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Chapter Four
The Hero
Updated 4/5/2015
-o=o-
Harry stirred, feeling a bone-deep weariness in his body as he slowly awakened. He was in a bed, but not the bed in his Hogwarts dormitory, or even the small bed in his room on Privet Drive.
It was a hospital bed, which he should have recognized straightaway, having awakened in the hospital wing of Hogwarts more times than he cared to remember. His glasses were still on, so he must've fallen asleep when he'd lain down earlier. He glanced at the bed next to him, and started in surprise.
Several people were sitting there watching him. At the foot of the bed was Ron Weasley, his best mate, smiling gamely at him. Next to him was Hermione Granger, his other best friend. She had a worried look on her face that disappeared once she saw he was awake, replaced with a smile that nevertheless looked apprehensive and concerned.
Finally, near the head of the bed was the girl he'd just met, Illyana Rasputin. She gave a welcoming nod as she saw his eyes open and focus on her. "Have a nice nap?" she asked.
"Um, yeah," Harry said. "What's —" he started to sit up but his muscles protested, so he just asked, "What's going on? When did you two get here?"
"About a half-hour ago," Hermione answered. "We were so worried about you, Harry! The Aurors finally let us leave the Quidditch field—"
"It's called a pitch," Ron broke in, correcting her.
"Where the last task was," Hermione went on. "They took Barty Crouch away first. We've been trying to find out how you were doing! We finally went back to the common room —"
"We talked to Fred and George," Ron cut in again. "They told us you were in the infirmary, that there was a stranger that you brought here from somewhere —" he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, toward where the Green Lantern, Jordan, lay. "They said he gave you a magic green ring that could create anything you told it to. Is that true?"
"These two sure are nosy," Illyana commented.
"What's it to you?" Ron answered back, rather rudely. "We're Harry's friends! Who're you supposed to be?"
"Just someone he met while helping save that guy's life over there," Illyana retorted.
"You helped save his life?" Hermione asked. "How?"
"I made sure Harry didn't die while trying to save him," she answered.
Ron snorted. "That sounds like a load of—"
"She helped me," Harry cut over him. He pushed himself painfully into a sitting position on his bed.
"How?" Hermione asked. "An Invigoration Draught?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't know," he said. It was the truth. He had collapsed to his knees next to the Green Lantern's bed, unable to go on, then there was a flash of light and he felt renewed, stronger again. "What did you do?" he asked Illyana.
"Just gave you a little recharge," Illyana said, vaguely. She nodded toward Jordan. "What was amazing was how you gave him his arm and legs back, and his eye as well. That's pretty impressive magic."
Both Hermione and Ron were staring at the man with renewed interest. "Really, Harry?" Hermione said, startled by that news. "How could you have done that? Even trained Healers take days to regrow an arm or leg."
"It was this ring," Harry said. He held up his right hand, showing them the ring on his finger. "It was able to read the entire Hogwarts Library in about a minute—"
Hermione's eyes grew wide.
"— and use that information to help me heal him," Harry finished, letting his hand drop tiredly into his lap. "I had to use my magic to heal him, the ring's energy doesn't work that way."
"But —" Ron looked confused. "How did you learn all those spells, Harry? I mean, it's takes us days to learn a new spell sometimes!"
"The ring put the spells directly into my head," Harry said, tapping his temple. "It's like I know them all by heart now, like I've been able to cast them forever."
"Whoa," Ron murmured. "That would be brilliant."
"Harry," Hermione spoke tentatively. "Can you tell us what happened in the maze? If it's not too…painful for you, that is."
Harry took a deep breath. "The Tri-Wizard Cup was a Portkey," he said. "Cedric and I agreed to take it at the same time. It took us to a graveyard. Professor Dumbledore said it was in Little Hangleton, where Voldemort's father was buried." Ron flinched and shuddered as Harry said the Dark Lord's name.
"Wormtail was there. He killed Cedric —" Harry swallowed, but kept talking. "He tied me to a gravestone and brought out a big cauldron. Vo—er, You-Know-Who, was there as well, but he looked like a deformed child. Wormtail put him into the cauldron, along with — other stuff, including some of my blood, and You-Know-Who came out of it, like he was before, fully grown.
"He called his Death Eaters to him by pressing on Wormtail's Dark Mark. He wasn't happy with them, he said he was going to punish them. But first we were going to duel — he promised to kill me. That's when this ring showed up and helped me stop him."
Both Ron and Hermione had looks of horror on their faces. "How did you stop him?" Illyana asked curiously.
