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Chapter 17
Shadows Run
Disclaimer: I don't own them at all. JK Rowling and a bunch of industrial tycoons do.
AN: Yeah! ff.net is finally back in action! Plus my computer is finally working again. All of my chapters were stored on my zip disk, and my computer is the only one that I know of that has a 100MB Zip drive. So, I had quite a long wait before Gateway sent it back. I'm polishing up the Dueling Class chapter – it's next – and it should be up within the next couple of days.
Thanks to everybody that's reviewed. It really makes my day – and I get this nice, warm and fuzzy feeling that lasts for quite a while.
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Harry watched carefully as Snape added the last ingredient to a potion as it bubbled in a nearby cauldron. Next to him he could feel Aeryn shivering in the chill of the dungeons, but after seven years, he had gotten used to the sometimes near-freezing temperatures Snape seemed to like. She had dragged him down here after dinner to talk with Snape about the potion before their talk about the shadow world.
After a couple more minutes, Snape finally turned towards them and directed a glare at the two of them. Harry leaned back in the chair, not exactly sure how to take the attitude of the older man, even though he was no longer his student. Aeryn seemed to have no compunction or hesitation as she stood up and crossed over to the cauldron.
"Swelling Potion? Why did you make this?"
Harry saw frustration crossed the other man's face. He raised an eyebrow at this, thinking that if he had asked it he would have been glared at. It must be because Aeryn had gone fully into a serious mode as soon as they stepped into the room and Snape recognized this.
"The second years are making Deflating Draughts Monday morning. Seeing as how some of them will actually get it right, I will need this to counter it." Snape drawled as he poured the potion into three large phials. Once this was done he looked at Harry and Aeryn. "You wanted to discuss the Silmaron...?"
Aeryn nodded. "I was hoping that we would be able to test it tomorrow morning. It's best to go walking when you have the most energy, and even better after sleeping. The best time is when the brain is in an 'alpha' state."
Harry was confused, and by the looks of it Snape was as well.
"An 'alpha' state?" Harry asked. "Isn't that from muggle science?"
She nodded and returned Snape's scowl. "Yes. I found that muggle science helped in discovering what is the best time to approach the shadow world. You enter it when the brain is in an alpha state, but when you are there it is a theta state."
"What is the difference between the two states?" Snape asked. It wasn't potions, but he was curious to know just what muggles thought of this.
"Alpha is the state when you are alert in mind and relaxed in body. Most often it is the time when you have been awake for a short time, or in between meals. Concentration is very easy, along with coordination and an inner sense of balance. Theta is the state of dreams. When a person dreams, the brain settles into theta waves, hence a theta state." Aeryn shrugged. "After that it gets a whole lot more complicated and I'm not sure that I can explain it very well. Even half of the books I have read on the subject have different theories on what exactly happens in the two states.
"No one exactly knows how the brain gets from one state to another. Only that there are four states: alpha, delta, theta, and beta. For shadowwalking, we are only concerned with alpha and theta waves. The other two, I really don't have a clue to what they are."
Harry saw that Snape was contemplating the information, even though he was still fairly clueless about what Aeryn had been talking about. He would have to ask Hermione about what she had been talking about the next time he saw his friend.
"Very well," Snape finally said, breaking into the pattern of silence that had fallen on the three of them. "Interesting." He raised one eyebrow as he looked at Harry and Aeryn. "I suggest that if you want to do this when you are at an 'alpha' state, then be down here at eight tomorrow morning."
Aeryn nodded. "That's fine." She turned to Harry. "Ready to go?"
He nodded as well and stood. "Are you going to tell me what to expect in the shadow world?" he asked as they left Snape's work office.
"Yes," she answered. "Let's go to the little library. I don't want anybody to disturb us while we're talking. It's not a fun subject to have to explain when you're in the middle of it all."
"Potter. Negre."
They turned around to see Snape standing outside his office.
"Severus?" Aeryn asked, curiously. "Was there something else?"
The tall man walked rapidly towards them. "I wish to hear what you were going to tell Potter about the shadow world."
Harry eyed him for a moment before looking at Aeryn. Her face had gone slightly pale as she sent him a glance. "I... guess it would be okay." She hesitated. "The only thing is that I ask you to... not judge what you will hear."
The eyebrow lifted again, but Harry was surprised to see that Snape didn't counter with his usual vicious jib. He was intrigued by this – this little piece of humanity showing through the potions master's habitual mask of hatred and loathing – but decided he would have to think about it later.
******
Severus looked around the library, fingers itching slightly to look up some of the books he had seen. It had taken a couple of minutes for Aeryn to find the right words to start off from, and he had looked at some of the titles in the mean time. He would have to find the time to check out some of these books after they were done.
