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Chapter Nine: World We Live In

"So, I've told you about the extent what I've been through Harry, but I know next to nothing about you," said Lily as it was a few days after the TCRI incident and she had joined Harry, Hailey, and Ginny early in the morning in Central Park as she decided the less time everyone had to stay in the lair the better, due to the rather cramped nature of current temporary housing situation. "I do wonder how you got from Great Britain all the way to New York. Even through I highly disapproved of the idea in the most vocal ways possible, I have a shrew suspicion that Dumbledore decided it would best benefit him to send you to Petunia and her deplorable husband."

"Deplorable about sums up the Dursleys, all three of them in fact," said Harry. "It was mostly the two adults but it wasn't like Dudley didn't kick me when I was down, because he was just as bad."

"Rather charming relatives we have, don't we," said Hailey before turning to her mother. "Are you sure we are related to them?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I have the DNA test results to prove it or used to anyway," said Lily. "I sometimes wondered myself when I was young, as Petunia and I were absolutely nothing alike at all."

"Well, we were talking about exactly how Harry got here," said Ginny. "I don't even know the complete story, all I know is a few bits and pieces of it. Do explain Harry."

"Four years, four years at the Dursleys, just to set the picture," said Harry. "I've been yelled at, screamed at, belittled. I was told my parents were useless drunks, getting themselves blown up in a car crash..."

"Wrong, Voldemort attempted to murder us, my sister was always such a horrible liar, in fact we didn't even own a car," said Lily. "Now, Harry, please tell me they just stopped at yelling at you because if they went any further..."

"They didn't," said Harry in an unconvincing tone of voice that made Lily all most one hundred percent certain they did but she didn't decide to call her son out on it. She would just have to make a visit to Number Four Privet Drive in sometime the future to have a chat with certain people.

"Okay, but exactly how did you get to New York," said Lily.

"Well, one day, Dudley and his gang of lackeys was chasing me, and I got upset, blasting Dudley up in the air and causing him to crash into the side of a building," said Harry. "I now know it was accidental magic but I didn't have a clue, do to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon attempting to squash the belief that anything unnatural was possible out of my mind. Vernon blew up, deciding to throw me in my cupboard."

"Cupboard!" yelled Ginny in horror before Lily can even open her mouth. "Surely even Muggles understand the importance of...well you do here...but why didn't..."

Ginny seemed too upset to even talk as Harry nodded grimly before going on.

"There's more," said Harry. "They left me in there for three days without food and water, before Vernon decided to take me to New York due to him having a business trip there. He dumped me in the alleyway to forget about me. Then Raph and Leo found me, bringing me back, and the rest is history."

"Yes, well you explained that well enough but what about your time at Hogwarts," said Lily.

"Oh boy," muttered Harry under his breath before straightened him up. "Where to start, where to start, this is a very complicated story. You see, I arrived at Hogwarts, everyone was expecting the great Gryffindor golden boy Harry Potter, but instead they received the shrewd cunning Slytherin Harry Potter."

"You got sorted in Slytherin," said Lily before bursting out laughing. "I'm sorry...but I can imagine the look on Dumbledore's face when that happened."

"Dumbledore, where to start with him?" said Harry. "He was not too happy with my placement in Slytherin, let's just say that. He attempted to manipulate me time and time again, attempting to mold me into his perfect little weapon. I didn't figure out the full extent of his games until my second year."

"Oh no," said Ginny groaning. She knew exactly where Harry was going with this.

"Ginny, you want me to tell her," said Harry, now looking reluctant.

"No, I'll do it," said Ginny. "I foolishly started writing to a diary that once belonged to someone named Tom Riddle."

"Tom Riddle did you say?" prompted Lily, her eyes going wide.

"You know who he is, Mom," said Hailey.

"Yes, I do, Hailey," said Lily darkly. "Sadly I stumbled in the way of his other identity far too often. Anyway, Ginny, continue."

