HARRY POTTER AND THE SEERS' TRUTH
By Lady Lestrange
Chapter 56
In Integrum Restituere
10 REVIEWS. I really hate blackmailing you into reviewing, but hey, I'm a Slytherin. It's in my nature, so when there are 10 reviews for this chapter, the next one will magically appear. Love my readers and reviewers. Answers to reviews follow the story.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and previous situations belong to JK Rowlings. No infringement is meant or implied. No money is made from this Fanfic. THANKS JK.
--LADY LESTRANGE
(A/N: I've been reading a number of fanfics in installments like this one myself, and find it is sometimes hard to remember exactly what has happened before-In a fic as complex as this one is, I thought having a reminder may be helpful for you. If you want to skip it, just page down FIVE times. --Lady Lestrange)
UP TO THIS POINT: Parvati has been having dreams and visions about the Dark Lord, Harry and a Prophecy Child. So far, they are not sure who the prophecy child is, and it is important for them to find him/her. The Sorting Hat is not sorting, so the students have "little brothers and sisters" to show around. The dream team thinks that The Sorting Hat failing is a plot to hide the Prophecy child from the teachers and anyone who can help insure that he/she stays on the side of light. No one is sure that the brothers and sisters actually belong to the house they are currently in.
The Hogwarts Express has been attacked. Dark Marks have been in the sky. The floo network is compromised. The Minister of Magic has been turned. Snape is now teaching both Defense and Advanced Defense, but it looks like Advanced Defense is just an excuse to let the Slytherins and Ginny and Edward visit the Dark Lord. Mrs. Figg is teaching potions and we know very little about her so far, except that she was against Dumbledore's suggestion to make Poly Juice Potion.
Beatrice is an animagus, a bunny. Edward's granny looks like she could have given the Dursleys a few pointers on cruelty. Slytherin is a house at war according to Snape, divided between Death Eaters and those who want to stay on the side of light. Harry uses his Invisibility Cloak and finds out when it is ripped, the Invisibility spell ceases. There is an unwelcome addition to Myrtle's bathroom, Olive Hornby. Peeves is his usual annoying self, but the Baron seems to have a little less control over him.
Samara, for some reason, lofts some wicked, powerful curses. She doesn't look like she has total control over them, which isn't really surprising since she's learned magic on her own from a book, that Harry is sure is a dark book. She seems to like Draco, but don't assume this is a romance. It is not. Ginny is still hearing voices in her head. Harry's scar is hurting more, and neither he nor Ginny know what this means. Ginny is closer with Harry this year, but again, not romantically. There is Edward, the new Gryffindor, who seems interested in Ginny, but Ginny really hasn't gotten over Tom.
We find out about Neville's powerful auror parents. We learn that Neville has a memory charm that was put on him as a baby. He's a more powerful wizard than anyone ever thought as evidenced by his yew wand and the way he reacts to Snape's ministrations in trying to remove the memory charm. We might wonder why Snape is trying to do this himself, instead of enlisting the help of Madam Pomfrey. Sirius and Lupin are on "fieldtrips" with the sixth and seventh years.
Of course we can also wonder why Snape is so determined to teach his classes advanced spells like the Patronus, or we can just chalk it up to Snape, being mean. The Fifth year class starts apparition classes and we meet Professor Sinistra. We also visit Hufflepuff, where we see The Wall, and Slytherin house, where we discover, to our amazement, a magic room that Draco shares with Samara, but Samara has a very unslytherin use for the room. Ravenclaw to come next weekend.
The chapter, CHAINED AND CHARMED, takes place at the same time as DANCING IS AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE-when Samara was in Slytherin, dancing. It is Saturday afternoon. Harry and the Gryffindors examine Samara's Dark Book, after they come back from lunch. They find an extreme potion, and decide they need to make a trip to the Chamber of Secrets. Ghastly Ghostly Dinner is when Gryffindor's meet with Samara after her little trip to Slytherin. Samara and Beatrice are persuaded by Edward to help him steal his snake back from his brother Ethan. Things get a little out of hand, and Samara learns more about Slytherin than she ever wanted to know.
Now the Gryffindors are mad at her. Samara wants to make up and be friends with them, but is it possible to befriend both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy? How far will she go to make up, or will she just find some valuable information to store away for future use? (So, don't you want one of those Tee shirts?)
LIONS AND TIGERS: We see a very stressed out Snap both in Harry's memory of what happened with Snap and Neville and in the actual DADA class. We find out Trelawney doesn't want Samara in her class and Samara decides to take Ancient Runes instead. McGonagall assures Samara that Trelawney has done her a favor. McGonagall further talks to Samara about her experiences in Gryffindor, opening the door to give Samara someone to talk to, if she so chooses. We also learned lots more about animagi in McGonagall's class. Snape dismisses the Gryffifndors and keeps the Slytherins after class. We find out it's because Snape wants them to practice their patronus because the Slytherins are so lousy at the spell. Could it be because there are so few happy memories to chose from?
In DRAGON BREATH AND BLUDGER BATS, Ginny and Edward set the Slytherins up with fire mints, and Samara gets extremely angry at them both because they hurt her friends. In an effort to contain her anger, she goes to the Quiddich pitch where she meets Fred and George. After lobbing a few quaffles at them in her anger, they decide to ask her to be a Beater for Gryffindor. She refuses, but later when she talks to Draco, he is not very nice to her, (hey, who said Draco was a nice guy?) so she wonders whether or not she should take the Beater job.
In WISH IT REAL; WISH IT NOT we see into one of Ginny's dreams. If you don't remember this dream, go and re-read chapter 28. In Chapter 29, THE SPELLING BEE, Samara is feeling homesick and friendless until Draco invites Samara back to Slytherin. Also, includes a short intro into what's coming up in potions class.
In Chapter 30, CHILD OF GRYFFINDOR, Neville and Snape break the Imperio part of the Memory Charm. The trio discusses the Founders' spells, which put their gifts in the Sorting Hat; however they do not have the original parseltongue version of Salazar's spell. Ginny also sees Edward painting and the reader sees a bit of Ginny and Tom's relationship. In SLYTHERIN GAMES—Well, if you don't remember it, you better re-read. Voldemort is finally out and angry—burning and pillaging and we see a little-known inside version of Slytherin through Ginny's eyes. In STICKY SITUATIONS, Samara uses her adhere charm on the Weasley twins, Neville sticks Beatrice's wand to his with bubble gum, and Edward is sticking in Gryffindor.
In OW POST the Slytherins get even for the Dragon Breath Mints, among other things—
In the Ravenclaw chapter—I'm still trying to think of a good name for it—Help me please—we meet a number of Ravenclaws and find out a little more about the characters, in Ravenclaw as well as Edward and Samara. So do you think either of them are really Ravenclaws? Hmmmm? In chapter 35 we meet Sirius again who plans to have a talk with Dumbledore about his keeping Harry safe and of course what that nasty Snape is doing to poor Neville. The Quiddich Game and then more of Neville's awesome Auror parents.
The war is heating up and touching the lives of the children. This story is rapidly approaching –nasty things. Not for the faint of heart. Last chapter, we had a relaxing time at Hogsmeade. Samara bounces from friend to friend and Harry has some nasty dreams, and Harry is shocked to find out that Ron and Hermione are a couple. We knew that already though, right?
In THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS the trio did some exploring, but failed to find the basilisk eggs. They found other things though. Obviously, they have to go back, but first Ginny gives them some instructions.
In THE CHAMBER, THE WALL, THE WAND AND THE WINDOW, Ginny gives the trio some instructions about the Chamber, the Gryffindor boys are having trouble sleeping and Harry's talking to the Snake, Kauket. Parvati has yet another vision, about a muggle and the earlier one about the wand is explored. Trelawney tells Ginny she will open a window to the past—Didn't she already do that? Is Trelawney a little late with this prediction, or does it mean something else?
In NO MORE GAMES we return to ADADA class and Ginny finds out by using the Quick Quotes Quill that the class is more than she planned, but the notes are stolen, so she has no proof to go to Dumbledore with—So she takes matters into her own hands. In PERVIGILO ARMARO, we see part of Ginny's awesome ward. Doors are opened and Tom is out, but he isn't everything we thought he would be. Could it be that he's keeping secrets from us? Puppy Puffs and the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw Quiddich game offer a little comic relief.
