Keeping Promises
The headmaster’s office was crowded, people speaking over each other, vying for attention.
“We don’t have time for this!” Harry shouted over them. “Riddle could be here in a matter of hours, a matter of minutes!”
“Mr. Potter,” McGonagall said, “We understand, we would just like—”
“No,” Harry said, cutting her off. “Snape’s explained it. I’ve explained it. Even Theo’s explained it!” he finished, gesturing wildly at Theo, who loomed, imperturbable, next to him. “We do not have time!”
Harry winced, grabbing his forehead. Theo placed a hand on his back. “I’m going to do what I have to do. Get the rest of the students out, there’s a passageway on the fourth floor near Sir Cadogan, through a mirror. Call the Order, call whoever! I need…we need to get ready before he gets here!”
Harry pushed his way through the gaggle of professors, shaking off Madam Pomfrey, somewhat surprised to see Madam Pince out of the library and Trelawney out of her tower. Even Hagrid had squeezed himself in
“He could be here any moment,” Harry said as they raced through the halls.
“I know, you keep repeating that.”
“Taran!”
A little house-elf popped up, running along beside them. “Mister Potter! What can Taran do?”
“The Dark Lord is coming here,” Harry said rapidly. “Protect yourselves. Protect the students.”
Taran squeaked in terror, but nodded and popped away.
“They could fight,” Theo said.
“They might not have a choice. They’re rarely given one. Sirius will bring Kreacher and the rest, you know how those three feel!”
Harry burst through the front doors and onto the school grounds. Nostalgia slammed into him. Right on the lake was the first time he saw the castle. Near the pitch was the first time he rode a broom. He had sat under that tree with Hermione and Ron. Norberta in Hagrid’s hut. That was where he had confronted Snape after Dumbledore fell. And there, where Snape had caught him and Theo sneaking back in that one Halloween.
“Fuck,” Harry said, choking up. There was the white tomb next to the lake, where he was going to die. “Fuck.”
Theo pulled him to a stop.
“You don’t have to do this,” Theo said, wiping at Harry’s eyes. “This doesn’t have to happen now.”
Harry grabbed Theo’s robes, pressing his face into his chest, just trying to breathe. “The dark mark ward,” he said. “Put it around all the entrances to the castle.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Theo said. “Sirius knows the spell.”
Theo cast a patronus, a leaping, playful fox that carried his instructions away.
“Okay,” Harry said, closing his eyes, forcing calmness. “Okay. He has Nagini. The cloak won’t work on her, but he may be too distracted by the wand to pay attention. You’ll likely only have one shot at her before…”
Harry took a deep breath.
“Let’s sit down,” Theo said, guiding him to a tree. They sat among its roots, facing the tomb, and Theo pulled the cloak over them.
“I hate this,” Harry whispered. “I hate waiting. I hate having to die. I hate waiting to die.”
“You aren’t going to die,” Theo said, embracing him, kissing him with such painful sweetness, as if it were the last time.
“I will,” Harry said, looking at the tomb. “Maybe I should crawl inside. It will give me the element of surprise.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t even have that stupid wand with me, I left it at home.”
“You don’t need it,” Theo said. “It’s just a wand.”
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the breeze passing through the trees around them, clouds moving high above, framed by their leafy branches. The waters of the Black Lake lapping gently against the shore.
“Give me a knife,” Harry said, holding his hand out.
Theo raised an eyebrow, but removed one from his robes. “Getting a headstart?”
“No, you twat,” Harry said, turning to face the tree trunk. “I’m committing vandalism.”
He started carving into the tree.
“On a tree?”
“It’s something muggles do,” Harry said, dragging the knife through the bark, leaving deep scores.
Theo watched him with a slight frown. “That will dull the blade.”
“It’s a magic knife,” Harry said, cutting another line. “The blade is magically sharp.”
“And that’s a magic tree,” Theo said.
Harry paused, considering the tree. “Is it? Think a dryad will come out and yell at me for defacing her property?” He went back to carving.
Theo shook his head. “Taran?”
Taran appeared, shaking from head to toe. “Mister Nott, Taran has told all the elves. We are ready.”
“Good job, Taran,” Harry said. “Theo, what’s your middle name?”
“I don’t have one.”
“Really?”
“You would know it by now if I did.”
