Harry and the Six Virgins

Chapter XVII

Friday, July 19, 1996

Harry and the six girls, now again virginal in body if not in memory, appeared back in the original cavern, in the same seats they had originally sat down in.

Casey was standing. "I have apologized to each of you separately for manipulating your moral resistance. I now apologize to you seven as a group. As I told you, this period has allowed me to evaluate Harry and to make some small physical changes in him which will allow him to channel his extraordinary power without burning out. I did so, not so that he could destroy Voldemort, for it was easy to bring him to his full power, which would have allowed him to defeat anyone except myself. No, I wanted to see if Harry could be trusted to live with that greater power. I believe he has the moral and psychological traits he will need to handle that power."

Casey suddenly transformed, and he was wearing a robe of pure white. A small gold sickle was stuck in his belt, and he wore a necklace that held three small orbs -- representing the sun, the earth, and the moon. More importantly, he threw off his diffidence. He literally radiated power. Casey was gone; Cassiwallan the Druid Berserker was with them.

"I am glad that you gathered today -- if you aren't certain, it is still the Nineteenth of July, although it is a few minutes before midnight in this time zone. I brought you together today rather than waiting for your arrival because your friend Voldemort is just now starting a ceremony which has brought nearly all his supporters together." He looked at Harry. "His followers were freed from Azkaban prison early this morning, although your Ministry is still trying to keep that secret. Since they were all going to be together, tonight is a good time to take care of them. That is another reason why we went into the past rather than test you in the present."

Harry found himself in a robe similar to Cassiwallan's, a sickle in the belt. "This is your destiny, Harry. I will do most of the work, but this is your world more than it is mine. Are you prepared to do what needs to be done?"

Harry squared his shoulders. "I am, Cassiwallan."

"Say your goodbyes. When we return, you will be a different person."

Harry nodded. He went over and shook hands with Eloise first, thanking her for helping him. He shook hands and thanked Susan and Daphne as well, although he kissed both on the cheek. Harry embraced Ginny in a warm hug, and whispered words of his friendship before kissing her warmly. Ginny smiled weakly as Harry moved away.

Harry repeated the performance with Hermione, who kept a wary eye on Luna when she embraced Harry. Finally, Harry moved to Luna, who merely extended her hands to him. They clasped hands, and then Harry raised them and kissed each of Luna's hands before turning back to Cassiwallan. "I am ready," Harry stated.

Cassiwallan pulled the sickle from his belt. "Touch the oak handle." Harry did so without hesitation, and the pair disappeared. A table appeared, filled with juices and sandwiches in their place.

The six girls stood looking at the spot for several seconds. Hermione broke the silence first. "Ginny, I need to talk to you."

Ginny looked at her friend, but then came over to her. Hermione took Ginny to the furthest corner, so she could inform her about how her relationship with Ron had turned out so wrong, and why Ron was being sent to Australia.

The others watched while pretending not to. Ginny took the news without flinching. She did stalk away from Hermione some ten minutes after they had started talking.

Luna intercepted her and comforted her childhood friend for a few minutes. Ginny recovered her equilibrium, and walked back to the chairs, with Luna following.

"I'm not going to tell everything we did," Ginny told the group, "and I don't what to hear everything you did, but I do have a lot of Muggle photos to show. I know I was with Harry first, so I'll start." She opened the bag Casey had given to her when she had returned. "We took something four hundred photos between us, if anyone is interested in America in 1969." Ginny took a deep breath and looked over at Hermione. Ginny forced herself to smile at her best friend. "Come on, Hermione. I know you'll be interested."

Hermione put on a brave face and came over to be with the others.

Cassiwallan first materialized Harry in a well-furnished apartment. "This is a flat I keep near Diagon Alley. It is just Eleven at night, London time. Close your eyes, Harry."

Harry did so.

