Disclaimer: Not mine, except what you don't recognize, you know the drill.
A/N: Me again, *waits for people to scroll down to escape the insanity*
WARNING: This part is very dark, the Forest of Souls is a horrific place, and Harry sees some things that gave me chills just thinking about, I'm sorry, but trust me there will be a happy ending to this story, I promise. This the only dark part really, so after this, the worst is mostly over.
Sirius: Now on with the thank yous, and the story!
Yep, Sirius new nickname is Shadow, and sadly, Voldemort is after him. Can't go into too much detail, sorry. Thanks for putting me on favs!
Seeker_2000: Nah, good question! Thanks!
Lord of the Net: Yep! Sure, I'll check out your story.
Lucky Woods: Dancing cats?! Well, technically the Guardian is just currently in the shape of a cat, but who's being technical?
Free Padfoot: Thanks!
*Wolf's Cry*: Yep, a cat! But Isis has a lot of pride, a lot like Sirius.
Kacie Potter: Thank you so much!
~*Dumbledore's True Love*~: Thanks, I'm glad you like Remus's new nickname.
Sandrine Black: Wow! I'm glad you liked chapter 8, and you're Indy fan! That's great! I'll try and keep up the good work on the characterization.
jona: We learn a bit more about the soul bonding in this chapter.
Berkeley Halperin: I totally forgot about Evie's white cat! *bangs head on keyboard* Thanks for reminding me. Good job!
Sakuya Hecila: Thank you!
sweets: Sorry, this chapter took longer then I expected, a lot of questions will be answered in this chapter, but a lot will arise too. Your mind will be getting a work out.
James Bond: Now where would the fun be in that? Okay, Isis does transform, but not in this chapter.
vmr: Thanks!
Kelzery: Thank you!
Tschubi-chan: Of course, I'll write a stand alone about Harry getting the flu, no problem. I have your greatest respect? I'm honored, I really am, thank you so much!
"WHAT!?" Sirius snapped.
"I'm serious, Sirius," Harry said, undaunted by Sirius's obvious disbelief. "I'll prove it to you."
"I don't doubt you, Harry, it's just a little far-fetched, that's all," Sirius assured him, but Harry wasn't listening.
"See, it says it right here, ' Two away, three across, on a casket, in a white, is where ICE IS.' Two away means two streets away form Privet Drive, three across means if you were walking from the corner you would have to past three houses before coming to Mrs. Figg's, on a casket refers to Casket Lane, and in a white, well she does live in a white house, and if you say ICE IS very fast it sounds like Isis, which is the name of her cat. Not to mention, France is located south of England quite like, 'I am a stranger from the south seeking the survivor. You are from the north, the survivor, whom I seek, '" Harry finished up.
Sirius, and Remus were speechless for a moment, in absolute awe of Harry.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant," Sirius said, beaming at his godson.
Harry let a small smile cross his face.
"But two questions, what's that thing you're holding, and how did you get a cat from all of this?" Sirius asked.
"This thing is the seal from the letter with the poem, see it's a white cat with glowing green eyes," Harry explained while showing Sirius, and Remus the seal. "And for the next part you better sit down."
They, obediently, sat down, giving Harry their full, and undivided attention.
"The Dursleys left me at Mrs. Figg's house, again, and there was a blackout. I was in another
room, or the basement, and there was this ghostly green light ahead of me, leading me back to
Mrs. Figg. It wasn't until I was in the kitchen, and Mrs. Figg had lit some candles that I realized
what I had been following, Isis, one of her cats. He's white,
Sirius, and Remus remained speechless.
A thought suddenly occurred to Harry, "I bet that's why Mrs. Figg was at Hogwarts, she was talking with Flitwick about protection charms for Isis."
Sirius grinned slyly, so did Remus, "He's becoming smarter then us, Padfoot. "
"Yeah, but we can do an I. Q. test on him later."
"Here Harry, don't lose it," Remus handed the seal back to Harry.
Sirius tossed Remus his wand, and picked up Harry's that he was borrowing, and flicked it the at the fire, which lit immediately,"Right now, we have a trip to take."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mrs. Figg's living room was a black as pitch, as Harry looked around the room hoping- no-- knowing that there would be a source of light. Green light.