"Anyway, I wrote in this diary and well, I didn't mean to but I was too weak, and helpless and he..." said Ginny before Harry raised his hand.

"Ginny, this is Lord Voldemort, he killed many, controlling many others, so I don't think any less of you because you got controlled by him," said Harry. "He's gone anyway, I destroyed the diary, with Basilisk Venom, there is no way..."

"He's not gone," remarked Lily.

"What?" asked Harry. "What do you mean Mum?"

"You may have destroyed the link between Tom and Ginny but Horcruxes cannot simply be destroyed," said Lily. "This was one of the things that I researched extensively at the Department of Mysteries. In fact, this is the very reason why Voldemort didn’t die on that Halloween night."

"Okay, one question, what in the world are Horcruxes?" asked Hailey.

"Yeah, even I’ve never heard of them and I read more books on magic then any sane person should, with the possible exception of Hermione," said Harry. "I’ve never found a reference on anything named like that.

"The knowledge I am about to give you is considered taboo by the Wizarding World, hell if Voldemort would have know I had it, he wouldn't have hesitated for a second in killing me," said Lily slowly. "Creating a Horcrux is more or less splitting your soul in half, while encasing half if it in a split object. This process was invented for noble means, to study ways to treat illness but some Dark Wizard got a hold of the rituals, and a handful of people over the past several centuries began using it for rather darker means, as in cheating death."

"What do you mean by splitting the soul?" asked Hailey.

"By killing although it doesn't have to be a human, although knowing Voldemort, that is exactly how he accomplished making his little dark artifacts," said Lily. "Now contrary to popular belief, these Horcruxes cannot be simply destroyed but the magic can be undone, remerging the splintered sections of the soul to the original piece of soul. That is the only way the magic created by the Horcrux can be undone. However, the reversal spells are even harder to find than the actual Horcrux rituals themselves. I have researched through many books, but I could not even find a hint on to reverse the process, although it was implied it was done before."

"So, all we need to do is find the diary or whatever is left of it, while attempting to track down how to do a reversal ritual that after years of research, you haven't found any details on how to do," said Hailey grimly. "What did you do with the diary, anyway?"

"I sort of gave it back to Lucius Malfoy, but I don't know if he kept it or tossed it out after he received it," said Harry.

"Well, if it's still at Malfoy Manor, it may be a bit complicated, but possible to get our hands back on it," said Lily. "If he disposed of it, it may prove to be extremely difficult to find where it ended up. Of course, there is also the problem with the other Horcruxes."

"Other Horcruxes?" asked Ginny. "He made more than one."

"I'm afraid so," said Lily darkly. "I know for sure through my spy in Voldemort's ranks. Unfortunately, he got killed after he retrieved it, although I’m quite sure it is stashed somewhere Voldemort cannot find it. I think it's a relic of Slytherin, a locket I believe, but I'm not one hundred percent sure."

"Just exactly how many of these Horcruxes are we talking about?" asked Harry.

"As few as four but as many as seven, including the whatever is left of Voldemort after that Halloween Night," said Lily. "But, enough about that morbid subject, what about what happened last year, since second year seems to be an extremely sore subject?"

"Okay, Sirius, who was in Azkaban after he was framed by Pettigrew, managed to break out of Azkaban and everyone thought he was coming to kill me, as the press painted him as the second in command to Lord Voldemort," said Harry.

"I'm sure Dumbledore did absolutely nothing to help fuel these rumors," said Lily sarcastically. "Seriously, he knew of the switch but if Sirius was sent to Azkaban and with Remus's condition, he could send to the Dursleys without any resistance from anyone in the Ministry."

"Of course, if Sirius was the only one that escaped, that would be all fine, but someone else joined in from Azkaban," said Harry. "A person I hope I never meet again, that being Bellatrix Lestrange."

