Saves & Stakes
Enid really, really, didn’t want to hurt Harry, but he was being relentless.
The sirens were leading the screaming and sobbing students out the back quad, hiding them in the forest. The gorgons and the vamps were trying to get fires put out, but Harry was shooting flames from his hands quicker than they could get water.
“WHAT THE HELL IS POTTER’S PROBLEM?” Cody howled. He was using his tail to beat the fire off Jace’s back.
“WISH I KNEW,” Enid howled back. She could see Harry through the wall of red flames that he was using to try and burn down Ophelia Hall, and he looked insane.
Like… straight jacket and five pills a day level of completely cookoo.
“MISS THORNHILL HAS LOST IT TOO,” Mandy howled. She came barreling back toward the opened pen they were trying to temporarily recuperate in with half of her face singed and giant wolfy tears trickling down her snout.
“SHE’S CALLING US FREAKS OF NATURE,” Mandy told them after ducking her entire head in the bucket of water they had to put out their fires. “I KNEW WE SHOULDN’T HAVE LET SOME NORMIE BITCH TEACH HERE!”
“JUST BECAUSE SHE’S A NORMIE DOESN’T MAKE HER A BITCH,” Enid scolded Mandy. “SHE’S A BITCH BECAUSE SHE’S TRYING TO KILL US.”
Cody snickered while he nudged a dead rabbit to Mandy to eat.
“ENID IS RIGHT,” he told the others, his voice deep and rich with the Alpha timbre that he would one day use to lead a pack. “SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? ROLL OVER AND DIE?”
“HELL NO!” Mandy and Jace howled.
“ARE WE GOING TO LET THEM KILL US AND TAKE OUR SCHOOL AWAY FROM FUTURE WOLVES?”
“HELL NO!”
“SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!”
Enid looked through the flames and the smoke to find Harry and Thornhill.
“We’re going to have to kill them,” she whimpered to herself.
*****
“YOU ARE A FUCKING WITCH, CAN’T YOU JUST GET THAT SOUL OUT OF HARRY?!” Tyler screamed at Sirius.
They were still inside the crypt and Tyler couldn’t even think straight. Wednesday was talking about killing Harry, Sirius was bitching about illegal spells, and Harry was out there somewhere needing their help.
Harry needed their help; just like Tyler needed his and Harry gave it to him.
“You have magic,” Xavier jumped in, his voice quiet but firm. Tyler looked over at him, but Xavier’s face was red and he seemed determined to not make eye contact.
That was fair. Tyler deserved that.
‘I wish something had happened between us,’ belonged in the past before Tyler handed over the guy they loved to Laurel.
Harry would have understood, Harry knew Tyler couldn’t control Hyde, but Harry wasn’t there.
And if Wednesday got her way, he never would be.
“The problem is so does Harry,” Sirius said tightly. His face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot, apparently bringing Wednesday back from the dead had taken a lot from him.
“As does Crackstone,” Wednesday said. She’d already found a silver spike she planned to drive through Harry’s heart, little psycho probably carried it around with her in her backpack with the creepy hand thing.
“So what?” Tyler spat. “Fester got one soul out of Harry with magic, right? And Harry was fine.”
“Mate…” Sirius sighed and his face dropped into a look of such heavy sadness that Tyler didn’t want to hear whatever he was going to say.
“That was a sliver of a soul,” Sirius said quietly, only a small shake to his voice. “This ritual they did? It put the entire bloody soul inside Harry. A little lightning and magic won’t fix it.”
“You’re going to let her kill him?” Xavier asked, finally getting loud and angry. He shoved Sirius in the chest with both hands, knocking Sirius back a few steps. “What kind of god damned uncle are you?”
Sirius stepped back in Xavier’s face immediately and looked truly dangerous when he bared his teeth in a snarl.
“I’m his godfather,” Sirius snarled. “You think you love Harry? You think you care about him?” Sirius laughed and sounded crazy enough that Tyler moved to stand beside Xavier, his bare arm brushing right against Xavier’s.
Even if he hated Tyler, Tyler wasn’t going to let him get hurt.
