Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, and I never will! (Sobs) Just leave me alone!
AN: Victim number four meets Dark Harry, today on Dark Rage! (My sad, sad attempt at… a semblance of an intro.)
Chapter 6 Shadows of the Past
Darkness, everywhere. Harry Potter found himself standing in nothingness, a void, where darkness was all there was.
"You killed me Harry."
Harry's head whipped around to see Remus Lupin standing there bloodied and beaten, gaunt and dead.
"You didn't kill Wormtail. You killed me." Remus said accusingly, glaring at Harry with lifeless eyes.
"I-No! I didn't!" Harry protested, but he couldn't help the half-heartedness in his voice.
"You killed me too, Harry."
Now, standing next to the lifeless Remus, was the lifeless corpse of Sirius Black, standing there and glaring at him too. "You killed me. You killed me, I loved you and you killed me!"
"I DIDN'T!" Harry screamed, but even he didn't believe himself.
"Is this what we died for Harry? So that you could kill our best friends, except for the one who betrayed us!"
Now Harry turned and saw his parent's bodies glaring at him, and he found himself losing to the darkness…
"You brought me back, Potter." A familiar, chilling voice hissed softly.
Now Harry, instead of standing in front of the bodies of Remus, Sirius, and his parents, was standing in front of Lord Voldemort, who looked stronger than ever. "Thank you Potter. I knew that you would kill this entire world."
"I DIDN'T! YOU DID! WORMTAIL DID!" Harry screamed, yet a voice within him, a voice disagreed.
Suddenly the darkness screamed and twisted, and Harry lost himself within them, falling into an endless abyss that drowned him in darkness.
Now, Harry found himself standing in front of burning rubble of a building. Blood soaked every stone, leaving a look of red sandstone and paint everywhere.. Lying on the stone floor were Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonogall, everyone he knew, dead. Then he noticed the four cracked tables and torn tapestries of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Hogwarts.
Harry looked around for a gloating Voldemort, but found Voldemort dead too, crucified against a wall. Every Death Eater lay everywhere, dead, twisted and mutilated. Their blood also soaked the stone, coating them with natural crimson paint, the lifeblood of purebloods.
One thought echoed within him. Who did this?
Then Harry heard a scream, and laughter that froze his veins. He ran, amid the burning wreckage, and found himself horrified by the image in front of him, unable to move.
Lying against the wall, naked, bleeding, lifeless, with hundreds of tiny cuts and lifeless eyes, was Ginny. Lively, wonderful, lovely Ginny, dead against the wall.
Standing in front of her was a man of average build, his black hair and clothes indistinguishable from the black night. Harry knew without a doubt that this was who killed everyone.
"Who are you!" Harry roared, charging at the man, but when he turned, Harry was frozen on the spot.
It was himself. It was another Harry Potter, standing there, in black clothes and with black eyes uninhibited by glasses, but it was himself. There was no doubt. It was his mirror image, a twisted mirror at that, standing in front of him. His eyes, unlike Harry's emerald ones which showed his emotions most of the time, were an abyss. It felt as if his very core, his soul was being drawn into those eyes, and consumed within them.
"What the-What the hell is going on!"
His other self began laughing, and Harry sank to his knees, sank into an abyss of despair once more, amid the dead bodies of his everything he had ever known and in the wreckage of his only home.
The Weasleys and Hermione, who had been clustered around Harry's hospital bed, lightly dozing, were rudely awakened when said boy began screaming, jerking straight upright with the most horrified expression etched on his face.
Harry didn't know how long he screamed, but he didn't think it was enough. He looked around though, and saw all the Weasleys standing around him, looking concerned. Ron looked slightly uncomfortable, but stood close by. Harry, despite all the bad feelings that had happened between them, grabbed Ron and pulled him into a hug, to reassure him that Ron, and therefore everyone was alive. "You're not dead…" He whispered, before releasing Ron.
"You poor dear, it must have been a terrible nightmare." Mrs. Weasley said soothingly.
