Harry Potter and the Year of Darkness
Part Seven: Finding the Light within the Smoke
Everyone turned to look at the Gryffindor toarch. Two shapes stood there. One was of a fifteen eyar old girl, the other a ten year old boy. Both were misted, as if they were ghosts, but Harry knew they were not. "Wendoyln," Winetta muttered.
Harry studied the figures closely. One looked like the picture he had seen of
Gretchen's mother in her fifth year, but with longer, shoulder legnth, hair. The other was a boy with blue eyes, just like hers, and corse, brown hair. "Wade," Gretchen's mother
whispered. "You're..you're....."
"Dead," the girl, Wendolyn, said. "Oh, but we were never dead, Winetta. Never."
"What's going on!" Voldemort demanded. He didn't plan this, Harry realised.
Harry looked at these ghosts. He was greathful to them. They bought him time. Time to
think of something he could do.
"They're dead," Winetta said. "They died before my fifth year. My little
brother....my sister......." Gretchen's mother had suddenly become the weak link in a chain
of all powerful deatheaters. She was different. She looked a million yeras older, and yet
she sounded a million years younger, like an innocent child. Slowly, Harry backed away
from her, towards Ron. He had to set his freinds free.
"Winetta, my beautiful, Winetta," the girl ghost said. "What happened when I left
you? I never wanted this to happen to you. I never wanted you to die. And now look at
what you've done. You've killed the only living person who still loved you. You're
daughter's gone, Winetta, and it's all your fault."
In front of him, Harry could see tear coming from the deatheater's eyes. Behind
him, Harry knew a dazed gaurd was holding Ron, another hold Hermione. Slowly, Harry
backed into the wall.
The ghost boy pointed at Voldemort. "Murder," it said. "He killed us Winetta. Why
do you love him so?" Winetta turned to Voldemort, hatred in her eyes. Harry knew that it
had to be now.
"Now," he whispered to himslef. He grabbed two peices of rope that had been
holding him to the wall and flung them around the necks of the deatheateres who were
holding Ron and Hermione. A few detaheaters ran towards him, but he hid behind the very
men they were trying to save. Ron and Hemrione were dropped to the ground. Harry let go
and ran.
The room wasn't very big. Harry didn't go far before he was left with no where to
go. Ron, Hemrione, and Harry turned around only to see that no one had followed them,
so one at all. All the deatheaters were in a circle around Gretchen and her mother. Winetta
Locus was kneeling next to her dead daughter, tears in her eyes, muttering soemthing. The
deatheaters seemed to be trying to curse her, as if she was doing something wronge, but the
ghsots of the two children where protecting her, and nothing happened.
Harry watched in fasination as Ron and Hemrione tried to find a way out. Winetta
had a small pocket knife and was drawing a star on her rigth palm with it. She kept
muttering to herself, as if she was doing a spell. Harry realized that she was.
Winetta screamed and dropped to the ground. Then Harry heared something else
drop. Then something else. Harry looked up. "The professors," he shouted, "they're hear
to rescue us." And they were. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape and fallen into the
dungen, wands in hand, and others were making their way down. Suddenly the Stone hall
became a frenzy of spells. Soemthing exploded and smoke filled the room. Harry could
barely see. All his though swireled together like a tornado. Thoughts. They weren't his
thoughts.
Harry braved his was forward, into the smoke. There was screaming around him.
The room smelt of blood. Still, he knew he had to go on. He just.....knew. A tornado of
thought drew him towards it. He followed.
"Gretchen," he called out threw the smoke.
"Oh, my," he heard Hermione whisper, "he...he must be in shock, thinking she still
alive. Ron, we have to follow him!"
