Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 90: Loss
"V!" Harry shouted. "Stay with me!"
'Harry… I… tried…' The voice of his old friend was barely audible.
This was one of the worst-case scenarios — the one that he didn't want to think about.
Voldemort had restored his connection to the soul fragment he used to create V, and due to this connection, the Dark Lord had gained access to the massive collection of information that the magical hat had accumulated for many millennia.
Voldemort now knew everything about Harry. All the things that he had learned during his imprisonment inside the Frozen World, and all of the plans that he and V made together... plans meant for his destruction.
There was only one thing he could do now, before it was too late. He needed to prevent Voldemort from gaining full control of V at any cost, even if it meant having to kill his oldest friend and lose his mind soon afterwards.
"Gate!" Harry immediately formed a portal next to him.
He heard Voldemort snapping his fingers right before he crossed over.
"What?..." Harry had crossed the boundaries of the gate and came out on the other side. But instead of finding himself in a distant forest, as he had intended, he was still in the exact same place, hovering over the Gaunt Castle.
Voldemort was hovering nearby with a satisfied expression on his face.
"Were you trying to go somewhere?"
'He stopped my 'Gate'. That should not be possible.' This was not something he could have learned from V, because he didn't know how to intercept that magic. Even Harry himself did not know how to do that. He was the only person in the world who could use it, so there was never a point in trying to counter it.
This meant that Voldemort had been able to figure something out after analyzing V's memories and gaining an understanding of how his 'Gate' spell worked.
Harry tried to apparate next, but of course, that didn't work either. And he didn't have any Portkeys on him, but he had the feeling that it wouldn't have succeeded even if he did.
The only way to escape would be to fly away.
But Voldemort was not going to allow that. The Dark Lord had already moved onto the offensive, rushing at him.
"Caeli Fragor!" Harry called down a lightning bolt, and this one descended from the sky.
If he could not escape, then he would need to fight him to the death.
"Custodia!" Voldemort extended his hand, and a set of runes flared up, forming a powerful protective shield around him and intercepting the lightning.
What surprised Harry was not that the Dark Lord was able to stop his spell, but that the runes on his arm were the same ones he was using.
This made him tremendously furious. All of his years of effort, research, and pain were now being stolen by his worst enemy and used against him.
It felt like all of his progress was only serving to make Voldemort stronger.
Harry gritted his teeth. A thick layer of magical energy manifested all around him. He then aimed both his hands at Voldemort. "Fulguras!"
"Clypeus Fulgens!" Voldemort shouted, placing an electrical shield before him. This one easily deflected the energy from Harry's attack and sent it away.
"That's my spell!" Harry screamed. The lightning shield was the perfect defense against most elemental spells, and he had spent centuries perfecting it. This was his own creation.
"I'm going to take everything from you, Potter." Voldemort smiled. "This is just the beginning." He extended his hand. "Come back to me."
Harry felt shivers running across his back. The hat on top of his head was reacting to Voldemort's call.
Given how important the presence of V was to him, Harry had made sure the two of them couldn't be forcibly separated. The magical hat had countless layers of protection that would prevent others from taking it away from Harry.
But the enchantments that he had so carefully prepared were now working against him.
Harry knew it from the first moment it happened. The connection to V had been completely severed, and he now belonged to another. The hat was no longer his.
"No…"
V disappeared from his head and reappeared on his new owner. "YES!" Voldemort raised his hands in the air to celebrate. "You are back where you belong."
While Harry's sense of despair began to wash over him, Voldemort was experiencing the happiest moment of his life.
As the new owner of the magical hat, Voldemort instantly understood all of its functions and powers, and knew how to make the best use of it.
"This is even more wonderful than I imagined." He commanded V to share his magical reserves and became immediately reinvigorated.
Voldemort's body was glowing with barely restrained power. "Thank you, Potter. You have created something wonderful with that tiny fragment of my soul. I'm really grateful for it. I will cherish it as I destroy you and everything you hold dear."
Harry's body was still floating in the air, but he could no longer hear what Voldemort was saying.
The only things on his mind now were sadness, despair, and pain.
Darkness filled his vision, and wisps of black energy began to appear around him.
"Oh… that's not good." Voldemort muttered as he watched the changes in Harry. He had a good idea of what was happening.
"The boy is really manifesting an Obscurial right here. Can't let that happen."
There was a constant thought pulsating in V's mind...a thought about never allowing Harry to completely turn into an Obscurus.
Voldemort didn't quite understand it. That was the only part of V's mind that he hadn't been able to access. But he knew he had to stop this.
However, right as he was about to jump into action and kill the boy, a flash of light invaded his sight. "What is this?!"
He felt a wave of heat and was forced to move away. When his vision cleared up, he found himself staring at a phoenix, which was angrily crying at him while surrounded by flames.
"A phoenix?..." Voldemort gasped. "Dumbledore!"
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