Chapter 28
After sitting around the fire for about thirty minutes, the door opened and Albus Dumbledore entered the small room with Severus Snape on his heels.
"Good morning" he said cheerfully as he settled on the couch opposite Harry and Ginny and Snape remained standing beside the fire "I trust you are curious about the occurrences at the ministry Harry"
"Yes sir, I am" answered Harry
"Well, I shall allow your professors to tell you two what they know before I give my opinion on the matters. Sirius, would you like to begin?"
"Certainly headmaster, Harry, before the ministry officials gave Shaw vertiserum" he began "we wanted to find out his opinions on some things that he would not have been able to give if he were under the influence of a potion. According to him, there are still at least a hundred death eaters that were not present at the battle last year. Apparently Voldemort wanted to make sure he would still have loyal followers just in case they lost the battle, but the one thing he hadn't counted on was being destroyed himself. Because of their master being destroyed, they are a little upset to say the least, so you need to be sure to watch your back, because there is no doubt that they will come after you to avenge their masters death" he paused here and looked to Remus who picked up the explanation.
"The worst part about these death eaters is that they only know a handful of their fellow followers so he was only able to give us about five other names, and none of those were the wizards true names so we were unable to find them. Apparently they each have a name that they call each other and the name that the rest of the world knows them as. Another advantage they have on us is that they don't have the traditional dark mark. The mark that the other death eaters have is permanent and visible at all times, although it becomes black whenever they are near the dark lord or summoned to him and it lightens up to look like a scar when it is not active, but it is still plainly visible. Do you understand?" he asked the two students as he would in classes, and they both nodded "Well, these death eaters have the same mark in the same place, but when they are not in the presence of Voldemort or being summoned, it disappears completely, making it impossible to prove that they are death eaters at all since you can't see the mark" he explained.
Upon hearing this, Harry let out a loud groan "So you're saying that we won't be able to identify any more death eaters until they try to kill me or someone else?" he asked no one in particular and it was surprisingly who answered him.
"Not quite Potter, there is something else that can help us, but we need to know the truth about what happened to Voldemort" he said, but his face was missing its usual smirk.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry even though he had a pretty good idea already, he just needed someone to voice it.
"Harry, Mr. Shaw said something quite disturbing and Severus here agreed with him. Apparently after Shaw stabbed you and you were standing over him, his dark mark began to burn and it became visible. At the same time, Severus' turned black like it did when he was in the company of Voldemort. We need you to tell us what happened to him" said Dumbledore as he kept his crystal blue eyes focused on the younger boy, with none of the normal twinkle present.
Harry let out a deep breath he didn't even realize he had been holding before he looked down to Ginny who looked concerned but just her being present gave him strength to say what he was about to say, to tell them all just what had happened to the most evil wizard the world had seen in a long time.
"Like I explained to Ron last night, when Voldemort hit me with the killing curse it did the same thing it did last time, reflected off of me and hit him. Again his body was destroyed and he was left as a spirit.
When we got to the chamber, the first thing he did was to take control of his lowest death eaters' body. He continued to move from one follower to another, leaving as soon as he killed the person. He used his lowest ranking followers first, but none of them lasted much longer than a day before his power overwhelmed them and they were killed."
"What do you mean his power overwhelmed them? He was able to live in Quirrell's body for almost nine months without it harming him?" asked Snape, truly curious and not at all sarcastic.
"I was just about to explain that professor. You see, Voldemort wasn't willing to merely live in another persons body this time, like he did with Quirrell, instead, he wanted to be in complete control of the person and their powers, but he wanted to be able to use his powers as well and as long as the person fought him with their own power they could live, but the second their magical energy was exhausted, his power was too strong and it killed the persons body, the lower levels of power the person had, the quicker they died."
