A new adventure begins with a new story. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. Please leave a review when you are finished and let me know what I did wrong or what I can improve. If you are joining me from my other story, let me assure you it is not forgotten and will be updated. One last thing before we can start.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the Characters that were presented in the books or movies. Any OC that will make an appearance in this Fic is in fact a figment of my imagination or if not it will be announced in the chapter where that OC appears. This will be the only disclaimer I will give and is valid for all the chapters.
Without any further ado, I present to you: The Law of Equilibrium
Chapter 1 - Change of Plans
Both Harry and Elaine scowled at the now almost solid memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle. They were in a sticky situation having both lost their respective wands.
"So... your Mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm. What surprised me that it worked for both of you. Usually it's one save per sacrifice, but you may count as one as you are twins."
Tom tapped his chin with Harry's wand.
"I wondered you see, but after all there is nothing special about you. It was mere chance that saved both of you from me. That's all I wanted to know."
The Potter twins tensed as the Riddle's smile grew wider, both of them waiting for a curse that would not come.
"Now, let me teach you a final lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against the famous Potter Twins, the heroes of the light."
Dread settled in the pit of Harry's stomach as he watched Riddle walk towards the stone face of Slytherin.
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"
Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck Harry and Elaine saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole and something was stirring in its depth.
"Harry, it's the Basilisk!" Elaine called out. Shutting his eyes he began to run towards the nearest pillar, one hand held in front of him. Small echoing footsteps told him his sister was on the move as well. They had both thought about the possibility of fighting a Basilisk but all their plans relied on them having wands. Something hard touched his hand and he ducked behind what he hopped to be a pillar at the same time as something big thudded onto the chamber floor.
"Kill them" Voldemort hissed. Harry could hear the snake moving and it was heading towards him.
"It is a shame that the wizarding world will never find your bodies. But worry not, I will make sure to mention you somewhere when historians write down my glorious victory over the mudbloods."
Harry got up and started running away from the snake hoping beyond hope that he would be able to distract it until a miracle happened.
"Sad isn't it that you both are here alone, abandoned by your mentor Dumbledore. He hasn't even prepared for you and I even can't blame him. Why waste resources on a project that is doomed to fail."
Something clipped Harry's shoulder that sent him spinning to the ground. Reaching around with his hands he felt the pillar. Pulling himself towards it he hunkered down and cowered, praying that the Basilisk won't find him. Inwardly however he knew his run was over. The only thing that kept him from despairing is that his death would possibly give Elaine enough time to execute her plan. She always had a plan in these situations. Taking one last shaking breath he waited.
The Basilisk came ever closer. The movement of its heavy body clearly audible over the stone floor. Finally the king of serpents was so close that Harry could feel the heat of its body emanating from it. It must have stood directly in front of him. Sizing him up, hoping that he would look into those deadly eyes of it. A hiss came from the snake and Harry could hear the tongue shoot out and taste the air. Another hiss and another flick of the tongue followed. Then to Harry's indescribable surprised the serpent turned and moved away.
Letting the breath he was unknowing holding he started to relax. How did the Basilisk not see him? He had however no time to ponder as a loud scream echoed from the other side of the chamber.
"Elaine"
Throwing caution to the winds Harry sprinted towards his sister. Loud hissing was accompanied by more screams and crashing. Half way there Elaine screamed again and a light burst into existence. Harry, even though had his eyes closed, was hurt by its brightness. Before he could even react it disappeared as fast as it had appeared. The chamber felt even darker now and the only sound was the snake hissing madly. Even though ever instinct in his body told to keep his eyes shut, Harry had to know what happened to his sister. Opening his eyes, he blinked madly to get rid of the bright colors clouding his vision. The snake was trashing madly destroying pillars in its pain as Elaine slowly crawled away from it. Harry wasn't sure if it was still his messed up vision but he could have sworn that she was glowing.
"No… nooo! Kill them. The girl is right in front of you! Sniff… you can still smell."
The Basilisk calmed down and stuck his tongue out, tasting for its prey. With a furious hiss it turned to Harry. He didn't have any time to shout his eyes again, so he stared in those big unseeing yellow eyes.
And nothing happened. Blinking once and moving experimentally just to make sure he wasn't dead, realization hit him. Whatever that flash of light had been, it had blinded the Basilisk.
"It's blind. The eyes do not work anymore!" He called out, just to let Elaine know that whatever she did, it had worked. The snake started moving at the sound of his voice. Mouth opened wide, its huge white fangs glistening as the venom dripped from them.
