Flashes of Green

Curiosity: I wonder what would have happened if....

Tranquility: Don't try too many at the same time, have some peaceful thoughts.

Madness: I know what we're going to do today...

Me: Um, guys... we have an exam to study for...are you even listening to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Prologue : A not so peaceful evening

Harry had had enough, the flashes of green sifted through his mind every moment he was awake and asleep without any despite. It had been only two days since he had returned from the graveyard. He didn't want the pity of his friends nor the careful glances of his classmates.

No, dwelling on his misery wasn't working, he needed something to disturb his mind about anything other than the events of the graveyard. Best of all he needed a refuge, the common room was bad enough; great hall, school corridors or the lake would be suicidal due to sheer number of students and the dormitory was flushed with Ron's request of chess to take away his attention while the library will still reachable by Hermione whom he also wanted to avoid at the moment.

Harry went through his bag to find anything, to help him in his endeavour, when he noticed a neatly folded parchment tucked away in a corner. It was the yearlong restricted section access McGonagall had given him for the tournament preparation. Harry's eyes flashed in excitement. This was perfect, exactly what he had been looking for, only he had a full access to it so Hermione wouldn't be able to find him, and with the exams over no higher years will be there either.

He bolted from the bathroom stall under his invisibility cloak, passing a glance at Hermione who was waiting at the door of the nearest classroom from the bathroom and arrived at the library. He took off the cloak after carefully checking for other presences, tucked it into his bag and entered the library.

Madam Pince was still observing the two upper year Ravenclaws with hawk's eye. Harry handed over the pass to her and moved as swiftly as was humanely possible under the stern librarian's watchful eyes, into the Restricted section.

Separated from the vast library, it was a world of its own, with only a single doorway connecting it to the rest of the library, there was a unique freedom, only so long as one doesn't make any noises. Harry went towards the deeper end so he couldn't be spotted from the doorway and sat down at a table, now all he needed was a book to keep himself occupied. He closed and rubbed his tired eyes, 'flashes of green'. He released a deep sigh, definitely a book.

'But the important question was which book to choose from? During the tournament he had gone through a few books detailing on underwater spell use which didn't seem much handy at that time, other than that only a book tiled 'Compendium Survival Curses and Hexes' for the third task, which he had gone through three chapters, as the rest seemed dark, according to Hermione anyway, come to think of it, flaying an animal in the wild to eat it isn't dark, only necessary for survival though a bit gross, and the book was titled survival, literally.'

But the choices were far too many, despite being a very small part of the library, it still housed thousands of books, some of which haven't been picked up in decades and have gathered dust. A screaming book was out of choice and many were clearly out of his league. He closed his eyes and sighed again when, 'flashes of green' filled his mind.

"Alright, enough!" Harry nearly shouted at himself before he clamped his mouth lest he attract the wrath of the vengeful librarian. He made his decision, if the 'Avada Kedavra' was going to torment him then he might as well find out what is it truly about.

He went to one of the dusty subway section housing the details of the darkest and extensive curses, it was only ever used by students doing extra credit projects for DADA, so in absence of efficient teachers in the subject for nearly two decades close to none had approached the place, not that he knew it.

Harry went through several books, some were untitled, a few had bloodstains as part of the cover, 'really, who in their right minds thinks bloodstains, make good decorations', he thought and moved ahead. He finally found what he needed, 'The Trails of The Curse of Death' written by Alioth Septimus Black nearly three centuries back; at least it was the only one he had found which was tilted in that regard.

Harry considered the name of the author for a moment, 'It might even be Sirius' great- great-great-great grandfather or grand uncle, but that's not the point right now, I have to worry about it later. Right.'

Harry went back to the table and opened the book to read. After several minutes, he had to admit the book was for one word... Fascinating. Simply reading the first two pages had turned on more questions than what the imposter Moody had explained in rough terms as, 'A not pleasant curse with no counter curse or shield which rips apart the soul from the body and you are dead.' The author however was delicate in his approach and had straight on questioned they very thing reasoning behind the spell, beginning from the third page. Harry read on..

"A new explanation is gaining ground to explain the cause of death from the curse of death, interestingly it is arriving from the witches and warlocks arriving from the mundane world as our centuries old knowledge has failed to answer the cause of this spell which arrived on our shores just a few decades ago.

The theory they present is that, since the curse requires immense hatred, it is always used by one seeking justice; the perpetrator who has caused that person great grief and sorrow is the one at whom this curse is aimed at to seek retribution for their actions. As such the curse calls forth the Great lord whom the mundane worship, who then judges the perpetrator's acts and takes away the soul leaving the body dead to decay on the earth.

My friend from the mundane world, Arnold Nott, asks me to not call it the curse of death but the spell which calls forth the lord's judgment. Many have thus begun accepting the cause of death as the loss of the soul, since it doesn't harm if casted without hatred, but if it is for retribution, I cannot speak.

I however remain firm in my belief and decry it as the worst curse capable of taking a life. I have seen with mine own eyes, the curse taking the life of a young centaur foal who had acted merely in self defence, I ask then is the judgment true if it takes away a young who only decreed to protect himself. There are not one but several reasons why I believe the reason behind it to be false.

