Order Only: Private message to Draco, Hermione, and Sirius

[alt_harry]

To the one who now calls himself Harry Potter:

You belong to me, and always have. This has always been your purpose. This has always been your destiny. Accept it - embrace it.

Come to me and you need never know pain or fear again. Come to me willingly, and you can end this pointless conflict now and forever. Come to me before midnight in two days' time, and no one else need die because of your cowardice. Submit to my will, and understand. It's time, Harry.

Your schoolmates' lives depend on you obeying my command.


I saw you wrote to Dumbledore, Sirius. Was it about the Prophecy? What did he say?

I wrote to Ron.

He said he'll come. He'll be in snake form, so he can get the horcrux and take it somewhere to destroy it.

Getting into the labs at Eton, if Voldemort doesn't want you there, is really hard. The wards are even tighter since Dumbledore pulled it off, that time, and got Ridley out. But an animagus -- they can slip by, if they're traveling with another person. Look at Peter, look at all the places he went in Sally-Anne's pocket or school bag.

Comments

[alt_sirius]

He said it's possible that your plan would meet the terms of the prophecy.

That's not a reason to move ahead, necessarily. He said there could be other courses of action that work as well. He's working on it.

[alt_harry]

Well I hope he's working quickly because we're down to less than thirty-one hours.

[alt_harry]

Right now, my classmates are hostages. The Death Eaters and Enforcers watching them are surely expecting the Order to attempt a rescue. At best, we're able to get some of them out alive. Ron, Justin, Hydra, they'll be targeted first when the Enforcers realise their wands are pointed the wrong way.

If I do this -- it means that Bellatrix and Dolohov will both be distracted, since those are the people Voldemort's planning to have present for the Succession Rite. It means that if we do attempt a rescue, the Death Eaters won't be expecting it.

It means that even if I fail we'll have a better chance at success and victory. And Ron will have a chance to destroy the horcrux.

Daphne gave her life just for a horcrux.

[alt_draco]

She didn't know she was giving her life, though.

[alt_harry]

Neville told Hydra to cruciate him until his mind was broken just to keep from betraying the Order.

And Hydra did it.

[alt_draco]

It's really not the same. Hydra was in a life-or-death situation where she had only seconds to choose a course of action, and it was almost guaranteed that either one or both of them were going to die.

[alt_harry]

This isn't a life-or-death situation?

If we toss my plan and just go in wands blazing, I could still die. We know that definitely loads of Order members will. And we know for sure that Voldemort won't, and also he'll still have a horcrux.

[alt_hermione]

Daphne gave her life for--Harry, that's stretching things a little. I don't want to belittle her death, honestly. I wish it hadn't happened, for one thing because her plan for the Horcrux was absolutely brilliant and hardly anyone got hurt.

We'll never know what Voldemort saw or didn't see when he ordered her killed. We won't.

I.... keep thinking about how you react when other people do selfless things. You can't stand it when they make sacrifices and you feel like it's your fault when other people get hurt.

Well, isn't that what you're doing to us?

There has to be another way. I know you said a long time ago that you'd die if it meant you could kill Voldemort. But there has to be another way.

Thirty hours is a long time.

[alt_harry]

I hate it when my friends get hurt.

I hate it.

And I spent years being told it was my fault.

I don't expect you to like this. Any of you. I just expect you to agree that it's a plan that makes sense.

[alt_hermione]

I've been thinking, too, and Harry, why does it have to be now? I mean, you only just got away and if we get all the hostages out of the school, who's to say we won't come up with a better plan? Even if we don't, you could just as easily trap him like this in a month as tomorrow.

[alt_harry]

If I turn myself in before the deadline, he'll believe his plan worked. And why wouldn't it, you know? Threatening my friends kept me in line for years.

If I turn myself in a month from now he'll know I have some other reason.

Private message to Harry

[alt_draco]

Look, I've been thinking about this all day. I've tried to approach it like a question on the Defence NEWT, or as part of a task for YPL, instead of thinking about it as me murdering my best mate.

From a purely strategic viewpoint, the idea is a good one. Voldemort would never expect you to be inflicted with Black's Curse. Bellatrix doesn't even know that I know how to cast it. Yes, there are things that could go wrong, but that's the case with any plan. There's no way to account for and anticipate every variable.

But it's still me murdering you.

How am I supposed to do that?

Hermione would be right to never forgive me. Some of the others might do so, but other's wouldn't, and they'd be right, too. I wouldn't

But if this battle, this prophecy is really all about you, then I guess you should be the one who decides how you're going to fulfill it.

I just really hate it.

Re: Private message to Harry

[alt_harry]

You're not going to kill me, Draco.

Voldemort's going to kill me.

Your spell will kill Voldemort.

Re: Private message to Harry

[alt_harry]

And the Longbottoms forgave Hydra.

They knew she had to do it. They knew it was what Neville wanted.

Re: Private message to Harry

[alt_draco]

Fucking Weasley. I can't believe I ever thought I might actually like him.

Didn't even try to talk you out of it, did he? Totally smitten with his big role as hero-sidekick, I suppose.

Why you Gryffindors haven't gone extinct yet is a bloody mystery for the ages.

Re: Private message to Harry

[alt_harry]

I think he thought you had that bit covered.

I have no explanation for why Gryffindors continue to exist. We really don't have very good survival instincts.

Re: Private message to Harry

[alt_draco]

You are not going to make me feel better about this by calling me a hero-sidekick.

I wish I'd never found that copy of Grimoires of the Worthy Families at the Manor.

[alt_sirius]

Harry, I know you think you've found the only possible solution. Let's think about this in stages, can we?

First of all, I want you to put saving the students at school out of the equation. You know we're going to do that; we're not going to let anyone be killed there. We've got Hydra and Justin, Ron, Sally-Anne, Pansy, Luna and Ginny all on the inside and they can tell us if the situation reaches the breaking point before Voldemort's deadline. Going to him to save them isn't necessary.

Second, I agree with you that we should take advantage of the distraction to gain significant ground. We need that Horcrux, before anything else. What else did you see regarding the ritual? We should examine every detail. If he envisioned being surrounded by his Council, then it could change our plans for Hogwarts. We might want to send a smaller contingent there and concentrate our forces on taking out as many of the Death Eaters as possible. Even if we temporarily neutralise Voldemort, that gives us a chance to get the final Horcrux. Someone like him? He'll want another chance at you whenever we offer it. If we've eliminated the majority of his followers we'll have the advantage.

Next, as far as the rite is concerned, you're talking as if the only way to interfere is to let him complete it. I say we might be able to interrupt it somehow, preferably after he's left his body but before he possesses yours. That would certainly give us time to destroy the Horcrux and make sure that when he comes back, we're ready to stop him for once and all.

You have just as much right to put your life on the line as any of us. But there's a difference between risking your life and laying it down without a fight. Don't throw it away when you're right at the beginning.

Private message to Sirius

[alt_draco]

He's not going to change his mind, you know.

[alt_harry]

The ritual was at Eton, and Dolohov and Bellatrix were both there but I didn't see Crouch or any of the other Death Eaters. And

I think part of why I'm so certain this will work was the way he felt, in my head, when I saw the rite. He was eager. Impatient. Blind to anything other than his desire for it to be done with.

I'm pretty sure he won't leave his body until I'm out of mine. So to speak. So interrupting it at that point wouldn't work.