Chapter 112: The power of love
Mid-December, a week after Rose redefined her father’s alchemical work by writing a 3D magical circle, Albus confirmed to Rick that the ritual had worked on the horcrux Regulus and Bill had found in that one Egyptian tomb. He had invited Rick to witness the ritual for Voldemort’s horcruxes but Rick declined, arguing that with so many of them present he may not stay conscious.
The solution had been to use the communicating mirror. Lily had enlarged hers so everyone in the know about the soul shard could witness their destruction. Even Moody, who was still stuck playing jailor at the Black Prison, was on the call. Rose had been invited after asking if what she had come up with had worked.
Everyone was in the Room of Requirement for it.
“Let’s get it started.” Regulus said as he levitated the objects from the box they had been put in and placed them appropriately inside small floating circles above an old tired pig sleeping on the ground.
Rose found it odd. “A pig? Not an object?”
“Yes. There are three ways to destroy a container. Fiendfyre, Basilisk venom and the killing curse. The object is indectructible otherwise. However, a living being? It stays the same.” Rick replied.
Everything was in place, the pig, the magic circles drawn into the air with parchments and talismans and finally the diadem, the cup, the locket, and the diary.
“Regulus, your foot is under the circles’ area.” Albus warned.
The man immediately removed it.“Oh! My apologies, professor,” and stepped away.
Once everything was clear, Albus pointed his wand at the highest circle and spoke a little chant. Said circle began to shine brightly, then a white light began to spiral down towards another circle which began to shine too. Black mist seemed to be extracted violently from the objects and pulled down toward the ground. For each circle lighting up the mist was pulled lower. Right until it reached the pig and took possession of it. When there was no more smoke left, Regulus, with a flick of his wand, severed the pig’s head. The circles dimmed until they didn’t emit any more light then the talismans disintegrated leaving nothing behind.
“I have the pleasure to announce: Voldemort is mortal again.” Albus sounded quite pleased by that and so was everyone.
“Good. Now we just need to know where he is.” Amelia growled.
Ever since the news of the chambers of secrets being discovered and the beast slain, Voldemort had been even more active. Twice now he nearly broke the Statute of Secrecy and Amelia was being pressured badly by the ICW to deal with him promptly.
“We already know, Amy. We were just waiting for an opportune moment to bait him away from his base of operation.” Rick replied.
Amelia had her wand in her hand, ready to curse him if his explanation was not to her taste. “And you didn’t say anything because?”
Rick didn’t back down from his wife’s glare however. “No one is ready to take him and his subordinates on. Attacking his base is suicide.”
“What’s your plan?” She knew he had one because she knew him way too well.
“Albus?” Rick called out.
“I’m taking the floo back to my office. Meet me there. If you could invite Severus too.”
“Will do.” Lily said and exited the room.
Rick smiled stupidly at Amelia and took her hand in his. To show her discontentment she squeezed it as much as she could. When his smile strained she felt satisfied and relaxed her grip.
He thought of an exit to the corridor right at the foot of the gargoyle protecting the headmaster’s office and they all stepped through it. After giving the password to the statue they climbed up the stairs and entered Albus’ office. Lily and Severus joined the group five minutes later.
“Everyone is here. Perfect.” Albus sat down behind his desk and invited Rick to explain the plan.
“The plan is simple. Draw Voldemort out of his hole and deal with him properly now that he is mortal again.
“The Dark Lord is?” Severus interjected in shock.
“As of… seven minutes ago.” Albus used a tempus with his wand to check the time.
“He doesn’t know that of course.” Rick added smugly.
Amelia growled. “Get to the point.”
“Alright, alright.” Rick raised his hand defensively. “We need to give him a reason for him to get out in the open. Albus’ death should do the trick.”
Albus had his own comment to give. “Not real of course. I’d like to live a few more years.”
“With Albus’s death the secret of the order’s headquarters, where House Potter spends its time when not at Hogwarts, is shared between everyone in the know making them the secret keepers.” He was now giving the narrative for Voldemort.
“Including me.” interjected Severus. “You want me to kill Albus, gaining the trust of the Dark Lord and offering him Rose’s location.”
“Yes. Of course, Albus will just relinquish the secret and we will cast the fidelius again, making you the new secret keeper, sharing it back with everyone before you share it with Voldemort.”
“But dad… No offence professor, but how would you justify your death? I mean… you're a powerful wizard, Professor Snape but…”
“No, you are quite right. How do we explain my success? And why did I do it in the first place?” Severus agreed with Rose.
