To Defeat a Dark Lord.

A/N ----- If you haven't noticed this chapter has not been Beta'd as of yet. I'm waiting for it, but my Beta ran into RL issues. otherwise this would have been out shortly after Christmas. Just wanted to thank you all for your Patience. I really do appreciate it.

Disclaimer.....This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter Twelve

Dudley Dursley sat hunched over and extremely uncomfortable due to his bulk, in the back of the cupboard under the stairs, wondering for the umpteenth time how his cousin managed to live in this small space for 10+ years without going insane. Of course he also wondered how the hell he was going to survive his own self imprisonment inside the cupboard, but he really didn't want to think about that at the moment.

As another pain filled screech from his mother pierced the air, he stuffed the grimy blanket he had found in the corner, further into his mouth to stifle his own moans of terror, and at the same time, tried to push down the bile that threatened to come up from the taste/feel/smell that was leftover from his cousins time in the same cupboard.

He didn't know why the wizards in black cloaks and white masks showed up here weeks after Harry was removed from the house, but he did know that what ever brought them was not a good thing for him and his parents.

Another scream cried out, this time a deeper one from his father, and Dudley tried to work his way further into the corner, desperate to remain invisible.

~~hp~~

The Dark Lord smiled cruelly at the muggles currently laying huddled on the ground at his feet satisfied that Bellatrix was doing her job properly. He had taken a few minutes to tour the hovel these things called home, and drew another of many lines of similarity between himself and the Brat-Who-Refused-To-Bow-Down. It was amazing on just how alike the two of them were.

Feeling a tug on the mental connection between Potter and himself, he cackled and gave Bellatrix a command to continue with the torture. "Make them scream." he hissed, before following the connection to the other's minds.

{Ssso nice of you to join me Harry Potter. Do you like what you see?} he hissed in his mind as he surveyed the blood splattered room, making sure that the teen on the other end received a good look.

{Wh-What do you want Tom?} Harry gasped back through the pain, as he was forced to stare in horror on what use to be the perfect living room his aunt took so much pride in.

{Just to give you your birthday present Harry Potter. Nothing more.} Voldemort replied, and then broke the connection on his side, knowing that the brat would still be forced to watch until he also managed to break it on his end.

Laughing cruelly, the Darkest Lord to date, raised his own wand towards the female, and hissed the curse to end it all ~Avada Kedavra~

~hp~~

Last time....

Before tea could be poured, Gidean popped his head through the door. “Sev, The young one has me totally confused, it honestly looks like he is suffering under some kind of pain curse, but there is no one around casting it.” he said anxiously.

“SHIT!” came from four different sources that was almost loud enough to cover the sound of something hitting the floor in the Living Room, followed by the sound of four chairs being toppled away from the table as Severus, Hermione, Ron and Draco all went running to Harry's side.
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Severus grabbed hold of Draco and held him back as Ron and Hermione rushed to Harry's side, and held him tight as he struggled to get to his bond brother.

"Let me go. I need to get to Harry." Draco demanded as he struggled against he older mans grip.

"You can't Draco. Anyone with the Dark Mark can not touch him while he has a vision. It will only cause him more pain." Severus explained calmly, although he too was desperate to get to Harry's side. As the teen in his arms calmed down slightly, Severus motioned to Bill to take him. "Don't let him go." he ordered in a whisper, close to the red heads ear, insuring that Draco would not hear him.

Staying three feet away of the convulsing form of the teen on the ground, Severus ran a practiced eye over Harry judging just how bad the damage may end up being. Summoning the Snake kit to him, he opened it up and starting to pull the potions that they would need to care for Harry after out. Looking over at his uncle, he gave the man a sad look. "You and Gidean are going to need to help hold him down. There's nothing more we can do until he is released from the Vision." he told him

Molly looked at those around Harry on the floor and bit back on a sob, "is there nothing else we can do?" she asked softly, seemingly not hearing Severus.

Severus stood from his spot on the floor and walked towards Molly, and much to the astonishment of those who knew him, (or thought they did) pulled the older woman into his arms. "No, I'm sorry to say there isn't." He repeated quietly to her, as he buried his face in her hair, giving as much comfort as he was having returned. "The others know what they are doing, and have been doing this for a few years now, all that we can do is wait, and let them take care of him." he whispered, as he held on tighter when she continued to cry. Looking over the rest of the room, he found the elder Malfoys leaning on each other, while their son wrapped himself around the eldest Weasley boy. The others in the room taking comfort where they could.

Charlie watched as Ron and Hermione continued to work with the assistance of the two vampires, to keep Harry from hurting himself as he continued to convulse with whatever he was seeing. As all movement stopped, he thought it was over, only to have Ron push the other three away with a shouted command to move. Not knowing what was going on this time, he started to move forward, only to end up with his arms full with one Hermione Granger, as she hid her face in his shoulder. Wrapping his arms around her body, he held her tight, and continued to watch the scene unfold and wondered just what was going to happen next.

