Harry Potter and the Eccentricities of Death

By LuckyFelix

Chapter Four: Yet Some Things Do

Harry deftly stepped to his left and avoided the unknown curse while sending a stunner back, which was promptly ignored by the brown haired man as he sent a severing curse back at Harry who ducked and sent a disorienting hex back at him.

Harry found himself rather disoriented at the outset of the duel as two sets of instincts were vying for control. On one hand, the instincts of Harry Potter were trying to send stunners, disarming spells, and Impediment jinxes at his enemy. On the other was Harry Riddle. He had some Dark curses he wanted to send at the man who threatened his family. The war between the two seemed to slow down Harry's reflexes, which was certainly not a good thing when going up against one of Lord Voldemort's most talented duellers.

Shielding quickly against a bone breaking curse, Harry sent a string of Stunning spells out in quick succession to different areas, hoping to get the man if he tried to dodge. Unfortunately, the man didn't waste his energy and just slapped them away with his wand as if they were a minor annoyance.

Thankfully, by this time the two Harrys came to an agreement; Transfiguration.

A quick flick of Harry's wand conjured a thick wooden shield a couple of feet in front of him, quickly destroyed by Lestrange's oncoming blasting curse. Before the fragments could hit Harry, though, they were Transfigured into several sharp javelins and banished in his opponent’s direction. Taking advantage of Rodolphus' distraction, Harry Transfigured a nearby chair into a thick metal shield. It moved in front of him just in time to stop a decapitation curse.

Harry vaguely heard a blasting noise in the back of the house, but his mind was focused on his current duel.

Two blasting curses from Lestrange ended Harry's shield, but he skilfully sent the remnants in the opposite direction, where they hit the wall behind Lestrange. Harry tried to slip a concussive curse in on his opponent, but it was dodged and a killing curse sent in Harry's direction.

Spying little Harry's broomstick near Lestrange, Harry Transfigured it into a snake which he sent at the Death Eater, who quickly banished it towards a surprised James. This, however, left Lestrange open long enough for Harry to try and land a piercing hex, but Rodolphus turned his body at the last possible moment while sending a nasty purple curse Harry's way.

By this time, sounds of duelling were coming from the kitchen, but neither James nor Harry were in a position to help the women out.

Harry's moment of hesitation earned him a stinging cut on his left arm as he was unable to fully avoid the curse in time. His own blasting curse was redirected to the wall just behind James by Lestrange and a killing curse sent his way, which he ducked and sent a concussive curse in reply.

It was then that Harry heard the tortured scream of Hermione back in the kitchens, along with a ferocious roar of cursing from Lily accompanied by a series of explosions. It was that, along with Lestrange's amused observation of, “It sounds like somebody’s Mudblood whore's getting what they deserve,” that caused something to snap in Harry.

“Avada Kedavra!” he roared, sending the jet of sickly green death rushing at Lestrange. It seems that Hermione being hurt ended what resistance his old self had, and the dark curses started flying between the two.

Their twin Cruciatus curses met in the air and went spiralling off in different directions as Harry followed up with a decapitation curse and an organ puncturing curse. Neither hit Lestrange, who replied with a killing curse that was deftly avoided by Harry. Moments later, there was a strangled scream from James as Bellatrix landed a curse on him, but Harry didn't have time to check and see if his friend and father was all right, as Rodolphus was on the offensive.

Harry quickly countered a severing curse, a heart stopping curse, an explosive hex and avoided another killing curse before Transfiguring a half destroyed table into a lion and sending it after the man. A quick flash of green dispatched Harry's feline ally, but left Lestrange vulnerable to a corrosive hex that landed on his left shoulder. The spell quickly began eating away at the man before he muttered the counter curse, avoiding a severing curse by mere inches.

Harry was about send another killing curse when his back erupted in pain as Bellatrix redirected shrapnel from her duel with James directly into his back. He was forced to ignore the pain as he deflected a curse that would have Transfigured his blood into acid in Bellatrix's direction, only narrowly avoiding her. Moments later, a pain filled yelp and a thud alerted him to James being flung into a wall. He ignored it in favour of sending a disembowelment curse at Rodolphus.

Harry wasn't aware of the onrushing killing curse to his back compliments of Bellatrix Lestrange until he felt an explosion of warmth as Persephone appeared just in front of the killing curse, erupting into a ball of flames.

Harry didn't have much time to dwell on it as another killing curse came flying his way from Bellatrix's husband and he dived behind the nearby sofa. Quickly conjuring a flock of birds, he Banished the sofa in Bellatrix's direction and sent a blinding curse at Rodolphus. Rodolphus deflected the curse before sending a killing curse at Harry, which one of his birds blocked, dying in an explosion of feathers.

Quickly Transfiguring the banister behind Bellatrix into a large python, which he ordered to take her, he swept his wand in a large arc and jabbed it at the momentarily surprised Rodolphus Lestrange, sending a terror curse that hit him full in the face. The elder Lestrange brother fell to floor with arms flailing as he screamed in terror and Harry turned back to Bellatrix just in time to see another bird bite the dust in a flash of green light.

