Chapter 30 Silent as the Grave

Garry stared, momentarily stunned, but then sprang into action. A quick wave of his wand and the various tracking charms on the boy began displaying their results. The three standard tracking charms reported nothing, indicating that the tags he had placed did not exist.

Clearly, enchantments at Harry's destination prevented those tags from working.

The three he had used in the middle of the future-past war detected their tags, but merely indicated the boy was to the south and east, and between three hundred and a thousand miles away.

It was the tracking spell taught to him by the Chinese Wizard near the end of that future-past war, however, delivered clear information. It revealed the boy had been portkeyed to a location that should be Little Hangleton, if he remembered correctly.

That contradicted his alarm charms in Little Hangleton, which were silent and indicated that nothing out of the ordinary was happening in the tiny village, decayed Mansion, or graveyard. Voldewhore must have detected Lockhart's alarm spells and subverted them or prevented them from working. In retrospect, Garry should have expected that — Voldewhore always had been extraordinarily cautious when he was weak. This time, because someone had attacked and killed so many of his minions, perhaps he had placed himself under a fidelius charm. The attention brought by the public kidnapping, and the variety of tracking charms on the boy, negated most of the protections provided by the fidelius. The charm can only hide you if you don't do anything monumentally stupid that reveals your presence, such as moving things not covered by the magic.

People were only just beginning to react. An alert Auror had hit Bagman with a stunner as soon as Harry had disappeared — the self-important promoter had probably been under an imperius — and the head of the DMLE was hurrying over to investigate. Minister Bones was gone, her security squad had portkeyed her to the Ministry almost at the same time that Bagman had been stunned — they were taking no chances on an assassination attempt. The other foreign dignitaries were similarly being hustled away by their paranoid security forces.

Garry quickly cast his patronus, momentarily surprised when a magpie appeared instead of his peacock or stag. "Find Minister Bones, tell her that Harry has been portkeyed to Little Hangleton, a village about two hundred miles north of London. I believe that's where Voldemort is, as well. I'm going there now and will send another patronus as I find out more. Get a team of Aurors and Unspeakables ready." The bird rapidly flew off.

He took a quick look around and saw both Remus and Sirius headed his way. He assumed that the Tonks and Bell were headed for the Hogwarts Gates and home. Rather than face the two men and try to explain that he didn't want their help — there was no way he was going to risk their lives in this situation and possibly deprive Harry of their presence in his life. He took off Sam the Sorting Hat and cancelled the disillusionment charm on it. He tossed Sam as if it were a pointy Frisbee to Sirius, getting an outraged "HEY!" from the Sorting Hat as he did so. He gave the approaching Wizards a broad smile and cheery wave as he spun on his heel and disapparated.

He apparated into a small clearing not far from the Riddle family graveyard but well beyond any alarm enchantments that the Death Eaters might have emplaced. His four tracking charms confirmed that Harry was less than a mile away, and his direction.

Lockhart disillusioned himself, silenced his breathing, footsteps, and anything else that might give him away by sound, scent, or visually, and then camouflaged his movements with a spell that restored wherever he stepped to its original condition — you would have to watch exactly where he stepped to see the momentary outline of his shoes. A final set of Notice-me-nots, both Muggle and Magical, completed the set. He was as nearly invisible as it was possible to get without being a ghost. As he expected, point-me merely made his wand spin uselessly. His specialized tracking spell still worked, though — it hadn't yet been detected. He pulled out his broom, enlarged it, and took off as quickly as he dared move — which wasn't as fast as he could move. He didn't want to fly into a trap, after all. Once was enough for that!

Barely five minutes after the abduction he found himself approaching the graveyard at a speed barely above walking. He felt the Magical and Muggle Notice-me-not enchantments put up by a Death Eater, or the Dark Lord himself, as he passed through them at the edge of the graveyard. Voldy, it appeared, didn't want to be disturbed. If Garry hadn't been focused on following his tracking spell, it might have worked, too.

But . . . had he cancelled the Oath he and Bellatrix had sworn as he had meant to do? Had he covered everything needed? If things went completely pear-shaped the poor girl might accidentally invoke one of the penalties while at Hogwarts or later in her life. It would be irresponsible of him to allow that situation to remain! He knew he had spoken with her . . . .

