Chapter 11: The Arch
Their return was quieter then Harry had expected, but then they were home earlier then they had originally planned. Therefore, it was that only the portraits of the former Headmasters were present when Harry and his two companions arrived in a flash of smoke and fire. He wasted no time confirming with the former Headmasters that Muggles could indeed remain at Hogwarts so long as they had his, the current Headmaster's approval. As he had suspected, the wards had been designed knowing that eventually a Muggle parent might want to see where their child was going to school.
"Where are we," Antonia asked as she looked rather nervously at the moving portraits. "'ow they doing that?"
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Harry answered with a bit of a flourish and a bow. "I am the current Headmaster and as such I invite you to stay with us for as long as you want."
"Brilliant," Larry chuckled, his face slowly sliding back into the stoic expression he normally wore.
"I don't understand though," said the young woman looking around rather stunned. "One minute we're in London, and now we're here."
"Not to sound too cliché," Harry said winking at the young woman, "but it's magic."
At first, Harry honestly thought his newest guest had been struck dumb by his attempt at humor. Larry was also looking at him as if he was unsure of what to say or do. It was rather uncomfortable but just as he was preparing to apologize, Larry and Antonia suddenly started laughing.
"He actually said it," Larry said to the young woman.
"I know," she giggled.
Harry, not really understanding what was so funny crossed his arms and looked at the both of them until they stopped laughing. This might not have taken so long if several of the portraits had not begun laughing as well, which just seemed to start it all over again.
"Sorry, Harry," Larry finally managed to say. "That's a line from an old BSA poster. This odd-looking git is standing in the poster, pointed hat and all; it's the stupidest looking thing you've ever seen."
Antonia nodded and then took over saying, "then he says, 'It's magic, and it's dangerous.' So when you said it, it was just too perfect."
"I see," Harry said, trying to sound as serious as possible. "At least they got one thing right."
Harry managed to hold his deathly serious expression for a total of four seconds before he could not help but start laughing along with his new friends. There was that part of his mind, that part which was always serious that said the poster had been right and magic was dangerous. Of course, now it was even more dangerous than it had ever been before.
Using his warmest smile, even though he was not currently feeling particularly warm, Harry guided the two young people to the door. "Larry, why don't you show Antonia to the kitchen? I'm sure she's hungry."
"Good idea, I'm a bit hungry myself," Larry replied as he guided Antonia towards out the door. "You going to join us?"
"Yeah, I'll be down in a bit."
With a nervous smile, Antonia followed Larry out the door and down the revolving stairs. Harry watched them go, his mind on other things. He thought it best to get the young woman used to the castle as quickly as possible. There would be some rough days ahead as she adjusted to the world of magic that she had just found herself in. Hopefully the others would be able to help her feel at home as Harry worked on the problem at hand.
"Sean," he said, turning towards the portraits once again. "Would you mind coming with me to the Chamber? You too, Albus?"
"Not at all, Harry," both images, said at once.
Quickly Harry summoned both portraits from the wall and shrunk them so that he could easily fit them in his pocket. Turning once again towards the door Harry thought about everything that had happened so far that morning and he wondered what he should do next. He needed help to figure it all out. An idea was forming in his head but he felt that he needed more help then he currently had available to him. Was it time, he wondered, to call upon the power of the stone?
As he contemplated the idea, the door to his office flew open and two blurs of red hair flew at him. In a moment, Harry found himself enfolded in the arms of his two favorite people, Ginny and Amelia. Hugging them both tightly he felt the worries of the day fading as they all stood there happily. Not since his own children had been so small had he felt so at peace, so loved.
"How are my two favorite girls," he asked.
"Better now that you are back," Ginny said kissing him.
"I missed you so much, daddy," added Amelia.
"I missed you both," he said, lifting Amelia up in his arms and taking Ginny's hand in his.
They all made their way out of the Headmaster's office and down the stairs. They talked of completely unimportant things as they walked. Amelia informed him that Ginny and Elizabeth had spent the morning making new clothes for her, clothes that she planned to show him as soon as they got time. Ginny on the other hand was talking about teaching Elizabeth to make those clothes, and how much the young woman had seemed to enjoy learning the complex spells involved. It was a peaceful conversation that Harry fully enjoyed as it did not focus around the dark times they had found themselves in.