"Oh crap", Harry murmured as he ran. Hoping that he could hide behind a pillar again he headed towards the closest one. A small bump in the floor sent him sprawling across the floor however. The basilisk hissed in triumph as it lounged at the fallen boy. Harry saw the snake approaching and threw up his arms in a feeble attempt to protect himself. To Harry's utter surprise black tendrils shot from every corner of the room towards him to form a ball in his outstretched hands. A split second later the ball rocketed to forwards to intercept the charging basilisk. The ball of darkness flew straight into the serpents opened mouth, catching it by surprise. Harry did not quite catch what happened next. The basilisk let out a painful screech before hitting the wall opposite from him with a loud thud. It twitched a little before the ball exited the corpse and returned to him.
Harry looked at it in amazement. He had never seen anything like it. It was a ball of total darkness. Nothing reflected off it, no hints of grey, nothing.
"That is not something you see every day!"
Harry quickly turned around to face Tom Riddle.
"A Child of Darkness, ironic isn't it? The savior of the wizarding world is the epitome of darkness. This makes more sense. Be that as it may. I think I prefer it this way. Imagine what Dumbledore would say when he knew that Lord Voldemort conquered Darkness. Too bad they will never know."
Harry threw is ball towards Tom Riddle, who lazily raised the wand he was holding and banished the ball with a small burst of light. His eyes turned an ugly shade of red as he began to laugh.
"Did you really think your tricks could harm me? The great Lord Voldemort? No, now I will kill you. No more tricks, only you and me, Harry Potter, you and…"
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
Both Harry and Tom turned to find Elaine standing beside the basilisk's corpse.
"Of course not. You will be next after I finish off your brother."
"Is that so?" Elaine asked in a skeptical voice and showed Tom the book she was holding.
"Give the book to me and I will make your death relatively painless." Lord Voldemort ordered.
"Nope, I don't think so."
"Give it here before…" Elaine didn't give him a chance to finish. Gripping the dairy in both hands she raised it over her hand before impaling it with all her might on one of the basilisk's fangs. Ink immediately spurted from the diary and the memory of Tom Riddle twisted and turned, screaming in agony before vanishing altogether. The silence that followed was only interrupted by the moans of Ginny Weasley.
"Looks like we did it again." Harry stated, still not believing their luck. "Good thing you thought of the diary."
"Yeah", Elaine stated breathlessly. Now that the adrenaline was fading from her body, the realization what they had just done seeped through to her. "Nice ball you had there."
Harry just nodded in reply. Both spun around as the door opened with a hiss, to find Albus Dumbledore entering the Chamber of Secrets.
"… And that is what happened, Professor Dumbledore." Elaine finished recounting their adventure.
Albus Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and examined the Potter twins in front of him. He was pleased that they had fought so valiantly and successfully against an iteration of Lord Voldemort. What worried him however was not only the diary with a huge hole in it, but the twins themselves. He contemplated Elaine Potter. Bright young Gryffindor, with traits of all the four houses. She was the exact opposite to her twin. Where Harry had raven hair, green eyes and was rather small. Elaine was tall, blond and had bright blue eyes. Where they came from he still didn't know. As far as he could tell Lily had always been faithful to James. Maybe it was one of those things that lay dormant in a line before appearing. The startling clear color and the lightning shape scar were the only things that the twins shared, apart from being in Gryffindor of course. Also when Alnus screwed up his eyes and looked at them in dim light, they kind of looked alike, but not really. Now he had another thing to add to that list that the twins shared: unusual abilities. Elaine had told him that a light bursted from her as the basilisk neared. Effectively blinding it and destroying its murderous sight. Harry on the other hand summoned a ball of darkness and used it to throw the basilisk against a wall, killing it in the process. He had expected something special from the twins, but he never considered that something like this. If he were a gambling man he would have said the love the twins have for each other would have been the "power the dark lord knows not". It seems however he was slowly getting old. His Pawns apparently just reached the other side of the board and became Queens. This on one hand made things easier. On the other it made all of his old plans obsolete.
No matter. As long as I stay flexible enough with my plans the Dark Lord will meet his downfall.
"I am proud that you managed to stand up to Lord Voldemort again and save Ms. Weasley and I hope you don't mind me saying, but I think your parents would have been proud as well."
The twins beamed at him.
"Before I keep you up any longer, I think you both should go see Madame Pompfrey. If she finds out that I had you recount your story before seeing here, she will have my hide. Why don't we postpone our discussion of the events until tomorrow?" Dumbledore watched as the twins chuckled and got up to leave. As the door closed behind them Dumbledore got to work.
