The roar of the Lioness

Suddenly Harry burst out of laughing and Tom looked at him with consternation. There was no joy in it. It was a savage laugh filled with despair.

'You just found out you had to die, and it makes you laugh?'

'I am sorry,' answered Harry while calming his breath. 'It's just… Ha how dumb have I been!' He giggled a bit more and finally took a deep respiration. 'You see, I am a fifteen-year-old student hunted down by the darkest wizard of all times. I learned a few days ago that he was practically indestructible because of his Horcruxes and somehow… yes somehow my stupid self thought I could make it out alive. And now, I realise that even if I do everything right and manage to survive, I will have to die anyway!'

Tom stood quiet. Whatever he wanted to say, now wasn't the time. He glanced toward Harry who was now laying his gaze absently on the Chamber.

The boy was innocent and because of him he now had to carry the burden that even he, Tom Riddle, wasn't sure he would have been able to accept.

'This is so unfair…' Whispered Harry. 'This is utterly, completely and inherently unfair.' He spat each word with disgust. 'Is there a way?' He finally asked while turning towards Tom.

The boy must have been truly desperate to ask him for help. But he didn't really have the choice.

'The only way to destroy an Horcrux,' said Tom painfully, 'is to destroy its receptable beyond repair… Or resurrection.' He paused a few seconds. 'As for Voldemort well… Power is a drug. A heavily addicting drug. Once you tasted it there no coming back, as you may know.'

'No, I don't,' replied Harry brutally.

'The possibility to do everything you ever wanted. The end to your limitations… No obstacles, no barrier no… no nothing.' Tom didn't understand how someone could refuse such a delighting prospect. 'Power is freedom.'

'No, it's not,' said Harry firmly. 'Besides if I need freedom, I have my broom. I have never sought power and I don't think I ever will. From what I have gathered on this subject so far, power is trouble. And I've had trouble for a lifetime already.'

The boy had a point.

Silence filled the room again and they sat here for a long time. Eventually Harry stood up and left without a word. The basilisk immediately took his place back on the ring.

Harry walked through the corridors absently. He had forgotten to put his Invisibility Cloak on while leaving the Chamber. But he didn't care. He was completely numb, and the corridor were all blurry.

He ended up at the top of the Astronomy Tower where he contemplated Hogwarts surroundings covered by snow. It was simple and beautiful. He leaned against the railing and let his gaze float above the Forest. This is where he had met Voldemort for the first time while he was drinking unicorn blood. He shivered at the memory. If Firenze hadn't come to save him, he wouldn't have lived to tell the tale. He felt anger rise. He had come close to death so many times and had managed to escape it at every encounter. This was maybe the most irritating thing.

It had been all for nothing.

His gaze fell on the ground just under the Tower. After all, if he was doomed, why not ending hil life immediately? His breath grew heavier. Just a jump. Just a little momentum and everything would be done. He could rest. He could join his parents!

His eyes were fixated on the ground. The void was so attracting.

He heard a cracking noise coming from the Forest and raised his head suddenly. Above the Forest, two distinct black winged creatures were flying above the white immensity of the woods. Thestrals. Harry narrowed his eyes. Apparently the biggest one was teaching the younger to hunt.

He let out the breath he had held up until then and shook his head.

His thoughts hadn't been the happiest lately. But this… It was a new low. He backed away from the edge of the tower and focused on calming his breath. His mother had sacrificed her life for him, and this is how he wanted to repay her?!

He straightened up and looked for the flying creatures, but they had disappeared.

He didn't go back to the Chamber. Instead, he buried himself under the tons of homework he hadn't started yet. He needed normality and to forget everything. He pulled his list of due essays out and went through them briefly. Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Divination… To Hell with Divination. Defence Against the Dark Arts. He scoffed. What a joke…

He finally to chose to go with Charms. The topic was on the Reductor Curse which he knew well by now. He dipped his quill in the inkwell and started to scratch the surface of the parchment.