"But we'll die," he said. Harry didn't want to listien anymore. He was in the center
of the room. He felt for the brown blanket. He took it off Gretchen's face. Barely being
able to see her, he lifted her up closer to him. Through the haze, Harry saw her eyes flicker
open, though he didn't understand how she could manage that, or even how she could
manage to be alive. He didn't care, either. She was here. Here was all that mattered. Now
was all that mattered. He had to do soemthing. Harry had to make everything stop. The
fighting....the war.......
Gretchen looked at Harry, an odd look in her eyes. Then she leaned up and kissed
him.
Harry couldn't hear what was going on beyond him. He couldn't see more then a
bright white light. Distently, he could fell Grtechne's lips, but he could feel her living will
more vividly. Her pure, raw power. And, for the first time, he could feel his own. He could
feel this amazing thing swelling and and our of him, something he couldn't yet control, or
understand, but something that was plainly there. Visible. Touchible. Tastible. Smellible.
Harry reached towards it, feeling his own will, his own raw power, begin work. I have to
stop this, he thought. This needs to stop.
Harry and Grtechen pulled away from eachother. They were both on their feet,
unlike before. There was a glowing iridesent orb in from of them, shining pure light. Yet,
the fighting continued. Harry serched Gretchen's eyes. She looked at his then at the orb.
She rasied a single finger, and, slowly, raised it to the orb, as if to touch it. Harry did the
same. He touched it.
Agien all Harry could see was light. Pure, white light. He couldn't feel anything.
Then the light was gone and the world was black. Harry realized that he had closed his
eyes. He opened them and looked around.
It looked as if the world had stopped in mid-second. People still had their wands
rasied, ready to attack. People were still lying on the ground, were they had once been
injured and prepared to die, but now were healed. Eveyone was staring at the center of the
room-at Harry and Gretchen. Harry looked at Gretchne too, for a moment, as she looked
about the room. She was holding the brown rug around her, covering her perfect form.
Her thoughts were clear now. Her body was fully alive. She turned towards him.
Voldemort laughed.
Still in shock, no one moved as Voldemort raised his wand. Not even Dumbledore,
who was sitting agienst the wall. He was prepared to die, Harry realised. Voldemort
laughed harder, as if some how he was able to hear Harry's thought, and his fear. Harry
knew he was about to kill them. He knew. He couldn't let that happen.
Harry tapped into his own power, using it as if it was soemthing he had been doing
since birth. He took Gretchen's Hand and together they formed a small, red orb. They let it
go.
There was a looked of shock in Voldemort's eyes. He deflected the orb as Harry
used his new found power to summon his wand and teh three wands of his freinds from
Voldemort's hand. The wandds flew into Harry's hand. But the orb hit a deatheater's eye.
Malfoy! It had hit Draco Malfoy's father.
The deatheater doubled over in pain. The skin around his eyes seemed to be boubling with sores. The deatheaters started a mad run, all wanting to get as far away form the castle as possible. "Duck," Gretchen shouted as she pulled Harry down. They huddeled in a ball while the maddness surrounded them. They stayed down, down, down, until the running seised and there was silence. Only then did they move.
Voldemort was gone. Not gone in the sense that he was dead, but somehow, whithin the maddness, he had left. Why? Harry didn't even want to know as he servied the scene. It was much as it had been a moment before, but now people were willing to move. Professor McGonaggall and Professor Morryson were hugging eachother. Hagrid, the biggest man in the Stone Hall, was helping Flitch to his feet while Chantel did the same with Professor Dumbeldore.
Gretchen walked away from Harry and instead of looking at life around him, he
followed her. She walked to the body of her mother, suddenly dropping to her knees. She
didn't move. Harry put a hand on her shoulder. Gretchen put her own hand on his in an
awkward possision. With her other hand, she reached out to her mother, moving very
slowly.
She stopped cold before her hand touched the dead flash, as if her mother's body
was soemthing sacred. Something that you could get close to and admire, but not actually
touch, for it was too fragile. And maybe, for her, in that moment, that's what her mother
was. Harry didn't dare ask her. She rose to her feet and started to walk away, head bowed
in respect. Harry put his arm around her. She suddenly callapsed into him, crying. The two
sank to their knees. Harry brought Gretchen close to him, and she hid her head in his chest
while he rested his chin on her shoulder and whipsered kind words to her.
