Bygones Reclaimed
Chapter One - Flying Through Water
"This is ridiculous!"
"I know Harry, but try to look at it from his point of view," Hermione said. Upon seeing Harry's face snapping to her in anger she quickly added, "I'm not defending him, alright? All I'm saying is that from his perspective, it makes sense."
He huffed. "Nothing about that man makes any sense at all. Almost four weeks since school started, three months since Voldemorts return, and all he's done is calling me a liar."
"I know, I know. He is just scared and he's letting his fear control him. Professor Dumbledore is trying to talk some sense into him," she said.
"Yeah mate, Dumbledore will set him straight. And if not there's always the order," Ron added from across the table.
"Ron! It's supposed to be a secret!" Hermione said in a shrill whisper.
"Oh, yeah," Ron said sheepishly and not so subtly scanned around the great hall for any eavesdroppers.
"And what are they doing anyway? They won't even let us in on the meetings. I spent the entire summer scanning the papers for any news but there's nothing. Voldemort is after me and they aren't telling me anything," Harry snapped at his friends.
"I know! You don't have to snap at us Harry. You've been in a foul mood since term started and I understand. We've been over this. I don't like it either. I'm just trying to see it from their perspective." Hermione said with frustration etched on her face.
Harry sighed deeply. "I'm sorry Hermione. I just wish I could do something other than sit here and do nothing. And Fudge isn't making things easier," he said.
"Eh, you're probably just bored mate. This year is probably the least eventful so far, not counting that Umbridge toad. Dumbledore'll sort out you-know-who," Ron said while reaching for the smoked ribs plate. "You should just let Cho take it off your mind, if you know what I mean," he added with a saucy wink.
Harry opened his mouth to say something but didn't and closed it again. "Seriously, Ron? I have other things to think about than some girl. Sod off," Harry said. He got up and left the great hall, leaving his half eaten dinner and friends behind.
"What?" Ron called after him.
"Honestly Ron…" Hermione said and started to lecture Ron on the finer points of social behavior.
-.-.-.-
'Let's establish a few facts.
One, you are a fool.
Two, being a fool is good.
Three, I'm no fool.
Makes sense? No? Give it a minute.'
A man with a beard said that to me once. Well not exactly like that but the gist of it is the same. I thought he was joking and replied, 'if being a fool is good then why are you the captain?' He didn't laugh.
It took me a while to realize what he meant by it. Once I did I really missed being a fool.
Now, in hindsight, I guess I proved his point.
-.-.-.-
-o-
Harry didn't go back to the Gryffindor common rooms after leaving. Instead he went for a walk to collect his thoughts. He didn't really have any destination in mind so he decided to just go for a walk through the castle.
Things had been bad after last year. Cederic's death had hit him hard and for about three weeks after he was severely depressed. He hadn't told his relatives what had happened, not like it would've made it any better. On the contrary, it would probably have made things worse.
As it was, his uncle did pick up on that something was bothering him and so worked extra hard to make his life as unenjoyable as possible. Harry didn't want to know what lengths his uncle would go to make him miserable if he actually knew what happened.
He just kept quiet and didn't complain. He finished all his chores and various jobs that his uncle could think up, without saying a word that wasn't strictly necessary to completing the current task. He spent the rest of his time thinking about how Cederic didn't have to die and that he should've done more.
Nightmares plagued his sleep and continued to wake him up during the nights. Due to the lack of sleep they soon started to creep over into his waking hours as well. Dudley had heard him talk during his sleep and had started to use it as a way to annoy Harry. The first time Dudley had mentioned Cederic's name Harry had seen red and almost hit Dudley over the head with the shovel he was using to dig up weeds.
Only the fact that Dudley had picked up boxing over the year and had improved his reaction time saved him from a cracked skull. Instead the shovel had hit him over the hand which had quickly swollen to twice its size.
After it happened Harry realized what he'd done and instantly felt disgusted by himself. It did sort of work out in the end though. Only the fear of what Harry might do if pushed enough made his relatives not call the cops or try anything in retaliation. The only thing that happened once they returned from the hospital was that he got locked up in his room with no dinner. This was the turning point for Harry. It was the point at which he realized that fear did have its uses, even unintentional as it were.
His relatives didn't try to bother him after that incident. He got a meal twice a day and a bathroom visit in the morning and the evening. It was fine with him as long as he didn't have to associate with any of them.