“You’ve got no idea,” Sirius said lowly, his eyes blazing with anger and fear. “I have loved that kid since the second he was born, before that even. I would kill for that kid and I would die for him. So don’t act like I’m making any rash decisions here.”
“I think killing Harry is a rash decision,” Tyler snapped. Sirius turned his glare on him and Tyler wasn’t backing down. “I think it’s about as rash as a fucking decision gets.”
“That’s because you’re unable to comprehend anything aside from your well-deserved guilt,” Wednesday said blandly, stepping up beside Sirius and drawing the line between them. “Harry is trapped in there, Crackstone will ride his body like a meat suit until he kills Harry and then he will move on to someone else to finish his genocide.
“If you truly care for Harry as your little tantrum implies, you would never want him to be like this. You would want him to be free.”
Xavier’s hand twitched beside Tyler’s before slowly twisting around to lace their fingers together. Tyler squeezed his hand while he stared at Wednesday.
Her dark eyes were pained and her face was more pale than Tyler had ever seen before. She wasn’t bluffing. She loved Harry and she thought it was what was best for him.
“Either help us set him free or stay out of my way,” Wednesday said. “Because I’m leaving now.”
Xavier finally looked up at Tyler and they seemed to be reading each others minds.
“We’re going with you,” Xavier told Wednesday without looking away from Tyler. “For Harry.”
*****
Larissa quickly guided the staff and the students toward the back entrance while she made her way to the front.
“Larissa!” Piper Welsh came running to Larissa, meeting her before the grand doors that led to the front yard. “Larissa, Marilyn and Harry are out there! They’re- they’re attacking the students!”
“I know,” Larissa told her, forcing herself to be a calm front for the other staff to imitate. “I’m going to try and talk with Harry. I don’t know why he’s doing this…”
Marilyn was a nobody, a grifter with a talent for plants that led Larissa to hiring her, giving her a chance to be a part of the Nevermore legacy.
Harry Potter was a somebody. Harry Potter was famous before he came to Nevermore, he had power and prestige. He needed tended to like an ember in the fire, cared for just right and he would grow to be a great man.
Something had to have happened to cause Larissa’s star pupil to turn against the school that she had hoped he would embrace as his own.
“I’ll speak to him,” Larissa said more firmly, drawing herself up tall. “Harry will see sense, I’m certain of it.”
“And Marilyn?” Piper asked, her pale eyes watering. “What of Marilyn?”
Larissa felt the gun tucked in the waistband of the flannel pajama pants she had hastily thrown on beneath her nightgown.
“I will deal with Marilyn as well.”
*****
Wednesday ignored the glares of Tyler and Xavier burning her back as she stormed quickly through the forest to get to Nevermore.
As if Tyler were a good judge of moral choices, he had been the one to kill five normies and lead Harry to what would be his own death.
Sirius ran beside Wednesday, channeling whatever feelings he may be experiencing through his canine mind. It was a testament to how much Sirius seemed to truly know his godson that he had not whined and cried as Tyler and Xavier had.
Losing Harry would be worse than losing a limb- no, it would be worse than losing both limbs and replacing them with someone else’s limbs and living eternally with the phantom itch of losing body parts.
That was the never ending agony of what it would be like to lose Harry.
Allowing him to have his soul trapped inside of a body no longer under his control would be incredibly worse.
“Your friend James said hello,” Wednesday murmured, only for Sirius’ ears. Sirius turned his head toward her, his black furred ears peeking up in interest.
“I saw him,” Wednesday said while they made haste to the school. She kept her face forward, refusing to look at Sirius while she shared her experience. “I hadn’t believed Harry when he told me he met him before, it seems I was wrong.”
Sirius barked out what sounded like a laugh and Wednesday could see his tail wagging from the edge of her sight.
“I’ve been wrong about a number of things lately,” Wednesday told Sirius. “Goody Addams, my ancestor who speaks to me in my visions,” she explained, “she told me not all my friends are good and not all my enemies are foes.”
Sirius whined and Wednesday nodded in agreement.
“I thought she meant that I had incorrectly accused Kinbott of being Laurel when it was Thornhill, but I can see now that it was Harry who I hadn’t understood. Goody warned me that I couldn’t trust everyone and it was my closest companion who had been working with the Hyde.”
