Chapter 38
The cavern was dark and cold, like it had been for the past weeks, too many to count now. He was still chained to the hard wall and every inch of his battered body hurt like hell. He hadn't eaten since he had arrived here, and he didn't know how or why he was still alive, but he wished he weren't. He was so weak he couldn't even lift his head to look around, but he knew if he did that every muscle would scream in protest of the agony that small movement would cause. If he desired to open his eyes, they would be met with the same thing he had seen too many times already, blood. He was tired of seeing his blood. He knew that he should have bled to death more than once already, but for some reason, he never did, even though more deep cuts were added to him every day. Try as he might, he just couldn't figure out why he just didn't die already, and apparently neither could the death eaters, even though they had tried everything in their power to solve that problem now. He had not only been tortured beyond belief or recognition, but he had been hit with the killing curse on more than one occasion, but the only good that accomplished was to kill the current host of Voldemort and leave him to move on. The pain of the cruciatus was now welcome to the pain of the killing curse. Every time he was hit with the green light, his body felt as though it were being pulled apart at the smallest level and reassembled, successfully knocking him unconscious for several days. His arms were being forced to support his entire weight, and his broken one had lost all sensation, which was almost a good thing considering the bone shattering curse that had hit him the day they found him alive had succeeded in shattering not only the bones in his arm and hand, but his shoulder and collar bone as well. His broken leg though still felt just as painful as the day the curse had hit it, partially due to the fact that his captors enjoyed kicking it when they were near. Wearily, he opened his eyes when he heard voices coming from somewhere near him, straining his ears to listen to the conversation and praying that they still had failed to find any type of escape. There were only about seven death eaters left now and Harry knew it was only a matter of time until Voldemort would have killed them all, and he looked forward to that day in hopes that he would be put out of his terrible misery as well when that day came. Voldemort, who was currently residing inside of Avery was speaking to Lucius Malfoy, and their conversation was unexpected to say the least. They were speaking about their families of all things.
"My son may be a traitor to us now, but I know if my wife would have just allowed him to transfer to Durmstrung like I suggested then he would have become one of your best and most loyal followers" said Malfoy, his voice laced with regret
"Tell me of your wife Lucius, why didn't she support your decision about the boy?" said Avery/Voldemort
"Don't get me wrong master, she is a loyal supporter of you, but she didn't want Draco to be so far from home, it would have been impossible for him to come home for breaks if he were so far away and she loved him too much to go without seeing him for four years" answered Lucius
"I must say I agree with her decision, even if it resulted in the boy being corrupted by that fool Dumbledore and the traitor Snape" answered the other man
"Why do you say that my lord? Her insistence in the matter prevented you from being successful in killing Potter's girlfriend" said the blonde man, curiosity evident in his voice
"Because if I had done the same I would have an heir today Lucius" he answered cryptically
"My lord?" asked Lucius, truly confused by now
"Let me tell you a story Lucius, a story about my younger years" began the other man, and his voice took on a distant quality as though he were reliving happier times "When I graduated from Hogwarts, just over fifty years ago now, I began to travel the world, looking for adventure and knowledge. I was naïve and carefree, much like Potter and your son actually. I stopped for some time in London on my way from one adventure to another, and I went to a small pub. I was eating dinner by myself when a woman came up to me and asked if she could join me. I said yes and we ended up talking. She was very beautiful, with long strawberry blonde hair and green-blue eyes. She was very intelligent and funny, and had me laughing all night, and before the sun rose the next morning, I had fallen in love. The only problem though was that the woman was a muggle. Now at this point in my life, I disliked muggles because of what my father had done to me and my mother, and I believed that only purebloods should be allowed to attend Hogwarts, but I didn't hate the entire race of them as I do now, so I allowed myself to love the woman.
Our relationship progressed quickly, and six months later we were married in a small private wedding with only the two of us and her parents present. She had told me that she had an older brother who was married, but I never met the man or knew his name. We were happy and living in a small muggle town in Britain, close to her parents. I continued my studies around the world and became interested in the dark arts, and met many beings who later helped me to become as strong as I now am, but I never told Susan what I was. About a year later, she gave birth to a baby girl, the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, and it was at this time that I told her I was a wizard since I knew our daughter would be a powerful witch when she came of age. She told me she still loved me and didn't care that I had magical powers, and thinking she was being honest, I let the subject drop. We continued to live in our small house and I continued to advance in the dark arts until our daughter turned two. I came home one evening and Susan was punishing our daughter for summoning a toy to herself, saying magic was bad and that she shouldn't use it to get what she wants. I became angry and cast the cruciatus curse on Susan, how dare she try to tell my daughter that magic is a bad thing when she herself is nothing but a lowly muggle.
