Author's Note: Thank you so much to Michelle for the review. This Chapter will have a little more Ron and Hermione in it for you. I do admit I have been leaving them out, though not entirely on purpose. I have been so focused on Rayne and Phoenix that I kind of forgot about them. Thanks for taking the time to read my fic! Everyone please read and review. It is so important! I need to hear what people have to say about this fic since I am absolutely in love with it.
Chapter 6: Harry's Offer
Harry sat still, reliving every moment of what he had just witnessed. He couldn't believe Rayne had made herself relive one of her most painful memories. He couldn't take it all in, he didn't know what to do or say. He was lost in his thoughts.
Rayne had figured he would be like this; she let him sit in silence until he was ready to start piecing together what he had just seen. She knew it would take time for Harry to accept the things she showed him. She knew once he started figuring things out, the dreaded questions would begin. Questions she knew he wasn't ready to hear the answers to but would demand them anyway.
Harry sat there starring into the fire. He had just seen murder, betrayal, and now knew why Phoenix and Rayne hated each other. She wasn't lying when she said she had dark secrets, he knew that now, but he also now needed answers. He gathered his thoughts.
"Rayne," he said calmly, I need to ask you something."
He watched her brace herself she looked at the floor. He wasn't surprised. He knew she was smart. She probably already knew the questions he was going to ask. He could tell.
"Rayne look at me." Harry said calmly.
She looked up. Her eyes were red and tears were now rolling heavily down her cheeks.
"Rayne look into my eyes," Harry coaxed her.
"Please don't make me." Rayne said desperately.
"Rayne no secrets, you promised. I gave you my word that it would be you and me from now on. I have to know what I am up against." Harry told her very seriously.
She knew he was right. She reluctantly made eye contact with him.
Over the years Harry had become more observant. Especially after the trick Voldemort played on him in his fifth year, causing the death of his Godfather, Sirius Black. Harry still had a tendency to rush into things without looking at the full picture, but this time, he was going to make sure he knew everything.
"Rayne, am I to understand that Phoenix Darklighter is none other than the Dark Wizard Merrick; the very same Merrick who at 15 years old went after Voldemort?" Harry said slowly trying to piece everything together.
"Yes, he is. The spell I put on him was only temporary. I was not powerful enough to permanently destroy him. That will not happen twice." Rayne told him honestly.
"How can someone be that powerful at 15? Most of the magic he used isn't even taught to seventh year students. Come to think of it, the same thing goes for you. You used spells that I hadn't even heard of, and I have been dealing with Voldemort for seven years." Harry was very curious as to the reasons behind the magic.
"My mother taught me everything about Dark Magic she knew. She started teaching me when I was five and could pronounce most of the incantations correctly. She made me read every book on the subject that was published. She also taught me how to fight as soon as I could walk. She always said that if I ever got into trouble, she knew I could take care of myself. Since Phoenix was my brother, he was taught the same. The only difference was that Phoenix was an evil conniving lunatic, and decided that he was too good for the rest of the world." Rayne told him.
"What was that blue light you were surrounded in?" He continued to question her.
"When I get angry, I have a tendency of unlocking a latent elemental power that I was born with. My one advantage over my brother is that he was not born with this ability. In order for him to access power such as mine, he has to resort to magical crystals, like the green one he had during our battle." Rayne replied.
"Phoenix knows you are here, and has many of the same classes you do. Why hasn't he already disposed of you?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore would find out who he was. He can't risk that. He knows Dumbledore brought me here and is watching over me. It would destroy his sick, twisted plan, whatever it is. Knowing Phoenix, he will continue where he left off." Rayne said in a low voice.
"So what if Phoenix destroys Voldemort. Then I won't have to do it." Harry said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Unfortunately, as much as you would love for that to happen, it won't. Phoenix probably knows of the Prophecy already. He will not go after Voldemort because he knows he can't defeat him. He knows it is your destiny. He will wait until Voldemort is disposed of, and then make his move. Phoenix always did plan carefully, I will give him that." Rayne replied.
"Do you think he will go and join forces with his father? He did mention that it was in you blood. If he joined forces with him, there would be two Dark Wizards against Voldemort." Harry speculated.
"That is VERY unlikely. He would never join forces with our father, because he sees our father as a loser. A half-blood that is a disgrace and isn't even worthy to be associated with him. Phoenix once told me that any Dark Lord who can't get thing right the first time around should be reprimanded because he obviously had a hard time and didn't think his plan through, but when he can't get things done the second time around he should be killed so as to not disgrace the respect that the title Dark Wizard brings." Rayne revealed one of her more disturbing memories of Phoenix.
"Did he kill your father?" Harry was now prying her to see how much she would reveal to him.
