"The Choice"
Discovery
The leaves were starting to fall as the cold winter wind blew through the grounds of Hogwarts. A small group of friends were slowly walking up the path to the school, trying to shield themselves from the cold with their cloaks. Over the summer, Harry had every intention of leaving to finish off his quest for the horcurxes. His only mishap had been that his friends, Ron and Hermione, had been keeping an exceptionality strong eye on him since the end of last term. It had been expected that he would try to shake off his friends to protect them from harm, as only Harry would go to such lengths. Since that time, Harry had been keeping to himself, hardly talking to anyone anymore. Hermione had tried coaxing him to talk to them, but the only one to get through the thick shield had been Ginny. After their breakup at Dumbledore's funeral, Ginny had kept her distance as well for a while. She had known that what Harry had said had been true, she could be used to get to him, she also knew how much he cared for her as did everyone else. Sirius Black had been used to bring Harry and his friends to the Ministry of Magic, only to find that it had been a trap by Lord Voldemort to lure Harry there. Sirius had died that night protecting Harry, this only caused Harry to close himself off even more from the world.
Looking back,
Ginny was glad that Harry had decided to open up to her after a bit,
to trust her with his deepest fears and secrets. Although, his
secrets had shaken her to the core, she always stood by him. Harry
had told her that after Dumbledore's death, he had been having more
dreams as well as waking to find himself almost floating over his
bed, the room shaking, or a glow surrounding him. These events had
ended up getting him kicked out of his relative's house almost
immediately after returning home for his last summer. Nobody could
explain those events, not even the Ministry of Magic. Blame had been
cast onto Voldemort and his death eaters, for a seventeen year old
boy could never do such magic according to the Ministry. After some
extensive testing, the conclusions had been that Harry was not being
controlled obviously. But the final verdict from the Minster had been
as unresolved and unexplained. The simple truth had been too hard to
comprehend or explain for Minister Scrimgeour .
After returning to
Hogwarts with a sullen Harry in tow, the seventh year had begun.
Advanced magic was now performed in all lessons, and unspoken spells
were mandatory at all times, no exceptions. Kingsley Shacklebolt had
become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Tonks had
decided to become the new Transfiguration teacher; much to the
delight of Harry and his friends. The homework was again
overwhelming, and little time could be spent on planning the trip to
Godric's Hollow or defeating Voldemort these days.
Many students had not
returned, especially since the magic protecting Hogwarts had begun to
dwindle. Since Dumbledore's death, many things had begun to occur,
for one, the Death Eaters seemed unstoppable now. There were
considerably more deaths and attacks in the paper now, the werewolf
population had also grown as did the Inferis. The atmosphere of the
magical community had hit an all time low, even the muggle population
had taken noticed with all of the unsolved crimes popping up.
At times, Ron and
Hermione were surprised that Harry could hold up at all, such was the
pressure on him to defeat this evil. Sometimes, they had almost
seemed to glimpse a change in him. A confidence that they couldn't
understand, but it would disappear almost immediately and Harry would
become quiet and moody once again. The only one who could even get a
smile out of him was Ginny, it was obvious that Harry still cared for
her deeply.
On the first day of
winter everything changed. The Death Eaters had attacked Hogsmeade
and Snape had been rumored to be leading the group. Zonkos and The
Three Broomsticks were completely destroyed, and most of the homes
were left abandoned by the time help arrived. The students had been
led into the Great Hall to be watched by the prefects and some staff
while the teachers joined the aurors in Hogsmeade.
Ron, Harry, and
Hermione were in a corner discussing the attack, when a white faced
Ginny raced up to them. "Harry, McGonagall wanted me to come get
you! She wants you to join them out there!"
"What! Why?"
Harry was shocked, Ron and Hermione had to drag him to his feet for
anything to register. He had never been allowed to go or do anything
dangerous before, every attempt had been made to keep him safe from
harm's way. The group quickly made their way through the crowded
hall as McGonagall was spotted heading their way.
"Well, what are
you waiting for? Grab your invisibility cloak and follow me Potter."
