I am SO sorry this took so long. I had to re-write a lot of this chapter and the next one (which will be the last chapter, btw). My sister and her new baby have been staying with us as well, so I've been kind of distracted.
Chapter Twelve
Slowly, I became aware of golden light and warmth. Someone was looking at me—wise blue eyes behind gold-rimmed spectacles, a long, slightly crooked nose, flowing white beard and hair…
"Good morning, Harry."
I blinked up blearily at the Headmaster. He gave me my glasses. Once I could see clearly, I realized that I was lying on a bed in the hospital wing. Piled high on a table beside my bed appeared to be the contents of half a candy-shop, and at the foot of the bed next to mine lay a sleeping black cat.
"What happened?" I asked. My voice was rough.
Dumbledore gave me a small smile. "That, my boy, is a long story."
"I thought I was going to die," I said. "I thought Quirrell was going to kill me—wait, he didn't get the Stone, did he? Voldemort—"
Dumbledore held up his hand. "It's quite alright, Harry. Neither Quirrell nor Voldemort were able to get their hands on the Philosopher's Stone. You threw the Stone through the fire, didn't you? That was quite a clever bit of quick thinking."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Three days."
"Three days!" I exclaimed. "But what happened after I passed out?"
"Let me start at the beginning, which is quite the sensible place to start, don't you agree?" Dumbledore said. "You see, last summer I came to suspect that Professor Quirrell had fallen to Voldemort's influence. I couldn't confront poor Quirinus directly, knowing that Voldemort would kill him to prevent him from betraying his master's secrets. I had to find a way to lure Voldemort out into the open. I borrowed the Sorcerer's Stone from my old colleague Nicholas Flamel, intending to use the Stone as bait that Voldemort couldn't resist—the chance to regain his power."
"You knew Voldemort was going after the Stone?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said. "In fact, I was counting on it. The obstacles around the stone, while difficult enough that he would not become suspicious, would not be impossible to pass. And then the final obstacle, Severus's clever fire riddle, would allow Voldemort to enter the chamber but not to leave."
"The whole thing was a trap!" I exclaimed. "But when I tried to warn the professors—"
"Ah, yes. Minerva told me that you attempted to tell her," Dumbledore said. "But I believe you weren't alone?"
"Quirrell was with us…" I realized.
"Minerva couldn't let on about the trap while Quirrell was listening in, for obvious reasons," Dumbledore said. "By the time she left his company and tried to find you, you were already gone. She guessed what had happened and sent an urgent message to me. Call it modesty, call it an old man's foolishness, but I hadn't realized that Voldemort was waiting for me to leave the school. I returned as quickly as I could, arriving just as Voldemort abandoned Quirrell's body and left him for dead. Without a solid form, he slipped away."
"You mean Voldemort's still out there?"
"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore said.
"I—I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know… I didn't mean to ruin things…"
"No, Harry, it is I who should apologize. I never meant for you to get caught up in this," Dumbledore said. "Though perhaps it was lucky that you did. I wasn't aware that Voldemort could abandon Quirrell's body so quickly. If things had gone according to my plan, Voldemort would have escaped to take over another poor soul."
"But isn't that what happened?" I asked. "Voldemort escaped…"
"You were able to hurt him, and hurt him badly," Dumbledore said. "He will need time to recover from this, perhaps years to regain even enough strength to possess another. You hurt him, in a way no other could."
"When I touched Quirrell, it was like I was burning him or something," I said. "But why?"
"Your mother," Dumbledore said.
I frowned. "I don't understand."
"You see, on the night Voldemort attempted to kill you, your mother did something he didn't expect."
"Voldemort said that she died to save me."
"Precisely. There is considerable power in such a sacrifice, made out of love. Power enough to do things that seem impossible," Dumbledore said. "To be touched by such devotion has left its mark on you—nothing so obvious as a scar. It is in your skin, your blood—your very soul. And so Quirrell could not touch you, sharing his heart and mind with Voldemort."
I sat in silence for a minute or so, thinking about my mother. I knew next to nothing about her. It was… hard to imagine. Someone who was willing to die to protect me. My eyes started to sting, so I quickly tried to change the subject. "What's happened to Quirrell? You said that Voldemort left him for dead… is he… is he really—"
"Dead. Yes," said Dumbledore. He sighed. "My original hope had been to extract Voldemort from him without harming Quirrell. But after a year of Voldemort's influence… perhaps his death was the kinder of possible outcomes."
