Chapter 13: Dulcinea's Story

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"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, 
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
 
-William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II:5

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Harry climbed into his bed, falling asleep almost immediately. After leaving the Great Hall, he had felt terrible, but for
the last few hours he had been separated from those who had experienced the greatest losses, so all he could think about
was sleep. And how badly he needed it....

He cursed inwardly as the first dream of his night was of the woman in the white room. He just stared at her, not saying
anything. A smirk appeared on her face.

"So, Harry Potter, now you know the truth. But you refuse to believe it," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Harry demanded. She shook her head.

"You know what I'm talking about. The prophecy. Only two people will know about the Dark Lord's power - 'one that lives and
one that has yet to pass on.'" Harry looked at her in denial.

"You're not a ghost, you're just a weird dream," he said, more to himself than to her.

"Is that so?" she whispered. The dream stopped and Harry woke up.

"I'm going insane," he mumbled, turning over to get more comfortable.

"I wouldn't say that," a female voice said from above him. Harry nearly screamed as he saw, floating only a few feet above him,
the woman who had haunted his dreams for weeks. He pushed himself hurriedly back against the headboard of the bed.

"Get away from me," he hissed. "What do you want?"

"I only want to help," the woman replied kindly. "Let me reintroduce myself, since I've never met you in the physical world.
My name is Dulcinea Rosalind Garcia." She held out her hand.

"Harry Potter. Er... can ghosts shake hands?" he questioned. She dropped her arm, looking disappointed.

"No, I suppose not. Harry, you know the prophecy is talking about you. I have to tell you my message."

"Well... er... what's your message?" he asked cautiously. Dulcinea sighed deeply.

"It's a very long story but I'll attempt to shorten it. I grew up in a small Spanish town many, many years ago, where my father
was a nobleman who owned the land the village was built on. One day I met a young man named Geraldo who became infatuated with 
me. He followed me all the time, though he was only a peasant and had no chance of ever marrying me. My father became very 
angry with him and ordered him to leave the city. He did, but he snuck back in whenever my father was gone. This young man
scared me half to death, his ideas were so odd. He was always talking about power and magic, and I was too afraid to tell him
to leave." She shuddered. "One day, he gave me a beautiful jade bracelet." 

She held out her right arm, where a delicate gold linked chain hung daintily; in each of the links, a teardrop-shaped jade 
stone was inlaid. Harry noticed one of the stones was missing. "He told me that he wanted me to marry him, and asked me to 
wear the bracelet every day to remind me of him. I began to wear it frequently; I loved the bracelet and thought it was 
magnificent." Dulcinea paused, taking a deep breath.

"Little did I know, he would become one of the most powerful dark wizards in history, Rey Ciro. His most sinister inventions
were spells that allowed magic to be placed inside of objects, a feat that is still considered nearly impossible. The bracelet 
was cursed. Geraldo was able to control my mind, and by the time I discovered the source of this control, we were betrothed.
On the evening before our wedding day, I destroyed the magic of the bracelet, but he found out. He was furious. He locked
me in a tiny, dark shack for hours. When he returned, he was dragging an enormous metal cauldron. He started mixing some kind
of potion. I had never been more afraid in my life. He dropped what was to be my wedding ring inside of the cauldron; when he
took it out, it was glowing orange. He forced me to wear it, and as soon as I touched it, my soul was bound to his. The spell for
soul-binding is complex and completely irreversible, but somehow he had managed to do this dark magic." Dulcinea's voice wavered,
and she blinked back tears furiously. 

"I knew nothing from then on. We were married; I only consented because he was controlling my mind. His power rose and he became
one of the worst Dark Lords in the history of the world. Most days I understood only a few of the things that were going on, but
some days I remembered the potion Geraldo had made in the shack. The potion that bound me to him..." She struggled to find
the words to continue. "One day, everything came into focus. I remembered the bracelet, the ring, the evil that Rey Ciro
was committing against the world. I couldn't handle it any longer. I ran outside and found myself at the edge of a steep, rocky
cliff over the Mediterranean Sea. I jumped." Harry's mouth hung open in shock.