“Excellent questions!” Albus answered with joviality. “I’m still quite weak after removing the withering curse. While he doesn’t need to know that specifically, we can say that I got cursed while trying to find information on his immortality and alone in my office, I called you for help and you fed me poison instead of a potion.”
“A slow effect one.” Rick added.
Severus solved the end of the plan. “So it gives reason for the Dark Lord to act in haste before Albus’ death is discovered and the order realizes the place may not be safe and scatters away.”
“He may not have the time to gather his whole forces but the people he has on hand. Meanwhile, the aurors arrive after he does and take him by surprise.” Amelia finished. She liked the idea.
“Hm… it’s a good plan but what about the prophecy?” Rose cut in and everyone turned to her.
After a brief but heavy silence, Rick spoke up. “I’ll fight him. I’ll delay him as much as I can until all his forces are dealt with, then… Everyone picks on the bastard, you included, Rose. However,” he had raised a hand to stop Lily from disagreeing. “You will not fight, you will be safe behind the lines and only participate at the right moment. The order will be here with you for protection. Is that clear?”
She nodded vehemently.
“When do we start?” Bella asked with impatience.
On the 24th of December the operation began. Albus dissolved the fidelius on Lions’ Pride and cast it on Severus who quickly wrote it on a paper and shared it among the members of the order. Then, Rick and Lily created a fake Dumbledore, for Severus to give the poison, so he could share the memory with Voldemort just in case.
Rose and Fleur helped as much as they could by encrypting runes array and wards that would activate once the enemies were in position. Anyone could portkey or apparate inside the area but no one would be able to leave that way with the exception of Severus who was keyed to them. After all he needed to get away from Voldemort and the death eaters the moment the trap was sprung.
Amelia had the aurors she trusted the most on standby. Portkey ready to be used and parchment with Lions’ Pride’s location on it, so they could see the manor and find it with it in mind. It wouldn’t do if they ran into an invisible wall or aimed at one.
Everyone was ready.
Rose, Moody, Dorea, Marlene, Andromeda and Lily were around her defensively with the rest of the order not part of the DMLE. They were staying inside the empty stables.
Rick was at the manor with Bella. She wasn’t supposed to be there but opted to stay a bit more.
“You better not die on me.” She threatened.
“I still need to give you my mark, don’t I?” he replied with a gentle smile.
“You do.” she answered curtly. “I’m making an inferi out of you if-”
“Bella.” he stopped her spouting nonsense.
After a sigh she looked at him with determination. From her back she produced a wand and Rick’s eyes narrowed when he rocgnized it.
“Albus told me about it. He said… Against his better judgement he entrusted it with me although he wished you could take it.”
“Bella, do you even-”
“Yes. He has been honest with me. He’s sorry about breaking his word to you by the way.” she said while tapping her open palm with the death stick. “You should take it.”
“And be cursed?”
“You made a ritual to remove curses,” she countered.
“Human, mortal curses, not Death’s with a capital D.”
“Curses are curses, no matter who cast them. Isn’t it what you said to Draco?”
“You picked an awful time to use my words against-”
“Please.” her voice cracked, full of pleas. “I’d rather you live cursed than you being dead. Lily too.” She lied. Lily knew nothing about the hallows but she hoped that bringing out her name would make him agree.
Rick wasn’t duped. “Lily doesn’t know anything about them.” He exhaled deeply and with a flick of his wand disarmed Bella. He caught the elder wand and fit it inside his empty wand holster.
“Go. Now. You can’t be here any longer.”
She nodded and gave him a toe curling kiss, then another. “From Lily.” she smiled, then made her way to the stables.
Rick picked his communicating mirror and called Albus. Before he could say anything the man apologized.
“I wanted all the cards in your corner.”
“For the greater good.” Rick remarked and Albus had the decency to flinch. “You’re right. I’m just… She’s singing in my hand Albus and it… it makes me uneasy. But I’m choosing to take the burden and the consequences. That is the greater good.”
“Yes… It took me years to understand that… sacrificing someone for the sake of many others is no better than sacrificing many for one person, morally wise. Not if they don’t consent to it. I have faith however.”
At the stables, Bella closed the door behind her and Lily activated the protective wards. She walked to Rose who was standing next to Moody.
“How are you?”