Chapter 44, MORS MORDRE. Ginny gets a dark mark. 'nouf said. BLOOD AND MAGIC MINGLED is Ginny reaction to Voldemort's Imperio curse, and a trip to the Chamber. In THE SEVENTH SUFFERING, We leave Ginny in the Chamber, while we go off with Samara to find out what happened to Ginny in Slytherin this morning, but Samara gets side-tracked, and she learns a personal secret of Draco's—so when is she going to share her secret? Speaking of secrets, Snape has a few, which he unwittingly shares in SNAPE'S SECRET AND SALAZAR'S TREASURE. In SECRETS KEPT AND THOUGHTS SHARED, we at last know what side Snape is on--almost—
And for all those Ginny lovers--awesome Ginny in WHAT IS A DARK WIZARD--where we at last, rejoin the Dark Lord. After that, aren't we all ready for a little fun and games with the Gryffindor/Slytherin Quiddich game? Harry finally confirms Edward's evil intent, although no one believes him, and now, once again Harry is privy to Slytherin secrets in NOTHING HALLOWED, on Halloween night. Halloween continues to the wee hours of the morning with THE BIRTH OF A NIGHTMARE, where Ginny, Voldemort and the Death Eaters free those in Azkaban. The chapter entitled, PORTRAITS, POLYJUICE AND PORTKEYS tells of the aftermath in Hogwarts and then the trio heads to KNOCKTURN ALLEY.
Non-stop action to the end, and now, on to the chapter, In Integrum Restituere: Restore (him) to his former power.
Chapter 56
In Integrum Restituere
"I got them," said Ron showing Harry the fillibuster fireworks after charms class, "but I don't know if we should do it. She'll hear us. Hermione thinks her animagus is a bat or a dolphin—something with awesome hearing."
"She won't hear us." Said Harry.
What if she takes house points?"
"She won't—not if she knows who did it, She prefers to give detentions to the people who caused the trouble. That's why we have to do it in Mrs. Figg's class."
"If you're sure—We're not going to have much time--"
"We can't work on the prophecy with him in the room and we'll never talk him into leaving and giving us any privacy with our friends," snapped Harry. "The only other option is to hex the git!"
"OK, but I don't want you to get into trouble. Are you sure you can banish it to his cauldron?"
"Ron," said Harry in exasperation. "It's a banishing charm. If I can't do a banishing charm with some kind of accuracy by now, I'd better just go back to the Dursley's and try to make friends with Dudley."
They walked into potions together and joined Hermione at one of the back tables. Samara eyed them suspiciously, as she joined Ginny and they began to measure out their ingredients for the vanishing potion they were making today.
"I want you to be very careful today," said Mrs. Figg. "Last time students made a vanishing potion," Professor Snape told me that four potions books were vanished."
"Who did that?" asked Lavender.
"Fred and George," muttered Ron.
Mrs. Figg frowned at him. "Nevermind. Just be careful. Choose your partners."
"It had to be a Gryffindor," muttered Draco. "No Slytherin would be that stupid."
"It could have been a Hufflepuff," added Ethan.
Harry looked around, frowning as if in consternation that Ron had once again chosen to work with Hermione.
"Neville was paired with Lou and it looked as if they were well on their way to completing the potion on time today.
"Guess that leaves you and me," said Harry, looking at Edward. As Edward came over to his table to join him, Harry left it, saying, coolly "I'll get the ingredients. Set up the cauldron."
Harry gathered the ingredients, but put the spider webs into his robe pocket and returned to the table. The two boys worked in almost utter silence until it was time to add the spider webs.
"Stir continuously" read Edward "while adding spider webs. Where's the spider webs?" asked Edward.
"Ah-oh," said Harry, maybe I didn't get them. Sorry. I need to stir."
"I'll get them," said Edward, looking at the ceiling in exasperation. He was nearly at the student's cupboard, when Harry nodded at Ron who began to have a coughing fit which covered the sound of Harry's spell, "mixtura" which kept his wand stirring the potion. "He pulled the spider webs from his robe pocket and added it to the potion completing it and dropped in the filibuster fireworks. They disappeared. Harry smiled and glanced back at Hermione and Ron.
"Mrs. Figg, Oh Mrs. Figg," cried Hermione waving her hand frantically. "I think we put too much jellyfish. Look we aren't going to have room for the spider webs.
"Spider webs do not take a lot of room, dear," said Mrs. Figg.
"Oh but come and look," Hermione continued loudly. I don't want to make a mistake."
"You are a mistake," muttered Draco. "You and Longbottom both--"
"Draco!" admonished Mrs. Figg. "Another comment and you will have detention."
Draco sulked over his cauldron and Ethan sniggered.
While Hermione was talking, Harry banished the invisible fireworks to Neville's cauldron which exploded showering potion which proceded to make everything in its path invisible.
The room went silent except for the fizzling of the firework and the soft drip of potion off of Neville's table. "and I haven't messed anything up in potions for ages," complained Neville, giving Harry a pang of conscience for ruining his potion. At least Mrs. Figg knew he did it right, Harry thought observing the disappearing papers around Neville's cauldron.
"My notes," moaned Lou, as they disappeared.
Mrs. Figg had spun around to Draco, but Hermione whispered to Ron. "Edward said he would get back at Neville for that curse." And Mrs. Figg stopped.
"It wasn't Draco," muttered Samara, as a rather sly smirk crossed her face. "It was Edward." She winked at Harry Potter.
"Our potion isn't even finished," Edward protested loudly holding up the spiderwebs.
Mrs. Figg walked back to the table Edward was sharing with Harry and looked into his cauldron. She turned, eyes narrowed, glaring at Edward. "Detention," she pronounced. "What were you thinking of—Neville is in your own house—"
"He thinks he can pick up where his mother left off," said Neville, and Mrs. Figg blanched.
"So what," muttered Edward sizing up the whole Gryffindor class, and trying to figure out how many were in on this stunt. "So what. You got me a detention—"
"All week," said Mrs. Figg.
After they left potions, Harry caught up with Samara. "Thanks Samara," said Harry "that could have gone rather wrong without your help. I just don't think we want any Death Eaters looking at the pensieve."
"I agree," said Samara.
"You agree?" Harry frowned.
"Auras, Harry," said Samara as Draco came up and put his arm around her. "Thanks for defending me," he said to Samara. "And Potter," Draco sneered. "Don't think I owe you anything for getting me out of trouble—not when it was your fault I was in trouble."
"Owe him?" questioned Hermione.
Ron shook his head. "Slytherins are just weird."
"I can't believe Edward did that," said Neville.
No one answered him.
Ginny caught up with them, but Snape billowed into the room and no one talked to each other after his entrance.
After DADA class, Ginny hurried to catch up with the trio.
"You set Edward up for that detention," Ginny accused them. "That was so unfair."
"Life isn't fair," said Tom. "The sooner you learn that, Ginny Love, the better off you'll be."
"We can't have Death Eaters looking at this," said Harry.
"And he wouldn't leave just because we asked him to—" added Ron.
"He isn't a Death Eater," said Ginny.
"Samara agrees with me," said Harry.
Hermione took the simple gray pensieve from inside of her cupboard. "Let's just get started," she said.
"Where is Samara?" asked Neville.
"She'll be here," said Hermione.
The little group pulled closer to the pensieve as they continued the quest to find the prophecy child. Ron put his arm around Hermione, and Harry edged in between Ginny and Hermione. Neville had moved back a little to allow the others to see. Actually, it was impossible for them all to see unless some of them entered the pensieve and none of them were too anxious to do that just yet.
Parvati and Dean as well as Lavender and Seamus were even less anxious than the others.
"Are you sure Samara's coming?" asked Beatrice.
"Yes," said Hermione. "She wanted to ask Snape something after class."
Ginny could barely breathe as she looked into the pensieve. Her heart was pounding. The Riddle House loomed in front of her—cold and gray and forbidding.
The figure she saw was Tom--unmistakably Tom. He ran a nervous hand through his hair, and pulled
his cloak closer around him as if to shut out the approaching darkness.
"You're going to kill your father," she thought.
"I'm going to see him for the first time," corrected Tom. "Salazar is going to kill him."
The trio also looked at the vision in the pensieve, but they did not yet know what or who they were viewing. Dean was sitting back further, comforting Parvati, who was crying softly. "They are all so horrible. Why can't I have visions and dreams of good things?"
"The boy looks nervous," said Hermione, ignoring Parvati's whining.
"He looks cold," said Ron as he watched him pull his threadbare cloak around himself yet again. Even I have a better cloak.
"That's the Riddle house," said Harry spellbound.
All of them looked a little closer at the boy.
"Then that's Tom Riddle," whispered Hermione.
