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zelda_queen) wrote2010-05-06 03:30 pm
Time To Fix The Mistakes: Chapter 2 - My Kingdom For A... Horcrux (Part 2)
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
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Chapter 2: My Kingdom For A... Horcrux (Part 2)
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
November 1, 1976
ZeldaQueen: That's good to know
The interrogation of Lucius Malfoy began before sunrise the next morning. The man had been in his ferret form since he was captured to ensure he couldn't cause trouble. Harry reversed the transfiguration to reveal the human side of Malfoy.
ZeldaQueen: So Harry left someone completely confused and kidnapped in the body of a ferret for an entire day. That's...nice
Harry waited for a few minutes until Lucius blearily began to question where he was. Even half dazed, he sounded haughty.
ZeldaQueen: Given how much of an ass you've been thus far, you have no right to comment on people being "haughty"
"We'll start with the rules, Lucius. Lie to me once and I cut off your hand. Lie to me twice and you'll never leave this room alive…"
ZeldaQueen: Yep, power the Dark Lord knows not and all
"The Dark Lord will kill you…"
"Be careful, Lucius. That could be considered a lie."
ZeldaQueen: And Harry will probably murder you if you displease him
The young blonde just sneered at Harry. "I don't have to answer any questions…this isn't a courtroom, you peon."
Harry just smiled. "You will answer."
ZeldaQueen: (Harry) "Or I'll break your thumbs and shove bamboo shards up your eyelids"
"I'm a Slytherin. I'll never break."
ZeldaQueen: Well Harry's certainly going to try anyway
"You're the weakest sort of Slytherin. You'd claim 'I was under enchantment' when caught, rather than owning up to the ideals of your Dark Lord."
ZeldaQueen: Ah yes, because the books clearly show that Harry loved taunting helpless people
"I'd never betray the cause that way," Lucius said. It only made Harry smiled. Lucius didn't know himself at all, did he?
ZeldaQueen: God, just go away! I hate you!
"I think you lie."
"I'd never deny the Dark Lord, not even under torture."
Harry smiled, but Lucius couldn't see past the hood over Harry's face. "Interesting you should say that. I haven't had any good practice in that art for some time now. Would you prefer questions – or the other method?"
ZeldaQueen: Oh yes, he's threatening torture now. Why am I not surprised? Where's canon Harry? I want him back
The blonde man shut his face. His values extended only so far, it seemed. Lucius really was the worst kind of Slytherin.
ZeldaQueen: And you're the worst kind of Potter
"Have you joined the Dark Lord?"
Lucius nodded. Harry wondered about getting ahold of some truth serum. This whole interrogation hadn't exactly been planned…and Harry was regretting his lack of planning on this topic.
ZeldaQueen: So he's pulling out Umbridge's tactics. Not to mention the fact that people can train themselves to resist Truth Serum. Smooth
"You're not Marked."
"I haven't completed my first mission…you, whoever you are, prevented that."
"Did you do this before or after your father died?"
"After."
"You sought out the Dark Lord then?"
"No, he sent emissaries after me."
ZeldaQueen: (Lucius) "Say, you interested in joining also? You'd make a fantastic Death Eater!"
"You went willingly to meet him?"
"Yes, of course. My father had told me for years about my duty." Harry had heard similar words come from the mouth of Draco Malfoy several times.
ZeldaQueen: Yes, and if you'll recall, Harry pitied Draco for getting tangled up in it all
"What have you done for the Dark Lord thus far?"
"Intelligence from the Ministry…"
Harry had always wondered about the things Lucius had done. Bagnold had had Lucius' trial records seals and later destroyed in the original timeline. Harry more than suspected that the Minister had been bribed to ensure that sort of accommodation.
ZeldaQueen: We get it, the Ministry stomps puppies and rapes kittens! Get on with it!
"Do you remain in his service of your own free will?"
"I don't…yes. Yes, I do."
Doubt. Indecision. It was just a moment of weakness, was that enough? Was this Lucius Malfoy, free of his father's influence, capable of reformation? Albus Dumbledore would have said 'yes' no matter what the evidence.
