Chapter 26: Revealing Secrets

Chapter 26: Revealing Secrets

Harry spent the day wishing he had more than just a wand. His mind kept flashing back to his fourth year, the third task. It was all he could do to keep Cedric's lifeless countenance from haunting his thoughts.

It was amazing how those twenty-four hours were the longest of his life, yet seemed all too quick when they were up. Harry took a deep breath, firmly gripping his wand, and then headed through the bedroom door. He pushed all thoughts of failure from his mindset. It was not only his soul on the line, but Draco's. He could not lose.

"Are you ready, Harry?" the old wizard asked when the boy entered the main Hall.

Harry nodded in reply, unable to find his voice. Voldemort soon entered, arrogance donning his pallid face. They stood next to each other, facing the old wizard for their final instructions.

"The final task," the wizard began, "shall take two days. It is an obstacle course, but one of greater magnitude than any other. I suggest that you not try to speed ahead of your opponent right away. It will tire you too quickly, and you might find that you accomplish more if you help each other."

Harry suppressed a laugh at the thought. Voldemort, on the other hand, took no trouble to restrain his amusement. "You've got to be joking," he smiled maliciously.

The wizard continued as though he hadn't heard the man.

"You will find yourselves in a whole other world, and must find your way through, with the use of magic of course. Since it is a world cut-off from ours and completely unfamiliar to either of you, apparating and summoning will not work. On the second day, you'll find a sign indicating how much distance you have left. At the end of your journey, you will find that for which you battle. Since each of you have won a task, this shall be the deciding challenge."

Harry felt his heart pounding, but tried to keep calm. In his mind, he went over any spell that might possibly come in handy.

"I cannot intervene while you are at your task. Do not, however," the wizard warned, "think that once you are alone, you can kill your adversary. You shall share any pain or punishment you afflict upon him. I promise you, it is not worth it." The dark area that hid his face was turned to Voldemort as the wizard said this. There was little doubt in Harry's mind that this was a more than necessary tenet. "And now, go to the end of this hall and through the very last door. There, your task begins."

With that, the wizard disappeared, and Harry found himself looking down the great expanse of the dark hallway.

"Scared, Potter?" Voldemort hissed.

Harry didn't answer, just heading down the hall. Each step echoed against the stone walls, muffled slightly by the vast tapestries. And then, they stood before the door. Harry reached out his hand for the handle, but stopped, unsure.

"Then I'll go first," Voldemort sneered.

He opened the door, and then suddenly shoved Harry through. The boy tripped, fell roughly to the ground, and found himself staring over a cliff into sheer nothingness. He quickly scuttled away from the edge, trying to stop his heart from pounding.

"That was a close one, Potter," Voldemort smiled.

"Don't be so cocky. You would have died, too, if I fell."

Harry looked around him. The morning sun had blinded him a moment, but his eyes quickly adjusted. To his left and straight ahead were the edges of two stony cliffs, dropping off into clouds. To his right, however, the ledge widened quickly, and there grew a lush forest. Through the forest, they could clearly see a path. It was small, and a bit overgrown, but a path nonetheless.

"Which way to go…" Voldemort mused, "Why don't you go to the left, and I'll go to the right, and we'll see who makes it first."

"Funny," Harry said, heading down the path.

After an hour of silence, Harry was beginning to wonder when they task would start. They had so far come upon no obstacles. In fact, it had only been a pleasant walk, even downhill most of the way. Harry came upon a large stream, rushing quickly through the forest. It followed the path, and so Harry entertained himself by watching the teeming life in and about the water. Voldemort, on the other hand, walked with purpose and took in nothing of the sights around him.

After a while, Harry thought he heard something in the distance. It sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure from where. An airplane? Or a landslide, perhaps. He soon got his answer when the forest parted. There, the ground went off in a sharp cliff and the stream turned into a waterfall. It must have been over one hundred feet to the deep pool below.

"Dive right in, Potter," Voldemort sneered, starting to climb down the rocks by the waterfall.

