Harry Potter had arrived just outside Godric’s Hollow and immediately drew his wand, if Draco Malfoy was indeed here, then he’d have to be at his sharpest. He looked around at the place; he had been here once before, just before confronting Voldemort. He had decided to start his search on the outskirts of the village. There was a loud crack and Ron appeared beside him, he too drew his wand.
“How’d you manage to get here first? I left before you,” Ron asked Harry.
Harry shushed him. “It’s not the time or place for that. Eyes open, okay, Ron?”
“Yes Sir! Mr Potter, Sir!” Ron replied, sarcasm drenching every word, he smirked at Harry. “We better get looking.”
Harry nodded in agreement. “Let’s go.”
Harry and Ron walked towards the village of Godric’s Hollow. Harry found himself imagining what it would have been like to have grown up in his own house, with his mum and dad. He smiled at he thought of them; his smile was cut short however, when Ron decided to interrupt.
“Harry? We’re friends, right?”
Harry looked at Ron incredulously; after all they had been through together Ron felt like he had to ask Harry if they were friends. Had things got this bad? Harry thought, before replying, “Of course we are. Always have been. Always will be.” He smiled.
Ron did not smile. “Right, so tell me, what is going on between you and Ginny?”
Harry stared stupidly at Ron for a minute. He was certainly not prepared to talk to Ron about the mess he was in over Ginny. “Nothing,” he lied.
“Don’t lie to me, Harry. I’m not stupid.”
Harry sighed; he was doing Ron a disservice by not telling him. “We’re not together.”
“I know that much. Why not though? It’s plain for us all to see. She wants you. You want her.”
“I know. But we can’t have each other.”
“Why not, Harry? Answer me!” Ron snapped. He was beginning to go red around the ears.
“Ron…You’re right. I do want Ginny. I love her. But as long as I have enemies, me and her can never be together. It’s too dangerous. She wouldn’t be safe.”
Ron looked a mixture of shocked and confused. “You love her?”
“‘Course I do. I have since sixth year.”
“But…last year…you and her…not talking? Why?”
Harry’s mind raced. He was not ready to tell Ron that he had proposed to Ginny. “We had an argument. I thought it would be best to stay out of her way.”
“Well…I can understand that. But, Harry, you know that if anybody could keep her safe, it would be you.”
Harry and Ron both fell silent after that, Ron was looking at his feet sheepishly.
Harry took the initiative to change the subject. “How about you and Hermione, eh? Must be about a year by now?”
Ron went bright red. “Fourteen months actually.”
Harry laughed. “Well…it only took the both of you the best part of seven years to realise you belonged together. I thought you were never going to ask her out!”
“You mean…you knew?”
“Ron, mate, the whole damn school knew. Your family knew. Everyone knew.”
Ron went an even brighter shade of red and laughed nervously, “That obvious, huh?”
Harry sniggered. “Yes, mate, it was.”
Ron and Harry both stopped walking and laughed together, neither would have admitted it, but they missed times like this, just being boys together, laughing and just having fun.
Ron cleared his throat, “You know, I really thought you and Hermione would get together.”
Harry laughed again. “Nah, that would never have worked!”
Ron laughed too. “Yeah, but I wasn’t alone in thinking it. I’m sure a lot of people thought so too! It makes sense, the most famous boy in school and the smartest girl in school.”
Harry stopped laughing. “No way! What? Are you being serious? Well…that ship has sunk hasn’t it? You’re with Hermione, at long last. I’m happy for you two, mate.”
Ron grinned. “Thanks, Harry. You know I wouldn’t have minded if you asked her out, better you than say… Malfoy.”
Harry burst out laughing once again. “Now that really is messed up. I don’t think that would ever have happened. Not unless Hermione went through some major changes. In fact, she’d have to be a whole new Hermione to go out with that slimeball.”
Ron burst out laughing as well, and the two of them stood together, howling with laughter. This continued for the better part of five minutes until Harry suddenly remembered why they were there.
“Speaking of that slimeball, we better split up and look for him. I’ll take the right, you go left,” Harry said, pointing at a fork in the road. “If you spot him or get into any trouble, shoot up red sparks okay?”