"Arabella?" Remus called into the darkness, Harry shushed him.
"Meow!" a white cat mewed, bringing attention to itself, and it's eyes that seemed to glow.
"Hello Isis, remember me? It's Harry," Harry offered his hand to the cat who sniffed it, and
purred. "Good boy, oh, and nice disguise by the way,
Isis hissed, the green glow that it's eyes gave off intensified, then it said in quite a human voice,
"I knew you'd figure it out, eventually,
Sirius's eyes widened to the size of saucers, Harry's brilliant green eyes were also glowing! A ghostly, unnaturally bright green glow.
"What do you want of me?" Isis said in his silky voice.
"Since, I'll only have about four days to live, how about just telling me where
"No, I will lead you to it, but
"And
"The Forest of Souls, which from the time that part of the Eye touched your body has been accessible to humans," Isis leapt off his perch on a chair to Harry's shoulder. "But won't be liveable for another day, or two."
"Do you mean that we should waste an entire day, or two?" Harry stammered.
"Well if you want to put it that way, or we could always speed up time," Isis purred. "Though we will lose this day, and next one completely."
"Er . . .Sirius, what do you think?" Harry asked. He really didn't want to spend two of the last days of his life lounging around ticking off the hours.
"It's up to you," Sirius replied.
"Professor?"
"I agree with Sirius."
Isis looked at Harry, his tail flicked back, and forth, "You must understand that the Eye is a part of you, you must trust that part of you, now."
Harry felt the green light coming from his eyes, wrapping around him, telling him that the sooner the got to the Forest of Souls the sooner they would get to the Eye. He nodded to Isis, who leapt from his shoulder, to Sirius's, then to Remus's.
A green light filled the room, and before anyone felt, or, thought anything they were slammed to the ground sometime early on the morning of July 29.
"Ow!"
"Arg!"
"Yowl!"
"You guys make a great landing place!"
"SIRIUS!"
Sirius stood up, quickly noticing most of his body was on top of Harry. "Are you okay?"
They nodded. Isis climbed back onto Harry's shoulder, licking the air for one reason, or another.
"It'll take us a bloody day to cross this thing," Remus growled. "Not to mention deal with what's living in it."
"Then we best start now," Isis leapt from Harry's shoulder to a branch of a dead, and twisted tree. "I just hope the banshees aren't out this morning."
"I thought they only came out at night to claim the souls of the dead?" Harry asked Isis.
"Here it is always night, the only time any human can enter is the last days of July leading up to July 31, souls run wild, be careful, and watch your footing, they are hunting. Arm yourselves," Isis warned as he dropped to the ground, and began picking his way through the thick under brush.
"They are hunting," Sirius mimicked Isis, lighting the wand. "Hunting what?"
"Us, and the other humans in this forest," Isis hissed arching his back. "SHOW YOURSELF!"
A black sphinx lunged at Isis, who scratched the sphinx across the eyes. The sphinx cried in anguish, throwing her blackish greyish haired head back. The cry was sounded like a cross between a lioness's roar, and a women's scream. Her face was white as a ghost's, her lioness's body was also blackish grey, half of its tail was missed. Her deep sunken eyes were like granite, hard, and cold. And dead.
"Do not try that again," Isis scowled at the sphinx.
"What are you doing here," the sphinx hissed, her voice was like a snake's, and full of loathing.
"You know why we are here, Tartarus," Isis said.
"Soulers," the sphinx, Tartarus, snarled. "Answer my riddle correctly, and you will pass through my part of the forest without being attacked by my pride, answer wrong, and I will claim your souls as my own."
Isis nodded.
"I am neither alive nor dead. I do not wake, nor do I sleep. I am not man, or animal. I simply am. What am I?" Tartarus smiled at them, an ugly smile, before licking her lips suggestively.
"Bloody riddles," Sirius muttered, forcing his brain to concentrate on the riddle.
"A ghost," Harry said simply. "Ghost are neither alive, nor truly dead, because they still walk the Earth because they were not at peace when they died. They do not wake, nor sleep, and they are no longer man, or animal, because they do not have a body, heart, or blood they just are."
