Disclaimer: I own none of this.
shdurrani-Well he does kind want to kill V, but decides not to. I dunno. Hey I hope your surgery goes good!
la2ur2a-haha, sorry! thanks for reviewing and sorry this chap took so long!
Starry Eyed GIrl-hey! don't worry about it I lost track of everything when ffnet went down, too. I stopped writing for like a month. thanks for reviewing again, though! and thanks for your suggestions! that was a good idea about the death eaters being outside, but I already had this written when I got your review and i was too lazy to change anything. thanks again, though!
gundamhardcore-I love getting new reviewers! haha. thanks so much!
Thanks again! Y'all are so special. haha. sorry i'm tired.
Chapter 15
~*~*~*~*~*
It took a few seconds for everyone's vision to be cleared of the tiny white spots of light. When Harry was finally able to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was Dumbledore's sea blue ones staring straight into his own. The expression in his eyes was strange and unfamiliar to Harry, but if he had to make a guess at it, he would have thought it was something like pride. The old wizard nodded his bearded head slowly in a gesture of respect.
Harry felt someone tap him on the arm, and turned to find Madame Pomfrey with an impatient look in her eyes.
"Come along, Mr. Potter. Got to get you cleaned up."
She was already holding Ginny's arm with her other hand, even though nothing appeared to be wrong with her.
"Oh, I'm fine, really." Harry said. He really didn't fell like going to the hospital wing right now, and he really did feel fine. He had a few cuts and bruises but they were really all very minor.
"Oh and you're just going to parade around with your face covered in blood, are you?" She sounded almost angry now.
"What?" Harry muttered as he raised his hand to his face. He was surprised to find his cheek covered in a wet, sticky substance. He had an enormous gash across his right cheek.
"Where did that come from?" He said without realizing he'd even said it aloud.
He looked over to where he had left Voldemort. The figure on the floor, still tied up tightly, was surounded by the Hogwarts teachers, as well as several parents, who all had their wands pointed straight at him. Despite the ten something wizards surrounding Voldemort, Harry still didn't feel comfortable. This was too easy.
"I really don't want to...." Harry started, turning back to Madame Pomfrey. But before he could finish, the Great Hall was suddenly filled with the confused yells of the wizards who had been gaurding Voldemort. Before Harry even looked, he knew what had happened. He had been stupid to think that a few ropes could hold Lord Voldemort, wether he had his wand or not. He turned to see what everyone in the Great Hall was gasping at in horror. The ropes were lying limply on the ground. Voldemort had vansished.
Harry groaned as he buried his face in a trembling hand, ignoring the fact that his hand was slowly getting soaked in his own blood from the cut on his cheek.
"Come now, Harry. Up to the hospital wing. I'll stay here and try to sort out this mess and calm everyone down, but I'll be up in a few minutes. We have a lot to talk about, I think." Dumbedlore said as he patted Harry gently on the shoulder.
Harry didn't understand how he could talk like that. So calmly. For a few precious minutes they had had Voldemort in their grasp, and now he was gone again. But before Harry could say anything to him, Dumbedlore turned to talk to some frantic parent, and Harry found himself being lead away by a determined Madame pomfrey.
Harry suddenly realized that Voldemort's wand was still in his left hand. He stopped before they had even made it out of the double doors and took his own wand out of his pocket with his other hand. Some how he knew what to do. He joined his own wand and Voldemort's at their tip's, and began muttering an incantation. He didn't even know how he knew it, the words just seemed to pour out of his mouth as if someone else were in control of his body.
Hearing the strange incatations, everyone stopped asking eachother questions that no one even knew the answer to, and turned to look at Harry. After a few seconds of seemingly meaningless rambling, Harry's voice got stronger and clearer. He was speaking in a very quiet tone, but his words had a sort of strength and authority in them that made his voice seem to echo around the huge room. There was a brilliant white light surrounding him, growing brighter every second.
Finally, with even more clarity and strength than all the others, Harry muttered the final word of the strange spell. As the last word left his mouth, the blinding light expanded rapidly until it filled the whole hall, before disappearing completly. Voldemort's wand snapped in two with an echoing crack. Harry stared penetratingly at the two peices of wood. He kept thinking about his parents. Had he let them down by not killing Voldemort? He'd had a chance to avenge their deaths, and he'd thrown it away like a coward.
