Fickle Fate:Chapter 12
Things are coming together for medical school and it is both scary and exciting! Thank goodness there is my fan fiction to keep me relatively sane. XD
A review was kind enough to point me to a story that has a similar idea with the unforgivable spells. I have not read this story but I did peak at the first chapter and it looks really interesting. Check it out: Never Alone, Never Again by Bored Beyond Belief.
Warnings: Implied child abuse, graphic (not super graphic but present) child abuse, mentions of murder and torture.
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't have to apply for so many scholarships to get through school.
Please enjoy!
Returned
Harry was sweating with the effort to control his magic. His wand was sitting next to him just in case something went wrong and he had to fix it quick. He had decided to keep trying to learn wandless magic just in case his wand got taken away again.
His lessons had continued these past few days, more or less without a hitch. He continued to learn rules and how to sit and stand properly. He continued to have his beliefs questioned and challenged by Lucius Malfoy. The strangest thing of all though, was he continued his potions lessons and was actually improving.
Ever since Snape showed him that "Proper Techniques" book, his technique had greatly improved from where it had been originally. If Harry didn't think it was absurd, he would say Severus Snape was reluctantly impressed in his skill.
With a frustrated sigh, Harry gave up on the spell he was attempting and fell back against his bed. Nagini hissed in indignation as she was jostled from her spot laying behind him. Harry rolled his eyes at the dramatic snake and closed them in exhaustion. The book had warned him about the effects of draining one's magic, but he hadn't payed much attention to them. Now he was really feeling them though.
A knock on the door followed by someone coming in made Harry groan.
"Oh don't be like that, Little Lion." Harry was not happy with the new nickname the Lestrange brothers had come up with for him. They apparently found it adorable now when he tried to scowl at them or tried to intimidate them in general. Rabastan compared him to a lion cub learning to growl and so began the start of 'Annoy Harry with every nickname possible until we hit the jackpot.' Little Lion won and Harry just couldn't get them to stop.
"Get up, Little Lion. The Dark Lord wants to talk to you." Harry's heart rate spiked a little bit and he sat up quickly. Voldemort only ever spoke to him at meals; Harry was never summoned to him in the middle of the afternoon. Rodolphus laughed at Harry's fear.
"Relax. He just wants to ask you how your lessons are going. You're not in trouble." Harry felt somewhat relieved though he still made sure his body guards knew the grand amount of effort he went through dragging himself out of bed. Harry scooped up his wand and followed them out of his room, Nagini telling him that she was going to nap in the warm spot he left on his bed.
The whole walk over to Voldemort's office Harry thought about how ridiculous it was that he was jealous of a snake. It didn't take them long before they were standing in front of the door and Rodolphus knocked. They were bid enter and Harry nearly choked on air when he saw Big Bad Dark Lord Voldemort…wearing reading glasses.
Tom actually smiled upon seeing him and told Harry to sit in the chair across from his desk. He dismissed Harry's bodyguards and continued to smile creepily at Harry. It wasn't that the smile itself was creepy, more the fact that this man was not I'm-going-to-murder-you-and-like-it-smiling was creepy.
"I've been hearing relatively good things about you from your tutors, Harry. How do you perceive your lessons thus far?" If Harry didn't know who was sitting across from him, he would swear the man would make a great Headmaster.
"Uh…fine, I guess?" Tom looked far too amused.
"You guess? From what I understand you have been attending them. So, you must have formed some opinion at this point." Harry continued to stare at him like he had grown a second head, and Voldemort sighed. He took off his reading glasses and smirked smugly at the young man across from him.
"Better?" Harry actually visibly relaxed as the Dark Lord acted more "normal."
"Yeah, actually. Since when do you smile like a normal person?" Harry's teeth audibly clacked together he slammed his mouth closed so fast. Tom didn't pull out his wand to curse him and instead barked out a bitter laugh.
