Chapter 3: Powers' Past
Harry jerked awake at the sound of a tapping at his window. He had fallen asleep fully clothed, glasses perched atop his nose, unsure whether to wait for the Sakura girl to come to him or to throw that possibility from his ever hopeful mind. It would be too risky for a witch like Sakura to journey to a Muggle neighbourhood like Privet Drive where anything unusual stuck out like a sore thumb. And Sakura was definitely unusual!
So as Harry hopped out of bed to open the window he expected to see Hedwig who had been away for almost four nights now. But there she was, flying through the night sky with a pair of elegant white wings upon her back.
When a somewhat sleepy, stunned Harry had stepped away from the window Sakura climbed in, the wings from her back dissipating as her staff resumed its tiny form of a key.
"Sorry to wake you," she told him, tying the key around her neck, "had to watch for Voldemort's spies. They're everywhere!" From her pocket she pulled a vial of clear liquid.
Boy she has a lot in there! Harry thought, smiling to himself.
"Come here Harry." Sakura poured some of the ointment onto a cotton wad as Harry knelt beside her. "I am very sorry about today Harry!" She knelt beside him and began to dab his burns with the sweet smelling,non-stinging healer. It reminded Harry more then ever of the situations he and his friends had gotten into in their earlier years when rules put up to keep them safe had been fun to brake. More then once they had ended in a trip to the hospital wing for either himself or his friends and for sure the results of any further tearing of his own safety system would result in an injury that Madam Pomphrey could not fix.
He shook his depressed mind to try to clear it but it seemed that no amount of shaking could shake from his memory the horror and crisis that had caused him so much grief.
Seeing his troubled expression Sakura decided to brake the news to him right then.
"The Order of the Phoenix has managed to halt Voldemort's plans for gathering the help of the giants."
Harry raised his head in interest.
"How did they manage that?"
Sakura smiled. "Hagrid and Maxime did get to a few of them, that weren't killed that is, there aren't many but, well, let's just say that Hagrid's brother is having quite a bit of influence on them!"
Her smile was wide, filled with a cheeriness Harry found refreshing after all the guilt and depression. So he smiled a little too.
"The Order has many volunteers to stand against Voldemort! Everyone who believes, for some still refuse the horrible truth, are aiding Dumbledore and arming themselves for the inevitable confrontation and thanks to you the students of Dumbledore's Army are even more prepared! You've done a lot for us Harry! Remember that it was you who prevented his return for all these years then, when it did happen, you told us of it, you enabled to imprison those who were in the Hall of Prophecies and never forget that you were the one who saved us in the beginning! Never forget what you've done for us Harry, now let us take the world from your shoulders as long as we can!"
"Yah, because I will end it." Harry whispered as Sakura started to dab at his face. "As the Prophecy went, either Voldemort will die, or I will."
Sakura looked at him, her heart in her eyes as she placed the cotton wad back in her pocket.
"Listen Harry. I came here to take you to a safe house for a time before school begins. The Dementors are drawing closer and although they can not touch you within the Dursley's house it is unfair to a young boy becoming a man to lock him in a house with people he hates. He might just go insane and try to join Voldemort. Then we'd all be doomed!"
Harry smiled at Sakura's fake expression of terror.
"Now that's what we need more of!" Sakura told him triumphantly. "If there isn't humour in the world what is there to live for? I met your friend Ron by the way. Funny guy, not quite the same level as his twins but funny none the less. Bit sweet on that Hermione girl isn't he?"
Harry was taken a back.
"Well, he is a little protective of her now isn't he? Especially about the whole Viktor Krum business. Get's a bit on edge when that subject arises!"
"I suppose." Harry said, still a little stunned. "How'd you come to this conclusion?"
She shrugged.
"Experience."
Harry eyed her suspiciously.
"Surely someone as young as you can't have had much of that!"
"Now I find that offensive! I didn't become the Mistress of the Cards by sitting at home doing crossword puzzles!"
"By the way. I wanted to ask you how YOU got involved in all this!" Harry seated himself on his desk chair as Sakura plunked herself down on his bed.
"Well originally I come from Tomoeda, Japan, a quiet little place where you wouldn't really expect anything strange to happen."
"Like Privet Drive." Harry put in.
"Yah, anyway I thought I was just a normal nine-year-old who liked to cheerlead and play all manner of sports. Then I unlocked the sorcerer Clow Reed's ancient book and was forced to come to terms with my own magical powers as I sought to return the Cards that had been sealed to their master's book. I was then required to undertake a judgment to test my ability to rule over the Cards which I passed and then transformed the Cards so that they would answer truly to only their new master, Star Card Mistress Sakura. I passed the former ruler's test and came to understand loneliness in the form of the strongest card, the Nothing Card or Void. So I had proven my worth as a fully fledged witch at age twelve and felt obligated to the responsibility of my fellow magical folk in their struggle against the Dark Lord's power and so I'm here. A fifteen-year-old with some of the strongest magic in the world!"
