I don't own Harry Potter. Please don't sue.
After the longest 20 minutes of Harry's life, McGonagall came down the stairs and took in the two students, both bound and lying on the floor, with Malfoy's body lumped against the wall, dead again.
McGonagall gasped and undid the bonds. She quickly cast Mobilicorpus on Ginny and hurriedly brought her to the infirmary. Harry struggled behind, still weak from his experience with the cruciatus curse, and managed to arrive 10 minutes after McGonagall had laid the still body of Ginny on a bed in the hospital.
"EVERYONE OUT!" yelled Nurse Pomfrey, standing over Ginny. McGonagall slowly took Harry and escorted him out the door, to leave the nurse to her ministrations. Harry dumbly sat down outside the door and waited. Time seemed to lose all meaning, and Harry waited on the stone floor for several hours, before a somber Nurse Pomfrey opened the door.
"I'm sorry, but she is not responding well as we hoped," Nurse Pomfrey said sadly. "She will take awhile to recover from this, and there is a decent chance she will end up within St. Mungo's."
Harry opened his mouth in shock, absolutely no thoughts going through his brain. Pomfrey opened the door, and Harry ran over to Ginny's side. "There is nothing more I can do," Pomfrey softly said.
Harry sat at her bedside, holding Ginny's hand for the longest time. The only break came when he slept for a few hours when his body made him, and when Ron and Hermione came in for several hours each day. Harry drank a few cups of water each day, and ate a sparse sandwich whenever Hermione and Ron forced him to. Harry would have marveled that he had spent several days there, except he still was avoiding thinking about anything.
After seven days, Dumbledore and Sirius Black entered the infirmary. "Hello Harry," Sirius Black said softly. The closest Harry could come to responding was blinking and moving his head slightly to the side.
Dumbledore left silently, and Sirius walked over to sit next to Harry. "Harry," Sirius said slowly, putting his head on his godson's shoulder, "You need to go to classes. You've been up here a week." Sirius saw that his words didn't even seem to enter Harry's mind, and softly said, "I… it, it will be alright Harry." Harry managed a weak grunt, and barely noticed as his godfather sat by his side silently for a few more hours before leaving.
A few days later, everything began falling into Harry's head, and he couldn't avoid thinking any longer. He remembered the times they had spent beside each other looking over the lake in silence. He remembered the way she laughed when he told her all the stuff Ron and he had done over the years. He remembered the brief note he wrote to the Chudley Cannon's manager.
Hello,
I received your offer of a 5 year contract at 12,000 galleons a year. I am unable to commit to 5 years as of yet. I would like to modify the contract to a single year, but will play for 6,000 galleons for that year instead.
- Harry Potter
Harry had written the note because he wanted to stick around England for the year after, to wait for Ginny to graduate Hogwarts as well. He wanted for them to decide their plans together. But now it looked like that might not happen.
Harry's breath became ragged, unlike the methodical and never changing rhythm of the past week. It's his… It's his fault… Harry thought wildly and uncontrollably, It's his fault this has happened. He… He killed my parents. And then he does this… He… He… He will pay. He will pay!
Harry felt a surge of anger stronger than he had ever felt before and stood up quickly. Harry cast his mind out, and immediately found the faint blackness from the Obsidian Tome. All hesitation aside, Harry leapt towards it, and felt its existence through his body. Without a second glance, he ran at a frantic pace through the castle and over the grounds, following the tome's siren call.
With a fervor he had never felt before, Harry raced through the forest, faster and faster as he grew closer to the tome. Finally, he came to a clearing, with Voldemort hunched over a giant black book.
Voldemort turned around and said, "Harry Potter…" but before he could say any more, he was flung several meters through the air and landed hard against a large tree. Harry felt anger and power coursing through him, and as Voldemort rose, he somehow hit him again through his mind. Voldemort again flew through the air. Before he could rise again, Voldemort was attacked another time by the angered teen. Harry felt a giant release within himself, and hit Voldemort over and over again, watching his body thrown along the ground with each blow.
Soon, Voldemort did not stir, and Harry sensed a black apparition emerge from the wizard's body. Harry's anger grew even mightier – HE WILL NOT ESCAPE! - and he somehow created a purple sphere of energy around them. Voldemort's spirit bounced off the barrier several times, before settling in place before him.
Harry, trembling with fury, conjured a transparent sphere the size of a golf ball. Harry somehow forced Voldemort's spirit inside, although he did not have a clue how he was doing it, and sat on the verge of closing the sphere. But before he could do so, his mind screamed NO! He must pay!
