Chapter Nineteen
Chromo Alethio
"Come, Harry," demanded Voldemort, stepping into the hemisphere.
"No," replied Harry, feeling stupid. Suddenly, he felt his legs seized by great invisible hands, and looked down to see himself walking reluctantly into the dome. The faces around him brushed his body with feather-light touches. "Just wait," he whispered to them, not sure of what to do, and then he was inside the dome.
"No!" cried Cho, and she ran into the enclosure. Harry caught her and held her hand. They looked through the milky-transparent walls to see the others following, and soon, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Draco, Harry, Cho, and Voldemort were in the circle. Only Llewellyn remained on the outside, sitting cross-legged next to Nagini with her face in her hands.
Voldemort looked at the others carefully. "I see that you treasure other's lives over your own, and that is a foolish mistake. Alas, it will be your most fatal." He smiled his evil smile again, and the students shuddered.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort began, addressing him directly. "I still don't know just why I couldn't defeat you on that night more than fifteen years ago. Now, it's irrevelant, as all I am doing now is working through your defenses to finally get you out of all my plans. I have conquered your mother's counterspell," he said with a smirk, touching Harry's face to give him another shock of pure pain to his scar. "Now, all that lies between us is our wands." He brought out his wand. "But I have found a way to defeat even this protection of yours.
"Avada Kedavra!" he cried, and the seven stared in disbelief as the green light at the end of his wand appeared, and then fizzled out as if it had never been cast.
"Interesting, isn't it, to see the most potent of the Unforgivable Curses as useless as a fake wand? This is the Chromo Alethio room, often discussed in magical theory, but never created througout all of history - until now. Many lives have gone into the making of this room." Harry, with a rising ache in his scar and his stomach, realized where those missing people had gone.
"You will find that this is a zone where magical forces have been, in a sense, bent. Conventional magic, channeled through magical creatures - such as unicorn tail hairs or dragon heartstrings - is entirely null and void. In this space, it is only your personal magic, contained in your body, that will affect anything."
Voldemort raised his hands, and they saw that they seemed to be giving off a thick black smoke. Harry looked down to see that his palms were starting to glow with a reddish light. With a high-pitched laugh, Voldemort twitched his hands, and the black smoke grew more solid, twisting into thick black ropes, that shot out and wrapped around Harry's neck.
Harry feebly raised his hands, but when he tried to twitch them like Voldemort did, only harmless red sparks appeared. The black ropes began tightening, and Harry was starting to go black. His scar hurt like mad, and all he could do was toss trifling little red balls of fire at Voldemort. From lack of oxygen, "This is a bad way to go," was all that his mind could say to him when he tried to think.
Suddenly, he saw green light to his left combine with his own red, turning into a larger yellow fireball. The yellow fireball hit one of the black smoke ropes, loosening his hold just enough for Harry to see Draco throwing the green flames. The other five caught on, and rapidly, the dome was full of color : Neville's yellow, Ginny's purple, Hermione's amber, Ron's orange, Cho's blue, Draco's green, and Harry's red.
Now, Harry was entirely free from Voldemort's black smoke, and the Dark Lord was backing away from the differently colored lights into an increasingly small space. He couldn't hide the surprise and worry on his face for much longer, and the seven students saw that he was getting desperate.
"Potter. I admit defeat," said the Dark Lord finally. The seven students lowered their hands and looked at each other happily. "Fools!" cried Voldemort, and suddenly, the black smoke ropes bound them all together into a constricting circle, with their backs up against each other.
"I simply cannot believe you thought you could come up against me for a fifth time and get rid of me, Potter. Now, there lies nothing between your life and your death. I have stripped away all your defenses. You are a tiny worm under the heel of my boot. Will you beg for mercy or die with the nobility of losing a well-fought battle, Potter?"
Harry said nothing, just held onto the knot of everyone's hands in the center of the circle.
"Answer me!" Voldemort demanded.
"You're wrong," said Harry calmly.
