Harry Potter and the Dark Sigil
Chapter Five: Time of Testing
By: Harry's Mum Lily
Disclaimer: Everything but the plot belongs to JKR. Thanks to all who reviewed my last chapter. You guys are all the best. I'm not sure why this has turned out so dark…no wait it must have come from Goblet of Fire which was pretty dark. Anyway hope you like this part and reviews are most welcome.
There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike…
Voldemort
Chapter 17
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more then our abilities.
Albus Dumbledore
Chapter 18
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
He was gone. It had taken only the briefest second for Voldemort to steal away the Light's last hope. Dumbledore looked from the place where Harry's Firebolt lay to the Dark Mark shimmering high above the place where Harry had been just a moment before. His face was pale and fear such as he had never known ran like ice water through his veins. He'd failed to protect Harry again. He stared at the Mark suddenly angry feeling as if Voldemort were somehow mocking him by its very presence at the school where the powers of the Light held sway. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest and Dumbledore could almost hear Voldemort's cold voice saying: I have him. He is mine.
Meanwhile, Snape held his still stinging left forearm with his hand and gazed up at the Mark too. In his mind he seemed to hear a voice whispering: To late…you are too late. He, too, looked down at the place where Harry's broom lay, noticing Malfoy for the first time. Draco was trying to mop up his bleeding nose with his robes. He was looking at the Firebolt too. He looked around and found no sign of Harry or the Snitch. Then he looked up at the Dark Mark and his eyes grew round, his normally pale face going a shade or two paler, looking almost ghostlike in the green light cast by the Mark. Snape walked over to him, his dark cloak billowing out behind him and his face grim.
"Malfoy, what happened?"
Malfoy, his eyes still wide with shock, looked from the Dark Mark to Snape's grim face.
"The Snitch…" Malfoy began to shake and took a gulp of air, trying to steady his nerves. "It must have been a portkey. Potter and I touched it at the same time but it only took him. One minute his hand and the Snitch were there beneath my own and the next moment they had both vanished. I felt such Darkness and evil…" Draco's voice trailed off and he eyed the Dark Mark again. Then suddenly his eyes rolled up in his head and he fainted from shock.
"ALL STUDENTS, RETURN TO YOUR HOUSE COMMON ROOMS AT ONCE!" Professor McGonagall's magically magnified voice echoed through the pitch and almost instantly there was a rush to exit the stadium.
"Severus, I want you to gather the staff and Hagrid together. Tell them to meet me in my office in ten minutes. Tell Hagrid to bring Snuffles with him."
"But what about Fudge and his threat?" disbelief was evident in his voice, as he stared at the Headmaster.
"This is more important than any of Fudge's threats," he looked at Snape urgently. " Now maybe Fudge will listen to me."
He pointed to the Dark Mark hovering over them all like a bird of ill omen. Snape didn't argue with the Headmaster even though he was sure that this new development would make no difference to the Minister of Magic. He would ignore this sign as he had ignored the others before it. Not for the first time did Snape wish Dumbledore had taken the job when he'd been offered it. Snape conjured a stretcher for Malfoy and escorted it to the Hospital Wing giving Malfoy into Madame Pomfey's care. Then he went to alert the others as Dumbledore had requested.
Dumbledore remained in the stadium, glaring at the Dark Mark. Professor McGonagall, who looked as if she were about to cry, soon joined him. Ron and Hermione came down from the stands and joined them, both of them looked pale and fearful.
"The time of testing is upon him…" Dumbledore said quietly, still staring at the Dark Mark.
"Why him, Albus? Why now?" McGonagall's voice trembled.
Dumbledore remained silent not daring to say more out in the open.
"Come, Minerva. There is something that you and the rest of the staff must hear."
He took his eyes from the menacing green glow of the Dark Mark and noticed Ron and Hermione standing there for the first time.
"I want you two to come as well. I need to finish the story I began earlier and you should hear the rest of it so that you may better understand the situation, but first I need you two to bring me a roll of parchment that I believe you will find in Harry's trunk. Be quick…time is running out for us all but most of all for Harry."
