The Nightmare Man's Journey

Chapter Four

Hermione pulled out her wand as well, as their enemy was staring at them. Aside from his greeting, he seemed rather speechless.

"Wait, did you call me Harry Potter?" he said, as if just to defy her guess as him being speechless.

"That's your name," she spat, having found her voice quickly.

"No, no, no, not anymore. Well, it's not like you would know. But it's not Harry Potter. You can call me Harrison though. Or enemy. Or bastard, if that's your thing. Just basically anything but Harry Potter."

"Have you gone so far to even throw away your name?" Albus asked, moving to the front.

He spread out his arms, almost like he was guarding them even in death. Hermione shifted as to better shield his daughter, while Ron pulled their son behind them.

"Isn't that natural for a dark lord to do?" Harrison said where he stood some twenty feet away from Albus. "They take on a new name, and cast away the old one. Granted, in my case I forgot my own name for a while and once I remembered I no longer wanted to keep it. The name my parents gave me."

Dark lord? He considered himself a dark lord now? Hermione looked around. So they were all here… to see their killer? To meet the man who made sure they met their ends earlier than they should have?

Was it the afterlife's version of them taking revenge? Could a man be killed again? Harry, or Harrison, must be dead to be here with them, but could he be killed again? Hermione wanted to try. She really wanted to try.

Harrison looked around, and she realized something else was different about him. The last time she saw him, he had been injured and crazy, filled to the brink with manic energy. It was gone, that energy. Something had settled around him, a sort of chilling calm that frightened her more than the manic energy.

"Is this what death looks like?" Harrison asked. "Seems awfully cheery."

"Death is what you make it," Albus said as he stepped closer. "Harry… no, Harrison… you have changed."

"People tend to do that with time," he replied.

"Not that much time can have passed," Albus said.

"I'm an old man, Albus Dumbledore," Harrison said.

Hermione couldn't help but snort at his attempt to sound older and wiser than them. That had Harrison's attention on her.

"Oh, you think I'm lying, little girl," he said.

'Little girl' was said with such contempt and conviction that she startled. He came closer to her, smiling softly. The smile made her want to run. She wanted to take Ron's hand, and flee from him with her husband and their children.

"Little, smart Hermione who thinks she knows everything. But you haven't been around my life for a long time. I'm old, girl. Ancient even, to some. The dark lord that that has lived for well over a thousand years."

The silence was deafening. When Harrison clapped his hands, most of them flinched. He grinned, and continued:

"Enough about me, though. Why the hell are you all here? If death is truly what I make it, you would definitely not be a part of my afterlife and I would definitely, definitely not be a part of yours. In fact, I'm probably the furthest thing away you would like to see… ooh, who's this then?"