Harry stood at the bottom of the staircase, having just jumped most of the way down. His palm was slick with sweat as he grasped his wand more tightly. Creeping through the front hall, he noted a shattered vase under an overturned lampstand. That must have been what I heard smash.
Harry heard another shout coming from the direction of the kitchen. He raised his wand and cautiously peered around the door. He saw Hermione and Neville pointing their wands at two masked and robed men. The two friends had tied up the Death Eaters and pushed them into chairs at the table. Neville had something wrong with his left hand, and held it limply at his side. Hermione had a cut on her cheek, but otherwise seemed to be fine. Seeing Harry, her eyes widened in surprise and she mouthed, “Are you okay?”
Harry nodded, then whispered, “What happened?”
Neville said quietly, “We were looking for the Horcrux in here, like you said, and all of a sudden these two” ” he prodded one of the Death Eaters with his wand, and got a hateful glare in return ” “these two Apparated in here, along with...” Neville stopped.
“Bellatrix Lestrange,” Harry whispered, his heart filling with dread.
Hermione nodded her bushy head. “Yes. We Stupefied these two, then tied them up, but Bellatrix was fighting with Ron.” Her eyes grew even wider with tears. “I don’t know what’s happened to him, Harry,” she whispered. “A minute ago, they got all quiet, and I’m afraid... I’m afraid something awful’s happened, but I can’t leave... I’m frightened, Harry.”
Harry realized then just how much Hermione really cared for Ron. He felt a dull ache in his chest as he thought of Ginny. “I’ll go look for him, Hermione,” he murmured. “Where’s Luna?”
“I’m not sure. She went upstairs after you, she might still be up there.”
“I should never have brought you into this,” Harry muttered. “I should’ve sent you all back when you caught me up at Godric’s Hollow.” He cut off Hermione’s protests with a hand. “I’ll get Ron.”
Harry silently went through the house. Then, after ten minutes, he found them in the living room.
Ron was stretched out on the floor, blood dripping from a wound in his side. Bellatrix Lestrange was standing over him, gloating as she prepared to finish him off with the Killing Curse.
“Where is he?” she snarled, kicking Ron hard in the ribs. Harry watched in horror as his friend groaned, trying to get up, then collapsing once more. Bellatrix cackled mirthlessly. “Not such a big man now, are you? Just like your spineless, blood-traitor father! I’ll give you one last chance, boy! Where is Harry Potter?!”
Ron didn’t answer, either because he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, tell her. Bellatrix kicked at him again, then stepped back. “Fine,” she spat. “Be like that. You’re no use to me.” She lifted her wand and opened her mouth. “Avada Ked ””
A horrified thought flitted through Harry’s mind, as he watched everything happen as if in slow motion. No... I can’t let Ron do this... for me...
Harry rushed in and kicked out his foot, sweeping Bellatrix’s feet out from under her and making her fall heavily to the floor. Her finished curse missed Ron and shot up at the ceiling. The deadly beam of light bounced down and around the room, narrowly missing Harry, until it smashed into an armchair, which exploded into a thousand small pieces.
Bellatrix spun on the floor and was back on her feet in an instant, wand in hand. She stared at Harry. “You!” she snarled. She circled him for a bit, trying to get a clear shot at him, keeping up an endless monologue as she went. “We have orders, Potter! We have orders from the Dark Lord himself to capture you alive. You’ve been a very nosy little brat, haven’t you? Sticking your nose in places you shouldn’t... I’m surprised he wants you alive... Maybe he just wants to have a bit of fun with you before he eliminates you...”
Harry only heard the first few sentences, then he tuned her out. They were ordered here ” to get me alive? Why? he wondered, keeping an eye on Bellatrix. Does he know...?
The Death Eater chose that moment to lunge at him, knocking the wand out of his hand. Harry lashed out at her, reaching desperately for his wand. I haven’t got a chance without this! Bellatrix fell off him, giving him just enough time to snatch the little stick from the floor. He crawled backwards, then pulled himself up against the wall, the arm holding his wand still trained on Bellatrix.
The gaunt woman stood and held out her arms. She smiled mockingly, and Harry realized that she had lost her wand in the scuffle; it lay on the floor just a few meters from where Harry was standing.
“Well go on,” Bellatrix said. “I’m unarmed. I can’t do anything to you. You can finish it right now.”
Harry stood there stock-still. Bellatrix continued, “Aren’t you going to avenge my filthy cousin? I haven’t forgotten, you know. You swore to kill me, remember that? So what are you waiting for?”
