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Chapter Forty Two: Calm Between the Battles

Voldemort had departed; there was no question in their minds about that. He had left but as usual, he could not quietly leave without the carnage. Harry stood in numb shock, as he looked down at Master Splinter. He had seen his sensei get knocked down many times in battle, but he always gotten up. This time, he was not going to get up and it was because of the ultimate cowardly act by Voldemort. The Killing Curse, and from Harry’s vantage point, Master Splinter’s back was turned when Voldemort had fired it at him. It was not surprising and in fact, Voldemort could have hit anyone with that curse, to deliver that parting shot. Harry was brought back to reality by Raph angrily tipping over a desk, as Don, Leo, and Mikey all made a half hearted attempt to restrain him, but they felt they might have just as well let it go on as Raph kicked for a few seconds, before he began to calm down or get as close to calm as he could due to the situation.

“Raph, I know, but…” said Leo, but he just sighed and Raph took deep breaths.

“It’s just…he could have…Voldemort…” said Mikey but whatever he tried to get out was failing to get out, as all four of them looked at each other, before they turned to Harry, who averted his face slightly, taking a deep breath. The last thing he needed to do was to break the castle open and kill them all because of the anger that he was feeling, with what Voldemort done.

“Harry?” prompted Leo as he looked at his youngest brother and Ginny stood right by Harry, holding his hand, as Harry turned slightly, taking a deep breath, the image of that green light striking Master Splinter rather fresh in his mind.

“Just give me a moment, Leo,” said Harry with a deep breath, closing his eyes trying to calm himself, as Ginny grabbed his hand gently and Harry turned to the others, they seemed to understand, Harry was better at shielding his emotions than most, but still, it was rather obvious that what he had seen bothered him. “I can’t say I’m fine but…”

“We know Harry,” said Don with a nod, with the others nodding as well. The entire room was silent, it seemed like no one wanted to make a sound to break the silence. Eventually, Alexandra stepped forward, before taking a deep breath and deciding to break that silence.

“I better take my Aurors and see if any Death Eaters are still in the school or unaccounted for on the grounds,” said Alexandra and everyone could not argue with this idea. Many of the Death Eaters would not have hesitated to do the same thing that Voldemort did. They were just as bent as Voldemort. Alexandra walked off, leaving the group alone.

“So, now what?” asked Hailey, hoping that someone could fill her in as it seemed like everything had collapsed around them and Harry remained still, without the answers that he normally had. In fact, defeating Voldemort, which seemed like a certainty just moments ago, nearly seemed like an unreachable goal, but Harry would refuse to give this up without a fight. Voldemort could not remain living, to ruin any more lives, kill anymore people.

“We need to make sure there are no Death Eaters lurking on the ground and then regroup,” said Lily. “I don’t know how…but we’ve got to try, finding Voldemort might be a problem I’m trying to track him now, but I’m not picking anything distinguishable up.”

Lily waved her wand up and down, attempting to pick up something, anything, that could trace Voldemort back to where he had gone. It was an extremely long shot, in fact the odds were pretty much against her in any rate. It was impossible normally to trace the Portus-Amulet, but with a bit of demon magic still in the air, it was scrambling everything else. Still, Lily felt she owed it to everyone to try, but after using every tracking spell she could, her shoulders slumped down, sighing deeply. Everything she had tried had come up blank.

“Nothing, we’re going to have to go into this blindly,” said Lily in a defeated voice and everyone waited for the next move. “Once the Aurors are done, we need to get out of here. I don’t know if Voldemort even used all of his forces at Hogwarts, he might still have some Death Eaters out there.”

“You mean even more than he used to fight us here,” said Sirius, as there were more Death Eaters than he could keep track of and quite frankly, that was just what he saw, there was no doubt others coming around the school, fighting other groups.

“It’s highly possible Sirius, Voldemort has agents all over the world, I don’t know if he called all of them or not,” said Harry quietly, as he had his eyes in the door, the lingering magic of this room was making him feel still a bit off, not that he would have felt well if they had not been in the room. The magic was taking too long for Harry’s liking to fade. “Still, I’m not too fond of another attack of any sort, we managed to catch Voldemort off guard and knock a lot of his followers out of commission.”

