Chapter 17: Removal
"Harry!"
"He moved! Look!"
"He had been unconscious for three days..."
"But he moved!"
"Oh. Harry?"
Harry could hear words from people around him, but his body did not want to move. He couldn't because he was very weak after being hit and drained by the Orb of the Phoenix. Still he wished he was able to answer to the ones around him...
"Harry! Are you awake?"
He was, but he couldn't say it...
"How could I be so stupid? Ennervate!"
But that was of no effect.
"Must be the grounds... They are always preventing weaker wizards from doing complicated spells..."
"Weaker wizard?" Harry started to underatand more than before. He now knew that the voice was Hermione's. She seemed upset because Erised called her a 'weak wizard'.
"No, not what you think..." said Erised. "It is that you are not as strong as others, and you are too young for that. This forest prevents you from doing the spell... Come, allow me."
Harry could hear some strange noises, like a strong wind blowing. Then he felt like floating in midair. It remembered him of Quidditch, riding his Firebolt. But he did not fly with a broom this time, and he felt much better like now. What feelig could it be? He still couldn't open his eyes.
"Erised! What is this?" asked Ron with a very scared voice.
"Oh don't worry. It is nothing..."
"Then why do you do it if it's nothing?"
"Don't annoy me now, or the spell will fail and I am pretty sure that we don't want it to fail..."
At last, the floating feeling was gone. The sound was fading off as well, and no one spoke anything. And he finally did what he was waiting for - he opened his eyes.
He was in the Dark Forest! But how did he get there? Maybe Erised knew a way of getting out of the cave...
Harry looked at the people around him. Erised was, indeed, in the middle of a spell. He looked like he couldn't continue the spell - drained and with no powers. His yellow eyes were closed and one of his fingers was pointing ot Harry. At least, his spell had an effect - it gave Hary some powers.
Harry was lying on the tall grass. It was very dark, the only light was Hermione's wand, which was surely enchanted with the Lumos spell. She was looking at Harry with relief. And that was right, Erised's spell was very close to failure, and after what he said, it could have been very bad.
Only then he started to understand better everything around. He noticed that Erised's skin was completely red... And he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"E- Erised..." Harry managed to say.
"Harry... Are you alright?" asked Ron, who was still scared.
"I'm fine," said Harry, "But what about Erised?"
No one moved. Erised looked like dead, but how could he die? He was a too strong mage to die. Or was he? Harry didn't know much about the magi... He had only met Erised. He was the only mage he had ever seen, if he didn't consider the mago-wizards, Chalcrad and himself.
"Ennervate!" said Hermione again, pointing to Ersied.
"No, he said it doesn't work..." Harry corrected her. "You are..." But he didn't feel like telling Hermione that she was too weak.
"I am what?" she asked.
"Er," said Harry, thinking. "Y-ou aaare not too... strong to do it." he managed to say.
Hermione didn't look pleased by this answer either. She turned her back, walked a few feet away, and then stopped. "Fine! I am too weak to do it! Then YOU try!" she said angry. Did she forget that Harry did lots of unusual things lately? Was she that angry, to forget who she was talking to?
Harry took his wand and pointed at Erised. He said, "Ennervate!" with a low voice. Nothing happened. Then he tried again, a bit louder, but it didn't do anything either. He thought for a moment... Hermione was likely to use Harry's words against him. He always could do another try, and he yelled, "ENNERVATE!" so loud that Ron pressed his hands to his ears. Hermione didn't look bothered by the yell.
And he did it. The ennervate spell worked, but it was reflected by Erised's body. "No..." said Harry, fearing that Erised could have died. But he had to do something to help. They were in the middle of the Dark forest, apparently lost. Erised seemed to be the only one who could know where they were. And the worst, he turned Hermione angry.
"What will we do now?" he asked angry with himself.
"Well..." said Hermione, confused.
Ron still didn't say a word. He seemed very quiet lately, rarely talking to them... he surely didn't like the adventures they were in. And Harry was the one who caused them to do it. If Voldemort didn't have his blood in his veins they could have been safe. They wouldn't be looking for strange, powerful magical artifacts in strange and dangerous places. But what the hell, he thought, he had to think of other important things, like getting out of the forest. With Erised gone, he still couldn't think of anything...
He knew that Erised was the only one with strong enough magic to get them out. Or was he? He completely forgot that he was a mago-wizard... Pity that he didn't know any mago-wizard spells...
Then it hit him. Someone told him that to do a mago-wizard spell he didn't have to know it. He had to know what spell he wanted ot do - its effect. And with that, anything else was done automatically. And, except teleportation, which he didn't even know the teleportation types, he knew only one thing except it.
