Mors Aeternus

Part One: Mors Aeternus

Very little light illuminated the Chamber of Secrets, yet there was more than enough for Harry to see the statue he sat before. Once or twice in the past he had wondered where the light in the Chamber came from, whether it was some sort of phosphorescence , the feeble remains of the strong May sun currently shining outside filtering in through cracks in the stone, or simply a build-up of magical energy over the last millennium. The question currently made no difference as Harry stared at Salazar Slytherin's cold, unchangeable stone face, thinking about the school above him.

The silence echoing in the Chamber was mirrored above in the halls of Hogwarts. The students and staff had been evacuated only a short while ago by the new Headmaster, Minerva McGonagall, when she learned that Voldemort was on the way. Harry was, as far as he knew, the only person left in the castle, and that was only because Professor McGonagall wasn't aware of his true location.

Had Dumbledore been alive, he would have known that Harry waited in hiding as everyone else left. It was actually thanks to the former Headmaster that Harry had the means to evade McGonagall. Dumbledore had known, perhaps all along, that Harry would, of necessity, be the one to confront Voldemort and had made sure that the boy possessed the means to do so.

It was Dumbledore who had given Harry the book describing the Simulacrus Charm. It was Dumbledore who had supplied Harry with a steady stream of spiders and mice upon which to practice the Avada Kedavra Curse. As Headmaster, Dumbledore of course didn't once mention the use of the greatest of Unforgivable Curses, but Harry knew he was supposed to use it against Voldemort nonetheless.

The plan, originally, was for Harry to make a magical copy of himself to distract the Dark Lord. The real Harry was to then sneak up on him and use the Avada Kedavra. Harry had begun to change that plan even before Dumbledore had been cornered and brutally murdered by a group of Death Eaters.

He'd realized about a month before Dumbledore's death that the Headmaster's plan to defeat the Dark Lord would never work. Voldemort and Harry himself were both living proof that the end result of the Avada Kedavra was not completely unavoidable. Something much stronger would be needed to kill the dark wizard.

Using his Invisibility Cloak, Harry had spent every night for the next six weeks in the Restricted Section of the library, searching for killing curses. He found the one he needed in an ancient text tucked behind a copy of Acids, Poisons, and Other Painful Means of Death.

The untitled book was so old that the dragon leather cover had nearly disintegrated and the ink it was written in had faded to a mere whisper. However, after studying the book for several days, Harry had managed to decipher a passage that mentioned a simple curse known only to a few. The curse did not need to be practiced or learned in any way. One only had to speak the words while pointing one's wand upwards in order for it to work. This curse had only been used twice, once on a godlike beast, and once on a dark wizard very much like Voldemort. Both times, the curse had worked.

Unfortunately, as with all dark magic, there was a terrible price to be paid. In the case of this curse, the price was the life of every living thing in a one hundred meter diameter. Including that of the witch or wizard who cast it. That was the reason the curse had only ever been written down once, and Harry had found the book it had been entrusted to.

Harry's thoughts wandered randomly away from the curse as time dragged on unnoticed in the Chamber. His mind came back to a moment eight years before, when a teacher had asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. His classmates had all said things like fireman and fighter pilot. One slightly odd little boy had even mentioned that he wished to be a grocer. Harry, on the other hand, had told the woman that what he wanted more than anything was to be a father, to have a son and give him all the love that he had never received from the Dursleys.

His thoughts moved forward in time to his years at Hogwarts and the people he was going to be fighting for. Harry thought of the Hogwarts students who were even now fleeing to safety, and the future that would be stolen from them if Voldemort succeeded. He thought of Cho, beautiful, clever, and out of his reach. He thought of Ginny, the gentle girl who still blushed and stammered whenever she came near him. The Weasley Twins and their ability to turn just about everything into a joke. Ron and Hermione, both very loyal and brave. Harry knew that if Ron and Hermione had known he was still at Hogwarts, they would have stayed, even if it resulted in their deaths. Harry simply couldn't allow them to do that.

That was the reason why he had used the Simulacrus Charm to create a magical copy of himself to flee with the other Gryffindors. That copy would remain active to fool his friends until Harry died. With a certain detached calm, Harry realized that moment would come very soon.

An odd sort of hum filled the air, and Harry could tell that a great power was approaching. He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand, wary of the feeling of an encroaching storm. As he stood, a magically amplified voice speaking Parseltongue carried into the Chamber.

I have arrived, Harry Potter.

Harry knew Voldemort had entered Hogwarts, and that his time had come. He looked one last time at the statue of Slytherin before he made his way out of the Chamber towards the Great Hall.