Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 43 – The Worm Has Turned
On the other side of the galaxy a small green alien was sitting cross legged atop a padded stool.
Nothing seemed to happen for many minutes before seemingly for no apparent reason his eyes flicked open in shock which was shortly followed by a sorrowful sigh.
After a couple of minutes Master Yoda stood up, retrieving his walking stick and slowly made his way to the comms station in the corner of his room. Tapping a couple of keys a holoimage of a young jedi knight appeared.
#Master Yoda,# the figure bowed respectfully.
"A long range transport prepare immediately you will. A force of jedi then assemble. A terrible tragedy occurred on Earth it has….Terrible."
#It shall be done at once Master,# bowed the holoimage again before the image was terminated.
Master Yoda then summoned his hover chair and headed for the High Council Chamber, summoning the other members as he went, though several already knew what had transpired.
"A dark day for the Republic it is."
"Keep pushing," shouted Coleman as the last of the giants fell into the swarming mass of spiders that was moving with the jedi.
The two sides had both managed to rally well amidst the cloak of the mist and smoke that now covered the grounds but with Coleman leading the way the acromantula army had managed to break through the enemy lines, it was amazing what the wizards fear of the spiders could do to their will to fight. Minute by minute more and more of the attackers threw down their weapons and raised their hands in front of the jedi, they did not obviously think surrendering to the spiders would work.
They had managed to hammer the remaining Forces into the ground until only a core group of inquisitors remained holding out against them. It ended in a standoff with a no man's land of ten meters separating the eight legged army and the remaining magic users. The wizards could not retreat as they were pinned up against the still raging wall of fire.
"Surrender now and you will all be given fair trial!" ordered Coleman, this earned many hisses of anger and disgust from the spiders who would all much rather have eaten them.
"And why would we believe the word of a creature that makes alliances with the likes of them," a voice replied from amidst the ranks of inquisitors.
"Because it is the only way you will get out of this alive!" Coleman replied.
"Then we will go down fighting you, the Dark Lord will never allow our sacrifice to go unpunished. Atta-"
The speaker was cut off as an arrow buried itself in the back of his neck and he crumpled to the ground. A split second later two dozen more arrows, most of these aflame flew into the mass of inquisitors who started falling and flailing as they got set of fire. The spiders took the opportunity and charged the group, Coleman saw no need for his involvement and simply waited until the cries of fear, pain and panic had ended. It was not a sound or sight he was going to enjoy remembering.
A few seconds later a voice called out:
"We are coming over, do not attack!"
"Approach carefully!" Coleman returned, tightening the grip on his blade just in case as the spiders around him braced themselves.
A split second later a group of twenty plus creatures who ran on four legs but had the upper bodies of men jumped over the flames and landed before them.
The spiders hissed and the creatures raised their bows towards them in warning.
"Be at peace, everyone!" Coleman ordered before approaching what appeared to be the leader of the group as he took a step towards him, he heard the strange footfalls of the Prime as he followed after him.
"I am Magorian, leader of the centaurs of the forest," the creature introduced himself with the slightest of bows possible.
"Master Coleman of the Jedi Order," he returned, mirroring his gesture of respect. "It was my understanding that the centaurs were by no means allies with either the acromantulas of the residence of Hogwarts?"
"They are not," came the rumbling reply from the Prime.
"This is true," nodded Magorian, "But we are also not fools. We know of the agreement you made with the spiders and we know that means that the colony will only get stronger. As you probably know our kinds have been at odds for as long as both our kinds have inhabited the forest and we foresaw that if we did not act now that the chances of our continued survival would be gone."
"You would expect us to spare you simply for killing a few corned wizards who we could easily have killed without you?" questioned the Prime almost mockingly.
"No," returned Magorian, "But that is not all we did in this battle, you probably did not know but a Force of several hundred wizards, controlling more than a few dangerous creatures tried to enter the grounds through the forest, we believe their intention was to release the creatures against the rear of your force so as to surround you, thanks to us that did not happen. We also managed to capture more than three dozen combatants that attempted to flee through our part of the forest."
"And what is it you want in exchange for that help?" asked Coleman.