I left that night to go to a meeting with one of my new contacts, leaving my wife unconscious on the floor and my daughter in her play pen. I returned early the next morning to find them both gone, with a note saying that Susan would not allow me to hurt her or our daughter again. I was furious, that muggle woman had taken my only child away from me. I searched for several weeks before I found Susan, but the child was not with her. I tortured her for quite a while, trying to convince her to tell me where she had taken my daughter, but she never did, and eventually her mind cracked and I killed her. I searched for my daughter for many years, but I never found her, her grand parents didn't even know where she was, and I was so angry that I killed them as well for their ignorance. I never did find my daughter, and eventually I gave up and concluded my transformation into the most powerful dark lord the world has ever seen. I hated all muggles now because of my father and wife, and I take pleasure in making them suffer. Do you remember the day I attacked Hogesmeade, Lucius, during your final year at Hogwarts?" he asked suddenly, and the blonde man nodded "Well, that day, I saw a girl, a fifth year, who looked very similar to how my daughter would have looked, she even had my original eye color and the same hair as her maternal grandmother. Her face was identical to that of Susan, and I knew I had found my daughter, but she didn't know who I was, she was terrified of me and ran back to the castle with her classmates before I had a chance to speak to her.
After that day though, I kept an eye on her every opportunity I got, and when I could not watch out for her myself, I asked one of my followers who was in her house to do the same. I never got a chance to speak directly to her, but I did find out that she had been raised by her uncle all of her life. I tried again during her sixth year to get her, but my followers were stopped by someone they described as wearing a red cloak and bearing a powerful staff. I never did figure out just who he was, but he prevented me from ever speaking to my daughter. I never again tried to capture her though, but I continued to watch her grow into a beautiful woman. I was even present at her wedding three years after she graduated hiding in the shadows of the forest next to where the ceremony took place, but I still didn't speak to her. By this time it was obvious that she was a loyal follower of the light side, and I knew there was no way I could turn her, her values and ideas were already set, and she chose the enemy. I had given up on my daughter and I ever having any type of relationship. The only time I actually did speak to my only child was right before I killed her, and even then I didn't tell her the truth" he finished "So you see, if only I had been smart enough to keep my daughter close once I found her, I would have a very powerful heir now who was loyal to my ideas, but I didn't and now I have nobody to follow in my footsteps if I die here. Enough of these thoughts though, I believe my enemy has been eavesdropping on our private conversation. He needs to learn some manners before he dies, don't you agree Lucius?" he asked and Harry could feel their eyes on him immediately
Lucius was silent after hearing this tale, he had never known that his master had ever even been capable of any type of love and he had just admitted to loving a muggle and his half blood daughter. "Yes my lord, he does need to be taught a lesson" he said as he too got to his feet
Harry, on the other hand, was completely shocked, not by what was coming, but by what he had just heard. Voldemort had actually admitted to loving someone, and a muggle none the less. Who would have thought that the sadistic bastard would be capable of any kind of love? But if he had truly loved someone, then why had he killed his wife and later his daughter? This was even harder to imagine than the love. Harry knew that he loved Ginny, and it seemed that Voldemort had indeed loved this Susan, so how could he kill her? Harry could never hurt Ginny, he was sure of this with every fiber of his being, and he knew then that they weren't as similar as Voldemort liked to tell him. His pain receded slightly as he thought of the red headed girl who was his one true love, and right then he prayed that she would remember him even after he died, because he knew he could never forget her. With a small, depressed smile on his face at the thought of Ginny, he was pulled back into the blissful painlessness of unconsciousness the instant the cruciatus curse was cast on him.
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Harry awoke with a start, sitting up and gulping in a deep and desperately needed lungful of oxygen as he remembered the dream. Every night a new memory would come to him, but until now, they had all been trivial memories filled with blood and torture, but this one was different, it was important and his heart filled with hope for a moment as he thought of the truth, Voldemort had a daughter, and he had said she fought for the light side, maybe they could find her and convince her to help with the spell and potion to destroy the evil wizard! But as soon as the hope came, it vanished when Harry remembered that the girl was dead, killed by her own father's hand.
Sighing heavily, Harry got to his feet, only now noticing that dusk had begun to fall. He gathered up his sword and dagger and tucked them both into his belt and then pulled his heavy cloak tighter around his shoulders before entering the house. He was completely ignored by his aunt and uncle as he grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and climbed the stairs in exhaustion and desperation. He ate his dinner quickly and then changed into his pajamas and fell into bed, thinking again of the dream and deciding to tell the headmaster about it tomorrow, even though he knew there was nothing he could do to change the fact that the only person that could help him was dead. He then fell into a deep sleep, only to awake when the sunlight began to filter through the window early the next morning.
When the headmaster arrived at ten that morning, Harry was waiting on the couch in the living room for him, already dressed in his robes and the scarlet cloak. He quickly relayed his entire dream to the old man, whose face became hopeful at the revelation of a daughter, but fell when he found out she was dead, but his eyes still had a slight twinkle in them, which confused Harry immensely.
"What are you thinking sir?" he asked after it became obvious the old man wasn't going to speak on his own
"Just thinking Harry, don't worry about it. Now, we had better get started with your lesson. Today we are going to work on building up your magic reserves again, but in order to do this, we must start at the beginning" he said as he pulled something very familiar from his robe pocket. Harry looked at it in shock for a moment before he looked back to the headmaster.