"So you're saying that he only had control of the person as long as their power was strong enough to fight his, but as soon as the person stopped fighting his power they died? So the higher ranking death eaters were able to survive longer than the lower ones?" asked Remus
"That's exactly right Remus. The last person he used was Lucius Malfoy, and he was able to survive for almost three weeks before his power was almost exhausted. When Voldemort figured out that he was about to die, he released the chains that were on my wrists binding my magic so that he could inhabit my body. He wouldn't have been able to do anything if he had left the chains on because they prevented me from doing any magic what so ever, so he had to release me from the chains before he took control of me. He thought that I was too weak from the injuries that I had received to fight him, but he was wrong" he said with a grim smile on his face, causing the curiosity of the others to increase greatly.
"As soon as I was free, I began to fight him while he was still in Malfoy's body, but it only took a couple of minutes before Malfoy died and Voldemort was free. He had been drawing energy from Malfoy for far to long and the man was only able to stand up to a couple curses before he stopped fighting Voldemort's control and died, releasing Voldemort's spirit once again" he paused for a moment and surveyed everyone in the room as though trying to decide if he wanted to tell them what he was about to reveal. He then decided that they all needed to know so he lowered his head and took a hold of his cloak in his hands and he moved slightly away from Ginny. He took several deep breaths before he began talking again, but now his voice was barley above that of a whisper and all present had to strain to hear his words.
"How was I supposed to fight a spirit?" he swallowed hard and took another deep breath, never lifting his gaze from his hands.
"I tried but I couldn't prevent him from taking control of me as well, I tried, I really did but I was too weak to fight him, and he was to strong for me to win even if I had had enough energy to fight back" he paused again and took a shuddering breath, looking at his hands which were constantly tangling themselves in his cloak as they had been doing since he began the worst part of his tale, not willing to meet anyone's gaze afraid of what he would see I their eyes.
"I don't know how, but once he was inside of me, I managed to control him somehow so he couldn't escape or take control of my actions, but I wasn't able to destroy him completely, and if I were to die he would once again be free to find another host. Once I had him trapped, I used the last bit of energy I had to apparate to the alley behind the muggle hospital in London. I had no idea what the reactions of any wizards or witches who found me would be, especially if they saw the dark mark on my arm, they would have probably killed me on the spot and unknowingly released him without realizing what they were doing, so I decided to go to a muggle town to be safe. So far I have been able to control him but he still tries to tempt me to do things or believe things that would weaken me"
"What do you mean he tries to tempt you?" asked Remus
"While I was dueling Shaw, he was trying to convince me to cast the killing curse on him and when I didn't he was able to cast a spell or something. I can't explain how, but whatever he did felt about ten times worse than the cruciatus curse. He hasn't been able to cast any spells or anything like that before, and since he can now I'm worried that he is either getting stronger or I'm getting weaker. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to control him or not give into his suggestions" he finished heavily, just now daring to look into Dumbledore's eyes.
What he saw frightened him more than he thought possible. The normally kind eyes were hard as steel and there was an auror of power surrounding the old man the likes of which Harry had only seen twice before, when he had discovered Crouch Jr. was impersonating Moody during his fourth year and when Voldemort had attacked the castle.
Harry was frightened of this normally kind man for the first time in his life, he couldn't read his expression at all or tell exactly what had caused it and that was what frightened him the most. His gaze was fixed on Harry, but it didn't seem as though he were looking at the boy, but rather inside of him, straight at what was left of Voldemort. Finally though, the silence was broken by Sirius.
"Harry, are you saying that you-know-who has been inside of you since you returned?" he asked as though he couldn't believe what his godson had just told them.
Harry could only nod his head as he continued to stare at his hands. He hadn't noticed it before, but during the course of his explanation, he had not only released Ginny from his arms but moved as far away from her as possible as though he were ashamed of himself and didn't feel worthy of her affection. She had been too shocked by what he was saying to react until now and she tentatively tried to take his hand, but he pulled back and scooted further away from her.
"Can't you release whatever you are confining him with so he leaves?" asked Sirius
"No Sirius, if I do that then he will be free to look for someone else to live in and try again to get his body back" he explained again in an expressionless tone, still not meeting any ones eyes. He knew they were all in a state of shock right now and needed him to assure them that what he had said was indeed the truth.
