Alone in the Face of Destruction
“You are just as headstrong as your mother,” hissed Voldemort.
“Thank you,” Minnie replied coldly. She was six months pregnant, injured and dead on her feet. It seemed impossible that she was even still standing, let alone fighting that horrid excuse for a man. It was sheer willpower keeping Minnie conscious-she was fighting for her life, and for the lives of the wizarding community. Minnie knew that she was not the Chosen One. She couldn’t defeat Voldemort, but Harry was knocked out and on the floor, and she was the only hope. She had to hold him off long enough for Harry to wake up, so they could get out of here.
Voldemort made a scoffing noise and raised his wand at Minnie. She was standing in front of her brother’s crumpled form on the floor, and, therefore, in the Dark Lord’s way. “Out of the way, you silly girl.”
Minnie, too, raised her wand. She wasn’t going to lose Harry, not again. “Never.” Although what Minnie had just said seemed absolute, her heart contradicted her words a little. She would gladly sacrifice herself for Harry, but to sacrifice herself would be to also sacrifice her unborn child.
Voldemort obviously picked up on this. He made a tutting noise, and his thin lips curled into a malicious grin. “Oh, what a dilemma. Your brother, or your unborn child?” Voldemort was apparently getting great pleasure from watching Minnie’s resolve crumble before his eyes. “You may only choose one,” he reminded her mockingly.
The red-haired woman raised her face to his and declared, “I will never step aside for you to take the life of an innocent person.” Her face was set in unwavering determination, but, on the inside, she was a panic. What am I going to do? she wondered desperately, knowing that Voldemort could hear her every thought. All seemed lost. But, a tiny ray of logic burst through her confusion.
If I could magically separate my child from me, she would die. If I let Voldemort kill me, she will die. But, if I step aside… Minnie gulped. If I step aside, he will finally accomplish his goal and kill my brother. He’ll have no one to stop him. Doubtless, I will not walk away alive…
“You have chosen the losing side, Minnie,” Voldemort said quietly, “and you must be punished.” Lazily, almost casually, he raised his wand. “Crucio.” Minnie heard his high, cold voice speak the curse, and she fell upon the ground, screaming and writhing in pain.
It was pain as Minnie had never felt it before. Every bone in her body was on fire, every muscle screaming for a reprieve. Her arms and legs were twitching madly, and she curled them in upon herself and sobbed, rocking back and forth. She could only think of her baby, think of what this physical hurt was doing to her child. Finally, after what seemed like hours of shrieking in pain, Voldemort raised his wand. Minnie stood up, shaking.
“No, it is you that has chosen the losing side,” said Minnie hoarsely, realizing that she was completely alone in this battle. She was also the only thing standing between the Chosen One and a very untimely death that would mean the end of the world as she knew it. She had to stall, she had to keep fighting. “You are the one that chose the most gruesome road to immortality, killed hundreds of people that defied you, and hundreds more that didn’t,” Minnie took a deep breath, “and you are the one that needs to be punished.”
Voldemort hissed, “Avada Keda-“
“EXPELLIARMUS!” screamed Minnie, a cold sweat breaking out on her brow. Voldemort’s wand flew towards Minnie, but he called it back in an instant. Thinking quickly and frantically, Minnie dropped her wand and snatched up Harry’s off the floor. If she remembered correctly, Harry’s wand had done something strange when its spell and Voldemort’s made contact. At least, that was what Harry said. But, according to him, that strange thing his wand did saved his life. The wand shot an unfriendly tingle through her fingers, recognizing her as not being its owner. Voldemort didn’t waste time uttering the curse. Right away, the jet of green light soared at the determined, pregnant woman fifty feet away.
Minnie shrieked the first spell that came to mind. “STUPEFY!” A feeble-looking jet of red light burst from the tip of Harry’s wand. The two streaks of magic, one harmless to the twisted and immortal man, one deadly to the poor young woman, met in midair. Minnie closed her eyes as the tears began to fall. It had happened. Hopefully, she was saved.
Harry’s wand began vibrating with an electric fury, and a golden thread of light connected the wands; the brothers. Minnie couldn’t help but smile. She held on to her brother’s wand for dear life, tears still slipping from her eyes. And then, Minnie’s relief turned to terror as her feet lifted off of the ground. Voldemort, it seemed, was still in shock when the gilded beam splintered and sent more threads arcing high above them, creating a cage of light. Minnie recognized this effect as the same one her brother had described “three years ago, it had been- in Dumbledore’s office after Harry returned from the graveyard with a corpse in hand. “Priori Incantatem…” she whispered. An eerie sound filled the golden cage, and a shiver went through Minnie’s spine. It was a good shiver, though. A shiver of familiarity. She’d heard it resound upon the Hogwarts grounds the night- well, she tried not to think about it.
Minnie was just getting a good grip on Harry’s wand when it started to object to the unfamiliar touch. It shook harder, like a horse trying to buck its rider. Minnie begged the wand silently to stop, to behave… She told the wand that it was her only chance at survival, her only chance…
The beam between the two wands changed. Suddenly, it was as if fat teardrops of liquid gold were sliding up and down the beam. They began slipping her way, and something in her gut (call it expecting mother’s intuition) told her that something very, very bad would happen if those beads touched her wand tip. With all of her remaining will, her exhausted brain pleaded the drops to Voldemort’s wand.
