Chapter 58: Potters Do Not Bow
24th June 1995, Little Hangleton
(Nathan POV)
Voldemort sneered at Nathan, “To think I believed such a silly prophecy. As high as your potential could be, you are hardly my equal.”
“Prophecy?” Nathan gasped out.
“You don’t know, do you? You truly do not know why I attacked you, all these years ago. I have hated you for so long, Nathan Potter but now I cannot but pity you. But if you want to save your sister, you only have to defeat me. I will allow you to fight, prove to everyone that you’re stronger than me, boy.”
The Death Eaters stood watching.
“Now, untie him Wormtail and give him back his wand.”
Voldemort looked angry at the lack of answer and looked back to where Pettigrew lied on the ground. He was probably going to torture him or something, only to find man dead on the ground. He was lying down, grasping his bleeding arm. He must have lost too much blood. Nathan felt a sick satisfaction to see the man that betrayed his family and resurrected Voldemort dead. Voldemort slight widening of eyes told Nathan that he had not planned the rat’s death, he had completely forgotten about him in his monologue to his other followers.
“It seems that our dear rat is indisposed at the moment, it falls to another to help our esteemed guest get his wand. Avery!” Voldemort continued.
Voldemort did not even need to order the man directly, a cloaked and masked man, that Nathan assumes is the death eater called Avery, walked hurriedly towards Wormtail’s body, retrieved Nathan’s wand and with a swipe of his own wand cut through the restraints tying Nathan to the gravestone.
Nathan landed on his broken leg, making him stifle a scream of pain, until he got up limping. So that’s running out of his options. The Death Eaters closed ranks. Forming a tighter circle around him and Voldemort. The man he assumes is Avery thrusts Nathan’s wand into his hand and promptly returned to his place in the circle of Death Eaters.
“You have been taught how to duel, Nathan Potter?” said Voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.
Nathan had been taught how to duel from his father and from Dumbledore, and while according to them, he was impressive for his age, He could barely hold off an Auror trainee, let alone a man that had terrorized the entire auror department for a few decades.
So, no. He held no illusion that he could fight let alone defeat Voldemort. He was probably going to die tonight, alone, away from his family. Nathan steeled himself, he wasn’t going to lay there and let the man hit him with a killing curse. He’s going to die fighting, like his grandfather had and his great grandfather before him. He was a Potter, and he is going to die with his head held high and with no fear in his heart.
“We bow to each other, Nathan,” said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Nathan. “Come, the niceties must be observed. Dumbledore would like you to show manners. Bow to death, Nathan. I surely hope that your younger sister will be better than you at following orders, Potter. If I do take her as an apprentice, perhaps she will eventually learn it. Or she will die, probably.”
The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort’s lipless mouth was smiling. Nathan did not let the comments about Rose get to him. He had to find a way to warn his parents to get them to protect Rose. As for now, Nathan did not bow; Potters do not bow, he read that somewhere in the library, written by one of his ancestors. He was not going to break that tradition now.
“I said, bow,” Voldemort said, raising his wand and Nathan felt his pine curve as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever. He used this distraction and showmanship to send a silent reductor curse at Voldemort. The dark lord blocked it, of course. He never expected it to actually land, but he wanted to make a point, even if he was going to die tonight, he will not submit to his enemy, Potters do not bow.
The Death Eaters were silent now, not daring to laugh and Voldemort’s red eyes were glowing, Nathan anticipated the man to curse him to oblivion only to be surprised when the man burst into laughter.
“I did not expect you to be so defiant. Perhaps there was something to this prophecy after all. This might be interesting after all. Shall we begin?”
Nathan did not have time to answer, too busy to dodge the cruciatus curse sent his way. Having felt its effects before he had no desire to do so again. Alas, when he dodged the curse, he jumped on his broken leg which immediately gave out, sending him on the floor. As a desperate attempt to get some cover, he shouted, “Bombarda” and sent the spell towards the ground in front of where his enemy was. An explosion of earth and dirt happened right in front of the dark lord and Nathan crawled, attempting to hide behind a tombstone to regroup himself.
Before he could get there, he was hit by another Cruciatus, making scream in pain once more. Voldemort slowly walked from the fog of dirt, not a single injury on him, even his robes were in impeccable condition, not a single touch of dirt on them.
Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Nathan quickly crawled behind a gravestone and pulled himself up. “Using Auror tactics against me, Potter? It didn’t work for them, why would it work for you?” Voldemort mocked at him, “But you still got hit, boy. That hurt, didn’t it? You’re scared of me aren’t you, scared of death?”