Quirrell was dead, because of me. If I was to fight a war against the Yeerks, against Voldemort, he would only be the first of many. It felt like something very heavy was pressing against my chest. For the first time, I truly began to doubt.
"Where's the Stone now?" I asked.
"Destroyed, by the very fire you cast it through," Dumbledore said. He removed the Stone from his pocket and set it on the bed. It looked much the same as it had in the mirror's chamber, except that there was now a dark stain deep in the center. "The magical workings of a Philosopher's Stone are quite delicate. Now it is nothing more than a uniquely beautiful gem."
My eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I didn't know… What will happen to Nicholas Flamel?"
"Do not worry," Dumbledore said. He picked up the Stone again and looked it over before setting it on my bedside table, tucked among the colorful candy boxes. "Nicholas has lived many years, and had a full and happy life. When I informed him of what had happened to the stone, he didn't seem sad. I would almost say that he was at peace."
"I don't understand," I said. "He wants to die?"
"He has been alive for over six-hundred years. He has seen this world, and everything in it. Now, I believe he is ready to see what lies in the next," Dumbledore said. "To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
"The Stone is destroyed, so Voldemort can't use that," I said. "But he'll find some other way to come back, won't he?"
"I won't pretend to know the future," Dumbledore said. "But Voldemort is nothing if not relentless. He will continue to search for a way to regain his strength until there is nothing left of him. Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems to be a losing battle next time—and if he is delayed again and again, why, he may never return to power."
Dumbledore glanced away, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"In some ways, you are exceedingly lucky," Dumbledore said. "Don't forget that you do not have to face your battles alone."
The door opened. The sleeping cat's ear flicked at the sound, but it didn't wake up. Madam Merrythought entered the infirmary. "Headmaster, there you are," she said. "I need to speak to you, if you have a moment."
Dumbledore smiled at me. "I'm sure our Harry's had enough of an old man's ramblings for one day. His friends must be eager to see him."
"It is good to see you're well, Harry," Merrythought said. "We were starting to worry."
"I think I'm alright, now," I said.
"I'm glad to hear that," Merrythought said with a kind smile. "Now, Headmaster…"
"Of course, Madam," Dumbledore said. He stood and followed Merrythought out of the infirmary, patting the cat's head as he passed. The cat's bright yellow eyes snapped open in surprise.
Once the doors had shut, the cat stood up and stretched before padding its way across the bed and jumping down to the floor. I watched as the cat grabbed the bottom of the privacy curtain with its teeth and slowly pulled it shut.
"Er… and who might you be?" I asked quietly. The infirmary was empty, but I doubted Madam Pomfrey would consider it a good sign if she caught me talking to a cat.
[You're not even going to try guessing, first?]
"Malfoy," I said. "Why are you here?"
[Is that the thanks I get for keeping an eye on you?] Malfoy asked.
"You were asleep!"
[To be fair, you're incredibly boring when you're unconscious,] Malfoy said. [All you do is lay there and snore. No sleepwalking, no talking in your sleep—hardly entertaining.]
"I'll try harder to be more amusing when I'm asleep, then," I said. "Dumbledore said I was unconscious for three days. What's happened since then?"
[We haven't made our move against the Yeerk Pool yet, if that's what you mean,] Malfoy said. [We thought it would be best to wait for you.]
I nodded. "What else?"
[Granger's been researching morphs and defensive spells, as well as popping into the Yeerk pool every once and a while with Longbottom to keep an eye on things,] Malfoy said.
"And you've been watching me all this time?" I asked, brows arched.
[Please. We've had Longbottom doing this, most of the time. I've been working on a project of my own,] Malfoy said.
"What would that be?"
Instead of answering me, Malfoy began to de-morph. It seemed like he was trying to avoid the question. What was the assignment? I couldn't help wondering. He just said they didn't attack the Yeerk Pool. Hermione was researching, and Neville was keeping an eye on me. What else was there, except—
"Ron!" I exclaimed. "It's been three days, hasn't it? That's it, he's not a Controller!"
