Chapter 6 -
Balance Point
"My Lord, the plans are set.
There will be no one to stop us this time."
"No
indeed Lord Voldemort, however, don't be so overconfident. The fools
of Dumbledore are not as weak as you suppose."
"Is
there any news of Harry Potter?"
"Yes. It is
beginning. Soon Lord Voldemort, you will meet your match."
Voldemort started. What did he mean by that? Did he actually want
Voldemort to lose?
"Do not mistake my words," the
Cloaked Figure said, "because I do not mean to imply that you
will be killed."
"What do you imply?"
The
Cloaked Figure paused, and Voldemort assumed his lips had turned to a
grin behind his hood. "That Harry Potter is down the path to
evil."
"How do you know?"
"My agent
that went after Potter has not reported back. He was killed by
Potter," the Cloaked Figure said. To Voldemort, it sounded very
hasty, but he didn't dare say anything. He wasn't in the mood to be
Crucioed again anytime soon.
"Potter will make a powerful
Dark Wizard," Voldemort said, just to agree a little with his
superior.
"I do not believe Potter will turn however. You
must face him. It is in his character to feel remorse for
death."
"As did I," Voldemort said, remembering
his Hogwarts childhood.
"Yet you overcame this
weakness."
"Which Potter won't?"
"No,
I do not think he will," the Cloaked Figure said. Voldemort knew
that anything this man said could be a lie. He was always shifting
his purpose, spreading dissent and deceit everywhere he went.
"Harry
Potter seems to hold the key to all," Voldemort said.
"Not
true. That person is me," the Cloaked Figure replied
smugly. "Harry Potter is but a pawn in the larger picture."
"Why wasn't I intended to come?" Harry asked. There were very rare times when Remus looked uncomfortable around Harry. This was one of those times.
"Well I would think you could figure it out, but- erm ... you see-,"
"Don't worry," Harry said. "I understand." He knew perfectly well what Remus was getting at. They just assumed he wouldn't want to come in something as aggressive as an ambush.
"Do you mind if I ask a question Harry?"
"Shoot," Harry said smiling.
Remus took a moment to gather his thoughts, "I've wondered how people can be so ruthlessly cruel, and then I wonder how people can be so terribly timid," he trailed off again.
Harry smiled, "You wonder how I don't want to fight in aggressive situations, yet I'm constantly defensive."
Lupin nodded.
"If we are to be the aggressors in this war, how will we be any better than Voldemort?" he said simply.
"If we don't do something Harry we'll lose!" Lupin replied assuredly.
"But what then Remus? What will be become?"
"Victorious."
"I just had this conversation with Hermione," Harry said quietly. "Balance is needed."
"How do you feel about this then?" Remus asked quickly.
"I hate it," Harry said simply. "It is just so blatantly aggressive."
"Then why are you here?"
"To help protect."
"Who are you protecting Harry; us or you?"
Harry was silent. Of course, he was protecting himself, but not for the reasons everyone thought. One of his best friends was dead, and the other was a widow. It all happened in the last few days. Harry could feel the hate swelling but he kept it down. The key was to ignore it.
"You," Harry said quietly.
"I'm sorry Harry," Remus said as his face softened. "That was unfair."
"Yeah I know," Harry said dryly. It was a dark sense of humor he seemed to have picked up somewhere.
"So you really feel what you're doing is right?" Remus asked finally.
"It's my way of balance. Technically, I'm on the defensive here."
"So you will not stun a Death Eater if he is not being an immediate danger to us?" Remus asked surprised.
"No," Harry replied simply. "I didn't while protecting Hermione and R-," but he could not bring himself to say Ron's name.
Remus opened his mouth to say that Harry had certainly been aggressive there, but he knew the subject was too sensitive now.
Harry decided not to tiptoe around it. "I killed people in raw emotion there Remus. I would not have had I been in the right mind."
"So you won't kill Voldemort without raw emotion?" Remus asked.
Harry sighed and shut his eyes. It was the problem he had been facing for months and he still had not reached a compromise. "I don't know Remus! I just don't know."
Lupin was silent a moment. Then he said, "These are the dilemmas going on inside your head?"
Harry nodded as he smiled.
"I'm glad I'm not you," he said as a joke and then laughed slightly.
Harry's eyes went dark and he thought about his life. "Believe me Remus; I'd change in a second."
Remus looked shocked and then disapproval etched his features. "Where has James's son gone?"
Harry looked darkly out at the window, "He died a long time ago." As Harry passed along the corridors of the rooms, his mind again began to drift towards his problems. Harry looked at his hands. He was a murderer, plain and simple. How could he have let this happen?