Ron sighed. “I know the drill, Harry. This isn’t the first time we’ve been out together you know.”
Harry looked at him, he didn’t want to correct him, but this was the first time he and Ron had been out on assignment together. Harry usually worked alone; it was how he used to like it. Being around Ginny again had wrought changes in him. He was far more relaxed and approachable that he had been throughout last year.
“Good luck, Ron. And for heaven’s sake, be careful, else Hermione will have my head,” Harry said.
Ron sniggered. “Don’t worry. Good luck to you too, mate. First one to catch him buys the drinks?”
“You’re on.”
Harry looked on as Ron disappeared up the left road and into the approaching night. Harry took the right path and followed in for a good ten minutes. It did not seem to be going anywhere apart from into thicker and thicker grass, suddenly though, Harry emerged from the thicket and took a look at the village in front of him. He had lived here for one year of his life. It was on a cold Halloween seventeen years ago that Voldemort had came to this village, with the idea of destroying the child he believed was the one prophesised to destroy him. Harry had lost his parents that night, and was left with nothing but a scar on his forehead. His hand unconsciously went to his scar as he thought about it.
Harry continued walking through the village, searching for Malfoy. So far he had seen no evidence that Draco Malfoy had ever been here, be it recently or in the past.
This is pointless, he’s not here. Harry thought to himself, and he allowed his mind to wander onto other issues; issues that were playing heavily on his mind.
I wish Ginny could understand. I want to be with her more than I’ve ever wanted anything. She makes me feel warm, safe, and alive. I can’t risk losing her. If there was some way that I could keep her safe and be with her, then I would do it. I’m not putting her at risk so I can have the girl I want.
Another voice seemed to come into Harry’s head just then.
The girl of your dreams, Harry. Not just any old girl. This isn’t a Cho we’re talking about here. You’re going to have to decide. Have some faith in yourself. You know you could keep her safe if you really wanted to. Ron’s right.
Harry shook his head as if to shake the conflicting thoughts loose. He needed to be absolutely focused on the task at hand.
Having cleared his head of Ginny (for the moment at least), Harry continued to walk through the sleepy village. It was now pitch black. Suddenly he came to a stop as he saw it; the house he had lived with his parents in, for all too brief a time. The house had been left in ruins the night Voldemort came for Harry, it had since been rebuilt, and by the look of it, had a new family living there.
Letting his curiosity overtake his better judgement Harry decided he wanted to have a look around his old house. He pulled his invisibility cloak from his pocket and put it on. Safe in the knowledge that nobody could see him, Harry walked up to the door of his old house and tried it; naturally, it was locked.
You should stop now, Harry. It’s locked. Look for Malfoy, the voice inside his head spoke again.
Harry ignored the voice and pointed his wand at the door, the lock came undone with a click and Harry pushed the door open. Harry had an expression of utter disgust on his face as he walked through the house. Whoever lived there now decided it was a good idea to paint the walls a lurid green colour, which would have been bad enough, but when the house also had purple carpets, it was enough to make almost anyone slightly ill.
Harry continued his walk through his old house. He found himself thinking of his parents, wondering if he was standing on the spot where Voldemort had killed his father, as James Potter attempted to fight him long enough to give his wife and their young son a chance to escape.
Harry began to head upstairs but once again he heard the voice in his head, telling him it was a bad idea and that he had another reason for being here. Harry deciding it highly unlikely that Malfoy would be hiding in his parent’s old house, turned around and headed back through the front door, locking it as he left.
As Harry stepped outside, he looked up into the night sky. The full moon was clearly visible, it looked big enough to reach out and touch.
Wherever Remus is, I hope he’s staying out of trouble, Harry thought to himself. He had not heard from Remus since he had told Harry that he was tracking Pettigrew. Harry hoped that Lupin had managed to find a supply of Wolfsbane potion.
Walking towards the back of the village, his path lit by moonlight, Harry knew what was at the back of the village. He had visited his parent’s graves there last time he was in Godric’s Hollow. Harry stopped walking as he approached the graveyard, there was a figure there, tall and hooded, sitting on one of the gravestones.