"Terrible. I killed everyone. Remus, Sirius, my parents-" Harry said quietly, not looking up, but Hermione cut him off.
"You didn't kill Sirius or your parents. Remus is still alive. You have nothing to be guilty for." Hermione said, trying to be as supportive as she could, to make up for everything.
"But I killed all of you. I killed Voldemort (Ignoring the winces from everyone present), his Death Eaters, but you guys too. All of you. I destroyed Hogwarts, and razed it to the ground." Harry said shakily.
"You didn't, Harry." Ginny said, tugging on Harry's arm. Ginny looked uncomfortable, still seeing that face Harry had made back in Diagon Alley. Harry's head jerked up, and he grabbed Ginny and hugged her too. "I killed you last… But it wasn't me! It looked like me, but I was looking at it!" Harry cried out, distraught.
Ginny pulled back and looked him squarely in the eye. "Then it wasn't you. It looked like you, but it wasn't you."
Harry seemed to calm down with that, and remembered something else. "Remus! Is he okay!" Harry cried out, trying to get to his feet, but Ginny and Hermione pushed him down.
"He's… hurt bad Harry. But they say he'll make it. Dumbledore will make sure of it. Trust him." Hermione said softly.
Harry snorted at trusting Dumbledore. Ginny decided to step in now.
"Harry, I don't know what your problem is with Dumbledore and I don't care! He's the one that pulled you out of that shop window, before he even glanced at Remus. He cares about you damn it, and this feud between you two is hurting both of you! So suck it up!" Ginny yelled, remembering how old and tired Dumbledore looked when he came out of that shop, how weak he seemed.
It seemed to strike a nerve with Harry. "He cares, because he needed to make sure his chances for winning are still intact," Harry sneered, "Nothing more."
Everyone seemed taken aback by Harry's vehement and venomous response, even Ginny. Before they could respond, a Healer bustled in to check on Harry, and ushered everyone out so he could rest.
Harry was afraid to slip back into the nightmare, but the fatigue soaked into every pore and bone in his body caught up with him, and he was dragged back down to the land of dreams and nightmares.
Harry, despite very vocal protesting when he woke up by the Weasleys, Hermione, and most of the medical staff, forced them to let him see Remus. He'd be damned if he let the last true Marauder alone in a hospital. Not when it was his fault.
As Harry reached the room, Dumbledore stepped behind him. "I should have known you'd go here, Harry." The aged wizard said gently.
"I am quite predictable. But I guess you know that, don't you?" Harry asked, grasping the doorknob so tightly it could have popped off. He did not want to see Dumbledore, illustrated literally as he had not even glanced back at the Headmaster's direction.
"I'm not here to stop you Harry. Go on, go inside. I'll wait out here. I have things to discuss with Remus." Dumbledore said, nodding towards Harry.
"I don't need your permission," Harry said quietly, but went inside.
Albus Dumbledore sighed. Harry's trust was easy to obtain, but harder to regain. He just hoped one day, the Boy-Who-Lived would allow him back in.
Harry crept in slowly, hesitantly. Guilt weighed on him heavily, so much you could see it. Or smell it Remus' case.
"Stop feeling so guilty, Harry." Remus said sternly, which was quite an accomplishment for a man looking like death warmed over.
"But-If I let you kill Peter the first time none of this-" Harry started, but Remus cut him off, managing a slight glare from his eyes.
"If you had, we'd have been no better than Peter. Besides, Sirius would never have had a chance to get free if we did." Remus replied, forcing more strength into his voice. What was unsaid was that Sirius would never be free now. Not in the regular sense, anyway.
They stood (or lay, in Remus' case) in silence for a moment. Finally, Remus coughed, and broke the silence with his voice a moment later. "Harry, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you throughout your life, and it doesn't look like I'll be there for the rest of it, either-" Remus began, but Harry cut him off.
"You have to live! Please Remus, don't leave me too! I couldn't bear it!" Harry pleaded, grasping Remus' shoulders tightly.