"Damn you!" Tartarus barred her teeth. "You will be my supper, Potter!"
"No, Tartarus, Harry answered correctly, you must let us pass unharmed," Isis said sternly. "You would be breaking your code if you, or any of your pride lay a paw on him."
Tartarus snapped her jaws, but stepped aside, "Let me warn my pride, first." Tartarus began to leave, but Sirius stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
"We may be Soulers, but we're not stupid, you're going to tell your attendant to warn your pride, and instead of telling him to leave us alone, you tell him to tell your pride to kill any Soulers that they see, and when we are good, and dead. You, and your pride cannot be blamed, your attendant will be because he so-calledly misinformed them. Tell your pride from here, they could here your call from a hundred miles away, and I doubt your part of the forest is that large," Sirius glared at the sphinx.
Tartarus, sacred code or not looked as if she wanted to kill Sirius.
"Now." Isis showed his claws once again. "Or I shall enjoy plucking out your eyes."
Tartarus threw her head back, and screamed, a scream that made the ground beneath them rattle. "Do not touch any Soulers that past through my domain, and if you do, you will be sent to the Pit," Tartarus's voice was magical magnified so it carried throughout the forest.
"Thank you, Tartarus, you will be rewarded," Isis nodded, then lead his companions into the Forest.
Tartarus's domain was really a barren field with littered with jagged cliffs from where blackish grey sphinxes missing various body parts glared down at them, and licked their lips.
"Harry," Isis said as soon as they were out of Tartarus's domain, and really in the Forest. "Stick close to Sirius, we are about to enter a very disturbing place, and I don't want you to be taken."
"Where are we going?"
"Dna Lofl Ostch Ildrensp Ar Ents," Isis said sorrowfully. Harry's expression remained blank. "You'll see."
"What's that sound?" Remus asked, it sounded like crying, but much shriller, more ear piecing.
"I always did dislike this part," Isis mutter under his breath.
No amount of warning could have prepared them for this place, it was what ghost stories were made of. Like horrific Christmas tree decorations bodies were hanging from the trees, the bodies of children.
Harry let out a small gasp, fighting down the urge to barf. "Are they dead?"
"No, just asleep, asleep for all eternity, until the Eye is destroyed," Isis frowned at the trees, before moving on.
Harry stared fixated at the trees, his feet refusing to move, he had to help these children, somehow, someway, anyway he could.
"Harry, pick up the pace!"
"Coming," Harry called back to Isis, and was about to follow him when he found his path blocked.
"Are you my son?" a woman who was blocking his path asked, from her skin to her robes, she was entirely grey, and didn't look entirely solid. "Are you?"
"No, I'm sorry, I'd love to help you look for him, but I really have to go," Harry tried to step back, but the woman had already grabbed his arm.
"Yes you are, Travis, you bad boy," the woman, though she didn't look solid, she was incredibly strong, and her grey talon like nails dug into Harry's soft flesh. "Time to go home."
"No, let me go, I'm not Travis, or whoever you're looking for, now please, let me go!" Harry tried to yank his arm free from the woman's iron grasp. "Let go!"
"Let him go," Sirius scowled at the women, who instantly recoiled.
"Are you his . . ." the woman shrieked, she had been caught.
"Yes, now get out of here." Sirius put an arm around Harry's shoulders, protectively. The woman ran for her life.
"What was that?" Harry said rubbing his arm where the woman scratched it.
"One of the parents whose child was taken away by Lurers, she went after her child, and ended up getting lured herself, this is where she was lured to." Isis sighed, he had climbed back on Sirius's shoulders. "There are parents just like her all over this part of the forest."
"Their children bodies are the ones hanging from the trees, aren't they?" Sirius raised his eyes to the branches, and shuddered, he gripped Harry's shoulder tighter.
"Yes, the parents will remain here forever looking for their children, but never finding them, until they become Lurers themselves, that women was half way through the transformation," Isis growled. "We must hurry, it only gets worse form here on in. Stay close to Harry, both of you, the last thing we need is to get lured."