Harry broke into a sprint at the sight of the figure. “MALFOY!” he hollered.
Harry was out of breath by the time he arrived by the gravestone the figure had been sitting on; the hooded individual was nowhere to be seen.
“Damn it!” Harry shouted out loud, he was angry with himself, if that was Malfoy he had escaped again.
Harry looked down at the gravestone where he stood. He recognised it and tears sprang to his eyes as he looked down at his parent’s grave. Harry knelt down beside the black marble stone and ran his fingers over the names engraved upon it in the golden lettering. The graveyard was completely silent, save for the occasional cawing of a nearby raven.
The cawing suddenly stopped and Harry looked up from his parent’s grave, the raven had disappeared, scared perhaps, by the hooded figure who now stood behind Harry.
“Having a nice chat with the folks eh, Potter?”
Harry shot to his feet and drew his wand as the hooded figure pulled back their hood. Sure enough, the pale, pointed face of Draco Malfoy was underneath.
“Malfoy,” Harry hissed.
“Come to pay your respects, Potter? Don’t worry, you’ll be joining them, and your little Weasel girlfriend soon,” Draco smirked, his eyes narrowing maliciously.
Harry snorted, his eyes burning into Malfoy. “You’ve got it wrong, Malfoy. You couldn’t finish Ginny, you won’t finish me.”
Malfoys eyes narrowed. “So… the Weasel girl survived. No matter, I don’t need her to beat you - you got lucky the last time.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it, Malfoy. You’ve never been able to beat me. What makes you think you can now? If I was you I’d be giving up right about now.”
“Still so cocky, Potter. I learned the Dark Arts from the Dark Lord himself. I killed that lunatic Moody and that pathetic excuse of an Auror, Shacklebolt.” Malfoy’s sinister smile grew wider as he remembered the deaths; his eyes narrowed even further. “Who have you killed?”
“I don’t need to kill, Malfoy. You, like Voldemort before you, you fail to understand there are worse things than death.”
“There is nothing worse than death, so save your breath, Potter; there won’t be much of it left when I’m done with you.”
“Bring it on, Draco. I’m sure Lucius will be eager for some company in Azkaban.” Harry grinned. “Oh and for the record, its pathetic of you to take credit for killing Alastor, he was already dying from fending off Avery and Nott, you attacked him from behind, gave him no chance. Yeah, you certainly beat him didn’t you.” Harry paused as he watched Draco flush with anger. Grinning further, Harry continued to goad him, “And Kingsley, yes, well, its easy to use poison on somebody, isn’t it? I understand he still gave you a thrashing up until the point when the poison reached his heart. You’re rubbish, Malfoy, admit it.”
“I’m past caring, Potter. People may think of me as a failure, but that will all change when you are dead.”
Harry had just opened his mouth to reply when Malfoy spun and disappeared, reappearing behind Harry, his wand pointed at Harry’s back. He shot a blast of red light at him.
Harry spun on the spot and flourished his wand, deflecting Draco’s stunning spell far into the night sky. “Nice try, Malfoy, but you’ll have to do better that than,” said Harry, flicking his own wand at Malfoy, a jet of water squirted from the tip and hit Malfoy in the face.
“Don’t mock me, Potter. I will kill you!” shouted Malfoy, his face dripping with water, his grey eyes burning with a furious rage that threatened to burst free at any moment.
“Oh really? Is that why you’re doing such a good job of it right now?” Harry said, Apparating and Disapparating on the other side of the graveyard.
Draco walked towards Harry and raised his wand, he bought it down in an arc, slashing at the ground beneath him; the ground was scorched where Malfoys wand had touched. Harry raised his wand as the ground beneath him began to shake. Harry felt something grab his leg and he looked down in horror; a grey hand, maggot-ridden and rotten had closed its fingers around his ankle. The ground continued to shake as the bodies of the dead begun to climb from their graves. He looked up and saw a look of triumph crossing Malfoy’s pale face.
“Die, Potter! There’s no Dumbledore to save you from the Inferi this time!”