Harry was about to follow suit when he realized that diving might not be such a bad idea. Sure it was high, but he'd flown higher than this. Heck, he'd almost fallen off his broom from higher than this. He took a breath for courage, and then leapt of the edge, trying to make his dive as straight as possible.

It seemed ages before he finally plunged into the cool water. The strength of the dive forced it into his mouth and it tasted even cooler than it felt, causing him to shiver slightly. He quickly kicked his way to the surface and came up just in time to hear a splash nearby. Voldemort soon came up gasping next to him.

"You're braver than I thought," Harry smiled, swimming to shore.

"I figured if you could do it, anyone could."

They didn't even take the time to dry off, just kept on walking. Harry didn't mind, for the day was growing hotter and the cool liquid felt good against his skin. They were soon again in the jungle, it reminding Harry stronger of pictures he'd seen of Africa. The path was gone now and they just went along by instinct.

Around noontime, Harry was pushing aside some leaves when a snake popped out at him, it hanging from the tree branches.

"Get out of here!" he yelled in shock, and the snake quickly obeyed, pulling itself up into the tree.

Voldemort was staring at Harry, his mouth slightly open.

"What?"

"You…speak Parsel Tongue…" Voldemort said in disbelief.

"Uh, yeah," Harry said, giving Voldemort a condescending look, "How else do you think I got in the Chamber?"

"The Chamber? You don't mean the Chamber of Secrets, do you?"

"What other Chamber could I be talking about? You were there when… Oh wait, you weren't."

Harry quickly decided that he shouldn't tell Voldemort more and hurried on ahead.

"My diary!" Voldemort exclaimed, "It worked, didn't it?"

"Yes."

Harry could have kicked himself for saying that, but somehow it just popped out. He kept walking quickly, but Voldemort had little trouble keeping up.

"Was anyone killed? How many were petrified?"

"No. Six if you count Mrs. Norris and Nick."

Again, Harry couldn't believe he was the one telling the Dark Lord all this.

"You got in the Chamber, did you say? What happened in there?"

Instead of saying what he wanted to say ("Defeating the basilisk was almost too easy."), Harry piped out, "I nearly died. The basilisk got a fang in me and the only thing that saved me was Dumbledore's phoenix."

Harry was aghast. What was going on? He turned away, ready to break out into a run, but Voldemort caught him by the arm. Pain suddenly shot through Harry's forehead and he cried out. By Voldemort's screams and the fact that he quickly let go, Harry knew the same pain was wrenching through the man's head. For a moment, they each caught their breath, then Voldemort looked up at Harry.

"So that's what happens when I touch you…"

"It also happens when-" Harry quickly clapped a hand over his mouth.

"What is with you, Potter?" Voldemort laughed.

"I don't want to be telling you this, but I can't help it!" he cried out with distress.

Voldemort gave him a strange look as Harry tried to think of what was going on. Was it… but how…? The lake? Possibly… Only one way to find out.

"What did you think of Dumbledore when you were at Hogwarts?" he asked the wizard.

"He was one of my favorite teachers, actu-" Voldemort quickly stopped, realizing what he was saying, "What in Salazar's name is going on?! How'd you do that Potter?!"

"I didn't," Harry said, shaking his head, "Veritaserum."

"You're off your rocker, Potter," Voldemort laughed, "First of all, how would we have got it in our system. Secondly, we'd be little more than zombies if we had had any."

"Not necessarily," Harry said, "If Veritaserum is watered down enough, it'll lose some of its potency. I think that the lake and waterfall had some of it in the water, and it was strong enough to make us tell the truth but not strong enough to render us thoughtless."

Voldemort gave him something of a worried look, then hurried off. Harry was about to ask him something, but realized there were some things he didn't want Voldemort knowing about and it would be best to leave it alone. He could just see himself telling Voldemort that Snape was a traitor. It almost made him shake at the thought.

