"Witches and Wizards, Ministers and Sorcerers, distinguished representatives and friends", Dumbledore started the council with open arms and a striking pose, Harry was suitably impressed.
"It has been almost one thousand years since such a council has been called here, those were dark times that are hardly remembered, but I fear now a shadow hangs over us all. Murder, Deceit and Torture are the words that could describe the criminal we face, but our enemy is far stronger in, and deeper into the dark arts than any of us could possibly imagine."
Dumbledore drew breath and cleared his throat.
"I have asked you all here today because the Dark Lord Voldemort must be stopped, the time to act has come and gone due to ineffective and naïve leadership. Even as you were arriving, I have heard news that Cornelius Fudge himself has been attacked by a Death Eater infiltrator and lies wounded at the Ministry headquarters in London."
Harry sat perfectly still as the grave nature of the situation gripped him, Voldemort had never before done anything on this broad a scale and it frightened Harry, chilling him to the bone.
Dumbledore beckoned to Snape and Mcgonnagall to join him in the center, he whispered something to the two professors and they rushed from the council hall. Most of the assembled wizardry looked confused and a few whispered things to their neighbors who gave defined, drawn out nods in agreement. The tension in the room was great; the atmosphere could have been sliced open with a blunt knife. Dumbledore once again moved to the center of the stage, "I have arranged for some visual aids to help us in this council, I remind you that this is a council of war not of indecision. However professor's Snape and Mcgonnagall will require some time to prepare the necessary magic, therefore may I present to you Harry Potter."
Dumbledore gestured to Harry and a slightly confused Harry rose to his feet,
"Over the past few years, apart from several unsavoury characters, Harry has been the focus and main contact of Voldemort due to circumstances involving the death of Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter, and the fall of Voldemort's power. I am going to ask him to volunteer up his memories for the council, so that the full threat of Voldemort's power may be assessed."
Dumbledore beckoned Harry over and then looked down at the young wizard, Harry felt very exposed as the eyes of the council fell upon him.
"Harry do you consent to share your memories with the rest of the council?"
Harry looked up at him; He thought it was the oddest question he had ever been asked by Dumbledore, who was normally either straight to the point or obscure in the manner of many wise old gentlemen. It had the most profound effect though, Looking into Dumbledore's eyes Harry felt all of his fears and prejudices leave him, to be replaced by a calm, ordered, logical sense of reason.
"I do" was all he said, although it was debatable if anyone except Dumbledore caught the words as Harry's voice became very quiet.
Dumbledore had his wand in his hand and he muttered something beneath his breath, a wispy pink gas flowed from the wand and entered Harry, invading through nose and his mind. The spell began to work immediately, expanding his mind and opening the doors to his memory
"Harry," Dumbledore followed on "What is your very first memory from when you were a child."
Harry stood reflective for a moment and then in a clear voice that seemed unfamiliar, he said, "I remember my Father and Mother standing over me, holding me. There was a sound outside, my Father rushes from the room and my Mother places me back in the crib, A green light pours around the door and suddenly Voldemort is in the room, my mother pleads, begging Voldemort to spare my life, then there is another green light and after that I remember little more than blurs." Harry looked shocked at his own ability to recall that scene, which had always seemed so distant before, more of a dream than a memory. Harry felt a warm glowing sensation flowing from his forehead; Dumbledore had begun to speak to the council again, helping them to analyse the memory. Harry reached up to the scar on his forehead; it felt strangely cool to the touch as though it was drawing in power from somewhere leaving the surrounding area powerless, distant, cold. His whole body shuddered and Harry felt his mind fall out of his ears.
Nausea and Dizziness swept across him, Dumbledore was talking, somewhere but Harry had lost his bearings, the world blurred and span before his eyes. His fingers and then his arms began to tingle and the familiar faces of friends faded into grey and dismal memory.
"Harry. . .Harry. . ." A distant almost whispering and snake like voice was calling him, Harry opened his mouth to cry out, but nothing happened. Harry reached up to his mouth and found his mouth and hand were no more solid or real than the grey mist that swam in front of his eyes. "Harry! Harry!" another voice was calling, more urgent and familiar, yet Harry recognized it not. He stumbled forward, flailing with his arms, searching desperately for anything in the grey infinity which enclosed him. "Harry! Son!" A third voice joined the cacophony of wind and swirls of noise that echoed in his ears. Harry knew that voice even though he never really knew its owner. "Mother" he wanted to call but his breath was little more than escaping gas, insubstantial in the void that engulfed him,
Suddenly, in the mist Harry could see a shining blue Stag. As tall and as bright, as any Patronus Harry could summon, Harry's Father stood over him with a noble expression upon his majestic face. Beside him he was joined by Harry's Mother, looking beautiful, her features slight and her face shone with radiant love.
On the other side stood Cedric Diggory, standing tall and proud, leaning upon a Lochaber axe and a shining Raven was emblazoned upon his breastplate. Somehow despite their unusual appearance, Harry realized that this was how they had thought of themselves in their own minds; His mother the fair maiden; His father the symbol of grace and loyalty; Cedric, the champion and Hero. Behind them Harry could see others, A group of towering wizards that Harry recognized from the pictures around the school. The cunning Slytherin; the intelligent Ravenclaw; the Diligent Hufflepuff and Harry's own patron, the Brave Gryffindor.