"Peace between ourselves and the spiders, so that we can return to our sacred groves within the forest without the risk of defiling them with bloodshed, a clear agreement about what land the Centaur's and the Acromantulas own, we know the colony will likely expand but we can deal with that when the time comes."
Coleman turned to the Prime for his response, the two groups stood in silence as the spider thought over the offer.
"Although the details will have to be sorted later for now I agree to a peace between our kinds."
The army breathed again, but before Coleman could say any more a young witch ran through the army towards them and almost collapsed at his feet as she attempted to deliver her message as fast as possible.
"Slow down," he instructed as she rested with her hands on her knees until she could breathe properly again. "Now what did you want to tell us?"
"The castle is now secure Sir and all the fires have been put out," a cheer (it's not quite the right sound but it's the closest human equivalent) went up from the army of spiders at the news but Coleman could see there was more.
"Continue."
"The Headmistress wanted me to let you know that Miss Granger was rushed to the Healers as soon as help arrived and will be fine but…"
He gestured for her to continue but he knew that whatever he was about to hear would not be good.
The addition of the rest of the DOM had managed to overcome the last solid line of defence before Level 10 of the Ministry. The group had then surged down the stairs to the deepest level of the Ministry where the Wizengamot was in session, there had only been a couple of guards left outside the doors, most having been gone upstairs to assist with the fight, and they were easily overcome but it took a lot of clever spell work by the DOM to overcome the seal on the doors which are only supposed to open from the inside, even the lightsabers would not penetrate the wards around the room.
It was with a large crack and a crash that the spells were torn down and the heavy stone doors literally splintered apart and tumbled to the ground some ten minutes later.
The group marched in purposefully, there was no security within the chamber and as the room was completely sealed when in session all the occupants were caught completely off guard but that did not stop several former Death Eaters and other quick thinking members of the Wizengamot from drawing wands.
At least a dozen or so wizards and witches from various parts of the room fired on them but they were quickly silenced by either those around them restraining them or by the large numbers of the Order and DOM, quite a few more drew their wands but refrained from attacking…yet.
The whole room was instant bedlam as the body shouted in protest at what was going on but Harry paid very little attention to any of this though as, after briefly noting a large glass panel built into the far wall behind which was a large enclosure holding an equally large snake which reminded him a lot of the snake he had accidentally freed many many years ago at the zoo, his eyes found and glued themselves to the figure in the Chief Warlock's chair.
For the second time in one year Harry looked upon the face of Lord Voldemort.
"Harry Potter," he hissed, his tone was as snake like as the last time they had run into each other but for the first time Harry actually believed that he had seen the snake surprised.
"Tom," he nodded in response, keeping a tight grip on his wand and lightsaber. The three words they had said to each other had silenced the entire room as they realised what was shortly going to happen.
While their reunion continued amidst large amounts of whispering their force had moved to stand throughout the chamber so that they were 'surrounding' the members of the house as best they could. He was vaguely aware of two figures stepping out from amongst the ranks of unspeakables and addressing the room.
"Members of the Wizengamot, by order of the Head of the Department of Mysteries we hereby charge this body, the Chief Warlock, the Minister of Magic and the Inquisitor Forces with treason against the Magical community of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the numerous Realms and Territories of the Commonwealth."
The second one continued; "Additional charges include but are not limited to; bribery, murder, blackmail, entrapment, conspiracy to overthrow the previous administration, slander, torture, accepting bribes, offering bribes, embezzling and genocide against Muggleborns and the acromantulas of Hogwarts Forbidden Forest."
The crowd had resumed its shouting as the first of the charges had been read out but the pair, one of which sounded like Croaker, were not finished yet.
"All those in this room are to be detained until such time as your involvement or lack of involvement in these crimes can be verified at which time you will either be released or put on trial; you will not be harmed in any way and it will help your defence if you surrender your wands to us peacefully."
Silence returned to the hall for a second time as the various Wizengamot members tried to make up their minds, there were a large proportion of the chamber who kept sending nervous glances at the Chief Warlock, whether out of fear of him or looking to him for instruction.
"The rest of the Ministry had been cleared of all personnel, there is no one coming to take us out," added one of the unspeakables.
