Beyond the Emerald Green

Special Thanks: To 007, one of my esteemed beta readers.

 

 

Chapter Eight

Battle

 

The vial of Atom Dust glistened in Voldemort’s hand. Harry stared, cursing himself for getting into another standoff. Ron again was in the clutches of Voldemort, staring with a defeated expression at Harry. What most confused him was how Voldemort was able to seemingly use magic. From what Moggit and Encarta had told him, magic was cancelled out in the Crossworlds. How was it possible?

"You know, Harry," Voldemort began quietly, looking directly into Harry’s confused eyes. "I have come to realize just how powerful you are."

Harry glared at him, saying nothing but looking at him in disgust. Voldemort continued unperturbed, Ron dangling from his cloak collar in his claw-like hand.

"You have more potential than you, or anyone else, realizes… I can help you reach to the fullest."

"I would rather die than serve under you." Harry sneered.

Voldemort laughed, tightening his grip on Ron and twirling the vial between his fingers.

"Think about it, Harry! With this insignificant seeming little vial, I will rule the entire dimension. Everyone, even you, won’t be able to stop me! There are billions of other dimensions to take over after I’m through, so why not join the winning side?"

"Because my parents and everyone else that you have senselessly killed would have died in vain… and because I am a human being." Harry said through clenched teeth. "Let Ron go… this is between you and me."

"What good will battle do between us?" Voldemort dropped his smile, his snake-like eyes narrowed to slits. "You know it’s fruitless."

"This ends here." Harry stood in the dueling position. "Let him go!"

Voldemort began to fume; Ron’s face went stricken.

"Harry… forget about me! Just go ahead!" Ron shouted suddenly, his voice hoarse.

Harry ignored him, and for what seemed like ages, he stared Voldemort down. No one moved, making the air as still as if it had been frozen in place. Then, suddenly, something hit the back of Harry’s feet. Ever so slightly, he looked down and saw a small bottle. A vial…

"What’s the matter, Harry? Go ahead… attack me!" Voldemort taunted.

In one fluid motion, Harry bent down, picked up the vial, and concentrated on the first thing that popped into his head. What happened next happened so fast that Voldemort had no time to think.

RARRRROOOWWWEERRRR!

Harry had changed into his Animagus form. He charged and leapt on top of Voldemort, knocking Ron aside. Hissing and spitting, Harry clawed at the dark lord, knocking his flailing limbs away as Voldemort made attempts to ward him off. The clay-colored ground began to turn up in a maelstrom of sand, catching in Harry’s eyes and distracting him just enough for Voldemort to get his barring. He managed to push Harry’s hissing form off of him and grab the other vial.

"I’ve had it with you, Potter!" Voldemort raged, rich dark blood oozing from a gash on his snake-like brow. "Nothing is going to stop me!"

Harry blinked what sand was left from his eyes to see Voldemort holding up the vial of Atom Dust to the shimmering air that was the entrance to their dimension. The vial Harry had used to change himself was missing, lost in the fray. There was no way he could change back to human without it.

"Not so fast!" Shouted a weak voice.

Ron leapt out of nowhere, rushing past Harry and straight at Voldemort. However, he was too injured, and Voldemort merely knocked him away. Laughing, Voldemort held up the vial triumphantly.

"Your last card has been dealt and you have lost! I shall now have what has been denied of me for all these years! Utter and complete power!"

Harry was about to make one final, desperate lunge, when a force of sound so powerful it deafened him suddenly filled the Crossworlds.

"CRESHENDO!"

Instantly, the ground began to rumble and shake violently. Harry looked around, eyes wide, at Voldemort, who was just as surprised as he was. Neither one of them had cast this spell, which was now causing the ground to part and shift. Another violent quake shook everyone off their feet; Harry let out a yowl of surprise.

"WHAT?" Voldemort fumed, falling down amongst moving jagged rocks. A large rift, not unlike the one Harry had walked over, was beginning to form on that very spot! Harry struggled to all four of his paws, searching madly for the vial Voldemort was holding. Then, there it was, a glinting small bottle teetering on the edge of an upraised rock.

"Harry!"

Harry strained to look behind him, and was horrified to see Ron quickly slipping into an enormous crack that was opening up right underneath him. Instinctively, Harry whirled around to save him, bounding up to grab his arms when he realized- he was still a panther. His paws could not hold on to Ron’s slipping arms.

"Harry, the vial!" Ron shouted in his ear, his eyes looking past him. Harry looked back to see the vial dangerously close to falling into another crack. He looked back down at Ron, seeing tears pouring down his bloodstained cheeks. "Harry…"

Harry tried to shout out to him, but all that came out was a piercing growl. Without a vial of Atom Dust, he couldn’t change back.

Ron swallowed hard, quickly starting to loose his grip. The ground around them continued to rage and distort the landscape. Harry dug his claws into Ron’s skin, despite knowing it hurt. The look in Ron’s eyes was that of disbelief and thought. Desperately, Harry kept his hold.

I’m not going to let you go! Harry shouted in his mind. Don’t you dare give up, Ron!

There was a blood-curdling scream so chilling that Harry nearly lost his grip on Ron. Again, he strained to look back at the ailing vial to see Voldemort crawling toward it. He was dangerously close.

"Harry!" Ron shouted, watching Voldemort in horror.