(◎_⊙)

"Ah, Bell! There you are!" He had found her in the game room watching a Disney movie — like most girls her apparent age she was quite enamoured of the Disney Princesses. "Could I have a few minutes of your time?"

Shrugging, she hit the pause button and followed him back to his Study.

He carefully closed the door behind them, and discretely erected several privacy charms. It wouldn't do for anyone to hear what they discussed or did for the next several minutes. "Bella," he said as he turned to her with a flourish, "You'll be eight years old in a few weeks and I thought I would give you some early birthday presents — Harry will grab the limelight when he wins the Tri-Wizard Tournament, you know." Her eyes lit up and she bounced on her feet like an excited house-elf.

"First, is this!" he held out an open box with a twelve and three-quarter-inch long wand, made of Walnut with a dragon heartstring core.

Her eyes opened wide, "A wand," she barely breathed out. She looked at him, shocked. "A real wand?" she asked hardly believing it to be true and hoping it wasn't a prank.

Garry smiled broadly, "A real wand, just as surely as I am Gilderoy Lockhart!" He paused as if he were about to give his customary spiel, but her eyes were unwavering on the wand in his hand and she missed his pseudo-prank. He sighed. "Here, take this." He held out the box and she slowly reached for it, still half-expecting a prank. "Not the box, silly, take the wand."

She gingerly took the wand in her right hand and gave it a small wave. Multi-coloured sparks burst from the end.

"Excellent!" Garry cried out excitedly. He hadn't been sure that the wand, made exactly as her old one, would still be appropriate for her after her de-aging and new life for the past two years — especially given how radically different her new upbringing was compared to her previous experiences in her father's mansion. That old buzzard hadn't had the slightest bit of humour in his soul — a true Scrooge from the sounds of him.

"Now hold your wand like this," he held his wand up and at a slight angle towards her. She imitated his stance and did so. "Now touch the tip to mine and hold it there for a few moments." She did. "I'll answer your questions when we finish, alright?" She nodded. She would agree with almost anything to get her own wand!

"I, Lord Gilderoy Lockhart-Black-Potter-Peverell-Gryffindor-Slytherin-Gaunt declare now and for all time that Bellatrix Lestange née Black, also known as Belladonna Bellatrix Black, has satisfied all conditions and requirements of the Magical Oath we both swore on May 16th, 1992. I have provided her with the galleons promised, now residing in her personal vault at Gringotts, and she is free to come and go as she pleases. I have no farther expectations from her and will provide familial protections and assistance, as she needs. She has no farther expectations beyond those provided by any family for a member of the family. Therefore, I declare that Magical Oath complete, null, and void, without any enforcement or punishment powers whatsoever. So mote it be!"

Bell stared at him, jaw dropped open in surprise and shock.

"Say, 'I release Gilderoy Lockhart from said Oath.'" She did.

"Now say, 'So mote it be." She did.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed, lowering his wand to waist level. She stared at him. He could feel her curiosity and the questions boiling up in her mind.

Before she could voice any of them, however, he said, "Obliviate!"

Her eyes turned blank and she swayed slightly.

He gently relieved her of her wand and replaced it in its box. He stashed it in an expanded pocket and pulled out something else. This package was gaily wrapped in paper with balls of light flashing around on it. From its size and shape one could expect it to be a book.

"And here's your first present!" he declared holding the package out to her.

She blinked uncertainly, but then, with eyes shining in anticipation, the young girl quickly shredded the wrapping paper to reveal 1,001 Spells, Charms, Jinxes, and Hexes Every Wizard and Witch Should Know. "Wow!" she breathed softly as she eagerly opened the book and glanced through it — while the Black library had many books, most had protective enchantments to prevent under-aged children from accessing them. Which meant the only books she could read spoke only in general terms or were fiction or completely non-magical. After a moment, she looked up at him, "This is so cool." She clutched it to her chest and hugged it as if it were a pet.

Smiling broadly, Garry held out a second package. She put the book on the study desk and just as quickly as before removed similar wrapping paper from the box and opened it. Momentarily puzzled, she held up a leather contraption with two belts.

