Mirror
Chapter Ten~~~Sacrifice
Harry stumbled forwards, toppling over onto the ground. He stood up quickly, and saw that he was in the Ministry of Magic, surrounded by four death eaters, and their leader, Lord Voldemort. He wondered how he had gotten here. He moved to pull out his wand, but it had tumbled out of his hand when he had clattered to the ground, and Voldemort was now holding it.
“Well, hello, Mr. Potter,” said Lord Voldemort evil voice. Harry nodded politely.
“Hello. How are you today?” he said boldly. Many of his surrounding Death-Eaters laughed. As Harry looked around him he saw Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, one he didn’t know, and…Peter Pettigrew! Harry stared at the last Death-Eater. “Pettigrew…” Harry said. “I thought you were…” but Harry was cut off.
“Dead?” said Voldemort, clapping Peter on the back. “No, no, he has spent the last year training the newest member of our group…convincing her that our way is best. At first I don’t think she agreed, but then she decided that her son, Duncan, or whatever, was important to her, and she didn’t like the idea of him being transformed into a corpse. She is here now, in fact. Petunia…” Harry gaped. Aunt Petunia was a Death Eater?! She had been being trained by Peter?! Voldemort had threatened Dudley?! This was all too much. Harry started to laugh loudly as Petunia stepped out of the shadows. Voldemort kicked him in the stomach, causing him to cease.
“But how did I get here?” Harry asked, clutching his stomach.
“Well, little Potter. I had Petunia transport you. We were hoping you would come of your own accord after you saw your godfather in the mirror. We underestimated you, and had to do it the hard way,” Voldemort said, while Petunia glared.
“You’re pathetic, just like your parents,” Petunia said, sickened. Harry glared at her. Wanting to kill her, but knowing that it would do no good. Except to get him killed faster. “Now you will face the same death they died, the same death you deserve.” Harry, still clutching his stomach, spat at her. She shrieked in fury. The next thing Harry new, he had fallen victim to the Cruciatus curse. It seemed to last for hours.
When they finished torturing him, for now at least, Harry was a crumpled heap on the ground. He had never been in this much pain. Needles stabbed at him from all sides. Hammers pounded non-stop in his head. He was crying, but tried not to show it. Bellatrix saw.
“awww…is poor little Harry going to cry for his mummy?” Bellatrix said in her infuriating baby voice. Harry was shaking furiously.
“Get…stuffed…” Harry managed. He was hit with another bout of torture. After awhile, Voldemort seemed to get bored, and he stopped. He walked over to Harry, lifted him off the ground, and threw him into Wormtail.
“Bring him, Wormtail, Cordell.” Voldemort commanded shortly. Harry was then forced by Wormtail and the unfamiliar Death-Eater, apparently Cordell, to follow Voldemort. What was this all about? Why were they at the Ministry? How come there weren’t any Unspeakables down here? After they had gone down so many corridors and rooms that Harry gave up on trying to remember the way out, they stopped. Voldemort opened a door that was directly in front of him with a wave of his wand. Harry was shoved inside. Harry got to his feet quickly, looking around him. He had been here before, only last year. It was a large room, and in the middle of it, was a large veil. He remembered this veil very well. It was the one that had killed Sirius. His heart clenched.
“What do you want from me this time? What are we doing here?” Harry said, almost as if he was impatient. Voldemort laughed, and so did some of the death-eaters.
“What are we doing here?!” laughed Narcissa, mocking him. “He doesn’t know! Idiot boy!” Voldemort raised his hand for silence. Narcissa stopped abruptly, as if she had never been laughing.
“We are here, Potter, because you know what The Prophesy is,” said Voldemort, smiling. Harry’s heart thudded loudly. “You are going to tell me about it, what is it? I will not risk making anymore mistakes. Tell me, if I killed you now, would I lose all my powers again? Is there something else I must know? Tell me Potter.” Harry stayed completely silent, staring straight into Voldemort’s eyes. He could feel Voldemort probing his mind, trying to get in. Harry wouldn’t let him though, instead, he did as Dumbledore had taught him. He threw the powers back at Voldemort.
A little boy was sobbing in the corner as he watched his mother crying and screaming.
A teenage Tom Riddle was torturing a fellow class mate in a corridor.
Tom Riddle stood alone in the woods, vowing to kill his father.
Lord Voldemort glared down at a young woman with bright red hair, raising his wand.
“ENOUGH!”
“What is it, my lord?” Bellatrix asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me he had been taught Legilimensy?!” He roared. “I can not read his mind!” The Death Eaters all quaked, but none as bad as Petunia. She looked stunned.
“I had no idea, my lord. Dumbledore must have suspected somebody was spying. Please forgive…” she stuttered, but was interrupted.
“SHUT UP!” Everybody went silent. Harry smiled. Now he knew why Dumbledore had wanted to keep it secret. “Very well, Potter. You make it difficult for yourself,” and with that he raised his wand. Harry was shoved hard into a chair that flew towards him. Wooden ropes came out of the chair and wrapped themselves around Harry’s neck, wrists, and ankles. Harry struggled, very scared now. But he refused to show it. He stopped struggling.