"Yes," said Ginny tightly, and then in her thoughts asked, "Tom? Are you all right?"
"I know that I killed them," commented Tom, his anxiety causing him to become as private as it was possible for him to become inside of Ginny's head. Ginny tried to ignore the turmoil of his thoughts and give him some semblance of privacy for this.
"I don't remember them. I never met them. I don't want to kill them--" There was a tightness in Tom's thoughts that Ginny had never sensed before. She realized that he was afraid.
The brass knockers and golden letters of the Riddle name, contrasted sharply with Tom's threadbare robes. He reached forward and tried the door. Locked. He stood on the stoop for a moment—hesitating? Wondered Ginny—and then he smoothed his mussed hair and touched his robes. "elegantis-" The skimpy cloak appeared to be a shiny, expensive garment, elegantly tailored. He pulled the hood up around his ears.
"Woah! What was that spell?" exclaimed Ron.
"It was a glamour," said Parvati and Lavender in unison.
"Forget it, Ron," said Ginny. "It works on muggles, but some wizards can see through glamourine and anyway, you'd have to renew it every hour. Someone would probably hear you."
Tom spoke again. "Alohomora!"
Wandless, noticed Ginny. "Why?"
"Because every time Salazar touched my wand with a spell, it fried his hands--my hands—the bastard--" Ginny felt Tom's anger seething. This was more like him--
"In Tom Riddle's case, the wand might be checked by the Ministry," ventured Hermione. "After all, he was going to kill them."
"He had never done anything wrong before this, why would they suspect him at this point?" Wondered Ginny.
"I am a Slytherin," said Tom bitterly.
"But you were a prefect--a perfect student--"
"I wasn't--" Tom interrupted Ginny's musings. "But I never planned to kill my father."
Tom was spellbound, looking at the tall dark haired man that had fathered him. Several gold rings were on his fingers. He wore onyx cufflinks on his starched white shirt sleeves, and a scowl on his face.
"But we don't know about Salazar What did he plan?" wondered Ginny.
"I don't know," thought Tom. "He was always getting stronger I suppose it's possible as early as this, he had totally taken me over. I'd like to know--" Ginny leaned closer to the pensive. "I can't tell which of us is in control" said Tom, examining the pensieve version of himself. "Enter it, Ginny."
Ginny touched the surface of the silvery material and was sucked into the pensieve.
"Ginny!" she heard the startled gasps of those behind her, and then Harry was with her, followed by Neville.
"We didn't want you to be alone here," said Harry placing his hand on her shoulder and startling her.
"Should we tell them you're never alone, Ginny Love?"
"Shut up, Tom."
"Slytherin decor," noticed Neville. "Forest green and the brass snakes--"
"Obviously he decorated with my mother in mind," thought Tom. Yet, he threw her out in the street.
It doesn't make sense. I wonder, why did he keep the decorations--It wasn't for lack of money."
Ginny's attention wondered to the other boy--the other Tom in the pensieve—
"They named him Tom, too," wondered Tom in Ginny's head.
"That does seem strange doesn't it," thought Ginny. "Unless Tom, Sr. never knew your mother was pregnant. Do you think she kept that from him?"
"I don't know," said Tom thoughtfully. "I always assumed that he knew--that he had abandoned me in that muggle orphanage—No," corrected Tom. "He had to know I was born. He was the one who put me in the orphanage. All of my mother's relatives would have been wizards."
There was a brief silence, both Tom and Ginny thinking and listening to the shouted conversation. As they neared the slightly open doorway, where Tom Riddle was hovering, Ginny peered into the dining room.
"He looks a lot like you, Tom," noticed Ginny but she changed her mind as the boy's face flushed red and he began to pace, obviously frightened of his father's wrath. He's a little more excitable than you," she thought.
"He's scared of his father," Tom surmised. "The chap is rather formidable for a muggle."
"What is your connection with this girl?" demanded the older Tom, but his son didn't answer right away.
However, to both Tom and Ginny the answer was perfectly apparent in the face of the young man in the pensieve. Tom summarized with a vulgarity which Ginny studiously ignored. It appeared from the look of disgust on the father's face, he also suspected that more was going on between the two of them than was permitted.
The son, gathering his courage, clenched his fists, and looking his father in the eye said, "I want to marry, Lori."
"Why? Is she pregnant?" snapped the father.
"I love her."
A long silence followed, and Tom frowned. The father is pretty perceptive, noted Tom. "I always thought I got that from my mother."
Finally, the boy spoke again. "I'm not sure--if she's pregnant—I--we're not sure--but I love her. It doesn't
matter.
"It doesn't matter!" screeched the father. "Of course it matters. This little gold digger has you hooked, you stupid boy. You have no idea with whom this low-life tramp has been cavorting. What she might try to pass off as your son and heir--"
"She's not a low-life," retorted the son angrily attempting to stand up to his father, but the father lashed out striking the boy across the face with his open palm.
"You will keep a civil tongue," the man demanded.
"She's from the village," the boy said softly contrite.
"And just who is this girl?"
"Lorrissa--"
"Not her name, boy! Who Is she? A nobody, that's who, and not suitable to be your bride.
"I didn't come to ask your permission," said the boy, facing his father, but the father was incensed. Banging his fist on the table, he caused the fine china to topple, shattering several dishes with a loud crash.
"Well, you don't have my permission," he yelled.
The vision had progressed though Tom startling them all as he stepped into the picture. The muggle transferred his ire to this newcomer. He began screaming at Tom and poking his finger in his chest. Spit flew as he yelled at Tom in the pensieve.
"Filthy muggle," muttered Tom in Ginny's head. She could feel his ire.
"I might not have killed him," observed Harry, "But his behavior sure warrants a curse of some kind."
"The lousy Slytherin git," said Neville. "No wonder Tom Riddle turned into You-know-who with that for a father--"
"You know, you don't have to watch this, Ginny Love," said Tom as the sparkles of his attempt to take control of her body assaulted her.
"I know, Tom."
Within the pensieve, the Avada Kadavra curse flashed, the green power of the spell
clinging to Ginny like a halo as she, Harry and Neville exited the pensieve.
"Ginny?" Ron reached out to her. "You didn't have to watch this," he said.
"I do," Ginny said shortly. Closing her eyes, she called mentally. "Tom. Had Salazar taken you over?"
"No," began Tom. "Not at the beginning, not until--"
"The witch wasn't good enough for him and now the muggle isn't good enough for his son," commented Neville. "Even as a squib he still acts like a bloody Slytherin git!"
"A squib!" shouted Tom in her brain.
Ginny's eyes flew open. "He's not a Slytherin," commented Ginny patiently. "Tom's mother was a Slytherin. His father was a muggle."
"No,Ginny," said Neville with certainty. "You're wrong. His father was of Salazar's blood, not his
mother. "This secret is what put my parents in St. Mongo's Some of You-Know-Who's dear followers
manufactured the whole thing—including Tom Riddle's birth--so that they could resurrect Salazar.
"What?" screeched Tom.
"What?" Ginny echoed.
Harry put his hands over his face while Ron frantically tried to wave Neville to silence, but the damage was already done.
"Think about it Ginny," prodded Neville. "If his mother was with the wizarding community, when she had
the baby, how on earth did he end up in a muggle orphanage?
"I thought, my father would naturally get custody," said Tom, thoughtfully.
"But the law would give the baby to the father," said Ginny aloud.
Harry laughed. "And you expect Slytherins, to obey a muggle law?"
"I doubt that Tom, Sr. even knew the witch bore a son. Why else would he have named his second son Tom?" observed Hermione. "At first, he doesn't seem to know who Tom is—just an intruder—"
"But he seemed to put two and two together before Tom killed him," said Harry. "Including the fact that Tom's mother was a witch—"
Tom got quiet, a cold dread forming inside of him. Ginny knew he wanted desperately
to be alone with this thoughts. Ginny was silent in sympathy.
"The wizards wanted me there," he said at last, his thoughts flashing through the terrors and
pains of the orphanage. My wizarding family put me there."
"The wizards wanted Tom in the orphanage," muttered Ginny. "They wanted him tormented so that he would hate muggles and then, when the time was right they could resurrect Salazar.
"My mother, too—" Tom was devastated by this news. "He had always believed that his mother loved him, and now to think that she might have been a part of this conspiracy—that he was no more than a body to house Salazar, even to her—"
Ginny felt like she could barely breathe.
There was a secret cult, In integrum restituere," My Dad said. Antonin Dolohov told him, before he died." Said Neville.
