Harry Potter: Redemption in Time

Voldemort's right arm came off so quickly and cleanly, his wand was still clutched in his dismembered hand when it smacked the stone floor. With the breaking of the spell, Voldemort's flaming dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke and left behind a one armed eleven-year-old boy sitting whimpering in pain on the edge of the raised platform.

The green eyes were beseeching Albus as he walked toward the wounded boy. "Professor Dumbledore, you did it sir! You banished Voldemort for good. He's gone sir, there's only me, Harry, in here now."

Dumbledore's eyes had their twinkle back again. "Nice try Tom, but that is exactly what I would expect you to attempt. For the greater good of the entire world, this time you have to die for real."

The boy's eyes flashed red once more, "Curse you Dumbledore, I told you never to call me by that name again. I killed all the Riddles before I left Hogwarts as a student."

"You're wrong Tom, there's one left and the sad duty of ending that line falls to me. Goodbye Tom Riddle."

"No sir! Wait, it really is me. Surely you wouldn't kill a defenceless boy? You have to believe me..."

The green light that hit the young body silenced the begging and ended the reign of terror that Lord Voldemort had not only instigated but orchestrated with such deadly efficiency. It also killed the body that once belonged to young Harry James Potter and for that Albus was truly sorry. He could only hope that if he met James and Lily on his next great adventure, they could find it in their hearts to forgive him.

He recovered the now baby Fawkes from the ashes that the killing curse had buried him under, with his friend nestled safely in his pocket Albus left the room without a backward glance at the child's lifeless body. He got less than half-way down the corridor though before an expelliarmus hit him squarely in the chest and robbed him of his wand. The old wizard was exhausted with nothing really left to fight for, Albus offered no resistance and just let it happen. Amelia Bones and a dozen aurors now had their wands trained on him from both ends of the corridor, there was nowhere for him to go and nothing left for him to do anyway.

"I'll come quietly Amelia, it's finally over. The dark lord possessed Harry Potter but I managed to defeat him. I'm sorrier than I can say that there was no way to save the boy, for the greater good he had to die. You'll find the body behind that door."

Amelia wasn't alone in feeling an icy shiver of fear run down her spine at those words. The only reason the old fool was still standing there and not already blasted into little pieces was the glaring misconceptions in his statement. Having given permission for Susan to spend the holidays with the Potters and arranged the auror escort for the entire party, Amelia was certain Lord Potter wasn't within ten thousand miles of Hogwarts. There was also the fact that where Dumbledore indicated the boy's body lay contained nothing but a solid stone wall without a door anywhere in sight.

His next statement settled her nerves and destroyed the doubts anyone had, especially when Dumbledore held out his clearly empty hands. "Amelia, could I impose on you to take care of Fawkes? Just until he grows strong enough to look after himself once more, he's been a faithful friend and I would be most grateful to you."

Amelia made a great pretence of carefully taking the nonexistent phoenix from the old wizard. She was sure her entire team were sharing the same type of thoughts as their boss, Albus Dumbledore was as crazy as a shithouse rat!

The head of the DMLE was a pro though, as six of her aurors were dispatched to escort the disarmed Dumbledore straight into a heavily guarded holding cell at the ministry, the other six were scouring the castle for any sign of a body. Amelia was certain they wouldn't find Lord Potter's body inside Hogwarts, just as she was certain Dumbledore's future would be spent in a secure room at St Mungo's that had extensive use of cushioning charms on the walls and floor.