Ron knew what was going to happen next. He had seen this happen before. Instead of Harry's body going limp like it would at the end of a vision, all the muscles contracted, pulling him tight. Pushing the others away, he carefully maneuvered his body under Harry's shoulders and held on tight. This was not going to be pretty.

Harry also knew what was coming next, and was trying desperately to close down the mind link between himself and Voldemort. He had learned long ago, that since there was a connection between the two of them, forged by green spell light, he could not block it fully, but he could lock away any information that he needed to keep hidden. Making sure those walls were as strong as he could make them, he gave an instants thought to building another layer around the mental link, but knew it would not work. Instead of wasting time on that extra layer, he turned all his attention on pulling away from the link, knowing that Voldemort had already 'stepped' away from his side.

Watching in horror, as motion caught his attention, he saw a wand raise into his line of vision and point down at his aunt. The next words sent a chill down his spine, and his body arched of the ground, the pain from earlier, nothing to what it was now. Thrashing against the arms and body he could feel holding him, as the pain begin to get unbearable seconds felt like hours, as he felt the curse, course through his own body, but finally he gave sigh of relief as the backwash of the killing curse finally ended. His relief vanished as that one wand once more lifted and pointed at his uncle. When the magical backwash from this one finally faded, Harry was given one more look around the room, just before his world went dark. His last thought, was of his unseen cousin and a prayer was sent out, hoping that Dudley was safe.

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In the end it was not only Ron who ended up holding Harry down, much to his relief the two vampires also added their strength to stop Harry's violent thrashings. None of them came out of the ordeal unscathed, Gidean, who had been holding Harry's feet, ended up on the wrong end of those same feet and was kicked in the groan causing every male in the room to wince in sympathy. Damean had been given a black eye, and by the looks of things Ron had his nose broken when Harry slammed his head back. All in all Ron figured it was a good day, considering how bad it had gotten at times in the past.

Looking at the others in the room and still cradling Harry's now still limp form in his arms, he smiled tiredly at his family and friends. "It's over Bill, you can let Draco go." he said softly.

As soon as he felt Bill's arms release him, Draco was across the room, and picking Harry out of Ron's arms, so the red head could stand up. "How often does that happen?" he whispered as he settled Harry down on the sofa, using his lap for the darker teens pillow.

"Not as often anymore. His shields keep out most of the visions." Hermione whispered, Charlie's arms still wrapped around her, not wanting to leave the comfort being offered.

"What exactly was that? I've seen a few of his visions but nothing like that." Severus asked, his voice shaking slightly as he came over with the Snake Kit, and carded his fingers through Harry's hair.

"That started out as a normal vision, only to turn deadly. Most of the time Riddle does not do any of the actual torture or killing himself, other for the Death munchers of course. The emotions behind those torture sessions are usually not that strong so they don't effect Harry all that much. What you saw was Riddle doing the actual killing. Every time he actually casts the Killing Curse and the link between Harry and him is active this is what happens." Ron explained grimly.

"Is there a way to stop this?" Demean asked softly, his eyes flashing a violent purple in his rage.

"Of course." Hermione replied, her own eyes flashing, "Either break the link or Kill one of them." She snapped.

The whole room winced at the venom in her voice, and wisely stopped questioning while Harry was still not responsive. Molly went off to make tea, the bond mates sat as close as they could to Harry and the others sat talking quietly, all of them keeping an eye out for any sign of Harry actually waking up.

Two hours later, Harry showed the first signs of finally waking up. At his slight groan, Severus immediately moved to sit on the floor near Harry's head and stroked his long fingers through soft dark hair. "Come on Harry, you need to open your eyes." dropping his voice to a whisper he continued, "please love, I need you to wake up."

Harry's eyes slowly opened, and a quick, pained, glance around showed him that he was in the midst of his extended family. Closing his eyes once more, he tried to figure out why his head was aching once again, only to see the memory of killer green light and his aunts blood drenched face. Snapping his eyes open once more he focused on the onyx eyes bright with worry, and with a keening cry of despair, rolled of the couch and into Severus lap, tears flowing freely down his face. Several minutes passed before he spoke. "I need the Headmaster Sev." he said quietly.

Nodding his head, he motioned for one of the Weasleys to fire call Albus and continued to sooth the whimpering teen in his lap. "Harry? Do you want to talk about it?"

Shaking his head, Harry refused, "I only want to go through this once." he murmured his breath hitching slightly as tried to only concentrate on those around him, and not on the vision he just witnessed. Burrowing his head into Severus' shoulder he breathed in the comforting scent of numerous potion ingredient that clung to the man no matter what, and silently urged the Headmaster to hurry.


A/N.... I know it's short, but I really couldn't see what needs to happen next being in this same chapter.... That and I'm sorry for the wait. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Lots of Luv. ~vbollman