"What could be worse then this?" Remus groaned hitting his head on a child's shoe.
"You'd be surprised what is in this Forest,"Isis said.
Lurers yelled insults at Sirius as he pasted, trying to distract his attention from Harry for all they needed was a moment to snatch him. They despised the fact that Sirius would not acknowledge them. "Their bonded!" one cried, a shrill cry that pieced their ears.
"We know that, fool!"
"Get out of here, Mudblood!"
"You can't protect him! We'll get him, you'll see!"
"You couldn't protect him, once, what makes you think you can now?"
Sirius ignored all of this, blocking it out.
Harry looked around at the Lurers, they were beautiful, no wonder people followed them, but beauty could be deadly. He, Harry, had almost become the next Christmas tree ornament.
"Still with us?" Remus said softly.
"Yeah, he saved my life, again," Harry whispered so Sirius couldn't hear, his respect for his godfather had double in the past few days.
"You'd do the same for him."
"And we now leave that delightful part of this bloody forest behind," Sirius ducked a razor sharp stone that one of the Lurers had thrown at him, it landed in a tree branch, breaking the it off the tree."What's next Isis?"
"Every forest has a river, this one's has overflowed, since last time I was here," Isis's glowing eyes fell to the ground.
"Oh, rats!" Sirius held his head in his hands. "It had to be rats!"
Sirius was right, crawling on the ground, in the trees, over their feet, were rats, rats eating other
rats, rat droppings, rat bones, the ground was covered with rat blood along with more
"A river of rats," Remus said darkly.
Now, Harry was sure he was going to barf, as a rat head rolled across his foot.
"
"Harry, show them your neck," Isis mumbled.
"So they can bite it off?" Sirius snarled.
"
Harry, reluctantly, pulled down his shirt collar to expose the emerald embedded at the base of his neck.
The rats hissed, and scuttled away leaving a nice little pathway that was strewn with rat droppings, skulls, decapitated bodies, skeletons, dead rat bodies that were half decomposed, and the ground was so saturated with rats blood, and other things, so that it squelched when you walked on it.
"Lovely," Sirius said, sarcasm thick in his voice as his foot squelched in the muck.
Their trek through the Rataton River Valley was one of disgusting proportions, and it took them
far into the night, and
Remus, and Sirius did a cleaning, and an disinfecting charm on Harry, Isis, and themselves so all the muck came off, and so did the harmful germs.
Black. Darkness. Silence. Nothing. Were probably the best words to describe the place they were at now, it was shrouded in complete darkness, here, and there were twisted, gnarled, demoniac looking trees, and it was totally silent.
"The Nothingness," Isis said giving a name to the place they were at now. "No birds, no insects, no noise whatsoever, silence is mind-nerving, but a great place to sleep. Though, it would be safer to sleep in the trees."
Trees, great, just great, if I never climb a tree again it'll be to soon, Sirius thought as he climbed one of the twisted, and gnarled trees. "Isis, are you sure this thing won't collapse?"
"Of course, I used to sleep in these things all the time, and I was a lion at the time," Isis hopped from branch to branch, resting at the knot of the tree. "What? I had to check if the Eye was okay, and it's nothing, honestly."
As soon as the trio of wizards, and the cat were comfortable as one could be sleeping in a demoniac looking tree, Harry, and Remus drifted off to sleep, while Sirius, and his unlikely friend, Isis stayed awake, their minds to full of confusing thoughts to sleep.
"The Lurers are out, again," Isis said matter-of-factly. "They've grown more daring in these past days."
Sirius, instinctively, pulled Harry closer to him. Just the idea of Harry getting lured was enough to send chills down his back.
Lurers, were of course, the worse kind of magical beast out there, though they really couldn't be classified as a magical beast, because they changed form regularly. They were named appropriately enough because that's what they did, lured children from their homes, and brought them to their lair, no one knew what the Lurers did with the children they took because no one ever saw them again. The parents that went after their children usually getting lured themselves, and transformed into Lurers. Yes, Lurers had to be the worst.
"You are troubled?" the cat asked.
"You could say that," Sirius looked out into the Nothingness, wondering."Why does it have to be Harry?"
