A/N: So I'm back... in the middle of final exam... but back nonetheless! This chapter is kind of necessary to get to the good stuff, but it's more of a filler, really. Let me know if you liked it, anyway!

Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Chapter 16

Lord Voldemort was waiting in front of an archway situated in the middle of the room. A curtain flitted over it, as if moved by a breeze from the other side. On seeing Vergil, he smiled, a slight curve of bloodless lips.

"Have you brought it?" he said in his high, cold voice.

Vergil held up the Invisibility Cloak, but made no move to hand it over. "This is it, then," he said, "The Veil of Death."

"And only the Master of Death may put it to its true use," said Voldemort, very softly. "That is your ultimate wish, is it not?"

"Keep to your end of the bargain, and concern yourself over nothing else," said Vergil. "The ring?"

Voldemort held out his right hand. A solitaire ring sat on his middle finger. Vergil reached out to snatch it up.

"Wait."

Vergil's hand froze a foot from the ring.

"The blood."

Vergil straightened, his face unreadable. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial filled with dark red liquid.

"I confess," he said, "I haven't found any rituals of becoming a demon that uses Sparda's blood. I wonder what your source is."

Voldemort smiled again. "Nothing you need concern yourself over," he said, holding out his hand.

Vergil gazed at him for a few moments. "You're lucky I need you for the incantation, or I would wipe that smile off your face," he said. Voldemort took the vial from him and opened it, turning it upside down over his right hand. As it soaked through, it seemed to disappear. Once it had disappeared completely, he plucked the ring off his finger and offered it to Vergil, who picked it up. After a moment of observing it, he slipped it onto the index finger of his right hand.

The next moment, he fell to his knees, clutching his right hand with his left. His hand fumbled with the ring, trying to pry it off, but it held fast. Letting go of the ring, he pulled out his sword from its scabbard.

"NO!" Voldemort shouted.

But it was too late - Vergil brought the sword down onto the ring, cracking the stone from the force. Slipping the ring off his finger, he tried to stand, but fell back again.

"Well, no matter," said Voldemort, walking over to Vergil. "A small price to pay for the ultimate power. Foolish of you, to think I would be satisfied with becoming a simple demon when I could be the greatest one of all time."

He stood there for a few more minutes, ascertaining whether Vergil was sufficiently weakened. Seemingly satisfied only when Vergil finally lost consciousness, he bent down and collected the two pieces of the amulet, the Elder Wand, and the invisibility Cloak. After a moment's pause, he picked up the cracked stone from the ring as well. Turning to face the archway, he hissed something under his breath.

The curtain split in two. The two pieces fluttered down to the floor, revealing a stone walkway beyond.

"Not long now," murmured Voldemort. "And Sparda's power - will be mine!"

Dante Apparated in front of the school gates.

He was feeling extremely frustrated. He had no way of knowing where Trish had gone, and why. There was nothing for him to do except trying to contact Dumbledore through Snape in order to ask for advice. He started walking. The aftereffects of the potion had lessened to a dull stomachache. That was really nothing compared to the sting of the betrayal he had just experienced.

In retrospect, he could see that Trish hadn't ever given them a good reason to trust her. While Trish had helped them, she had said from the beginning that Mundus wanted the horcrux destroyed too, so she could have been - and now as it turned out, was - acting on her emperor's orders.

The memory of what had happened made him clench his hands into fists. If he got his hands on that good-for-nothing lunatic girl...

He stumbled over something in the dark. He looked down.

For one moment, it was as if he was back under the effects of the potion and Eva's body was on the ground in front of him. Then he realized he was wrong; it wasn't Eva. It was Trish.

She was absolutely still; blood had pooled beneath her. For one moment, Dante wondered if she was dead. But as he knelt, he could see the slow rise and fall of her chest. She was alive after all, but possibly not for long.

Not if I have anything to say about it, Dante thought grimly.

Snape had taught him the incantation to close up cuts years ago. But he hadn't ever applied it, and he didn't trust himself to perform it now. Kneeling down beside Trish, he inspected the wound. It was abnormally clean; he had seen wounds like this many times. It was Yamato's work.