Sirius barked and smacked Wednesday with his tail, causing her to smirk in amusement.
“Yes, I love Harry, truly adore him for some unfathomable reason, but our boy keeps a great many secrets, doesn’t he?”
Sirius sighed and Wednesday looked down at the spike she carried.
“It doesn’t factor in this decision,” she assured Sirius. “James Potter told me that this was what was best for him. You should know that I refused at first, but he promised to take care of Harry after—” Wednesday choked for a minute on what she refused to acknowledge were unshed tears.
“Afterward,” Sirius supplied, gracefully shifting from dog to man mid-stride. He carried no compunction on showing his emotions and the tears were falling freely down his gaunt cheeks.
“Yes,” Wednesday said. “Afterward.” She eyed Sirius carefully when they approached the school.
Sirius looked as devastated on the outside as Wednesday was on the inside. They would both be losing the most important person to them that night and yet Sirius understood that it was a mercy to release Harry from imprisonment and a chance to prevent Crackstone from eradicating all outcasts.
“As I promised to take care of you,” Wednesday murmured to him just before they stepped out of the treeline to begin the hardest task every laid upon their shoulders.
It was a promise Wednesday made more for Harry than for his father.
*****
Larissa’s heart never hurt as badly as it did when she stepped out on the grounds and saw the flames that were swallowing entire sections of Nevermore.
Nevermore had been her first true home and it was always where her heart would remain. It hurt to see it being destroyed.
There was a balm to her hurt though when she saw some of her students working valiantly to put the flames out.
All around Larissa were students no longer divided by their species or bloodline as the gorgons handed over buckets of water to the vampires and the faceless helped the werewolves as they tried to keep the flames contained to single areas and not spread to the entire campus.
A task that was being impeded by Harry and the endless flames he poured from his fingertips.
Larissa stormed directly to Harry, shifting her appearance to one he may be more receptive to before she entered his field of vision.
“Harry!” Larissa yelled, disguised as Wednesday Addams. She allowed no fear to be visible on her face even as Marilyn’s eyes bulged at her appearance.
“You!” Marilyn yelled. “You’re dead! I killed you!”
Larissa couldn’t react to that, she couldn’t show her heartbreak that a student - one of her children - had been struck down by someone she had trusted.
“Try harder next time,” Larissa said in the dry tone Wednesday favored. “Harry, you have to stop this, immediately. You’re going to kill someone.”
Harry threw his head back, cackling madly, and Marilyn tittered by his side.
“I’m going to kill everyone,” Harry declared. He turned his hands to Larissa and there was none of the meek and well-mannered boy in the arrogant sneer on his face. “You’re next.”
Larissa grabbed the gun from her waistband and prayed that she could bluff enough to keep Harry from making a mistake that couldn’t be corrected.
“I don’t know that flames work faster than a bullet,” she said, keeping Wednesday’s small fingers wrapped around the trigger. She pulled the hammer back with her thumb and stared Harry directly in his green eyes that were glowing with his uncontrolled magic.
“Let’s go discuss this calmly,” Larissa told him, maintaining the facade as Wednesday Addams. “Whatever the problem is, we can find a solution without anyone getting hurt.”
There was a flicker in Harry’s eyes, a light of recognition, perhaps even remorse, and that was when a gun exploded.
*****
Enid had been transporting a bucket of water by the handle in her mouth when she saw Wednesday.
Wednesday- alive and well.
Wednesday- wearing baggy grey sweatpants under a pink nightgown and blue silk robe.
It was definitely Wednesday though, nobody else was crazy enough to go storming right up to Harry while he was burning down the school and start up a conversation.
Enid nudged the bucket of water she had to Eugene, one of the younger students who insisted on helping save their school, then trotted over to listen while Wednesday tried to talk Harry down.
She saw when Wednesday pointed a gun at Harry and she saw it when Thornhill pointed a gun at Wednesday.
And Enid had never ran as quick as she did when Thornhill’s hand twitched, she pulled the trigger, and Wednesday didn’t even see it coming.
“NOOOOO!” Enid howled, putting a burst of speed in her wolf legs.
She didn’t think about what she was going to do, but she didn’t need to.