"Mother?" choked Ginny, tears welling up in her eyes. Her heart was breaking with the awful feeling of desolation that engulfed her.
Harry shook his head. "She started out with the cult, but disagreed with their--methods. They killed her."
Tom said nothing, but the boiling, pure rage inside of him frightened Ginny.
"It was some kind of ritual," said Neville.
Ginny sucked in her breath as Tom's understanding of this ritual was revealed to her. She felt sick, but Tom's rage broke through her feeling of nausea. "Damn them straight to hell," muttered Ginny. "The lying, murdering scoundrels--" She clenched her fists, her nails digging into the flesh of her palm. She felt nothing, but Tom's burning rage, overriding everything else within her.
"Ginny," said Harry, laying a hand on her shoulder.
Tom's anger tightened even more... A single thought dominated everything in him encompassing his need for revenge upon those who ruined his life. That single thought forming in Tom's consciousness was crucio. Die you worthless bastards! My Deatheaters. My friends. How could they? Various types of crucio that Ginny didn't even know existed coursed through her mind. So fast. So brutal. Then slowing to a torturous crawl.
Tom? She thought, feeling too close a kinship with Salazar. Such intense hatred that she had not felt since Salazar was warded out, but this was Tom. Wasn't it? Tom!
She felt as ragged and raw as Voldemort's hands, her body unable to contain his hatred. Like a unicorn wand casting Avada, she felt the searing alienness of his thoughts like she hadn't felt them for a long time. The pain of betrayal ate into her soul.
And they're still hiding this little secret, thought Ginny.
"I-want-them-dead," thought Tom, but his thoughts encompassed so much more than death. He wanted them to suffer like he had suffered. More than he had suffered. Give them back tenfold. His intent was a hot, writhing cancer consuming them both.
"I want them dead," echoed Ginny,
"Ginny, you don't mean that," said Harry, grasping her arm, and then pulling away. "Ginny, you're
soaking wet."
"Your friends were keeping this from us," Tom realized, his anger growing as cold as ice. The betrayal of friends was too new in Tom's thoughts.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ginny demanded. "Ron? Harry?"
"Ron was worried about you--"
"So it was Ron's fault," sneered Tom, the need to take this out on someone so powerful that
Ginny couldn't contain it. She didn't want to contain it. She wanted to lash out with almost as much anger as Tom.
"Ron! It was Ron's fault," blurted Ginny, turning on her brother, and reaching in her pocket for her wand. What gives you the right?" she yelled as she clenched her fists instead of taking the wand to curse—someone---She realized that her hands were wet with the water elemental, and she concentrated on controlling the magic in her hands.
Harry shook his head. "We had no right to keep this from you, Ginny. We only wanted to protect you."
"I'm sorry," said Ron. "It was wrong, but--"
"No buts! It was wrong!"
"What they did was wrong too," said Harry. "I know you had some feelings for Tom Riddle while he was in your head, Ginny. It is a sad story, but there's nothing you can do for him now. He's Voldemort,
for Gawd's sake."
"What could you do?" interrupted Hermione. "Go to him and say, some of your Deatheaters made your life a living hell because--"
"You have no idea," Ginny interrupted roughly, trying desperately to contain the magic that threatened to break loose of her failing hold.
"I made a promise!" she screeched, finally reaching the end of her control.
"Don't you understand? Tom is not Voldemort! He was a normal child until these bloody prats got a hold of him. They ruined his life. They took his life. They are worse than murderers. They tortured him--as sure as if they put him in that bloody orphanage dungeon themselves. The number of times the muggles hurt him--beat him-rejected him--"
Images flashed in Ginny's mind's eye so fast that if she hadn't lived them in St. Mongo's and as part of Tom's memories, she never would have been able to distinguish between them--images of Them. Pushing him down the stairs, shoving against the hot stove, and his learning the flame freezing charm in self-defense. Them: poisoning his rat, and his holding it in his hand as it convulsed into death, its beady eyes filled with pain.
Hatred blossomed anew. He should have never been in that orphanage. Wizards put him there. Wizards that called themselves friends. Wizards that killed his mother. Tortured his mother.
"They lied! They deserved to burn in hell!" Ginny yelled.
"As sure as they shackled me to Salazar. They made my life a living hell! Don't you see? They are still making my life hell. They created Voldemort! Consciously! Willfully! Maliciously! At the expense of a child, they created Voldemort, and Dumbledore turned a blind eye, just like he did when I was in the Chamber. This was the child they sacrificed! Tom Riddle."
"Dumbledore didn't--" began Harry, but Ginny turned on him, showering him with a deluge from the
water elemental, soaking the bed the carpet and the desks.
Parvati screamed and leaped back into Dean's arms, who muttered something about Dark Magic.
"Shut up!" she yelled. "They have no right to draw another free breath, the bastards!" Her voice low and menacing, she spat, "THEY NEED TO DIE!"
"Ginny!" Harry wrapped his arms around her, both of them dripping wet with the water elemental out of
control.
"Don't sacrifice children or truth!" sobbed Ginny, but Dumbledore didn't even try to stop it. He didn't even try—For any of us."
"He didn't know," Harry said. "I'm sure he didn't."
"He should have--" muttered Ginny disconsolately. "For both of us--"
"Wand," suggested Tom.
"You don't have a wand," Ginny thought, and it's your fault I feel like I'm going to explode.
"I've had plenty of practice bringing myself down from the elemental magic," thought Tom, as he wrestled with his emotions. "I've done it since my orphanage days--"
"Well, you're not doing a very good job right now," thought Ginny,
"I know," he muttered, and heart pounding, she pulled herself out of Harry's arms.
"Tom, what are we going to do?"
"We're going to hunt them down and kill them," said Tom calmly. "Names. Get names, Ginny."
Ginny turned to Neville as he sat white-faced and damp from Ginny's outburst. . "You said your parents were tortured to keep this secret. "Who did this?" Ginny asked though gritted teeth, and Neville looked at Hermione for confirmation to speak.
She stepped into the fray, speaking "Pergo." She straightened Ginny wet and wrinkled robes.
"Who?" Ginny demanded again.
"Calm down, Ginny Love. They aren't going to tell you unless you're calm. Apologize. Tell them that, of course you won't kill anyone."
"I'm sorry," Ginny muttered, speaking another drying spell and trying to get control of the elemental magic. "You know I wouldn't kill anyone." She looked at her brother. "Right Ron?"
"You're scaring me, Ginny," said Ron, and she stepped forward wrapping her arms around him and putting her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I wouldn't kill anyone," she repeated. "but this was all so—awful—for Tom—"
"Why are you taking this so personally?" asked Ron. "You-know-who tried to kill you in the Chamber. You still have nightmares--"
"No," whispered Ginny. "That was Salazar. We both know there were two different people involved in magiking that diary. I just think Tom Riddle's name should be cleared."
Hermione nodded. "That sounds fair," she said, repeating yet another drying spell.
Neville began counting off names: "Malfoy, Lestrange—"
"Dolohov, Black, Rosier, Crabbe, Goyle, --
"Avery, Effler, Ogleby, Snape-- There's someone I'm forgetting. It will come to me—"
Tom with his phenomenal memory was already recording them in the book of the dead. My friends, my girlfriend, my cousins …
"Wait," thought Ginny. "We don't know if these are the parents or the grandparents or great grandparents who are responsible. "This is your generation, and before, Tom. Some of the children now might not even know about this cult."
"They know," said Tom coldly. "They're Slytherins."
Ginny sat on the floor in a daze while the others discussed the dream. For a long while all she
or Tom could think of was the cult, and something dark and sinister was lurking inside of her. She wanted to think that all of the darkness had come from Salazar, but this was unmistakably Tom's magic, and it was definitely dark.
"There is no dark or light, Ginny Love, only power—"
At last Ginny voiced her concern about how she and Tom seemed to overlap into each other. "What just happened to us, Tom? Were you in control there for a moment?"
"No," Tom reassured her. "We were just thinking the same thoughts--so in sync with one another that--"
Tom paused. At that moment, when we were together, what was your Intent Ginny?
I wanted to kill them, she said simply.
"That's it. That's how Salazar did it! That's how he defeated me."
"I don't understand," Ginny thought.
That's exactly what happened to me and Salazar. We were never together in the same way that you and I are Ginny. We never communicated except in struggle for supremacy. Mostly we were at odds with one another, but here, when I faced my father, we were together. Our thoughts were in sync for the first time ever. Together in anger and in power—"
Ginny remembered Snape saying, remember when you have done accidental magic. That is probably your most powerful self-- What had happened to Tom and Salazar—to Tom and her was starting to make sense.
