All around him was darkness, everywhere he looked there was nothingness, yet if one stared long enough, one could make out one's possible futures.
"Pity not the man who sees nothing in the dark, but the man who sees everything."
That's what Fate had said to him, if it had been meant to be reassuring it had failed miserably, yet if it had been meant to be ominous it lacked the punch that Harry would have expected.
He himself didn't even bother looking for a faux future, the promises of grandeur and wealth and power were not enough to force him into watching. Harry felt as if he was nothing, and that nothing had become aware and was waiting for more nothing.
/_-_^_^_-_/
Valentine's Day massacre shoots arrows of fear into the hearts of many as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returns. By Rita Skeeter.
Valentine's Day is meant to be a day of celebration and love, a time to grab the person you love the most and hold them close. However, that was not to be as yesterday saw the first public appearance of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in over a decade, and his telltale brand of terrorism and anarchy has sewn fear and doubt throughout all of Wizarding Britain.
While the details remain scarce as of now, what we do know is this: At exactly 11:40 yesterday morning Minister Fudge gave a small speech to open the annual Festival of Love, with a few words from the esteemed Albus Dumbledore about the importance of love in the world. When midday hit there were fireworks with the first few just being generic sparks, while towards the end they began to form a heart, with Cupid next to it. This was when the day's events went from joyous to horrifying as the Cupid began to transform into the Dark Mark (pictures on page 13) and fired its arrow into the crowd. This, combined with the fear of seeing the Dark Mark in the sky, was enough to cause pandemonium, but what happened next has left this reporter thankful to be alive.
You see, dear readers, out of the explosion of the arrow stepped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who, despite the best attempts from Aurors and Dumbledore alike, managed to reach the Minister's podium, as calmly as if he had been invited up there and as if nobody was attempting to attack him. After first addressing the Minister and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, he began to speak about traitors and filth (for a full transcript turn to page 9) before making an open offer to the Wizarding World to join him or die.
It was with these dark words that he bid the crowd farewell before vanishing as quickly as he arrived. It was at this moment that a murmur of relief had sounded throughout the crowd. After all, every time the Dark Mark has been seen it has symbolised death, and yet nobody had died. Of course, if things had been that simple then I wouldn't have to write any more. As of the writing of this article, it is unknown how these effects were achieved and for those of a faint disposition I would recommend not reading any further.
While the wave of relief was spreading there seemed to be an equal wave of doubt and disbelief rising to meet it and after a moment of silence there was a piercing scream from the centre of the crowd, which became a few, and then quickly became many. Both fortunately and unfortunately, fortunate for my health but unfortunate for the sake of a first-person account of what happened, I was at the outside of the assembly and so couldn't see what had caused the screaming for quite some time, though when I did I was horrified. You see, where the arrow had landed there was an aura of fear and hatred that had caused the previously normal crowd to become a horrific slaughterfest, as those in the middle of the crowd were tearing apart those who were unaffected by the aura.
Thankfully for everyone in attendance, Albus Dumbledore was able to destroy the aura and contain those already under the influence of the dark magic, a lingering feeling of terror is still there now and could possibly stay there indefinitely.
We here at the Daily Prophet advise everyone to keep their children indoors and avoid going out yourselves.
Elias put down the newspaper as he couldn't bear to read any further, he wasn't the only one, nearly everyone in the school had received a copy of the Prophet, and those who didn't were reading over their friend's shoulders. It was awful, even Professor Dumbledore was uncharacteristically miserable, which brought the morale of the school down as well.
When everyone departed for their first lesson there was a chill of unease in the air.
/_-_^_^_-_/
We will rise up like a phoenix from the ash and dust, when everything crumbles around us we will cauterise the wound and fight on. In fire, for freedom. These were the words written on the first page of the diary Blaise's mother had given Harry, something that Blaise had decided he would look through for techniques to adapt to use with earth instead of air. Blaise found the inclusion of those words to be strange but inspiring, as if repeating them reinforced the idealistic side of his brain.
Blaise's own relationship with his mother and sister was as strong as ever, and the temptation to tell Nora about his idea to give her and other Squibs magic was becoming unbearable, he wanted to hear her excitement, but didn't want to face her disappointment. Deciding he had read enough of the diary for the day, Blaise decided he would ask Hermione if she wanted to do some more research on their project.
/_-^_^_-/
"That's it, Nev, now plant your feet and feel the earth around you, Blaise describes it as if the earth is an extension of your bones. Lift the ground beneath the first target," Elias encouraged the older boy, who looked scared at the idea of breaking stuff.
"What if I can't fix what I do? I don't know if Theo is strong enough to do it and Blaise is working with Hermione," Neville questioned, concerned for the grounds.
"Would you rather learn how to bring up plants to start with?" Theo suggested, knowing that would be more his speed.
"I can only make grass, I failed to make even a simple daffodil," Nevillecomplained, hating how long it was taking for him to pick it up.
"Maybe that is where your problem begins, you're trying to create plants that you view as simple and boring, try something a bit more complicated," Theo responded, leaving Neville looking more confident than he had moments before.
"Just don't create anything dangerous, I don't fancy fighting carnivorous plants," Elias joked before Neville held his hand out parallel with the ground and closed his eyes, focusing on the earth around him and the properties of the plants he wanted to bring forth. When he raised his arm up slightly there was a small Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant growing out of the ground which surprised Neville enough to accidentally wilt it.
"You did it, Nev, now all we need to do is practice." Theo smiled and hugged Neville, lingering only a moment longer than most.
/_-_-^_^_-_/
When midnight struck on March first, Harry finally awoke and the Healers informed him that they had managed to remove the rot from his mind, though one of their numbers could never work as a healer again due to the strain of the job. The other secondary outcome of the whole procedure was their greater collective knowledge in terms of how the mind worked, with the Head Healer, the same man who was in regular correspondence with Dudley, telling Harry that he would be sending a simplified account of the new discoveries to do with the healing of the mind. The last thing they told him was that his guardians were going to be there soon.
"They're my parents, not my guardians, but thank you," Harry responded, feeling very unsure of himself, or rather he was more certain of him and not Him.
After an hour of quiet rumination, Sirius and Petunia had arrived and immediately pulled Harry into a hug, planting kisses all over his face, which he tried to pull away from out of embarrassment.
"Harry, how do you feel? Was everything successful?'' Sirius asked him tentatively.
"The doctors seem to believe so, though they confessed that it would take time to fully understand the newly discovered methods of mind healing."
"We're just glad to have you back with us. It has felt completely different to the times you've been away at school, I've been getting myself worked up about it…" Petunia trailed off from her rambling as Harry placed a hand on her arm and smiled. That simple act was enough to help calm her down fully.
It was agreed that Harry would spend the first week of March at home before returning to Hogwarts to prepare to take his O.W.L's. During this time Harry made sure to contact all of his friends to tell them that he was awake again and to chat with them about the events at the school during his absence, which were suspiciously light of any real details. He even contacted Victor who was both very confused and happy to hear Harry's voice after so long. The two spoke for a very long time, not just about trivial things, but about the upcoming war as well.
When Harry went to sleep on his last night at home he made a promise to himself that he would walk the paths of Fate and Magic.