"It's a wand holster," Garry explained. "Dragon-skin leather, with concealment, comfort, anti-summoning, and protection charms. Here, let me show you." He took the holster from her. "Hold your right arm out." She did, and he quickly fastened the holster in place. "While you are wearing it," he said, "no one can take it from you and only a very powerful cutting charm can harm it. To make it invisible, place your left-hand fingers on it and say 'invisible.' Then say 'visible' to see it again." She did that, too, making it disappear and reappear repeatedly. "When it's invisible, if someone grabs your arm, they won't feel it. It fits so well and is so comfortable that after a while you might even forget you're wearing it! Also, it has three compartments; one for a wand, one for a knife, and the third for whatever you want, such as a forever-ink quill."

"Wow!" She was truly speechless.

He waited as she admired her present. Finally, she looked up at him and said, "This is wonderful." She sighed, "But I won't have a wand for three more years." She glanced wistfully at the book on the desk.

Garry laughed as he held out a third package, a long box with square ends.

Bell's eyes seemed to double in size and she stared at the box and then at Garry and then at the box. Almost not breathing she tentatively reached out and took the box. This time she slowly removed the wrapping paper to reveal a simple cardboard box. Hands shaking, she opened it and stared at the revealed wand. It was short, barely six inches long, with a handle made of a different wood shaped to fit her small hand. She looked back up at him, disbelief plain. "A real wand!?"

Garry laughed again, humour present in his tone as he said, "Yes, Bell, a real wand. Made of Walnut wood with a dragon heartstring core." He paused a moment as she slowly took the wand out of the box. "It's a training wand, with special runes that prevent you from casting spells your magic can't handle. Every time you touch it, it measures your magical ability and won't let you do anything that might harm you."

She waved the wand and a few bright sparks shot out the end.

"Children are allowed wands only after they turn eleven because before then their magic is unstable and unreliable. Using a wand before you're eleven can actually hurt you in the long term and stunt your magical growth by dangerously straining your magic at a young age. This wand, however, adjusts to your present abilities, and that will never happen. Unlike a regular wand, with this wand if you try to cast a spell your magic can't handle, nothing happens. A regular wand would attempt to do the spell and allow you to hurt yourself."

Bell gave him a brief glance before waving the wand again to watch the sparks fly. She was listening. She just couldn't take her eyes off her new wand.

"That book," Garry indicated the book on the desk by pointing with his chin, "has 1,001 spells, but only about ten of them are within your abilities right now. Lumos and nox are two that you know, you've seen all the adults use those two so you know what they do. Whisper lumos."

"Lumos," came the soft response. The tip of the wand glowed just as softly.

"For the other three spells, you'll have to search the book to find them!"

She stared at the end of her wand, then whispered nox. She threw herself at Garry wrapping her arms around him and saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you," in a steady stream.

Garry patted her on the back. "Remember, the wand tracks your magical ability, so if you do a spell a bunch of times and drop your magical ability low enough, the wand will stop working! The same is true if you try to do a bunch of spells. Then you'll have to wait until your reserves replenish themselves completely before you can cast another spell. So when the wand stops working, you are done for the day!"

"I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have you as my Uncle! I love you!" Bell said, her face still buried in his side.

"Thank you, Bell," he replied softly. "You don't know how much that means to me!"

"Okay, then," he said, pushing her back a bit to look her in the face. "You can't tell anyone that you have a wand! And you have to promise you won't try to use someone else's wand, no matter how tempted you may be!"

Her face fell. She had been so looking forward to telling everyone about her new wand and wand holster.

He smiled down at her, "Just imagine the pranks you can now pull if no one knows you have a wand! Padfoot will blame Moony, Moony will blame Tonks, and Tonks will blame Padfoot. And you'll be laughing yourself silly at all of them. They will never think that you cast the spell that changed their hair to Slytherin colours because that requires a wand, and they know you don't have a wand! Just remember, pranks are to make people laugh, not to hurt them or humiliate them."

She stared back up at him for a moment, eyes shining in glee, then she smirked. "I know Uncle Gil." Then she smiled to herself, imagining all the mischief she could do without anyone suspecting her.

"And if you do try to use another Wizard or Witch's wand, you will hurt yourself, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time! So promise! You have your own wand, don't use another's! If you do — and I'll know, don't you think otherwise — I'll be forced to confiscate your wand! And just think how awful it will be to know that you had a wand and lost it because you wanted to try someone else's wand."

She nodded rapidly, clutching the wand to her chest, "I promise, Uncle Gil! I promise! I'll only ever use this wand!"