"and then, he killed your father." She said. It seemed safer to talk about his dead squib father than his tortured witch mother. Ginny 's thoughts were soft and careful, fearing another outburst.
"No," said Tom sadly. "I was wrong, Ginny. It wasn't Salazar who killed my father. It was me. It was my
intent that killed him. Mine and mine alone. Salazar only said the words, but all the way up to
the Avada spell, there was some possibility of escape.. He manipulated me right into this.
"Into killing your father?" Ginny asked.
"No. My father never mattered to Salazar. What difference did one muggle make in a world of muggle vermin? It was me. It was always about me. "
Ginny was silent, an uncomfortable thought coming into her mind. "Then you could have taken me over too, Tom—Couldn't you? When we were in perfect sync with each other—just now. Couldn't you?"
Tom didn't answer for a moment, but she knew she was right. "I thought about it. I hesitated."
"Thanks Tom," whispered Ginny.
And both of them grew quiet. "If I had planned ahead, I might have done it, you know," said Tom.
"Just like Salazar," Ginny said softly, and Tom shuddered.
Both of their thoughts tumbled over the past events. "Why didn't Salazar use crucio on your father?" wondered Ginny.
There was only a moment, and Salazar took it. If he had tried Crucio, I might have repented my actions, but Avada was irrevocable. I had done an unforgivable curse and not just any unforgivable—the killing curse. I had acted like a Dark wizard. I couldn't turn back.
"So, that explains why he used Avada," said Ginny I was wondering, Tom, Why Salazar just killed your father. He likes to cause pain. It seems to me that Avada was an easy way out. I thought, wouldn't he use crucio? I know Voldemort would--"
"No," interrupted Tom. It wasn't about killing my father. It wasn't even about causing the muggle pain. It was always about taking control of me. Locking me away forever and it worked. It was my intent that killed my father. I was Salazar's puppet after that.
Ginny felt a taste of the despair that Tom experienced and then it was gone.
"But Tom, we all have those moments when we want to choke someone."
"But we don't all have a person in our heads that will act upon those thoughts."
Salazar needed to be strong enough and he needed my intent to be strong enough. He counted on my hatred for muggles. He counted on all the pain the cult caused me. He wanted it to surface here. He played me like a well tuned instrument and I did everything he expected. I was so stupid.
Ginny could feel the defeat in Tom's thoughts. He, like his wand, had given up hope of ever being free of Salazar, and even if he could be free, he still had killed his father. He had acted like a Dark Wizard. He would be punished like a Dark Wizard. He searched out the core of darkness within himself and in this moment that was all Ginny could see.
"It happened a long time ago," Ginny reminded him, trying to take the sting out of his guilt.
Remember Tom, this pain that Salazar likes to cause isn't merely physical.
"I know," said Tom softly. "The only thing he didn't expect is to have his hands fried by my wand.
Did you see them?"
"I saw them," said Ginny thinking they looked like cooked meat, and still Salazar/Voldemort hung on to that wand. She almost had to admire the tenacity of his will. It was awesome.
"There is nothing to admire in him!" Tom shouted at her.
"You're right, Tom."
"He was burnt because of the force of the spell," Tom explained. "My wand never wanted to do Avada and then she realized that Tom was familiar with the spell just cast.
"Wait," thought Ginny. "You saw Avada Kadavra performed?"
"Grindelwald," said Tom, but no memories were forthcoming. She realized there was a whole new
section to his life that she hadn't explored. That he hadn't allowed her to access. He knew how the cult and Grindelwald fit together.
"Tom?"
"Don't probe, Ginny Love. If you do, you will see more than you wish to—believe me--"
She took Tom's advice and turned her attention back to the little group of Gryffindors.
The trio was trying to decide which dream to look at next.
"The boy with the wand that burned him," suggested Ginny.
"Why? Ginny Love?" asked Tom. "We know who that is."
"Yes, but there has to be some reason why Parvati dreamed it," said Ginny.
"Parvati?" said Neville. "Are you ready to put the next dream into the pensieve?"
"I don't know if I can do anymore tonight," complained Parvati.
"Just one more," coaxed Dean. "You can do it."
"These memories aren't even of anyone you know," said Hermione.
"Please," Ginny added, and Parvati relented.
Moments into the dream, both Ginny and Tom realized that the wand had quit burning Salazar after the Avada Kadavra curse that killed Tom's father. When Parvati pronounced the wand 'dead' they were the only ones who realized what that meant.
"For within the snake and phoenix have warred," quoted Tom. "She meant within the wand.. She said, "Phoenix must surely rule—" I don't see how," Tom lamented. "If the wand is dead—"
"But the phoenix rises again and again and eating death is the fuel—" quoted Ginny. "so at some point, the wand must come back to life."
"When he is cursing someone," Tom surmised. "Eating death."
"Didn't Parvati say that Voldemort let Harry go last year," said Ginny. " This might have something to do with Voldemort's wand."
"He didn't let me go," Harry protested.
"Let's look at that dream next," suggested Hermione.
"I can't," said Parvati. "I can't do anymore tonight. I'm tired."
"Neville managed to retrieve a dozen memories," said Harry with Snape pulling them out of him and his arms bleeding from Snape's spells. "This isn't even about you, Parvati."
"You're right," said Parvati, looking Harry in the eye. "This one is about you—why did Voldemort let you go? I would like to know that myself."
Harry sighed as Neville helped Parvati put the dream into the pensieve.
"We know that the wand stopped burning –him--after the Avada Kadavra curse," recapped Ginny. "That's why Parvati saw Tom Riddle at Olivanders with his burned hands. We needed to know what the wand was doing for some reason. The next vision or dream that has Voldemort's wand in it, is yours Harry—"
Together they watched the events unfold. Harry's fear was almost palpable as he ran through the corridors away from Voldemort. The years fell away, the first scenario obviously his first year, and then, Ginny recognized too much of the second year. Harry reached absently for her as it ended and she squeezed his hand. Then the image switched to Harry digging among the bones and the black dog seemed reminiscent of meeting Sirius and the deaths in his family, and finally they came to the part they wanted to see: The events of last year.
"It's the hand," called Dean. "Parvati! It's the severed hand that you dreamed about in second year.."
"Yes," said Parvait patiently.
Dean stared at her in wonder. "You knew He would return by this potion. You knew when you were only 12.
The same age Trelawney had her first true vision," said Parvati.
The dream progressed, Ginny and Tom watching studiously. Tom had retreated into his analytical mode. He had himself under a tight control, but the hate and anger was still there. But first, he told Ginny, we have to understand. Nothing must escape us. It could be our downfall.
She could feel his anger stewing like a bubbling poison potion. "Tom. What they did was wrong, but I'm not going to kill anyone."
Tom didn't answer.
"I'm not," she repeated.
Tom continued to study the pensieve. Laughing shortly when Voldemort imperioed Harry, Tom said,. "He called that imperio? He was just playing with little Harry. He didn't care if Harry bowed or not. It was just a show for his Death Eaters. We however know what his real imperio feels like, don't we Ginny?"
Ginny shuddered thinking of the basilisk eggs. And the fleeting thought of when would they hatch rushed through her brain.
Probably soon, surmised Tom, still gazing into the pensieve. His thoughts ground to a halt as Voldemort within the pensieve crucioed Harry.
"He may not have had much intent behind his imperio, but he meant the crucio," said Ginny shuddering.
"There!" Tom noticed. "See how the bead is traveling to Harry's wand and then it suddenly switches. Ask Harry what happened."
"It was as if Voldemort was startled or distracted, but just for a second." Said Harry. "It was enough for me to turn the power. The bead connected with his wand just a moment later and the priori incantum began.
"He released you," said Parvati.
"He did not!" argued Harry.
"That was not Salazar!" said Tom. "That was Tom Riddle reawakening when the wands touched. He felt the phoenix magic, and added his intent to Harry Potter's spell."
Ginny voiced her opinion to the raised eyebrows of all present, and then she followed Tom's advice and decided to keep quiet.
"What I don't understand," said Hermione is if this was priori incantum, why didn't the other spells show in some way? What about the crucio he did on you earlier or the imperio. Did those come out, Harry? Did Parvati's vision just not show them?"
"No," said Harry. "They didn't come out in the priori incantum. Not only that, I had a vision—"
"You what?" Parvait and Dean's startled voices blended.
"Remember the time last year when I fell asleep in divination when Trelawney insisted I had a vision—"
They nodded.
