Chapter Four "Reminiscence"
DISCLAIMER: The characters and story plot of the Harry Potter franchise do NOT belong to me, I am just one of the many privileged enough to write on J.K Rowling's marvelous novel series.
With a muffled moan, Harry pulled his face disgustingly from his drool soaked pillow. Was he really that tired? Rolling onto his back he let out a booming yawn, but when he opened his eyes to face the day, he shut them just as quick. The brightly lit candles of the room sent an unbearable ache through his head.
As he slowly fluttered his eyes open to help him adjust to the rooms extreme lighting, Harry lay in the comfort of the large bed processing what he guessed was yesterdays events. Voldemort's chamber meeting, Snape being ordered to nurse him back to health, being told he'd been freed from Azkaban, all of it came back with a shocking sense of clarity.
Taking what he remembered, Harry decided right then and there it was necessary to form a plan of escape, while the layout of Voldemort's fortress was still fresh in his mind. However, before Harry could even begin to form his plan of action he was taken by complete surprise when he discovered a lanky masked man towering above him.
Neither of them spoke a word or move a muscle as they inspected one another.
From Harry's point of view the man was tall in height, but slouched in posture. His hair was of a rich black colour that hung loosely past his chin, and just like all those like him, the Death Eater bore the accustomed black robes and white mask.
Harry grew frighteningly tense as the man abruptly reached down and seized his chin. Studying his face diligently, the Death Eater soon released his hold and straightened himself to his full height, a good six feet high.
"I... I'd thought you were gone, but your here... And your there, your all there." murmured the man.
Swallowing nervously, Harry shrunk back into his sheets. The man was crazy.
"How? How did you do it?" The Death Eater asked.
"How'd I do w-what?"
"The Kiss Harry, how...How did you fool them with the Kiss?"
"The Kiss? L-look I don't know what y-your talking about."
"But you must." he pressed.
"But I don't." Harry said.
The man took a step back and ran a hand through his hair, staring through the two round holes of his mask, his blue sapphire eyes held a look of crest fallen disappointment. Sitting up, Harry stared inquisitively at the man.
"Wh-who are you?" he asked.
"Me, who am I? Surely you jest." said the man in return.
Harry slowly shook his head, was he supposed to know him? He wasn't very acquainted with those in Voldemort's service, and to Harry, that was all the better.
"Then it would appear as if your just like the others." The Death Eater said tiredly.
"The others?" repeated Harry.
The man gave a half hearted nod. "Yes, Rookwood and the other two are having the same troubles as you."
"You're not dead," said the man. "I'll give Snape's potions that much credit."
Not feeling up for unneeded small talk Harry nervously voiced a question. "Why are you here?"
"Why am I here? To see you of course." The Death Eater replied.
"That's not what I meant. I want to know if your here on orders, if so, what does he want from me?"
"The Dark Lord? Nothing at all. Did you not hear our Lord graciously bestow you with a whole week to recover?"
"Yes I heard him... But why? I'm sure it's not cause he feels sorry for what he did in the Cemetery."
"Cemetery? I'm not quite following you Harry."
Harry was about to reply, but his focus was swayed as he caught sight of the mans eyes, the Death Eater had the same exact pair of eyes as the man in the Chamber had, the man who seemed protestant to let him be kept here. Could he be a spy for Dumbledore? wonder Harry, at the very least the man could tell him where he was.
"Who are you... Where am I?" Harry asked cautiously.
"We just went through that," replied the Death Eater. "You have no recollection of this place either?"
Shaking his head to and fro, Harry shrugged.
"Is there anything you do remember?"
"... Well yeah, I... I remember everything perfectly."
Quicker than Harry would have expected possible, the Death Eater bent forward and captured the sides of his head between two bony hands. The man stared unblinkingly into his eyes as if searching for something. "A fib! What do you remember?"
"What? I told you! I remember everything." Harry answered startled, he reached up and tried to pry the mans fingers from his skull.
"Obviously you do not as you would most certainly know who I am." The Death Eater said firmly, his hands held tight to Harry's head forcing the young teen to look into his eyes.
"Let go of my head." Harry hissed.
The man immediately released his hold, taking a step back he stared at his hands as if they had done something horrendous.
"I... I apologize Harry, I was... I was just so sure you'd remember me," The Death Eater said in a quiet tone of disappointment. "But it looks like what happened to the others has clearly happened to you as well."
"Yeah you said that before," Harry grumbled while rubbing the sides of his head, the rhythmic pounding of where the man had grabbed him was not the only thing giving him headache, the Death Eater's convincing act of concern and apology was just as much a contributing fact. "You know, if your lot weren't so keen on wearing masks, maybe someone could remember you."
"My mask?" repeated the man, slowly his slender hand reached up and felt his face. "Of course! No wonder you couldn't remember me. I wear this thing so often I forget it's on at times."
Harry's jaw dropped as he watched the man swiftly pull the mask from his face.
"Sirius?" he gasped.
The Death Eater's face twisted into repulsion. "Sirius? That filthy blood-traitor brother of mine? I know we look alike, but that's a down right insult."
Letting the man's words sink in, Harry looked closer at him. After a little more than a second Harry finally began to see the physical difference, this man was clean shaven and his jaw line more edged and defined compared to that of Sirius Black. The man had said Sirius was his brother and by all means he looked close enough to pull off such a claim, yet, then again his Godfather had never told him he had a brother. Then just to contradict the already contradicted, Harry couldn't really say he and his Godfather had had much time over the years to talk about things such as siblings and relatives.