Remus smiled at Harry, touched by the Boy-Who-Lived's concern. "It doesn't look too good Harry. The doctors are hopeful, but it's still uncertain. I just don't want to leave without telling you that." Remus said softly.
"I don't want you to leave!" Harry cried out.
"I don't either Harry," Remus whispered soothingly, "But we can't have everything we want. Life is short. I learned that lesson fifteen years ago."
Harry didn't need to think about what had taught Remus that lesson. The day all of his best friends left him. "You can't leave Remus. Please." Harry whispered.
"I'll try, Harry." Remus whispered, but suddenly he began coughing violently. Harry looked up in horror, before a bit of blood flew from Remus' mouth and right against Harry's cheek. Harry didn't even notice, he went outside quickly and saw Dumbledore.
Despite everything that had happened, Dumbledore was still powerful, and could help Remus. "Professor Dumbledore, Remus! He's-" Harry began, but Dumbledore understood, his face going grave and quickly, he called out for a Healer, and went inside.
Harry was about to follow, when a Healer pushed him out. "Sorry kid," the Healer whispered, "But no minors allowed."
Harry was about to protest when the door slammed. He was out of the loop again.
The Boy-Who-Lived began swearing violently, throwing a violent fit, feeling anger and rage course through his veins. If only he had let Remus and Sirius kill Wormtail, this wouldn't have happened. None of it. Harry screamed and punched the wall, feeling the pain and taking it, allowing him to feel something other than rage, anger, and numbness.
"Harry?"
The sound of Ginny's voice cut through his anger for a moment, and Harry managed a choked "Remus."
Ginny gasped. "Is he-"
"He's… in bad shape. Worse than I thought. It's all my fault." Harry said dejectedly, and began walking towards his room.
"Its not Harry." Ginny said, running to catch up to Harry, but Harry's furious pace was faster and he reached his room, and slammed the door, with a "Yes it is!"
"Harry! Open this door! Its not your fault!" Ginny yelled.
"Leave me alone!" Harry screamed, and his voice seemed to change a little, getting ethereal, with darker tone to it. It frightened Ginny, reminding her of the diary, once more. The parallels between Harry and Tom seemed endless.
Then there was silence.
Wormtail sat in a deserted corner of Riddle Manor. Although his master was pleased with Wormtail seriously injuring the werewolf, not capturing Harry Potter, and even getting injured by him, was a grave disappointment.
His voice was still hoarse from all the screaming he had done.
No one else was there, having dispersed after regrouping, Wormtail had been designated keeper of the Manor, which was considered a worthless job, for a worthless rat, Bellatrix had once commented before she disappeared. After all, one could not wander around when one was considered dead by society.
Voldemort was deeply angered by the loss of his prodigy, but pleased with two top ministry officials, and the two being the Minister and his Undersecratary, to boot, disappearing as well. It seemed a third party had taken up a role in the war.
Wormtail shivered for a moment, feeling an intense cold settle over him, a numbing, freezing cold that seemed deeper than physical, as if freezing his very soul.
It grew darker, but again, this was one of the hot spots for Voldemort's operations. Creepy things didn't happen here, they lived here.
But then something happened that was beyond the norm for a hideout of the Dark Lord. After all, the archenemy of the Dark Lord, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry James Potter, does not normally appear within the bowels of one of the main fortress of said Dark Lord.
He looked different, from the abyss like midnight black eyes, to the similarly colored clothing, to the lack of his trademark beaten and worn wire glasses, to the fact that his very presence seemed to warp the area. All in all, an intimidating sight, especially for cowards.
"Hello Peter." Harry greeted cheerfully, as if he was greeting an old friend he had not seen in a long time.
"He-He-hello, Harry." Wormtail greeted cautiously, not expecting such a tone of voice from the son of the people he betrayed. He reached for his wand, when suddenly he froze.
His hand stopped short, and stopped responding to him. It was as if he didn't have it anymore. Then, his wand was gone, and into the hands of Harry Potter, who looked bemused.