Harry stared at her, wand hand shaking. They stood that way for what felt like hours, each staring at the other. Finally, Bellatrix smirked. “I knew you couldn’t. You have no love for killing, you can’t let yourself do it. That’s what made me and my cousin so different, Potter, and you’re just like him. You’re weak!” She scornfully spat at his feet.
Harry was still frozen. She’s right. I can’t do it. I’ve never been able to, and I never will. I ” I can’t bring myself to kill someone... But then how would he ever be able to fulfill the prophecy? He did not want to kill, but neither did he want to be the one to die. He’d have to do it sometime...
Bellatrix was looking at him as if he were a mildly interesting bug. Harry knew she was expecting him to do something, but her speech had brought out something in him that he had never been able to face before.
I can’t do this... I’m sorry, Sirius.
Harry swallowed and turned halfway toward the door. He waved Bellatrix towards it with his wand. “Come on,” he muttered. “I have to look for one of my friends, and I’m not letting you get out of my sight.”
She smirked again and nearly sauntered through the door, obviously sure he couldn’t do any real damage. Harry made sure to stay a few steps just behind her, scooping up her wand as he went by it. He herded her up the steps to the second floor, where Aunt Petunia was still crouched at her bedroom door. She looked up as Harry passed with his prisoner. “Who is that?” she exclaimed. “One of those people from next door? Vernon was right!”
Harry nodded slightly, then glanced inside the room. Luna wasn’t there. “Er, Aunt Petunia? Did you see a girl pass by here? One of my friends came up here after I did.”
Aunt Petunia sniffed. “I didn’t see anyone. I was too busy hiding from those people,” she said, jabbing her finger in Bellatrix’s direction, “to notice much of anything.”
Harry and Bellatrix entered another room, Harry’s old bedroom. It also appeared to be empty, but when Harry turned to go, he heard someone squeak, “Oh... Harry!”
He twisted back just in time to see Luna crawl out from under the junk-laden bed. Her robes were all cobwebby and there was a fine layer of dust on her hair, but she grinned up at Harry. “Hello, Harry.”
“Uh...” Harry didn’t know what to say. What in the world had driven Luna to crawl under the bed? “What ” Why were you ” What were you doing under there, Luna?”
She stood up and dusted herself off. Bellatrix watched expressionlessly. Luna looked up and jumped back, apparently seeing the Death Eater for the first time. She appeared flustered by her presence. “Well, um... I ” I was looking for the ”” She stopped and glanced uncertainly at Bellatrix.
“Go on,” Harry said quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to the fact that he was searching for the keys to Voldemort’s mortality. If Bellatrix Lestrange escaped, she would be able to carry the information directly back to Voldemort.
Luna continued, “I couldn’t find ” it, so I was about to leave when I heard Ron and everyone else shouting and fighting, so I stayed under there. I suppose they were fighting You-Know-Who’s people?”
“Yes. Luna, could you go downstairs to the living room, and see how Ron’s doing? He’s hurt really badly.”
“Alright, Harry,” Luna said. The three of them left the room and Luna floated down the stairs. Harry watched her, then turned to Aunt Petunia, who was still on the floor. “I think you can get up now,” he said.
His aunt got up and backed into her bedroom, staring wide-eyed at Bellatrix. She nodded wordlessly, then snapped, “Get out of my house, Harry. Vernon is bound to come bursting in here, and I don’t want him to see ” all this. Please be gone in ten minutes.” She slammed the door in his face.
Harry stared at the door a moment. He sighed, turning around and heading toward the steps. He had temporarily forgotten Bellatrix Lestrange. That was his first mistake, and in a minute he came to regret it.
His second mistake was when he completely turned his back to her to go down the stairs, giving Bellatrix the perfect opportunity. She recklessly launched herself at him, screeching in triumph. Harry straightened up and spun round to see the woman’s outstretched hands mere inches from his face. There was no time to use his wand. He twisted sideways, slamming his body against the railing. A knife of pain shot through his spine, but he pushed himself into the barrier, as far away as he could get from Bellatrix.
Her shout of triumph soon turned into a cry of fear as she fell past Harry, missing him by inches. Her hands shot out for a hold, gripping thin air, trying to stop her momentum, but there was nothing to hold onto, and she fell all the way down to the bottom floor, letting out a piercing scream as her body smashed into the ground. There was a sickening crunch when she made contact, and the scream was abruptly cut off. She had broken her neck.
Bellatrix Lestrange was dead.
