Cambrian
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Lightning Strikes Twice Ch. 2 (Harry Potter)
🕑 Added 2023-01-18 16:19:31 +0000 UTCA/N: Here we are with the second chapter of the now named Harry Potter Project! Thanks for helping me come up with the title guys, hope you enjoy!
-x-X-x-
He won’t break the contract. That’s the decision Harry ultimately comes to as he stands there, Bagman droning on about this and that. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to start listening. See, he might be bound to the Goblet of Fire for the duration of the contract, but he’s not bound to their silly made up rules. Hell, they can’t even kick him out of the Tournament if he breaks them. All they can do is give him shitty scores and wag their fingers and shake their heads at him.
Eventually, Harry and his fellow Champions are allowed to leave, which is how he finds himself making his way through the corridors of Hogwarts with Cedric Diggory walking alongside him. It feels strange, to be back here again. Especially considering what happened to Hogwarts in his original timeline. But he didn’t exactly have time to spill tears over it. There was too much to do now that he was back.
“So… I guess we’ll be competing with one another this year.”
Harry’s eyes dart over to Cedric as the Hufflepuff boy makes an attempt at being friendly. Snorting in derisive amusement, Harry just shakes his head.
“It would seem so.”
The memories of this conversation come back to him just as Cedric leans over and gives him a nudge. Harry tenses up, very nearly drawing his wand then and there… but no, its not an attack and he needs to adjust quickly if he wants to avoid any unfortunate accidents.
“Just between you and me… how’d you do it?”
Heh, even now, even after he and the disguised Barty Crouch Jr. laid it all out for them… Cedric still thought he’d somehow snuck his name into the Goblet of Fire. Letting out a sigh, Harry just gives the other wizard a dark, amused look.
“I didn’t. I was entered against my will. But that’s not something you’ll understand until after the First Task, Cedric.”
The expression on the handsome Hufflepuff’s face is honestly quite gratifying. Confusion and disbelief war across his features as he tries to decide how he wants to answer Harry’s words. He never gets the chance of course, because a moment later they reach the end of the corridor where they part ways. Harry splits off towards Gryffindor Tower without so much as a farewell, leaving Cedric staring after him.
Still, the conversation wasn’t a complete waste of his time. Talking with Cedric had been precisely what he needed to remember what else happened tonight. Namely, the way he would be ambushed the moment he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. Needless to say, Harry didn’t have time to deal with the entirety of his House all clamoring for his attention. Nor, from what he recalled, did any believe him if he tried to tell them he didn’t put his name in the damn cup.
But their faith in him, one way or the other, wasn’t relevant at the moment. Harry was on a time table here, and he wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way. As such, he draws his wand while approaching the Fat Lady’s portrait and turns it on himself. Wordlessly, he casts an incredibly powerful disillusionment charm, rendering his form completely invisible.
Only then does he approach the Fat Lady in her portrait. She’s currently speaking with another painted figure, who’s telling her all about the commotion in the Great Hall from earlier that evening. The commotion he had technically caused.
“Balderdash.”
Neither painted figure actually seems to recognize Harry’s voice, caught up in their own conversation as they are. But the Fat Lady still does her job at least, her portrait swinging open to reveal the Gryffindor Common Room beyond.
… As well as the multitude of wizards and witches dressed in red and gold that are waiting within. Dozens if not hundreds of eyes stare out at where Harry is standing, but no one can see him as he slips inside and the portrait door closes behind him. The tension breaks with Harry halfway to the stairs, and one of the Weasley Twins calls out to everyone.
“False alarm folks!”
Groans fill the room, even as Harry ascends the stairs two at a time, making his way to his dorm. There, he doesn’t hesitate to rip open his chest and pull out his Invisibility Cloak and Firebolt. Though, he does pause for a moment as his hands run over the Firebolt. It’s an old broom by his time traveling standards, but he still remembered it fondly to this day. A smile flits across his invisible features for a moment as he begins to straighten up and-
“Harry?”
