Chapter 9 – Good Vs Evil
Harry lay on his bed twirling his wand casually and was deep in thought. His relatives were staying out of his way, they were feeding him thrice a day and Dudley was now terrified of Harry. He should have been glad but he wasn't. What good was it going to be if was going to die.
His clothes or rather Dudley's old clothes were thrown around without a care. There were quite a few books surrounding his bed, it had been a hell of task to get the librarian to allow him to borrow so many books including a few from the restricted section.
Most of the books were all about binding a person's magic and how to undo it or how to unlock ones potential, but none of them had any spells or concrete information. All were just filled with the authors view on the subject and their ridiculous theories, in other words the books were a waste.
He stared at his wand and said, "Why can't you just unbind or unlock my magic?"
"Because only you can or the binder can."
Harry almost fell out of his bed in shock. "Damn Wand," he muttered. "No help at all."
The whispers were a like a thousand voices whispering right into ear together. It was really freaky and the worst part was that it chose to say something whenever it wished to. There was no way Harry could get it to talk or have a conversation with it. Come to think of it he had never heard of a wand talking before, but then he had a special wand unlike any else.
He glared at his wand wondering why he couldn't just have a normal wand or a normal life without any complications.
"Damn Gryffindor's," he muttered again. The only reason he got into trouble at school was because of Gryffindor's, the only reason he ended up in the hospital wing twice was because of Gryffindor's and the only reason his wand started talking to him was because of damn Gryffindor's!
It had all started the night the troll attacked.
Flashback
He saw the troll swing the club over its head ready to strike… he saw Lillian screaming at him to get out of the way and he felt the pain in his body return, but he just raised his wand confidently and yelled Eradicopectus!
A yellowish green light burst out of his wand and hit the troll in the chest blasting it back. It fell on the floor hard and didn't move again.
Lillian stumbled to her feet, her body shaking and ran to Harry, "Harry! Harry! Are you okay?!"
Harry felt the world and everything in it begin to spin. He tried to move but the pain was too much.
"Are you alright Harry?" asked Lillian looking concerned.
Her pretty face swam in front of his eyes as spots of darkness began to obscure his vision. "I'm fine," he muttered and lost consciousness.
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I'm shivering… why am I shivering?
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What is this feeling?
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Something is freezing my body.
Harry's eyes shot open and he jumped up looking around wildly for the troll, but… but nothing was there? It was just darkness. He was feeling cold, but he never felt cold!
Why was he feeling the need to be close to fire? He had never felt like this before!
Slowly his vision came back to him. It was like a curtain of black was lifting from his eyes.
He was standing in the middle of an endless flat plain of ice. He looked around in wonder. It was beautiful, there were massive icebergs floating in the air sparkling like they would during the day though there was no source of light in sight. There were long narrow pieces of ice coming out of the ground at various angles shinning like diamonds.
He looked down and realized he was standing on water and not ice! He gasped in surprise and lost his balance and fell. He shut his eyes waiting for the sound of his body splashing against the water come but instead it felt like he had fallen on a very soft surface and was being pushed back up gently.
He was too shocked to say a word. He took a step forward and saw the water rippling but it felt like he was standing on a normal cool floor.
The wind blew again and he felt extremely cold. He clutched his body to shield him from the cold and knelt on the water floor shivering. Then all of a sudden the wind stopped blowing and Harry felt normal again.
He stood up and asked himself the obvious question. "Where the hell am I?"
As if expecting an answer Harry waited but none came. He then decided to explore the place, he started walking ahead then stopped and looked around again and wondered in which direction he should go.
He kept looking around him when he spotted something sparkling in the sky, it seemed to be really tall and Harry decided to walk it that direction.
After walking continuously for fifteen minutes Harry could soon make out something sticking out of the ground. The closer he came to it the bigger it became and when he reached it he couldn't help but drop his mouth open in awe. It was a huge pillar of ice and water swirling together without a sound. He looked up and couldn't see an end to its height.
Again he said to himself, "Where the fuck is this? One moment I'm fighting a troll and the next I'm in a world of ice and water. He looked up again and noticed something black in the water ice mixture. He frowned and wondered if he could look at it up close. Instantly the black part in the water began coming closer to him. As soon as he reached it he wrinkled his nose in disgust. It was a foul smelling black substance contaminating the water.
He looked down to see if there was something he could use to remove that foul thing from such a beautiful and amazing thing or whatever it was, but yelled in shock as he realized he wasn't on the ground.
Part of the water had risen up and taken him to the black contaminant so silently that he hadn't even realized it.
He put his hand on his heart breathing hard. "Almost had a heart failure there," he murmured.