"The shadow world is primarily made up of one thing - shades of gray."
He shot her a look, but Aeryn was looking at her hands as they rested in her lap.
"Everything that is there is a shade of gray," she continued. "Nothing really lives there, but they just exist."
"What are 'they?'" Severus asked.
Aeryn looked up. "The shadow world is called that because that is the place where the shadows of those killed by the Killing Curse exist." Her voice was shaky and her eyes darted over to where Harry was sitting.
Severus could see that the younger man had gone quite still in shock. He, himself, was shocked at this news. It made him wonder, though. In his service to Voldemort, when he had been young and foolish, he had considered himself unlucky to have never used those two forbidden words. But he had seen countless of lives taken by the Killing Curse, and if he were to go to the shadow world.... Would he be able to handle seeing the shadows of people he should have tried harder to save? Would they forgive his past mistakes? And that didn't even include those that he had a more direct path to their deaths. Voldemort had commanded him to make countless potions that were deadly, even if he had administered only a tenth of them himself. He was not one of the blameless in this war.
"A..." Harry sputtered slightly. "You mean... all people there?" Aeryn nodded. "Like my mum and dad?"
She nodded again. "I... It's hard seeing people there. They are.... It's like they're frozen in time, but sometimes fate is not always kind to them."
"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked. Severus could hear something in his voice - was it fear?
"Sometimes, when a person is hit with the Killing Curse, they... change. More often than not it is one whose soul had already had a heavy burden to bear. Other times it is because their soul is so deeply entrenched in the dark that there is no other choice but to change from what it might have been into something darker. Disgusting." The words just seemed to rush from Aeryn's mouth, flowing faster. "It's awful to see them like that. And to talk to them. It's...."
"Aeryn?"
Severus kept his eyes glued to the other two. Both were struggling against their feelings.
"My mum," she replied. "It's so hard to see her." Her voice was a bare whisper, just reaching Snape's ears. "She always seems to know when I'm in the shadow world, and I'm grateful for her help, but it's so hard seeing her like that when she should be here in this world!"
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Draco kept his eyes trained on the woman across from him, making sure that she didn't know he was watching her. There was something about her that made him want to undo the layers of her....
Bad idea, Draco, he thought as he mentally slapped himself. No need to go there at the moment. Laughing at himself, he looked on as Marty and Professor Steele finished up their conversation – on what he wasn't exactly sure.
"Ready, Draco?" Marty asked as she moved towards him. "I think that I'm all set for the evening."
He nodded as he rose from his chair. "Ready as I'll ever be."
The two were walking towards their rooms, but when they reached the corridor before theirs, they each heard a strange sound coming from one of the rooms.
"Aren't these old classrooms?" Marty asked as they paused.
"Yes. I don't think they've been used in twenty years. This part of the castle is off limits to all students," Draco said as he turned in the direction from which the sound was coming. "I think that this warrants a quick look."
Marty shook her head as she followed him down the dark corridor. The lights down it were few and far between, and as they reached the classroom where the sound was originating, a chill ran down both of their spines.
Draco looked down the way they had come and found that it looked much darker than it previously had. He was just about to comment on it when the sound abruptly stopped, ending in a terrifying shriek.
Definitely not good, he thought. Making sure he had a good grip on his wand, he scanned the door for any wards put on it. Finding none, he cautiously twisted the handle and pushed the door open.
The room was empty of life, but shadows seemed to dance across the floor in a mad frenzy. The night was too dark for such a thing with the moon a day from the new moon. As he stepped into the room, an awful stench wafted towards him. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he lifted his wand.
"Lumos."
He almost dropped his wand at the sight that greeted him. A black robed figure was held on a cross, a mockery of crucifixion. A Death Eater mask hung half off the face, revealing dark hair stained with blood.
"Merlin!"
Marty's exclamation snapped him out of his shock, and Draco strode over to the figure. Pulling the mask off, his breath left him in a great whoosh.
It was Vincent Crabbe.
His one-time bodyguard hadn't come back over the break, having been formally inducted into Voldemort's ranks. The Dark Lord hadn't been too pleased with him, judging by the gashes and contusions that were scattered on his body. Glassy eyes were still frozen in fear, forever looking at his killer.
"How did he get here?" Marty asked after a minute, her voice very quiet.
Draco shook his head. "I don't know," he answered, his voice barely a whisper.
******
Harry sat back in the chair once more. Would he be able to handle seeing his parents again? He knew that they would be in the same form as when they had come out of Voldemort's wand in their duel in his fourth year. Was he ready to face such a thing?
