Ascending Darkness/Faltering Light
By AlbusSeverusGryffindor
Author's note: I don't own anything in the Harry Potter realm. They belong to JKR and Warner Brothers. I merely own the plot line. Enjoy.
Part Two: Awakenings
Winter has come for me. Can't carry on...Swan Song- Within Temptation
The next three days were some of the most difficult Snape had dealt with in his life. The only other time he had to compare this to was those days during the First War after which the Potters had been murdered now almost fifteen years past. At that time he'd been nearly overwhelmed by the combination of anger, grief, guilt and sorrow at the news of their deaths, particularly Lily's, and had run to Dumbledore to spill his tears and alleviate some of his anger. He knew he was to blame for the death of the only woman he had ever loved as well as her husband. He knew it was his fault their son was now an orphan with the weight of a Prophecy on his shoulders. That damned Prophecy...If only he'd never heard Twelawny's prediction. If only he had never repeated even a part of it as he had to his Master, then maybe Harry's parents would still be alive. If only he been more confident in his ability to lie to the Dark Lord, which had miraculously worked in the past then perhaps he would have kept silent instead of blabbing to him like some gossiping chit of a girl. But all that lay in the past now and could never be changed.
Now her son, who he'd swore to protect on the night his parents were killed, lay in the next room gravely injured, fighting for his very life and again he was left helpless unable to do anything about it. He hated that feeling, that utter and completely helplessness that left him with an inability to concentrate on even the smallest thing. He heard a strangled cry from Harry that was abruptly cut off and knew that the Healers were still at work, trying desperately to save the young man's life as he hovered mere inches from death. They had already almost lost him twice in the last several hours and their muffled 'we're losing him' had frozen Snape's heart with fear. He could not lose the only part of Lily left on this earth. Snape had never been a praying man but he prayed to anyone who would listen to spare the life of the young man laying in the next room. They needed him to survive: Their world depended upon it.
When they had first arrived at the Devonshire safe house they were met by the Medi-Wizard and his two Healer-assistants who were in residence on the property at all times. Healer McDohl was a tall, thin, dark -haired man with snapping brown eyes and a booming voice. He and the other two Healers, Wilson and Garnett were bonded to the Order and this particular safe house so Snape knew they would not betray them. The Healers had met them at the front door, had taken one look at Harry who lay shivering in Dudley's arms despite the warm blanket they had wrapped him in and had immediately carried him off to the infirmary leaving the rest of them standing on the doorstep in confusion. After running some diagnostic spells and other scans McDohl had returned to them with a long roll of parchment detailing every injury of Harry's as well as an even longer list of spells, hexs, and curses that had been used on him during his captivity.
The list of injuries alone had caused Snape to cringe in sympathy but it was the spell list that caused him to pale and his eyes to widen in surprise. Never had he known anyone to have survived this particular combination of spells before over such a prolonged period. Not one of the prisoners of the Dark Lord he'd ever dealt with, not one of the Death Eaters charged with betrayal of their Master and tortured until death took them. To the best of his knowledge no one had ever survived such a lengthy stay within the confines of the Dark Lord's dungeons before. It seemed yet again that rules of logic did not apply to Harry Potter and that he once again had defied the Dark Lord's wishes for a fifth time by refusing to die when others would have. The boy was stubborn, Snape would give him that but that stubbornness was not a wise thing when faced with daily torture sessions at the hands of a madman and his equally mad followers. It was especially not wise when that same madman wanted you dead and had spent years trying to kill you.
"There is no guarantee he will survive any of the healings we will do and we cannot be sure that he will even be able to speak, walk or even awaken again. We will do all we can to try and save his life but..."
"Albus has given me the authority to act as Potter's guardian for the time being since both his parents and legal guardians have fallen to the Dark Lord. Do whatever is necessary." He felt a flash of cold fear but refused to show it.
McDohl had left and he and the others sequestered themselves in the infirmary to begin their work. Ten hours later it appeared they were still at it. Snape paced the room with air of a caged animal and jerked reflexively when another muffled cry reached his ears. He shivered and continued pacing in agitation unable to even sit still for a moment. Dudley lay sprawled out on the couch, his eyes shut and his forehead wrinkled in concentration as he fought to maintain the shield around his mind in the face of his cousin's intense pain. He was having only moderate success at this since he was still to new in his powers and grimaced occasionally when something was able to slip through. Draco sat in front of the fire, his pale pointed face paler than usual and his grey eyes never leaving the flickering flames. As much as he had hated Potter he would never have wished any of this on him. All three of them were silent not wanting to voice the thought they were all thinking: " What if Harry died?" Their silence was like a living, breathing entity and it weighed down the room as they waited for news of his condition.
