Chapter 126: Nobody saw that coming
“This is really a weird sight. I’m glad to see you alive, Amelia but seeing myself… Weird.”
Alt-Scrimgeour was facing Amelia for the first time in a year but also himself. Aurors from both worlds were gathered on a small hill not too far from Malfoy manor and were preparing for the assault on it.
“How did I die?” Inquired Amelia.
“Like a badass witch. They raided the Ossuary and you fought them alone. The investigation revealed you took sixteen down before He fought you himself.” Alt-Scrimgeour revealed with bitterness.
“Susan?”
“She was with her friend at the time. Abbot. Still is when not at Hogwarts.” Amelia sighed in relief when she heard that. “I’m glad to see you here with reinforcements but I wonder why you came to fight and risk your life? This is not your world.”
“I’m the Minister for Magic, Rufus. I swore to protect Magical Britain against Voldemort. It doesn't matter if it’s mine or yours, I wasn’t specific about it.”
“And we all volunteered for personal reasons.” Scrimgeour explained his Alternate. “The most common is: we want a go at those scums again. Once wasn’t enough.” he grinned predatorily.
His Alt did the same but was more restrained. “I hope that will be enough. We’re 75 in total, not counting Potter and his group.”
“Since you don’t particularly care if some die with the exception of Voldemort and the high figures in his inner circle, that’s more than enough. Bella and Rick will do the job.” Amelia controlled herself but she was smug, thinking of the devastation and chaos those two were about to unleash on the death eaters.
“Are they that powerful?” Alt-Scrimgeour had an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
“They are but not like Dumbledore or Voldemort. However they created very destructive spells which allow them to stand on an equal footing.” She assured him.
“What about the spy in the manor?”
“He’s supposed to send a signal when he’s done with his task. Just in case, a small infiltration group will go in there from the back to help him. The building is big and the snake could be anywhere.”
Alt-Scrimgeour nodded and gave orders to his aurors. Following Dumbledore’s advice he checked them all for the imperius curse and were all clean. They didn’t have the dark mark either and never displayed any interest in the pureblood supremacy agenda. He trusted all the men and women present as much as he could.
Once everyone was in position, Bella and Rick joined them.
“The Voldemort dealing squad is ready. Once we get the signal from the spy they act.”
The plan was to confront Voldemort as late as possible, so the snake could be killed first before defeating him. They didn’t want the beast to escape. Even if they were able to recreate the compass with the horcruxes left in this world or even if they borrowed the one from their world, a snake could hide anywhere and would be very difficult if not impossible to catch. As such, dealing with it first was a priority.
“We’re ready too. You can start.” Amelia said simply.
Rick looked at his second wife. “You do it or-”
“No, you do it. I love when you go all big powerful wizard.” Bella purred at her husband.
He sighed, knowing he should have expected that answer from her. They walked forward, separating themselves from the group. Bella cast no less than ten plasma bangs above her head. They were ready to be shot at a moment's notice. Rick raised his wand and aimed at the manor.
Among the Voldemort love squad, all the members of this world were wondering what Rick was about to do to breach the powerful wards of the place. They nearly fell on their asses when a bright white and bluish light shot from the man's wand. It was as thick as Rick was tall and it hit the wards full force. It completely shredded them and went on its way hitting the manor and coming back out from the other side.
“““Merlin!””” Most shouted in astonishment.
“Knock knock! It’s another Potter you and your death munchers failed to kill Tommy boy! Come and get your ass wiped! Or will you flee like your muggle father when he saw how ugly your mother was once not under her amortentia? To be fair, if he knew that you would look like a used Q-tip with no nose, I’d understand why he did it. That’s why inbreeding should not be done. At one point you guys are so inbred you look like a sandwich.”
Silence suddenly reigned over the area. The light side was completely dumbfounded by the vile insults Rick had just poured out of his mouth while using a Sonorus. The sudden familiar cackling of Bellatrix, whose volume was enhanced too, brought everyone out of their shocked stupor.
“Blimey! That was…”
“Is he insane?! He’s provoking Voldemort!” Alt-Hermione shouted.
“Bella’s influence over the years I’m afraid.” Lily sighed. “To be honest it's better than the alternative. He used to be hyper focused on removing obstacles and threats on the way. Like a silent killing machine who only stopped when there is no more danger for the people he loves and with no remorse.”
“And you married him despite that?” Harry wondered in shock and disapproval.
