Plot Note: Actually, the disappearing chapter wasn't due to the book being magical. Most textbooks really aren't, unless you want to include the titles "Monster Book of Monsters", and "The Invisible Book of Invisibility". The continuation of the Dark Arts series is purely non-magic, save for perhaps the binding and distribution process. The disappearing chapter was mainly another mind trick of Harry's, as well as the red vision in the last chapter, the cut on his foot during the dream, and the fact that in chapter one, people could hear Harry's thoughts as though he were speaking them.

This story goes a bit deeper than I believe some of you are expecting. There's a mystery to be solved. Can you figure it out?


Once again, Harry found himself in the Death Chamber, but it was different this time. In some unperceivable way, it was different. Harry knew this, but couldn't pinpoint it. His eyes darted around, trying desperately to pinpoint what had caused this change in atmosphere. The dais still glowed a crystalline blue, and the whispers still echoed eerily from beneath the swimming veil. Not one stone step was out of place, but there was still something wrong. Quietly, Harry tiptoed down toward the dais. He wasn't sure what drew him to that mysterious, mystical archway, but he barely had the will to fight it. Aside from that, Harry wasn't sure if he would want to if he did possess such a will.

He reached the wooden platform and stepped up onto it. Eagerly, Harry pushed aside the veil, but there was no bright light greeting him. There was no sand or forests; no blue-green ocean with the salty air. There was also a lack of rolling ocean waves and the cry of the sea gulls had mysteriously been silenced. This struck Harry as odd. He frowned and allowed the veil to fall. It dropped slowly when he freed it from his grip, but it caught up again on the mysterious whispers from Beyond; dancing lightly around his ankles and whipping up to delicately tickle his wrists as if encouraging him to pass through once more.

But it didn't feel right this time. There was nothing beyond the veil but a shimmering blackness, and one silver streak Harry might have thought to be the moonlight against the mysterious ocean. Where, then, had the beach gone? The pure white sand? The forest? It was all gone. All he saw now beyond the gossamer curtain was iridescent nothingness. No, something wasn't just not right, it was incredibly wrong. But what was it? Why couldn't Harry escape the feeling that he was in danger? Something was lurking out there in that blackness, waiting to grab him away from everything. An electric shock made his heart flutter weakly. Harry turned on his heel and prepared to flee the Death Chamber forever, but he never made it past the platform that held the dais. As his eyes danced up the stone steps, he became very aware of a tall, hooded figure looming at the top waiting for him. He didn't need to hear the voice, or see the face, or even peer deeper into those crimson red eyes to know who it was. The pain in Harry's scar told him everything.

Much to Harry's own relief, there was no exchange of words. Not from Voldemort, at least. The dais, however, screamed with voices. Some of them were familiar, some were not., but they all seemed to be in a frenzied rush. Something was happening somewhere. People were screaming for help; others were trying to calm those who seemed to be in hysterics. A few strong voices were calling his name, though Harry didn't know why. Perhaps there were people in the Beyond who could see the danger he was in? His father? His mother? Sirius? Harry turned his head to glance over his shoulder, intrigued, but only for a short moment. Voldemort had moved down the steps and was now only a few feet away from where Harry stood. Harry was only vaguely aware of the Dark Lord's lips moving, but he couldn't hear the words against the uproar that came from past the archway.

The pain in Harry's scar was becoming overwhelming. He felt certain that he was going to pass out. His eyes threatened to roll into the back of his head. He needed to escape, but escape to where? There was nowhere Harry could run to where Voldemort would not be able to reach him. Hogwarts was closed, and no one knew where on earth Dumbeldore went during the summer holidays. No, Harry knew that this was it. He was staring death in the face, and he was doing so alone.

Voldemort raised his wand, and for the first time since he had entered the chamber, Harry heard his voice.

"You will never escape, Potter."

And with that, he let loose the killing curse. Harry spiraled backwards through the dais and into the blackness that lay beyond the whispering curtain of the archway.


Harry wasn't sure how he had ended up in the water. The shadow of night with the added blackness of the ocean depths made it impossible to see; impossible to breathe. He struggled against it, but the icy cold of the water made it impossible for him to work his limbs. Harry descended, his body numb, though his mind screamed for a savior while his lungs screamed for air.

In one futile attempt Harry opened his mouth to scream physically, but black, chilled water flooded into his mouth and choked him. The scream never came, and Harry, his heart sinking in despair as he sank in the black abyss of this ocean, realized that there would have been no one around to hear it anyway. And so he drifted; in a liquid universe that seemed to hold no beginning or end. Tiny flecks of light floated around him, he noticed after some time; glimmering orbs of pure white light. They circled around Harry like microscopic angels, dancing about his head and fingertips in spiral loops that made him wonder if they were mocking him in his descent, or working in some futile attempt to save him. Not that it mattered, all though Harry was quite amazed that anything could live in this frigid cold.