"The ring responds to willpower and creativity," Harry replied. "It told me whatever way I thought up to stop him and his men, it could create for me. I used the graveyard fence to bind You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters and pin them to the ground. Then I got Cedric—" Harry winced "—I mean, Cedric's body and brought him back here. That's when I found out that Professor Moody wasn't really Moody. He was Barty Crouch, Jr."
"Who was another Death Eater?" Illyana surmised. Harry nodded.
"So now what?" Illyana wanted to know. Harry stared at her blankly.
"I don't know what you mean," he finally said.
"Well, the bad guy's going away, all of his followers are going away," Illyana said. "That's the end of it, right?"
"No," Harry said, after a moment.
"No?" both Ron and Hermione sounded surprised. "Why?"
Harry pointed toward the Green Lantern. "He told me — whoever hurt him was coming after him," he said. "That's why he gave this ring to me, so I could protect—" he stopped, unsure just what it was he needed to protect. "He said—he said I needed to—" Harry concentrated, trying to remember what Jordan had said. "I needed to be prepared, because—because the man who was coming after him was the most dangerous man in the universe."
"In the universe?" Ron's voice went shrill. "That sounds pretty dangerous, Harry!"
"What else do you know about the man?" Hermione asked, looking anxious.
"Nothing else," Harry shook his head. "Jordan passed out before he could say anything about him."
"Why don't you ask the ring?" Illyana suggested.
"Huh?" Ron frowned at her. "What kind of crack is that?"
"A smart one," Illyana shot back. "The ring can communicate with Harry, and it was there when Jordan fought the other guy. It ought to be able to tell Harry something about him." She looked at Harry. "Don't you think?"
"You're right," Harry agreed. He held up the ring in front of him. "Ring, tell me about the man Jordan fought before coming here." Remembering he wasn't alone, he added, "Can you say it aloud so everyone can hear?"
The ring flashed green. A three-dimensional image of a tall man appeared above it, rotating slowly. The man appeared to be tall and thin, with an unnaturally high forehead — it looked twice as high as a normal man's would — and a cruel face. Even though he was thin he was well-muscled. The uniform he was wearing looked similar to the one Jordan had been wearing, though it was black and yellow instead of black and green. The symbol on his chest was different. Jordan's symbol was a circle with a bar at the top and bottom, but the symbol on the tall man's chest was more complicated.
"This is Thaal Sinestro," the ring began speaking so they could all hear. "He comes from the planet Korugar, in space sector 1417. He was chosen for the Green Lantern Corps by Prohl Gosgotha, who was injured and landed on his planet. Sinestro accepted the ring and defended Gosgotha from his pursuer, a Weaponer of Qward.
"After defeating the Weaponer, Sinestro returned to find Gosgotha still alive. Gosgotha requested his ring back in order to call for aid, but Sinestro refused, and Gosgotha died. Afterwards Sinestro became the Green Lantern of sector 1417."
"Doesn't sound like a very nice guy," Illyana remarked.
Harry had to agree. "There's more," he said, and the ring resumed speaking.
"Sinestro rose in importance in the Green Lantern Corps. He was assigned the task of training new Green Lanterns inducted into the Corps. He instructed Hal Jordan when Jordan was brought to Oa to meet the Guardians.
"When Jordan helped Sinestro repel the Khunds from Korugar, it was discovered that Sinestro had established a dictatorship on his home world, against the Code established by the Guardians. He was brought before the Guardians, expelled from the Corps and banished to the anti-matter universe of Qward, where he allied himself with the Weaponers. The Weaponers created a yellow power ring for Sinestro so he could combat the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro returned to this universe and has been attacking Green Lanterns across the galaxy, finally setting a trap for Hal Jordan which left him nearly dead. Jordan managed to return to Earth, where he sent out his ring to find someone worthy to replace him, finding you, Harry Potter," the ring concluded. The image of Sinestro faded.
The four of them looked at one another as they thought about what the ring had shown them. "Whoa," Ron said at last.
"You ain't kidding," Illyana agreed. "That sounds like some pretty high-powered shit."
"Language!" Hermione said automatically.
"Are you kidding?" Illyana snorted. "Some guy is heading here with the power to take over the entire world, and you're worried about me saying a bad word?!"
"We understand the danger, but you don't have to be vulgar about it," Hermione said tartly.
"I think," Harry spoke up, before Hermione and Illyana could start an argument. "We need to take this to Professor Dumbledore. He'll know what we need to do."
"But, Harry," Illyana pointed out. "What if he agrees with that guy with the green hat that you shouldn't have that ring."
"Green hat?" Hermione said. "You mean Minister Fudge? He's here?"
"Yeah," Illyana told her. "He was here earlier with Dumbledore and two other teachers, a woman and some greasy-haired guy."