“Nobody is perfect, Harry. In my eyes Rick has very few flaws. Even that was… I didn’t like it but it came from a love and a desire to protect so deep that I couldn’t fault him for it. And that’s what true love is all about. It’s not about loving the qualities of your partner, it’s about accepting their flaws and being comfortable with them in some measure. I was able to accept that he didn’t particularly like to take lives and would rather not but if the need arose he would do it in a heartbeat. He chose to sin, and dirty his hands in blood so others could live. How could I not love him for it even when I don’t like it?” She gave him a serene smile. “Besides, he got better at managing his madness.”
“““Madness?”””
“Black Madness.” Sirius replied. “So much inbreeding in my family had consequences. We’re all a bit touched up there. Some more than others, some less but with a type of madness more dangerous.”
“What’s yours?” Alt-Hermione wondered.
“Being rebellious and childish.”
“Ha! So you’re not just a man child?” Harry inquired.
Sirius chuckled. “No.”
“Bellatrix?” Ron asked.
“Almost no control over her intrusive thoughts and obsession.”
“That explains so much.” Alt-Hermione commented.
“She got a lot better at restraining herself too.” Lily remarked. “She hasn’t tortured or murdered anyone since 79? 80? And she’s less obsessive regarding power.”
“How come?” wondered Ginny, brushing aside the torture and murder part.
“Rick taught her his spells. There are very few witches or wizards that could contend with her in our world now. She also understood that power is not everything. Voldemort was more powerful than Rick and yet Rick beat him every time.”
Death Eaters had rushed out of the manor and the Aurors troops began to engage. Spells began flying all around and no one gave any quarters. Bella and Rick dealt with quite a disconcerting easiness with the enemies coming their way. That is until members of the inner circles appeared.
““That’s brutal.”” Fred and George said out loud what the teenagers were all thinking as they watched the battle unfold.
“And that’s why we don’t want you to fight.” James confessed. “Not because we don’t think you’re competent enough but because we don’t want you to dirty your hands and have to live with that. Not when you’re still in your teens.”
“Many Aurors at the end of the first war quit because they couldn’t cope properly.” Sirius added.
“We started fighting straight out of Hogwarts because it was the best choice among only bad choices. And what we did or saw… it stuck forever.” Lily said. “I remember that time when we were surrounded by a pack of werewolves at North-Hampton. I nearly died and the only way we had to survive was to change sand into silver particles and let the weres breathe it in.” She said bitterly. She would forever remember that event. For the carnage the werewolves did, for the way they were killed and for Rick doing it in the first place and reacted like it didn’t matter. She had overcome the nightmares long ago but it never left her memory.
Down the fight, Rick had just disarmed Antonin Dolhov and killed Rookwood with a small plasma beam to the head. The former was quickly restrained with bindings and knocked out. Not far from Rick, Bella was toying with Bellatrix. She had used the plasma bangs she had left on the Lestrange brothers and was now entertaining herself with her evil counterpart.
They couldn’t be more different. Bella looked like a Milf model you could see in charm magazines, an amused grin on her face and completely dominating her opponent. Bellatrix on the other hand looked the total opposite. Frustrated and snarling, unhinged, her hair worse than a Potter nest, her skin looked sickly, her teeth were rotten. She had not yet quite recuperated from her fifteen years stint in Azkaban physically speaking. But even had she, the result wouldn’t be much different.
“Pathetic. This, is what I become by choosing that loser for Master? It’s not even funny.” The Lady Black’s tone was as deadpan as her facial expression.
“Master is the most powerful there is! He knows magic like no one else! He’s immortal! You can’t defeat him!”
“He just split his soul in pieces, that's not immortality, you disgusting bitch. We destroyed all of them. He’s mortal now.”
“YOU LIE!”
Bellatrix tried the cruciatus but Bella blocked it with a block of dirt.
“Look at you. You look like an overused whore from knockturn alley. What a disgrace you are to the House of Black. Kissing the feet of a half-blood.”
“Master’s blood is not dirty! AVADA KEDAVRA!”
Once again Bella used a block of dirt to take the spell.
“You had everything going for you. The beauty, the magic, the talent, the blood, the name! Everything to be a queen! And you chose to be a servant to a man not worth a knut!” She cast multiple cooking charms to tender the meat on Bellatrix who blocked a good number of them but not all. “Look at me! I renounced him! I chose another master. He promised me power! He promised me knowledge. He promised me that I would be Lady Black! He promised me he would make me a queen! Only if I followed him! And he kept his word! I’m now the most powerful witch in Magical England and one of the most powerful witches in the world! Women from all ages wish they were me! And you? You’re just a failure of a sandwich.”
