Learning to Vanquish

Chapter Fourteen

The Summer Solstice

On Monday evening, as Harry was studying in the library, his scar started burning. He was able to block the connection after a bit, but he couldn't tell if Voldemort was happy or enraged. That was unusual enough to make Harry very nervous.

The next morning, Hermione opened her Daily Prophet to read with her breakfast. She spat her first bite of food out and stared at the headline.

"Merlin, Hermione, what's gone wrong?" Ron asked, while shovelling scrambled eggs into his mouth.

In answer, Hermione turned the paper around. The morning's headline, taking up a third of the front page, said, "FUDGE OUSTED!" Harry could hear the whispering beginning through the Great Hall as Hermione began to read the article out loud. Although the paper gave a lot of details, the simple fact was that Fudge had been removed as Minister of Magic because he'd been abusing his office. Although the scandal with Umbridge and her Blood Quill had started things off, it received only one sentence in the entire article. The reporter spent much more time on favours done for donations to various Ministry charities, and on Fudge's actions in keeping the information from the public that Voldemort had returned.

Hermione finished reading the article with, "While being escorted from the Minister of Magic's office, an unnamed Auror required Cornelius Oswald Fudge to bare both forearms. When Fudge protested, he was informed that he couldn't have been more help to Tom Riddle than if he'd been in his inner circle of Death Eaters."

"That's a scary thought," Ron said when Hermione had finished reading. "Fudge as a Death Eater."

"It's true, though," said Harry. "So much of what he's done, especially last year, helped Voldemort more than it did us."

Harry overheard many conversations on Fudge throughout the day. Most of the other students agreed that he needed to be removed from office and there was much speculation on who his successor might be. That thought left a cold lump in Harry's stomach; the person who replaced Fudge could easily be a Death Eater.

The upcoming weekend was a Hogsmeade visit. Harry gave Parvati a kiss as she went off with Lavender and Padma and went to the common room to study. He had a difficult time with it. During their training session the night before, Snape had mentioned that he was to meet with other Death Eaters over the weekend; the ritual Voldemort was performing with Draco would be finished in two weeks and he was making plans for what he would do afterwards. Harry would have liked to try to eavesdrop, but Snape had specifically told him not to try. Only those Death Eaters to be present were to know about it and, if Voldemort saw that Harry knew, Snape would be high on his list of likely traitors. By the time his friends returned from Hogsmeade, Harry was ready for something to distract him.

Ron came pounding into the common room first, muttering angrily.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, certain that something had gone wrong, someone had been hurt.

Ron stopped short and gave Harry a very guilty look. "Er, nothing. Really not my place to say. Everything's fine." He ran up the stairs to the dorm, refusing to meet Harry's eyes.

The rest of the group followed several minutes later. Parvati's eyes were red-rimmed while Hermione's lips were pressed together and she looked angry. Harry asked the group, "What's wrong? Ron went shooting through here; he looked pretty upset."

No one in the group would meet Harry's eyes. Parvati finally walked up and held her hand out to him. "Let's go for a walk out by the lake, Harry. We can talk there."

They walked to the lake in silence. Parvati wouldn't hold his hand but she didn't seem angry with him. When they got there, and found a quiet spot to sit down, Harry finally gave in to his impatience. "What's going on?"

Parvati took a deep breath. "You're not in love with me, are you?"

Harry felt his stomach drop. "No," he said, feeling guilty. "I like you and I like being with you but I'm not in love with you. I don't think, anyway," he added, hoping to stay out of trouble.

Parvati turned and looked at him. Her eyes were swollen and her nose looked a bit red. "While we were in Hogsmeade today, Lavender went off with Seamus, Hermione went off with Ron and Padma went off with Anthony and Dean and I were left on our own. We started talking, and, well, there's something there. I'm so sorry." Parvati rushed to say, "I like you; I don't want to hurt you; I didn't want this to happen; I'm so sorry."

Harry felt himself getting very angry. "Dean's dating Ginny!" he said, nearly shouting. "He shouldn't be even looking at you!"

Parvati looked a bit startled. "They broke up weeks ago," she said. "Before this term started. Didn't you know?" She bit her lip. "Are you really angry with me?" she asked in a small voice.

Harry realized that he wasn't angry with Parvati at all; he actually felt a little relieved. "I'm not upset," he said, speaking very carefully because he didn't want her to start crying on him. "We never even thought we were in love with each other. We were just..." He couldn't figure out how to say what he was feeling.

