Peverell Manor, Leeds, 12/31/1993, 23:49
The night had been fairly uneventful, the clock was steadily ticking ever closer to the new year and many of the guests were getting a little too merry courtesy of Narcissa's wide selection of alcoholic drinks.
Speaking of Narcissa, Harry was currently sharing a dance with his sister-in-law who had seemed a bit subdued all evening.
"Are you alright, Cissa?" Harry asked as the two of them glided around the dancefloor.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Narcissa asked, cutting her eyes so she was staring into his own.
"You just seem a bit... Off tonight," Harry admitted.
"Finding out about Severus was a bit upsetting for me," Narcissa admitted as the music slowed.
"I really am sorry about Snape. We weren't exactly friends but we weren't enemies either," Harry said giving her a sympathetic look.
"I've dealt with losses my whole life but they never get any easier," Narcissa sighed as she rested her head on Harry's shoulder as they continued to sway to the soothing music the orchestra was playing.
"Believe me, I understand," Harry whispered into her hair as the music began to slow down as it neared the end of the piece.
"Ugh, why couldn't you have come back in time for me?" Narcissa whispered more to herself than Harry.
"Because I would have ended up like poor William over there," Harry said as he gestured to Bill who looked very nervous slow-dancing with Bellatrix.
"He really is a good man," Narcissa said with a fond smile as she gazed over at the eldest Weasley.
"His mother has been glaring daggers at you all evening," Harry chuckled.
"I know she has," Narcissa smirked as the music came to a stop.
Nothing personal but I want to have one more dance with my wife before the new year gets here," Harry said before they gave each other a respectful bow.
"Of course," Narcissa agreed giving him a look of understanding.
Harry led her over to where Bellatrix and Bill were just separating and politely cut in.
A few moments later Harry was dancing with Bellatrix, the song once again a slow romantic number.
"Molly looks like she could breathe fire?" Bellatrix giggled.
"I was noticing that myself," Harry admitted.
Harry was brought up short a few minutes later when his watch made a tiny gong-like sound from his pocket signalling there was a minute until the new year.
"I think it's about time to start the countdown," Harry said as he flicked his wand causing a massive set of glowing golden numbers to be projected on the ceiling.
Harry beamed as the number forty-six appeared on the ceiling, before quickly changing to forty-five, and then forty-four. The orchestra stopped playing when the numbers read thirty-seven and the guests began to watch the golden numbers as they continued to change in tune with the second hand on Harry's watch, thirty-five, thirty-four.
Harry watched the numbers slowly count down until they got to eleven. The guests had gotten very quiet as they watched the timer count down, waiting with anticipation for the new year to arrive.
When the timer spell got to ten seconds, everyone began to chant the number that appeared on the ceiling, getting progressively louder the closer they got to zero.
"TEN..."
"NINE..."
'EIGHT..."
"SEVEN..."
"SIX..."
"FIVE..."
"FOUR..."
"THREE..."
"TWO..."
"ONE.."
When the clock struck one, Bella pulled Harry's head to hers and kissed him soundly as people all around them exclaimed, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Harry broke the kiss as guests began clinking glasses with their neighbour or kissing their partners while others cheered happily, or clinked wineglasses with those close to them. The orchestra started to play again, and a jaunty New Year's tune filled the room, encouraging people to return to the dancefloor.
Harry was just about to pull Bella onto the dance floor when an explosion rocked the entire nanor shattering every window in the room.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
Harry felt the wards collapse as powerful magic slammed into them with tremendous force. All around him people were screaming or letting out exclamations of surprise as people looked around to try and figure out what had just happened.
"Looks like the party's over," Harry muttered as he cast a patronus charm.
Harry thought about the message he wished to send, 'they're here,' before he sent the silvery ethereal cobra flying through the shattered window and off to Hogwarts.
Harry turned to Bellatrix who was in the process of taking off her dress robes, revealing that she was wearing her dragonhide catsuit underneath.
Harry was about to copy her example and shed his own dress robes when a familiar voice he hadn't heard in going on fifteen years echoed throughout the ballroom, reminding him of right before the battle of Hogwarts.