"Telling by that vacant expression of yours I'm guessing you still don't remember me?" The man asked, he took a seat on the edge of Harry's bed.
"... No... Its... Well, It's just cause I'm tired, that's why I don't remember you, I'm sure that's it." Harry replied awkwardly.
The Death Eater nodded compassionately. "Sorry to hear that Harry, nothing a long night's rest can't fix I'm sure. But alas, I can not let you go back to sleep."
"Oh, and uh, why not?" Harry asked trying his best not to be conspicuously prying.
"Dark Lord's orders. He's given quite a few of us the task of jogging you and your fellow escapees memory's." replied the man.
Harry cringed at the thought of Death Eater methods to jog the memory's of their prisoners."There's really no need, my memory is absolutely perfect."
The Death Eater arched his brows. "Not remembering who I am isn't perfect Harry. Don't worry though, you'll remember me soon enough."
Pulling the covers up to his chin, Harry swallowed roughly.
"I told you no sleeping, get up. This won't take long, you'll be back in bed soon enough." promised the man, reaching down he grabbed a fistful of the blanket and pulled it from the bed.
Slowly Harry swung his legs to the side and stood up. "Alright, do your worst." he said voice wavering.
"My worst? I didn't know looking through some old memory's was so pain staking." snorted the man.
"That's it?" Harry asked disbelievingly.
The Death Eater nodded. "Like I said Harry, your fellow escapees have been having some trouble recalling memory's other than their worst. I guess that's what happens when your placed in an environment where all you do is relive your worst ones."
"Look through old memory's....Who's memory's?" Harry asked.
"Mine. Hopefully all you'll have to do is view a few before yours start returning to you." replied the Death Eater.
"Voldemort knows my mind is fine, what purpose is this really going to serve?" Harry questioned suspiciously.
The Death Eater inhaled sharply. "Watch your tongue!"
Harry took a step back. "W-what?" he didn't like the offended look the man was giving him.
"You referred to our Master by name! Your to refer to our Lord, as the Dark Lord or Master. Such disregard of respect to our Master will not serve you well Harry, your lucky it was only me who heard you say that, if it were perhaps my cousin... No, I don't wish to go there." The man said, his tone was of worried authority.
"Fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself." Harry recited thoughtfully.
"Funny," The Death Eater commented slowly. "Sounds like something that old coot Dumbledore would say. Let's hope you don't actually believe the rubbish coming out of your mouth right now."
"Yeah," Harry scoffed. "Are... Are we gonna look through these memory's or what?"
"Not we, just you Harry. At the foot of your bed is the Black family Pensieve, it's an heirloom so please be gentle with it, Merlin knows what my parents would say if they were still alive and knew I took it from our home." The man answered.
Grudgingly Harry walked from the side of the bed to the foot, there he found a stone basin nestled in the plush green carpet of the room. Long slim body's of Greyhounds could be seen visibly carved deep into its outer surface, they were painted an assorted shade of silver and black. All in all, it looked nothing like that of the Headmasters Pensieve, while the Headmasters seemed warm and inviting, this to Harry had second questioning its nature.
"Go on. Dip your head in." The man urged.
Harry looked at the man then back at the Pensieve, he didn't move. He just continued to stare dazedly into the blue liquid, three small white strings of mist swirled elegantly in the mass of blue. Harry wondered if it truly was what the man said it was, he truly did not want to put his head in only to find it was water, or something else the man could easily use to drown him with.
"You're not scared are you?" asked the Death Eater teasingly.
Not giving the man a reply, Harry slowly got down on his knee's. Feeling slightly uneasy Harry grasped the basins rim, casting one last skeptical look at Sirius's supposed brother, he plunged his head into the basin.
As soon as the tip of his nose had touched the blue liquid his world began to spin around in a flash of colours until an entirely new room came into focus.
Harry felt tense as he found himself standing in Voldemort's meeting Chamber, just like the the first time he had seen the Chamber, dozens of Death Eaters stood assembled within the spacious abode.
The only difference he could visibly see was instead of Voldemort standing, the man was lounged leisurely in his throne, his snake Nagini dangling from his shoulders as if it were a prized fur.
Having witnessed Dumbledore's memories earlier in the year it was not a surprise when he walked through countless numbers of Death Eaters to reach the front. This also being Sirius's supposed brother's memory, Harry guessed the man was standing somewhere in the room, he didn't bother to try and find him amongst all those dressed just like him.
Instead he fixed his attention to the murderer of his parents. When the man cold voice finally cut through the tense atmosphere, Harry absently noticed half of Voldemort's assembled followers shudder.
"Pitiful," Voldemort sneered, rising slowly from his chair, he stared down every single man and woman before him. "The lot of you, absolutely pitiful! And you call yourselves the descendants of noble lines!? The ground I walk on is more noble."
Harry watched as the Death Eater's shifted uneasily on their feet, most of them looked utterly lost as to what they had done to offend their master.
"Your appearance you fools, you bare the stench of common farm animals. Is there now cleanliness among you? I had hoped to make an impression upon an applicant to our cause, so for your sakes you best present yourselves in a manner better than you are now."
The Death Eaters immediately straightened up and fixed their robes into a more presentable appearance. Apparently feeling satisfied with what he saw before him, Voldemort ordered for the applicant he spoke of to enter. The Death Eaters near the front of the Chamber craned their necks to see the Chamber doors swing open.