For the rest of his life, what happened next would haunt Harry’s mind and soul.

Voldemort raised a badly scratched and bloody hand to grab the vial. There was no doubt he would use it immediately. Harry’s instinct completely took over; Voldemort square in his eyes. In one liquid movement, Harry twisted around and landed on his back. Voldemort let out another deathly scream, flailing his hand up and knocking the vial off its unstable pedestal. Harry watched, as if in slow motion, the vial fall into the large crevice that had opened underneath it. He dived, claws outstretched as far as they would go, straight for the vial. Just as the glass hit his claws and slide wearily into his paw, another scream cut straight to his heart.

Oh… oh, God… NO! Harry looked back.

The place where Ron had been holding on to was gone… crumbled into another enormous rift. Ron was gone.

Harry hadn’t realized he had turned back into human, holding the vial of Atom Dust. He stared in utter disbelief at the spot where his best friend had been hanging… spatters of his blood still visible on the edge where he had held on to his final moments. Harry had let him go… he let him go! Without thought! He just LET HIM GO!

"I will not be defeated!" Shouted Voldemort, slamming into the unresisting Harry. Yet, the vial remained in Harry’s hand, no matter how hard Voldemort clawed and punched him. He just stared… stared at the spot where he had last seen one of the closest people he had ever had. Ignoring Voldemort, who was too weak to amount to anything, Harry got up and slowly walked to the edge of the rift. He didn’t care how unstable the ground was… he didn’t care if Voldemort was getting to his feet… he didn’t care. Nothing mattered. What mattered was gone, never to return, could never be resolved.

"RONNNNNN!!!!!" Harry shouted until his voice was hoarse. "RONNNNN!" The tears gushed from his eyes. "RONNNNNN!"

His words echoed painfully to the depths of the rift and he listened desperately for a reply that would never return. The pain was too much to bear.

"You killed your friend… didn’t you?" Came Voldemort’s cruel voice, low and whispering behind Harry’s ear. "He died… because you are a fool."

Very slowly, very painstakingly, Harry turned to face this menace. His eyes were watery slits, but you could still see a fiery green piercing a gaze so deadly, Voldemort actually recoiled in mild surprise.

"What are you going to do about it, Potter? Kill me? It wasn’t I who killed your friend. No, no this time… this time, it was you."

Harry shook his head, his mouth cracked in a humorless smile. It was enough to put Voldemort off guard. He grabbed his neck in a deathly grip- where magic had failed, Harry would do with his own two bare hands.

"First, you kill my parents. Then, you haunt my dreams. You’ve killed my friends… you’ve killed families… you’ve killed towns. What do you think I’m going to do? Look at you! You’re nothing but a pathetic shell, useless without it’s magic to fuel it. You’ve been a puppet for the demon that has caused the deterioration of my world- the world I was cheated of for my entire childhood! I haven’t had much to cherish because of you, and what little I have had you have also come to destroy as well! So, whether I die in this retched place here or not, I don’t care… as long as you are no longer a presence to be known in my world or any other."

Voldemort’s eyes narrowed, his jagged breath nervous in Harry’s grip. He suddenly began to laugh. It cut straight to Harry’s heart, and he found his grip loosening with the horrible sound.

"That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Revenge? Kill me, Harry! Kill me! I deserve it! You’ll be doing what heroes do, won’t you? That is what you are… The Boy Who Lived… the savior of the magical community! Can’t disappoint the people now, can we? Do it, Harry! It’s the only thing you can do, after all… it’s the only way to mask your own sin. The senseless death of your friend! Which was more important? The fate of the universe… or the life of the closest you’ve ever gotten to a brother as a friend? I know what happened, Harry, I know. I’ll go to my final grave with the knowledge. How ‘bout you? Who will haunt your dreams now?"

It was all too much for Harry. His greatest enemy was in his hands, torn and beaten. The words struck him with a forceful blow, and he felt his mind shutting down with despair. It was what Voldemort wanted. He reached for the vial in Harry’s pocket, where he had put it unaware he had done so. His hand slipped inside…

"NO!" Harry suddenly tightened his grip. Voldemort grabbed his arms, his bloodied face turning blue. The only thing Harry needed to see was his eyes, wide with genuine fear. Frantically, Voldemort uselessly pulled out his wand, and that was all it took to trigger Harry’s instinct once more. He drew up all the strength he could possibly gain, lifted Voldemort, and tossed him straight into the rift. The wand fell lifelessly at Harry’s feet, as its owner screamed his last haunting scream.

"You don’t jump into a rift… you walk." Harry stared unblinkingly into the abyss, his mind feeling heavy and empty. He slowly looked down at his feet where the brother of his own wand lay. This wand took the lives of countless people, including his parents. It tortured the souls of hundreds; it had left its mark on the world. Fleetingly, Harry bent down and picked it up, ready to snap it in half. However, he stopped, just as he was poised to do so. When he got back into his dimension, there was no way to prove indefinitely that Voldemort was dead. No one would rest without proof that he was finally gone. Instead, Harry pocketed it in his tattered wizarding robes.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up slightly at the distorted ground, and saw Moggit and Encarta sitting and staring at him, still as statues. They said nothing more. Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes a moment before looking down at them with such sorrow that Encarta let out a mournful mew.

"I want to go home."