"I'm surprised it hasn't gone to your head!"
"Believe me, it's tried!" she sighed, taking out her pink cards and fingering through them. "I think I've forgotten what being normal was like."
"So called normal!" Harry got up from the chair and crossed to the window. "Where does Syaoran Li fit into this?"
"Oh him." Sakura sighed again. "He was a descendent of Clow's family who thought that I was not worthy of the Cards so he struck out to be my rival." She paused as her eyes came to rest upon a card with a girl holding a heart with wings on it. The card was labeled "Hope". "It's all much a blur for me those times with Li, except...I remember he was... different somehow."
"So he's an enemy." Harry could see the conflicting emotions in her expression. There was something deeper to this story that he was missing.
Sakura nodded.
"Well," Harry peered out onto the pink street. He peered at the sky and saw that the sun was rising. Had they talked that long?
"Sakura, did you say we were supposed to be going to the safe house?"
Catching sight of the bright sky Sakura jumped to her feet.
"Oh my! Where has the time gone? Where's my key!" She spun around on her heel, scanning the room.
Harry couldn't help but grin with suppressed amusement.
"Oh Harry where IS IT?!"
"Where you put it." Harry told her, beginning to shake with laughter as she ran all through the room searching for her key.
"WHERE!" She turned to glare at Harry. "Potter you better not have done anything with it!"
She was marching toward him, a vein pumping in her forehead, fists clenched.
"Sakura really, it's around your neck!"
Placing her hand at her throat she grinned sheepishly. "So it is!"
With that she transformed it to the staff then using the Fly Card so that it sprouted white glistening wings.
"Usually I just sprout the wings myself but I thought you'd probably be more comfortable sitting on a staff rather then being held by a girl, plus I don't think I could carry you the whole way!"
"Couldn't I just ride my Firebolt?" Harry asked, remembering his last trip to a safe house.
"No, it'd be too risky! Best to keep you with me at all times!" Sakura swung one leg out the window. "Well, get your stuff then!"
Harry carted his trunk to the window where he helped Sakura tie it to the staff.
"Boy, you guys have too much stuff! I wasn't anticipating all this weight! We'll have to leave it here for the time being. Just bring the really important stuff."
He collected his Firebolt, Hedwig's cage, his wand(of course!), the Maurauder's Map and his Invisibility Cloak from the trunk. Clipping Hedwig's cage to the staff he draped the cloak over his shoulders, passed the broom out to Sakura and tucked the Map and wand away in his pocket. Swinging himself out onto the staff Sakura shuttered.
"Sorry. I just don't like the fact that it looks as if I'm only bringing part a Harry!"
Harry smiled, remembering the cloak over his shoulders as Sakura tossed a note addressed to the Dursleys on his bed.
"You always have to do that don't you?" he asked as they began their ascent into the pink clouds.
"They might worry about you." Sakura grinned back at him. "Hold on, we're going higher, need to stay hidden!"
Harry wondered how that was going to be possible as the day progressed and the clouds lessened but what could he do?
"Will everyone be at the safe house?" he asked, having to shout over the roaring winds.
Sakura slowed down their flight a little.
"Don't shout. If you want to know something tap me on the shoulder and wait!"
"Yes, Mistress." he imitated a bow but had to regain his balance.
"Sure and yes, most will be there. Excluding the Order though, they're working else where. The Weasleys, Hermione, Neville and a few other of your classmates."
"In other words all the youngsters." Harry muttered.
"No," Sakura turned to face him, "just the next bunch of adults."
* * *
"Voldemort sir. I understand my failure to complete your mission but you must understand that the Card Mistress interfered and if I had stayed I would have been finished. I had used most of my power to stop time." Syaoran was telling the Dark Lord who was seated in his chair by the roaring fire.
Wormtail was cowering in the corner, knowing that his master was angry at the failure to regain the giant's assistance. And at Harry Potter's escape, again!
"Boy." Voldemort spoke in a low hiss as he raised his wand. "I chose you for your knowledge and power though I could easily replace you." He lifted his other empty hand and slowly began to bring the wide spread bony fingers closer together.
Syaoran cried out in pain as he grasped his head, struggling to keep his kneeling position at his master's feet.
"But even more easily I could crush your mind." For emphasis he brought his fingers closer.
Syaoran dropped to the carpet in spiritual agony, his body twisting in ways the shuddering Wormtail knew were inhuman.
"Now, bring me Harry Potter!"
"Yes master!"
Voldemort smiled, an evil smile that told of pain and hatred. He touched his finger tips together.
Syaoran screamed.
"YES MASTER!"