He went to bed, his head still filled with examples of the curse uses. Fortunately for him, sleep easily came this time. He didn't have the time to remember the dreadful news he had learned earlier before the night took him away.

However, the morning after, it hit him like a hammer again. He dressed up and went to the Great Hall for breakfast in full automatic mode. He didn't even notice the owl which was desperately trying to catch his attention to deliver a message.

'I think this owl would be deeply relieved if you could grant him an fraction of your attention Mr. Potter,' he heard a stern voice say behind him.

He turned brutally towards McGonagall wondering how long she had stood here.

'Huh right, Professor,' replied Harry. He grabbed the scroll that the owl was holding in its beak. Once the owl was sure the student had taken his message, he ruffled his feather and took flight with an angry hoot. Students nowadays had no manner.

Harry noticed, embarrassed, that the breakfast was finished since quite a long time, because all the students had left. He started to stand up, muttering excuses.

'Sit down Potter,' said McGonagall while gently pushing his shoulder down.

He obeyed and waited for her reprimanding.

She sat near him and took a deep breath.

'What's wrong Potter?' She finally asked.

Harry looked at her a bit surprised.

'Don't look at me like this,' she said irritated. 'You barely come to the Great Hall, you never are in your Common Room and even when you show up, you look absent.' She paused and looked at him. 'Now Potter, I can only guess how hard it must for you. But you have to realise that your absence won't go unnoticed for long.'

Harry appreciated a lot she didn't pretend that she was understanding or getting the rough time Harry was having. But she was right. Dumbledore even had to step up to place necessary wards to protect him. He wondered if he had told McGonagall about his recent whereabouts.

'I am sorry, Professor,' he finally answered a bit ashamed.

'Don't be sorry Potter,' replied McGonagall. 'Be there. I don't care where you go in your free time, and I don't want to know. But be there when it matters. Show them you are not afraid of their lies and the rumours they launch to undermine you.'

Harry raised his gaze into her bright eyes. He had never noticed they were green too.

'I am asking a lot from you and Merlin knows you deserve to be left alone,' she continued. 'If it had been up to me, I can assure you things would have been very different.' She paused.

Harry could feel her very Gryffindor anger boil under her skin. It filled him with a warm feeling to know there was some adults who found the situation as outraging as he was finding it. And the fact that McGonagall was one of them meant a lot to him.

'But they are not and there is nothing I can do about it.' Her eyes sparkled to a new intensity. 'However, I can choose how to handle them.'

'I can choose to fight back?' Asked Harry a bit unsure of where she was getting at.

'Exactly. A Gryffindor stands for what is right. We are not cowards, and we show up when it matters the most. You are not a coward Mr. Potter,' it wasn't a question.

'Well, Professor,' said Harry. 'I tried… I really tried. But she is from the Ministry and I don't think there is anything more I could do to convince them.'

'The Ministry,' repeated McGonagall behind greeted teeth. She let out a deep breath. 'I am not talking about Mrs. Umbridge or the Ministry Mr. Potter.' Harry noticed she had left out the Professor title when speaking about Umbridge. 'I am talking about your peers. They do not have the right to treat you the way they do. And you ought to not let them.'

Harry nodded. He had taken a lot on himself since the beginning of the year and with his growing silence, he had encouraged them to go on. Worse than that it had made some doubt him. If he was right, then why was he staying silent under the accusation?

'Being alone is being vulnerable,' finally said the Head of his House. 'Being alone is letting You-Know-Who win. If you are isolated, then you are not a threat anymore. Do you understand?'

'I think I do,' replied Harry.

'Good.'

She stood up and pressed his shoulder as she passed behind him to leave the Great Hall. Harry observed her, reminiscing on what she had just told him. He had rarely felt so proud to be a Gryffindor.

He felt a wave of energy fill him. This was a fight he could put up. Making sure those people would survive the coming war. Preventing, by any possible mean, the rise of the Dark Lord who would try to reduce those fierce and worthy people, who were doing their best to make this World a better place, to slavery.

He stood up in his turn. May death come to him. He would give her a welcome she would long remember. In the meantime he had work to do.