"Ha, you can't kill me," Dumbledore roared, "I'm too important for you to get rid of me. My plans are all-encompassing. I'M INVINCIBLE!"

"Oh just shut the fuck up, old fart," Harry responded and – amazingly – Dumbledore shut in fact up. Then he walked across the room towards the still floating stick waver.

"Now," Harry continued, pretending to be a show host of some obnoxious variety, "for my next trick I'm going to need a person with a working Occlumency."

He gestured towards Dumbledore, pretending to be surprised, "And here is our next vic- er, I mean participant. What's your name, sir?"

Dumbledore glowered. Voldemort snickered. He knew what would come.

"So, you don't have a name, do you?" Dumbledore glowered a bit more, "Well, Mr nameless idiot, welcome to the first round of 'Protect your memories'. I'm your host, jury and executioner, Harry Potter and the first round is the simplest of them all: I only need you to build up your Occlumency to the highest level of your capabilities. If you don't," Harry's smile grew vicious, "I'm going to assist you. Give us a sign when you're finished."

Dumbledore followed suit. Mage Sight allowed Harry to see the enormous fortress of Dumbledore's Occlumency building up. Then Dumbledore nodded. Harry placed his placebo stick at Dumbledore's temple

"All rright, Mr Idiot, try to stop me," and Harry drew his arm back. Dumbledore screamed, as the first ten years of his memories were ripped right out of his head. Harry fished a flask out of his pocket and guided the memory strand into it. When he looked back at the former Headmaster he could see no trace of Occlumency anymore.

Harry smirked, "Are you going to build up your Occlumency again?"

With a fearful expression Dumbledore shook his head.

"So you want me to build up your Occlumency shields?" Harry asked.

'It couldn't be that bad, could it?' Dumbledore thought while nodding.

Then Harry set to work. Soon after that, the Mind Shield Harry created, surpassed even the stuff of legends. Dumbledore started to shake, his face a rictus of fear. He'd be a vegetable after this, he thought.

"You should've gone with your own shields. I have reason to make you suffer. This one is for separating Hermione from me," and drew his stick back again. The next ten years hung from it. Dumbledore screamed for Minutes this time. Voldemort even clapped his hands and – bounced? It was this moment that Harry realised: He and Voldemort were nothing alike. And: he'd end this soon.

The look which Harry sent frightened Voldemort. Oh, right, he was giving into his psychopathic tendencies again. He'd thought, he could plea for mercy with Harry but…

He examined himself again. Would he break down again? His vow was so steadfast and strong when he made it, but now... ? A little torture and he'd become giddy with excitement again, just as in his early days. What if…

'NO! No more what-if's,' Tom thought. He couldn't stand in the face of temptation. He had to go. He wanted to go.

Dumbledore was shivering violently. Harry seemingly had ended it. The last flask was filled. Tom Riddle looked and saw Harry looking right back at him, his thoughts clear as day. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"I thought, I could plea for mercy, Harry. I was wrong. I will go now."

And though Harry's eyes never lost their seriousness, one end of his mouth curved into the slightest of smile.

"Good. Could you take the trash out with you?"

A sniff passed the distance between them, "Yes, I suppose I could do that."

They nodded towards each other and Voldemort started to move towards the veil, taking Dumbledore with him. Dumbledore screamed and railed and threatened and promised – but to no avail. When his head touched the veil, his body became translucent and he started to float away. Then there were claws, pulling him downwards. Voldemort stopped, frightened. Then he steeled himself, exhaled, and went after Dumbledore. This time, a puff of smoke escaped the veil.

"Was purgatory real? Could Voldemort – of all people – be redeemed?" Harry wondered.

Harry sat down on the Stone Block, his legs dangling in front of it. He had it.

He had done it.

His biggest enemies – gone. It was him and his girls now… and his pupils of course. The society of mages. What would he do now? He was unemployed now, jobless in the best sense of the word. No more craziness – as long as that door was closed. He lazily sealed it with a locking command – and a moved stick. He was still aware of the audio-visual connection to the Atrium. A flick of his stick changed that too.