"Where did you get it sir? I thought Voldemort had destroyed it before I woke up in the cave"
"Don't you remember, Harry? You used wandless magic to get rid of the dementors and to take yourself and the death eaters away. You left your wand when you fell after the cruciatus curse knocked you out. I found it there after you had vanished and I've been keeping it just like you asked me to. You told me on the first day you spoke that you wouldn't need it anymore, but might want it later, and you asked me to keep it for you" explained the old man gently.
"I'm sorry sir, but the end of the battle and the first couple months I was back are still pretty fuzzy. I don't even remember telling you I wanted to go to class or you saying anything about my wand, but thank you for keeping it all this time" said Harry as he held out his hand, taking his wand back again.
As soon as the slender piece of wood was back in his hand, an incredible warmth spread to his shoulder and an immense shower of sparks issued forth from the tip, but unlike the first time he had held the wand, these sparks were the purest white in color and several gold and silver ones were mixed amongst the white, causing it to temporarily blind the old man from the sheer brilliance of it, but Harry was not affected at all by the color, and as the sparks dissipated, Albus looked at the boy in wonder, but what he saw startled him. Harry was standing perfectly still, and his brilliant eyes were glazed over and starring straight ahead, but he wasn't looking at anything. His face was pale and his entire body was unflinching, his wand still grasped tightly in his hand, and as Albus watched, he could see that his hand was gripped around the wand so tightly that his fingernails were cutting into the flesh of his palm and rich scarlet blood was dripping onto the ground. He was so still that the aged man couldn't even see a rise and fall of his chest to indicate if he was breathing or not.
Frightened for the boy's safety, he stepped forward to try to pry the wand from his grip, but was met by an invisible barrier that sent him falling to the floor. He stood and immediately tried again, but it became obvious that he was accomplishing nothing so he was forced to watch helplessly as Harry continued to go through the trance he was experiencing. Deciding that there was nothing else he could do alone, he turned to the fireplace behind him and using his wand, started a blazing fire and threw a powder from the pocket of his robes into the flames, calling over his shoulder.
"Sirius Black!" in a frantic voice. An instant later, the black haired man stuck his head through the flames, and upon getting one look at what was happening, he backed up and grabbed the arms of the two men who were in the headmasters office with him and threw floo powder into the flames and within an instant, the three were standing beside the headmaster who briefly told them that Harry had gone into a trance upon receiving his wand. The four men tried frantically to physically remove the wand, but were unable to get within a foot of the boy, so they then tried to use their own wands and stun him, but their spells were repelled off the invisible barrier and into the walls. As the seconds ticked by, Harry became even paler and his body began to tremble and he still hadn't taken a breath, but none of their efforts were successful in stopping the trance. Desperate, they looked to each other, but none of them knew what else they could do but watch and wait for it to end.
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When he touched the wand, after the initial warmth, Harry felt the world fall from beneath his feet and he was hurtled through space. When he came to his senses again, he was standing in the middle of nothingness, no color, no sounds, no anything. He looked around helplessly for anyone or anything, but he was completely and utterly alone. After several moments though, he heard a voice surrounding him and inside of him. It was a rich and melodious voice that sounded like it belonged to a very beautiful woman, but still there was nobody in sight so he listened.
'My precious child, when you begin to feel as though there is nothing left for you to do, when you feel like you have nothing left to fight for, remember my words, you must let go and let the magic take control of your soul. They can't live without your strength and your voice, you must fight for them even if you don't want to fight for yourself. There's a power deep inside of you, a passion to protect those you care for, and remember this, when you truly come alive, you will hold the power to defeat all those who oppose you. You have a passion inside of you that gives you the strength to try and nobody can take that away from you. If you so desire, you can set the world on fire when you come alive. You have already given so much, but I must ask for you to give even more. You have the strength to defeat Voldemort now, and the ability, but it will not be as easy as you believe. Remember that no matter what happens, you need to keep fighting for what you believe in, don't get lost in the crowd and wait for someone else to take the lead. It is your destiny to destroy him and all of those who follow him. You have the strength, just trust the magic and allow it to take control. Remember my words and all will work out in the end my precious child'
"Wait, who are you?" he asked the nothingness
'I am your guardian, it is I who protects you, it is I who refused to let you die when you were a child and it is I who refused to allow you to die in that cave. I have been responsible for controlling your powers, but the time has come for me to move on. You are now ready for your final task, your powers are at their peak and it is your choice on how to use them. I must go now, I am proud of what you have accomplished so far, but remember that your destiny has not yet come full circle, you are now facing your worst and most deadly enemy and you must be victorious, but the only way you will be is to remember to stay true to your heart, it will never lead you astray'
"What do you mean that I still have to defeat my greatest enemy, I already fought Voldemort, I just have to finish the job. Who could be worse than him?"
And with that, the nothingness began to fade away, and Harry felt the world spinning again, but before it was gone completely, one single sentence could be heard echoing through the nothingness and his mind, a sentence that turned his insides to ice.
