Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, and I never will!
AN: Warning, there will some very light Hermione/Ron ness going on, but if you don't like the pairing, just look away in certain parts. I swear I have a reason for it... and I promise there won't be much of it, for certain reasons... (maniacal grin) Plus, someone finally gets his name!
Chapter 14 Thanatos
Ginny lay quietly in her dorm, sobbing slightly, feeling miserable and stupid in the repercussions of her actions, and generally just feeling down. The pain that festered in her gut wasn't the pain of rejection from Dean, but the overwhelming suffering of guilt, guilt at the knowledge that it was her fault Harry was gone, and his darker half free to kill again.
Rejecting all comfort from Hermione, Ron, even the Headmaster, she wanted to suffer, because it was her fault that all this happened. Her anger at Harry... her hatred of him, that part of herself she refused to acknowledge, the part that hated Harry for not loving her, that dark part of her soul might have doomed them all.
It was so confusing to her... images of that wonderful, sweet boy Harry was, that boy with battered glasses, covered in slime, holding Godric Gryffindor's sword, helping lead her out of the darkness brought out feelings of such tenderness and love... but also hatred that this boy wouldn't love her.
The feeling of hatred sickened her, and Ginny was repulsed by that dark part of her, but had to accept that part of her deep down truly resented Harry, hated him even.
And now images of that sweet boy were fading away, stripped away to reveal the demon within the man, the monster within the hero. His mocking laugh, his words haunted her even now, his promise to kill everyone she loved before she died...
All of this swirled into a small storm of feelings that raged and whimpered, love and hate and guilt and sorrow and despair all mixing into an anthology of feelings.
Finally, the redhead fell into a fitful sleep, unaware of two obsidian eyes watching her from the shadows...
Leave her alone! Harry raged angrily, within the shadows of their shared mind, as their body sat on the windowsill, cloaked in shadows, watching the youngest Weasley sleep.
The demon laughed his cold, mocking laugh and grinned mentally. But she's so peaceful... He said softly, reaching out for Ginny's hair, and instinctively, she recoiled, and the demon smiled viciously. I hate peaceful people. Besides, he added, I'm just going to torture her... I'll save killing her for after I deal with everyone else in this castle.
Dark Harry raised his hand, preparing to send Ginny into a land of nightmares and tortures, all before she even awoke from her slumber. Darkness swirled in his hand, and prepared to do its master's bidding.
NO! Harry roared, and hurled every vestige of strength he had at the demon, battering him within their mind. Desperation filled him, concern and love for Ginny surged through his soul, flooding him with new, unprecedented strength. Brilliant golden light surged around Harry, and for a moment, the shadows that imprisoned him were gone, and the demon was surprised and lost control of the body for a moment.
Quickly, Harry jerked the hand that held the dark power down towards the ground, and it dispelled like smoke from the flame, panting as he reveled in the fact that he was back in control... for the moment.
What the- This is my body now Harry! The demon roared, and hurled his own strength at Harry, who was battered back for a moment, but the light surged in him again and he hurled his strength against the demon's, Dark and Light clashing on a new battleground, the battleground of their mind.
Though unknown at the time, their battles would rage on many battlefields, many in a war of Dark and Light, a duet of twin souls born as opposites.
Though neither had ever fought for control of their body before, Harry having always been in control until moments when his guard slipped and the fiend took over, somehow, they both knew how to fight the other. Their will, their strength, their souls clashed, Dark and Light in a seemingly never-ending waltz of battle, as they struck and slashed and fought, all within their mind.
But all battles have an end. No matter how long and stalemated the fight, there must always be a victor and the defeated, a winner and a loser. And so this battle too, had to end, and someone had to lose.
And it was the Light, it was the Boy-Who-Lived who faltered first. Although Harry was strengthened by this new power, it did not help him enough against the demon's greater experience with his own powers, and suddenly the Boy-Who-Lived found himself losing the battle for control. After a few more moments, the demon managed to hurl Harry back into the cage of shadows.