"That explains the dark mark coming back when you were dueling with Shaw, is it safe to assume that he only spoke to you when you were dueling with him?" asked Remus
Harry nodded again and now the headmaster spoke up.
"Harry, how often does Voldemort speak to you?" he asked in a cold tone.
"Before the duel, I only heard it a couple of times and then I still couldn't remember anything that had happened, so I couldn't figure out just who the voice belonged to. I thought that it was just my subconscious talking. I had been unconsciously keeping him locked away until then and he was still very weak so it didn't take much energy. After the duel though, everything came back to me, I have nightmares about it every night and also since that day he talks to me almost constantly. He seems to be able to tell when I doubt myself or feeling unsure about something and it is those times that he is the loudest and most demanding. Something happened during the duel that triggered him to become so much stronger, but I don't know what" he explained.
"What kinds of things does he say to you Harry?" asked the headmaster and Harry could sense the more gentle edge his voice had taken
"Things to try and make me doubt my friends, myself" he said quietly
"Could you please elaborate Harry" pleaded the old man, willing the boy to tell them what he had been hearing.
"Right now he is saying that you all believe I am evil and will not let me around any other students because you'll be afraid for their safety. He's saying that Ginny will break up with me and Sirius and Remus will not want anything to do with me because I disgrace the memory of their best friend because of my weakness and that I will be expelled and sent to Azkaban. He's saying that none of you believe that he doesn't have control of me and that it will only be a matter of time before he does, and that when the rest of the wizarding world finds out about this and sees the dark mark on my arm that they will shun me and press for the kiss to be administered, among other things" he said in a steady and unwavering voice void of all emotion.
He heard Snape mutter something crude under his breath and Ginny try to muffle a sob. He heard Dumbledore exhale softly and Sirius growl like a dog as he struck the arm of his chair with his fist, but he was still unwilling to look at any of them and instead focused his gaze deep into the heart of the roaring fire in front of him. After several moments of tense silence, the aged headmaster spoke.
"Harry, I can assure you that you will not be expelled from this school, and I for one do not believe you are evil, nor do I believe that Voldemort has taken control of you. I will not let this information get to anyone outside of this room so you needn't worry about the reactions of anyone else right now. As far as I can see, you are the only person strong enough to keep control of Voldemort and until we can find a way to destroy him I must ask you to continue to control him. I know it is probably difficult to do, but try to ignore what he tells you, they are just lies that he is trying to use to manipulate you and get you to give up hope and surrender to his will. I am sorry that you must endure this, and I will begin searching immediately for a way to destroy him, until then though, I must ask you to be careful and come see me if you have any questions. I'll keep in touch with what I find. When you are finished with breakfast tomorrow Harry, could you please come up to my office, there are some things I believe it is time you found out" he finished and Harry nodded as he felt him stand up and heard him depart through the door before Snape spoke up with his own words of encouragement.
"Potter, I know we haven't always gotten along, but I agree with what Albus said completely, you are far from evil and I know you have the strength to fight this. I'll do what I can to help him with his search. Don't worry about endangering the rest of the school, if he does ever manage to beat you, which I am positive will never occur, my own mark will return fully and I will be able to warn the headmaster. You just worry about trying to come up with a way to loose gracefully to the Slytherin quidditch team in two weeks" said the potions master as he too went out the door. Had he said those things under any other circumstances, Harry would have been completely shocked, but right now his words just rang upon deaf ears.
Remus was the next one to speak and his words were spoken with heartfelt truth as well "Harry, you are the strongest wizard I have ever know, not just magically but also in character. If anyone can survive this, it's you. All of us will look for a way to destroy him, but like Albus said, until we do, you need to fight him. Whatever he says he is just saying to try to get you to give up and you can't do that. Stay strong and you'll get through this just like you got through everything else. I would never turn my back on you, not only are you the son of one of my best friends, but you are also an amazing person and you must believe that I will support you no matter what happens" he said to the boy before turning to his best friend "Padfoot, I've got an idea to check into, meet me in our classroom when you get done. I'll see you two at dinner" he said to Ginny and Harry as he went out the door, leaving only them and Sirius behind.