"See, here's the problem right there with the Ministry, she shouldn't have been sent to Azkaban," said Lily. "She should have been executed by the Ministry, because she was the most sadistic, the most ruthless Death Eater. Not to imagine she wasn't all that right in the head before Azkaban, so I can just imagine what she was like after prolonged exposure from Dementors. The Ministry handcuffed themselves once again by their Anti-Execution laws, but Lestrange is too dangerous to be allowed to live."

"I agree, after Bellatrix attempted to kill me, I believe it was three times," said Harry. "The closest she ever came was that night I found out the truth about Pettigrew's betrayal. As we prepared to turn Wormtail in to the Ministry, she attacked, allowing the traitor enough time to get away even through I think she was aiming to kill him as well as us."

"Wouldn't be surprised, she was the most fanatic servant Voldemort ever had and she would jump at the chance to kill the person who led to her Master's downfall," said Lily. "Still, we have little chance to clear Sirius without Pettigrew, as I cannot testify for obvious reasons."

"Which are?" asked Hailey.

"I'm supposed to be dead, first of all and second of all, what do you think the Ministry of Magic would do if I showed up right now," said Lily. "They would probably toss me in some mental ward, thinking I am mad for claiming I am someone who is supposed to be dead. Dumbledore would not be any help in convincing them of the truthfulness of my identity due to his control issues. Also, I'm not quite ready to tell both Sirius and Remus that I'm not as dead as they thought."

"Just take your time, Mum, when you are ready we can find them," said Harry. "It's going to be hard enough to convince them, even with my help."

"Yes," said Lily. "Thirteen years, it's been a long time since everything went to hell over the course of a few weeks. Let's not talk about this anymore, it just depresses me."

Later that night, Lily was wandering the sewers, deep in thought. She hoped this would not happened but it appeared that her son had the same tendency to nearly get himself killed as she did in the past. After a while, she stopped keeping track of how many times she was nearly killed, a couple of times Voldemort attempted to do the deed himself, but she somehow managed to luck her way out of several circumstances. It was too bad others had to pay for her ability to inadvertently tick the wrong people off. She remembered that Halloween night, how she failed to save James, how he was killed by Voldemort despite a valiant effort. The majority of her friends from her dormitory at Hogwarts perished at the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters with one exception, who had fled for a job in the American Wizarding Government branch of the Department of Mysteries a few months before that Halloween night. Sirius was sent to Azkaban, Peter fell to the power of the Dark Lord, and it appeared Remus had been left with a very lonely existence from what Harry told her.

She would not fail Harry or Hailey however. Not this time, even if she would have to go up against both Voldemort and Dumbledore by herself. Lily shuddered at the very real and very dangerous possibility of going up against the two most powerful wizards since the time of the founders. The overwhelming feeling that she may have gotten in a bit too far over her head was a harsh reality that presented itself at this present point in time.

Lily decided that if nothing else, she needed to get in contact with the American Wizarding Government, to see if her friend Alexandra still worked there because she could use all the help she could get, knowing the British Ministry wouldn't assist a muggleborn. While the United States was the youngest Wizarding government in the world, unless one counted the different forms of magic practiced by several Native American tribes dating back many centuries, they did not have as many restrictions on magic that were taught to their Aurors than their British counterparts and they passed a law that allowed sympathizers of Lord Voldemort in the States to be executed after their crimes being proven by a trial.

Basically the American Wizarding Government was more strict in punishing criminals than the British Ministry but they were not as barbaric and bloodthirsty as the Russian Ministry of Magic, who executed Magical people for no good reason, sometimes for things such as simply being overheard badmouthing the government in public. Of course, no government was perfect, as the three governments mentioned had their faults whether it be not being tough, being too tough, or not being taken seriously due to pretty much isolating itself from the rest of the world.

Late in night in Albania, in a run down shack, Lord Voldemort was waiting the return of one of his Death Eaters, a pathetic excuse of a man dubbed Wormtail, who was known as Peter Pettigrew. Due to his current state of not having a body, Voldemort had to put up with these substandard living conditions.