Harry's eyebrows raised as he watched himself enter the room. He should of expected that, by why still did it surprise him? But even then, what ever Polyjuice they had used to mimic him in order to create this false memory, the potion had obviously gone wrong somewhere.
This memory version of himself had longer hair, wasn't wearing glasses and was dressed in the school robes of Durmstrang Academy, not Hogwarts School. Absentmindedly, Harry felt his face and was amazed to find he wasn't wearing glasses, reaching further up he grabbed a handful of his greasy locks, tracing their length to a bit past his shoulders Harry was confused to find it at least six times longer than he had had it on the night of the cemetery. Turning from his features, Harry tried to keep focus on the memory.
An anger boiled up inside him as he saw the form of Peter Pettigrew following behind himself, the stout man looked tired and exhausted, his small watery eyes darted every which way wearily.
"I've b-brought the boy, m-my Lord" Pettigrew stuttered, kneeling at Voldemort's feet, Peter took great care in kissing the hems of the Dark Lord's fine robes.
"Excellent Wormtail, I'm pleased to know you're not as worthless as you portray yourself to be." Voldemort said, his words caused the Death Eaters to laugh mercilessly and Pettigrew to turn a dark tinge of scarlet.
Pettigrew's small meaty hands balled into the folds of the Dark Lords robes.
"That's quite enough Pettigrew, your dirtying my floor, and my robes," Voldemort said coldly. "Go and take your place."
The stout man nodded said his thanks, then scurried off into the ranks of the Death Eaters, those he went to stand by took a step away as if he were diseased.
Harry knew he shouldn't feel pleasure in watching Pettigrew being treated that way, but he couldn't help it, the vile man betrayed his parent's to their death, falsely imprisoned his Godfather, and just recently murdered Cedric Diggory.
It was just then that Harry realized how much he hated that man, and if this fake memory were perhaps to show Pettigrew suffer a punishment from the Dark Lord as well. Harry knew he could, and would very well just ignore his conscience and cheer it on. He was brought from his thoughts as he heard Voldemort say his name.
"Ah, you've arrived." said Voldemort.
"Yes, forgive me for my tardiness my Lord, my guide... Pettigrew here, lacked a sense of common directions." Harry heard himself reply scathingly.
The Dark Lord sent a glare of promised pain at Peter, yet said nothing. Standing from his throne, Voldemort seemed to have more important things on his mind than punishing Peter. Harry and all those around him watching in silence as Voldemort stepped purposefully down from his platform, his long black robes dragging carelessly on the ground behind him.
"Come here and kneel." Voldemort ordered, pointing a single white finger to the ground at his feet.
Grumbling beneath his breath, Harry felt a sense of repulsion grow inside him as he watched himself kneel obediently before Voldemort.
"Perfect, now your forearm boy, show it to me."
Harry rolled his eyes as he watched himself eagerly roll up his sleeve to reveal bare flesh.
"I thank you for this great honor my Lord." Harry's counterpart said humbly. Voldemort tutted.
"Before you bare the mark you must first accept the pledge of death's servitude, necessities Harry. Soon you'll have the honor." Voldemort said amused.
The 'Pledge to Death's Servitude'? Thought Harry, he shook his head as he watched himself nod and apologize for his haste.
"Do you, Harry James Potter, promise to uphold your masters beliefs, and carry out his orders?" Voldemort asked.
Harry watched in disbelief as he saw himself reply. "Yes, with all my magic, I do."
The corner's of Voldemort mouth twitched upwards. "And do you agree to have the Dark Mark burned into not only your arm but your soul as well, so even in the afterlife you may continue to serve?"
Once again Harry watched as he replied with, "Yes, with all my magic, I do."
Voldemort drew his wand from within his robes and placed the tip against the bare skin of memory Harry's forearm.
"Welcome to the Death Eaters." announced Voldemort before murmuring something inaudible.
Harry's memory self winced and pulled back slightly as black ink shot from Voldemort's wand, twisting and twirling, the ink quickly morphed into an image of a snake protruding from the mouth of a skull. Startled by an eruption of cheers behind him, Harry absently watched as the scene began to dissolve from sight.
With the Chamber completely gone from sight, a new scene began to spawn through a swirl of colours. Unlike the last memory which viewed dozens of Death Eater's, the current memory was rather minuscule in comparison, set in a dark room stocked with several buckets and brooms, Harry watched himself standing before two Death Eater's with his arms folded across his chest. However, before he observed the scene anymore, Harry nervously pulled back his sleeve to see his forearm, it was void of the Dark Mark. He let out a sigh of relief at not finding the same similarity there as his lack of glasses and hair seemed to have.
Pushing his ragged sleeve back down, Harry surveyed the scene around him. Just like the last, he found himself clad in the accustomed bright red Durmstrang uniform, comparing it to the pitch black robes of those standing in front of his Memory-self, he did not fit in at the least. Watching the two men standing in front of his counterpart closely, Harry quickly came to see past one of the mens mask and dark garb, it was none other than Sirius's supposed brother. The other Death Eaters identity however, was still a mystery.
"Your late." Harry heard himself state irritated.
"Yeh, wha' else did ye expect? Tha' bloody Port Key ye' made, was quite a few miles off." snapped the Death Eater opposite of Sirius' brother.
"Think you could do better!? You should just be grateful you landed anywhere near here at all." Harry's Memory-self snarled.