She didn't have the cloak with her. She had to have handed it over already.

Why? Why was she looking for the cloak?

Pushing the thought away, Dante focused on the more immediate concern: healing Trish. Because no matter what she had done to him, he wasn't about to let her - someone with such an uncanny resemblance to Eva - die.

He picked her up and stood. It was a long walk to the infirmary- he would have to transform to get her there faster.

He went in through a window. Fortunately, the occupants of the occupied beds were asleep, and Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen. Setting Trish down on an empty bed, Dante went to look for Pomfrey in her office.

She was bustling about. Head buried in one of the shelves, she said, "Just put them in the third shelf from the left, Severus. Top row."

Dante resisted the urge to laugh. He had a feeling if he started, he wouldn't be able to stop. It had been a long night. "I'm not Snape, Madam Pomfrey."

"Mr. Sparda? Good heavens! What'd you get yourself in, this time?"

"I'm fine. It's Trish. She's hurt, but please first give her the strongest sedative you've got."

She stared at him. "I don't need you to tell me how to treat my patients!" she growled. "Out of the way!"

Dante went with her, seeing no other option. On seeing Trish, Madam Pomfrey gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth.

"How...?" She composed herself quickly. Stepping forward, she lifted her wand and began to chant.

As the wound began to close, Dante tensed, his hand going to his sword. And surely enough, the hole had not even closed fully before Trish began to stir.

Dante held up his hand to summon the sleeping drought. He was going to force-feed it to her, or should that fail, knock her unconscious.

Blue eyes flickered open. Dante stepped forward. Trish was staring at him with a dazed expression.

"You saved me," she said in a voice full of wonder, sitting up. "Why?"

Dante paused, his eyes hard. "You know why."

"Because I look like... Eva?"

"You don't get to mention that name," Dante snapped. "You don't even get to think it. You may look like her but you're nowhere close to her! You have no soul. You may have the face but you'll never have her fire!"

"Mr. Sparda!" Madam Pomfrey hissed. Dante ignored her.

He uncapped the bottle of sleeping drought, but Trish said, "Wait! There's some things you need to know."

"What?"

"Lord Voldemort has Sparda's power, if my master's plan has been executed. You have to stop him - he'll come here - you'll all be in great danger!"

"What the hell are you talking about? How will he get that power?"

Trish looked relieved that Dante was listening to her. "It's a long story," she said. "But this you need to know - Sparda had trapped most of his power into his sword- Force Edge."

Dante knew that much. "Get to the point."

"There's a hell gate at the Ministry. My master wanted it opened. I gave the invisibility cloak to Vergil, because he wanted to open the gate- "

"You had another chance to give him the cloak," said Dante. "When he came to Hogwarts. Why didn't you give it to him then?"

"My master wanted me to... to kill you and take the cloak at the same time." Trish bowed her head. "If I gave the cloak to Vergil then, you all would have found out where my loyalties lay. I wouldn't have gotten a chance to kill you."

"What is she talking about?" Madam Pomfrey whispered.

"Trish serves Mundus, the demon emperor," Dante said darkly.

She paled. "And you brought her here?"

"That's why I wanted her knocked out-" Dante began.

"She cannot stay here," Madam Pomfrey said decisively.

"I won't," Trish said desperately. "I'll leave. But right now you need to listen to me."

Dante looked back at her.

"Actually-" she continued. "Vergil needed Voldemort's help because opening the gate also required advanced magic, beyond his capabilities. My master predicted that Lord Voldemort would double-cross Vergil and take the power for his own."

"Why did you take the amulet?"

"Vergil needed it for Sparda's power. I had to make it look like I'm helping him. Voldemort won't be able to use the power properly, even with the joined amulet. If-if I killed you, and Voldemort killed Vergil, my master would have an easy entry. He knew Voldemort couldn't handle Sparda's power, so he planned to finish off Voldemort himself. That's why he needed all the horcruxes destroyed."

"And you think Voldemort will come after Harry." Dante stated.

"Don't you?"

Dante had to admit she had a point. "Where would they be now?"

"The Ministry." Trish paused for a moment. "Dante... I have to warn you... Vergil may not be alive."