After a quick checkup courtesy of Madame Prompfrey and a good night sleep Harry almost felt human again. It seemed like their whole escapade into the chamber of secrets was nothing more than a weird dream. If it weren't for all the questions it had raised. Sighing, he waited in the Gryffindor common room for his sister. Yesterday they had been too tired to talk, so they had agreed to talk later. Also Harry was glad for the night sleep because it allowed the events to settle. Luckily the common room was devoid of people, seeing how breakfast started an hour ago. Harry wasn't sure if he could handle people right now. Sitting down in one of the armchairs he pondered.
He had conjured a black ball of darkness in the chamber. The first question that sprung into his mind was: Was it really darkness? Followed by: Can I do it again? The first question could then be easily answered, if he could answer the second with "yes". Looking around one more time to make absolutely sure that he was alone, he frowned at his hand, willing the ball to reappear. Just as in the chamber black tendrils shot up from the shadowy corners of the room to form the ball in his hands.
Harry just stared at it. He wasn't sure what to think. Hopefully Professor Dumbledore would have some sort of explanation.
"So you can do it again as well?"
The voice of Elaine scared the living daylights out of Harry, making him drop his ball.
"Why did you have to scare me like that?"
Elaine however wasn't paying any attention to Harry, as her eyes were glued to the patch of floor in front of him. He himself looked down just in time to see the rest of his ball melting into the floor.
"Hm… didn't expect it to do that." Then he finally noticed what Elaine had said. "What do you mean, as well?"
Elaine instead of answering looked at her own hand. After a moment of intense concentration a ball of light materialized in her hand.
"Oh… so it was really you who blinded the basilisk." Harry said starring mesmerized at her ball. Elaine frowned and let her ball dissipated with a casual flick of the hand.
"What do you mean it was me? Who else could have blinded it?"
Harry started to backpedal. "No, I didn't mean it like that. It was an acceptance of the fact that you can do something really strange."
"And throwing dark balls isn't strange?" Elaine asked condescending.
Harry grimaced and had to agree with his sister.
"What does this mean Harry?" She asked him after a moment of silence. "Why can we do these things? Like you said, it's not normal. Other wizards don't throw balls of light or darkness. Are we freaks?"
Harry shuddered at the word. "I don't know, but I am sure Professor Dumbledore knows. Let's get some breakfast and then go talk to him. Afterwards we can experiment. As soon as Hermione gets cured we can ask her. She probably read something somewhere." Elaine nodded and together they passed through the Fat Lady in order to find some sustenance. Half way there a small first year gave Harry a note. Giving his sister a puzzled look she just shrugged. It read:
Dear Harry,
If you could please see me I have a small private thing to discuss with you immediately. Elaine can enjoy her breakfast in the great hall and join us afterwards.
Albus Dumbledore.
P.S
I enjoy chocolate frogs.
Harry gave Elaine another puzzled look, who just shrugged again.
"If you don't go, you won't know. Also you can always tell me later."
"But why does he want to talk to me alone? If it is about the chamber shouldn't you be there as well?"
Elaine just shrugged again. "I don't know, you better go to find out. Maybe it's about the dark ball thingy. Then when I come he'll talk about the Chamber about that weird dairy. Afterwards I get some alone time with Professor Dumbledore. Like I already said, you can always tell me later."
Harry frowned before looking at the note again and nodding. "I guess you are right, sis. Then I will see you later I guess. Nice hair by the way."
With a finally wave to his sister, Harry made is way towards the headmasters office.
Elaine looked at her brother in confusion before grabbing a strand of hair. It was neon green. The shout of "Harry James Potter, you will regret this!" could be heard throughout the castle.
"Ah, Harry. Please come in and close the door. We have much to discuss." Dumbledore indicated the empty chair in front of him, eyes twinkling. Choosing the only free chair in the room Harry sat down.
"You wanted to talk to me Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked nervously.
"Yes, my boy. Yesterday your sister and you told me about some strange powers that manifested in the chamber of secrets. We will talk about your powers before being joined by your sister. Once she is here we will discuss your adventure down in the chamber before I have a little talk with your sister about her powers. I thought it would be best to do this alone, so you are not distracted by the others present. Unless of course you would want to do it together?" Dumbledore raised one eyebrow?
"No sir, it's fine." Harry quickly answered.
"Excellent, so now, to business. What exactly did you do yesterday?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling again.
