MY A/N: All hail Ally's for writing this chapter. I know I will :P . She did a better job then I would have done. I might write some of the coming up chapters, but the way it's going Queen Ally will do it. HEHE. Thanks for reviewing and we'll keep the new chaps coming. Enjoy!
A/N: I can't believe I'm already writing this chapter. I guess I was bored and I finished updating all my own fics for the week (except Hemorrhage… my Muse seems to have gone on vacation on that one)… Anyway, I (and Nick… the little cutie!) give you Chapter 12 of Harry Potter and the Staff of Power. (God I could make soooo many sex jokes from that. You do NOT want to know what went through my head when I first saw that title…)
Disclaimer: Nick owns the plot, James and a few other things, I own a few ideas here and there, and JKR (the GODDESS… did you know she's richer than the Queen of England? She is!) owns everything else. So don't sue because neither Nick nor I have anything of worth, and if you wish to archive this story or use anything we can actually claim, please ask us!
Chapter 12: What It's Like to be Human
"Ah, Harry Potter… how nice it is to see you again," hissed the Dark Lord, his voice dripping in sarcasm and malevolence, as Harry was thrown at his feet.
"I do believe I am going to have fun with you. Wormtail, strip him of his clothing and his wand, and give them to me. We may have use for his wand at a later date. Then take him and follow me. We are going to the Chamber."
Wormtail nodded and followed his Master down to the Chamber, in which he threw Harry against the wall.
"Go now, Wormtail. The rest of my servants have spread word that you were sighted with them. I want you to get yourself caught; we're going to give this *Alliance* a false sense of security," ordered Voldemort.
Harry's eyes opened wide at this revelation and screamed, "NO!!!"
Voldemort sharply turned to the boy, his crimson eyes filled with hatred, and thundered, "QUIET, BOY! You will only speak when you are spoken to, and you will not question the orders I give my servants! Wormtail, out of my sight!"
The fat, balding man squeaked and scurried up the stairs.
"Now, you insolent brat, *I* am your master. Your only purpose in life from now on will be to serve me. Make yourself at home; I fear you will be spending quite a lot of time in here."
With that, the Dark Lord slammed and magically locked the door, leaving Harry to sink to the dirty floor, fighting the tears threatening to spring forth.
"It will do you no good to give up now, boy."
Harry's head shot up at the sound of the somewhat familiar voice and squinted to make out the face of the man in the shadows.
"Professor Karkaroff?!?" he asked, placing the now visible face with a name.
"Yes, my boy, you are correct. Please listen to me, Harry… I implore you not to join the Dark Lord; he will try to convince you to. It is no way to live. I have to suffer everyday with my sins, knowing that I have taken the innocent lives of others. My only comfort is knowing that I will be punished for all eternity in the Afterlife," said the man in a tired, weak voice, rubbing absentmindedly at his left forearm.
"I would repent if I could…"
Suddenly, Harry had a newfound respect for the former Headmaster of Durmstrang, and replied, "It's enough that you wish to repent. Some, such as Wormtail or Lucius Malfoy have made no moves to ask forgiveness for their transgressions. I believe that they may come back as a cockroach in the next life, if they are granted one at all. As for joining Voldemort, I would never even think about it. He killed my parents and stole any semblance of a normal life that I could ever hope to have."
Karkaroff was halfway through a satisfied and grateful nod, when he crumpled to the ground, screaming and writhing in utter agony. Harry watched in horror as tears involuntarily fell from the man's haunted eyes and the Dark Mark glowed a sinister blood red. And then, as suddenly as it had started, the spectacle stopped and Karkaroff struggled to his knees, panting.
"It's the Dark Mark. He can send the Cruciatus and other curses through it, much the same way he does a Summons. That way, he can randomly torture his servants from afar. I am sorry you had to witness that, dear boy, but it will be happening quite often."
Harry nodded, his bottle-green eyes still wide with shock.