"Come now Potter, no need to get offensive, we have a task to carry out. Remember?" Sirius's brother intervened neutrally.
"I know that Regulus, you don't need to remind me! Maybe its I who should be reminding you both, just who our master put in charge here!" Harry's counterpart said pompously.
Regulus? That must be the name of Sirius's brother thought Harry. Absently he wondered if Malfoy was the person portraying him in the memory, the words his memory self seemed to speak, and what usually came out of Malfoy were eerily similar.
"Wha' the Dark Lord was thinkin' when' he put ye' in charge, I don' know." The Death Eater yet to make his identity known muttered.
Harry watched himself smirk, the expression looked foreign and unnatural on his face, and the words his counterpart was just about to speak were going to sound just as unnatural as the smirk on his face looked. "I heard that Wilkes, and I'll be happy to pass it along to our Master."
"Ye' wouldn' dare!" sneered the man named Wilkes, his hand reaching into his robes and revealing his wand.
Pretty sure he knew what was going through the mans mind, and what he intended to do, it soon became clear to Harry he was not the only one. Sirius's brother Regulus hastily stepped forward and clamped a restraining hand on the man's shoulder.
"Don't do anything you'd regret, Wilkes." Regulus advised.
Harry watched as Wilkes shrugged Regulus's hand off. The wizard glared at memory Harry for a long time before finally placing his wand back into the recess of his robes.
"The Dark Lord only put ye' in charge, cause' ye' know yer' way aroun' here, but as ye' said Potter, the Dark Lord put ye' in charge, so lead away" Wilkes growled, a muscle in the mans neck could be seen twitching at the amount of restraint he was using to keep himself from cursing the young boy in front of him.
Harry stood silently to the side, watching himself grudgingly nod and tell the two Death Eater's to be quiet and follow him, they then left so abruptly, Harry had to jog at times to keep up with them.
They weaved there ways through dimly lit corridors, and up stairways. It wasn't long before his memory self came to a stop and ordered for the others to do the same.
"That's the traitor's door up ahead." his Memory-self announced in a hushed whisper, Harry watched his counterpart point out an old rusted door at the end of the corridor.
Still watching observantly to the side, Harry stepped closer with interest as both Death Eaters and his memory self drew their wands. He followed quickly at their side as they took to creeping silently down the corridor to the rusted door.
When they finally came to a stop, Harry watched himself give the Death Eater's a nod as he took aim at the handle of the door, the two Death Eater's gripped their wands tightly and got into an offensive stance behind him and his memory companion. What are they doing? Wondered Harry curiously, Who was the traitor he himself spoke of?
Harry was drawn back to the memory as he heard himself whisper. "Alohamora!"
The door gave a soft click as the lock came undone, the two Death Eaters then ran past both Harry and himself into the room.
Regulus could be heard yelling the disarming spell from inside, both Harry and his memory self both ran into the room. Harry having been just a few feet behind himself barely made it into the room before Wilkes kicked the door shut.
Inside the room was a desk, a burning fireplace, and unexpectedly pressed up against the farthest wall with a frightened expression on his face, Igor Karkaroff. Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute.
"N-no!" Karkaroff gasped.
Wilkes let out a cold laugh. "Yes dear Igor, ye' time as' come."
Karkaroff dropped to his knees. "No, p-please have mercy! S-spare me!"
Regulus could be seen shaking his head at Karkaroff as he took aim at the man, with his wand hand outstretched and targeted at Karkaroff, his other hand noticeably could be seen pocketing Karkaroff's wand.
Igor Karkaroff's fearful eyes turned to his memory self, Harry wanted to look away but found himself in rapt focus with the memory.
"Don't d-do this! Help m-me." The man pleaded, he crawled desperately towards the Durmstrang dressed boy.
Karkaroff was almost at his memory selfs feet when Regulus cast a spell that sent him flying back against the wall he was clinging to only moments before.
Closing his eyes Harry kept repeating. 'This is not real. This is fake. This is not happening. This didn't happen.' when he finally managed to open his eyes again, Wilkes was standing over Karkaroff with a crazed look in his eyes.
"Ye' betrayed our' master, ye' deserve t'die painfully!" Wilkes stated.
Karkaroff shook his head. "I...p-please...I only--"
The pleading man was cut off as Wilkes sneered. "Furnunclus!"
Boils erupted all over Karkaroff's skin, the man let out a scream so terrible and loud that Regulus quickly had to apply silencing charms to the room.
Having half the mind to walk out right then and there and demand to be let out, or find a way out of the pensieve, Harry couldn't manage to get his legs following his brains orders, his mind and eyes were much to focused on the scene playing out in front of him to remember something so simple as walking.
Regulus who had just finished putting up the silencing charms approached the hideously boil covered Igor Karkaroff. "Do you see what you get for betraying our Lord? You could have just taken the prison sentence, the Dark Lord would have set you free soon enough. But no, instead you betray us and condemn Gibbon and Rosier to Azkaban. Purebloods! In Azkaban!? I despise you!" he spat.
Karkaroff tried to speak but the pain of the boils only allowed him to let out a strangled moan.
Regulus's eyes narrowed and his wand hand trembled in suppressed fury. "Crucio!" he sneered.
Harry looked away as Durmstrang's Headmaster convulsed on the floor of what he had come to assume was the man's own office. Finally gaining control over the queasiness he felt, Harry looked at his memory self with disgust. He stared at himself, hardly believing his eyes as he saw himself smiling while he watched in fascination at the spells and curses his fellow Death Eaters used.