“Hm,” Harry said, adding another line.
“Could you please bring us tea, Taran?” Theo asked.
“At a time like this?” Harry asked, sitting back on his heels. “What, like a last meal?”
“Tea isn’t a meal,” Theo said. “And you’re going to live.”
“I should’ve made a horcrux, really,” Harry said, finishing his carving. “It’s only common sense. I could have used my Ocarina of Time cartridge.”
“I would have chosen Duck Hunt.”
“Fuck you,” Harry said, smiling. “And those bloody ducks as well. Cheeky little gits.”
“Sore loser.”
Harry snorted, then pointed to what he had carved. “What do you think?”
“Harry James Potter loves Theodore Nott. Why did you use our full names?”
A tray of tea and biscuits appeared. The elves had included a treacle tart and several apples. Harry took a steadying breath. They knew what it meant that Voldemort was coming.
“I didn’t want any confusion,” Harry said, reaching for the tea pot with a steady hand.
Theo took out another knife, then looked at it. “What am I doing? I have a wand.”
Harry frowned. “Don’t change it, I just spent all that time working on it!”
“I’m only adding something,” Theo said, hiding his wand movements.
Harry sipped his tea. He didn’t think he could eat anything. “Just a picnic by the lake on a lovely spring day.”
“I’m done,” Theo said.
“That quickly? What’d you put? Theo loves Harry?”
“Yes,” Theo said. “Tangible proof of our torrid affair.”
“Torrid,” Harry snorted, handing Theo a cup. “That’s apt. We should do Dumbledore’s tomb next. Albus + Gellert 4 Ever.”
“You think?” Theo asked, smiling faintly. “Grindelwald did spend half a century in a prison for him. And lied about the Elder Wand.”
“I do,” Harry said. “You should’ve seen the look on Dumbledore’s face when he started talking about his friendship with a charismatic young dark wizard. You’ve seen that picture of them together. They were all over each other!”
Theo kissed him on the forehead. “If you become a dark lord, I promise I’ll stay by your side.”
“Thanks,” Harry said, rolling his eyes. “Glad I have your support.”
Harry and Theo sat there, holding hands under a tree, watching the world move slowly by as they waited for it to end.
Harry woke up with a snort. He rubbed his eyes, and noticed that it was dark out.
“What?” he slurred. “Is it happening?”
“Snape’s just come out of the castle,” Theo said, repositioning the cloak to cover them.
Harry looked at the front entrance and saw Snape striding down the steps, robes billowing behind him as he made his way to the gate, a lamp bobbing in his hand. Harry winced and rubbed his forehead, swaying with the double vision. Snape was also approaching him.
“Have we been here all night?” Harry whispered, pushing his awareness of Voldemort away.
“We have,” Theo said.
“Took him long enough,” Harry said, stretching as much as he could under the cloak. “Bit rude. I could have spent my last night in bed. Think we have time for brekkie?”
“No,” Theo said. “They’re both coming this way.”
He moved suddenly, and pulled Harry into a deep kiss. Harry was glad he was barely awake, that his world was reduced to Theo and this moment. Exhaustion pricked at him, his limbs felt loose, useless. The plan, their only plan now, repeated itself in his mind. He was thirsty, tired, scared out of his wits.
The sun was just breaking. He saw two figures walking towards the lake. One tall, pale, thin as a bone. The other was obscured by a curtain of dark hair, still lighting their way, walking stoically beside his Lord.
“No more talking now,” Harry said, kissing Theo one last time. He took out his wand, looking at the polished red wood, feeling the heat of the phoenix feather within. Would Fawkes cry for him?
Snape split off, returning to the castle, while Voldemort continued walking towards the lake, to the tomb, Nagini at his side. Harry could hear his thoughts. It wouldn’t do for Snape, nor anyone else, to see where Lord Voldemort was going. There were no lights on in the castle, and he could conceal himself.
Harry flinched when Voldemort disillusioned himself. He was entirely invisible now, though Nagini had been forgotten in Voldemort’s haste towards the tomb.
Lord Voldemort walked on, and Harry knew where he was. He was in his mind. The disillusionment didn’t matter. He was walking around the edge of the lake, looking at the castle with a possessive lust. It was his beloved castle, his birthright, his first kingdom. It was reflected in the dark waters of the lake, murky in the early morning light.
