When the Light Goes Out

When the Light Goes Out Chapter 04

'Not bloody likely,' Ron muttered.

'Come on!' shouted Harry over another explosion, running to the door. But it was locked. Harry tried and tried, but it would not budge.

'Honestly,' Ron said indignantly, also trying the door, 'it's as if he doesn't trust us!'

'Oh, move over!' Hermione pushed her way past the boys, reminding Harry of their first year at Hogwarts, when they were hiding from Filch. 'Alohamora!' she cried, pointing her wand at the large, old-fashioned lock.

The door did not swing open, nor was there the familiar click of it unlocking.

Hermione blinked, stumped for a moment. 'Ugh! Okay, I didn't want to do this...but I suppose we don't really have a choice...we have to see what's going on...help if we can...'

She started pacing the office, muttering to herself.

'You know, Hermione,' Harry mused, 'you are exactly the same as the Hermione in my world.'

She gave him a broad smile, and then stepped in front of the door.

She raised her wand once more, took a deep breath, but then stopped, and said, 'You do think we can repair it, don't you? It's just--'

'HERMIONE! GET ON WITH IT!' both the boys shouted exasperatedly.

'Well--oh alright. Bombarda!' The door splintered and blew off its hinges, onto the top of the revolving staircase.

'Well,' Ron said, staring from the broken door to Hermione, with a cross between fear and awe on his face, 'that sorts that little problem out.'

The floor shook again, and the trio ran down the stone steps.

'What is that?' Hermione asked as they were speeding down the hallway.

'I don't know,' Harry replied as they descended to the first floor, 'but it sounds like--quick in there!'

He shoved the others into an abandoned classroom, just as a dark-clad Death Eater swept past the door.

'Death Eaters?' Ron whispered. 'Death Eaters at Hogwarts?'

'Something funny is going on here,' Harry replied, checking the hallway and drawing his wand. 'Okay, let's go.'

They quietly left the moonlit classroom, and tiptoed down the hall.

They got to the ground floor, and went outside.

A scene of devastation met their eyes.

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Hermione had cleaned the entire bathroom.

'Um, Herm, you've...you've done the whole...whole room...'

'I know!' she replied brightly. 'Oh, I hope no one minds, it's just, once I started, I found it difficult to stop, you know?' She squinted at Ron for a moment, 'Ron! You have dirt, on your nose! It was like that the first time I met you! Here, let me get that for you!' She made to scrub his nose with her cloth, but he pushed her away.

'Hey! Gerroff me!'

She didn't seem disgruntled though. In fact, she positively beamed, and said, 'So? What do you think?'

Ron looked around, genuinely impressed. 'It's, um, it's...wow. It's...different!'

'I haven't slept at all.'

'Shouldn't it have only taken you a few minutes? You could have just waved your wand and--'

'Oh no!' Hermione butted in. 'I've stopped using magic. I figured that it made Harry disappear, so until it brings him back, I'm not using my wand. Ever.'

Ron gaped at her. 'Never? But--magic won't bring Harry back. Not on its own. It needs you to cast a spell or something.'

But Hermione just shook her head and shrugged. 'Well then, I guess I'll never use magic again!'

She strolled past him, out of the amazingly clean and white bathroom.

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It was dark outside, but the grounds were lit up by numerous fires. The small patches of orange flame illuminated the all too obvious signs of battle around the three of them.

Blackened holes and still-smoking scorch marks littered the desiccated grass and burnt trees, and several unidentifiable bodies were strewn across the once tidy lawn.

They seemed to glow in the fire-light.

There was no wind to rustle the dead leaves lying on the ground, and the scene seemed to be ethereally quiet, even though Harry could see a commotion not too far ahead of them.

Hermione gasped as she saw the stomach-turning sight before her. Harry felt sick. He gulped, and gripped his wand even tighter. They started to run towards the commotion, looking all around them, and soon came to the battlefield.

Wizards, witches and Death Eaters were all battling, and curses and jinxes were flying everywhere.

And right in the middle of it, standing quite still, facing Dumbledore, stood a skinny, black haired boy. He was wearing glasses, and when Harry got closer, he could see the boy had a jagged, lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

Harry froze. He turned to Ron and Hermione, who had dark expressions on their faces that Harry had never seen before.

