Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not!

A twist in the graveyard scene during the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Chapter 3: Lily's Love Ends It!

Beta by alix33, thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Summary: All the cunningly devised plans of Dumbledore and Voldemort come to naught when they meet Harry Potter in the graveyard during the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. When Voldemort is a little too heavy handed when he touches Harry's scar and unleashes the Power the Dark Lord knows not. The Love of Lily Potter. And that changes everything. HHr NLLL RWLB Characters deaths.

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -

...So Harry carefully watched as the dark mist with glowing red eyes slowly rose from the dust and ashes.

Dark lord Voldemort still wasn't dead enough.

Yet!

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -

Slowly, the wraith of Voldemort rose from the ashes and took his adult shadow shape as his glowing red eyes looked around at the utter devastation the boy had wrought. His useless unconscious minions littered the graveyard and the most heinous dark lord of the last half century was so angry that he chucked a world class right royal hissy fit with such vile language that couldn't be printed here for my gentle readers. But be assured Wraithmort would have done Vernon and Dudley Dursley proud, as he bemoaned that the boy had right royally screwed up and destroyed all his brilliant plans and years of painful hard work to get his body back, and devastated all his evil minions. Who was left to fear and follow such a loser dark lord now?

A chortle from his bemused Arch-nemesis caused Wraithmort to slowly turn his glowing red eyes towards those glowing emerald green eyes.

"I really hate you! Potter! You know that don't you!" The high-pitched voice sneered.

"Well I don't particularly like you either, Tom." Harry said as he reached out with his hands and Wraithmort backed away.

"Don't use that disgusting Muggle name in my presence." Wraithmort hissed.

Harry pointed to Tom's father's name on the Riddle Family Tombstone behind him and poked out his tongue. What was Wraithmort going to do?

"Oh, very mature, Harry. Look at all the fine upstanding Pure-blood wizards you have killed!" Wraithmort sneered in an attempt to guilt trip the boy.

"It was not I who touched them, you did!" Harry answered. "And they are not completely dead yet, as they are still breathing. It looks like there was a little problem with their dark mark."

"But you will murder them, if you vanquish me!"

"Not if you leave me and my friends alone."

"Sorry, dark lord honour demands that I kill you."

"Then I am only going to vanquish you, Tom. You can take all of your evil minions with you to keep you company!"

"Your precious headmaster would be most disappointed to hear you say that. He would want you to forgive me and them, and give us all a second chance." Wraithmort sneered but he couldn't say the words; a second chance, with a straight face.

"Well then your evil minions have made their choice to come here, and therefore, any more second chances are forfeit." Harry replied. "And the headmaster would be disappointed, but he is not here is he, and I doubt he will come to save you. So I won't tell him if you don't. This ends tonight!"

Wraithmort snorted at the boy's impertinence, and then he cursed the old fool Dumbledore for letting him find that very dark ancient ritual for the re-in-soulment of a Horcrux into a magically constructed body that needed the blood of his enemy. He wondered why the Leader of the Light had left open that very dark book on his desk during that short unsuccessful interview for the position of the DADA job all those years ago.

Then Wraithmort wondered what had gone wrong. "The ritual needed the blood of my enemy and Wormtail took your blood, I should be able to defeat your mother's protection and touch you!"

"Er, Dumbledore didn't say that my mother's protection was in my blood. He said it was in my skin!" Harry replied and then wondered why he had to stay with his blood related aunt if the protection was in his own skin. He, therefore, could have lived anywhere. Why was he trapped in Durzkaban? He was a little distracted to hear all what Tom said next, but he did hear the last part.

"What? In your skin? What the hell does the old fool expect me to do? Skin you alive? Or Possess..." Wraithmort finally realised what he had to do.

Harry had noticed the slip but he wanted more information this time after seeing that Pettigrew was with Tom. "Did you use Pettigrew to put my name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"Wormtail?" Wraithmort chuckled. "That useless rat would have gotten himself barbecued if he got anywhere near that Goblet of Fire. No I used my most faithful Death Eater. He had been at Hogwarts all year, Polyjuiced as the DADA professor."

"Mad-Eye Moody was actually a Death Eater?"