He didn't have much time to savour that victory as Rabastan Lestrange had come up behind him and landed a Cruciatus curse. Bellatrix moved quickly to reverse the spell on her husband as Rabastan lifted the torture curse in order to perform a killing curse on the unknown wizard. Harry took his chance and Transfigured a piece of the former fireplace into an alligator that wasted no time in latching itself painfully onto the leg of the younger Lestrange.

Sitting up quickly, he Transfigured the ground near the husband and wife into a pool of water and immediately hit it with an electrifying curse. Conjuring a bowling ball, which exploded upon being hit by the killing curse Bellatrix had been able to get off before being electrocuted, he Banished the fragments towards her and her husband even as they were Transfiguring themselves into daggers.

He did not have time to enjoy Bellatrix's shriek of anger, as a killing curse from Rabastan decimated the floor right where he had been just a heartbeat ago. Rolling towards the middle of the ruined room, he sent a piercing hex towards the youngest Lestrange, catching him in the right arm, causing him to drop his wand.

He couldn't savour that victory, either, as the agonised scream of his younger self distracted him just long enough to be hit with Bellatrix's Cruciatus. She stood victoriously over him with a look of insane joy, appearing quite demented with her hair standing on end.

The three Lestranges were so focused on him that the arrival of several newcomers didn't even register until they all fell with three flashes of scarlet. Harry, sore all over, looked up to see the cold demeanour of one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, flanked by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

Sirius immediately went off in the direction that Harry knew James to be lying crumpled and unconscious.

Dumbledore, who was just about the last person Harry wanted to see, looked down on him but before he could speak, Harry motioned towards the kitchen.

“L-Lily, Herm-Hermione, there's another one in the, in the kitchen...” he got out through the pain. Dumbledore and Lupin quickly rushed off with Snape right behind them while Minerva McGonagall bent down to check his wounds.

“'M fine, fine,” he assured quite unsuccessfully, ignoring protests from his various wounds that he was most certainly not fine. McGonagall gave him a stern look before she helped him up. He looked around briefly, noticing Peter and Sirius reviving James and the small pile of ash that was Persephone. He absently noted that his other two avian protectors had died at some point, but didn't give it much thought as he was far too worried about his wife.

After nearly falling when he tried to walk to the kitchen, McGonagall grabbed him and allowed him to use her for support, still with a look of stern disapproval but he thought he saw a spark of understanding in her eyes.

Entering the kitchen was like a scene from a nightmare.

In the far corner lay Lily, looking bloody and lifeless as Snape ran his wand over her, assessing the damage. Toward the door was Barty Crouch Jr., lying face first on the ground and bleeding profusely from his back where it appeared he'd had some sort of blasting curse hit. Nobody bothered to help him, though. Little Harry was curled up in a ball on Remus Lupin's lap crying as his Uncle Moony tried to comfort him.

Harry barely noticed any of this however, as his undivided attention was on Hermione, who lay just in front of him. Dumbledore was bent over her, looking pale and worried as she twitched every so often in the after effects of prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus curse.

Dumbledore backed out of the way as Harry dropped to his knees beside Hermione, a thousand thoughts running through his mind as he looked down on her broken form. He wasn't even conscious of his begging her to be all right, or of the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks. All he knew was that the most important person in the world to him was hurt and he didn't know how to survive without her.

He knew now that he'd never have a problem loving Hermione, not anymore, as everything the two ever went through together flashed quickly through his mind. She was the one person who stood by him every step of the way, no matter what. Even when Harry himself didn't realise it, she stood by him. He suddenly felt horrible for thinking ill of her during the Firebolt incident in third year. Then, as always, she had been looking out for him, even if he couldn't see it at the time.

While Ron may have been his 'best mate', Hermione was the one who always helped him, the one who pushed him to be better than he was, the one who helped him most through the tribulations of his fame. Now, here in this foreign reality, she was the only one that truly knew him, the only person who could possibly understand him. Harry had taken her for granted, he realised, but now she looked so vulnerable, so broken, he wished for nothing more than to take her away where nobody could ever hurt her again.

Of its own accord, his mind brought up images of Hermione, a bushy haired know-it-all, of her beauty at the Yule Ball, the way she looked when thinking, the glow she had when learning something new, the soft smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth as she read a new book. It switched then to the wavy black hair, long and silky, her soft, heart-shaped face and brilliant sapphire eyes. He remembered the feeling of waking up with her in his arms each morning, her softness, her smile as she slept.

So many feelings he never knew he had, so many that he didn't understand, ran through him in that moment as he held Hermione, begging any beings that would listen that she would be all right.

He was shaken out of his stupor by the gentle hand of Albus Dumbledore.

“Please, Mr. ...” He looked down at Harry questioningly, obviously not recognising him from Hogwarts as he did most people. Harry, however, just stared numbly back at him, all thought lost in a whirlwind of emotions. He dimly heard Remus come up and introduce him, being the only one there besides the Potters to have met Harry.