It did give him a lot of time to think though. If his relatives being afraid of him had this kind of effect what could it do against Voldemort? Could he even make Voldemort afraid? Was it even worth considering?
He became consumed by this train of thought for the rest of the summer and his depression got pushed to the side. He had Hedwig fly to Hermione and bring him back both a magical and muggle newspaper every day. He scanned the pages for anything that could be even remotely connected to Voldemort but never found anything. All he found was the Minister of Magic— Cornelius Fudge—was doing everything in his power to deny the return of the 'Dark Lord You-Know-Who', even going as far as outright calling Harry a liar.
Once Dumbledore decided that he could leave the Dursleys he was sure that he would finally get some information about Voldemort. He was surprised when Dumbledore didn't bring him to the Weasleys but instead brought him to what was apparently the headquarter for a secret Order dedicated to defeating Voldemort. It did make sense though; Dumbledore wouldn't just let Fudge destroy any chance they had at mounting a defense against the attacks that was sure to happen any day.
However, when he was told that he wasn't allowed to attend the meetings he was enraged. Voldemort was targeting him personally and he wasn't allowed to know anything about it. What's more is that he was expected to just go on as nothing had happened. Attend school as if there wasn't a very powerful mad man out to kill him and everyone he knows.
He tried to voice his objection but was flatly rejected. He even wanted to slap Mrs. Weasley when she said that he was too young to be a part of the order. The only one who seemed to actually care at least a little about what he thought was Sirius. It wasn't enough though, he still was not allowed to know anything useful.
Then they got back to Hogwarts and things got even worse. He still wasn't allowed to know anything important about Voldemort but now, on top of that, the ministry was interfering with everything. He took the presence of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Dolores Umbridge as a personal insult to him. It was clear that the minister put her there to keep him in check as well as go against Dumbledore.
The worst part was that there was nothing he could do about it. He just wanted to do something—anything—to help but any time he tried approaching Dumbledore the man somehow disappeared. It frustrated him to no end.
Cho Chang, Cederic's girlfriend, had also started to get closer to him, for whatever reason he didn't know. He suspected that she wanted to know what had happened the night Cederic died but he wasn't ready to talk about it. He told her so when she asked but still she kept coming back just to talk about things.
He realized that she was probably going through something similar to what he himself was and that she might just wanted someone to talk to and so he continued to meet up with her. Ron, with his narrow perspective, of course got the wrong idea right away. He couldn't blame him though, the rest of the school thought the same.
They had become somewhat close friends during their talks but Harry didn't seriously think that she wanted to get together with him. Not after what happened. That's why he got so surprised when yesterday, as they were walking through the castle between classes, she leaned over and kissed him. Right there in front of everyone.
Harry was so surprised that he didn't know what to do and sort of just left her there. She tried to go after him and apologize but classes were about to start so she didn't have time to track him down. He had been avoiding her ever since. This was also the reason he got so ticked off with Ron during dinner that day.
He didn't really know what to make of it. She was nice and all and if this had been last year he would probably be all over her. Now though, he felt guilty about even considering it. She had been Cederic's girlfriend and he had been there when Cederic died…
He shook his head. He just couldn't focus on anything right now. He decided that even though it was getting a bit late that he would go out flying for a while, just to clear his head. He went back to his dorm room to retrieve his broom, ignoring Ron's attempts to get him to go play chess with him, and went outside.
-o-
The sun was getting low but you could still see clearly outside. It was still quite warm outside this late in September so he didn't bother bringing a cape with him. He just wanted to get into the air and let all his problems go away.
Once he reached the Quidditch pitch and got into the air everything was perfect again. Up here he was free. He could do whatever he wanted. Go wherever he wanted to go and nothing could stop him.
He swirled and looped throughout the pitch, practicing some crazy maneuvers for Quidditch that would make Hermione shriek. He worked for an hour straight until he was too tired to do any more exercises. He decided to just drift for a bit.
He watched the leaves on the trees sway slightly in the breeze and the birds soaring through the darkening sky. The sun was getting lower and lower and would soon disappear entirely behind the North Tower. He was watching it, still hovering in the air, marveling at the beauty of something so simple.
Then there was a splash from somewhere behind him. He turned around to check it out, thinking it was probably just the giant squid playing a game with a student. He couldn't immediately see anything though so he started to drift closer to the lake.
Then he saw it. Something was in the water, splashing around, and it was too small to be the squid. He squinted his eyes and saw that it appeared to be a person in there, and judging by the wild splashing he or she wasn't just going for a leisurely swim. Did the squid pull a student who couldn't swim out in the water?
