When Harry woke, he found himself in a dark, overgrown graveyard, bound tightly to a gravestone.
The black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to his right. A small figure - child-sized - sat near the towering marble headstone, wrapped in a brown hooded robe. Harry saw a wand in its small, skeletal white hand.
Then the figure lifted its head. Its face was shadowed by its hood, but what was striking were the red, glowing eyes.
This was no child.
And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It was agony such as he had never felt in all his life.
He heard a high, cold voice say, "Harry Potter, we meet again."
It wasn't the voice that had stunned him after… after Arthur Weasley's death.
Oh, Merlin. Ginny's father was dead. Killed before his eyes. And given that he was still alive, he had been kidnapped and therefore it was probably his fault. How could he ever face Ginny again?
"Macnair, hurry up. We don't have all day." The cold, sharp voice of the small person kept his thoughts from spiralling further into grief and self-blame.
"Yes, my lord," came a male voice from his left side. The same voice that had stunned him at the Quidditch World Cup.
There was a tall and muscular man with a thin black moustache. Harry recognised him instantly. He had faced him with Ginny in a Hogsmeade alleyway only a few months ago after all… Macnair.
Macnair had killed Ginny's dad!
A large stone cauldron was floating behind him - larger than any cauldron Harry had ever used.
Wait… had the Death Eater just called the small robed creature 'my lord'?
"No, it can't be…"
Harry looked at it and his scar seared with pain again . . . and he suddenly knew that he didn't want to see what was in those robes.
"You are Vol…"
The cold, pitiless voice interrupted him. "Crucio!"
It was pain beyond anything Harry had ever experienced. His very bones were on fire. His head was surely splitting along his scar. His eyes were rolling madly in his head. He wanted it to end… to black out… to die…
And then it was gone.
"Yes, we met two years ago, Harry Potter," Voldemort began, as Harry was still reeling from the pain. "Two years ago, you prevented my rebirth. You could have given me the Stone back then. Maybe I would have spared you. But there won't be mercy today. Your blood will help me get a new body and then… you will die, Harry Potter."
"Everything is prepared, my lord," Macnair told Voldemort.
The liquid in the large stone cauldron was already bubbling fiercely.
"Good work, Macnair," Voldemort said, pleased, as he stood up and his robe slid down.
For the first time, Harry saw what was beneath the robe and he began screaming - until a Silencing Charm from Macnair hit him.
It was like a hairless and scaly-looking child, except Harry had never seen anything less like a child. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble and its face - no child alive ever had a face like that - flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes.
And then Voldemort climbed into the bubbling liquid, right in front of Harry's horrified eyes.
'Please let him die in the cauldron. A normal person would die in boiling water, right? Or maybe he could drown.'
But he knew, deep down, this wouldn't happen.
Macnair began the ritual, his voice stern.
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"
The surface of the grave at Harry's feet cracked. Horrified, Harry watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air at Macnair's command and fell softly into the cauldron. The diamond surface of the water broke and hissed. It turned a vivid, poisonous-looking green. Was he hearing something like screams from the cauldron?
'Maybe Voldemort will drown after all,' Harry thought hopefully.
"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master."
He stretched his left hand out in front of him and took out a dagger from his robe. He swung the dagger, severing his left hand, which plopped into the cauldron with a sickening splash.
Macnair tried to stifle a scream, but he was clearly in a lot of pain.
"Wait… shouldn't it be blue?" he whispered alarmed, looking at the cauldron, as Voldemort's yells became barely perceptible.
Suddenly, a red spell hit Macnair in the back and he fell down, unconscious. Then the invisible assailant became visible and Harry's heart nearly stopped, both worried and relieved at the same time.
"Ginny!" he wanted to scream, but Macnair's Silencing Charm was still active. Still, it was as if Ginny could hear him nevertheless. She waved her wand, cancelling the Silencing Charm and the ropes binding him to the gravestone disappeared.
"Ginny?" he asked, not sure what he wanted to know first. But she ignored him and with a flick of her wand, the child-like Voldemort creature was lifted from the cauldron.
"What are you doing! Do you know…" Voldemort's screaming was interrupted by Ginny's calm voice.
"Obliviate."
The green spell was blindingly bright. Even Lockhart's Memory Charm hadn't been this blinding.
"What…" child-Voldemort's confused voice was interrupted again with another Stunning Spell.
