DISCLAIMER:
See
A/N: I always wonder
how Wormtail
would reappear and contribute to the plot of the Harry Potter series,
especially after the events of OotP.
Here, I do my best to tie up the ends that Wormtail has left
thus far in
the series.
CHAPTER 37: WORMTAIL’S DEBT
Summum crede nefas animam pareferre pudori. Believe me that it is the great crime to prefer life to honor. –Juvenal, Saturae (8.83)
Students crowded in
the Quidditch
stadium as they waited to watch the friends-turned-rivals battle each
other.
The Harry-supporters and Harry-haters were each rooting for their
champions.
Flitwick had set up distance markings, and as Harry walked over to his
position, he stared Percy down.
Percy stifled a shudder at the look in his rival's eye. It was a look
of grim
determination, the kind of look that said, "I can really hurt you, you
know."
Percy was a true Gryffindor. Or at least he thought of it that way.
"Standard wizard's duel," Flitwick announced with the Sonorus Charm.
"Harry Potter versus Percy Weasley. You know the rules." After
running off to the side and out of the way, he added squeakily,
"Begin!"
The crowd roared as Harry and Percy went at it like two magical
gladiators.
Percy sent a few pathetic Stunners at Harry, which he easily dodged and
blocked.
Harry realized that
Percy had
certainly improved in areas like dueling and fighting.
He was no longer the rule-abiding young man
like he was when he left Hogwarts. While
Harry knew he was better, he also knew better than to let it go to his
head.
Harry, in the meantime, didn't feel like giving Percy a sporting
chance.
Quickly coming up with a clever plan, he yelled, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!
SPICULAE ARGENTAE!"
The idea was tricky in performance but simple in strategy: The silver
Patronus
would charge forward, and the silver darts, faster than the Patronus
itself,
would burst through the Patronus, which left the victim in for a bit of
a sharp
surprise.
Percy, however, caught this in time, and repelled the silver darts.
Using a
tricky spell, part of the turf itself came up in a boulder-sized chuck
and flew
at Harry.
"Hovequanta!" Harry exclaimed. It flew back at Percy, who
narrowly got out of the way, causing some students in the stands to
laugh.
"Is that all you've got, playing with mud?" Harry called to him.
Percy flushed with anger as Harry sent several Stunners his way.
Percy then managed to block all of them, and decided to turn up the
level of
combat. "Vexatio Fluctuo! Expelliarmus!"
The shock waves loosened Harry's grip and stance, and as his wand flew
out of
his hand (causing the less faithful to cheer wildly), Percy moved in to
finish
it off.
However, Harry was ready for him. Using his new abilities as a fire
elementalist (he had done the training whenever he got the chance), he
had a
fireball form in his hands, and while throwing it with a flick of his
wrist, he
sent a fiery tornado at Percy.
The fire twister was barely any taller than Percy, but it was moving
quickly as
it etched charred lines in the ground behind it. Percy froze with
terror as it
came at him, and ran out of the way just in time. The crowd roared with
disbelief at Harry's new tricks. Aiming right at Harry, who had hardly
moved
from his original spot since the start of the duel, he shouted several
times, "Arieto!"
Harry simply used the Grand Flecture, which absorbed them all. Harry
then used
his fire abilities once again, to throw a giant fireball at Percy,
which then
splintered off into several.
Percy made to put them out with water, but by maintaining
concentration, Harry
made them go in circles around Percy in order to confuse him and
restrict his
movement. The circling fireballs formed a cylindrical cage so tight
that Percy
couldn't move an inch, let alone raise his wand to do anything. Harry’s
supporters laughed while Percy’s supporters groaned.
Percy then had a plan. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
He levitated himself straight up out of the fireball cage, and landed a
safe
distance away as the fireballs disintegrated into sparks. He then
decided to
take a leaf out of his opponent's book.
"Accio Ron’s Firebolt!" Harry's eyes widened when he
remembered that phrase from two years ago, then yelled, "Copycat!" as
he went to retrieve his wand while Percy was waiting for his brother’s
broomstick. In the stands, from what Harry could see, Ron looked a
little
miffed at seeing his brother use his special broomstick from his best
friend
being used against that same best friend.
As Ron's Firebolt came
flying out
of
Percy leapt on the Firebolt and made to chase Harry down, but Harry
then became
a phoenix, and the other columns of fire formed phoenixes as well.
Percy was
five feet away from ramming into Harry with a manic glint in his eye
when the
latter and his own "air squadron "took off.
Percy looked around, confused, his feet barely scuffing the grass. One
flash of
fire went right over his head, and another nearly nailed him from
behind. The
crowd was muttering excitedly at this new development, and to put Percy
off,
Harry started singing a powerful phoenix song. It sent shivers down
most
peoples' spines, and Percy felt twitchy all of a sudden.