Twenty minutes later one of the other Healers, Wilson, returned. His dark face was graver then McDohl's had been and his strange blue eyes seemed to carry several warring emotions within them. There was nothing more they could do for the boy and now it was all up to him. If he survived the night then chances were good that he would recover. If he didn't then the wizarding world would mourn and they would be left without hope.
"We have done all we can for today. If we do anything more young Mr. Potter's body might not be able to handle the stain in it's weakened state. As it is his heart stopped again and we had to Enervate him multiple times before it would restart again. Now it seems he had slipped into a coma."
"Will he wake from it do you think?" Draco's voice sounded as if it was coming from far away.
"We believe so but we cannot be certain. His body had been injured to the point of death and sometimes in that situation the mind shuts down so as to facilitate healing. However there could be something more to the coma than this. We can't be sure. "
"Will he recover...I mean will his body heal?" Dudley's voice sounded strained and as if the boy was in pain himself. Snape looked over at him and saw pain flicker across his features indicating that both Dudley and Harry were sharing pain at the moment.
Wilson's eyes turned graver still. "We are not sure. He has sustained several severe injures that have remained untreated for weeks or even months which may leave him crippled. His body's defenses are weak or non-existent and he has lost alot of blood. Even at full strength one would be hard pressed to be dealing with all the injuries Mr. Potter has and that's just the physical ones. However much will depend on Mr. Potter himself. Given time and the right motivation he may make a complete recovery. What concerns us the most is his mental state after his captivity."
Snape looked up sharply at Wilson and both boys turned to give the healer their undivided attention. There were going to be scars as a result of his captivity. They all knew this and were prepared for almost anything from nightmare replays of it to a total and irreversible mental breakdown. Four months in the hands of the Dark Lord and his followers will have changed Harry. They just hoped that enough of the original remained to give him a basis to recover from.
"We have not been able to determine is mental state as yet but all the signs do not look good. In addition to dealing with a person who has been held captive for a prolonged period, there may be some brain damage to deal with from both his heart stopping three times and from prolonged exposer to the Cruciatus Curse. Until he awakens we cannot ignore these possibilities but neither can we accertain the full extent of the damage."
The room was completely silent for several moments as they digested this new information. After a few minutes Healer Wilson cleared his throat to get their attention again and three pairs of eyes looked up at him.
"There's more?" Snape's voice was weary and Wilson nodded.
"There is one more thing you need to know. Mr. Potter seems to have a cursed wound in addition to everything else."
Snape jumped out of the chair he had unceremoniously fallen into at the mention of Harry's possible mental state while both Dudley and Draco merely looked confused. Snape's heart thudded in his chest and he found himself wishing he'd not heard the words the Healer spoke. Cursed wounds were among the most difficult to cure, they almost always carried a taint from the curse used that remained in the wound long after it was 'healed' and normally they were wounds that tended not to heal correctly or completely.
"What sort of curse?" Snape's voice was devoid of any emotion now and he eyed the Healer as if he were some kind of potion ingredient that he was about to cut up and use.
"We're not exactly sure but it registers as a dark curse of extreme power. We were actually wondering if you would mind taking a look at it. It's a bit beyond any of our expertise."
Snape nodded sharply and gave the boys the sort of look that clearly said 'stay here'. He followed the Healer back to the infirmary, his heart beating loudly in his chest. He already suspected what the curse might be and if he was correct in his assumption then they would be in even more trouble than he first thought.
The room they entered was about half the size of the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts but otherwise it looked very similar. Snape glanced around and quickly spotted Harry laying in a bed at the end of the ward. What he saw shocked and dismayed him, causing him to stop in his tracks. He could see the curse hovering like a harbinger of doom over the boy's left arm even from this distance. It seemed to encase his wounded arm in a foul and sickly green mist which would prevent any healing spells from reaching the wound beneath. The wound itself would remain open and in danger of infection until either the Final Seal was applied or the curse was lifted.
"I take it by your reaction that you recognize this?" Healer McDohl said.