“I know Harry,” responded Ginny. “Next time, he could be the one catching us off guard. Not pleasant but…”

“I need to get him before he has a chance to put together a counterattack,” interjected Harry, as he tried to block out the sense of despair. He began to try to piece together a plan to defeat Voldemort for good. Reuniting his soul was first and foremost, but a Voldemort without the benefit of Horcruxes was still a dangerous adversary and would give Harry quite a run for his money. “It won’t be easy, it never was, but it’s something that has to be done, something that I have to do.”

“Not alone, I’ll be here and I’m not the only one,” said Ginny as several nodded in agreement but Harry firmly shook his head.

“No Ginny, not this time, Voldemort has to be something I finish off alone,” said Harry firmly and Ginny, along with Raph, Mikey, Don, Leo, and Hailey all began to open their mouths, with Lily looking like she would like to, but decided it would be best not to, but Harry stopped them. “I know what each of you are thinking and going to say and I appreciate the support, but Voldemort will see you all as a way to distract me, by harming you. You just saw what he did to Master Splinter just because he was there. What do you think he would do to any of you in battle?”

They did not like it at all, but none of them had any choice but to get where Harry was coming. Harry just stood, silent, focused, as footsteps were heard. Most of everyone in the room reached instinctively for wands or weapons, but they relaxed, as Alexandra had returned with a group of American Aurors. They all turned to her; awaiting any news they could be given.

“Well we scanned the grounds and the school up and down twice, we found a group of weakened Death Eaters in three corridors down and several more on the grounds, that were injured, we’ve had them sent back to the holding facility in the Artic, so we can properly sort this mess out” said Alexandra in a hurried voice. “As far as the school is concerned, I don’t think there’s anyone left in here but us, unless they are really good at hiding themselves from detection.”

“No, there’s no one else, the only thing that’s detected on the map is the cluster of dots in this room,” said Ginny as she consulted the Marauder’s Map, looking it over carefully, scanning every corner, but sure enough she found nothing. Everyone nodded, as Lily tapped her wand to a small object the shape of a book of matches. It grew to reveal the Portal Transmat device. They crowded around it, as Lily punched in the coordinates, to return them back to New York. Everyone moved around, with the body of Master Splinter was levitated in the air. Harry turned away from it, and his brothers seemed to also be avoiding looking at his body, yet slowly turning, as if almost hoping that Splinter would wake up and say that everything will be alright. With another press of the button, a blue light engulfed the entire group, as they were pulled back, to New York to the Potter Residence.

Voldemort walked down a darkened corridor, clutching his arm, as he winced, stepping forward. For once in his life, Voldemort was in true pain. He had felt some mild discomfort when his Killing Curse had backfired on Potter, depriving him of a physical body for thirteen years. Being detached from Quirrell’s body was not exactly all that pleasant either and Potter nearly burning the flesh off of his body in the graveyard was no picnic. Still, nothing compared to what Voldemort had been put through over the past couple of hours. A duel against Potter that showed that his enemy had improved greatly and truthfully, Potter had caught him off guard, it would not happen again, Voldemort was plotting to make sure of it.

Then there was the demon. Draxxor had been a myth that Voldemort had heard a few times, but seeing the creature before him for the first time had been a real eye opener for him. The fact that Draxxor had used the guise of Dumbledore, one that Voldemort despised and a small part of him feared. The fear had only stretched so far, as Voldemort was one of the few that ever saw Dumbledore for what he really was and plotted the man’s demise from day one of his campaign. At first, taking control of the Wizarding World was only a side benefit, but it had become the main objective over time. Voldemort enjoyed holding power over many people, so he went with it, but in the back of his mind, he would eliminate Dumbledore the second he had the chance.

