Hybrid Destiny

Chapter 36

Harry was sitting on the couch reading his Potion’s book before attempting the essay assigned, when someone knocked on the door. He set the book down and cautiously walked to the door and asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Blaise. Open up,” he yelled through the door.

Harry quickly opened the door and Blaise rushed in. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m avoiding Hermione,” he said, walking to the couch and flopping down.

“Why are you avoiding Hermione?” asked Harry, staring at Blaise in confusion.

“Draco’s not here, is he?” asked Blaise, scanning the room quickly.

“No, he isn’t. Now answer the question, Blaise,” said Harry firmly.

“She found me reading her journal and wasn’t exactly happy about it. In fact, if I hadn’t dodged so quickly, I would’ve been hexed with very painful boils. I was only trying to read what she saw last week. She wouldn’t give me any good details,” pouted Blaise.

“I can’t believe you actually had the nerve to read Hermione’s journal. You’re lucky she didn’t kill you,” said Harry, staring at Blaise in disbelief. “What did she that was so important that you had to snoop in her journal to get details?”

“Oh, she saw you and Draco having sex,” said Blaise nonchalantly.

“What?!” yelled Harry. “When did that happen?”

“Last week. She said Draco came in the room looking like a zombie and you both forgot she was there,” started Blaise.

“Oh my god,” said Harry, burying his face in his hands and blushing deep red. “I can’t believe we forgot she was here. I really can’t believe she saw us having sex. This is so mortifying. Draco’s gonna flip when he finds out.”

“Uh, Harry? Draco already knows,” said Blaise nervously. A pregnant Harry was an unpredictable Harry.

“What?! He already knows,” yelled Harry. “I’m gonna kill him. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. Oh no, I had to hear it from Blaise instead. He is so dead.”

Unfortunately for Draco, he walked in at that precise moment. Harry saw the source of his current rage and sent a stinging hex flying immediately. It hit with painful accuracy.

Draco cried out with the pain. “What the hell was that for, Harry?” he yelled at the culprit.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Hermione saw us last week. I had to hear it from Blaise, you prat,” yelled the irate elf. “No wonder she’s been staring at me funny all week. Draco, how could you?”

“How did Blaise find out?” asked Draco, trying to calm the elf down.

“Hermione told me. I tried to get her to put the memories in a pensieve so that I could see for myself, but she absolutely refused to do that. I had to sneak a look at her journal. Unfortunately she found me, and I had to run and hide,” said Blaise offhandedly.

“Never mind, Draco. You’re safe for now. I’m going to kill Blaise for his incessant nosiness,” said Harry, lunging towards the dark haired Slytherin.

Blaise knew the moment that Harry’s anger transferred to him, he was in deep trouble. He gave a frightened ‘eek’ and ran from the room as quickly as possible. He decided he would be better off spending the day in the Slytherin common room. Those Gryffindors could be awful scary when angered.

****

“That little coward. Oh, I’ll get him for this,” said Harry, muttering viciously about cowardly reptiles.

A bright green snake suddenly slithered into the room. Draco jumped in surprise when the little snake slithered over his foot. The little reptile went straight to Harry and hissed up at him. “Massster Harry. There isss a sssnake talker in the foressst. He felt evil. He had many followers with him.”

“An evil sssnake talker in the foressst? Isss that where you’ve been all thisss time?” asked Harry with a worried frown.

“Yesss, Massster Harry. There isss more food there,” hissed Samya.

“Thank youuu for the warning, Sssamya,” hissed Harry, patting the helpful snake on the head. “Pleassse let me know if they leave the foressst or get clossser to the ssschool.”

“Yesss, Massster Harry,” hissed Samya, leaving the room and heading back to the forest.

“What was that all about, Harry?” asked Draco worriedly.

“Samya said that Voldemort is in the forest. We need to find Dumbledore and quickly,” said Harry, heading for the door. “Come on, Draco. This does qualify as an emergency.”

*****

“Crabbe, did youuu manage to poissson the water sssupply?” asked Voldemort, cackling in glee.

“Not the water supply, lord, but I did manage to poison the drinks being served with tonight’s dinner,” said Crabbe, bowing low to his master.

