Chapter 349: Red and Green

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I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

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28 March 1995, Greengrass Manor

To say that Harry was tense would have been an understatement. The moment he heard her voice, everything just came back. He was back in Durmstrang, holding back a corrosive magical release that would have wiped out the entire school and its surrounding land, while Lily Evans declined to help, choosing her own hide over her son, refusing to sacrifice herself for him.

There was nothing wrong with that last part. Both of them had a hand in the creation of the singularity and if the tables were turned, Harry would have chosen himself too. That alone was proof that they were still acquaintances at best. If Lily saw him as her son, she would have gladly died for him and if he saw her as a friend, let alone a mother, he would have probably done the same. He definitely would for Daphne, without question, without hesitation. There was some irony to it. Harry's counterpart would have done anything to spend a day with either of his parents. He wondered what that boy would have said if he saw the monster she could have been in another life. Then again, this Lily wouldn't have refused to step aside to save her son. This Lily would have burned down the world to save her own skin.

Harry didn't begrudge her from saving herself, what he hated the most was the way she pretended to mourn for him, the way she apologized. She had chosen for them to be enemies for her own selfishness, for her own power, and she pretended like it was a hard choice, as if it was something that she regretted after doing it again and again.

No, he had enough of that. He spent months being confused about Lily Evan's motivations, her goals and dreams, and he realized something very important. He didn't care. It all just seemed meaningless, so small, from the outside. She betrayed him and destroyed any potential relationship with her own son, for power. It was all so small in the grand scheme of things.

He gave Daphne a reassuring look, showing her that he had no plans of blowing up before speaking up, "Hello, Lily. It's been a while."

She didn't look as sharp as she used to be. That was probably an effect of the war she was waging against Voldemort. It was funny; she wanted to take over Britain and had probably already done so, but she didn't really count on something like this happening. She probably wished she could have consolidated her power through the pure strength she would have acquired with her ritual. If she had enough time to prepare, if she had time to properly put everything into order, Voldemort wouldn't have been able to do anything.

She would have found a way to bind the Dementors to Tartarus, culled any Dark Creature that would have joined Voldemort, or even Light Creature that would have joined Dumbledore, manipulated the political scene to her liking, and taken over the country fully in a few years. Voldemort wouldn't have been able to get any foothold in the nation and would only have had his pure strength on his side, compared to a very efficient military force that she would have trained to repel invaders. Things were definitely not going according to the redhead's plan. She didn't have enough time to prepare for any conflict, and it showed.

The redhead gave him a weirdly vulnerable look, "How did you survive?"

"The fact that Durmstrang didn't turn into a crater didn't give you a clue that I might have pulled something out of my ass to survive. It's weird how I always seem to make any breakthroughs when I'm under pressure."

"I assumed you redirected the blast somehow. But the sheer energy alone should have killed you. I didn't dare to hope."

Harry released a mirthless chuckle, "Hope for what exactly? What did you expect me to do if I survived?"

She stayed silent at that, and Harry continued, "You know, I almost believed you when we met for the first time. Even though I saw your handiwork first-hand with the monster you turned Sirius Black into, I still believed for some reason that all you wanted was to get close to me. I just didn't see any motivation, any reason for your behaviour if you weren't interested. You could have done this while hidden entirely, went through the entirety of your plan without me even knowing you were there, but you specifically tried to hide in plain sight, knowing that I would catch you. I thought it was your way of showing that you cared, somehow, and I was willing to entertain the idea. Do you know why? Hope. I hoped that I wasn't alone, that someone out there could keep up with me. I knew that I didn't need someone to take care of me, not after being alone for so long, but there was more to being a mother than raising a child. I hoped that one day, we'd be close enough that your absence during my childhood would become nothing more than a distant memory. It was a doomed hope, one that I never even admitted to myself, but it was there. I hoped and it was my biggest mistake."

"I did want to get to know you, Harry," she protested, "it was why I even came to see you."

"Oh, I don't doubt that you care, in your own twisted way, but not nearly enough. It was curiosity, not affection, that drove you. Because you didn't burn down Godric's Hollows for me, no matter what you say to yourself. You did it because you saw an easy way to get what you want. James would be gone, his bloodline would live through me, and you'd get your power up and kill your attackers. You didn't expect the human aspect. It was always your biggest mistake. You didn't count on the sheer grief that Sirius Black would have felt. Why would you? You could barely feel anything anymore. And that's why I think you never came to see me out of love, but curiosity. And to satisfy that curiosity, you came to me, when I was alone, and you gave me hope. You cannibalized that hope, and abused it utterly, like you did to Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. You gave them hope too, and now they're barely more than your puppets. You literally twisted an entire race to your needs using the exact same thing, giving you an army. It's funny how much people forget just how dangerous hope could be. It works so well because everyone craves it, even if they deny it. I didn't want to accept the fact that I craved that someone would keep up with me, would see the world as I do, and that I wasn't truly alone in the world. You took advantage of that, and I can only blame myself for falling for it."

"We can start over," Lily spoke up, "I can make this right. You and me, against the world."