"Alrigh', enough! Its my turn, come on." Wilkes announced.
Regulus brought his torture of Karkaroff to an end, the said man laid panting heavily on the floor, eye's blood shot.
"He's all yours." said Regulus, he went to Igor's desk and took a seat on top of the hard wood.
Wilkes walked in a slow casual stride to where karkaroff lay limp. "Wake up! I ain' have my turn yet." he said while twirling his wand around his fingers.
Karkaroff cracked open an eye to watch as Wilkes removed his mask revealing to the tortured wizard his unpleasant smile.
"I'm goin' t'make yeh remember me. Profundus Incidere!" Wilkes snarled, a violet flash of light burst from his wand and struck Karkaroff's right shoulder, blood sprayed out from the wound and painted the ground red.
Deciding he couldn't watch anymore, Harry forced himself to move and went to the door of the office, but just his luck he could grab the handle but wasn't able to turn it. He knew the door wasn't locked, well at least he hadn't see anyone lock it. Yet after a few more fruitless attempts Harry frustratingly guessed that that was how memory's worked, you observe and just that, no touching or changing anything that happened, including opening doors to make an exit.
Turning back around he grimaced at the sight of Karkaroff rolling back and forth on the ground whimpering, it would seem he had no other option than watching the fake memory play out.
Wilkes stood over Karkaroff watching in satisfaction as the spell he used bled Karkaroff from the shoulder.
"Get up!...I said get up Karkaroff!" Wilkes ordered, he delivered a swift kick to the man's side, Karkaroff coughed out blood. Grunting Wilkes took aim at Karkaroff. "Levicorpus!"
Harry's eyebrows raised as the wounded man was hoisted into the air by his feet, his finger tips brushing lightly against the floor.
"Go on Potter, yer' one of us aren' yeh'?" Wilkes said.
Harry turned to see himself nod, step forward and take aim at Karkaroff.
Vomit threatened to come out as Harry watched himself proceed to let lose a variety of spells he had never heard or seen of before, but they all seemed horrible and very dark as they caused gash's and welts to appear all over Karkaroff's body.
Blood was soon streaking downwards and dripping profusely onto the floor, Karkaroff was begging and screaming at the same time. Harry's stomach gave an even more unpleasant turn at the sight.
"That's enough Potter, he's suffered enough for his treachery. Put him out of his misery." Regulus ordered abruptly, his voice held a slight tone of disgust.
"Me?" Harry heard himself ask.
"Yes you! The Dark Lord personally requested you do it, go on lad, the incantation is Avada Kedavra." Regulus replied.
Harry's eyes widened as his Memory-self didn't reply, he just leveled his wand at Karkaroff's suspended body hanging in mid air. "
AVADA KEDAVRA!" his Memory-self hissed, a drizzle of green sparks shot from his wand.
Both Harry and his memory counterpart turned expectantly to Regulus.
"You have to mean it, you have to actually want to see him dead. You wanna see him dead, don't you Potter?" Regulus asked.
Again Harry's memory selfs only reply was turning back to Karkaroff, wand raised.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he saw himself snarl, a flash of green light erupted from his wand, there was a loud rushing noise as the curse went flying across the room and hit Igor Karkaroff's chest.
The memory began to fade, just as Wilkes released the Levicorpus charm. Harry crushed the urge to throw up as Igor Karkaroff's lifeless body fell into a pool of his own blood.
Once again the memory faded and a new one came to focus. Harry wanted it to end, especially as this one didn't seem as promising as the last for a happy memory. For in this memory he found himself standing in the middle of a burning and battle ravaged Diagon Alley. Fires raged in the shop windows and debris littered the street way.
Breath catching in his throat, Harry watched absently as saw himself dressed in the infamous black Death Eater robes and white mask. He'd been expecting it since the first memory, but there it was and he was not the only one dressed that way, making his way up the street, his counterpart had three other Death Eaters at his side.
Again Harry immediately recognized Regulus Black among the group, the other two however Harry had yet to make the acquaintance of, and he hoped dearly he'd never have to.
"We're straying from the others, we should head on back." said one of the accompanying Death Eaters nervously.
"Whys that Travers? Afraid of disobeying Malfoy's orders?" Regulus asked mockingly.
The Death Eater named Travers sent an annoyed glare at Regulus. "Shut it Black, I ain't in the mood."
The last Death Eater yet to make his appearance known, clapped Travers on the back. "Really Travers, if you want to turn back, do so. Just don't go crying your fears out to us, we don't want to hear it."
Travers turned to the other Death Eater looking as if he was going to say something, but Harry just like them came to a stop as his memory self raised a hand signaling them to a halt.
"What is it?" Regulus asked, his sapphire eyes scanned the street.
Harry watched himself reply. "I heard something, soft pop's... Apperating!"
Regulus cursed under his breath and turned to the other Death Eaters. "Travers, Selwyn, get over there to the left side of the street and take cover."
The two Death Eaters nodded and obediently moved to the opposite side of the street.
Harry gave a startled jump as his memory self yelled. "Duck!" Looking over he watch himself push Regulus out of the way of an oncoming jet of red light. Turning to where the spell had come from, Harry let a smile grace his face as wizard's and witch's dressed in navy blue robes and grey trench coats filled the street way, he recognized their clothes as the dignified uniform of Ministry Auror's.