He felt his eyes begin to fill with tears as he looked at the shards in his hand. Just two peices of wood. He felt the familiar surge of anger come flooding back into him. He threw the broken wand to the ground. Hard. He turned back to the door, but before he was even out the room, the shards turned into ash with a soft hissing whisper that only Harry could understand. But he just continued on his way to the Hospital wing, not even turning around to watch as the piles of ash disappeared into the ground.
****************
"I don't know what we're coming to these days." Madame Pomfrey said in a scolding voice as she took out her wand and began healing some of Harry's minor cuts.
"Children taking on powerful wizards like there was nothing to it. Seems to me like they should teach less facts in these schools, and more common sense."
Harry and Ginny gave eachother a small smile. Ginny was sitting on the hospital bed next to the one that Harry was sitting on while Madame Pomfrey closed his wounds. The cuts all healed perfectly, not even leaving scars.
"Still," She continued. "You're a brave fellow, aren't you? Had you in here more often than any other student in the school. Had your father in here an awful lot, too. Always banging himself up in Qudditch matches and the like. Guess it runs in the Potter blood." Her eyes filled with tears as she said the last part, and she had to turn away to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.
"There now. You're about done, except for this cheek of yours." She said as she turned back to Harry and began wiping some of the blood from his face with a towel. She raised her wand and muttered the healing spell that she had used for all the other cuts, but the purple sparks that it emitted simply faded into the cut, instead of healing it as it had done all the others.
"Oh now what's wrong." She said with a frustrated voice. She raised her wand again, preparing to try the spell a second time, but was stopped by a voice coming from the doorway.
"I doubt that will work, Poppy. Best not to waste your time. Just patch it up a bit." Dumbledore said as he walked into the room.
Madame Pomfrey threw him a confused look, but followed his orders anyway, placing a bandage on Harry's cheek. She then handed him two small bottles filled with potions, one was blue and the other was green.
"Drink the blue one now, dear, it helps dull the pain of the after effects of the cruciatus curse. The green one is for dreamless sleep, keep that one for tonight. I have a feeling you might need it."
Harry nodded before drinking the entire blue bottle in one gulp. She then turned to Ginny, giving her the same two bottles and giving her the same orders. After Ginny had swallowed the contents of her blue bottle, Madame Pomfrey told them to lie down for a few hours.
"What?" Ginny and Harry said in unison. They both felt perfectly fine, and wanted to go be with their friends and family.
"I really don't think that's necessary, Poppy. The both look perfectly healthy to me." Dumbledore spoke up in their defense.
"But Headmaster, they have just been through a horrible ordeal....." She argued.
"Yes, yes they have. But right now I believe that you have done all you can for them, and that the best treatment for them will be to return to life as it was before the incident. Thank you for your help, Poppy." His voice was gentle, but also very determined and filled with authority. Madame Pomfrey sighed and nodded reluctantly.
"Now," Dumbledore started, turning to Harry and Ginny. "I believe there are several people waiting outside who are very anxious to see you both. You may leave, Ginny, but I must ask that Harry stay for a few minutes longer. There are several questions that I need him to answer, and he probably has some questions of his own."
Ginny nodded, and left the hospital wing quietly. Madame Pomfrey went into her office a few seconds later, after giving Harry strict warnings not to 'tire himself out'.
As soon as the door was closed Dumbledore sat slowly down in a chair next to the window. He sighed deeply as he took his half moon spectacles off and began rubbing his eyes wearily. But after just a few seconds the glasses were back in front of his ocean blue eyes, now alert and bright as they usually were.
"Well, Harry." He said, even managing a small smile. "That was quite an ordeal."
Harry just nodded in a agreement as he felt the bandage on his cheek. It still didn't even hurt.
"I trust you have a lot of questions that you would like answered."
Harry nodded again. Was he supposed to ask him now?
"Well?"
Apparently he was. "Um....." Harry started. He had so many questions, he didn't even know where to start. "Why....I mean how....how did I get in front of Ginny like that?"