“Riddle, sir, Harry Riddle, and his wife, Hermione,” he said softly, holding young Harry in his hands, who seemed to have fallen into a restless sleep.

Dumbledore, upon hearing this, looked back sharply at Harry, the twinkle gone from his eyes and replaced by a thousand questions. Something in Harry’s desperate look, however, must have kept him from inquiring, or perhaps it was just his natural tendency to help people and to believe the best of them.

“Mr. Riddle, we must take your wife and the Potters to St Mungo's. If you could follow Remus, I shall deal with the Lestrange family and see that they find suitable accommodations,” said Dumbledore, sounding for all the world as if he were going to put them up in a nice hotel room somewhere.

Harry just nodded vaguely as Remus levitated James' body into a kitchen on a conjured stretcher with Poppy Pomfrey bustling in right behind him and heading for Hermione. Lily, also on a stretcher, was placed next to James, and soon Hermione joined them. Remus set up a Portkey to take them to the wizarding hospital.

At some point that night, Harry must have fallen asleep next to Hermione's bed in St. Mungo's, as he awoke with the sun's rays shining into the room and the low voices of the Marauders talking around James' bed. Glancing over in their direction told him that James was once again awake, having only suffered several broken bones and a nasty concussion. Harry guessed that Bellatrix hadn't been trying to kill James, as she wanted to torture him for information, as they had the Longbottoms in Harry's original reality.

Obviously, they had no such qualms when it came to Harry.

“Riddle?” asked a quiet voice, and with a start, he saw that Remus Lupin had walked over upon realising Harry was awake.

“Oh, hello, Remus. It is Remus, right?” asked Harry, remembering that he had only met the man once.

“Yes. Are you all right there, Harry?”

“Fine, fine, er, you didn't happen to catch any news about Hermione's condition, did you?” he asked hopefully.

“Yes, the healer said she and the baby would be fine.” He smiled at the look of relieved joy on Harry's face. “She should wake up in the next couple of days, I think. The prolonged use of the Cruciatus and the potions the healers used will keep her unconscious as her nerves and mind heal.”

Harry nodded and looked over at Lily, who was lying still on her bed.

“She'll be fine, too. She woke up briefly earlier. She'll be taking a number of potions for the next several months, but she'll be as good as new soon enough. Apparently she blocked some of the curse, wasn't able to get it all, but she deflected enough so that it didn't kill her.”

Harry nodded solemnly once again and thanked Remus before turning back to his wife.

“Oh, Dumbledore wanted to speak with you at your convenience. He told me to tell you when you woke up, he'll be in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts.”

Harry grimaced. Of course Dumbledore wanted to speak with him, but he really didn't want to speak with Dumbledore. He had hoped to avoid his old Headmaster as long as he could, but now that Dumbledore knew of his existence, he knew he couldn't put it off.

He would have preferred if Hermione could be there with him, and he'd have liked to have strengthened his Occlumency shields before meeting the master Legilimens as well. Still, it was apparently not to be. At least Death had shielded anything that would give away their true nature.

Although, perhaps, that would have made things easier.

His thoughts about the matter were broken, however, when his father spoke, having hobbled over and conjured a seat next to him. “Harry?”

“What? Oh, James, good to see that you're all right, I'm glad to hear that Lily will be fine.” Harry smiled, truly happy that both would be fine. “How is the little Seeker doing?”

James smiled hugely at the reference to their debate about what position little Harry would play, with Harry stating rather matter-of-factly that he would be a Seeker while James protested he was born to be a Chaser.

“My little Chaser is fine, thanks. Lils was awake for a bit when he was here earlier, and that made him feel much better. He spent the night with some friends, hopefully they'll let me out of here soon so I can go pick him up. Bloody healers.” Harry only nodded in agreement with his father. He too had had plenty of experience with healers not wanting to let him out of their sight.

“Anyway, Harry, I wanted to thank you for what you did. If you hadn't been there... well, I don't really want to think about it. I owe you a debt I can never fully repay, but, if ever there is anything you need, anything at all, just ask. I owe you. Lily and Harry are my entire world and I don't know what I'd do without them. So thank you for helping to protect them, no, thank you. Many people would have just saved themselves; you didn't even hesitate.”

James had refused or even outright ignored all of Harry's protestations that he didn't owe him anything, or that anybody would have done it. Behind him, Sirius and Remus both beamed, obviously in complete agreement with James on all accounts.

After that, Harry eagerly accepted Remus and Sirius' offer to go find some breakfast as he still needed to delay visiting Dumbledore in order to think about what he wanted to say. They left with the other two, promising to bring something back for a pouting James who was not allowed to leave the ward.

Unfortunately, breakfast didn't seem to last very long at all, and Harry was soon tumbling through the fireplace at the Headmaster's office in Hogwarts.

“Ah, good morning, Mr. Riddle,” said a grandfatherly voice as Harry cursed his inability to Floo properly. “I believe we have much to discuss. Would you like a lemon drop?”

To the ancient wizard's surprise, Harry took one.

It tasted horrible.