“I will never tell you, no matter what you do.” Voldemort chuckled.
“Yes, I realized that. So I brought one of your little friends along too. One you seem to be very fond of.” Harry’s heart leapt. No…no, please don’t let it be her. The Death Eater known as Cordell left the room, and returned shortly with Ginny.
“NO!” Harry yelled. Ginny was rather battered, but struggling madly.
“Get off me!” Ginny said. She punched Cordell right in the face, and that sent him sprawling. But Voldemort, rolling his eyes, pointed his wand at her, and ropes wound themselves around Ginny’s ankles and wrists. She struggled, and then stopped once she saw Harry. She looked stunned.
“Yes…” Voldemort said, knowingly. “Now you will tell me what is said in The Prophesy. If you don’t, I will make your little girlfriend wish she was dead.” Ginny seemed to realize she was being used to taunt Harry.
“Harry! Don’t you dare tell them anything! Don’t you…” but Cordell grabbed her roughly and clamped a hand over her mouth. Harry’s insides boiled, Cordell was a dead man.
“I will tell you, just leave her alone. NOW!” Harry said, not looking at Ginny.
“Tell me first, and then I will let her go.” Harry opened his mouth, but didn’t get a word out before he heard a dozen popping noises. It was as if last year was happening all over again. Standing, their wands at the ready, was the entire order, including Dumbledore. Harry struggled, trying to get to Ginny. Lupin came over to him, and broke the pieces of the chair that were binding Harry. Harry nodded to Lupin, and then ran to help Ginny. She seemed to have it under control, however, as she had the other man’s wand and had it pointed at him. She hexed him, and he dropped on the ground, twitching. Harry dropped down beside her.
“Are you alright?” Harry asked, freeing her. She nodded, and together they stood up and started fighting. Minutes later, Hagrid rushed in, followed by Hermione and Ron.
“Harry! Ginny!” they both yelled. Then they pulled out their wands and joined the battle. Dumbledore and Voldemort were fighting viciously, as were the rest of the Order. Then, from behind, Petunia started fighting with Ginny. Harry turned to help her, and was so distracted, that he didn’t notice Cordell sneaking up from behind. Cordell raised his wand.
“Avada…” he said, and Harry turned. In the split second before the killing curse was said completely, Harry new there was no time to block it. He was going to die. And then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hagrid. “…Kedavra!” finished Cordell. A jet of green light sped straight towards Harry. A millisecond before the spell hit, Hagrid slammed into him from the side, knocking Harry out of the line of fire. But, in the Process, the spell hit Hagrid instead. The world seemed to stop turning as Hagrid’s eyes widened in shock, and then closed in death.
Hagrid was dead.
No…this couldn’t be happening. Harry looked slowly around at Dumbledore, just as Voldemort vanished, taking the opportunity to flee. Harry stood up, and then fell back down. Hagrid….At that moment, he knew that his heart would never heal.
Why was everybody he loved being ripped away from him by the harsh and uncaring claws of death? It was as if he was a curse, a disease, a roaming deadly disease. Everything he touched, everything he cared about…withered away. His parents…Sirius…and now Hagrid.
Harry looked slowly at the Death Eaters surrounding them, slumped over and beaten. Petunia stood whimpering in a corner. Harry tried to hate her, but he couldn’t. He just didn’t care anymore. His entire being was numb to emotion. He looked over at Ron, who was tending to Hermione, and fussing over her. He tried to care about them. But he couldn’t. He saw Dumbledore leaning heavily against the wall, looking at Harry. Harry tried his best to feel grateful for Dumbledore’s saving his life, but he just couldn’t. His gaze turned slowly to the veil, it was swaying innocently, and Harry could hear soft voices floating towards him. He walked over to Hagrid’s pale, motionless body. He knelt beside it, and grabbed one of Hagrid’s big beefy hands. Harry would have given all the money in the world to have Hagrid sit up and tell him about his latest, deadly monster. But he didn’t, and he never would again.
He closed his eyes, but then opened them immediately. He had caught a glimpse of his aunt, looking at him. As she gazed at him, her composure seemed to recover slightly. It was almost as if they were the only ones in the room now. She smiled slightly, almost insanely, and put her hand in her pocket. Out of it she pulled a small, double-sided mirror. Harry nearly snapped. She had been the one trying to lure him out of school. She threw it on the ground between them. Harry sensed Dumbledore tense up a few feet away. Petunia met Harry’s gaze, and for ages they seemed to stare into each other’s soul. Then the voices from the veil grew louder. His head seemed to be spinning. Why was he here? What was the point? All he was good for, it seemed, was getting his friends killed. He looked at Dumbledore then, who seemed to be reading Harry’s mind.
“No, Harry,” Dumbledore whispered calmingly. That got the attentions of Ron, Hermione and Ginny. They looked quizzically between Dumbledore and Harry. Harry looked at his three best friends. He sighed, and then smiled, tears now running down his face. He looked at Petunia, and she looked dumb-struck. He then did the thing he had dreamed of doing, the thing he had yearned to do for months. He picked himself up off the ground, and ran straight into the veil.
“HARRY!”