Suddenly, their body stumbled, and the demon gasped in relief, holding his chest with a hand. Glancing at the youngest Weasley, he smirked. "Looks like I have to take care of your boyfriend first," Dark Harry said softly, menacingly, "But I'll see you soon enough." He promised the sleeping redhead.
Then he was gone, like a wisp of smoke cleared in the midnight wind.
Albus Dumbledore sank into his Headmaster's chair wearily, the comfortable surroundings doing nothing for his distressed state. It was a gamble, he knew, to use the power of the Sealing Bond, what with the risks of out of control feelings destroying the bond, as it had, but he had hoped to buy enough time to find out a way to deal with the demon.
Now, the demon was out of Hogwarts, possibly on the other side of the world by now, doing only the Almighty God knew what.
No, he corrected himself. The demon was a bloodthirsty creature, and one who did not take slights and offense lightly. No doubt that he was still in Britain or Scotland, waiting to strike.
But another though jolted the Headmaster, like lightning flashing in a storm. Would the demon go after Tom first?
But again, he corrected himself. Dark Harry was smart, ruthlessly so, and would definitely try to shake the Order off his trail first, since only they knew the existence of the demon.
For a brief moment, Dumbledore considered the possibility of the darker Harry allying with Tom, but shook it from his mind. Tom would never ally with a creature that powerful, and most likely, the demon would try to kill Tom before he allied with him.
Although wracked with guilty at the thought, somehow, Dumbledore hoped for a brief second that they would kill each other off first.
Sighing wearily, the Headmaster searched another book, looking, as always, for a description of the dark presence within the Boy-Who-Lived, and, as always, finding nothing. The veil of mystery around the demon was thick, and there was nothing, it seemed, that could tell him anything about it. He was almost correct.
Hermione Jane Granger shivered in her bed, unable to sleep, cold despite the blankets and comforters that wrapped around her. The image of that mocking, dark, twisted, evil face of that darker version of her best friend kept haunting her. The way he callously hurled her into the wall, the way he laughed and leered and mocked them all.
She tried to summon images of the real Harry, the one who helped save her from a troll, who became one of her best friends, but it was harder and harder every time. The images of that... fiend, that demon kept appearing, swirling and tainting the memory of her best friend.
Unable to sleep, she exited her dormitory quietly, hoping that the common room fire might provide her with some semblance of peace this night, or at least ward off her chills.
Unexpectedly, Hermione had someone else to compete with for the heat of the fire. She instantly recognized Ron's hair, and her heart beat a little quicker, her pulse raced, and she cursed herself for it. He's your best friend! He doesn't like you that way! she screamed at herself, but her heart managed to override her brain, and all Hermione could do was hope that her feelings didn't betray her as she said softly, "Ron?"
The redhead jumped, literally, startled, wand raised, until her saw who stood there and relaxed slowly, his body sagging as he sank back into the couch. "Don't do that Mione," He said softly.
Hermione frowned. Normally Ron would have been loud and argumentive, but now he sounded tired, defeated almost. "What's wrong?" She asked quietly, concerned as she sat next to him on the couch.
Ron fought to hide the blush that rose at how close the bushy haired girl was sitting to him, thankful it was dark. Shakily, he answered, "I... its nothing." He said quickly.
The brown haired girl turned towards Ron and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I know you better than that Ronald Weasley." She said, a sharp edge to her tone, before it mollified. "What's wrong?"
For a while, Ron was silent, and Hermione almost gave up when suddenly he spoke.
"I'm scared Hermione..." Ron whispered softly, timidly. "Not just for me, but for Harry... will we ever see him again?" The young man whispered fearfully, fear for his best friend, his brother in all but blood.
"I'm scared too Ron, I'm scared we won't see Harry again..." Hermione said softly, fearfully, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and scooting closer to the young man. Breathing softly, she whispered, "But all we can do is hope... and believe that he will come back."