Harry looked at the floor, "But you've always known you would be one," he thought. Ever since fifth-year, that was true. Did killing some make it easier to kill Voldemort now?
Harry did not think so. After all, killing someone in a blind rage was different from killing otherwise. However, as Harry himself had said, killing was killing, and no matter how it was done, it was terrible.
Harry sighed. His conversation with Remus had not helped much either. As far as he could tell, Remus was disappointed in him. He was acting less like his father than he thought. Harry sighed and fell to the floor.
It wasn't that he was scared of battle or anything. He just had a terrible dark thought about after killing Voldemort. Would he become evil just like his victim?
"Damn it!" Harry yelled. He had just had these thoughts and came to the same conclusion! Why did he have to relive it over and over again? He had swore loudly enough for people to hear him. Perhaps because of who was though, they just passed by and pretended not to notice.
He got up and started to stir. His head hurt from the thoughts and he resolved that he would not think about it for now. His head was still whirling when Dumbledore came up. "They're here," he said simply. He turned on his heel and walked away. The first floor was nice and cool, but seeing as nobody knew from which direction the Death Eaters would come, they had stations on all floors. Harry crouched behind his statue as he peered out at the surroundings. A bright light flashed down on them. It was the signal that the Death Eaters were on the above floors.
Everybody flashed out and streaked to the stairs. It happened in the blink of an eye, but Harry saw a red jet of light streak across the room and hit the wall. He heard a curse and saw a dozen or so hooded men with masks on come out from the shadows. It appeared the ambushers were being ambushed.
"Look out," Harry yelled, but they were. His fellow wizards definitely were defending themselves properly. Harry saw a red beam come at him from a corner of the room he had not seen.
"Protego!" he said in a flash. The red bounced back as it was inches from his wand. Harry sighed; he was lucky that he hadn't just been stunned. He was very lucky because the light hit the Death Eater from whom it came.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kinglsey Shacklebolt come bounding down the stairs. He huffed and said, "Rotten scum. They held Dumbledore hostage and demanded we send the signal down. We had no choice but to do it."
"That explains it," Harry thought. He probably was not the only one who thought that however.
"Dumbledore's okay though." Kingsley assured several of the Order Members who were looking apprehensive. Harry felt a twinge of guilt. With the way he felt about Dumbledore lately, he hadn't even thought about Dumbledore held hostage. Harry wondered how that had actually happened. Dumbledore had proven he could probably kill all of Britain in a flash if he wanted to.
Hosts more Order members bounded down the steps, helping in the battle. Harry sighed. It seemed like he disagreed with everything that was going on today. Sometimes, he felt like he disagreed with the world. It was happening to quick for him, Harry thought. He had been true to his word during this battle, protective, and not doing any more damage than he had to. The fifteen Death Eaters had been surprised to find, not hundreds of Muggle-Born patients here, but several Order members. Harry did not dare even think to use his wand for anything other than protection. Right now, he was too off-balance, and he didn't know how he would react.
"Stupefy!" he shouted, as he saw a Death Eater about to attack Tonks from behind. The blast sent the Death Eater off his feet and into a wall on his left. Harry swiftly picked up the Death Eater's wand and snapped it.
"Harry we've got to go to the fifth floor," Tonks said loudly. She sprinted off for the nearest set of stairs.
"Why?" Harry asked as they climbed them up, two at a time.
"We need to-," Tonks started to say, but just then a Death Eater charged down the steps. He was surprised to see them there, because he did not have his wand out.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, being too quick for the Death Eater. The wand landed in his hand. Tonks had already advanced on the Death Eater and knocked him on the side of the head a small pipe she found. The Death Eater was out cold.
"Part of Auror training," she said, as Harry snapped the wand.
"So what's going on up there?"
"Lupin and Dung are trapped," Harry sighed. He and Remus had been separated after their conversation.
Harry exploded out the door to find the Death Eaters above Remus and Mundungus pointing their wands. They had gags around their mouths and bounds on their arms. Harry sent a stunning spell at one of them, knocking him out, while he saw Tonks deftly disarm the other. After the wands were sufficiently broken, Harry sprinted towards Remus. Remus tried to grunt, but Harry took his gag out. He saw something tall emerge from the corner of his eye, oh his left.
Remus could finally say what he tried to say and it was one word, "Trap!" Something clicked into place, and Harry dove backward as a green light came whizzing past his nose. It exploded on the far sidewall. Harry, knowing whom it was, turned to face the figure, cloaked, and walking towards him. He gulped.
It looked like he would have to be the aggressor sooner than he expected, as Lord Voldemort drew back his cloak, revealing a chalk white face that sneered at him. Something told Harry, that he was about to die.