"Feel the powers you have, and that you have mastered. They are under your control. Most wizards can only apparate perhaps two hundred miles at their best. A hundred miles is actually considered the maximum safe range for common apparation to map coordinates. You, on the other hand, may, under the right circumstances, apparate several thousand miles. Here." Cassiwallan handed Harry two small carved stones. "You may apparate to whatever locations these stones are located at, anywhere on Earth. There are actually three stones. The third is back in the cabin in North America. I have given you the valley for your lifetime. It is very Muggle-repellant, and fairly unplottable. There are only three easy ways for a wizard or Muggle to get in. First of all, someone may apparate there in your arms, or mine. Second, you or I may create a portkey that can carry anyone. Third, they may come in via the contact stone. I have set its sister into your Gringotts vault, along with the instructions. House elves may enter the valley only if they have your permission or if they enter the valley in one of the first three ways."

"Thank you," Harry said.

"You are welcome. Now, as for tonight. A group of youngsters is being initiated into the Death Eaters. We will enter their meeting just before the first is tested. They must kill a Muggle to join. I will freeze things at that point, save the Muggles, and bring you in. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"I will give you a little notice, so feel free to use the toilet if you need to -- I won't just whisk you out. If you're hungry or thirsty, the kitchen in through that door. The bedroom and bathroom are beyond the kitchen."

Harry nodded, and Cassiwallan disappeared. Harry collapsed in a chair.

It was difficult to believe he was back in his old body, not quite sixteen, after spending about a year as an adult. Part of him wanted to exercise his powers, but he knew that was a bad idea. Part of him wanted to think about Luna, and Hermione (and Ginny, Daphne, Susan, and Eloise), but he knew under the circumstances that was even an worse idea.

Harry watched the clock. He went and found some milk in the refrigerator, and drank a glass. That made him realize he was hungry. There wasn't much that was ready to eat, so he had another glass of milk and some chocolate biscuits. He used the bathroom. Mostly, he paced.

He paced until it was 12:33. It was then that the call came, and Harry allowed himself to be pulled towards Cassiwallan.

Saturday, July 20, 1996

Harry saw he was back in the graveyard near the old Riddle House. A quick glance showed there seemed at first glance to be some seventy or eighty people, very unevenly divided between three groups, spread throughout the area. A few magical torches lit the scene. All the people were standing totally still, as if they were petrified. Not even Voldemort, standing near the grave of his father, was moving.

Cassiwallan escorted Harry to what was by far the largest group. "Here we have most of the so-called Death Eaters. Take a look at each one carefully, Harry. Tell me if there are any you think deserving of mercy, or of special punishment."

Harry hesitated a moment, but then walked around the mass of Death Eaters. He knew some of them -- Macnair, Nott, Avery, the Lestrange brothers, Dolohov, the senior Crabbe and Goyle, and a few others. And Snape.

"This one," Harry said of Snape alone.

"Mercy or punishment?"

"Mercy, as you know very well," Harry answered.

"Do I? Do you know how many people he has killed? How many he has tortured? And I do NOT mean abused in the classroom, like you, I mean genuinely tortured? He may have earned a partial reprieve, but never think him innocent."

"I don't. You asked if there were any I thought deserved mercy. I think he does."

Cassiwallan smiled coldly. "Then use the sickle instead of your wand and move him if you wish to save him. Any future crimes he commits will partially be on your soul."

Harry held the sickle a little doubtfully, but intoned the levitation spell. It worked, and Harry maneuvered Snape out of the group while Cassiwallan moved the group closer together.

"You can all hear me, so hear me pronounce judgement. I am Cassiwallan the Druid, revenger of the Celts, teacher of Merlin and Harry Potter, the black agent of the Cartel of Magic. You have all murdered; you have all tortured. None deserve mercy. Therefore, I condemn you all to death."

With his wand in his left hand and the sickle in his right, Cassiwallan lifted his arms to the sky and murmured a long set of incantations. After nearly five minutes, he stopped speaking, and a dark purple haze rose from the group. It swirled around the group, and finally was absorbed by Cassiwallan.