ZeldaQueen: And we all know that Dumbledore sucks
"The Dark Lord will fall within the year, Lucius. It's been prophesied. What will you do with this knowledge?"
ZeldaQueen: He'd probably scram back to Voldy and tell him about it, which would lead to a rampage while Voldemort tries to beat the prophecy and save himself just like in the original timeline. God, this Harry is an idiot!
Lucius sneered. "He said that he is immortal. How could he fall?"
"He's used horcruxes, Lucius, little soul receptacles that can be found and destroyed. He's only 'immortal' until they're all gone…"
The sneering Malfoy had changed into a terrified one. "No, you lie. No one can remain sane after creating a horcrux. It's a fundamental part of Dark Arts theory, every gain using Dark magic comes with a steep cost, the greater the gain the greater magnitude of the cost…"
ZeldaQueen: Would Lucius even know what a horcrux is? Anyway, why would Harry tell him this? Mindwipe him, yeah, but the fourth book proves that Memory Charms can be broken. He gets back his memory of this conversation, runs to Voldemort and says "Yo, some dude in a cloak told me that you were prophesied to die within the year and said you made horcruxes", next thing we know it all gets worse. This Harry has no concept of "cause and effect", does he?
"You think Voldemort cares about sanity? He loves only power…"
ZeldaQueen: (Evil Harry) "As do I!"
"I refuse to – "
Harry didn't wait for the man to finish his thought. Lucius would not change.
ZeldaQueen: Yes, because he doesn't renounce his ways after one conversation with a person who Stunned him in his own home, turned him into a ferret, and kidnapped him
"Obliviate," Harry almost whispered.
What to do? Kill him – no, the Code of Harry demanded that Lucius be given one additional chance to choose differently.
ZeldaQueen: Thus it was said in the Code of Harry!
Let him free – no, Harry wouldn't make it easy on him.
ZeldaQueen: Of course. Who's surprised? No one? Though tso
Give Lucius a little taste of the dangers of his path? That was interesting. Harry would give Lucius Malfoy a sharp kick in the head to help him see differently.
ZeldaQueen: Yeah, probably a literal kick in the head knowing this doofus
If Harry staged this correctly, he could test Lucius and begin testing the Ministry of Magic at the same time. What happened with Lucius would testify to his nature and also to the sorts of corruption within the Ministry. A useful experiment, Harry decided.
ZeldaQueen: Calculating bastard...
Harry hit the dazed man with a stunner, a half dozen light cutting curses, and a befouling curse. Lucius looked like he'd been in a battle of some sort and come out the worse for it.
ZeldaQueen: Oh, that's nice. Just smack around an unconscious guy who just had his memory erased
Harry clutched the man's shoulder and disapparated with him. They arrived at the very edge of Knockturn Alley just before daybreak. Harry pushed the Head of the Malfoy family into the dark ruins of an abandoned shop.
He'd be stripped of his valuables and wand by eight o'clock and Aurors would likely discover him by noon. Perhaps he'd have a good story to tell…perhaps not.
ZeldaQueen: Wait a second, how does this work? The Aurors find a guy clearly beat-up and robbed in an abandoned shop which is technically legal (though shady), after he obviously has just had his memory erased? Are the Auror's supposed to assume that an unarmed man who was attacked and befuddled broke into an abandoned (and thus, likely empty) shop to rob the place? That he was hiding something there? But if it's the later, then nothing is in there!
Lucius Malfoy had his first chance…his only chance…according to the Code of Harry. Merlin help him.
ZeldaQueen: I love how Harry attacks a guy, transforms him, kidnaps him, wipes his memories, magically attacks him while he's unconscious, and dumps him in a strange location and then is like "alright, this had better convince him to change his ways, or else I'll kill him!"
The Ministry of Magic would be judged by what it did with this man. Harry had no childish notions they'd perform admirably.