Sirius stood from his chair and made his way over to his godson, kneeling on the floor so that he was looking up into the trouble filled green eyes.
"Hey Harry, you remember what we talked about in the hospital wing? When you told me that I was the best person for the job of your godfather? I didn't believe that until you told me yourself, and I ask you to believe me now. We will find a way to beat this and until we do we will not turn away from you, no matter what. We know you will never willingly give into him, you just have to believe that yourself. You have never, and will never, be a disgrace to James and Lily, they would both be so proud of the person you have become and all that you have accomplished, never forget that" he said, never taking his blue eyes from Harry's green ones. "I'm going to go help Remus now; I'll leave you and Ginny here for as long as you need to talk. Come on up to the defense room when you get done" he said as he stood up and grabbed his own cloak before leaving the room himself.
Once he left the young couple behind, there was silence in the room for several minutes before Ginny spoke up hesitantly "Harry, look at me" she said and when he didn't comply she took his chin in her hand and gently turned his face to hers "Harry, you heard what all of them said and you know as well as I do that they were telling the truth. I will never leave you, please believe this. You risked your life on two separate occasions to save mine, even getting hit by the killing curse for me. I love you for that and so much more. I love you for your selflessness, and your kind heart and just for being you. Please believe that, I love you and would never leave you" she said while tears streamed down her cheeks. When she finished he couldn't help but give her a small smile as he raised his hand to her face and gently wiped the tears from her pale cheek.
"I love you too Gin, I always will. Thank you" he said as he pulled her close to him and met her lips in a gentle but loving kiss that lasted until the need for oxygen over took them both and they separated and settled in each others arms in front of the fire. Nothing else needed to be said by either one, they were both content to just be in the others arms in front of the warm fire.
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The rest of the day was spent searching through every ancient book imaginable that any of those involved in the project thought might help them find a way to destroy Voldemort's spirit once Harry released it from its prison in his mind. They already knew that the simple killing curse was unsuccessful, so they were searching through the long forgotten magic that might hold the answer to their current problem. Nobody spoke much to one another, but it was obvious that they were all desperate for a cure to be found. They had silently decided not to tell anyone who had not been present at the meeting what was going on, including Ron and Hermione. Harry was glad to at least have a few people know the truth though, and he began to act more like the seventeen year old boy that he was when he was with his girlfriend and godfather while they were searching and during dinner, and he was anxious for Christmas morning.
He had decided to spend the night in Sirius' rooms, but over dinner he made Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all promise that they would bring their gifts to Sirius' rooms to open them so that they could be together while they celebrated Christmas along with Sirius and Remus. He went to bed that night without having to worry about the voice of Voldemort trying to convince him to do or believe terrible things, because he was now sure that what the man said was indeed a lie, his friends and family would always stand by his side, no matter what happened. That was how he saw not only Sirius now, but Remus as well, as his family, the first he had ever had. For the first time in his life he felt secure in that knowledge. It would only be a matter of time now before they found a way to destroy Voldemort for good, after all, he had the most powerful wizard in the world, the only man able to infiltrate Voldemort's inner circle as a spy, the best auror ever to fight death eaters, and the best defense against the dark arts professor in Hogwarts history all searching for a way to get rid of Voldemort along with Ginny and himself. How long could it possibly take before they won this battle once and for all?
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A/N: Ok, does that explain everything now? If not, leave your questions in a review and I'll answer them in the next chapter. I know this chapter was a little dark and a little sappy, but it lays the foundation for what is to come, just remember what Snape said about his dark mark coming back if Voldemort ever got control, it will be important. Enough of that, hope you enjoy and please remember to review!
