Heheh... Hope some of you are still paying attention to me... I do exist, I swear! I've moved recently and everything's been rather nuts. I'm not promising that I'll update more often, because I likely won't, just so you know. But I will update and I WILL finish this story. It just might take some time. (grins sheepishly) Sorry guys, I wish I was more reliable, but I'm a slave to my muse. Don't worry though, this chapter's a bit longer I think, than some of the others. And thanks for all of my reviewers, I luv ya all!
Severus was uneasy about this new development in the 'Potter Problem', mind you very few problems of his didn't revolve around that bloody Potter. Covered in blood, sleep-wandering the dungeons for hell's sake! He snorted, pressing his head against the wall of his room, the coolness of the stone allowing him to think. The blood did not all belong to Potter, there was too much of it for the boy to survive losing that much. He paced his rooms again, thinking heavily on the matter when Poppy appeared in the fireplace, nearly startling him out of his skin. "Poppy, for gods sake, what do you think you're doing?" He snarled at the woman.
She glared at him, "I was coming to tell you that Potter has slipped into some sort of coma and I do not know why, I was wondering if you have something for it, but seeing as I'm disturbing you, I'll put off the welfare of my patient for a few hours while you think!" Her voice had risen dramatically as she reached the end of her sentence and her glare had turned downright ugly.
Severus acted unimpressed by her tirade, "Is that so?" He drawled.
"Severus! Get down here immediately! And bring any potions that you may or may not have to remedy this situation." She snarled, her head vanishing with a pop.
"Very well then Poppy, your so very welcome to my personal potions store because gods know I certainly won't have any use for them." He muttered to no one, "Brilliant idea, by the way Poppy, use them all on that infernal Potter child…" He huffed, digging through his potions stores for anything of use.
He arrived to the relative chaos of the Infirmary McGonagall was pacing and the Defence teacher had appeared out of nowhere, a blank look on her face as she gave Severus a cool assessment. He shivered under her scrutiny, he didn't like her one bit, unfortunately for him, she had been a huge success with the students and McGonagall didn't look like she was about to let her go anytime before the end of the year, a real pity for him.
"So, Severus," Her voice was clear and had a no-nonsense tone to it, "You're the guy they go to for all the answers I hear."
"Excuse me, I didn't realise we were on a first name basis." He said acidly, "Now if you'll move, I have a student to attend to." He made to step by her, but was intercepted by an arm, "Remove your limb from my path or it will be the next ingredient to a potion that requires it." He narrowed his eyes at the woman.
"I need an answer, they say you have them all." She replied, her tone just as clipped as his.
"Unfortunately for you, Miss Glasgow, I am not a miracle worker; I do not perform feats of impossibility, much less to the likes of you!" He was impressed, his voice had remained steady and calm, his effort to keep his anger inside was working, "Now I have a sick student to attend to, move!" He pushed her aside as rudely as he could, nearly knocking her off her feet and into the Headmistress.
"Severus!" Minerva scolded lightly.
"Minerva, keep your opinions of my manners to yourself as I attend to Potter's sudden lapse in awareness. When I'm finished, then you may berate me." He said calmly, making his way over to the last bed in the corner by the window. Potter lay still, as if in death, it didn't seem even as if he were breathing, "Poppy?"
"He's alive, but he won't wake. I was concerned when you brought him in, but he didn't appear to have lost the proper amount of blood to go into shock…" Poppy paced at the end of the boy's bed, occasionally casting diagnostic spells over him, but nothing she tried seemed to point to the reason why Potter was in a coma.
Severus frowned; Potter was out cold, the only beacon of light during the war efforts, down for maintenance, so to speak. He sighed, they would have to be careful, "Poppy, this is not to get out to any of the students, I would prefer it if Miss Glasgow's memory was erased of this incident, if it is possible, the fewer that know, the better. It would not bode well to have word of this spread to the populace." He murmured to the medi-witch.
She frowned for a moment, as if thinking over the solution before nodding her head, "Perhaps it would be best then. I will tide Minerva over then, but I was never very good at Memory Charms, Severus, you will have to do it… And be nice!" She scolded after seeing the devious smirk alight on Severus' face.
"Poppy, I'm always nice." He replied sarcastically.
"Of course Severus, as nice as a cobra on a particularly bad day." Poppy hissed.