"And you'll be the terror of Hogwarts when you arrive — 1,001 spells already under your belt!" He grinned, "But you'll have to read the entire book to find out which spells work today and which ones will have to wait until you're older. After you've mastered a dozen or two you'll begin to get a feel for which ones you can do and which ones are for later.

"And the wand and holster will be our little secret, won't they?"

The ecstatic girl nodded energetically.

"Okay, let me show you how the wand holster works . . . ."

Of course, everything he had said about the wand was a lie. The de-aging potion he had given her had physically reduced her age, but hadn't changed her magical abilities except to slightly reduce her total capacity. Bell still had a very powerful magical core, far more powerful and stable than any child her apparent age.

The runes concealed under the wand handle's top layer of wood were rather simple; they limited the power through the wand until she had used about one percent of her actual strength. And being a shorter version of the wand than was natural for her also would limit the power of the spells she could cast. The runes would slowly increase that power limit until she would be at full strength when she went to get her "first" wand from Olivanders in three years. Until then, she would be more than happy to play with her wand instead of pirating one of the adults, as he knew she would have done otherwise. That would have been a disaster as everyone discovered she had an adult's capability at such a young age. And raised questions that Garry did not want anyone to even begin to think about asking.

(⊙_⊙)

No, after careful thought, he had taken care of the Oath and told Bell everything she needed to know.

He looked up and realized that he was almost back to where he had started! That damned Voldewhore, in addition to the notice-me-nots, had put up anti-magicals and anti-muggles charms! The anti-magicals enchantment had subtly made him redirect his flight while he was lost in thought. He cursed a bit, then turned around and headed towards the graveyard, again. This time he wouldn't allow himself to be distracted. He had taken care of everything he needed to do before the Third Task had started. He didn't need to return to Hogwarts and fix the "Incoming New Students" book of names to reflect that Belladonna hadn't already graduated. Being Head of Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses had granted him easy access to that book and it took only a few minutes to affix the necessary charm. Bella would get her letter right on her eleventh birthday, just as she was supposed to. And her name would appear as Belladonna Bellatrix Black, just as it was supposed to. Lestrange would not appear. He had even fixed the Castle Enchantments so that the Headmistress or Headmaster would only see her corrected name if they should directly examine the Castle's protective enchantments. Even Harry's Marauders' Map would show her name as Belladonna Black.

Sam! The Sorting Hat! He hadn't forgotten to tell the Sorting Hat what needed to be done, had he?

(◎_⊙)

"Ah, Mr. Lockhart!" Sam said almost as soon as Garry dropped the Hat on his head. "I've missed your company; the Headmistresses office is so dull! What new adventure are we about to embark upon?" The Hat shifted slightly, then settled.

"Ah," said Garry, "Sorry, Sam, no adventures this time. I just wanted to warn you that Bellatrix Black is going to be coming in three years to be sorted again."

". . . ."

Garry could feel Sam's curiosity. "Ur, yes. Well, you see, I kidnapped her from Azkaban, then de-aged her after removing all her memories from age six on up. It was either that or kill her and I didn't want to do that. She is a Black, after all. And with Sirius, Remus, and Nymphadora living with her at Twelve Grimmauld Place, I'm sure we can prevent her from following the path she did the last time. She certainly has no problems with Halfbloods and Muggleborns the way she used to! In fact, she seems to regard most Purebloods as complete twits, suitable only for pranking!" He sighed. "Which means, I'm sure, that she'll fall arse-over-teakettle for a pureblood before she graduates."

". . . ."

"Well, anyway, I wanted to warn you that I, as Lord Gryffindor and Lord Slytherin, command you to not reveal anything to her or anyone else about her previous life as Bellatrix. I don't care what House you sort her to, although I would prefer it not be Slytherin, if you can help it. I want her to have a fun time here and not become the insane Dark Arts obsessed bitch she used to be."

"I will do as you command Lord Gryffindor-Slytherin. I will not reveal her past to anyone, especially not to the girl, herself."

"Thank you, Sam."

Sam shifted and seemed to lean over slightly, as if leaning closer — an odd sensation considering Garry was wearing Sam on his head. "Mr. Lockhart . . . Mr. Potter . . . you seem to have integrated your personalities rather well. There is no dividing line between the two of you the way there used to be. Might I take a closer look?"