Ron and Hermione nodded, their faces still pale and afraid. They left the pitch at a run to do as Dumbledore had asked. Dumbledore and McGonagall followed at a slower pace. McGonagall's eyes were bright with unshed tears but her face was set and determined. Dumbledore wondered what she was thinking but he knew better than to question her. She would tell him when she was ready. He only hoped that they were all ready to hear Harry's true story, the secret that he had kept hidden away all these years.
~
Ron and Hermione arrived a few minutes later at Dumbledore's office with a sheave of rolled up parchment in Hermione's hand. All the professors were there as well as Hagrid who was accompanied by a large, black dog. Everyone was seated on chairs that had been drawn up by Dumbledore's magic and when everyone was seated Dumbledore looked around at them all.
"What I'm about to tell you goes no farther then this room," he told them all, locking eyes with every person in the room.
They all looked at one another and then back to him, without saying a word. Dumbledore then told them of Gryffindor's prophecy, about how the heir of Gryffindor was none other then Harry, how Harry had actually been born into the Potter family decades earlier and how he had been brought forward through time for his own protection. Ron and Hermione had already heard all of this before and were just beginning to wonder why they had been asked to listen in on this when Dumbledore asked for the roll of parchment Hermione still held.
Hermione looked at the other professors as she rose and handed the parchment to Dumbledore. They all looked stunned, like this information was not what they had expected to hear at a time when one of their own students was presumed captured and certainly not when the student in question was Harry Potter. She wondered how they were taking it. There was no way to tell by looking at their faces what was going on in their minds. The single exception to this was of all people, Snape. He stood at the back of the room and looked only slightly surprised by this information. As she went back to sit down next to Ron she wondered what he was thinking.
"Before the match, Harry told me that he was having nightmares again, only this time he believed the nightmares were warning him of future events."
A small gasp went through the seated professors.
"Godric Gryffindor had the gift of true prophecy and the Sight," Professor Trelawny's misty voice floated through the silent room.
" Yes, he was a very gifted Seer…a gift that has already manifested in Harry as his only surviving heir."
He told them about Harry's fainting spell two weeks ago and about what the voice had said.
"If I'm not mistaken he is, though he is totally unaware of it, a very powerful Seer."
Professor Trelawny snorted and Dumbledore looked sharply at her.
"Come now Sybil, you know very well that persistent inability sometimes masks great ability, especially with regard to this gift. Where his gift is the strongest, however, is in his dreams. He sees things that are to come and probably something of the past as well."
Everyone's eyes turned toward the roll of parchment on Dumbledore's desk wondering what dreams Harry had recorded there.
"But there is one thing more that you should all be aware of. It concerns Harry's past and the reason Voldemort wants to turn him to Darkness or, failing that, to kill him. This has to do with the unusual circumstances of his birth and a connection that exists between Harry and Voldemort."
Everyone's eyes looked into Dumbledore's and he sighed hoping that this was the right time to tell them. He only wished he'd told Harry when he had the chance because Voldemort was sure to take this information and twist it to his own ends, hoping to use it to break Harry's spirit and to prey upon Harry's one weakness: his own self doubt. He opened his mouth and as he uttered the words that could consign to hell everyone's belief and hope in Harry, he wondered if it was already to late for the world.
~
As soon as Harry's hand closed around the Snitch and he felt the tugging sensation behind his navel, he knew that somehow the Snitch had been turned into a portkey. Instinctively he tried to let go of the Snitch but it seemed to be glued to his hand. His heart was hammering in his chest as if it would seek escape from the confines of his chest. His scar began to throb in time with his heart. His scar felt as if it was on fire and the sharp stabbing pains were making his vision blur. He knew the portkey was carrying him back to Voldemort. The thought of facing Voldemort made his heart freeze in his chest. He began to shiver as cold fear swept over him.
"I'm not ready!" he wanted to scream, his body feeling numb at the thought.
Whatever else he'd been thinking was forgotten as he landed hard on a cold stone floor in the middle of a dank, dark and shadowy room. His knees were in pain but it was nothing compared to the pain his was experiencing in his scar. His vision was blurring worse then ever as wave after wave of intense pain hit him. Still despite the pain, Harry leapt to his feet and reached a hand into his robes for his wand, instantly alert. It was then that he noticed that his wand was not in his pocket as it normally was. His heart skipped a beat and he was suddenly overcome with fear. He was positive he'd put the wand in his pocket. He was always sure to carry his wand on him at all times in the magic world especially after being captured last term. He'd even taken to carrying it with him in the Muggle world lately.
