Headmaster and shouted, "Go to hell Dumbledore!"
"Now, that's more like it!" Voldemort cackled. "You may just show what you're made of yet, Potter!"
Harry crackling with indignation and overwhelming bitterness whirled on Voldemort. "What do you know?" he jibbed recklessly, his magic roiling and boiling beneath the surface of his control. § Give me retribution!§ he cried to the heavens, surprising both wizards.
Before Riddle could respond Harry's anger ignited the magic stewing dangerously beneath the surface. Harry screamed wordlessly in pain as it ripped through his barriers and released an electrifying surge of power that made his hair stand on end and his skin crawl. It rolled outward in a circle with Harry as the pinnacle.
It stuck Voldemort and Dumbledore on either side of the enraged Ravenclaw. Dumbledore tried to raise a shield as Voldemort in turn, attempted to flee, but the power tore through the half-formed safeguard and clung tightly to Riddle. As it struck, both older wizards howled in agony dropping like poisoned doxies to the ground, their bodies bucking wildly.
Harry stood there with arms outspread, as all of his life's suffering spilled forth into Dumbledore and Voldemort, seeking to break them. The pain flowed away from Harry and into the two before him in a spectacular display of wild magic. Dispassionately, Harry watched the two of them writhe. Dumbledore had tears staining his beard, wetting it with his sorrow. Voldemort managed to scramble to his knees, before the magic swept over him again, drawing him back under.
Lifetimes of disillusionment, abandonment, and pain broke over them. Voldemort, hardened by his own experiences, rose above it and staggered away from Harry as swiftly as he could. Racked with tremors that could not be stopped, the evil wizard stared at Harry in an odd mixture of terror and contempt.
§ You have not seen the last of me Harry Potter,§ he hissed, whipping his cloak around him and disappearing into the night air.
Harry stepped over to Dumbledore and looked down at the powerful wizard. He bent down to lend a hand but suddenly Fawkes dove from the sky, separating the two. Harry jumped back, his face blanking of all emotion. With the phoenix's help, Dumbledore gathered his strength to rise. Tears still rolled down the Headmaster's face as he looked upon Harry.
"I--" Dumbledore said, stopping hesitantly. "I can not say just how sorry I am, Harry." He didn't say anything, as Fawkes too shed pearly white tears. Dumbledore looked away and sighed, aging fifty years over the next ten seconds. "We must go to the Headquarters. You and your family can not stay here."
"The Death Eaters?"
"Malfoy escaped and is no doubt arranging his alibi as we speak, that is, if he's not reporting to Voldemort."
Harry's jaw tightened. "I heard Hermione scream earlier. I take it you found her and that's how you knew it was me?"
Dumbledore nodded. "I'm afraid she got a nasty scare from the Death Eater Alfred Duffin."
Harry nodded, tucking his wand back in his robe pockets and staring off into the forest. Aurors popped in along the perimeter. Muffled shouts for quiet and order reached them where they stood. Two captains signaled for the team of Aurors to approach.
Dumbledore sighed heavily, ignoring their advance for the moment. "Where do we go from here Harry?"
Harry turned his head and stared at the Headmaster. "Where can we possibly go, Headmaster, that you haven't burned the bridge to?"
"Surely there is but some way, Harry," Dumbledore beseeched.
"I should leave before the Aurors come."
"Yes," he agreed, forcing some cheer into his voice. "Fawkes will escort you to your parents."
Harry shook his head. "I want to see Hermione."
Dumbledore frowned briefly before agreeing. "Of course you do. She's at Hogwarts, resting in a room I gave her to keep her dorm mates from bothering her."
"Will Fawkes take me to her?" he asked, watching the phoenix that sat on the Headmaster's shoulder.
"Immediately," he promised and Fawkes flew over to Harry pulling him away in a flash of fire just as the Auror captain shouted for Dumbledore's identity.
---
Hermione shrieked when Harry flashed down into the room. "Harry!" she sobbed, running over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. "I was so worried!"
Harry wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on her shoulder. "I have things to tell you," he murmured.