Stiffening, Harry curses under his breath. Seriously? He let his situational awareness lapse for one second and he finds himself being ambushed. Though, as he turns around and dispels the disillusionment charm to properly face Ron Weasley, he has to admit… it could be worse than his best friend.
Ron blinks, looking first at him and then to the invisibility cloak still in his arms. Harry’s vanishing and reappearing act have clearly thrown the boy for a loop, though he quickly recovers and plasters a somewhat strained smile on his face.
“Is that how you did it then? Was that a disillusionment charm? Had to be the strongest I’ve ever seen.”
… Now he remembers how this conversation goes as well. More specifically, he remembers how it affects their relationship for the rest of their year. Truth be told… Ron Weasley was a man that Harry would trust with his life. He was a stalwart brother against the evils they’d faced together, and there was almost no one that Harry would rather have at his back.
It still hurt, even considering Ron’s death. But at this moment, Harry didn’t have the time or the emotional capacity to deal with Ron at this age.
“I know you’re jealous, Ron.”
The red head’s eyes widen at that, but Harry is already making his way forward. He overrides the young wizard before Ron can speak.
“I know you think that I put my name in the Goblet of Fire. I know you’re angry that I didn’t help you put yours in as well. I won’t bother trying to convince you that it wasn’t me. I will ask you to recall what happened in our First, Second, and Third Years though. First Year, you almost die getting me past the Chess Board and Professor Quirrell tries to kill me. Second Year, Lockhart would have obliviated both of us if not for his poor choice of magical implement. And I had to save your sister from possession. Third Year, the Dementors tried to suck out my soul not once but multiple times.”
Shaking his head, Harry sighs.
“It shouldn’t be that hard for you to accept that someone is trying to kill me again, Ron. By now, its par for the course, isn’t it?”
For a moment, Ron looks speechless. But… as Harry expected, he’s not ready to hear it laid out in common sense terms. His best friend’s face begins to contort in anger and he starts to snarl.
“You-!”
But Harry cuts him off with a hand on his shoulder and a smile on his face.
“I forgive you for being a jealous pillock at this point in your life, Ron. I know that deep down, you’re my brother and you always will be. Now… I have to go. I’ll see you soon.”
With that, he leaves a mystified Ron behind, slipping back out of the dormitory and down the stairs with his Invisibility Cloak hiding both him and his broom now. Though, he doesn’t quite leave everything to chance. It’s a very minor Confundus Charm that he casts on Ron. Nothing that will necessarily control his mind or anything like that. All it does is dissuade Ron from telling anyone that Harry left. The boy will go to bed and hopefully spend some time thinking about what Harry said, and he will not inform anyone that he saw Harry walking away with his broom and cloak.
Slipping past the party taking place in the Gryffindor Common Room, it takes Harry about ten minutes to get out of the castle, what with his knowledge of Hogwarts’ secret passages. Then, he mounts his Firebolt and flies off into the night.
-x-X-x-
The stagnant air of Azkaban Prison is silent, save for the occasional howl or scream. In one of the cells however, a certain prisoner refuses to give anyone the satisfaction… for now, anyways. Bellatrix Lestrange’s broken mind is a strange thing. Sometimes, she’ll howl with the best of them, or even just howl to be howling. Sometimes she’ll cackle madly, laughing her head off in wild insane amusement at seemingly nothing.
… And sometimes, like tonight, she huddles against the back wall of her cell, legs pulled to her chest, and doesn’t make a single peep. Shivering violently there, she says not a word and lets not a sound pass between her cracked lips.
Her shivering only grows worse as a Dementor makes its presence known, slowly drifting on by. She’s not unused to the dark creatures after all these years. However, she feels a momentary flick of surprise and anger when this Dementor stops in its tracks right outside her cell.
It wasn’t fair. She didn’t have any happy memories left for the creatures to take. Normally, they didn’t even bother with her at this point. Sometimes when her insanity was at its peak, she would develop happy memories randomly, but they would always be quick to strip those away from her. Right now though, she was as clear minded as she possibly could be. There was no enjoyment of her circumstances to be had here, so why was this dementor scraping the bottom of the barrel?