"The hour grows late, Mr. Potter. I suggest that you find a soft spot in the dirt over there, lie down, and go to sleep. You'll want to…"
Karkaroff's words were cut off, however, by another round of the Cruciatus, sent through his Mark. Harry gulped and turned away from the horrid sight, curled into a ball on the dirt floor, and willed sleep to overtake him.
He was awoken several hours later by the pain of being kicked by a hard boot. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up, only to be met with a stale, moldy piece of bread and a glass of filthy water. He stared in disgust at what was expected to be his meal.
"I would not complain if I were you, Harry," advised Karkaroff. "It is all we get, and you will not get more until tomorrow morning."
Harry nodded and slowly ate and drank.
Two hours and several rounds of Karkaroff torture later, a Death Eater Harry had never seen before came into the small cell and dragged him back to Voldemort's throne room.
"Ah, Harry… I have had you brought to me because I would like to release you from that dingy cell."
Harry looked at the pasty, snakelike man skeptically, as he continued.
"I can end all of this, if you join me."
Harry scoffed and spat, "Never."
"Come now, Harry… Do not tell me you wish to be *loyal* to Dumbledore. Why, he has been keeping things from you for fifteen years, not telling you things that you have every right to know. He even sent you to live with those Muggles… whom got their just punishment at my hands, for treating you the way they did."
Harry glared at the Dark Lord, fury building up inside him.
"And that Sirius Black… he killed your parents. He's the one that convinced them to switch Secret Keepers. And then, instead of looking after you, he landed himself in Azkaban."
Suddenly, every window in the large mansion shattered as Harry yelled, at the top of his lungs, "*YOU* KILLED MY PARENTS, YOU BASTARD!"
Voldemort ignored the slight glow radiating from the fifteen-year-old's body and the way his emerald green eyes seemed to house an enormous amount of power.
He stood, rage shaking his own body as well, and said, "You *will* pay for that, boy. I ask again, will you join me?"
"NEVER!"
Voldemort waved his wand and an invisible whip began lashing across Harry's back, causing him to cry out in pain.
After forty-three successive lashes, Voldemort calmly said, "Join me, Harry, and the pain shall end."
"NOT ON YOUR LIFE!"
"Lestrange, take him back to the Chamber to think about what the best choice would be."
The Death Eater that had brought Harry to the throne room nodded and took him back to the cell. He left Harry's wounds bleeding and pushed him in.
Harry stumbled backwards into the wall and Karkaroff said, "I see that it has begun."
Harry struggled to lift his head and look in Karkaroff's direction, while weakly replying, "Yes."
"Try not to dwell on it. The best thing to do in here while they're not torturing you is sleep and dream of being back on the outside. You are a prisoner of war, Harry."
Harry nodded and smiled half-heartedly at his new friend.
"Thank you, Professor, for all your advice and being so kind to me. You may have a dark past, but I believe that you are a changed man."
Tears stung the older man's eyes as he replied, "Thank you, Harry. Please, call me Igor."
Harry nodded and crouched in the corner, wondering what had become of James, and if Sirius and the others were too terribly worried.
The hours slowly passed on, and the only sounds Harry heard were Igor's agonizing screams as Voldemort lazily sat on his throne, cursing the former Death Eater through his Mark. Harry often shivered violently, wishing for clothing or a warm blanket, as it was extremely cold in the cell. He decided that the mansion was located somewhere in the far north. He had no way of knowing how many hours had gone by or whether it was night or day, as there were no windows in the cell. He could only assume that he had been there a full twenty-four hours.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the cell door opening. He looked up and his eyes flashed in anger as he saw the Dark Lord standing before him. He then looked at his companion and realized that it was none other than Severus Snape.
Snape's eyes filled with sympathy for the boy and Harry tried to hide his elation that the Potions Master were. If he knew where he was, he would be rescued, right?
Harry barely heard the Dark Lord say "He will join me. The boy is too weak to withstand me," as he walked out of the cell.
Snape shot him another look of pity, before leaving and closing the door behind him.
