Harry…
Harry…
Harry…
It looms ever closer, drawing nearer by the second. You must free your heart of the Darkness before it is too late. The Heartless shall consume this world if you are not careful, as it has done to every world in its path. There is help, but their power is limited. You can find the door to the light. Trust yourself. Trust your heart. The Darkness cannot hurt you, as long as you remember: Even in the darkest depths, there will always be light. You are not alone. Wake now, for danger is near.
"Harry! Ron! Wake up!" Mr. Weasley was shouting rather loudly his voice shaking with anxiety. "There's an emergency hurry!" Harry shot awake, his dream still vivid in his cloudy mind. He stood quickly, his body on auto pilot, his mind no aware of what was happening. It was almost like sleep waking out of the tent and joining the others. The foreboding light of the fires, scattered as they were, shed a dim glow on… Harry snapped out of his trance at once. Around him was nothing short of utter chaos. People running and screaming, what was going on? He saw some hooded people in the far distance, levitating what appeared to be dolls. Harry squinted trying to get a closer look, they weren't dolls. One of them was Mr. Roberts, the only real muggle Harry had come across at the Quiddich World cup. The other three, Harry assumed, were his wife and children. Something else caught Harry's eye, he turned his head to see something that seemed to defy every law possible, even in the wizarding world. The creature wasn't very big, its slick body was all black, it had no hands only claws, its left antenna twitched nervously, its right antenna was lying flat against its rounded skull, it's eyes here huge yellow and lamp like, and it appeared to have no mouth at all. But this was not why Harry thought the creature to be strange, the creature was standing next to a fire, the light of the fire dancing wildly in every direction. But as the rays fell upon the creature, it vanished. Only appearing once it was completely in shadow. The creature turned suddenly, one of its lamp like eyes falling on Harry, making his blood turn to ice in his veins. The creature paused, as if examining him, then took off toward the forest. Without thinking, Harry took after it, the shouts of Ron and Hermione vaguely penetrating his mind. He heard them run after him, but for the moment he didn't care. He stumbled into the woods, and all his light faded. He reached quickly for his wand but it wasn't there.
"Lumos," he heard Hermione mutter. Ron quickly followed her example. Harry glanced around in the dim light of the two wands, the creature was gone. This allowed Harry to concentrate fully on his new problem, his wand was missing! He searched desperately for it turning his robes inside out. "What's wrong?" Hermione asked as they traveled deeper into the woods.
"My wand," Harry muttered checking his pockets again, though he knew very well it wasn't really there. "It's missing." Hermione and Ron looked at him as if he were insane. "I probably just left it back in the tent, we were in a hurry." Harry said not wanting to be the subject of any questioning.
"Speaking of hurry," Ron began, sounding rather out of breath. "What was your problem back there? Taking off like the entire bloody world was at your heels!" Ron snapped angrily. Harry shrugged slightly, how could he explain the creature to them? "There had to be something," Ron said his voice was still angry but there was a hint of something else hiding deep within the rage, concern. "Most people do NOT take off suddenly for no reason!"
"I saw…." Harry began, "this thing." Hermione looked at him worriedly. "A creature all black, claws, yellow eyes, only appearing in the shadows." Harry said, there was no way he could describe the chill he felt as those yellow eyes locked upon him. Something stirred in the bushes grabbing Harry's attention.
"MORSMORDRE!" a man's voice cried from a patch of Darkness. Harry watched as something green erupted from the patch and sky rocked into the air. There was a burst of green light and something was glittering above them. Harry saw Ron and Hermione look at it through the trees, and slowly the color drained from both their faces. Harry looked up, and for a moment he thought the patch of green might be a leprechaun formation, but it was a sign. A skull with a snake erupting from its mouth seemingly composed of green stars. Harry stared at it, confused then the voice came again.
Get down!
"DUCK!" Harry cried mimicking the voice's order. Ron, Hermione, and he dropped to the ground without question. As they did cries broke the silence and red beams of light shot over their heads. Harry felt the heat of the spells brush the hairs of his neck, they had come way too close to hitting him.
"Ron… Harry… Hermione… Are you all right?" Mr. Weasley asked shakily as he stepped from the shadows. Harry nodded getting to his feet. Mr. Weasley made his way through the fog- fog that was weird, Harry thought to himself. I don't remember it being foggy, wow that fog is thick…. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by someone talking, or rather shouting.