After sitting around the fire for about thirty minutes, the door opened and Albus Dumbledore entered the small room with Severus Snape on his heels.
"Good morning" he said cheerfully as he settled on the couch opposite Harry and Ginny and Snape remained standing beside the fire "I trust you are curious about the occurrences at the ministry Harry"
"Yes sir, I am" answered Harry
"Well, I shall allow your professors to tell you two what they know before I give my opinion on the matters. Sirius, would you like to begin?"
"Certainly headmaster, Harry, before the ministry officials gave Shaw vertiserum" he began "we wanted to find out his opinions on some things that he would not have been able to give if he were under the influence of a potion. According to him, there are still at least a hundred death eaters that were not present at the battle last year. Apparently Voldemort wanted to make sure he would still have loyal followers just in case they lost the battle, but the one thing he hadn't counted on was being destroyed himself. Because of their master being destroyed, they are a little upset to say the least, so you need to be sure to watch your back, because there is no doubt that they will come after you to avenge their masters death" he paused here and looked to Remus who picked up the explanation.
"The worst part about these death eaters is that they only know a handful of their fellow followers so he was only able to give us about five other names, and none of those were the wizards true names so we were unable to find them. Apparently they each have a name that they call each other and the name that the rest of the world knows them as. Another advantage they have on us is that they don't have the traditional dark mark. The mark that the other death eaters have is permanent and visible at all times, although it becomes black whenever they are near the dark lord or summoned to him and it lightens up to look like a scar when it is not active, but it is still plainly visible. Do you understand?" he asked the two students as he would in classes, and they both nodded "Well, these death eaters have the same mark in the same place, but when they are not in the presence of Voldemort or being summoned, it disappears completely, making it impossible to prove that they are death eaters at all since you can't see the mark" he explained.
Upon hearing this, Harry let out a loud groan "So you're saying that we won't be able to identify any more death eaters until they try to kill me or someone else?" he asked no one in particular and it was surprisingly who answered him.
"Not quite Potter, there is something else that can help us, but we need to know the truth about what happened to Voldemort" he said, but his face was missing its usual smirk.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry even though he had a pretty good idea already, he just needed someone to voice it.
"Harry, Mr. Shaw said something quite disturbing and Severus here agreed with him. Apparently after Shaw stabbed you and you were standing over him, his dark mark began to burn and it became visible. At the same time, Severus' turned black like it did when he was in the company of Voldemort. We need you to tell us what happened to him" said Dumbledore as he kept his crystal blue eyes focused on the younger boy, with none of the normal twinkle present.
Harry let out a deep breath he didn't even realize he had been holding before he looked down to Ginny who looked concerned but just her being present gave him strength to say what he was about to say, to tell them all just what had happened to the most evil wizard the world had seen in a long time.
"Like I explained to Ron last night, when Voldemort hit me with the killing curse it did the same thing it did last time, reflected off of me and hit him. Again his body was destroyed and he was left as a spirit.
When we got to the chamber, the first thing he did was to take control of his lowest death eaters' body. He continued to move from one follower to another, leaving as soon as he killed the person. He used his lowest ranking followers first, but none of them lasted much longer than a day before his power overwhelmed them and they were killed."
"What do you mean his power overwhelmed them? He was able to live in Quirrell's body for almost nine months without it harming him?" asked Snape, truly curious and not at all sarcastic.
"I was just about to explain that professor. You see, Voldemort wasn't willing to merely live in another persons body this time, like he did with Quirrell, instead, he wanted to be in complete control of the person and their powers, but he wanted to be able to use his powers as well and as long as the person fought him with their own power they could live, but the second their magical energy was exhausted, his power was too strong and it killed the persons body, the lower levels of power the person had, the quicker they died."