Garry shrugged. Maybe Sam would be able to determine exactly what had happened.

"Hmm. Oh. Ah. No? Oh. I see. Hmm. Oh dear. Ahh!" Sam shifted around Garry's head, as if he were walking around him. "Most interesting." There was a long pause, then, "Thank you."

"Well?" demanded Garry. "What did you find?"

For a moment, he thought Sam wasn't going to respond.

"Well," Sam finally said, "That spell that hit you was apparently a prelude to a possession attempt, but you escaped before the possession could take place. The spell seemed to have had two components, the first was to crush down the personality in the brain of the one being possessed, in this case, Mr. Potter, because he was the one in control at that point. Your escape, while fortuitous, would have left a normal Wizard comatose for many months with his personality knocked out. In your case, with your two personalities already in place, it simply put Mr. Lockart in control while you slumbered.

"The second component, the active part, was to merge all the memories of the subverted personality with the controlling personality, making them one and destroying the subverted personality in the process. In your case, Mr. Potter was the dominant personality even though Mr. Potter was asleep. It appears that after all the memories were combined the spell tried to establish Mr. Lockhart as the dominate personality, and failed. And in that failure, it simply merged the two personalities into a new one.

"So, Mr. Lockhart, you are now one new person with the traits and strengths of both, as well as the defects and weaknesses. Fortunately, most of the strengths and traits of one compensate for the weaknesses and defects of the other. You are a rather well-rounded personality as a result . . . who enjoys pranks far too much." The Hat shifted again. "I must say, I approve!"

Garry sat there in shock — Voldewhore had developed a spell to aide him in his possession of others. Probably that was what had made it so easy for Quirrell to accept and adjust to his possession. Only Harry's typical fantastic last-minute luck in escaping had really saved them.

"Well," he finally said. "That's interesting." Still in a bit of a daze, he said "Thank you for your help." Sam tilted, his version of nodding assent. Garry slowly walked out of the Headmistress' Office.

Garry spent several days contemplating what he had learned and his narrow escape.

(⊙_◎)

Garry looked around and realized he had once again started to leave the graveyard. Damnit! This was annoying as hell. He sighed and then used a sticking charm to make sure he remained on his broom. Then he cast another spell that locked the broom onto a course to follow his tracking spell, regardless of any attempt he might make to change course. It would remain in effect until he was close enough to hear or see what was really happening in the graveyard, at which point the anti-magical enchantment would fail to affect him and he could safely take control again.

For the third time he set out for the graveyard and Harry Potter.

Gingrotts! Ragnurk! Had he done everything needed? Besides updating his Will, had he forgotten anything?

(◎_◎)

"So, here's my new Will and Last Testament, Ragnurk," Lockhart said, handing over the parchment. The Wizard settled back in his chair as he waited for the Goblin to read the new legal papers.

Ragnurk had still sneered at him as he entered the plush office reserved for the Goblin in charge of Lockhart's accounts, which also included the accounts of Black, Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Gaunt, although the sneer wasn't nearly as impressive as it used to be. In fact, for a Goblin, it might even be termed "welcoming."

Now the largest single depositor at Gringotts, the lower-ranked Goblins treated Lockhart almost like royalty. Watching them rush around and kowtow to him was most gratifyingly. Even more amusing was watching the reactions of the other Wizards and Witches in the main lobby at those very uncharacteristic actions. It was quite satisfying on several levels.

The Goblin looked up at him. "You are relinquishing Head of House of Potter, Gryffindor, and Peverell to the Potter Heir when he reaches majority or immediately if you become incapacitated or die," he stated.

"Yes," affirmed Garry. "They are rightfully his."

The Goblin grunted. "House Black is to go to Miss Belladonna Bellatrix Black under the same conditions."

"Yes," affirmed Garry, again. "Sirius has declared he has no interest in assuming that seat, and he doubts he can father any children, anyway, considering his time in Azkaban. I did bequeath him rather large amounts of Galleons so he will not lack for funds, in any event."

Ragnurk did sneer at him, "I can read." So stop wasting my time telling me something I already know was the subtext. "However," he continued, his expression clearly indicating he thought Garry was an idiot, "House Black can only be inherited by a Wizard, thus she is ineligible."

