AN: This story is a grownup version of my main saga about the Elders. It is rated "M" for language and content. It has been rewritten in the past tense with lines added here and there. 2-9-18 As usual, I write for my own entertainment and make no money from this.

Divine Intervention

Chapter 1: The beginning

November 18, 2022

The magical construct that called itself Voldemort was finally dead; but the cost was tremendous. Standing over its body were Harry Potter and his wife Hermione Potter Nee Granger. They had lost all their friends and families. The magical world no longer existed, Hogwarts was destroyed and most of the muggle world was in ruins due to nuclear war, brought on by Voldemort's attempt to take over the muggle world.

ooOOoo

It all started spiraling out of control when they were betrayed by one Ronald Bilius Weasley, a pureblood wizard who was lazy and thought everything should be handed to him without having to work for it. The betrayal happened during the hunt for Voldemort's horcruxes after their sixth year at Hogwarts. Ronald, being the walking food disposal that he was, kept complaining about not getting enough to eat. He also ran out of the potions he had been using on Harry and Hermione to keep them apart by binding Hermione to himself and Harry to Ginny. He wasn't in love with Hermione, but he was jealous of Harry and wanted to keep her from him. He knew they were very close to one another and couldn't stand it. He started a big fight with Harry as cover to go get more controlling potion from his mother and left them. Hermione cried for hours, with the emotional upheaval flushing the potions from her system. Harry had a higher resistance and was only mildly affected by the potions. Watching Hermione stress out so much increased his anxiety for her, there by flushing the potion from his system as well. She and Harry realized at the same time what had been going on and decided a change of locations was in order and to ditch one Ronald Bilius Weasley; who had apparated back to the Burrow, only to find it was gone and himself surrounded by fifteen wizards in black robes. He was stunned and taken to Voldemort directly for questioning. One look at Voldemort and Ron was singing his head off. He told what their mission was and his now ex friends, last known location. Voldemort sent a couple of its Death Eaters to the coordinates they were given, but with Hermione's wards being as good as they were, couldn't find them. Even though Voldemort had no compunction about using its followers as cannon fodder, the one thing it couldn't stand was a coward, or a traitor. Ron was tortured to death by Voldemort for betraying his friends so easily and for what it perceived as lying about the coordinates. Voldemort immediately went to check on its horcruxes and found the ring, diary and locket all missing. The monster killed Lucius Malfoy upon its return and sent Bellatrix to retrieve the cup. It was sure the Diadem was safe as it was confident in its arrogance that nobody knew of the hidden room at Hogwarts.

As they were cleansed from the control of the potions, Harry and Hermione decided to move the next day as soon as the sun rose in the morning. They still had the night to get through, so Harry was sitting guard at the front of the tent when he saw a white ghostly form of a patronus. It looked like a deer and Harry got up to follow it. He followed the patronus to a small frozen over pond, where he spotted what looked like a sword under the ice. Harry proceeded to break the ice with a mild reducto from his wand and then shedding his clothes, jumped into the icy water to retrieve the sword. The chain that held the locket around his neck started to tighten, choking him as he went after the sword. Harry got the sword but almost didn't make it back to the surface. A pair of strong arms pulled him out of the water, setting him on the bank. Harry looked up and saw Professor Snape standing there.

"Snape," Harry said venomously as he dried off and got dressed, "You're that last person I thought to ever see again; especially after you murdered Professor Dumbledore."

"Potter," Snape replied with his usual sneer," As usual, you jump to conclusions without knowing all of the facts."

Hermione heard the yelling and went to see what was going on. She spotted Snape and hung back, hiding behind a tree.

"What you don't know, Potter, is that I didn't murder Professor Dumbledore." Snape said holding his hand up when Harry started to protest," Yes, I killed him, but he was dead already. The curse that took his hand was slowly killing him and he had less than a year to live. He would have died a very painful death if the curse had been allowed to run its course. Our plan was for me to kill him in front of Death Eater witnesses to keep me in the dark lord's good graces. It was a way for him to die with dignity instead of just withering away."

"I'm sure you didn't track me down just to tell me that," Harry replied, now calmed down," I understand, now that you explained why his hand was black. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Kept saying he was in an accident. Oh, and I appreciate you getting me out of that pond."

"Well, you do have manners after all. You're welcome," Snape said, "You are right. I came in person to bring you the sword, which unfortunately required some heroic deed to retrieve. Also, I came to warn you. Do not say the dark lord's name. He has taken over the ministry and put a taboo on it. If you say it the snatchers will find you. If you must use a name, use Tom or Riddle when you refer to him. One more thing. Your friend Ron turned out to not be a friend at all."

"Yes, we know," Harry says," he was using controlling potions on Hemione and me to keep us apart."

"That's not all," Snape informed him, "You can come out now Miss Granger. I'm not here to hurt you or Mr. Potter."