As Gretchen cried, Harry watched what was dirrectly in front of him. Snape was
looking at the body, shaking his head. His skin was white and pale as the moon, his mouth
hung open in disbelief as he silently worried that the fate of Winetta Locus, deatheater gone good, would one day be his own. Professor Sprout walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. They stood like that for a moment, unmoving. Then Snape turned his head to look at her and Profesor Sprout led them away. Still, Gretchen cried.
Harry heard the waze of a wand near him. There was suddenly a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked up. Albus Dumbledore was standing over him. He reached out his hand, for Gretchen first, and helped her to her feet. He handed her a black robe that he had made with his wand. He and Harry both turned away as she put it on. Gretchen was silent now. Every thing was silent. Too, silent.
Dumbeldore arm around Harry's back, his other around Gretchens, as he led them
to the near center of the now empty room. Fawks flew down. Dumbledore grabbed hold of
his tail feathers, then Harry's hand. Harry put his arm around Gretchen and she threw hers
around his waist. They flew up, up, up, until Harry could see a hall way. Fawks landed
gracefully and everyone let go. Dumbledore walked towards professor McGonaggall.
Harry suddenly noticed his surroundings. Ten feet on either side of him, professors and
students who were in the Stone hall stood huddeled together. But after that the hall way
was jammed with students. The entire school surrounded them.
"Professor," Gretchen said as she rose to her feet. "Professor Dumbledore.
You..you're not..not just going to leave her......"
"No," Dumbledore said firmly. "But," he said quietly as he gestured to the jamed
hall, "now is not the time." Gretchen nodded and wiped a tear from her eye.
"Gretchen," Hermione said as she and Ron ran up to her. Harry found himself
pulled into a tight embrace with Ron Hermione and Gretchen. "Oh, Gretchen I thought
you were, I thought you were...."
"I was, Hermione," Gretchen said softly. "But not now."
"But there isn't any spell to awaken the dead" Ron said as the four seperated slightly. The students behind them heard. They gasped and began to mutter among themselves. "How?"
"Somethings are deeper then spells. Deeper then death, I suppose," Gretchen said
wistfully. "I suppose blood must be one of those things. Fueled by a mother's love."
Gretchen took a deep breath. "I had always thought that she loved me. Hoped that she
loved me. Paryed, even. But...I've never known before. Now I do. My mother loved me."
"Yes," Harry said. "She loved you as much as my mother loved me."
"My mother died for me," Gretchen whispered. "Your mother died for you." There
was another dreadful silence where no one was sure exactly what to say, or what needed to
be said. Then, Ron found the guts to speak.
"Voldemort," he said, calling the man by his name for the very first time, and
shuttering for it. "I mean, you-know-who, why did he leave?"
"I don't know," Harry said. "All that I do know is that I'd hate to be a deatheater
right now." Evenyone laughed forcefully. Harry looked at his wizards watch, which he could
now read, thanks to Ron. "Well," he said loudly, "It's only twelve in the afternoon. I
suppose it's time for lunch."
"To the Great Hall," announced Dumbledore. Everyone relucently left, everyone
save for the professors, Harry, Hemrione, Ron, and Gretchen. They waited till everyone
else was far from sight or ear.
"What happened?" Professor Sprout said. "What happened down there? I had a
gash in my side so large that-That!-it was making me dizzy and I couldn't see. Then all of
the sudden.......Dumbledore, what happened?"
"I don't know," he said. "Light came from the center of the room, right were the
two children were standing, and it passed by, healing everyone instently. I suppose that shocked everyone enough to end the fight, temporarily. But nevermind what has happened. Instead, consentrate on what will happen. We must never let this happen agien. So, we must ask ourseleves, how did they get in?"