Lord Voldemort sneered at the white tomb, marring the familiar landscape, defiling his land.
Harry blocked out the rush of euphoria. Voldemort was raising his yew wand. He left Theo under the cloak and walked forward, shutting his eyes against the cracking of the tomb, watching Voldemort raise his wand again, seeing that ridiculous purple velvet wrapping come undone, the half-moon spectacles perched on the nose Aberforth had broken at their sister’s funeral, the ebony wand placed in Dumbledore’s withered hands.
Harry sliced a deep line into his palm, tightening his hand to let the blood flow onto the ground.
Lord Voldemort’s hand darted in, seizing the wand, Nagini spiraling up him in exultation.
Harry healed this wound with barely a thought, stepping through the runic circle as it flared to life. He swung his wand through the air, defining another circle.
Voldemort froze, then turned around with the ebony wand in his hand. Ebony. Not elder.
“Protego diabolica,” Harry whispered. A circle of black flames rose up, trapping him in with Voldemort. “Morning, Tom.”
“Harry Potter,” Voldemort hissed, clenching the ebony wand in his hand. The disillusionment fell away from him like a shed skin.
“You’re very predictable,” Harry said, smirking at the wand Voldemort held. “Ollivander. Gregorovitch. Grindelwald. It wasn’t hard to guess you’d come here.”
“And you thought you’d trap Lord Voldemort?” Voldemort said, looking at the wall of fire surrounding them. “You? A child? These flames will not contain me!“
“No, but the blood barrier will,” Harry said. “A runic circle created using my blood. Blood you just so happen to share now. We can’t leave until one of us dies. The flames are so no one interferes.”
Voldemort laughed at him. “So you think to defeat me? I, who have studied the darkest magics? I, who have pushed the boundaries of magic, further than they have ever been pushed? You’re merely a seventeen-year-old boy! You couldn’t dream of—”
Harry cast the first spell, trying to disarm him. Voldemort blocked it easily.
Voldemort laughed again in mockery. “You? Disarm me?”
Harry didn’t respond. There was no point in talking. He conjured birds to fly at Voldemort’s face. Voldemort slapped them aside.
“Parlor tricks!”
A phoenix cried overhead, arrowing into the circle in a blaze of golden fire.
Voldemort scowled, pointing the ebony wand at Fawkes.
“Avada—”
Harry conjured more birds, blocking the Killing Curse, and laughed at how stupidly easy it was to do. Walburga had been right all those years ago.
Fawkes dove at Nagini, clawing her face.
“No!” Voldemort shrieked as Fawkes carried Nagini away. Harry blocked another curse aimed at Fawkes.
“Your fight’s with me!” Harry shouted at him. “Cutis extractum!”
Voldemort smacked it away. “Such a dark curse for Dumbledore’s little soldier,” he taunted. “Where did the Boy-Who-Lived learn such a thing?”’
“By skinning your Death Eaters alive, one by one! Fracturum costas!”
The putrid yellow curse splashed harmlessly against Voldemort’s shield. “Pathetic. This is Dumbledore’s defender? Crucio!”
Harry jumped out of the way. “I’ve also got a songbird and an old hat lying around somewhere! Sectumsempra!”
Voldemort sneered, flicking his wand. The earth below Harry wanted to surge up, to try to fling him into the air. The runes around them flared, and the ground settled.
“That’s not going to work,” Harry said, grinning at him. “I’ve had months to prepare for this! No magic will enter or leave this space as long as I live!”
“Then I shall simply kill you! Lord Voldemort tires of this game! Avada Kedavra!”
Harry summoned chunks of Dumbledore’s tomb, the marble shattering as the curse hit it.
“You missed again!” Harry said, cackling, blocking the shards flying at his face. “By the way, the stupidest thing you do is refer to yourself in the third per—”
“Avada Kedavra!” Voldemort shrieked.
Harry watched the green light streak towards him. There wasn’t time to block this one. No point in dragging it out. At least he put up a believable performa—
Theo hid under the invisibility cloak, black flames dancing before his eyes. He knew he could enter them if he wished, but Harry asked him not to. So he waited, holding his wand.
The flames vanished all at once. Theo knew then.
Harry was dead.
He stayed among the roots of the tree, surrounded by empty cups and half eaten biscuits.