She pulled back slightly blinking up at him. "Can't it wait?"
Harry shook his head and led her over to her bed. "No. It can't."
He proceeded to tell her about his beginning years at Hogwarts and all the adventures he had gone on. He explained Daniel's deception in a way even she couldn't refute had she wanted to. When he told her about tonight, she got up and paced away from him, staring searchingly out into the night scene before her.
"Why won't you take credit!" Hermione screamed in frustration, whirling around to face Harry.
"The wizarding world is ready for a hero like Daniel," Harry murmured, walking over to her. He dragged her to him and kissed her neck softly, just below her ear. "Their attention goes to the boy who they are pinning all their hopes on to get rid of their greatest fear, Lord Voldemort. When they see the Potters they see just one son. The chosen son. Even in the Potter house, that is how it goes. The wizarding world is not ready for the insignificant twin to not be so insignificant, otherwise they would have seen the truth."
Hermione pushed herself away from him, breathing heavily. "What are you saying? That you're--you're the Boy-Who-Lived?"
Instead of answering directly he said, "Dumbledore was the first to arrive on the scene after the fact. He revived my parents and they ran to the nursery. My brother was wide awake and crying, while I was asleep. We both had scars and it was determined by the Headmaster that mine was received through proximity to the magical backlash. My brother was said to be the Boy-Who-Lived, having survived the killing curse straight on because the curse is violent and his scar was harsher looking compared to my own."
"That's ridiculous!"
"Dumbledore also believes that the 'S' stands for Slytherin and as Voldemort portrays himself as the last heir of Slytherin, what better way to mark the equal but to give him the rights to the family line?"
"So Daniel is the Boy-Who-Lived?" Hermione summed up, a frown marring her brow. "If that's true, why are you such a great wizard while your brother is barely able to hold his wand properly?"
Harry ran a hand through his hair, making it messier than usual. "It's not that Daniel isn't a great wizard, Hermione."
"Then what is it?"
Harry looked up and shook his head. "I'm just a much better wizard than he is."
"But that doesn't make any sense, Harry!"
"Sure it does. Ask Dumbledore to explain it to you!" Harry said, crossly. "After all, you put all your faith in him. He's never wrong, is he?"
"Harry, why would Dumbledore say one of you was the Boy-Who-Lived if he couldn't prove it conclusively?"
"I don't know, alright?" Harry grumbled, stalking away from her. "But since he did, my parents have been more taken with Daniel than with me."
"Oh, Harry…" Hermione whispered the fight leaving her. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.
Harry sighed, resting his forehead against the cool stone of the fireplace. "After that Halloween, I was the first to show signs of magic. I was five, I think. I…"
"What Harry?" Hermione encouraged.
"I made a toy snake," Harry said wearily, turning his head to face her. "I even went around talking to it. Mum and Dad were… livid, to put it lightly."
Hermione hugged him fiercely, trying to heal the hurt in him that his voice betrayed. "And what about Daniel?"
"Daniel didn't show signs of magic until he was nine years old. He summoned a toy that I repaired after he destroyed it. Our parents were so excited, they let Daniel keep the toy. His magic showing up so late was explained away. They said that he must have depleted his power levels to such an extent surviving the curse and it must have taken all that time for them to be replenish."
"I'm so sorry Harry," she cried, hugging him closer, weeping for him.
Harry patted her back, rubbing in soothing circles, his gaze falling on the worn stuffed couches. "I personally think," he mused aloud, "that he just wanted the toy."
"And now what?" she asked into his shoulder. "Now that Dumbledore has seen you do something so powerful he can't deny that he might have been mistaken all these years?"
Harry shrugged. "He'll probably reexamine everything he knows, but even knowing the extent of my magical prowess won't be enough to prove that Daniel wasn't the Boy-Who-Lived. I don't want him to tell my parents his suspicions. Tonight I've cleansed myself of things that I use to want--like their unconditional love. From now on it's just me, Harry; the wizarding world can take it or leave it."
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 22º«««º»»»º