“Thisss will bring low the entire cassstle. Be prepared to attack tonight. Even the Potter nuisssance ssshould be affected by thisss,” said Voldemort.

“Yes, lord,” said Crabbe, kissing the hem of the Dark Lord’s robes.

“Before youuu leave, Crabbe. Crucio. I don’t like failure,” hissed Voldemort.

*****

“Licorice Wands.” Nothing.

“Cockroach Clusters.” Still nothing.

“Sherbert Lemon.” The gargoyle jumped to life and the winding staircase came into view. “Come on, Draco.”

They ran up the stairs and burst into Dumbledore’s office. The first thing they noticed was that Dumbledore was not alone. Severus, Remus, and Lucius were also in attendance.

“Oh good. You’re all here. Professor Dumbledore, I have some disturbing news. Samya just came to my room and informed me that Voldemort is in the Forbidden Forest. I believe he plans to attack tonight,” said Harry frantically.

“Harry, calm down. Would you like some tea?” he asked. Harry immediately shook his head ‘no.’ “Okay, who is Samya?”

“Samya is the snake that was in the DADA classroom. Lucius can tell you about him. He’s been in the forest for months now,” said Harry, calming down fractionally.

“Why do you think he will attack tonight?” asked Dumbledore.

“Samya also mentioned that he had many followers, and you know good and well that that snake-faced bastard would not be this close to the school unless he were planning some devious attack. I would watch for something subtle to cripple us in advance,” said Harry knowingly.

“The food supply!” yelled Lucius and Severus.

“What?” asked Harry. “How could he poison the food supply?”

“He’s got spies in the school. We’re just not sure exactly who they are. The only way to cripple the entire school is by poisoning the food or water supply. Make sure you don’t eat of drink anything,” said Lucius, staring pointedly at Harry’s swollen stomach.

“Come along, Luc. We have to brew more poison antidotes. We won’t be able to prevent everyone from getting poisoned. We’ll just have to cure them quickly,” said Severus, dragging Lucius from the office.

Harry immediately wrapped his arms around his stomach protectively, and Draco wrapped his arms around Harry, resting his palms on the swollen belly. “Why can’t that maniac just leave me alone?” whispered Harry mournfully.

“Harry have you used any fae magic since you took that potion Severus made?” asked Dumbledore.

“Yes. I practiced the very next day. I have full control over the portals and my elemental magic has gotten stronger,” said Harry, leaning back against Draco.

“That may be the only thing that will save us today,” said Dumbledore.

“What do you mean by that? Harry is not going to face that madman in his condition,” said Draco angrily, tightening his arms around his pregnant mate.

“Draco, right now, it’s the only thing we have. Harry can open a portal and we can drive him into it,” said Dumbledore reasonably.

“Oh no, I have to agree with Draco on this. Harry is pregnant. It’s not just his life we have to protect,” said Remus, adding his opinion to the mix.

******

“Are we going to be able to make enough antidote to stop this?” asked Lucius.

“I really don’t know, Luc. All we can do is try,” said Severus. “You do realize that Dumbledore will more than likely force Harry to participate in the upcoming battle despite his condition, right?”

“What? He can’t force Harry into the battle. He’s pregnant and with twins no less,” said Lucius incredulously.

“Dumbledore sees Harry as the only way to win this war. You know very well that given the opportunity, he will make sure Harry feels compelled to participate, most likely through guilt,” said Severus.

“If anything happens to Harry or my grandchildren, I will kill that manipulating old coot. He better be damn sure he has a foolproof plan before sending Harry out there,” said Lucius viciously.

“You would have to wait in line for that privilege because I’m pretty sure your son would be first in line. Then you’d have to fight Remus for the next spot. And let’s not forget Hermione. She can be vicious when it comes to protecting Harry, as you well know,” said Severus.

****

Dinner started and the Great Hall was packed with students filling their plates with food. Dumbledore came running into the Great Hall and shouted for the students to put down the food and that anyone who had eaten or drank anything should report to Madame Pomphrey. Most of the students in the dining hall immediately rushed to the infirmary upon hearing these instructions.

Dumbledore suddenly fell to the ground clutching his chest. Harry and Remus quickly ran to his side, and he gasped, “The wards have fallen. Voldemort has access to the school. Help me up.”