Harry poured every ounce of pain, every fiber of fury and anger within him inside the transparent sphere. The sphere turned from perfectly transparent to a dark, yet somehow glowing, black. Harry, reaching a climax of emotions, yelled, "NUNQUAM COMMUNATATIS!"
Harry collapsed on the ground, more exhausted than he had ever felt before.
Several hours later, Harry was beginning to stir again, and Dumbledore quietly walked up to him. "What happened, Harry?" he asked.
Harry gathered himself and said, "Voldemort's defeated. He's trapped inside that." Harry then pointed at the small odd sphere lying a short distance away.
Dumbledore noticed its odd color and said, "That is a rather peculiar color for the container." Harry looked at the sphere, and with a surge of guilt noticed the glowing black color that hinted at what the sphere contained.
Dumbledore looked into Harry's eyes and asked, "Would you care to explain why the sphere is that color?"
Harry didn't answer, and Dumbledore continued, "You didn't fill the sphere with negative emotions, did you?"
Harry couldn't answer, and looked away in guilt. "YOU FOOLISH BOY!" Dumbledore shouted. Harry gasped. He had seen the headmaster angry before, but that anger had never been directed at him. "You utter fool!" Dumbledore cried, and drew his wand, which Harry had never even seen before. Dumbledore calmed himself, closed his eyes and said, "Permisi Communatatis," in a very precise and ordered voice. Dumbledore opened his eyes, but there was no change to the sphere.
Dumbledore sank to the ground, forlorn. Harry was almost afraid of what the headmaster was going to say. "Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, "You just had a chance to eliminate the threat of Voldemort forever. You realize that even though your formidable shield, heightened by the anger you were feeling, will hold for a long time, it will eventually be countered by someone even more powerful than us? And Voldemort will yet again escape into the world."
"You had the chance to stop it. Had you filled that container with love, friendship, and loyalty… Year after year, age after age would pass, and they would eventually crumble the walls Tom Riddle had built up within himself. Had that happened, Tom might have finally had a chance for salvation. But you filled it with hate and malice, and when Voldemort escapes, he will be far more dangerous than ever. I have no doubt that he will shortly be driven to madness."
Harry gulped and tried to remove the spell he had erected. However, he had as little luck as the headmaster, and fell to the ground, sobbing. Dumbledore looked down at the boy, who had become their savior, yet created what could possibly be their worst threat ever, and quietly left Harry to his thoughts.
Harry tried ineffectively to remove the spell four more times, and cried helplessly at what he had done. Several hours later, as the sun began to set, Hermione found him in the clearing.
"Harry, what is the matter?" Hermione asked.
Harry gulped and answered almost incoherently, "Voldemort. I… defeated him… and trapped his spirit… but… but I filled it with anger… and when… when Voldemort is finally released… he'll be even more dangerous than before…" Harry broke down, and Hermione walked close to him and did the thing he least expected.
Hermione slapped him. Hard. "You wretch," Hermione hissed, "Right now, Ginny is up in the infirmary and needs you, and what are you doing? You're down here in the forest, moping about how you didn't defeat Voldemort well enough!"
Harry gulped and slowly realized that his friend was right. He raced back up into the castle, and found Ron sitting again over Ginny's still body.
Ron saw him and managed a weak smile. "Madame Pomfrey said she's getting better," Ron said. Harry nodded jerkily to Ron, and the two sat by Ginny's side.
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I'm going to cover the reviews here (instead of the last chapter)
AllAboutMe: Accckkkkkk! Can't…. acchkkk… breathe…
Kim: Well, he was dead. Kind of. Voldemort killed him, then reanimated him to do his bidding.
Erkrk: Sorry about the cliffhangers. But I think I've limited them pretty well. I know of some authors who try to put one at the end of every chapter. I've only had about 3 in my trilogy.
Beefywpac: Thanks!
Temporary Insanity: yeah yeah, I put in a cliffhanger. Don't worry, AllAboutMe has already strangled me for killing off Draco.
Alison: I would imagine the magical equivalent of a whiteboard to basically be a regular white board, except with charms to make it easy to put writing on. I know, it's not a very imaginative answer – that's why I didn't bother describing it in detail. That is a good point about Ron, Hermione, and Ginny not doing much. If/When I rewrite, I'll have to take that into consideration. About what's next for writing, look at the 'What's next' section of next chapter.
Seifer: Thanks! Hehe, and Ginny didn't die.
ShaunaJ: Thanks!
Garina: Sorry. There's no need to fly over here. First, Ginny lived. Second, AllAboutMe must have been closer, because she's already got to me. Yeah, AllAboutMe, don't you need to apologize Garina? She might have wanted a piece of me, too!
Review if you like