Portals.
Portals were created by mago-wizards. He had to try it. And he tried to concentrate... Luckily, he managed to do it, even with all the things that happened recently. He pictured a portal, and he thought about a transporting one. He knew that the portals could do much more than transporting... like killing or cursing. Next he pictured Hogsmeade, and the portal exit inside it. His mind suddenly went blank.
He couldn't remember what he did next. His mind seemed somewhere else. And when he opened his eyes, he completely forgot what he was doing. Why was he in the forest? Oh, he remembered, he was lost. But he couldn't remember what he did after arguing with Hermione.
He saw Hermione and noticed that she was red... though not red like Erised's skin. She was completely red, her clothes, her skin...
"Harry?" she asked.
"Uh - W - What happened? Why are you red?"
"Me? Am I red? Oh, it's just the portal light..."
"Portal?" He still didn't remember. He thought more, concentrated harder to remember anything about portals.
"Yes, the portal you have just opened."
"Oh..." he said, remembering everything. He stood up and saw Erised, who was glowing red... and his redness wasn't given by the portal.
"Ron, Hermione... Let's take Erised and throw him into the portal. Then it will be our turn to go..."
"Where ..." Ron asked.
"Hogsmeade."
He then walked towards Erised and throwed him in the portal. Ron and Hermione immediately stepped inside, too. And after that, Harry was alone in the forest. Something stopped him from entering. What and why?
"Here you are!" he could hear an unusual voice.
He turned back and saw nothing else than Tuz himself.
"I was looking for you. Well... I am here to take the Orb you have stolen! You weren't allowed ot get it and run out! Where is it?"
Harry didn't know... He hadn't seen the orb after he woke in the forest.
"Say it or you will regret that you ever took it away from us!"
"I..." Harry started to say but he was stopped,
"Slytherin took it from you? Don't tell me!"
"No..."
"THEN WHERE IS IT?" Tuz shouted while creating ten-inch long craws on the top of his thin hands. He jumped, ready to kill Harry... "SPIT IT OUT!"
"I don't know..." said Harry while Tuz attacked. Harry's hand moved by instinct, and he stopped the claw from piercing his stomach, but it was planted in his hand. Pain was rushing through him again... It wasn't a long time from the last time he was in horrible pain - it was just when Tuz shot him with the orb's energies in the Temple.
He was blanking out again... It surely was a poisoned claw or he couldn't feel that bad. Physical injuries didn't hurt like that... The scene reminded him of his fight with the basilisk. It was almost the same as this time. He had a poisoned claw planted in his hand... and he was blanking out as the last time... At least there was a bit of hope when he fought with the basilisk. He wished that Fawkes would come again to save him... but how could he.
Tuz was standing on top if Harry while he died in pain... What a terrible death, he thought.
Then he heard some pops. Someone was apparating... If Ron and Hermione reached Hogsmeade and saw that Harry wouldn't come, they would immediately call for help. He had finally thought that he was saved, when his scar started hurting badly. He looked, while his scar was burning and the poison was doing its job, to see who was apparating. And it was his worst fear: Voldemort was in the forest, with a small group of Death Eaters. Would he kill Tuz? Or would he take him as an ally?
He could hear that Voldemort was laughing...
"Avada Kedavra!" he said. Did he forget that he couldn't kill Harry? Or did he find a way of dealing with the connection between them?
Harry could hear screams of pain. His eyes were closed for a long time. Tuz fell to the ground. Tuz was Voldemort's target after all, not Harry. Then the pain in his scar stopped.
"Venenum Deffendo!" said Voldemort. Harry started to feel better. But why would Voldemort do that? Harry recognized the spell as an anti-poison one. Harry felt normal again. His scar didn't hurt, even with Voldemort around him... What was happening? Did they use the orb of the phoenix on Voldemort?
"Harry Potter... I am really angry about doing this, but it is a must... How can I be the best wizard of all times without the powers of one mago-wizard in my blood... And I need you alive! I am angry enough because I have lost Erised's powers. I think he died, or else I didn't feel as drained as I am now. Be sure that you were dead if I didn't have your blood inside me..."
Voldemort's cold voice was quite disturbing when it reached someone's ears. It was almost painful... and Harry didn't like it. But if Voldemort doesn't want to kill him, it can't be that bad, he thought.
"But you have to come with me. I sensed a strong magic somewhere around here and..." he paused for a while, turning to the Death Eaters. "Was the Orb of the Phoenix moved from the Viper Caves?"