"No. He did not. I got to him first that fateful night." Rayne said sadly.
Harry couldn't take it any longer. He had to ask the question that he had wanted to from the start.
"Rayne," he paused as if thinking if he really should ask this question, "Who exactly is your father?" Harry let the question come out slowly.
"Please don't make me answer that." Rayne said now looking down to the ground. A single tear came down her cheek.
She had feared this question most of all.
"No secrets." Was all Harry had to say.
"I don't think you are ready to hear it yet." Rayne replied sadly.
"Just tell me" Harry said patiently "I promise I won't tell anyone, I am the secret keeper remember?"
Rayne looked him directly in the eyes.
"Voldemort." She said dead serious.
The answer hit Harry like a ton of bricks.
"No" he whispered.
First he felt shock and them he felt anger welling up within him, she was the daughter of his worst enemy. She was the daughter of the person who had killed his Parents, his Godfather, and countless friends and there family members. He tried to contain his rage. He tried to calm himself down.
Rayne could see it in his eyes, she feared that this was the end, he would betray her secret, and he would hate her and judge her by who her father, whom she hated with all the fires of hell, was. She waited for the yelling to start. She closed her eyes and waited.
But it never came.
She slowly opened her eyes, and found herself starring directly into Harry's emerald green ones.
"You are not yelling." She stated half serious half disbelieving.
"No Rayne, I am not. I now understand an awful lot though. I know why you came to me, looking for me." He said in a soothing voice.
"You don't hate me?" She said in disbelief. Not understanding how he could go from being so angry to being so calm that quickly. Harry had really grown up.
"After what I just saw, how could I. You aren't like them Rayne. Either of them. Something in you is very different. Why else on earth would the daughter of Lord Voldemort be a Gryffindor. You aren't afraid of him; you came looking for me because you knew that I am the only one who can destroy him. You need help with Phoenix, you do not know his next move or who he is going to use against you. You know it is going to be bad whatever it is. That is why you said we could only trust each other. I promise Rayne, I will never betray you. I will not leave you. We were both alone. Our loved ones murdered at the hands of Voldemort and his son. We have an upper hand on them now Rayne. We have each other. I understand why it has to be just you and me. I accept that. You and I will be each others family. You are the only person I have ever met that has a clue about what I feel and have been through. I have been waiting my whole life to meet someone like you. I will never let you down." Harry told her reassuringly.
Rayne was in shock. He had figured it all out. She had to admit this was the very last thing she expected.
Rayne couldn't help herself. She threw her arms around Harry and gave him the biggest hug she could manage between sobs. Harry just held her knowing he had finally found someone who truly understood. They knew they would never be alone again, and for them that was the best feeling in the world.
"Rayne," Harry whispered into her hair after looking at his watch and seeing it was 3:30 am, "Why don't you try sleeping tonight."
"Harry, I haven't slept in two years. I have been using an energy spell to keep me alert and awake. What if Phoenix's cohorts come for me? I can't be caught off guard. I am all that stands in his way you know. My staying awake means keeping everyone here alive." She told him matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"As long as I am around, I can negate his telepathic powers. I am the only one powerful enough to do so. He can't put students in a mind spell as long as I am near him" Rayne revealed.
"So you are telling me that he has no power over you because your family." Harry realized aloud.
"Exactly, but he might be able to get you or anyone else for that matter under his mind control. That is why I must help you, I must develop your powers so that you too can be resistant to him." Rayne told him.
"Rayne you can sleep, Gryffindor is protected, and he can't get in here." Harry informed her.
"But what if he controls a Gryffindor and they give him the password, or worse do his dirty work for him." Rayne countered.
"Rayne, I won't let them hurt you. I will protect you." Harry told her.
"I will not question you, I promised that, but I can't trust anyone but you and especially not my roommates, who will be Phoenix's first targets once he figures out who they are. You are not allowed in the girls dormitories and could not help me if they attacked in the middle of the night, so therefore I can't sleep." Rayne reasoned.
"Sleep in my room then." Harry said rather bluntly.
"WHAT!?" Rayne squeaked.
"I said come sleep in my room." Harry repeated.
"What about your roommates, I can't trust them either." Rayne stated.
"Actually Rayne, I don't have any roommates. I was given my own room after fifth year, with special protection spells on it, due to my popularity with Voldemort , the Death Eaters and their children." Harry informed her.
"I would have to place extra protection spells around the room." Rayne was trying to get out of his offer.
"Then do what you must, but you need to rest." Harry refused to give an inch on the subject.
"Fine," she said in defeat.
She stood up grabbed Stormy, who had been nestled on a couch in the common room after she was rudely awakened by the hug. They headed up the stairs as they reached the top, Rayne suddenly stopped.