"Hurry this way! We don't have much time we need to get out of here!" the voice cried. This was not the same voice that Harry had been hearing too much of lately. No, this voice belonged to a girl, she couldn't have been any older then Harry. The girl sounded frightened, no not just frightened, terrified. He saw a hooded figure race past him. Nothing was visible of this person, only their dark outline through the thick clouds. The figure stopped in front of Harry, Harry figured they were facing away from him. Another hooded figure advanced into the fog, this one was taller, and appeared to be stronger. This one was floating in front of the first figure as if waiting.
"Give it up child," laughed an icy masculine voice. The man was not young, but not old either, his voice seemed to be utterly ageless. Harry felt Goosebumps prickling on his skin, that voice was low, completely the opposite of Voldemort. Yet, it was so dark, so utterly black; he could feel the evil radiating from the second shadowy figure. He knew the floating figure was the speaker. "Try as you might, you will never defeat the power of Darkness." The man laughed. At first it was a soft chuckle but soon it developed into a huge, horrible, hideous laugh.
"Never!" the girl's voice said again. Harry figured the first figure was the girl he had heard earlier. "Try as you might, you'll never defeat the power of light!" The girl yelled her voice strange with overwhelming emotion. Harry felt she was the one he wanted to win this battle.
"Ethne, Ethne, Ethne, you've come so far and still you understand nothing. I expected better of you child. I thought you would have realized by now that Darkness will overcome all worlds. For they were born within its depths, and that is where their end shall befall them. The heart is no different; Darkness sprouts within it, and consumes it. All hearts are like this even yours Ethne, even yours." The man said shaking his head. The two figures had come closer but Harry couldn't make out anything about them.
"Your wrong! The Heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in to the Darkness. But on my journeys, I've learned that deep down there's a light that never goes out!" The girl cried angrily. Harry nodded in agreement, so her name was Ethne, and he had yet to learn anything about the man. But something in Ethne's voice worried him, hidden under a thick mask of confidence, there was something else. Another emotion, growing within her voice, it was still a small amount, but it was enough to make Harry's heart drop. There it was, as hard as he tried he couldn't ignore it, for hiding in her confidence was doubt.
"Even you doubt your power." The man laughed, so he had noticed Ethne's self doubt as well. Harry didn't like where this battle was going, and he had a bad feeling about the end. The fog began to life slowly, the figures vanishing from his vision, but the man's last words still echoed in Harry's skull: "In the end Darkness shall once again conquer all." Again? Harry asked himself as he floated back to reality. A sudden, sharp, searing pain in his forehead distracted him from his questions momentarily. He reached up bringing his hand to his scar. The pain was unbearable, hot tears flowed down his cheeks, he was back all right. Lying on the cold grass of the forest, everyone leaning over him staring. Hermione and Ron looked like ghosts their pale faces almost glowing against the dark background of the trees. Everyone was leaning over him: Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Crouch, everyone.
"Harry dear boy!" Mr. Weasley cried his voice trembling so much that he could hardly speak. "What happened!?" Harry didn't answer. He couldn't. What happened, that was a hard question to answer when he didn't really know it himself.
"Mr. Weasley," Harry began quite aware that all ears were listening to him. He stopped, he'd talk to Dumbledor about it when he got to Hogwarts, or even better he'd write to Serious. There was no need to worry the entire Ministry over a few weird incidences. "I was tired." Harry said quickly. But suddenly he got a sinking feeling, something that had been nagging at him for a while but he just never noticed before. An icy lump in his chest, making breathing a difficult task, was telling him what he already knew. These dreams, these space outs, these visions of people were all warnings. Something bad was coming and, Harry dreaded to even think this, it was much worse then Voldemort. His suspicion was confirmed as a low hiss traveled through the wind reaching the ears of few people. But everyone saw the light as a blood red stream shot into the sky. There was a shower of crimson sparks that reminded Harry a little too much of blood raining from the sky, and a different symbol formed behind the skull. Harry's heart stopped; though he had no recognition of the symbol it filled him with dread. The shape appearing to be made completely of stars shimmered threateningly behind the skull. The shape was that of a heart with an X going through it.
Finally got a new chapter up! And a new character introduced! Sorry it took so long. Hope you like meeting Ethne ((Eth-nee)) and don't get too confused about what's happening to poor Harry. You'll learn as time goes on, please review! It'll help me get my next chapter up faster!