A/N: I do not own the characters of the Harry Potter or Star Wars universes, save those of my own invention.

Special Note 1: For an explanation of how Harry's presence influences the timeline, please read my preface to chapter 1. For an explanation how this applies to the portraits and boggart in the Room of Requirement, please read my afterward in chapter 11.

Chapter 27

"God almighty damn Potter," wheezed the boggart Malfoy, panting hard on his knees. "You're in rare form tonight. What gives?"

Harry paced in a slow, short rhythm above Malfoy, his face devoid of any emotion. His eyes were flashing dangerously though. It was a deeply unsettling sight to be honest; his bright emerald eyes were flashing as if a fire burned hot behind them. He was completely silent too. Malfoy was not sure if he was even breathing.

The boggart tentatively got to his feet. Not even a millisecond after he twitched, Potter sent a large black orb with green tendrils heading right at him. Malfoy rolled over just in time to avoid the curse but the blast picked him up and threw him across halfway across the chamber. He hit a rock at an unnatural angle and felt his arm break and at least two ribs. When he stopped rolling, he spit out blood and struggled to his feet using the rock.

Harry jumped high into the air, aided by magic. He flipped once and landed on the rock Malfoy was using to struggle to his feet. But before he could cast another curse, Malfoy threw his head back and screamed. Harry jumped away to protect himself but when he looked back at Malfoy, the boggart was still screaming and now was smoking. But maybe a minute later the smoke started to clear and where Malfoy once stood now stood the tall, imposing figure of Bellatrix Lestrange.

She looked around and when he eyes found Harry's, she smiled a rather insane smile. "It's itty, bitty, baby Potter. And look, he wants to play." She cackled madly. Then, in the blink of an eye, she turned on her heel and disappeared. Harry had no time to prepare himself before she ran past him, magically enhanced, and cut him right down his back with that blasted knife.

Harry clenched his jaw against the pain and healed the wound. Then he spun on his heel, reappearing behind the boggart wardrobe, invisible and the best security charms he knew were in place to hide his presence. It seemed enough to fool Bellatrix. "Come out, come out wherever you are wee bitty Potty," she sang. "Aunt Bellatrix has something for you."

"Bitch," he mumbled under his breath. Poking his head around the corner, he saw her slinking through the arena, trying to find him. He needed to get that knife out of her hand before he could do anything else; she was as quick and deadly with it as she was with her wand. When her back was turned, he fired a curse over her head that blew up over the arena and rained the equivalent of napalm down over the victim. It was a nifty spell (pluvia incendia). As Bellatrix fought the flames—she didn't know where the curse came from—Harry spun on his heel and reappeared on a boulder maybe ten yards away.

He silently summoned the knife, which was wrenched from her hand, momentarily keeping her from fighting the flames. "Damn you Potter…Aieeee!" A lick of fire burned her hand and she went back to fight the flames.

Harry disappeared again, reappearing closer to the fire but to her left. She sensed his arrival though; three killing curses almost cut him down before he could jump behind a rock for safety. "You'll have to do better then that Potter," she snarled, all sarcasm gone from her voice. "I learned the Dark Arts at the heel of the Dark Lord himself. You'll never beat me!"

The psycho witch disappeared, deciding it was pointless to fight the fire. She reappeared well across the arena. "You know magic Potter. I'll give you that. But let's see how you handle the heat."

Knowing what was coming, Harry cast the same shields and wards over himself he used to protect his family at Christmas. But he needed to keep up appearances. Confidant his shields would hold, he jumped onto a rock and started muttering a counter-curse to fiendfyre he read in his Defense book. He knew a much better one but this would work for now. The tidal wave of fire slowed and eventually stopped a few yards from Harry. The witch leered and, sure she had Harry beat, sauntered over to him, walking behind rocks that hid Harry from her view occasionally.