How could Voldemort know where the Orb of the Phoenix was? The vipers told him that no one knows about the cave. And Voldemort knew even more than that.
"I know that you will use it on me... I am sure of it; why else would you take it? It does nothing good except curing... and taking energy from everything around. Now, Tell me, Harry... Where is it?"
Harry didn't know that, but even if he did, he wouldn't tell Voldemort something like that.
"WHERE IS IT?" he shouted. His Death Eaters were terrified as ever. Anytime, he could cast a crucio on any of them because of anger, needing a little pleasure...
"Crucio!" he said, but his wand wasn't pointed to his Death Eaters. Some of them were relieved when they saw that Harry was his target.
The familiar pain was piercing through him again... he couldn't scream because of it. He only had one thing in mind: a wish to die. He just wanted to die, as everyone who was put under the curse did. And Voldemort wouldn't stop it until Harry told him where the orb was, thing that was impossible because of two things: he didn't know and the pain was preventing him to say anything.
The pain stopped. Voldemort fell to the ground. And he saw exactly why. Erised came by a teleportation spell to them and shot a fire spell to Voldemort's back. The Death Eaters all turned to him. But they were too slow, and maybe scared by their lord. Without him, they were nothing... nothing compared to Erised. He still had a red skin.
He immediately put all the death eaters to rest(they were just unconscious, he couldn't kill that many wizards at once). "Harry, quick!" he said, after shooting some various spells that were meant to kill the Death Eaters - Voldemort seemed to deflect them. Everything was too weak for him.
After he killed some Death Eaters, Harry managed to get near him. "Come back and fight like a... mago-wizard!" said Voldemort with his cold voice.
Harry was sure that Erised wanted to take them to Hogsmeade, but he saw that it wasn't that. He was using a strange spell, directed towards Voldemort. Erised's red skin was turning normal, while a strange red beam errupted from his hands. It was bigger and bigger, and after a moment, it hit Voldemort. That made him go unconscious, and Harry was sure that Erised had the orb of the phoenix's powers inside him... Harry's blood was, at least, removed from Voldemort's body. He was as good as dead now, even if he was a strong wizard before he had mage powers.
"Let's go!" said Erised. He used a strange spell and they were in Hogsmeade... It was time for long explanations, because Harry didn't know many things about what recently happened...
"Harry!"
"He moved! Look!"
"He had been unconscious for three days..."
"But he moved!"
"Oh. Harry?"
Harry could hear words from people around him, but his body did not want to move. He couldn't because he was very weak after being hit and drained by the Orb of the Phoenix. Still he wished he was able to answer to the ones around him...
"Harry! Are you awake?"
He was, but he couldn't say it...
"How could I be so stupid? Ennervate!"
But that was of no effect.
"Must be the grounds... They are always preventing weaker wizards from doing complicated spells..."
"Weaker wizard?" Harry started to underatand more than before. He now knew that the voice was Hermione's. She seemed upset because Erised called her a 'weak wizard'.
"No, not what you think..." said Erised. "It is that you are not as strong as others, and you are too young for that. This forest prevents you from doing the spell... Come, allow me."
Harry could hear some strange noises, like a strong wind blowing. Then he felt like floating in midair. It remembered him of Quidditch, riding his Firebolt. But he did not fly with a broom this time, and he felt much better like now. What feelig could it be? He still couldn't open his eyes.
"Erised! What is this?" asked Ron with a very scared voice.
"Oh don't worry. It is nothing..."
"Then why do you do it if it's nothing?"
"Don't annoy me now, or the spell will fail and I am pretty sure that we don't want it to fail..."
At last, the floating feeling was gone. The sound was fading off as well, and no one spoke anything. And he finally did what he was waiting for - he opened his eyes.
He was in the Dark Forest! But how did he get there? Maybe Erised knew a way of getting out of the cave...
Harry looked at the people around him. Erised was, indeed, in the middle of a spell. He looked like he couldn't continue the spell - drained and with no powers. His yellow eyes were closed and one of his fingers was pointing ot Harry. At least, his spell had an effect - it gave Hary some powers.
Harry was lying on the tall grass. It was very dark, the only light was Hermione's wand, which was surely enchanted with the Lumos spell. She was looking at Harry with relief. And that was right, Erised's spell was very close to failure, and after what he said, it could have been very bad.
Only then he started to understand better everything around. He noticed that Erised's skin was completely red... And he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"E- Erised..." Harry managed to say.
"Harry... Are you alright?" asked Ron, who was still scared.
"I'm fine," said Harry, "But what about Erised?"
