Dark Pasts { A Harry Potter Story }

Chapter 55 - Voldemort

I ran as fast as I could through the corridor, ignoring the tears rolling down my cheeks. At last, I saw a light and realized that I was back in the Atrium. I glanced around the high windowed walls but froze when I heard a voice that caused all the air to escape my lungs. Trembling, I turned around to see Voldemort standing in front of Harry.

"It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom," A voice I recognized as Dumbledore said from a few feet away. "The Aurors are on their way —"

"By which time I shall be gone," Voldemort said, "And you... shall be dead."

I gasped as he suddenly sent a curse toward Dumbledore, who quickly deflected it. My eyes widened in shock at seeing the two powerful wizards duel. Harry, who had not seemed fit to notice me earlier, ran toward me with an alarmed look on his face.

"Go back to the others!" He shouted above the loud explosions caused by the deflected spells hitting the walls.

I had no time to answer as a large piece of the ceiling came tumbling down on us. Harry quickly pulled me toward him and we rolled a few feet away from where the large structure hit the ground with an echoing bang. He searched my face for any signs of distress but saw that I was not hurt. Voldemort screamed, making us both glance in his direction in alarm. Suddenly all the windows exploded, causing millions of tiny shards of glass to fly everywhere, but Voldemort raised his wand again, making all the pieces of glass fly at an alarming speed toward us. Harry pushed me against the wall and wrapped his arms around me protectively. Both of us gasped, but I frowned when I thought I felt sand graze my arms. Harry pulled himself away from me and I saw that Dumbledore had indeed transformed the sharp glass into sand. Voldemort stared angrily at him for a moment before disappearing. Harry sighed in relief beside me, but I knew this was too easy.

Harry gasped beside me and fell down. I gasped in horror as I kneeled down in front of him. "Professor!" I shouted. "Professor, help him!" I pleaded in a trembling voice.

I was trembling as I watched Harry wriggling on the ground and panting heavily, clearly in immense pain.

Professor Dumbledore kneeled down beside me and stared at Harry. Suddenly Harry opened his eyes, but they were not the tender green eyes I adored: they were red with slits as pupils... they were Voldemort's eyes.

"Kill him, Dumbledore," Voldemort's voice sounded from Harry, making me gasp in horror. "Kill the boy..."

Harry suddenly screamed in agony and began to writhe helplessly.

"Professor!" I whispered pleadingly.

"Harry," Professor Dumbledore said, but Harry only panted more heavily. "Harry... it isn't how you are alike, it's how you're not."

I frowned as Harry stopped moving. He lay motionless on the ground, but his face was still red and twisted with pain as he breathed heavily. A wave of black air twirled out of Harry's body and suddenly Voldemort was standing over him. I involuntarily shuffled away from him and closer to Professor Dumbledore, my eyes never leaving Harry. I gulped nervously, but suddenly I began to hear many voices and lifted my head up to see a mass of Ministry employees now standing in the Atrium. Closest to us was the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge.

"He's back!" Fudge said breathlessly as Voldemort disappeared from sight.

Dumbledore then proceeded to tell the Minister about the Death Eaters in the other room, but I did not listen. I scrambled toward Harry and smiled uncertainly as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Take this Portkey, Elizabeth," Dumbledore told me as he held out the golden head of a statue. "Harry, you hold on as well."

Harry looked at me questioningly as he raised his head toward the Portkey.

"I shall see you in half an hour," Dumbledore told Harry before I felt the familiar sensation of spinning around me as the floor disappearing below my feet.

***

As I regained my senses, I realized with surprise that we were now in the middle of Dumbledore's office. Everything was strangely calm in contrast to everything I had just witnessed in the Atrium at the Ministry. The room was engulfed in soft golden light and I saw through a small window that the sun was slowly beginning to rise. I turned around, my gaze landing on Harry who was staring blankly at a strange silver instrument on one of the tables.

"Harry?" I said hesitantly, but my attention was stolen by a voice coming from behind me.

"Ah, Harry Potter," Phineas Nigellus said from his portrait, "don't tell me... another message for my worthless great-great-grandson?"

Harry did not speak. I frowned as I looked at him, the knot reappearing in my stomach.

"Harry," I said as I gently grabbed his hand, but he did not move.

"Ah, there you are," Professor Dumbledore said as he emerged out of the fireplace, his eyes landing on Harry and me.

"Professor McGonagall is waiting for you outside my office, Miss Rosier," he said. "She will be glad to escort you back to your dormitory."

"Professor—" I said, glancing at Harry.

"It's alright," he said with a knowing smile, "I will take it from here. I am afraid our friend Harry here is in need of long overdue explanations."

I slowly nodded before reluctantly walking toward the door, casting one last glance at Harry before closing the door behind me. But instead of leading me to the dormitories, Professor McGonagall lead me to the hospital wing, where the others were all being patched up by Madam Pomfrey.

"Elizabeth!" Hermione said in a relieved breath as she engulfed me in a hug.

"Careful, girls," Madam Pomfrey said reproachfully, "I'll need to clean those wounds now if you don't mind," she said as she examined the many cuts on my face before making me sit on one of the beds.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked after Madam Pomfrey had left to mend Ginny's broken ankle. I simply nodded in response, unable to speak.

"It was him, wasn't it?" She asked and I nodded once more.

"Elizabeth?" Neville said hesitantly and I turned to look at him, noticing a large bandage wrapped around his head. "Harry... he knew him? The man who was... killed..."

I gulped, tears prickling in my eyes once more. I nodded as I looked down at my hands, not wanting to meet his curious eyes. We were silent for the better part of the next hour as Madam Pomfrey checked on us one by one, making sure that none of us were acting strange or that our wounds had started to bleed again. The sun had fully risen when Harry's slumped figure appeared in the doorway of the hospital wing. We looked into each other's eyes for a moment before I looked back down, feeling his immense grief wash over me. I did not listen to a word they were saying as my mind wandered off to think about the dreadful night we had been through. Looking back, I wished I had been stronger and had done something... anything... he had killed her... and yet I had let him get away...