Most of the day passed in silence, and with unexpected ease. Harry once came across a boggart, but knew how to defeat that so well that it was hardly a challenge at all. And that was about the most exciting thing that happened all day. The only thing that Harry found significantly odd was the fact that he had no need to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. In fact, he realized, he hadn't needed to do any of that for the whole time he had been in the Hall. He decided that since no real time was passing, his body didn't know the difference.

He'd lost Voldemort a long while ago, and thought himself better off for it. After all, who needed a snake creature following him around all day. The sun was setting, however, when his peaceful solitude was broken as he walked past a tree and head-on into Voldemort.

"Still here?" the man asked nastily, "I thought you'd be dead by now. Or given up, at the very least."

"Why should I? With an opponent like you, my chances of winning are almost guaranteed."

They glared at each other a moment, and then Harry saw something flash in Voldemort's eyes; something he was sure that hadn't shown in those eyes for a long time. Yet Harry couldn't pinpoint what it was. He concentrated on those red eyes, and the feeling in them grew. Memories of last year suddenly returned to him, and the year before…every year at Hogwarts came to him in one swoop of feeling. It was that feeling that now shown in Voldemort's eyes.

"You…you fear me…" Harry whispered, knowing it was true but unable to believe it.

"What?" Voldemort exclaimed, anger rushing to his eyes, but not extinguishing the hint of terror.

"You're…afraid. Of me."

"And why should I be afraid of some insignificant teenager?" Voldemort sneered, walking off.

Harry hurried after him. "You can't lie to me, you know. Admit it; you fear me."

Voldemort didn't answer, but increased the speed of his strides.

"Answer me yes or no; are you afraid of me?" Harry insisted.

"I have no re-"

"Just answer the question."

"You're pul-"

"Why are you having so much trouble? Just answer: yes or no."

"Look here, Pot-"

"Yes or no."

"YES!" he yelled, turning on the boy, "I fear you!"

After getting over his shock at such a forceful answer, Harry gave him a questioning look. "Why?"

"Why?!" Voldemort snarled, "For more than half my life, every person has looked at me with fear. Many tried to mask that with courage, yet fear always shined behind it. Even you always looked at me that way. But now… How can you have none of that? Your face holds no fear, only…defiance."

Harry was almost gaping now. How could he not fear Voldemort? He'd feared the man since the end of his first year at Hogwarts. And yet, as he looked at him, Harry knew it was true. He didn't feel fear of Voldemort anymore. Anger, yes, even pity perhaps, but no fear.

"And since we're having an interrogation, tell me why you do not fear me."

Harry wasn't sure of his answer at first. It had always been natural to fear Voldemort, but now… "You're human…" Harry said, almost thinking aloud, "Before the second trial, you always seemed an invincible monster, but now I know that somewhere in there…you're human."

Voldemort made something of a snorting growl and then headed off at double pace, Harry following right along.

"You know, there's something I wanted to ask-"

Voldemort screamed in rage before Harry could finish, and then the Dark Lord took off at a sprint. Harry laughed to himself, but calmly followed at a walk. It was near evening before they would meet up again.

As Harry came out of the forest, he found a vast ravine with a bridge of rope and wood going across it. On the other side was Voldemort. Harry realized with a jolt that the man had already cut through one of the ropes that held the handrails and was now working on the second. The boy ran up on to the bridge, quickly finding how unstable it was. He was holding onto the remaining handrail when it suddenly went limp in his hands and he almost fell off the bridge.

"Voldemort, you idiot!" Harry yelled, on his hands and knees, "You'll get us both killed!"

Harry quickly crawled across the bridge, glaring at the man.

"Too bad you're quick," Voldemort said, "or you would have had to find another way across."

"I could have easily majicked another way."

"Then why did you rush onto the bridge?"

Harry chose not to answer. The last rays of sunlight were quickly fading, so each decided to call it a night. Harry went as far away from Voldemort as he could without losing sight of him—for he didn't want the man to get a head start in the morning—and used his wand to make the grass into a very comfortable bed.

Sleep was just starting to creep up on Harry when he heard the scuffling. It sounded as though an animal were digging around a bit, trying to find a meal. He looked up lazily, and then froze. There, in the light of the full moon, he saw what could only be a werewolf. It was far enough away that it hadn't noticed him yet, and Harry wanted to keep it that way.