"Yeah, the old fool's old friend!" Wraithmort sneered. "And he didn't even notice!"

"But he helped me in the Tournament!"

"Of course he did. He helped you in the Tournament to make sure you came here to meet your destiny." Wraithmort chuckled. "I couldn't believe the old fool got dragons for the first task. It was supposed to be trial by combat to soften you up."

"The dragons were Dumbledore's idea?"

"Yeah, he probably wanted to see how far your mother's protection would go to save you. Poor Barty had work so hard to keep you alive so you could die here."

"Barty?"

"Yes, my most faithful Dead Eater was Barty Crouch junior, the son of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, back in 1981, Barty Crouch senior."

"I know Barty Crouch, he was the Ministry official who insisted that I had a binding Magical Contract and had to participate in this Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"Yes, old Barty was a stickler for rules. Really destroyed him when that coward Karkaroff betrayed his son to get out of Azkaban." Wraithmort sneered.

"Professor Igor Karkaroff? The Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute."

"Yes, that disgusting coward. Don't worry; Barty will kill him most painfully before he leaves Hogwarts."

"Oh? So professor Moody is really Barty Crouch's son and he is a Death Eater." Harry reasoned.

"Yep, and he murdered his own father before he could expose the plans to Dumbledore."

"Oh, that's why Barty Crouch came to Hogwarts." Harry reasoned.

"Yep. Barty was impressed that you of all the students was able to throw of his Imperius Curse."

"Oh, that figures that he was working for you. All of the DADA professors have tried to kill me each year." Harry said as he felt a little betrayed by the headmaster for not figuring out who was really playing his old friend.

"It is called irony when you have to defend yourself against the professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts." Wraithmort smirked.

Harry snorted. "So, why won't you leave me alone?"

"Oh, I will, once I kill you very painfully."

"In your nightmares. I am up four to zero." Harry snorted. "Why are you after me for anyway?"

Wraithmort chuckled as he went over the memories the returning piece of his soul gave him of the boy's miserable existence. "The old fool wouldn't tell you, would he?"

"No, I am too young and he wants me to enjoy my horrible childhood." Harry chuckled darkly.

While Wraithmort snorted. "The old manipulative fool really has ruined your childhood far worse than he ruined mine. He was such a lousy professor too, far more painful and awkward than Severus. Trying to get a straight answer out of him was so hard as if he enjoyed making it difficult. He is the reason why I went so far to take all those steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death."

"Oh?" Harry wondered. "How is that working out for you?"

Wraithmort's red eyes glared at the boy as he smiled.

"You do realize that your beloved headmaster has been trying to kill you all along, don't you?" Wraithmort said to try and mess with the boy.

"I was wondering about that. All the times that we seem to have these little get-togethers right under his crooked nose while within the safety of Hogwarts."

"Well the Manipulative Old Fool would do anything to protect his Greater Good, even from the Boy-Who-Lived."

"What? Why?"

"Because you are a bigger threat to him and his Greater Good than I am." Wraithmort sneered.

"No I am not. I am just Harry!"

"No, you are the famous Boy-Who-Lived!" Wraithmort sneered. "Why do you think that the headmaster has let you become; the Boy-Who-Cheated, the Boy-Who-Nobody-Likes, or the Boy-Who-Everyone-Will-Forget?"

"Oh?" Harry said as the penny dropped.

Wraithmort snorted as that barb hit home and tried a different tact. "Has the old fool told you what his Greater Good actually is?"

"Er, not really but it has to be better than you."

Wraithmort snorted. "Did he tell you that he got the idea from his lover?"

Harry screwed up his nose at the thought of the wrinkly old headmaster having a lover.

Wraithmort sneered. "Yeah, the old fool's lover was Gellert Grindelwald!"

"Grindelwald?" Harry said surprised as he just assumed the lover couldn't possibly be another dark lord.

"Yes, the last dark lord before me. Gellert and Albus were sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g!…"

"NOOOO!" Harry cut him off as he put his hands over his ears before his stomach turned, while he wondered how evil a dark lord could be, to give him such a cruel and unusual punishment as giving a teenager the horrible nightmare of seeing the wrinkly old headmaster up a tree with his lover. Where was the brain bleach when you needed it?