"Well, she was right for once," said Harry. "My vision was of Wormtail being crucioed at the Riddle House. Voldemort told Nagini, that's his snake, that she wouldn't get to eat Wormtail because his mistake had been fixed, but Nagini could eat me—"
"Why didn't you tell anyone!" snapped Hermione.
"I told Dumbledore," said Harry.
"And he still let you continue with the Tri Wizard tournament," interrupted Ron. "Is he mad!"
"He wished me good luck with the third task." Said Harry. "Of course, I don't know if he believed it was a true vision, but since Voldemort was planning things with Wormtail, I think it is likely he was crucioed and Crouch said that some spell was used on Bertha Jorkins to reveal information—
Probably crucio, there too" remarked Tom.
"Not legimency?" asked Ginny.
"Not without crucio," said Tom. Legimency doesn't work that way. When I was with Salazar he would get a sense of someone lying or wanting to go somewhere or meet someone. He compared it in some ways to Helga's visions. It was fleeting and not always entirely reliable. Some minds are easily accessed and others are almost always shrouded by their actual physical make up. What worked best is when he told someone he knew they were lying, they usually confessed. I don't know how much Bertha Jorkins would have given up with torture, but it's a delicate thing. Too much torture, and Bertha's mind would have started to make up scenarios just so she could avoid the torture. That wouldn't have been very helpful to him. Sometimes crucio would open a mind completely. Other times the person would close down, and nothing would be gained."
Ginny thought that Tom knew entirely too much about torturing someone with crucio, but Tom didn't explain himself. He just grew quiet.
"I might just be grasping at straws," said Dean, "But could it be that the only the Avada Kadavra spells were returned because that was what caused the wand to be—affected—in the first place."
"You mean because Avada was the spell that caused it to stop burning Voldemort's hands," said Hermione.
"Exactly," Dean replied.
"What about the silver hand?" asked Parvati.
"Maybe they were the only spells performed with the wand," said Ginny.
"Wandless magic?" asked Ron.
"No," said Harry. "In my vision, if it is a true vision, Voldemort used a wand to crucio Wormtail, and—it looked like he had been at it for quite a while." Harry shuddered.
The group got quiet.
"The only other way it could have occurred is if Voldemort himself was directing his wand to only produce the Avada curses." Said Ginny,
"Not Voldemort," said Tom. "Tom Riddle."
"Unless, it was Tom," breathed Ginny.
The group looked at her with pity, as if they expected her to be carted away to St. Mongo's at any moment now.
"I don't believe that," said Dean, but Harry said nothing, he just stared thoughtfully at Ginny.
"None of them believe me," thought Ginny.
"Ask Harry why the basilisk swept the Sorting Hat into his hands in second year," spat Tom. "Ask him why the Riddle clone kept him talking aimlessly to wait for the phoenix to arrive. And even after it arrived, why didn't the basilisk just kill him straight away. Why did it dally and delay and in fact stupidly let the phoenix within striking distance of its eyes? Ask him!"
So Ginny did.
Harry looked at her thoughtfully. "I've always wondered why that happened," said Harry. "I thought it was just blind luck or maybe my mother's spell protecting me."
"It was Tom Riddle protecting you."
There was another uncomfortable silence into which Hermione spoke. "I wonder what happened to Samara. She's not usually late, and I know she wanted to see this stuff about the Prophecy Child. We were talking about Helga's predictions in the library.
"She'll be here," said Ginny.
"Shall we go on to the next dream?" asked Harry.
"What do you think, Tom. Why didn't Voldemort kill Harry Potter? What happened?" Ginny wondered.
"Oh I think Salazar could have killed him, but he had already given him back his wand, and to remove it now would have been an embarrassment in front of his Death Eaters. Voldemort could have killed Harry Potter, but only at the expense of his pride, and his hands, of course."
"So, Tom, you think Voldemort released Harry too?"
"No," said Tom. "I wouldn't say that, but Harry Potter didn't escape on his own either. He definitely had help—help from Tom Riddle, probably in the choice of which spells would come through the prior incantum, although that spell is hard to manipulate, he might have been able to omit some of the ones which would be useless to Harry and focus on the Avada curses which would bring people who had reason to hate Voldemort."
"But Voldemort might have been killed, and then Tom would have died too."
"Contrary to what Salazar thinks, there are worse things than death, Ginny Love. I would imagine my counterpart has experienced most of them."
Ginny felt the sad defeat in Tom's thoughts and longed to comfort him—but Tom recoiled from her pity and she was assaulted with the vision of his body controlled by Voldemort. There was no comfort.
==
Don't wait for me," Samara had said as DADA class ended. She slowly gathered her books and waited until they all were gone. It was just her and Professor Snape in the room. He was looking at the text book, but he wasn't seeing it. She could tell he was just waiting for her to leave. Meanwhile, she studied his aura. It was the worst aura she had ever seen. It was so dark, it was opaque—a swirly bluish brown with large portions of black. They looked like black holes that sucked all the light out of his soul. She counted them: 38 holes. There were only 3 other people that she knew who had the holes: Draco Malfoy, Ethan Lestrange and Edward Lestrange. Draco had 2. Ethan and Edward both had 7, but Professor Snape had 38 and yesterday, he had only 36.
"Miss Donnally?"
"I'm sorry, I was just thinking."
"I wish more of my students would try that," said Snape sourly. "I assume you have a question."
"Well, yes," She had to get him to touch her, because she knew he would not allow her to touch him. She also knew that once he touched her, he would not pull away. No one ever did. She always had to break the contact.
"Get on with it," he snapped. "I don't have all day."
He looked exceedingly tired, exhausted to the point of illness, and possibly cursed, thought Samara. Glamour charms may hide his physical well being, but they did not hide his aura.
"When you were talking about casting charms without a wand, you held your hands a certain way." Said Samara.
"It doesn't matter," he said in exasperation. "It is intent that matters. How many times have I said that? Hold your hands however you are comfortable." He said dismissively. "You do fine. Better than most—especially for a Gryffindor. Of course I have my doubts about whether you actually are a Gryffindor--"
"You think I'm a Slytherin?"
"Definitely."
"So does Draco," said Samara.
"Have you spoken to professor McGonagall?" asked Snape.
"Oh, no," said Samara. "That isn't what—" she stopped suddenly. She had not come to ask Snape about her house affiliation, but her mind took off on a tangent. Would this work? She couldn't think of a good reason to touch him when asking about her house, especially since everyone knew that Snape had an aversion to being touched, but the question about how to hold her hands now seemed stupid. He knew that she knew the answer to that question.
Since she didn't think such a question seemed plausible, she hesitated, watching Snape's aura when a sudden thought came to her. While she had been standing here, Snape's aura had been experiencing changes. At first he was simply going to answer her question. Then he became curious and almost hopeful when she broached the subject of what house she was in. Now, as she considered how to manipulate him, he was becoming increasingly more guarded, his aura pulled in and shielded. Since she had said nothing to change his perception of her, he must be reading something within her.
"Do you see auras?" she blurted.
"What? No," said Snape, his guard relaxing somewhat. "Why do you ask?"
"I thought maybe you did, and I really need a teacher to talk to. Professor Trelawney sees auras—"
Snape guffawed, but Samara continued.
"But she said she wouldn't have me in her class. She called me a minion of the snake, and told me to leave. But I need to talk to someone. I've read everything I could find about auras, but I'm sure that a teacher who sees auras could help me to understand some of the more complex ones. Sometimes the same colors are listed in books as exactly opposite. There must be a difference in the tone or shade or—"
"Miss Donnally. Stop," said Snape holding up his hand. "I do not see auras."
"Oh."
Samara looked puzzled.
"Am I to understand that you see auras, Miss Donnally?"
She nodded. "I thought since you often are able to tell which direction a student is going with an answer before they get there—And—" She decided to throw caution to the winds. It wasn't like this was the first time she did that—"Just now," Samara continued. "Your aura changed. You were just listening to me, then curious and maybe even glad when you thought I might be a Slytherin. Then, you thought I wanted something from you, and your aura suddenly shrank in and became guarded."
Snape sat down. "You learned all that from just looking at me?"
"Yes.
"You made one mistake. Or perhaps it wasn't a mistake," Snape said, eyes black and searching. "Perhaps you did not want to tell me what you really wanted from me. You see, I did not become guarded because you wanted something from me. I became guarded because you were trying to discover a way to manipulate me into touching you." He looked at her directly with his black stare. "Why?"
Samara gaped at him. "How did you do that?"