Lockhart grinned, and handed him a second parchment to read. "Sirius Black agrees to act as Temporary Head of House Black, until she has a son, at which point she will become regent. The inheritance laws do not restrict regency to Wizards, although that is the custom. Should she die before that happens, then Head of House devolves to Nymphadora Tonk's son, as those parchments indicate."

The Accounts' Manager studied both parchments for a few minutes, then referred to an ancient inheritance laws book. Then pulled out an even older book for farther study. Finally, he set the books aside and studied the parchments again. Reluctantly, he nodded. A sly look crossed his face. "It will be quite expensive preparing all the correct paperwork for this."

"Naturally," the Wizard said, his own expression bland. "Just so long as it cannot be successfully challenged and overthrown."

The Goblin grunted assent, but his smirk was easily visible. He looked back at the Will, then said, "Houses Lockhart and Gaunt are to go to your sisters' sons or daughters, should any of them become a Wizard or Witch, or throwing the accounts into dormancy should they not. Being lesser Houses there are no restrictions preventing Witches from being the Head of House.

"These will be filed today and the appropriate supporting documentation provided," Ragnurk concluded.

"Excellent! And before we go farther, Ragnurk," Garry said, leaning forward to hand another parchment to the Goblin.

The Goblin read the short note, then looked up at the Wizard, fury evident in his expression.

Unperturbed, Lockhart nodded. "That's correct, if Gringotts or any Goblin, Wizard, Witch, or agent in their employ should reveal or acknowledge that Belladonna is actually Bellatrix Lestrange née Black who has been de-aged and oblivated of all memories back to the age of six, I will close all my accounts and transfer their contents to the Banking Gnomes in Switzerland. That includes not denying the fact by saying things such as 'we cannot confirm or deny' or 'that is private information' or any other method that might imply that she is Bellatrix without actually saying so or denying that she is. I expect Gringotts and its employees and agents to simply say 'Her name is Belladonna Bellatrix Black not Bellatrix Black or Bellatrix Lestrange née Black. She is not the adult woman that was a follower of the self-styled Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle.' Or words to the same effect." Garry leaned forward before the Goblin could object.

"And, should the Houses already have passed to my successors and word leaks out about her identity, I have already filed the proper paperwork, signed by my sisters, Harry Potter, and Sirius Black, with my lawyers to close and transfer their accounts to the Gnomes."

That should protect her secret quite well.

He left Gringotts in a quite cheerful mood, leaving behind several very unhappy Goblins.

And should things really go badly, he had left a series of parchments with his lawyers for the Ministress Bones explaining how he had destroyed all the horcruxes and that Voldemort was as mortal as any other man.

(◎_⊙)

He heard a voice ahead, "B-blood of the enemy … forcibly taken … you will … resurrect your foe."

Damn, he was too late to stop the ritual completely. Still floating on his broom, he followed the tracking spell and soon approached the site of Voldewhore's rebirth. A Death Eater he didn't know was standing by the massive cauldron, which was boiling and bubbling. The moon was past half-full and contributed only a bit of light to the scene. Fortunately, the Death Eater had provided a few torches around the graveyard so he wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark trying to do a finicky ritual.

Harry, as he had been in the future-past, was bound tightly to a statue. The ropes were quite secure, but a silent cutting spell made quick work of them. "Harry," the older Wizard whispered, "duck behind this gravestone and then run straight away until your emergency portkey works — about a hundred feet after you leave this cemetery. Don't take chances! Leave me to deal with these buffoons."

Before he could deal with Tommy-boy he needed to eliminate Nagini. The snake had to be somewhere around here. Unfortunately, the enchantments on the graveyard and its environs rendered his point-me spell useless at finding the snake. Only his special spells on Harry had allowed Lockhart to find him.

"Robe me!" he heard an annoyingly high-pitched voice say, almost like a little girl playing with helium. Garry glanced around the statue.

Merlin, but that was one ugly monstrosity standing in the cauldron. He wondered when the Wizard would realize things had not gone as well as he had intended. Standing in the cauldron was a . . . creature. It looked to be vaguely squirrel-shaped, but interspaced with patches of . . . fur? . . . were bare skin, and occasionally shiny scales. Considering the size of the cauldron, Garry should have been able to see the Wizard's legs, but instead all he could see was belly. Tom Riddle's new body was clearly more adapted to running on all fours than walking on two.