ZeldaQueen: Honestly, I fail to see any strong grounds to arrest a guy, especially since he apparently only just signed on as a Death Eater and didn't have the Mark, thus making it nearly impossible to prove he was in league with Voldemort. And of course Harry's going to see this as a fact that they're corrupt and incompetent, even though they don't have Harry's knowledge of the future!
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
December 12, 1976
Harry was single-handedly doing a massive amount of damage to the Death Eater support structure. He was also nervous that his work might be altering the timeline, rendering all his knowledge from the future useless. He kept a careful watch to ensure that, Harry's actions aside, things stayed the same.
ZeldaQueen: Right. By Harry's own admission, he's (A) Keeping people alive who ought to be dead in the future and (B) killing people who ought to be alive in the future. Yes, Harry, I do believe that you are altering the timeline!
For the most part, they did. Little details seemed to shift, but the raids still occurred on their appointed days and times.
ZeldaQueen: But that still doesn't change the fact that people are alive and dead who shouldn't be! Am I nuts for noticing this?
Harry Potter could only hope that the raid scheduled for today happened exactly on schedule. He had failed to locate the Slytherin locket, so Harry now had to rescue his grandparents from their planned deaths.
ZeldaQueen: Planned deaths? Excuse me?
(Harry had been told, as a young man, that they'd died of natural causes…but it was yet another of Dumbledore's fabrications. The man was an inveterate liar, like he couldn't stop the falsehoods pouring out of his own mouth.)
ZeldaQueen: Right DW, you dumb shit, let me direct you to an interview with J.K. Rowling, in which she tells us what happened to James Potter's parents.
"James's parents were elderly, were getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he's-an-extra-treasure, as often happens, I think. They were old in wizarding terms, and they died. They succumbed to a wizarding illness. That's as far as it goes. There's nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them"
ZeldaQueen: The interview was given in 2005. Deathly Hallows, which you claim to have read, came out in 2007. There is no excuse for this. Please stop ignoring canon stuff to further demonize Dumbledore. Rowling herself said it, so you can't even pretend that it was said by a canon character who was lying
The good news: Harry's grandparents would live. The bad news: Unable to find the final horcrux, Harry had to let Voldemort live for another day.
ZeldaQueen: Yeah, too bad you have to wait to kill someone else
Harry took up position just outside the ward line. As a true Potter, he could have passed through the wards protecting Potter Manor without a problem, save for the notification that would have been sent to his grandfather. For this to work, no one could know of Harry's presence.
ZeldaQueen: Well good luck with that, since you seem to have an impossible time going without killing or attacking or kidnapping anyone
It wasn't long until Harry felt the battering against the wards. He saw his grandfather leave the manor, after telling his grandmother to flee. She didn't listen to him, of course.
ZeldaQueen: Yes, stupid woman. How dare she not look out for herself for number one because Harry wants her to?
They both began setting up defenses outside the manor. They both seemed to know some rather gruesome timed transfigurations. Rocks turning into piles of explosive powder; logs transforming into columns of spikes; hedgerows that captured anyone stepping near them; small statues and benches that would explode on command, sending hundreds of deadly stone shards flying. Harry was honestly impressed.
ZeldaQueen: He's impressed because his grandparents know gruesome spells to attack intruders. Really. And I never really got the feeling that his grandparents were the sort to do stuff like that
He'd done well enough on his NEWTs but couldn't perform anything like the post-Master-level spells he was seeing now.
ZeldaQueen: I'm sure Hermione could do that. *cough* Where is she? Ron too! I miss them!
Sadly, though, Harry knew it hadn't been enough to save them the first time around. Two people with dozens of tricks couldn't withstand a massive, determined raiding party.
ZeldaQueen: Good thing this never happened in canon then
Harry would have to add the extra bit now. His grandparents had taken up defensive positions hundreds of yards from where the Death Eaters would be coming.
The wards began to ripple. Harry waited patiently. Thirty seconds later they rippled again and then fell.
