Great and Twisted

Oneshot

(the result of watching fight club too many times)

XxX

The slow and dark music was pressing Harry down as he drank his third glass of wine and tried not to notice Ginnys scowl. He hated this day. He didn't understand why he had to be here at all. Why did people celebrate the day so many people died? How could you possibly honour someone by getting drunk? Yet here they were in the ministry of magic, celebrating the end of the second wizarding war and the death of some of Harrys closest friends. It had been two years since they all died. Lupin and Tonks and Fred Weasley and so many others. Harry knew that he should be thankful that Ron and Hermione were still alive. But it was hard to be when those two moved together immediately after, so occupied with themselves that Harry felt left alone with little Teddy to take care of. Of course they helped him whenever he asked but he lived in a muggle flat alone and they were still together and it was just not the same anymore. Ginny was still finishing Hogwarts while he had decided to quit altogether. There were so many dark memories now tainting the place that he couldn't call it home anymore.

Harry took another sip. It would all change this summer. Ginny would come to live with him, she would help him with little Ted and everything. Soon he would no longer be alone. There would be someone to wake him up from his nightmares, someone to tell him it was over and he never had to fight again. But even as he said so to himself the feeling of nausea in his stomach didn't go away. If anything, it became stronger.

"Potter!"

Harry turned around at the sharp voice. For a moment he just stared. He hadn't expected him to be here.

"Malfoy", he said carefully. "What do you want?" He hadn't heard of that family ever since they fled the country. For Draco Malfoy to come back now ways almost... brave. What a strange thought.

"Do you have a minute?", he asked, looking around the crowd and clearly meaning alone.

Harry just nodded and they left to be at a quieter place. When Malfoy cast a few privacy charms though the feeling of nausea doubled.

"What is it?", he asked again, impatiently.

"Look, I know this is strange so out of the blue but I have to ask you a question."

"Shot."

"I have to know... Are you... sure... I mean, perfectly sure, that the Dark Lord is dead?"

Harry stared at him. "What?"
Malfoy fidgeted uneasily. "Come on, you know the rumours. He had his... his followers believe he was immortal. I have to know how you defeated him."
"Why?"

"Because... Because..." He stopped and looked around again, making sure he was alone. "Because of this", he finally hissed and pulled back the sleeve of his robe. There on his forearm the ugly dark mark was standing in a stark contrast to his pale skin. "It should have faded over the years but it barely did and now it's almost as clear as when he was there and... and sometimes it itches."

Harry shook his head fiercely. "Voldemort is dead. I am sure of it! I... He's dead."

"But how can you be sure?"

"Look..." Harry sighed. "He had certain... precautions, I give you that. A way to make sure he wouldn't die. Or at least, he would stay around so he could be resurrected. But my friends and I, we removed all those precautions. There is no way he could've survived that last battle." He was sure of that, it was the only thing he had ever been sure of and Malfoy did not have the right to take it from him!

There was more to it, he could see it in the blondes face. He was not convinced.

"My father...", he whispered with true fear lacing his voice, "my father said that he would come back. He said that because... He said it was because as long as Harry Potter lives, he will always come back."

Harry stared at him in shock. That couldn't... That wasn't... Immediately he had to think about Snapes last moments. The memory telling him that he himself was a horcrux. But he wasn't anymore! Dumbledore had said so! The thing died when the killing curse stuck him. And anyway, Voldemort hadn't known that he had been a horcrux. He would've never tried to kill him this fiercely if he did, would he? Then how could his followers possibly know?

"He's not coming back", he said with new determination. "Not ever."
Malfoy stared at him a long moment. Finally he spoke and his words made his blood run cold: "You sound like Fudge."
Without another look he turned around and left. Harry was left behind staring at his back. For a moment, a tiny moment, he allowed himself to think that maybe Voldemort was coming back and the war would start all over again. And for some reason this thought lit a flame of not fear but excitement inside of him.