'Better end this fast,' Percy thought, determined. Harry and his
phoenix-shaped
fires were flying right at him in shifting movements to confuse their
target.
"Venti Turbulenti!" Percy cried. The phoenixes all started to
diminish as they were blown away, except for Harry, of course. With
great flaps
of his powerful wings, Harry sent the winds (and any remaining fire)
got
deflected right back at his opponent.
Percy tried to hang onto his broomstick, but to no avail; he soon fell
off. As
for the fires, while they did not set fire to the Firebolt (due to a
protective
enchantment on the broomstick itself), bits of Percy's robes caught
fire and
smoke found its way into his senses.
As the Firebolt drifted off somewhere, Harry decided to catch Percy and
put his
robes out, just to be a good sport. His thoughts then turned
mischievous as he
then contemplated exactly how to do
it.
Grabbing Percy's ankles with his powerful talons, he flew off with his
opponent
screaming while hanging upside-down. Percy's underwear (with a quill
and ink
design) was showing as the crowd roared with laugher, but Harry didn't
care. He
just hoped that Snape would forgive him on this one.
"Let me go, you bloody bird!" Percy yelled him, along with several
other obscene comments that he would have never
said in public (nor did Harry think he was ever capable of saying).
As Harry was now hovering about fifty feet over the lake, he sang a few
notes
as if to say, "If you say so."
He dropped Percy in the lake (“ARGHhhhhh…” Sploosh!)
and soared back to the stadium, singing happily as though he was
laughing.
As Harry landed back on the pitch, he transformed back, went up to
Flitwick,
and said, "I dumped him in the lake since his clothes were on fire."
Flitwick tried to look stern but quickly gave into giggles while
saying,
"Harry Potter wins the duel!"
Harry’s supporters cheered madly while those who didn’t trust him
lamented
their loss. "Wait a minute!" Judy Arnold protested, rushing down onto
the pitch and towards Flitwick. "That move can't be legal, can it?"
Flitwick pulled out his dueling rulebook and opened it to the right
page for
her. "There's no rule against dumping your opponent in the lake."
~*~*~*~
Harry returned to his office to find Draco-as-Roy waiting for him. “Come with me,” he said with a wink. “There’s something I want to show you.
Draco led him down to
the
Slytherin common room, where the sounds of a party were going on. After Draco entered, Harry walked in and
asked, "What's the cause for celebration?"
Blaise laughed. "You, of course!" Everyone cheered again as Blaise
elaborated, "Prat-cy Weasley has
been making life hell for Slytherins, blaming us in his politics for
everything, only to make himself look better.”
There was some hissing
(no pun
intended) before Draco continued, “Oh, and by the way, when you caught
Weasley
upside-down-" and there was more laughing at this point "-guess what
flew into the stands."
Harry was shocked. "No way... you didn't... did you?"
Draco pulled out Ron's Firebolt from under the table. “Don’t look at me
that
way, Harry, I just happened to catch it.”
Harry tiled his head to one side. "
"If it's about me stealing it, don't worry; I'll return it. I mean, it
does belong to Ron, after all.”
Harry laughed along with everyone else as butterbeers were spread
around.
~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, the attitude in the Gryffindor common room polarized between
Harry’s
supporters on one side and his enemies on the other.
Those who didn’t believe him sat closest to
the fireplace, since Percy was recovering from his “swim in the lake,”
and was
sneezing and shivering with a blanket wrapped around him.
Another new pastime of Percy's was waffling about Gryffindor pride,
upholding
Sirius Black's honor, etc., etc., etc. It made Ginny want to scream.
What was
this, a new totalitarian regime?
Ginny sat aloof, reading a book for her O.W.L.s. She was also dwelling
on ways
to make her brother absolutely miserable.
In several ways, he had become the new Draco Malfoy, except he was the
champion
of the Gryffindors (or more specifically, anyone in general who didn’t
believe
Harry) instead of the prince of the Slytherins.
Suddenly, Ron leapt up with anger. "OH BUGGER! I just remembered!
Where's
my Firebolt?"
Ginny turned to Percy and asked, “Since you pretty much took it without
Ron’s
permission, do you have any idea where it might be, oh dear brother
Percy?”
Percy glowered a little and asked in general, "Does anyone have any
idea
where it went?"
Seamus timidly spoke up. "I think it flew into the Slytherin stands,
but..."
That was the final straw as Ron let out a god awful scream of terror
and fury,
and started convulsing on the ground, crazed by thoughts of what could
happen
to his beloved Firebolt.
