A/N: Here is the next chapter and one that should be both shocking and bring about renewed interest to what is happening in the story.
Chapter Ten: Decisions
"Madam Pomfrey" Hermione said attentively as she looked at the hospital matron "how is he?"
Madam Pomfrey finished her last scan and double checked it against the other she did just to ensure the finding were accurate, because when dealing with someone in Harry's condition it was always best. "Medically I believe he is fine, he seems a bit drained as if he had been working on something, but no doubt that is a result of his condition."
"So he will be okay then?"
"He is no worse now than when he first fell into this state, in fact I would dare say that this could be a sign that he is on the road to recovery." Though Madam Pomfrey wasn't too sure of her own diagnosis since no one had ever survived what Harry was going through. She had no way to compare his condition to any of those that fallen ill before and died as a result.
"That's good new then" Hermione said with a smile "hopefully he won't be in his coma much longer then."
"Hard to say dear" Madam Pomfrey said calmly "all we can do is wait and see. Miss Granger maybe you should go get something to eat and rest, you don't seem to be taking too much care of yourself."
"I will" Hermione said as she looked at Harry and then the floor.
"He isn't going anywhere dear" Madam Pomfrey said as she watched where Hermione looked and figured what she had been thinking about. "He will still be there when you are done resting he wouldn't like it if he knew you were doing this to yourself."
"I suppose he wouldn't" Hermione said solemnly "but what if he wakes up and no one is here?"
"Don't worry dear, I will be here and I will have a house elf get you if he happens to awaken, but I wouldn't get my hopes up that he will any time soon."
Back in the void Harry rested and looked around the barren area that was supposed to be his mind "why is this place as barren, it is like a wasteland or something."
"It looks like this because you haven't yet set it how it should be" his double said as he looked around "not to worry though you shouldn't have much trouble fixing the place up."
"Easy for you to say" Harry said sarcastically as he looked around "I don't know how you can be so bloody calm and confident when I am no where near confident about this."
"I am confident enough for both of us" his double said with a grin "now then I will try to explain how this will work, since you don't seem to be remembering clearly all that you learned about Occlumency. Since you are already inside your mind you don't need to meditate, if you weren't already here then you would have to. However we will skip that bit and move on to the next part, which I should point out that until you patch your memories up that you yanked haphazardly from your mind, it will have these holes in it. They can only be mended by replacing what you violently tore out to cause them in the first place."
"Wait" Harry said as he stood up "you mean I need to remember all I tried to forget in the first place?"
"Trust me" his double said flatly "when you are done you will have learned how to deal with the painful memories that you wish not to remember."
"I hope so" Harry said solemnly, though he couldn't remember the exact memories he removed, he did have the feeling that he removed them for a good reason.
"Anyway forget about the holes for now" his double said with a grin "we will get back to those later. First things first you need to make this place your own, and not allow it to be this dark drab place that you have here now."
"What" Harry asked dumbly and again he wondered how this image before him could know so bloody much when he felt utterly stupid.
"Simply" his double said in a calm tone "you know how the other area was manipulated with a mere thought?"
"Yes" Harry said as he remembered how the bright whiteness of the void had changed into a more serene outdoor scene.
"The concept here is basically the same" his double said with a grin "you need to think about some place comfortable to work out your memories as well as a better way to form your mental barriers to prevent people from entering into your mind freely."
"Okay I think I get what you're saying" Harry said as he thought of a sunny day and that he was standing in the middle of a Quidditch pitch. The scene around him changed into what he thought about, except the instead of nice lush flat grass of the pitch, it was still grass but the holes that were there in the dark ground remained.
Back at St. Mungos Blade was in his hospital bed staring at a box that sat on his stand by his bed. His face showed a wave of mixed emotions as he looked at it intently, his expression went from sadness, to rage, and then to a look of understanding. He didn't get to think to long about the box as the door to his hospital room opened up.
"Wotcher Blade" Tonks said with glee as she raced into the room, her face not showing concern for Blade, but show excitement about something.
"Hey Tonks" Blade said timidly as he stared at the box "congratulations on your promotion."
"Thanks" Tonks said her eyes beaming with pride as she slid a chair over beside the bed, where she could get Blade's attention away from the box.
"I told you that you would" Blade said confidently as he still stared at the box and not directly at Tonks.
"Yeah ya did" Tonks said though she had come to realize that his attention wasn't fully on her "what's wrong?"
"Nothing" Blade lied as he looked anywhere but at her.
"You're lying; now tell me what going on in that pretty little head of yours."
"Just something I need to work out" Blade said as he reached over and grabbed the box that he had been staring at, the box that he didn't actually want to have at all.