Slowly, as her shivering gets worse and worse, Bellatrix Lestrange lifts her head to see what the fuck is going on. Only to stiffen in wide-eyed shock at the sight of not one, but TWO cloaked figures standing outside of her cell. There’s the dementor of course, floating off the ground and looking dangerously at the other… the other who is not floating, the other who is not a dementor at all. A wizard in a hood stands there, his features hidden from her.
But of course, Bellatrix doesn’t need to see his face to immediately know who it is! Scrambling off of the wall, she crawls forward, madness shining in her wide eyes as she giggles insanely.
“M-Milord? T-Truly? Have you finally come for your most loyal servant after all this time?!”
That proves to be a mistake. Her sudden surge of happiness causes the dementor to whip its head towards her, a hollow sucking sound coming from its empty ‘face’ as Bellatrix cries out in fresh terror and renewed fear. Still, she does not pull away. In fact, despite her happiness being sucked out of her as fast as it can be made, she crawls forward, her hands reaching the bars of her cell.
Suddenly, the hooded figure thrusts his wand into the face of the Dementor and calmly incants a spell.
“Expecto Patronum.”
Bellatrix is expecting a silvery snake to burst out of the dementor’s mouth and send it running, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, the dementor begins to shake, violently. Almost as though it’s trying to get away… but it can’t. Underneath its tattered black cloaks, motes of light begin to shine through. The silver glow looks a little bit like cracks to Bellatrix’s blurry vision.
Then, with a sudden whooshing sound that causes Bellatrix Lestrange to fall back on her ass, the dementor… implodes on itself. Sucked into a glittering bright point of light at the end of the hooded figure’s wand, the dementor seems to permanently expire, dying a quicker death than it deserved, but also a quicker death than Bellatrix would have thought possible.
“… As to be expected of milord. Please, Dark Lord… please free your loyal servant so that I might once again do your bidding. I will-!”
It’s then that the cloaked figure pulls back his hood and looks at her, shocking Bellatrix to her core. It’s not the Dark Lord that has come for her. Not her darling Lord Voldemort. No, instead it’s the eyes of that mudblood Lily Evans set into the face of that blood traitor James Potter. She might never have even met Harry Potter before, but Bellatrix knows her Lord’s greatest enemy on sight all the same. This… this is Harry James Potter.
As the bars in front of her vanish like they were never there, Bellatrix hisses in outrage, scrambling back at the sight of her Lord’s Nemesis suddenly before her. For a moment, she tries to flee… but then she remembers herself. She is an instrument of her Dark Lord’s will…
Flinging herself forward, Bellatrix howls as she tries to attack the Potter boy with nothing but her bare hands. That goes about as well as can be expected, with her suddenly frozen in midair by his surprisingly powerful magic.
“Relax, Bella. This will only take a moment.”
Bellatrix shudders. His tone reminds her so much of Lord Voldemort that it hurts. Not only that, but he called her Bella. Could it be… could the Dark Lord have possessed his greatest enemy and then come for her?
“M-Milord? Is it you after all?”
But Harry Potter shakes his head in amusement as he steps closer, killing her hope in an instant.
“No, Bella. Tom Riddle is far from here in too weak a form to possibly help you. I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for me.”
At confirmation that this IS her Master’s great enemy, Bellatrix tries to struggle, truly she does. She fights against the magical hold to the best of her much diminished ability. In the end, without a wand and after over a decade of wasting away, she can’t do anything but watch as the Potter boy brings his own wand to his temple and slowly begins to extract a memory.
No… not one memory. See, the way the memory extraction spell worked, you pulled out a memory in the form of a silvery strand and then put it into a pensieve. But as Harry slowly pulls from his temple, it’s not a strand of memory he pulls forth, but an ever-growing blonde of silver. Bellatrix watches in confusion and incredulity as the young wizard removes enough memories that he should be brain dead by the time he’s done. He’s pulled out enough from his temple to account for someone’s entire life.
Bellatrix’s incredulity turns into budding horror when he finally finishes, only to turn his wand tip and the massive blob of glowing silver towards HER instead.