"STUPEFY!" yelled a beefy Auror as he charged towards Regulus and Harry.
"Protego!" Regulus said, successfully deflecting the red jet of light.
Harry flinched away as his Death Eater counterpart stepped forward and took aim at the Auror's leg. "Diffractum!"
The Auror's leg made a sickly cracking noise just before he fell to the cobblestoned street, the spell his memory self had used ruthlessly crushed some bone or another in the mans leg.
Regulus stalked over to the wounded Auror. "AVADA KEDAV--" he started, his wand aimed at the injured Auror, yet he didn't get to finish casting the killing curse as he was blasted off his feet by an Auror who looked eerily like a certain plant loving Gryffindor that Harry knew.
Harry stared dubiously at the Auror as he went and stood protectively over his injured colleague.
"Lower your wand!" The Auror ordered.
Harry heard himself laugh. "Not in this life time Longbottom!"
The Auror who had not only the same last name as Neville, but who looked quiet similar to him as well led Harry's memory self slowly away from the other injured Auror who lay moaning on the street way.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" yelled the Auror suddenly.
Groaning in disappointment, Harry watched himself lazily deflect it with Protego. Longbottom in return shot a stunning spell at his memory self who ducked the red flash of light.
"Incindio!" His memory-self sneered, fire burst out of his wand like a flamethrower and lashed out at the ground where the Auror was prior to before leaping out of the flames way.
However, the Auror who looked just like Neville wasn't fast enough, and the trim of his robe caught fire, the man quickly extinguished it with a water charm.
Harry never thought he'd cheer someone on to kick his own arse, but here he was rooting for the Auror who had just swirled around and yelled. "VOLATILIS PUGNUS!"
A brown flash of light went flying by so fast his memory self couldn't dodge it, he stumbled back and fell to the ground. The mask he was wearing cracked from the force where the spell struck him, small pieces crumbled off revealing the right side of his memory selfs face.
The Auror sent two stunning spells at Harry, the red flash's of light hit the ground as Harry watched himself barely manage to roll to the left. "PREFOCO!" his Memory-self yelled.
Longbottom's eyes widened, and clutched his throat as he began to make choking sounds.
Watching in confusion, Harry looked between himself who had just climbed to his feet, and the Auror was gagging literally on air. Taking a step closer to his Death Eater self and the Auror he stood looking down on, Harry watched himself hold his wand out in front of him, its tip leveled at the mans neck. The said man in return was now on his knees and turning a deep shade of purple.
A chill crawled up Harry's spine as he heard himself chant. "Die!" over and over again. The Auror's eyes were quickly becoming bloodshot, and Harry wanted desperately to help the man he had even tried to punch his memory self, but his fists just went right through. The only way Harry found comfort in watching this was knowing that it was all fake, it had to be. Harry jumped as Regulus ran through him from behind.
"Enough! We're outnumbered, we have to regroup with the others." Regulus informed while sending a barrage of curse's and hexes in the direction of oncoming Auror's.
Harry let out a relieved sigh at the sight of his memory self reluctantly breaking off the choking curse on Longbottom.
"Come on Harry. Travers and Selwyn have all ready pulled back, we need to go!" Regulus exclaimed, he hit an Auror with a cutting hex then a banishing charm, the Auror went flying through a nearby shop window.
"Why? We can take them!" Harry's counterpart stated while deflecting spells that were being sent his way.
"We can not! Look! More of them just arrived!" Regulus yelled.
Sure enough a new group of Auror's were making their way up the street, amongst them Harry could make out Alastor Moody.
Harry watched himself let out a frustrated yell as he dodged a hail of stunning hex's.
"Fine, let's go." his memory self reluctantly agreeing.
Regulus nodded and pointed his wand at a building on the right side of the street, station in a spot between themselves and the advancing Aurors. Regulus swirled his wand in a circle.
"BOMBARDUS MAXIMUS!" he growled.
The building exploded sending rubble flying in every which direction, and a thick layer of dark smoke spilling out onto the street.
"That will give us some time to get out of here, lets try not to waste it." Regulus said.
Harry and his memory self followed after him as he ran back in the direction they came, Harry looked over his shoulder as he ran, he felt relieved as he saw the Auror who looked like Neville struggling to get to his feet. At least he's alive thought Harry.
Turning back around to focus on where he, his counterpart and Regulus were fleeing to, Harry came to a sliding stop beside Regulus and his Death Eater self. A lump quickly forming in his throat as he looked upon a sight he never believed possible.
For there, standing not twelve feet away from him stood two very familiar looking people, Harry knew them both, but had only met one of them, well to be correct, he had met both, but he could not remember ever doing so with one of them.
Swallowing the newly formed lump, Harry struggled to come up with words to summon how he felt as he gazed gapingly at the walking, talking, animated forms of Sirius Black and James Potter.
"Alright, drop your wands on the ground and back up!" Sirius ordered.
Regulus let out a harsh laugh, a sound that Harry was sure forced from his mouth. "We'll pass on the offer Sirius, but really, thank you for asking." Regulus grunted.
Sirius's eyes widened in recognition of the voice. "R-Reggie? Is... Is that you?"
Regulus pushed his mask up so it rested on the top of his head. "Never thought the day would come when I'd have the pleasure to duel you, but it seems today is the day, and it's just as good as any other." Regulus said with a crooked grin.
Sirius's eyes narrowed.