"Because he was born at the exact moment the eye was at it's strongest."
"His age has something to do with it too, 15 months, 15 years, they're intertwined," Sirius leaned back against a branch. "Why did that Lurer run like that? Why didn't she just lure me, too?"
"Harry's your godson right? Well, then you two under went a soul bonding I'm guessing, there's a special magic that connects you to him. She sensed it, that's why she ran. It's not like you were a name that was just picked out of a hat or some guy they owed a favor, James Potter deemed you worthy to protect his son, and that's a decision that should not be taken lightly."
Sirius was about to say that he'd never take his responsibility as Harry's godfather lightly, but Isis pointed it out first.
"Of course you'd never take it lightly, I'm just pointing out how important a part you play in his life, I've seen him grow up deprived of love, friendship, and a person to confide in, you fill that void. You are, forgive the expression, but the only father he's ever known."
Sirius raised his head to look the cat straight in the eye.
Soft chocolate brown met glowing emerald green.
"Watch over him, he's something that you don't come across every wand wave," Isis said before climbing to a higher branch, the conversation was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun rose the next morning, a black, charred, sun that gave off no light, as if taunting Harry, blatantly saying this is your last day to live, hope you enjoy it.
Wind that smelled of sulfur blew his hair back, revealing his scar, his eyes were glowing again, but this time duller.
Harry groaned softly, he felt sick, very sick, all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. He felt like his life was leaving his body.
"Do you feel alright, Harry?" Remus asked.
"I'm fine," Harry answered, holding back the pain in his voice.
"The Eye's power is getting to him," Isis purred, noticing Remus putting a hand on Harry's forehead. "One moment."
"Excuse me?" Remus frowned at the heat radiating from the boy.
"As the Eye becomes stronger Harry may experience some side-effects," Isis pressed a paw on Harry's forehead. Ridding him of the fever.
"Thanks," Harry said, he looked much better, but his eyes were still dull.
"Today, we pass through the Nothingness, and the Graves, finally arriving at Merlin's Tower, the exact place where Merlin created the Eye," Isis said, then added, "Hopefully before midnight."
The sick feeling came back to Harry as he was climbing down the tree, he slid about five feet, before grabbing a branch, and regaining his balance.
"Harry? You okay?" there was a panicky edge to Sirius's voice from the ground.
"Yep, just lost my balance for a sec," Harry continued his descent from the twisted tree. They started out into the Nothingness.
Silence isn't as golden as some think, it's downright annoying! They all began talking very loudly just to make sure they hadn't gone deaf. Sirius, and Remus had lit their wands to their fullest extent, barely breaching in the never-ending darkness. They had been walking for three hours when they found their path blocked.
"Another tree," Harry groaned, as he stared at the black tree that had fallen right across their path. He was beginning to hate trees.
They climbed over the trunk, and jumped from the top. Harry landed overbalanced, and stumbled a few steps.
The truth was Harry hadn't stumbled because he was overbalanced, it was because it felt like someone had stabbed a knife in his side, then swiftly taken it out. The pain was real, his hand went to his side, blood was soaking through his dark blue shirt.
He blinked.
The blood was gone, but the pain was still there.
"Harry," Sirius took the hand that was a moment ago covered in blood, and examined it carefully, with a gentleness that Harry had never felt before.
"It is growing stronger," Isis started backing up. "We must get going, before it tries to effect him again."
Remus held his wand higher, "There's a patch of fog coming in."
"It's not fog," Isis's voice quivered, "It's banshees."
"Banshees?" Harry said sharply.
"Yes, now time to run," Isis's fur began to stand up straight.
Before anyone could utter another word, a shriek wailed through the air, and at least a thousand others echoed it.
"RUN!" Isis bounded across the Nothingness, the humans following him.
The shrieks grew in volume, making their brains rattle, their ear drums pound, their brains
Isis swerved into a gully, the wizards leapt in after him. Almost as soon as they entered the gully, the wailing stopped.
"A misnomer," Sirius snapped, rubbing his skull. "This place isn't Nothingness, it's a bloody misnomer!"
"A what?" Harry asked.