"It seems we're trapped Potty," she sang. "Too bad. The fight you're having with mummy means if I use a killing curse, no one may find you before you die of starvation. The mudblood Ravenclaw can't keep you from dying forever." She cast two killing curses at him. But imagine her surprise when both passed through Harry without harming him at all. "How is this possible?"

"The 48th law of power Bellatrix: Assume a state of formlessness." The real Harry was ten yards away, right behind Bellatrix. He let go of the fiendfyre. Bellatrix needed to act fast to save herself. Now she was holding the fire and was in the position of weakness. Harry sauntered over to her, eyes flashing. He stroked her cheek lightly, reveling in the anger she was feeling. She knew she was defenseless; she could sense the wards Harry had the foresight to use when she cast the fiendfyre, wards she didn't take the time to cast. "Everything changes Bella. You have to be like water, constantly moving, in a state of perpetual fluidity. That's the only way you can have and hold onto power."

Harry scowled. He still had much to learn. He certainly wasn't fluid, not all the time. Otherwise he would have realized the map could betray his true identity. Now he needed to find a way to make up with his mum. He truly felt bad for what he did to Remus and Sirius but he didn't see any other way. He needed to make Lily understand. He also wanted to spend time with her again; in the two days since Harry modified Remus and Sirius' memories, Lily had been avoiding him. The hate and anger he felt towards himself was what was driving him tonight.

But he would deal with that later. Bellatrix was starting to control and contain the fiendfyre. In a few minutes it would be gone. He needed to act. Stepping back a few feet, Harry pointed his wand and thought of Sirius falling through the veil. "Buio laterale viticci!"

A black hole appeared under Bellatrix, a translucent mist rising, partially hiding her from sight. Thick, black tentacles rose from the hole. Bellatrix visibly paled, the fiendfyre roaring dangerously. Harry only focused on the curse, pouring all his hate and anger for Bellatrix and for himself into the spell.

He had only read about the curse and it sounded terrible enough. Now he saw its power. The tentacles grabbed parts of her body, burning her flesh and even her bone. Her screams were terrible but Harry respected her control; she still kept fighting the fiendfyre.

But even psychopathic witches have their limits. Blood was pouring out of the wounds on her arms, legs, and sides, charred bits of blackened flesh doing nothing to keep her strength. With a terrible screech she fell to her knees and was consumed by her own fiendfyre. When he was sure the boggart was dead, Harry spent a few minutes fighting the fiendfyre, using the same spell he was sure Bellatrix was using. With his new wand (to say nothing of his greater power) the fire was gone just after his wards dissolved. A few minor first-degree burns on his hands and face were easily healed.

The boggart had also transformed back into Malfoy while he was taking care of the fiendfyre. Malfoy had an expression that was equal parts shock, respect, and fear. "Merlin's beard Potter. What has you in such a right state tonight? I know about Aunt Bella but since you walked in you've had an aura of power and rage about you I've never seen before, not even when the Dark Lord branded me with the mark."

Harry still felt adrenaline and power coursing through his veins but it was ebbing. "I did something a couple of days ago that upset Lily. I don't see what else I could've done and I really regret what I did but I had no choice."

"Potter, that is the easiest excuse in the book for anything. 'Yes I did divorce my wife and abandon my kids but I had no choice. I was suffocating.' 'I cheated on my girlfriend but damn it she wasn't putting out. I have needs. What choice did I have?' Or my personal favorite: 'Mudbloods and muggles are contaminating the world. Their primitive instincts and natural tendency to kill anything they don't understand or that is a little different is a danger to the magical race. My friends we have no choice put to strike at the heart of the muggles first, before the rot can spread any further. If we wait, we will surely die.' Bullocks all of it but it comes back to the same thing."

"Where did you hear that last? Is that something Voldemort said?"