Nathan was not going to answer, he was not going to give the man the satisfaction, Potters do not bow, his grandfather did not bow to Grindelwald, his father did not bow to Voldemort, and he was not going to do so now.
“Answer me, Imperio” Nathan felt the calm of the imperius curse and the urge to answer the question, but he learned from Moody’s lesson on how to resist the curse. So, he pretended to be under the curse and sent a silent piercing curse to his right. If he couldn’t kill the monster in front of him, he will kill his followers. He was a dead man, anyway, might as well take as many of the bastards with him.
His action took the dark lord by surprise, not having expected him to break from his imperius curse and even then, expecting him to attack him not one of his death eaters. The sound of Nathan’s spell hitting the unsuspecting death eater surprised everyone and one of the cloaked figured had suddenly a hole in his chest. Nathan took advantage of the distraction to hide from the unexpected death and flung himself to the ground behind another gravestone. The curse had missed him but barely. Damn, Voldemort’s curses were faster that anybody’s before.
“Resorting to killing, now, Potter. That’s not something Dumbledore would approve of. Perhaps we do have so things in common after all. Now come out from hiding, boy and I promise to be merciful. Just a single spell and it will be over, you won’t have to be in pain anymore. It will be quick, maybe even painless. I would not know; I have never died.”
As if summoned by name, the night grew colder, as if a dementor was nearby. Nathan started to shiver, and his breath started to turn to mist. He had no idea what was happening, and Voldemort did not either by the looks of it. Suddenly, out of the shadows a figure appeared. It was humanoid, dressed in a black cloak, its face hidden by a hood. It was not human; it did not feel human. Shadows clung to it constantly moving around it.
Nathan had no idea what it was, but Voldemort seemed to recognize the figure.
“You! I defeated you, I am immortal. You have no sway over me.” Voldemort snarled at the figure, but Nathan could detect some hidden fear in his tone.
The figure did not answer, nor did it move. Voldemort seemed enraged for some reason and yelled, “Avada Kedavra” at the dark figure. Nathan almost yelled at it to get down. Whatever it was, is an enemy of Voldemort which meant they were an ally. But the curse seemed to go through the figure like it wasn’t there.
“I am immortal. Death has no sway over me.” Voldemort said and sent another killing curse at the figure which didn’t do anything either.
“I researched you. Entities like you have no sway for the living. You only have sway over the dead.” Voldemort said smugly, “I have cheated you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
The figure tilted its head and raised a single arm. Every Death Eater were levitated from their neck. They kept choking, looking at their master and pleading, “Master, Master…”
Their master did not look at them, he didn’t care, one bit about them. Nathan looked at Voldemort and for the first time, the man looked afraid. Not just afraid, but absolutely terrified. Suddenly, the figures stopped moving, probably passed out, until Nathan heard a sudden crack and every Death Eater’s neck broke at the same time and they fell at unison to the ground.
“You have no hold over me; I am protected by fate. Only boy can kill me.” Voldemort pleaded desperately.
The figure still did not move, seemingly undisturbed by the man’s pleading.
“I only have to destroy Potter to escape you, it seems.” Voldemort continued.
Nathan was still lying down, watching what was happening and he quickly leapt away to dodge the flash of green light, headed his way. The dark figure was still not moving, nor attempted to protect him in any way. Nathan knew he had no chance at winning this, but he couldn’t just run away from him, and he couldn’t just keep hiding. He had to attack.
So, he readied himself, He had to defeat this man, not just to survive but to protect his sister from him. Perhaps, with his other servants dead, Voldemort will forget about her.
Nathan shouted “Confrigo” and at the same time Voldemort cried, “Avada Kedavra”.
A jet of green light issued from Voldemort’s wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Nathan’s, they met in midair, and suddenly Nathan’s wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; his hand seized up around it; he couldn’t have released it if he’d wanted to, and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. Nathan, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort’s long white fingers too were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating.
And then, nothing could have prepared Nathan for this, he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort’s father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves.
The golden thread connecting Nathan and Voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Nathan and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light.
Nathan had no clue about what was happening, and neither did Voldemort, by the expression on his face. Nathan saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Nathan’s; Nathan held onto his wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken.
And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Nathan and Voldemort. It was a sound Nathan recognized: phoenix song.
For the first time since coming to the graveyard, Nathan felt hope. Nathan then noticed a bead of light in the middle of the golden thread, and he focused on sending it Voldemort’s way. He recognized what was happening; Hermione had told him about it. It was a fight of pure magic, of perseverance. It was a battle of wills where the stronger wizard wins. Nathan was weaker than Voldemort magically, but he was fighting to protect his sister, his family from the monster before him.