The pointy face reminded Garry strongly of the rather rat-ish appearance of Peter Pettigrew after a long decade stuck in his animagus form, but much, much more exaggerated. Tommy-boy, though, did not have that animagus excuse. His mouth stuck out somewhat like a rodent, as did his nose, the two looking much like a short snout. His ears were above his head, fully furred and tufted, while his eyes were shifted to the sides, giving him a much wider range of view than a normal human. His hands were more claw-like paws.

No pure-blood would follow such an obvious twisted-breed, no matter how powerful he might be.

If nothing else, Garry had severely inconvenienced the Dark Lord. Voldewhore would have to die and try again to resurrect himself, if only so he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his immortal life as a squirrel-snake-man hybrid!

When his command went unanswered, the Dark Lord looked at his servant's horrified face and realized things were not as rosy as they were supposed to be. He looked down at himself and screamed in anger. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!" He leapt out of the cauldron with a squirrel's quickness — oh, that wasn't good! — and tackled his follower, yanking the wand from his hand. "Crucio," he screamed, his voice edging higher into the nearly unhearable zone.

It was at that point that Garry heard a noise behind him. He turned. At the edge of the cemetery, he saw movement. It was Harry running behind another headstone. A huge snake followed him. Oh, of course. The one direction Harry would choose to run was the one guaranteed to meet Nagini. The snake was doing an admirable job of herding Harry back to the graveyard. Garry, still on his broom, shot off towards the two while unleashing a strong cutting curse at the snake.

Apparently, being a horcrux had improved the snake's reflexes — if it was a horcrux at this point. It was hard to tell with the evil taint that surrounded the graveyard. The snake whipped to the side. The curse sailed past it. Garry reached Harry and slid off the broom. "Here," he said. He thrust it at the little Wizard. "Take this and get the hell out of Dodge. I'll handle the snake."

Harry grabbed the broom. He hopped on and shot straight up. Garry dodged to his left. The infuriated snake, probably taking its cues from its still incoherently screaming master, slammed to the ground where they had been standing. Its fangs dripped poison as it hissed at him. It was as incoherent as its master. A deadly game of tag followed. It tried to tag him with its poison. He tried to tag it with a cutting curse. Neither made any real progress. The screaming by the cauldron stopped. Garry realized Voldewhore was aware of his snake's game.

Squirrelmort screamed above him. Garry threw himself behind a statue as curses rained down. The damn bastard had climbed one of the statues!

The snake lunged towards him, mouth open wide to bury its fangs in the trapped Wizard. Garry saw his chance, He threw the strongest cutting curse he knew straight into its wide-open mouth. Like the Basilisk before it, the inside of its mouth had little in the way of magical protections. The curse sliced through the back of the snake's mouth, severing its spine and major arteries. It flopped to the ground, sliding into Garry and knocking him over. And, incidentally, out of the way of Squirrelmort's curse, which blew apart the dead snake's eye instead. Voldemort fell off the statue on which he was standing, screaming.

Ah, so the snake was a horcrux! Just as had happened in the Harry's future, destroying a horcrux vessel at such close range had a devastating effect on the Dark Wizard.

Garry lay stunned on the ground for a moment, dazed. He had hit his head on the side of a gravestone. Slowly he got back to his feet. He knew he didn't have much time. He walked over to motionless would-be King of England. He started a stupify when a bludgeoning curse hit him from the side, throwing him across the body on the ground into another gravestone. His armoured vest protected him from serious injury, but his side hurt like a bitch.

The Death Eater had apparently recovered from his Master's curses and had entered the fray. Garry cursed himself for forgetting the other Wizard. He rolled quickly to the side, scrambling to his feet. Another curse banged into the gravestone where he had just been lying. He dodged behind another gravestone and started firing off curses as fast as he could. In a matter of moments, he had the other Wizard doing the dodging and shielding.

He had just hit the other Wizard with a stupefy when a powerful bombardo curse exploded the gravestone he was using for a shield. Squirrelmort had awakened. Garry started shielding as he searched for his opponent. The next curse exploded his shield with a bang and threw him down. That was when he saw Squirrelmort. Damn but he was quick! The creature darted closer. He sneered, in a girlishly-high squeaky voice, "You! You thought you could best Lord Voldemort?" He screamed "Avada Kedavra!" Garry grabbed a chunk of the shattered gravestone and threw it in a desperate attempt to block the curse. To both their surprise, it worked and exploded into dust. Garry scrambled back and threw a langlock at the other. Voldewhore sneered, stepped to the side quickly and launched another Avada Kedavra. There was nothing at hand and Garry realized he didn't have the time to dodge.