Then after he lost his body, Harry Potter became the object of Voldemort’s revenge. For ten years, until Quirrell had arrived in Albania, Voldemort had attempted to plot a way to eliminate a threat to his power. Once the boy was sorted in Slytherin, Voldemort became intrigued, but the intrigue faded when Voldemort realized that the boy did not have the right mind to join him. He might have been considered radical by the conservative standards held by the vast majority of Wizarding Britain, but to Voldemort, he was too idealistic. He wished to save others, even if he refused to acknowledge it. Worse than that, Potter seemed to take it his personal mission to save Wizarding Britain from itself, to revolutionize the thinking inside the walls of Hogwarts and outside. Common stereotypes were beginning to fade. Not dying out, that would never happen, but still, it was of Voldemort’s best interests that the world remained stagnant and unchanging. A proactive Ministry of Magic would not benefit Voldemort’s interests at all and the world was Voldemort’s to hold, but Potter and his associates had no doubt captured and perhaps killed the vast majority of his followers during that raid. Right now, Voldemort had little interest to his Death Eaters, he would always find those who would want power and if they could escape on their own, they were not worth it.

Despite all that, Voldemort respected his enemy’s abilities over time, no matter how bothersome he was. He did not like Potter by any means, but he respected his power. Voldemort learned from his mistakes and the one time he treated Potter as a pathetic child instead of a great wizard, it cost him. These thoughts echoed through Voldemort’s head, as he made his way down the hallway, before he moved into a storage room off to the side. There was a box of useful potions, many of them with healing properties. Voldemort had used them to prolong the agony of those who opposed them and his stock was running rather low. Since Severus had met his end, the ability to get a wide variety of potions completed had slowed down. Other potions masters had been under Voldemort’s thumb, but none as good as Severus.

Voldemort found the items that he needed. He sat down, wincing; the half healed wound on his chest was flaring up. Only three individuals had ever known about this place, himself, Severus, and Bellatrix. Since Voldemort pretty much had guessed that Bellatrix had met her demise in the battle, she had really tempted fate by antagonizing Potter and his loved ones once too often, there would be no chance that anyone could find him here. That suited Voldemort’s mood fine, he did not wish for his followers to see him in an injured state. Voldemort took the healing potions one by one, combined they looked to stabilize the damage that the demon’s magic did to Voldemort, until the own invulnerability rituals that he placed on his body as an extra layer of protection did the rest. It would just take a few minutes to do so, but Voldemort had all the time in the world. He would wait, before continuing to formulate the back up plan in the unlikely event that his campaign would fail.

In the attic of the Potter Residence, Lily sat, checking over the portable transmat. It had slightly sent them off course to right across the street. It was quite fortunate it was late at night and thus no one had seen them. Lily sat down on a chair and sure enough, even though the circuits had been configured to not short out, the demon magic had slightly scrambled the coordinate controls. Not by much, as at least they were not dropped in the middle of the ocean, but enough that a problem could arise if they ever had the need to use the transmat ever again.

“Come in!” called Lily, as she heard a knock on the door and the door pushed open, to reveal a very tired looking Alexandra, who walked in. “Do sit down Alex; I’m just finishing adjusting the transmat.”

“Yes, that would be nice,” said Alexandra as she sank down in the chair right across from Lily, yawning, as she shook her head to clear the cobwebs. “It’s going to be a busy few weeks, trying to sort this entire mess out with all these people. Trying to sort out everything, who’s really a Death Eater, who’s been black mailed, who has been put under the Imperius Curse. I had to summon our best potion makers, other than you obviously, to brew that heavy amount of Veritaserum that we’re going to need to separate the truth from the lies. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure that what we did was technically illegal, but considering the American Wizarding Government is not part of the International Confederation of Wizards and the Ministry of Magic has been sanctioned, it could be worse, much worse.”

“I don’t envy you,” said Lily seriously. “Wizarding Britain as we know it is pretty much finished, I can’t even begin to imagine how many top ranking Ministry officials had dark marks on their arms. And people will expect you to help get a new government up and running. I don’t envy you at all.”

