Harry Potter and the Rising War
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Chapter Nine: The Coma
The next few weeks went by fairly quickly, Harry's magical skills were growing greater by the day and he was learning at an 'exponential rate' as Dumbledore had told him at one point. He was no longer having lessons for his wandless magic or his elemental magic or Occulmency which left a lot of time open for Harry to begin his proper apprenticeship with Dumbledore, every day he was learning more and more about magic that he hadn't even thought existed. Dumbledore's reasoning behind Harry's ability to learn at such a startlingly fast rate was because of Harry's ignorance to what was possible and what wasn't. He didn't concern himself with rules and boundaries; he just went straight ahead and did what needed to be done. He had said that there weren't many people like him because they all concerned themselves with the rules of magic, especially Hermione. Harry's repertoire of spells was exceedingly large in his database now and he was progressing with wandless magic efficiently, thought Dumbledore told him it would take a lot of time for the body to build up the strength to push the magic around when Harry needed it. He could now do all of the first year magic at a normal standard (which was far below normal for a sorcerer with a wand) and he had most basic duelling curses under his belt too but again not as powerful as they could be with practice.
Harry's relationship with his friends was back on the right track, they were talking again and sharing jokes and helping each other with class work but he still hadn't told them about being a sorcerer or Dumbledore's apprentice, only that he was receiving private Occulmency lessons with the headmaster. He didn't feel that he could just go and blurt out all of his secrets straight away, Ron and Hermione would have to earn his trust back.
It was coming to the end of October and Harry was getting more exhausted by the day, Quidditch practice had been stepped up because they had a match against Australia to qualify for the world cup, the wizarding world held it every two years as opposed to the muggles every four years for football.
'Aren't you nervous about next month?' Ron asked the day before Halloween while they were eating their dinner.
'Not really, I mean I suppose I will be when I actually get there, but not at the moment.' Harry replied.
'You're a nutter, mate!' was all Ron said. In truth Harry was a little nervous but he didn't want any one to know after all Australia was a strong team and it would take a lot of skilful flying and even more luck to pull off a win. All though the weeks of went by quickly it didn't mean that Harry had had no run ins with Malfoy and his goons, far from it, it seemed they took every chance they got to try and intimidate Harry or cause him to loose his temper and start a fight, Harry found this a little strange but just wrote it off as Malfoy thinking he could take Harry now that he was riddle's new lap dog but Harry was just ignoring him. However when Halloween came around Harry could ignore him no more, they were all in the great hall getting ready for the feast and Malfoy and his goons walked up to Harry as per usual these days to try and taunt him before Harry sat down.
'Hey Potter I'm surprised you're here, I would have thought you would have something special planned for today!' he said with his usual superior smirk on his face.
'What are you talking about this time Malfoy?' Harry said in a bored tone as he turned his back on the boy to sit down. Malfoy grabbed Harry by the shoulder and span him round and spat 'Don't turn your back on me Potter, and I meant that I would have thought you would be celebrating, oops and mean mourning your parents deaths!'
'Malfoy I am warning you now, don't ever say anything about my parents to me, ever!' Harry said in a dangerously low tone.
'What's the matter Potter? Still a sore point? Still afraid to admit that they were failures and that they abandoned you? Or are you mourning that mutt of godfather still?' Malfoy smirked seeing the reaction on Harry's face. Up at the teachers table Dumbledore was quietly observing what was going on, he had felt Harry's magical presence increase which confused him, something like that wasn't supposed to happen, the magic within a wizard only increases to its boundaries and stopped like Harry's had long before now but it seemed that Harry's had now increased dramatically and spilled over the 'walls' that held it in and was carrying on to increase.
'Hey potter, my aunt told me she enjoyed seeing the look on Blacks face when he fell through that arch. She said to thank you for giving her the opportunity to kill him.' Draco carried on. That was it; Dumbledore felt it a split second before it happened. Harry completely lost control over his magic and it unleashed itself. All the food on the tables imploded but none hit any student or professor, all the metal plates and cutlery were squashed paper thin and the tables themselves began to splinter and shatter and all the while Harry had a blank look on his face.
'Malfoy you tell Lestrange I'm coming to collect what's owed to me, her time is up!' he said in a monotone voice, betraying no emotions. Once he said his bit the magic subsided but Dumbledore could feel it was still there and if he was right he knew what was coming next so he stood up as quickly as possible.