XxX

Another two years passed. Harry and Ginny were now married and living together. Harry had never heard of Malfoy again. His scar never so much as itched. He had taken on a job as an auror that required him to travel a lot, sometimes even to other countries and Ginny was training for her charms master exam. They met with Ron and Hermione on a weekly basis. Everything was well.

It was the first day for little Teddy in the local primary muggle school. They had decided together that since the muggles developed this fast they wouldn't allow the little wizard to grow up completely ignorant of them. He had his metamophmagic under control now and Harry and Ginny pretended to be an optician and a hairdresser so if he ever went to school with the wrong hair or eye colour nobody would say anything.

Harry was still at work when Ginny fetched their little godson.

"How was your day?", she asked with a smile while she went to make lunch.

"It was boring", Teddy admitted. "Why do I even have to go to muggle school?"

"Because they teach you how to read and do some math and that's important even for a wizard, honey."

"But I can already do that!", the boy complained. "I can read and calculate."

"Oh?"
"Yes! See?" He pulled out a piece of paper and started to write. "That's my name. Those are the names of my teachers. There are roughly twenty students in one class and there are three classes each year so that makes sixty students my year..."

Ginny stared at his paper. Slowly she grabbed it to read what her adopted son had written. "But Teddy... This is really good! Who taught you to write this well?"

Teddy looked a bit sheepish and turned away. "Well... I just learned on my own."
"There is no way a five-year old like you could learn that on his own", the witch said sternly. "Don't lie to me."

"But... I'm not supposed to tell."
"What?"

Teddy was looking down now as if he regretted telling her already. "I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to tell."

"Who taught you, Teddy?", she asked softly. "You can tell me everything, you know that."

He fidgeted uneasily. "He will be mad at me if I do."

"Was it one of the boys of the neighbourhood?"

"No!", he answered almost indignantly. "Of course not. I don't waste time with the muggles."
Ginny became very still. "What did you say?"

"They're terrible. The laugh about my hair and that I don't know the games they have and anyway if they knew what I am they'd hate me and lock me up or something. I can't stand them!"

"Nobody is going to lock you up!", Ginny said horrified.

"They locked up Harry", Teddy argued with a pointed look.

"That.. Who told you that?", she asked because Harry never talked about his time with the Dursleys, not even to her.

But Teddy remained silent.

"Who told you that, Teddy?", she asked again, grabbing his shoulders.

"Marvolo did", he whispered finally, big frightened eyes looking at her.

Ginny didn't have much time for the shock to sink in for it was at that moment that the flames in the fireplace flared up green and Harry stumbled out of it.

"Hey guys", he greeted them leisurely and went to put his cloak away.

Ginny turned back to Ted, catching his eye again. "Where is this Marvolo, Teddy? Where did you met him? Who is he?"

But Teddy didn't say anything. He didn't look at her anymore either, just stared at the figure of his adoptive father, who gave him a grin and winked.

Then he turned back to the witch, eyes big with real fear. "He will be so mad at me."

XxX

"This is not necessary", Harry said with a sigh as Ginny dragged him by his hand. He had only been here once or twice but he already hated the place. It reminded him so much of the hospital wing of Hogwarts that had become his second home during to all his injuries.

"It might not be", she admitted, "but I want to be better save then sorry."
"I told you", he answered, "my scar hasn't so much as itched ever since then! It's gone and it's never coming back."

Ginny stopped in her tracks, right in the middle of a luckily deserted corridor of St. Mungos. "Please, Harry, you have to understand. Teddy saying that name... It was a shock for me."

"Of course, honey", he backpedalled, "I understand that. But there was probably just a teacher at the school who noticed him or a neighbour or..."
"It was his first day, Harry! And he never talks to any of the neighbours. Marvolo isn't exactly a common name amongst muggles. He can read and do math and his bursts of accidentally magic don't seem accidentally to me at all. He speaks about muggles as if they're inferior and he knows about the Dursleys, Harry, and I certainly have never told him!"