Harry felt sick, looking down at her. The unnatural position of her body made her look like a grotesque puppet, one whose strings had been cut by its owner. Harry tore his eyes away and grimaced, fighting off the urge to throw up all over Aunt Petunia’s vacuumed carpet.
He’d known he had to do something about the Death Eater, ever since she had caused Sirius’s death, but he had never imagined anything like this. It was such a horrible way to die... It was sort of ironic, he supposed. Sirius had fallen to his death... It was appropriate that his killer fell to her death as well. The ultimate example of poetic justice. Sirius had been avenged.
So why did Harry feel so bad about it?
Every time he looked at her twisted body, he felt another wave of nausea ” and guilt. He had no idea why. Shouldn’t he be celebrating, happy that Sirius’s murderer and one of Voldemort’s biggest supporters was finally dead? Instead, he had a sense that somehow he should have been able to save her, to stop her from plunging to her death. What’s the matter with me?
Harry didn’t know what to do with the body. He was loathe to touch it, but he felt he had no choice. Aunt Petunia would go crazy if she came out to the sight of a corpse at the bottom of her steps. So Harry, cringing, pulled it by the robes out to the backyard. He had a moment of grim humor, as he dug a hole in the dirt: What would their neighbors say if they saw the Dursleys’ nephew burying a body in their lawn?
He dug a deep grave into the yard with his wand and rolled the body into it. No special services or fancy markers for her, the last of the Lestranges. She got a plain hole in the ground. And that’s more than she deserves, Harry thought. But not even his hatred for her would deny her a grave, so he covered her over with dirt and found a small, smooth rock for the headstone. He only wrote her initials on the bottom, and placed it carefully at the spot where her head was.
Harry brushed the dirt off his robes and reentered the house. He found Hermione and Luna gathered around Ron on the living room floor. “The other two Death Eaters are still in the kitchen, with Neville,” Hermione explained. “Luna told us you had Bellatrix Lestrange with you.” She frowned as she noticed Bellatrix’s absence. “Where is she?”
Harry reluctantly told them about the woman’s fall. Hermione gasped in horror. “Oh, Harry.”
“Never mind,” Harry said quickly. “How’s Ron doing?”
“We think he’s going to be alright,” Hermione said. “I found some bandages in the bathroom, and Luna said she knows a lot about first aid. He’s got a big cut in his side, and something happened to his ribs, but he’s going to be alright. He won’t be able to walk around for awhile, though. How will we get out of here, Harry? Is there any chance your aunt could let us stay a couple days?”
“No way,” Harry said. He repeated what Aunt Petunia had told him just before Bellatrix’s death.
Hermione sighed. “Then I guess we’ll have to go, and soon. Your uncle will be very angry if we’re here when he comes in. Where should we go next?”
“Well... I think we should just get out of this house, and this neighborhood, so that nobody will be able to say that they saw us. Then I want to take a look at the Horcrux...”
Hermione’s mouth dropped open. “You found it?! Where? What is it? How did you know...?” She took a deep breath. “Okay. What should we do with the Death Eaters in the kitchen?”
At that very moment, one of the Death Eaters was trying to wriggle himself out of the ropes around his arms, but he was being watched too closely by Neville. Harry suddenly appeared in the doorway, a wicked grin on his face. He held a black ski mask and jeans in his hands. Hermione and Luna were just behind him, carrying the same things.
“What the hell are those for?” the man snarled.
Harry grinned. He held out the mask and another coil of rope. “You.”
Ten minutes later, Harry and his friends were standing under a lamppost, admiring their handiwork. Ron had regained consciousness and was groggily leaning on Hermione for support, who didn’t seem to mind at all.
Harry cocked his head to the side. “Perfect,” he said. “Hermione, you’re a genius. This is brilliant!”
The two Death Eaters were now dressed in clothes that made them look suspiciously like stereotype thieves. They had been tied up and were hanging from the lamppost, glaring down at the five teenagers. One of them let off a string of muffled curses and hexes through the cloth stuffed in his mouth, but since their wands had been confiscated, he couldn’t do a thing. The muggle authorities would take care of them, at least temporarily.
Harry shouted up, “Don’t waste your breath.” He faced the others and smiled apologetically. “Well, let’s get going. We’ve got a long way to go.”
As they slowly walked away from the inhabitants of Privet Drive, the jewelry box in Harry’s robes pocket banged against his side, a small reminder of what was to come, and the task that lay ahead for Harry. He sighed and took his mind away from the bleak prospect of more Horcrux hunting, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.
Yes sir, we’ve got a long way to go.