"I was a Slytherin…" He smirked and shut the curtain behind him, pulling his wand from up his sleeve, the smirk on his face once more.
Harry had been slipping in and out of sleep for the past few hours, unable to move as he was, he fell asleep against the wall that kept him imprisoned. Voldemort had slipped in and out, occasionally placing this and that around his circle, throwing a few nasty comments his way, and, more often than not, looking at his book, or rather Helios' book., nodding and smirking at this and that as he delved deeper and deeper into the book's recesses.
Harry looked around sleepily, pressing his hand against the glass-like wall that prevented him from leaving, lightly banging his forehead against it, "What to do, what to do, what to do…" He chanted to himself.
He sat up with a start, of course he wouldn't know what to do, however, Helios, would, the thing that had awakened when he had died. He slid down the wall into a sitting position, calling up what little he had actually retained of his Occlumency and Legillimency lessons with Professor Snape. His body relaxed and his mind fell shut to outside influences as he tentatively touched the part of his mind that he dared not go since the day he had awakened a vampire, this was where Helios slept, and this was where Harry was dragged into when he fell to Helios' spell.
A soft, menacing growl reached Harry's mental ears as he searched for a way in, "Little mortal shell, what, pray tell, do you think you are doing?" The voice was by no means friendly or gentle, but for some reason it soothed Harry's fears.
"I came to seek help…" Harry pressed a weaker spot in the impenetrable darkness.
"What predicament do you find yourself in that you must seek me out rather than myself stepping in to save your pathetic hide?" Harry could hear the sneer in Helios voice.
"I…" What could Harry say to convince the nearly omnipotent dragon of a man to come out?
"What indeed. That is my book that pathetic little human man has, I'll not have it fall into such disarray due to the mortal's foolishness…" Helios' voice was aught more than a snarl, furious, it seemed, that something of his own creation should fall into such pathetic hands. "See? You begin to think like me already, you truly are my resurrection." Helios whispered, stepping out of the darkness.
Finally, Harry was able to lay eyes upon himself as he once was, once upon a time. They stood about the same height, surprisingly enough, their face nearly copied, but the real difference was their eyes, while Harry's were tired and burdened most of the time, Helios' were cold, and emotionless, calculating and cruel, they held none of the warmth that Harry had felt during Helios' flashbacks. "So are you going to help me?"
"It would seem, little shell, I have no choice." Helios responded, gesturing for Harry to lead the way.
Harry's eyes opened, but he could feel Helios' peering through them as well, Great, a Soul Circle, that's a little irritating, and dammit, innocent's blood, that's a pain in the arse…" Helios babbled quietly in Harry's head for a few more moments Harry doing his best to stay patient and wait for the aeons-old Ancient to come to his conclusion, but it was difficult when he felt his concentration slowly start to slip as the circle suddenly began to glow. "Uh-oh… trouble for you, Shell-Boy." Helios murmured, retreating farther into Harry's mind, "Listen closely, this solution will take time, this idiot of a mortal did his work well, unfortunately, and the answer to this particular problem is difficult, the Circle is tamping your magic and preventing you from merely overloading it, so you must concentrate and underload it." Helios said quickly, "To do so, push away your magic, difficult and a more than likely painful process, but it will stave the Circle and you will be able to return to your body. Now listen very carefully, as I explain this procedure, first you must delve into your magical core, it should be in the very centre of you world."
"What?" Harry's brow crinkled.
Helios sighed, "Your core, what everything you do revolves around, some men it's their head, their cocks, their hearts, their stomachs… your personal goals reflect your magical ability. Your gluttonous friend Ronald's core is in his chest, his life revolves around you and eating, therefore it lies between his heart and his stomach, Granger's would lie in her throat, between her heart and her head. Think, where would yours lie?"
Harry frowned, placing his hand over his heart, "Here I suppose…"
"Mmm… mine resided elsewhere." Helios said, "Now that you've got it, smother it, imagine whatever to put it out, but make sure it's not completely gone, leave a little bit so you don't collapse suddenly and Stupid Mortal suspects something."
"Gee, that's reassuring." Harry said dryly. He opened his eyes once more and nearly yelped in surprise at what he saw. Lines of green fire were permeating everything around him, killing the lines of red fire scattered everywhere, "What the…"
"Your magic and Stupid Mortal's, they're fighting and it looks like you're winning. That won't be enough, leaving it would take too long and Stupid could rebuild his flames faster than you could. Put out the fires for now, we'll deal with your core when you can keep these in check." Helios said monotonously, his immortal interest leaving Harry's predicament and returning to drowning in his memories.