To be continued...
Harry jerked awake at the sound of a tapping at his window. He had fallen asleep fully clothed, glasses perched atop his nose, unsure whether to wait for the Sakura girl to come to him or to throw that possibility from his ever hopeful mind. It would be too risky for a witch like Sakura to journey to a Muggle neighbourhood like Privet Drive where anything unusual stuck out like a sore thumb. And Sakura was definitely unusual!
So as Harry hopped out of bed to open the window he expected to see Hedwig who had been away for almost four nights now. But there she was, flying through the night sky with a pair of elegant white wings upon her back.
When a somewhat sleepy, stunned Harry had stepped away from the window Sakura climbed in, the wings from her back dissipating as her staff resumed its tiny form of a key.
"Sorry to wake you," she told him, tying the key around her neck, "had to watch for Voldemort's spies. They're everywhere!" From her pocket she pulled a vial of clear liquid.
Boy she has a lot in there! Harry thought, smiling to himself.
"Come here Harry." Sakura poured some of the ointment onto a cotton wad as Harry knelt beside her. "I am very sorry about today Harry!" She knelt beside him and began to dab his burns with the sweet smelling,non-stinging healer. It reminded Harry more then ever of the situations he and his friends had gotten into in their earlier years when rules put up to keep them safe had been fun to brake. More then once they had ended in a trip to the hospital wing for either himself or his friends and for sure the results of any further tearing of his own safety system would result in an injury that Madam Pomphrey could not fix.
He shook his depressed mind to try to clear it but it seemed that no amount of shaking could shake from his memory the horror and crisis that had caused him so much grief.
Seeing his troubled expression Sakura decided to brake the news to him right then.
"The Order of the Phoenix has managed to halt Voldemort's plans for gathering the help of the giants."
Harry raised his head in interest.
"How did they manage that?"
Sakura smiled. "Hagrid and Maxime did get to a few of them, that weren't killed that is, there aren't many but, well, let's just say that Hagrid's brother is having quite a bit of influence on them!"
Her smile was wide, filled with a cheeriness Harry found refreshing after all the guilt and depression. So he smiled a little too.
"The Order has many volunteers to stand against Voldemort! Everyone who believes, for some still refuse the horrible truth, are aiding Dumbledore and arming themselves for the inevitable confrontation and thanks to you the students of Dumbledore's Army are even more prepared! You've done a lot for us Harry! Remember that it was you who prevented his return for all these years then, when it did happen, you told us of it, you enabled to imprison those who were in the Hall of Prophecies and never forget that you were the one who saved us in the beginning! Never forget what you've done for us Harry, now let us take the world from your shoulders as long as we can!"
"Yah, because I will end it." Harry whispered as Sakura started to dab at his face. "As the Prophecy went, either Voldemort will die, or I will."
Sakura looked at him, her heart in her eyes as she placed the cotton wad back in her pocket.
"Listen Harry. I came here to take you to a safe house for a time before school begins. The Dementors are drawing closer and although they can not touch you within the Dursley's house it is unfair to a young boy becoming a man to lock him in a house with people he hates. He might just go insane and try to join Voldemort. Then we'd all be doomed!"
Harry smiled at Sakura's fake expression of terror.
"Now that's what we need more of!" Sakura told him triumphantly. "If there isn't humour in the world what is there to live for? I met your friend Ron by the way. Funny guy, not quite the same level as his twins but funny none the less. Bit sweet on that Hermione girl isn't he?"
Harry was taken a back.
"Well, he is a little protective of her now isn't he? Especially about the whole Viktor Krum business. Get's a bit on edge when that subject arises!"
"I suppose." Harry said, still a little stunned. "How'd you come to this conclusion?"
She shrugged.
"Experience."
Harry eyed her suspiciously.
"Surely someone as young as you can't have had much of that!"
"Now I find that offensive! I didn't become the Mistress of the Cards by sitting at home doing crossword puzzles!"
"By the way. I wanted to ask you how YOU got involved in all this!" Harry seated himself on his desk chair as Sakura plunked herself down on his bed.
"Well originally I come from Tomoeda, Japan, a quiet little place where you wouldn't really expect anything strange to happen."
"Like Privet Drive." Harry put in.
"Yah, anyway I thought I was just a normal nine-year-old who liked to cheerlead and play all manner of sports. Then I unlocked the sorcerer Clow Reed's ancient book and was forced to come to terms with my own magical powers as I sought to return the Cards that had been sealed to their master's book. I was then required to undertake a judgment to test my ability to rule over the Cards which I passed and then transformed the Cards so that they would answer truly to only their new master, Star Card Mistress Sakura. I passed the former ruler's test and came to understand loneliness in the form of the strongest card, the Nothing Card or Void. So I had proven my worth as a fully fledged witch at age twelve and felt obligated to the responsibility of my fellow magical folk in their struggle against the Dark Lord's power and so I'm here. A fifteen-year-old with some of the strongest magic in the world!"