Parvati could. "We were practicing?" she asked.

"Exactly," Harry agreed, feeling relieved. "Friends?"

Parvati smiled. "Friends." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're a very sweet boy, Harry Potter."

They walked back to the castle together, talking about not much of anything. When they got to the common room, Parvati stopped to talk with Lavender while Harry walked up to his dorm.

Ron was there, yelling at Dean, who was yelling back but looked nervous all the same. When Harry walked in, they both stopped yelling and looked at Harry.

"Everything all right?" Dean asked in a shaky voice.

"How could everything be all right?" Ron demanded. "After what you did . . ."

"Ron," Harry interrupted. "Drop it. It's fine. I wasn't in love with Parvati; she wasn't in love with me. We're still friends. Now, please, I don't want to fight."

"Did Parvati come back with you?" Dean asked, keeping his eyes on Ron. When Harry nodded, the other boy said, "Thanks," and left the dorm.

Ron came over and sat next to Harry. "Everything's really OK?" he asked. "I thought you'd be upset."

Harry shrugged. "I like Parvati, but it never got any more serious than that. I didn't really want a girlfriend." When Ron raised his eyebrows sceptically, Harry grinned. "I didn't say I didn't enjoy snogging her."

Ron laughed. "Yeah, or looking at her either; she's pretty. So, you're not angry."

Harry laughed ruefully. "Just at Dean for hurting Ginny. I reckon I'm a little behind the times. You want to play some chess?"

They were at the door when Hermione ran into the room. "Harry, are you really OK or are you just being, well, you?"

"Get this," Ron said, snorting, "he was more upset with Dean for hurting Ginny than with Parvati for breaking up with him."

"But Dean and Ginny broke up months ago," Hermione said, sounding puzzled.

"I didn't know," Harry said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Harry, you have to pay attention to these things."

When the Owl Post arrived the next morning, a familiar owl stopped in front of Ron's place. He took the letter from the owl and handed it a piece of his bacon. "Why would Percy be writing to me?" he asked, sounding very puzzled.

"Well, go on then, open it," Hermione said, leaning on his arm so she could read the letter as well.

As Ron read the letter, his eyebrows rose higher and higher. When he finished, he handed the letter to Harry, shaking his head. "I can't decide if he's just being ambitious or if he's really changed his mind," he said, his voice unsettled.

Harry took the letter from Ron and read,

Dear Ron,

I'm certain you've heard about Cornelius Fudge being removed from his office as Minister of Magic. Frankly, I have mixed emotions about it. There has obviously been a good deal of corruption in the Ministry under his leadership; however, I wonder how much he had to do with it and how much was in spite of him. Although it is the current practice to denigrate everything he has done while in office, I still believe that many of his actions were the correct ones to be taken.

In addition to the charges of corruption, the investigators also looked into Harry's statement that You-Know-Who returned immediately after the Triwizard Tournament. It's evident from Fudge's notes that he suspected the truth of Harry's story from the start; he convinced himself that Harry was lying to maintain his position. All of his other actions last year followed from that. There are reports by several Aurors substantiating his story; of course, the events of last June in the Department of Mysteries were the final proof.

Ron, please extend my sincere apologies to Harry. Not only did I believe the propaganda put forward by Fudge; I tried to convince you to turn on him. With the information I now have, I can see how wrong I was in both cases. The events of last June still give me nightmares; in the worst of them, I see Ginny being attacked and killed by the basilisk from which Harry saved her in her first year. I should have remembered what Harry did for our family when he rescued Ginny, rather than listening to Fudge. He has no reason to forgive me, but I hope he won't hold it against the rest of our family.

One last piece of news, which I'll ask you not to spread any farther: somehow, Lucius Malfoy has managed to convince a significant proportion of the Wizengamot that he was not involved in the events of last June, but was an unfortunate victim of circumstance. There is some talk that he may be appointed the next Minister of Magic! I don't believe that will actually happen, but it is likely that someone with his politics will be chosen. Something for you lot to keep in mind: discretion is likely to continue to be important.

Give my love to Ginny and say hello to anyone there that's interested.

Love,

Percy

Harry felt numb from everything in the letter. The thought of Lucius Malfoy becoming Minster of Magic was chilling. Harry wished that there was something he could do to stop it, but anything he could think of would cause more trouble than it would solve.