"Harry, what about the alarms?" Rayne said as she went to turn back down the stairs.
"There are no alarms on my room. Hermione and Ron are in there all the time. Dumbledore removed them so we could have meetings." He said grabbing her hand and continuing to lead the way.
"I see" Rayne whispered.
Harry opened his door and Rayne stepped inside. She noticed the quiddich banners and Gryffindor colored themes all around the room. She saw the room was fairly neat and then she took two steps backwards. Her stuff was sitting in the corner of the room, with a note on top. She picked up the parchment and read it.
Miss Solara,
It has come to our attention that your name has been added to Voldmort's most wanted list, right after our own Mister Potter's. We have not yet figured out the reason for this recent addition. We have decided for the time being it is better for you two to stick together as much as possible in order for us to protect you best. Please do not take offense to our decision to have you room with Mister Potter. We simply want you in the place you will be most protected. You will find all of your stuff here and also that all of you classes have been changed to match each others schedules. Again please stick together as much as possible. Two heads are better than one.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster
"Well, I guess that solves that problem." Rayne said as she handed Harry the letter.
"We are going to have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow when the school finds out." Harry sighed.
"They aren't going to find out because we aren't going to tell them" Rayne said, "with both of us in the same place at all times, we are prime targets 24/7."
"Rayne, how are we going to keep this from the school?" Harry said rather amused.
Rayne was silent.
"Exactly, we aren't and by tomorrow the whole wizarding world will know your name was added to the list. We are absolutely safe in this room. We can't be touched here." Harry reassured her. "Dumbledore wouldn't allow it. And he is the only person Voldemort is afraid of."
"Phoenix isn't afraid of him though." Rayne said worriedly.
"Not even Phoenix can break these walls. As long as we are in here, we are safe." Harry said comfortingly.
"You are right. I will not live in fear, they only feed on that. As long as we are together we are stronger than they could ever imagine. That is why I sought you out. After the fifth year battle, you broke my curse on Phoenix. You have the power to face Voldemort; I just have to show you how. I need to teach you his greatest weaknesses, but that will take time." Rayne reasoned with herself aloud.
"I already know his greatest weakness though," Harry said. "Love."
"Yes, but you don't know how to use it against him in the most effective means possible." She paused, "Harry, your mother's love saved your life, but it is going to take something way stronger than that to defeat Voldemort." Rayne said forebodingly.
"Well I have a feeling you are going to teach me how." Harry said with a smile.
"I am going to try." Rayne said.
"Ummm Harry, I don't see a second bed here. Where am I going to sleep." She said suddenly noticing the lack of bed space.
"Well they said we should be together at all times, I guess that means in sleep too." Harry said with a grin.
"Harry, no way, it is a twin size bed. How are we going to fit on it?!" Rayne was now getting flustered.
"How about a transfiguration spell." Harry suggested
"Aaauughhh!" Rayne cried "...my worst subject."
"Wait a minute, you are actually bad at something, I don't believe it!" Harry said laughing. "You blew me away today in all the classes."
"Yeah, but I spent so much time studying that other stuff, I never had the time to squeeze in transfiguration. I had bigger fish to fry." She said a little indignantly.
Harry was now on his feet. He pointed his wand at the bed and said "Gigantoco!"
The bed grew from a twin to a king size.
"There is that better, good thing this room is big enough." He said.
"Much better thank you." She said as she headed toward the private bathroom.
As she took a shower, Harry sat on the bed thinking about today. As Rayne emerged in her pajamas, Harry really noticed her for the first time. She was actually very attractive. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Harry.
"What are we supposed to say tomorrow?" she asked.
"Well, I suggest we don't let anyone in this room ever again, not even Ron or Hermione. Like you said, we can't trust anyone but ourselves." Harry said.
"I think we should leave everyone guessing. Let's not tell them anything, that way they can only guess." Rayne told him.
"That actually is a good idea. People are going to wonder if we are unofficially attached at the hip, because I am not going to leave your side ever again." Harry said jokingly.
"Really?" Rayne said in a lightly sarcastic tone, "What about bathroom use. You can do that on your own can't you?"
Harry smiled. "I will let you know when I can't"
Suddenly Harry felt a pillow smack him in the head.
"I guess I deserved that. He laughed.
"Rayne," he scooted over to her side of the bed and grabbed her shoulder. "They will never catch us off guard again, even if they think they have, they really haven't. You will never be out of my site, even if that means taking you into the bathroom with me." He said, his voice dead serious.
"I appreciate that more than you will ever know." She said back to him.
She hugged him one more time, and got under the covers. He moved to his side and quickly fell asleep.