"There's a whole army out there you fool," came a cackling voice from amongst the benches. Turning for the first time since entering the room Harry saw a slightly manic looking women dressed head-to-toe in black, her wand in her hand and a look of fury upon her face.
"I'm afraid Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted Death Eater, former resident of Azkaban,"
"And soon to be again," added Croaker before his companion continued.
"That army you speak of has walked straight into our trap and is at the time being beaten into submission by our combined forces. You're lost, surrender your wands now and you will be treated fairly!"
There were many seconds in which most of the room did nothing before slowly some members of the Wizengamot dropped their wands or handed them to their captures. There were some that most definitely had not dropped their wands and where poised to attack when they thought the moment was right.
"Those of you who want to surrender, once you have handed over your wand please follow the unspeakables out of the chamber. Thank you for your cooperation."
Some of the hall started moving but the attackers were on high guard, several of the Wizengamot members who were not surrendering were poised for a fight including Lestrange, Harry had returned to his starring contest with Voldemort, there was something going on that he could not put his finger on that was niggling at his senses, everything was not as it seemed he was sure.
Harry, asked his Master, What is it?
I don't know Master but something isn't as it appears, I'm sure of it
He had no idea exactly what was wrong but he was sure it related to Voldemort in some way, his behaviour, or lack thereof, was wrong. Even though Harry had probably had more encounters with the Dark Lord than any non-Death Eater, or Wizengamot member now, even he realised when all the times he had faced the creature before him were added together he had not actually been in the Dark Lord's presence for more than three hours of his entire life he probably knew him better than most and this Dark Lord's reactions were not those of the one he faced on Dagobah...or in the Graveyard.
He's not talking
What Harry?
He's not talking Master, he repeated. The Voldemort I have always faced before always took command of any and every situation he was placed in, why now is he waiting.
Be on your guard Harry, his Master warned.
The room had emptied to the stage where about fifty percent of the members had left, that still left them outnumbered but most were probably only staying out of fear of the Chief Warlock and some looked about ready to bolt at the first opportunity.
The staring contest was broken by a curse as one of the remaining Wizengamot members started the fight, there was instant chaos as the battle started anew with the attackers and the Wizengamot members squaring off against one another and starting to duel though many of them were knocked off their feet as a good half of the people still in the room ran for the exits. Harry was aware that his Master and his ranger had started to move forward to stand beside him before Voldemort waved a wandless hand through the air and a transparent shield dome appeared over them which Aayla and Alema bounced off.
"Is it now the time Harry?" asked his opponent stepping down from his seat and moving around to face him, only now drawing his wand. "Is it now time for our final battle?"
"Yes Tom, it is."
"They told me you had gone to the stars Harry, why did you come back?"
"I felt homesick," he replied sarcastically, not wanting to reveal the second…or possible first Voldemort to this one.
"I see you now carry one of their swords of light," he said gesturing to the lightsaber in Harry's hand, "Do you think that will make it easy to defeat me?"
"Let's find out shall we?" he asked rhetorically before raising his wand and firing the first spell. He watched in shock as Voldemort at the last second casually swayed sideways so that the spell, which would have impacted his skull, passed within ten centimetres of his face before flying out of the apparently unidirectional shield and impacted in the Wizengamot seats. Harry paused as a smile appeared on Voldemort's face, only jedi could move that fast.
"Did you think you were the only one to have picked up new things Harry?" he sneered. "My turn."
The barrage of spells that erupted from Voldemort's wand could only be described as cannon fire, those outside the shield who witnessed the fight would later even recall seeing little explosions of magic like muzzle flashes from a gun as the spells left the end of the wand.
Harry's hastily raised shield shattered after the third spell, the forth of which he managed to deflect with his lightsaber but the force of the impact hit hard against his shoulder. This was definitely not going to be easy.
Harry was forced to instantly change tactics, sending a Force push at his enemy, who was shoved back several feet and had to rebalance himself, he quickly switched to one of his shorter shotos to allow him to react faster and also changed his blades defensive angle so as to reduce the impact of the spells on his arm, these were only slight changes but he had a feeling he would need all the help he could get.
He was forced to do nothing except defend as a flurry if spells flew in his direction causing him to spend all his time ducking, dodging and deflecting.
This was not going well.