Voldemort was more powerful than him, but he was fighting out of fear of Death, Magic and Will battled and it looked even, until Nathan noticed the bead slowly moving towards his wand. The Holly and phoenix feather wand vibrated and grew so hot, he feared it would burst into flames.
Nathan knew that if the bead touched his wand, he would die and pushed everything he had into the wand. Every piece of magic and the desperation he was feeling into the wand. It still wasn’t enough, the bead was still moving towards his wand, Voldemort was winning.
Suddenly, Voldemort started screaming and was losing his concentration. Nathan saw figures of dark shadows that resembled him the last time he saw him, in his second year, when he escaped from Professor Quirrell’s body. The Voldemort wraiths appeared one by one, entering Voldemort causing him immense pain. Nathan had no idea what was happening and didn’t care. With Voldemort distracted, perhaps he could survive this. Nathan continued pushing, more than he had ever pushed before. He sent everything to his wand and the bead kept going towards Voldemort’s wand. It moved along the golden thread and then connected to his wand.
Suddenly, Voldemort’s hand exploded, as if it was hit with the Confrigo spell and his wand was destroyed. Voldemort looked disbelievingly at his hand and Nathan roared loudly; this was his hail Mary, his last effort and swung his hand at him. He didn’t know why, it felt like instinct, like his body moved on his own but then he understood when a familiar sword materialized in his hands. Nathan then, burst into flames, the flames didn’t hurt him or kill him, they energized him, like a phoenix’s flames, and he stabbed the sword in his enemy’s heart. The flames that were previously on his body were then absorbed by the sword who looked more like a sword of flames than of metal. The sword sunk into Voldemort’s chest and the monster that haunted his nightmares for years, turned into ash, dead.
Nathan instinctively knew that the man was dead for good this time. It was over, he survived, he was free, and his family was safe. Nathan’s injuries caught up to him and collapsed onto the ground. The graveyard looked so peaceful, as if nothing happened. He looked around and there was no sign of the hooded figure, whatever that was, or even the Death Eater’s bodies. There was no sign of the ritual that brought Voldemort back to life.
Suddenly, Nathan felt something hit him in the back and felt the jerk behind his navel, it was the Tri Wizard trophy, he was going back to Hogwarts. It was over, he had won.
Chapter 58: Potters Do Not Bow
24th June 1995, Little Hangleton
(Nathan POV)
Voldemort sneered at Nathan, “To think I believed such a silly prophecy. As high as your potential could be, you are hardly my equal.”
“Prophecy?” Nathan gasped out.
“You don’t know, do you? You truly do not know why I attacked you, all these years ago. I have hated you for so long, Nathan Potter but now I cannot but pity you. But if you want to save your sister, you only have to defeat me. I will allow you to fight, prove to everyone that you’re stronger than me, boy.”
The Death Eaters stood watching.
“Now, untie him Wormtail and give him back his wand.”
Voldemort looked angry at the lack of answer and looked back to where Pettigrew lied on the ground. He was probably going to torture him or something, only to find man dead on the ground. He was lying down, grasping his bleeding arm. He must have lost too much blood. Nathan felt a sick satisfaction to see the man that betrayed his family and resurrected Voldemort dead. Voldemort slight widening of eyes told Nathan that he had not planned the rat’s death, he had completely forgotten about him in his monologue to his other followers.
“It seems that our dear rat is indisposed at the moment, it falls to another to help our esteemed guest get his wand. Avery!” Voldemort continued.
Voldemort did not even need to order the man directly, a cloaked and masked man, that Nathan assumes is the death eater called Avery, walked hurriedly towards Wormtail’s body, retrieved Nathan’s wand and with a swipe of his own wand cut through the restraints tying Nathan to the gravestone.
Nathan landed on his broken leg, making him stifle a scream of pain, until he got up limping. So that’s running out of his options. The Death Eaters closed ranks. Forming a tighter circle around him and Voldemort. The man he assumes is Avery thrusts Nathan’s wand into his hand and promptly returned to his place in the circle of Death Eaters.
“You have been taught how to duel, Nathan Potter?” said Voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness.
Nathan had been taught how to duel from his father and from Dumbledore, and while according to them, he was impressive for his age, He could barely hold off an Auror trainee, let alone a man that had terrorized the entire auror department for a few decades.
So, no. He held no illusion that he could fight let alone defeat Voldemort. He was probably going to die tonight, alone, away from his family. Nathan steeled himself, he wasn’t going to lay there and let the man hit him with a killing curse. He’s going to die fighting, like his grandfather had and his great grandfather before him. He was a Potter, and he is going to die with his head held high and with no fear in his heart.