'Harry restrain yourself now!' he shouted in a powerful voice. Harry glanced at the headmaster then back to Malfoy who was standing in shock as were the rest of the school seemingly sizing him up and deciding if he was worth it. Coming back to his senses Harry calmed himself down and pushed past Malfoy and left the great hall. As if his presence was the thing that had stunned every one once he left they all came back to their senses and excited chatter exploded from the students, and the teachers all looked to the headmaster for answers to see him sighing in relief.
'Headmaster could you please explain what is going on' Professor McGonagall asked him.
'I am afraid I cannot at this moment, Minerva. I myself am not quite sure of the happenings that occurred here today.' Dumbledore replied taking his seat once again and looking slightly older.
Back at the Gryffindor common room Harry was pacing the floor trying to think of something to do to let out his anger. He couldn't go for a swim it was too dark now, but he could go for a run, or even better, he could go for a run in his lion form. Deciding that was what he was going to do Harry made his way down to the entrance hall and exited it, sticking to the shadows as he went. Upon approaching the forest Harry transformed and ran in careful to remember the way he went. When he was satisfied he was far away enough from the school Harry shot his head back and reared on his back paws and let a blast of powerful roars echo around the forest startling a few of the birds. Feeling quite contempt now he had let his anger out Harry settled himself down and gazed at the stars thinking of all he had lost, but also all he had gained. He didn't notice when but at some point he was joined by Tronza and Fawks who were quite happy to just be in Harry's company. The time the three spent together seemed to crawl by which gave Harry plenty of time to asses his life and those of the people around him. He had decided he would come clean to Ron Hermione and Ginny about the whole truth. There was something about Malfoy's cockiness that Harry didn't like so he decided he would allow them access to his laptop to broaden their horizons so they are prepared in case something does happen to them.
It was the crack of dawn the next morning that Harry had decided that he should return, so he retraced his steps from the night before and made his way to the edge of the forest where he changed back to his human form and made the rest of the journey back in quiet contemplation. Luckily it was the weekend so he didn't have to worry about putting up with any of his professors. Seeing as it was only the crack of dawn Harry got dressed in his work out gear and went for his morning work out. When he was down at the lack he began to warm up and then proceeded to run around the lake and then went for a swim. As he was getting out however he could have sworn he heard giggles and it felt like someone was watching him. Deciding to turn on his extra senses and tried to listen to where the giggles were coming from but he was unable to hear anything apart from the wind and the water so he just got back dressed and headed for the dorm again to shower and wait for the others to get up.
'Hey Harry, you…' Hermione began as she came down from the steps leading to the girls dorm rooms but was cut off from finishing by Harry.
'I'm fine and please don't start acting like I'll break towards me, you know I hate it.' Harry said almost in auto-pilot when he heard Hermione begin with his least favourite question.
'Sorry, so where did you get to last night? We waited up for you for ages. I don't think dean appreciated it thought when Ginny wouldn't go to bed.' Hermione told him.
'I won't tell you yet, I want to wait for Ron and Ginny.' Harry said and at just that minute Ginny came down stretching her arms up and he could see her belly and the look on her face made him smile. Harry couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked in the morning sun but quickly stopped himself thinking when he remembered she was with Dean and she was Ron's little sister. Unfortunately for Harry however Hermione managed to see the look on his face also and deciphered it in a way that only she could.
'Something on your mind Harry?' she asked him with a knowing smile.
'What? No! What makes you think that?' Harry said a little too quickly. Luckily Ginny sat herself down before Hermione could say any more but she gave him a look that said 'I'm not done with you yet mister!'
'Morning Hermione, Harry. Are you…' Ginny began but again Harry wouldn't allow the question to be finished.
'Fine thanks' was all he said. They sat and talked for a few minutes until Ron came down and asked Harry if he was okay at which point Hermione was giggling.
'Should I just wear a sticker that says how I'm doing instead, I could have one for every emotion.' He said.
'So Harry you were going to tell us something when the other two were up?' Hermione prompted.
'Hey we have names you know!' Ron said indignantly.
'Fine when Ron and Ginny were up, better?' Hermione snapped at him.
'Guys, please?' Harry said before they could get into one of their famous or infamous arguments.
'There are some things have been going on with me that I think you should know.' Harry began. Then he turned to Ginny. 'Even you Gin'
'Wait you mean Ginny knows something that we don't?' Ron asked looking a little hurt.
'Yep, who else was I going to confide in?' Harry asked. He got the desired result because Ron didn't say anything else.