"So you're saying that he only had control of the person as long as their power was strong enough to fight his, but as soon as the person stopped fighting his power they died? So the higher ranking death eaters were able to survive longer than the lower ones?" asked Remus
"That's exactly right Remus. The last person he used was Lucius Malfoy, and he was able to survive for almost three weeks before his power was almost exhausted. When Voldemort figured out that he was about to die, he released the chains that were on my wrists binding my magic so that he could inhabit my body. He wouldn't have been able to do anything if he had left the chains on because they prevented me from doing any magic what so ever, so he had to release me from the chains before he took control of me. He thought that I was too weak from the injuries that I had received to fight him, but he was wrong" he said with a grim smile on his face, causing the curiosity of the others to increase greatly.
"As soon as I was free, I began to fight him while he was still in Malfoy's body, but it only took a couple of minutes before Malfoy died and Voldemort was free. He had been drawing energy from Malfoy for far to long and the man was only able to stand up to a couple curses before he stopped fighting Voldemort's control and died, releasing Voldemort's spirit once again" he paused for a moment and surveyed everyone in the room as though trying to decide if he wanted to tell them what he was about to reveal. He then decided that they all needed to know so he lowered his head and took a hold of his cloak in his hands and he moved slightly away from Ginny. He took several deep breaths before he began talking again, but now his voice was barley above that of a whisper and all present had to strain to hear his words.
"How was I supposed to fight a spirit?" he swallowed hard and took another deep breath, never lifting his gaze from his hands.
"I tried but I couldn't prevent him from taking control of me as well, I tried, I really did but I was too weak to fight him, and he was to strong for me to win even if I had had enough energy to fight back" he paused again and took a shuddering breath, looking at his hands which were constantly tangling themselves in his cloak as they had been doing since he began the worst part of his tale, not willing to meet anyone's gaze afraid of what he would see I their eyes.
"I don't know how, but once he was inside of me, I managed to control him somehow so he couldn't escape or take control of my actions, but I wasn't able to destroy him completely, and if I were to die he would once again be free to find another host. Once I had him trapped, I used the last bit of energy I had to apparate to the alley behind the muggle hospital in London. I had no idea what the reactions of any wizards or witches who found me would be, especially if they saw the dark mark on my arm, they would have probably killed me on the spot and unknowingly released him without realizing what they were doing, so I decided to go to a muggle town to be safe. So far I have been able to control him but he still tries to tempt me to do things or believe things that would weaken me"
"What do you mean he tries to tempt you?" asked Remus
"While I was dueling Shaw, he was trying to convince me to cast the killing curse on him and when I didn't he was able to cast a spell or something. I can't explain how, but whatever he did felt about ten times worse than the cruciatus curse. He hasn't been able to cast any spells or anything like that before, and since he can now I'm worried that he is either getting stronger or I'm getting weaker. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to control him or not give into his suggestions" he finished heavily, just now daring to look into Dumbledore's eyes.
What he saw frightened him more than he thought possible. The normally kind eyes were hard as steel and there was an auror of power surrounding the old man the likes of which Harry had only seen twice before, when he had discovered Crouch Jr. was impersonating Moody during his fourth year and when Voldemort had attacked the castle.
Harry was frightened of this normally kind man for the first time in his life, he couldn't read his expression at all or tell exactly what had caused it and that was what frightened him the most. His gaze was fixed on Harry, but it didn't seem as though he were looking at the boy, but rather inside of him, straight at what was left of Voldemort. Finally though, the silence was broken by Sirius.
"Harry, are you saying that you-know-who has been inside of you since you returned?" he asked as though he couldn't believe what his godson had just told them.
Harry could only nod his head as he continued to stare at his hands. He hadn't noticed it before, but during the course of his explanation, he had not only released Ginny from his arms but moved as far away from her as possible as though he were ashamed of himself and didn't feel worthy of her affection. She had been too shocked by what he was saying to react until now and she tentatively tried to take his hand, but he pulled back and scooted further away from her.
"Can't you release whatever you are confining him with so he leaves?" asked Sirius
"No Sirius, if I do that then he will be free to look for someone else to live in and try again to get his body back" he explained again in an expressionless tone, still not meeting any ones eyes. He knew they were all in a state of shock right now and needed him to assure them that what he had said was indeed the truth.
