Chapter Text
Hari needed a vacation. She watched the bath fill faster than any muggle tub and breathed in steam, the lavender scent and silk robe reminders of no longer being on the run. If she couldn’t take a vacation, she could at least take a bath. Each time she tried to take a bath in the last two weeks, something interrupted her. Not this time; tonight was the night. Hari turned off the tap, the promise of soothed muscles just seconds away. Naturally, that’s when a portal opened under her feet and sucked her in.
Hari landed, her bare feet sinking into the mud. She was surrounded by a wall of fire. Hari was about to apparate away on reflex when the fire abruptly vanished. As her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness, the first thing Hari saw was a figure rotating haphazardly in some sort of spherical shield. She looked closer and saw it was a child, naked and disoriented. An unwanted image of Charity Burbage hanging in the air before Nagini… Hari occluded the memory and put up a shield. She couldn’t leave that girl behind. She started to scan the area and saw a man shackled to a wall.
“Welcome home, my lady,” said a smooth baritone. Hari jerked her head to see a man outside the circle of burnt ground. “Your father will be so pleased.” He was impeccably dressed in a muggle suit, but there was something distinctly non-muggle about him.
Hari tried to view the rest of the area without turning her back on the man. Nothing good comes from a person who casually watches a child suffer. In her periphery she saw two young women. Snape would be proud - well, less caustic - if he could see the progress she’d made in occlumency when the sight of a Hagrid-sized, bear-like monster didn’t make her twitch or run screaming. Every being outside of the circle of burnt ground was staring at her.
“Who are you?” Hari asked, quietly.
“My name is Nicodemus.” The man’s shadow inched toward her, toward the light.
“Why did you bring me here without my consent?” Hari asked.
“Nicodemus!” yelled a man. Several people, including a very tall man - with a staff? - were coming toward the circle. From his horrid choice of coat, Hari thought he might be a wizard unused to muggle clothing, but no wizarding culture had used staff foci for centuries. Hari used the distraction to dart toward the captives.
“Sir,” Hari whispered. “I’m going to get us out of here. Do you know where we are?” Hari used silent charms to unbind his ropes and duplicate her robes. It wasn’t great, but it was better than being nude. She added a warming charm. I hope he doesn’t attack me; that would be just my luck.
Green Eyes studied her as he slipped on the robe. “I’m not leaving the child,” he said.
“Neither am I.” Green Eyes nodded, and moved smoothly toward the girl. Hari raised an eyebrow, impressed. She knew from experience it was difficult to respond like that after bad guys restrained you. This cool cucumber was definitely not a pygmy puff.
“There’s a dock and a boat in that direction, but there are –,” Mr. Green Eyes was drowned out by the argument of those outside the burned circle.
“This is end game, Dresden,” said Nicodemus. He looked smug, and Hari had an urge to punch his face. “The Antichrist walks the Earth.” Nicodemus pointed at Hari, and everyone turned to stare.
She froze. Scrutiny makes it rather difficult to rescue hostages. And then the words caught up to her. “Wait. My father? You think my father is…?” Her occlumency was slipping away.
“The Lord of Hell. The Prince of Darkness.”
Hari Potter, leader of the light, the spawn of Satan? A laugh escaped Hari and she slapped a hand over her mouth. “You think my father is the Devil? Literally? As in the Christian God vs. the Devil? The bible? ‘Suffer not a witch to live’ and all that?”
“Indeed. It is a long story, but you were kidnapped immediately after birth and sent to a new reality. Tonight we performed a ritual to bring you home at last.”
A sinking feeling was growing in Hari’s gut that she desperately wanted to ignore.
“And now you will fulfill the glorious purpose for which you were born.” Nicodemus continued.
“Purpose?” Hari whispered. She had a very bad feeling about this.
“Oh yes. The Antichrist brings the apocalypse.”