The shack door creaked open, revealing Wormtail entering the structure, with a bit of a nervous look on his face. Behind him bound and gagged appeared to be a woman and Wormtail looked at the Dark Lord. Despite his attempts to keep calm, Voldemort still unnerved Wormtail to a great degree.

"Wormtail, what is the deal with the woman?" asked the essence of Lord Voldemort.

"M-m-my Lord, she works for the Ministry, she saw me coming out of the Inn to get food, so I had to capture her and bring her here," said Wormtail his voice a bit shaky. "I couldn't very well have the Ministry know I am still alive."

"Yes, I believe you would be correct in that assumption, Wormtail," said Voldemort calmly before focusing on the thoughts of the woman. "Wormtail, seal the structure, make sure she has no means of escaping, it is clear that she has some information that she does not want me to know."

Voldemort shifted through the woman's memories, finding out she was currently a worker at the Department of Magical Games and Sports, named Bertha Jorkins. The Dark Lord hit some a rather interesting piece of information.

"Very interesting," hissed Voldemort. "It appears that they are reinstating the Triwizard Tournament. Five hundred years since they played it and now they are deciding to bring it back. But why? Yes, interesting as well, it appears Dumbledore and Fudge want to promote International Magical Cooperation."

Voldemort gave a high cold laugh at absurdity of that proposed reason. A more likely reason would be Fudge wanted to build influence from people abroad and Dumbledore never missed a chance to make himself appear more benevolent than he was in reality. A bit more digging, gave Voldemort another piece of information.

"Moody is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," said Voldemort to Wormtail. "Dumbledore appears to be hiring him to keep an eye on Karkaroff who is the Headmaster of Durmstrang and...hmm this is interesting, Dumbledore also wants Moody around so he can spy on Harry Potter."

"Why would Dumbledore want to keep an eye on Harry Potter, My Lord?" asked Wormtail.

"Why indeed, Wormtail?" mused Voldemort. "Seems Albus is having trouble keeping his little weapon in check, sad really. He's supposed to be the greatest wizard of his time, the so-called leader of the light, but he wastes valuable time and resources attempting to manipulate a fourteen-year-old child. Potter may be a minor annoyance but in the end, he is not a threat to the power of Lord Voldemort."

Voldemort continue to shift through the memories of Bertha Jorkins but he hit a wall that could only be formed by an extremely powerful memory charm.

"It appears Ms. Jorkins found out something that someone extremely powerful wants to hide," said Voldemort. "Wormtail, come here."

Wormtail walked over towards his Master's spectral form.

"Yes, my Lord," said Wormtail.

Cast the Cruciatus Curse on this woman until I say stop," said Voldemort coldly.

Wormtail raised the Dark Lord's wand in the air, before pointing it at Bertha.

"Crucio," said Wormtail coldly, causing the woman to scream, even from underneath the gag.

Voldemort sensed her mind slowly becoming undone, as well as the Memory charm. It was nearly broken but the rest of her mind was totally destroyed.

"Stop, Wormtail," ordered the Dark Lord before going into the shattered remains of the woman's mind. "Interesting, it appears that one of my most faithful servants, one that attempted to seek me out along with the Lestranges after my accident and tortured the Longbottoms into the point of insanity, lives. It appears he has been kept under the Imperius Curse by his father."

Voldemort believed with these three pieces of information, he had the means to return to a body. Now, if he played his cards correctly, he could have the means to lure Harry Potter into a trap, to take what he needed. He would first need to consult an old book that he had Lucius stash at his wretched father's old house, but Voldemort felt his plan would work.

"If everything goes right, I will return, and Lord Voldemort will reign over everyone once again," said Voldemort before turning to Wormtail. "First, Wormtail put this thing out of her misery."

"Yes, my Lord," said Wormtail holding the Dark Lord's wand and pointing it towards Bertha Jorkins. "Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light erupted from the end of the Dark Lord's wand. Bertha fell to the ground, dead from the impact.