For what seemed like an eternity, Minnie and Voldemort were in a battle of willpower, sliding the beads of light back and forth across the thread. Minnie was close to giving up, her mind frantic and illogical, when one of the fat droplets touched her foe’s wand tip.
Screams of pain emitted from Voldemort’s wand tip, and Minnie had an urge to cover her ears, but her hands were glued to the wand. Several gray figures streamed out of Voldemort’s wand tip, each falling and looking dazed. Minnie estimated about sixteen figures, most of which were men. They were all people that Voldemort had killed, and they glared at him and began to pace the cage.
That vile man killed all of those people…
To Minnie’s utter horror, another dense, smoky something was starting a long and slow crawl out of Voldemort’s wand tip. It was a head… and then a chest and arms… then the full torso of her mother-figure, Emmaline Vance. Minnie gasped as the woman dropped out of Voldemort’s wand and onto the ground. She straightened up and grinned at Minnie. “Hello, Minnie. Don’t let go, now!” she said loudly, as Minnie just about dropped the wand in shock. Voldemort, however, was gnashing his teeth and trying to get control of his wand, which was shaking and vibrating more furiously than ever before.
He knew what was happening.
More screams of pain came from Voldemort’s end, and a second figure began to squeeze its way out of the wand. This one was male, and it was Cedric Diggory, or, at least, the smoky shadow of Cedric. He, too, fell and straightened. “Harry’s wand?” he asked softly, and, not waiting for an answer, he said, “I always knew you were resourceful.” The competitive shine was gone from his eyes, and was replaced with a baleful stare that Minnie could see in this ghostly shadow of his former self.
Tears still slipped down her cheeks, and a tiny sob escaped her lips as she heard more trademark screams of someone being murdered, and the two shadows of people she knew began to pace around the inside of the cage of light with the others like hungry carnivores. Another smoky grey head came out of the wand tip, and, when the figure fell, he was revealed to be an old man whom Minnie had never seen before. He eyed Voldemort suspiciously, then turned to Minnie and said “Ah, don’t let go, lass! That bloke there killed me, he did. Don’t let him win!” Minnie nodded, and the old man began to pace like the others. She was struggling greatly to hold onto her wand, and she felt weaker than ever before. Minnie was drenched in sweat, and the wand was slippery beneath her fingers.
Another shadow person slipped out of Voldemort’s wand; this one was a woman. She looked at Minnie sharply and cried, “Keep holding on! I know you’re weak, but don’t give up!” It took all of her strength to set her expression and grip the wand until her knuckles turned white. She was on the verge of a breakdown, but then- Another head was emerging. Minnie thought she knew, thought that… thought that…
The ghostly figure of a pretty woman with long hair fell to the ground. Minnie’s arms were shaking madly, and it was a struggle to manage holding on and breathing at the same time. She looked into the face of the young woman who’d fallen from the wand, and saw a smoky reflection of herself.
Mum…
Lily said, “Daddy’s coming. You’re not alone anymore, Minnie. No need to tear, darling.” For Minnie was crying much harder than before, and was shaking more violently than the wand in her hand. Another head was emerging from Voldemort’s wand, and Minnie was ready.
A man with messy hair and glasses fell from the wand and smiled at his daughter. He didn’t say anything, but joined the group of people pacing the cage. Minnie watched them hiss at Voldemort as they passed, but couldn’t hear what they said. When her father came around to where she floated, he said, “Minnie, break the connection and grab your brother when I tell you. You can Side-Along out of here. We’ll distract him.” Shadow-James jabbed his thumb in Voldemort’s direction. “We still love you, Min.”
Thrice more, they paced, and, as all of the twenty-something shadows approached Voldemort’s end, James bellowed, “NOW!” and Minnie yanked Harry’s wand as hard as she could. The cage and thread broke; Minnie’s feet hit the ground. Before she whipped around to grab her brother’s arm, she saw the shadows of her departed family, classmates, and a few other people she didn’t know lunge at Voldemort. A high-pitched scream resounded and Minnie cried out.
“ACCIO WAND!” Minnie’s own wand flew into her hand; she seized Harry and Apparated away from the battle scene in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
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When the exhausted, bleeding, and pregnant Minnie Potter’s feet hit the ground at the front door of the Burrow, she collapsed next to her brother’s stirring form. She struggled to stay awake, for a moment, for a minute. Harry’s eyes opened, and he looked around. A smile spread across his face and he said, “You did it Minnie. All alone.” A half-smile crept onto Minnie’s lips, and then her face went slack and she went unconscious. Harry reached up and knocked on the front door.
Alone in the Face of Destruction by EyeEetStrudel
Chapter Notes: Once again, thanks to my beta, TheBird. She rocks!
Disclaimer: I'm not JKR, Warner Bros, I don't own the rights to the series.