"Professor McGonagall and Snape," Harry said to Hermione.
"Do they know about the ring?" Hermione asked.
Harry nodded. "They saw me heal Jordan. Snape tried to take the ring from me. Illyana stopped him."
Ron looked at her. "You stopped Snape?" he said, surprised. "I wish I could've seen that! How'd you do it?"
"With this." Illyana put out her hand and her Soulsword appeared in it, gleaming brightly.
"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed, looking at the sword with excited interest. "Harry has a sword, too!" Illyana turned to Harry with an inquiring look.
"It's not my sword," Harry averred. "It's the Sword of Gryffindor — that's the House we belong to." Harry indicated Ron, Hermione and himself. "I was fighting the Basilisk —"
"You were fighting a Basilisk?" Illyana repeated, looking impressed again.
"He was saving my sister, Ginny," Ron put in eagerly.
Harry nodded. "I stabbed it in the brain through its mouth," he said. "One of its fangs got me, though, and the venom was killing me." He touched his arm where the Basilisk had wounded him. "But Fawkes came and saved me."
"Who's Fawkes?" Illyana asked.
"He's Professor Dumbledore's phoenix," Hermione volunteered.
Illyana looked at her. "He's got a phoenix?" she asked in amazement. "Wow, this place is full of surprises!"
She turned back to Harry. "I suppose it can't hurt to ask this Professor Dumbledore what you should do. But I wouldn't give up that ring if I were you. That Fudge guy, he doesn't seem very trustworthy to me. Neither does that Snape character."
"I have to agree with you there," Harry nodded. "Snape hates me. He and my father were enemies in school."
"And he's held a grudge all this time?" Illyana said. "Yeah, I wouldn't trust him at all."
"It's settled, then," Hermione said. "After you get some rest, Harry, we'll go talk to Professor Dumbledore."
But Harry got slowly to his feet. "No, we need to talk to him now. We don't know how much time we have before this Sinestro shows up."
"Hold on a minute, Harry," Hermione stood as well. "You can barely stand right now, much less fight someone like this Sinestro! You need to rest."
"We don't have time," Harry insisted. He started to take a step, but his legs buckled beneath him. Illyana and Ron both grabbed one of his arms, keeping him upright. They lowered him back onto his bed. "I have to talk to Dumbledore," he said.
"Harry, I think you're right," Illyana said. "But you need to get better first."
Harry looked up at her. "You're right," he agreed. "So that's what I'm going to do." He held up his right hand. "Ring, where's my wand?"
YOUR WAND IS IN THE NURSE'S OFFICE the ring informed him. SHE TOOK IT FOR SAFEKEEPING UNTIL YOU RECOVERED.
"I need it now. Bring it to me."
A green beam shot from the ring into the nurse's office. It returned a moment later carrying Harry's wand, placing it in his right hand. Harry pointed the wand at himself. "Rennervate," he said. A pulse of energy shot into him, making him feel a little better, but not much.
"Harry, you can't cast that spell on yourself," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "You're just channeling your own energy back into yourself."
"You do it then," Harry said to her. "You and Ron should be able to cast the spell on me."
Hermione sighed, taking out her wand. "I still think you should rest some," she said. "But—" She pointed her wand at Harry's chest. "Here goes. Rennervate!"
This time the pulse of energy was much stronger. Harry sat up straighter. "Better," he said, nodding. "Do it again."
"I'll do it," Ron said, taking out his wand. "Rennervate!"
The two spells made Harry feel much better. He got to his feet again, feeling strong enough to walk now. "Let's go talk to Dumbledore," he said.
-o=o-
After almost an hour of trying to break through the mystical energies surrounding the castle, Sinestro had to admit defeat. It was galling. He possessed one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, and it was unable to break through the barriers put up by the inhabitants of this backwards planet! Admittedly, he wasn't using the full power of his ring—he only wanted to observe the inside of the castle at this time, not break through and make his presence known.
He would eventually find a way to overcome this mystical energy, Sinestro thought confidently. It was only a matter of giving his ring time to analyze and comprehend its composition and structure. The Weaponers of Qward had designed his ring to be superior to the Green Lanterns' rings. It was a masterwork of technology. For now, however frustrating it might be, at least he knew where Hal Jordan was. When he was better prepared he would return here and dispatch him once and for all.
For now, he would concentrate on the man who had been removed from this place: Barty Crouch, Jr. was the human's name. The trace his ring had placed on the human told him he was somewhere to the north and east of his current location. Perhaps he had been taken to where the others, this Lord Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, were. He flew away to find them, to see if they might be useful in his mission to disrupt and destroy the Green Lantern Corps.