Slowly, he stood on his bed. He reached up to the tree branch above his head and tried to quietly pull himself up. Though he didn't get the quiet part down quite right, the werewolf didn't notice. Normally Harry would have left it at that, leaving Voldemort to find his own way out of the situation. But seeing as he wasn't sure whether or not Voldemort's death would mean his own, Harry nimbly made his way through the trees over to Voldemort's bed. There he grabbed a couple of acorns and began pelting the Dark Lord with them.

Voldemort looked up once or twice before sitting up angrily and yelling, "Stop it, Potter!"

The werewolf's howls rang through the night, letting Voldemort know he had made a big mistake. The wizard quickly sprang to his feet and scrambled up Harry's tree just as the werewolf caught up to him. For a moment it had him by the back of his robes, but a tearing sound rang through the air and the Dark Lord sat panting in the tree. Harry couldn't stop laughing.

"Idiot boy," Voldemort murmured, examining the hole torn out of the back of his robes.

Harry quickly went into a neighboring tree, having no wish to sleep so close to Voldemort, and quickly made a spell to soften its branches. He fell asleep quickly, knowing he'd need it for the day ahead.

~*~*~

A/N: *sigh* A disappointing lack of cliffie. Oh-dee-vell. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. One or two chapters and we'll find out. ^_^ I'm not even sure how it's going to end yet. But I do know what's going on w/ Draco and Azar. Bwa-ha-ha!!! ^-^

A HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE thank you to all my reviewers!!!

herm: Thanks!

princess of mordor: Hehehe… Thanks!

jona: Thanks! Go ahead and rush me, 'cause I ought to get this thing done. ^_^

Arabella Figg: Point of the 1st challenge: the old wizard dude was hungry. Who won: Harry, by a long shot. ^_^ Thanks!

Moon Warrior: *blushes* Ah, wowsers, thank you. And coming from such a wonderful author… *beams* Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. And no, your stuff could never be poo-poo! Do your evil laugh while throwing a dead frog around the room! Now THAT would be interesting. ^-^

Kelly: Aw, I'm sorry. Well, not really, but pretend I'm being nice. ^_^ Thanks!

Herm: Thanks! I'll try.

Swim Angel: Ah, yes, poor Draco. ^-^ Um…I have a napkin… ^-^ Thanks!

Sear: He was freaky… ^_^ Thanks!

Raven of Death: Yep, yep. I try and emphasize that a bit. "voldie 2 [attack of the clones!]" Oh, that cracks me up each time I read it! ^o^ I wish I had HP nightmares! ^-^ Thanks!

Kendal: Oh, no howlers, please! I couldn't stand the embarrassment if one of those came during my school lunch hour! ^-^ Thanks!!!

Roselyn Riddle: Not bad title… ^_^ Will Draco become evil. That is the question. ^-^ Thanks!

Dilandra: We'll find out more about Draco later. Thanks!

erin: Thanks!

sweets: Basically, Harry failed mentally, 'cause one blow knocked the determination right out of him. Of course, you can actually take from it whatever you want… It's not too specific. Thanks!

Julia: Heehee, you'll find out. Thanks!

Lonely Dove: Hehe…wait 'till fic 7. ^-^ Thanks!

minerva401: Thank you! Picture page? What picture page? Ooh, I'd like to know where! ^_^

Allison: Just remember, if you kill me then I can't finish the story! But…er, no, we're not going to find out what voldie went through. *ducks* Oh, think of your own dream! ^-^ Well, since Hermione was holding Draco's hand during the spell, she can feel him stronger than Ron can. And I'm not going to answer that question, 'cause it'll give too much away. ^_^ But I assure you, Draco's very capable of joining V. *mwa-ha-ha* Hehe, and I'm not saying anything about Azar. ^_^ Thank you!!! And I would have delved more into Harry's psyche, but I'm not a master at that like you are!

Well, be excellent to each other!

-Ady