Then she turned to him, as he was beginning to stand up. Her face was serious and sad at the same time.
"Ginny! How did you find me? Why did you Obliviate Voldemort? Are you okay? No, I mean… oh Merlin, your father… I'm so sorry, Ginny," he looked down while talking. "I couldn't save him…"
'Please forgive me…'
A pit opened in his stomach. He deserved to be hated by her. But he didn't think he could live without her anymore. Suddenly, he felt her arms around him.
"I was so worried when you were taken," he heard her small, muffled voice as she pressed her face into his chest. "I thought I lost you too."
Without thinking, he hugged her back. For now, he would just be here for his girlfriend. He felt horrible, but Ginny was more important.
Way too early, they separated.
"We need to act fast," Ginny said resolutely.
She turned her attention to Macnair, lying prone before her.
"I found you by reading Bertha Jorkins' mind - you know, the woman who killed dad. She was controlled by Macnair. As for why I Obliviated Voldemort… I deleted everything. All his knowledge of magic, all his memories, everything. He doesn't even remember his name. He won't be a problem, even if his spirit escapes today," she explained as she looked coldly at the stunned creature. "Not that I plan on letting him escape," she added darkly.
Harry was in awe… Did his girlfriend just defeat the worst Dark Lord in British history with a Memory Charm? She really could be badass when she wanted to be.
"Legilimens," she said, pointing her wand at Macnair. Harry saw the Death Eater convulsing under the mental assault, but he felt no pity for him. Some people truly were better off dead.
If he hadn't stopped Ginny from killing Macnair that day in Hogsmeade, none of this would have happened… Mr Weasley would still be alive.
After a while the spell ended and Ginny looked up. Her voice was strangely distant as she told him the results of her Legilimency spell.
"He found Voldemort while he was on the run from the Aurors, by chance - there are no other Death Eaters involved. And, as I already knew, he also killed my dad by using the Imperius Curse to control Bertha Jorkins."
She levelled her wand at Macnair.
"I understand if you hate me for what I'm going to do next," she said, levelling her wand at Macnair's unconscious body. "But I can't allow him to live. What if he escapes justice again?"
The sadness in her voice almost broke Harry's heart.
She was going to kill him and somehow Harry was perfectly fine with Macnair dying. He deserved to die. It was ridiculous that Ginny thought he would hate her for this. But he really didn't want Ginny to get her hands dirty with scum like this.
He imagined her having nightmares and feeling guilty because she killed someone - even if it was justified.
Then, without a second thought - almost by instinct - he pointed his wand at Macnair's neck and cast a Severing Charm.
"Diffindo."
The spell hit Macnair's neck with a wet, splitting sound.
A thin arc of bright red shot out in two rapid pulses, each one synced to a heartbeat. The spray faded almost immediately, dropping into a dark, steady pour. Macnair's head sagged to one side, held on by only a strip of muscle and skin, his mouth slack and half open.
Harry watched the blood spread beneath him, slow but unstoppable, a widening pool that crept toward Harry's shoes. He should have felt sick. Or horrified. Or something.
Instead, everything was distant. Too quiet. His breathing wasn't even fast.
It was like someone else had cast the spell and he was just… observing the result.
Just noting the details.
The way the body twitched once.
The sharp metallic smell.
"Harry?" Ginny's quiet voice reminded him where he was. He looked up. Part of him expected to see disgust, fear or shock in her eyes, but there was only compassion, love and a tinge of sadness.
He took a deep breath.
"I… I wanted revenge," he lied. "For the kidnapping." He couldn't look into her eyes anymore and turned his head away.
Did she realize he'd lied?
Then he heard her soft steps and her hands gently guided his face back toward hers.
"You don't have to lie to me, Harry," she said softly - so she did know. "I'm the one person in the world you never have to lie to."
Then he felt her lips on his. Just a chaste kiss. But this kiss was different from the others. It wasn't excitement or pleasure. It grounded him. He was not alone. Ginny was still there with him.
The kiss ended too quickly. She drew back, her arms still resting around his neck. Her brown eyes were so beautiful, even with all this darkness surrounding them.
"We still have things to do tonight," she said, giving a quick glance toward the marble headstone. And then Harry remembered. Voldemort - obliviated and stunned - in his grotesque childlike body was lying nearby. Harry's pulse quickened. He had no idea what to do now.
Hopefully Ginny had a plan.