Theo looked at the body fallen to the ground, unmoving. He gripped his wrist painfully, willing his wand steady. But Harry had told him to wait. So he waited. He watched as the Dark Lord pressed his bare foot against Harry’s face. Harry could have been sleeping. He looked so peaceful, his hair the mess it always was when he had just woken up, glasses askew, his wand loose in his slack hand.
The Dark Lord started laughing, triumphant, standing victorious over another fallen foe. The Boy-Who-Lived, dead at last, Nagini forgotten, the Elder Wand forgotten. Why did he need it? Harry Potter was dead!
Theo saw him levitate Harry’s corpse, carrying him towards the gates, summoning his Death Eaters to show them the display. The dead boy. Harry.
Nagini fell to the ground in front of him, and Theo jumped. He glanced up and saw Fawkes flying away. He wasn’t singing.
Theo looked at Nagini. She was still moving. He pulled a small vial of bone from his pocket, dumping it over her, watching her thrash as the basilisk venom saturated her open wounds. Theo stood up, holding the cloak around him, and with a swing of his wand cut the head off the snake. She stopped moving.
Theo spit on her, and walked away, wiping his mouth. Voldemort had Harry’s corpse. They had been right, he wanted the audience Harry had deprived him of. He was calling one to himself.
“Harry Potter is dead!” Voldemort’s shrill voice echoed across the grounds. People were already coming out of the castle, staring at the body that had been laid out.
Harry wasn’t waking up. Forgetting whatever plan they had, Theo ran to him. This wasn’t right. He was supposed to wake up, like the snake had. Hadn’t she?
Theo fell to his knees beside Harry, dropping his wand, placing hands on his chest, his face.
“Harry,” Theo whispered, voice cracking. “You’re supposed to live.”
Everything happening around him was background noise. The cries coming from the castle. From the gates. The lawn was about to become a battleground. He didn’t care.
“Harry,” Theo said again, kissing his still, cold lips. “Please, you promised. You said you wouldn’t leave me behind.”
He traced the scar on his forehead, startled when his fingers came back wet. The scar had cracked open, seeping a thick, black liquid. Theo sat back, wiping it off onto the grass.
“The Boy-Who-Lived is dead!”
Theo clenched his fists. “Wake up, you…you…”
Harry pushed himself up, groaning. He couldn’t see shit, everything was horribly bright. He slapped at his face, but his glasses were missing. Wondering where they went, he was surprised to find them already in his hand. Frowning, he put them on, and realized he was completely naked. Before he had time to formulate a thought, he was clothed.
“The fuck is going on?”
He was surrounded by mist. “Am I in a dementor breeding ground?”
Things started forming out of the mist. A couch, a gramophone, an empty picture frame, an old CRT television. All in stark white, as if he was creating the world anew.
Frustrated, not knowing where he was or what was happening, Harry took a step forward. He paused. Something was whimpering nearby.
Harry turned around and spotted the thing, hidden under the curtains. It was a small, naked child. Its skin was flayed raw, and it struggled to breathe.
Harry moved closer, disgusted by the thing. Whatever it was, it was no longer human. It was cruel to leave it suffering like that.
“You cannot help.”
Harry spun around. Albus Percival Wulfric fucking Brian Dumbledore walked into the room, looking spry and wearing robes of midnight blue, twinkling with stars.
“The fuck are you doing here?” Harry asked.
Dumbledore smiled at him. “Harry, you wonderful boy,” he said, spreading his arms, looking very magical and sage-like. “You brave, brave man. Let us walk.”
“Walk where?” Harry asked. “I’m guessing this is not actually my house, and I’m not taking you on a tour.” Harry plopped down on a couch. “I don’t know if this is some kind of afterlife or a dream or if I’ve finally lost it, but if you want to talk, let’s talk.”
Still smiling, Albus sat gracefully in an armchair. Harry was happy to see he didn’t have a wand and couldn’t transfigure it into something garish.
“You’re dead,” Harry said.
“Oh, yes,” Dumbledore said.
“If this is real, and you’re dead, then I’m dead too.”
“Ah,” Dumbledore said, smiling broadly. “That is the question, isn’t it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not.”
“Because of the horcrux in my head, right?”
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Lord Voldemort destroyed it when you allowed him to kill you.”