"Wormtail, if we play our cards right, in less than a year from this time, I will be able to return to what I was before the night I visited the Potters," said Voldemort. "I need you to fetch some unicorn blood and we will use snake venom from my beloved Nagini, so we can concoct a potion to bring me back to a state available for transportation."

"Yes, my Lord," said Wormtail before setting out to the forest area around the shack in search for a Unicorn to slay.

Peter hated having to go this route again, but he had little choice to return to the Dark Lord, playing a mere servant to the half blood. He would ditch the Dark Lord but Wormtail knew how crucial to retain the power hungry lunatic’s servant. Peter’s blood was purer than the Dark Lord's it should be Wormtail being the ultimate Dark Lord and Voldemort being his faithful servant. After all, he told Peter he could be great and he was considered the most powerful wizard of his age, so surely his opinion of Wormtail could not be wrong. After all, in Peter's own mind, he felt he was the most talented of the Marauders, without him there wouldn't be any Marauders.

After all, those three should have been grateful that Peter lowered himself to join up with their little gang. Black was a disappointment to his whole family, a no good blood traitor. Lupin was a mangy dark creature that should have been put down and Potter was a pompous egomaniac. Still, Peter should have had power and joining the Dark Lord seemed to be the best way to get back at his friends for not worshipping the ground he walked on. Sure they treated Wormtail decently, like their friend, but he told Peter they only did it out of pity and laughed at Peter behind his back. He got his revenge or at least should have, had the Dark Lord not got himself blown up at the hands of young Harry Potter.

Back in New York, Harry was sitting up in the living room early in the morning, thinking. For some odd reason, his scar was stinging. That hadn't happened in years, since the first year when Voldemort was after the Philosopher’s Stone at Hogwarts. He wondered if the events of the past several days had overwhelmed him and he was being paranoid in thinking Voldemort could be up to something.

The door of the lair opened, revealing his mother walking in, looking rather tired.

"Mum, what were you doing up so late?" asked Harry.

"I could ask the same about you, Harry," said Lily. "I haven't slept much since my fifth year to be truthful and I had a lot on my mind, for good reason, as all my memories returned to me rather quickly a couple of days ago."

"Welcome to my world," said Harry. "I'm just thinking about what would happen this year, I don't know how much I can go on with people killing me, without the accessing all my magic, due to Dumbledore putting a block.."

"Dumbledore put a block on your magic," whispered Lily, although if it hadn't been four in the morning, she would have screamed this out, while cursing Dumbledore's name. "When did this happen."

"Apparently before he had been taken to the Dursleys," said Harry.

"Blocking a child's magic at a young age can have serious consequences," said Lily. "I'm thinking that he desperately resorted to dark magic, due to not wanting any chance of you being a threat."

"Yes, I've looked everywhere to attempt to find a way to remove it on my own but nothing," said Harry.

"Harry, I can remove it," said Lily. "If I had a wand that is."

Lily went quiet for a little bit before responding.

"I need to go to Ollivander's to acquire a replacement wand, then we can remove that block" said Lily. "Your sister needs a wand as well, also we need to find a way to get her into Hogwarts without alerting Dumbledore to the fact that I'm not dead. Which means, I need to arrange a meeting with the Chief Executive of the American Wizarding Government to acquire the proper paper work to get her a false identity so she can attend Hogwarts. This could take a few days, but if all goes right, I should get a new wand, your block should be removed, and your sister will be registered as a first year at Hogwarts. The only reason I'm allowing her to go to that place with Dumbledore in charge is because you are already there to keep an eye on her and I can't possibly under good conscience ask you to leave your friends to attend one of the American Wizarding schools."

Harry nodded. If everything went right, he could finally have this infernal power block removed. A little careful planning was required to accomplish the solving of this problem, but it would all be worth it when Harry had full access to his magical power.