Very few of us have witnessed the acts of the lethifolds and their spawn the dementors, the foulest creatures of the Earth, when they take away the soul of the human. My uncle Septimus Black has been the warden of the dreaded prison for nearly a decade now and has indeed witnessed it. But my concern lies at the end of the act, at the end the human is left but a shell with no inclination, understanding or even memories but they exist. That is what intrigues me, they exist that is they are alive after their removal of their soul, which we know for certain is removed. It gives a new light to the fact, that removal of soul even against the will of man does not result in death.

Furthermore, we do know several other spells which function on the basis of the magic of the soul, but none impact material objects , yet the curse strikes with a force which breaks apart even stones. But in the absence of a true cause witches and warlocks are beginning to believe what is apparent, as the curse leaves no physical mark on the victim.

Of course that is one of the prime reasons for the acceptance of the theory of the soul, the absence of any true physical damage be it in the interior or exterior of the corpse as if the life itself is drained away in an instant, even open eyes remain open and not an inch of the body shows any actions before rigor mortis sets in.

Judgement can be cruel and it can be mercy for that we must ...

... for these very reasons and my longing to find the truth behind the curse of death, I had decided to use my tour of the world, at the coming of my age at the end of Hogwarts to trace the trails of the curse of death."

Harry finished reading the first chapter of the memoir style book. The author had held the several reasons and questioned their basis finally concluded that the theory of the soul and divine intervention fails to reason with the true cause. He had questioned if the mercy of death to the dying can be given by the curse, if the direction of hatred needs be only towards the victim of the curse.

Harry was truly fascinated by the book. The careful ways it described the reasons behind the thoughts of a person only indulged him to read further and further until the end. And the events of the graveyard were feeling less prominent as well. A small part of his brain chided him in Hermione's voice about reading a dark arts book but he knew there wasn't anything nefarious about the book, it wasn't urging him to use, in fact the tone of the author suggested that he held it at contempt but was fascinated by its cause or rather the lack of it.

Only when he turned the page to read the next chapter did he notice that, the lamps have been lit and it was nearly the time for dinner which meant the library will be closed soon. He got up to place the book back on the shelf, but stopped a second later. He didn't want to part ways with that book, at least not yet.

Harry packed his bag, took out the invisibility cloak and stuffed it in the pockets of his school robes if the need ever arises and moved out of the restricted section. He noticed that the two upper year Ravenclaws were gone already which meant dinner might already be underway, but his watch was already damaged from under the lake and there was no way to check the time especially as the dimming sunlight wasn't a very good time keeper in June. He quickened his pace before someone, likely led by Hermione came to search for him in the library.

-‐-

Irma Pince was a busy librarian, cataloguing every book before the beginning of the summer holidays wasn't an easy task. Even with magic, several pieces of interwoven wards of the library which allowed her to keep track of most movements within the library, self updating booklist and access to several books on cataloguing. No, there was still the chance that some idiotic student has smudged the books or defiled its margins with ink or some pranksters had found their way inside and there was still the chance that some especially stupid student had taken out a book and not returned it before due date. Yes, she was very busy indeed.

But it was nearly time for dinner and the schedule has to be maintained. No one was left in the library, save a fourth year in the restricted section. She craned her neck to check if he was coming or she would have to get up, breaking her work and remind him that the library is about to be closed.

That's how she saw that fourth year student taking quick strides towards her and an...old book.. in his hands, 'wait, is there dust on the bindings of the book, the preservation charms must have worn off...But I recast them on all regularly used sections no point in letting the 'dunderheads as Severus called them' ruin them accidentally.' She frowned at this thought, 'Well, no worries, I will just renew it for the book then check out which section has been neglected.'

"Madam Pince, can I check this book out now?" Potter asked her nervously when he reached her.

She took the book from him and immediately used the dusting spell, followed by the preservation, damp reversal and anti smudging charms, then recorded it as being taken out from the wards for a period of five days. Finally she looked at the title and raised an eyebrow, ' 'Trails of the curse of death', of course Dumbledore had the staff that the boy might be a little traumatized but to this extent that he is searching his way out with dark arts curses! But it isn't my problem, he has the pass and everything is within the rules'.

She noted that the wards informed her that the book belonged to the 'Darkest and extensive curses' sub section of the Restricted section.

"Yes, mister Potter but you have to return it within five days before the leaving feast. Here is your pass." She told him in her best stern voice, which she used for students who were being respectful. She reserved her screeching voice for the especially tactless ones.

Having gotten the book the fourth year quickly filed out, and Irma Pince checked her watch and sighed. The time was over, she will have to continue tomorrow. After all she had a schedule to maintain.

-‐-

Harry filed out of the library on tiptoes and sighed heavily with relief at the exit. He had worried for a moment when the librarian had raised her eyebrows at the title but instead had said nothing about it. At least he had five days to read the book.

He looked around and saw no one there, then took out his invisibility cloak and put on and started moving. Somehow the feeling of being invisible to the general eyes gave a comforting feeling, no one could give him weird looks or accusing stares. It was a feeling of being free of all the burdens placed on him.