That was when the worst possible thing that could happen, happened. A blur shot in front of Garry from his right and above. It caught them both by surprise. Voldemort again fell screaming to the ground. Garry watched as Harry Potter fell off his broom and tumbled wildly across graveyard. Harry had taken the curse for Garry. He had sacrificed himself without regard for his own life.

For a moment, Garry stood too stunned to move. Then he spun back to Voldewhore and cast the most powerful stupefy he could manage. Then he did it again. And again. If something is worth doing once, it's worth doing twice. Or three times. Maybe even five. And what he should have done the first time Squirrelmort was temporarily out. This time, at the very least, Voldie would have the mother of all headaches when he awoke.

Garry reached into his expanded pocket and took out two halves of a glass sphere, each with numerous parseltongue runes etched into it. Those had taken quite a bit of research to create. He had finally discovered that all he had to do was be thinking in parseltongue when he cared the runes to make them unreadable by anyone not gifted with that skill.

He shrank Squirrelmort down until he would just fit inside one of the half-spheres, then levitated the creature into it. One half of the sphere had grooves that ran a short distance cut into the edges. The other half had matching tabs that were not quite as long. He lined up the two and pressed them together, then turned the top half until it stopped. A set of magic-charging runes were divided between the two halves. Turning the two hemispherical sections to their stops lined the runes up perfectly, top to bottom. He pushed magic into it until the next set of runes reacted and sealed the two sections into one seamless piece. After a moment, the next set of runes engaged and made the sphere unbreakable. The next set of runes made it impermeable to magic. Then there was a set that made it indestructible by melting or other actions. The final set prevented wraiths or any other spirit from escaping the prison.

Garry checked on his other opponent, who was still out cold. He hit him with petrification curse, then another stupefy. He would let the Ministry deal with the Dark idiot.

He again reached into his pocket and took out a second pair of half-spheres. These had the runes carved on the inside. He dropped the first sphere into one half-sphere of the new one, then put the other half-sphere over it. The two halves barely fit over the first sphere, but the charging runes lined up perfectly and powered the same sequence of runes that had decorated the first sphere. Now, no one could abrade the runes off and free the creature inside. Voldewhore was constrained, with no escape.

He dropped the sphere into his pocket and hurried over to where Harry was lying. A quick diagnostic spell showed no broken bones. It also showed no life.

Garry remembered his experience when he had died to get rid of Voldewhore's last soul shard. Meeting his parents before dying had been great. If he hadn't needed to finish off the evil bastard he probably wouldn't have returned.

This time, though, Harry had two very appreciative girlfriends, not to mention his new family in Bella, the Tonks, and his Godfather. This time, the school had rallied behind him time and time again. He hadn't been vilified in the press. Rita had gone a long ways towards making sure he was accepted by the Wizarding World. In other words, Harry should have everything to live for and no regrets at leaving his parents until sometime far in the future.

Smiling to himself, Garry cast his patronus, shaking his head slightly as the magpie appeared again. When had that happened?

"Madam Minister Bones, I am at the Little Hangleton cemetery, beside the old Gaunt House Manor. I have captured and secured Tom Riddle, whom you know as Lord Voldemort. You might want to send a team here to survey the area and make sure there are no other Death Eaters in hiding." He watched the patronus bird fly out of sight far more rapidly than any live bird could manage. Still, it would take a few minutes for the Aurors to arrive — at least fifteen considering the distance the silvery bird had to cover.

In the meantime, he carefully levitated Harry into a more comfortable position and cleaned him up. He healed the many scratches and cuts on the boy Wizard, including the knife wound inflicted by Voldewhore's minion. Now, all he could do was wait for Harry to return.

Garry conjured up a recliner. He wondered if Harry was meeting with Dumbledore — he made an expression of disgust at that thought — or if he was meeting his parents. Garry sincerely hoped the boy was finally meeting his parents. He settled down to wait, with only the noise of crickets and other insects in the otherwise deathly quiet graveyard.