When they reached the kitchen, Harry sat Amelia down on the floor and looked at her with a wide grin on his face. "You're mum and I need to take care of something. You think you can do me a favor and keep our new guest company while we're busy? She's a Muggle so you have to be extra nice to her."
"Sure thing, daddy," smiled the little girl.
With a big hug and a kiss on her cheek, Harry watched as she made her way into the kitchen. From the sound of it, everyone was inside and Harry felt a pang of sadness that he and Ginny could not join them yet. He wanted to be able to take part in the joy of being with his new friends but there were important matters that weighed heavily on his mind at the moment. He had to find solutions and he needed better minds then his own to do it.
"Very smooth, Potter," Ginny said with a sly wink.
"Why thank you, dear," he said taking her hand again. "I had lots of practice with our kids."
Together they walked towards the second floor bathroom and the entrance to the Chamber. Ginny tried to get him to talk about what was on his mind, but Harry felt like he was a million miles away. He had made a decision that was not sitting well with him, yet it seemed like the only thing that made sense. Each time Ginny tried to get him to talk he would just gently squeeze his hand and give her a sad smile. She eventually figured out that he wanted to wait till they reached the Chamber, but Ginny did not look happy about it.
As quickly as they could, with the help of several shortcuts, Harry and Ginny made their way to the entrance to the Chamber. Ginny shuddered as she watched the sink vanish into the floor. The Chamber itself no longer bothered her, but the entryway still brought back dark memories for her. It was not until they passed through the arch leading to the doors of the Chamber that she felt herself calm down. If Harry had asked, she would have told him that it was time to change the entrance and to hell with the need to protect the secrecy of the Chamber.
Harry led the way down to the lowest level of the Chamber where the Arch stood mysteriously. The Veil still moved gently as if in a breeze that no one could feel, occasionally it seemed to her that someone was whispering just behind it. No matter how hard she tried to listen she could never quite hear what the voices were saying, but somehow she knew that right at that moment they were talking about her and Harry.
As Ginny tried to understand what she was hearing, Harry was arranging several empty crates to use as makeshift easels. When he had them arranged just the way he wanted them he pulled the two shrunken portraits from his pocket and reversed the charms he had used on them. Once the portraits were back to their normal size, the former Headmasters smiled out at him, they seemed rather amused at their present situation.
"An intriguing sensation, riding in someone's pocket," mused Sean's portrait.
"Rather amusing I thought," laughed Dumbledore. "Now I assume you will explain to us why we had to talk down here, and what has you so visibly shaken, Harry?"
Harry held up his hand, silently asking for a few moments more. Walking quietly towards the Arch he contemplated what he intended to do. Did he really have the right to do it? He needed their help but he felt selfish about his reasons. Just because he had the ability to do what he was contemplating, did it really mean that he had the right to do it? He already had access to all the former Headmasters, was he really sure that with their help he would not be able to find the solution that he needed? There were too many questions on his mind, and he thought that maybe that was the real reason he intended to do what he planned. Who better to help him solve a puzzle like this?
Holding his hand out in front of him, Harry spun the ring upon his finger three times concentrating on what he intended to do. At first he thought maybe he had made a mistake since the veil hung heavily inside the Arch as if in a dead calm. Then, just as he was about to give up, a sudden sense of weight filled the room. The Veil suddenly blew outward as if a strong wind were moving it, but there was no sensation of wind at all. Slowly the Veil began to part as if drawn apart by invisible hands. The others instinctually turned away, but Harry continued to look through the opening. It was as if there was a long tunnel behind that Veil, longer than anything Harry had ever seen or imagined before.
He felt as if his eyes had become better then they had ever been before because he could see the end of that tunnel. In the glow of the most beautiful light he had ever seen before stood three figures. At first they seemed as if they were miles away, then suddenly they were rushing towards him without actually moving. Faster and faster they approached, glowing brighter and brighter as the neared the Arch. Suddenly they were right in front of Harry, although they still seemed to be moving. As he watched, the glow dimmed and color flooded into them like watercolors slowly blending together.
At first it was like looking through an unfocused telescope. Harry knew that the two figures were standing right in front of him but they still seemed so far away. Slowly they began to come into focus, not as the silvery translucent figures he had expected but as solid objects. Suddenly there was a real rushing of wind so powerful that Harry was almost knocked off his feet. Struggling to stay on his feet and blinking his eyes in the powerful gale, he realized that something more then he had intended had just occurred. The two people in front of him were not ghosts, they were living breathing people.