It as about 5 am when Rayne was suddenly jolted out of her sleep by a thrashing Harry. She could tell he was having a nightmare, and it must have been pretty bad to get that kind of reaction from him. She tried to shake him awake while calling his name, but it didn't work. It had to be another dream that Voldemort plagued, the kind you can't wake up from until he has had his way with you. She was not going to let Voldemort torture him any longer. She leaned over him. She brought her lips to his and whispered "Legilimens" then kissed him with all the passion she had inside her.
Suddenly Harry felt Voldemort withdraw screaming in agony, he wondered what had caused it, but he knew that now instead of pain, he felt wonderful, and he knew that whatever had made him suddenly feel that way was causing Voldemort more pain than Harry had ever caused him. He felt a presence in his mind, he knew it was Rayne, she was holding Voldemort back, torturing him making him scream. He slipped back into a peaceful sleep, knowing that Rayne was protecting him. Once Rayne felt Harry relax, she stopped. She was just sliding away from him when his arms shot up and grabbed her. He had woken up before she could remove herself from over his chest.
"Rayne, how did you do it? How did you get him to go away?" Harry whispered softly still half sleeping.
"I simply used his greatest weakness against him." She said.
His grip did not lighten up he pulled her into his arms and just said " Thank you."
It was the most heartfelt thank you she had ever received.
"I will always protect you." She whispered back.
"And I you." he said before he fell asleep again.
Rayne and Harry awoke around 9 the next morning.
"Good thing we don't have class till 10 today" she said laughing. "I have never slept this late in my life."
"You don't know what you are missing." he said to her from the bathroom where he was currently getting ready.
"I'm starving, how about you?" she asked.
"Ready to face the school?" He replied.
"As ready as I will ever be." She said as she finished getting ready.
They walked down the stairs together talking about the reaction they were going to get, when Harry came face to face with Ron and Hermione.
"Hey guys." Harry said with a smile.
They didn't even notice Rayne standing behind him.
"Harry, where have you been, the whole school is talking about You Know Who." Ron said in a panic.
Harry found it rather upsetting that after seven years of fighting Voldemort, Ron still could not ay his name. Harry hated that.
"Yeah guess who is number 2 on his hit list." An excited Hermione cut in.
"I Am." came a voice from behind Harry.
Ron and Hermione became deadly silent. Rayne stepped out from behind Harry.
"And I already knew that." Harry said to them.
"Hi, Rayne, we didn't see you come down the stairs. And Harry how did you already know? The Daily Prophet just arrived and you don't get a copy." Hermione observed suspiciously.
"We are on our way to Breakfast, would you like to join us?" Rayne offered politely avoiding Hermiones rapid fire questioning.
"Sure," Ron said "come on Hermione let's go."
Ron was giving Hermione one of his, we have to find out why looks. The four started down to the great hall. They ate breakfast in an awkward silence. Ron and Hermione couldn't believe that Harry wasn't telling them everything. They usually couldn't shut him up. Now he was only talking about classes and boring stuff.
"Harry, I have had quite enough, you have avoided, my questions long enough, you had better tell me what is going on." Hermione scolded him.
"Hermione, I can't tell you why Voldemort is after Rayne, no one knows, but they are investigating it." Harry lied.
"Who is investigating it?" Hermione asked.
"Dumbledore and the Order. I got a letter from Dumbledore this morning telling me about Rayne's addition to the list. That is how I knew." Harry replied half telling the truth.
"Well we expect to be the first to know if they find anything out." Ron chimed in.
"Rayne, aren't you scared. What did you do to him that you are number 2." Hermione asked her.
"Well, whatever I did, it was nothing compared to what Harry did to him, or else I would be number one wouldn't I." She said with a light smile and a laugh.
"Rayne, how can you be happy about this! You should be absolutely terrified." Ron said looking at her as if she was a lunatic.
"I fear no one, and if Voldemort does happen to be unfortunate enough to cross my path, he will have a hell of a fight on his hands." She replied in a more serious tone.
"Harry, we have to get going to Muggle studies." Ron said.
Hermione nodded in agreement. They got up, but Harry didn't move.
"Harry, aren't you coming?" Hermione said tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.
"Actually, there has been a change in my schedule as of this morning; I have Advanced Care of Magical creatures with Rayne." He told them.
They stared at him for a minute and then shrugged, said good bye and went on there way. Harry watched them as they left. Ron had put his arm around Hermione's shoulder as they were walking out of the Great Hall. They looked so happy, so in love. He suddenly felt horribly guilty about lying to them.
"I hope they aren't to upset" Rayne said.
"Don't worry about them, they will get over it. They have each other after all." Harry said.
They got up and headed toward their class.