"Yes, yes, yes, the great Albus Dumbledore loved a dark lord." Gleefully Wraithmort said. "Not so shiny and good now is he?"

Harry couldn't answer that, but after this Tri-Wizard Tournament disaster, he had his doubts.

But Harry never took his eye off Wraithmort as he knew he was trying to get him angry and distracted.

"And what about that redhead moron who believes that he is a food vacuum cleaner, do you think he is your friend?" Wraithmort picked another button to press. "How much do you trust him?"

"Er, Ronald Weasley?" Harry answered hesitantly. "Er, he is my best friend!"

"Ah-ha! You hesitated! I heard he threw a right royal temper tantrum when your name came out of the Goblet. He abandoned you when you needed him and said some really nasty things about you that no real 'best friend' would ever say." Wraithmort twisted the knife as he made air quotes around the words, best friend.

"Well.." Harry started to say as he thought over the betrayal by Ronald and how much it devastated him.

"You should have heard the howler the moron's mother sent me after I slaughtered her twin brothers." Wraithmort shuddered. "Such a horrible temper and the foul language. I guarantee that you tolerate the moron just to avoid his mother sending you a howler if you were to dump him like he has dumped, abandoned and betrayed you."

"Oh?"

"Yes, by my fourth year, I ruled all of Slytherin. Everyone wanted to be my friend. And you saw how I punished those cowardly minions for abandoning me!" Wraithmort twisted again. "No one wants to be your friend, not while you have that redhead moron of a vacuum cleaner hanging around. Haven't you heard how he eats? So many times I ordered that coward Quirrell to terminate with extreme prejudice, that disgusting excuse for a wizard."

Wraithmort had a point and Harry knew he needed to think very carefully about Ronald. He looked at the wraith and wondered if he was fading a little bit.

So Harry asked a question that he really wanted answered. "Why did you come after my parents and me?"

Wraithmort smiled at another opportunity to mess with the boy's mind and his hero. "Well, there is a prophecy the old fool got that said that you had some power to vanquish me."

"Power? What power?" Harry questioned. "My mother's protection?"

"Yes, your mother left upon you the traces of her sacrifice. This is powerful ancient magic that I foolishly overlooked."

"Oh, so you are saying that my mother was more of a bad ass than you?"

Wraithmort chuckled. "Indeed. It grieved me to kill your parents. Luckily for me the old fool had hamstrung them with his no Unforgivable Curses rule and unlimited second chances; otherwise they would have stopped me and my evil minions dead."

"Oh?" Harry wondered what his mother and father were really like.

"Yes, even my dear Bella avoided your mother."

"Bella?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange, my most vicious Death Eater." Wraithmort explained. "And she is insane but not stupid. Ask Neville Longbottom what she did to his parents."

"Oh? Neville?" Harry wondered why he didn't know what happened to the other victims of Voldemort. Ronald always seemed to keep him distracted.

"Yes, I tried to get your mother and father to join me. They were a really great team, and Dumbledore claims that I feared him. What a joke."

"So why did you attack them?"

"Well if you were anything like your mother, I couldn't let you live."

"Oh? But how were you able to kill them then?"

Wraithmort snorted. "I cheated of course, and sent the rat. You know he has a peculiar unique set of skills. The rat made himself useful and snuck in to steal your parents' wands. He still carries their wands around as a trophy." He chuckled. "I am not foolish, as I had already faced your parents three times and still had not killed them. Not even a scratch."

"Oh? That is so not fair!"

"Dark lord here."

"You're evil!"

"Thank you. I try hard."

"You're despicable!"

"You're welcome."

Harry tried a different tact. "So, my parents could have stopped you?"

Wraithmort smirked. "Yes, of course, you have seen that my most loyal minions are just a bunch of cowardly sociopaths who follow me out of fear, and I used fear to take power and control over the sheeple. There was me and about twenty Death Eaters plus family supporters against thousands of witches and wizards. All your parents had to do was take out Bella, then injure me, and it would have been all over. All those cowardly Pure-blood sociopaths would have crawled back into their holes. They only attacked when the odds were ten to one. Most of the time they came in the dead of night, just sealed up homes and burnt them to the ground with their victims trapped inside."