"Oh, Harry," Ginny said in a horrified voice. "What have you done?"
"I wish I knew," was the thought that passed like a storm through his mind.
Hand in hand the two people that Harry had somehow called from beyond the Veil walked over to stand directly in front of Harry and his wife. "It's ok, Ginny. Harry might be rubbish when it comes to chess, but he's alright when it comes to doing the right thing. Besides, did you honestly think we were going to let you have all the fun?"
Reaching out a trembling hand, Ginny touched the arm of the one person other than Harry that she had always admired. When she was convinced that he was not an illusion or a ghost, she flung herself into his arms and began bawling her eyes out. She could not remember the last time she had seen his face when it was not either covered in wrinkles, and now here stood her brother in the prime of his youth.
"Leave off, Ginny," Ron Weasley chuckled softly as he kissed the top of his sister's head. "I'm really here, but if you keep hugging me that tightly I might die from lack of air."
"How is this possible," asked a pale and stunned Sean from his portrait. "There is no magic the likes of which we have just seen."
"It's Harry," said calm and smiling Hermione Granger as she walked over to hug Harry. "He's the true master of the Resurrection Stone. It interacted with the Arch to open a passage between here and where we were. I suspect that his love for us combined with the fact that he is more concerned with helping others rather than himself, acted as a catalyst for the Arch to facilitate our return."
Ron winked over at Harry and said with a grin, "That and we really wanted to see you again, mate."
Standing silently, his voice momentarily frozen by the magnitude of what had just happened, Harry kept looking around the small group of people around him. He was waiting for one of them to tell him it was all a joke, yet Hermione's hug had been real and so was the smell of the perfume she always wore. He felt joy bubbling up in him, but there was also a dark belief that what he had done was wrong on some level. Looking back and forth between his newly returned friends, he had to wonder if there would be a price to pay for what he had done, and would he be able to pay it when the time came.
"I'm so sorry," he forced out of his dry and cracking throat. "I shouldn't have brought you back to this."
Ginny was still in shock but she knew her husband better than anyone, and she knew he needed her. Forgetting her brother's return, Ginny walked over to him and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. Looking into his eyes she could see the depths of his sadness and doubt. She knew that he was confused about what had happened. Pulling him close she kissed him gently, feeling the tension in his body from the emotions he was holding back. He held onto her as if she was his last chance at salvation. If the way Harry looked right now was any indication, she just might be.
"We're back all of a minute and their already at it," snorted Ron, trying to lighten the mood.
"Be quiet, Ron," hissed Hermione.
"Quite," mumbled the portrait of Dumbledore as Sean nodded in agreement.
Harry and Ginny clung to each other for a long time, each trying to come to terms with what had just happened. Wordlessly they seemed to communicate to each other the fact that they were both shocked and scared by what Harry had done. Ginny knew that it had not been Harry's intention to bring his friends back from the dead; in fact she doubted he had believed it possible. Still, it had happened and now they had to come to terms with it.
"It's ok, love," she whispered in his ear as she held him close.
"How could I do that to them," he said in a pleading voice, seeking an answer that would not come.
"We chose this, Harry," Hermione said in a soothing voice. "You did not force us or pull us unwillingly from some heavenly paradise."
"Yeah," added Ron as he walked up to stand behind his wife. "We left that joint of our own free will. Was getting rather boring anyway, no one wanted to play me in chess anymore."
Harry could not help but smile at his friend's comment. "How is this possible?"
"The ring," Ron stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's the key to the Arch, sort of. Together with a bit of help from the other side, a few friends that didn't want you to face this by yourself, we were able to pass back through the Veil."
"As always, Ron makes it sound much simpler than it really was," Hermione said in her familiar tone of intellectual superiority. "We are the only ones that will be able to come through this way, though. Our actions were allowed but no further help can be granted. The ring may call forth simple shade now, but they will not be able to cross into the real world again. Consider the Arch a one way door now, just as it was always intended to be."
"We chose this, Harry," Ron said with a warm and genuine smile.
"Just like you and Ginny did," Hermione added with a grin. "We wanted to be here with you, to help you."