Malfoy shook his head. "No, that one wasn't the Dark Lord. It is too rational. The Dark Lord kills muggles and mudbloods because he wants to kill them. As far as he is concerned that is reason enough. If people don't agree they're enemies. He sees the world only in black and white. That really is why he hasn't conquered the UK and Europe yet. If he'd try to coax the people on the fence to see him as a crusader instead of a despot he'd have so many more followers. Instead there is a number of people who try and stay neutral and tacitly pass information along to the Ministry."

"No, the person who said that last was Grindelwald. Grindelwald was a master politician as well as a brilliant and powerful wizard. He publicly preached about isolating and enslaving muggles. They would be encouraged to have children with magical folks because oddly enough muggles every once in a while produce the most powerful witches and wizards to walk the Earth. Mudbloods didn't have to die; as children they needed to be taken from their families and raised as magical beings."

"His cause was so much more palatable. He wanted muggles dead but why risk losing the people on the fence. Manufacture the most terrible war the muggles have every fought and let them kill each other. Your hands stay clean and you're image intact but the muggles still die. Grindelwald was brilliant and that is why he was so hard to defeat."

"So what does all this have to do with me," Harry asked, not making the connection though he was interested to hear about Grindelwald.

Malfoy sighed. "Potter, what I'm saying is that you have to be careful. I understand that you're upset with yourself and seeing Bella only compounded that. And I understand I told you that you have to learn the Dark Arts to defeat Voldemort. But you can't lose sight of who you are. I felt the joy in you when you tormented, hurt, and killed Bella. You purposefully let the fire burn because you wanted to torture her, make her suffer. What you do not know is that in the process you were accidentally keeping her alive longer then should have been possible. She had already suffered so much; the fire should have killed her almost immediately. Yet it didn't; it took a few minutes to kill her. Your desire to cause her pain kept her alive. That is very dark magic, a favorite of the Dark Lord. And if you don't learn control now, it will become second nature. That is what makes the dark arts so dangerous. They're like a drug. You feel powerful, maybe even giddy the first time you use them. The next time you use the curse you try to get that high but it is never the same. So you try another dark technique trying to get the high back. But it will never come and soon you spend your life trying to relive that giddiness. And you become immune to the agonized screams. It is a game all of a sudden. It is a dangerous slope. Learn the spells but never lose those anchors to your sanity."

Harry understood now and the feeling scared him. He did enjoy hurting Bellatrix, making her suffer. As far as he was concerned she deserved it. But what happened if he no longer associated that hatred with his love for Sirius? Sirius was his anchor, what kept him coming back when he fought Bella in the past. If he ever lost that anchor, if he turned that anger on everyone who wronged him—he wouldn't be any different from Voldemort if that day ever came. Draco was right. He needed to be careful.

And that made him think of something much worse. What happens if he fights and kills Voldemort using all the dark techniques he has learned, and the light too but for the sake of argument he focused on the dark arts, and he couldn't come back. To defeat darkness so powerful would mean he had power no ordinary wizard possessed. How could he come back from that?

Harry collapsed in a chair, now truly scared. Malfoy took a seat next to him, arms folded across his chest. "Potter, you need to have a reason for coming back and you'll need it before you fight Voldemort. You need to go into that duel with a reason to make the right decision. Girl, ideals, whatever it is it needs to be powerful. After defeating Grindelwald, Dumbledore's reason was fear and that is no reason at all. He stood aside as Voldemort gained power. If he had acted sooner he could've stopped all of this. Fear, the same fear that kept him from fighting Grindelwald sooner, has unintentionally led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent lives. Whatever reason helps you come back from Voldemort also needs to motivate you to stay on your toes for the rest of your life. Merlin had a sweetheart and a few bastard children he loved. Gryffindor had Hogwarts and all it represented for the hope of the magical world. You need to have something too."

"Why do I need to worry about what happens after? Damn it, if I defeat Voldemort isn't that enough," asked Harry heatedly.