"Here you are, doing it again, playing on a desire that I didn't even know existed, pressing a pressure point that I denied for years and years. You want me to help you fight Voldemort. Did you even consider the fact that I don't want anything to do with you, not anymore? Are you really asking me to join you when you ran away after almost causing an international incident where thousands of minors would have probably perished? Are you really asking for help after you left me alone in Durmstrang to deal with the consequences of your actions? You really are a bitch, Lily."

The redhead's face froze as if it was made of stone, before she asked in a neutral tone, "So, enemies, then?"

"I thought I told you that I wanted nothing to do with you. Hell, I want nothing to do with Britain in general. You and Voldemort can go enjoy each other's company. I'm not this country's babysitter."

"How do I know you're not planning on taking revenge, that you won't change your mind?" she asked with a clinical tone.

Harry noticed that Daphne had blanched at that question, but he simply gave the woman a smug smile, "Now, why would I do that when I already have taken my revenge."

"What are you talking about?"

"I like to think I'm a logical guy, but sometimes, I can be very petty. There's a reason why you haven't just beaten Voldemort, didn't you? Something isn't working right, is it?"

She glared at him, "You? You did this?"

"If you mean your little performance issues, then yes. After all, the singularity had to go somewhere, and you were such a good target. Surprising, isn't it, just how much damage a thing like this could do, even shatter dimensional barriers. I can feel it now, your connection to it, and it feels spottier than you expected, doesn't it? You probably thought it was just a temporary thing, that after a period of adjustment, things would work as they should have. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not."

"What did you do?"

Harry's grin widened, "Nothing really. I didn't even know what the result would have been. I just wanted to remove the singularity. The impact was powered by a prophecy that was thousands of years old being broken, it was more than enough to make a small hole near your connection to the dimension, and energy is leaking out to the void between worlds. It's a slow process, and would probably take years, but here's the thing, the more you use the energy, the wider the hole gets. You can't channel the energy properly, can you? That's because most of what you try to use just gets swallowed away. Oh, you can use a small percent of a percent, but nowhere near what you could have become, and even then, the more you use it, the more the gap widens, the faster your dimension is drained, and the less energy you'll be able to use afterwards, and we both know what that means. Don't think I didn't see the way you bound yourself to that dimension as well. I'm guessing you were hoping to use it as some elaborate method of immortality. Too bad someone fucked it up for you…"

Harry was chuckling in the end, and Lily's form was surrounded by a cloud of ash in her anger. He smiled, not seeing her as a threat, "Don't be so sensitive, Lily."

"Fix it!" she growled.

"I can't. That's the beauty of it. It's a singular event that never occurred before and is almost impossible to replicate. This isn't something that can be repaired. I don't even think that Dumbledore or Grindelwald together, enhanced by the Light or Dark, could do anything about it. Oh, you should see the look on your face. It's funny, isn't it? You worked all your life for this achievement, got married for it, killed your husband for it, massacred an entire town, took over a small country and betrayed your only son, only for it to disappear like breath on a mirror."

The redhead moved to cast something, only for the ash around her to dissipate and gasp in exertion. Harry gave her a smirk, "Oh, I forgot to mention that I can block your connection to it if I want to."

"What do you want?" she growled at him.

"With you? Nothing. I told you, I already got my revenge for what you did, for almost killing me, for betraying me. I took away what you treasure the most, corrupted it, made it lesser. I turned your ambition into your greatest punishment and I'm alright with that. I want nothing to do with Britain, your conquest, or Dumbledore's plan. I'm done. However, this is a bit of a reminder, if you try to get back at me by hurting anyone close to me, then I'll take away your connection to your dimension permanently. I will make you feel the void in your heart for every second of every day you stay alive. I will put you in a place so dark, so unknown, that you would never be able to escape, and only after a lifetime of emptiness would I give you permission to die. Do not talk about me, do not think about me, do not concern yourself about my affairs in any way, that is all I want from you. As far as you're concerned, I died back in Durmstrang. Do not test my patience."

She turned to Daphne with eyes pleading, only for the blonde to snarl, "You almost got Harry killed for no reason. I can't believe I let you stay in my home, near my sister. I want you to leave and never return."

She moved to speak only for Harry to sneer at her, "Get the fuck of out my sight, Lily Evans. I hope to never see you again in this lifetime."

With a flick of his hand, Lily Evans disappeared into a small portal that Harry made which would take her to Diagon Alley. He hoped she would heed his warning. He wasn't joking when he said that he wouldn't blink twice before just killing her. The only reason he hadn't done so was because it wasn't worth the chaos it would cause since she was in in control of half the government. He had already beaten her in every way that mattered, he had already gotten his revenge. Destabilizing a country for some closure wasn't really worth it. If she actually threatened anyone, he cared about then all bets would be off.

Daphne gave him a worried look, "Do you think she'll come back."

"Probably, but hopefully it won't be in a very long time."

Then a soft voice spoke up, "Umm, Daph, Harry, what was that about?"

Oh, yeah, Astoria was there. He forgot about that. That was bound to be very awkward to explain.

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AN: Well, I still feel like hell, but this chapter wouldn't leave my head. I wasn't planning on releasing anything today, but before I knew it, I was done with it. I didn't even re-read it properly, I'm too tired to do it. I barely skimmed it, and I honestly have no idea if it came out well or not. So, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions. I don't mind rewriting it when I'm better.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.