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Twisting Fate by Force: Prologue
By Circuitsoft

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Category: Alternate Universe, Post-HBP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure, Romance, Tragedy
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 12
Summary: A painful end leading to a new beginning. Winning a war is not necessarily reason to celebrate. Maybe the task could be done better? If you could try, how would you prepare?
Hitcount: Story Total: 3697



Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.



Author's Notes:
Many thanks to bexsentance for help with this story. She, literally, wrote the first two paragraphs, providing the spark for me to finish the rest. I must also nod to Viridian and Intromit for their (unintended?) inspiration. This story is available in novella-format PDF for those interested.

And, yes, I did invent a word to make this story work.

identual - adj. - Of or pertaining to one's identity or definition of self.




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The Beginning of an End

Where a towering Gothic castle, complete with myriad turrets, towers and spires once stood, now there was only a vast expanse of rubble and ruin. It was still grand and impressive in its own way, due to the sheer size of the ruins, but very much a sad testament to the many magical battles that had taken place over the past few years that had slowly demolished the enchanted structure of Hogwarts castle.

Some sections were still standing, including some pieces of the immense Great Hall which had at one time housed the entire school. If anyone had been flying over that part of the school -- on a Thestral or a broomstick -- they would have seen two figures picking their way over the ruins far below. A closer look would have revealed that one was a woman with long, red hair and the other was a man with messy black hair and a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

Harry and Ginny visited the castle monthly to honor their many fallen comrades. They had spent years picking through the ruins and knew each and every crevice, inside and out. By now, Harry had learned to deal with grief, and with Ginny always close, they were able to prop each other up whenever they needed.

That's not to say remembering dead family was easy.

Hermione, intelligent and faithful to a fault, had been working on a portable ward anchored to a broomstick when one of the warding spells triggered the Taboo enchantments and brought a dozen Death Eaters down onto the camp. That she was the only one lost was pure circumstance. She had been hit in the back by the first thrown cutting curse before the others had even noticed the attack. Ron returned fire while Harry and Ginny apparated Hermione out.

Once Ron arrived at the next safe house, they all turned their attention to Hermione. The cutting curse had punctured her right lung, and no amount of labored breathing could provide her the necessary oxygen. Her last soundless words were to ask Ginny to take care of Harry, followed by a kiss from Ron. She was dead within minutes.

Returning to Hogwarts, to bury Hermione where the library had once been, Harry saw a determined look he had never seen on Ron's face before. Although grief-stricken, Harry was unsurprised to lose Ron in the next raid. He was secretly glad, however, that the Gryffindor had had the chance to do his name and house proud, going down like the true Lion he was–even if the result is one's own death, taking down two dozen Death Eaters unassisted is quite an accomplishment.

"At least there was a little bit of a Quidditch hoop left to bury him under," Harry murmured, lost in thought.

The wallet-sized portrait of Hermione he carried had informed Harry about the Living Horcrux spell she was working on. With a little instruction in Arithmancy and a few details about the spell as it was at her passing, Harry was able to complete the creation of The Living Horcrux.

Blood is a very magically powerful substance. Many rituals use it because it forges bonds between people and/or objects. Because blood allows people to be bound against their will, its use is often considered dark among the more mundane practitioners of magic. However, not all bindings are created with malicious intent.

The Living Horcrux spell is a blood-based binding spell. It requires a significant identual connection to already be in place between the bindees. Furthermore, it must be performed where said connection was forged.

For Harry and Ginny, nothing was more significant to their identities and their relationship than The Chamber of Secrets. This was the place where they truly met; where they learned the value of a life and how little some others value it; where they endured the vilest corruption of humanity and fought to keep their own; where their souls were scarred, together, from enduring the personification of hate itself. For them, the question of where to perform the ceremony was merely academic.

The Chamber was opened, again, by Voldemort, who had hoped that the Basilisk would make a good ally. The death of the snake resulted in a bit of a temper tantrum from the world's most feared faux-lord. In his rage, much of the chamber and its decoration had been destroyed, leaving the chamber rather barer than it was before. Leaving the place in anger, he forgot about the usefulness of Basilisk parts, and left the creature there to rot.

Deciding that they had nothing left to hide from each other, Harry and Ginny returned to the castle on the third anniversary of Ron's blaze of glory. Arriving in the chamber, Harry set up a small table where Ginny began spreading the manuscripts while he prepared the elements.