"I…" Riddle paused and thought for a moment. He stared at Harry until the boy grew even more unnerved and then finally spoke. "I am going to share a little something with you, Harry, and I want you to wait until I finish." At Harry's curious nod, Voldemort began. "Before all of this started, the war, the fighting, the prophecies, I had a vision for a flourishing, but safe Wizarding World. I was running for office, gathering political followers among the Pure Bloods. I was happy, some could even say normal. Then Dumbledore came along and started using dark tactics to ruin my political climb. Followers began to retaliate, things got nastier and somehow we all found ourselves in this mess. I won't say I didn't do my fair share of bad things, Harry. I'm not trying to paint myself as a saint, but I want you to understand that I never actually intended for all of this to start." Voldemort stood and walked over to the window on the other side of the room.
"As the fighting took an even darker turn and children started being killed, I searched for a way to give myself power, to make myself stronger so I could put an end to all of the bloodshed. What I found was dark and I refused to even think of using it…but when I made a mistake during another confrontation between our sides, I acted without thinking. Once I began I couldn't stop and with each ritual I lost more of myself. I lost my sanity, my humanity and anything that tied me to the man I once was." Tom stared out of the window silently for a few minutes, the only sound in the room being a clock ticking on a small side table. Finally, Riddle turned back to face him.
"That night in the graveyard, Wormtail chose the wrong ritual. It brought me back exactly as the maniac I once was, when it should have completely restored me to my full self. Lucius and a few of my devoted followers were brave enough to convince me to try the correct ritual and it helped considerably. As the days continue I find myself feeling more than rage and pride again. I feel myself becoming the man I once was. This is also in part because of your presence." Harry's mind was spinning. He didn't know what to think about what he was being told, didn't know if he could trust it.
"Me? What do I have to do with this? Is it because of the prophecy?" Tom bowed his head trying to decide if he should just tell the boy everything. When he finally opened his mouth, the ward alarms went off.
His head flew up and he marched over to the door.
"Stay in here," he called over his shoulder. Harry's mouth fell open and he automatically rushed to the door as it slammed and locked shut behind the Dark Lord. He banged on it with his fists which was as ineffective as expected. Pressing his ear to the door Harry could hear shouting and the sound of spells flying.
Harry didn't know what was going on, but he knew he could not stay put. He whipped out his wand and tried Alohomora. It did absolutely nothing. Harry tried every unlocking spell he knew and still nothing worked. He could hear the fighting getting closer even without pressing his ear to the door. Harry felt a vicious spike of fear and wished desperately that he could Just Get Out!
The door swung open. Harry blinked at it for a solid five seconds, not realizing that his magic had wandlessly answered his plea. The next moment he hurried out and had to duck immediately as a spell rebounded past his head. Harry pressed himself against a wall and tried to catch his breath.
Alright so maybe the fighting was a lot closer than he thought.
Harry didn't have time to get out of the way as a scarily familiar voice shouted Bombarda! The wall he was against blew apart and he went flying down the stairs. Harry landed hard on his shoulder and his head bounced against the floor. Ringing filled his ears and he could only make out random flashes of light around him. He tried to get his bearings and when someone suddenly grabbed his arms he tried to fight them off.
"Wotcher, Harry! I've got you! Hold on!" Before Harry could say anything, Tonks whisked him away from Malfoy Manor with a portkey and everything went black.
Harry's brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton while goblins were chiseling away at his skull, altogether an unpleasant sensation. He groaned and tried to open his eyes. He was, thankful that wherever he was it was dark. Harry started taking stock of his body and realized he was sore all over. His ribs and shoulder especially ached, though his head was still the worst.
Harry eventually pushed himself to sitting and groped around for his glasses. It felt like he was in a bed, so he figured his glasses would be on a nightstand nearby. His suspicions were correct and he quickly slipped the spectacles on.
As Harry peered around the room, now that he could see, he realized he recognized it. Harry jumped out of bed, ignoring the way his body protested, and flung open the door. He opened his mouth to call out but choked. Memories from not even two weeks ago came flooding back to him. He remembered Dumbledore selling him and dragging him away from his friends, kicking and screaming, and didn't know what to think about his current situation.