“W-What are you doing?! Get that away from me you foolish boy!”
Emerald eyes flashing, he just chuckles at her misfortune, once again reminding Bellatrix a little too much of her Lord.
“Sorry Bella, but according to you, this is going to hurt a lot. Still, you claim you deserve it so… here goes nothing.”
Before she can even begin to parse that statement, just as Bellatrix Lestrange is starting to wonder if Harry might be just as mad as she is… he shoves the silvery glob right into her forehead, forcing the memories into her mind. And thus, Bellatrix Lestrange, eldest of the Black Sisters… remembers everything.
-x-X-x-
A/N: *insert 'well that escalated quickly' meme here*
Heh, please be sure to give me your feedback. I always intended to give Harry a companion from the future in this fic, but I did play around with the idea of letting you guys vote on it for a bit.
Won't lie though, I kind of fell in love with the idea of it being Bellatrix so I decided this wasn't something I was going to leave up to you guys.
EDIT: Adding this small edit to ask anyone who reads this late, what sort of theories do you have for what could have driven Harry and Bella into each other's arms? Hmmm~
Comments
Zarroc789
Very interesting twist. Looking forward to more.
stephen lyman
I love the inclusion of Bellatrix in this I'm hoping we will see a Redeemed-but still Crazy Bella that is totally into Harry will Harry's inclusion in the Tri Wizard Cup allow him to become emancipated meaning he is Legally a Adult?
Kejmur
Yandere trope here could be an interesting way to write it.
MigratingCoconut
I like bellatrix so I’ll be interested to see where this goes
Cambrian
I've written lots of Weasley bashing on commission, but personally never had strong feelings one way or the other about the fanon idea of Dumbledore and the Weasleys being manipulative and opportunistic. Figured this time around I'd try out writing them more akin to their canon portrayal But TBH, Ron isn't going to be a major part of the story anyways I don't think. Harry and him did have a brotherhood in the future that no longer exists, but this Ron is too inexperienced to be of much use to Harry in his plans.
Darkanlan
A shame he decided to treat Ron like a brother. I've always felt that a back stabbing jealous little bastard that obviously became friends with you because you're famous is definitely someone you can do without in your life. The whole meeting the Weasleys bit always felt staged. Not to mention everyone gets introduced to the wizarding world by a teacher but he gets Hagrid. Too many setups there. Manipulative Dumbles and opportunistic Weasleys always seemed more accurate of the story to me.
The Rew
An apocalypse caused by Voldie would probably do the trick or a future that he won but started directing his attentions to "proper pureblood" wizards over half bloods or muggleborns after getting even more mad with power because he won. Thinking he is a god that can't die because without Harry able to kill him nothing else can because of the prophecy. I imagine that would probably turn one or two of them against him. I know at least one or two of them knew he was possible a half blood but there is no way some of them would have joined. I think Harry actually taunts Bella with that but she doesn't believe him.