"HARRY PEVERELL, YOU HAVE BEEN A THORN IN MY SIDE FOR FAR TOO LONG. TONIGHT YOU AND EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTS YOU WILL EITHER SUBMIT TO ME OR DIE. YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO SURRENDER YOURSELF TO ME BEFORE MY FORCES ENTER THE MANOR AND KILL EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD, THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
Harry removed the enchanted coin from his pocket and pressed the tip of his wand to the fake galleon, praying that Tonks was successful in her task tonight.
"Alright, you heard him we have ten minutes. Everyone who's had more than two drinks report to the dining room down the hall for a sober-up potion," Amelia called to the room at large.
Harry took the time while Amelia was talking to pull off his dress robes, revealing he was wearing his dragon hide armour underneath. As much as he'd prefer to wear his grey robes for added protection, he had no wish to compromise his identity as the Reaper, especially with so many ministry officials in attendance.
Time seemed to fly by as Amelia ordered her people into strategic positions while he and Bellatrix prepared to go outside and greet their guests.
Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, 1/1/1994, 00:05
Tonks and Merula arrived with a soft 'pop' in the middle of a paved road. They were standing next to a wrought iron fence that was erected around a dark and snow-covered graveyard. Tonks could just make out the outline of a small church on the other side of the graveyard as she glanced around taking in her surroundings.
'Pop'
Tonks turned as Charlie appeared beside her and also scanned the area for signs of danger.
"So where are we heading?" Tonks asked, glancing over at Merula.
"The headquarters of Lord Voldemort can be found at Riddle Manor on Cheshire Lane in Little Hangleton," Merula said and pointed to the hillside directly in front of them.
Tonks had noticed that the road they were on led up a steep hill when they had arrived but it looked like there was nothing there just a vast expanse of snow-covered lawn. At Merula's words, Tonks gasped as she watched a large manor house materialize on the hillside before her eyes.
"So that's what it looks like," Charlie muttered as the three of them began walking toward the manor, their steps crunching in the snow.
"What are you on about, Weasley?" Merula asked, shooting Charlie a curious look.
"I've never seen a fedelius charm in action before," Charlie said, his breath making a cloud in the cold air.
"That makes two of us," Tonks admitted as they approached a wrought-iron gate that led into the manor grounds.
"Who cares, we're about to go into the belly of the beast, stay focused," Merula snapped as they crossed the threshold of the gate.
"Right," Charlie said as he drew his wand.
"There are two people near the house, probably guards," Merula said as she scented the air.
"Should we try to fight them, do you reckon?" Charlie asked nervously.
"No, I could use a fresh meal," Merula said with an evil grin playing on her lips.
Tonks was about to ask what she meant when Merula leapt into the air shooting ten feet off of the ground before she transformed into a bat and began winging her way toward the manor.
"I'm not sure I want to know what she meant," Charlie muttered as the two of them continued to walk toward the house.
Tonks nodded her agreement but didn't say anything now having a pretty good idea what she meant. Tonks' suspicions were confirmed a short while later when a pained scream echoed over the grounds followed by a second one a moment later.
They were still fifty feet from the manor's front door when the bat flew towards them, transforming in time for Merula to land gracefully at Tonks' right. Tonks felt slightly sickened when she saw the area around the vampire's mouth that was glistening with fresh blood.
"You know that's disgusting, right?" Tonks asked as Merula licked her lips.
"Whatever, I took care of the guards," Merula shrugged.
"And now comes the fun part," Charlie muttered as he waved his wand over the front door of the manor.
"Nagini usually lurks in Voldemort's study on the second floor," Merula said as Charlie opened the door.
The three of them stepped into the entrance hall and Tonks cast the human presence revealer spell.
"Homenium revelio."
"Well?" Merula asked.
"We're the only humans inside the manor," Tonks said.
"Then let the search begin," Merula said as she approached the stairs leading up to the second floor.
"Lead the way," Tonks said as she followed the vampire up the stairs to begin their search for Voldemort's familiar.
Peverell Manor, Leeds, 1/1/1994, 00:07
Harry and Bellatrix made their way out of the manor with a handful of other guests as the deadline neared its end. The plan was to keep Voldemort distracted long enough for the ministry auror forces to flank him.
As he stepped outside, Harry could see a literal army of inferi standing on the lawns where the twins usually played quidditch buttvey were the least of his concerns tonight.
Harry could also see a line of men dressed in the same black bodysuits and gasmasks as the vampires at Saint Mungo's had worn last Halloween. There weren't as many of them as there were inferi, but there were still close to a hundred vampires behind the army of animated corpses.