"The path to Hogesmede behind the witch on the third floor," Hermione blurted.
"He told us before you came."
"So we'll have to block that path off, when we find it," said Professor Morryson.
He still had one arm over Professor McGonaggall's shoulders.
"Severus, Flora, search for any path ways in the school. You know what to do. Flitch, you go with them I'm sure you already know where some of these are," Dumbledore announced. The three left quickly. "Hagrid, Vector, Chantel, Treweleny, and Zachary, please go supervise the students. I dearsay, we've left them alone far too long."
"Ay, Professor," Hagrid said. He turned around, dragging the others with him, and
ran for the great hall. "I want Minerva to come with me," Madam Pomfrey said. "She should not have been fighting in her condition."
"I'm fine....."
"You may feel fine, but you are four months in, and you need to be careful," Madam Pomfrey said. "You have mor ethen your life to worry about now. You have to worry about your child's too!" McGonaggall rolled her eyes.
"Well, I have to look after these children right now," she said gesturing to Harry and the others. Harry took a step towards Gretchen and grabbed he hand, suddenlt unsure.
"They are all in my house."
"Minerva seems to be in good heath, Poppy, and I doubt it will worsen in an hours
time," Dumbledore said. "If you would like you can go to the hospital wing and wait for
her. Or, you can escort Professor Morryson to lunch." Madam Pomfrey stuck her nose up
in the air and headed for the Great hall. Had she been her ussual stubern self, she would
have gone to the infermery, but, after what happened, no one at all really wanted to be
alone.
"Do I have to leave?" Professor Morryson asked. Dumbledroe nodded. Magnus
Morryson sighed, kissed McGonaggall on the cheak and headed for the Great Hall.
Dumbledore waited for his foot steps to die down before he spoke.
"Why did this all begin?" he asked.
"A long time ago," Gretchen said. "But I suppose last night would be a good enough
answer for now."
"What happened last night?"
"My mother, she had used the Perfectulous Potion on me, and they had it on Harry, too, but I think the deatheater who gave it to him is dead. Anyway, they were waiting outside Hogwarts. My mother, she used the potion's influence to make me come to them threw a path that lead to Hogsmede. Peter Petigrew told them about it."
"Peter Pettigrew! Dumbledore-he's dead!" McGonagall said.
"I'll explain later, Minerva. Please continue."
"Well," Gretchen said, "I arrived. They thanked me for testing their path for them,
and began marching into Hogwarts and began setting up their spells and such by night. My
mother....she, she tried to kill me. She hurt me, pretty bad. I couldn't think. She took a bit
of my hair and pretended to be me. Then I passed out."
"We met Gretchen's mum when she was pretending to be Gretchen," Harry said.
"She asked me were Ron was this morning, about an hour and a half ago. She left and then
Hermione came in, saying that she needed to see her. We went to get her in the library
when we fell somehow....."
Harry narrated the rest of their short adventure. He explained how Voldemort had
come and tied them up. He told them how Gretchen had been dead before Gretchen went
on to give a short desciption on what it was like to "be" dead. He told them how he had
shouted and then spirits appeared. How they had seemed to change Winetta's mind about
things. He explained everything that happened before the teachers showed up.
"Well," Dumbledore said. "That leaved us with three questions. How did Gretchen.. ...survive? How were you two able to create that orb? And, what will Voldemort do next?"
"I can answer two out of three," Gretchen said quietly. "It was the blood bind. Me
and my mother shared the same blood, but mine was dead and hers was living. She took
some of hers and put it into mine, and they took some of mine and put it into hers. The life
and death.....we just switched I guess. I'm not sure how. She gave up her life for me."
Gretchen wiped a few silent tears from her eyes with one hand, the other was still holding
Harry's.
"About the Orb," Gretchen said. "It was amazing. I just knew I could do something
and I did."