dcguy3
Huh, never seen an idea like this before. You got me interested
Cambrian
Love the theorizing! Some if it I already had in mind, some of it I didn't but might use now, and some of it isn't quite what I'm planning, but still this is all great, thanks! xD
Dr.Scribe
Well seeing as we don't know what happened in the time that Harry came back to the 4th year from it's hard to pin down. Your references to that time make it sound not just voldemort war bad but like apocalypse bad. So I am thinking Bella survives the battle of hogwarts and is around during this new Armageddon fallout. This new threat is bad enough that everything falls, hence why Harry from his old mature years (at least past 40's if not closer to Dumbledore age) is so jumpy and fight or flight even knowing he was going back in time to fix it. Now the Voldemort threat is still deadly, things could change and he be caught unawares which is why among other reasons he chooses to stay in the tournament rather than allow current or future enemies see his hand and readjust. What drives them to be allies if not lovers though is trickier than putting an idea together about the timeline this harry's mind is from. My guess is Bella was always a bit of a obsessive and had a fetish for the powerful, which voldemort capitalized on and warped her through serious abuse like since her school years. He molded her a very powerful witch into a lapdog, and either early horcrux days or after breaking out of Azkaban and with the wizards version of Viagra made an heir (Delphi) who was still in needing of protection (magically cut off from/slowed time or magically delayed pregnancy idk) After Voldy's death she goes in to hiding to try and raise the girl to hate Potter and be his assassin/downfall. Then this narratives fire nation attacks and either slow or fast brought about a never ending fight for survival for Harry and the others on the "light" side. The threat either against all wizards or worse than deatheaters causes unlikely bedfellows after Harry saves Delphi's life. Eventually while being on the run and in hiding Harry uncovers how bad the abuse to make Bella this way. Also why we have the memory transfer spell like this was a mixture of Mature Harry Legimiense showing something was not right with Bella's Memories so he alters the spell so that he can pull an entire lifetimes of memories scrubbed of magical Tampering. They swap and he even shows he what was done to her. This breaks her back to almost school years pre recruitment Bella and Harry has to build her back up and this transfers her yandere focus onto Harry. But unlike Voldemort, Harry is a kinder healthier master even when he has to be harsh. Like Hell Voldemort ever did after care. What prompts the desperate attempt at time travel even though there are implied risks that might include death wasn't just the war against this awful threat but a time when Delphi was killed and in desperation the healed mother is broken and desperate again. So they find a way to send Harry back with the sadness that her daughter will not have been born, but also never have had a painful death etc, and maybe this go round if she has a kid it'll be with a less right evil bastard, and live in a happier world.
Tyler Gerich
Like the other commenters, I think that as long as Bella is still batshit insane and in character I wouldn't mind at all. I've always liked the stories that redeem her as long as they keep her in character. So far this story is really good and I'm excited to see where it goes
Cambrian
Hehehe, that's the sort of reaction I was going for! :P You guys will get some answers next chapter, though I'm interested in hearing any theories people might have. Damn it, should have put that in the closing AN...
Brandon Thomas Martinez
What I'm interested in, is what was so bad that Bellatrix even tried to help Harry in the past. Like is she truly redeemed, or has he obsession moved on to someone else? But again, what the hell happened that would make either Harry or Bellatrix work together?
Cambrian
Its start of Fourth Year, Sirius is already free
Drakeulous
While we are here we are freeing Sirius, right?
Cambrian
Hm, interesting point. She's definitely getting redeemed, but I appreciate the feedback regarding her personality and characterization. I definitely think you're right, she can't just suddenly be normal or 'fixed'. That would be taking away her agency.
Aidan Jones
As long as redeemed!Bellatrix is still absolutely batshit-crazy; I’m happy. Too many stories have an allied Bellatrix that they decrazy her and make her OOC.
Cambrian
The plan is definitely to show all that in chapter 3 yeah. We'll see what people think and I'll definitely be doing a Vibe Check after Chapter 4 to check and see if patrons want me to continue this or perhaps do something different heh
Kazama
As the first commenter said, Bella was batshit crazy from start to finish in her canon depiction. While I myself am not averse to a redeemed Bellatrix, (as in it won't take much to convince me) some peeps are probably going to want to see some form of how the redemption happened. As her current thought process here is along the lines of canon before her memories got transferred...at least I think they got transferred - AFAIK the memory strands are supposed to be copies xD - The point is that there's nothing hinted at to say that she's redeemable. Glad to have stuck around though, liking this so far!
Cambrian
Thank you for the feedback, heh, glad you're excited
adorsey
Redeemed Bella! Always love these stories!!! Great twist can’t wait to learn how it happened
Cambrian
Appreciate the feedback. I was honestly hoping it was a novel enough idea to get people interested, but with yours being the only comment I've gotten after an hour, I'm starting to think I've killed this story before it's even begun lol.
Orion9137
A shame we're getting the "ally Bellatrix" route. At least characters like Snape had a tiny amount of redeeming actions but Bella from start to finish was a basket case who gleefully cursed the Longbottom's to insanity among many other things during both wars. She was a true Death Eater through and through. Will be interesting to see where you go with this but I'm not on the edge of my seat.