Green light flashed in the distance. Harry took off at a run. He sent banishers at four Death Eaters – sending them into the traps prepared by the Potters – before anyone could even notice there was an extra combatant. He sent another one at a pile of explosive powder and watched as the man disintegrated from the blast and three of his comrades were knocked off their feet from the concussion.
ZeldaQueen: He just murdered as a first resort. Rose Potter, anyone?
He recognized a few people who'd felt his mercy before. Harry used cutting curses on Curia Flint, one of the rare female Death Eaters, and Gaius Carrow. Neither would ever get up again.
ZeldaQueen: Suethor, you already have Death Eaters to choose from, including two Carrows. Why do you feel the need to make more?
Harry pivoted when he saw a still-masked Death Eater take aim at his grandmother. A powerful banisher sent the fool into one of the hedgerows. The man was bound by the plants before a massive stalk of a vine punctured the man's throat. Harry was even more impressed by the viciousness of these traps.
ZeldaQueen: Jesus H. Christ, HARRY IS NOT IMPRESSED WITH KILLING!
Honestly, if this version of Harry went back to the cave with the locket, he'd probably be impressed by Riddle's work!
People should be on notice not to mess with the Potters…perhaps that was why Voldemort sent such a large raiding party.
Harry surveyed the field. His grandparents were injured, but alive. They had managed to stun four attackers…which was good for Harry's evolving plan. The disillusioned, trained warrior sent a pair of stunners at his grandparents. Neither had expected the spells and they both collapsed.
ZeldaQueen: ... He just attacked his own grandparents.
But of course it's alright, it's for their own good. For the Greater Good.
The Suethor has no right whatsoever to complain about that in regards to Dumbledore
Harry moved his grandparents off the field of battle. Then he took his first steps ever into the Potter Manor. He flicked his wand in every room he visited, setting the heirlooms to pack up into satchels he conjured. He spent five minutes ensuring all the books in the vast library got packed up. The portraits were indignant about being moved and shrunk. It didn't matter.
ZeldaQueen: Yeah, this Harry doesn't care what anyone else thinks! Look at what he did to Dumbledore!
Harry was inside a total of thirty minutes and hadn't run across a single house elf. He hoped the Potters either kept none or that the creatures would be smart enough to desert a burning building.
ZeldaQueen: Wait, didn't he already go on about the "Potter Elves"? Were those supposed to have been owned by James? Because it's fairly clear that Harry's parents didn't have House Elves
He walked back outside with seven bulging, magically expanded
ZeldaQueen: Gack!
satchels. Then he picked up the wands from three Death Eaters and cast strong fire spells at the Manor. For this to be convincing, the Manor had to burn. The Potters had to seem to be dead, destroyed in the flames.
ZeldaQueen: And he burned down his grandparents' home. For the Greater Good
He looked across the field and ruined gardens once more. The Manor was rapidly falling apart, but the residents would be safe… He used one of the Death Eater wands to conjure the Dark Mark in the inky black sky.
ZeldaQueen: I'm sure they'll be so grateful that they were knocked out and had their house burned down. So much easier than just Apparating them away and wiping their memories
Harry apparated his rescue victims and their belongings to a safe house he'd warded. He'd constructed a number of modest homes on land he'd purchased weeks after arriving back in history.
ZeldaQueen: What contrived convenience!
Harry laid his grandmother on a bed and then tended to his grandfather.
ZeldaQueen: Bow-chicka-bow-wow!
He sat down and wrote them a brief explanation (which was the story he wanted them to know, rather than the true facts of what had happened):
ZeldaQueen: No duh! That's pretty much what the author's been doing for this entire fic!
Mr. and Mrs. Potter,
I rescued you from a Death Eater attack earlier this evening.
ZeldaQueen: (Evil Harry) "And by 'rescued', I mean 'knocked out and burned down your home'"
Unfortunately I was unable to prevent them from burning your Manor.
ZeldaQueen: (Evil Harry) "Not my fault they forgot where they dropped their partially-lit cigar"
The bags contain what belongings I was able to rescue for you.