"Exactly," Harry said. "It was like something that was always there. Something I
had been using forever. I just knew what needed to be done and I did it." Dumbledore
looked at them, pircing them with his blue eyes.
"Could you do it now?" he asked. Harry and Gretchen glanced at eachother.
"No," they said together.
"What is it?" Harry asked. "What makes us so different?" Dumbledore sighed.
"I thought I knew," he said. "Now, I'm sure that I have no idea. You'll have to discover what this is on your own. In the mean time, try to use this more consciously. Try using it in times that are not an emergency. Experiment. See how it works.
"It won't take Voldemort long to realise that we have no idea what these powers
are," he continued. "Tonight may have givin him doubts, and it may have caused him to
put off other plans for a while, but it did not stop him. He will be back. Soon." Dumbledore turned around and left. Harry asumed he was heading for him office. McGonaggal left for the Great Hall. Ron and Hemrione headed for their commen room, Gretchen and Harry didn't move at all. They just waited for everything else to go away.
"You kissed me," Harry said finilly.
"I had to," Gretchen said.
"Why?"
"Because, I knew what I had to do, and I didn't know if I could. But I knew that if
I couldn't, I'd never have a chance to talk to you agien, to look at you agien. I....I couldn't
die without saying goodbye to you," Gretchen said. Then, more softky, "I couldn't die not
having you know that I love you."
"You love me?" Harry said. Gretchen turned away.
"I knew you wouldn't love me back. That's why I forced nyself to forget about it
the first time we kissed. I made sure that we were never alone together so that I wouldn't
do anything stupid like I did at the Weasley's house." Gretchen sighed. "I should go," she
said as she started walking away. Harry refused to let go of her hand. She looked at him.
"I love you," he said. "I really love you. I was up half that night trying to convince
myself I didn't love you when we kissed, and I ended up doing the opposite. I wanted to
kiss you so bad. I has going to, too. I was almost ready, then you left. Well, after that
things were different. I guess I just stopped caring about things for a while."
Gretchen smiled. Harry hadn't expected anyone to smile, not today, but he found
he was smiling, too. "So, what now?" she asked. Harry leaned forward and kissed her.
Much to everyone's dismay finil exams were still held. Except for Hemrione's that
is, for she loved tests. Harry would have rather spent his time doing other things then
studing, but after he saw his marks, he was satisfied.
He was eevn more satisfied, however, when he walked into the Great Hall for the
end of the year feast. He had made it. He had made it all the way through six years of
school. On one hand, he was quite proud of himself. It seemed taht every year something
had happened to make him doubt he would ever make it. One the otehr hand, he only had
one more year. Then he would leave Hogwarts. Leave Dumbledore, and McGonagall, and
all his other teachers, and his fourpost bed, his home, and be forced to start a new life. And
get a job. After a year of thinking, Harry still had no clue as to what he wanted to be.
"The end"-Dumbledore said as he rose at the feast-, "of another year. Hopefully,
you've all learned a bit. Maybe even a little more then that. And, hopefully, you have
yearned more then what we have tought you. Hopefully, you have learned from eachother,
and from the events around you.
"For the first time ever this year, we have had a brake in at Hogwarts. I have
thought long and hard about this and have coem to the conclusion that you have no idea
what to do if that happenes agien. There for, we will have soemthing new for you to learn
next year.
"Now, even though I may seem to be a bit humerous this is not funny. Voldemort
has never dared to come to Hogwarts before, and I dount he will agien, but he could. We
must never think that we are invisible, for we are not. We are simply human. However, if
we stay together, for the commen cause, we can become so much more then that. We can
be the difference that makes the difference. We can change the world, in all litericy. All we
need, is a speck of courage to have, a morse of trust to give, and a bit of hope."
Harry was silent after Dumbledore's speach. Hope. That was soemthing he ahd
nearly lost this year. Soemthing he almsot lost so completely that he couldn't feel anymore.