"In centering on your own gifts, you forgot that other wizards also have unique gifts. I had expected better from you, Miss Donnally."
"You have the gift of telepathy—like Pansy," Samara exclaimed.
"In some circles, it is telepathy, in others it is legimency," said Snape.
"Legimency! Then you know why I wanted to touch you," said Samara. "My gift works better with physical contact, just like legimency —"
"I would not know," said Snape icily. "I would never practice legimency on a student—except in very extraordinary circumstances."
"These are extraordinary circumstances!" exclaimed Samara holding out her hand to him.
Snape stared at her hand without taking it. His usually uncomplicated bluish-brown aura went through several changes. Aside from the holes and the murkiness, she had never seen any other color in his aura except for an occasional flash of yellow when he was particularly enamoured of some part of his subject. However, his aura was now fraught with streaks of orange as he considered the fact that he could easily control this situation to his advantage. A murky gray invaded the blue as his intellectual curiosity struggled with his ethics.
Samara read the colors carefully before speaking. "I just want to share my gift with you, to learn about yours. Does your aura change when you use the legimency or occumency?" she asked, playing upon the intellectual curiosity she sensed. After all, didn't Aldwin say Snape's grandmother was an Avery?
Samara bit her lip in concentration. If she were older, she knew this wouldn't be a problem. He would have taken her hand already, and she wasn't as patient as Snape was. She had already calculated that she could get something out of this exchange too. She would understand a little more about legimency a rare and ancient gift. "I don't care if you see my thoughts," she said. "Perhaps you will even see the auras that I see—"
"Then why do I still sense deception?" asked Snape, more streaks of orange flashing through his aura.
"Well," Samara shrugged. "Every student has a few secrets she wouldn't tell the teachers—"
Still Snape did not take her hand. His aura had settled to its normal murky blue. "I don't believe any of the teachers see auras," he said. "Trelawney included, but I may be wrong. Headmaster Dumbledore would know. Perhaps you should speak to him."
"I came to speak to you," said Samara tightly, angry thoughts flying through her mind as she lost her patience. "Just forget it!." She snapped, turning on her heel and thinking what a great prat he was! He had the ability to show her exactly what legimency looked like in the aura and he refused to do it because—because—why? Some ancient rule? If this wasn't defense against the dark arts she didn't know what was. All she was trying to do was help him because his aura looked like hell even though he performed the glamour charms—And this is how he acted? Maybe he deserved to be miserable. Merlin knew he made everyone around him miserable. I hope he's hearing all this," she thought.
"I am catching the general idea," said Snape, "But only because you're yelling, and legimency is a rare gift. There are other methods of defense against the dark arts that would be more useful. I doubt that you would meet with any Dark Wizard who could use it, save one—"
"Wait until I tell the Gryffindors, Snape's practically at death's door," she thought picturing his aura. "And a legimen. Last she read, legimency was still considered dark magic, even though it was technically a gift and not a magic.
"Stop!" called Snape, and they stared at one another fiercely for a moment. "Never try to manipulate me," he sneered. "If you are going to act like my Slytherins, you will be punished like them," he breathed in a low threatening voice, wand in hand.
Samara realized that she was pinned to the wall, but he had said no spell. She dropped her eyes from his black stare, suddenly frightened. Although she could say a spell and use wandless magic without moving, one look at the sparkles which lay on his aura, told her that he could counter most if not all of what she could summon.
"That said," he continued, calmly releasing her, and moving into a teaching mode. His aura returned to its normal bluish-brown. "Legimency has long been considered Dark Magic and witches and wizards who were born with the gift or who gained it with their adult powers at puberty, were persecuted by muggles and the magical community alike. No one likes to feel that another could invade their thoughts without their consent or knowledge, but that is exactly what they believed legimency to be.
"They believed?" interrupted Samara. "Isn't that what it is?"
Snape shook his head. " It is more complicated than that, and more elusive. Like most magics, it is significantly enhanced by touch, so the best defense is to not allow yourself to be touched by another witch or wizard who might be an legimen. Shared magic functions the same as a touch, allowing a glimpse of anothers' thoughts to become more clear. Siblings, especially twins have some of the same affinity. As far as defense, there are also wards against legimency. The simple ones don't work but the more complicated ones do, and then it is a test of wills. To win that test of wills, you would have to study occumency. However, you may have natural wards. Some people do. Some people's thoughts are so chaotic that they are impossible to see. Others have natural wards, by their very being and are difficult to see. Others are fairly easy to see. I would imagine that what I sense when I choose to see through legimency is similar to what you see in the auras.
You, however, have a greater defense against legimency though your aura seeing. It could be an early warning to you, although I won't teach you the wards against legimency yet, if you don't naturally have them, so I don't know how much the warning would help."
"You won't," Samara interrupted, reading his aura. "You could, but you won't?"
"That is correct." Snape sighed. "I suppose you see half of this in my aura. I'll tell you the other half. At Dumbledore's request, I tried to teach a child who was in danger to use the occumency spells. We used my pensieve. He abused my trust," said Snape coldly. "I will not attempt to teach this to someone I cannot trust."
"I'm trustworthy," Samara said, wondering who the student was that betrayed Snape's trust.
"Perhaps," said Snape, and then changing the subject, he brought the conversation back to why occumency would be of little use to her.
'You were effectively immobile with my simple adhere charm," said Snape, "and a legimen could touch you with or without your consent. Have you been seeing color changes in my aura now?"
"Yes," she said "streaks of orange and gray. Have you been—using your gift?"
Snape nodded. "Already I know that with typical Slytherin arrogance you seem to think you are capable of healing what appear to be holes in my aura. I also learned more about Draco Malfoy than I have in five years of teaching him--"
Samara sucked in her breath. "I felt nothing," she said amazed.
Snape held out his hand. "If you still want to continue," he said grimly.
Feeling daring, she reached forward and closed her fingers around his extended hand. It was as dry as snake skin and very cold.
Immediately his aura flashed a vivid orange. Although the holes and murkiness remained, the controlling color of orange nearly covered the blue and gray entirely. With such power in his aura, Samara wondered what thoughts he was extracting from her, and she tensed. Immediately his fingers around hers tightened. "Relax," he said softly, hypnotically, and she felt her fear of him melt.
Then Snape's thoughts invaded her own. "Your trust makes you vulnerable," said Snape, " So relaxing is the last thing you want to do—"
Samara now attempted to struggle loose from him, stars dancing before her eyes as if she had hit her head particularly hard, and a tingling feeling coursed down her neck from her head. Snape's aura gained a few streaks of the natural blue amidst the orange.
"Too late," said Snape, "If I wanted to hurt you, but I'm going to retreat before you get a whopping headache." Samara felt nothing different as his aura began to cool into its normal murky blue. The bits of gray and holes reappeared and as soon as he withdrew from her mind, leaving behind a slight headache. She remembered why she had come here.
Before he released her hand, she gathered her magic and let her gift of healing flow over him.
It hit Severus Snape like a waterfall. Cool. Cleansing. Wonderful. Powerful. The relief that Dumbledore gave him felt like a trickle in comparison. Instantly, he knew what she was, but he was the last person in the world who should know. He couldn't help it. He knew he should pull away from her. She shouldn't waste her power on the likes of him, but he couldn't let go of the wonder of her gift. After an eternity, she pulled away from him. Her eyes were dulled with his pain. She took a deep breath and began scraping the filth from herself and releasing it to the elementals.
"I could have done better, if we were outside, or in that room under Slytherin common room," she said simply, if I could transfer the energy to the earth. She reached out to him again.
"No." He took a step backward. "You have found Chamber of Forever?"
"Is that what it is called?"
"I know what you are now," he said. "A total empath—THE empath—and I totally missed this when I glimpsed your mind. Were you trying to shield this?" he asked.
"No. I didn't know what it was called."
"You would have known, perhaps unconsciously, but still aware. The shielding must be a remnant of the childhood shields that naturally protect children from harmful magics. How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
He nodded. "Yes, that could be it," he said. "You are perhaps still young enough to have the childhood protections associated with virginity.
"Pr--professor?" She sputtered, turning bright red in embarrassment and then clenching her fists in anger. What business of his--?
"There are powerful protective magics attached to virginity," Snape. Interrupted her thoughts. "They need only your intent to access them—" he stated matter of factly.
"Uncomfortable, she tried to change the subject. "I can help you." She said.
"No one can help me," he stated.
"But the holes in your aura. I've closed one of them."
"What?"