"Hmm...well to tell the truth that was one of the questions that I was going to ask you." The old wizard said with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "But I do have a theory. You could have apparated. I can't think what else it could have been."
"But....but I can't apparate....I mean even with a wand I don't know how....." Harry stammered confusedly.
"Yes, I know. But in dire situations it's extraordinary how one can do things that he never knew how to do. Can you tell me what was going through your head at the time?"
"I was just thinking how...how I wished that it was me standing there instead of Ginny." Harry didn't really see how that could have helped very much.
"Hmm...." Dumbledore said again, nodding his head as if he understood.
Harry knew that the best way to get a response out of the wizard was just to wait until he was through thinking things over. So despite how much he was longing for an answer, he waited silently until Dumbledore was ready to tell him.
"I believe you used a very ancient form of magic. A form where a wand isn't necessary, otherwise known as wandless magic. When one desires something desperatly, and if the desire is completely un-selfish, one is able to perform very complicated magic. Of course not everyone can do it, the person attempting it must be incredibly powerful. I believe that is how Voldemort apparated away, as well."
Harry thought he understood, except for one thing.
"But how did Voldemort get away? If, like you said, the motive has to be un- selfish? I don't think Voldemort had anyone but himself in mind when he apparated."
"Voldemort has levels of power that no one but himself can comprehend. For his whole life he has been researching ancient evil magic and spells, no doubt he has found a way to perform ancient magic without as many complications as is normal."
"And the anit-apparation field around the school?" Harry asked.
"It only prohibits apparating inside the school from the outside, or vise- versa. You can still apparate from one section of the school to another."
Harry nodded, trying to take in what Dumbledore was saying, but it all seemed so impossibe.
"So...so was that how I....I mean...why didn't I die?" Harry finally managed to say.
"Ah," Dumbledore sighed. "The greatest mystery of all, no doubt. I believe it was because of the same ancient magic that you used to apparate to Ginny. I believe that is also the way that your mother managed to save your life when you were a child."
Harry was giving himself a headache with trying to sort everything out. Nothing made sense.
"But...my mother....she....she died. Why didn't I?" Harry choked several times as he tried to force the words out.
A shadow of weariness and sorrow passed across the Headmaster's face once again.
"Because, Harry, your mother....I know this is hard to understand, even I don't completely comprehend ancient magic and it's rules. It is a form of magic that comes from the heart, not from wands or incantations. The power of the spell that one is able to cast is based on the goodness of the heart of the one performing it. Do you understand so far?"
Harry nodded, listening attentively.
"You and your mother both used ancient magic to try and save the lives of those that you loved. You both knew what you had to do to accomplish that. Your mother knew she had to die to save you, so she died. But you knew you had to live to save Ginny, so you lived."
Harry understood now. It gave you a choice, wether you wanted to live or die. And his mother chose death, just to save him. He had known that in order for Ginny to live, he himself had to live. So he had chosen life.
Dumbledore watched Harry with pain. The boy was having to face things that no seventeen year old should be aloud to face. There was a sorrow shining in those brilliant green eyes that never should have been there. But there was also wisdom. Dumbledore had watched him grow up from an infant, and the boy's strength and resiliance had never once ceased to amaze him. No matter what Harry was faced with, he stood up to it without even flinching. He had lived such a hard life, but, unlike most people, he didn't attempt to blame it on those around him, he merely kept on going with amazing resolve and determination.
Dumbledore was knocked out of these thoughts by Harry's next question.
"How did I get this cut on my cheek?" He asked, once again rubbing the bandage on his face.
Dumbledore was surprised that he didn't know. "It happened when the Avada Kedavra curse hit you."
Harry's shock was obvious. "Really?" He asked. "I didn't even feel it."
Dumbledore nodded. "As you have already demonstrated once, I suppose whenever anyone survives the curse they are left with a mark to prove it. That is why Poppy couldn't heal it, it is necessary for the cut to scar." Dumbledore explained, before they both passed into a thoughtful silence once again.
"I'm sorry." Harry said quietly after a few minutes.