There was also a large number of men and women donning black robes and bone-white skull masks, it looked like Voldemort had brought his entire force of death eaters here tonight. Harry was honestly surprised that there were so many of them given the losses Voldemort forces had taken over the past few years.
Harry scanned the enemy forces looking for Voldemort himself and it didn't take very long for him to spot the self-proclaimed dark lord. Harry saw Voldemort's pale face amongst the group of death eaters, his skin paler than their masks and his eyes that seemed to glow a vibrant red in the darkness.
Harry's first thought was that Voldemort was looking supremely smug as his eyes fell upon the group of thirty or so people exiting the manor. Harry could tell that Voldemort thought that he had already won, which was exactly what Harry wanted him to think.
Harry locked eyes with Tom as his group crossed the lawn moving slowly toward Voldemort's forces. Harry thought that the dark lord's eyes widened inperceptively as if he was shocked by Harry's physical appearance.
Harry came to a stop about fifty feet away from Voldemort's army and those walking with him spread out and formed a line facing the enemy. Checking his watch, Harry saw that he still had a minute before Voldemort's deadline of ten minutes was up and opted to remain silent waiting for Voldemort to speak first.
Harry watched as Voldemort stepped forward, his forces parting as he made his way to the front of his army, his red eyes moving over every person who had just come out of the manor as if memorizing their faces. Voldemort came to a stop standing in front of the inferi and smiled to himself before speaking, his snake-like hiss of a voice easily carrying on the cold night air.
"Harry Peverell, you look very familiar to me though I do not believe that we've ever met," Voldemort commented sounding almost curious.
"I should look familiar to you, Tom. You murdered my cousin and his wife yet you somehow failed to kill their fifteen-month-old child," Harry said, taking a certain amount of pleasure at the look of annoyance that crossed Voldemort's features at the jab.
"I will correct that mistake in due time but I doubt that you'll be alive to see it," Voldemort rebutted.
"We'll see," Harry shrugged as he saw green sparks shoot into the air behind Voldemort's forces, letting him know that the first team of aurors was in position.
"Surely you don't expect to survive this?" Voldemort taunted.
Harry ignored the question, closing his eyes and concentrated on channelling his magic into the very ground he was standing on. Almost immediately the ground began to rumble and shake as the manor's wards powered up and sprang into being, enclosing the area all around the two forces in a massive semi-transparent golden dome. The dome of light bathed the area within it in its eerie golden light, causing the vampires to his in surprise and the inferius to begin to move their arms erratically as if trying to fend off an invisible attacker.
"Whether I survive or not is irrelevant, you and your forces are trapped in here with me until I release you," Harry smirked as he spotted a second set of green sparks off to the left of Voldemort's army.
"I'll worry about that after I deal with you," Voldemort shrugged.
Voldemort went to say something else when an inferius collapsed to the ground followed by another and another, soon the enchanted corpses were falling lifelessly to the ground by the dozen, slumping against vampires or disgusted death eaters as the enchantments that animated them were broken by the manor's wards.
After hearing that Voldemort intended to use inferi for this attack, Harry had consulted the same time that he'd gotten the demented flame spell from. Dark wizards using inferius in battle was hardly a modern concept and there was a specialized ward specifically designed to remove the enchantments used to create inferi. Granted it has its drawbacks, mainly because it drew enormous amounts of power from the wardstone while the ward lifted the inferius enchantments, making the wards themselves vulnerable to attack in the few minutes it took to purge the inferius enchantments but that was hardly an issue now as the protective wards weren't under attack.
In less than two minutes, Voldemort's forces were surrounded by a virtual sea of rotting water-logged corpses drastically reducing their numbers, though in fairness, the defenders were still woefully outnumbered.
"This seemed to be the signal for Amelia's teams as spells began raining into the masked death raters from two sides, cutting a dozen of them down in the blink of an eye.
The people around Harry consisting of mostly order of the phoenix members, Bellatrix, and a handful of light and neutral families began to cast spells into the cluster of vampires. Unfortunately, this had limited success as the vampires easily avoided the spellfire but the death eaters standing near them were not so lucky. All over the manor, fighters moved in on the group gathered around Voldemort forcing them on the defensive.
The vampires drew large broadswords from sneaths on their backs and charged towards the members of the order but were held back by a wall of fire Harry hastily cast, though he knew that it wouldn't keep them back for long.
Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, 1/1/1994, 00:12
Tonks followed Merula down a long dusty hallway as the vampire led her and Charlie to Voldemort's study.
Tonks was a bit taken aback at how muggle this manor appeared, it even looked to have had electricity at one time judging by the lightswitches she had seen and she could clearly make muggle radiator-style heaters in several of the rooms she'd passed.
The three of them came to a stop in front of a polished oak door and Merula went to open it only to stop and frown.
"What's the matter?" Tonks asked warily.
"There is a ward of some kind over this room... I can feel it," Merula whispered.
"What kind of wards?" Charlie asked.
"How should I know, all I can tell you is it is there is magic over this room," Merula shrugged.
"Let me have a look," Charlie said as he drew his wand and began to cast diagnostic spells over the door.
Tonks watched Charlie work, a bit surprised at his knowledge of cursebreaking spells, though really she knew that this shouldn't surprise her considering Charlie's brother was a curse breaker. After a few moments, Charlie lowered his wand and turned to look at her.
"There is a powerful alert ward over the room. The second anyone touches the door, alarms will trigger all over the manor and the ward's defences will activate," Charlie said at her questioning look.
"What defences?" Tonks asked.
"There is a withering curse on the doorknob and a rune trap etched into the floor around the doorway," Charlie said as he pointed to tiny glowing runes that were etched into the floor in front of the door.
"So don't use the door," Merula said as if the solution were obvious.
"That will work to avoid the defences but it will still trigger the alert wards, he'll know we're here," Charlie warned.
"That's a risk we'll have to take," Tonks shrugged.
"Okay, you had better cast a shield," Charlie warned as he pointed his wand at a section of wall to the left of the door.
"Just do it already, Weasley," Merula snapped as Tonks cast a shield over the two of them.
"Expluso," Charlie growled causing a red beam of light to leave his wand and vapourize a ten-foot section of the wall, filling the room beyond in a cloud of greyish-white plaster dust.
"Bloody hell Weasley, bring the manor down on top of us, why don't you?" Merula reclaimed as soon as Tonks cancelled the shield spell.
"Sorry, I overpowered it a bit," Charlie said looking sheepish.
"Never mind that, get rid of this dust," Merula demanded.
"Here let me," Tonks said as she pointed her wand into the room.
With a wave of her wand, the dust quickly vanished revealing a destroyed study. The wall Charlie had just blasted was in pieces all over the room, all of the windows were blown out as well as a good portion of the exterior wall. The room looked like it had been hit by a cannon!
Tonks scanned the room looking for any signs of the snake and saw the tip of a green scaly tail disappear under the sofa.
"Be warned, this snake has a very unique venom," Merula said as she stepped into the drawing room.
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked warily.
"The venom causes its victim to bleed uncontrollably," Merula elaborated.
"Why did it have to be a bloody snake," Tonks muttered as she directed her wand at the sofa and cast a nonverbal levitation charm.
Tonks gasped as the sofa lifted four feet off of the floor to reveal a massive snake curled up and ready to strike.
"Why couldn't your uncle have dealt with this," Charlie muttered as he stared at the snake in horror.
"Because he's dealing with her master," Tonks said never taking her eyes off the snake who was staring back at her with slitted red eyes.
"How do you want to do this?" Charlie asked.
"Somebody has to grab her head so I can stab her," Tonks said as she took a step towards the snake, causing her tail to flick rapidly.
"Snyde, you're faster than I am," Charlie said, giving the vampire a hopeful look.
"She may be faster but she will be occupied," another voice cut in making all three of them turn to the hole in the wall they had entered through.
There was a curvy redhead dressed in a long nightgown staring at them with shimmering green eyes.
"You," Merula hissed exposing her fangs like an agitated cat.
"Ah Merula, I can sense the power in you," the woman crooned as she stepped into the room.
"I cannot say the same for you, Bethany, you barely have any powers at all," Merula hissed as she stalked towards the other woman.
"For now but my strength is finally returning," Bethany shrugged as she raised her hand revealing that she was clutching a knife with a very thin curved blade.
Tonks barely had time to take this in before Charlie tackled her to the floor a second before Nagini would have latched her fangs into the cadet auror's face.
Bethany took this as her cue and lunged at Merula moving almost faster than the eye could see but Merula easily avoided the dagger aimed at her throat and struck out with a vicious uppercut that hurled Bethany through the air before she smashed through a liquor cabinet sending bits of wood and shards of glass flying.