As the purple haze started to move away from them, a sickly green haze mist took its place over the group. It too swirled around the group, and then was absorbed by Cassiwallan. The Death Eaters collapsed, dead.

"You can still do it!"

"I can," Cassiwallan intoned, setting up privacy wards so that the others couldn't hear. "The purple was their magic; the green their life forces. Sixty-three Death Eaters, average age forty-five. They should have had at least ninety years of prospective life ahead of them, so that nearly fifty-seven hundred years of life just about replaces what I had to spend on your training."

Harry blinked.

"What, you think creating those bodies was just a magic trick? Or that sending you, and girls, and myself back into the past was easy? If it was easy, anyone could do it, and only I can. You spent a subjective year in the past, your friends a year in total. I spent six, with all the work involved. The energy to create those bodies and move us back and forth through time all came from my life force. All together, this probably cost me about six thousand years of life. Well, I just recaptured part of it. Well, most of it, actually."

"And the power?"

"That will keep me young." Cassiwallan grinned. "Who wants to live for millennia as an old man?"

He cut the privacy wards. "Let's deal with the new initiates. I already sent their potential victims to safety."

There were eleven young men and a woman awaiting initiation. Harry knew all twelve, at least by sight.

"Bletchely, Corner, Cornfoot, Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, Montague, Nott, Parkinson, Pucey, Smith, and Summersby," Cassiwallan intoned. "Miles Bletchley, Seventh year Slytherin. He was nervous about killing, but willing to go through with it. He saw it was a way to gain power easily. Michael Corner, Sixth year Ravenclaw, anxious to get the initiation over with. He was worried because Ginny Weasley and he broke up before he could turn her over to his new Lord. He was very much hoping he would get the chance to rape her. Stephen Cornfoot, another Sixth year Hufflepuff. He got in on this because Corner and Smith convinced him. A weak-willed follower."

Cassiwallan set them aside and separated out the next three. "Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Draco Malfoy, Sixth year Slytherins and your personal annoyances. Malfoy was disappointed; he had hoped Hermione Granger or Ginny Weasley would be here tonight be to ravished, tortured, and killed. Crabbe was the most eager of all the recruits to rape and torture. Goyle here was the least eager. He is here only because of his father's orders and because he was conditioned to accept Draco's lead. He was hoping a miracle would help him, but without one, he probably would have killed."

"St. John Montague, Seventh year Slytherin, and Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson, Sixth years. Montague is a bit out of his depth here, wondering a little what he had gotten himself into. He thought it was a game, until about an hour ago, and was looking for some way out. He might have refused, at least until he was hit by a Crucio or two. Nott was anxious to get the initiation over with. To him, killing is a necessary but not very pleasurable part of the deal he was willing to make for power. Parkinson was also upset Hermione wasn't here. She was hoping to literally skin her alive. Quite the nasty disposition!"

"Adrian Pucey, Seventh year Slytherin; Zacharias Smith, Sixth year Hufflepuff; and John Summersby, Seventh year Hufflepuff. Summersby helped recruit Smith, who in turn recruited Corner and Cornfoot. A very able schemer, rather upset by the sight of blood, however. Pucey has been the main intelligence gatherer, taking the observations of all these others, and the ones who had been ahead of them, and collating the data. Smith is probably the most ambitious of all of them, and the one who hates you most, after Malfoy."

Cassiwallan considered them, and moved Goyle and Montague over to one side. "Do you mind if I spare their lives, Harry?"

"No," Harry answered. "Do you HAVE to kill the others."

"On the whole, I'd say yes. Malfoy was already wondering if he has any chance of becoming the next Dark Lord if something happens to Voldemort. Smith and Pucey were wondering how to find a stronger movement."

"May I suggest an alternative?"