"Sorry? Whatever are you sorry for?" Dumbledore asked in a confused voice.
Harry looked up to meet the old man's eyes. "For not killing him. I had the chance to destroy him, to end things forever, and I let him get away." As he finished he couldn't look into those peircing eyes anymore, so he diverted his gaze to the floor.
Dumbledore stood up and went to sit by Harry on the metal hospital bed. "Harry," He said in a gentle, fatherly voice. The emerald green eyes turned up to meet his. They were filled with shame and anger.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You did exactly what you should have done. Mercy and love are the very things that Voldemort fears the most. They are the only things in this world that he doesn't understand, the only things that he doesn't know how to deal with. He wanted you to kill him, he was trying to make you angry enough to do it. Because he knew that he wouldn't die. Hate is what Voldemort thrives on, what gives him most of his power. If you had given into your hate, then you would only have made him stronger, and also given him the pleasure of seeing you become like him. At first when he came he expected just to kill you and get it over with, but when you proved to be something of a difficulty, he decided it would be wiser to convert you to his side, so he could use your power as well as his own. But you fought him, Harry. You did the very thing that he wasn't expecting. True, it is a shame that Voldemort is still alive, but if you had somehow managed to destroy him, it wouldn't have ended evil forever. One of his followers would have picked up where he left off, perhaps coming even more powerful than Voldemort himself had been. There will always be evil in the world, Harry, no one can change that. But as long as there is evil, there is also those who are brave and good enough to fight it." He gave Harry a gentle pat on the shoulder as he finished.
Harry nodded comprehendingly. He gave the old wizard a very thankful look. Dumbledore smiled sadly at the boy as he stood up and walked back to the window, where he peered out into what was now a pitch- black sky.
"You injured him tonight, though. His plan was to come here and rid himself of the two wizards who had been causing him trouble, and you stopped him from doing that. And you also destroyed his wand. When a wizard has had a wand as long as Lord Voldemort had his, and used it as often as he had, the wand and wizard grow somewhat connected. Of course he will be able to find another wand, and grow used to that one as well. But after so many years of doing the same evil curses over and over, a wand usually becomes especially powerful with those types of curses. You did the world a favor by destroying that wand."
Harry was about to ask how he had known how to destroy the wand, but figured that it was just more ancient magic. And besides, he wa getting a bit impatient to leave and see his friends. Dumbledore seemed to sense this.
"If you have no more questions, you may go now. I am sure there are lots of people who are most anxious to see you. If you think of anything else you wish to ask me, feel free to do so anytime." He said without taking his eyes away from the window.
"Yes, sir. Thank you for your help." Harry said as he stood up and began walking toward the door, the potion Madame Pomfrey had given him still in his hand.
"Harry," The Headmaster's voice stopped him right before he was about to turn the door knob.
He turned his head to look at the wizard by the window. Dumbledore was looking at him with a nastalgic look in his intense eyes.
It seemed only yesterday to the old man when he had watched a young black haired boy leave the same hospital wing through that very door. As Dumbeldore looked at Harry, the unnaturaly green eyes semed to turn chocolate brown. But besides that the boy remained almost completely the same. He had been there for some Quidditch injury, broke his leg or something like that. What was that, 20 something years ago? Somwhere around there.
"Yes sir?
Harry's words shattered Dumbledore's memories of times long past. Once again it was Harry Potter standing in the doorway, those shining emerald eyes replacing the imaginary brown ones.
"Oh, I'm sorry my boy. When you get to be my age sometimes memories come up out of nowhere and take place of the present completely."
Dumbledore sighed deeply, trying to push stubborn memories out of his mind.
"I just wanted to say that..." He took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "I'm sure your parents are very proud."
Harry smiled sadly as he nodded his thanks. He gave the aged wizard a small wave as he walked out the door, trying to fight the tears that were threatening to fall.
As soon as the door closed behind Harry, Dumbledore collapsed into the chair once again, burying his face in his wrinkled hand, this time not even bothering to remove his glasses.
*****************
A/N: I'm sorry that took so long! Please tell me if you liked it or not. I know it was boring but I had to explain all that stuff somehow. Review please!