He decided to try to remove it with his hands. He covered his nose with his left hand and lent closer to the foul smelling water and touched it. The instant he touched it pain flared all over his body and he was thrown back violently.
Back in the real world Harry coughed blood lying in the hospital wing with Dumbledore, Snape and Madam Pomfrey standing beside him.
"Why won't he wake, Albus? And why in Merlin's name is he coughing blood?" she whispered.
"I don't know Poppy," Albus whispered, sounding worried while Snape just looked on without any expression on his face.
As he flew through the air, the water from the ground rose silently and caught him gently and laid him on the ground of water.
Harry stood up shaking violently as the pain slowly left his body. "W-what t-the hell w-was t-that?" he stuttered.
"That was part of your magic trying to embrace you but wasn't able to thus reacting violently against you," a man said behind him.
Harry looked back sharply only to see nothing. He looked around confused wondering where the voice had come from.
"I don't have a physical form so you cannot see me," it said from a different direction in a different voice.
"Who are you?" Harry shouted "Where am I?"
"Who are you?" it said in a feminine voice this time, "Where am I?" it said again from a different direction, sounding further away from him.
"I am the essence of your wand and we are inside your magical core."
"What!" he yelled thoroughly confused.
"You heard me, I am the voice of your essence and we are inside your magical core."
Harry took deep breaths and calmed himself. "So you're telling me that I'm talking to my wand and we are currently inside my magical core?" he said sceptically.
"No need to yell, I can hear you perfectly fine and yes that's what I'm telling you."
"Why does your voice keep changing and why does it feel like you're moving? Can't you stay in one place?"
"My voice is changing? Well I suppose that is because I have many voices and I am not moving, I am just everywhere. I told you before I have no physical form. I could be anywhere but you will be able to hear me," the voice echoed around him.
"So my mind is in my magical core but we are actually in Hogwarts," he said slowly.
"Yes."
"Why did you bring me in here?"
"To talk to you and to explain a few things that you need to know."
"Was it your voice I heard before and did you tell me that spell?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yes, that is the reason you are standing here right now. Because I forced myself to save your life, there were unforeseen consequences."
"What consequences?" Harry asked getting a little worried and scared.
"I will explain in time, but now I must explain to you why I chose you and what I am."
Harry stood silently, waiting for his wand to begin. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted and being put in a comfortable chair."
Then it began, "Thousands of years ago, before this world was split into two and before the human population began to grow exponentially, the world was locked in a battle for survival.
You could call it a battle between good and evil. The one who would win this war would build the world and shape it in its image.
There existed a perfect balance between the two sides and it was a balance which was destined to be destroyed.
The timeless war went on until Humans became a factor in balance of power.
Three powerful humans joined the forces of good and helped tilt the scales of power in their favour.
This period of time lasted for 30 days and 29 nights in which good and evil fought until evil's power broke and it lay defeated.
Evil begged for mercy, but the brothers were not stupid. They knew evil was trying to get them to forgive it and let it live with no power but they knew sooner or later it would get its power back and they would have to fight again.
Just as they readied themselves to destroy this being forever, Evil shouted, "I will give you anything you want, anything to make you more powerful, please spare me!"
The brothers stopped and looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. Evil smiled inside knowing that greed, a weakness common to humans, would overcome their desire to destroy him.
"You killed my wife," the middle brother spat, "why should we let you live?!"
"I can bring her back to you," evil whispered. "I will offer you the one thing you want most if you let me live."
The brothers had a discussion amongst themselves, whether to kill it or not. The eldest and the middle brother both agreed to let it live while the youngest was uncertain, he felt that they should kill it. But since both the other brothers had agreed he couldn't do anything because it would take all their power together to destroy it.
Thus the eldest brother asked for a wand, a wand that could never be defeated. A wand with which would make him untouchable. Evil nodded and presented to him the Death Stick, the most powerful wand that could ever be made and one that could be used only by the eldest brother and no one else; unless they were more powerful than the brother, which was not possible or so evil thought.
The middle brother asked for the power to bring people back from the dead. Evil smiled at him and gave him a ring. He told the brother if he twisted the stone on the ring three times and called the name of the person he wanted they would come to him. The brother nodded happily and pocketed the ring.
Then the last and the youngest brother looked into evil's eyes and asked for a cloak of invisibility, a cloak that could make him invisible to everyone. Evil scowled at him and reluctantly pulled a cloak out of the thin air and presented it to the man.
Then evil said, "I have done what you asked me to, now you must let me go."