Harry dislodged a chunk of stone from the chamber wall and transfigured it into a basin. He then began inscribing runes into the bowl edges; Love and Hate at North and South, Destruction and Creation at West and East, Breaking and Binding at Southwest and Northeast, Poison and Healing at Southeast and Northwest, and Partiality and Completeness overlaid at the bottom.

Upon completion of this task, Ginny had finished arranging the manuscripts, so they went in search of the Basilisk. When they found it, they were able to extract four drops of Basilisk venom into the basin. Hearing the silent plea of the Light's beacon, Fawkes arrived to donate four tears to the potion then remained to see the ritual through.

Placing the basin back on the table, Harry cut a small slit in the tip of his finger and held it over the basin.

Harry looked at Ginny standing on the other side of the table. "Love for your spirit," drip, "With a piece of my soul," drop, "Bind us together," drip, "that we might be whole." Each drop darkened the potion beyond their idea of what black could be. A final drop made the potion appear to absorb light, as if it were sucking in everything it could, hungering for the right counter-ingredient.

Ginny then slit her own finger and held it over the basin. "Love of our souls," drip, "connected by hate," drop. At this point the potion was beginning to glow, as if it were a window into a sun. "Bind us together," another drip caused the potion to begin to boil. "Protect us from Fate." As the last drop of blood contacted the boiling potion, it exploded, showering both participants with what looked like liquid light causing them both to glow brightly.

Harry and Ginny raised their wands and pointed them at each other, wand tip to wand tip. "Legatura Horcruxio en Amore!" they incanted together. A ball of swirling color appeared between their wands, and began expanding, swallowing their wands, the basin, the table, and themselves. When it completely engulfed them, it began to darken and emit flashes of blackness. Seeing this, Fawkes began to circle the ball and sing. Under the onslaught of the phoenix song, the ball began to brighten again until it was glowing white and appeared to have a smooth hard surface. With one last phrase of song, the ball suddenly flashed brightly then disappeared, leaving the two of them asleep on the floor, Fawkes silently standing guard.


Ginny?

Harry?

You never told me just how much Tom showed you.

You never told me just how much the Dursleys beat you.

Touché.

"Tha nk you Fawkes. Everything I need to do here is complete." Fawkes warbled a good-bye then flamed away.


And now, on the fifth anniversary of Ron's passing, they returned again. Feeling a twinge in the scar through their bond, Ginny turned o Harry.

It's him, isn't it?

We've practiced - we're ready.

The Close

Ginny apparated to another location within the rubble, donned the invisibility cloak, and waited for her cue.

Hearing a small pop behind him and slightly to his right, Harry spoke. "Hello Tom." Harry turned to face the snake-like creature. "Missing anything?"

The creature responded with a hiss. "You appear to have found a few trinkets. You should know that you still can't kill me."

While The Being Formerly Known as Tom was speaking, multiple pops revealed a dozen Death Eaters surrounding Harry.

"I'm aware that I can't, yet. Luckily, for me, that ought to change soon." As Harry felt the anti-apparition ward go up, he spoke again. "Your mob seems to have dwindled a bit."

"This is my family. Where is yours, I wonder? Ah Yes! On the 'next great adventure.' Do you really believe that? Do you still dare to question my superiority?"

On 'course,' fire on the three to my left. Protect your ears for when I take down the ward.

"Of course." Harry immediately apparated behind Voldemort, drawing both his own and the elder wands during apparition and bludgeoning the DEs on either side of him, while the rest were temporarily stunned by the near explosive sound of the shattered anti-apparition ward. Since Ginny was taking care of the three to his left, only seven remained conscious. Knowing that his first strike wouldn't last, he apparated again into what was once the front hall of the castle. Hiding behind a piece of wall, he surveyed the scene from his own and Ginny's eyes.

I think they know where I am, he thought.

Engage Voldemort. I'll stay right there and deal with everyone else, she responded. With that she stowed the invisibility cloak and they apparated simultaneously into the middle of the battle.

Harry immediately hit Voldemort with a punching hex to the chest while Ginny began duelling the other seven Death Eaters. Voldemort reeled from the unexpected impact and turned to face Harry's new position.

"What? Can't face me head-on?" Voldemort taunted while barraging Harry with a rainbow of curses. That Harry's shield held surprised Voldemort quite significantly.

"And leave my back for your slaves?" Harry queried, "I think not."