~*Katydid*~
shdurrani-Well he does kind want to kill V, but decides not to. I dunno. Hey I hope your surgery goes good!
la2ur2a-haha, sorry! thanks for reviewing and sorry this chap took so long!
Starry Eyed GIrl-hey! don't worry about it I lost track of everything when ffnet went down, too. I stopped writing for like a month. thanks for reviewing again, though! and thanks for your suggestions! that was a good idea about the death eaters being outside, but I already had this written when I got your review and i was too lazy to change anything. thanks again, though!
gundamhardcore-I love getting new reviewers! haha. thanks so much!
Thanks again! Y'all are so special. haha. sorry i'm tired.
Chapter 15
~*~*~*~*~*
It took a few seconds for everyone's vision to be cleared of the tiny white spots of light. When Harry was finally able to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was Dumbledore's sea blue ones staring straight into his own. The expression in his eyes was strange and unfamiliar to Harry, but if he had to make a guess at it, he would have thought it was something like pride. The old wizard nodded his bearded head slowly in a gesture of respect.
Harry felt someone tap him on the arm, and turned to find Madame Pomfrey with an impatient look in her eyes.
"Come along, Mr. Potter. Got to get you cleaned up."
She was already holding Ginny's arm with her other hand, even though nothing appeared to be wrong with her.
"Oh, I'm fine, really." Harry said. He really didn't fell like going to the hospital wing right now, and he really did feel fine. He had a few cuts and bruises but they were really all very minor.
"Oh and you're just going to parade around with your face covered in blood, are you?" She sounded almost angry now.
"What?" Harry muttered as he raised his hand to his face. He was surprised to find his cheek covered in a wet, sticky substance. He had an enormous gash across his right cheek.
"Where did that come from?" He said without realizing he'd even said it aloud.
He looked over to where he had left Voldemort. The figure on the floor, still tied up tightly, was surounded by the Hogwarts teachers, as well as several parents, who all had their wands pointed straight at him. Despite the ten something wizards surrounding Voldemort, Harry still didn't feel comfortable. This was too easy.
"I really don't want to...." Harry started, turning back to Madame Pomfrey. But before he could finish, the Great Hall was suddenly filled with the confused yells of the wizards who had been gaurding Voldemort. Before Harry even looked, he knew what had happened. He had been stupid to think that a few ropes could hold Lord Voldemort, wether he had his wand or not. He turned to see what everyone in the Great Hall was gasping at in horror. The ropes were lying limply on the ground. Voldemort had vansished.
Harry groaned as he buried his face in a trembling hand, ignoring the fact that his hand was slowly getting soaked in his own blood from the cut on his cheek.
"Come now, Harry. Up to the hospital wing. I'll stay here and try to sort out this mess and calm everyone down, but I'll be up in a few minutes. We have a lot to talk about, I think." Dumbedlore said as he patted Harry gently on the shoulder.
Harry didn't understand how he could talk like that. So calmly. For a few precious minutes they had had Voldemort in their grasp, and now he was gone again. But before Harry could say anything to him, Dumbedlore turned to talk to some frantic parent, and Harry found himself being lead away by a determined Madame pomfrey.
Harry suddenly realized that Voldemort's wand was still in his left hand. He stopped before they had even made it out of the double doors and took his own wand out of his pocket with his other hand. Some how he knew what to do. He joined his own wand and Voldemort's at their tip's, and began muttering an incantation. He didn't even know how he knew it, the words just seemed to pour out of his mouth as if someone else were in control of his body.
Hearing the strange incatations, everyone stopped asking eachother questions that no one even knew the answer to, and turned to look at Harry. After a few seconds of seemingly meaningless rambling, Harry's voice got stronger and clearer. He was speaking in a very quiet tone, but his words had a sort of strength and authority in them that made his voice seem to echo around the huge room. There was a brilliant white light surrounding him, growing brighter every second.
Finally, with even more clarity and strength than all the others, Harry muttered the final word of the strange spell. As the last word left his mouth, the blinding light expanded rapidly until it filled the whole hall, before disappearing completly. Voldemort's wand snapped in two with an echoing crack. Harry stared penetratingly at the two peices of wood. He kept thinking about his parents. Had he let them down by not killing Voldemort? He'd had a chance to avenge their deaths, and he'd thrown it away like a coward.