For a moment, Ron hesitated, before grasping the young woman and holding her to him. Hermione gasped in surprise, thought about resisting, but relented, knowing that she needed him and he needed her. "I hope so too Hermione... I hope so too."
Around them, the shadows danced and haunted them, mocking them with their emptiness. Together, the two scared teens clung to each other, watching the fire desperately try to fight off the shadows that tried to overwhelm it, clutching each other as if they could be ripped apart at any moment.
The demon's powers had taken him to a small suburban area somewhere in Scotland. Although he preferred torturing his victims first, the battle with his light side had drained him thoroughly, and he needed sustenance if he was going to move forward with his agenda.
Basically, he was really hungry.
But unlike most people, who would go to a restaurant or their own kitchen for food, Dark Harry fed on souls... and him being in a suburban area was the equivalent of a small child in the candy store, allowed to have whatever he wanted.
And the demon had a sweet tooth for souls.
Stepping towards the first house he could reach, the door opened for him, the darkness manipulating it to give the demon passage. Inside, a family, one rather pretty young, blond woman, her aged, graying mother, and an elderly bald man undoubtedly her father, sat at the couch watching the television, unaware of the intruder.
The peace of the moment made Dark Harry smile at the thought of what he was about to do.
What.. are you going to do... Harry gasped weakly, barely able to keep conscious after their struggle.
The demon, who hadn't lost as much strength as the Boy-Who-Lived, simply replied, Eat.
"That... was exquisite." The demon said happily, patting his belly, although it was just a mere gesture, as he hadn't eaten anything that went into his stomach. He was full, or at least his hunger was sated for now. This large amount of souls would sustain him, and hopefully he would not have to feed again until he ridded himself of his problem.
You're disgusting, Harry, said problem gasped, horrified by what he had been forced to bear witness to.
For two hours, his darker half had walked into various homes, just like the first, and devoured their souls in a sickening manner. He didn't open his mouth and swallow them whole or anything like that. Instead, the darkness squeezed the life out of his victims, and devoured them with shadows, and the shadows fed the darker version of the Boy-Who-Lived.
That was how he lived. His body needed no sustenance, sustained only by shadows, by the souls of his victims. He wasn't something truly alive, but a gaping abyss of Darkness that devoured everything it came in contact with, a killing machine, an inhuman monster, a fiend... a demon.
It was at the moment when Harry had first borne witness to the demon's feeding and regaining strength that he realized what would happen if he wasn't stopped. His darker half would continue to consume soul after soul, never dying, surviving on the deaths of others, until all life was destroyed by his hunger, and nothing remained but shadows and silence.
This last house had a perfectly aged (in the Dark Harry's opinion) bachelor, an elderly, scholarly man who had been reading a book on mythology when Dark Harry had walked in.
"Well, now that I'm full, let's find a way to deal with the little issue of you, sport." The demon mentally grinned viciously at Harry, who shivered in the shadows where he was imprisoned.
As the demon was about to leave, one of the books that had fallen to the floor, the one his victim had been reading, caught his eye.
The book had opened to a passage, and the bold print words stared at him and intrigued him. Amusedly, he picked the book up, glancing over it, before a slow smile settled over his twisted features, an unfriendly, sadistic smile.
Thanatos- The Greek Personification and the closest equivalent the Christian Angel of Death the Greeks had. Twin brother of Hypnos, the personification of Sleep, and son of the Night, he lives with Hades, the god of the underworld. He visits humans and touches them, granting them permanent rest, unlike his brother who granted temporary rest.
It reminded him of himself, bringing death upon mortals, sending them into the Underworld, granting them eternal rest and silence. The personification of Death itself… a most intriguing and fitting name for this unholy creature.
"Thanatos huh?" The demon said, grinning. "I kind of like it."
The demon had a name.