He stopped thinking about it and started to accelerate as fast as he could towards the person. The pitch was quite a bit away from the lake so it took him a good thirty seconds to reach it. Once he did the person in the water had stopped moving around and appeared to be slowly sinking.
Harry hurried his broom as fast as he could but the person was now completely submerged. He took a deep breath and readied himself. The next second he smashed into the water surface, broom and everything. The cold water hit him in the face and he almost pulled up again in sheer reflex. He felt a sharp throbbing pain through his head from the sudden temperature change but did his best to ignore it. As a result his vision blurred from the pain and made it hard for him to see in the already dark water.
The broom didn't appear to work very well under water and slowed down significantly. Momentum worked in his favor though and brought him the rest of the way to the sinking person.
He couldn't really see who it was under the water but he managed to grab a hold of the person around his waist with one hand and pulled as hard as he could on his broom with the other, trying to turn it upwards. The weight of the two together wanted to keep pushing them down and Harry felt brief panic when he realized that they might not make it up again. Their robes billowed around them, making it even harder for Harry to orient himself. He pulled with all of his might on the broom in an attempt to get it to ascend.
It was slow but it worked. Once they breached the surface Harry drew in large gulps of air in relief, but his relief was short lived. Once the broom surfaced the charms on it seemed to kick into overdrive and it almost shot away from under Harry. It shocked him, making him almost lose his grip on it.
The weight of the person he was carrying became too much for him once they tried to lift off from the water so he had to stay on the surface. Taking a second to regain his bearing, he started to half fly and half float towards the shore. The water made his broom handle slick and slippery and he almost lost his grip on it several times. Every time it happened he jerked violently, the water splashing around them, trying to regain his grip.
It was slow and cold but the shore drew ever closer. When he felt his legs touch the bottom of the lake he got off his broom and started to drag the person up the shore.
With his adrenaline still pumping Harry tossed his broom aside and knelt down next to the man. It wasn't a student, that much was obvious. No one in the school wore completely black robes, except Snape, and no teacher that he knew looked anything like this person.
The man wasn't moving and Harry was just about to pull out his wand when he started to cough up large amounts of water. Now on land Harry noticed that the man appeared to be bleeding as well from a large gash on his side.
"Are you alright?" asked Harry.
The man just continued to cough.
"Hey, are you alright?" Harry asked again.
"Is.. *cough* t-this Hogwarts?" the man managed to croak out.
"Yes it is," said Harry. "We need to get you to the Hospital Wing."
He raised his wand to levitate the man but was stopped when the man grabbed his arm.
"No! I need… *cough* Harr-*cough* Potter," the man said through the coughing.
Harry still too worked up on adrenaline to realize what the man asked just said, "Yeah, that's me. But we really need to get you to the hospital wing. You seem to be bleeding and Madame Pomfrey will fix you in—" he was cut off by the man grabbing onto his arm harder and pulling him close.
They were now mere inches apart. He could see all the dirt and every scratch on the man's face. His brown hair and unshaven chin were soaked with water and from this distance he could also see that there appeared to be caked blood mixed with the tangled hair as well. The man was staring intensely at him with bloodshot eyes. There seemed to be something burning deep within them.
"Harry Potter. I am going to…*cough*… die… here and I need you to do something important for me," he said in a voice strained to remain stable.
Harry not knowing what was going on just whispered, "What?"
"Take care of this," the man said and pushed something into Harry's hand. "Don't tell anyone about it… *cough*… keep it a secret..." he added with a fading voice.
Harry looked down in his hand and saw that the man had given him a necklace of some kind. He didn't have time to look closer on it because at that moment the man's grip on him loosened. Harry turned his gaze back to the man's face but there was nothing there anymore. The burning passion he had seen in the man's eyes before were now gone, replaced by the cold glare of death.
-.-.-.-
I stared at the kneeling man before me. He was young, almost more of a boy than a man. Another innocent that would perish by my hands. I was just about to swing my sword and end his life when the man raised his head and stared straight into my eyes.
He said nothing but there was no need for words. I understood perfectly. Fear was completely absent in his eyes and the only thing I could see staring back at me was myself. This man was no innocent. He was exactly like me.
I could see acceptance and almost a little relief that his life was about end. I did the only thing I could do. I set him free and offered him to join me. He accepted.
I wish I could remember his name.
-.-.-.-
He put the necklace in his pocket and started to shake the man.
