Chapter 51 – The Light Betray Me

Harry raced along the corridors of the dark fortress.  As soon as he had entered through the door he had been overcome by a sense of foreboding.  Clutching tightly his sword and trying to regain hope despite the shadows that danced across his path, he pushed on.  He began feeling as though the aura of darkness were drawing him in like a hapless fish on a hook.

He imagined that his footfalls would have echoed heavily as he ran but he passed silently as a ghost.

Wondering briefly what chance he had of defeating his dark self, Harry stumbled across the very place he'd been heading for.

Opening the door he saw that things where even worse than he'd imagined.

Several Death Eaters were lying in a heap on the floor, their disfiguring masks abandoned, replaced by palled faces of dead men.

Atop his throne the Dark Lord sat still as stone, his eyes didn't waver from where they rested… fixed on the spot where the darkness was most dense, where the meagre candles provided for lighting could do nothing to lift the shadows, the spot where Harry's body stood and the evil emerald of his eye glared out of the gloom.

Shivering at the icy cold within the room Harry shimmied forward trying to remember what it was like to feel bravery.

He stopped abruptly however when his alter ego spoke.

"You may as well turn and run now Harry.  I do not even fear you now.  There is nothing you can do to stop me."

"What are you?"  Asked Harry frowning, "I don't believe that anything as evil as you could come from just me.  Tell me who you are.  Tell me what Dumbledore wouldn't."

Harry's dark image simply laughed.

"You have some courage left then Harry, and still the same age old streak of curiosity.  Have you not heard the old saying curiosity killed the cat?  Well, perhaps we shall see if the old adage holds true.  Lets bring out your friend and ask her."

With a click of his fingers the dark figure brought forth a struggling woman from the air.

"Let me go you evil wretch!"  Yelled Arabella Figg.

"Professor!"  Gasped Harry in surprise.

"Harry!  Don't listen to Sir Hevaryl. Just do what you came to do!"  Cried Arabella pleading for all she was worth.

"Sir Hevaryl?"  Questioned Harry in confusion, but he was interrupted as his dark self yelled Crucio and Arabella Figg's cries of pain filled the air.

"You will not use my name!  You must learn to fear me more than death itself!"

"YOU are Sir Hevaryl?"  Shouted Harry swiftly approaching, his outline becoming suddenly more defined.

"I gave myself this name a long time ago, before you were even aware of me.  I've been with you almost your whole life Harry, I have been as much a part of you as your pathetic genes, and now at last I will have my freedom.  I will take the power from those who waste it and turn the world to my will.  No-one will stop me, not Tom Riddle, not Dumbledore, and not you Harry Potter."

"I don't understand."  Grumbled Harry glaring at his own face.

"Let me spell it out for you Harry."  Snarled Sir Hevaryl summoning Harry's own wand from Lord Voldemort's unmoving hand.

With the wand he slowly spelt out his name

'SIR HEVARYL'

Then with a swirl of the Holly wand he rearranged the letters.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*

All the while, two men sat shivering together high up in the guard post in the mighty chamber…

Pettigrew and Procyon Equuleus could both smell the metallic hue of blood on the air.  It hung heavily in every breath they took.  Neither wanted to remember witnessing the destruction of the 'lesser' Death Eaters or to think about those who had escaped.

Feeling less and less confident of what he was doing Peter chewed his lip and glanced at his partner.

Procyon had said nothing since they had left the cell.  The poor man seemed completely shocked and eerily vacant.

"I need you to get Harry clear.  Once the boy regains his own body you have to get him to Hogwarts… Understand?"

Procyon nodded but said nothing.

"Okay, now all we have to do is wait."

Shifting further down behind the bodies of his former fellows Peter forced down his gagging once again and returned his eyes to the scene which was unfolding below him.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Harry couldn't help but allow his translucent face to flood with surprise as the letters were rearranged.

They now read

'HARRY LIVES'

"Sir Hevaryl laughed, I see from your shock that I really will need to explain everything to you.  Well, I have all the time I need, you can have no hope of escape."

Harry simply frowned, although he couldn't help but feel the need to know what he was about to be told.  Trying to ignore Arabella Figg's frantic wriggling he cleared his throat, "Tell me then."