Outside the battle was pretty balanced after the shield dome had gone up the fighting had started in earnest. After a couple of minutes Aayla and Alema were reluctantly forced, after realising that neither blaster or lightsaber would penetrate the dome, to join the fight, moving in between the various groups using their greater speed and fire rate to overcome difficult enemies quickly.
It was not exactly a great situation for the attackers though, as some of their number had gone with the prisoners, mostly the unspeakables, they were outnumbered even worse than before and the majority of them were down on the main floor, which although it gave them greater manoeuvrability than the Wizengamot members in the rows of seating, it also gave them no cover at all especially as the dome filled the centre of the hall.
On one side of the arena Kingsley and Fleur were holding off a trio of middle aged wizards who had made their way out of the seating and were attempting to pin them to the wall, Fleur had started resorting to throwing fireballs in order to keep them at bay.
Whilst on the other side of room Neville, Luna, Ginny and Daphne were faced off against Lestrange; their numbers should have made for an easy win but Daphne and Luna were both injured and Ginny didn't so much as fight with them but rather fought on her own amongst them meaning that team attacks were not possible so Lestrange's much greater skill was allowing her to hold her ground against them.
Back in the dome Harry had changed tactics, he was now trying to go on the offensive and was attempting to get in close to use his lightsaber, but Voldemort was almost effortlessly deflected or dodged his attacks and the spells he was able to fire back in between were rapidly wearing down Harry's body.
"You have grown strong Harry," spoke Voldemort as he continued to deflect Harry's spells. "You would make for a very powerful inquisitor."
"I would never be a Death Eater!" he called back, internally still calm but trying to make his old enemy think he was letting his anger get the better of him so he would let down his guard.
"Unfortunately true," Voldemort acknowledged, "It's much better that I kill you anyway, defeating you and retaking the Ministry back will allow me to reassert my control over the Inquisitors from Malfoy, that will teach the fool for trying to undermine my authority. Of course I will have to leave some of your little friends alive to stand trial before they face the kiss."
That was the first chink that Voldemort managed to make in Harry's calm, deciding to use this opportunity, he roared and launched himself through the air at Voldemort, swinging his lightsaber around as he did, if he got in close he should be might be able to disarm him.
To his surprise Voldemort instead of jumping back or retreating stood his ground as he flew towards him, they collided hard but Voldemort barely moved at the impact. Their wand arms were forced together, pinning them against each other but the sound when their other arms collided froze both of them on the spot.
Voldemort's hand managed to grasp a hold of Harry's lightsaber arm just behind the hand but their arms met with a distinctive metal ringing.
Both of them stopped and stared at the locked limbs for a second before Voldemort reacted first and attempted to throw Harry back. Reacting before Voldemort could launch a new attack he Forced Jumped backwards to the other side of the circle so he had a moment to think.
Their other arms had not made that sound when they hit each other but Harry's Mandalorian iron arm had hit something metal, the sound was too deep to be just a ring or a piece of jewellery, it had to be something large.
In that moment of though a dreadful realisation came to Harry, the reason for Voldemort's strange behaviour, the reason Malfoy was able to take control of most of the Inquisitors, the reason he had opted to stay in the Ministry during the attack…the reason for the metallic sound.
It didn't make sense, it could not be true, but it was the only thing that made sense. There was never two Voldemort's, there was only ever the one on Dagobah and…
"Wormtail?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Now be honest, I bet none of you saw that one coming?
A couple of people asked why Cho was even in the battle, in response I would like to paraphrase a quote from British history "Wellington said that Napoleon was worth 40,000 men on the battlefield," and by that I mean a good commander in a fight is much better than just having the numbers and Cho, although now blind, proved herself during the Battles of Hogwarts so now the others look to her and a good leader can make men fight better despite any physical disabilities eg: Admiral Nelson who was half blind but still managed to win Trafalgar. Also I tend to imagine this Cho being quite stubborn when she has set her mind on something and preferring to attend to things herself especially as she has to be quite reliant on other nowadays.
Only one more chapter of this arc, I promise, if it does run to two then they will have left Earth by the end of the second one. I just had to have this as a cliffhanger to see whether people love or hate it, more will be explained in the next chapter, enjoy.