"It is the 'Foramen' the first stage of the curse the Dark Lord uses to mark his followers." Snape said very softly, looking closer at Harry to see if he had any other signs of the curse upon him relieved to see that he had none. The curse had not yet made made its way throughout his magic so it had not yet attained complete control over him though it looked to have broken through his defense against the Imperius Curse completely destroying it.
His dark hair and the scar on his forehead stood out in sharp contrast to the extreme pallor of his gaunt face. His eyes were closed but they seemed to be shifting rapidly under the closed eyelids while his forehead was bathed in sweat caused by his dangerously high fever. It was clear to Snape that he was not having a restful sleep. His right hand was clenching and unclenching the blanket beneath it while air escaped his slightly open mouth in a way that suggested that if he could have done so he would have been moaning in pain. Snape could see the diagnostic spells that were monitoring his vital signs, heart rate, healing rate, magical core recovery and brain activity hovering a few inches away from him. He stared at them silently for several moments noting that everything looked bad. Then he looked down at Harry's left arm. Through the green mist of the 'Foramen' he could see a jagged cut that ran down the length of the boy's forearm and noticed it was not in the shape of a skull but rather a lightening bolt similar to the scar on Harry's forehead.
:: It was to be a special Mark that Harry would have received then and not just a normal Dark Mark. Interesting. :: Snape thought to himself as he examined the curse and wound more closely.
He placed a hand over both the curse and wound and muttered a few words. The curse reacted to the spell by flaring a bright green for a few moments and the wound itself glowed a sickly purple. He frowned a moment at the unusual color then a list very much like the Healer's list of injures and spells unrolled in the air in front of him. His frown deepened at the number of spells and ingredients that had been a part of the Ritual of Opening. He'd never seen such a combination before and it would take him days if not weeks to come up with an antidote for the poison that was running through Harry's system not to mention breaking the curse itself. At least the poison was just one designed to control not to kill so there was time.
"Let me deal with this. It is somewhat out of your expertise. In addition to the curse itself the wound is poisoned, not fatally so but there are only a few methods that will allow the wound to heal properly."
Wilson nodded and then moved away from the two to give Snape a little more privacy. Snape looked down at Harry's pale strained face a moment and watched as a magical version of a muggle IV slowly dripped various fluids into Harry's system. A detached part of his mind noticed they were giving him a blood replenisher, a strength potion, two different types of healing potions, a pain reducer and a nutrition potion. Harry looked fragile and much to thin as he lay there on the bed and Snape felt a pain in his chest at the thought of what Harry must have gone through at the hands of the Dark Lord.
"I made a promise to your mother, Harry. I promised that I would protect you from the darkness that has targeted you since birth. I failed to keep that promise so I will make a new one. I will help you through this. I will help you to heal and I will find a way to free you from his control completely so that you can finish the task you were born for."
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On the third day of their stay at the safe house Dumbledore appeared at the front door, his face grave and his normally merry blue eyes lacking their twinkle. Dudley was the one who answered the Headmaster's knock as the others were busy: Snape was working on a potion that would hopefully allow them to break the curse and Draco was sitting with Harry to give the Healers a much needed bit of rest after the harrowing last two days.
"Ah, Dudley. Good to see you again, my boy." Dumbledore smiled briefly at Harry's cousin.
"Good to see you too, sir. I never got to thank you for helping me when my powers first emerged." Dudley's face was pink with embarrassment but there was an honesty in his eyes that had been lacking in them before.
"No trouble, no trouble at all." The aged Headmaster put a comforting hand on Dudley's shoulder
Dudley lead the Headmaster down the hall and into the small bedroom they'd moved Harry too when he'd stabilized somewhat. This room was warmer and more homelike then the infirmary had been and the Healers hoped that it would comfort Harry when and if he ever woke. Draco was sitting at Harry's right hand in a comfortable looking armchair, a heavy old book in his lap.
"Hello Headmaster, sir." Draco's quiet voice broke the silence and he slide a bookmark into the book he'd been reading to Harry.
Dumbledore nodded gravely at Draco and looked down at Harry, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully for once. He took in the boy's pale face, the diagnostic spells that were still in force, the magical IV with it's group of various potions and the cursed wound with a sweeping look.
"How is he doing?" Dumbledore's voice sounded tired and both boys noticed a tiredness in his eyes that had not been there before.