"Hey! Hey you! Stay awake!" he tried but the man remained lifeless.
Panic set in. This was Cederic all over again. He stood up and turned towards the castle and readied his wand. He had never done this before but Professor Lupin had told him the theory behind it.
He searched his mind for a happy memory but had a hard time to find a good one. Finally deciding on one he shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"
Nothing but a faint mist appeared and Harry shook his head. Focus! He tried again with another memory and this time it worked. The image of his father's Animagus form stood in front of him and watched him closely.
This was the part Harry had never done before. He focused on the message he wanted to send and to whom. The stag seemed to understand clearly and nodded. It turned around and raced off towards the castle.
He turned back to the man's body and cast the levitation charm on it. He then proceeded to levitate it as fast as he dared towards the castle. When he was coming up close to the doors Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall rushed out to meet him.
"Mr. Potter! What's the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall started, a bewildered expression on her face.
"The man just appeared out of nowhere in the great lake. I-i think he's dead," was his response.
Madame Pomfrey wasted no time on questions and quickly rushed to the body and started to cast spells.
"How long ago did he stop breathing?" she asked after a moment of spellcasting.
"I-i dunno. Maybe three minutes?" said Harry.
She nodded and cast what appeared to be a stasis charm on the body. It became rigid and covered by a thin blue field of some kind.
"I need to get him to the hospital wing," she said and started to levitate the body with far more expertise than Harry did before.
Harry made to follow but was stopped by Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter, please wait in my office. I need to check on a few things," she said and rushed off after Madam Pomfrey, leaving Harry to watch them disappear around a corner.
What the hell just happened? Was the only thing he could think. He quickly made his way to McGonagall's office. When he got there the door seemed to expect him because it swung open on his approach. Thinking that McGonagall wouldn't appreciate him dripping water all over her office he quickly cast a drying charm on himself. Still feeling a little cold from the water he added a warming charm on his robe. Then he went inside and took a seat in front of the big mahogany desk.
He sat there and waited while trying to collect his thoughts. What had really happened out there? Who was that man?
Then he remembered the item the man had given him. It had completely slipped his mind. He pulled it out of his pocket to examine it closer. It was a necklace as he first thought. The chain was made out of some kind of metal. It was too bright to be gold but it still had a golden tint to it. Hanging from the chain was a cylindrical shaped gemstone. It was purple and clear as glass. The only purple gemstone Harry knew about was amethyst. The light reflected from it seemed to dance in his mind.
It was a beautiful piece of jewelry but Harry couldn't see anything special about it. But then again, with magic things rarely did seem special on the outside. Why had the man given him this? And hang on, didn't he specifically ask for him in person?
His train of thought was interrupted by the door swinging open and Professor McGonagall walking in. He quickly put the necklace back into his pocket on a reflex. After he did he wondered why he did that. Why couldn't he show it to Professor McGonagall? The man had told him to keep it secret but he could tell his head of house surely? He decided to keep it to himself until he knew more of the person who gave it to him.
McGonagall went over and sat down behind her desk. She had a serious expression on her face.
"Mr. Potter, can you tell me exactly what happened outside?" she said.
Over the next ten minutes he told her in detail what had happened, leaving the necklace out of the explanation. Once he was done McGonagall seemed to slump down in her chair. She looked older than Harry had ever seen her.
"The man's name was Peter Higgs and he was a known Death Eater. We found the dark mark on his arm," she said in a defeated voice. "How a Death Eater could get this close to Hogwarts unnoticed is beyond me but it's worrying. I had hoped you could shed some light on it but apparently not."
Harry swallowed. "'Was'? Is he…" he began but trailed off.
"Dead? Yes quite," she said. "That was strange too actually. He wasn't quite dead when Madam Pomfrey got him to the hospital wing. She said it was the strangest case she had ever seen. Except for the wounds on his body, all scans showed that he should have been fine. She said that the only thing that resembled it was the state a person is in after being kissed by a Dementor. The difference was that with the Dementor's kiss the body still retain basic functions to survive. The person keeps breathing and the heart keeps pumping blood. In this case however it was like the mind had been completely erased. Even basic things like breathing was gone," she said and looked thoughtful.
They sat in silence for a moment and Harry was beginning to wonder if he should leave when McGonagall spoke again.
"Did he say anything to you beyond what you've told me?" she asked and looked intently at him.
This would be the time to tell her about the necklace if he was going to, but for some reason that he didn't quite get he kept silent about it.