"What's in the box" Tonks asked as she realized that it was the box that was keeping his attention away from her.
"Jimmy dropped it off" Blade said he held the box in his hands not wanting to open it, but at the same time knowing he had to deal with it eventually.
Tonks thought about what Blade said and the way to he had reacted to the box told her it wasn't anything good. Then she had an idea and she hoped for Merlin's sake that she was wrong. "Is it what I think it is" she asked a bit timidly.
"Depends" Blade said as he looked at her slowly "if you think it's a blender than you're wrong."
"Very funny smart arse, now is it what I think it is or isn't it?"
Blade didn't answer the question he just handed her the box to open and see for herself what was inside of it.
At Hogwarts Dumbledore had made his way to his office as he had some decisions of his own to make and wasn't really sure what he planned on doing. First there was the issue of what to do about Harry, because if he told everyone that he was alive then there was no doubt that Voldemort would learn of it, and start planning once more to kill him. However if he didn't tell them and left them believe Harry was dead than there would be the problem of what to do with the boy when he awoke out of his coma.
There was also the issue of the way Major Black had handled the affairs at the platform that morning. Sure her people and her did save a lot of lives and for that Dumbledore was grateful since a lot of them where children, but he didn't like how she had done it. He had to decide how to approach the issue though, he could let it go since it was done already and nothing could be changed. However he didn't like that option much since that wouldn't do anything to prevent her or her people from doing it again the next time they were in a situation like that. The other problem was that he didn't know if he could do anything about it at all. If he believed what Blade had told him then that meant that this Magi Order was powerful enough to protect her, and that he couldn't do shit about it.
"Damn it" Dumbledore said as he placed his elbows on his desk and put his head in his hands "I am getting to bloody old for this shit."
Back in the void Harry wasn't too sure about what he was to do, but his double seemed sure about what needed to be done.
"Yes that's it, but now you need to see where your memories are to be kept. You know like you learned in Occlumency, you should see some sort of shed, fort, or maybe a castle of sorts."
"Now I know you aren't part of my mind" Harry said bluntly as he stared at his double intently.
"What" his double said with a slight flinch "come on be serious you need to focus."
"I am being serious" Harry said flatly as he looked at his so called mental double "when I learned Occlumency I didn't learn anything about a place to store my memories."
"Sure you did" his double said trying to sound confident, but his expression didn't seem to support his confidence.
"I am not doing another thing until I know what the hell is going on here, and just who the hell you are" Harry said firmly as he stared at the thing in front of him certain that it wasn't a figment of his mental state.
"Fine" his double said in defeat "you're right I am not part of your mind, but I am you without a doubt."
"Stop it" Harry said full of rage "you just admitted to not being a figment of my mind, so cut the shit and tell me who the hell you are or let me the hell alone."
"I did tell you, I am you" his double said firmly "and all I have done was try to help you get through this with some sort of mental stability, but if you really want me to leave then I will. If I do leave though rest assured that you will never escape this void you find yourself in, because you need this portion of mental training so you can survive!"
"You say you are me" Harry said coldly "but yet you aren't part of my mind, so how the hell are you here and how are you me?"
"Have you forgot so much already" his double asked sadly "of course you have, and no doubt you will be a vegetable stuck in a bloody coma forever if you don't start listening to what I have to teach you."
Harry didn't know what to say at first because it was true that he did forget a lot of things that he had learned because of his failed attempt to fully purge his mind of Dora "Linda" Tonks. If this thing before him was to be believed than Harry would have to trust it to get out of his current state, but how could he trust it, even if it did look like him. "How can I trust you when you won't even explain who you are or how you came to be here?"
"I have been mostly honest with you" his double said firmly "I am you, I am not a mere figment of your mind, but I am still you. I have used my ability to transcend through the dream realm to reach you."
"The dream realm" Harry said mostly to himself as he thought about how the realm worked. He knew that he could enter into other's minds through it, and he knew he could transcend space time to speak to Blade Claven on Charter Earth as he slept. Did that it mean it was possible to travel from one's mind through the realm to another dimension as well? "You mean you're from another dimension?"
At St. Mungos things were not going so well as Blade had handed Tonks the mysterious box he had been given.
Tonks took the box cautiously and held it for a moment before she opened the lid and looked inside. Her expression changed in a hurry as she looked at the contents of the box, and then she slowly pulled the object out. "This is the timer" Tonks said as she held the vortex timer in her hand, the one that Harry used to travel from one dimension to another.
"Yeah" Blade said solemnly "Jimmy picked both them up when Harry arrived here from the other dimension."