Bella’s speech must have pissed off Bellatrix beyond reason because she used the fiendfyre spell.
“DIE!”
“Bella.” Rick called out calmly.
“I got this, Master!”
“I know. I wanted to tell you to stop playing with your food.” As he said this, he raised his wand and conjured a metallic shield in front of her blocking a killing curse from Voldemort who had finally decided to enter the fight.
“Yes, Master!” She shouted happily looking at her counterpart. “Watch what my Master taught me.”
Her words, destined to Bellatrix were the prelude to something that shocked everyone around. Bella raised her wand and created an invisible bubble around the panthera looking flame. Soon enough the fire became smaller and smaller until it was completely gone. Bellatrix was so dumbfounded that she didn’t even defend against Bella casting a succession of three spells on her. Petrificus totalus, incarcerous and accio. Soon enough, Bellatrix was kneeling at Bella’s feet, forced to watch the duel between her Master and her counterpart’s.
“Watch and learn, you little failure. Master may not be as powerful nor as fast as that half-blood asshole but he’s the better wizard nonetheless.” Bella was gripping Bellatrix’s head with her off-hand and playing with her forehead with her fingers. As if it was a piano.
The first thing Rick did was create a swarm of big butterflies made of dirt and made them fly around him. A protection against the killing curse. After that he began using transfiguration. His goal, after all, was to stall for Alt-Severus and the infiltration team to find and kill the snake.
“Wow. That’s some advanced transfiguration.” Harry commented. “It reminds me of Professor Dumbledore.”
“That’s because he’s imitating me. Partially.” Albus answered. “Transfiguration is the greatest way to corner or capture your adversary, make the duel last longer. Of course, you can target your opponent directly but Voldemort is too experienced to let himself be hit by a spell like this or be bothered for long.”
From their vantage point, they could clearly see Rick and Voldemort exchanging words but could hear anything. The more the fight went on the more furious and aggressive Voldemort was. So much that he began to shout. A few words were heard distinctly.
“-Mud-blood whore!”
Lily winced. “He shouldn’t have used the m-word.”
“Why not?” Harry asked and everyone turned to him and gave him a dumbfounded look. “Besides the obvious I mean!” he quickly added.
“Rick hates that word. It never bothered him when the bigots were calling him like that at school. When it was used against me however?” She shook her head.
Sirius interjected in confusion. “Wait, did he summon Bella’s wand? What the hell for?”
No one had an answer to give him but what puzzled everyone was that Rick wasn’t using it against Voldemort. He kept on using transfiguration to keep Voldemort on his toes and protect himself. His transfigurations, however, were more vicious and offense oriented.
Dumbledore, who was looking at what Rick was doing, suddenly raised his head to look at the sky. “Ohhhh. So that’s why he took Bella’s wand.”
“What is it?” Lily asked.
Albus pointed at what he was watching. “Look.”
Everyone followed his finger and found gigantic magic circles way up in the sky. Each circle was at a different altitude and one was being written as they watched.
“Rose, do you have any idea about what they do?” Albus inquired. He couldn’t make sense of the circles’ purpose.
“I… I’m not sure, Professor. I recognize… It’s supposed to affect the flow of magic, I think.”
““I have so many questions right now.”” Both Hermiones spoke at the same time. They exchanged a look then chuckled.
Down on the field. Rick stopped moving and casting spells. He batted away Voldemort's last curse and simply stood straight.
“Surrendering?”
“Why should I? This duel is already over.”
“It’ll be over in a moment! AVADA KEDAVRA!”
Against all expectation, no eerie green bolt of light shot out from Voldemort’s wand. Bella began cackling like mad while the Dark Lord was confused.
“Itty-bitty-baby-Tommy has performance issues~!”
“He is over seventy, Bella. A common occurrence among the lesser men.” Rick added insult to the injury. It had an even more impactful effect from his neutral and disinterested tone.
Voldemort raged, trying to use spell after spell but nothing happened. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
“What I do best, Tommy-boy: Win. But I’m a magnanimous man, so I’ll give you a hint. Look up.” Rick replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Riddle refused to accept defeat but looked up and saw the gigantic magic circles. At the same time, a flare busted the roof of Malfoy manor and exploded in multiple red light particles.
Before Voldemort could react, dozens of red animal phantoms ran towards him and hit him straight into the chest. He screamed as if he was in agony and fell to his knees.