"Oh, that's horrible!"

"Yeah, but that's how you seize power." Wraithmort said. "Burn some things down like houses or property to create fear, until no one dares to opposes you. While your political faction seizes control of the Wizengamot."

"But, Dumbledore…"

"Dumbledore?" Wraithmort cut Harry off with a snort. "Dumbledore is playing both sides against each other. That maintains his position of power. But only one can occupy the center. How does he control Hogwarts? With the Slytherin verses Gryffindorks stupid rivalry. He can not allow either side to get too powerful or worse, unite. So he hamstrung his Order of the Fried Chicken, with his no Unforgivable Curses rule and unlimited second chances, and then sacrificed a few of his expendable minions to even things out."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, you won't hear Binns teach you that at Hogwarts." Wraithmort sneered. "And it upsets me so much that you are such a lousy student and yet, I still can't kill you."

"Oh, sorry."

"Your mother would have been so disappointed after sacrificing her life for you." Wraithmort twisted the pain.

Harry knew Tom was right, he was a lousy student and he had to do better. If only for Hermione and his mother. So he thought that he better start now to ask the right questions. "Where did you learn that?"

"In Slytherin, of course." Wraithmort said as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "If you had gone to Slytherin as Fergus wanted to place you, you would have learnt all this, instead of being trained to be cannon fodder for Dumbledore."

"Fergus?"

"Fergus, the sorting hat."

"Oh? That's his name."

"Yes, you haven't bothered to speak to him since?"

"Only briefly. He still insisted that he was right about putting me in Slytherin."

"Of course he is, I spoke to Fergus often as he knows everyone. Helped me discover my family history."

"Oh?" Harry said as he made a note to himself to spend time talking to Fergus.

Wraithmort continued from the Horcrux's memory. "Fergus wanted to sort you into Slytherin. He saw your potential. Plenty of courage, not a bad mind, talent, and a nice thirst to prove yourself." Wraithmort smirked. "You could be great, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that. For evil minions, a Dark Lord is measured by who he defeats and my fear factor level dropped to zero after you."

"Sorry."

"So, what happened? You let that imbecile Malfoy turn you off Slytherin and switched off your brain so that redhead moron wouldn't get jealous." Wraithmort reasoned.

Harry started to speak but the words died. He remembered how he wanted to prove himself to be accepted at Hogwarts so they wouldn't send him back to Durzkaban, but didn't, just to please Ronald.

"It's my fault, Harry, I am so sorry. I should have tried harder to get Quirrellmort to terminate with extreme prejudice, that disgusting excuse for a wizard." Wraithmort smirked as he was enjoying messing with the boy. "Then you could have been a much better Arch-nemesis."

Harry snorted as he knew what Tom was doing, and asked. "But how did you know all that?"

"You saw that black mist that came out of your scar?"

Harry nodded.

"Well that was a bit of my soul that got trapped in your scar somehow, and made you what is called a Horcrux. It was part of my path to immortality." Wraithmort explained as he tried to charm Harry while he turned a little green. All this information won't matter once he possessed the boy. "And as it has consciousness, it experienced everything you did. Almost blew my mind to have all of your terrible experiences dumped into my brain. Even the stuff that the manipulative old fool obliviated from you."

"What? I have been obliviated?"

"Yep, many times and so have a lot of others just so the headmaster keeps all of his dark secrets. Particularly about how you have been treated and suffered." Wraithmort explained. "He truly didn't want anyone to discover what was really hidden in your scar."

"Oh?"

"I do believe that his plan is for me to kill you to remove that Horcrux."

"Oh? So that is why he keeps arranging these get togethers so you can kill me?"

"I gather so. But if I knew what was in your scar, I would have never tried to kill you. I would have kidnapped you and hidden you away. While you existed, I would live."

"Oh?" Harry didn't like the idea of someone else keeping him captive. He changed topics. "You said that I have been obliviated."

"Oh, yes. Many times. That redhead vacuum cleaner has been robbing you blind and each time you caught him, he would complain as you stopped being his best mate and you had to report to the headmaster for corrections."

"Corrections? Oh, you mean I was obliviated to accept his friendship again."