"I do have a plan," she said - almost as if she were reading his thoughts. "I don't need Legilimency to know what you're thinking, you know?" she added with a wry smile.
Ah. He was that obvious?
"Just hold on a little longer, okay? The next part won't be pleasant. But please trust me and when the darkness becomes too much, just focus on me and everything will be okay."
"I trust you," Harry said, deciding not to question her cryptic words for now.
The next part was fast and efficient. Ginny vanished the stone cauldron, levitated Macnair's body into the open grave of Tom Riddle Senior and cleaned the graveyard until there were no traces left that anything strange had ever happened here. Harry wanted to help, but he also didn't want to make more work for Ginny, so he just stood to the side.
At the end, they stood over Voldemort. Part of Harry still wondered what Ginny wanted to do now. Kill the creature? But then Voldemort's soul would just escape, like with Quirrell. Or maybe deliver it to the Ministry or Dumbledore?
"Hold on," Ginny ordered, taking his hand and reluctantly touching the Voldemort creature with her other.
The next thing he knew everything went black. He was pressed very hard from all directions. He couldn't breathe, there were iron bands tightening around his chest. His eyeballs were being forced back into his head. His eardrums were being pushed deeper into his skull.
He almost stumbled when they suddenly appeared on a cliff. Below them was the sea, violent waves crashing against the rocks. It should still be midday, but somehow everything was dark and gloomy.
"Welcome to Azkaban," Ginny said sarcastically, with a false cheer. "The best place in Britain to get rid of a soul."
"Don't let go of my hand," she ordered - Harry had almost forgotten he was still holding it. She then tapped her wand on his head and then on her own. It felt like an egg cracking over his scalp and a moment later he realised they were invisible.
"I don't want the human guards to see us." Why did she emphasize human?
"The Anti-Apparition Wards are only on the fortress itself, but there should be wards that have already detected our presence," Ginny explained.
Suddenly an intense cold swept over him. Harry felt his breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart…
Harry's eyes rolled back. He couldn't see. He was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears like water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder.
And then, from far away, he heard the sound of spider legs - an oh-so-familiar sound - and Hermione's voice. "Why didn't you save me?"
A thick white fog swirled around him.
"Harry!" Ginny's voice cut through the darkness. He felt her warm hand squeeze his and he remembered that she was right beside him and her earlier words.
'…when the darkness becomes too much, just focus on me and everything will be okay.'
Did he fall unconscious? Or had only a moment passed? Harry couldn't tell, but he was still standing next to Ginny, holding her hand.
Around them were several wraithlike creatures in black robes. He couldn't see beneath their hoods, but he felt an almost instinctual fear and revulsion toward them. His eyes landed on one of their hands protruding from its robe - it was glistening, grayish, slimy and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water. His stomach twisted and he had to force himself not to vomit.
Between them and the dark creatures floated a blinding, dazzling, silver Thestral. Harry had seen it once before - Ginny's Patronus Charm, protecting them. The creatures seemed afraid of it.
"Levitate Voldemort to one of the dementors, Harry. Please be quick," Ginny said urgently. Harry didn't know why he had to do this, but now was not the time to question her.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
It was difficult to concentrate, even on a first-year charm, but Harry managed and the, still unconscious, childlike Voldemort was levitated to the nearest black-robed creature - Ginny had called them dementors.
Harry didn't know what to expect. But the excited dementors immediately swarmed Voldemort. The nearest threw its hood back and Harry saw what was beneath it.
It was a disgusting sight. More a maw than a mouth. It lowered itself toward Voldemort's snakelike face, holding the hairless, scaly-looking creature with its clammy hands.
This had to be the most disturbing kiss of all time. It was fascinating and unsettling at the same time.
Then a black, slurry light exited Voldemort's mouth, hovering for a moment in the air before the dementor's maw closed, swallowing it.
"Was this… Voldemort's soul?" Harry asked silently, unable to look away, as the dementor suddenly seemed to lose all interest in Voldemort's body.
"Yeah," Ginny muttered. Then he just heard her wand swish in the air - they were still invisible - and Voldemort's body was thrown off the cliff, landing in the stormy sea below, swallowed by the water.
The Patronus Charm slowly disintegrated and Harry could hear human voices in the distance. But before they could come closer, the world twisted again and they Apparated back to the entrance of the Quidditch World Cup.