"Keep your voice down," Malfoy said. He glanced at me. The last parts of him to transform were his eyes, which were turning from yellow to grey as I watched. It may have been my imagination, but I thought there was something almost sad in his expression. He turned away before I could get a good look.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Potter… he's…" Malfoy sat down on the edge of my bed and crossed his arms over his chest, avoiding my eyes. "Weasley's one of them. He's a Controller."
"You liar!"
Malfoy's eyes widened.
"This is low even for you," I said. "Just because you hate Ron—"
"That has nothing to do with—"
"You're just trying to make sure we don't replace you," I said. "That's it, isn't it?"
Malfoy scowled at me, a tinge of pink appearing on his cheeks. "Here I thought you hated me because I never wanted to be on this stupid team in the first place. Do let me know when you've made up your mind, Potter," he sneered, turning his nose up in the air. He stood and began walking away. "That way I can at least be consistently aggravating."
"No worries there!" I shouted, but it was no use; Malfoy had already left the hospital wing.
I don't know why I was so sure Malfoy was lying. Denial, I suppose. Directing all of my anger and frustration at Malfoy kept me from contemplating his words. As long as I could blame Malfoy for everything, I didn't have to accept the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he was right.
After I spent several hours stewing, Madam Pomfrey allowed Hermione and Ron to visit me. I wanted to tell Ron everything then and there, Malfoy's warnings be damned, but Hermione caught my eye and shook her head tightly while Ron wasn't looking. That was alright, I decided. All four of us should be there to tell him, anyway, and in a more private place.
As it was, I had plenty of other things to talk about. Hermione and Ron listened eagerly as I told them about the Philosopher's Stone, the protections around it, the confrontation with Quirrell and Voldemort, and my conversation with Dumbledore—obviously, I had to edit some details, like how exactly I had gotten past the obstacles around the Philosopher's Stone.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were going after the Stone?" Ron asked. "We could have helped you."
"I didn't want to drag either of you into it," I said. "If I'd gotten in trouble, or worse… I didn't want that to happen to you, too."
"We would have gone with you anyway," Ron said. "That's what friends are for."
I was reminded of what Dumbledore had said about not having to face my battles alone.
We chatted for a little while longer about minor details, until Ron asked, "Do you suppose Madam Pomfrey will let you out in time for the leaving feast?"
"I hope so," I said. I glanced at Hermione. It seemed she had the same thought I did—if we could make our move during the leaving feast, it was possible that there would be less people in the Yeerk Pool, and therefore less people who could get hurt. We wanted to kill Yeerks, not humans.
Later that evening, as I packed up the candy that was piled on the bedside table (apparently they were gifts from worried classmates), I found the destroyed Philosopher's Stone. Dumbledore had placed it among the candy-boxes when he came to talk to me. Now it was nothing more than a pretty bauble, no longer able to give the user all the money and immortality they desired. I wondered why Dumbledore gave it to me. Was it a trophy in honor of what I'd risked to keep it out of Voldemort's hands? Or a silent request to continue keeping it safe, so no one would be able to study it and make a new one? Whatever the reason, I put the Stone in my pocket.
To my surprise, I found my invisibility cloak folded up at the bottom of the pile of gifts. There was a new note written on it:
Harry—
I hope that you will continue to use this cloak for great and noble things, and that you will someday learn not to leave it around the castle.
Dumbledore
It was the same handwriting from the notes I received before. That meant Dumbledore was the same person who gave me my father's invisibility cloak in the first place. It seemed obvious, looking back, but I couldn't help feeling surprised and intrigued.
I used the invisibility cloak to leave the infirmary. The only people who knew that I had been allowed to leave were Madam Pomfrey, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy. We were hoping that if anyone wondered where I was during the leaving feast, they would assume I was still in the hospital wing.
In my dormitory, I deposited all of the candy on my bedspread and stowed the ruined Philosopher's Stone in my trunk, buried at the bottom with the morphing cube. Then I went to the wardrobe and retrieved the dragon-hide gloves, which still held the dormant Ashwinder eggs. I stowed the bundle in my pocket, folded up my invisibility cloak and stuffed it inside my robes, and went downstairs to the common room. Everyone had already left for the feast, so the common room was empty—except for Hermione.
She had built three pyramid-shaped frames out of the sticks I had gotten from Hagrid. Hanging from the top of the small pyramids were loops of dragon-hide, harvested from an old pair of gloves. Vials of orange potion were tied to the frames with twine.