ZeldaQueen: Well that's not suspicious. "Hey, sorry, the Death Eaters were attacking and burned down your house and I was only just able to save you. Oh, and here's all of your Earthly possessions, which I was able to recover even though I couldn't put out your home or anything"
Given the obvious interest that the Death Eaters have in you, I hope you'd be willing to remain here out of the public view. After the Ministry finally deals with Voldemort, you should be safe to reappear in public life.
ZeldaQueen: Again, two more people who ought to be dead who will be interacting and changing the world. That's not going to screw up the timeline
Perhaps you'd like to send your son a note so he knows that you are safe and protected? Please use a secrecy charm on the parchment to ensure he keeps the information to himself.
ZeldaQueen: (Evil Harry) "If you don't, I'll have to kill you. For your own protection, I hope you understand"
I will ensure a house elf delivers fresh food for you. Please let Kepler know if you have any favorite foods or if there is anything else you need.
ZeldaQueen: Who the hell's Kepler? Is he their House Elf? I thought Harry just came to the conclusion that they didn't have any? Please DW, don't say that it's James' Elf. HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY!!!
Stay safe.
ZeldaQueen: Or else!
It was the best gift he could give his grandparents: enough life to see their grandson come into the world.
ZeldaQueen: Whether they wanted to, or not
He looked at them again and sighed. Dumbledore had even lied about them, said they'd died of old age or some rot – when the official reports showed that the Potter Manor had been destroyed along with Harris Frederick Potter and Eloise Crockford Potter. Dumbledore and his lies…not this time.
ZeldaQueen: ROWLING HERSELF SAID THAT THEY DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES! WHAT IS UP WITH YOU MAKING EVERY LITTLE THING A CONSPIRACY! NOT EVERYTHING IN HARRY'S LIFE WAS SINISTER! SHUT UP!!!!
The world would be fixed one action at a time, one saved life at a time, one lie not needed at a time.
ZeldaQueen: Oh be quiet!!!
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
February 12, 1977
Harry Potter had set up his most unusual glamour yet for the current day's 'work.' Harry looked twenty years older than he was. His hair was short, spiky, and dirty gray. His face was deeply lined with wrinkles and his hands were covered in foul-looking liver spots.
He looked like a wacky old wizard in brown and yellow robes as he hobbled around Hogsmeade. Looking as bizarre as he did, no one in town gave him a second glance. He walked slowly through town looking at all the shops and stopping in to visit several of them. He purchased a bit of chocolate, twenty grams of graphorn bile, and a book on the history of pygmies.
ZeldaQueen: Well that's nice to know.
Wait, pygmies?
He had his eye on a couple of the unusual denizens of Hogsmeade on this day: James Potter and Sirius Black. It was a 'Hogsmeade weekend' for the students of Hogwarts and Harry wanted to keep an eye on things.
ZeldaQueen: Because nothing was allowed to go the way he didn't want it to
History hadn't recorded any attacks this day at this venue, but Harry was a cautious sort.
ZeldaQueen: An overly paranoid, angsty, arrogant bugger who thinks the world owes him the perfect living is more like it
He also wanted to get his first glimpse of his living father…and perhaps even his living mother.
ZeldaQueen: Wait, what? Snape's memories? The Mirror of Erised? Hello?
Harry didn't like to lie to himself, but he did this day. He was here to protect Hogsmeade from a non-existent attack and also to meet his parents in their younger selves.
ZeldaQueen: This is just like Edward Cullen stalking Bella and insisting it's because she's in non-existent danger. Sin thy ass off, take a shot
He wandered finally into The Three Broomsticks and saw a very young Madam Rosmerta tending the bar. She was quite a hit with the male patrons she served that day.
He picked a table in the middle of the room, near to where James and Sirius and Remus were holed up in a booth plotting something. The traitor Pettigrew was nowhere to be seen.
ZeldaQueen: Otherwise Harry would have killed him
Harry slowly sipped on his firewhiskey and then ordered the house special. Bar food was a rare indulgence but he needed a bit of cover to explain his lingering at the table.