This was all so familiar to Harry. Hermione's smug yet friendly attitude of bossiness combined with Ron's ability to simplify any solution into terms he could understand. This is what he had been missing for so long, ever since he had lost them both. Looking at them now, Harry realized that since they had died, he had been missing a part of himself, of his heart, that not even his love for Ginny had been able to fully heal.
Harry looked into the eyes of his friends and knew the truth of their words. They were right, just as he and Ginny had made the choice to be here, so had his friends. In that moment, all of his sadness was forgotten and the joy of being reunited with his oldest friends in the world bubbled up in him like clean and pure spring water, washing away all of his sadness. Rushing forward, Harry embraced them both, Ginny right by his side, and welcomed his real family home.
"I have always said that love was the most powerful magic in all of creation," Dumbledore said as he wiped a tear from his eye.
"Yes, yes," mumbled the image of Sean from his portrait. "God knows we've all heard your theories about love. Now could you just let it rest for a while, maybe the next fifty years or so?"
"Oh shut up, you old fraud," Dumbledore said in a playful tone.
"Look who's talking," retorted the other portrait, making a rude hand gesture. "At least I never hid the truth of my feeling from the man I loved."
You could have heard a pin drop in the Chamber at that point. Everyone turned to see a brightly blushing Dumbledore staring in open mouthed disbelief at his fellow Headmaster. Maybe it was the tension of the past few minutes, or maybe it was just the happiness of being together with his friends again, but Harry could not hold back the laughter that forced its way out of him. A moment later and everyone was laughing, even Dumbledore's image once he regained his composure.
Looking up at the laughing faces, Dumbledore finally managed to speak. "We each of us have our secrets."
"Doesn't change a thing, Albus," Harry said, smiling fondly at his friend and mentor, "although it does explain the purple suit."
Dumbledore laughed even harder, they all did, and it was several minutes before they settled down enough to talk normally. Harry found it difficult at first to concentrate on what he needed to say what with everything that had just happened. It was only with great difficulty that he finally forced his mind to focus on the matter at hand. Pulling his wand out, he transfigured two crates into rather large and comfortable couches. Ginny ignored the couch until Harry had sat down and made himself comfortable, then she crawled into his lap and snuggled close. While Hermione did not crawl into Ron's lap, she did sit as close as possible to him until he wrapped an arm around her.
How long Harry spoke after was hard to tell. He told them everything that he and Ginny had experienced up to that point. Ron's ears had started turning red almost as soon as Harry began describing the BSA, it was not long before he was sputtering like a tea kettle on the boil. As for Ginny and Hermione, they seemed to alternate between tears and fits of silent fury. Even the portraits of the Headmasters seemed to be fighting the desire to rage against everything they heard. When Harry told them of the skeletons he had found in the London Underground it was Ron that broke into tears first, the image was just too powerful for him. Pausing long enough to comfort his crying wife, Harry wondered if he should tell them about his meeting with Antonia now or wait until he had explained his theory.
"I discovered something while I was down in that damnable tunnel," he said, finally making up his mind. "When we reached the point where the anti-magic field was, I wanted to see what it felt like to lose my magic. I cast Lumos and then walked right into the field, but nothing happened. At first I thought the field had failed but when Larry tried to cast a spell, he failed."
"Did you notice anything strange," Sean asked, looking intently at Harry.
"Yes, I did," he said grimly.
"So what was it, mate," asked Ron, his face taking on the expression he wore when he played chess. "We came all the way back from the dead for this, so don't keep us waiting."
Laughing at his friends humorous but blunt words, Harry watched Hermione slap her husband's arm playfully before he went on. "When I stood in that field I recognized the feel of it right away. I was actually very surprised by it at first, even wondering if I was imagining it. After a moment I was sure though, it was the feel of someone trying to use Legilimency on me."
Suddenly everyone was talking at once. They all seemed to have a reason why Harry could not be right. Only Sean remained quiet, a thoughtful expression on his face as he contemplated what Harry had said. Harry for the most part listened to everything that was being said around him, but he had experienced it and they had not. Nothing they said was going to make him doubt his own experiences and his gut reaction to that experience. Someone had been using Legilimency down in that tunnel and he wanted to know who.
"It's just not possible, Harry," Hermione said firmly. "Not only could they not have used magic like that on you, but the spell requires eye contact to work properly."
"Who said they used magic on Harry," asked Sean.