'Your greatest enemy is yourself'
And then there was darkness.
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Several agonizing minutes after it began, the vision Harry was caught in ended, and the boy fell to the floor, his wand falling from his bloody hand and his body completely limp. His face was as white as a corpse, and his hands shook with terrible tremors, but he was gulping in great breaths of air. The four men rushed to his side and Sirius gently turned him from his side onto his back. Harry's eyes were closed and his breathing raspy, but his face was slowly beginning to regain color. Severus knelt beside the bloody hand and pulled out his own wand, intent on bandaging whatever injury the boy had there, but when he turned the palm up, he paled himself. The other three men noticed his stillness and looked at Harry's hand themselves, watching in amazed silence. There were four deep crescent shaped holes in his hand from his fingernails, and the entire palm was covered in blood, but as they watched, the wounds began to close on their own, leaving behind only four pale scars where the wounds had just been. Not believing what was happening, Remus knelt beside the potions master and used the edges of his own robe to wipe away the blood, and the scars were all that remained underneath.
"Albus?" he whispered in confusion
"I don't know" admitted the old man as he looked back to Harry's face, relieved to see that he now appeared to be only sleeping instead of nearly dead. They sat in silence for several more minutes before Harry groaned slightly and opened his eyes.
"Harry, are you ok?" asked Sirius immediately
"Sirius?" asked Harry, confused to be seeing his godfathers face
"Yes Harry, it's me" answered the man with a small smile
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry as he struggled to sit up, looking around at the other three men in the process
"Albus contacted us, what happened?" asked Remus
Harry just looked at them in confusion "Why did he contact you? I thought he was going to give my lesson today" he said in bewilderment
"Harry, you took your wand and were pulled into some kind of trance. You weren't breathing and you looked dead for several minutes. Do you remember what you saw?" asked the headmaster gently as Harry was helped to his feet and over to the couch by Sirius
Suddenly, the words that had been spoken to him came back "I didn't see anything, but someone spoke to me" he began and the four men listened attentively "It was a woman, I didn't see her but I could hear her. She said that she had been my guardian, the one who kept me from dieing when I was a baby and the one who kept me alive in the cave. She said that she had been holding my powers, but it was time for me to have them so I could finish my destiny. She kept calling me her precious child and telling me I had the power to defeat all those that oppose me. She said I still had to defeat my greatest enemy though, and when I asked her who it was, she said that my greatest enemy is myself. That's all she said, but I still can't figure out what she meant. How can I defeat myself?" he asked the group of men who all looked just as confused as he felt.
"I don't know what this means Harry, but I do know that you are probably in no further need for our lessons" said the headmaster
"Why not?" asked Harry
"Harry, take your wand in your hand again" instructed the man, and Harry hesitated for a moment before doing as he was asked. The same shower of sparks erupted from the tip, but this time they completely encased the wand, pulling it from his grip. They continued to encircle the slim piece of wood for several moments, blocking it from view until a bright flash of white light blinded them all and an instant later when they opened their eyes, in the place of the wand stood a beautiful staff. It was intricately carved and made of the darkest wood. Along the handle of it were symbols and designs that ran the entire length, and at the head was a gold phoenix that had its wings outstretched in flight and a scarlet stone grasped in its talons. Cautiously, Harry approached the staff and took it into his hand, causing the stone to pulse with energy for a moment before settling into the bright glow.
"What does this mean Albus?" asked Sirius as he watched his godson
"It means that Harry's powers have come into their full strength" said the man with a smile "You remember Harry, that I told you that you were to become a very powerful wizard?" he asked
"Yes sir" answered Harry
"Well, that staff is the symbol of your power, it has reached its peak and now you must decide what you want to do with it. You are still able to do the same amount of wandless magic as you were able to do before, but this staff amplifies your powers to a great extent, I would recommend you keep it with you at all times"
Harry looked at him with a startled expression on his face before he spoke "That's exactly what the woman in my vision said, about me needing to decide how I wanted to use my powers"
"It is the truth" said the old man "But we will worry about where to go next when you have had some sleep, you look exhausted"
"I am pretty tired" answered Harry as he tried to stifle a yawn
"We will leave you then, get some sleep and we will come for you tomorrow morning, I think it is safe for you to return to the castle now" said the headmaster
"Really?" asked Harry hopefully
"Yes Harry, but not until you get some sleep. I'm sure Ginny will be fine without you for another couple of hours" answered Sirius with a smirk
Harry groaned loudly at this before he set off up the stairs, where he carefully propped his staff in the corner and collapsed into the bed, falling asleep before his head hit the pillow and dreaming of being reunited with Ginny after the longest month imaginable.
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A/N: Well, there are a couple of twists and turns for you, did anyone know that this was coming? If you did, congratulations. Well, I know that this part about the staff kind of came from nowhere, but it is important. Well, thanks for your reviews on the last two chapters, and I hope you enjoyed this one, please let my know because I'm a little worried about how it turned out. The next chapter should be up tomorrow night, so until then, enjoy!