“Allowed?” Harry said, sitting up. “Allowed? You think I wanted this? You forced my hand! You and him both!”
Harry looked over his shoulder to the crying baby thing. “What’s that then?”
“Something that is beyond either of our help,” Dumbledore said.
“Why would I want to help it?” Harry asked. “It should be put out of its misery! Can I even do magic here? Maybe I can dream up some water to drown it in…”
Dumbledore’s smile faded a bit. “I don’t believe that is necessary, Harry.”
“Says you,” Harry said. “I have questions for you, but I don’t know if you’re real or not. My imagination is good enough to fabricate all of this. I can assure you, my afterlife would feature a lot less of you and a lot more of Theo…”
Harry leapt up. “Theo! I have to get back to him! He’ll kill me if I don’t. Or kill himself, he was really evasive about that part. I think he did some kind of ceremony…”
He looked around, eyes skipping over the old man and the baby. “We figured it all out, you know, me and Theo. I took the Elder Wand right after you died. I cracked open that snitch. Found the horcruxes, gathered the Deathly Hallows, worked out I was a horcrux. All of your little clues. You and Voldemort, two peas in a pod. Think you’re so much smarter than everyone else.”
Harry looked at Dumbledore. “I visited Grindelwald a few times. Gave him some socks. He lied to Voldemort about the wand. I thought about removing him from Nurmengard, but we weren’t sure what magic kept him there, and while Voldemort was looking for Grindelwald he wasn’t terrorizing Britain. For the greater good, right?”
Dumbledore just kept smiling at him, unruffled. “You always were more clever than people gave you credit for, Harry. I’m sad to say I underestimated you as well. I had hoped to keep the truth from you as long as possible. I can see that was a mistake, and was ultimately pointless.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Harry said. “I despise you. You and Voldemort both. And now I’ve got to go finish him off, if I’m not dead.”
“Harry,” Dumbledore said gently. “There are some things I wish to explain.”
“I honestly don’t care,” Harry snapped. “I want to see Theo again. I don’t want to waste any more time on you, or Voldemort, or anyone else who wants to use or kill me!”
Dumbledore’s eyes started to water. “Harry, please…”
Harry stepped back, disgusted. “Don’t use me to assuage your guilt. Haven’t you already done enough?”
Harry spun around, walking to the drawing room door. “You can stay here and rot with that Voldemort baby thing. I hope you never get to see your sister or mother again. You don’t deserve to.”
“Harry…”
“What!” Harry spun around, but the room was gone, everything having dissolved back into mist.
“Harry…”
“Theo? How the bloody hell do I get out of this—”
“You…you bloody cunt!”
Harry’s eyes popped open, finding Theo’s face peeking out from under the invisibility cloak. “Did you just swear at me?”
Theo regarded him impassively. “No.”
“You’re a shit liar,” Harry said, trying to sit up. Theo held him down. “What?”
“Harry, we’re in between the Order and the Death Eaters. Everyone thinks you’re dead. Well, mostly everyone. Voldemort’s giving a speech right now.”
“You said his name,” Harry hissed.
“He’s already here, you idiot,” Theo said.
“Fuck you, I just died!”
“Is this going to become a thing?” Theo said. “Playing the I just died card?”’
“We don’t have time for this,” Harry said. “Let me up. I’ll kill him while his back is turned. Strike while the iron is hot. Where’s my wand?”
“At the tomb.”
Scowling, Harry found his ancestor’s alder wand in his robes. It felt…eager. “That’s fine, I can’t kill him with the holly anyway, according to Ollivander. Move back a bit.”
Theo gave him a quick peck and retreated under the cloak. “I’ll pick them off from the sides,” his disembodied voice said.
“Great,” Harry grunted, sitting up.
Someone gasped.
“Harry!”
“He’s alive!”
“Fucking idiots,” Harry said, standing.
Voldemort’s gloating speech cut short.
“Everyone, just shut the fuck up!” Harry said. He pointed his wand at Voldemort. “Before I kill you, I want you to know something!”
“Kill me?” Voldemort cackled. “Lord Voldemort is eternal! A mere mortal like you, foolish boy, cannot comprehend the magics I’ve mastered!”
His Death Eaters cheered. Harry rolled his eyes.