He could feel the blood in his veins slowing to a halt as his heartbeat decelerated. The only way he could tell that his vision was blurring was because the lights in the water were dimming. He couldn't see his hands anymore, floating out before him and slightly over his head. His feet were lost in the murky waters below him, though Harry didn't make much of an effort to look for them. Harry knew he was dying. He felt his robes whipping around his limp body, and found that beneath them he was wearing his Hogwarts uniform. Confused, Harry looked up as though his answer lie there. He saw the full moon dancing beyond the shifting surface of the ocean and sighed inwardly. He wondered for a moment what Remus' reaction would be to find that Harry had died; drown in some mysterious ocean when they had all thought he was simply asleep in Ron's room. One of the dancing lights wagged before Harry's eyes in some frantic manner. It bounced from his left eye to his right, then back again. He tried to follow it, but his reflexes were far too slow.

He sighed inwardly one last time and began to let the lids of his eyes fall closed so that he might drift eternally in the black chill of the ocean. Then, all of a sudden, Harry felt arms. One slipped tenderly beneath his head, and the other wrapped tightly around his torso. For a moment, he believed it to be a memory of his mother cradling him; once repressed and now brought back as a bliss filled illusion to enjoy in his final moments. His theory, however, was shattered with the sound of a choked voice, speaking as though it were a million miles away.

"Fight it!"

The voice was strange. Fear and anger dripped off every syllable. The invisible arms grew tighter about his body, and he felt the warmth of another close to him. But who was it? "Damn it, Harry! Fight it! Don't you dare give in now! Don't you dare! Don't you even think it!"

What am I giving in to? Harry thought, just beginning to sober in his descent. He was drifting in death, if not on the edge of it. Even the strange, glittering specks had abandoned him now. All there was around him was darkness. There was nothing left to let go of, because everything Harry had ever had to hold on to was already gone.

"Come back, Harry!" The voice was begging now. A trembling echo in the shimmering gloom that surrounded. "I know you can hear me! Don't give up now. Don't leave me." There was a sudden silence, broken by the sobbing voice of a young woman he knew well.

"Harry! Harry don't die! Harry please!" It was Hermione! Harry's heart leapt. What was she doing amongst all this gloom? How had she come here? She wasn't....she couldn't be! No, Hermione wasn't dead. Ron had just gotten a letter addressed to both of them the other day from her. Suddenly, another voice was calling out to him, this one was even more familiar because Harry had heard it at every waking moment over the summer.

"Harry, c'mon mate. You've got to pull out of this!" He choked on a sob before continuing. "Harry, you can't die. Not after everything we've been through. You've faced Voldemort more times than I can count...you've been bitten by a Basilisk! We both fought a giant our first year to save Hermione! You can't let Voldemort get you now, Harry. You have to wake up!"

Damn it, what was with this waking up crap? Harry fumed, feeling his face grow red with anger now at hearing his best friend repeat the same confusing message that was all Sirius would give him. Harry closed his eyes. To hell with them! What did they mean, wake up? Every waking moment Harry spent with Ron and his family! He'd written Hermione how many times already this summer? Sirius plagued him in his dreams! What did they mean by "wake up"!?!

Suddenly, Harry felt his face come in contact air. An underwater wave had whipped him up onto a beach with gray sand. He sputtered and coughed, fighting to get the water out of his lungs. The arms that had held him in the water now wrapped tighter around him. Harry opened his eyes and found the tear streaked gaze of his godfather staring down at him.

"Sirius?" He coughed, eyes widening against the shock of what he was seeing.

"Harry!" Sirius breathed, picking up the boy's form and holding it close to his own. "Harry, thank God!"

Somewhere in the distance Harry could hear sobs of relief, but he didn't concern himself with them. All he could do was lay still in his godfather's arms, shocked and horrified.

"What the hell just happened?" He gasped.

Sirius swallowed, hard. "You almost died." There was a silent pause, before, "But you're back now. Everything's all right."

But something wasn't right. Harry could feel himself slipping backward again, sinking into the darkness that had consumed him once before.

"No," he whispered, his sightless eyes dying into a frown. "No, it's not."

Sirius' arms tightened around him again. "Harry? No, Harry!"

But he couldn't stop himself. He fell back into unconsciousness, and the icy cold of a black abyss.


Author's Note: Hmmm, interesting, no? Let me know what you think. I hope no one has died from suspense already. Anyway, I know what I want to happen, I just need to figure out how to get there. Bleh.