'Now then do you all remember when I went to headquarters?' Harry asked
'Yeah, it was around your birthday wasn't it?' Ron asked, still a little hazy about the time when e was under the curse.
'Yeah that's it, well I wasn't there just for the order, I was there to go through puberty' Harry told them. Ron looked a little confused and more than a little embarrassed.
'I knew it!' Hermione yelled. Ron looked at her in his customary 'your nuts' look that he reserved only for the occasions when she would seemingly shout in random outburst.
'Know what Hermione?' Ron asked.
'Harry is a sorcerer' she replied with a smug look on her face.
'When did you figure it out?' Harry asked her, shocked that he hadn't th4ought that Hermione wouldn't already know.
'I had a few suspicions when we were talking again that something was different, you seemed to be doing well in lessons, too well.' Hermione said. Harry just nodded his head and Ron looked shocked. 'But I didn't even think about you being a sorcerer until your little outburst yesterday and the way professor Dumbledore acted during and after it all happened. I knew Dumbledore is a sorcerer and if he seemed relieved that you calmed yourself then that must have meant that he didn't want to go against your power, so it was only logical from there.' She explained in her 'teacher mode' as Harry and Ron had dubbed it.
'So you are as powerful as Dumbledore then?' Ron asked Harry still a little shocked but it was quickly changing to awe.
'I don't really know, he said he was trying to locate a magical object that would show me how powerful I really am.' Harry told him.
'So Ginny already knew this?' Ron asked.
'Yeah , I accidentally heard him transforming and saw through his keyhole what was happening so he had no choice really in telling me.' Ginny said.
'What do you mean heard?' Ron asked.
'Well it was a pretty painful transformation, my magic changed my body a lot, and I was conscious while it did it' Harry explained. 'Any way before that happened Dumbledore came to me and told me about the transformation and everything but he also offered me the position of his apprentice. Since then I have been learning everything and anything I can.' Harry told them all.
'I already know this Harry, why are you telling me again?' Ginny asked him.
'Well I didn't tell you the whole truth. Not only am I an animagus, but I am a fire elemental and I have been doing research, lots of research and each thing that I find useful I use it, I have already corrected my eyes, used a spell to heighten the senses at will and to be able to see magic at will, I am researching dual animagi transformations and am practicing wandless magic and I can aperate and show my aura and make it do stuff as well as all of the advanced spells and magical history and duelling I learned from Dumbledore and the dark arts that I've been researching and finally spell creation and adaptation as well as research in other magical areas' Harry listed off.
'Why didn't you tell me all of this?' asked Ginny a little hurt.
'I was going to keep it a secret from everyone, even Dumbledore, but he has his ways of finding out and last night I decided that I'm through with secrets.'
'Wow, that's a lot, and you've learned all this in just a few months?' Hermione said.
'Well not exactly, most of it I am still working on, like the wandless magic and the elemental magic' Harry said to them.
'This is some bombshell you have dropped on us mate' Ron commented still in awe.
'Harry why are you learning all of this, surely you don't need to know all of this to be Dumbledore's apprentice?' Hermione asked him with a little panic in her voice.
'No I don't, but I do need to know it to kill Voldemort' Harry replied as he seemed to zone out for a second
'What! Your not going after him Harry! Leave it to the order, it isn't your battle anymore, you've done more than your part!' Hermione said with a lot of desperation in her voice now.
'Harry don't do any thing stupid please? There isn't anything you can do!' Ginny pleaded and Ron nodded his head. Harry sighed, this was the exact thing he was expecting when he told them that. He looked down at his hands and when everything went quiet he looked back up to see them all looking at him expectantly.
'What? If you're expecting me to say that I wont go after him then you are sadly mistaken, it is out of my hands, its inevitable, its predestined, its written in the stars… its my destiny' Harry said determinably, looking each of his friends in the eyes.
'What are you talking about Harry?' Hermione asked but it was Ginny that answered as realisation dawned on her.
'The prophesy' she whispered quietly but it seemed to carry all along the group of friends as though she had bellowed it. Harry just nodded his head grimly. He looked around the room to make sure no one was listening and then he cast a silencing charm just in case and then he recited the prophesy to them all.
'That is some heavy burden' Ron commented not really knowing what else to say.
'Are you sure that its accurate, I mean we both know what that old bat is like' Hermione said hoping that there was a mistake while Ginny just sat and stared at Harry.
'I'm positive it's accurate, and even if it isn't then I would rather be prepared all the same, which is what I want you to be too.' Harry told them all.