"Well obviously if it really was Legilimency then it was magic," said Ron, coming to his wife's defense.
"Not necessarily, Ron," said the portrait. "If the BSA found a way to duplicate the effect of the spell by some scientific means then it would be possible."
"An artificial spell of some sort," Dumbledore mused. "Rather like a charmed music box, it does not require a wizard to continually cast the charm to work. Still, Legilimency is a very difficult spell to perform, I'm not sure an artificial source would be able to perform the spell properly."
"What would be the purpose of it anyway," asked Hermione. "I mean, even if they could break into someone's mind, what would it accomplish?"
Sean began pacing back and forth in his portrait. "A strong enough Legilimens would be able to break into a mind and force one of his own memories into the mind of his victim."
"Like for example a Muggle memory of not knowing how to use magic," Harry said with a thin lipped smile.
The two old Headmasters suddenly looked like the happiest people on Earth as they beamed at Harry.
"I get it," Ginny said with a smile of her own. "You put the memory of not knowing how to use memory over the real memory like a blanket. Suddenly you're waving your wand around in the air with no clue how to use the bloody thing."
"There is a problem with this theory," Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eyes growing dimmer. "Legilimency is not an easy spell to master. It requires a great deal of practice and skill to be able to break into another person's mind. I don't think it would be possible for a machine, no matter how complex it might be, to break into the mind of a human."
"You make it sound like Fred and George when they talked about picking Muggle locks," Ginny said with a chuckle.
"That is not far from the mark when it comes to breaking into a mind," said the image of Dumbledore. "Each mind is different so every time you attempt to break into a mind it is slightly different. I don't think a Muggle machine would be able to do it."
"What about a computer," asked Hermione. "Could a Muggle computer do it?"
Sean shook his head, "I doubt it. When I was younger, before I came to Hogwarts, I did research on the human mind and computers. Not even the most complex computer we had at that time could compare to a human mind when it came to problem solving. Oh they could play a fantastic game of chess, but they could not deal well with any possibility that was not programmed into them to begin with. There are far too many variables when dealing with a person's mind for a computer to deal with."
This was something Ron could grasp, the idea of comparing it to a chess problem helped him to see it in a clearer light. "So if a computer can't do it, you have to find a better chess player. The BSA does not use magic, at least as far as we know. Still, Harry would know if someone was trying to get into his mind. I think we are focusing on the wrong part of this problem. In this case we need to worry about the end result rather than the starting point. So, if it were possible to break into someone's mind, could a memory of not knowing how to use magic block the real memory of that knowledge?"
"I believe so," Sean said smiling at Ron. "Everything we do, whether it is magic or just walking down the street, is based upon our memories of how to do that thing. If you could block that memory then it would be as if you had never learned a thing, you would be defenseless."
"I still say it is impossible," said a stubborn Hermione, Dumbledore nodding in agreement. "It would be hard enough to block one person's memories of magic, but the BSA block hundreds of people at a time. I mean that is how they defeated the Ministry of Magic along with all the other magical governments."
"Ignore that, Hermione," Harry said suddenly. "Ron's right. We may not know how they are doing it, but the pieces fit. I know that I blocked someone from getting into my mind and because of that I was still able to use magic. Larry on the other hand could not block that intrusion and so he could not use magic. As far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty conclusive argument for the BSA using Legilimency against us."
Sean nodded vigorously and started pacing again, "He's right. We may not know the how of the thing yet but the pieces fit too nicely. I think we need to talk to Harry's new friend, Antonia, and see if she has any information that might help us to figure out the solution. Until then, I suggest as a precaution we begin teaching everyone Occlumency."
"I think that might be a wise idea," Dumbledore agreed. "As you said, we may not know how they are doing it, but we do have a fairly good idea of what will stop it."
They talked for a little while longer, mostly to reaffirm what they already suspected. By the time they were done, everyone was exhausted and Harry finally ended the continuous chatter by shrinking the two portraits, mid sentence, and putting them back in his pocket.
"I don't know about you lot," he said as he lifted a sleeping Ginny up in his arms, "but I've got two young ladies to get to bed."
"Two," asked Ron.
Harry smiled and nodded as everyone followed him to the entrance. "Yeah. Seems you're an uncle again, mate. Wait till you meet my adopted daughter. You won't know what hit you."