Chapter 23: Averted Attacks
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"But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was Fawkes, head still resting on Harry's arm. A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound – except there was no wound - "
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Harry Potter wondered vaguely for a minute why he wasn't dead yet. He was pretty sure he was alive. Then he reckoned he would be in a minute when he hit the ground. He felt someone grab onto him and then players began diving down to ground level with him. Students were screaming, not sure what was happening. The confusion seemed to add to their terror. Some of them were trying to run out of the stands. People were panicking. To Harry it seemed as if it was all in slow motion. It was funny how it had all happened in only a few seconds. He watched Dumbledore stand and point his wand. Then he was instructing them all to stay where they were, magically enhanced voice booming across the pitch. People were quieting down, now talking in rushed whispers.
He finally gained enough sense back and looked up to see Cho Chang holding him up, now with the assistance of Fred and Alicia. He found himself being lowered to the ground. The Firebolt lay a few feet away, seemingly unharmed. Someone moved to pick it up but he stopped them, remembering the portkey last year. It wasn't likely, but he wasn't ready to take the risk after a near-miss like he'd just had. His mind was starting to put together what had happened now and as shaken up as he was he was glad there had only been one death eater in the stands. He was also grateful in an odd way that he had been targeted. (Well maybe it wasn't odd for him to think this way.) It was better than watching his friends and classmates blown up or killed in front of him, or because of him. He wondered why there had only been one deatheater though, and not even in disguise. Had Lucius really thought he would succeed, or if he did manage to kill him that he would get away alive? Hermione's voice echoed in his head "You can't apparate on Hogwarts grounds!" That ruled out escape then. Unless he'd had a portkey brought with him maybe?
Dumbledore seemed to have realized this and Harry watched as he had place bonds and charms aplenty on the man. There was no way he was going to be going anywhere.
Harry was sitting on the ground now lost in these thoughts and could only hear a hum of voices. He tried to tune in.
"Harry, are you all right?" he heard Alicia say.
"Do you think he might have been hit with something?" asked one of the Ravenclaw chasers.
"I don't think so," said a voice he recognized as Cho's. "I'm not sure though. There were tons of curses flung that way."
"Harry, come on mate," said George. "Can you hear us?"
Harry finally snapped into it, "Sorry," he managed to get out.
"Thank god you're okay," said Alicia.
"Yeah," he said, "Just shocked. It's not every day someone tries to kill you."
Fred raised and eyebrow and Harry managed to grin, "Okay well maybe in my case." He sighed. You think I'd get used to it."
Harry felt something in his hand and opened it slightly.
"Oh look," he said dumbly. "I've got the snitch."
"Damn," said one of the Ravenclaw beaters.
Katie and Angelina looked at him and at each other, raising their eyebrows as if to say 'Did he take a hit on the head or does he just not realize someone tried to kill him?'
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Soon people were gathering around and McGonagall had found her way into the group, followed closely by Flitwick. Harry could count on one hand the rare occasions when McGonagall had looked this worried. Both she and Flitwick were relieved to see there were no injuries and Harry found himself being taken by Professor McGonagall to Dumbledore's office. He saw his friends running over towards him and Hermione was nearly sobbing. Both Ron and Ginny were pale white and before McGonagall could stop them they had all launched themselves at Harry, expressing their relief. McGonagall finally shooed them off and told them that Harry would be back in the common room shortly if they wanted to wait for him. She then whisked him up to Dumbledore's office where she handed him a piece of chocolate and told him to wait before disappearing back into the corridor.
Harry sat in a chair and looked around Dumbledore's office while calming down. He hadn't realized how rapidly his heart had been racing before. A smile appeared on his face when Fawkes swooped down and perched on his knee. He patted the bird, whom he considered a dear friend by now, on the head and was delighted when the bird let out a trill burst of song. Harry felt something against his chest and pulled out his wand only to feel power coursing through it.
"That's right," he said to Fawkes, "This is one of your feathers isn't it?" He was amazed by the connection.
The bird nodded then turned its head to the side, leaning over a scratch on Harry's arm. Harry watched as Fawkes allowed two tears to fall from his eyes. Harry gasped as he watched the cut heal quickly, much like the one that Fawkes had healed last year. That had been after the triwizard. After Cedric. Well there was no need to think about that right now.
He continued to pet Fawkes and was rewarded with another bit of song. This time though the song compelled him somehow, to do something. He didn't know what or why though and it was like an itch he couldn't reach. He moved around a bit, fidgeting in his chair, and couldn't figure it out. He could almost make out words he thought, but shook his head and told himself he must be becoming delusional now. 'You're a parseltongue,' he told himself while admiring the phoenix. 'You don't speak phoenix quite yet.' Of course, birds frequently killed snakes anyway so it really didn't seem like a good idea anyhow.
Finally Dumbledore appeared in the office and walked over to his chair.
"Ah, Harry," he said sitting down at the desk, "Lemon drop?"
Harry took one of the candies and unwrapped it.
"We have determined," said Dumbledore wryly, "that Lucius acted without orders. I believe he was trying to make his way into a higher place within Voldemort's circle of power. I don't expect his 'lord' will be very pleased with him."
Harry nodded and then there was silence for a moment and he found himself asking the one question he'd been dying (almost literally) to ask for ages.
"Why does he want to kill me?" he exclaimed rather strongly, then turned slightly red, embarrassed by his outburst. Still, he thought he deserved to know now. He thought he'd go crazy if he heard 'You'll know someday' one more time. Frankly, he wasn't sure he'd make it to that "someday" and if he was going to be murdered anyway he kind of wanted to know why he'd be dying.
"I suppose you mean Voldemort and not Lucius," Dumbledore said.
Harry nodded. "Please," he said, "If someone is going to try to kill me every day, I ought to know why."
Dumbledore shook his head, "Harry, I do not think it is time for- "
Harry had had enough of people trying to protect him. Keeping things from him hadn't done a decent job of protecting him so far and he'd nearly been killed today.
"I'm tired of finding things out about myself by accident," he said to Dumbledore. "If you can't tell me now I might as well go back to my dorm. By all means let me know when you're ready."
Dumbledore sighed and acquiesced, after all these years finally giving in. He'd been trying to put off this moment for as long as possible. The last thing Harry needed was more strain. He hadn't told the boy because he thought he might fall apart under the pressure. He still thought he might, but now a stronger part of him told him that he was wrong. Harry had been through far worse things than most normal people and had come through amazingly. No doubt he was a bit scarred emotionally, not to mention physically, but the effects could have been much worse. He took a deep breath.
Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses "It is time," he said "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything."
**the last paragraph was taken from a quote on Amazon.com from J.K.'s order of the phoenix. It's not really mine but I wanted to have some of these clips in to make it seem closer to the canon stories, eh?