67. Oops.

"Did we tell Dobby that we had already solved the troubles he was worried about?" I asked, tossing some popcorn into my mouth.

The rogue Bludger snapped Harry's arm as he reached for the Snitch.

"Nope." Rachel grabbed some of my popcorn.

"Ah, well, that explains it. Oops." Dobby was still trying to save Harry by hospitalizing him enough to send him away from Hogwarts, where the elf would no doubt take care of his new master until he was better and out of danger.

Yue just giggled. "Well, at least Lockhart isn't here to remove his bones."

"Winky."

Pop. "Yes, Master?"

"Please inform Dobby that we have already solved the danger at Hogwarts caused by his bad old master, so Harry isn't in danger." It had slipped my mind to inform the excitable elf.

Winky nodded and vanished with a soft pop. Moments later, another, much louder CRACK signaled Dobby's arrival. The small house-elf stood there, trembling, his enormous green eyes filled with a mix of guilt and relief.

"Mr. Ryan, sir, Dobby is sorry! Dobby did not know! Harry Potter is safe?!" His ears flopped as he wrung his hands.

"All good, Dobby. No need to bash your head in over it," I said, waving him off.

Tears welled up in his eyes. "Mr. Ryan is too kind! Too great! Too—"

Pop. Winky returned, grabbing Dobby by the arm before he could go into a full meltdown. "Come along, Dobby." And just like that, they were gone.

The game had already ended when Harry caught the Snitch with his non-broken arm. I raised a finger, and a crack of lightning shot out, obliterating the Bludger that was still trying to bash his skull in.

"Suppose I'll need to do something nice for Harry." I thought about it for a moment, then grinned.

After the game, Harry and the Gryffindor Quidditch team marched off excitedly toward the hospital wing to get his arm healed.

Ryan, Yue, and Rachel met them halfway.

"Good game, Harry." I slapped him on the back, and my Deathly Hallows symbol activated. Immediately, I sensed the presence of two souls in his body—a normal one and a small sliver.

"Thanks, Ryan..." Suddenly, Harry's eyes rolled back as his scar burst open, black blood oozing out. A wisp of dark smoke screeched as it dispersed into the air, vanishing—pulled toward the afterlife, where it most definitely wouldn't enjoy a grand adventure.

I caught the slumped Harry and began my act, having exorcised Voldemort's soul fragment from him with the Resurrection Stone. "Whoa, what was that?!"

If the Resurrection Stone could send an entire ghost to the afterlife with a flick of a finger, then it could send a little soul squirt clinging to a scar the same way.

The rest of the team panicked and helped carry him to the hospital wing, where not only was his scar fully healed, but his broken arm was also repaired. He just needed a bit of sleep before waking up, admitting he felt better than ever.

Ryan wasn't the only one destroying a Horcrux that year.

~~~

Dumbledore had a pleased look on his face as he dipped the silver locket into a bottle of basilisk venom. It let out a hiss and started to melt. Luckily, he was wearing dragonhide gloves for protection.

On the table lay the burned remains of a ring, diary, diadem, and cup. That cup had been a hassle to retrieve. As for the basilisk venom, he had managed to obtain a bottle through some of his old contacts.

Dumbledore steepled his fingers, glancing over his notes. "Quite the head start," he murmured. Ryan's influence was already apparent, even without direct interference. Without his help he had expected this process would have taken years, yet here he was, finishing before Christmas. Fascinating.

Later, he would receive a letter stating that the Horcrux in Harry Potter's scar had been exorcised. He hadn't even known Harry had a Horcrux in his scar! Still, that knowledge gave him great relief. With a smile he popped a lemon drop into his mouth and hummed and old forgotten tune he heard from somewhere long ago.

~~~

Someone else felt the effects of all the Horcruxes being destroyed—old Wraithmort himself. All of his soul anchors were gone.

Nagini wouldn't have been turned into a Horcrux in the original book series until Harry's fourth year, using the death of Bertha Jorkins.

So, as soon as his final Horcrux was shattered, his wraith-like body was immediately pulled away. But instead of going out in a bang, Voldemort went out alone with a whimper and a whine, fading away in some forgotten forest in Albania—nice and quiet like.

The ancient trees stood silent as a pitiful wraith shuddered between their roots. Voldemort's misshapen soul twisted in agony as an unseen force gripped him, tearing him apart.

"No… No!" His whisper turned to silence. His form flickered, thinned—until there was nothing. No explosion, no trace. Just the wind rustling through the empty forest.

The group, of course, wouldn't know about Voldemort having met such a lackluster demise. Ryan had no idea Dumbledore would be so fast and efficient in acquiring the cup and destroying it in under half a year.

There also were no outward signs of his demise, no collapsing Death Eaters in Azkaban, no grand show of lights and fireworks, nothing.

The world moved on without Tom Riddle like any other day.

Regardless even if they knew Voldemort was gone they wouldn't care much. Ryan was mainly there to learn magic and because Harry Potter was one of his favorite books to read and wanted to experience it himself.

As for the girls they cared even less about Voldemort. They only cared for Ryan and maybe about some of their close friends. They probably wouldn't even bat an eye if Diagon Alley was on fire and filled with death eaters as long as it didn't interrupt their life with Ryan at Hogwarts.

The group had no intentions of leaving anytime soon. They were still enjoying Hogwarts and learning new things. They weren't in a rush, they were basically immortal after all!