“What… What is…” Then he saw a bright red phantomatic penguin, gliding on its stomach on the grass in his direction. “No, no, no, nonononononono!” no matter how much he begged, the philo hit him straight on. In a curling scream, Voldemort passed out. And thus ended the second Wizarding War of this parallel world.
Rick disarmed him, tied and gagged him up and handed back her wand to Bella who proceeded to jump him and gave him the greatest kiss in her life. She was so horny by what he had just done that she was undressing him for open-air sex on the spot while her tongue battled against this. A stinging hex to her ass put a stop to everything.
“Owwwieee!” Bella climbed down off her husband and massaged her hurt buttcheek, glaring at Amelia.
“There is a time and a place for that!”
“You’re just pent up because he didn’t fuck you enough two days-” This time Bella was ready, alert and blocked the stinging Hex.
Amelia was still with her wand raised in a threatening manner. “Not another word!”
Bella stuck her tongue out to her and melted against the now partially naked chest of Rick, rubbing her cheek against it.
Out of Malfoy Manor, Alt-Severus Snape walked out with the severed head of a snake and Peter Pettigrew floating behind him. Next to him were Narcissa and Draco pushing forward their Alternates at wand point.
The Voldemort love squad had come down their vantage point and Alt-Scrimgeour separated from the aurors troop after barking orders.
“So that’s the snake. Good work, Mister Snape,” he praised then frowned when he saw Peter. “I know that face.”
“Peter Pettigrew. My parents’ real secret keepers.” Harry revealed and explained further when Alt Scrimgeour gave him a curious look. “Sirius never was. He made everyone believe he was so the Death Eaters would go after him.”
Alt Scrimgeour frowned. “The report of his arrest said he confessed that your parents' death was on him.”
“That’s because he recommended Pettigrew instead. He felt guilty because the one he chose to take his place was a traitor. In his mind it was as if he had done the deed himself.”
Alt-Scrimgeour wasn’t happy about this. That meant that an innocent man had spent thirteen years in the worst level of Azkaban and had the whole country after him for a crime he didn’t commit.
“I’ll make sure to correct that mistake, Mister Potter. Sirius Black will be exonerated and free.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late, Minister. Sirius died in the battle of the DOM a year ago. Bellatrix killed him and he fell through… some arch.”
“Then it will be done posthumously. I gather he didn’t kill those muggles either and that it was in fact Pettigrew?” Harry nodded. “I’ll set things right, Mister Potter.”
“Be careful with Pettigrew. He’s an illegal rat animagus. That’s how he escaped Sirius. He transformed and went down the sewers.”
“We’ll put him in a special cell.” Alt-Scrimgeour then turned to the Malfoy.
“They helped find the snake and the Rat.” Draco said, pointing at the Malfoy alternates. “Other me was forced to join Voldemort against his will for his father's repeated failures. His mother had nothing to do with the movement and was a hostage in her own home. As for Lord Malfoy… he had a change of heart.”
Alt-Scrimgeour said nothing but observed the group. He could see from the facial expression of the Malfoy family that Draco was telling the truth.
“An investigation will be conducted to verify your testimony.” He signaled with his hands at a few aurors who took the alternate family away but also Voldemort, Bellatrix and Pettigrew. “Thank you for your help.” he looked at the Primes. “Without it, we wouldn’t have put an end to this war so fast. How long before you return to your world?”
Everyone turned to Rick. “Two weeks. There are… personal things for us to do yet. Worry not, Minister, we’ll stay at Black Oak and won’t cause any trouble.”
Alt-Scrimgeour nodded and left. Amelia sent back her aurors to Black Manor with the order they could go back to their world as their jobs were done. She also promised a nice bonus for their actions.
Rick turned to Draco and Narcissa. “How much of it was true?”
“Almost all of it.” Draco answered. “The exception was Lucius’ participation. With all his crimes, it’s Azkaban nonetheless. Narcissa… Hm… this is weird to say your name like that, mother.” he grumbled and Narcissa smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“It turned out that Narcissa had the same life as I had before you became Lord Black. She wasn’t happy with some revelations and neither was her son. Lucius only still lives because she loves Draco. But she didn’t take very well how my Draco turned out from my education and how hers turned out from Lucius’. Things are going to change for both.”
“Awww, I missed you confronting yourself.” Bella pouted.
“I’m sure you were too busy confronting yourself too, Bella.”
The eldest of the Black sisters grimaced. “It was boring. She was so weak! The only redeeming quality she had was that it was funny mocking her.”