Sir Hevaryl smirked knowingly and started to speak,

"This all begins on that momentous night in Godric's Hollow.  The night that I 'became'."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*

The small assembly of Gryffindors who had seen Professor Figg simply vanish, wasted no time in rushing next door to Professor McGonagall's office (a place known all too well by the twins) and pounding on her door.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming."

After much babbling and hysterics McGonagall finally lost her patience and petitioned Ginny who had been nervously quiet, to explain.

Once she had established what had happened McGonagall took charge.

"Obviously I need to see Professor Dumbledore, but before I go I need to know that you lot aren't going to run off anywhere, you'll have to go back to Gryffindor tower.  No leaving there until I say you can."

She marched them back to their Common Room and left them there feeling rather disgruntled as their shock began to fade, and she ordered the Fat lady to keep them from leaving 'at all costs'.  She could just imagine the troop of Gryffindors trying to investigate for themselves the cause of Professor Figg's disappearance.

And of course she was quite right to be concerned, although she probably wouldn't have thought that it would be Neville Longbottom who was the one to suggest it.

"We have to find her."  He said determinedly fixing his eyes on Ginny who still seemed uncharacteristically quiet.

"Yes."  Replied Ginny suddenly.  "Neville's right, I have a bad feeling that something's going to happen to her."

"But we can't get out of here."  Said Ron glancing at the portrait hole angrily.

"They do always seem to be trying to stop us.  But we've always managed to help in the past."  Added Hermione looking to Fred and George who in turn were looking at each other knowingly.

"Come on then guys."

"We'll show you the way out."

Said the twins heading towards the fireplace.

"You mean there's a secret way out?" Said Neville in surprise.

"And you never told me?!"  Said Ron indignantly.

"Yeah, we found it last year, it wasn't even on the Marauder's map!"  Said George proudly gesturing to Fred who was standing right next to the fireplace.

"Open Sesame."  Said Fred loudly into the fireplace.

Hermione laughed, "So cliché."

And to her surprise the fireplace slid forward slightly revealing a small gap, which opened out into a passageway.

"Come on then."  Said Neville, striding forward.  "Let's go."

*~~~*~~~*~~~*

Harry edged forward to listen.  For once he just wanted to know the whole truth about his past.

"Little is really known about the Avada Kedavra curse Harry.  Indeed, probably only Albus Dumbledore and myself are anywhere near to knowing the truth.

The curse doesn't in any way harm the victim's body.  The victim's body is simply frozen in time.  Their soul is forced out when the body refuses to respond and no life can exist within the body."

"How did I survive it then?" Asked Harry.  "How did I manage to keep my body alive against the force of Voldemort's curse?"

"Be quiet and listen well.  You are not the only one to have survived the curse, no matter what you have been told.  It happened once before."

Harry's eyes bulged at this.

"Who else…"

"Did I not say be quiet?" demanded Sir Hevaryl with cold anger.

"Can you not guess who it might have been Harry?"

Harry shook his head.

"Your very own Professor Dumbledore little Harry.  It was he who survived it.  By the power of his sister's sacrifice he was able to deflect the curse back upon Lord Grindelwald and then defeat the weakened wizard."

Harry's mouth fell wide open and he could not now have said anything had he wanted to.

"D-Dumbledore?  But why didn't he tell me?"  He muttered eventually lifting his pale face to meet Sir Hevaryl's mocking glare.

"He obviously never trusted you enough.  Anyway we are losing track, this does little to explain who I am."

Harry nodded and pushed his surprise and hurt back down to listen to more.

"When the Avada Kedavra curse hit you that Halloween night it was a truly singular event.  On the night of lost souls your body became very temporarily vacant and the opportunity was taken by a wandering spirit to inhabit it.

I am that spirit Harry.  The one who was once known by another name.  A name indeed that you know very well."

Harry's heart sank.

"I was once called the mighty Lord Slytherin."

"No! I don't believe it!"  Yelled Harry suddenly angrier than he'd ever been.

"You're trying to poison my mind!"

Sir Hevaryl simply laughed

"You can deny it all you like, but it can't change the truth.  It matters not to me Harry, because now you will die once and for all, like you should have the night my 'heir' brought me back to the world."

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A/N

Okay okay!  I know I keep promising the fight… well. It's NEXT chapter!

Hope this was alrighty, yell at me if it wasn't!

love

Jona

xxx