The cavern was dark and cold, like it had been for the past weeks, too many to count now. He was still chained to the hard wall and every inch of his battered body hurt like hell. He hadn't eaten since he had arrived here, and he didn't know how or why he was still alive, but he wished he weren't. He was so weak he couldn't even lift his head to look around, but he knew if he did that every muscle would scream in protest of the agony that small movement would cause. If he desired to open his eyes, they would be met with the same thing he had seen too many times already, blood. He was tired of seeing his blood. He knew that he should have bled to death more than once already, but for some reason, he never did, even though more deep cuts were added to him every day. Try as he might, he just couldn't figure out why he just didn't die already, and apparently neither could the death eaters, even though they had tried everything in their power to solve that problem now. He had not only been tortured beyond belief or recognition, but he had been hit with the killing curse on more than one occasion, but the only good that accomplished was to kill the current host of Voldemort and leave him to move on. The pain of the cruciatus was now welcome to the pain of the killing curse. Every time he was hit with the green light, his body felt as though it were being pulled apart at the smallest level and reassembled, successfully knocking him unconscious for several days. His arms were being forced to support his entire weight, and his broken one had lost all sensation, which was almost a good thing considering the bone shattering curse that had hit him the day they found him alive had succeeded in shattering not only the bones in his arm and hand, but his shoulder and collar bone as well. His broken leg though still felt just as painful as the day the curse had hit it, partially due to the fact that his captors enjoyed kicking it when they were near. Wearily, he opened his eyes when he heard voices coming from somewhere near him, straining his ears to listen to the conversation and praying that they still had failed to find any type of escape. There were only about seven death eaters left now and Harry knew it was only a matter of time until Voldemort would have killed them all, and he looked forward to that day in hopes that he would be put out of his terrible misery as well when that day came. Voldemort, who was currently residing inside of Avery was speaking to Lucius Malfoy, and their conversation was unexpected to say the least. They were speaking about their families of all things.
"My son may be a traitor to us now, but I know if my wife would have just allowed him to transfer to Durmstrung like I suggested then he would have become one of your best and most loyal followers" said Malfoy, his voice laced with regret
"Tell me of your wife Lucius, why didn't she support your decision about the boy?" said Avery/Voldemort
"Don't get me wrong master, she is a loyal supporter of you, but she didn't want Draco to be so far from home, it would have been impossible for him to come home for breaks if he were so far away and she loved him too much to go without seeing him for four years" answered Lucius
"I must say I agree with her decision, even if it resulted in the boy being corrupted by that fool Dumbledore and the traitor Snape" answered the other man
"Why do you say that my lord? Her insistence in the matter prevented you from being successful in killing Potter's girlfriend" said the blonde man, curiosity evident in his voice
"Because if I had done the same I would have an heir today Lucius" he answered cryptically
"My lord?" asked Lucius, truly confused by now
"Let me tell you a story Lucius, a story about my younger years" began the other man, and his voice took on a distant quality as though he were reliving happier times "When I graduated from Hogwarts, just over fifty years ago now, I began to travel the world, looking for adventure and knowledge. I was naïve and carefree, much like Potter and your son actually. I stopped for some time in London on my way from one adventure to another, and I went to a small pub. I was eating dinner by myself when a woman came up to me and asked if she could join me. I said yes and we ended up talking. She was very beautiful, with long strawberry blonde hair and green-blue eyes. She was very intelligent and funny, and had me laughing all night, and before the sun rose the next morning, I had fallen in love. The only problem though was that the woman was a muggle. Now at this point in my life, I disliked muggles because of what my father had done to me and my mother, and I believed that only purebloods should be allowed to attend Hogwarts, but I didn't hate the entire race of them as I do now, so I allowed myself to love the woman.
Our relationship progressed quickly, and six months later we were married in a small private wedding with only the two of us and her parents present. She had told me that she had an older brother who was married, but I never met the man or knew his name. We were happy and living in a small muggle town in Britain, close to her parents. I continued my studies around the world and became interested in the dark arts, and met many beings who later helped me to become as strong as I now am, but I never told Susan what I was. About a year later, she gave birth to a baby girl, the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, and it was at this time that I told her I was a wizard since I knew our daughter would be a powerful witch when she came of age. She told me she still loved me and didn't care that I had magical powers, and thinking she was being honest, I let the subject drop. We continued to live in our small house and I continued to advance in the dark arts until our daughter turned two. I came home one evening and Susan was punishing our daughter for summoning a toy to herself, saying magic was bad and that she shouldn't use it to get what she wants. I became angry and cast the cruciatus curse on Susan, how dare she try to tell my daughter that magic is a bad thing when she herself is nothing but a lowly muggle.