“We bow to each other, Nathan,” said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Nathan. “Come, the niceties must be observed. Dumbledore would like you to show manners. Bow to death, Nathan. I surely hope that your younger sister will be better than you at following orders, Potter. If I do take her as an apprentice, perhaps she will eventually learn it. Or she will die, probably.”
The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort’s lipless mouth was smiling. Nathan did not let the comments about Rose get to him. He had to find a way to warn his parents to get them to protect Rose. As for now, Nathan did not bow; Potters do not bow, he read that somewhere in the library, written by one of his ancestors. He was not going to break that tradition now.
“I said, bow,” Voldemort said, raising his wand and Nathan felt his pine curve as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever. He used this distraction and showmanship to send a silent reductor curse at Voldemort. The dark lord blocked it, of course. He never expected it to actually land, but he wanted to make a point, even if he was going to die tonight, he will not submit to his enemy, Potters do not bow.
The Death Eaters were silent now, not daring to laugh and Voldemort’s red eyes were glowing, Nathan anticipated the man to curse him to oblivion only to be surprised when the man burst into laughter.
“I did not expect you to be so defiant. Perhaps there was something to this prophecy after all. This might be interesting after all. Shall we begin?”
Nathan did not have time to answer, too busy to dodge the cruciatus curse sent his way. Having felt its effects before he had no desire to do so again. Alas, when he dodged the curse, he jumped on his broken leg which immediately gave out, sending him on the floor. As a desperate attempt to get some cover, he shouted, “Bombarda” and sent the spell towards the ground in front of where his enemy was. An explosion of earth and dirt happened right in front of the dark lord and Nathan crawled, attempting to hide behind a tombstone to regroup himself.
Before he could get there, he was hit by another Cruciatus, making scream in pain once more. Voldemort slowly walked from the fog of dirt, not a single injury on him, even his robes were in impeccable condition, not a single touch of dirt on them.
Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Nathan quickly crawled behind a gravestone and pulled himself up. “Using Auror tactics against me, Potter? It didn’t work for them, why would it work for you?” Voldemort mocked at him, “But you still got hit, boy. That hurt, didn’t it? You’re scared of me aren’t you, scared of death?”
Nathan was not going to answer, he was not going to give the man the satisfaction, Potters do not bow, his grandfather did not bow to Grindelwald, his father did not bow to Voldemort, and he was not going to do so now.
“Answer me, Imperio” Nathan felt the calm of the imperius curse and the urge to answer the question, but he learned from Moody’s lesson on how to resist the curse. So, he pretended to be under the curse and sent a silent piercing curse to his right. If he couldn’t kill the monster in front of him, he will kill his followers. He was a dead man, anyway, might as well take as many of the bastards with him.
His action took the dark lord by surprise, not having expected him to break from his imperius curse and even then, expecting him to attack him not one of his death eaters. The sound of Nathan’s spell hitting the unsuspecting death eater surprised everyone and one of the cloaked figured had suddenly a hole in his chest. Nathan took advantage of the distraction to hide from the unexpected death and flung himself to the ground behind another gravestone. The curse had missed him but barely. Damn, Voldemort’s curses were faster that anybody’s before.
“Resorting to killing, now, Potter. That’s not something Dumbledore would approve of. Perhaps we do have so things in common after all. Now come out from hiding, boy and I promise to be merciful. Just a single spell and it will be over, you won’t have to be in pain anymore. It will be quick, maybe even painless. I would not know; I have never died.”
As if summoned by name, the night grew colder, as if a dementor was nearby. Nathan started to shiver, and his breath started to turn to mist. He had no idea what was happening, and Voldemort did not either by the looks of it. Suddenly, out of the shadows a figure appeared. It was humanoid, dressed in a black cloak, its face hidden by a hood. It was not human; it did not feel human. Shadows clung to it constantly moving around it.
Nathan had no idea what it was, but Voldemort seemed to recognize the figure.
“You! I defeated you, I am immortal. You have no sway over me.” Voldemort snarled at the figure, but Nathan could detect some hidden fear in his tone.
The figure did not answer, nor did it move. Voldemort seemed enraged for some reason and yelled, “Avada Kedavra” at the dark figure. Nathan almost yelled at it to get down. Whatever it was, is an enemy of Voldemort which meant they were an ally. But the curse seemed to go through the figure like it wasn’t there.
“I am immortal. Death has no sway over me.” Voldemort said and sent another killing curse at the figure which didn’t do anything either.