Ginny shook with silent laughter; this was about as good as Percy's
reaction to
her shirt with the "virginity" text on it.
A few minutes later,
however, a
few school owls flew in with the Firebolt, one of which had a short
note in its
beak. As they dropped off their load,
Ron snapped out of it and read the note.
“Hm, I guess that Roy
Serpenfils
bloke is a nice guy after all,” he said with a smile.
“He returned my Firebolt. I guess
he and I could be the best of
friends, if we tried.”
Ginny shook even more
with silent
laughter, knowing that Roy Serpenfils was really Draco Malfoy in
disguise.
~*~*~*~
Later, on the side, Draco asked Harry, "Can I please borrow Ardeavis
for
something special tonight? Severus and I need him."
"For an Order mission to undermine Voldemort?" Harry whispered. Draco
jolted a little, but he was becoming easier at the mention of
"Voldemort."
"Yeah, to undermine Voldedork." Harry sniggered at the name while
Draco smirked. "We need to steal powdered basilisk eyes from his
private
stores. Maybe we'll clean him out of other things as well."
"Whatever makes him miserable makes me happy," Harry said with a
smile. "Come with me." After telling everyone they'd be right back,
Harry led Draco to his office.
While Harry explained the details to Ardeavis, Draco was having a
highly
humorous with Nemorphus; apparently, the Runespoor was delighted to
have
another friendly Parselmouth.
Before Harry locked the door behind him as he exited a few minutes
later, he
called into the office, "Alright, my phoenix is in there, just play
nicely
with him, OK?" As he hummed "Sending the Aurors After You" while
walking down the hall, Draco and Ardeavis disappeared in a flash from
inside
the office.
~*~*~*~
In a wide, underground deserted laboratory, Voldemort was busy making
plans.
His followers had stolen animals from all over the world, and were
using the
Killing Curse on them. The carcasses would then be levitated and dumped
into
tanks full of disgusting green liquid, where they would be stored
before the
Dualanimus Potion would be ready.
Yet in a special training room was Bellatrix Lestrange. She was no
longer
human. At least not entirely, anyway. She was completely covered in
snake
scales of various greens. Some particularly rough spike- like scales
ran up and
down her spine. Her eyes were slivers, poisonous green with charcoal
black
pupils. Wild, vine-like strands of hair twitched whenever she moved.
Her nails
were now like talons, and her hands like spiders with unnaturally long
fingers.
She wore tight robes, as well as a sort of silver breastplate with the
Dark
Mark on it. There were also knee and elbow pads, also made of silver.
Her senses were now incredible. She could see in the dark, smell the
victim's
blood, and hear the slightest movements... not to mention her victims'
wildly
beating hearts as she closed in on them.
As she closed in on the next victim, she decided to try out her newest
"accessory;" her wrist-spikes. They could easily extend out of her
wrists and go a meter beyond her hands. She ran about with her powerful
new
legs and pierced and sliced at her enemies. Seeing as she had to meet
with the
other soon, she finished off the last victim by spitting poison at her.
"Excellent work, Bella," came Voldemort's voice from the doorway.
"You see, nothing goes to waste in this laboratory."
"This is excellent, Master," she said, bowing before him, "I
thank you a million times over for these new abilities; it was most
definitely
worth the pain."
"Anyway, Bellatrix..." he was suddenly cut off as alarms went off.
Taking out a device, Voldemort hissed, "Intruder in the potion
ingredient
stores! Let's get the intruders! Hurry!"
~*~*~*~
In the meantime, Draco and Ardeavis worked fast to clear out
Voldemort's
private store of potions ingredients. After Ardeavis had vanished with
the
several crates of powdered basilisk eyes, Draco decided that they would
also
clean out anything else that was too powerful to simply be left in
Voldemort's
possession. After Ardeavis had left with the last of the sphinx teeth,
he had
returned with Fawkes, also eager to help out.
With incredible speed, the two phoenixes cleaned out the entire storage
area.
Considering that the room itself was the size of half a Quidditch pitch
and
that the crates took up almost all of the available space inside of it,
which
was saying something in itself.
Just as Fawkes returned with the last crate of possibly illegal potions
ingredients, Voldemort burst in, seething, flanked by Lucius and
Bellatrix.
"Whoever you are, intruder, take your hood off and show yourself!" he
demanded.
Slowly, the cloaked Draco turned to face him. Spotting Nagini on
Voldemort's
shoulder, he said in Parseltongue, "So, how's life serving the Dark
Lord?"
Everyone else gasped as Voldemort looked shocked. "Who are you!?" he
demanded. "Reveal your identity, and you may just get a painless
death!"
A grin appeared under Draco's hood. "As you say." Taking off the
hood, he smirked as he saw everyone's reactions.