"I have just drank magical blood, you fool," Merula hissed as she grabbed a fistful of Bethany's hair and roughly pulled the redhead to her feet.
Bethany tried to stab Merula a second time but Merula swung out with the hand not holding a handful of red hair, catching Bethany across the jaw with enough force to shatter her mandible, if she were human. As it was, Bethany hit the floor a second time looking dazed though Tonks couldn't really fault her for that, considering the force of the blows she'd just taken.
Once againTonks was pulled back to her own predicament as Charlie pulled her out of the path of another strike from the snake, Nagini's jaws just narrowly missing her arm.
"Focus, Luv. Let Snyde worry about the vampire and we'll handle the snake," Charlie said as the two of them put a little distance between themselves and Nagini.
"Alright, we have to find a way to pin her down long enough for me to stab her," Tonks said as she fumbled to pull on a set of dragonhide gloves.
Tonks was keeping her eyes glued to the snake that was slowly creeping towards them, its tail flicking excitedly at the prospect of a large meal.
"I'll draw her attention to me, you just need to try and sneak up on her," Charlie whispered as Tonks drew the envenomated dagger from the sheat on her belt.
"Be careful," Tonks practically pleaded as the sounds of the two vampires fighting carried over from the other side of the room.
Before Charlie could reply, the redheaded vampire was thrown bodily across the room and landed with 'CRASH' on top of the coiled-up serpent. Nagini struck at her attacker more out of instinct, sinking her fangs into the vampire's neck and coiling herself around Bethany.
Tonks took the opportunity presented to run forward, without hesitating, Tonks shifted the dagger in her right hand so the blade pointed downward and raised it over her head as she cleared the distance to the snake. Dropping to her knees as she stabbed the blade down into the snake's head with all the force she could muster.
The blade passed through the snake's head with ease and plunged deep into the throat of the redheaded vampire that Nagini's jaws were still latched onto.
A bloodcurdling unearthly scream filled the room as Nagini began to violently thrash before a cloud of black smoke that smelled strongly of sulfur burst out of the wound that Tonks had just created in Nagini's head. Tonks watched as the cloud took on the appearance of a snakelike face before it burst into nothingness with a much louder earsplitting scream. Tonks watched as the smoke cleared to reveal the redheaded vampire still fighting to free herself from the snake that was wrapped around her, though her struggles seemed to be getting weaker.
"Good work, Tonks. That's a two-for-one," Merula praised as she offered the auror cadet her hand.
Tonks took the offered appendage and allowed Merula to pull her to her feet.
"Who the hell is she?" Tonks asked as she looked at the redheaded woman in confusion.
"Bethany Talbot," Merula said as she knelt down and pulled the dagger out of Nagini with a sickening 'shlick' sound.
Tonks watched as Merula made a violent slashing motion with the dagger, slicing through Bethany's throat. She took another swing and another until Bethany's head finally separated from her body and rolled away, coming to a stop against Charlie's foot much to his disgust.
"Was that really necessary?" Tonks asked as she took in the amount of blood covering the floor from the rather brutal decapitation she'd just witnessed.
Before Merula could answer, Bethany's body burst into bright white flames, a second later her head followed suit, filling the room with rancid-smelling smoke. Tonks quickly cast a spell to vanish the smoke and saw that Body was nothing more than a pile of ash.
"Yes, if I hadn't done that she would have come back when her body recovered from the basilisk venom," Merula said as she handed Tonks the dagger back.
"Oh," Tonks mumbled as she accepted the dagger and slipped it back into its sheath.
"Well, I think we're done here," Charlie said looking just as shaken as Tonks felt.
"Yeah, just let me send the signal to Uncle Harry and then we can go," Tonks muttered as she fished the enchanted galleon out of her pocket.
Tonks quickly touched her wand to the galleon letting Harry know that the snake had been dealt with before turning to Merula.
"All done?" Merula asked.
"Yep, let's get out of here," Tonks said as she took Charlie's hand.
"That is a good idea, the village is full of vampires, I'm pretty sure that's where she came from," Merula admitted indicating the pile of ash on the floor.
"She must have, there was nobody here when we arrived," Charlie shrugged as the three of them stepped through the hole in the wall.
"She probably sensed that the wards were under attack," Tonks mused.
