0:00

Chapter 112 Failure Part 2 Even

0:08

as Harry had raised the gun, he'd

0:10

known he was making a mistake.

0:14

His forebrain saw it and

0:16

tried to stop his hand, but

0:18

somehow the sick certainty

0:20

didn't propagate fast enough to prevent

0:23

his finger from pulling the trigger.

0:32

The echo of the shots died away

0:34

within the graveyard.

0:37

A fraction of a second before Harry

0:39

had pulled the trigger, Voldemort

0:41

had jabbed his wand downward and

0:43

a wide wall of dirt had shot

0:46

up between them from the graveyard earth,

0:48

intercepting all three

0:51

bullets. An

0:53

instant after that, pain

0:55

flared in Harry's scar, a

0:58

crawling feeling came close to

1:00

his skin, and then Harry's

1:03

pouch, clothes, gun, everything

1:06

except his wand disappeared,

1:09

leaving him naked but for the

1:11

wand still in his right hand and

1:14

the glasses he'd charmed to stick

1:16

to his nose.

1:18

The steel ring upon his left pinky

1:21

finger was yanked off hard enough to scrape

1:23

skin, taking the transfigured

1:25

jewel with it.

1:28

That, said the

1:30

voice of Voldemort from behind

1:32

the dirt wall, was

1:35

absolutely predictable.

1:39

Do you really think I

1:41

would shout it aloud for you

1:43

to hear if my immortality

1:45

were disrupted? Harry,

1:48

stupid child, lower

1:51

your wand,

1:52

do not raise

1:54

it up again at any time, or you

1:57

die upon the spot. Harry

2:01

swallowed and pointed his wand

2:04

downward. "'You

2:06

would have been disappointed in me,' Harry

2:09

said, his voice now unusually

2:11

high. "'If I'd

2:14

missed an opportunity like that, I mean,'

2:19

There was no time to think, and

2:21

Harry's mouth was operating on autopilot

2:23

for trying to duplicate evil

2:26

overlords that might have paternal

2:28

feelings for you and whom you'd

2:30

just failed to assassinate." Voldemort

2:34

stepped around from behind the dirt

2:36

wall, smiling that

2:38

horrible smile that seemed to contain

2:41

too many teeth. "'I

2:44

promised not to raise my

2:46

hand or wand against

2:48

you, child. If you

2:51

did not raise your hand

2:54

or wand against

2:55

me.'

2:58

"'I used bullets,'

3:00

Harry said, his voice still high.

3:03

"'That's not a fist or a

3:05

spell. My

3:08

cast thinks

3:09

differently. That

3:13

is the puzzle beast that you

3:15

missed. Did you think

3:18

I would leave the peace between

3:21

us to mere fortune?

3:24

Before I created you,

3:26

I invoked a curse

3:28

upon myself and all other

3:31

Tom Riddles who would

3:32

descend from me.

3:35

A curse to enforce that

3:38

none of us would threaten the

3:40

other's immortality, so

3:42

long as the other made no

3:44

attempt upon our own. Divital,

3:48

that ridiculous fiasco,

3:51

the curse seems to have ended up

3:53

binding me,

3:54

but taking no

3:56

hold upon the infant with his

3:58

self, so long as to be a part of the world.

3:59

A low lethal

4:03

chuckle.

4:06

But

4:08

you try to end

4:11

my true life just

4:13

then, stupid child. Now

4:17

Girth is lifted,

4:20

and I may kill

4:22

you any time I

4:24

wish."

4:26

I see, Harry

4:28

said. He

4:30

did see. That was

4:33

why Voldemort had told him about

4:36

his Horcrux system in the

4:38

first place, just to

4:40

set up the moment when Harry

4:43

knowingly tried to violate

4:45

his immortality. Harry's

4:48

mind was frantically churning

4:50

through options, none of which seemed

4:53

helpful. His pouch,

4:56

his clothes, Harry

4:58

saw by the moonlight that they all

5:00

now lay in another heap by

5:02

the altar, out of reach.

5:05

And now you

5:09

kill me?

5:11

Harry still had his wand, presumably

5:14

the Dark Lord couldn't cast his own

5:16

magic on that, or his glasses,

5:19

because of the disharmony.

5:22

Cast my own spell first? No,

5:25

Voldemort just jabs his wand downward

5:27

to make another shield, then shoots me.

5:31

What else is there?

5:32

What else?

5:35

Still a fool.

5:36

If no

5:39

further matters remained between

5:41

us, I would

5:43

already have killed you.

5:47

The dirt wall crumbled at another

5:49

gesture of the wand, and Voldemort

5:51

moved smoothly back toward the

5:53

heap of items by the altar. The

5:57

Dark Lord stretched out a hand,

5:59

and...

5:59

the diary

6:00

of Roger Bacon flew to

6:03

him.

6:04

This is

6:06

indeed Horcrux

6:10

of Girl-Child, my

6:13

superior version.

6:17

In his other hand appeared a parchment.

6:21

This is ritual

6:24

for resurrecting her,

6:27

if it must be done

6:29

again. Instructions

6:33

are honest,

6:34

no traps.

6:37

Remember that Girl-Child's

6:40

spirit cannot float free

6:43

like ghosts. Resurrection

6:47

stone is my

6:49

Horcrux, not hers.