She waited impatiently while Harry ran up to his dorm room for his
father's silvery cloak. Upon his return, she started walked briskly
towards Hogsmeade with an anxious Harry trailing behind.
"Professor, why
do you want me to come? I have never been allowed to even attend the
meetings for the Order." Harry asked as he struggled to keep
pace with McGonagall's long strides.
"Harry, there is
something that you will need to hear from someone. Now I want you to
control yourself when you speak to him... we captured Draco Malfoy."
She added hesitantly.
"What! You got
him, where is the bloody git?" Harry exclaimed angrily as he
unconsciously sped up in rage
"Now Harry, I
need you to stay calm, you saw him on top of the tower that night,
you said that he wasn't the one to kill.. Dumbledore. He said that he
has something that he wants to tell you." McGonagall stopped in
her tracks to look up at Harry, as he had grown quite a bit over the
summer. "He specifically asked to speak to you, no other. And I
need to tell you as well, he is injured badly. He is being looked
after by Madam Pomfrey, but he should recover in a few weeks time."
The rest of the way to
Hogsmeade, Harry tried to control the rage boiling within him. All
attempts were wasted upon seeing Malfoy, as he had lunged at the
smaller boy and had to be held back by two aurors.
"Still the hero
are you, Potter" Malfoy sneered weakly. He had been cut badly by
falling debris, upon inspection it had been discovered that he had
tried to enter one of the houses to see what he could loot on orders
from Voldemort. Unfortunately for him, the house had crumbled while
he was still inside.
"I ought to rip
you to shreds, Malfoy! You are the reason that Dumbledore is dead!"
Harry lunged again, but was pulled back yet again.
A fleeting shadow in
Malfoy's eyes showed how much regret he had for those actions, he
sincerely looked like he regretted his decisions. "I wanted to
tell you... I didn't mean for all of this to happen. The Dark Lord
said that he would kill me and my family if I didn't follow through
on his orders. Only a small group was supposed to come through. We
were supposed to grab a sword from Dumbledore's study, but,
everything went wrong. The Werewolf, Greyback, wasn't supposed to be
there."
"What...why are
you telling me this?" Harry was stunned, he had never expected
his nemesis to ever break down like this.
"The Dark Lord is
mad, he will kill me, but I don't care anymore, not after all I have
seen. My father is in prison and my mother was killed last week."
Malfoy actually started to cry. "I've lost everyone. If it is
the last thing I do, I will get my revenge… I am going to tell you
everything I can. "
Harry stared down at this new Malfoy in shock, even McGonagall looked surprised by this revelation. "Professor, let's get him up to Hogwarts, he is telling the truth, I don't know how, but I know that he is truly different somehow. It would be better to have him at the school than in Azkaban, Voldemort would only end up killing him faster that way."
On the way back up to
the school, Harry realized that he had taken control of the situation
on instinct. Professor McGonagall did not seem to take offence
though, it seemed almost as if she expected it of him. Filing these
thoughts away for a later time, he concentrated on the situation on
hand. Once Malfoy was taken to the infirmary with a few aurors,
McGonagall gave permission for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to join Harry
in the questioning. Upon seeing who was in the bed, Ron instantly
lunged at Malfoy as well. "Malfoy! How dare you show your ugly
face here, I aughta..." With some difficulty, Ron was pulled
off of Malfoy before serious damage could be inflicted.
"Ron, Malfoy has something that he wants to tell us all, just calm down." Harry yelled as Ron tried to wrestle out of everyone's grasp.
"How can you
say that, after everything he has put us through. You of all people,
I would think, wouldn't listen to him. You are the one that was the
first to always blame Malfoy for everything!" Ron yelled
angrily.
"Just listen to what he has to say, will you!" Harry stomped over to Malfoy's bed. "Tell us what you know, or I won't think twice about letting Ron having a shot at you."
An exhausted
Malfoy was just finishing his explanation, when Madam Pomfrey pushed
everyone out the door so he could get some rest. McGonagall was
unnerved at the revelations that had been revealed, but went briskly
back to business. "Alright everyone, off to bed, you all have
had a lot to think about tonight. Do try and get some sleep though."