"Draco Malfoy?" Voldemort breathed disbelievingly.
"Hello," he said casually. "Nice to you again, father, Aunt
Bella." Taking another look at his mutated relative, he then added,
"My my, you've let yourself go."
Bellatrix shook with anger as Voldemort suddenly grew a cold smile.
"So,
Mister Malfoy, how did you acquire the gift of Parseltongue?" he
inquired.
"That," Draco said simply
with a smirk, "Is my little secret."
Voldemort looked curious now, instead of incensed. "This I must hear,
although I doubt this makes you nowhere as important as myself."
Draco laughed a high, cold laugh with put everyone off. Bellatrix
snarled,
"Don't laugh like that towards the Dark Lord, who is the worthiest
Slytherin of all!"
This only made Draco laugh even more. "That's precisely it,
Bellatrix!" he snorted, and even Ardeavis trilled with amusement. All
of
the Dark wizards cringed at the phoenix sound, since phoenix music
emboldens
the hearts of the brave and strikes fear into the hearts of evil. (1)
Letting the laughter die off, Draco smoothly pulled the amulet out of
his
robes. Lucius and Bellatrix looked puzzled, by Voldemort let out a gasp
of
surprise. "You recognize it?" Draco asked. "After all, this is
said to have been forged by Salazar Slytherin himself, and only a true
Slytherin can use it, let alone handle it." He
swung it closer to Voldemort, and it
hissed and cackled as though rejecting him.
“I’d say it doesn’t like you,” Draco smirked.
Draco savored his moment of victory as the implications hit Voldemort
and his
cronies like an oncoming Muggle freight train. "What- that can't be-
that's impossible..." Voldemort
spluttered.
"You're not the only true Slytherin, blood-related or otherwise, in the
neighborhood, Riddle," Draco said smugly, inciting the Dark Lord's
anger.
"Oh, and you should realize this...
my blood's purer than yours," he finished in a singsong voice.
Voldemort let out a scream of fury and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"
But Draco was too fast for him; with a silver shimmer from the amulet,
he
vanished. The jet of green light went right under Ardeavis, who flew up
and
vanished in a burst of flames.
"Where'd the wretched bird go?" Bellatrix shrieked.
"Who cares!?" exclaimed Voldemort, with fury that made his men
shudder. "Find that boy!"
They all dashed off in different directions, while Lucius Malfoy
lingered
behind, unsure of what to do. Eventually, he decided that if he caught
his own
son, maybe he could get some discipline back in the boy.
~*~*~*~
Draco, in the meantime, went back to Snape Manor with the help of Seth.
Thanking his friend and pocketing him, he walked inside.
Wormtail was sitting across the table from Snape, who was eyeing the
rat Animagus
with pure disgust on his face. Wormtail tried to look brave, but he was
cowering in his seat. Of course, Ardeavis was perch on the chair next
to
Snape's, so that didn't help Wormtail's situation at all.
Snape turned his head to see his godson. "Well, Draco, so nice to see
you
again."
"Likewise, Severus," he replied calmly. "Riddle thinks I am
somewhere in his base. Boy, was he angry and wrong."
Snape smirked. Setting his sights on Wormtail, Draco said, "We need
your
help. You know the layout of his base. We want your help. And should
you want
to refuse to help us... well, I'm sure either Severus or I can help
persuade
you."
Wormtail silently nodded. He seemed almost determined
to do this. He got up and said, "He's a monster who needs to be put
down,
no matter which way you slice it. Of course I'll help; I owe Harry that
much."
"Of course," Snape commented rather darkly, "You also probably
owe him and his parents a lot more than that."
Wormtail narrowed his eyes. "You seem to be a fine one to talk."
Snape snorted. "At least I didn't betray
them," he replied evenly, putting a careful emphasis on that word.
"Quite the opposite, in fact. I was the spy who tipped off Dumbledore
when
the Dark Lord set his sights on James and Lily Potter. You undid all my
hard
work and nearly got me exposed."
Draco gaped at hearing his Harry's parents being discussed like that as
Wormtail flinched, then stared at Snape in silent shock. "So you
see," Snape concluded, "When it comes to a matter of honor, I'm
running circles around you. How ironic that you can act so much like a
Slytherin while I act so much like a Gryffindor."
Wormtail glared at Snape, but let it go after a moment. Sighing, he
pulled
three sealed letters out of his robes. One was addressed to Harry,
another was
addressed to Lupin, and the third was addressed to The Quibbler.
Ardeavis
swooped over and took them, handing them back to Severus. "In case I
don't
make it out tonight," Wormtail said heavily, "Please deliver
them."