“Yes, I knew this would happened and if it eliminates Voldemort’s hold on Britain, it’s going to be worth it,” said Alexandra but she just envisioned the nightmare that she was going to be going through over the next several months, up until when her term ended. After that, it was going to be someone else’s problem, as she was not going to run again. “Still, after his forces rattled like that, would you really put it pass him to attempt a desperate attack on this country, even with all the protections. I have people keeping an eye on everything but still, I don’t know if it would be enough. “

“I wish I could tell you,” said Lily in a tired voice, as she made some more calibrations to the transmat. “Harry seems to think that Voldemort is not all that healthy after the beating he suffered in the duel and with what Draxxor did. It’s hard to say, with Voldemort, he might be desperate enough to try anything, but this time, he might not be able to. Still, nothing’s for sure.”

Lily put down a folder full of paper on the floor and directed the portable transmat towards it, before she pressed a button. A blue light engulfed the folder, before the paper was transported across the room, just a few inches away from where Lily would have liked it to be. It was closer than it was a few seconds ago, a few more calibrations and the portable transmat would be properly repaired. Lily continued to tweak the transmat, as Alexandra looked thoughtful.

“It’s a waiting game at any rate, I’m going to have to give a speech to the public, they won’t be happy that Voldemort’s not dead, no matter how many of his followers we brought down,” said Alexandra. “Merlin forbid if it ever gives out that Harry kind of tricked Voldemort into declaring war on the American Wizarding Government.”

“It won’t matter, when Voldemort is done, everyone will have to look at the final outcome,” said Lily and Alexandra nodded. “Harry, as much as I hate to admit it, is going to have to do this on his own and he’s making plans to do so. I don’t want it to happen, but Harry’s focus has to be firmly on Voldemort without having to help others. We did our part by helping reduce Voldemort’s forces…and…Harry has to do this, no matter how much I wish he didn’t have to.”

“How is Harry doing after what happened?” asked Alexandra

“As well as could be expected I suppose,” responded Lily, but quite frankly, she had no real insight to exactly what Harry was thinking, she could only give her opinion on what she thought. “I don’t know if it’s completely hit him yet or rather he’s not allowing it to hit him yet. He hasn’t really lost focus against Voldemort and quite frankly, that’ll improve his chances. I just hope his mind isn’t really clouded by revenge when he goes against Voldemort.”

“So, this will be it though,” said Alexandra. “The fate of everything hanging in the balance, I guess.”

“More or less, yes, if the prophecy is true,” said Lily in a defeated tone of voice, as she continued to tweak the portable transmat device. “As much as I detest acknowledging that certain things are left to fate, everything that the prophecy detailed as happened so far. All that’s left is the final duel between Harry and Voldemort, with everything hanging in the balance. Hopefully, once Voldemort is gone, everything will go back to normal or as close to normal as possible.”

“We can only hope,” responded Alexandra as she rose to her feet, before she walked to the door, preparing to exit, before she turned slightly to face Lily “I’ve been gone long enough, I hope to get some of this mess sorted out soon, I suspect it will be a while before I get any time at all.”

“Right, good bye, good luck,” said Lily in an absent minded voice, as Alexandra left, walking from the room and closing the door behind her, before she checked the coordinates on the transmat, before she summoned the folder of paper on the floor. Lily placed the folder underneath it, and pressed the button. Blue light shot out, engulfing the folder, before it transported it to the destined location. After some work, Lily had managed to repair the damage done to the portable transmat. Carefully, she stored it away, ready to use just in case of any emergencies.

Harry sat in the basement of the Potter Residence, deep in thought, having just returned from the lair. His brothers were currently making plans to properly put Master Splinter to rest. Harry offered to say, but they insisted that Harry would be better off preparing to go after Voldemort. They wished him luck, telling him to do what he can to beat Voldemort. So reluctantly, Harry wished his brothers good bye, wondering if it would be for the last time, because despite attempts to block his mind from his thoughts, there was a very real possibility that Harry would be killed in a failed attempt to beat Voldemort. Such thoughts had defeated a great number of warriors in the past, and Harry tried not to think about failure. Still, he also was not going to be overconfident enough to think that defeating Voldemort would be easy.

As for Master Splinter, this time Harry was not blaming himself for his death. After all these years, Harry had learned not to blame things out of his control on himself, rather he put the blame exactly where it belonged, it was Voldemort’s fault. The deaths of everyone, Master Splinter, Daphne, Theodore, and many others were Voldemort’s fault, no matter what Harry did or did not do.