"He's doing much better then they expected, sir. He came out of his coma yesterday afternoon though he didn't actually wake up." Draco began.
At this point Healer Garnett entered the room to check on Harry and to take up the post of watching over him so that Draco could get some rest. Draco smiled in thanks at the Healer and both he and Dudley left. That left the Healer and Dumbledore alone to discuss Harry's condition.
"As young Mr. Malfoy has said Mr. Potter came out of his coma yesterday and has been healing at an incredible rate since that time. We've reset and healed all the broken bones he sustained or else regrew them. All but the most grievous of his injuries have healed completely and the rest are in various stages of healing. Professor Snape is working day and night on a potion that will hopefully break the curse on his left arm so that we can treat it. We are hopeful he will make an almost complete recovery at least physically and that is saying something seeing as how he was nearly dead when he arrived here two days ago. Our only concern is his mental state though at the moment we can do nothing to even determine that."
Dumbledore looked down at Harry again and studied his features. The boy's face was pale and much to thin as were the arms that lay outside the dark blankets. His heart ached for the boy who'd come so close to death and who had been so gravely injured because of his mistake. He swore that he would never be so neglectful of the boy's safety again and that he would, at the first opportunity, tell Harry everything that he had thus far not revealed to his young charge.
"How long before he wakes?"
"Could be hours or weeks. One never knows in instances like this. We have been keeping a close eye on him though. He will not be alone when he wakes. Rest assured of that."
Dumbledore nodded still looking at Harry and noticing that his magical signature seemed to be fluxing around him in a way most trained wizards' signature would not and in a way that Harry's should not be yet given that he was still several months from becoming a wizarding adult. There also appeared to be slightly more power behind that signature than before. Dumbledore's eyes narrowed for a moment in concentration then he turned to Garnett.
"You might want to warn the others that Harry is about to undergo the process by which a witch or wizard's core becomes fully developed."
The Healer's eyes widened. "But that's not..."
"I think you will find that most things concerning Harry Potter tend to be rather impossible. He is after all the 'Chosen One' and this explains his sudden healing rate increase as that is part of the Core Maturity process."
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Over the next month Dumbledore visited the safe house a total of seven times but despite the fact that Harry's body was nearly completely healed he still hadn't regained consciousness. This concerned the Healers a great deal since they'd expected him to wake up several weeks earlier but they were very sure he was merely asleep and not comatose again. Also he'd not yet undergone the core maturity process as Dumbledore had said be might. This too concerned everyone in the safe house. Snape believed that both were being caused by the curse he'd thus far been unable to break. The Healers seemed to thing that both were the result of his weakened condition and that the curse had nothing to do with it. Draco secretly believed that Snape was correct but could not discount the Healers' thoughts on the matter completely. Draco spent his time reading anything and everything he could get his hands on about cursed wounds and healing trying to help Snape figure out what to try next.
Dudley didn't understand everything the wizards around him talked about when it came to actual magic so he left them to their theories and discussions of what other means they could try to break the curse and what effects said attempt might have on Harry. It was his turn to sit at Harry's bedside to make sure he wasn't alone on the off chance he should wake. After making sure the IV lines were untangled and unobstructed he pulled a chair next to his cousin's bedside and sat. The Healers had told them all to talk to Harry because it would help him to know that he was somewhere safe among friends. Dudley didn't know whether Harry would be thinking of any of them as friends but he began to talk anyway knowing that having someone nearby might help his cousin's recovery. Dudley always felt awkward when it was his turn. Snape and Draco had known Harry outside of the Muggle world and had come to know his cousin in a way he had not. His only experiences with Harry had been violent and decidedly not friendly in any way, shape or form. Harry and his cousin had virtually nothing in common except the desire to put an end to Voldemort's reign of terror and Harry was as yet unaware of this.
"Hi, Harry. It's me again, you know your fat whale of a cousin, Dudley. Everyone is worried sick about you. Dumbledore's been here several times already and all your friends keep asking about you. Please just wake up. You need to wake up. We need you...the wizarding world needs you. Come on Harry. I know you are stronger than this. Wake up!"
He was looking down at Harry's face when four things happened at once: A strange, ethereal wind began to blow within the room, the glowing sphere that indicated the power level of Harry's magical core began to glow with a blinding red/gold light, an alarm sounded to alert the Healers that something was happening with their patient and Harry's eyes suddenly flew open.