Harry faintly heard what his Godfather and his brother were saying to each other, as his rapt attention was focused solely on his Father's living face, who in return was focused on his Death Eater self.
"Why?...Why are you doing this, Harry?" James asked, his face portraying a look of disappointment and betrayal.
Harry cringed away as he heard himself burst out laughing, James face immediately hardened.
"Stop it Harry!" James ordered, it only made Harry's memory-self laugh harder.
When Sirius glanced at his Godson laughing maniacally, Regulus striked. "Expelliarmus!"
Sirius's wand was ripped untimely from his hand, it spun through the air and landed gracefully into Regulus's outstretched arm. Turning then to James, Regulus shot a cutting hex at him.
Harry smiled as his Father quickly raised a shield, the cutting hex bounced off and went flinging back at Regulus, it cut a deep a gash on the side of Regulus's upper arm.
"PUNCTUM!" Harry heard himself yell, he turned to see a zig zaging flash of yellow shoot out and hit James in the thigh, his Father let out a pained yelp.
Regulus turned his attention away from his bleeding arm to shoot another spell at James, however the words never left his mouth as Sirius tackled him to the ground and began to punch him savagely.
Harry's eyes darted back and forth between himself and his Godfather, he tried to yell and warn Sirius as he saw himself move to help Regulus, but thankfully a spell shooting by his counterparts head postponed him.
"You just never learn to quit, do you?" his counterpart sneered venomously to James.
"No, not when your concerned." James replied, he sent another stunner at his son, who leaned right and the red flash of light went flying just above his left shoulder.
Harry turned from his Father and Memory-self to watch Regulus and Sirius wrestling on the cobblestone street of Diagon Alley.
"Dammit, get off me Sirius! Fight like a wizard, not a damn muggle!" Regulus growled, blood leaked from his nose while his cheek bore a bright red welt.
Sirius let out a bark like laugh as he slammed his fist into his brothers side.
Figuring his Godfather was coming out the victor, Harry emotionally looked back to his Father just in time to see a flash of green light smash into a shop door leaving a pitch black burn mark at where it hit.
"Stand still and this will be over soon!" snapped his counterpart.
James shook his head sadly. "I don't want to do this, please Harry."
"I'm growing tired of your stalling, fight me or I swear to Merlin I'll leave right now and pay a visit to the rest of our loving family." threatened his counterpart.
"Leave them out of this Harry, you've hurt them enough with what your doing!" James said as he circled his son.
"I think I'll be the judge of that." Harry watched himself sneer, he sent a stinging hex towards his Father's chest.
"Merlin Harry stop this! You don't want to fight me, I know you. Please just lower your wand and everything will be alright, please Harry!" James said rubbing his sore chest.
Watching himself chuckle a dark and disturbing sound, Harry shuddered hoping for the best. "Your wrong to think I don't want this, I've wanted this for as long as I can remember. Did you not just see me try to kill you with an Unforgivable? Or are you still so blinded by your love for me to see that as well?"
There was a long pause of silence before James spoke. "Y-your right. I... I need to put the past behind me. I see now your beyond saving, this... you, it ends today Harry."
Harry's counterpart beamed with his Father's response, he sent the Cruciatus curse at James. Ducking down just in time to dodge the torture curse, James quickly managed to get off a stunner and disarming spell in a matter of seconds.
Harry was on edge as his counterpart dodged one of his Fathers spells only to run into the other, his wand yanked from his hand. His Memory-self didn't have time to register what had happened before James cast a stunner. A smile spread across Harry's face as he watched himself fall to the ground, stiff as a rock.
Turning on his heel to see how Sirius was making out, he found Regulus just managing to throw Sirius off him, he roared in anger.
"You'll pay for that Potter, I'll have your head! I'll tear you apart!" he yelled, picking himself up from the ground with his wand in hand, Regulus took aim at James.
Regulus managed to fire his spell, but it went shooting way over James head as Sirius began hailing stunner's down at him.
Assuming that his Godfather managed to retrieve his wand during the physical struggle with his brother, Harry silently cheered to himself that one of the stunner's would hit. To Harry the other two memory's made somewhat sense to show him, but this one? It didn't make sense, in fact nothing of late made sense, but this part Harry didn't mind all that much. He was looking at his Father, he frowned slightly as his words registered, but it wasn't his Father was it? It was probably just like all the others in this memory, just another Death Eater hopped up on Polyjuice.
Harry shook himself from his thoughts as he heard a desperate yell from Sirius. "I'll hold my brother off, hurry and get Harry to the Ministry!"
Turning to his Father, Harry watched as James looked torn to agree at leaving Sirius alone, but finally his reluctance to leave wore down and he ran to where Harry's counterpart lay motionless. Harry watched as his Father grabbed a handful of his counterparts black robes, and with that, like much of Harry's life, James Potter disappeared. His counterpart along with him.
"This is your fault Sirius! They'll give him the kiss, don't you understand you've as good as killed him!?" Regulus spat staring at the spot Harry's memory-self had been lying a moment before, with each word he spoke, he sent a darker spell at his brother.
Sirius was sweating profusely as he dodged the spells. "It had to be done, I loved Harry as if he were my own, but he's a murderer now! He's you! I won't let that happen. I won't stand on the sideline and watch another person I care about become something evil, I'd rather see them soulless and dead than become what you have!"
Regulus face contracted into rage, he seemed ready to spit out a reply, but a half a dozen Aurors or so coming in their direction prevented him. With a snarl on his face, Regulus ran and grabbed Death Eater Harry's wand from the ground.