"Harry," spoke James Potter "Do not worry, we will not hold you here long. Your spirit brought us and you here in response to the spell Dumbledore is using to enhance your memories Harry, I doubt you will ever be called here again Harry, so we have a few words of encouragement and advice, however your body is changing Harry, you have a certain natural resistance to magic and it is growing stronger with age Harry, recent encounters have started to stir something inside of you Harry, but your greatest test still awaits, and the choices you make will win or lose the war." The lips of his father moved but every word completely encompassed him, filling Harry with its meaning.
"Enemies that once seemed distant are drawing nearer and friends that once seemed certain may turn upon you. Beware him who is called Harry Potter. Do not shy away or hide behind others lest your allies grow weary and fall. The power is yours if you're willing to take it. No more am I allowed to say, your power and birthright are like a beacon in the darkness do not let it slip."
"We love you Harry, and we'll always look over you" Said his mother, "Do what you were born to do, look in unexpected places for the answers to your dilemma."
"Harry, uphold your friends and your honour, many will look to you for guidance. Do not fail them." Cedric said.
"Do not let our vision fall Harry" chorused the spirits of the long dead wizards.
"We must go Harry, even here you are not safe from him, we will return you to the council." The spirits began to fade and Harry was soon left alone in the void again.
"Harry Potter, we feel you, your pain, your suffering, your anger. Come to us"
Two more spirits were approaching, like serpents they slipped silently through the void, dancing in slithered circles around the confused and alone Harry, twisting, bending.
Harry felt a chill and a rush of air, he could see their faces now, one was Professor Quirrel and one was the young Barty Crouch, Voldemort's deceased Henchmen, it occurred to Harry that he had no small part in their demise and that their spirits weren't there to offer Harry any words of encouragement at all Their phantomesque bodies were lithe and stretched, the faces horribly twisted into an obsidian snarl and their eyes glowed horribly red.
They snapped at Harry taunting him, Jeering and questioning everything that he was. Harry was powerless to do anything, his body less material than the mist around him. The figure of Barty Crouch slipped around Harry, twisting it's body in such as way as to gag Harry whilst retaining eye contact. Harry was terrified, much like a shattered Anaconda victim, Harry felt himself drifting into a senseless helplessness. The obsidian Crouch opened its mouth a spoke in a low, drawn out, whispered Parseltoungue "Harrrrry" it slithered "The Masssster comesss for you, we can feel him growing in power, we feel you growing to meet you, we sssee a rainbow of futuressss, there isss no hope for you. Dessspair Harry and join usssss.
Harry was mesmerized by the words, he felt them, knew them and wanted them.
Suddenly there was a reptilian scream and the spell was broken, Crouch lost eye contact with Harry and was thrown asunder by the head of an oversized Double-Headed Pole Axe. Cedric was riding Harry's Father who remained in his animagus form, the Lochaber axe swinging menacingly in Diggory's hands, already Quirrel was searching to reunite his severed head.
The battle of souls was more a blur than an actual fight, and far more vicious than anything Harry had ever seen. Magic was relatively clean compared to the carnage Harry saw. The main problem lay in the fact that neither side could possibly lay a crippling blow, the dead have the kind of immortality that being forcibly extracted from the body can provide, otherwise devastating wounds proved little more than distractions. "Goodbye Harry!" Cedric's voice called from the Melee, "We'll be watching."
Reality snapped back with malice, it felt to Harry as though he had been hit in the face by a sledgehammer. "... Then I fled the graveyard, the spirits that had come from Voldemort's wand, held Voldemort at bay until I could summon the port-key and escape, subsequently we were able to identify Mad Eye Moody as a doppelganger and unmasked him to the young Barty Crouch who it became apparent had been released from Azkaban by his Father as a last request from his wife and the young Crouch's mother." Harry pondered who was speaking, having been pulled, albeit briefly, into a spirit plane and given strangely confusing words of advice by his dead friends and family, he was quite unsure of what was happening.
"Subsequently, whilst we were dealing with other related but unimportant details, Cornelius Fudge had the Young Barty Crouch executed by Dementors who delivered the Dementor kiss before Fudge could be shown reason and a little bit of restraint could be dealt out."
Harry suddenly realised that it was him that was speaking. Dumbledore's must have been having more of an affect on him than he was aware of, as Harry had no conscious memory of actually speaking.
"Thank you, Harry you can sit down now."
Harry did as he was told; Hermione turned to him and said
"Harry, why didn't you mention how Voldemort attacked you in the forest that one time." She asked inquiringly. Harry didn't know how to answer, he had no memory of what he had been doing whilst the spirits of his friends and family had been speaking to him.
"I must have forgotten, Hermione" Harry shrugged.
A/N - Alright personally I think this chapter is really bad and it leaves me little choice over what I'm going to write in the next one, it may have been better to write it all as one chapter but this is the 27th rewrite, thats right I rewrote this 27 times!!!, anyway it was time for an update so here it is. Please review, but don't be too harsh.
Bob J