On their way back to
the common room, Harry was deep in thought, as though debating
something in his mind. Finally, before they reached the Fat Lady's
portrait, he pulled everyone back. "I have something that I
think you should know, something that has been bothering me for a
while now. Lately I have been wondering whether to tell anyone, even
you. Meet me in the common room in a few minutes, I left my cloak in
the infirmary.
When Harry had returned a few minutes later, he had to wait until the last stragglers wandered of to bed, leaving just the four friends around the fire. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair for a moment before beginning. "You all know what happened over the summer, what with the dreams and everything." Everyone nodded slowly. "Well, I have been.. umm... experimenting with some new powers. Ever since Dumbledore's death I have been getting these weird dreams, and what I dream really seems to happen.
McGonagall found a
letter to me from Dumbledore, it was supposed to be opened after his
death. In the letter it said that when I was a baby, I had shown
strange powers, even as an newborn infant. I could move things across
the room, I even started... well... levitating in my crib. My parents
were getting worried, I guess this had happened in my dad's family a
lot, but it had only lasted a few hours and then it wouldn't happen
anymore. My situation was extreme, it didn't just go away like the
others, I even started to create shields when strangers came over. My
parents asked Dumbledore to bind my special abilities until I was
older. After they were killed, he kept them bound to protect me. But,
since his death I have been getting these abilities back, they are so
strong it is hard to control them at times. I think this is the power
that the prophesy talked about, Voldemort may not have known about
the protection that my mother gave me when she died, but he has that
same power in his blood now. This would be a completely different
power, one he would most definitely not know of."
The room was silent
for a few minutes as everyone let this new revelation soak in.
Hermione was the first to speak up, "So, um... what kind of new
powers do you have? You can speak Parsel Tongue, and you can do
complicated spells that most of us can't, what else can you do?"
Hermione was looking hesitant but excited.
Harry smiled, he had
known that Hermione would be fascinated by these new powers, he just
hoped that Ron and Ginny would still accept him. He looked over at
them to see Ron's jaw hanging open staring blankly back at him, Ginny
on the other hand didn't seem too surprised. He had a feeling that
she had been catching on when he told her what had happened over the
summer, he had told Ginny some things that he had not told anyone
else.
"Ron, are you ok?" Harry asked, he was getting a little worried since Ron's jaw was still hanging open. This seemed to snap him out of his stupor though.
"Yeah."
Ron said in a small voice, "I knew something was going on, but I
thought that You-Know-Who was doing that to you. I've never heard of
anyone able to do that before."
"I have... it was
in 'Hogwarts, a History'." At the dumb looks on Ron and Ginny's
face she sighed, "honestly, I am getting sick of this. There was
a wizard with that power, the only one ever recorded in history to
have those powers. He was a founding father of Hogwarts, the most
powerful of the four, it was Godric Gryffindor."
Everyone looked at Harry in surprise. "That was another thing, my dad and his mother had been the last descendants to Gryffindor. As he had only had one son, the Gryffindore name died out when his granddaughter married into the Potter family. After centuries, the line dwindled down to my grandparents and my father. And then Voldemort murdered my grandparents while my father was still in school here, the rest you know.
The
room was silent as everyone digested the new side of Harry. Hermione
was the first to stir from her catatonic state. "Harry, I am so
sorry, we never knew… But, can I ask you something? Do you have his
other power as well? You know, his specialty?" Hermione asked
Harry
sighed, "Hermione, I have never read that book, and probably
never will read that book, you know that. You probably know more
about my powers than I do."
"Godric
Gryffindor's special power was the ability to control magic with
his mind, he didn't need a wand. Can you do that?" Hermione
leaned forward expectantly.
"Yes, that was the first one I received, after that was the power to levitate. All in all, I have three that I can somewhat control, I can glow when I really concentrate on it. The only one I can't control is when I make the ground shake, that usually happens when I get really angry. That night at my uncle's house, Dudley had gotten into my trunk and had stolen my invisibility cloak, it seems funny now, but at the time I was irate. He had put it on only to discover that he had disappeared, he threw the cloak off and told Uncle Vernon that I had cast some spell on him. I got a real beating for that one, it was also the night that the 'earthquake' happened."