He looked up and saw Aeryn trying to get a hold of herself, absently wondering just how many times she'd had to see her mother. Still, his mind went back to his parents. Their images would be frozen in time, and it would be strange to see them when he was nearing their age. They hadn't been much older than him when Voldemort had killed them. Added to that, he was half-afraid of what reaction Sirius would have if he saw them - or Remus.
Shaking his head, Harry tried to stop the morbid thoughts before they started to consume him. It wouldn't be very good if he let it happen.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snape take a shuddering breath. Harry wondered what it would be like for the former Death Eater to go to such a place. He was pretty sure that Dumbledore would want as many people to travel through the shadow world as possible, making it possible to send a party for ambush. Sufficient trauma, such as seeing dead people, would not be very good for the group.
He opened his mouth to say something when he felt a presence at the edge of his mind. It was irritating enough for him to pay attention. Something was wrong within Hogwarts, and it wanted him to check it out. Looking up, Harry discovered Aeryn wore a puzzled look on her face.
"Do you feel it, too?" he asked as he stood.
She nodded. "Yeah. Funny, though." Aeryn looked over at Snape. "You can look at the books here. We have to go check something."
The Potions Master nodded in reply before they left.
"What do you think it could be?" Aeryn asked as they walked rapidly down the corridor to the main hallway in the wing.
Harry shrugged slightly. "I'm not exactly sure. It's dark, whatever it is."
Two minutes later found them in the room Draco and Marty were standing in, both looking over the body of the younger Crabbe.
"What happened?" he asked the blond.
Draco shook his head. "We don't know what happened. All we can figure out is that he's been dead for a while. Even the killing curse won't produce such a cold body."
"The other thing that's weird about this is that we heard sounds coming from the room, and now that I think about it they were filled with pain," Marty added. "He couldn't have produced them though. It looks like he was dead when he was moved here."
Harry looked closer around the room. The corners were filled with deep shadows even though he held his lit wand up high. The room didn't feel right - as if whatever had been in here and left Crabbe wasn't of this world.
"Shit!"
The other three turned to find Aeryn had paled considerably.
"What is it?" Marty asked her.
"Something crossed from the shadow world to here and back again." The blond woman started pacing as Harry and Draco gently set down the body of Crabbe onto the floor. "That might mean that Voldemort has been able to enlist the help of some of its citizens."
"Is that good or bad?" Draco wanted to know.
Aeryn shrugged her shoulders. "It depends on the ambitions of that particular creature. Some of the things that live there are very dangerous – to the point that they are so ruthless it doesn't matter how they achieve their objective. Much like Voldemort, but they are ten times as cunning as Riddle would ever hope to be."
Harry eyed her. "So, we could potentially have just more than Voldemort to worry about."
The blond woman nodded. "Yes. Let's just hope that he hasn't persuaded one of the demons to help – because the entire world will be in trouble."
******
Snape looked up as he heard someone enter the library. Already he had found some books that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. He had vowed to bring it up the next time he spoke to Aeryn to make sure that none of the students would look at them, especially as both her and Potter had said that their friends were welcome to look around. Even then, some of the books had taken his breath away, so Dark were their subjects that even some of the Death Eaters would have thought twice about reading them.
The Dark Lord, on the other hand, would do a lot to get his hands on such a collection.
Maybe it would be better if he talked to Dumbledore about it.
"Find something, Severus?"
Speaking of the headmaster... Snape twisted to find the older man standing next to him, his eyes twinkling merrily. His lips formed a scowl as he held the book in his hands for the other man's inspection.
"Dangerous," he said for the first book. "Even more dangerous," he stated, pointing at a second book. "Voldemort's ultimate prize." This was directed at the third book in the small pile he had in his arms.
Dumbledore nodded. "Then we just won't tell him about it, will we?"
Snape's jaw slackened at the response. The man was getting loonier with every year that passed.
The headmaster chuckled as he handed back the book Snape had given him. "I don't think that they will go around letting these particular books leave the room."
"And their friends?" Snape asked. "I wouldn't trust any of them within ten feet of this book, let alone most of them."
"You would be surprised, Severus, at just how resourceful these books will be in the future," Dumbledore replied. "I don't doubt that it will not be one of the four who will actually find anything in there that they don't already know. It will take more skillful eyes to see anything that could be useful for the Dark."
Snape's eyes narrowed. The headmaster's suggestion didn't feel exactly heartwarming. Rather, it sounded even more dangerous that the four would probably take up Dumbledore's explanation and let either Granger or Zabini read it, which could prove hazardous.
He watched as Dumbledore left, wondering why he had stopped by in the first place. Instead of wasting the time trying to do so, he sat back in a chair and opened up the book that the Dark Lord would probably destroy Hogwarts to get.