'Y-you two, stay h-here. I'm...' he trailed off and walked towards Dumbledore.

As he made his way through the gathered people, they suddenly stopped fighting and turned to look at him, some doing double-takes. They started muttering avidly, and Harry looked around at them.

Order members, including Sirius (Harry almost stumbled when he saw him, overjoyed and a little freaked out to see his dead godfather), and Lupin.

They were both as white as sheets, standing with their mouths open, wands held loosely at their sides.

Harry swallowed, and stood next to Dumbledore, who's usually twinkling blue eyes were hard and cold as he looked at the other Harry Potter.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, expecting him to throw him backwards, away from the fight, but he merely smiled, and murmured, 'I take it that my office door will need replacing, then?'

Harry went vaguely pink, and mumbled, 'Oh...yeah...sorry about that...we'll fix it for you...'

He raised his eyes to look at his parallel self. He was Harry's exact duplicate, except maybe his hair was slightly longer. And his eyes had a definite red tinge, with black, vertical pupils.

He looked at Harry with such coldness that the very air seemed to freeze. 'I see that you have found something to replace me...but so soon? Replicating me seems pretty pathetic, even for you, Dumbledore.' He had an empty, cruel voice, quite befitting Voldemort himself.

'Actually, Harry--'

'They don't call me "Harry" any more. They call me by my last name only.'

'I know what they call you, but to me, you will always be "Harry".'

It was almost exactly the same as when Dumbledore had said that to Voldemort.

Potter's eyes narrowed.

'Anyway, as I was saying, Harry here is from an alternate universe. He is simply trying to get home.'

Potter laughed softly. It was high-pitched and cold, like Voldemort's, but somehow different. It made Harry's skin crawl. 'I see. Well, to prevent him from meddling in this battle, I will have to kill him.'

Ron suddenly burst through the newly-formed ring of people, closely followed by Hermione. They raised their wands in unison, pointing at Potter.

'No!' boomed Dumbledore, starting forwards and placing a restraining hand on each of their wand-arms. 'Hurt him and you risk hurting this Harry!'

Ron's hand tightened on his wand, turning his knuckles white, but he and Hermione lowered their wands again.

Dumbledore turned back to Potter from the edge of the circle, his face pale. 'You would kill your alternate self?'

'Of course,' Potter smirked. 'If he was a threat to me.'

Dumbledore shook his head slowly. 'You are foolish, Harry. Of course, there is always the option of joining the Light side again. You could--'

Potter cut Dumbledore off with a laugh. 'Always so forgiving. But no, Voldemort has shown me a better way. He has shown me all the things you have hidden from me. You should have trusted me more, Dumbledore. You should have listened to me more.'

Harry raised his head slightly. Something in Potter's words had hit home. There was some truth.

'And now,' Potter continued, 'I think it is time to summon my master. He will be most interested in this other Harry Potter.' He pulled back the left sleeve of his robe, revealing a tattoo. A tattoo in the shape of a skull, with a snake protruding from its mouth.

Harry took a sharp intake of breath. Voldemort was coming.

The clear sky filled with black clouds, silhouetted against the moon. They formed the Dark Mark, and a second later, Voldemort materialised before them.

Everyone took a step back, and the Death Eaters fell to their knees. Potter, however, remained standing.

Harry gaped through the pain his scar was giving him as Voldemort and Potter simultaneously bowed to each other.

'My Lord,' Potter murmured, 'I have something that you would like to take a look at.'

Voldemort looked directly to where Potter was pointing. Directly at Harry.

'How very interesting,' Voldemort murmured. Harry froze, and Ron and Hermione ran forward, stopping in front of him.

Voldemort walked closer to them, and with a lazy flick of his wand, Ron and Hermione were thrown in opposite directions, out of the ring of people.

Harry felt glued to the spot. He tried to move his feet, or raise his wand, but his limbs wouldn't obey.

And Voldemort was getting closer, now circling Harry, no doubt checking if he was a clone or copy.

'Interesting...' he murmured again to himself. Voldemort drew his wand, and pointed it at Harry.

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