"So which one is it?"
"It's the alternate Harry's timer, the one who was killed by Voldemort" Blade said with a flash of rage in his eyes.
"You know what this means right" Tonks said excitedly "do you?"
"Yeah Tonks I do" Blade said calmly as he stared at the timer "it means she can come back."
"You don't seem too excited about that" Tonks said as her heart was thinking of how happy Harry would be when he found out about the timer.
"I'm not" Blade said flatly "you don't know what I know Tonks, I can't allow it to happen, not this time, I just can't."
"What" Tonks said shocked by what she heard "now I know your sick, aren't you the one that kept saying we have to stick to the plan?"
"I know" Blade said as a lump seemed to stick in his throat "I was wrong…I won't let it happen again Tonks that thing should be destroyed for all eternity."
"Oh but it was okay when it was me huh" Tonks said as she stood up enraged "it was fine when I was the one that had to suffer because I willingly allowed Harry to walk off into that vortex. A vortex I might add that should never had existed, but it did because it was part of the master bloody plan!"
"I a…" Blade started, but didn't get to say much as Tonks cut him off.
"No you listen, you don't get to speak, this is my time" Tonks said full of rage "it was fine when you all but ordered me to return home, when you knew damn well that Hogwarts was about to be attacked."
"You don't know what I do" Blade said as he looked at the ceiling and a tear rolled down his check.
"You're right I don't know, but I do know that you don't get to decide what happens and what doesn't! We both have to play by the same set a rules here Blade, and that means you must do what is needed, hell look at all you already have done to preserve the fucking plan!"
"I wish I didn't have to do half of what I have done."
"I know, but you did it because you knew that fate dictated it to happen this way, and you knew you couldn't mess up her master plan."
"I can't" Blade said as another tear rolled down his face.
"I will make this simple for you" Tonks said determined to keep her composure though inside she too wished that things weren't meant to happen the way they were. "You can either do what must be done, which we are the same rank, so I won't be able to order you. However if you don't then I will have no choice, but to go to the council about it."
"You wouldn't" Blade said with fear in his eyes.
"I don't want to, but what choice do I have? I don't want to hurt you or Harry, but things are meant to happen for a reason, at least that's what you keep telling me. You know what will happen if I go have to go to the council."
"You can't" Blade said timidly though he knew damn well that she could and that she would if she had to.
"I most certainly can, and I am sure Daniel would just love it if I did" Tonks said playing the one card she had hoped not to have to use against her fiancée.
"Daniel is a power hungry git" Blade said as he wiped his eyes with his palm "he would jump at the chance to have the council get rid of me, but it wouldn't happen."
"You're so sure that you are willing to gamble on that" Tonks said as she looked at him and wished she didn't have to do it this way. "Are you willing to chance the fact that Daniel wouldn't win the vote and be on his way to his ultimate goal?"
"He will never become Lord Dragon" Blade said bluntly "the council only tolerate so much from him, but it wouldn't take much for them to get rid of him."
"Are you sure" Tonks asked in a low tone "are you willing to wager your future on it?"
"Even if Daniel did make a plea for me to be exiled he wouldn't win, Claven would never allow it."
Tonks laughed as she looked at her stubborn fiancée "you really think that he can prevent it, if Daniel gets his friends to side with him? Look Master Claven is a good man, but there is only so much he could do in that situation and I don't think you would willingly risk it."
"It's better than the alternative" Blade said as he looked at the ceiling once more "I think it would be worth it, what if I was exiled, I still have other areas I can fall back on to."
"You don't get it do you" Tonks said in disbelief.
"No, you don't get it Tonks" Blade said now enraged "it will cause a lot more harm than it would good."
"That isn't the bloody point" Tonks said adamantly "you don't get to decide what happens and what doesn't! Fate has already done that for us, all we get to do is ride down the river of life and hope that we can survive the ride."
"You sound like me" Blade said with a slight laugh.
"Well you sure the hell aren't sounding like you, so one of us has to do it."
"It just isn't fair Tonks" Blade said solemnly again "hasn't enough happened?"
"Life isn't fair, you said so yourself, but we don't get to decide what is or isn't fair, we just have to do as we are told and deal with the outcome be it good or bad!"
"You're right" Blade said finally even know he didn't like it he knew that Tonks was right. He had already done a lot of bad things, left a lot of things happen that he wished he hadn't, but he really had no choice in it.
"Glad you agree" Tonks said as she sat back down "so you will take care of this then?"
"I don't like it, but I suppose it has to be done."