"You catch on quick, Harry. But not only you were corrected, so was your girlfriend, Hermione."

"Hermione is my girlfriend?"

"Yes, since the troll in first year when she thanked you with a kiss for being her knight in shiny armour. You and the redhead had another falling-out over his bad attitude and you had gone alone to rescue the girl. After that you asked her many times to be your girlfriend and you have had about fifty first kisses. Quite the romantic, your father would be proud. Obviously your girlfriend was the first one you asked to go to the Yule Ball with you. You were so happy until you were corrected. Even then you asked her two more times after that until the headmaster got nasty and made Krum take her so she would be his hostage. The manipulative old fool has already given you to the blood traitor's only daughter."

"Who? Ginny?"

"Yep. He has planned your miserable existence from the cradle to the grave." Wraithmort sneered.

"Eww. She is Ronald's little annoying fan girl sister, who still hasn't spoken to me without running away. Besides Ronald is very protective of his sister and would beat me up if I made her cry."

"Yep, the redhead has done that many times when you and your girlfriend got together and dumped him and made the little sister cry. But your girlfriend has it far worse. Your jealous best friend wants her, even though he can't stand her, just to have something you want, and stop you from escaping from his family." Wraithmort twisted.

Harry didn't like what he was hearing but he had to think very carefully about it later. So he changed tact. "So, what things would have Slytherin taught me for my greatness."

Wraithmort chuckled as he was starting to enjoy this banter like talking to an equal, while his evil minions were so terrified of him. It will grieve him when he has to kill the boy. "Well, the first thing you would have been taught was how to choose your true friends like Hermione and Longbottom, and how to make them loyal to you, and you to them. That is very important being loyal to your friends. Then how to avoid and deal with bullies like the redhead and Malfoy, and manipulators like Dumbledore. Finally you would be taught how to deal with those who want to use you."

"Oh, that would have been useful."

"Yes, it would have been if you had gone to Slytherin. Then you would have been taught about power, political power and how to use it to your advantage. How to recognise your enemies like Dumbledore, and how he operates to maintains his power in the political center. How the dark side works to maintain their control and advance their agenda to increase their power. And the most important lesson of all, never allow the sheeple to think for themselves. That is what the redhead did to you. He stopped you from thinking for yourself with all of his total lack of manners, slackness, bullying, rudeness, and chess, and the Dursleys with all of their chores. Dumbledore needed to stop you thinking for yourself so you can be controlled. It is our greatest fear. If the sheeple ever got the opportunity to think for themselves. They would soon see through all of our manipulations and schemes, and realise that they don't need all the crap we dump on them to hold them down and under control. They would soon discover that they don't need us and could do a lot better without us."

"Oh?"

"Yes, in short, you would have been taught to be cunning. Plus you would have been properly instructed in potions."

"Wow." Harry was surprised that he understood all that and now regretted not going to Slytherin. "What does the light side do?"

"Oh, they are kept busy doing all the work, growing food, and creating all the wealth for Dumbledore and the dark side to steal."

"Oh, that's not fair!"

"It never was meant to be fair. That's why it is so important to think for yourself and work hard to avoid being part of the sheeple."

"Oh?"

"Yes, then I could have had an Arch-nemesis that I could be proud of, and a worthy foe to kill." Wraithmort sneered.

Harry was a little surprised how well he was handling Wraithmort's taunts without a bit of him in his scar. So, he tried a different tact. "So, how many times?"

"What?"

"How many times do I have to vanquish you before I win? It's four to zero."

"But I only have to kill you once."

Harry snorted. "You want to go for five to zero?"

"This is not a game!"

"Oh, but it feels like you try to kill me each year. So how many times do I have to vanquish you before I win?"

"Oh? I don't know. Severus only heard the first part of the prophecy before the old fool's brother discovered that he was eavesdropping and threw him in." Wraithmort sneered as he tried to push the boy's buttons. He felt he was slowly getting weaker and he feared that it was the loss of his connection to the boy's scar. So he really needed to steal a magical boost from the boy and possess him before it was too late.

"Professor Severus Snape?" Harry said bitterly as he watched the wraith. "That miserable excuse for a Potions Master?"