"I created a ball of darkness which then launched itself at the basilisk." Harry said truthfully.
"I see, could you by any chance repeat this miraculous feat?"
Harry held out his hand and tried conjured another dark ball. It was tougher to perform under pressure. After a minute or so, the tendrils appeared out of the shadows. Dumbledore's eyebrows were in danger of hitting the ceiling.
"Fascinating, do you mind if I examine it? Do you have trouble holding it."
Harry just shrugged. "Not really."
Albus got as close to the ball as his long crocked nose allowed. After what seemed like ages he pulled out his wand. Muttering a lot of spells Harry did not know under his breath, Dumbledore performed all sort of wand movements around the ball without actually touching it. Nothing visible happened but once he finished, he had a satisfied smile. Lastly he held out a long finger and slowly moved in to touch the ball. Dumbledore's finger just slid into the ball and disappeared from sight. After a moment he pulled it out again and stared at it, as if trying to make sure it was still there.
"Fascinating, didn't feel a thing." Dumbledore more mumbled to himself. He sat back and contemplated everything he just learned.
"You said that Tom banished your ball with a burst of light?" Harry nodded in confirmation. "Do you mind if I try?" Harry shook his head. Dumbledore waved his wand and produced a similar burst of light, yet again making the ball disappear.
"This is really fascinating, Harry. You seem to be able to manifest darkness. Not the darkness that you get by removing light but the magical one.", he finally explained.
"There is a difference?" Harry asked. Dumbledore just nodded.
"One thing I still don't understand, my boy is how you were able to throw a basilisk with one of these. It seems rather … insubstantial."
"I really don't know how I did it, it just happened."
"Well, there is only one way to find out. How about you throw one of your balls against those instruments over there?" Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes.
"But Professor, your instruments…" Harry started
"Are rather delicate, I know. What better way to see if you can cause physical harm with your balls." It didn't seem possible but his eyes were twinkling even more. Harry after a moment of indecision created a ball and threw it at the instruments. It wasn't every day one had permission to possibly smash Dumbledore's possessions. Both headmaster and student watched with intrest as the ball connected with the shelf and shattered it to small pieces, sending all the puffing and whirling instruments flying through the room. The some portraits woke up with a start when debris hit their painting. Dumbledore himself had to shield himself from one of his more expensive possessions. Harry immeadiatly turned to his headmaster.
"I am sorry about that sir, I didn't expect it to…" he stopped as Dumbledore raised his hand, eyes still twinkling.
"Don't worry, Harry my dear. No harm was done. I can easily fix it later, but now…" Dumbledore leaned in conspiratorially. "How about you try breaking that bookcase over there."
A good half an hour later Dumbledore's office was fully trashed and both of them were laughing. Dumbledore had challenged Harry to break stuff in his office in different ways, like curving the ball before it hit, or only knocking the green books off the shelves. In the end Harry would always succeed.
"Harry I think we exhausted possible targets in my office. Now, your sister will arrive shortly and we can't have the office looking like this when she arrives. But before that I would like to share with you my findings. It appears to me that you are an Elemental Harry." At Harry's confused look Dumbledore chuckled and continued. "An Elemental is a person who can tap into a certain element and use its power. They are really rare and those we know about had elements like fire and water. Your element apparently is darkness."
"Darkness? Does that mean I am evil?" Harry asked worried.
"No Harry, we are defined through our actions. There is a spell which would confirm my hypothesis. Do you mind if I would cast it on you. I am fairly certain that the results will be the same. But just to be sure."
Harry nodded in agreement.
"Alright then Harry" Dumbledore stood and pulled out his wand motioning Harry to stand up. "Try to relax."
Before Harry knew what happened the world around him disappeared and he plunged into darkness.
"Chocolate Frog" The gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office jumped aside admitting Elaine. She whistled a happy tune as she ascended the stars. Knocking on the door she waited to be beckoned in. Instead of the headmaster answering she heard a moan. Her eyes growing wide she pulled her wand and through the doors open. What she saw would haunt her until her dying days. The office of Dumbledore was completely trashed. Dumbledore was lying bloody and beaten on the floor and worse of all Harry bound and gag, clearly unconscious.
"Ms. Potter, please alert Madame Pomfrey and any other teacher you may find.", Professor Dumbledore's weak voice scared the living hell out of her.
"Professor, what happened here. What happened to my brother."
"Ms. Potter. Madame Pomfrey, please." Dumbledore repeated more forcefully.
Elaine giving her brother one more look turned around and ran.