Cassiwallan cocked his head at Harry. "Alright, what?"

Harry gave Cassiwallan an evil grin. "Take their magic. Make them Squibs."

Cassiwallan smiled. "I like it! I will have to take about a fifth to a quarter of their life forces, just to insure they do not get any of their power back. Please move Goyle, Montague, and Snape further away."

Harry did, and in less than twenty minutes, the ten teens had lost their magic forever.

"This leaves us with just three special cases before the finale, my young apprentice." Cassiwallan levitated Snape and moved him to a position where he could watch, and then went over to the smallest group. "Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew. Is there anything you wish to say, my young apprentice?"

"Can you shove Lestrange through the Veil?"

"I could," Cassiwallan admitted, "but the effect here is the same. And it would cause quite a stir in your Ministry."

"Alright," Harry agreed. He turned to Wormtail. "Does he have a reason why he betrayed my parents, why he didn't honor his Wizard's Debt to me?"

Cassiwallan studied Wormtail for nearly a minute. "He wanted to serve Voldemort only because he thought Voldemort would win," Cassiwallan said simply. "He would have preferred NOT to have betrayed your parents, but was more afraid not to. He made a few half-hearted efforts to deflect Voldemort away from you, but that was as far as he could go. He is a weak, pathetic little man."

"Is there any way you can punish them without torturing them?" Harry asked.

"These two are too dangerous to let live, Harry, even without magic, and Pettigrew is little better."

Harry then had a horrible thought. "Why not drain them of their magic and MOST of their life forces. Nearly all of it, I mean."

Cassiwallan considered. "I like this idea, too. Please move Snape over next to his former master."

As Harry did so, Cassiwallan repeated the ceremony a third time. When he was done, he addressed the trio. "You have no powers. You each have about seventy-two to seventy-eight hours to live. There is nothing you can do to stop it, unless you hurry things along. Feel each moment of life ticking away." He considered, then smiled. "No, draining away." An hour glass appeared over each of their heads. "The time runs out in eighty hours. You will not live to see the time run out, but you will know your time is coming."

He turned, and walked over to Voldemort. "Tom Riddle. I wish I had taken the time to kill you years ago. Harry, it is time to fulfill prophecy. Come here, and put your right hand, with the sickle still in it, over his shoulder."

Harry hesitated, but did as he was told. Cassiwallan did the same on the other side, and hooked the two sickles together, so that the tip of each blade touched Voldemort's head.

"When you're ready, Harry, close your eyes and think of the love inside you. Think of the love you have for Luna and Hermione, the affection you have for Ginny and the other Weasleys, for Lupin and Tonks and Hagrid. Of the love you shared with six special women. And, when you're ready, just take a hold of my right hand with your left."

Harry did as he was told. The warm feelings took a hold of him. When he clasped Cassiwallan's hand, a slight tremor of fear and hatred rippled through him, but the love blanketed him, and he ignored the bad feelings.

Then Harry opened his eyes, and saw Voldemort was gone. All that was left was his robes, an old bone, Pettigrew's hand, and blood.

"That's it? It's over?"

Casey smiled. "Most of it. Now comes the long, boring part -- explanations. I'll send you and your friends back to where I took you, but first, here."

Harry took what looked like a small leather wallet. He opened it, and a badge flashed red, and then black. "You are no longer an acting red agent of the Cartel of Magic, you are a black agent. You do not answer to the British Ministry, you answer only to me, since you are now the only other black agent there has ever been besides me. So, have no fear of there being any legal retribution for tonight. I shall also inform the Ministry that you have been granted my permission to apparate and to use magic despite your age. I do ask that you have Lupin give you some pointers in apparating around Britain. There is a letter in the credentials for Lupin and Dumbledore which explain your status."

"Thank you." Harry looked into Cassiwallan's eyes. "When will I see you again?"

"Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps never. Live well, Harry Potter. Love well. Try and find some internal peace."