As the battles raged, the two groups separated, leaving Ginny alone with six Death Eaters (one had been dispatched instantly) while Harry duelled Voldemort.

Through years of match-ups, Harry and Voldemort had developed a grudging respect for one another. They knew that stopping to taunt was mostly useless and that any seconds lost while doing so could be deadly. To an observer, the battle appeared to be fairly evenly matched. Both Voldemort and Harry occasionally suffered blows, though neither appeared to be slowing down.

Ginny, on the other hand, was running circles around the Death Eaters. As their numbers dwindled, she arranged herself so that they were between herself and Harry. Finally, there were only two left.

Now, Ginny!

Ginny appeared to try to disarm one of the Death Eaters, but she missed, sending an Expelliarmus! at Harry, and Disarming him.

Harry feigned shock and ducked one last curse before Voldemort stopped. Ginny immediately caught the Elder Wand and blasted the two remaining Death Eaters, one with each wand.

"See, Harry, you never could kill me. The "Power the Dark Lord Knows Not" does not exist." He casually aimed his wand at Harry. "Goodbye, Harry Potter. Avada Kedavra!"

Green light erupted from his wand streaking toward Harry. A split second before the curse arrived, Harry's eyes glazed over and his face went blank. The putrid green light splatted on his forehead like an unfortunate shot of vomit, and he fell over dead.

Voldemort turned to Ginny and raised his wand again. "Ah, too bad. It appears that I've won!"

"Sorry but you haven't," Ginny replied as her eyes flashed green. She aimed the Elder Wand at Voldemort's chest.

Let's see? Whom do we need to avenge? All my brothers, my parents, your parents... Ginny thought.

Hermione, Neville, Luna, Neville's parents, Dumbledore... Harry responded.

Ollivander. Yes. That should make a decent list. Ginny finalized. "Avada Kedavra!"

Voldemort began to grin as he saw the curse racing towards him, sure that his efforts to become immortal were sufficient for his survival. A moment later, he was lying flat on the ground, his previously-red eyes having faded to black.

Harry pointed Ginny's wand at the corpse. "Incendio!" Ginny incanted. What a relief, they thought.

Life goes on... Almost

Yet another year, yet another anniversary, yet more time become numb to the pangs of family lost.

As with every annual visit to the castle, Harry and Ginny looked through Dumbledore's growing collection of periodicals. Since his death, no one had gotten around to cancelling his subscriptions, so they just collected in his office (the only portion of the castle still standing).

Paging through the stack of parchments, a headline in Modern Sorcery caught Ginny's eye.

Another Try? Unspeakables test a new theory of the passage of time.

As she read the article, she found:

... Sorcerers Blackwood and Bandtche have successfully created such a rabbit hole, but the negative energy required to sustain it precludes passing anything through it, matter or spell. While there is no proof that the hole has succeeded, the theory is sound, so further work on the rabbit hole will continue.

Something sparked in Harry's mind at that - one of the things that they had to do to get The Living Horcrux spell to work concerning exactly what a soul is. Since a soul makes up the very essence of what a person is, the, shall we say, material it's made from is much more basic than even magic. Obviously, a soul can be effected by Magic, otherwise the living Horcrux wouldn't have worked, but it is not effected by the same laws of nature.

Could a soul travel through the hole without expending energy?

I don't know -- we'll have to try to work it out ourselves. We don't exactly have Hermione's work to build upon this time.

True.

This visit to Dumbledore's chamber lasted several weeks while Ginny (with Harry) worked through the arithmancy to create the rabbit hole. Like all intellectual exercises, there were many difficulties to work through. With every stumbling block, Fawkes arrived, providing much-needed guidance.

Once they had completed the calculations, the anchor stones needed to be created for the rabbit hole. The dungeons were relatively undamged and provided sufficient workspace to create the stones. Once again, stones were pulled from the walls and transfigured into the proper shape. Each one was inscribed with runes for Binding, Moving, Death, and the reverse of Time.

Deciding that Harry would be in the best place to effect things, Ginny took the stones to the ruins Number 4, Privet Drive. Since most of the neighborhood had been destroyed, there was no one around to question what she was doing.

Ginny placed the three stones in a triangle, one pointed North, the others making an East-West line. Donning the Invisibility Cloak and Gaunt Ring and wielding the Elder Wand, Ginny sat in the middle of the triangle and pointed her wand at her head.

"Avada Kedavra!"

As the bright light emanated from her wand, one thought went through their minds: … Gold?

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