"What did you say?" replied the Dark Lord, his snake-like nostrils flaring.
"I said you're wrong." He waited a second, and then - "NOW!"
The seven raised their hands in unison, and a blast of pure white light emanated from the hole formed by everyone's backs. The white fireball surrounded Voldemort, blinding him and making him release the black smoke. Voldemort screamed and backed into the edge of the dome, the milky faces attacking him. He raised his wand to try and ward them off, but there only came futile phoenix song intermingling with the Dark Lord's screams. He finally broke through the barrier.
"I'LL GET YOU, POTTER!" he howled, and then he Disapparated with an ominous popping sound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before he knew what was going on, Cho was hugging and kissing him, crying. He looked at her, confused. "What's wrong?"
"W-w-w-we d-d-d-did it!" she sobbed. "We went against You-Know-Who and survived!"
Harry started laughing and crying at the same time, and saw that Hermione and Ron, and Neville and Ginny were also crying and hugging and laughing and smiling and just being generally confused about the whole situation. Llewellyn stepped through the boundary, and she and Draco merely hugged. Each had suffered physically and mentally, far exceeding previous experiences, and they could only console each other.
The eight looked around them to see the faces of the Chromo Alethio room, all of them with a look of happiness and pride on their features. Harry stepped through them, and the rest of the living followed him. Harry spoke to the faces.
"I don't know how to let you go to wherever it is you need to go, but if you need permission or something, please just leave. You shouldn't be here."
The faces nodded, and with a flash of grey light and gust of wind, the dome seemed to unwind, and nearly two dozen ghosts appeared and floated up through the earth ceiling. The eight looked at each other, and at the entranceway to the egg.
"How are we ever going to convince them that we battled You-Know-Who?" asked Cho, walking through the tunnel.
"Dumbledore will believe us, but probably no one else," answered Harry.
"I know how we'll convince them," said Draco suddenly. The others looked at him, and he lifted up the sword on the ground. "Look at the hilt."
They peered closely.
Salazar Slytherin.
Chromo Alethio
"Come, Harry," demanded Voldemort, stepping into the hemisphere.
"No," replied Harry, feeling stupid. Suddenly, he felt his legs seized by great invisible hands, and looked down to see himself walking reluctantly into the dome. The faces around him brushed his body with feather-light touches. "Just wait," he whispered to them, not sure of what to do, and then he was inside the dome.
"No!" cried Cho, and she ran into the enclosure. Harry caught her and held her hand. They looked through the milky-transparent walls to see the others following, and soon, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Draco, Harry, Cho, and Voldemort were in the circle. Only Llewellyn remained on the outside, sitting cross-legged next to Nagini with her face in her hands.
Voldemort looked at the others carefully. "I see that you treasure other's lives over your own, and that is a foolish mistake. Alas, it will be your most fatal." He smiled his evil smile again, and the students shuddered.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort began, addressing him directly. "I still don't know just why I couldn't defeat you on that night more than fifteen years ago. Now, it's irrevelant, as all I am doing now is working through your defenses to finally get you out of all my plans. I have conquered your mother's counterspell," he said with a smirk, touching Harry's face to give him another shock of pure pain to his scar. "Now, all that lies between us is our wands." He brought out his wand. "But I have found a way to defeat even this protection of yours.
"Avada Kedavra!" he cried, and the seven stared in disbelief as the green light at the end of his wand appeared, and then fizzled out as if it had never been cast.
"Interesting, isn't it, to see the most potent of the Unforgivable Curses as useless as a fake wand? This is the Chromo Alethio room, often discussed in magical theory, but never created througout all of history - until now. Many lives have gone into the making of this room." Harry, with a rising ache in his scar and his stomach, realized where those missing people had gone.
"You will find that this is a zone where magical forces have been, in a sense, bent. Conventional magic, channeled through magical creatures - such as unicorn tail hairs or dragon heartstrings - is entirely null and void. In this space, it is only your personal magic, contained in your body, that will affect anything."
