Chapter 15: Mind Over Matter

It was just as dark and damp as Harry remembered. He and Snape lit their wands and slowly made their way through the tunnel to the Chamber. Harry was doing everything he could to keep from breaking into a run, but as the pain in his scar gradually intensified, his anxiety kept increasing and he couldn't stop imagining every last worst case scenario they could find.

After a while they reached a huge pile of rock piled on top of a giant green snakeskin that was blocking the tunnel. A hole was visible at the top that was just big enough for a man to get through.

"We should move some of this rock while we wait for the others," Snape said. "So we can get through quickly. Deletrius!" They started disintegrating the rock a little at a time.

They had just made a sizable hole when Harry heard a scream. "Ginny!" he cried. Before Snape could catch him he scrambled through the hole and ran all the way to the door of the Chamber.

"Open!" Harry yelled. The door didn't budge; his voice must have not translated into Parseltongue. He kicked the door in frustration and glared up at the snakes engraved on it. "I said 'open'!" he snarled. The serpents parted and the door slowly slid open. He tore through and continued running without paying too much attention to where he was going.

"Impedimenta!" Harry suddenly heard someone say. He felt like he had run into a brick wall. He fell on his back, the wind knocked out of him. That was when he finally looked around.

In front of him was the half-decayed carcass of the basilisk Harry killed four years ago, which was moved to encircle the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin. Around the statue's neck was a long chain, and suspended from that chain by her wrists was Ginny. Her eyes were wide with fright and her face looked a little green as she hung limply from her restraints. To his left a crowd of Death Eaters stood laughing and pointing at him, and to his right, wearing a satisfied smile, was Voldemort.

"Well, it appears he does care for you," Voldemort joked to Ginny. "I was beginning to wonder; he took so long to get here." Ginny made a feeble attempt to squeeze her hands out of the chains, without success. Amused, he turned back to Harry. Suddenly he raised his wand. "Incarcerous!" he yelled.

Harry threw himself to the side to escape the ropes that flew out the tip of Voldemort's wand, but the ropes weren't for him. He turned back and gasped when he saw Snape lying on the ground, his hands and feet bound and his wand lying just out of reach. The Death Eaters suddenly got very quiet.

"Ah, a double treat!" Voldemort said delightedly. "Severus, old friend, so good to see you again." Harry pulled himself to his feet and scrambled out of the way as Voldemort slowly approached Snape. But one of the Death Eaters broke away from the group and reached him first.

"Crucio!" he yelled. Snape screamed and fought against his restraints as he writhed in pain. "How dare you...I trusted you...let you into my home...my son even admired you!" With each accusation he spat out Snape seemed to scream louder.

Finally Harry couldn't take it anymore. "Contego!" he yelled as he ran between them. A white flash of light exploded from the tip of his wand and split into two large wings that wrapped around him and Snape. It intercepted the spell, which bounced off a wing and shot into the crowd of Death Eaters. The shield went down again just in time for Harry to see one of them scream and fall to the ground.

Voldemort chuckled. "Well well, it looks like you've learned a few new tricks," he commented. "This should make things interesting. No Lucius, it's alright; Severus isn't going anywhere. We'll have plenty of time to deal with him later. I waited five years; what's a few more hours? Though I must say Severus, I was very disappointed in you when I heard you speaking to Quirrell the way you did. To think you could be convinced by that Muggle-loving fool to leave us...yes, there will be plenty of time to deal with you later."

Harry's head felt like it was going to split open. As Voldemort walked back to Ginny, Harry's anger built up so strongly that he could hardly stand the pain.

"You have a nice girlfriend here, Harry," Voldemort continued. "Rather needy though; she's been crying for you the entire time she was down here. Weren't you?" Ginny glared at Voldemort and turned her head away. "Weren't you?" Voldemort repeated forcefully, but Ginny remained defiant. Voldemort pointed his wand at her. "Imperio!"

Ginny's eyes immediately glazed over as her head lolled back. "Harry! Harry save me!" she cried over and over again.

Voldemort smiled and, keeping his wand trained on Ginny, inclined his head toward Harry. "So how have you been, Harry? Doing well?" he said casually as if he was catching up with an acquaintance.

Harry screwed his eyes shut against the pain, but he could still hear Ginny's pleas. He could feel his legs crumbling under him as the pain became more and more unbearable. Can't handle it, can't handle it, he thought hopelessly as he fell to his knees.

Clear your mind, a voice suddenly said in his head.

Harry gasped when he recognized the voice and whirled around to see Snape staring intently at him. Help is coming, Snape continued. We can't fight them ourselves, not in this state, but we can stay alive long enough for help to come. But it depends on you. We won't even be able to survive if you can't fight.

But the pain...I can't take it...

Have I taught you nothing this entire year? CLEAR YOUR MIND.

Harry clamped his hands over his ears and closed his eyes in an effort to shut out what was going on around him. Slowly, painfully, he took a few deep breaths and worked to clear his mind of every thought, every emotion that he had at that moment.

Suddenly he found that the pain was receding. He cautiously opened his eyes and lifted his head. Voldemort was still torturing Ginny, the Death Eaters were still absorbed with watching the spectacle, but Harry's mind was now somewhat clear. He forced himself to concentrate on helping them all survive so he wouldn't lose his nerve.