Remus helped Dumbledore to stand just as the other teachers reached them. “Albus, how did he manage to disable the wards?” asked Minerva frantically.

“I do--,” started Albus, just as the Entrance doors burst open.

Voldemort and about twenty Death Eaters waltzed into Hogwarts arrogantly feeling assured of victory. He saw Dumbledore needing the support of the werewolf and cackled gleefully. “The almighty Dumbledore reduced to usssing a human crutch. How delightful.”

“Hello, Tom,” said Albus calmly. “Would you care to enlighten me as to how you managed to dismantle the castle wards?”

“We didn’t just poissson the food sssupply, Dumbledore. We managed to poissson the very foundation of the cassstle. Sssince the magic of the cassstle wasss poisssoned to sssuch an extent, the wardsss you placed here were no longer capable of sssussstaining themssselvesss,” hissed Voldemort. “The cassstle will not be able to protect you or the whelp today.”

“This whelp doesn’t need the castle to protect him. He does a fair job on his own. After all, Tom, you still haven’t managed to beat me,” said Harry from behind him. Harry concentrated on creating a portal behind Voldemort as he turned towards Harry. He wanted this portal to lead into the worst hell imaginable.

“Ssstill ssso cocky. I wonder if you will be that way when I rip thossse bratsss from your womb,” hissed Voldemort, raising his wand.

“I don’t think so, Tom. I think you’ll be too busy making new friends to worry about me,” said Harry, sending several minor hexes towards Voldemort to drive him towards the newly created portal.

“Avada Kedavra,” shouted Voldemort, aiming the curse at Harry.

Harry, not being able to move as quickly, created a barrier of wind that sent the curse straight back at Voldemort. Although the curse hit, the blood protection kept the curse from killing. It did, however, drive him closer to the portal. Harry suddenly sent gust after gust of strong winds to push him back further.

Severus and Lucius arrived just in time to see Voldemort throw a Crucio towards Harry while he was unprotected by the wind. Lucius ran over to the elf and just barely managed to intercept the curse, falling to the floor with the pain. Severus sent several hexes the Dark Lord’s way, and he finally fell back into the portal.

Harry kept the portal open and calmly walked over to it. “Ryoku, pleassse go here and tell me what youuu sssee. I will keep the portal open until youuu get back,” hissed Harry, pulling his familiar away from his neck.

“Yesss, Massster Harry,” hissed Ryoku slithering into the portal.

“Uh, Harry? Where’s Draco?” asked Severus.

“I hexed him with a sleep spell. He should be under the Slytherin table,” said Harry calmly, pointing towards said table.

“Why did you hex him with a sleep spell?” asked Lucius.

Ryoku returned before Harry could say anything. “Massster Harry, the other sssnake talker got eaten. A white sssmoke rossse out of hisss body, and one of the othersss sssucked it in. I didn’t like that place.”

“Well Dumbledore, does that take care of the soul returning problem?” asked Harry, petting his upset familiar.

“Where exactly did you send him, Harry?” asked Albus.

“I sent him to the worst hell imaginable. It has to be bad because I can imagine a lot,” said Harry calmly. He walked over to the snoozing blonde and ended the curse.

Draco woke with a start and said, “What happened? Where’s the Dark Lord?”

“The battle’s over and Voldemort’s in hell. In the belly of the beast, so to speak,” said Harry, backing a safe distance from the blonde. He knew an explosion was still pending.

“The battle’s over? The Dark Lord’s gone? Harry James Potter! I can’t believe you hexed me just to get me out of the way. You are going to pay for that,” said Draco, stalking the elf like prey.

“It was for your own good Draco. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if you kept getting in the way every time Voldemort sent something my way. It really was the best solution. I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fine. Well, except for maybe Lucius. He took a Crucio for me,” said Harry. “He should really go to the infirmary and get some pain relievers for that. We can see if Poppy needs help, too.”

“Next time some maniac is after you, you’d better not even think about hexing me with a sleep spell again. I’m here to protect you,” said Draco seriously.

“Oh please. You’re just mad I did it first,” said Harry smugly.

“Yeah. I can’t believe a Gryffindor beat me on the underhanded tactics,” whined Draco.