Voldemort raised his hands, and they saw that they seemed to be giving off a thick black smoke. Harry looked down to see that his palms were starting to glow with a reddish light. With a high-pitched laugh, Voldemort twitched his hands, and the black smoke grew more solid, twisting into thick black ropes, that shot out and wrapped around Harry's neck.
Harry feebly raised his hands, but when he tried to twitch them like Voldemort did, only harmless red sparks appeared. The black ropes began tightening, and Harry was starting to go black. His scar hurt like mad, and all he could do was toss trifling little red balls of fire at Voldemort. From lack of oxygen, "This is a bad way to go," was all that his mind could say to him when he tried to think.
Suddenly, he saw green light to his left combine with his own red, turning into a larger yellow fireball. The yellow fireball hit one of the black smoke ropes, loosening his hold just enough for Harry to see Draco throwing the green flames. The other five caught on, and rapidly, the dome was full of color : Neville's yellow, Ginny's purple, Hermione's amber, Ron's orange, Cho's blue, Draco's green, and Harry's red.
Now, Harry was entirely free from Voldemort's black smoke, and the Dark Lord was backing away from the differently colored lights into an increasingly small space. He couldn't hide the surprise and worry on his face for much longer, and the seven students saw that he was getting desperate.
"Potter. I admit defeat," said the Dark Lord finally. The seven students lowered their hands and looked at each other happily. "Fools!" cried Voldemort, and suddenly, the black smoke ropes bound them all together into a constricting circle, with their backs up against each other.
"I simply cannot believe you thought you could come up against me for a fifth time and get rid of me, Potter. Now, there lies nothing between your life and your death. I have stripped away all your defenses. You are a tiny worm under the heel of my boot. Will you beg for mercy or die with the nobility of losing a well-fought battle, Potter?"
Harry said nothing, just held onto the knot of everyone's hands in the center of the circle.
"Answer me!" Voldemort demanded.
"You're wrong," said Harry calmly.
"What did you say?" replied the Dark Lord, his snake-like nostrils flaring.
"I said you're wrong." He waited a second, and then - "NOW!"
The seven raised their hands in unison, and a blast of pure white light emanated from the hole formed by everyone's backs. The white fireball surrounded Voldemort, blinding him and making him release the black smoke. Voldemort screamed and backed into the edge of the dome, the milky faces attacking him. He raised his wand to try and ward them off, but there only came futile phoenix song intermingling with the Dark Lord's screams. He finally broke through the barrier.
"I'LL GET YOU, POTTER!" he howled, and then he Disapparated with an ominous popping sound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before he knew what was going on, Cho was hugging and kissing him, crying. He looked at her, confused. "What's wrong?"
"W-w-w-we d-d-d-did it!" she sobbed. "We went against You-Know-Who and survived!"
Harry started laughing and crying at the same time, and saw that Hermione and Ron, and Neville and Ginny were also crying and hugging and laughing and smiling and just being generally confused about the whole situation. Llewellyn stepped through the boundary, and she and Draco merely hugged. Each had suffered physically and mentally, far exceeding previous experiences, and they could only console each other.
The eight looked around them to see the faces of the Chromo Alethio room, all of them with a look of happiness and pride on their features. Harry stepped through them, and the rest of the living followed him. Harry spoke to the faces.
"I don't know how to let you go to wherever it is you need to go, but if you need permission or something, please just leave. You shouldn't be here."
The faces nodded, and with a flash of grey light and gust of wind, the dome seemed to unwind, and nearly two dozen ghosts appeared and floated up through the earth ceiling. The eight looked at each other, and at the entranceway to the egg.
"How are we ever going to convince them that we battled You-Know-Who?" asked Cho, walking through the tunnel.
"Dumbledore will believe us, but probably no one else," answered Harry.
"I know how we'll convince them," said Draco suddenly. The others looked at him, and he lifted up the sword on the ground. "Look at the hilt."
They peered closely.
Salazar Slytherin.