It was now Snape's turn to stare in silent shock. The man who faked his
own
death to frame Black, willing to sacrifice himself?
Cottoning on to Snape's reaction, Wormtail then added, "Don't ask why.
Just let me do what I can to help."
Snape merely nodded. "Then go with Draco. I have work to do and, er,
confiscated potions ingredients to store away." With a smirk, he got up
and glided off to his basement.
Draco and Wormtail looked at each other. With a nod from Draco,
Ardeavis
swooped over and took Wormtail. Using Seth again, Draco returned to
Voldemort's
laboratories.
~*~*~*~
Voldemort and his henchmen all but ripped apart the base, looking for
the
little brat. Lucius then suggested that perhaps he had left the
building, for
which Voldemort used the Cruciatus Curse on him for disrespecting his
superior.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters were now in a large hall with rafters
high up,
cloaked in darkness. They were halfway up, on a wide railway, with
countless
magical devices functioning underneath. Suddenly, a voice called out
using the
Sonorus Charm. "Having problems, Riddle?"
It was Draco. Voldemort yelled, "Show yourself!"
"I think not," he said arrogantly. "Not to the likes
of you, He- Whose-Name-Must-Be-Hyphenated."
"I will not tolerate that kind of disrespect!" Voldemort screamed.
"I am the Son of Slytherin and his rightful heir! I am the worthiest
one
of all to carry out his great plans!"
"Not a chance," Draco's voice responded. "You're
obviously having an identity crisis, Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"Never call me
that!" Voldemort screeched, blasting curses up into the
rafters
and hitting nothing.
"Harry Potter told me everything," Draco continued smugly. "A
poor little abused boy in an orphanage with dreams of power. You might
have had
it hard in your life, but even then, you could have asked an adult for
help,
even at Hogwarts. In the end, Lord Lizard-face, it all comes back to
you, no
matter which way you cut it."
"SILENCE!" Voldemort bellowed, shooting more curses and
still not hitting Draco.
"Aw, does ickle Voldykins want a hug?"
Draco asked in a voice that Bellatrix would
use. (2)
Voldemort let out a massive scream of anger and fury, not really caring
where
he was aiming at the ceiling.
A giant column of poisonous green scales suddenly feel from the
ceiling. The
Death Eaters all exclaimed things like "Oh no, it's a basilisk!" or
"Look away, look away!"
Being a Parselmouth, Voldemort had complete immunity to a basilisk's
glare. (3) This particular basilisk had a
blond plume and cold, bulbous gray eyes.
"You're not the only Slytherin with a few tricks up his sleeves,"
the basilisk said. "Or would that be scales?"
"Very witty," Voldemort said, weighing his chances.
Maybe he could still get Draco Malfoy to join him? "Last chance,
Malfoy; join me or die."
Basilisk-Draco looked thoughtful for a moment before coming up with an
answer. "How's
this for an answer?" He then slithered over the side of the railing
and landed on the floor with a heavy THUD. The devices were destroyed
as he
landed on them, but he wasn't harmed at all; in fact, a basilisk's hide
could
resist enough force from a Muggle anti-tank rifle.
"No, no, NO!" Voldemort yelled as all the essential equipment was
destroyed, more of it being destroyed by Draco's basilisk rampage. His
beloved
Serpentine Army would never be ready at this rate! Turning back to his
cronies
(who all flinched with fear), he commanded, "Lucius, Bella, go to the
animal rooms and cut him off; the rest of you, try to destroy him!"
As Voldemort dashed off to make sure no one would be able to get in or
out of
this base, the Death Eaters all aimed at Draco and yelled in unison, "AVADA
KEDAVRA!"
The giant snake suddenly shimmered and vanished, then reappeared back
on the
walkway. Stupidly, they all turned around to look at him; Crabbe,
Goyle, Nott,
Bulstrode, Mulciber, and Jusgon all died on the spot. (4)
Transforming back, Draco simply stepped over the bodies when something
else
occurred to him; given the nature of Voldemort's experiments, perhaps
he should
get rid of the bodies? Then again, a basilisk's glare was of the same
nature as
the Killing Curse, so that was unlikely. Walking calmly, he continued
his
course of destruction.
Dementors started gliding out towards him, but he was ready. Thinking
about the
happiness he felt of his new power, he said, "Expecto Patronum!"
A giant silver dragon shot out and scared them off as Draco used Seth
again to
go where he had to next.
If he had looked below, he would have seen the highly flammable
containers from
the equipment bleeding through cracks in the floor into the
experimentation
rooms below.
Wormtail, in the meantime, was conjuring oil all over the cages and
equipment.
He was just getting out a Muggle cigarette lighter, planning to
Disapparate
right after dropping it, when Bellatrix's voice came from behind him.