"You have holes in your aura. You, and Draco and Ethan and Edward, but yours are the worst. You have 38—well 37 since I closed one of them. Last week you only had 36…"
"Crucious curse," he muttered. Twice. That must be it.
"Don't touch me," Snape said, backing away again. "You must help Harry Potter. That is who this power must channel from."
"But I have," said Samara. "He had only 2 holes. I closed them ages ago."
"Potter? When had he—Last year ," Snape realized when Voldemort was reborn.
"And Draco," said Snape aloud. He didn't mean to, but he liked Draco. He never wanted Draco to become a Death Eater. Now it was out of his hands. Damn Narcissia!
"But he has only 2," said Samara.
"If she understood what they were, she would never say 'only" thought Snape.
Suddenly, Snape sucked in his breath. "Damn. Not now."
"What is it?" asked Samara.
"I've run out of time," said Snape. "Voldemort knows something has happened. He's felt the power you've poured into me. He's calling me,. But first, I must tell you. And when you leave here, go straight to Harry Potter. Go no where else. Do you hear me?" He wanted to reach out and clench her shoulders, to emphasize his words, but he caught himself just in time. "Harry first." He repeated. "Swear it."
"I will, but—"
"Don't speak. Listen. I have so little time. Before I go to Voldemort you must perform the 'obliviate' spell on me. Do you know it?"
She nodded.
"I cannot go to him with knowledge of you."
"Merlin, help us," said Snape, "I'm trusting a fourteen year old with my brain. Try to take only the last few minutes, since the end of class. If you don't set the parameters properly, I'll be a vegetable." Images of Gilderoy Lockhart flashed through his mind.
Snape wrapped his right hand around his left arm and started to pace. "You are the child of which the prophecy speaks. Your gift has not been seen in over 1000 years. The last full empath, was Helga Hufflepuff. That little fool wasted her gift, because she was in love with Salazar Slytherin." He turned giving her a sudden searching stare. "You're not in love with anyone are you?"
"I don't think so."
"But you've shared magic with Draco."
Blushing, she shrugged, wondering just how much Snape actually learned about her and Draco. "I've also cursed him," she said.
Snape suddenly clutched his arm and took several deep breaths, closing his eyes. Samara wondered if he even heard her,. When he opened his fathomless black eyes, he fixed her with his stare, but said nothing else about Draco.
"Have you shared magic with anyone else?" he asked.
"Just playing Quit," she said.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "I see." He took a deep breath, obviously containing his pain.
"Alright, there are three things you can do with this gift," he continued. "One is what you just did with me. You can heal some maladies of the soul. I don't know what the cost of that is to you but it's probably too high. Use that sparingly. It will exhaust you. Secondly you can reflect power. That means you can reflect most any curse laid upon you according to your strength at the time—except perhaps Avada Kadavra. Have you ever done that?"
"No—I—Yes. I have," she said simply.
"What spell?" asked Snape.
"Crucio."
He looked at her open mouthed for a minute before he continued. "And afterwards?"
"I slept," she said. "I was very tired."
"Who would cast cru-?" he began.
Snape gasped and cradled his arm like it was broken. At the same time, he took 2 steps towards the door.
"Lock it," he hissed.
"Compingere," said Samara. "You're hurting. Let me help you," she whispered, reaching toward him..
"NO! He'll find you, you little fool, and if I take another step toward that door, curse my feet to the floor, but don't let me leave here without the 'obliviate' spell!
"
Snape took a deep breath composing himself. "Thirdly, you can channel the power of another wizard—to heal--or to ward or--"
"The hole in your aura is opening up again," Samara interrupted.
"I told you, you cannot help me!" he sneered. "One other thing, never touch Voldemort with your healing, nor Edward, nor Ethan. None of those in Voldemort's service. He will know, through the Dark Mark—and he must not know who you are. "Dumbledore can tell you what else to do, but go to Harry first. Now the 'obliviate spell, before he summons me and you have no time to obliviate me."
"Draco?" asked Samara.
"No, probably not him either, unless he survives this war—It will not be safe until Voldemort is dead."
Finally a low moan escaped from Snape's throat, and he sank to his knees holding his arm as if willing it to belong to someone else. His glamourine had faded leaving his pale face and sunken eyes open to her inspection. His aura had filled with an incredible amount of pain and Samara could now smell his flesh burning. Panting, he muttered, "Hurry."
Carefully, Samara set the parameters of the spell, trying to ignore the smell of burning flesh. Just when she entered class and sat in her seat. She moved physically to her seat to put herself in that place mentally. Then she pointed her wand at Snape: "obliviate," she said, but she knew she sent him more than the spell—the power to endure, she hoped.
Apparently he got some extra power, because he immediately apparated directly from the classroom, ripping the wards and protections around Hogwarts all to hell.
(A/N: So sorry for not answering anything at the yahoo group and being a bit late with this chapter. We have moved to a new house and instead of a fast cable hook up we have satellite. It isn't working very well and this time when it went out the phone help said there must be a loose wire and they will send a technician out—WHEN? WHEN? I haven't been able to get on line for 4 days. Somewhere I read that 59% of girls would rather give up their boyfriend for a week than the Internet. I believe it! Anyway, I finally got one of those AOL discs in the mail—And I thought those things come every day—they come every 4 DAYS. This upload is through AOL dialup and I hope there are no mistakes because it takes forever. In the last chapter, after HOURS OF TRYING on fanfic to get it up, I put it on the Yahoo group because that was a much faster upload and it didn't kick me off. Then I uploaded the earlier version missing Ginny's wand info and I don't know what else, because I CAN'T STAY ON THE SITE LONG ENOUGH TO READ IT—AURGH! I only know about Ginny's wand because ennui told me. I also rewrote without the store names because I couldn't think of any I liked. Sounds like a good contest. Name Darla's bookstore. Name Bronwr's "gift shop" Anyway, please be patient and if the chapters aren't on fanfic, check the yahoo group site. For those of you who like vampires, Darla is in the sequel.
ANSWERS TO REVIEWERS:
Raven173: Glad you liked the Parvati stuff Add me to your IM carman doogle. And hey, anytime you can get someone to do your homework for you that's a good thing right. Lol.
Raven173: Dodgy?
Smiles: Love that poetry. Keep it coming.
Bill: Thanks for reviewing. I liked Knockturn too. 4 chapters more—Unless I decide to put 2 together or tear 2 apart in the next few days. You never know. Stick around for the sequel.
Joda: Tryiong to keep everyone happy. Please be patient with my internet woes. They will be fixed shortly.
Hayes 1966: So you liked the Harry "family reunion quote" I suspect you liked the 3 sisters—Quite a difference there. Harry's mother worried about someone falling off of a broom. Edddie's mom burying someone in a house of flames.
Jager: Some artwork is forthcoming. I too hope to see more. I think ennui has some and there's some at the yahoo groups site. As far as Tom/Ginny thoughts yes I think they pretty much see each other's thought, but since we are technically in "Ginny's" point of view, Ginny gets to edit, Tom doesn't. That's why we occassionally get a bit of Tom's language, but of course Tom is from an earlier generation when gentlemen were careful what they said in front of a girl. He has a rough time of it.lol.
Claret345: Nah—Harry's stupid. Just kidding. I think sometimes JK has made Harry "stupid" (see my poem: Order of the Phoenix) and sometimes that's necessary. The hero/heroine has to walk into danger or there is no plot. I like the chess set too. I want one.
Reiven: What line? And I guess I have to try to read the story on fanfic and fix the blank spaces in eddie's speech. I don't know what they are—Internet problems. Sorry.
Draco babysitting. Well he did promise a trip to knockturn alley to those kids who missed the Halloween party. Darla-- Mother of Connor? Lol Didn't think of that.
Jager: No. He really doesn't feel remorse. He wishes she'd just forget it and move on—after all they are sort of stuck with each other. And he was acting from a different (more slytherin)point of view when Ginny was eleven.(He's been living with the Gryffindors now for the last couple years) At the time of the chamber he didn't think he'd share her body. He thought either he or Salazar would get her body and she would be left in the diary. Oh well, the downside of possession, I guess. In my book the body of Tom Riddle in the second book was only a temporary "clone" not a permanent body. Which is also why Salazar was a little pissed at Lucius for giving the diary to an eleven year old girl and not writing in it himself. Visit the Yahoo group for lots of discussion about what exactly was Ginny's rape. (Tom? St. Mongo's? etc.)
PLEASE CONTINUE TO CHECK BACK. I WILL UPDATE WHEN I HAVE 15 REVIEWS.
NON STOP ACTION TILL THE END. LADY LESTRANGE
==