"Ron," Harry said as he handed the letter back to Ron, "when you write back to him, tell him I accept his apology and I never held his actions against the rest of your family. Forgiveness . . ." Harry trailed off.

"Don't worry about it," Ron said, folding the letter back into its envelope, "you'll forgive him when you're ready and it won't hurt him one bit for that to take some time. If it were me, I wouldn't be accepting his apology any time soon."

Harry shrugged. "He made a mistake. I don't want your parents feeling bad because I'm still angry with him. I'll probably never be close to him but, if he can admit he made a mistake, I can accept his apology. Besides, how else would we have found out who most likely will be our next Minister of Magic?"

"That's a terrifying thought," Hermione said as the two boys agreed.

Ginny's response, when she read the letter that afternoon, was to sniff. "Still the same old Percy," she said with a snarl. "He's just decided that backing you will be better for him in the long run."

"Maybe," said Ron, "but I think it's also that he's trying to do what's right. Maybe it's seeing Malfoy poised to become Minister of Magic. Whatever he thinks of Fudge and his lot, I reckon he still hates the Malfoys."

Harry thought there might be some truth in that, but he also wondered if Percy just wanted to rejoin his family. If it was the latter, he was determined to help it happen.

The final game of the Quidditch season was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. Unfortunately for Hufflepuff, the Gryffindor team was better to start with and was playing at the top of their game. The match lasted less than an hour, with a final score of 270-60. The party was a much-needed release. Even Professor McGonagall, when she came down to send everyone to bed after midnight, couldn't stop smiling at the thought of the Quidditch Cup spending another year in her office.

The next couple of weeks were hard on everyone. Exams were coming up and people were spending most of their time studying and sitting exams. Harry was grateful that his exams this year weren't nearly as important as they had been last year or they would be the next year. As usual, Hermione had drawn up study schedules for Ron and him; this year, they were following them, most of the time.

Even his training sessions with Snape were affected; at the end of one session, Harry realized that the counters he was using were mostly the spells he needed to know for his different exams. When he pointed this out to Snape, the Potions Master smirked. "If it weren't you, Potter, I'd give you ten points for paying attention and using your brain. As it is you, I just won't take any more."

Harry rolled his eyes and threw a hex. As was happening more often, Snape wasn't able to block it.

The week of exams was hard, but Harry wasn't feeling nearly as stressed as he had been the year before. He felt more confident with what he knew and much better prepared. Still, he cancelled all meetings of the DA that week and Snape cancelled the Tuesday night training session.

By the time they finished their last exams on Friday afternoon, they were all looking forward to the weekend. Harry met Snape at the training room for their regular session. Snape was already there, looking uneasy.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Harry asked.

"There are two things we need to discuss, Potter," Snape said, conjuring up two classroom chairs. "First, you know tonight is a full moon?"

Harry nodded. "I sent Remus a letter yesterday and I'm hoping to hear back from him by Sunday."

"He may not be up to replying to you that quickly." At Harry's panicked look, Snape scowled. "The version of the Wolfsbane he took last month, although it provided the effect desired, has some rather negative side effects. We have discovered that, at least in some cases, these effects are cumulative. It's nothing permanent," Snape said quickly at Harry's alarm, "but he will be enduring this month's transformation without the Wolfsbane's assistance."

"What side effects?" Harry asked, feeling his stomach sink.

"Severe nausea. He vomited up what appeared to have been everything he ate the entire month." Snape looked revolted. "I'm not entirely certain what caused the reaction, but there's an entire month to determine what it was, so I hope we're successful. He did ask me to let you know that he is likely to have a difficult time of it this month so you won't worry unnecessarily."

"Will there be someone to take care of him?" Harry asked. When Snape nodded, Harry sighed. "OK, that's one thing, what's the second?"

Snape took a deep breath as if to brace himself. "Tomorrow is the Solstice. Draco will be going home tomorrow morning and there is a meeting tomorrow evening. Whatever the ritual is, it will be completed tomorrow night."

"Is there any way we can disrupt it?" Harry asked. He knew that, whatever the ritual was, it was going to be trouble.

"No. The important thing to remember, Potter, is that you are to stay out of it; do you understand? You are not to try to spy through your connection, you are not to try to follow Draco, you are to stay in Gryffindor Tower and stay strictly out of trouble. If you do not, if we get a hint that you're not staying put, you will be locked up. Have I made myself clear?"