"Neville and Malfoy are waiting for us in the caverns," Hermione said. "Do you have the eggs?"
"Yes," I said. "Ready?"
Hermione nodded. We gathered up the frames and huddled together under the invisibility cloak. We left the common room, heading for the large staircase shortcut that led from the sixth floor to the dungeons.
"Has Malfoy told you about Ron yet?" Hermione asked quietly once we were in an empty corridor.
"Don't tell me you fell for that," I said, ignoring the squirm of dread in my stomach. Hermione is a lot smarter than me. If she believed Malfoy…
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"He's obviously lying to keep us from replacing him with Ron," I replied. "You know how they are."
"Malfoy doesn't even want to be on the team," Hermione pointed out. "He wants us to replace him, remember? That was the only reason he agreed to be a part of this in the first place."
I shrugged. "Then he's after something else. Maybe he's doing it because of me. He hates me as much as he hates Ron."
"Hasn't he been trying to be your friend all this time?" Hermione asked.
"He doesn't want me as a friend, he just wants me as a trophy, so he can brag about being friends with the 'Boy Who Lived'," I said.
Hermione frowned at me.
"What?"
"He risked a lot to watch Ron for us, you know," she said.
"So? He just wanted to prove Ron was one of them," I said. "And then he lied when he found out he wasn't."
"Harry, he used his Chizpurfle morph," Hermione said. "He stuck to Ron for three days, only taking breaks when Ron was asleep or with us. He almost went over the two-hour time limit. Can you imagine what that would have been like? Being trapped as a Chizpurfle for the rest of his life?"
I stared at her. "I… well, he was probably just…"
"Trying to keep us safe?" Hermione suggested. "Why would he go through all that if he was lying?"
"I…"
"Harry…" Hermione's face fell. "You shouldn't have heard it from Malfoy, I'm sure he was very rude about it. But he was telling the truth. Ron's… he's one of them."
"No," I said sharply. "He'd never—"
"He didn't have a choice. Remember what Elfangor said? Once a Yeerk gets in your head, then it has complete control over everything you do," Hermione said. She had tears in her eyes. "They want to do to everyone what they're doing to Ron right now. They want to make us their slaves. That's why we have to stop them."
I stopped walking and had to brace myself against the wall for a moment. The invisibility cloak slid off of us and fluttered to the floor. It couldn't be true. Ron, my friend, my best friend—the boy who only hours ago had listened eagerly to my story and offered his help if I ever needed it—couldn't have a Yeerk in his head. There would have been some sign, something that let me know he wasn't really my friend anymore, that he was just a puppet of some alien slug.
"Harry," Hermione said quietly. She put her hand on my shoulder. "Remember the plan."
That brought things back into focus. We had a plan. We were going to hurt the Yeerks, badly.
We'd make them regret ever coming to Earth.
"Let's go," I said, scooping up the invisibility cloak.
We went down to the bottom of the north tower staircase and found Malfoy and Neville waiting for us.
"Hello, Harry," Neville said, smiling a bit awkwardly. "I'm glad you're alright."
I nodded and glanced at Malfoy, who was ignoring all of us.
"Are you both ready?" I asked.
"Are you sure I should… What if I mess something up?" Neville asked.
"What do you mean, 'what if'?" Malfoy sneered.
"Malfoy, just shut up," I said.
Malfoy scowled and turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. I felt a twinge of guilt despite myself. I stubbornly ignored it.
"Alright, so we all know the plan?" I said. "You three fly in after about five minutes. Here are the eggs."
I carefully removed one of the gloves from the bundle and scooped one of the Ashwinder eggs into it. I gave the other glove with the remaining three eggs to Hermione.
"Remember," she said, handing me another vial of orange potion, "It's Alohomora— make sure that the 'lo' is strong. That will give the spell more power."
"I've got it," I said. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
I covered myself with the invisibility cloak and made my way through the caves until I was at the entrance of the Yeerk pool. I took a breath and passed through the fake wall. Around the corner, down the stairs, through the hallway—and I found myself inside the Yeerk Pool.
As we'd suspected, there weren't many people at the pool. There were only a handful of unfamiliar adults imprisoned in the cages. I felt foolish for hoping I'd see Ron there—the students were supposed to be at the Circle party, after all. We couldn't free Ron tonight. But we would soon. I'd make sure of it.