"You'll pay for taking him, mark my words brother, the next time you see me will be right before I cast the killing curse!" Regulus promised with a sneer.
Harry didn't get to see the rest, as the memory began to fade.
Thrown from the Pensieve and back into the Slytherin decorated room, Harry lay motionless on the ground, his vision spinning. The first thing he saw when he was finally able to see straight without the world tilting, was Regulus Black laying atop his bed.
"So, do you remember now?" Regulus asked.
Harry scratched his head, he was unsure of what to say about the fake memories.
"If you haven't, I still have hundreds more of us that I can show you." Regulus offered.
Hastily shaking his head, Harry dazedly got to his feet. "No!... They are... Um... Yeah here they are, I remember." he said when in truth he had absolutely no intention of seeing anymore memories of himself torturing and killing others.
"Excellent! I knew if I showed those three memories you would remember perfectly! I mean, not everyday does someone forget their initiation, first murder and first capture, eh?" Regulus asked while he sat up on the bed.
Harry gave a feeble nod.
"The Dark Lord will be pleased to know you've got your memory back, and Harry, I just want to let you know, if I had known you weren't kissed I would have personally gone to free you." Regulus said honestly.
"I... Thanks?" Harry replied, he was saved from saying anything more as the door to the bedroom flew open and Severus Snape walked in carrying a tray of potion vials.
"What are you doing here, Black?" Snape questioned, he placed the tray down on the desk in the room.
"Our Lord ordered me to help Harry here retrieve his memories." Regulus answered.
The potions master raised an eyebrow. "And were you successful?"
"Quite." Regulus answered shortly.
Snape rearranged a few vials. "Well then Potter, how do you feel?" he asked in an uncaring tone of voice.
"I'm fine, sir." replied Harry.
Both Snape and Regulus looked at him strangely.
"Did you just call Snape... Sir?" Regulus asked unsure.
Harry tugged on the collar of the ragged clothes he still wore from the supposed Azkaban break out. "I... Uh... I'm... Never mind, I'm... I'm just a little confused still." he said avoiding eye contact with both men.
"Confused? I thought you said you were successful in making him remember?" Snape asked snidely.
Regulus glared at the greasy man standing before him. "Just because he's confused doesn't make him as he was yesterday." he snapped defensively.
"If you say so Black, now if you don't mind, leave! I have potions I must give the boy, and your presence here is not need, or wanted" said Snape.
"Fine, I have to get going anyways, with Rookwood being discovered as the leak in the Ministry, the Dark Lord is in need of new ways on getting information about the going on's of the Ministry," Regulus said, he swept to the door. "Oh, and two things before I leave. One, I have your wand Harry, and don't worry its just as you left it. And secondly, this one goes to you Snape, if you so much as give him a potion that tastes bad, I'll show you the meaning of pain, do you understand?"
"Perfectly, but you certainly must know, you don't scare me Black." Snape replied with a sneer.
"Yet Severus, I don't scare you yet." Regulus said, he placed his mask back on his face and walked out of the room.
With Regulus gone from the room, Snape turned to Harry with a grimace. "On the bed Potter!" he barked.
Harry jumped up from the floor, and got onto the bed. Snape gave Harry a variety of potions and ordered him to drink them, which he did, slowly of course.
"Good Potter, a few more and we'll be out of each others company for the rest of the day." Snape drawled as he picked up two more vials from his tray and handed them to Harry.
"What is it your giving me?" Harry asked wearily.
Snape was hesitant before answering. "Pepper up Potion, an assortment of Energy Restoration, Pain reliever and sleeping draughts combined with a dreamless sleep potion."
Harry groaned. "Why do you keep giving me sleeping potions?" he asked in between a long pregnant yawn.
Snape rolled his eyes. "Because you were in Azkaban for more than three months. You probably didn't get any sleep, or when you did, they were most likely plagued with nightmares, and Potter when you wake up in a few hours I advise you to get some food... And change your clothes while your at it, your absolutely vile to look at it."
"Your absolutely vile." Harry mumbled tiredly.
Snape earned to reach out and throttle the little brat, but before he succumbed to temptation he stalked out of the room without so much as a good-bye. Just thankful he didn't have to stay in the boys presence longer than he had.
Harry didn't even try and fight the sleeping draughts effects this time, he welcomed it, after all he saw today, he needed the rest.
A/N: Arrgh, I love and hate this chapter. The plot in my mind was great, but when I wrote it, it wasn't what I pictured this chapter to be. I am not satisfied with this chapter, and will be revising it after the next chapter or next few chapters are out (unless you guys don't have any problems with it then I'll leave it). If you read this chapter and said "Can't the author come up with something a bit better than Memory Harry, and Death Eater Harry?" you are exactly like me! I hate both those terms for the dark and evil Harry, but it was the only way I could think of to tell them apart.
So I ask you now, please help me with anything to make this chap better, if you liked it I'm glad you did, because I like the idea of this chap, just not how I wrote it. Any suggestions would be great. And if anyone would like to become a beta reader for this, I would truly appreciate it. ( PM me if you might be interested) Thanks and drop a review if you can! Till the next chapter!
Spells
Profundus Incidere- Cutting Hex
Diffractum- Bone Breaking Hex
Prefoco- Strangulation Curse
Punctum- Stinging Hex
Volatilis Pugnus- Punching Hex