But now, he could. He had hoep agien. He had his two best freinds, Ron and Hermioen,
who would always be there for him. And Gretchen, who would always stick with him. Harry
wished desperately thst he could make life easier for her after what had happened. "I never
thought I'd miss my mother," she said at the feast when Harry asked her about her mother.
Her voice was a bit far away, but she was clear when she spoke. "But at least she was trying to be a good person when she died. She hasn't been good for a long time. She is now though. And she died good so she'll be good forever. Next time I see her, she'll love me."
"Those spirits?" Harry asked,. "Who were they?"
"The girl was named Wendolyn. She was my mum's twin sister. The boy was Wade, her little brother. They died the summer befor her fifth year," Gretchen said.
"Wade said that Voldemort killed them."
"I wouldn't know," Gretchen said. "All I do know is that it would some how be..appropriate it that were the truth. When they died my mum shut herself off from the world, I guess. She stopped loving, cuz she was scared of losing. But she could hate. And Voldemort liked her to hate, so she went to him."
"So your mum was never truely evil, then," said Harry.
"Oh, she was." Harry looked puzzeled. "People all start going bad for a reason that's normal. It's when they forget that reason, ignore it, leave it alone, and forget it when they're evil. Then they just do bad for the spite of it. Then they're evil. My mum was like that for a long time."
They talked on a bit more, but Harry nothing as memorible as those words were said. Harry had never bothered to ask why people were the way they were. He had never wondered why Voldemort was evil. Now he did. "Do you think Voldemort could be truned?" Harry asked out of the blue befor ethe feats was done.
"No," Gretchen said quickly. Harry shrugged and kept on eating.
"Were do you go over the summer?" Harry asked.
"I guess I get to go to a foster family," she said. "That's what I did last time. I wish I didn't have to though. The Ministry of Magic tells them who my mother was before they take me in. I think that most people get a little freaked out when a deatheater's daughter comes to live in there house."
"I suppose," said Harry.
Harry and Gretchen cuddled close together on the train ride back to the muggle world. Harry detested the thought of not seeing Gretchen all summer. Espiecally when he would have no idea were she was until she was able to write him. He had just gotten together with her, he didn't want to leave her now.
But as he walked off the train and put his things in the Dursley's car, he realized that he had to. That didn't change that fact that he didn't want to leave her. He wondered if she would be all right without him. Her mother had just died. It had to hurt. Harry knew that most of all. The death of his parents still hurt him, too.
"Come on, boy," Uncle Vermon said as soon as Harry saw him. Harry waved good bye to Ron, Hermione, and Gretchen before following his misrible uncle. It was raining outside. Uncle Vermon made no move to share his unbrella with Harry, which meant that he would get soaked. Then when Harry got into the car Uncle Vermon would complain loudly. Harry rolled his eyes at the anticpated yelling.
Surprisingly, Vermon Dursley was silent as Harry got into the car. He just eyed Harry coldly while he patted Dudely on the back. Harry climbe din just as quietly, not wanting to be yelled at in the first place. He was shutting the car door when somebody stopped him. He opened the door. "Gretchen," he said in a confused tone.
"Harry," she said forcefully, "I want to come with you."
*********And so this series has ended with my ussual clif hanger as opposed to an actual ending. Ha! Now, if you want be to continue you must reveiw. And Vote! Here's the issues....
1)Does Gretchen manage to spend the summer with Harry?
2)Should they be a destined couple, or should they fade apart and just be freinds?
3)What about Ron and Hemerione? Do they have a future together?
4)And what about Quiddich? It's cancelled as of now. Should it resume even after Voldemort has managed to get into the school or do they take a risk? And if there is no Quiddich, should there be something else instead?
5)Lastly, what do you think Harry should be when he grows up? (I already what the answers to most of these questions are, but if you tell me what your opinions are, my plans may change).
-Kate Marie
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