"But if you're wrong, Ginny, I don't want some mind healer looking at my head, you know what I think about that! If it gets out that we even suspected we'll never have a quiet day again!"

"But what", she said with sad yet determined eyes, "if I'm right?"

Harry couldn't suppress a shudder. "Fine. I'll do this, for you and for Teddy. But if the healer says I'm okay there will be no more mention of this."

"Alright", she said, grabbing his hand and giving him a short kiss.

They went to see Healer Winters who Ginny had made an appointment with. Winters was specialized in mental diseases and curses, mainly damage left behind by illegal legilimency attacks. He was a short wizard with black hair and a kind face who invited Harry and Ginny in with a polite but serious smile. They explained the situation to him, that Harry had suffered from visions a lot that had been sent by Voldemort and still had nightmares occasionally. They didn't mention horcruxes of course, just said they wanted to make sure all traces of his magic were gone. Winters used a few charms on Harry, searching his scar especially.

"Him, no traces of foreign magic that I can detect", he said. "As far as I can see, you're perfectly healthy. Of course if there is something deeper in his mind I would have to make a more thorough and time consuming examination."
"Please do so", Ginny said before Harry could answer. "We want to be sure."

"Alright then. Though maybe it would be best if you left for this, Miss."
"She can stay", Harry said immediately, who didn't want to be left alone with someone poking in his head. "Else she'll never be convinced."

Harry had to lay down and drink a couple of potions.

"What's this?", he asked when he recognized the fuzzy feeling the last one caused.

"Veritaserum", Healer Winters supplied. "A small dose only. You won't be able to tell a lie for the next hour. I assure you that nothing you say will leave this room. I am under a magical oath not to tell. It is simply to prevent your subconsciousness from holding back any information."

Harry wanted to abandon the inspection right then but Ginny forced him to remain. Harry couldn't really blame her. She had been possessed by Voldemort before and woul've probably given anything to have had someone like Healer Winters then.

"Please clam down now Mr Potter. Your mind has to be completely relaxed..."

It took them almost ten minutes of Ginny muttering soothing words. Only then did Healer Winters cast his charms to 'wake up Harrys subconsciousness'.

As soon as he spoke the last word, Harrys eyes flew open. His whole body gave a jerk and if it wasn't for the charms binding him he would've jumped from the couch this very moment. Harry looked around with hard eyes, gave a sneer when he saw Ginny and glared hatefully at the healer for a moment. His entire poture had changed in a way Ginny couldn't recognize anymore.

Her heart paused. "Who are you?", she whispered.

Harry turned to look at her again and slowly a grin that had nothing friendly in it spread on his face. "Oh, you know who I am, little girl. I am your worst nightmare."

"Tom", she whispered hoarsely.

"I prefer Marvolo, thank you very much."

"We should end this", Healer Winters said, as pale as a wall and raised his wand.

"No!", Ginny called. "I have to know!" She turned back to Harry – now Marvolo. "How did you survive? How is it possible that you're still there?"

"I have always been there", he whispered maliciously. "And I will always be."

"No, you were killed! Harry told me – you were killed when he was hit with the killing curse for the second time!"

Marvolo laughed and it was the high pitched laughter of the monster she remembered. "You don't know anything! The stupid boy was never hit by the killing curse! I tortured him, yes, I ripped open his scull and boiled his blood but I never killed him. Harry only saw what I made him see."

"You're lying! The witnesses – even Hagrid, they said-"

"The killing curse is only deadly when you really mean it", Marvolo said almost lecturing. "I never meant to kill him. Just to break him."

"But... But Voldemort didn't know about you! You aren't him!"

"I have always been Lord Voldemort."

"No, you're not! You're just a part of his magic!"

Marvolo laughed again. "If anything, I'm a part of Harrys magic."