It didn't take them very long to make their way through the house and back out into the cold night air. Tonks felt quite pleased with herself, she had not only killed the snake but she had also helped destroy the leader of Voldemort's vampires.
As the three of them made their way to the wardline, Tonks couldn't help wondering how things were going at Peverell Manor.
Peverell Manor, Leeds, 1/1/1994, 00:16
The fight had devolved from one large-scale battle to multiple scrimmages most of them between the large contingent aurors and groups of death eaters. The vampires were being held at bay by the order but that was all the order had been able to do, hold them off of the aurors.
Harry was currently trading spells with a dark-haired man he was fairly certain was named Travers. Whoever he was, the man certainly had a fondness for the dismemberment curse as he had already cast it six times injust as many seconds. Getting annoyed, Harry flicked his wand sharply downward causing a long spike to burst out of the ground underneath his opponent. Harry watched with morbid satisfaction as the spike went through the man's groin and burst through his chest just below his neck and suspended him a foot off the ground.
Harry was forced to avoid a killing curse from his right and turned to face his attacker, surprised to meet the enraged face of Lord Voldemort himself.
"Prepare to die, Peverell," Voldemort hissed in fury before sending a killing curse that Harry easily sidestepped.
Harry returned fire with a bonebreaker aimed at Voldemort's neck but the dark lord easily redirected it, hitting Sturgis Podmore in the process.
Harry felt his frustration grow as he began exchanging spells with Voldemort, True the dark lord was unable to land a spell on him but neither were Harry's spells able to get anywhere close.
A flash of fire caught both Harry and Voldemort's attention and they both paused for a second as Dumbledore arrived courtesy of Fawkes. Harry saw a flash of worry cross Tom's face as the venerable headmaster began to assist the order with the vampires.
Harry was impressed with Dumbledore's technique, Albus used the earth itself against the vampites, making vines and thick iron chains burst from the ground and ensnaring the vampires two and three at a time.
As much as Harry would have liked to observe Albus' technique, he focused back on his opponent who had just sent a killing curse his way. Dumbledore's arrival seemed to have made Voldemort almost desperate as he began to through killing curses with abandon and Harry was forced to conjure blocks of stone to intercept the spells, each spell hitting a block of stone with a deafening 'BOOM!'
Harry was taken by surprise when a nasty yellow spell flew toward Voldemort coming from his right. The spell caught Voldemort by surprise as well and he wasn't quick enough in avoiding it, the spell striking him in the left shoulder and gouging out a big chunk of flesh as it burst out of his back.
Harry turned to see his wife standing beside him a wide smile playing on her lips. Harry was about to cast his next spell when he felt the coin in his pocket heating up.
"It's done, Bella," Harry said before he began throwing spells at Voldemortwith abandon, knowing that he had to kill Voldemort before the bastard could flee
Voldemort's red eyes widened as Bellatrix joined in, making it all he could do to avoid both of their spells. All around them, death eaters and vampires were falling under the combined effort of the aurors, the order of the phoenix and Dumbledore who was making short work of vampires and making it look laughably easy.
Voldemort was backing away from him and Bellatrix, he seemed to have realized that he was in a fight that he couldn't win and was trying to make it to the edge of the wards. Harry's next spell sliced Voldemort's face just below his left eye and Voldemort roared in fury as a wave of raw magic burst from the tip of his wand. Harry brought up a shield in the knick of time but Bellatrix was a little too slow. Bellatrix was hurled across the lawn from the force of the spell and landed in an unconscious head thirty feet away.
Harry felt his own ire rising and his next spell slammed into Voldemort's already injured shoulder with a sickening 'crack' that dropped Voldemort to his knees.
Harry didn't hesitate and fired a decapitation curse at his opponent but Voldemort blocked it as he rose to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Sirius engaged in a heated battle with Reginald Parkinson not twenty feet away, their spells whizzing across the no-man's land between Voldemort and himself.
Harry was forced to conjure another block of stone to intercept what felt like the hundredth killing curse of the night. In the flash of light created by the killing curse striking the block of stone, Harry saw Parkinson collapse as he took an overpowered piercing curse to the chest.
What happened next froze Harry in place and he stood there staring blankly trying to process what it was that he was seeing.
Voldemort lashed out at the death of his last inner circle death eater and cast a killing curse at Sirius' back. Harry watched in stunned horror knowing he was too far away to do anything to stop it before it reached his godfather and Harry felt his stomach plummet as the beam of green light got ever closer to Sirius.