No one moved. Erised looked like dead, but how could he die? He was a too strong mage to die. Or was he? Harry didn't know much about the magi... He had only met Erised. He was the only mage he had ever seen, if he didn't consider the mago-wizards, Chalcrad and himself.
"Ennervate!" said Hermione again, pointing to Ersied.
"No, he said it doesn't work..." Harry corrected her. "You are..." But he didn't feel like telling Hermione that she was too weak.
"I am what?" she asked.
"Er," said Harry, thinking. "Y-ou aaare not too... strong to do it." he managed to say.
Hermione didn't look pleased by this answer either. She turned her back, walked a few feet away, and then stopped. "Fine! I am too weak to do it! Then YOU try!" she said angry. Did she forget that Harry did lots of unusual things lately? Was she that angry, to forget who she was talking to?
Harry took his wand and pointed at Erised. He said, "Ennervate!" with a low voice. Nothing happened. Then he tried again, a bit louder, but it didn't do anything either. He thought for a moment... Hermione was likely to use Harry's words against him. He always could do another try, and he yelled, "ENNERVATE!" so loud that Ron pressed his hands to his ears. Hermione didn't look bothered by the yell.
And he did it. The ennervate spell worked, but it was reflected by Erised's body. "No..." said Harry, fearing that Erised could have died. But he had to do something to help. They were in the middle of the Dark forest, apparently lost. Erised seemed to be the only one who could know where they were. And the worst, he turned Hermione angry.
"What will we do now?" he asked angry with himself.
"Well..." said Hermione, confused.
Ron still didn't say a word. He seemed very quiet lately, rarely talking to them... he surely didn't like the adventures they were in. And Harry was the one who caused them to do it. If Voldemort didn't have his blood in his veins they could have been safe. They wouldn't be looking for strange, powerful magical artifacts in strange and dangerous places. But what the hell, he thought, he had to think of other important things, like getting out of the forest. With Erised gone, he still couldn't think of anything...
He knew that Erised was the only one with strong enough magic to get them out. Or was he? He completely forgot that he was a mago-wizard... Pity that he didn't know any mago-wizard spells...
Then it hit him. Someone told him that to do a mago-wizard spell he didn't have to know it. He had to know what spell he wanted ot do - its effect. And with that, anything else was done automatically. And, except teleportation, which he didn't even know the teleportation types, he knew only one thing except it.
Portals.
Portals were created by mago-wizards. He had to try it. And he tried to concentrate... Luckily, he managed to do it, even with all the things that happened recently. He pictured a portal, and he thought about a transporting one. He knew that the portals could do much more than transporting... like killing or cursing. Next he pictured Hogsmeade, and the portal exit inside it. His mind suddenly went blank.
He couldn't remember what he did next. His mind seemed somewhere else. And when he opened his eyes, he completely forgot what he was doing. Why was he in the forest? Oh, he remembered, he was lost. But he couldn't remember what he did after arguing with Hermione.
He saw Hermione and noticed that she was red... though not red like Erised's skin. She was completely red, her clothes, her skin...
"Harry?" she asked.
"Uh - W - What happened? Why are you red?"
"Me? Am I red? Oh, it's just the portal light..."
"Portal?" He still didn't remember. He thought more, concentrated harder to remember anything about portals.
"Yes, the portal you have just opened."
"Oh..." he said, remembering everything. He stood up and saw Erised, who was glowing red... and his redness wasn't given by the portal.
"Ron, Hermione... Let's take Erised and throw him into the portal. Then it will be our turn to go..."
"Where ..." Ron asked.
"Hogsmeade."
He then walked towards Erised and throwed him in the portal. Ron and Hermione immediately stepped inside, too. And after that, Harry was alone in the forest. Something stopped him from entering. What and why?
"Here you are!" he could hear an unusual voice.
He turned back and saw nothing else than Tuz himself.
"I was looking for you. Well... I am here to take the Orb you have stolen! You weren't allowed ot get it and run out! Where is it?"
Harry didn't know... He hadn't seen the orb after he woke in the forest.
"Say it or you will regret that you ever took it away from us!"
"I..." Harry started to say but he was stopped,
"Slytherin took it from you? Don't tell me!"
"No..."
"THEN WHERE IS IT?" Tuz shouted while creating ten-inch long craws on the top of his thin hands. He jumped, ready to kill Harry... "SPIT IT OUT!"
"I don't know..." said Harry while Tuz attacked. Harry's hand moved by instinct, and he stopped the claw from piercing his stomach, but it was planted in his hand. Pain was rushing through him again... It wasn't a long time from the last time he was in horrible pain - it was just when Tuz shot him with the orb's energies in the Temple.