He felt his eyes begin to fill with tears as he looked at the shards in his hand. Just two peices of wood. He felt the familiar surge of anger come flooding back into him. He threw the broken wand to the ground. Hard. He turned back to the door, but before he was even out the room, the shards turned into ash with a soft hissing whisper that only Harry could understand. But he just continued on his way to the Hospital wing, not even turning around to watch as the piles of ash disappeared into the ground.
****************
"I don't know what we're coming to these days." Madame Pomfrey said in a scolding voice as she took out her wand and began healing some of Harry's minor cuts.
"Children taking on powerful wizards like there was nothing to it. Seems to me like they should teach less facts in these schools, and more common sense."
Harry and Ginny gave eachother a small smile. Ginny was sitting on the hospital bed next to the one that Harry was sitting on while Madame Pomfrey closed his wounds. The cuts all healed perfectly, not even leaving scars.
"Still," She continued. "You're a brave fellow, aren't you? Had you in here more often than any other student in the school. Had your father in here an awful lot, too. Always banging himself up in Qudditch matches and the like. Guess it runs in the Potter blood." Her eyes filled with tears as she said the last part, and she had to turn away to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.
"There now. You're about done, except for this cheek of yours." She said as she turned back to Harry and began wiping some of the blood from his face with a towel. She raised her wand and muttered the healing spell that she had used for all the other cuts, but the purple sparks that it emitted simply faded into the cut, instead of healing it as it had done all the others.
"Oh now what's wrong." She said with a frustrated voice. She raised her wand again, preparing to try the spell a second time, but was stopped by a voice coming from the doorway.
"I doubt that will work, Poppy. Best not to waste your time. Just patch it up a bit." Dumbledore said as he walked into the room.
Madame Pomfrey threw him a confused look, but followed his orders anyway, placing a bandage on Harry's cheek. She then handed him two small bottles filled with potions, one was blue and the other was green.
"Drink the blue one now, dear, it helps dull the pain of the after effects of the cruciatus curse. The green one is for dreamless sleep, keep that one for tonight. I have a feeling you might need it."
Harry nodded before drinking the entire blue bottle in one gulp. She then turned to Ginny, giving her the same two bottles and giving her the same orders. After Ginny had swallowed the contents of her blue bottle, Madame Pomfrey told them to lie down for a few hours.
"What?" Ginny and Harry said in unison. They both felt perfectly fine, and wanted to go be with their friends and family.
"I really don't think that's necessary, Poppy. The both look perfectly healthy to me." Dumbledore spoke up in their defense.
"But Headmaster, they have just been through a horrible ordeal....." She argued.
"Yes, yes they have. But right now I believe that you have done all you can for them, and that the best treatment for them will be to return to life as it was before the incident. Thank you for your help, Poppy." His voice was gentle, but also very determined and filled with authority. Madame Pomfrey sighed and nodded reluctantly.
"Now," Dumbledore started, turning to Harry and Ginny. "I believe there are several people waiting outside who are very anxious to see you both. You may leave, Ginny, but I must ask that Harry stay for a few minutes longer. There are several questions that I need him to answer, and he probably has some questions of his own."
Ginny nodded, and left the hospital wing quietly. Madame Pomfrey went into her office a few seconds later, after giving Harry strict warnings not to 'tire himself out'.
As soon as the door was closed Dumbledore sat slowly down in a chair next to the window. He sighed deeply as he took his half moon spectacles off and began rubbing his eyes wearily. But after just a few seconds the glasses were back in front of his ocean blue eyes, now alert and bright as they usually were.
"Well, Harry." He said, even managing a small smile. "That was quite an ordeal."
Harry just nodded in a agreement as he felt the bandage on his cheek. It still didn't even hurt.
"I trust you have a lot of questions that you would like answered."
Harry nodded again. Was he supposed to ask him now?
"Well?"
Apparently he was. "Um....." Harry started. He had so many questions, he didn't even know where to start. "Why....I mean how....how did I get in front of Ginny like that?"