“Only you, Bella. Only you.” Lily shook her head and gave her little Bell a comforting hug.
“Master was awesome however!”
““Yes! What did you do, Professor?!”” both Hermione asked again in unison.
“It seemed like you defeated Voldemort.” Harry pointed out.
“I didn’t. If Voldemort wanted to keep fighting he just needed to get out from under the magic circles. What they do is block all use of magic under it. I won’t go into details, that’s Family knowledge but I applied the same principle as magic suppressing cuffs. I just used the medium of air and earth to make it an area affect.”
“That’s brilliant, dad! When did you come up with that?!” Rose was in awe.
“When he said the M-word.”
Both Hermione made a choking sound, while everyone else’s eyes bulged out of their eyes. Bella and Dumbledore were the only ones laughing albeit for different reasons. The former because her husband was a beautiful genius, the latter because it was a result of nervousness and absurdity combined.
“Great jobs with the philos. Especially you, Harry. It was quite bright.”
“I thought about how much I love my mom for what she did for me.” Harry grinned but had a small blush on his face.
“Well, I don’t know about you but I’m still in top form and I need to unwind all that adrenaline that hasn’t been used. Let’s go home and play quidditch?”
Everyone agreed with Sirius' suggestion.
Bella (calm, deadly): “Pathetic. This is what I become by choosing that loser for Master? It’s not even funny.”Crowd: Lily: “Ohhh, here we go…”
Bellatrix (snarling): “Master is the most powerful there is! He knows magic like no one else! He’s immortal! You can’t defeat him!”Crowd: “Here comes the cult speech…”
Bella (cutting in): “He just split his soul in pieces, that's not immortality, you disgusting bitch. We destroyed all of them. He’s mortal now.”Crowd: Fred & George: “BOOM!”
Bellatrix (screaming): “YOU LIE!”Crowd: Bella: (casually blocks cruciatus with dirt)
Bella (smirking):
“Look at you. You look like an overused whore from Knockturn Alley. What a disgrace you are to the House of Black. Kissing the feet of a half‑blood.” Crowd: Sirius: “Daaaaamn.”
Bellatrix (losing it): “Master’s blood is not dirty! AVADA KEDAVRA!”Crowd: 🫣🫣🫣Bella: (blocks again with dirt)
Bella (pressing in): “You had everything going for you. The beauty, the magic, the talent, the blood. Everything to be a queen! And you chose to be a servant to a man not worth a knut!”Crowd: Rose: “YES!”
Bella (twisting the knife): “Look at me! I renounced him! I chose another master. He promised me power! He promised me knowledge. He promised me that I would be Lady Black! He promised me he would make me a queen! Only if I followed him! And he kept his word!”Crowd:
Bella (grinning): “I’m now the most powerful witch in Magical England and one of the most powerful witches in the world! Women from all ages wish they were me! And you?! You’re just a failure of a sandwich.”Crowd: Fred & George: dead from laughter
Bellatrix (feral, snapping): “DIE!” (casts Fiendfyre)Crowd: Rick: “Bella.” Bella (perky): “I got this, Master!”
Bella (smug as hell): “Watch what my Master taught me.” (shrinks Fiendfyre into nothing with a bubble spell)Crowd: Bellatrix:
Bella (finishing her): Petrificus Totalus! Incarcerous! Accio!(drags Bellatrix to kneel at her feet)Crowd: Harry: “That’s… brutal.”
Bella (stroking Bellatrix’s head like a pet): “Watch and learn, you little failure. Master may not be as powerful nor as fast as that half‑blood asshole but he’s the better wizard nonetheless.”Crowd: Bellatrix:
Rick (Sonorus booming):
“Knock knock! It’s another Potter you and your death munchers failed to kill, Tommy boy!” Crowd: “He didn’t—” Bella:
Rick:
“Come and get your ass wiped!” Aurors: Alt‑Hermione: “Is he insane?!”
Rick:
“Or will you flee like your muggle father when he saw how ugly your mother was once not under her amortentia?” Crowd: Fred & George: “OHHHHH!”
Rick (not stopping):
“To be fair, if he knew that you would look like a used Q‑tip with no nose, I understand why he did it.” Bella: wheezing laughter Crowd: Harry: 🫣
Rick:
“That’s why inbreeding should not be done. At one point you guys are so inbred you look like a sandwich.” Aurors: Alt‑Ron: “I don’t even—” Bella: literally can’t breathe from laughing
[Moment of stunned silence across both sides] Light side: Dark side: Bella: still cackling into the Sonorus