He drew in a sharp breath. "Voldemort cannot kill him."

"Voldemort has been working on a curse specifically for those whose blood is given to the cursed object. He's asked for Vergil's blood and Vergil has agreed. He's been perfecting it for a while now. I... I wouldn't hope for too much."

Dante turned to leave the infirmary.

"Wait!" Trish said from behind him. "I can help!"

Dante whipped around, his sword in hand. "If you know what's good for you, get out of my sight right now!" he snarled.

Trish froze. Dante hurried out the door.

Consciousness returned slowly to Umbridge. She got to her feet even more slowly and held her head for a moment, wincing as the memories came rushing back.

How dare that brat! She would show him... she was going to report to Cornelius immediately.

She walked over to the floo grate and threw some powder in. "Ministry of Magic, Minister's Office!" she said. The fire consumed her.

She tumbled out of the fireplace rather ungracefully in her haste. She jumped to her feet, and then stumbled and nearly fell back again.

Three glowing eyes stared back at her from above Cornelius' desk. "Welcome," it said. "I assume you're Dolores Umbridge. Kneel."

Trembling from head to toe, she said, "You're-you're trespassing! This is-"

The eyes let out a booming laugh. "Trespassing, am I?" it said. "Well, you're entertaining. This world is mine, mortal. I am the Emperor, Mundus. Now, kneel."

She hesitated. Electricity crackled around the eyes, and that was enough for her. She sank to her knees.

"Now, receive your reward for weakening a son of Sparda and helping me into this world."

She smiled tentatively, hopeful. The electricity crackled louder, and by the time she realized what was going to happen, it was too late. She made a run for it. The electricity beam struck her in the back and left nothing but charred remains of bones.

Mundus laughed. "Now for the rest of this world."

Dante did not have to search for long. Vergil was lying on the doorstep of the Ministry... evidently having dragged himself as far. He bent down, lifted Vergil into his arms and Apparated back to Hogwarts, with a different destination in mind.

Snape was less than thrilled to be disturbed at this hour. He was even less amused by what Dante requested of him.

"I see no reason," he said coldly. "to keep someone alive who may have been actively trying to destroy our world."

"In that case, you don't even want to know what Trish just did," Dante said, shrugging. "Just... do what you can for him. Please." in a softer tone, he added, "If Mundus is loose, we're going to need him."

After a long moment of silence, Snape nodded.

"You do realize this will only feed the animosity between the two of you, not curb it?" he said as he walked to his supplies cabinet.

"Probably, yeah." Dante watched him. "Anything I can do?"

"No," Snape said coolly. After a short interval, he added, "Perhaps channeling some of your powers would be helpful in keeping the curse at bay."

"You mean like I charge my sword?" Dante snorted in amusement. "Well, if Vergil's discharging now... can't hurt to try."

He touched Vergil's blackened hand, trying to imagine it as his sword or his guns. He had seen Trish do it... give her energy to him. He could too, surely?

He concentrated.

Vergil's arm began to glow red. Dante felt encouraged. This was working!

He didn't know how long it had been when Snape came back and tipped a potion down Vergil's throat. With his other hand, he was holding his wand, muttering incantations.

"You can stop now," he said to Dante.

Dante broke the skin contact. "Did it work?"

Snape was pouring another potion into Vergil's mouth. "I'm giving him a sleeping draught so hopefully he won't wake up soon," he said. "Until he does, we have no way to find out. I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being, but only time will tell if his body can fight it off. If it had been a full-blooded human, he would have no chance at fighting it. But his heritage is going to work in his favor."

"Sounds like I'm done here." Dante stood. "I think Vergil's opened a hell gate in the Ministry. We can't leave it open. I'm going to see if I can close it."

"Be careful," Snape said in clipped tones. Dante nodded.

At the moment, a tremor shook the castle. Dante and Snape both looked up at the ceiling.

"You don't think...?" Dante broke off. Could Voldemort already be here?

"I'm going upstairs to see what's going on," he said to Snape.

Snape gave a sharp jerk of his head. Dante saw him reach for his wand as he himself ran to the door.

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