//Well… I never thought I'd see the day when Professor Snape would sympathize with me, or the day that I'd be happy to see him…// thought Harry to himself, almost laughing in his mind.
His eyes began drooping and he looked to Igor, sleeping peacefully for the time being. He decided that he might as well do the same.
The days passed with the same routine: get kicked awake, eat a stale piece of bread, drink a glass of light brown water (that tasted awfully gritty), go to Voldemort's throne room, refuse to become a Death Eater, get beaten with an invisible whip, go back to the cell he shared with Igor, and go to sleep.
Just as he began to settle into the routine and accept it as a way of life, it all changed.
One particularly frigid morning (Harry assumed it was morning, as he had just finished his "breakfast"), Voldemort stepped into the Chamber.
"Hello Harry, Igor. Harry, I have come to ask you one last time to join my ranks."
Harry glared up at the Dark Lord and replied, "And I say, one last time, NEVER."
"Do you not realize that I will not take 'no' for an answer?"
Harry countered by saying, in a smart-aleck tone, "Do you not realize that I will give no answer except 'no'?"
"Very well. I shall have to give you more motivation to see things my way."
Voldemort lifted his wand and pointed it at Igor.
"If you refuse yet again to join me, I shall have to kill your cellmate."
Igor's sunken-in eyes shot open as he pleaded, "Do not do it Harry! I am not worth it! I am just one life compared to the many that you will be forced to take if you join him. You do not want that blood on your hands!"
Harry panicked, turning the choice over in his mind, while Voldemort smirked and began a countdown.
"5… 4… 3… 2…"
"I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU!" screamed Harry, before the Dark Lord could speak the final number.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The green light shot forth and hit Igor square in the chest. Harry cried out as the older man's body slumped over, lifeless.
Voldemort then pointed his wand at Harry.
"You *will* join me. MORSMORDRE!"
Harry watched in horror as the Dark Mark appeared on his forearm, black and vivid.
"You now carry my mark. I will leave you here to decide whether you will serve me willingly or by force."
He then pointed his wand at Igor's body and said, in a bored voice, "Lemarsio!"
All that was left in the corner was a pile of dust.
Harry put his head between his knees and sobbed as the Dark Lord left, giving up all hope of rescue. Perhaps pity wasn't enough to move Professor Snape to alert the Light to Harry's whereabouts.
He woke up the next morning, coughing like there was no tomorrow and feeling as if he had been trampled by a clan of wild Hungarian Horntails.
//Ah crap… I must have gotten sick too. Doesn't that just beat all…//
Lestrange burst into the cell, jerking Harry out of his thoughts.
"Follow me boy," he said gruffly.
Harry sighed and followed the Death Eater to Voldemort's throne room, preparing himself for another beating.
"Today, Harry, we duel," said the Dark Lord, tossing Harry his wand.
Harry tentatively picked it up, expecting some kind of trick.
"It is not your wand, Harry, that you should be fearing…"
Harry shot an angry look at his nemesis and said, "I do not fear you. You know… in my third year Defense Against the Dark Arts class, we had a bit of training with boggarts. And do you know what I saw when I came face to face with one? No… not you. I saw a Dementor. And that just fueled my anger against you, because every time I'm around a Dementor, I hear my parents' last words. Maybe it's a good thing I've got so much negative emotion built up against you… For my parents, Cedric, the Dursleys, Igor… you're gonna meet a sticky end one of these days, and I plan on being the cause."
"IGNORANT BRAT! That is the problem with Gryffindors… you let your bravery cloud your judgment. And let me tell you, boy, threatening me, LORD VOLDEMORT, was a foolish move!" screeched the Dark Lord.
Harry smirked and replied, "Yeah, maybe stupid, but MERLIN, it felt good to say it! Now, how about we skip the chitchat and formalities and jump right in? EXPELLIARMUS!"
Voldemort hadn't expected this, and as such, his wand shot from his hand.
"ACCIO WAND!" screamed Harry, snickering at the sight of the Dark Lord staring dumbly as his wand sailed into the Boy Who Lived's hand.