I left that night to go to a meeting with one of my new contacts, leaving my wife unconscious on the floor and my daughter in her play pen. I returned early the next morning to find them both gone, with a note saying that Susan would not allow me to hurt her or our daughter again. I was furious, that muggle woman had taken my only child away from me. I searched for several weeks before I found Susan, but the child was not with her. I tortured her for quite a while, trying to convince her to tell me where she had taken my daughter, but she never did, and eventually her mind cracked and I killed her. I searched for my daughter for many years, but I never found her, her grand parents didn't even know where she was, and I was so angry that I killed them as well for their ignorance. I never did find my daughter, and eventually I gave up and concluded my transformation into the most powerful dark lord the world has ever seen. I hated all muggles now because of my father and wife, and I take pleasure in making them suffer. Do you remember the day I attacked Hogesmeade, Lucius, during your final year at Hogwarts?" he asked suddenly, and the blonde man nodded "Well, that day, I saw a girl, a fifth year, who looked very similar to how my daughter would have looked, she even had my original eye color and the same hair as her maternal grandmother. Her face was identical to that of Susan, and I knew I had found my daughter, but she didn't know who I was, she was terrified of me and ran back to the castle with her classmates before I had a chance to speak to her.
After that day though, I kept an eye on her every opportunity I got, and when I could not watch out for her myself, I asked one of my followers who was in her house to do the same. I never got a chance to speak directly to her, but I did find out that she had been raised by her uncle all of her life. I tried again during her sixth year to get her, but my followers were stopped by someone they described as wearing a red cloak and bearing a powerful staff. I never did figure out just who he was, but he prevented me from ever speaking to my daughter. I never again tried to capture her though, but I continued to watch her grow into a beautiful woman. I was even present at her wedding three years after she graduated hiding in the shadows of the forest next to where the ceremony took place, but I still didn't speak to her. By this time it was obvious that she was a loyal follower of the light side, and I knew there was no way I could turn her, her values and ideas were already set, and she chose the enemy. I had given up on my daughter and I ever having any type of relationship. The only time I actually did speak to my only child was right before I killed her, and even then I didn't tell her the truth" he finished "So you see, if only I had been smart enough to keep my daughter close once I found her, I would have a very powerful heir now who was loyal to my ideas, but I didn't and now I have nobody to follow in my footsteps if I die here. Enough of these thoughts though, I believe my enemy has been eavesdropping on our private conversation. He needs to learn some manners before he dies, don't you agree Lucius?" he asked and Harry could feel their eyes on him immediately
Lucius was silent after hearing this tale, he had never known that his master had ever even been capable of any type of love and he had just admitted to loving a muggle and his half blood daughter. "Yes my lord, he does need to be taught a lesson" he said as he too got to his feet
Harry, on the other hand, was completely shocked, not by what was coming, but by what he had just heard. Voldemort had actually admitted to loving someone, and a muggle none the less. Who would have thought that the sadistic bastard would be capable of any kind of love? But if he had truly loved someone, then why had he killed his wife and later his daughter? This was even harder to imagine than the love. Harry knew that he loved Ginny, and it seemed that Voldemort had indeed loved this Susan, so how could he kill her? Harry could never hurt Ginny, he was sure of this with every fiber of his being, and he knew then that they weren't as similar as Voldemort liked to tell him. His pain receded slightly as he thought of the red headed girl who was his one true love, and right then he prayed that she would remember him even after he died, because he knew he could never forget her. With a small, depressed smile on his face at the thought of Ginny, he was pulled back into the blissful painlessness of unconsciousness the instant the cruciatus curse was cast on him.
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Harry awoke with a start, sitting up and gulping in a deep and desperately needed lungful of oxygen as he remembered the dream. Every night a new memory would come to him, but until now, they had all been trivial memories filled with blood and torture, but this one was different, it was important and his heart filled with hope for a moment as he thought of the truth, Voldemort had a daughter, and he had said she fought for the light side, maybe they could find her and convince her to help with the spell and potion to destroy the evil wizard! But as soon as the hope came, it vanished when Harry remembered that the girl was dead, killed by her own father's hand.
Sighing heavily, Harry got to his feet, only now noticing that dusk had begun to fall. He gathered up his sword and dagger and tucked them both into his belt and then pulled his heavy cloak tighter around his shoulders before entering the house. He was completely ignored by his aunt and uncle as he grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and climbed the stairs in exhaustion and desperation. He ate his dinner quickly and then changed into his pajamas and fell into bed, thinking again of the dream and deciding to tell the headmaster about it tomorrow, even though he knew there was nothing he could do to change the fact that the only person that could help him was dead. He then fell into a deep sleep, only to awake when the sunlight began to filter through the window early the next morning.
When the headmaster arrived at ten that morning, Harry was waiting on the couch in the living room for him, already dressed in his robes and the scarlet cloak. He quickly relayed his entire dream to the old man, whose face became hopeful at the revelation of a daughter, but fell when he found out she was dead, but his eyes still had a slight twinkle in them, which confused Harry immensely.
"What are you thinking sir?" he asked after it became obvious the old man wasn't going to speak on his own
"Just thinking Harry, don't worry about it. Now, we had better get started with your lesson. Today we are going to work on building up your magic reserves again, but in order to do this, we must start at the beginning" he said as he pulled something very familiar from his robe pocket. Harry looked at it in shock for a moment before he looked back to the headmaster.