But before it could reach Sirous, the impossible happened. The spell seemed to stop in its tracks as if it had hit an invisible wall before it flew back the way it had come from, slamming into Voldemort's chest before the dark lord had even registered what was happening
Harry watched as Voldemort's red eyes widened in horror a millisecond before he was struck by his own killing curse. Voldemort collapsed to the ground, his face frozen in a look of shock, his lifeless red eyes staring up at the start sky as he landed spread eagle on his back.
All around him, death eaters collapsed to their knees clutching their left arms and screaming in agony as their marks vanished, burning out their cores in the process. The aurors took advantage of this, stunning and binding the downed death eaters in thick ropes while they were distracted by the loss of their marks.
Harry ran over to Bellatrix and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her starting to stir, She looked a little dazed but otherwise alright.
"Did we win?" Bella asked when she saw him walking towards her.
"Yeah, but I honestly have no idea what happened," Harry said as he helped Bellatrix to her feet.
"I want to see him," Bellatrix said as she spotted Voldenort's body laid out on the lawn.
"So do I," Harry admitted as he guided Bellatrix to where a crowd was gathering around the corpse.
They had made it to where Sirius had been standing moments ago when Harry's foot connected with something that he couldn't see. Harry had a sinking feeling as he knelt down and reached his hand out. Harry's worst fears were confirmed when his fingertips hit an invisible form. Taking a breath, Harry fumbled around until he got a good grip on the smooth fabric of what he was pretty sure was an invisibility cloak and pulled.
Harry felt his stomach twist painfully as he removed the invisibility cloak, he was looking down at the lifeless form of his younger self. Harry barely registered Bellatrix gasping beside him as he stared at the boy, wondering how Little Harry had gotten here in the first place.
This did answer the question of how the spell rebounded back at Voldemort, his mother's protection was still very much alive in young Harry and he had repeated the feat of Halloween nineteen eighty-one.
Before Harry could think on the matter anymore, he heard an anguished scream from very close by before Sirius was at his side kneeling over his godson.
"What happened?" Sirius demanded sounding frantic as he checked younger Harry for a pulse.
"He saved your life," Harry said as he watched younger Harry's eyelids flickering as if he was dreaming.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, looking sharply at Harry
"He jumped in front of a killing curse aimed at your back. Harry Potter just defeated Voldemort again," Harry said as he took Bella's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"He got hit with a k-killing curse?!" Sirius exclaimed looking horrified.
"He did," Harry nodded.
"Oh god," Sirius muttered sounding inconsolable.
"Do you remember why he's famous?" Harry asked, giving Sirius a meaningful look.
"You can't be serious?" Sirius exclaimed as he felt a pulse in younger Harry's wrist.
"He should be up and about in a few hours," Harry said, giving Sirius a knowing smile.
"You're sure?" Bellatrix asked sounding like she was on the verge of tears.
"That's how it worked when it happened to me," Harry shrugged not wanting to say too much with so many people moving around them.
"Well when he does wake up, he's grounded for the rest of his life," Sirius muttered as he ran his fingers through the boy's messy hair.
Before Harry could reply, they were joined by a very tired-looking Albus Dumbledore who also knelt beside younger Harry.
"Best get him inside or he'll catch a cold," Dumbledore said after he looked over the boy for a moment.
"Right," Sirius muttered, still looking very shaken.
"Did you get the vampires sorted out?" Harry asked as Bella wandered over to Voldemort's body.
"Yes, most of them are being shipped to specialized holding facilities though I fear they will all be put down," Dumbledore said as Sirius picked younger Harry up and began carrying him toward the manor.
"Tonks was successful in killing Nagini, he won't be coming back again," Harry said as the two men followed after Bellatrix who had just joined the crowd around Voldemort's body.
"I assumed as much when all of the death eaters collapsed," Dumbledore admitted sounding very pleased.
As Harry stood there watching the ministry aurors process the captured death eaters, he couldn't help but feel relieved. The task he had been working towards since arriving in this timeline was finally complete!
Now he could relax and raise his family not having to worry about Voldemort and his ilk any longer.
Harry took Bella's hand in his and led her back towards the manor, deciding to get out of the way as more and more ministry personnel arrived to clean up the lawn that was littered with bodies