"It's the opposite of what it sounds like, it's not Nothingness if banshees live here, it's
"I forgot about this place, it's not the Nothingness, it's er . . .Bansheeville."
A look of complete astonishment covered Sirius's face, before he . . .laughed. The same crazed
laugh that he had laughed nearly 14 years ago. "You f-f-for-g-g-got? Oh, that's funny, really it is,
is there any other things you've
"
"Sirius, Isis calm down," Remus warned. "No one's perfect, Sirius, you know that better then anyone here." Sirius blushed scarlet. "It's nearing noon, as we speak, and we don't know how much more of Bansheeville we have to walk through, so I suggest we get going. Isis, you take the lead."
Harry, Sirius, and Isis stared at Remus.
"Let's go, chop chop," Remus started climb out of the gully. Isis, Harry, and Sirius scrambled after him.
They had, apparently, ran straight to the heart of Bansheeville in their escape from the Bansheeville choir. As they walked Harry felt his scar tingle several times, but shrugged it off. Oh! Only if Harry had looked behind him once! Just once! Once when he felt his scar tingle, he would have seen a banshee pointing out a tower to something or someone.
The sun was now beginning to set, Sirius, Remus, and Isis's five o'clock shadows had lengthened, and the smell of decaying flesh hit Harry's nostrils like a ton of bricks, "The Graves, I'm guessing."
The ground was not made of dirt, or stone, but of ashes, and tears. Mammoth headstones rose up from the ground like mountains. The air, was of course filled with the scent of decaying bodies.
"Well, this looks like such a cheery place, doesn't it?" Remus said, playing the light of his wand over the graves.
CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!!!!!!
The plots of ashes at their feet were being dug up, from the inside! Out from the ashes came skeletal hands, then the heads, then the upper body, torsos, lower body, legs, and finally they were fully out. Skeletons with bits of flesh still hanging from their bones.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Sirius said sardonically, drawing Harry's wand. "These fear the Eye, right?"
"Yes, and no," Isis did a little side-step. "Right now they do . . ."
The sun suddenly went out as if it was a flashlight that had been flicked off.
The skeletons reached back down into their graves, and pulled out swords, daggers, shields, and battleaxes. These skeletons were an army of Camelot!
"And now they don't."
"This should be easy enough, we can actually curse these guys,
The skeleton shook it's head as if shaking the spell off, and continued marching.
"They are immune to all magic except the Eye, it's the only way of controlling them," Isis said.
"Well, thanks for telling me," Sirius shoved the wand back in his pocket. "This should be fun." He threw a punch at one of the skeletons, knocking it's head off. It kept walking, raising it's battle-axe. "Nuh uh!" He jumped to the side, the axe barely missing his leg.
"STOP!" Harry commanded.
The army skidded to a halt.
"I didn't mean . . .I was joking," Harry stared at the stationary knights.
Isis nodded, knowingly, at Harry. "Shall we continue?"
"I guess," Harry followed Isis.
Sirius, and Remus were whispering in hushed tones behind them.
"Something is up, Isis isn't telling us something," Sirius said, stubbornly.
"I have a bad feeling that James, and Lily found out more then they thought they did, they stumbled onto something serious, here," Remus mumbled. "Did you read the part when at midnight a stream of green light would shoot down from Sirius, the star not you, and hit the Eye's core activating it to summon the Army of the Dead?"
Harry concentrated on catching snatches of their conversation, ignoring the growing pain in his chest. An hour later, Harry felt horrible, his head ached, every bone in his body was in pain.
Sleep, his mind begged. Sleep, and the pain will go away.
"Yes," Harry mumbled as he felt his knees buckle, and he fell to the ground. And he knew no more.
"Harry?" Sirius gasped, kneeling next to his collapsed godson, shaking him.
"Oh no!" Isis smacked himself in the forehead.
"What?!" Remus snapped.
"You have to get him to the tower
"Why?" Sirius asked, pulling Harry's head into his lap.
"Because he was born the at the
Now Sirius understood, until now the Eye had been slowly swiping the life from Harry, and unless he got into that tower within the next two minutes, just like in the dream he had had back on Privet Drive, Harry would die in his godfather's arms.