Harry Potter & the Stone of Dreams

"Alex!" yelled Jerry, startling everyone awake, "Thank God you're okay. Where did you go?"

Alex stared bleary eyed at her father, then she leapt up wide awake and started squealing and jumping up and down.

"Daddy, we found it again. I've got it — the Stone of Dreams. I can save everyone — make everything right!"

Justin glanced at his dad, a dubious look in his eye. They both had the same thought. It occurred to them that Alex with the Stone of Dreams might not be such a good idea.

Alex looked at her brother and father, and her heart fell. She couldn't believe it. They were doing it to her again... and she began to feel small inside. Hadn't she proved that she was worthy? Wasn't it enough that she had already won the wizard competition once, and then given up her Win to restore the timeline? 

"Daddy, I don't think you understand. I can wish for everything to go back to the way it was — change time and save everyone..." she wailed. All those people in the Wizard World dead and injured... It was unbearable to think that she couldn't bring them back. "Justin..." she beseeched, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Jerry was beginning to crack. It did seem like a good idea to him the more he thought about it.

"No," said Hermione quietly. But everyone heard her and paid attention. "You can't change time on that grand of a scale Alex. You hve to trust me on this. I know..."

"But when I did it last time I changed things back so Max, Justin and I would be born. I made a mistake with magic and our parents had never met... but I fixed it — it worked. Everything went back to the way it was."

"That's because it was smaller," Hermione sympathetically replied, her own eyes tearing up. "...And you were only correcting what was already an error in the timeline. You were resetting your personal timelines back in sync with the rest of the world. This is too big — too much to change; it would alter the timeline for everybody in the world. Too much is at stake Alex."

Alex was crushed, heartbroken. Harry and Hermione wrapped their arms around her and brought her in for a hug while she sobbed. It wasn't fair, thought Alex. It wasn't fair that all those people had died and that she couldn't bring them back. She understood why she couldn't, but the desperate feeling that it wasn't fair ripped at her gut and sent her thoughts racing round in a loop.

Justin had been very quiet, his brows furrowed pensively, thinking about the Stone of Dreams.

"Dad," said Justin, "I know what to do with the Stone."

This time everyone stared at Justin. He cleared his throat.

"The Stone is magical enough to power the grid properly — with Object Magic. It can replace the old Power Core that ran on Wizard Magic... And nobody will ever have to give up their powers again..."

Justin never got a chance to complete his thought. The entrance to the lair exploded, knocking everyone to the ground. The Carrow siblings loomed over them, grinning as the dust settled.

"Well, well, well," sneered Alecto. "Potter!" she spat venomously.

Alecto, Amycus, and Gorog had earlier completed the ritual spell which had broken through the Unplottable Charm, and it wasn't difficult to break the other protective enchantments once it had fallen. Alecto had turned her back to Gorog intentionally, and as he made to curse her, Amycus had driven a silver sword into Gorog's back. It had pierced his chest wall and the blade came out the other side. Amycus had given the sword a twist, and Gorog died as he bled out.

Now they finally had the upper hand. Amycus stood watch by the hole in the wall while Alecto pointed her wand at Potter and his friends. She could have had her vengeance and used the Avada Kedavra curse on the lot of them right then and there, but she wanted Potter's power. Greed got the best of her.

"Alright there, Potter?" she cackled, "What's the matter? Afraid I'll kill one of your little girlfriends?"

Harry's hand twitched towards his wand.

"No, no Potter," Alecto said mockingly, and she conjured up a rope, binding Harry, Alex, and Hermione together. "We'll be having none of that, or one of your little friends will die right now."

"I don't think so!" a girl's voice growled.

A stunning spell knocked Amycus off his feet, and Alecto froze in surprise. Harry, Hermione and the Russos all glanced towards the wreckage of the entrance to the lair, spying a furious looking redhead. Amycus was shaking off the stunning spell, and beginning to pick himself up off the floor when Ginny forgot to use magic and simply kicked him in the jaw with a sickening crack. Amycus collapsed to the floor, dead of a broken neck.

"That was for Neville, you coward!" Ginny snarled through gritted teeth. Amycus had been particularly brutal to Neville last year, breaking a number of his bones, and knocking out his teeth. The Carrows had always used a bit of magic after a torture session to heal Neville enough to prevent permanent damage, but not enough to ease the pain of it.     

Taking advantage of Alecto Carrow's distraction, Hermione ended Alecto's Incarcerus Spell with a Finite Incantatem, and  Ginny's magnificent entrance was soon lost in the ensuing chaos as spells were fired, ricocheting around the demolished lair. Justin and his father were hiding and trembling behind the office desk which was near the portal to the Wizard World. Alex, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny were dueling with Alecto, who was singlehandedly warding them all off.

Alecto was shrieking insanely, tears streaking her cheeks, whirling around as she fired off numerous spells. Her brother was dead, and her world was collapsing around her. It wasn't fair. This was supposed to be her moment of glory, instead it was all turning to ash. Finally she got one of Potter's girlfriends in her sights. It was his new one, the pretty American girl with the ebony hair. She aimed her wand.

"Expelliarmus," Harry and Hermione simultaneously shouted. Their spells entwined, melding into one as it collided with Alecto's killing spell. The green bolt of magic ricocheted when it hit the Harry and Hermione's jet of magic, striking Alecto in the head. She crumpled to the ground — still thinking this wasn't fair as her eyes went dark.

Hermione and Harry looked down sadly at her body, glad that so much horror, death, and cruelty had finally been brought to an end. But Alecto's grief at the death of her brother was still etched on her face. It was hard for Harry to feel the depth of hatred that he had felt for Dolohov at the Wizard power plant. She and her brother had clearly been psychotic, and their gruesome thirst for blood nearly put Voldemort's own violent excesses to shame. But the Carrow siblings had still had something which Voldemort had never known. There was no question that the bond between Alecto and her brother had been powerful.

Amycus and Alecto had loved and grieved, and had supported each other through thick and thin. It was difficult to see them both lying there, knowing that Alecto had died in so much emotional agony. Harry wondered if her childhood had been any happier, and was surprised to find his face wet with tears. This was entirely unexpected. he hadn't expected to feel this way at her death — especially because he had been considering using the crucio curse on her if he'd had the chance.

She had deserved it, and more, for all of the horrors she had committed. But it didn't feel at all satisfying like killing Dolohov had.

Hermione and Alex both embraced Harry tearfully. Alex couldn't be happier that those two psychopaths were dead, but the overwhelming emotional roller-coaster of the last few days caught up with her now that it was all over, and she was sobbing loudly in Harry and Hermione's arms.

"I'm glad we used the Expelliarmus spell, Hermione," Harry said quietly. "Alecto probably thought it was a useless spell like Voldemort and all the rest of the Death Eaters did. But I'm glad I didn't use a crucio or a killing curse on her myself now."

Hermione nodded her bushy head in agreement, giving Harry and Alex both a kiss.

"Bloody Hell!" exclaimed George, who had just appeared in the destroyed entrance of the Russo's Wizard Lair with Max and Mrs Russo.

"Oh My God!" shrieked Teresa Russo, "What happened here? Jerry?"

Jerry and Justin clambered out from behind the desk, both redfaced with utter embarrassment at having panicked and hidden during the battle. It had all happened so quickly. And by the time that they had managed to pull themselves together, it was already over. They both glanced at Alex with rekindled respect.