The first two brothers just nodded and left. They couldn't wait to use their new gifts, but the youngest stayed back and asked evil a question, "How did you get all these things? They are such powerful items."
Evil smiled, "I have the power to create anything for others but not for me unless I take control of this world. This battle may have been won by you for now, but when I get my powers back, I will destroy you all once and for all and create the world in my image," it said and vanished never to be seen again for a long time.
"The battle between good and evil should have ended that day but greed won over the hearts of the brothers and evil escaped."
Harry silently heard the story, following every word carefully. After a while he asked, "Is this story true?"
"If you want proof your wand and cloak is proof enough."
Harry was stunned; suddenly he stood up and yelled, "Ollivander!" He took a deep breath and said, "Ollivander told me that my wand or rather you were a gift given to a wizard by death and the wand had never worked for anyone except for him and now me!"
"The truth is always twisted as time goes by. Even my knowledge could be flawed since I was created after the battle was won. Once the brothers came back after successfully defeating evil, they boasted about their gifts and never thought to keep it a secret. The eldest brother kept challenging people to duels and never lost a single duel. But he was murdered by his own son who stole me from him thinking I would bend to his will. Since then people would keep killing each other for possession of me but I could not work for them the way I worked for the eldest brother because there was no way anyone could be more powerful than the eldest brother. He was one of the first wizards to come into existence and his magic was evenly distributed amongst his children so no one would ever be able to be as powerful as he was.
Since then I have been passed on from person to person, until I came into your hands. Your potential is greater than the eldest brother. Because of this, I will work for you and the power you can wield using me is infinite provided you use me correctly."
"What happened to the other brothers?" Harry asked.
"I only know about things where I have been, I do not know what happened to the other brothers but about 80 to 90 years back, I was found by a wizard by the name of Gellert Grindelwald. He and another friend of his, whose name was Albus Dumbledore, spoke about a legend known as the Deathly Hallows. It is similar to what the wand maker told you, but includes the other two brothers as well.
Harry gasped when he heard Dumbledore was friends with Grindelwald.
According to that story, the middle brother used the stone to summon his wife from the dead and talk to her but he could not touch her. Driven mad by grief and his desire to be with her he killed himself and surrendered his soul to death and joined his wife in the afterlife.
The youngest brother used the cloak to hide from death and finally revealed himself to death, who was waiting to get him, when he was old and died happily."
"So nobody knows how the wand, the stone and the cloak came into existence except for you and now me."
"Yes," the voice replied.
Harry processed what he had just been told and gulped. It was unbelievable.
"Earlier you said that there were consequences because you saved me from the troll. What were you talking about?" Harry asked remembering what his wand had told him before explaining its history.
"Because you were in danger, I was forced to help you."
"So? You are my wand now, and you did say that you will work me properly and will give me infinite power."
"I did say that and that's the way it is supposed to be. But I was unable to reach you because part of your magic has been bound, thus I cannot access your full power and if I can't use your full power I cannot reach out to you like I have now."
"Then how did you do it?"
"I forced my way through it, to save your life. If you died the consequences would not be good."
"What would happen if I died?" Harry asked, curious to know why his life was so important.
"The one who can wield the death stick is the one who can destroy evil forever."
"So you're telling me that I am going to have to fight evil? Who, by the way, is so powerful that it took the power of all three brothers to defeat it?" Harry said incredulously.
"Evil is not as powerful as it were at that time, it was unable to gain its power back so it decided to influence the souls of humans. It was extremely cunning and intelligent, so it began corrupting the minds of humans, making them want more power; his power. Evil could not use its magic but it realized that if it possessed a human it could use the human's magical power and turn it forever into his own.
So what evil did next was to create a magic that humans could use to gain great power and named it the dark arts. But to do this it had to make a sacrifice, a sacrifice that would make it lose all its consciousness and exist only as a tool to be used by humans.
If a powerful wizard uses the dark arts and if he uses too much without destroying himself, evil would be able to gain back its consciousness through that witch or wizard and effectively come back to life with all its powers and nobody would be able to stop it.
It would result in the end of human race and the world as you know it. The only way to destroy the dark arts would be to destroy the one who can use it the best.
The dark arts are not the magic you use. When you use the dark arts you are not just using powerful magic, what you are doing is summoning magic from a different plane of existence and this magic corrupts the core of the wizard making it a slave to Evil when it returns. The more you use it, the more you will want it and soon you will be consumed by it and there will be no way of coming out of it unless you stop yourself before it is too late.
If you continue using it, your magical core will be destroyed by it and it will be replaced by one made from the dark arts making the man powerful beyond his own capabilities. If a man who can host evil's conscious exists, all the magical cores of the witches and wizards corrupted by the dark arts will flow into him from the other plane of existence melding into one and evil will rise again through this vessel as terrible and as powerful as before."