Harry twirled his wand around his fingers almost lazily. A circle of flame burst from its tip, surrounding him. The hand holding his leg released its grip and dove back into the ground, as the fire burned hotter the other Inferi sank back into the ground, leaving Harry and Draco alone once again. Harry twirled his wand again and extinguished the fire coming from it. Harry heard a crack and saw Malfoy disappear once again; he looked around frantically, his wand at the ready.
“Imperio!” whispered Malfoy, who had reappeared behind a gravestone near Harry.
Harry did not even see the spell coming, it hit him and Harry felt the floating sensation as every thought and worry in his head was wiped away, leaving him with nothing but a feeling of untraceable happiness that occurred when under the Imperius Curse.
Drop your wand. Malfoy’s voice was audible in his head, commanding him to do as he said.
No, said another voice, Harry’s voice.
Drop your wand!
No!
DROP YOUR WAND!
NO!!!
“No!” shouted Harry, as he broke free of the Imperius Curse. Harry felt all his thoughts and memories come flooding back to him. He turned to face Malfoy, who had a panicked expression on his face; he clearly had not been expecting Harry to break the curse so easily.
“Serpensortia!” Malfoy shouted, waving his wand madly.
A long black snake flew from his wand and headed for Harry, fangs bared. Harry gave the tiniest of flicks with his wand and watched as the snake burst into flame and disintegrated.
“I told you, Malfoy, you can’t beat me. Give yourself up.”
“Never, Potter. You’re not sending me back to Azkaban, if that’s what you think. I’ll finish you here just like the Dark Lord finished your parents!”
That was it for Harry, he completely lost his cool. “Don’t you ever talk about my parents!” he roared at Malfoy, sparks flying from the end of his wand.
Too late he realised that the temporary distraction was what Draco was looking for. Too late he saw Draco’s wand pointed at him. Before he knew what had hit him Harry was laying on the floor, tightly bound by thin ropes. Draco was standing over him; looking at Harry with a look of loathing he lifted his foot and stamped hard on Harry’s face, shattering his nose, spraying blood everywhere.
Draco began to laugh, softly at first, his eyes getting gradually more and more intense as he laugh became longer and harder until he was roaring madly with laughter. “Oh. The great Potter. That was too easy. Who’d have thought that would happen twice! I think it felt even better this time! Do you miss your mummy and daddy?”
Malfoy stopped laughing suddenly. His cold grey eyes were fixed on Harry’s. “You ruined my life, Potter. I won’t stop until I’ve ruined yours. I think we’ll start by say…having you watch as I kill Weasley. Yes. That will be a good start.” Draco waved his wand and Harry found himself pulled to his feet, still tightly bound. Draco walked up to him and punched him hard in the face. “Red sparks, wasn’t it?” Draco waved his wand once more and sent Harry flying across the graveyard, landing in a heap by a leafless tree.
Harry groaned, his glasses were broken and cutting into his face, the glass was dangerously near his eyes. He had to do something. He realised he still had his wand in his hand; it was tightly bound to his leg. A plan formed in his head as Draco raised his wand and shot red sparks into the air.
CRACK!
Ron had appeared almost instantly, wand ready. His eyes went wide at the sight of Harry tied up and he rushed over to untie him, he did not even notice Draco standing to his left.
“Expelliarmus!” said Malfoy casually. Ron’s wand flew from his hand into the long grass surrounding the graveyard.
“Malfoy!” Ron hissed.
“Well well, Weasley, who’d have thought that you had what it takes to become an Auror?” Draco grinned smugly at Ron, whose face was beginning to go red. “I may have failed in my attempt to kill your filthy sister, but I will not fail to kill you, and once you are dead, I think I’ll kill your father, god knows he has caused enough trouble!” Draco raised his wand to strike Ron down but before he could utter a spell Ron was upon him, tackling him to the floor and raining blows down with his fists.
“You leave my family alone, Malfoy!” yelled Ron, as he continued to rain punches down on Malfoy.