“I just rose from the dead, I’m obviously not mortal either,” Harry said. He wasn’t sure if that was true, but it sounded good. “No, I want you to know before I kill you that Regulus Arcturus Black was the one who discovered the first horcrux!”
Voldemort waved his hand, silencing his jeering sycophants. Harry smiled as he realized he could no longer feel how Voldemort was feeling. He had to read the anger on his hideous, noseless face.
“The locket, the diadem, the cup, the ring, the diary, the snake,” Harry listed gleefully. There was a movement behind Voldemort. Harry dismissed it. “I’ve destroyed them! All of them. It’s just you now. Tom Marvolo Riddle. As mortal as the day Merope Gaunt shat you out on an orphanage's doorstep.”
“How dare you speak—”
“Avada Kedavra!”
Voldemort blocked it with a summoned item, also knowing the trick. He glared at Harry, lifting his wand.
Before he could do anything, a floating knife was stabbed into Voldemort’s neck. Harry watched, stunned, as the knife ripped through, tearing out Voldemort’s throat, blood spraying on the grass. Voldemort’s body was shoved to the ground.
“Holy shit,” Harry said. “Theo, you…Get out of the way!”
It was now only Harry standing in front of a bunch of Death Eaters who had just seen their Dark Lord gutted.
The alder wand practically leapt in his hand when he summoned Fiendfyre.
“Harry!”
He snapped his wand, calling more beasts of fire. Sirius grabbed him from behind.
“There are kids with them!” Sirius said. “Your classmates!”
“Shit, I panicked,” Harry said through gritted teeth, muttering the countercurse. “We can’t…need to stop them running off.” He could already hear people apparating. Spells flying, shouting, screaming, people rushing past him. Flitwick, Aberforth, the astronomy professor Sinistra, Neville’s gran, Neville himself, Lupin, Andromeda, McGonagall, Bill and Mrs. Weasley…
“It’s alright,” Sirius said, kneeling next to him. “You can burn Voldemort’s body once everyone’s seen he’s dead.”
Theo appeared next to him, the invisibility cloak slipping down.
“You’re amazing,” Harry said, jumping at him and giving Theo a filthy kiss. “You’re absolutely insane. You’ve just killed Voldemort!”
Theo grabbed Harry’s face and turned his head. “Look again.”
Voldemort was jerking around, limbs flailing. “What the fuck?”
“I think you need to finish the job.”
Harry stood again, looking at the school gates where people were fighting or fleeing. He walked over to where Voldemort was twitching on the ground, somehow not dead. “What did he do to his body?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Theo said. “He’s a cockroach. Crush him.”
“You think that about everyone who isn’t me,” Harry said, pointing his wand at Voldemort. “Fucking die already. Avada Kedavra!”
The spell slammed into Voldemort, throwing his body back in a blinding flash of green. Harry squinted his eyes. “Do we have to draw and quarter him, then burn the pieces?”
The grounds were abruptly silent. Harry looked up and saw the fight at the gate was over. People were straggling back, some running, now cheering his name.
“No,” Harry said, lowering his wand. “I don’t want…”
Fawkes sang victoriously overhead, dropping something onto Harry as he flew by. The phoenix gave one final cry, then in a burst of flame disappeared, becoming a wild phoenix once more.
“Why did he bring you the Sorting Hat?” Theo asked. People were shouting Harry’s name, cheering jubilantly for him killing an already mostly dead man.
The sun had fully emerged over the horizon. Sirius and Andromeda were staving off the crowd. People were openly weeping. Theo held him tightly.
Harry shoved the Sorting Hat on his head, drowning everything out.
“Ah, Harry Potter,” the Hat said. “Congratulations. Still wondering whether I put you in the right house?”
“No,” Harry said. “I’m pretty sure you did. The people want a brave Gryffindor hero, not a sneaky Slytherin one.”
The Hat chuckled. “Well reasoned. You would have done well in Slytherin.”
“I know,” he said, smiling. “Can I get the sword now? I want to chop up Voldemort.”
Harry was hiding in his room with Theo, more grateful than ever he lived under Fidelius.
The world had gone mad.
After Voldemort’s death and dismemberment, the remaining Death Eaters had been either killed or apprehended. The Imperiused people at the Ministry woke to a changed world, many horrified by the things they had been made to do. Muggleborns and their families slowly returned to their homes. Kingsley had taken over as interim Minister. The Daily Prophet had Harry plastered all over it still, singing his praises. Theo somehow avoided being in the papers at all.