Hermione walked out from behind the tree and joined Harry, taking his hand in hers. He smiled at her and they turned back to Snape for the rest of his information.

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of even worse news. Mr. Weasley is dead. He was captured by Death Eaters and taken to Riddle's camp. He took one look at Riddle and told him everything. He told Riddle your mission and your location. They couldn't find you so you are safe for the moment. I knew you were in this area and used my patronus to draw you out. Please be wary of that method in the future as I won't use it again. Since the dark lord now knows what you are after, he has already moved one of them. He keeps Nagini with him always and I have discovered one more at the school. Riddle thinks it is safe because in his arrogance, he is sure he is the only one that knows about the secret room on the seventh floor. More like in his stupidity. Even Trelawny knows about that room. It is where she hides her Sherry bottles."

"We know," Hermione said, "It's called the Room of Requirements. It will become any room you need it to be."

"Yes, some of the students are using it as a refuge from the Carrows. Riddle made me Headmaster and I am doing my best to keep the children safe. My best advice for you right now, since your mission has been compromised, is to go into hiding. Train yourselves to be the best you can be. Research everything you can find on Tom Riddle. It might give insight on how he thinks, so you can resume your quest later. There is nothing you can do for the general population, so don't even try. The best we can do is hope you come up with something to take him down so we can rebuild afterwards. Good luck."

With his information delivered and a quick turn, Professor Snape disapparated back to Hogsmeade for the walk back to the castle.

Harry and Hermione took his advice to heart and disappeared from England. They traveled the world, studying magic in every form they could find. They become proficient with wandless magic and very good with mind magic. They now had impenetrable shields in their minds and around their bodies.

Part of their magic was from the soul bond they formed when after a year of traveling together, Harry finally got up the courage to tell Hermione how he felt about her. For her part, she had been in love with him since he rescued her form the troll. She never thought she was good enough for him so hadn't said anything. When he confessed his feelings, she jumped him with her legs wrapped around him and kissed him, pouring all the love she had built up over the years into the kiss. The resulting glow would have lit up a city if they had been anywhere near one. A black mist was expelled from Harry's scar and withered away. When the mist left, it left behind all the knowledge that Tom had accrued up till the time he cast the killing curse on Harry as a baby. It also told them how to detect the rest of the horcruxes. With this knowledge added, Harry and Hermione continued to build up their arsenal of spells while training to build up their core strengths.

Unbeknownst to them, soul bonds are so rare that anyone who found their soul mate became immortal. That had only happened twice in the history of man. The first couple was Gilgamesh and his wife Nehemiah, from twenty-five hundred BC. He reigned as King of Uruk (Iraq) for one hundred twenty-six years, before abdicating for his son. No one knows what happened to them after he abdicated his throne. They are muggles and are still living now. Just moving on every few years to keep their identities secret.

The second couple was Nicholas and Pernell Flamel. Everyone thought the Philosophers stone was the reason for their long life together. They allowed that belief to go on as it gave them security and they wouldn't have to hide. Being magical helped as well since the magical world was hidden from the muggles. The stone was invented by Nicholas to generate the wealth he needed to fund his experiments. He had no problem loaning the stone to Dumbledore to lure Riddle out and when he found out it was destroyed, he just shrugged his shoulders and told Dumbledore not to worry about it. The Flamels had their affairs in order and would live out the rest of their lives normally. Dumbledore of course thought that meant they would live out a normal life and die like everyone else. He believed in the legend of the Elixir of Life, just like everyone else. If Riddle had gotten the stone, all he would have been able to do with it was generate unlimited funds to run his war, but it would not have given him the immortality he was seeking. The Flamels thought it was a good ruse and saw no reason to change it.

So, Harry and Hermione went on, unaware of their immortality. In their travels, they found a ritual in the outback of Australia that would make their bodies invulnerable, along with giving them immense strength. In the past, the aboriginal tribe that invented the ritual only used it to strengthen their leader and his warriors as needed. This was so he would be safe from assassination from other tribes and the warriors would be victorious in defending the tribe. The ritual had to be performed by the shaman of the tribe and it wore off after a few days as they were non-magical. In modern times, all the various tribes get along, and with being simple people that lived off the land, the ritual fell out of use. The shaman and the people of the tribe could see Harry and Hermione were soul bonded and were so much in awe of them, offered to perform the ritual for them and teach them how to do it themselves if the need arose. Unbeknownst to the shaman who had never performed the ritual on a magical person before, along with the fact that the Potters were soul bound, the benefits turned out to be permanent.

With this enhancement and their accumulated knowledge, it was time to return to England. They now had the means to track down the remaining horcruxes and the tools to take out Riddle.