"Nice to you again, Wormtail," she hissed, sending shivers up and
down the Animagus' spine.
"Bellatrix," he said neutrally, acknowledging her presence. Several
other Death Eaters came up to him as well, wands raised.
While this was happening, Draco silently crept into a corner, watching
the
scene.
"Something the matter, Wormtail?" she asked slyly. "What could
possibly be the reason for the sweat on your brow, for the rapid
beating of
your heart?"
Wormtail knew he was screwed. 'Lily, James, please forgive me. You too,
Harry.
I apologize for all eternity for you.' He clicked the lighter on the
same
moment that Bellatrix grabbed him harshly, her claws digging into his
chest.
A tear rolled out of Wormtail's eye as it made contact with the floor,
now
laced with oil.
Draco realized exactly what would happen the same moment that the
lighter
dropped from Wormtail's hand. With a deafening explosion and countless
smaller
ones, the flames raced towards him, engulfing the shocked Death Eaters
and
Wormtail.
Draco's eyes grew their widest ever as he tried to figure out how to
get out of
there, and raising his hands in a futile attempt, he shouted, "NO!"
A silver barrier separated himself from the roaring flames; interested
more in
his own survival than in this unique new trick, he got out Seth and got
out of
the base before anything else happened.
Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy had barely escaped alive. Lucius had just
run into
Voldemort's ultra-secure command center to inform his master of
Wormtail's
presence when the explosion had rocked the base.
The explosion had also weakened the protective wards, so both of them
Apparated
to the outer edge of it. The whole underground base left a smoldering
inferno
on the earth's surface.
"Lucius," Voldemort said evilly, "It's hard to determine who
destroys the most real estate: Potter or your son."
Malfoy merely nodded to acknowledge his master. Voldemort, in the
meantime,
pulled out a device to check on the status of his men. Dead. Dead.
Dead... (5)
When he flipped to Bellatrix's status, he saw the words, "Barely
alive."
Turning to Lucius, he said, "Bellatrix is still alive. Come with me."
~*~*~*~
Draco returned to Snape Manor. Snape was in his lab, working on the
potions
with the help of the manuals from Harry's vault.
"I'll need to get back to this in an hour or so," Snape said, pulling
off mitts for handling hot objects. He turned to see Draco standing on
the
threshold. "What happened?"
Draco was at a loss for what to say. "Wormtail actually did sacrifice
himself this time. Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Bulstrode, Mulciber, Jugson,
and
several others are dead. I have no idea what happened to Riddle,
Bellatrix or
my father."
Snape's eyes widened in shock. "Merlin, what happened?"
"I started half a dozen of them down," Draco smirked, "And the
rest got caught in an explosion. Wormtail doused the whole place in oil
and
used a Muggle cigarette lighter to ignite it all. Then again, Bellatrix
might
have survived, given her new mutations, but like I said, I have no
idea."
"So you decimated the Dark Lord's forces, both in experiments, and in
monsters," Snape sneered. Suddenly, Snape burst out laughing in a dark
sort of way. "I'm sorry, Draco, but the way you and Harry have been
acting
lately, I'm starting to wonder if the two of you lost a bet or
something and
had to switch characteristics."
Draco laughed a little as well. "I know, I know. So, Severus, how's the
potion coming along?"
Calming down, Snape replied, "It should be ready in twenty four hours.
I
have enough here to inoculate the entire wizarding community of
"How will we test it without actually getting ourselves killed or
petrified?"
"Remember the attacks years ago?" Snape asked. Well, of course Draco
knew the attacks! "Well, for the most part, the victims who were
petrified
saw the basilisk's reflection in mirrors or water, or through a camera
or a
ghost. One of us will have to use a mirror."
"Being a Parselmouth," Draco pointed out, "I can't help. Maybe we
should kidnap one of the ‘Harry-haters’ like that Judy Arnold girl or
something?" he asked, partially as a joke.
"As tempting as that is," Snape smirked, "That would look bad on
Harry's part."
"Oh, good point," Draco admitted. "We'll think of something."
Suddenly, Snape's head jerked up. "I just remembered; Wormtail's
letters."
Striding out of his lab, with Draco right behind him, he went up to a
tower
where Aurigo dwelled, gorging himself on the remains of an unfortunate
mouse.
For some strange reason, Hedwig and Velator were also there, eating
their own
meals. They all finished as the pair of Slytherins walked up to them.
"I have three letters to deliver," Snape said. Holding out one
envelope, he said, "Aurigo, please deliver this to The Quibbler.
Velator,
please deliver this to Remus Lupin. Hedwig, please deliver this to your
master,
Harry."