"That explains the dark mark coming back when you were dueling with Shaw, is it safe to assume that he only spoke to you when you were dueling with him?" asked Remus
Harry nodded again and now the headmaster spoke up.
"Harry, how often does Voldemort speak to you?" he asked in a cold tone.
"Before the duel, I only heard it a couple of times and then I still couldn't remember anything that had happened, so I couldn't figure out just who the voice belonged to. I thought that it was just my subconscious talking. I had been unconsciously keeping him locked away until then and he was still very weak so it didn't take much energy. After the duel though, everything came back to me, I have nightmares about it every night and also since that day he talks to me almost constantly. He seems to be able to tell when I doubt myself or feeling unsure about something and it is those times that he is the loudest and most demanding. Something happened during the duel that triggered him to become so much stronger, but I don't know what" he explained.
"What kinds of things does he say to you Harry?" asked the headmaster and Harry could sense the more gentle edge his voice had taken
"Things to try and make me doubt my friends, myself" he said quietly
"Could you please elaborate Harry" pleaded the old man, willing the boy to tell them what he had been hearing.
"Right now he is saying that you all believe I am evil and will not let me around any other students because you'll be afraid for their safety. He's saying that Ginny will break up with me and Sirius and Remus will not want anything to do with me because I disgrace the memory of their best friend because of my weakness and that I will be expelled and sent to Azkaban. He's saying that none of you believe that he doesn't have control of me and that it will only be a matter of time before he does, and that when the rest of the wizarding world finds out about this and sees the dark mark on my arm that they will shun me and press for the kiss to be administered, among other things" he said in a steady and unwavering voice void of all emotion.
He heard Snape mutter something crude under his breath and Ginny try to muffle a sob. He heard Dumbledore exhale softly and Sirius growl like a dog as he struck the arm of his chair with his fist, but he was still unwilling to look at any of them and instead focused his gaze deep into the heart of the roaring fire in front of him. After several moments of tense silence, the aged headmaster spoke.
"Harry, I can assure you that you will not be expelled from this school, and I for one do not believe you are evil, nor do I believe that Voldemort has taken control of you. I will not let this information get to anyone outside of this room so you needn't worry about the reactions of anyone else right now. As far as I can see, you are the only person strong enough to keep control of Voldemort and until we can find a way to destroy him I must ask you to continue to control him. I know it is probably difficult to do, but try to ignore what he tells you, they are just lies that he is trying to use to manipulate you and get you to give up hope and surrender to his will. I am sorry that you must endure this, and I will begin searching immediately for a way to destroy him, until then though, I must ask you to be careful and come see me if you have any questions. I'll keep in touch with what I find. When you are finished with breakfast tomorrow Harry, could you please come up to my office, there are some things I believe it is time you found out" he finished and Harry nodded as he felt him stand up and heard him depart through the door before Snape spoke up with his own words of encouragement.
"Potter, I know we haven't always gotten along, but I agree with what Albus said completely, you are far from evil and I know you have the strength to fight this. I'll do what I can to help him with his search. Don't worry about endangering the rest of the school, if he does ever manage to beat you, which I am positive will never occur, my own mark will return fully and I will be able to warn the headmaster. You just worry about trying to come up with a way to loose gracefully to the Slytherin quidditch team in two weeks" said the potions master as he too went out the door. Had he said those things under any other circumstances, Harry would have been completely shocked, but right now his words just rang upon deaf ears.
Remus was the next one to speak and his words were spoken with heartfelt truth as well "Harry, you are the strongest wizard I have ever know, not just magically but also in character. If anyone can survive this, it's you. All of us will look for a way to destroy him, but like Albus said, until we do, you need to fight him. Whatever he says he is just saying to try to get you to give up and you can't do that. Stay strong and you'll get through this just like you got through everything else. I would never turn my back on you, not only are you the son of one of my best friends, but you are also an amazing person and you must believe that I will support you no matter what happens" he said to the boy before turning to his best friend "Padfoot, I've got an idea to check into, meet me in our classroom when you get done. I'll see you two at dinner" he said to Ginny and Harry as he went out the door, leaving only them and Sirius behind.