"I don't like it any more than you do, and I don't even know what will happen, but I am sure if you're reacting like this it isn't going to be pretty."
"Harry would be excited if I tell him about the timer though" Blade said as he thought a bit of the positive aspect of what the timer meant.
"Yeah if he comes out of the coma" Tonks said though she seemed to know all would work out in the end. "Anyway there was another thing I needed to talk to you about."
In void things had heated up as Harry had confronted the being that said he was his double.
"Something like that" his double said calmly "as I said I came to help you, but if you don't want my help then I will leave you to your own devices to get out of here."
"Wait" Harry said boldly before his double could leave "does that mean if I get free I could travel through the dream realm to another dimension to seek out someone?"
"It is possible" his double said with a knowing grin "but only if you will do as I say to ensure you can break free of this void. Harry you are trapped in a coma state known as Eternus Somnus. There is no known cure to this state and honestly no one has ever awoken from this state. You however have a chance Harry because you have special gifts that the others did not. You have a great many abilities that you have not fully developed or understand yet fully, but the one that can help you the most right now is your ability to Dream Walk."
"So this is for real" Harry asked as he didn't know what the hell Eternus Somnus was, but he was sure that it wasn't good by the brief information that he had been given.
"Very much so" his double said firmly "either you can trust me, essentially trust yourself, or you can stay trapped here forever it is totally up to you at this point."
Harry sat back down this time on the grass of the pitch he had thought of, and put his head against his knees. On one hand he could just ignore the thing in front of him, but that could mean he would be stuck in the void forever. On the other hand he could trust that the thing in front of him was his double from another dimension that just happened to know that he was in trouble and needed his help to break free from the void. Harry knew he had to make a decision about what to do, but he wasn't sure what the right course of action was at that moment.
At St. Mungos Tonks was about to reveal that there was something more that she needed to discuss with Blade.
"What's that" Blade asked glad to have a change of subject.
"What the great all knowing Blade doesn't know what I am about to say" Tonks joked trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Contrary to popular belief I do not know everything about everything that happens from day to day."
"I know love" Tonks said with a grin "I was just picking, anyway I am taking a bit of a leave from the Ministry."
"Really" Blade asked now his full attention was peeked "why would you be doing this now unless…its Camille isn't it?"
"Right in one" Tonks said with a slight grin "I am going to go away for a bit, as she is going on a short vacation."
"I bet" Blade said as if he realized what Tonks was going on about "how long will this "vacation" last?"
"I think it will be a week" Tonks said and then stopped to think "maybe two, I asked for a month off just in case."
"They actually gave it to you" Blade said in shock knowing that the ministry was already short handed for Aurors.
"Yea you know how it is Blade" Tonks said with a look that said he really did know how it was. "There are times that you just have to go away, and this is one of those times."
"One of those times huh" Blade said as he looked at her with a look of concern in his eyes.
"Don't worry" Tonks said happily "I can take care of myself you know, and I am glad to be finally able to go."
"Yea I suppose you haven't got to do much of anything with the Order and the Ministry wanting you either as an Auror or a spy for Dumbledore."
"No I haven't" Tonks said with a small pout "you got to go on all sorts of secret missions, and I was stuck dealing with normal boring life instead of joining you."
"I know and I am sorry" Blade said glumly "have fun but do be careful okay you never know what you might encounter, and don't worry I will do what is best with the timer."
"I know you will" Tonks said as she stood up and gave Blade a kiss "I better go pack, oh I almost forgot to ask how is the shoulder?"
"Now you noticed" Blade said with mock sarcasm "only took ya till you were ready to leave."
"Very funny smart guy" Tonks said with a grim "so seriously how is it?"
"It will be fine, it could have been worse."
"I'm sure it could have and you got lucky someone was there to watch your back."
"Oh that reminds me, Dumbledore stopped by" Blade said as he remembered his encounter with the headmaster.
"Really what he want?"
"He wasn't too happy with Major Black's view on how to deal with Death Eaters."
"Really" Tonks said in mock surprise "I would never have guessed, so did he ask about the group?"
"Yeah he wanted to know who they were and that kind of thing."
"So you told him then" Tonks asked with a look of concern on her face.
"Only enough to keep him pacified" Blade said with a grin "ya just need to know how much to tell without revealing all your cards at once."
"So true" Tonks said with a grin "sorry love but I do need to get going or I will miss my flight, I will talk to you soon."
"Love you" Blade said as he kissed Tonks goodbye.
"Love you too" Tonks said as she left the hospital room to head off.
"I guess this could be a good thing" Blade said to himself since no one else was in the room "I just hope she knows what she is doing."