The owls nodded affirmatively, took their letters, and flew out into
the night.
Taking his medallion, Draco bade Snape farewell and returned to
Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~
Draco reappeared in Harry's office. Ardeavis had already returned, as
was
singing some melodies to Nemorphus, who kept shouting, "Encore!
Encore!"
Draco smiled, resumed his form as Roy Serpenfils, and went back to the
Slytherin common room. People were just going to their dorm rooms when
he
walked back in. After exchanging greetings with them, he asked to see
Blaise
and Pansy. After that, he quickly
contacted Harry and Neville, who met him in Harry’s office
After leading them to Snape's office and putting all sorts of spells on
it,
Draco launched into the night's events. All of them gasped and laughed
at
exactly the right times ("Ickle Voldykins, oh that's rich," Harry
laughed).
When Draco explained more about Bellatrix's new mutations, Neville
looked sick
and frightened while Pansy gave a small shriek of terror.
"To put it plainly," Draco concluded, "She was now a
gorgon bitch."
"Draco!" Pansy chastised him. “Language!”
"What?" Draco shrugged innocently. "It's English."
Blaise sniggered and said, "So, what happened to the base?"
When Draco mentioned Wormtail's suicide, Harry scowled.
"He's faked his own death before; how do we know he didn't do it
again?"
Draco shook his head. "After you explained how he faked his death the
first time, I kept thinking it over in my head, and there's no way he
could
have gotten out of this one. He seemed almost determined to let himself
die for
the cause. He seemed to be doing it to punish himself or something."
Harry snorted. "Yeah, that will be the day."
"By the way," Draco added, "He left three letters with Snape in
case he didn't make it out alive. One to the Quibbler, one to you, and
one to
Lupin. Your owl will deliver it in the morning."
Harry's face went through a mix of emotions. "And here I was hoping
that I
would be the one to catch him."
Draco sighed. "What can I tell you? Come on, we'd better get back to
our
dorms."
~*~*~*~
Harry didn't sleep very well that night. Suddenly, he remembered a
dream he had
months before, about lions and rats.
He remembered in primary school where they learned some of Aesop's
fables. One
of them was the lion and the mouse. One day, a lion caught a mouse to
eat. The
mouse pleaded for his life, saying one day that he would return the
favor;
moved, the lion let him go. Later on, when the lion got caught in a
hunter's
net, the mouse and his family were able to chew through the net, thus
helping
him escape.
Harry shrugged it off as being that Wormtail repaid his debt with his
life by
ending the lives of so many other evil witches and wizards. With that,
he once
again tried to get some sleep.
~*~*~*~
The next morning, the Daily Prophet's headlines screamed of "Wormtail's
second death." Along with his charred body, they found Wormtail's
silver
hand, which surprisingly wasn't melted by the blast; therefore, it was
impossible to fake his death like he did fifteen years before. The
“Harry-haters” buzzed with news, saying that perhaps Harry had snuck
out and
killed him; after all, Wormtail did
betray his parents. It was quite obvious that Wormtail did it as an act
of
defiance against Voldemort.
Harry stumbled in the next morning, not getting much sleep at all.
There was
muttering across the Great Hall as
Harry’s friends, in the meantime (with Ron in the lead), argued with
those who
didn’t trust Harry and told them to leave him alone, among some less
than
flattering comments.
Special editions of the Quibbler flew in next. Wormtail's letter was in
it. It
was sad and dripping with remorse, grief and guilt. Surprisingly,
Wormtail
asked that he not be given an award of any kind, especially, not the
Order of
Merlin, because of what he had done. He only did it because he want to
punish
himself for what he did to the Potters and all the other families he
had ripped
apart through his cowardice by giving into Voldemort. He figured that
if he
were to kill himself, why not bring down as many Death Eaters and Dark
creatures as he could along with him. Perhaps his most shocking
statement at
the end was how he was by no means a hero, only a coward, and since he
basically committed suicide, he indeed took the coward's way out.
Wormtail also
added as a postscript how Voldemort had cooked up the false information
to
frame Harry, and that he couldn't believe the behavior of those who
didn’t
trust Harry.
The Harry-haters’ spirits were immediately crushed as news of it spread
around
as people murmured and looked at Harry, who was reading it himself. He
was
shocked, to say the least. Then again, was there any authenticity to
the
letters?
Hedwig then flew in, bearing the letter that Draco had mentioned. After
thanking her and feeding her some toast and juice, he opened it. It was
more or
less the same as the letter published in The Quibbler.
Harry,
First of all, I feel I should apologize eternally for what I have done
to ruin
your life. I admit that I am a coward, and nothing I say or do can ever
change
that. If you are reading this, it means I have died to sabotage
Riddle's plans.