Voldemort quickly recovered, however, and spat, with as much venom as he could muster, "You think that will do you much good, brat? Do you really think that I can only channel my magic through my wand, when you, a wizard whose power is nowhere near as potent as my own, have shown signs possessing the ability to use wandless magic? RICTUSEMPRA!"
Harry gasped with pain as he was thrown violently against the wall.
Before Harry could gather the strength to raise himself, Voldemort shot another curse his way.
"MICHRASDIA!"
Harry was abruptly in the air feeling like a Stretch Armstrong doll, being pulled in opposite directions, at impossible lengths. The only difference was that Harry most definitely was *not* made of soft, rubbery material. He cried out in agony as he felt his body bending backwards, further than his bones would allow, and moved by an invisible force.
"Ready to give up, boy? Ready to beg at my feet for mercy?" asked the Dark Lord, laughing his high, cold laugh.
"NEVER!"
Suddenly, Harry's legs were moving in odd directions, and he heard a sickening crack as they both broke in several places.
"Do you cry uncle, Potter?" asked Voldemort, now circling Harry like a hunter circles its prey, reveling in his pain.
"SCREW YOU!!!"
Harry felt himself fly up and hit the ceiling, before dropping the full fifteen feet to the floor.
"Pick up your wand, brat, and fight me like a man! Show me that worthless Gryffindor courage!"
Harry grabbed his wand and the Dark Lord thundered, "I will teach you the meaning of fear, Potter! I will teach you what it's like to be human, show you that you *are* an incompetent HUMAN! All humans must die sometime and that includes you, boy! YOU ARE NOT INVINCIBLE! I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"
"You know, that bit about all humans dying at some point applies to you as well," retorted Harry.
"Human is something I no longer am. I gave up my petty humanity in favor of power and strength, something you still have the chance to do. What I once said still holds true: There is no good and evil, only power and those too weak to seek it! Are you *weak*, Harry?"
Harry sat up to the best of his ability and pointed his wand at the Dark Lord, saying, "The only people who are weak are those that give in to evil in order to rule over others! MERCURIO!!!"
A silver light shot from Harry's wand at the same time that the green light of the Killing curse shot from Voldemort's fingers. Both wizards looked on in shock as Harry's wand and Voldemort's hand incinerated into mere ashes.
"FOOL BOY! What have you done?!? You will pay for my hand, you runt!"
Harry was at a loss for words. He had thought that the Priori Incantatum effect could possibly happen again, but he hadn't been expecting this.
"LESTRANGE! GET HIS CARCASS OUT OF MY SIGHT!" screamed the Dark Lord, furiously.
Lestrange nodded, levitated Harry, and brought him back to the Chamber.
Harry propped himself up against the wall and coughed violently.
"Shit," he cursed, as dark blood appeared in his hand, pouring from his mouth.
He decided not to fight the sleep that was overtaking his weak, cold, and sick body. He closed his eyes, not even bothering to open them as he felt the Cruciatus randomly course through his veins, via the Dark Mark. In fact, he did not open them again until he heard a soft lilting song, much like that of Fawkes.
Harry looked up in amazement at magnificent white bird, standing as tall as a hippogriff.
"All right there, Harry?"
"You… you can talk?" stammered Harry. "You… know my name?!?"
"Of course I can talk, and DUH, yes I know your name! I'm not the Head of the Order of Phoenix for nothing!" replied the bird in a deep, commanding voice.
"Order of Phoenix?"
"Yes, it's a council made up of Phoenixes—both Pyros and Archangels. Your Headmaster's familiar, Fawkes, is a Pyro, as are all the scarlet ones. We Archangels are pure white. Anyway, there's no time for explanations now. You have quite a few injuries that need healing. You also have an illness raging through your body, which I can do nothing about. I'm not omnipotent, you know. By the way, the name is Angelus, and I am your new familiar."
Harry nodded dumbly as Angelus healed his cuts, bruises, and broken bones.