ZeldaQueen: Well that's pointless
While he sipped and waited for his meal, Harry listened.
"…Peter knows the best way to get into the Slytherin dungeons. Boy's a genius at lurking around, you know," James said.
"I think we should get him to appear in the Slytherin girls dorms as a rat and see how many of them scream," Sirius said.
Remus chuckled for a moment before his face went serene.
ZeldaQueen: Lupin gets off on the thought of girls screaming over rats? Is that some weird fetish?
"Nah, what's the fun in that if only Slytherins hear each other screaming," James said, a bit dreamily. "Now if they started screaming for no good reason in the Great Hall…"
ZeldaQueen: Apparently James does too
"Screaming powder," Sirius said. "Yes, I think we could do some wonderful things with a powder or a potion that just made people scream…"
ZeldaQueen: Please use a different word other than "scream"
Remus was back to laughing. "Don't worry about me, I left the prefect badge back in the Tower."
ZeldaQueen: Wow, that was an awkward subject jump!
James smirked. "Ah, yes, Revolting Righteous Remus… How many rules have you broken this year?"
Sirius laughed. "All of them?"
Remus smiled, but seemed to consider the question seriously. "Well, I'd have to say that I haven't broken every one. I can't remember ever hurling a portrait off the staircases…or changing McGonagall into a man…or setting a troll loose in the dungeons…"
Harry almost choked on his firewhiskey when he heard that last idea. Had Quirrell stolen the idea of the troll from the prefect's rulebook? Harry had never read the ridiculous thing.
ZeldaQueen: Um duh? Why would anyone think Harry read the prefect's rulebook? He was never a prefect and wasn't the sort of person to read up on rules just because (unlike Hermione, HINT HINT). And for God's sake, DW, do you have to give a half-assed explanation for everything in the books? Couldn't Quirrell just have thought up the trolls on his own?
And I have to ask, why would "Don't change McGonagall into a man" be in the rulebooks? Did something happen that made putting that particular clause in necessary?
Sirius just laugh, however. "Excellent ideas, Remus. Perhaps we should all study the rule book to make sure we break all of them before we graduate…"
"I can see McGonagall as a man," James said, "but I've no idea where to get a troll."
Remus twisted his head. "I think I have a candidate for a portrait to throw off a staircase, rather pesky fellow who thinks he's brave. Tries to challenge me to a jousting contest every time I wander past him…"
Sir Cadogan, Harry murmured to himself. Things didn't change much at Hogwarts, did they?
ZeldaQueen: Leave Sir Cadogan alone! He's far too awesome to be brought up in this fic!
Harry suddenly found his table filled with food.
ZeldaQueen: My, this Harry is unattentive
He looked up and gruffly thanked Rosmerta. Then he tried to figure out what he'd ordered. It certainly smelled pungent. So much so that it drove off James, Sirius, and Remus about five minutes later.
ZeldaQueen: What, is it yak feces? Didn't he ask what it was before he ordered it?
He choked down as much of the revolting fish dish as he could before he paid his tab and left.
ZeldaQueen: You know, you could have found out what you were ordering when you ordered it. I don't feel the least bit sorry for you
He'd felt happy for fifteen minutes in that bar, just listening to people he could never formally meet. So close; so far away.
He stayed close to Hogsmeade, revisiting somewhat familiar places and faces, until the last of the Hogwarts students returned to the castle.
It had been his best day of 'work' ever. He hadn't caught sight of his mother nor had he heard much about Dumbledore…the old plotter. Most people here in Hogsmeade thought very well of Dumbledore, save for his brother…
ZeldaQueen: For fucks's sake, will you leave Dumbledore alone? We get it, you hate him despite all he's done for you, now shut up!
He smiled at the remembrance.
Harry then decided he hadn't finished his work yet. He wandered off toward the Hog's Head for a little visit with the barkeep there. Onward to: Chapter 2: My Kingdom For A... Horcrux (Part 3)
ZeldaQueen: Because I'm sure that Alberforth just talks about painful family memories with strangers for kicks and giggles
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