Memory's Prisoner

Chapter 11: Little Hangleton

The pain echoed in the minds of each of the observers. They twitched and squirmed as the sensation danced across their skin. Neville shook violently, wide eyed and afraid, as he experienced the spell that took his parents' minds.

"That hurt, didn't it. Harry? You don't want me to do that again, do you?"

Harry didn't answer.

"I asked you whether you want me to do that again," said Voldemort softly. "Answer me! Imperial."

And Harry felt, for the third time in his life, the sensation that his mind had been wiped of all thought. . . . Ah, it was bliss, not to think, it was as though he were floating, dreaming ...just answer no ... say no .... I won't do it, I won't say it. ... Just answer no. . . .

"I WON'T!"

And these words burst from Harry's mouth; they echoed through the graveyard, and the dream state was lifted as suddenly as though cold water had been thrown over him - back rushed the aches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over his body.

"You won't?" said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters were not laughing now. "You won't say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die. . . . Perhaps another little dose of pain?"

Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready; with the reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he flung himself sideways onto the ground; he rolled behind the marble headstone of Voldemort's father, and he heard it crack as the curse missed him.

"You can't hide from me, Harry Potter," Voldemort whispered.

Harry burst from behind the gravestone, wand held high and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Voldemort cried, "Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light issued from Voldemort's wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry's - they met in midair - and suddenly Harry's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; his hand seized up around it; he couldn't have released it if he'd wanted to - and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. Harry, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort's long white fingers too were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating. And then he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. The vibrating became violent shaking as echos of people Voldemort had killed emerged from the wand. First Cedric, then an old man and Bertha Jenkins, and finally his parents.

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments . . . but we will give you time. . . you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts ... do you understand, Harry?" Lily whispered to him.

"Yes," Harry gasped, fighting now to keep a hold on his wand, which was slipping and sliding beneath his fingers.

"Harry . . ." whispered the figure of Cedric, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents..."

"I will," said Harry, his face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand.

"Do it now," said his father's voice, "be ready to run . . . do it now. ..."

"NOW!" Harry yelled. He pulled his wand upward with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke.

Harry ran as he had never run in his life, knocking two stunned Death Eaters aside as he passed; he zigzagged behind headstones, feeling their curses following him, hearing them hit the headstones - he was dodging curses and graves, pelting toward Cedric's body, no longer aware of the pain in his leg, his whole being concentrated on what he had to do.

"Stun him!" he heard Voldemort scream.

Ten feet from Cedric, Harry dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. Gripping his wand more tightly, he dashed out from behind the angel -

"Impedimenta!" he bellowed, pointing his wand wildly over his shoulder at the Death Eaters running at him.

From a muffled yell, he thought he had stopped at least one of them, but there was no time to stop and look; he jumped over the cup and dived as he heard more wand blasts behind him and stretched out his hand to grab Cedric's arm.

"Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine!" shrieked Voldemort.

Harry's hand had closed on Cedric's wrist; one tombstone stood between him and Voldemort, but Cedric was too heavy to carry, and the cup was out of reach - Voldemort's red eyes flamed in the darkness. Harry saw his mouth curl into a smile, saw him raise his wand.

"Accio!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Cup.

It flew into the air and soared toward him. Harry caught it by the handle - He heard Voldemort's scream of fury at the same moment that he felt the jerk behind his navel that meant the Portkey had worked - it was speeding him away in a whirl of wind and color, and Cedric along with him. . . . They were going back.

"He's really back," a Ravenclaw said long after the memory had faded.

The fog that normally filled the room came back thicker and heavier than before. Soon, they were all holding their breaths, coughing and heaving, and then it was gone. They were once again in the Room of Requirement, sitting in little groups on the floor, absorbed in the fact that Voldemort had returned.

Umbridge was the first to come to her senses, grabbing her clipboard and storming out of the room. No one tried to stop her. Ron and Hermione hugged Harry as he shook, the echoes of pain from the Cruciatus Curse slowly leaving.