"I'm surprised it hasn't gone to your head!"
"Believe me, it's tried!" she sighed, taking out her pink cards and fingering through them. "I think I've forgotten what being normal was like."
"So called normal!" Harry got up from the chair and crossed to the window. "Where does Syaoran Li fit into this?"
"Oh him." Sakura sighed again. "He was a descendent of Clow's family who thought that I was not worthy of the Cards so he struck out to be my rival." She paused as her eyes came to rest upon a card with a girl holding a heart with wings on it. The card was labeled "Hope". "It's all much a blur for me those times with Li, except...I remember he was... different somehow."
"So he's an enemy." Harry could see the conflicting emotions in her expression. There was something deeper to this story that he was missing.
Sakura nodded.
"Well," Harry peered out onto the pink street. He peered at the sky and saw that the sun was rising. Had they talked that long?
"Sakura, did you say we were supposed to be going to the safe house?"
Catching sight of the bright sky Sakura jumped to her feet.
"Oh my! Where has the time gone? Where's my key!" She spun around on her heel, scanning the room.
Harry couldn't help but grin with suppressed amusement.
"Oh Harry where IS IT?!"
"Where you put it." Harry told her, beginning to shake with laughter as she ran all through the room searching for her key.
"WHERE!" She turned to glare at Harry. "Potter you better not have done anything with it!"
She was marching toward him, a vein pumping in her forehead, fists clenched.
"Sakura really, it's around your neck!"
Placing her hand at her throat she grinned sheepishly. "So it is!"
With that she transformed it to the staff then using the Fly Card so that it sprouted white glistening wings.
"Usually I just sprout the wings myself but I thought you'd probably be more comfortable sitting on a staff rather then being held by a girl, plus I don't think I could carry you the whole way!"
"Couldn't I just ride my Firebolt?" Harry asked, remembering his last trip to a safe house.
"No, it'd be too risky! Best to keep you with me at all times!" Sakura swung one leg out the window. "Well, get your stuff then!"
Harry carted his trunk to the window where he helped Sakura tie it to the staff.
"Boy, you guys have too much stuff! I wasn't anticipating all this weight! We'll have to leave it here for the time being. Just bring the really important stuff."
He collected his Firebolt, Hedwig's cage, his wand(of course!), the Maurauder's Map and his Invisibility Cloak from the trunk. Clipping Hedwig's cage to the staff he draped the cloak over his shoulders, passed the broom out to Sakura and tucked the Map and wand away in his pocket. Swinging himself out onto the staff Sakura shuttered.
"Sorry. I just don't like the fact that it looks as if I'm only bringing part a Harry!"
Harry smiled, remembering the cloak over his shoulders as Sakura tossed a note addressed to the Dursleys on his bed.
"You always have to do that don't you?" he asked as they began their ascent into the pink clouds.
"They might worry about you." Sakura grinned back at him. "Hold on, we're going higher, need to stay hidden!"
Harry wondered how that was going to be possible as the day progressed and the clouds lessened but what could he do?
"Will everyone be at the safe house?" he asked, having to shout over the roaring winds.
Sakura slowed down their flight a little.
"Don't shout. If you want to know something tap me on the shoulder and wait!"
"Yes, Mistress." he imitated a bow but had to regain his balance.
"Sure and yes, most will be there. Excluding the Order though, they're working else where. The Weasleys, Hermione, Neville and a few other of your classmates."
"In other words all the youngsters." Harry muttered.
"No," Sakura turned to face him, "just the next bunch of adults."
* * *
"Voldemort sir. I understand my failure to complete your mission but you must understand that the Card Mistress interfered and if I had stayed I would have been finished. I had used most of my power to stop time." Syaoran was telling the Dark Lord who was seated in his chair by the roaring fire.
Wormtail was cowering in the corner, knowing that his master was angry at the failure to regain the giant's assistance. And at Harry Potter's escape, again!
"Boy." Voldemort spoke in a low hiss as he raised his wand. "I chose you for your knowledge and power though I could easily replace you." He lifted his other empty hand and slowly began to bring the wide spread bony fingers closer together.
Syaoran cried out in pain as he grasped his head, struggling to keep his kneeling position at his master's feet.
"But even more easily I could crush your mind." For emphasis he brought his fingers closer.
Syaoran dropped to the carpet in spiritual agony, his body twisting in ways the shuddering Wormtail knew were inhuman.
"Now, bring me Harry Potter!"
"Yes master!"
Voldemort smiled, an evil smile that told of pain and hatred. He touched his finger tips together.
Syaoran screamed.
"YES MASTER!"
To be continued...