"Yes, that's the one." Tom said gleefully. "The part Severus heard only said that you had some power to vanquish the dark lord."

"Some power?" Harry wondered. "What? My mother's love?"

"I know not. He only heard; 'The one with the power to vanquish the - Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..." Wraithmort shrugged his shoulders. "Prophecies are terribly vague but the Dark Lord is obviously me, thrice defied me could be either your parents or the Longbottoms, and both you and Neville were born as the seventh month dies. I picked you because you were the half-blood just like me."

"Oh?"

"And Severus has a very good memory." Wraithmort said to push Harry's buttons again.

"But the headmaster trusts him?"

"Yes, of course he does. But what does he trust him to do? He certainly doesn't trust him to be nice to you. There is a reason why the old fool loves to forgive and hand out second chances like candy." Wraithmort agreed. "But even I trust Severus. He is one of my most faithful and most useful minions."

"That evil miserable.."

Wraithmort saw the moment of distraction in the boy's eyes and charged head first with all of his will power towards the boy's magical core in a desperate attempt to possess the boy. He knew he was getting weaker and couldn't wait any longer.

It was do or die!

But Harry's reflexes were quicker and he instantly brought up his hands in front to block Wraithmort. He smiled grimly as he thought of his mother's love and Hermione while the wraith burst into flames as he hit the locked palms of the hands of his Arch-nemesis. Just like Tom-mort did in the Chamber of Secrets when he stabbed the diary. Harry channeled all his will and magic to vanquish the dark lord. This time he was going to burn Wraithmort's butt and finally vanquish the dark lord forever.

Wraithmort screamed as he hit the palms of the boy and drew on all of his will to force his way to possess his Arch-nemesis and burn through the Mudblood's protection on the boy's hands, drawing on the life-forces of all of his remaining marked Death Eaters.

But Harry's loving mother's protection on his hands burnt hotter than Fiendfyre to incinerate Wraithmort along with the life-forces of his evil Death Eaters. The graveyard was lit up by the magical light show until they were all consumed. Then Nagini's head exploded as did his other anchors until all that remained of the dark lord consciousness was sparks, ash and then finally nothing.

An odd sort of death.

Harry felt the heat of the flames as his hands glowed white while they absorbed the magical power of Wraithmort as he was slowly incinerated and destroyed the life-forces of all his branded evil minions.

The dark lord was finally gone and vanquished forever.

And he had taken all of his evil minions with him.

The graveyard was silent except for the heavy breathing of one under size boy.

All the Death Eaters were dead.

And Harry whispered, "Thank you, mum." As he knew that his Hermione would be safe now.

And the next thing Harry could think of was that Voldemort said that the rat had stolen his parents' wands and had kept them for a trophy. Slowly he crawled over the ten feet to the twisted body of the rat and felt through his pockets. He soon found the two missing wands. One was of light coloured wood with the initials LE carved into the handle, and the other was of a dark coloured wood with the initials JP carved into the handle. Mr. Ollivander had said his mother's wand was ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, and made of willow. A nice wand for charm work. The darker wand was of mahogany, eleven inches, and pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. He held the wands carefully as they were the only things he had of his mother and father as his Cloak of Invisibility was a family heirloom.

Harry crawled back to the stone Angel of Death and lent back against it as he surveyed the desolation around him. The last thing he could think of was how alone he was in the dark cold graveyard and how disappointed the headmaster would be as he looked over all the dead twisted bodies that littered the necropolis.

Only the last one was resting peacefully.

That was the body of his friend, Cedric.

Then a large ball of snowy white feathers landed in front of him. Harry automatically wrapped his arms around his most faithful owl and he didn't feel so completely alone anymore.

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -

Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, outside of the maze, an old manipulative wizard was starting to feel all alone.

Oh, who am I kidding? The headmaster was far too angry to feel alone.

In fact the headmaster was actually rapidly approaching absolutely and utterly furious outrage with the boy. On a scale from one to ten, he was certainly feeling a twelve.

As the headmaster now had two twisted up dead bodies, a missing Potions Master, and a terrified Minister of Magic looking at him for someone to blame. While the boy's large glass container was overflowing with emerald green life-force gem stones as the Champion's Clock chimed while his clock hand moved from Certain Death, to Mortal Danger, and all the way back to Resting as the clock chimed at each point.