"But Voldemort... the original one..."
"Died at Halloween 1988", Marvolo said. He was no longer fighting the Veritaserum. "Don't you see it? There have never been any horcruxes. I became Voldemort the moment the boy first heard his name."

"I don't... Explain this!"

The wizard chuckled. Malice was contorting the face of her beloved Harry into the mask of a devil.

"You think poor little Harry Potter was treated badly by his muggle relatives. You think they made him do chores and let him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. You don't know that they beat him whenever he did magic or messed up a chore. You don't know that Vernon tried to make him give him a blow job when he was six before my magic blasted him through a wall. That's right. I have protected him in that hell hole. I blocked his memories of the hideous things he saw and had to do. I healed his bruised body and spoke to him soothingly in his sleep. And then there came that giant oaf Hagrid and told him he was a wizard and famous and had defeated the Dark Lord but the Dark Lord was not dead and was still out for him. That he was the saviour of the wizarding world. And little Harry wanted oh so badly to fulfil that role. But he knew he didn't have it in him. He was a survival champion. He was cunning, used to hiding in the shadows. He was a Slytherin but he couldn't be because Slytherins are evil, aren't they?"

"Harry once said the hat had almost put him into Slytherin", Ginny muttered in horror.

"Yes and we would've fit in there perfectly. Clever, powerful, a parselmouth... Everyone thought it was something left behind by Voldemort but it wasn't. We are actually descendants of Salazar Slytherin. You remember, don't you, that the Potter line originates from the Peverells, just as the Gaunt's do? It was a gift that may have been awakened by Voldemorts magic but it always belonged to us. A gift he rejcted.

I knew then that Harry and I were just too different. We could exist alongside each other no longer. I meant to make myself a new body. I spend entire nights in the restricted section researching the dark arts when Harry thought he was researching Nicholas Flamel. I leaned Legilimency and Occulumency to hide myself from Snape and Dumbledore and to better manipulate Harry... There never were any blackouts. He was either asleep or seeing other things. Then I found out about the stone... It was the perfect tool, no, the only tool that could possibly separate Harry and myself. I had to have it."

"Quirrel..."
"Quirrel was just at the wrong place to the wrong time. We went down into the corridor with those brats and we met him in the chamber with the troll were he was feeding it. I imperioused him, killed the troll and sent him ahead before altering the memory of Harry and the girl."

"No!"

"Oh yes! Quirrel was never a death eater. He never tried to kill Harry. He spoke the words I made him speak."
"The face on his back-"
"A hallucination. I'm quite good at causing those."
"The unicorns-"

"Harry and Malfoy got lost and separated in the forest. It was me drinking from it and I'll admit that was a mistake because undoubtedly my half of our life certainly became cursed after that."

"But Harry defeated Quirrel!"

"No, he murdered Quirrel! He murdered him using dark magic that I had cast on his very skin beforehand. He murdered a husband and father of three children and he never thought about it afterwards. I made him do it because I needed the human sacrifice. It, together with the elixir of life, would have been enough for a ritual that would've transferred myself to him. He didn't burn the body, you know, that was just another hallucination. He burned his soul. I meant to replace it with myself and I almost succeeded. But then Dumbledore came, saw me possessing Quirrel and of course he thought it was Voldemort too and he killed me, incinerating the body. I was just barely able to flee back to Harry though the connection that had not yet been severed.

I made Harry think he was fighting against Voldemort because only then would he kill without thought and he would give his all because he wanted to be the hero everyone saw in him. But then Dumbledore fell for it too. It was in that moment that I took on the cloak of evil. If everyone thought I was Voldemort I could use the resources he had left behind. It was so easy too to fool Harry. They had foiled my plan, destroyed the stone and with it my only hope to be separated from Harry. From that moment on I had a new goal. If I couldn't leave Harry I would destroy him. I would destroy him and take over his body."

"But you didn't manage. In all those years, you didn't manage", Ginny whispered.

