Miscalculation - Chapter 11

The twitching form of Dolores Umbridge was curled up in the center of the platform. Harry opened the locket, hit it with the Killing Curse, and then tossed it in the water. It was a shame that he couldn't keep the artifacts intact, but it had to be done. He considered kicking Umbridge into the water for a long moment. Instead, he settled on leaving her there on her own. He could always kill her if she managed to escape alive.

Harry walked out of the cave and continued down the coast. There was only one Horcrux left in this time period. He didn't want to wait until later. Harry vanished once he was a distance away from the cave then appeared outside the Gaunt shack. Even in the daylight it looked dreary. He couldn't imagine this place was ever cheery.

For a brief moment he wondered what would have happened if Tom had had a decent childhood. Would he still have become Voldemort? However, If he followed that train of thought, shouldn't he become a Dark Lord himself? Well, he was planning on taking over the country and had killed quite a few people, planned on killing more, and his meeting with his parents could be counted as a monologue. No one thought they were the villain in their own story. His hands weren't clean, but they hadn't been since he was eleven. Sure, Quirrell had been self-defense. It was still murder.

Did it really matter? Thoughts for another time.

Harry entered the shack, summoned the ring, and hit it with the Killing Curse before it reached his hand. Oddly enough, it wasn't the curse that ruined the items. Rather, it was the soul shard vacating the vessel. The only thing left to do was kill Voldemort and his followers. Then he would need to take control of the Ministry. That brought the next problem. Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore was that people believed in him and Harry was an unknown.

There was an easy solution to the problem. He could make a public defeat of Voldemort. Of course, that would require drawing the Dark Lord and his followers out where people could see. He may not go out of his way to save people anymore, but he wasn't going to be the one who had caused dangerous individuals to appear. Once more he was reminded about how little he knew about this timeline. He was certain there had to be a time when Voldemort led an attack. That would have been the perfect fit, but he wasn't going to sit around and wait for that to happen.

He could always bring in the corpse as proof. Hopefully, that would be enough.

~§~

Harry walked into the clearing where the ruins of the Shrieking Shack rested. Using the taboo to summon Death Eaters had worked last time and this was a nice open spot that would work nicely for another round. Now it was time for the fun part. He went about setting the scene in his favor. He placed a few spike-pits with a thin layer of grass as cover around the clearing. Then he transfigured pieces of the ruined shack into flat stones, inscribed a simple rune array on each, and then placed them randomly around the area. They were rather effective even though they were basically stationary tasers. Anyone who stepped on one would activate a packet of compressed electricity that would race through their body and lock up their muscles. Just one wasn't fatal, it would stun whoever stepped on it. It took two or three to kill depending on the size of the person. A simple charm prevented the rune array from activating them in their current version. Overcharging them would turn the stones into lethal electrically imbued shrapnel, but it made them unstable and could just as easily hit him.

He had tried making rudimentary landmines as they would only need one to be deadly. The gunpowder aspect of it was too unstable when transfigured. Many hours, and numerous explosions, told him that it was a project that they required a good amount of time and patience to prepare. It took at least an hour to make one that was stable enough to be effective without exploding during setup.

Finally, he created wards that made sure that all forms of magical travel were blocked. All he needed to do was activate them once the Death Eaters arrived. They had developed something akin to a magic circuit that could flip the wards on and off as needed.

He disillusioned himself, created a few scarecrows, and then settled in by the ruins.

"Voldemort," Harry called in a sing-song tone. "Oh, Voldemort."

A series of quick pops announced the arrival of five Death Eaters. One let out a strangled cry as the ground underneath them gave out. Another went stiff and collapsed when they activated a stone. The three remaining Death Eaters spun around, trying to find their attacker.

Harry activated the wards and cut the trio down before they saw him. He hit the stunned Death Eater with a Body Bind then took a look at the one in the pit. The loud string of foul language told him they were still alive. A wicked smile crossed his face as he took the mask from the stunned and bound Death Eater. He rolled them over, so they were facedown. It wasn't anyone he recognized.

"You're alive?" Harry shouted leaning over the hole.

The Death Eater had a sharpened stick poking out of the top of one foot as well as another in their calf. It wasn't fatal, but it looked painful.

"Yes, I'm alive, you moron," the Death Eater screamed. "Get me out of here and patch me up. I can't apparate."

Harry waved his wand making the spikes disappear. He reached a hand down to the injured man. The Death Eater continued to curse as he was pulled from the pit.

"What happened?" The Death Eater asked. "Did we get them? Who was it?"

The Death Eater saw the bound figure on the ground.

"They're alive?" The Death Eater asked turning to look at Harry.

"How else are they going to deliver a message?" Harry asked right back.

"What?" The Death Eater cocked their head to the side in confusion.

The man never saw the spell that killed him. Harry let the freshly dead Death Eater drop to the ground before he turned his attention to the one that was still bound. He woke them up, levitated them so they were standing, and waited for their tirade of threats and cursing to end.

"Finished?" Harry asked.

He silenced the man before he could start again.

"I'm going to send you back to your master," Harry spoke slowly. "Tell him, I'll be waiting right here." He paused. "Do you think he'll just rip the memory from your mind?"

The Death Eater blanched at the question.

"Attend carefully," Harry took a step back. "Hello Tom Marvolo Riddle. Are you going to be the coward that I know you are and send more minions after me or are you going to come face me yourself?" Harry dropped the wards. "Go on."

The Death Eater disappeared with a pop. Harry didn't have to wait long. A resounding crack announced the arrival of the Dark Lord. It was followed by at least another dozen small pops as his minions appeared. Voldemort opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off as a few Death Eaters fell into pits around the clearing while others activated the stones. He turned, glaring at his minions. No one bothered to revive the fallen or retrieve the ones in the pits.