What the hell could the manipulative old headmaster do? He couldn't blame Voldemort as the boy hadn't returned yet to announce that the dark lord was back, and he couldn't blame the boy as he wasn't there. And the headmaster couldn't just apparate to the graveyard and drag the boy back as he was not suppose to know where the boy was. And he couldn't leave anyway with all this chaos to control for the Greater Good.

The other Professors were looking at him to do something but with fake Moody dead, he couldn't revealed that he had known all along where the Tri-Wizard Cup Portkey had taken the boy.

The Machiavellian headmaster was at a complete loss. All he knew was that the boy had done something to right royally screw up and destroy all his brilliant plans and years of painful manipulations. He didn't know what else he could do.

He hadn't been brought this close to tears since Lily Potter had screwed up all of his plans for eternal glory on that Halloween night in 81 with whatever she had done to save and protect the boy and destroyed Voldemort's body all those years ago.

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -

Meanwhile in a hidden dilapidated ancestral home of the Black family, an ancient house-elf was making his two hundred and twenty-second attempt to complete his favourite master's last order. He was sure this ingenious plan would work as he held a house brick above his head and was about to slam it down on the ancient gold locket, when the locket started to vibrate and then exploded. Fortunately the elf had lowered the brick in front of himself and the brick took most of the blast. Unfortunately the brick was driven into the elf and he was rammed through the wall behind him. Unfortunately on the other side of the wall was a magical portrait of Walburga Black. The ancient elf died happy that he had completed good master Regulus last order, but didn't realise that his mistress' magical portrait had also been destroyed.

The other Horcruxes of Voldemort had exploded but fortunately no one injured. Though Gringotts found a horrible mess in one of their vaults, and a dilapidated ancient hovel in Little Hangleton suddenly became visible again as the wards that had hidden it for years were destroyed.

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -

Then a cold dread settled on Harry as he realised his situation. He lent back against the stone Angel of Death, so he could discuss his predicament with Hedwig.

"Thank you for coming, Hedwig." Harry started as his owl nodded. "I really needed a friend."

Harry hugged his faithful owl as Hedwig wrapped her wings around her owlet.

After a moment Harry released the grateful hug and spoke to his friend. "I don't think the headmaster is coming."

Hedwig gave Harry a disgusted glare and then hacked up and spat out a half digested rat to show what she felt about the headmaster.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I concur. So typical that the headmaster only seems to give you half of the information and it is the bad half you don't need. I have my doubts about whose side he is on. So I don't really trust him anymore. But we are in a terrible situation here. We are in a Muggle graveyard full of dead fine upstanding Pure-blood wizards and Voldemort didn't bother to leave a body for me to blame."

Hedwig nodded as if to say. "I concur."

As Harry continued. "From my sad past experience with the Minister of Magic, I know that the coward would blame me for their brutal murders, plus on top of that he would blame me for Cedric's tragic death. The Minister would cheerfully throw me into Azkaban just to be seen to be doing something, like he did to poor Hagrid, and the headmaster. The headmaster would say how disappointed he was as he would sadly hold the door of Azkaban open for me. All because I failed to follow his example to forgive, and give all these evil dark lords and murderous Death Eaters another second chance that they never gave me or my family."

Hedwig nodded, then tilted her head to the side with a twist, and flapped her wings, as if to say. "Yep, you are so totally screwed! You need to fly away with me!"

Harry chuckled. "You're right as always, Hedwig. I can't go back to Hogwarts. But what about Padfoot? We could find Padfoot and we could fly away together on Buckbeak."

Hedwig nodded as if to say. "Good idea, and I know where Padfoot is."

Harry smiled. "Of course you would know where Padfoot is."

Hedwig nipped at his fingers and then tilted her head the other way as if to say. "What about my mistress?"

Harry agreed. "Yes, I would miss Hermione too."

Harry hugged his owl.

"I wish Hermione was here so I could say goodbye to her." Harry said sadly.

Pop!

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -

Thank you for reading.

- Lily's Love – The Power the Dark Lord knows not! -