“Look at this one,” Theo said, smirking and holding up that day’s headline. He had been smiling a lot more lately. “Harry Potter Changed My Life: How a Man with Lycanthropy Found A Future in Muggle Forestry.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Harry said, groaning in embarrassment. “We need to leave the country. I can’t go outside ever again.”
“Not even to receive your Orders of Merlin?”
“Orders? You mean there’s more than one? Walburga will be pleased. The only one in the family who’s gotten one is Arcturus, and that was for all the piles of gold he donated.”
“Such a terrible fate,” Theo said. “Being the savior of the wizarding world.”
“It honestly is,” Harry said. “At least no one died. Well, no one I care about.”
“Harry!” Sirius shouted from downstairs. “The owl net’s full again!”
“Make someone else deal with it!” Harry shouted back. He said to Theo, “Do we still need to do N.E.W.T.s?”
“Already trying to capitalize on your new fame,” Theo said. “What will your Chocolate Frog cards say?”
"Cards? There's more than one?"
“The Wizengamot is requesting you testify in the Death Eater trials!” Sirius shouted. “Snape’s getting one!”
“Stop shouting in the house!” Walburga shrieked.
“Try and stop me, you old hag!”
Harry and Theo stood in the ninth basement of the Ministry of Magic. The cloak had been left at home. Breaking into the Ministry wasn’t much of a challenge with it.
The black door to the Department of Mysteries opened at Harry’s touch.
“They didn’t up security?” Harry asked, walking into the black, circular room.
“It’s only been four months since we killed him,” Theo said, marking the door with chalk before it closed behind them. “They’ve got more important things to deal with.”
“Yeah, like figuring out how to give Orders of Merlin to house-elves,” Harry said sarcastically. “A real challenge, that.”
“I think a bigger issue is restructuring Azkaban,” Theo said. “At your behest, I might add.”
“You might,” Harry said, watching the doors spin. “You know, I wonder if they let us in on purpose. I really don’t want to bother with N.E.W.T.s.”
The room came to a stop, and Harry tried the first door. It opened to a room filled with a massive replica of the solar system. He could feel it actually tugging him in, as if each planet had its own gravity.
Harry shut the door and Theo marked it. “Next.”
The room spun again. The door led to the Time Room. “Nope.”
“We could get a Time-Turner,” Theo said.
“We aren’t here to steal anything,” Harry said loudly. “Don’t sabotage us.”
“I did not say steal,” Theo said as the room slowed once again.
Harry tried the next door, happy to find it locked.
“It’s this one,” Harry said with a smile, casting some unlocking spells at it. He even tried a penknife Sirius had given him for unlocking things, but the door melted it.
“Hey! That was a gift!” Harry kicked the door.
“That’s an idea,” Theo said, flipping through his book. “Brute force.”
Theo began an incantation, and Harry sat on the floor to wait, stealing a piece of chalk to write some calculations on the door.
“Four, fifteen…fifty-two…door, portal, entry…five…”
Harry scratched his head. “Heart? Like the brains? I think they’ve got a vat of hearts in there. Necromancy? Healing?”
Theo snapped his book shut, taking his chalk back and drawing a rune with broad strokes. It flared to life, and the door swung inward.
Harry stared at the glowing pink fountain in the middle of the room, inhaling deeply. “I’m going to drown myself in that thing,” he said, leaning forward.
Theo pulled Harry back, and the door slammed shut.
“That’s why we don’t allow couples to work together in the Love Chamber,” a distorted voice said behind them.
“That’s the worst possible name for it,” Harry said, brushing himself off as Theo helped him stand.
They had acquired an audience without noticing, three cloaked figures, faces obscured by blank masks.
“I hope that isn’t the uniform,” Theo said.
“I think they just don’t want us to know who they are,” Harry said. “So, can we work here or what?”
“We’ll keep breaking in if you say no,” Theo said, lifting his book up.
“I’ll become the next dark lord,” Harry lightly threatened.
The three Unspeakables looked at each other. The one in the middle shrugged.
“Come on, then,” they said, opening a door that had just appeared. “There’s some internship paperwork you’ll need to fill out.”