"Where did you get it sir? I thought Voldemort had destroyed it before I woke up in the cave"
"Don't you remember, Harry? You used wandless magic to get rid of the dementors and to take yourself and the death eaters away. You left your wand when you fell after the cruciatus curse knocked you out. I found it there after you had vanished and I've been keeping it just like you asked me to. You told me on the first day you spoke that you wouldn't need it anymore, but might want it later, and you asked me to keep it for you" explained the old man gently.
"I'm sorry sir, but the end of the battle and the first couple months I was back are still pretty fuzzy. I don't even remember telling you I wanted to go to class or you saying anything about my wand, but thank you for keeping it all this time" said Harry as he held out his hand, taking his wand back again.
As soon as the slender piece of wood was back in his hand, an incredible warmth spread to his shoulder and an immense shower of sparks issued forth from the tip, but unlike the first time he had held the wand, these sparks were the purest white in color and several gold and silver ones were mixed amongst the white, causing it to temporarily blind the old man from the sheer brilliance of it, but Harry was not affected at all by the color, and as the sparks dissipated, Albus looked at the boy in wonder, but what he saw startled him. Harry was standing perfectly still, and his brilliant eyes were glazed over and starring straight ahead, but he wasn't looking at anything. His face was pale and his entire body was unflinching, his wand still grasped tightly in his hand, and as Albus watched, he could see that his hand was gripped around the wand so tightly that his fingernails were cutting into the flesh of his palm and rich scarlet blood was dripping onto the ground. He was so still that the aged man couldn't even see a rise and fall of his chest to indicate if he was breathing or not.
Frightened for the boy's safety, he stepped forward to try to pry the wand from his grip, but was met by an invisible barrier that sent him falling to the floor. He stood and immediately tried again, but it became obvious that he was accomplishing nothing so he was forced to watch helplessly as Harry continued to go through the trance he was experiencing. Deciding that there was nothing else he could do alone, he turned to the fireplace behind him and using his wand, started a blazing fire and threw a powder from the pocket of his robes into the flames, calling over his shoulder.
"Sirius Black!" in a frantic voice. An instant later, the black haired man stuck his head through the flames, and upon getting one look at what was happening, he backed up and grabbed the arms of the two men who were in the headmasters office with him and threw floo powder into the flames and within an instant, the three were standing beside the headmaster who briefly told them that Harry had gone into a trance upon receiving his wand. The four men tried frantically to physically remove the wand, but were unable to get within a foot of the boy, so they then tried to use their own wands and stun him, but their spells were repelled off the invisible barrier and into the walls. As the seconds ticked by, Harry became even paler and his body began to tremble and he still hadn't taken a breath, but none of their efforts were successful in stopping the trance. Desperate, they looked to each other, but none of them knew what else they could do but watch and wait for it to end.
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When he touched the wand, after the initial warmth, Harry felt the world fall from beneath his feet and he was hurtled through space. When he came to his senses again, he was standing in the middle of nothingness, no color, no sounds, no anything. He looked around helplessly for anyone or anything, but he was completely and utterly alone. After several moments though, he heard a voice surrounding him and inside of him. It was a rich and melodious voice that sounded like it belonged to a very beautiful woman, but still there was nobody in sight so he listened.
'My precious child, when you begin to feel as though there is nothing left for you to do, when you feel like you have nothing left to fight for, remember my words, you must let go and let the magic take control of your soul. They can't live without your strength and your voice, you must fight for them even if you don't want to fight for yourself. There's a power deep inside of you, a passion to protect those you care for, and remember this, when you truly come alive, you will hold the power to defeat all those who oppose you. You have a passion inside of you that gives you the strength to try and nobody can take that away from you. If you so desire, you can set the world on fire when you come alive. You have already given so much, but I must ask for you to give even more. You have the strength to defeat Voldemort now, and the ability, but it will not be as easy as you believe. Remember that no matter what happens, you need to keep fighting for what you believe in, don't get lost in the crowd and wait for someone else to take the lead. It is your destiny to destroy him and all of those who follow him. You have the strength, just trust the magic and allow it to take control. Remember my words and all will work out in the end my precious child'
"Wait, who are you?" he asked the nothingness
'I am your guardian, it is I who protects you, it is I who refused to let you die when you were a child and it is I who refused to allow you to die in that cave. I have been responsible for controlling your powers, but the time has come for me to move on. You are now ready for your final task, your powers are at their peak and it is your choice on how to use them. I must go now, I am proud of what you have accomplished so far, but remember that your destiny has not yet come full circle, you are now facing your worst and most deadly enemy and you must be victorious, but the only way you will be is to remember to stay true to your heart, it will never lead you astray'
"What do you mean that I still have to defeat my greatest enemy, I already fought Voldemort, I just have to finish the job. Who could be worse than him?"
And with that, the nothingness began to fade away, and Harry felt the world spinning again, but before it was gone completely, one single sentence could be heard echoing through the nothingness and his mind, a sentence that turned his insides to ice.