"No it isn't Potter. However much you may want a nice, quiet, normal life, it is not ever going to happen. Dumbledore tried to hole himself up in Hogwarts even though the magical world refused to let him stay hidden in these walls. Merlin and Gryffindor, and other witches and wizards of their caliber, knew they had no choice but to accept the spotlight and do what they could to live their lives while helping the community at large. That's your destiny Potter. If you defeat Voldemort you'll have the power to do great good for the world. If you welsh on the responsibility some new bloke will eventually get it in their head they need to fight a war and kill their enemies. If you're not there showing them the folly of their ways before they get off the ground, you or your kids will be fighting another war in twenty, thirty, or fifty years. And you can bet your bottom galleon the next Dark Lord will look at Voldemort and Grindelwald and use the strengths of both."

Malfoy let Harry think about that for a few minutes before changing the subject. Normally Harry would've appreciated that but he didn't much care for Malfoy's new conversation of choice. "Now tell me what happened between you and your mother Potter."

Harry sighed and told him everything that happened after Defense. Malfoy had he decency not to interrupt but Harry could tell he was think how to tell Harry he had been a prat. He'd be polite about it but the message would be the same.

"So," he said as he finished, "you're going to tell me what a prat I am aren't you?"

"Potter, I understand your decision and on the whole I agree with it. Not your actions mind you and I'm concerned your first thought was to wipe their memories. But your fear is understandable."

"All right then. So why is Lily mad at me?"

Malfoy snorted softly. "Potter, there are times you can be just as dense as Weasel King. I understand your decision because I know the truth. I know what happens in the future and so I can guess what would happen if Peter learned the truth. But your mother doesn't have that privilege. She doesn't know what happens that night so she doesn't understand why Peter can't know anything. She only sees you resorting to shady methods to keep a secret, a secret she desperately wants you to reveal to your father, and possibly Sirius and Remus."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"As far as I can see Potter you either keep her in the dark, which will keep her angry with you. Or you need to tell her the truth. Everything that happens after she graduates that you can recall. That is the only way she'll understand why you can't trust Peter."

"But she won't trust Peter either! She'll fight to keep Sirius as the secret-keeper or else convince James to use Dumbledore. I don't what will happen to me but I'm willing to bet I'll be safe and Voldemort goes after Neville. I can't do that to Frank, Alice, and Neville."

"Potter you jumping to conclusions. First you can't know Lily will stop James from using Peter. You're also assuming Peter becoming secret-keeper was something Lily knew about from the beginning. James, Sirius, and Peter could've have done it secretly. Dumbledore never knew after all. Second, even if she does something to block the secret-keeper switch, you underestimate the depths to which Voldemort will go to learn the truth. You're the one like him and he isn't likely going to surrender just because it's harder to get to you. After all, it took a year for him to finally attack you. Dumbledore had you and your parents protected well before that."

"No, even if Peter isn't the secret-keeper, Voldemort has ways to circumvent the Fidelius. I can think of one way off the top of my head."

"What is it?"

"He could use memory walk to 'steal' a memory or memories from Peter. It may kill Peter but Voldemort wouldn't care. If he has the memories of James or Sirius or Dumbledore telling him about Godric's Hollow, since technically they're Peter's, he could get through the wards. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't his plan all along until Peter became secret-keeper. He may have spent the year trying to isolate Sirius or Remus. Dumbledore could've used the Fidelius to protect them, keeping them safe when not at the Ministry. Until he could steal their memories he'd be stuck."

"But how could Voldemort steal a memory? Is it like taking memories out for a pensieve?"

Malfoy shook his head. "I'm not an expert in legilimency; I read about it in books from the Malfoy and Back family libraries. But memory walking is a very advanced application of legilimency. The invader, in this case Voldemort, would steal actual memories from the victim's mind. It's not like reading their mind. The memories are not your own, just a photocopy. But memory walking, if I understand it correctly, is actually physically ripping the memory from their mind and taking it as your own. It would seem to me this is a way to bypass the Fidelius because technically Voldemort would have a memory all his own of James telling him where he and Lily were hiding."