When they arrived back in England they weren't ready for what they found. The airport looked normal enough, but the lack of crowds of tourists and travelers was disturbing. The only people using the airport were business travelers. Harry and Hermione found a quiet corner and disillusioned themselves. They apparated to Charring Cross Road near the Leaky Caldron. All they could find was a boarded up building that appeared to have been empty for some time. They decided to have a cup of tea at a local shop and check the newspapers to see if they could figure out what was going on. Even the traffic in the streets was local only. Everyone seemed to be on high alert about something. Reading the newspaper as they drank their tea they discovered that someone had been going around assassinating world leaders. Security systems were being bypassed as if they didn't even exist and people were turning up dead with no markings or any indication as to the cause of death.

"This is bad Harry," Hermione said after reading the articles, "No wonder travel is restricted."

"Our world has been exposed," Harry agreed, "It is just a matter of time before the muggles do something about it. We need to stop Riddle now; it may be too late already."

Harry and Hermione left the tea shop and walked down the street looking for an alley to change into their animagus forms. After finding such an alley, the pair morphed into a couple of falcons. They took off for a flight over Diagon Alley to see what they could see. The alley was deserted, not a soul in sight with all the shops boarded up. Even Gringotts was closed, the goblins had retreated deep underground, knowing something bad was coming. The lone guard standing in front of the entrance to the ministry looked up when he heard the high-pitched call of the falcons. He looked back down after watching them for a few minutes. If he had kept watching he would have noticed both of them disappear before landing near him. Harry and Hermione morphed back into their human form before walking up to the guard, still disillusioned.

Harry waved his hand at the guard.

"You are very sleepy," he intoned quietly, "Time for a nap."

The guard laid down on the sidewalk next to his post and started snoring quietly.

Harry and Hermione snuck into the ministry building, still disillusioned, to discover what was going on. They saw the workers going about their business like mindless zombies. No one talked to anyone else. The atmosphere was subdued and dreary. The Potters made their way to the records office to find out what they could. What they found out was that most of the half-bloods were slaves to the purebloods and the muggleborns were either non-existent or had fled the country. Any new muggleborn were rounded up as soon as they were found and disposed of.

Harry and Hermione were incensed.

"They don't realize they are dooming themselves to extinction." Hermione whispered through their bond.

"I think it is probably too late for fix it now," Harry sent back, "We need to take out Riddle straight away and hope the muggles don't retaliate. Let's allow ourselves to be captured and taken to Riddle. They can't hurt us, but we can end this. The records said he is using Malfoy Manor as his headquarters."

Hermione agreed and the couple made their way back outside the ministry where they morphed one again into their falcon forms to fly to the location of the manor. When they arrived, they found the manor grounds had been turned into a veritable fortress with high walls with guards walking along the top of them.

"I can sense the last two horcruxes inside," Harry said.

They entered the manor disillusioned and soon found the cup and diadem on display in the trophy room with Nagini napping in front of the fire. Harry fired a silent cutting curse at Nagini, removing her head. A black mist floated out of her body and dissipated. They took the cup and diadem in hand, morphed back into the falcons, and flew out a nearby window still disillusioned. Harry and Hermione took the two horcruxes to a remote location where they destroyed them with the Sword of Gryffindor.

Later that evening as they circled the compound, a very bright light lit the sky from the direction of London, then another and another. Harry and Hermione landed and changed back into their human forms some distance from the manor and clung to each other with tears in their eyes. They understood what the flashes meant. All over the world the same thing was happening to all the major cities as World War Three started. It turned out to be the shortest war in the history of mankind.

"The arrogance of Voldemort has just killed us all," Harry stated.

They were immediately surrounded by Death Eaters.

"Looks like we caught us a couple of thieves," a young Death Eater said, not recognizing the Potters, "The dark lord would like to see you."

"We would like to see it as well," Harry said, "It has no idea what it has done."

"Why do you keep calling the dark lord It?" the young death eater prodded Harry in the back none too gently as they were walking, "He is a great man."

"The thing that calls itself Voldemort is not a man at all. It is not even human," Harry said, "It is a magical construct made up of one Tom Riddle Sr.'s bones, a sacrifice of a servant's hand and a few drops of my blood. Before I vanquished him the first time he was a half-blood wizard with a muggle father and squib mother. If this wasn't so serious I'd laugh at how easy he pulled the wool over the Purebloods."

The boy just prodded Harry and Hermione, leading them to the captain of the guards.

"I found a couple of stragglers that said the dark lord's name," He reported to the captain as he turned them over, "They did not resist. Talked as if they knew the dark lord personally."

The captain the young death eater reported to was none other than Waldon McNair, former executioner for the ministry, who took one look at the couple and cackled gleefully.

"Take them to Bella," He ordered, "I'm sure she would like to play with them before the dark lord returns. He is on his way after accomplishing his mission."