Wednesday was her best friend and Enid couldn’t bear to watch her die.
Enid lunged and used her head to throw wednesday out of the way, knocking her away on her back.
The pain was excruciating when the bullet tore through Enid’s hind leg, blinding her and driving a scream of pain from her that triggered the other wolves to howl in sympathy.
Enid laid on the ground, panting, when Wednesday ran back to her. Enid whimpered in pain and looked up at Wednesday and was met by a tearful and beautiful face.
If Enid could have smiled, she would have.
She loves me.
“Oh, Enid, you brave girl,” Wednesday whispered, stroking the fur on Enid’s head slowly as she shifted to change to Principal Weems.
*****
“Sirius, man, please,” Tyler grabbed Sirius’ arm before they stepped out in the school front yard. “Please, you’ve got to do it or she can order me to kill all of you.”
“Mate…” Sirius had his wand in hand and looked to be warring with himself. “It’s a crime to do it.”
“So is breaking out of prison,” Wednesday quipped. “As is knowing about Harry committing murder and never reporting it.”
Tyler paused uncertainly and looked from Wednesday to Sirius to Xavier.
“Harry- Harry killed someone?” he asked. “Is that why he was in jail?”
“Not the time, Tyler,” Xavier murmured. “We’ll talk later.”
Tyler looked hard at him, “You knew?”
Xavier shook his head. “Not really, I- I guess so. I don’t know!” Xavier threw his hands up in agitation. “Is this really the time?”
Was there ever a good time to find out the guy you loved had killed someone before?
“Why are you still here?” Tyler had asked Harry.
Harry gave him a sad and sweet smile. His green eyes full of understanding even after Tyler told him everything he was able to about himself, his mistakes, and his past.
“Because I get it.”
Harry got it.
They were so perfectly matched and Tyler had to trust in Harry then just as much as he always had.
Tyler turned back to Sirius, “You have to.”
Sirius rolled his neck with his eyes clenched closed tightly.
“Fine,” he finally said. “Stand still and nobody say anything.
“Imperio.”
*****
“You go put out the fires, I’ll deal with Harry,” Wednesday told Sirius. She looked at the Hyde that was currently under Sirius’ control and raised a brow. “Are you able to fight your master?”
Sirius grit his teeth and tried to feel the connection between himself and Tyler’s mind. It was rocky, it was taking up a lot of Sirius’ already taxed magic, but it was there. There was something else, something trying to push away Sirius’ curse, but…
“I think so,” Sirius answered for Tyler. “If I don’t die tonight, I’ve got a lock on him.”
“Then don’t die,” Wednesday told him. “Order Tyler to kill Thornhill and then go put out the fires.”
“And me?” Xavier asked her, speaking up for the first time since Tyler shifted. “What do I do?”
Wednesday curled her lip at him, “Stay out of my way.”
Sirius rolled his eyes at Wednesday. She was a bossy and curt little prat.
“You’re with me,” Sirius told Xavier bracingly. The kid seemed soft, not the kind that needed to be left unattended with all the mayhem happening.
One teenage boy dying that night was one teenage boy too many already.
*****
Wednesday saw the body of her cousin and the soul of Crackstone destroying Nevermore and any student unlucky enough to be trapped inside.
It was glorious in a way.
It was almost a shame to end it, but if anyone was going to become a genocidal maniac, it would be Wednesday.
Harry had enough of a legacy as a serial killer. He would go down in history as the youngest ever killer to never be tried for his crimes. That was what Wednesday would tell people when they asked about him—
“Harry had an excellent mask. If you met him, you would never believe the trail of darkness he followed. He had power you wouldn’t believe. Unfortunately, it burnt him out early.”
And Wednesday was apparently the wave sent to extinguish him.
“Hey, Crackstone!” Wednesday yelled at Crackstone and gained his and Thornhill’s complete attention. “It’s a little hot out here.”
“How many girls returned from the dead?!” Thornhill shrieked. She swung her wrist around, aiming a gun at Wednesday. “How did you survive?”
“Excellent luck,” Wednesday said, wholly unafraid of the sig that ended her life only an hour or so ago. “I’d love to inform you about my little trip to the magical brain surgeon, but unfortunately I didn’t come to talk.”