Sirius stood from his chair and made his way over to his godson, kneeling on the floor so that he was looking up into the trouble filled green eyes.
"Hey Harry, you remember what we talked about in the hospital wing? When you told me that I was the best person for the job of your godfather? I didn't believe that until you told me yourself, and I ask you to believe me now. We will find a way to beat this and until we do we will not turn away from you, no matter what. We know you will never willingly give into him, you just have to believe that yourself. You have never, and will never, be a disgrace to James and Lily, they would both be so proud of the person you have become and all that you have accomplished, never forget that" he said, never taking his blue eyes from Harry's green ones. "I'm going to go help Remus now; I'll leave you and Ginny here for as long as you need to talk. Come on up to the defense room when you get done" he said as he stood up and grabbed his own cloak before leaving the room himself.
Once he left the young couple behind, there was silence in the room for several minutes before Ginny spoke up hesitantly "Harry, look at me" she said and when he didn't comply she took his chin in her hand and gently turned his face to hers "Harry, you heard what all of them said and you know as well as I do that they were telling the truth. I will never leave you, please believe this. You risked your life on two separate occasions to save mine, even getting hit by the killing curse for me. I love you for that and so much more. I love you for your selflessness, and your kind heart and just for being you. Please believe that, I love you and would never leave you" she said while tears streamed down her cheeks. When she finished he couldn't help but give her a small smile as he raised his hand to her face and gently wiped the tears from her pale cheek.
"I love you too Gin, I always will. Thank you" he said as he pulled her close to him and met her lips in a gentle but loving kiss that lasted until the need for oxygen over took them both and they separated and settled in each others arms in front of the fire. Nothing else needed to be said by either one, they were both content to just be in the others arms in front of the warm fire.
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The rest of the day was spent searching through every ancient book imaginable that any of those involved in the project thought might help them find a way to destroy Voldemort's spirit once Harry released it from its prison in his mind. They already knew that the simple killing curse was unsuccessful, so they were searching through the long forgotten magic that might hold the answer to their current problem. Nobody spoke much to one another, but it was obvious that they were all desperate for a cure to be found. They had silently decided not to tell anyone who had not been present at the meeting what was going on, including Ron and Hermione. Harry was glad to at least have a few people know the truth though, and he began to act more like the seventeen year old boy that he was when he was with his girlfriend and godfather while they were searching and during dinner, and he was anxious for Christmas morning.
He had decided to spend the night in Sirius' rooms, but over dinner he made Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all promise that they would bring their gifts to Sirius' rooms to open them so that they could be together while they celebrated Christmas along with Sirius and Remus. He went to bed that night without having to worry about the voice of Voldemort trying to convince him to do or believe terrible things, because he was now sure that what the man said was indeed a lie, his friends and family would always stand by his side, no matter what happened. That was how he saw not only Sirius now, but Remus as well, as his family, the first he had ever had. For the first time in his life he felt secure in that knowledge. It would only be a matter of time now before they found a way to destroy Voldemort for good, after all, he had the most powerful wizard in the world, the only man able to infiltrate Voldemort's inner circle as a spy, the best auror ever to fight death eaters, and the best defense against the dark arts professor in Hogwarts history all searching for a way to get rid of Voldemort along with Ginny and himself. How long could it possibly take before they won this battle once and for all?
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A/N: Ok, does that explain everything now? If not, leave your questions in a review and I'll answer them in the next chapter. I know this chapter was a little dark and a little sappy, but it lays the foundation for what is to come, just remember what Snape said about his dark mark coming back if Voldemort ever got control, it will be important. Enough of that, hope you enjoy and please remember to review!