For all his manic punching and obscene language Ron had failed to notice that Draco still held his wand, he managed jab it into Ron’s ribcage. Ron winced in pain as the wand dug into him, sensing an opportunity, Draco muttered an inaudible spell and Ron was blasted away from him, he sailed at least twenty feet and crashed through the wall of the nearby church with a sickening crunch.
Harry meanwhile had managed to cast a cutting spell and managed to find way out of the ropes. He threw his broken glasses to one side. Seeing what had happened to Ron, Harry sprinted across the graveyard towards Malfoy, his wand outstretched, flecks of blood flying from his nose as he ran.
Malfoy turned and saw Harry coming at him; with a smile on his face he flipped a cocky salute to Harry and Disapparated.
Harry arrived at the spot where Malfoy had been a second too late. “Damn it! He’s gone again!” Harry let loose a verbal tirade just then which put Ron’s earlier blast at Malfoy to shame.
Ron let out a groan, and Harry suddenly remembered that Ron was still in the graveyard. Harry rushed to the church wall, which now had a hole in the side of it. Lying inside the church, looking very dazed and confused, was Ron. He had a large cut on the back of his head, and his right arm hung limply at his side, but apart from that he seemed fine. Harry leaned down and helped Ron to his feet.
Ron held a hand to the back of his head. “Did you get him?”
Harry sighed. “Nah. He Disapparated before I could get to him.”
“Son of a…I guess that means nobodies buying the drinks this time.”
Harry laughed. “Come on, Ron, Lets get you back to the Burrow.”
Ron shook his head, “I need my wand first; I think its over in that patch of grass.” he said, pointing with his left arm.
“I’m not searching through that in this darkness,” said Harry, holding his own wand aloft. “Accio Wand!” Ron’s wand flew from the patch of grass of into Harry’s waiting hand, he flipped it over and handed it back to Ron, who promptly used it to fix his broken arm.
“Thanks for that, Harry.”
“No problem. Ah yeah, I could have done your arm, sorry about that.”
“It’s no problem. Got other things on your mind?”
“Yeah,” said Harry, summoning and repairing his glasses as he spoke. “You better get back to the Burrow.”
Ron looked at Harry with a quizzical expression on his face. “You’re not coming?”
Harry thought about it for a moment, and put his hand inside his robes, he ran his fingers over the locket Ginny had thrown at him before they left.
“No, I’m going to head back to Grimmauld Place for a little while. I’ve got to get my head around some things. Tell everyone to have a Happy New Year.”
“It’s been a fun Christmas eh, Harry? Just like old times,” Ron said, with a grin very reminiscent of Fred and George. “Don’t stay gone too long Harry.”
With that, Ron turned and Disapparated with a loud crack.
Harry did not Disapparate straight away. He walked back to his parent’s grave.
Hi Mum, Dad.
I’m sorry I haven’t been to visit you much. You probably know that I’ve been busy. Anyway that’s no excuse. I wish you were both here. I need some help.
There’s this girl…Ginny Weasley, I’m totally crazy about her. But I can’t be with her…could I? I don’t want to risk losing her, but I can’t risk not being with her. What am I supposed to do? I don’t know if I could protect her or not… I think I could… I don’t know.
Help me out.
Harry turned to leave but stopped suddenly, he turned back to look at his parents gravestone, was it just his imagination…or was the ‘O’ in Potter glowing? Harry knelt down to have a closer look; it was definitely glowing, the golden letter was glowing, it seemed like something was being pushed from the gravestone. Watching open-mouthed Harry placed his hand underneath the ‘O’; whatever it was that was coming out he was going to catch. Harry felt something drop into his hand and then as suddenly as it had started the golden ‘O’ stopped glowing. Harry got to his feet and opened his hand; sitting in the middle of his palm was a small band of gold, Harry brought it closer to his eyes, it bore an inscription upon it: -
I’ve got everything I’ll ever need in you.
Harry smiled as he looked at his parent’s names on their gravestone.
Thanks Mum. Thanks Dad. I love you.
Looking at the ring in his hand Harry turned and Disapparated. He felt things were a lot clearer now.
A/N - Thats the end of Chapter 13, hope you enjoyed it!