"No professor. He just stopped breathing and I sent my patronus to you and Madame Pomfrey," he said, averting his eyes slightly from her gaze.
Taking his reaction as a sign of discomfort for the situation rather than the outright lie that it was, she nodded silently.
"Alright Mr. Potter. I assume it's impossible to persuade you not tell Mr Weasley and Ms Granger about this so I'm not going to try. All I ask is that you keep it within you three. We don't want to start a panic without knowing how the Death Eater got here in the first place," she said and glanced out the window. "I'm sorry Mr. Potter. I've kept you for too long. You must be getting tired. Curfew is coming up so I suggest you go back to your house."
Now that she mentioned it he did feel a bit tired. The adrenaline rush had worn off a while ago and he had already used up a lot of energy before all this happened. He stifled a yawn and nodded.
"Yes professor. We won't tell anyone else. Goodnight," he said.
"Good night Mr. Potter."
-o-
When walking from Professor McGonagall's office his thoughts again wandered to the strange necklace in his pocket. He took it out to look at it one more time. It really was a pretty thing. The light from the torches reflected off the purple amethyst and made it seem like it was glowing. He was mesmerized by the dancing light as he walked. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice the caretaker's cat, Mrs Norris, until he accidentally stepped on her tail.
She screeched loudly and swatted at his robe with her claws. It made him snap out of the trance-like state he'd been walking in. That damn cat never moved out of anyone's way. It wasn't strange though. Every student wanted to avoid her anyway because wherever she was Filch was sure to be nearby.
And sure enough, just around the next corner he could hear the caretaker's unmistakable limp coming towards him. He really didn't want to get caught out wandering after curfew, even if he could easily have McGonagall get him out of any trouble, it would require a trip back to her office.
He looked around for a place to hide but the only thing he could see was a pair of green drapes hanging in an alcove in the wall. Without thinking about it he pulled the necklace over his head and went behind the curtains to hide. He could hear the caretaker, who had just rounded the corner into the hall, talking to his cat.
"What is it my love? Any students out of their beds?" he said sweetly to his cat.
Mrs Norris just meowed in response.
"We'll catch them my love. Don't you worry about that," he said and started to shuffle slowly down the hallway.
Harry could see the light of the caretaker's lamp move around on the floor from behind the curtains. Once they had passed the place he was hiding in he released a breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. When he did that Mrs Norris turned around and looked right at the spot he was hiding at. She should be able to see him clearly from that angle and he was sure he was caught.
To his amazement though she just took a few steps closer and sniffed the air before turning back and following her master.
Once they were out of sight Harry just shook his head and continued back to the Gryffindor tower. Maybe he was just lucky with Mrs Norris. When he got back Ron and Hermione was still up and waiting for him but he was too tired to tell them what had happened and decided to do it the next day.
He went to bed, not realizing that he still had the necklace around his head.
-o-
His dreams were plagued by images of the dead man at the lake. The man was standing halfway submerged in the lake while watching Harry on the shoreline. Water was dripping from his hair and made little drippings sounds.
He didn't want to look but sheer morbid curiosity made him raise his eyes and meet the dead man's gaze. He quickly closed his eyes as his pulse quickened, his heart almost skipping a beat in it's hurry to keep up. After all, the man was dead, how was he to expect accusation staring back at him from a dead man's eyes. There shouldn't be anything in those dead eyes.
He slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the same dead man again, but found that he had been replaced by Cederic, who were standing in the same spot. Unlike the Death Eater, Cederic's eyes were alive and full with life. He was waving slowly towards Harry.
"Harry, you need to keep it secret," said Cederic, in a hollow voice, like he was speaking underwater.
Then he faded again and the man with dead eyes, filled with accusation, came back.
"… keep it secret… " he said in a monotone voice.
Again, Cederic appeared and said the same thing. The dream kept alternating between the two, faster and faster.
Then, when the two were switching so fast that he couldn't make out the difference between them anymore he realized that he was dreaming. It was like someone had flipped a switch and punched him in the stomach.
Everything became completely black and he fell to his knees. There was no ground and no sky, only darkness. Yet he could still feel solid ground under his feet and he could still see himself clearly as if he were standing outside on a sunny day.
Once he realized that he was dreaming he would usually wake up from his nightmares but this was different. He wasn't entirely sure this was still a dream.
"Am I dead?" he asked. Although the question was directed at himself he still said it out loud.
"Not yet," a voice from somewhere to his left said.
A/N: Nope.