Slowly, he turned his glare toward Harry. Harry smiled at him as he subtly activated the wards around the clearing.

"Tom, is that you?" Harry asked.

Unlike the Voldemort that had emerged in the graveyard, this one was more human. He was tall and pale, with long brown hair that hung down below his shoulders. Tom Riddle was actually a rather handsome man.

"My name is Lord Voldemort," Riddle snarled.

"I'm sure it is," Harry said like he was talking to a child.

Riddle snapped his wand up, tossing out a string of Killing Curses. Harry had to admit it was rather impressive. The Killing Curse took a lot of power and control to cast properly. An underpowered one would cause minor injuries that usually weren't painful.

Harry dodged out of the way of the spells. He carefully made his way around the clearing until he managed to get in front of the gathered Death Eaters. The Killing Curses that he dodged hit the masked minions that weren't prepared. Death Eaters scattered as their companions dropped. A couple more activated a stone, knocking them out, and one or two discovered a spike pit. The traps weren't nearly as lethal as their master.

"Do you know any other spells?" Harry taunted.

Riddle snarled, swapping over to a flame-whip. Harry ducked under the fire. Someone behind him screamed out in pain as they ignited.

"Two spells," Harry said. "Good job, Tom."

Riddle sent a spell-chain at him. Each one would have killed him painfully had they hit. Instead, Harry continued to dance out of the way. Tom either didn't care about his minions or was too far gone to notice that they were dying. The ones that had fallen to the scattered booby-traps were safer than those still standing.

"I have to say," Harry said raising a dead body to block a spell. "I'm a little disappointed at the lack of banter."

The body melted as the spell hit. A goopy clump of clothing dropped to the ground.

"You're usually so talkative," Harry teased.

Riddle finally stopped his barrage.

"We have never met," Riddle snapped. "You look like Potter, but you clearly aren't him."

"It's the hair, right?" Harry sighed. "I just can't bring myself to cut it and it's annoying if I let it grow."

"Who are you?" Riddle narrowed his eyes at him.

"That's a long story," Harry replied.

"You aren't going to leave here alive," Riddle started to calm down.

"One of us won't," Harry chuckled. "I'm curious. Did you feel it when I destroyed your horcruxes?"

"Lies!" Riddle cried.

"The locket, the diadem, the ring, and the cup," Harry counted them off.

Riddle's eyes widened.

"You know, I have to ask," Harry uncovered Riddle completely and propped him up so they could see each other. "Are you an idiot?"

"You will not speak to me in such a way. I am Lord Voldemort!" Riddle roared.

"You are Tom Riddle. I would say junior, or the second, but we both know that's not true," Harry wiggled his finger at the other wizard. "You're what, sixty or seventy years old? You've been chasing immortality since you were a kid and a horcrux was the best you could come up with? A squib could live until they're over a hundred with hardly any effort. A wizard of your supposed caliber should have been able to hit at least one-fifty. You could probably make it to two-hundred with potions, charms, and magical artifacts. That's not even counting Muggle methods."

Riddle launched into another attack. Harry couldn't deny that the man was talented. He was fast, had an impressive spell catalogue, and had an expansive knowledge base. Unfortunately for Riddle, Harry had spent a few years taking care of Dark Lords and Ladies during his quest to gather more esoteric schools of magic. In the grand scheme of things, Lord Voldemort, while in the top five, wasn't the worst.

Harry spun away as another spell-chain raced toward him, snagged the tail end of the streak of magic with the tip of his wand, and sent it back at Riddle. He followed the hijacked attack with one of his own. Riddle swatted away the first three spells of his own chain only to miss the last. He was screaming in pain as the new attack hit.

Tom Riddle dropped to the ground. A discordant chorus of screams rose from the surviving Death Eaters in the area. Harry wrinkled his nose at the smell of burning flesh. Threads of thick smoke rose from the Death Eaters that were still alive. It all coalesced into an orb before lowering onto the body of the Dark Lord. A ragged, pain-wracked breath sounded as Riddle slowly pushed himself to his hands and knees.

"I wasn't expecting that," Harry chuckled.

"I … am … Lord V-Voldemort," Riddle shakily got back to his feet. "Death has no hold on me."

Harry watched as Tom's injuries started to heal. They stopped before he was completely restored.

"Doesn't look like you have enough minions around," Harry shook his head as he spoke.

"They pledged their lives to me," Riddle steadied himself. "They are mine to use."

"I wonder what the range on that is," Harry mused.

"My power is absolute," Riddle snarled.

"Does it grow back limbs?" Harry asked.

Riddle dodged out of the way of a cutter. He ducked to the side and switched his stance to an angle to present less of a target as he returned to his full height. Whatever words he was about to say were halted as his jaw snapped shut. His foot came down directly in the center of a stone, sending a shock of electricity through him, and tightening every muscle of his body.

Harry didn't waste the opportunity. He disarmed Riddle, then removed the hand that had held it. Harry waited for a moment to see if anything happened. Riddle screamed, but no more smoke arrived to heal his injuries.

"That's a bit disappointing," Harry sighed. "Bye Tom."

Tom's body went limp as the Killing Curse connected. Harry took time to check on the various Death Eaters in the clearing. Those that hadn't been killed by the pit traps or stray spells had become twisted husks. The only part of them that hadn't been destroyed was the forearm with the Dark Mark.

Harry transfigured Riddle's body into a brick. He summoned it, dropped the wards, and popped away.