“Afraid for dad. I know we’re going to win but dad…”
“Don’t worry about him, lass. Your father is one of the toughest wizards I’ve ever met. He sent Moldy-short packing twice, he’s going to do it a third time.” Moody tried to cheer her up.
“He’s right, Rose.” Lily chimed in. “Your father may be a reckless idiot sometimes but in a fight? You can count on him. He’ll hold on as long as needed and once Voldemort is dealt with… how about we celebrate? Full feast and everything.”
Rose gave her a deadpan answer. “Mom, tomorrow is Christmas, we will celebrate that way either way.”
Lily was about to give an answer when she received a call on her mirror. She recognized Severus in what looked like a luxurious bathroom.
“We’re departing in ten minutes. Be ready.” he whispered.
“I’ll share the word. You have your portkey on you?”
Severus nodded and ended the call. Lily called Rick and Amelia to update them on the situation. The poison was supposed to kill ‘Dumbledore’ an hour from now.
She received another call but this time from Albus.
“They have begun to apparate behind the manor, in the woods. I estimate around a hundred of them.” he was observing the areas with the surveillance snitches from his office.
“That’s more than expected.” Moody frowned.
“Ze wards will deal wiz most of zem.” replied Fleur.
“Not a problem. Ve vill fight the others.”
Rose looked at Viktor and gave him a smile. He had promised to fight against Voldemort and he kept it. Just like Fleur they had been induced in the order two years ago although they were not very active members. Viktor, with his quidditch career, traveled a lot and could discreetly search for information.
A bit more than an hour later, Voldemort started the assault. Severus shared the secret with every Death Eater present and they quickly acted. Voldemort was so furious at Rick and the idea to kill Rose so strong that he didn’t stay behind when Rick got out of the manor and began to fire spells. The rest of the order which wasn’t protecting Rose in the stable got out of the manor too and began to fight back.
Voldemort made a bee line for Rick and began casting spells, starting the duel. Rick didn’t bother using fancy spells and went back to anything that was fast. Mostly the old cooking spells he hadn’t used in years. That allowed him to keep up with Voldemort's casting speed.
Severus used his portkey to arrive inside Lions’ Pride and rushed outside through the back door to join Rose's protective detail. The anti-portkey and anti-apparition ward were then activated and so were the gravity ones. Many death eaters found themselves, slowed down or crashing on the ground, unable to move. Many but not all. A good half of the enemies, if not more, were still fighting. They gave everything they had and were nasty about it.
Amelia and her aurors came in and swiftly engaged, taking the death eaters from behind. That made the fight more balanced at a 1 vs 1.5. Ratio. But despite being ambushed the death eaters quickly reacted and fought back. Curses and spells were flying everywhere.
In front of the manor, Rick and Voldemort’s duel was so violent that both order and the Death Eaters, gave them a very wide breadth. The whole terrain was being remodeled. Much like during their fight at North-Hampton almost twenty years ago, Rick had switched from quick spells to more powerful ones when Voldemort upped the ante. To the former discontentment, Voldemort had found a way to deal with the plasma beam by turning into a black mist and getting out of the way. When one of them touched the mist but nothing happened, the Dark Lord didn’t bother to dodge anymore and let the beam directly go through this gaseous form. How could he change his body’s composition while remaining sentient? Rick had no idea, he was too focused on the fight anyway.
On Dumbledore’s signal, Rose and her escort got out of the stable. Bella immediately dealt with two death eaters. She began to cackle like mad and shot curses after curses at anyone dressed in black robes. Marlene did the same and both of them opened a path towards Rick and Voldemort, the rest of the group being vigilant and shielding Rose as much as possible, blocking or redirecting curses. The ones good in transfiguration, created solid objects to block the killing curses which came flying from time to time.
Everything seemed to go well until more Death Eaters apparated outside the wards. Chaos ensued. The new arrivals took by surprise the group and pinned it down.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”
An eerie green bolt of light shot from Voldemort’s wand the moment Rick was distracted by shielding his face from debris, a result of a bombarda maxima on his right. He was fast but not fast enough. The block of earth he raised from the soil was half a second too slow and didn’t block the unforgivable.
“DAD!”
Right before her eyes, Rose saw her father being hit right in the chest and his body fall to the ground where it lay unmoving. Consumed by grief and hatred for the man who had just killed her father, she got away from the people protecting her, too busy dealing with the new Death Eaters. Lily yelled her name, ordering her to come back. Bella had stopped cackling and screamed like a banshee. Completely unhinged, she began using the worst curses she knew and began a total purge of her enemies, showing them no more mercy.