Harry surveyed the scene. Snape was right; he wouldn't be able to fight all of them, but if he could take out some he might be able to at least get Ginny down and out of the way. He'd need help though...he looked down at Snape. Casually, Harry stepped in front of him and let his wand arm swing down toward Snape's bound hands. "Diffindo," he whispered. Then he nonchalantly kicked Snape's wand toward him and positioned himself so that Voldemort and the Death Eaters couldn't see what Snape was doing.

"I'm doing pretty well, thank you," Harry yelled out in answer. Voldemort whirled around in surprise, abruptly pulling the Imperius Curse off Ginny. Ginny blinked, her mind free again, and glanced at Harry. That's it, Harry thought, I'm the one you want, just get away from her...

"Yeah, I just finished my exams; I think I did alright," Harry continued as pleasantly as he could manage. "Oh, and Gryffindor beat Slytherin in Quidditch again for the fifth straight year! We just won the Quidditch Cup! That's always a highlight for me." The Death Eaters muttered angrily at what Harry said. Voldemort's eyes narrowed to slits and his grip tightened on his wand as he stepped toward Harry. "So how have you been? Keeping busy?"

"Yes, I've been quite busy..."

"Funny, you didn't look very busy the last time I saw you. You were hiding in some dark room complaining that you had nothing to do." Harry was shocked at the amount of nerve he was showing, talking to Voldemort that way.

"How dare you, you insufferable, annoying, insignificant--"

"If I'm so insignificant, why were you obsessing over how you could get rid of me? Answer that, Voldemort!"

Everyone in the Chamber gasped. Voldemort's eyes widened in rage. "You...have aggravated me...for...the last...time...POTTER!" he snarled through his bared teeth. His wand arm raised toward Harry as if in slow motion.

Suddenly a red light flashed past Harry's legs at the Death Eaters. One of them cried out as he fell to the ground. Voldemort whirled around. "Wha--?"

Harry didn't even blink. "Impedimenta!" he yelled, his wand pointed straight at Voldemort. Voldemort barely had time to turn back to Harry in shock before he was pushed back with a force so strong that it slammed him against one of the serpentine columns, knocking him unconscious.

Snape was shooting Stunning Spells at the Death Eaters so fast they didn't know what to do. They were in complete chaos as they rushed to put up some sort of defense. Harry ran past them without a second glance, blindly shooting a few Stunning Spells of his own in their direction. The only thought in his mind at that moment was getting to Ginny.

"Reducto!" Harry yelled, blasting the basilisk's corpse in two and forming a large gap to run through. He aimed his wand right above Ginny's hands and blasted the chains apart. Ginny fell like a limp rag doll toward Harry's outstretched arms...

A lone Death Eater stepped away from the confusion around him. "I don't think so," he said in a drawling voice as he raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry felt like a knife had cut into his back and all his energy was gushing out of that wound as he stepped between the deadly curse and Ginny. His legs buckled uselessly under him as her weight hit his arms and pulled him down. He could feel his blood pounding into his head as he gasped in agony for air that couldn't seem to get past his throat.

A red light seemed to fill the Chamber and everyone around them started screaming, but Harry was only vaguely aware of it all. His eyes fell shut as his lifeless body hit the ground.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying in a forest clearing. The fragrant green grass was lush and soft, and it was with great reluctance that he pulled himself up into a standing position. All around him majestic pine trees reached up toward a clear blue sky. Asoft breeze blew gently through their branches as the singing of a hundred little songbirds carried through the air.

He was wandering through the forest, staring in awe at all the life and beauty surrounding him, when he suddenly found himself at the bank of a river. He looked at the other side just in time to see a magnificent stag step out from behind a tree. It stepped gingerly through a multitude of red and yellow flowers as it gazed intently at him. Every fiber of his body tingled with excitement as he approached the bank.

He was just about to step into the water when he heard a vaguely familiar voice behind him, calling to him. It was a girl's voice--she sounded anxious. As he turned around and listened to her call, something deep down in his heart tugged and he was filled with longing to return to that voice. He turned back to the river--and to the stag--torn about what to do.

The stag's eyes grew bright as it slowly nodded its head, seemingly to give its permission to him to go. He gazed at the beautiful animal for one more moment before he turned to walk back.

Gradually, his footsteps quickened and soon he was running through the forest. As he ran, the voice became clearer:

HARRY! Harry please don't be dead..."

As he continued on, he became aware of other sounds: voices shouting, people running, spells blasting into walls. When he reached the clearing again, a wall of fire stood before him that, oddly enough, did not burn the vegetation around him. He shut his eyes and held his breath, bracing himself as he ran through the fire, and suddenly felt like he was falling, as if he had just ran off a cliff. He took a gasp of air, opened his eyes...

...and looked up into the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen. Harry smiled.

"Ginny," he whispered. He reached up and touched Ginny's wet cheek. Her lip trembled as tears flowed down her face again. Then Harry's hand fell as he lost consciousness.

A/N: The forest scene was adapted from Canto XXVIII of "Purgatorio" in Dante's Divine Comedy. You already know where all the rest of the inspiration came from.