"Do you mind? Submersing yourself in your sucky past isn't going to help me." Harry growled.
"Ex-cuse me?" Helios snarled, "I don't recall there being a contract for me to help you just because I reside in your body, shove off and let me to myself. I leave you when you wallow in your misery, grant me the same courtesy." Helios' voice dripped with acid as he turned away.
Harry sniffed, returning to his problem at hand. Suppressing his magic was hard, and as Helios had mentioned before, extraordinarily painful, if felt like he was killing a small part of himself each time he tamped out another flame and he flinched each time another small part of him fell numb.
"Knock it off, the information in your head is screwed up enough without you shaking everything up… Jesus! What the hell do you know? This stuff is simple! I was doing Summoning Charms and studying Legillimency when I was five!" Helios snorted, shelving another of Harry's mental books, "I could teach you this crap with my eyes closed."
"So do it then, if you're so good, teach me." Harry growled, not honestly expecting Helios to take up the flag.
"If your going to be an idiot the rest of your life, go get a bloody psychiatrist to tell you that I'm just a bloody figment, but for your own safety, don't you dare patronise me." Helios snarled, snapping a book shut, "This stuff is all crap, shit to fill your heads so you can fit into society, but well behaved children never made history books." He tossed the book and began going through the dreadfully empty shelves, throwing this and that whilst Harry continued tamping out the flames, his body slowly becoming more and more sluggish as he got closer and closer to his core.
"What do you mean by that?" Harry inquired.
"I mean, you're never going to stick around in the world unless you do something greater than killing another Dark Lord. Your name won't be remembered and history will repeat itself in a horrible cycle." Helios responded calmly, another book hit the floor as he spoke.
Harry chose his words carefully before he spoke, "Is that why you became a famous Dark Lord?"
Helios paused, his face falling pensive, "What I did…" He seemed to want to say something, then thought better of it, pushing Harry away, "What I did I had reasons for doing. I won't lie and say what I did wasn't wrong, it was, and it was terrible, and in the end, the means did not meet the results. It was not equivalent, the lives I took for what I wanted… needed. My personal solace should not have been those others pain. I was… am an evil person, and once upon a time, you were me. You have to make peace with yourself, for you will be faced with a similar choice, if I am not mistaken in the curse placed upon us. I will speak to you no more on these matters, continue what you were doing, Shell Boy."
It was hours before Harry had worked his magic down to where the Soul Circle had begun to flicker and dance, it's abilities strained as they were, reaching for what little of Harry's magic remained.
"Now is where it gets hard, start to feel for your body." Helios said suddenly, almost startling Harry enough to release the barriers on his magic.
"What?" Harry asked, wavering with the pressure.
"Feel for your mortal existence. Feel for where you came from. The Circle is weak enough that you can do that now. Once you have a hold of it, siphon off the rest of your magic into it." Helios was moving around in Harry's head again, finished with the books of Harry's knowledge, he was doing something, Harry wasn't sure what.
Harry wasn't certain how to go about 'feeling for his body', as Helios put it, but he decided to go backwards, remembering the feel of the sheets against his skin, the smell of antiseptic and the sharp ozone of electricity that came with magic, and the fumes of potions that were meant to heal and promote strength of mind and body both. The sounds of Madame Pomphrey bustling around and the dark baritone of Snape's voice, that voice he quite liked…
"He is not in a coma, Poppy, if he was, he would be responding to something. As it is…"
He grappled for that sound again, but it started to slip…
"Brain dead at best… mental… simply not there… I don't… what could have caused this…"
He could feel the sheets against his hands and up to his neck, the sun was on his face and there was the heavy scent of cinnamon and black tea. Sweat was cooling on his face and he sensed that there were two people on either side of his bed, one had to be Professor Snape, the other…
"Severus you can't possibly think there is no hope!" Madame Pomphrey exclaimed.
"I honestly don't… Poppy… He… n't dead… Potter… Potter!"
"Potter!" Helios dragged him back into the Circle, "How dare you! That wasn't what I said to do!"
Harry's concentration nearly broke, a headache bore down on him like a freight train and his magic nearly exploded out, "What are you doing! I was almost back!"