Crackstone smiled terribly in a way that didn’t suit Harry’s face at all.
“Then you came to die once again, Wednesday Addams,” he said. “Good riddance.”
Wednesday had to dodge to the side when Crackstone threw a handful of flames directly at her.
If he thought Wednesday would be as easy to kill as her ancestors had been, he was wrong.
*****
Kill Thornhill.
Kill Thornhill.
It was blissful inside Hyde’s mind.
Hyde was floating in a lake of water and something told him he could stay there as long as he killed Thornhill.
That was his job, his only job, and Hyde relished in the simplicity of it.
Wednesday was dancing elaborately from the flames pouring from Harry - no, that wasn’t Harry - Crackstone’s hands and Hyde’s target was standing in the shadows, hiding from the fight.
Hyde ran quickly around her, getting behind her while she was distracted by the flames. He growled—
Kill Thornhill, the voice in Hyde’s mind ordered. It’ll be easy. It’ll feel good. Kill her.
— and Thornhill - Laurel - turned when Hyde growled in agreement with the voice in his head.
“Tyler, there you are,” Laurel snapped. “Put yourself to use and kill Wednesday Addams, tear the head from her body. That is an order,” she added sharply.
Hyde froze and the voice in his head changed.
Tear the head from Wednesday Addams, that is an order.
But why? You like Wednesday and hate this woman. Wouldn’t it feel better to kill her?
I am your Master. You will do as I say.
D’you want a master? I wouldn’t. Remember how good you felt earlier? When you were floating softly? Don’t you want that back?
Hyde did, it had been peace in a body built for war.
So just kill her.
Hyde roared and lunged for Laurel, the gun in her hand as inconsequential as the fear in her eyes.
*****
Sirius turned just in time to see the Hyde lunge for Thornhill. Hyde grabbed her by her neck, his claws digging in until blood poured from the wounds and then he twisted his claws and —
Thornhill couldn’t even scream before the Hyde used his razor sharp claws to tear her head from her body in a spray of blood with a mighty roar.
Good little Hyde, Sirius told him through the imperio with a smirk. Now change back, put some bloody clothes on, and help me help these kids, eh?
When Sirius could see the Hyde shivering and shaking, he quickly released the imperio and transfigured a brick to a pair of trousers for the kid.
Tyler was already pale and covered in the blood of a woman he just decapitated, no need to run around in the nude.
*****
“Who are you?” Larissa asked a tall and thin man who was waving a magic stick around and easily putting out the flames.
She had the other wolves move poor Enid to the back of the school, hiding her near the tree-line to keep her safe until someone could tend to her wound. Larissa had ran back to the school, running through smoke and flames to seek out other students, and instead found a man saving them single-handedly with magic.
He levitated little Andrés from an upper floor where he had been trapped by fire in the dorms safely down to the ground.
Xavier Thorpe rushed forward and grabbed the boy, guiding him to a safe path through the fires to where the other students huddled in the forest.
“Sir- Ares Frump,” the man said. He flashed a wry smile at Larissa. “I think you know my nephew, Harry?”
“Frump?” Larissa paused for a moment, caught off guard. “Your Harry’s uncle? The one he’s been visiting in the hospital?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Frump said with a British accent similar to Harry’s. “He’s a good godson, I’m-” Frump swallowed and shook his head before turning his magic wand with water back to the flames. “I’m lucky to have him,” he said softly.
Larissa sent an unhappy look back where her favorite pupil was sparring with her least favorite while Tyler Galpin stood frozen beside Marilyn’s dead body, the boy soaked in her blood.
“I thought we were lucky to have him as well,” Larissa said sadly.
Frump looked where Larissa was and a spasm of pain washed over his handsome face.
“That’s not Harry,” he told her. “Harry’s trapped in there and it’s someone else controlling him.”
As fantastical as that explanation was, Larissa believed it wholeheartedly. Harry was a good boy with a hard past, he would never burn down Nevermore.
Or, at a minimum, Harry would never be trying to burn his best friend to death.
*****
“You’re a one trick pony,” Wednesday hissed to Crackstone. He had done nothing more than use flames; he had no idea how to manipulate magic as Harry could. “You’re weak. Harry would have killed you in an instant.”
