Chapter Text
Harry followed Dolohov and Yaxley further into the forest. Further towards his death.
It has to be done. He scolded himself. He looked over to his mother and she smiled. His father nodded to him. They both had tears in their eyes. Didn’t know ghosts could cry. Harry thought, numbly.
Harry could see light ahead. Dolohov, Yaxley, and- still under the invisibility cloak, Harry, came to the clearing once occupied by Aragog. The giant spider web certainly did not help his nerves.
A fire showed him a crowd of silent death eaters. They were quiet, the crackle of the wood spitting embers into the air. Voldemort stood, hands folded over the elder wand, and Harry had a moment of hysterics. Almost like a child, counting until he can seek in a game . The thought sobered him. A child.
Voldemort was once a child, wasn’t he. Not now, though. Now, he was barely human. Harry hated the man standing before him with his head bowed. But he hadn’t always been this way . His eyes fluttered around the group of people, catching slightly on familiar features. None of them had.
Harry looked at the snake, Nagini, floating in her charmed cage. No chance of just killing her here, then . Voldemort looked up.
“No sign of him, my Lord.” There was a moment after Dolohov's cowed report, where Nagini hissed and twirled. Voldemort drew the elder wand between his fingers and Bellatrix smiled at him, awe and insanity glistening in her eyes
“My Lord-” Voldemort raised a slow hand and she cowed, then grinned wildly at being personally addressed.
“I thought he would come. I expected him to come” No one answered. Now, even Bellatrix was cowed, afraid of what he would do if proven wrong yet again by the Boy Who Lived. It seemed they all hated the idea as much as his blood pressure did.
Harry's breath fluttered the cloth of the invisibility cloak as he took a gulp of air. Not his last. But certainly close . He pulled off the cloth, tucking it in the pocket of his robes, the same one that held his wand.
“I was, it seems, mistaken”
“You weren’t” Harry stepped out from behind the tree. He knew speaking clearly and showing courage would do nothing to fool these people. They knew fear when they saw it. But still, he kept his head high. No matter what, at least he would not sound afraid. He let the resurrection stone slip through his fingers and to the soft soil. The sound was not heard over the amount of noise the crowd was suddenly making. Laughter, gasps, swears, even sobbing was heard.
“Harry, No!” Harry turned, and met eyes with Hagrid, bound to a thick tree in the forest that he loved. “No, No! Harry, What are ya-”
“Quiet!” Shouted Rowle. He flicked his wand, and the half giant was silenced. Harry smiled as reassuring as he could. He liked the man. Loved, even. He loved so many people. He pushed the thought out of his mind.
He turned back to Voldemort. His head was tilted slightly, and as green eyes met red, a thin smile, full of mirth, curled the man's lips.
“Harry Potter.” It was said softly, but everyone had stilled. Frozen. Watching. “The Boy Who Lived.” The world seemed to stop. Voldemort raised his wand. Hermione. Ron. I’m sorry.
He saw the man's lips moving. Saw the flash of green, so, so familiar. And then, he was gone, his last thought of his family.
Harry's eyes opened to pitch black. He frowned. Something was familiar. Maybe the way everything smelled of milder and dust. Maybe it was how his clothes suddenly felt much scratchier. How his back felt laying across whatever hard floor he was laying on.
Maybe it was instinct that he reached up, hand waving in the dark above his head. His fingers met a cold chain. He froze. It can’t be. And yet…
He pulled and immediately winced. He was, very suddenly, aware of a headache stabbing his skull through his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, but couldn’t afford to keep them closed. No idea where he is, caught unawares and without his wand or any back up? No thanks .
He pried his eyes open, and scrunched his face in confusion. He was looking at a very familiar ceiling. He looked around, and sure enough. He was back in that damned cupboard.
“For fucks sake”