"Naughty, naughty." The demon said softly, looking and sounding like a father catching a son having too many sweets. "Were you planning to curse me again, Peter?"
Peter Pettigrew simply looked at him, about to piss his pants.
Suddenly, there was only darkness where Harry Potter had once stood.
"Boo."
Peter screamed, and felt uncomfortable warmth within his lower part of his robes. He was white as a ghost, and looked about ready to faint.
He turned shakily to see the grinning Harry Potter behind him, a demonic glint in his eyes. "You afraid of ghosts?" The demon asked softly. "Are you afraid one day the Marauders will show up, haunting you?"
Now the rat Animagus was far too pale, even for a ghost.
"Maybe we should find out what they would say, hm?" Dark Harry asked, looking thoughtful. He disappeared again.
All of a sudden, a very familiar sound, an impossibly familiar voice, that the balding, portly man had heard many times in his youth, called out. "Hello, Wormtail."
Wormtail, if he could have, would have shat on the spot. It was impossible. Improbable. And Harry Potter had done it anyway.
Standing around him, reunited at last, were the Marauders.
Prongs, alias James Potter, stood in front of him, glaring at him.
Next to him, was Padfoot, alias Sirius Black, looking at him so hatefully the words death glare did not do it justice.
Finally, on the other side of Prongs, was Moony, alias Remus Lupin, who glared as well.
They were also looking like ghosts. But it was impossible. The ghosts of two of those men had never shown up, and Remus Lupin, last he heard, was still alive.
"You killed us Wormtail." Sirius whispered.
"You sold us out." Remus said.
"You betrayed the Marauders, you betrayed your friends. How could you?" Prongs asked, his voice a deadly whisper, like a small but deadly dagger.
"Prongs… Padfoot… Moony…" Wormtail whispered helplessly.
"HOW COULD YOU!" They all yelled in unison, their voices uniting in a tide of sound that knocked Wormtail to the ground with the force of their hatred.
"YOU BETRAYED US!" They yelled again in unison.
Wormtail tried to cover his ears, to no avail. The sound of their voices was impossible to stop, like the Killing Curse that took James' life.
"TRAITOR!"
Wormtail screamed. "MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! GO AWAY!"
"TRAITOR!"
"Please… stop… no more…" Pettigrew whispered.
"I said that," Sirius whispered, "When the Dementors came by. Taking away every memory I had of the days when you used to be our friend, if you ever were our friend."
"Did you show that boy, Cedric any mercy?" Remus asked.
"Did you hesitate to sell me and Lily and Harry out to Voldemort!" James screamed.
"TRAITOR!" They yelled once more, and Pettigrew stopped trying to protest, knowing it was true, as always.
The Marauders surrounded their wayward ex-friend, and surrounded him, with constant cries of "Traitor!"
As they got closer, Wormtail began trying to plead for his life. "What-What are you-Please! NO! NO!"
Wormtail was then surrounded by the angry spirits of the Marauders, and screamed in a way that only one who was facing there greatest fear could scream.
The demon watched as Wormtail let out his screams, closing his eyes like a heavily addicted smoker with his first cigarette in days. It slaked, but did not quench his thirst for death. Nothing would. It filled a void, where he could take pain and use it to feel, to feel pleasure. The dark pleasures of killing felt good, giving him a rush like nothing else could.
It was no wonder Dark Wizards kept popping up.
Finally, he remembered that it would be suspicious if Harry Potter disappeared then reappeared hours later, so he finished up his business.
"Bye-bye Wormtail." He whispered softly, his voice indiscernible from the screams of the man at his feet.