Still, a small part of Harry wondered if a few years ago, Master Splinter could have easily dodged that killing curse. He had been feeling the effects of age for some time, Harry had been seeing it and he was sure his brothers had seen it as well, but it was something that was acknowledged, not spoken about. Still, Harry reflected to his last conversation with Master Splinter before the attack on Hogwarts. In retrospect, it seemed that Master Splinter had an idea that his time may be up, but Harry’s mind was focused on other matters at the time.

In the lair, Harry moved forward, to let his brothers know that they should report to the American Wizarding Government Headquarters in a few hours. He entered and saw Master Splinter leaning forward in the lair, breathing heavily. Harry moved over, as Splinter saw Harry and forced himself to straight up, before leaning heavily on his walking stick, as he slowly moved over towards a chair.

“Ah Harry, I did not expect you this early, sit down,” said Master Splinter, as he sank into the chair, before motioning to the chair. “Sit down for a few minutes, I sense you have a long journey ahead of you.”

“That’s one way to put it,” said Harry with a nod, as he looked over towards Splinter, his face worn and older than Harry had ever seen in his entire life. “Master Splinter, are you feeling okay?”

“Better than I could have ever hoped, I would be foolish to admit that age and injury have not taken their toll,” responded Master Splinter. “I am not as young as I used to be, this battle with the Shredder was draining, but once again I had weathered the storm. I have lived much longer than I could expect, the nature of the mutagen prolonging my lifespan to great heights beyond what is normal for my kind. Still, I am proud to say that I have lived long enough to impart my full knowledge on all five of you. At this time, I am at a loss to think much more to teach you all.”

Master Splinter paused, looking thoughtful, as he looked at Harry with a meaningful expression on his face. A short pause before Splinter continued.

“It is not that you are finished learning, but rather I am nearly finished teaching you everything I know, learning never ends in life from beginning to end,” stated Master Splinter. “There is so much to learn, even so much that I have not learned and may not ever have the time to learn. Still, to the very last minute, you should not assume that you have all knowledge Harry. Just remember, when I’m finished, it will not be the end, but rather a new beginning.”

“Of course Master Splinter,” said Harry calmly. “If I defeat Lord Voldemort, that will be another new beginning.”

“It is not the matter if you can defeat Voldemort, it will be when Harry,” said Master Splinter in a confident voice. “I have the utmost faith you can do so Harry, everyone does, but as long as you put forth the best effort and fight with honor, no one will think any worse of you, no matter the outcome.”

“Right, Master Splinter, I really need to get going,” responded Harry in an apologetic voice, as Master Splinter nodded in understanding. “Tell Leo, Raph, Don, and Mikey to get to the American Wizarding Government building within three hours.”

“I will my son, good luck and remember, no matter what, I’ll always be with you,” said Master Splinter, as Harry nodded, before he walked off, as Master Splinter watched him leave.

“Harry?” asked Ginny bringing Harry out of his thoughts. Harry turned to Ginny, a neutral expression on his face, as Ginny walked over, greeting Harry with a warm hug, before quickly kissing him, which Harry returned, before they sat down next to each other. “How are you doing?”

“I could be better, but no time right now, it’s to Voldemort,” said Harry in a tired voice, but Ginny looked alarmed, as if she just thought of something.

“Harry, I know you have to but it’s going to be hard, because you only have five of the Horcruxes, so you can’t beat Voldemort if his soul is not completely unified,” said Ginny, but Harry just responded with a weak smile, before he picked up a large match box shaped object, before he placed it on the table. Harry concentrated, causing the object to grow larger, until it revealed the cage, containing the snake, Nagini, who looked very irritated with being cramped up in a small space.

“I present to you, the sixth Horcrux, Voldemort’s pet snake,” said Harry and Ginny looked surprised, as she looked over the snake, who was hissing frantically, when it realized that she was not in the presence of her master. “I didn’t think Voldemort would make a Horcrux out of a living creature, but that’s exactly why it made it so plausible that he would do such a thing.”