“I researched you. Entities like you have no sway for the living. You only have sway over the dead.” Voldemort said smugly, “I have cheated you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
The figure tilted its head and raised a single arm. Every Death Eater were levitated from their neck. They kept choking, looking at their master and pleading, “Master, Master…”
Their master did not look at them, he didn’t care, one bit about them. Nathan looked at Voldemort and for the first time, the man looked afraid. Not just afraid, but absolutely terrified. Suddenly, the figures stopped moving, probably passed out, until Nathan heard a sudden crack and every Death Eater’s neck broke at the same time and they fell at unison to the ground.
“You have no hold over me; I am protected by fate. Only boy can kill me.” Voldemort pleaded desperately.
The figure still did not move, seemingly undisturbed by the man’s pleading.
“I only have to destroy Potter to escape you, it seems.” Voldemort continued.
Nathan was still lying down, watching what was happening and he quickly leapt away to dodge the flash of green light, headed his way. The dark figure was still not moving, nor attempted to protect him in any way. Nathan knew he had no chance at winning this, but he couldn’t just run away from him, and he couldn’t just keep hiding. He had to attack.
So, he readied himself, He had to defeat this man, not just to survive but to protect his sister from him. Perhaps, with his other servants dead, Voldemort will forget about her.
Nathan shouted “Confrigo” and at the same time Voldemort cried, “Avada Kedavra”.
A jet of green light issued from Voldemort’s wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Nathan’s, they met in midair, and suddenly Nathan’s wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; his hand seized up around it; he couldn’t have released it if he’d wanted to, and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. Nathan, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort’s long white fingers too were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating.
And then, nothing could have prepared Nathan for this, he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort’s father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves.
The golden thread connecting Nathan and Voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Nathan and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light.
Nathan had no clue about what was happening, and neither did Voldemort, by the expression on his face. Nathan saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Nathan’s; Nathan held onto his wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken.
And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air. It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Nathan and Voldemort. It was a sound Nathan recognized: phoenix song.
For the first time since coming to the graveyard, Nathan felt hope. Nathan then noticed a bead of light in the middle of the golden thread, and he focused on sending it Voldemort’s way. He recognized what was happening; Hermione had told him about it. It was a fight of pure magic, of perseverance. It was a battle of wills where the stronger wizard wins. Nathan was weaker than Voldemort magically, but he was fighting to protect his sister, his family from the monster before him.
Voldemort was more powerful than him, but he was fighting out of fear of Death, Magic and Will battled and it looked even, until Nathan noticed the bead slowly moving towards his wand. The Holly and phoenix feather wand vibrated and grew so hot, he feared it would burst into flames.
Nathan knew that if the bead touched his wand, he would die and pushed everything he had into the wand. Every piece of magic and the desperation he was feeling into the wand. It still wasn’t enough, the bead was still moving towards his wand, Voldemort was winning.
Suddenly, Voldemort started screaming and was losing his concentration. Nathan saw figures of dark shadows that resembled him the last time he saw him, in his second year, when he escaped from Professor Quirrell’s body. The Voldemort wraiths appeared one by one, entering Voldemort causing him immense pain. Nathan had no idea what was happening and didn’t care. With Voldemort distracted, perhaps he could survive this. Nathan continued pushing, more than he had ever pushed before. He sent everything to his wand and the bead kept going towards Voldemort’s wand. It moved along the golden thread and then connected to his wand.
Suddenly, Voldemort’s hand exploded, as if it was hit with the Confrigo spell and his wand was destroyed. Voldemort looked disbelievingly at his hand and Nathan roared loudly; this was his hail Mary, his last effort and swung his hand at him. He didn’t know why, it felt like instinct, like his body moved on his own but then he understood when a familiar sword materialized in his hands. Nathan then, burst into flames, the flames didn’t hurt him or kill him, they energized him, like a phoenix’s flames, and he stabbed the sword in his enemy’s heart. The flames that were previously on his body were then absorbed by the sword who looked more like a sword of flames than of metal. The sword sunk into Voldemort’s chest and the monster that haunted his nightmares for years, turned into ash, dead.
Nathan instinctively knew that the man was dead for good this time. It was over, he survived, he was free, and his family was safe. Nathan’s injuries caught up to him and collapsed onto the ground. The graveyard looked so peaceful, as if nothing happened. He looked around and there was no sign of the hooded figure, whatever that was, or even the Death Eater’s bodies. There was no sign of the ritual that brought Voldemort back to life.
Suddenly, Nathan felt something hit him in the back and felt the jerk behind his navel, it was the Tri Wizard trophy, he was going back to Hogwarts. It was over, he had won.