"Ah… a Dark Mark. You won't be needing this anymore," Angelus said, letting his pearly tears fall onto the sinister Mark.
Harry watched in awe as the skull and snake transformed into the shape of an Archangel.
"It is a great honor to carry the Mark of the Angels. I trust you will carry it well."
Harry smiled dutifully and Angelus exclaimed, "Oh, and before I forget, here are your clothes. Don't want to commit public indecency, now do we?"
Harry laughed and quickly put his clothes on. Angelus took one of his feathers and put it in Harry's hand. Slowly, the feather disintegrated into a fine, white, glittery powder.
"Sprinkle the dust over yourself. It will render you invisible and able to walk through walls for a time. I already have the ability to walk through solid things, and only those that I wish to see me, can. Now, that wall there leads outside," said Angelus, pointing a platinum talon at the wall opposite the door.
Harry nodded and they both walked outside, into a blinding blizzard.
"Yeah… you're in Siberia… Anyway, hop on my back and we'll get out of this mess."
Harry climbed onto the Archangel's back, and they were suddenly flying high above the clouds, at an incredible speed.
"We should be arriving at Hogwarts in about five seconds… Ah yes, there it is now!" yelled Angelus, above the roaring wind.
He landed right in front of the main entrance and Harry opened the door and walked in, the Angel following close behind.
"It's lunchtime now, so let's go into the Great Hall. My, but I do love a good surprise… I believe they are not expecting you, and they *certainly* are not expecting me."
Harry stifled a giggle and made his way to the Hall, opening the doors. As he and Angelus walked in, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Remus shot out of their seats. Sirius was the first to reach Harry, and gathered him into a bone-crushing hug.
"Uh… Sirius… I can't breathe," complained Harry.
"Oh… uh… right…"
"Welcome back, Harry. I see you've brought company," said Dumbledore, practically skipping towards him.
"Uh, yeah… this is Angelus. He's an Archangel and is the Head of the Order of Phoenix. He says he's my new familiar and he rescued me. He's pretty cool."
Dumbledore looked shocked that anyone would refer to one of the most powerful beings in the universe as "pretty cool," but shook it off and asked, "Ah, so you've bonded then?"
Angelus nodded and Harry asked, in a bewildered tone, "Eh?"
"It will all be explained in good time, Harry. For now, let's get you to the Hospital Wing to get checked over."
"Hold on a second. I want to ask Professor Snape something."
Dumbledore dipped his head in consent and Harry turned to Snape (the only other occupant of the hall) and asked, "Why didn't you tell Dumbledore where I was so that *he* could rescue me, like… forever ago?"
Snape glared at Harry and retorted, "I do not know the location of Voldemort's mansion. I have to Portkey directly to his throne room whenever I answer a Summons. Now, Potter, I trust that you have completed your Potions homework for the summer?"
Harry squeaked and turned to Dumbledore, saying, "Ah, hospital wing, is it?"
Everyone except Snape chuckled and accompanied Harry to the infirmary.
A/N: *wipes brow* Thank GOD that's finally over… That chapter took a LOT out of me… my poor little Muses are completely exhausted… Oh well, cookies. =^_^=
MY A/N: AWWWW. Poor little Muses. I will cheer them up. HEHE. Thanks for the reviews, they mean a lot. Keep them coming and the story will go on. :P Anyway, new chappy will be up within a week. Cya.
SycoCallie: Hey Syco! Thanks for following the link! Hehe, you made Nick blush, and then you made me blush with your second review. I guess it's a good thing I got attacked by plot penguins, eh?
amy: Glad you liked it. =^_^=
Issa: Nick and I thank you profusely. =^_^=
sew2100: Awwwwwww… thankies!
ranger: All of you are making me blush. Perhaps it was all these reviews that sent the penguins after me…
CastusAlbusCor: Yes he did, didn't he? I had to threaten him with various punishments numerous times until I finally told him, "Okay, we're working on the chapter tonight, NO EXCUSES!" Hehehe…