“Rose Potter, come to die.” Voldemort greeted her. He had stopped cackling triumphantly when he saw her arriving from the side of the area.
Rose didn’t bother with a verbal answer. She cast every spell she knew with only one idea in mind: killing the man who murdered her father. Voldemort wasn't impressed however and dealt with each of her spells easily and with amusement. He began to retaliate and quickly put her on her back foot. She knew he was toying with her.
“Is that all Rose Potter? What a disappointment. To think a prophecy said you had the power to defeat me! ME! Dark Lord Voldemort! The Greatest Wizard that ever lived!”
“Shut up, you geriatric emo! My father was a better wizard than you ever will be!”
“Your father is dead, girl! He was weak! While I walked the path of immortality! I’m eternal! I, alone!”
“Is that so, Tommy-boy?”
Voldemort barely dodged the plasma beam shot his way. It had been so fast that he hadn’t had the reflex to turn into mist. Once again, he had lost his off-arm. Once again to the same man. A man he had killed a few minutes ago.
“You’re not the only immortal one, Tommy-boy.”
Even Rose was dumbfounded. Right in front of her and Voldemort's eyes, her father was alive. She saw him crack his neck and stretch as if he was waking up from a very restful nap.
“That’s impossible! No one has ever survived the killing curse!” Voldemort shouted in disbelief.
“There is a first for every-”
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”
Voldemort didn’t care for Rick’s explanation. He fired another unforgivable at Rick who once again took it to the chest. This time however, nothing happened.
“That was ru-.”
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”
Once again nothing happened. Rose, who was now a bystander, wondered if she wasn’t dreaming.
“Now this is just embarrassing, Tommy-”
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”
“You know at your age, it’s normal to have some performance problems,” Rick taunted.
Something broke inside of Rose and she began to laugh maniacally at her father’s antics, tears of joy falling down her cheeks.
“AVA-”
“Verus amor!”
Rick’s usual red wolf sprung from his wand, surprising Voldemort for a brief moment. It was enough for the philo to touch the Dark Lord and disappear while making him scream. Rick didn’t stop there and disarmed his opponent who had fallen down on his knees
“What… What did you do to me?” Voldemort asked weakly, using his remaining hand to claw at his chest, tears running down his pale cheeks.
All around the fighting had stopped for the most part. It was clear to the Death Eaters that their Master had lost. For the ones facing Bella however, they were still fighting for their lives, she was so grief stricken that she never noticed that Rick was alive. The other members of the group wondered if they should stop her but Moody’s nonchalant ‘Nah, let the lass vent’ made them abandon the idea.
“I gave you love, you asshole.”
“Re-Remove it. I hate it! Stop it!” Voldemort was frantic now, he was clawing so hard at his chest that he had drawn blood.
With a flick of his wand, Rick used the petrificus totalus spell followed by an incarcerous, binding the defeated Dark Lord in chains. “No. Not until you confessed to all your crimes. Only then will I tell you how to get rid of it.”
“DAD!” Rose ran across the field and jumped into her father’s arms. She had charged him with so much strength that he nearly fell backward.
“Hey!” He embraced her with everything he had, burying his head in her hair as if Rose was his salvation.
A second redhead tackled him from the side and this time he fell down, taking Rose with him.
“You’re alive!” Lily half-yelled half-sobed then began kissing his face all over.
“Not like I want to end the emotional reunion but can you do something about Bellatrix?”
Parents and daughter looked at Remus then followed his finger. At the end of it was Bella unleashing hell on the remaining Death Eaters who were begging for her to stop and yelled their surrender.
Rick put his wand on his throat and used sonorus. “BELLA!”
The lady Black stopped right in the middle of making a death eater spill his guts on the grass and turned around in shock at hearing her dead husband’s voice. Her opponents didn't even bother to seize the opportunity to attack and chose to flee. Unfortunately for them Moody and the rest of the order captured them all. ‘Constant Vigilance!’ he had yelled at them in mockery.
The Lady Black who had so far been frozen began to cry, much like Lily, and ran toward her very much alive husband. A tackle to the ground later and Rick was pinned down again.
“Are you done? I want a hug too.” Marlene complained and was supported by Andromeda and Dorea.
Rick cried out to Remus. “Help.”
“Sorry but you’re on your own for that one.” The werewolf had a small amused and sorry smile on his lips.
For a brief moment, Rick wondered if he shouldn’t have just stayed dead.