"You killed yourself?" he asked. Dulcinea nodded grimly. 

"What I didn't know was that the death of one person in a soul-binding charm kills the other. I was the cause of Rey Ciro's
downfall. When I jumped into the sea, he died as well."

"That's horrible, but... I still don't understand what this has to do with me," Harry said, sounding confused. Dulcinea took
a deep breath.

"The curses of Rey Ciro have already affected your life, you just haven't realized it. Voldemort plans to use the soul-binding
charm on you. If you are bound to him, then the prophecy will never be completed and he will be able to reign forever."

"What?" Harry cried. "That can't happen! It has to be completed. We would probably both die sooner that way!" Dulcinea nodded.

"I agree. I do not know what his reasoning is behind this decision. I have given you lots of information tonight; I want you
to think about it all. I will be back again to visit - I always do." She winked before disappearing through the ceiling. 


Harry lay back on his bed, stunned. What does this mean? What am I going to do about it?

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Harry didn't wake until nearly noon the following morning. He stumbled into the Head's common room on his way to the bathroom.

"Mate, you look bloody terrible," Ron commented, glancing up from the chess game he was playing against Ginny. "Did you sleep
at all last night?" 

"Not really," Harry mumbled. He walked to the shower and undressed. He turned the knob and let the scalding water run down his
 back, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling. Dulcinea Rosalind Garcia, he thought as he reached for the soap.
Had I ever heard that name before I met her in my dreams? He decided he had not as he washed the soap off his body
and picked up the shampoo bottle. So Voldemort wants to do this soul-binding thing to me... I don't really understand why.
And how have 'the curses of Rey Ciro' already affected my life? What did she mean by that? Harry turned off the shower
and reached for his fluffy towel. He wrapped it around his waist and gazed into the mirror; his messy black hair looked wild,
and his emerald green eyes seemed to shine more brightly than normal. He promised himself that they would never lose that 
glint of hope, as some of the aurors had seemed to. He dressed quickly and walked back out to the common room.

"I'm hungry," he complained to Ron. "Do we get to eat, or do we have to stay cooped up in here without food for a week?"

"The house-elves are bringing up lunch," Hermione said, sniffing indignantly. "Like they already don't have enough work,
and now-"

"How'd you know that?" Harry asked, interrupting the on-coming house-elf rant. Hermione frowned at him.

"How do I know what? The house-elves or lunch?"

"Lunch," Harry answered, putting a hand over his growling stomach. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Professor McGonagall was up here a few hours ago. While you were still sleeping," she added. Harry glanced over at Ron and
Ginny, who were still playing their game of chess.

"Hermione, I wanted to look something up in the library. D'you think I could get out of here without them noticing and make
it back before they bring lunch?" Harry asked innocently. Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean, look something up? We don't have any homework because we don't have any classes. Harry, what's going on?"
she asked suspiciously. Harry sighed. 

"I can't really tell you. I think... I think I might have figured something out about the prophecy." Hermione's eyes lit up.

"You ARE the 'one who lives', aren't you?" she whispered excitedly. "I was right and that's why you can't tell me! Isn't it?"
Harry paused before nodding. "So then you've talked to a ghost?" she asked. Harry nodded again.

"She was... yeah, sort of a ghost. But Hermione, I want to research it more, figure out exactly who she is," he said eagerly.
Hermione looked thoughtful.

"We'll wait until they bring lunch, then ask the house-elves to have Dobby come up here. He'll have some sort of answer!" she
suggested. Harry nodded.

***

The house-elves brought a tray bursting with food upstairs and into the Heads' common room. Ron stared at it hungrily and 
immediately dug in. Harry's stomach was growling, but he managed to ignore the food long enough to get the attention of a 
scruffy-looking elf carrying a teapot.

"Hello, er, Mr. House-Elf?" Harry said politely. The elf bowed deeply, still balancing the teapot.