"I was growing stronger with the years but Harry was still too strong for me. I could only control his body for a limited time. I could mess up his memories, delete them completely or make him see things and hear voices without problem but physical possession was far more difficult."

"What about first year – I mean, your second? Did you talk to Riddle?"

"Tom Riddle", he mused as if lost in memories, "the boy from the diary. He too, never existed."

"What? But I saw him! I wrote to him all year!"

"No, you didn't. You wrote into your girly little diary and suffered from insomnia during to homesickness. After I realized that I was stuck with Harry but that we were so similar to the Dark Lord I began my research. I found out about his real name and about our shared heritage. I found the chamber of secrets within a week of the new year and I went down to wake up the basilisk. Harry didn't know because I did it at night. I wrote the message at night and cast a charm on it to make it invisible. That day I lured Harry to the place by whispering to him. I was weakened from the previous night and didn't dare control him again... I cast the charm to make the message visible just a second before the other witnesses arrived. That's how I always do it. I lure him to the right place and time and just delete a tiny memory to save energy."

"I had those blackouts..."

"You were on a silly quest with your friends to stalk Lockart and found about his dirty little secret more then once. He obilivated you time and time again. And you grew paranoid and thought you were petrifying students and you wanted to distract yourself and went after Lockart again, stupid girl."

"Harry wasn't always there when someone was petrified!"

"Of course not. Once the basilisk was awake I could command it to attack at a specified time and place, giving myself an alibi."

"But why?", she wailed, "why did you do it?"

"Simple", he answered, "I wanted Hogwarts closed. I was not yet the man I am now... I didn't want to kill other students if I didn't have to. The basilisk had strict orders to only petrify. I wanted the school closed so that Harry had to go back to the Dursleys, so that he would lose his home and everything he loved. If he felt all alone manipulating him, breaking him would've been so much easier. It was the Malfoy boy of all people who saw where everything was going first. He too thought Harry was the heir of Slytherin, as everyone did at that time and so he sent his elf to kick him out... Or maybe he was just being an asshole and wanted his rival gone. That was certainly the reason he sent the elf to us to cause the cake and barrier fiasco but later on I think he actually wanted to protect the school."

"Then it was you who took me down into the chamber?"

"That's right. It was so easy to lure you there too. Your little crush was pathetic. I wanted to just let you starve in there but then Harry found out where the chamber was and again I was too tired from bringing you there, I was asleep when he noticed and woke up too late... He wanted to save you, I wanted you to die. We fought each other but it was a battle of will entirely and everything he saw of Tom Riddle was just playing in his head. This time around I didn't do it so he could play hero, I did it to make him realize how alike we were. I wanted him to know that he had the potential to be dark. I called upon the basilisk to show him the power a parselmouth could possess. Of course he fought it and the poor thing was so confused, seeing his master attacking him suddenly. I lost the battle of wills that day but the diary, the diary was just a cover up. I altered your memories like I altered Harrys so many times and I conjured up the tale of the diary possessing you, using the gaps your memory already possessed. The diary you wrote in and the one Harry found in that bathroom weren't even the same book. The latter one was just an old thing somebody threw at the ghost. I was the one who made it important by sending Harry those visions."

Ginny was trembling now. Her whole world was being turned upside down and she just couldn't believe it was true.

"In fourth year he came back... he..."

"Ah, yes, fourth year", Marvolo said. "I needed a whole damn year to recover from the fight with Harry. I never tried fighting him in his own head after that. But at the Quidditch world cup I came across that lovely Death Eater. It was during the chaos of the night when he found us and he wanted to kill Harry. I convinced him to change his mind by pretending to be his master. He was fooled so easily once I spoke in parsel! I made him search for Pettigrew and attack Moody and his father. The visions Harry had were dreams sent by me. I was playing with him, strengthening the idea of Voldemort coming back. After all, if Harry Potter said it was Voldemort, then nobody would doubt, not even the Death Eaters. And it worked out wonderfully too. I pretended to be Voldemort stuck in Harry Potters body and so I made Crouch help him to get through the tournament. I learned how to manipulate he Dark Mark. Which is again easy if you're a parselmouth – so that in the end I could call the Death Eaters. The hideous thing Voldemort was reborn as was a golem, an artificial human that I could control with my mind alone if I was just close enough. It was a show for the Death Eaters, nothing more. Priori Incantatem – he told you about that, didn't he? A tale spun by me from the story of the brother wands. He was the only one who ever saw those ghosts because they never existed. The advice to get the portkey came from me.