Harry scowled. "Yes, sir. I wasn't planning . . ." He didn't finish the sentence because Snape had thrown a curse at him that he was just able to block. The session that night was the most brutal it had ever been. Harry wasn't certain whether it was to make certain he didn't want to move tomorrow or whether Snape wanted to distract himself. It didn't matter, when he finally walked back to the common room, all he wanted was to sit in the bath, soaking his muscles, until he fell asleep.

The Daily Prophet the next morning noted that, although the night before had been a full moon, there had been no attacks. There was much speculation, guesses ranging from no werewolves being willing to work with Voldemort to his approving of Fudge's removal as Minister of Magic. No one printed the theory Harry thought most likely: that the ritual Voldemort was planning on performing tonight was too important to risk anything going wrong so close to it.

"Is there anything you're supposed to do today?" Hermione asked as they returned to the common room after breakfast. When Harry shook his head, she continued, "Nothing? Not even staying in the Tower?"

Before Harry could try to come up with an answer, Ron said, "Give it up, mate. After the prefect meeting last night, McGonagall kept us back and told us to keep an eye on you all day. Snape was supposed to have told you, but . . ."

While Ron looked away guiltily, Hermione's chin lifted. "Unfortunately, Harry, no one thinks you're entirely, er, trustworthy in something like this. Professor McGonagall thought it best that we know, as well, that you're supposed to stay here."

Harry couldn't even be upset with the two of them. They were right and he knew it. So he let Ron distract him with several matches of chess, all of which he lost. Later, Hermione and Ginny joined them for Exploding Snap. Outside, it was raining, a real downpour, so it was no hardship to stay in the warm, comfortable common room and talk and laugh with his friends.

Harry had just dropped off to sleep that night when his scar burning woke him up. He tried Occlumency, then he tried the empathic shields he'd learned, but nothing worked. At first, it was just pain, but then, he was able to see through Voldemort's eyes. When Harry realized what he was seeing, he felt cold all over.

Draco was lying on a large stone table, one with a ridge carved into it all the way around about an inch from its edge. He was tied spread-eagled, and it was clear he was terrified and trying to get away. Snape was sprawled half on, half off the table. As Harry watched, Snape slowly stood up, shaking his head as if to clear it. His mask was lying on the floor.

"So, you are a traitor," Voldemort said coldly. "I have wondered. For your betrayal, Crucio!" After a moment of watching Snape scream and writhe, Riddle lifted the curse. "And the Potter brat will watch it all; I can feel him in my mind and he hasn't been able to block this. He will watch you die."

"I doubt he cares," Snape said, his voice rough as he stood again. "He doesn't realize that, if this ritual succeeds, he will not be able to kill you."

Harry started struggling to pull himself out of the vision, but Voldemort was actively fighting him. If Snape was right, and Harry believed that he was, Voldemort had to be stopped now!

Harry tried to break the connection; at least enough to tell Ron what was happening. Voldemort had too tight of a hold on him; Harry couldn't break free of it. After several unsuccessful attempts, he decided to try to gain control of the connection.

Harry began what amounted to a tug-of-war between Voldemort and himself, each of them trying to gain the upper hand. Harry was able to prevent Voldemort from continuing to torture Snape but he couldn't make him do anything else. He opened the connection more and more to try to gain more control but couldn't do so. Finally, he caught a stray thought of Voldemort's: that at least Harry wasn't present in body. If Voldemort were able to keep the contest mental, he believed he could defeat Harry, or at least fight him to a standstill.

Hoping he wasn't falling into another trap, Harry felt under his pillow for his wand. Not believing it would work, he still tried to Apparate to where Voldemort was, pulling power through his ring. Although it didn't work the first time, he could feel the wards bend. Pulling as much power as he dared, not wanting to leave anyone hurt if he could avoid it, he tried again--and found himself before Voldemort, standing next to Snape and the stone table.