"Hmm...well to tell the truth that was one of the questions that I was going to ask you." The old wizard said with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "But I do have a theory. You could have apparated. I can't think what else it could have been."
"But....but I can't apparate....I mean even with a wand I don't know how....." Harry stammered confusedly.
"Yes, I know. But in dire situations it's extraordinary how one can do things that he never knew how to do. Can you tell me what was going through your head at the time?"
"I was just thinking how...how I wished that it was me standing there instead of Ginny." Harry didn't really see how that could have helped very much.
"Hmm...." Dumbledore said again, nodding his head as if he understood.
Harry knew that the best way to get a response out of the wizard was just to wait until he was through thinking things over. So despite how much he was longing for an answer, he waited silently until Dumbledore was ready to tell him.
"I believe you used a very ancient form of magic. A form where a wand isn't necessary, otherwise known as wandless magic. When one desires something desperatly, and if the desire is completely un-selfish, one is able to perform very complicated magic. Of course not everyone can do it, the person attempting it must be incredibly powerful. I believe that is how Voldemort apparated away, as well."
Harry thought he understood, except for one thing.
"But how did Voldemort get away? If, like you said, the motive has to be un- selfish? I don't think Voldemort had anyone but himself in mind when he apparated."
"Voldemort has levels of power that no one but himself can comprehend. For his whole life he has been researching ancient evil magic and spells, no doubt he has found a way to perform ancient magic without as many complications as is normal."
"And the anit-apparation field around the school?" Harry asked.
"It only prohibits apparating inside the school from the outside, or vise- versa. You can still apparate from one section of the school to another."
Harry nodded, trying to take in what Dumbledore was saying, but it all seemed so impossibe.
"So...so was that how I....I mean...why didn't I die?" Harry finally managed to say.
"Ah," Dumbledore sighed. "The greatest mystery of all, no doubt. I believe it was because of the same ancient magic that you used to apparate to Ginny. I believe that is also the way that your mother managed to save your life when you were a child."
Harry was giving himself a headache with trying to sort everything out. Nothing made sense.
"But...my mother....she....she died. Why didn't I?" Harry choked several times as he tried to force the words out.
A shadow of weariness and sorrow passed across the Headmaster's face once again.
"Because, Harry, your mother....I know this is hard to understand, even I don't completely comprehend ancient magic and it's rules. It is a form of magic that comes from the heart, not from wands or incantations. The power of the spell that one is able to cast is based on the goodness of the heart of the one performing it. Do you understand so far?"
Harry nodded, listening attentively.
"You and your mother both used ancient magic to try and save the lives of those that you loved. You both knew what you had to do to accomplish that. Your mother knew she had to die to save you, so she died. But you knew you had to live to save Ginny, so you lived."
Harry understood now. It gave you a choice, wether you wanted to live or die. And his mother chose death, just to save him. He had known that in order for Ginny to live, he himself had to live. So he had chosen life.
Dumbledore watched Harry with pain. The boy was having to face things that no seventeen year old should be aloud to face. There was a sorrow shining in those brilliant green eyes that never should have been there. But there was also wisdom. Dumbledore had watched him grow up from an infant, and the boy's strength and resiliance had never once ceased to amaze him. No matter what Harry was faced with, he stood up to it without even flinching. He had lived such a hard life, but, unlike most people, he didn't attempt to blame it on those around him, he merely kept on going with amazing resolve and determination.
Dumbledore was knocked out of these thoughts by Harry's next question.
"How did I get this cut on my cheek?" He asked, once again rubbing the bandage on his face.
Dumbledore was surprised that he didn't know. "It happened when the Avada Kedavra curse hit you."
Harry's shock was obvious. "Really?" He asked. "I didn't even feel it."
Dumbledore nodded. "As you have already demonstrated once, I suppose whenever anyone survives the curse they are left with a mark to prove it. That is why Poppy couldn't heal it, it is necessary for the cut to scar." Dumbledore explained, before they both passed into a thoughtful silence once again.
"I'm sorry." Harry said quietly after a few minutes.