The Potter's were led into the mansion proper and into a room where people were hanging by shackles on the wall. Harry and Hermione allowed themselves to be shackled alongside a very thin woman with scraggly, dirty blond hair. She looked up at them and smiled weakly in relief.

"You're finally here. It will finally end, "she whispered, "You know what's coming, don't you?"

Hermione looked over to the woman and smiled back at her sadly, "Yes Luna, we know what's coming. We just watched as London was destroyed. Once the muggles launched their weapons of mass destruction it became automatic. I'm sure we are next. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry Hermione," Luna said, "I have seen the future and this was necessary for you to learn what is needed for when you go back."

They looked at her with puzzled looks on their faces; Luna just smiled back at them with a dreamy sad look on her face.

"She's here."

Bellatrix LeStrange walked into the room, followed by Fenrir Greyback. The bitch spotted the two new prisoners and cackled insanely as she walked up to Harry and Hermione.

"Well, well, well," she cackled, "Look who we have here. Potter and the mudblood Granger, at last."

"That's Potter to you, bitch," Hermione growled.

Bellatrix rushed over to her and slapped her face, hard, and then dragged the tip of her knife around Hermione's neck, trying to draw a bit of blood.

"We'll soon teach you how to speak to your betters. She's all yours Fenrir," Bellatrix said as she held her stinging right hand in her left with a frown on her face.

"I'm going to have a little fun with you. You grew up nicely, "Greyback growled as he approached.

"That's what you think," Hermione said with a feral smile.

Bellatrix watched with delight as he launched himself at her while changing into his wolf form. She heard a cough behind her and spun around, only to be caught by Harry standing there without his shackles.

"You wouldn't want to miss the show, would you?" He asked.

He took a hold of her head and with a quick twist, turned her head front to back. She now looked like someone with their head on backwards. As the light left her eyes she watched as Hermione caught the werewolf by the hair on the sides of his face and with a quick turn of her body, she used his momentum to throw him into the wall head first, crushing his neck in the process. He slid down to the floor in a heap. Harry dropped Bellatrix's lifeless body to the floor to the cheering of the other prisoners.

"Your suffering will be over soon," Harry explained to the prisoners.

The couple released all the shackles of the prisoners, lowering them to the ground. Hermione and Harry hugged Luna with tears in their eyes. She was the only one beside the Potters that knew what was coming.

"He is here," Luna said as she looked up with her eyes a solid silver in color , "Go, find him quickly. There isn't much time. He must die before the end."

"We know Luna," Hermione said with another hug, "We will take care of it."

She smiled her dreamy smile at them knowingly.

With a final hug with their friend, the Potters disillusioned themselves and walked down to Voldemort's throne room, where they found him sitting on his macabre throne of skeleton heads.

"Bring me the new prisoners," he ordered the guard at the door.

"That won't be necessary," Harry said as the Potters reappeared.

Startled, Voldemort stood and fired the killing curse at the couple without thinking. It just washed over them with no damage.

"Harry Potter," he whispered, "I've waited a long time for you to show up."

"Hello Tom," Harry said, "You have a lot to answer for. You have no idea what you have done."

"How did you manage to survive my killing curse again," the thing that called itself Voldemort asked, "and what do you mean? I know exactly what I have done."

"Hermione and I have achieved what you have been trying to and can only dream about, Immortality," Harry stated, "We got it the natural way, through love and our soul bond. That is the only way to get immortality, except maybe divine intervention. Why don't you tell us what you think you have accomplished by your assassinations?"

"I got the muggle animals to fight each other on a global scale," He answered, "This will make my takeover of the world a lot easier. It will be like Grindelwald all over again, except I will succeed where he failed."

"You arrogant ass," Hermione ranted, "You just condemned the world to a nuclear winter. London and all of the cities on the planet have been destroyed by now. The ministry of magic building is nothing but a crater, it doesn't exist anymore. There won't be any life left on this planet within the next year. The temperatures will drop to well below freezing all year round. The planet will recover eventually, but there won't be any humans living on it. The goblins might survive in their caves, same as the dwarves, but no humans. The statute of secrecy was put in place for a reason and you exposed our world to the muggles. They know about this compound and it will be destroyed, just like London and the rest of the magical world. By the way, how does it feel to be mortal once again?"

The thing that called itself Voldemort widened its eyes when Hermione's words sunk in. Before it could react further, with one swift draw and slice with the sword of Gryffindor, Harry removed its head. The body collapsed into the bone throne where it sat, with the head falling into its lap. A fitting end to the tyrant that tried to take over the world. The death eater guards had collapsed where they stood due to the mark on their arms. The quest was finally over. Harry and Hermione stood there in each other's arms. They each kissed the other; pouring all their love for each other into the kiss. They were surrounded by a heavenly golden glow as the world around them turned white and their bodies were consumed in the nuclear fires.

ooOOoo

Thanks for reading.