Voldemort raised his wand to curse Snape again. Harry would have tried to disarm him but knew that their wands wouldn't work against each other. As Voldemort cast Crucio, Harry felt the bond between the two of them; similar to the ones he could feel through his ring. Thinking that, if he could interfere with the bond with Voldemort, Snape would be able to help him, Harry stepped over to Snape, and grabbed his arm over the Dark Mark. Once he was in physical contact with Snape, he could feel the connection. He tried to break it, doing what he could only describe as pulling it out of Snape's arm, out of his soul. Harry could hear Snape screaming as the bond was severed but he kept pulling. Voldemort had figured out what he was doing and tried to stop Harry by throwing the Cruciatus Curse at him but Harry refused to let the pain stop him. He could feel himself screaming as the curse hit him, but he was able to shield Snape from the curse while he worked. He didn't know how long it took to break the connection but he finally felt it give. As he stood up, shaking from the effort and the pain, he could see Snape's Mark flaking off his arm and could feel that it was no longer a part of his soul.

For a moment, the three of them froze in utter disbelief. Then, with a roar, Voldemort raised his wand to curse Harry. Harry quickly raised his wand; ready to cast anything knowing it would trigger Priori Incantatem. Voldemort stopped, clearly not eager to trigger the spell. Harry could feel Voldemort preparing to summon his other followers, but that also gave him a path to see the other connections. There were dozens, maybe hundreds. Harry was terrified at what he had to do but he took a deep breath and began.

As he had with Snape's Mark, Harry started by yanking out the connections. In the background, he could hear Snape casting some type of spell. A minute later, while he was still fighting Voldemort mentally, neither of them able to get the upper hand, Malfoy started complaining.

"I don't care what any of you want!" the other boy screamed. "I want out of here! Now!"

Harry could hear Snape's voice answering him, but the words were quietly spoken and Harry couldn't tell what Snape was saying.

Harry and Voldemort continued their silent, eerie duel when Voldemort, finally, started pushing Harry away from the connections. It took Harry a minute to realize that Voldemort wasn't trying to summon his followers any more; he was just pulling as much power as he could through the Marks. Harry realized that he had his own source of power and began to draw it through his ring.

He quickly discovered that pulling power through his ring this time was very different than ever before. He could tell that many of those wearing the rings were actively pushing power through them, allowing him to gather more than he would have been able to on his own. As his scar burned more and more fiercely, Harry was catching glimpses of those sending him their power. He could see Ron, Hermione and Ginny sitting together, white-faced and frightened. He could see Snape, not with eyes that were now closed in pain, but with his mind. Snape looked furious; he was holding his wand on Draco, while he held the hand wearing the ring in a fierce fist. The images, at first slow, began to flash by Harry's mind faster and faster; he quickly lost the ability to see individuals. He could only see the bright fire of the power being channelled to him.

While Harry felt more and more power through his ring, he could see Voldemort struggling to pull his followers' power through the Dark Marks. Harry was continuing to break the connections he could find. Voldemort was holding onto those connections he still had with all the power he had left. Harry could now tell that Voldemort was also pulling power from some other place. It didn't feel like what he was getting from his Death Eaters, which felt sickening to Harry and, somehow, final. This felt like the power Harry was being given through his ring; it was bright and warm and reminded Harry of phoenix song.

With a sinking feeling that he was fatally trapped, Harry traced back the link to this power alien to Voldemort. As he had feared, Voldemort was now pulling power from Harry through his scar. His scar, which had defined who he was since his parents had died, was the same type of connection as the rings and as the Dark Marks.

Feeling as if he had known all along that he would have to do this, Harry reached inside himself for the connection between him and Voldemort. Once he looked for it, Harry found it quickly. As he had thought, the connection was through his scar. It pulsed with the same type of power as that Voldemort was getting from his Death Eaters. Taking a deep breath and bracing himself, feeling as if this was the last fight he would have with the snake-faced bastard, Harry ripped the connection out of his soul.

It hurt, worse than any pain Harry had ever felt before. His head felt as if it were to split open; he could no longer see, no longer hear, no longer feel anything but the pain from his scar. Harry had no idea how long the pain was his entire existence but it finally ended.

When the pain began to ease, Harry couldn't feel the connections Voldemort had with his Death Eaters. As he started to panic, wondering how he was supposed to defeat the other wizard, Harry realized that he could no longer feel Voldemort at all. It was at that moment that he realized that he had always been able to feel the other wizard, always, even when he hadn't been consciously aware of it. Now, that feeling was gone. Harry felt . . . lighter.

Harry opened his eyes to see what Voldemort was doing. Black spots were taking over his vision and all he could hear was a loud buzzing. He managed to see Voldemort lying on the ground nearby before the blackness took over.

Mysterious code here - I take it you're not covertly referring to a H/H shipper's ending?