"Sorry? Whatever are you sorry for?" Dumbledore asked in a confused voice.
Harry looked up to meet the old man's eyes. "For not killing him. I had the chance to destroy him, to end things forever, and I let him get away." As he finished he couldn't look into those peircing eyes anymore, so he diverted his gaze to the floor.
Dumbledore stood up and went to sit by Harry on the metal hospital bed. "Harry," He said in a gentle, fatherly voice. The emerald green eyes turned up to meet his. They were filled with shame and anger.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You did exactly what you should have done. Mercy and love are the very things that Voldemort fears the most. They are the only things in this world that he doesn't understand, the only things that he doesn't know how to deal with. He wanted you to kill him, he was trying to make you angry enough to do it. Because he knew that he wouldn't die. Hate is what Voldemort thrives on, what gives him most of his power. If you had given into your hate, then you would only have made him stronger, and also given him the pleasure of seeing you become like him. At first when he came he expected just to kill you and get it over with, but when you proved to be something of a difficulty, he decided it would be wiser to convert you to his side, so he could use your power as well as his own. But you fought him, Harry. You did the very thing that he wasn't expecting. True, it is a shame that Voldemort is still alive, but if you had somehow managed to destroy him, it wouldn't have ended evil forever. One of his followers would have picked up where he left off, perhaps coming even more powerful than Voldemort himself had been. There will always be evil in the world, Harry, no one can change that. But as long as there is evil, there is also those who are brave and good enough to fight it." He gave Harry a gentle pat on the shoulder as he finished.
Harry nodded comprehendingly. He gave the old wizard a very thankful look. Dumbledore smiled sadly at the boy as he stood up and walked back to the window, where he peered out into what was now a pitch- black sky.
"You injured him tonight, though. His plan was to come here and rid himself of the two wizards who had been causing him trouble, and you stopped him from doing that. And you also destroyed his wand. When a wizard has had a wand as long as Lord Voldemort had his, and used it as often as he had, the wand and wizard grow somewhat connected. Of course he will be able to find another wand, and grow used to that one as well. But after so many years of doing the same evil curses over and over, a wand usually becomes especially powerful with those types of curses. You did the world a favor by destroying that wand."
Harry was about to ask how he had known how to destroy the wand, but figured that it was just more ancient magic. And besides, he wa getting a bit impatient to leave and see his friends. Dumbledore seemed to sense this.
"If you have no more questions, you may go now. I am sure there are lots of people who are most anxious to see you. If you think of anything else you wish to ask me, feel free to do so anytime." He said without taking his eyes away from the window.
"Yes, sir. Thank you for your help." Harry said as he stood up and began walking toward the door, the potion Madame Pomfrey had given him still in his hand.
"Harry," The Headmaster's voice stopped him right before he was about to turn the door knob.
He turned his head to look at the wizard by the window. Dumbledore was looking at him with a nastalgic look in his intense eyes.
It seemed only yesterday to the old man when he had watched a young black haired boy leave the same hospital wing through that very door. As Dumbeldore looked at Harry, the unnaturaly green eyes semed to turn chocolate brown. But besides that the boy remained almost completely the same. He had been there for some Quidditch injury, broke his leg or something like that. What was that, 20 something years ago? Somwhere around there.
"Yes sir?
Harry's words shattered Dumbledore's memories of times long past. Once again it was Harry Potter standing in the doorway, those shining emerald eyes replacing the imaginary brown ones.
"Oh, I'm sorry my boy. When you get to be my age sometimes memories come up out of nowhere and take place of the present completely."
Dumbledore sighed deeply, trying to push stubborn memories out of his mind.
"I just wanted to say that..." He took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "I'm sure your parents are very proud."
Harry smiled sadly as he nodded his thanks. He gave the aged wizard a small wave as he walked out the door, trying to fight the tears that were threatening to fall.
As soon as the door closed behind Harry, Dumbledore collapsed into the chair once again, burying his face in his wrinkled hand, this time not even bothering to remove his glasses.
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A/N: I'm sorry that took so long! Please tell me if you liked it or not. I know it was boring but I had to explain all that stuff somehow. Review please!
~*Katydid*~