Crackstone snarled and grabbed a metal post from the broken gate and swung it at Wednesday as a foil.
“Your Harry was struck down by my mere spirit,” he spat. “Who is the weak one now?”
Wednesday took the first strike, feinting forward with her silver spike aimed at Crackstone’s left shoulder.
“It’s still you,” she informed him. “Fire’s a neat trick; Harry could kill people with a touch.”
“I will kill you with a touch!” Crackstone yelled, striking out at Wednesday once more.
“Clearly not,” Wednesday sneered. Her father trained her from a young age, this century old spirit in the body of the third best fencer in the school wouldn’t overpower her.
Wednesday darted forward with her spike held out in front of her, swiping at Crackstone and ignoring the guilt in her when she cut his shoulder - Harry’s shoulder.
Crackstone snarled and struck Wednesday in the head with his post, knocking her to the ground. Wednesday went to jump back up and couldn’t before Crackstone threw a fistful of flames directly at her head.
Wednesday touched her hair that had been grazed by the flames and nearly screamed.
“YOU SINGED MY BRAID!”
*****
Xavier helped get a couple more kids to the forest and when he returned he saw Wednesday and Harry in a fierce battle with spikes, spears, and fire.
Tyler hovered behind Harry, his face anxious and his muscles tense.
Xavier wished he could do something to help him, but it wasn’t like Xavier was having a great night either. It was all he could do to just focus on helping the other students and try to ignore the fight between Harry and Wednesday.
If Tyler wanted to be a masochist and watch when Wednesday killed the guy they both loved, that was on him.
Xavier was going to focus on saving the lives he could.
*****
It was the only thing Tyler could do-
Force himself to stand and watch when Harry died. It was his penance for causing Harry to be possessed in the first place. He would stay and watch and he would never forget that it might be Wednesday driving the silver stake through Harry’s heart, but Tyler might as well have put the weapon in her hands.
Wednesday took a couple of blows, but Tyler could see she had the advantage over Harry. She was faster, more goal oriented. Harry was too torn between burning her or driving the pole he had through Wednesday’s chest.
Laurel’s head was beside Tyler’s feet, her dead eyes staring at him accusingly, and he ignored it just as she ignored him when he’d begged her to stop in the cave.
Tyler thought that had been torture, the repeated blows and cuts to force him to transform; it hadn’t been.
That was child’s play compared to the torture Tyler was experiencing in that moment.
*****
She’s going to kill you.
She would kill her own blood to try and end me?
I think it’s because we’re family that she’s doing this. You wouldn’t understand.
I understand a great deal more than you ever could, you foolish mortal child.
You don’t seem to understand love or friendship. I didn’t either, but my therapist helped. Maybe you need a therapist.
Do not speak to me of mind tricks and lies! Your precious therapist didn’t save you from your fate!
No, but I think Wednesday’s going to.
*****
Harry’s glasses fell off his face and it gave Wednesday an edge to increase her attack.
The less Crackstone looked like Harry the easier it was to envision truly staking him in the heart.
Crackstone threw flames at the school before directing them toward Wednesday. Wednesday rolled, ducking the flames and coming close enough to swing her stake at Crackstone’s ankles, knocking him to his knees.
Wednesday lunged then. She grasped the pole from his hands and threw it as far away as she could then struck Crackstone in the neck until he toppled on his back with Wednesday straddling him across the stomach.
“You would kill your little friend?” Crackstone hissed at Wednesday when she raised the stake above his chest.
Wednesday ignored the blue streak in Harry’s hair—
“It’s cool, I like it.”
She didn’t look at his green eyes—
“I look like my mum… don’t you think so?”
And she ignored the way that there was still a small scar right above Harry’s left eye from when they’d nearly been struck down by the gargoyle and cemented their friendship—
“Are we- are we still friends?”
Harry was truly Wednesday’s first friend; something she didn’t know she would enjoy having and could never imagine living without now.
“I’m sorry, cousin,” Wednesday breathed. She raised the stake High then drove it downward without hesitation, drilling it through Harry’s heart and killing Crackstone and Harry both.