"All right, that makes sense. But you didn't answer my question: is that like a person removing a memory and putting it in a pensieve?"

"No. That is the willful separation of a memory from a person. There is no mental, physical, or spiritual trauma. But having the memory forcibly removed by an invader can kill because it is so traumatic."

"But none of this makes sense. Even if the memory walk thing is possible, why did Voldemort wait more then a year to try and kill me? Why not come as soon as I was born?"

Malfoy shot to his feet, pacing back and forth in front of Harry. "It makes perfect sense Potter. The prophecy was made before you and Neville were born; my guess is at least six or seven months. It needed to be made before because your parents and Frank and Alice still needed to escape Voldemort three times. Suppose five couples became pregnant in October 1979, all of them have escaped Voldemort once or twice. Dumbledore will put them under surveillance straight away. In a couple of months two couples have escaped Voldemort three times. The other three will be kept under surveillance for show but the other two will be protected with the best spells and wards he knows without drawing suspicion. Dumbledore may go so far as to use polyjuice to stage the other three escaping Voldemort to throw him off the scent. That will slow him down and give Dumbledore time to protect the two real candidates."

"Given the choice between the Longbottoms and your parents, Dumbledore will identify your parents as Voldemort's target. Besides the Longbottoms are protected in Longbottom manor while Voldemort has invaded Potter manor once already."

"Christmas night," Harry said softly.

"Exactly," said Malfoy, nodding. "So even now it is clear your parents are the parents in the prophecy. The decoys will only work for so long until Voldemort finally marks your parents and you for death. In fact, with what you told me about Peter the decoys probably don't work at all. Remus said he was spying for a year before that night. Safe to say anything he knew about the decoys, if he knew anything, went straight to Voldemort."

"But what if he didn't know anything? Dumbledore may not have known who was spying but he said himself he was suspicious of all the Marauders."

"The only thing that buys Dumbledore is time. It doesn't really change anything. One way or another Voldemort is going to find a way to try and kill you. If the rat doesn't betray your parents someone else will." Malfoy shook his head. "I'm sorry Potter. None of this really matters I suppose. I'm actually surprised you haven't yelled at me yet. This whole time we're talking about your parents dying. But I hope this shows you that there is really no reason not to tell you mum everything. I'm very sorry to say this but it won't change the fact that Voldemort will kill your parents and try to kill you. But it is something she needs to hear."

Harry violently shook his head, the full force of what Malfoy was saying hitting him for the first time. "How can I tell my own mum when and how she's going to die? How can I tell her no matter what she does she'll never see her son grow up?" Harry started crying. "Why would she even want to have me? Better never have a kid and live your life."

Malfoy kneeled in front of Harry and unceremoniously slapped him hard across the cheek. "Get a grip Potter! Do you honestly think anything you say will convince Lily to stay celibate with James? Are your so thick you'd think that after showing her the memory of you as an infant and after everything that has happened since you arrived in this time that she would ever…EVER regret having you? If you do I'll take back what I said about you being as thick as Weasel King. In fact I'll apologize to him because he could never be that thick."

He sat down next to Harry, visibly trying to reign in his anger. "Potter I have no idea why fate sent you here. I suspect someone wants you to rectify certain wrongs in the world. But I do know why the Mistress gave you this Room and gave you the portrait room. And no, it has nothing to do with you requesting it. She wants you to find peace in your life. But to do that you have to make tough decisions and learn some terrible spells. The night is always darkest just before the dawn. But your dawn is coming Harry. Before it comes you need to acting like such a martyr. I've told you that before and you've been getting better. But what you just said makes me think you've learned nothing. Your mother loves you, even though technically she hasn't had you. You've shown her just what a good man you will become and even if it isn't the 'normal' way, she's had a hand in raising you over the past few months. You have to be honest with her. You owe her that much."