He lay down on the stone, eyes closed. He was finished. And right now he could celebrate it, even if it was a silent, overwhelming sense of peacefulness, being content, Achievement being finished -type of celebration. It felt great. No more scrambling to making ends meet, no more craziness, no more meddling right now. For this one glorious moment, he was Free. Free of having things to do, free of other peoples assumptions, prejudices and expectations.

Free!

For this one glorious moment in time. What a great experience. His energy flowed back into him. Ideas started to pop up, ideas of the 'What-am-I-going-to-do-now' variety. A big orgy with his girls, traveling, looking around, being curious. Looking for other mages, if they wanted to be found; if not – fuck them. See, what has been. See, what kind of future would be penned in this book called history. He could understand now why people liked to live, especially when life was something this exhilarating. The world had just become his oyster. And if it would feel any better, he'd cum in his clothes. The possibilities were just another form of freedom mapped out as a landscape. Everything would be new. Every stone could have a story to tell, a mystery to part with or whatever. It was a wonder to behold.

It was great to be alive.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He opened an eye.

"Hi, dad."

"Hi, kiddo."

"Too much TV in Heaven?"

"Called reality. If we choose, we can watch wherever."

Harry nodded, "Come, sit down with me."

His father did.

"Where's mum?"

Raised eyebrows, "Tired of me already?"

A sniff, "Hardly."

"She's feeding me with the otherworldly news. The connection's still there."

"So you submitted her?"

A nodding head, "Yes."

"Were there others to be?"

"No. Your mum made me swear. We suppressed that part of my magic."

"Wow that was a price to pay."

"Worth it every single day. I couldn't have kept up with two women of Lily's variety. She's a firecracker, I tell you."

"I can see that. What about me?"

"Our blessings to you and yours. You've got it good with them. And I include Narcissa."

A nod and a lopsided smile, "Yeah," full of everything.

"You're a hero, Harry."

A sniff, "Not here, not now. Outside of that door, yes. Right here, right now, just a living being. Ironic, it being a Death Chamber."

A thoughtful nod, "Another reason your mum's not here. She's incoherent with joy and pride, crying a river.

"We're so proud of you, Harry. You've become a good man. We are proud to call you our son."

Tears flowed freely, "Thanks, dad. I love you both."

"Just as we love you."

A cheeky grin, "Isn't it funny, how it all revolves around love?"

"Just proves, what kind of power it has," grinning back.

"Yeah."

"What about that hero-business."

"Who cares? Let them make me a hero, let them make me a villain. The important people never leave me. They're in my heart."

"That Granger-girl?"

"At best, a fucking tragedy, solely to be laid at Dumbledore's feet; at worst, a fucking stupid bitch, a sheep. I think it's both, now. But that riddle will remain unsolved. Thanks to –"

Two voices, "Dumbledore."

"You know, dad, sometimes I think, the muggles might have it better in this point. Progress isn't as slow as with us magicals."

"You might have a point there. It's just, not all change is for the best."

"Yeah, it's the other side of that medal."

"But Dumbledore…"

"I think, his place of residence is very well-chosen."

Two smirks.

"To think, he used to make us jump and we'd only ask 'How high?'"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. They should limit times in power. Power fucks with people."

"What about you, Harry?"

"That's the question, isn't it? Can you help me? Anyway?"

"I'll try. Will you promise to listen?"

"Yes, dad."

"That's good. Don't let them numb your conscience too much. Or at all. It's a pretty good advisor."

Solemn acceptance greeted that statement.

I realize now, that the last two chapters are a bit confusing. Thing is, I don't have the time to continue this story. But as an avid reader myself, I hate those stories that are kept unfinished. I had my outline from the beginning and I felt, I should share them with you, so you would know the end of the story and some of the twists and turns at least. That is Chapter 11: my outline. The stuff that was supposed to happen during my story. The plot.

This Chapter (12) is a bit of the ending that I wrote quite some time ago. I wanted to arrive at a point and that was to be it. As is with this whole story, it's not complete. Still I wanted it to be visible to you.

Still, this is it. I thank everyone who read the 10 chapters. It has been an amazing journey and I think I've learned quite a bit about storytelling. Thanks for the kind reviews, thanks for the critique. It means the world to me. In case, you want to continue, be my guest. Give me a shout and you'll get the complete outline via DocX.

So there, happy reading.

rascaldi :)