The whole fifth year long I was using the energy I had collected over the last two years. I would portkey to a meeting place, send Harry sleeping, control the golem to speak with the Death Eaters and go back with Harry again. I was a Dark Lord, nobody ever wondered why I nevr met with them at daytime. Because I was only possessing Harry at night when he was asleep and always only for a few seconds it worked well enough. Only my most trusted Death Eaters knew I was being hosted by Harry and it was those people who did everything to not kill him when he came to steal the prophecy. I wasn't powerful enough to possess Harry for a full night or I would've broken in there alone. I didn't really need it, I knew Voldemort was dead. That the thing was probably being fulfilled ages ago but I needed to show myself to the world. I had to use tricks and so I sent him those dreams, secure in his belief that it was Voldemort. Fighting Dumbledre was hard but I had always been magically powerful and with Harry so near controlling the golem was no problem."

"But Voldemort fought in sixth year. He was leading the war constantly!"

"If you really think about it then no, he did not. He had his army attack, his Death Eaters, his giants, his dementors and werewolves but he rarely ever fought himself. He didn't have to, his name alone was enough to make wizards drop their wands. The Death Eaters were all so sure they would win because the light side had still not realized that their saviour was the Dark Lord."

"Then Dumbledore searching for the horcruxes..."
"That's right. He was just an old man who was wrong. He remembered the diary incident, the fabulous story Harry told him and and not wanting to believe he was the one to blame he searched for another explanation. I didn't even know what a horcrux was until he brought me on that line of thought but it was such a great cover story. I adapted to that story, made the symptoms more alike and faked a memory of Slughorn confirming it."

"What about the locket?"
"I had heard that story of Voldemort torturing the children in the cave and I thought that's where I would hide a horcrux. I placed a trap there with a locket that was fake but had a message in it that would hopefully still confirm Dumbledores belief. It went better then I would've ever guessed. He died since he was weakened by that curse."

"How did you manage to place it on the hut if you didn't know about the horcruxes at that time?"
"I didn't. The curse was placed there by the original Voldemort to protect the ring, not because it was a horcrux but because it was a Deathly Hallow that he had no use for until he had all three. Dumbledore either didn't think to check if it was the real thing before destroying it or he didn't have time because he was stupid enough to let the curse affect him."

"And the other horcruxes?"

"I told you, they weren't any horcruxes. The locket had ended up at Burgin and Burkes again and I brought it and placed it at Grimmauld Place for you to find. You didn't but it still supported the story of Regulus Black finding out the Dark Lords dirty secret in the end. The thing screaming at you when you destroyed it? I was strong enough by that time to make even you see things. Hufflepuffs Cup? A fake I ordered to be made by the goblins and had Bella place in her vault. It was just an ordinary cup. Same with the diadem; the conversation with Helena Ravenclaw was made up by me and never really happened. Nagini was really my pet but nothing more. I knew what you expected to happen and I made it happen, that is all."

"Why?"

"First, to keep you away from the war. I didn't want to fight Harry again head on after second year and the search kept them busy. I wanted to have the whole country under my control first. But as their search came to an end he grew more restless, his sleep uneasy and it was harder to possess him unnoticed. Not to mention his friends started watching over him in shifts.