"I'm sure I had it right here."
His heart fluttered in his chest. He was alone and without the means to defend himself in a place that was controlled by his worst enemy. Had he simply forgotten to take it with him? Maybe that was it. It had become a habit for him it pick it up and take it everywhere, so much so that he was never aware of picking it up to begin with. It was therefore possible that he had simply failed to pick it up.
"I'm afraid not, Potter," a cold mocking voice said from somewhere to Harry's right.
He turned and saw to his horror that Voldemort had his wand and was twirling it in his hand. His blank red eyes were full of loathing as he looked at it. He looked at Harry with a look of amusement and mock sadness. Then he eyed the wand again and smirked in Harry's direction.
"Wormtail, come here and demonstrate why a wizard should never allow his enemy to get a hold of his wand."
Wormtail came into the small pool of light cast by a single candle his silver hand gleaming eerily in the faint light as his stretched it out. Voldemort laid Harry's wand in his hand and looked over at Harry, a malicious grin on his face. Harry suddenly realized what they were about to do.
"Accio wand!" he cried in desperation but it was too late.
Harry felt a surge of power arc from his wand into him and he fell to his knees again as Wormtail crushed it in his hand and let the fragments fall at his feet, a look of cruel joy on his face. The raw, unfocused power within his wand continued to arc into Harry's body and he willed himself not to cry out.
"Perhaps your friend, Hagrid, told you what happens when a wizard's wand is snapped by his enemy? No…well all the power held in the wand rebounds upon the wands owner, causing intense suffering," Voldemort's mouth wore a twisted, mirthless smile as he looked down at Harry's twitching form. "The more powerful the wand, the more painful its backlash."
A moan of pain escaped from Harry but his green eyes were full of rage. Voldemort's smile widened as he watched the final protections around Harry crumble in a shower of golden sparks that quickly faded into nothing. There remained only one set of protections around the boy now, those he'd been given at birth, and given time they would fall as the others had. Voldemort laughed and Harry, through a haze of pain, could hear others laughing with him.
"Let this be your first lesson, Potter. No one ever escapes Lord Voldemort, least of all a young upstart with no real powers such as you. I don't care who your relatives are, or who your father was or whose heir you are. I always win, Harry. Always. It would be better for you to join me of your own free will. It would make things so much easier for you. Make no mistake you will join me whether now or later matters not to me."
Voldemort's voice seemed to be coming from a great distance to Harry. He could barely see anything now because of the pain in his scar, which made him feel as if his head was about to burst. The pain running through his veins made it impossible for Harry to think clearly but as soon as Voldemort asked him to join him, Harry was able to block some of the pain and struggled to his feet again.
"Never!" he shouted, his eyes blazing with barely restrained anger and defiance.
Voldemort swept over to Harry and forced Harry's chin roughly upward, forcing Harry to look into his eyes. Harry clamped his mouth shut on the scream that was trying to escape from him. The moment Voldemort touched him, he felt as if a thousand white-hot knives were twisting themselves into his body. His scar flamed and he felt a searing pain in it that completely blinded him for a moment.
"You fail to understand the situation, boy!" said Voldemort, his red eyes boring into Harry's. "You will be joining me whether it is of your own free will or not."
Harry's world became Voldemort's eyes. He could see nothing else but the menacing and deadly look in them. He glared back into them with defiance in his own eyes.
"You have too much of your fathers in you, Harry Potter. All the Potters were too brave and noble for their own good. Never believed for a moment that they could fall into Darkness. They were so naïve in their belief that they would only ever produce wizards or witches who would be servants of the Light. They were wrong for Darkness dwells within you, Harry Potter, given to you by your true father. Do you think your saintly father would be proud of you for standing bravely in the face of an enemy? Do you really believe he would if he knew whose son you really were? I think not."
The color drained from Harry's face for an instant and through a haze of pain that had already passed his threshold for dealing with it he saw Voldemort's cruel smile.
"Liar!" he said as he spat in Voldemort's face.
Voldemort backhanded him hard and he fell to the floor stunned. Harry felt himself beginning to black out and just before the darkness rose to claim him he heard Voldemort say:
"This will be the last chance you'll have for rest, son of Grindelwald the fallen Potter."