'What do you mean Harry?' Hermione asked. Instead of answering Harry took out his wand and said 'accio laptop' when the laptop came flying down from his dorm Harry grabbed it and turned it on. He then motioned for the others to gather around so they could see as he explained. Ginny had seen Harry with the laptop many times when he wasn't with the others and asked him once about it but he just changed the subject and explained what it could do.
'What is that thing, I mean I know you can do stuff on it, Neville was saying after you showed him.' Ron said once it was all loaded up.
'This, my dear Ron is a computer, it is a multi-purpose tool muggles use to store things on or to do work on. You can use it to write things with, to hold the information and to do other things with.' Harry explained. Ron just nodded his head and waited for Harry to get to the point. He watched as Harry moved his fingers around on a pad of some sort and saw a little arrow move the same way on the screen. He watched as Harry tapped something and then the screen changed and in front of him to show a table with magical spells written in it and then a brief description and the counter curse if there is one. Harry spent the next hour or so showing them (mostly Hermione) the way around the database and research notes, when he was finished Hermione was wide eyed.
'Harry this is amazing, if the library had one of these it would cut research time down significantly.' She commented in awe of the large database of spells and potions and ingredients, notes on magical process and research and ideas.
'Thank you Hermione, I find it easier to organise myself this way. Now listen carefully to what I tell you next. I am showing you this because you are going to learn what you can from it; however the spells that are marked in red are not to be attempted under any circumstances and the green ones aren't to be even learned. I trust you with this to listen to me and obey my restrictions. The spells take a lot of magic usage so things could get ugly if you tried and the green ones are from my apprenticeship. Now to get full details of the spells that you are allowed to use you do this and it will show you wand movements and more details. Don't even try to do that with the marked spells because they are password protected.' Harry told them all rounding up the explanation and demonstration.
'So you want us to learn all that?' Ron asked motioning to the database.
'Yeah, don't worry it won't be boring or anything, the spells will be interesting for you Ron, trust me.' Harry said to Ron and then he turned to Hermione.
'I usually use the laptop when I am with Dumbledore, but I will order you all one each, don't look at me like that Ron, Hermione will tutor you on how to work them I'm sure and they aren't expensive at all in the muggle world, every one has at least one.' Harry said, lying about the last bit slightly.
'Wow, this is a lot to take in' Ginny said after they all fell silent.
'If you don't want to Ginny I understand, I just thought that you all had a right to know about what was going on in my life, and knowing this puts you all in danger, but if you don't want to do it, it's fine with me, it just means you will have to put up with me shadowing you everywhere to make sure your alright' Harry said and grinned at the last bit.
'No it's not that, it was just a lot more than I was expecting, but of course I will take you up on your offer' Ginny said and then when Hermione looked at her quickly Ginny blushed and said equally quickly 'The first one that is'
The rest of the day the friends spent just talking over things and Harry explaining a few of his research ideas and spells with them. He told Hermione she could look over any of his notes if she wanted and that she could even test a few of his spells out which seemed to brighten her up even more than she was already.
'Hey Harry, I was wondering how we were going to get all of those spells off your compuder thingy onto ours?' Ron asked at one point in the discussion so Harry had to spend some time explaining about cds and files.
'So those cds in the dorm have music on them for that other muggle thing?' Ron asked.
'Yeah that's right, you can listen to some if you want, when you get your computers you will be able to play them on it too.' Harry told him.
'Wow that's amazing, those muggles come out with some crazy stuff, useful, but crazy' Ron said.
'You can decide which songs you all like and ill make you some cds when they get here' Harry told them all.
The next day Harry got up bright and early and went for his morning work out and then went to the great hall for some breakfast after showering. When he got there however he wished he hadn't, almost all of the girls were giggling at him, or whispering to each other while looking at him and others were just plain staring. When he got to his seat he looked to Hermione for an answer, she just handed him 'Witch Weekly' and he groaned before he even looked at the magazine knowing it was probably bad. He was right it was. The magazine had across it on the front:
Britain's most eligible bachelors
And then it went on to explain about the special edition of witch weekly devoted to the subject and that it contained wizards such as Bram Spellman, Sean Terpin and Harry Potter. He didn't have a clue who the first two were but he was certain about the third! He opened it up and found the contents page and the list of who was contained and Harry was absolutely stunned to see he was 1st. He found the page for him and read.