“What am I doing here, where’s my master?” demanded Nagini in an irritated voice, hissing madly, before her eyes gazed up at Harry, narrowing. “You, my Master will make you pay for kidnapping me, he will kill you and everyone you care about. You better return me, he will come after you, do you hear me human?”

“Loud and clear,” responded Harry and Ginny looked confused, not understanding the snake. “Oh, she just made some threats about Voldemort coming after me, same old, same old same old.”

“Exactly how are you going to find Voldemort after he left?” asked Ginny and Harry just responded with a very calculating look in his eyes. “I know you have something up your sleeve, as usual, but knowing Voldemort, he’s not going to make it easy for you to find him.”

“Believe me, I know, and I have a plan, remember, Voldemort’s vain enough to not ignore a challenge to his power and his status,” said Harry, as he began to put a complicated charm to track Voldemort down. “In theory, at least, I should be able to flush Voldemort out with a challenge to a duel to the end. I hope this works, I’ll never tried using this trick before. Oh well, here goes nothing I suppose.”

A silvery blur shot out the window, to seek out Voldemort. All Harry could do was come to the area that he indicated that he challenged Voldemort to follow him to and just hope that Voldemort got there. It was a waiting game; hopefully the last one Harry would have to play, as the final duel with Voldemort

“Better get upstairs, to tell the others that I’ll be leaving to face Voldemort soon,” said Harry in a resigned voice, as Ginny nodded, before the bonded pair made their way from the basement, upstairs with the others.

Voldemort rose to his feet, running a few tests on his body but much to his pleasure, all of his injuries had healed. He stepped forward across the chamber, towards a large crate, before he reached forward, opening the top of the crate. A vial lay at the bottom of the crate, as Voldemort reached forward, before he picked the vial, looking it over. Inside the vial was a large dose of the Draught of the Living Dead. Enough to put Voldemort in a deep sleep, essentially putting him in stasis for at least two hundred years. After he woke up, it would be in a world without Harry Potter. It did not matter at this moment that Harry had five Horcruxes, Voldemort still had one, his beloved snake Nagini and since he delivered his parting shot by executing the rodent, Voldemort had felt he had defeated Potter. Reaching through his pocket, Voldemort rummaged for the shrunken cage. After a couple of moments of searching, Voldemort became angered, he continued to search, the snake was not there, he could not find his property.

“No,” hissed Voldemort coldly as he looked around, a less paranoid man would have admitted that he might have just misplaced the Horcrux, but Voldemort would not be fooled. He knew that Harry Potter was the one that had the Horcruxes, all six of them, and the means to reunify the souls. Voldemort could not risk, despite all of his precautions, Potter finding him, reunifying all the pieces of his soul, and then kill him when he was under the influence of the Draught of the Living Dead.

A silvery object flew right towards Voldemort. Voldemort spun around, holding his wand, but the object faded, before being replaced with a holographic image on Harry Potter, facing down Voldemort.

“Voldemort, I’m sure by now you’ve noticed that I managed to take your snake as well, so I have all of the Horcruxes,” said Harry as Voldemort was angered by this wizard taunting him. “Now, I’m sure you could hide yourself in a place where I could never find you and properly kill but you will go through the rest of your life knowing that you could never defeat me. Pathetic, the greatest dark lord of all time, unable to defeat a wizard with fifty years less experience than him. Really sad when you come to think about it, Tom, and to think I once feared you. You ran, after striking a defenseless opponent from behind I might add. In many words, you are nothing but a murderous coward, not really a great wizard at all.”

Voldemort clutched his hand around his wand, angrily facing Potter.

“Oh, I can here you thinking, how dare you call me a coward, Potter?” said Harry with a bit of a smirk. “Well, I Harry James Potter, challenge you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, to a duel to the death. At two o’clock, the Quidditch field at Hogwarts. I’ll be there, will you?”

“I will Potter,” responded Voldemort coldly to the image, even though it could not hear him. “This time, I will kill you and recover all of my followers, rebuild everything. There will be no escape this time.”