6:53

Do not lose her

6:55

Horcrux, or her

6:57

spirit may be trapped

7:00

within it.

7:02

Voldemort reached down, picked

7:05

up Harry's pouch, fed both

7:07

the diary and the parchment

7:09

into it.

7:11

Remember that in

7:14

case something goes

7:16

wrong with next move.

7:20

I don't understand what's

7:23

happening, Harry

7:25

said. There was

7:27

nothing else left.

7:29

Please explain

7:32

it to me.

7:34

The Dark Lord was now regarding

7:37

Harry with a grim look.

7:40

When Girl-Child died,

7:43

was in company of

7:45

Skool's Seer.

7:48

Her prophecy spoken

7:51

that you would

7:53

become force of vast

7:56

destruction.

7:59

You.

7:59

would become threat beyond

8:03

imagination, beyond

8:06

apocalypse. That

8:10

is why I went to

8:12

such lengths to undo

8:15

my killing of Girl

8:17

Child. Keep it

8:20

undone. Ah,

8:24

what?

8:26

Are you sure?

8:29

What?

8:31

Dare not say

8:34

specifics to you. Prophecy

8:37

I heard of myself led

8:40

me to fulfill it.

8:42

Have not forgotten

8:45

that disaster.

8:48

Voldemort backed further away

8:51

from Harry. Red slitted

8:53

eyes fixed upon the boy

8:55

who lived. Gun unwavering

8:59

in the left hand.

9:01

All this,

9:03

all I have done

9:05

is to smash

9:09

that destiny at

9:11

every point of intervention.

9:16

If some fate makes

9:18

me fail in what comes

9:21

next, idiot

9:23

child of foretold

9:25

destruction, then

9:29

you must kill yourself

9:32

to save Girl

9:34

Child. Else

9:37

all you claim to value dies

9:41

by your own hand.

9:46

I...

9:47

Harry's voice went up an octave.

9:50

I... Another

9:53

octave.

9:55

I really, really

9:57

wouldn't do that.

10:00

Seriously?

10:02

Silence, fool.

10:06

Remain silent

10:09

unless given. Leave

10:11

by me to speak. Keep

10:15

your wand pointed down

10:18

and do not raise

10:21

it unless told.

10:24

Else you die

10:27

upon the spot and

10:30

mark that I said that

10:33

in Parth's tongue.

10:36

For a second, Harry's mind couldn't

10:39

process what he was seeing, and

10:41

then he saw that Voldemort was

10:43

holding a human arm, severed

10:46

near the shoulder. It seemed

10:49

too thin, that arm.

10:52

The Dark Lord pressed his wand

10:55

to the flesh above the severed arm's

10:57

elbow, and the fingers twitched.

11:01

Twitched like they were alive. By

11:04

dim moonlight, Harry saw

11:06

a darker mark appear on that

11:09

flesh, just above the

11:11

elbow. Seconds

11:14

later, the first hooded figure

11:16

appeared inside the graveyard

11:18

with the popping sound of an apparition.

11:22

A moment after that came another

11:24

pop, and then another. The

11:28

hooded figures wore silver skull

11:31

masks and moonlight fled

11:33

from the robes beneath them.

11:37

Cried one of the black robes, the

11:39

third to arrive. The voice was

11:41

of peculiar timber from behind

11:44

the silver skull mask.

11:47

Master, it is a deed so long,

11:49

we've lost hope.

11:52

Silence!

11:56

Shouted the high voice of the

11:58

Dark Lord Voldemort.

12:01

Every trace of Professor Quirrell

12:03

was now gone from the too-tall

12:06

figure.

12:08

Train your wand upon

12:11

the boy who lived, and watch

12:13

him. Do

12:16

not be distracted, not by

12:19

anything. Stun him at once

12:21

if he moves,

12:21

if he begins

12:24

to speak.

12:26

Or pops, between

12:29

graves, behind a tree,

12:31

in all the shadowy spaces,

12:34

more black robes were operating,

12:37

all hooded and masked.

12:41

Some of them voiced exclamations of joy,

12:44

many of those sounding rather forced.

12:47

Others moved forward as though to greet their

12:49

master. Voldemort gave them

12:52

all the same instruction, except

12:55

that some were commanded to cruciate

12:58

Harry Potter if he moved, others

13:00

to restrain the boy who lived

13:03

if he moved, others told

13:05

to fire hexes and curses,

13:08

others told to cancel his

13:11

magic. Thirty-seven

13:14

pops, Harry counted, before

13:16

the black robes and skull masks

13:18

seemed to stop arriving. All

13:22

of them were now holding their wands,

13:24

pointed at Harry, aligned

13:27

in a semicircle before him, where

13:29

they wouldn't get into each other's lines of fire.

13:33

Harry continued pointing his wand

13:36

downward, insofar as he had

13:38

been told that, if he tried

13:40

to raise it, he would

13:43

die. He

13:45

remained silent, insofar

13:47

as he had been told that, if he

13:50

tried to speak, he would die.

13:55

He tried not to shiver in

13:57

the falling night temperatures, for he

14:00

was naked, and it was getting

14:03

colder.

14:05

"'You know,'

14:05

said the last voice within

14:08

Harry, the voice of Hope, "'I

14:12

think this is getting pretty bad,

14:15

even by my standards.'"