Harry Potter or more commonly The-Boy-Who-Lived is no longer a boy, he has been voted by a specialist panel of judges as the most eligible bachelor in Britain at just 16 years old. Harry Potter has one of the largest accounts at Grinngotts and is one of the richest men in Britain. Another attraction to Harry Potter (if the fame for you-know-who's first downfall and his money and good looks weren't enough) he is also a first team seeker for the international Quidditch team and in the top percentage of his class at Hogwarts School of Witch and Wizardry and he was the tri-wizard joint champion. For all those witches out there that like a bad boy Potter also has a darker side to him, he is a parstelmouth which is supposed to be a sign of a dark wizard and has been known to rebel against the rules on numerous occasions through out his school career. This writer has just one question to ask. How long will Harry Potter be on the market and available?
'Damn it! I wish they would all just leave me alone, I'm sick of all of this!' Harry said very much annoyed. He had to spend the rest of the day listening to Malfoy's comments about it and towards the end of the day he had had enough, he was still sour about the other day.
'If you have a problem with me Malfoy I suggest you act upon it instead of shouting your mouth off all the time!' Harry snapped in transfiguration. It seemed like everyone had heard as the class went silent and they all stopped what they were doing, even McGonagall.
'Are you challenging me Potter?' Malfoy asked.
'No idiot, I'm telling you that if you have a problem then challenge me!' Harry said.
'Fine, I challenge you to a wizarding duel, wands only' Malfoy said almost automatically and he had a malicious smirk on his face but Harry wasn't worried about it because he knew he had more knowledge and power than Malfoy had.
'Stop that this instant, there will be no duels!' McGonagall yelled at them but it was too late.
'Professor you know it is too late now' Harry said not taking his eyes off Malfoy. With a wave of his wand the room was cleared and all the students were standing well away from the pair. They both bowed to each other but Malfoy kept his smirk but before Harry had even straightened himself Malfoy had pulled something out of his pocket and chucked it at Harry's feet where it smashed and a purple cloud came out of it and enveloped Harry and within a matter of seconds Harry was on the ground unconscious and Malfoy was gone.
'So Malfoy has put Harry into a magically induced coma? Did he say anything?' Dumbledore asked McGonagall
'He said say hello to the dark lord Potter and then port-keyed away, headmaster I don't understand how we didn't see this coming?' she said
'I'm afraid we have been played for fools. You see I was unable to prevent Draco from attending his night time lessons with Voldemort because he had a valid excuse, so I planted a listening device on him so I would have information about his progress and also Voldemorts but it appears that they knew about this and supplied us with bad or only half true information which also makes me think that Severus' position may be compromised because he didn't know about any of this. I think that we have severely underestimated Voldemort and he is further ahead in his plans than we thought, he may even be finished with his necromancy which is why he has attacked Harry so openly and with Draco Malfoy because no he can devote more time to Malfoy. What has Poppy said about Harry's condition?' Dumbledore said as they walked through the halls.
'He is stable but he seems to be thrashing about as if he is in extreme pain, we have no idea however where it is coming from. We don't even have any of the potion that was used on him to analyse' McGonagall said.
'This is very bad for us. Now Malfoy has left the school I am positive that Voldemort will put him through more obvious magical transformations to increase his magical power. I fear we will be seeing more of Malfoy and less of voldemort' Dumbledore said as they reached the door to the infirmary. When they entered what met them was not what they expected, Harry was on a bed thrashing about violently, his hands and legs had been strapped and his mouth was open in a scream. Dumbledore could easily see there was a silencing charm over Harry and a restraining one for all the good it was doing. after a few moments of violent thrashing Harry stilled but Dumbledore knew that it was not a good sign.
'Everyone, shield charms now!' he shouted and cast one around himself. The other followed suit and not a moment too soon because Harry seemed to explode with raw magical energy blowing most of the objects away from him, making them implode, explode, shatter, squash or crack. When they looked up after they felt the energy disappear they saw Harry who now had his aura surrounding him but before anyone could comment they heard Harry shout 'Never! I will never join you, scum!' with a voice that seemed to have an animals roar tied in with it. Once again Harry was thrashing about in severe pain.
'Is he going to be ok?' McGonagall asked Dumbledore who replied
'I am afraid not. Things have just gotten worse'
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A/N: hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I just didn't have much inspiration for it, originally I was going to make it a chapter that introduced a new romance for Harry but I decided to make him stay single till we get to him and Ginny realising how they feel. Thanks to every one who reviewed and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