Harry went down the stairs silently, not that it was needed, the halls were empty and almost everyone was at dinner. Besides he had the urgent need to visit the toilet which he had forgotten about in the library. Just when he reached the second floor, he rushed to the toilet. Thankfully it was empty so he took of the cloak and went inside the last stall to relive himself.

Just when was done and was about to come out to wash his hands he heard a voice which had mercilessly tormented him the entire year, but this time it sounded only tired and defeated, "I told you not to speak so fast, they are having a much harder time than us. Still, they were at least somewhat happy when you returned it; even if you were a nervous wreck."

"Well, how else was he supposed to tell them that Cedric had brought his prefect badge to the pitch and then gave it to him for safekeeping until the end of the task.", the glum voice of Wayne Hopkins replied while patting Justin who was retching his evening dinner.

Everyone was silent for a moment while Justin washed his mouth and then said, "It's not that, it's just that when Mrs Diggory was looking at us, gratefully, as if thanking us for remembering Cedric... a dam of emotions broke out. It was taking all my energy just to keep standing." he went silent for a moment, the continued, "How is everyone else doing, I haven't been paying attention to anyone else thinking about returning the badge?"

"Well, Janette, the seventh year prefect is taking it the worst, he was going to ask her out after breaking up with Cho, Madame Pomfrey has already given her three calming draughts. The Marvin twins in first year are just lost, I mean, they were really worshiping Cedric. Becky and Cole are planning to withdraw from Hogwarts and moving to Americas this summer when they will get their OWLs, after petrification and dementors, Cedric's death was their parents' last straw. Rest of the house is behaving like us, depressed and glum.", Macmillan replied and released a heavy sigh.

Smith who had stayed silent until that moment spoke up, "We need a group discussion on how we are going to deal with all this. Where are the girls?"

"Hannah is in greenhouse four being comforted by Longbottom, Megan is being ..well Megan, blasting things in one of the empty classrooms in fifth floor and Susan is pouring over all the law books she checked out of the library trying to find how to initiate arrest of Potter. I mean, seriously! Just because he is Dumbledore's pet doesn't mean he should get away with murder." Wayne replied.

"So, you believe that too, Potter is responsible for Cedric's death?", Justin asked him softly.

"Of course we do", Smith huffed his answer, "Why else would he get all that protection from Dumbledore and Fudge. Susan's aunt is not being allowed to investigate Cedric's death and she is bloody head of the DMLE! Blocked by the only two people who can block her; Minister Fudge and Chief Warlock Dumbledore, one is treating it as an unfortunate accident and the other is saying you-know-who did it. Those are the most piss poor excuses you can get."

"You didn't see Cedric's body when they took him to the morgue, Justin, there wan no great injury in his body and Krum and Fleur were already out of the maze for half an hour." Macmillan added to the credibility of the story.

"Second year we suspected the same, but I had say sorry to him in the end, remember. It was the Weasley girl who had attacked me." Justin countered clearly uncomfortable with the idea that one of the students had a hand in what had happened in the maze.

"Yes, and the same girl has been has been clinging to Potter for years. She was offered the same protection by Dumbledore. She wasn't expelled or given any punishment. Most of all even if she was innocent, we never got an explanation of what actually happened. Even the ministry visited your home, Justin, just to tell your parents that nothing dangerous happened and you will get special course for your missed studies. Look carefully, they are always covering it up for Potter and his friends." Smith replied angrily, Harry could only hear but a sneer was obvious.

"But you don't..."

"Stop arguing you two. We can't do anything like this. Let's collect everyone and get to Susan to find if we can help. It don't know if Potter is guilty or not, that is what an investigation by DMLE is for." Wayne interrupted whatever response Justin was going to say.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment, when Macmillan spoke up, "Yeah, you're right, let's get to the greenhouses first." With that dragging footsteps could be heard, signalling their departure of the four boys.

Five minutes later another boy emerged from the last stall, struggling to keep in check the barrage of emotions dancing in his head. Anger, confusion, guilt ridden and terrified. The dam finally broke and the tears started leaking and he was back in the stall.

Harry ran over their words, quite a few Hufflepuff students believed him to be Cedric's murderer, perhaps people from other houses thought that as well, maybe even the Gryffindors too, the ones who kept giving him suspicious looks all the time. The minister was delirious in his beliefs and didn't want to see the naked truth in front of him while the headmaster sat behind his ornate desk trying to convince everyone the truth, which came out protecting only a single student.

All the while the tears didn't stop, the full psychological consequences of the past three days came crashing down, with desperation clinging to him like a wet piece of cloth. Desperation which would have made Moaning Myrtle proud and sad at the same time, sad as he wasn't wailing, he was silently weeping.

Author notes:

hey, everyone. This is my first fanfiction so I'm new to to the rules and roles. All reviews will help in the progress of the story . I don't have anyone to beta read the stories, so I'm open to suggestions and if anyone wants to help, I'll be grateful for it. Thanks and enjoy the story.