"How…. How do you know this?" Harry whispered.
"The youngest brother knew that evil had a plan to come back and it was a mistake not to kill him. So one night he came to me whispered all what I have told you. He had lived long enough to see evil transform into the dark arts and he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He was the wisest and the cleverest of all the brothers and had kept track of me and evil using his cloak of invisibility."
"But he did know that if someone who could wield me was born, there would be hope for the world yet and evil could be destroyed once and for all."
"Wow," whispered Harry "So I am the one can destroy it once and for all."
"Yes."
Harry didn't know how to feel, there were so many thoughts and emotions running through him that he just didn't know what he was feeling.
"Why tell me this now? I mean I'm hardly powerful enough to take on a dark lord, I'm just eleven, almost twelve years old and I've just joined a wizard school and have just begun to learn magic."
"I told you, to save your life from the troll I had to force my way through the block on your magic and because of that I had to bring you here or it would result in the self destruction of your magic. I told you due to that there were unforeseen consequences."
"Are you going to tell me what consequences?" he asked hesitantly, feeling afraid.
"Yes, this is the only time we will ever meet like this. The owner of the Death Stick can be pulled into this world only once and never again. You will never be able to talk to me again unless you unbind your magic. Even then I will only be able whisper spells to you when you are in mortal danger.
I said there were consequences for pulling you in this world when your magic was bound. Because I did that, the block on your magic is spreading and limiting your usage of magic. It will keep spreading like a virus until it binds your magical core completely and when that happens, you will die."
Harry's heart started beating wildly behind his ribs; he was feeling fear, fear of dying. His breath was coming short and panic was engulfing him. He felt like he was at the bottom of a hole, a hole from which there was no escape. Terror began to dominate his senses and tears were dripping from his wide, frightened eyes.
"Calm down, Harry," the voice whispered and instantly Harry felt his fear melting away and he could feel himself calming down.
"In times like these you should keep a cool head and not lose yourself to the fear of death. If you feel fear and if you become desperate you will be attracted to the dark arts and if the one with the power to use me gets attracted to the dark arts it will be the end of everything."
"How can I force myself to be calm when you've just told me that I am going to die if I don't unbind my magic? I don't even know the first thing about blocks on magic!" Harry screamed.
"That only you can do, I cannot help you when I do not know how your magic has come to be bound. Now it will soon be time for you to leave so ask whatever you want to ask and I will answer it them the best I can."
Harry thought for a moment and then began asking the questions that had been running through his head since he had come here. "What is that huge mix of water and ice?" he asked pointing to the silent swirling mass of water and ice.
"That is your core, the centre of your magical core. It is the place from where your magic comes. Right now you are not even using 50 percent of your core. The foul black poison that hurled you back is not part of you. The spell binding your magic has now mixed with it and is spreading. That is what you have to destroy."
"Why did I feel cold when I came here? I mean I have never felt cold in my entire life and I felt like I was going to freeze here."
"You are in a world created by your subconscious. It is the world of your magic and the world is created on the basis of what your magic desires. But because you are inside your magic you will not be able to use magic."
"Ok you have successfully confused me. What you are saying is that I am inside my magic? And because I am inside my magic I cannot use magic?"
"Yes."
"So that means my magic has been protecting me from the cold?"
"I cannot answer that question. You have to discover your own potential and skills. No one else can do it for you. They can only help you improve your skills."
"Oh, ok," Harry muttered. "You know your voice changes every now and then, the place from where your voice comes from changes every minute or so though I've somewhat gotten used to it, but the tone of your voice hasn't changed at all."
"I told you to ask questions, not make statements."
"Grouch," Harry muttered under his breath, "How can you talk? I mean do you have a brain of your own or something?"
"I am conscious of my surroundings. Everything I sense I learn; everything I hear I remember."
"So that means your knowledge of spells is infinite since you're so old!" Harry said getting excited.
"Yes, but I cannot teach you."
"Why the hell not?"
"I already told you before; I can only help you when you are in need."
Harry racked his brain to ask him or her or rather his wand another question, "How long do I have until my magic is completely bound?"
"One year."
"A year to prevent death," Harry muttered to himself.
"It is time for you to leave Harry. You will never be able to come back here again and I wish you luck."
Before Harry could say anything the water he was standing on opened up and he fell through. He yelling in shock and woke up in his body screaming.
He blinked once, twice and then realized he was in the hospital wing.