The screams picked up into a rising crescendo, and then suddenly stopped, and all that could be heard was laughter that cut deep into the soul…
Thanks to gallandro-83, Maxennce, Wren Truesong, The Kid Crying In The Corner, Saetan, Tanydwr, Pleione, Harrie, Zeromaru: Chaos Mode, jbfritz, The Best witch of all, Night-Owl123, HedwigPig, bri, Lunatic Pandora1, arekuruu-inabikari-no-She, ThePianoFiend, BlueAdonis, David M. Potter, ADJ, Ginerva Potter, Gyre, snore, IceSugarHigh, Favorte cousins foreva, Emma Barrows, Kathyrn Black, harrysmom, MA, gjnfioh, Discombobulatedperson, mashimaromadness, and Freya4 for reviewing!
Q&A
gallandro-83- Excellent ideas. Don't mind the nice men in black who have that shiny device. Just look at it. All kidding aside though, damn. You're not wrong in your guess's, the demonic references are metaphorical, not literal (or are they?). You really hit the nail on the head. As for Ron, he doesn't know about Harry's inner evil. Ginny is the only one alive who has an inkling… Also, the evil presence… well, as you can see, it escapes mortal eyes.
Maxennce-That was Harry being angry, not evil. But part of the demon got mixed in with him. As for Dean, his role is going to be pivotal in the chapters to come.
Wren Truesong- I actually never considered Dark Harry going after Dean. But Dean won't be a target until some people realize their feelings. Then things get messy. There are three plays with Henry V, but in the first one, he's just a kid. Well, Harry does have power that he can't use yet, but how it relates to Dark Harry is a mystery for another chapter.
The Kid Crying In The Corner- No evil Remus here I'm afraid. (Though tempting it is.) And as you can see, I again take the more traumatizing way out, rather than physical pain.
Saetan- It wasn't a fall, so much as the fact that he got blasted through a window.
Tanydwr- Well, you probably will be swearing at me in a few chapters then. But which one? (Laughs maniacally) And I agree with you that a character sometimes has to die in order to further the story. One of your guesses is correct. You'll have to figure it out. As you can see, Wormtail didn't die until this chapter. I do have a name. But again, something cooler pops up, and I'll take it.
Zeromaru: Chaos Mode- Lots of people want a Dark Ginny, but it doesn't work with how I've planned everything. Ginny won't go evil, and her circumstances are different than Harry's. You'll see why later. Dark Harry works alone.
ADJ- I'm glad that the things you don't like about the story don't keep you from reading it. I figured there would be someone who said Ron wouldn't say something like that. You give him a lot more credit than I do then. I never made it seem that Ginny watched Sirius die, at least from how I wrote it. I simply made reference to the fact that Harry, if you recall (and don't doubt, I have my copy of OOTP in front of me!), ran after Bellatrix, and it specifically mentions him running past Ron, Luna, and Ginny. Finally… I don't get how Ginny would not be scared if Harry looked like Tom, her (your words, not mine) greatest fear. Unless someone changed the meaning of the word greatest or fear, I must have missed the boat on what you were trying to say.
Ginerva Potter- Thanks for the well wishes. I'm (strangely) glad that this story is creepy. Puts me in a Halloween mood.
snore- You don't have to read the Q&A. As for your insults… yawn. Someone's cranky, and I already had my nap. (Normally, I try and use logic and refrain from insults against flamers, but… this is just too pathetic. I had to make a jibe.)
harrysmom-Dark Harry is not like Angel (when he gets his soul), or Spike, or Kenshin, or any other villain who turns good. He is like Angelus. Evil to the core, irredeemable. I toyed with the idea of Ginny or someone else taming him, but it doesn't fit how I'm going to write him. Their relationship will not be like Buffy (who carries the stake) and Angel (who loses, gains, loses, etc. his soul), but similar to someone else's relationship with Buffy. As for the still sane Harry, I gave you all a taste of a confrontation between the two. Will a true confrontation ever occur? I'd love to say, but I won't.
mashimaromadness- Making a new Voldemort? What? Who's a new Voldemort? Hey, it's cool that you have to go to bed and all. High school's tough.
AN: A poetic way to go, I think. I forgot to mention in earlier chapters that Dark Harry doesn't need glasses. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (reviews are always nice! J)