'Your greatest enemy is yourself'
And then there was darkness.
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Several agonizing minutes after it began, the vision Harry was caught in ended, and the boy fell to the floor, his wand falling from his bloody hand and his body completely limp. His face was as white as a corpse, and his hands shook with terrible tremors, but he was gulping in great breaths of air. The four men rushed to his side and Sirius gently turned him from his side onto his back. Harry's eyes were closed and his breathing raspy, but his face was slowly beginning to regain color. Severus knelt beside the bloody hand and pulled out his own wand, intent on bandaging whatever injury the boy had there, but when he turned the palm up, he paled himself. The other three men noticed his stillness and looked at Harry's hand themselves, watching in amazed silence. There were four deep crescent shaped holes in his hand from his fingernails, and the entire palm was covered in blood, but as they watched, the wounds began to close on their own, leaving behind only four pale scars where the wounds had just been. Not believing what was happening, Remus knelt beside the potions master and used the edges of his own robe to wipe away the blood, and the scars were all that remained underneath.
"Albus?" he whispered in confusion
"I don't know" admitted the old man as he looked back to Harry's face, relieved to see that he now appeared to be only sleeping instead of nearly dead. They sat in silence for several more minutes before Harry groaned slightly and opened his eyes.
"Harry, are you ok?" asked Sirius immediately
"Sirius?" asked Harry, confused to be seeing his godfathers face
"Yes Harry, it's me" answered the man with a small smile
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry as he struggled to sit up, looking around at the other three men in the process
"Albus contacted us, what happened?" asked Remus
Harry just looked at them in confusion "Why did he contact you? I thought he was going to give my lesson today" he said in bewilderment
"Harry, you took your wand and were pulled into some kind of trance. You weren't breathing and you looked dead for several minutes. Do you remember what you saw?" asked the headmaster gently as Harry was helped to his feet and over to the couch by Sirius
Suddenly, the words that had been spoken to him came back "I didn't see anything, but someone spoke to me" he began and the four men listened attentively "It was a woman, I didn't see her but I could hear her. She said that she had been my guardian, the one who kept me from dieing when I was a baby and the one who kept me alive in the cave. She said that she had been holding my powers, but it was time for me to have them so I could finish my destiny. She kept calling me her precious child and telling me I had the power to defeat all those that oppose me. She said I still had to defeat my greatest enemy though, and when I asked her who it was, she said that my greatest enemy is myself. That's all she said, but I still can't figure out what she meant. How can I defeat myself?" he asked the group of men who all looked just as confused as he felt.
"I don't know what this means Harry, but I do know that you are probably in no further need for our lessons" said the headmaster
"Why not?" asked Harry
"Harry, take your wand in your hand again" instructed the man, and Harry hesitated for a moment before doing as he was asked. The same shower of sparks erupted from the tip, but this time they completely encased the wand, pulling it from his grip. They continued to encircle the slim piece of wood for several moments, blocking it from view until a bright flash of white light blinded them all and an instant later when they opened their eyes, in the place of the wand stood a beautiful staff. It was intricately carved and made of the darkest wood. Along the handle of it were symbols and designs that ran the entire length, and at the head was a gold phoenix that had its wings outstretched in flight and a scarlet stone grasped in its talons. Cautiously, Harry approached the staff and took it into his hand, causing the stone to pulse with energy for a moment before settling into the bright glow.
"What does this mean Albus?" asked Sirius as he watched his godson
"It means that Harry's powers have come into their full strength" said the man with a smile "You remember Harry, that I told you that you were to become a very powerful wizard?" he asked
"Yes sir" answered Harry
"Well, that staff is the symbol of your power, it has reached its peak and now you must decide what you want to do with it. You are still able to do the same amount of wandless magic as you were able to do before, but this staff amplifies your powers to a great extent, I would recommend you keep it with you at all times"
Harry looked at him with a startled expression on his face before he spoke "That's exactly what the woman in my vision said, about me needing to decide how I wanted to use my powers"
"It is the truth" said the old man "But we will worry about where to go next when you have had some sleep, you look exhausted"
"I am pretty tired" answered Harry as he tried to stifle a yawn
"We will leave you then, get some sleep and we will come for you tomorrow morning, I think it is safe for you to return to the castle now" said the headmaster
"Really?" asked Harry hopefully
"Yes Harry, but not until you get some sleep. I'm sure Ginny will be fine without you for another couple of hours" answered Sirius with a smirk
Harry groaned loudly at this before he set off up the stairs, where he carefully propped his staff in the corner and collapsed into the bed, falling asleep before his head hit the pillow and dreaming of being reunited with Ginny after the longest month imaginable.
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A/N: Well, there are a couple of twists and turns for you, did anyone know that this was coming? If you did, congratulations. Well, I know that this part about the staff kind of came from nowhere, but it is important. Well, thanks for your reviews on the last two chapters, and I hope you enjoyed this one, please let my know because I'm a little worried about how it turned out. The next chapter should be up tomorrow night, so until then, enjoy!