He slowly tried sitting up but found it too painful. He looked around searching for his wand and found Lillian's wand on the side table.
"What the hell is her wand doing here? Where is my wand?" he muttered to himself.
Suddenly someone spoke through the darkness, "Harry! Harry you awake?"
He recognized the voice as Lillian's, "What are you doing here Austin? And where's my wand?"
"I have your wand with me, I hid it so that the professors wouldn't see it," she whispered and handed it back to him.
Harry was surprised at her quick thinking. "Thanks I guess. So what are you doing here? How long have I been here?"
"You've been here for a few hours, I've been sneaking in trying to see how you were doing and got caught several times," she said taking her wand from the side table.
"Thanks for your concern but I don't need it Freckles."
He could practically see her glare through the dark. Suddenly he heard someone opening the door and so did Lillian. She quickly slid under the bed before anybody could see her.
The door was shut and the headmaster came into view.
"Good evening Harry, I'm glad to see you up," he said.
"Good evening to you to headmaster," Harry said.
"How are you feeling?"
"Sore," he replied.
"Ms. Austin told me what happened when the troll attacked. I must say it was real brave of you to protect her the way you did. I'm very proud of you."
Harry smirked, now was a time to have some fun, "Yes sir, I know. She was terrified down there, I mean she was crying and was screaming for me to help her so I really didn't have a choice. It was either save her or listen to her wail."
He could feel her kicking his bed from below and was struggling to hold his laughter.
"That sounds quite unlike her. Ms. Austin has been most concerned about your health," he said. "She has sneaked in here quite a number of times in the past 5 hours."
"Really," Harry said feigning surprise. "I suppose you punished her."
"No, no, just docked a few points, however if she sneaks in again, I just might have to give her detention."
"That's good professor, the rules of the school must be held in high regard," he said nodding his head seriously. "If I caught her sneaking in here would you give the Slytherin house points?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "No, I'm afraid not."
"I see," Harry muttered "Is there anything else you wanted professor, I'd like to go to sleep and be healed so that I can return to my dorm."
"Of course," Dumbledore said. "And do you by any chance remember what spell you cast on the troll Harry?"
"No professor, I'm afraid not, I was just desperate to get away from the troll and a word popped into my head and I said it. The next moment I see the troll falling and Lillian screaming. The next thing I know I'm waking up here."
Dumbledore didn't say anything but just looked into Harry's eyes. After a moment he stood up and said goodbye and left. Just as he left Harry heard him mutter, "Occlumency shields at this age," and he couldn't hear the rest.
As soon as he left Lillian slid out, stood up and whacked him on his head.
"What the fuck?" he yelped "You want me to tell Madam Pomfrey you're here?" he demanded.
"Shut up," she hissed angrily. "You almost gave me away for house points,"
"Of course! You lion, me snake, in other words mortal enemies," he drawled.
"Whatever, I can't believe I actually came to see how you were doing," she muttered. "Good night," she said and left before Harry could comment.
As soon as she left Harry mind drifted back to his conversation with his wand. There were only two options in his mind. One was become strong and get rid of the block and the other was death.
Death was certainly the option to be eliminated.
End Flashback
Harry sighed and fell back on his bed throwing the book he had aside. He had been cooped up in his room for a week and hadn't come out much ever since. He had been so busy reading the books he had got that he had been leaving the room only for eating and for bathing.
He got up and opened his window and sat on the window sill. Sitting at the edge of the window always made him feel better.
The moment he sat there he started sweating and feeling hot. That was the main reason he hated summer. It made him feel hot, sweaty and for some reason, weak.
He sighed again and was about to shut his window to prevent the hot air from entering when he happened to look at the hedge and was shocked to see a pair of huge yellow eyes staring back at him. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing right and when he opened his eyes again they were gone.
He wondered why Blaise hadn't written back to him when he had written so many times to him. Hedwig had always come back looking a bit irritated after delivering the letter.
He glanced at the clock and saw it was lunch time. All the Dursley's were already at the table when he came down. Dudley and his uncle had their plates overflowing as usual, his aunt had hardly anything on her plate and he was pleased to see his plate had portions rivalling his uncle's and Dudley's.
He glanced at his aunt Petunia, the question clear in his eyes.
"You're not getting dinner tonight, the Masons are coming over at 8.00 and we do not want them to see you," she said stiffly.
"Leave something by the door before they come," he said. "I'm not missing a meal because of your guests."
"You will remain in your bedroom for the rest of the day and will not come down until tomorrow morning," Vernon growled irritated by his response.
Harry shrugged and muttered, "Suits me just fine," and began to dig into his food looking forward to going back to his books.