He was blanking out again... It surely was a poisoned claw or he couldn't feel that bad. Physical injuries didn't hurt like that... The scene reminded him of his fight with the basilisk. It was almost the same as this time. He had a poisoned claw planted in his hand... and he was blanking out as the last time... At least there was a bit of hope when he fought with the basilisk. He wished that Fawkes would come again to save him... but how could he.
Tuz was standing on top if Harry while he died in pain... What a terrible death, he thought.
Then he heard some pops. Someone was apparating... If Ron and Hermione reached Hogsmeade and saw that Harry wouldn't come, they would immediately call for help. He had finally thought that he was saved, when his scar started hurting badly. He looked, while his scar was burning and the poison was doing its job, to see who was apparating. And it was his worst fear: Voldemort was in the forest, with a small group of Death Eaters. Would he kill Tuz? Or would he take him as an ally?
He could hear that Voldemort was laughing...
"Avada Kedavra!" he said. Did he forget that he couldn't kill Harry? Or did he find a way of dealing with the connection between them?
Harry could hear screams of pain. His eyes were closed for a long time. Tuz fell to the ground. Tuz was Voldemort's target after all, not Harry. Then the pain in his scar stopped.
"Venenum Deffendo!" said Voldemort. Harry started to feel better. But why would Voldemort do that? Harry recognized the spell as an anti-poison one. Harry felt normal again. His scar didn't hurt, even with Voldemort around him... What was happening? Did they use the orb of the phoenix on Voldemort?
"Harry Potter... I am really angry about doing this, but it is a must... How can I be the best wizard of all times without the powers of one mago-wizard in my blood... And I need you alive! I am angry enough because I have lost Erised's powers. I think he died, or else I didn't feel as drained as I am now. Be sure that you were dead if I didn't have your blood inside me..."
Voldemort's cold voice was quite disturbing when it reached someone's ears. It was almost painful... and Harry didn't like it. But if Voldemort doesn't want to kill him, it can't be that bad, he thought.
"But you have to come with me. I sensed a strong magic somewhere around here and..." he paused for a while, turning to the Death Eaters. "Was the Orb of the Phoenix moved from the Viper Caves?"
How could Voldemort know where the Orb of the Phoenix was? The vipers told him that no one knows about the cave. And Voldemort knew even more than that.
"I know that you will use it on me... I am sure of it; why else would you take it? It does nothing good except curing... and taking energy from everything around. Now, Tell me, Harry... Where is it?"
Harry didn't know that, but even if he did, he wouldn't tell Voldemort something like that.
"WHERE IS IT?" he shouted. His Death Eaters were terrified as ever. Anytime, he could cast a crucio on any of them because of anger, needing a little pleasure...
"Crucio!" he said, but his wand wasn't pointed to his Death Eaters. Some of them were relieved when they saw that Harry was his target.
The familiar pain was piercing through him again... he couldn't scream because of it. He only had one thing in mind: a wish to die. He just wanted to die, as everyone who was put under the curse did. And Voldemort wouldn't stop it until Harry told him where the orb was, thing that was impossible because of two things: he didn't know and the pain was preventing him to say anything.
The pain stopped. Voldemort fell to the ground. And he saw exactly why. Erised came by a teleportation spell to them and shot a fire spell to Voldemort's back. The Death Eaters all turned to him. But they were too slow, and maybe scared by their lord. Without him, they were nothing... nothing compared to Erised. He still had a red skin.
He immediately put all the death eaters to rest(they were just unconscious, he couldn't kill that many wizards at once). "Harry, quick!" he said, after shooting some various spells that were meant to kill the Death Eaters - Voldemort seemed to deflect them. Everything was too weak for him.
After he killed some Death Eaters, Harry managed to get near him. "Come back and fight like a... mago-wizard!" said Voldemort with his cold voice.
Harry was sure that Erised wanted to take them to Hogsmeade, but he saw that it wasn't that. He was using a strange spell, directed towards Voldemort. Erised's red skin was turning normal, while a strange red beam errupted from his hands. It was bigger and bigger, and after a moment, it hit Voldemort. That made him go unconscious, and Harry was sure that Erised had the orb of the phoenix's powers inside him... Harry's blood was, at least, removed from Voldemort's body. He was as good as dead now, even if he was a strong wizard before he had mage powers.
"Let's go!" said Erised. He used a strange spell and they were in Hogsmeade... It was time for long explanations, because Harry didn't know many things about what recently happened...