Nothing had changed in the Pool that I could see. Silently, I crept down the stairs and snuck into the side-cavern that I knew would contain the security station. I found a Hork-Bajir monitoring the screens.
One agonizingly careful step at a time, I began to creep towards the security station. I had no idea how well a Hork-Bajir could hear, or how powerful its sense of smell was. All I could do was take each step and hope that I wouldn't be discovered. I barely breathed.
Finally, I reached my destination. Eyes fixed intently on the Hork-Bajir, watching for any indication that it had sensed my presence, I crouched down until I could reach underneath the control array. I slowly pulled the warm bundle of dragon-hide out of my pocket. I gently set the egg on the ground. Surrounded by stone and metal, there was little that the egg would be able to ignite—at least on its own.
I extracted the orange vial and removed the stopper as quietly as I could. Muscles tense in preparation to run, I dumped the contents of the vial over the egg.
Instantly, the egg erupted into flames. I recoiled, pulling away as fast as I could. Trying to stay calm and quiet, I quickly vacated the side-cavern.
A few seconds later, a loud bellow indicated that the Hork-Bajir had noticed the fire. A fire-extinguishing system was set off, raining water down from the ceiling. But I knew the water would do nothing to stop a magical fire. A blaring alarm began to sound. The Taxxons and the wizard-Controller guards rushed to the scene of the blaze. I ran towards the cage where the hosts were being kept, but as I looked back, I could already see Ashwinders beginning to slither out into the main cavern.
Just then, the others arrived. They flew into the cavern in owl morph, carrying Hermione's wooden pyramids in their talons. Inside the pyramids, held loosely by the dragon-hide loops and protected by a cushioning charm, were the remaining three Ashwinder eggs.
The owls split up, heading for different targets. Hermione flitted quickly into the communications center, Malfoy swooped into the armory, and Neville circled the main Yeerk Pool chamber. I arrived at the cage and pointed my wand at the lock. "Alohomora!"
After a tense second of uncertainty, the lock clicked open. The people inside the cage realized that they were no longer trapped and quickly took the opportunity for freedom. They raced towards the fireplace, using the Floo powder to escape while the guards were busy.
I heard an explosion from inside the communications center. Hermione flew back out into the main cavern. [Now, Neville!]
Neville let go of his frame. It plummeted down to land next to the Yeerk Pool itself. The frame and the egg were protected by the cushioning charm, but the vial of orange potion that had been dangling below it broke upon impact. The frame and the egg were engulfed in fire which near-instantly grew over ten feet in height and started to spread around the Yeerk Pool as more eggs were laid and began to ignite.
The wizard-Controllers were trying desperately to freeze the eggs that the newborn Ashwinders were laying all throughout the Yeerk Pool complex, but there were just too few of them and too many Ashwinders. New fires were erupting everywhere.
Suddenly, there was an earth-rattling explosion from the armory. The force was enough to knock me off my feet. Malfoy flew out of the cavern as fast as he could. [We might want to get out of here!]
[What is that?] Hermione asked.
[Their weapons can't stand the—]
KABOOOOOM!
Once again I found myself tossed to the ground. Malfoy dropped out of the air and crashed not far from me, completely dazed. I quickly pulled him underneath the invisibility cloak and scooped him into my arms.
I got to my feet, ears ringing, and ran up the stairs. Hermione and Neville swooped overhead and flew past me into the hall. I followed, the ground shaking beneath me.
Finally, we were out. We went to the Transfiguration courtyard exit, where we stopped so Malfoy could de-morph to heal himself. The others de-morphed as well. Gasping in the fresh evening air, we looked back the way we came and waited in hesitant silence. No Hork-Bajir or Taxxons emerged from the caverns. No wizard-Controllers appeared to take us away.
After a few seconds, I couldn't help but laugh. Our first attack against the Yeerk Pool, and it was more successful than I had dared to imagine. I knew the wizard-Controllers would eventually stop the fire, but not before it had completely destroyed all of the machinery, technology and weapons. Hopefully the explosions would even cause a cave-in.
Joining in on my relief and high-spirits, Hermione, Malfoy and Neville all began to laugh with me. Hermione pulled all of us into an exuberant hug. No one, not even Malfoy, tried to push her away.