"Yes, sir, is you needing something, sir?" he asked in a squeaky voice.

"Er, yeah, I have a house-elf, I think he's in the kitchen with you guys, his name is Dobby. Could you send him up here?" Harry
asked.

"Oh, yes, sir," the house-elf answered, nodding vigorously. 

"Great," Harry told him, picking up a drumstick from the food tray. Harry ate ravenously; he was starving since he hadn't had
any breakfast. When he was just about done eating, Dobby appeared with a loud popping noise.

"Master Harry, you is needing something?" Dobby cried, looking worried.

"Er, yeah Dobby. Can I talk to you in my room?" he asked, standing up. Dobby followed and Harry closed the door behind them.
"You see Dobby, I really need to find a way to get to the library. I have an invisibility cloak so I can get through the
hallways, but I can't get through the portrait door, they're all locked," he explained. Surprisingly, Dobby just laughed.

"You is serious, Harry Potter?" he asked, grinning. 

"Well... yeah," Harry said, shrugging. Dobby smiled.

"You is the Head Boy. These rooms is not like the other rooms, you know."

"I've sort of noticed," Harry said, slightly annoyed. What's his point? he wondered.

"But you has not noticed this, Harry Potter," Dobby said triumphantly, walking over to a painting on the wall. Harry had
noticed it before, but had never paid much attention; it was a close-up of a lake, with some lilypads and a few fish. Dobby
ran his finger over an orange fish with white spots and it wiggled a little bit. Suddenly, the wall opened up and a passageway
appeared. Harry's eyes widened in shock.

"What is this, Dobby?" he asked, staring at it in amazement.

"It is a hidden passage, Harry Potter. It leads to a statue on the fourth floor, so it is close to the library. Will this
help, Harry Potter?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah, Dobby, this is great!" Harry answered, still in awe. Now I can get out whenever I want, he thought happily.
I'm not locked in like the rest of the school. Of course, he would have to share this information with Ron and
Hermione, and maybe Ginny, but for now... it was all his to explore. Pulling his invisibility cloak out of his trunk, he
bid Dobby goodbye and took off down the passageway.

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Tonks stumbled down her stairway into the kitchen. Her hair, normally vibrant and spiky, was now shoulder-length and dark brown,
its natural color. She was dressed in her shabby bathrobe and fluffy slippers. As she had expected, the Ministry had fired her
the day after she had not shown up to work, especially after they found out her mother had been killed. They now had a clear
connection between her and the Order, so that made her unemployed. She sighed softly.On days like this, she thought to herself,
I don't even feel like getting dressed. She knew she had to though; today was her mother's funeral. Sadly, she poured
some cereal into a bowl and pushed it around with a spoon, not really eating any. I hate funerals, she thought decisively.

***

A few hours later, Tonks was surrounded by relatives and family friends as the funeral was about to begin. She sat in the very 
last row, searching the crowd with narrowed eyes.

"Looking for someone, Nymphadora?" a kind voice asked her. Her head snapped up to see an exhausted-looking Remus Lupin
standing over her.

"Hey, Remus," she greeted him, gesturing to the chair next to her. "Have a seat." 

"I was so sorry to hear about your mother. I hope you're doing well," he said as he settled in beside her. Tonks' eyes flitted 
over to him. She was surprised to see he was wearing new robes for once, and he seemed to have a younger look in his eyes. 
"You look good," she told him simply. He grinned wolfishly.

"I got a job," he replied. "Actually have an income, for once." Tonks snorted.

"Well, I don't have one anymore. I don't even know what I'm going to do... I don't want to live in that huge house by myself."

"You should apply to the Universal Institute for Magic, that's where I'm working now. Have you heard of it?" 

"Oh yeah," Tonks said, looking thoughtful. "That new school that's like a muggle university? It sounds interesting. And they
hired you? Very interesting..."

"Are you saying it was a bad decision to hire me?" he joked. Tonks smiled a little.

"Not at all," she murmured, as the organ started to play music and the funeral began.

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