"Fool! If you don't do this right, he'll just do it all over again! And then! Then, we'd have a real problem on our hands. Little idiot, stupid Shell!" Helios snarled, spitting out a few more colourful curses as he went.
"What's the big deal?" Harry said, once Helios' tirade was finished.
"Fool! There is a right way and a wrong way of doing everything. If you had left and returned to your body, you would have broken the Circle and built no immunity to them, if you do as I tell you, you will have a bodily, physical, mental, block against this sort of thing." Helios said calmly, taking a seat, "Now, I said give your magic back to your body, not return to it. Remember your body, but remember your body, not the world around it. Simply remember what it is to be, The Shell. Remember your mortal, and semi-immortal existence, but not your loved ones, or the things that are precious to you. Become yourself, but not who you are. Then, push your magic to it. To that existence and the Shell, if you do it right, the rest of your magic will be sucked in and drawn from this cage, if you remember what makes you who you are, you will get sucked in with your magic and simply be yanked out and you might leave bits behind. That would be bad. Then Stupid Mortal could summon you back, except with a physical form, if he read that book correctly, which, no doubt, he has. If he summons you with a physical form, you are divided and he could draw the new form into what ever he wants. He could make you his sex slave and you would have no choice, because he recreated you and you are his slave. And if you draw me into that sort of existence, I will see to it that you die a painful and horrible mental death. Over and over." Helios suddenly became vicious, his eyes livid as he growled in a purely animalistic way. "Do I make myself clear?"
Harry nodded and reached for his body again, ignoring the other stuff that called to him, he pressed a bit of the dark green light that surrounded his heart into that… for lack of a better word, Shell.
It was as if everything in the world was happening all at once, everything rushed by his head a whorl of noise, and light. Like every thing he had ever experienced was happening at the same time. His fight with Voldemort was happening at the same time as Cedric was dying at the same time that Ron was accusing Hermione of being a traitor to Harry himself and Snape was taking away points and Sirius was falling and Dumbledore was watching, and McGonagall was frowning, and Hagrid was sobbing, and Mrs. Weasley was fussing…
And then it stopped.
Harry was on his knees in the Soul circle, gasping for breath, curled up as pain wracked his body, as if he was exploding and imploding, and being tortured, and being thrown around the room all at the same time.
"Oh did I mention that it would be extremely painful afterwards?" Helios said casually, "Everything in the world is being stretched to accommodate what you wanted to do, now the repercussions are happening. We just stretched the universe Potter, be proud of yourself." He laughed dryly.
"Shut up." Harry said slowly as the pain fled and left him curled up on the floor, still in inside the blasted Circle.
"Look on the bright side, now all you have to do is walk outside this Circle and then it's off to Shell-land, back in your body, safe and sound." Helios sounded far too chirpy for his own good.
"Who says I can just walk out of here?"
"Look stupid, this Circle was designed to keep a wizard in, now that there's no wizard, you can just waltz on out, the Circle will stay up because Voldemort's magic keeps the Circle slightly satiated, and stupid-head will be none the wiser… until of course, he comes and checks on us and we're not there. Look forward to headaches." Helios gestured and Harry withdrew from the recesses of his mind, nearly becoming sick as awareness rushed back into his body and the stench of old blood, mingled with the sickness of other prisoners hit his sensitive nose, "You will need to feed soon."
"I know." Harry gasped aloud, moving slowly to the edge of the circle and rolling out.
At first, nothing happened, then a soft glow surrounded him and small lights began to float above his skin, floating away, like small fire-bugs. Then more and more began to drift away and Harry felt the awareness of his body slowly leave him and he was floating, away and across many distances. He couldn't see, hear, taste, smell, anything at all, just a simple awareness of soaring and movement. Until he was slammed back into his senses with a howl of pain, all of his muscles seized up at once and he contorted viciously in the confines of the sheets, his body leaping feet into the air as he twisted wildly; over and over. He could feel hands… two pairs, struggling to hold him down and a sharp jab of pain in his leg, then simply nothing.
Nothing but the wry voice inside his head, "I neglected to mention that this too would be painful…"
Oh! pain! yay!... Yeah, so I'm a little sadistic to my poor Harry schnookums... you didn't hear that. To my poor Harry. So what, you know you people love angst... come on, you know you do... (pokes)