This is because I can't keep going on like this, living with my guilt.
I admit
to what I have done, and I only hope that I'll have caused enough
collateral
damage to slow Riddle down. Now what's left is to face your parents in
the
great beyond and try to apologize for what I've done.
I know this probably isn't the best thing to say, coming from me, but
your
parents would have been immensely proud of you. I don't buy that crap
about you
being Dark or going evil, either.
I also sent a will to Daedulus Diggle, who was also my solicitor at one
point.
20 percent of my gold is left to you, 20 percent will go to Lupin, 20
to the
Diggorys, 20 to the Weasleys, and the remaining 20 percent will go to
St.
Mungo's. Do what you want with it; I figured that since I deprived you
of a
decent life, this would try to fix some of that, one way or another.
On a final note, I just hope that you're not disappointed that you
couldn't
kill me yourself or toss me in prison. Like you said that night a few
years ago
in the Shrieking Shack, your parents wouldn't have liked you or Sirius
or Remus
to kill me out of revenge. Revenge really is a terrible thing, Harry;
I've seen
how Death Eaters and other Dark wizards make a lifestyle out of it.
They try to
bring closure to their problems with revenge, but instead of their pain
dying
with revenge, it only grows. When you showed me mercy, you were strong
enough
to resist falling into that vicious cycle.
Forgive me, Harry.
Peter Pettigrew ("Wormtail")
Harry was at a loss for words. Taking it, he went up to the staff table
and
showed it to Dumbledore. The Headmaster frowned while reading it. "Such
a
tragedy was made because of him," Dumbledore said. Reading it over
carefully, he said, "I believe this is authentic and not a fake, Harry,
since I am familiar with Pettigrew's handwriting from the seven years
he was
here."
The rest of the staff was also buzzing over the news as Harry compared
his
letter from Wormtail with Lupin's. McGonagall, Flitwick and others who
had been
at school when Wormtail was a student agreed that it was definitely his
handwriting.
Lupin's face showed a mix of sadness and grief. His reason for both was
that he
was "the last Marauder now."
"I see your point, Professor," Harry said, "Maybe the last of
the original, but not the last one entirely." Harry forced a smile and
said, "I'm sure you'll be cheerful again after a few pranks or so."
Lupin looked at him and said, "Just try to stay out of trouble,
okay?"
"Actually," Harry shrugged, "I never said I was the one behind
all those pranks."
"We’ll bear that in mind, Mr. Potter," McGonagall commented, handing
back his letter.
"Mr. Diggle will be coming this afternoon with Wormtail's will,"
Dumbledore told Harry.
"I don't want anything from that traitor," Harry said. "Give it
to charity or something, for all I care. They probably need the help
more than
I do."
"Then you should sign off on it anyway."
Harry sighed. "I'll be in my office." As he left, he could almost feel his enemies glaring behind him.
~*~*~*~
Harry sat in his office for the rest of the morning, reading. A half
hour
before lunch, Rita Skeeter walked in with a photographer.
"Hello, Mr. Potter," she said with a smile that irked Harry a little.
"Care for an interview? It might help you look good again in the eyes
of
the public."
Harry shrugged. "Fine, whatever."
While the photographer took a picture or two, Harry patiently answered
Rita's
questions. The first question was how he felt about this. "It's hard to
explain. Grief, anger, remorse... I don't know, it's hard to explain."
They finished up as Mr. Diggle walked in with the papers for Harry to
sign. A
photo was taken as Harry signed them with something like disgust, plus
another
form, transferring the inheritance (several thousand Galleons) over to
St.
Mungo's, saying that they needed it more than he did.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze as Harry talked to his
fellow
Slytherins, discussing what would happen now.
In the meantime, in
And in one corner of the room, Ginny read her books for her O.W.L.s,
swearing
over and over again that once this was all over, she would never
let Percy live this one down.
~*~*~*~
"So, Bella," Voldemort chuckled in a sinister way, "Once again,
you have been fried and left barely alive. Since Dolores already has a
newly
developed psychological fear of horses, the last thing I need is you
with such
a fear of fire. I guess we'll have to start ALL over again, yes?"
(End of
Chapter 37.)
A/N: And finally
Wormtail dies… at
least I tied up that loose end…
(1) It’s true; it says so at the HP Lexicon how phoenix music does that to the good and evil.
(2) HAHAHA! I bet Bellatrix never says this to her boss!
(3) I know, I’m using “author’s license” here or whatever you call it.
(4) I hope that none of you are bothered that I’m picking off Death Eaters like flies?
(5) No, Umbridge
didn’t die in the explosion (sorry to disappoint you!); she’ll get hers
later
on, trust me.