I took a risk that time when they were captured. I kept them separated but I sent Harry to sleep, dreaming he was being held together with his friends. I was prepared to have the brats meet me in the form of the golem. But in the end they fled using the elf and the elf brought Harry to them. Only then did I break his sleep. If he had talked to them he might have noticed that their versions of their captivity were different but he didn't. After all he thought they were all together in there so there was no need to talk and they thought he had been tortured like the girl had been and didn't want to talk."

"Then his visions of Voldemort that year... they were what, memories?"
"Some of them. Some were visions I sent to him on purpose to strengthen the idea of the horcrux within him. I didn't doubt that that was the explanation Dumbledore had found for all this and that there would come some kind of message telling him about me. I was right... At Hogwarts I made him come to me. I made him think I cursed him, I made him think he died. All of that only had one purpose: To get him to stop fighting me. If he knew what I was he would've killed himself. But he thought I was a horcrux and that coupled with the knowledge made him want to be killed by me. He accepted that eh would be murdered by me. I thought that the moment he did I would be able to push his part of our mind into nothingness forever and I would finally be able to take over his body for good."

"But it didn't work", Ginny said with a final spark of triumph, "he defeated you again."

Marvolo smiled wickedly. "No, he didn't. Don't you see? Harry Potter died that day. His persona was wiped out completely. For a whole three month I acted like I was him. I destroyed my own golem, I destroyed my army, scattered my followers. I fooled you and I fooled the other brats."

"What!? No! That's not possible! Harry was there-"
"No he was not. You thought he was different, didn't you? You thought the war had changed him. You knew but you couldn't accept and I was close enough for you."

"That doesn't make any sense! Why would you destroy your own army? You had everything you ever wanted!"

"I had everything Voldemort ever wanted because that was the role I was playing but that is not me! I don't care about the world. I don't care about Britain. The entire war, Voldemort, it was just to kill Harry. After its purpose was fulfilled I cast it all aside. For my new goal, the role of Harry Potter was a more fitting one. It was not easy, playing the hero. I had to create a whole new persona, one similar to Harry but far, far weaker. Now I am the original and he isn't even strong enough to understand me, to struggle against me. I can destroy him easily should the need arise. But with him going about our daily life I can save energy and magic during the time that you think I'm at auror training when really I'm travelling around preparing for my very own war."

"What kind of war?", she said, ashen now, "who are you going against?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going against the muggles. I always hated them That's another thing Voldemort and I have in common. I'm going to wipe them all out, those muggles and their nuclear bombs and machines that are pollinating the air and destroying our home. I'm going to wipe them all out!"

"How?", she whispered, horrified.

Marvolo grinned a little wider and she could see the madness in his eyes. "Ah, I'm sorry, honey. It seems our hour is over. The potion is losing its effects... You won't get me to reveal any of my plans. But I'll tell you is this: All the preparations are already in place. Nobody can stop it anymore." He lifted his arms and Ginny realized with shock that the sticking charms that had held him in place were giving in too.
"And now..." Marvolo reached for his wand, pointing it at her, "finally, you shall die just like Harry did. You have no idea how long I've waited to do this."

Just like Harry. Her Harry, he was dead. Ginny closed her eyes.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Nothing happened.

Carefully Ginny opened her eyes again – only to stare at the pale face of her lover, green eyes open wide but empty. Behind him Healer Winters stood, wand trembling in his hand.

Harry Potter was dead.

"It's over", the small man whispered, still horrified of his own actions. "Isn't it?"

Ginny looked a him with wide eyes. She remembered Harry, her Harry and the years they spent together. It wasn't a fake. Harry had defeated this Marvolo. Maybe he had not been able to kill him but he had suppressed him. But then it wouldn't make sense for Marvolo to give away all of his secrets, not even under Veritaserum if he was such a good Occlumens himself. He had counted on either of them killing him.

Ginny had to think back to his words. 'The preparations are already in place. Nobody can stop it anymore.' Suddenly the face of little Teddy came to his mind, his little mouth forming the name 'Marvolo'.

"No", she said, shaken up to the bone, "it is not. It has just begun."