A door opened down the hall and there was a squeak and Harry found himself being squeezed to death in a hug and choking on a bunch of hair. Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione just as tight. He could feel her crying into his neck.
His throat tightened as he fought back his own tears, and he was barely able to make out Ron coming out into the hallway. The red-head didn't hesitate to join in on the hug, and all three of them stood there just holding each other.
After a long while, Harry finally pulled back. He couldn't stop smiling at his two best friends.
"I missed you guys so much. I have so much to tell you-" Harry was cut off by a wail coming from the stairs. The boy barely had time to turn and stand defensively in front of his friends before a red-haired mass collided with him.
Harry's moan of pain at being jostled was muffled by the chest his face was suddenly smothered in.
"Oh, Harry, my dear! How good it is to see you awake! We were so worried about you! Why didn't you two tell me he was up?" Mrs. Weasley was glaring at Ron and Hermione and Harry felt like he was in the Twilight Zone. Molly saw a large bruise on his temple and gasped dramatically. "Oh my poor boy! What have those monsters done to you?! Come, I've got some soup going and a headache reliever for you." Harry found himself being guided down the stairs and towards the kitchen on Grimmauld place.
He didn't understand what was going on. Mrs. Weasley had just stood there while Mad Eye Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt dragged him away. She had acted like she hated him for days, before that happened, not that Harry really blamed her for that given what he had done. But now she's suddenly all loving again?
Harry looked back at his friends who were quietly following them down. They hadn't said a word and Harry was getting concerned. Harry was pushed down into an uncomfortable seat at the dining table and Mrs. Weasley began puttering about. Hermione and Ron sat themselves on either side of him. They still didn't say anything, but Hermione reached out and took his hand, making Harry feel a little less disoriented.
Molly set a bowl of soup in front of Harry with a big smile.
"There you go, Dear. Eat up, and I'll get that Headache Reliever for you." The soup smelled amazing and brought a smile to Harry's face despite everything. He happily dug in, trying to stave off the inevitable panic attack at everything being turned upside again.
"Are you really okay, Mate," Ron asked quietly. Harry paused. Ron was never quiet; it broke through his haze.
"I…I don't really know. With everything that happened…I don't know what to think anymore." Hermione tightened her grip on his hand and he could see tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.
"Harry…" her voice broke. "We thought they were going to kill you right away, but…we had a plan, with the twins. We were going to-" Molly came back in at that moment, and Hermione slammed her mouth shut. Mrs. Weasley eyed them curiously as she set the potion down in front of Harry.
"Is everything alright, Dears?" Hermione nodded and gave a shaky smile.
"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. I was just telling Harry how glad we are that the Order was able to rescue him…how Dumbledore planned the whole thing." Molly's face lit up with a smile, even as Harry nearly choked on his soup at Hermione's words.
"Ah yes. Albus was absolutely distraught when we couldn't get to you sooner. You see he had this plan and…well, I suppose it would be better hearing it from him, hmm?" Harry could only nod dumbly, not even able to come up with the barest hint of an idea as to what Dumbledore's "plan" had been. Maybe…maybe it was all just a terrible nightmare and he was waking up.
A loud hoot broke the awkward quiet and suddenly a white owl came swooping into the room and landed on the back of Harry's chair. Hedwig grabbed chunks of Harry's hair and pulled, hooting all the while. Tears sprung to Harry's eyes as he turned and pet his beloved familiar.
"Hey, girl. I missed you too." Ron smiled.
"Sirius has been taking good care of her, Mate. She was right depressed when you were gone." Harry's throat tightened at the thought of his godfather and speak of the devil...
"Harry! You're awake!" Harry didn't even try to stop the tears as he bolted from his chair and fell into Sirius's arms. Harry cried and cried, and if he didn't let go for fifteen minutes, well…Snape wasn't there to mock him for it.
Well Harry's back in the hands of the "Light." Let's see how long this lasts...
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