Thanks to maybeso, DoomGazeHell, Privan, Ginny M, dan, Oomahey, MaraudersIce05, Nimbirosa, VFPC, Samurai Demon-God Sekkikage, japanese-jew, nogoalielikeme, spike blade, Scorchy-11, jbfritz, Pleione, PaperPrincezz, Hunter101, Tanydwr, Night-Owl123, QueenWeasel, PinkyTheSnowman, mashimaromadness, Zeromaru: Chaos Mode, Hakkai-Gojyo-Goku-Sanzo, FroBoy, csferosha, HPbabe143, CuRiOuSiTy KiLleD tHe RaT, foxylittlechibi, FirePhionex, light barrer, and Calen for reviewing!
Q&A
DoomGazeHell- Despair ending? I love happy endings... with a metric ton of suffering to get there... well, this won't have a real happy as in riding of into the sunset happily ever after deal, but if you define happy as in survival of some (grin) of the major characters, then I suppose...
Privan- I never said I was trying to make him the "cool" villain, a la Sephiroth and his ilk. I wanted him to be a creepy villain, maybe not cool, but damn scary.
Ginny M- As you can see... he's got some other problems to deal with first.
dan- Oh no, it will never, ever be that easy to kill Voldemort, even if I gave Harry enough power to level a continent, I wouldn't make it easy on him to kill Tom. The battle scene will be fun, and original (hopefully).
Oomahey- Some extra Ginny stewing for you. Tom's not high on his list of concerns... not while the Order is on his trail.
MaraudersIce05- I think this chapter answers that question.
Nimbirosa- Thanks for the compensationary (no, that's not a word) review. When Dark Harry goes on a rampage, who says Harry's even going to be around? There's more than one way to get rid of magical entities within someone... and not all of them are sealing bonds. I'm glad you find my comments constructive, though I'm not sure I like it being fun to pester me. But, seeing as how I just survived my sister's sleepover (shudders), I'm immune to most forms of pestering. I don't mind at all, and my AIM sn is YamiTidus, and my e-mail is yamichaospaladin at sbcglobal dot net. I'm thinking of putting my AIM sn up on my profile anyway... it might be fun to talk to people about my fics. So go on and pester away! (Note, this message is up for anyone who wants to talk on AIM too)
Samurai Demon-God Sekkikage- You've been a very loyal reviewer, and since you asked nicely, of course I'll give you a straight answer. Nope. Never played D & D, and I've never known anything about it.
Scorchy-11- Yeah, that's where I got it from. But for the life of me, I can't remember what the circumstances around that quote are... but I'm pretty sure it was Angelus who said it.
PaperPrincezz- I didn't know it was on this site! I've read it on Phoenixsong and liked it. I'll go review that now.
Hunter101- He thinks it will be fun... he's sadist, after all.
Tanydwr- I liked Ron's line too, and I came up with it on the fly, as I was finishing the chapter. And you've got one of his names now.
PinkyTheSnowman- He's smart enough to know when to cut and run. People spell whoa woah? That doesn't make any sense. But bad grammar annoys me too.
mashimaromadness- No, no no! Ginny loves Harry! It's just that part of her hates him for not loving her, resenting him for ignoring her. Quite understandable really.
Zeromaru: Chaos Mode- Very nice suggestions.
csferosha- Nah... something that broken can't be fixed. Bonds between Harry and Ginny are things I like, and will work into a few other stories, but in here, its no more.
light barrer- Dark Harry isn't in love with Ginny... that would be Harry. Dark Harry is kind of like a creepy stalker dude.
AN: And his name is finally revealed! Uh... and a quick comment, seeing as how many people have asked about this. Why do people think Dark Harry will be redeemed? I mean, I wrote about forgiveness and redemption in my other story... but this is totally different. I've been updating a lot, mainly because these chapters are partly finished before I even got to them, but now I need to create a new one from scratch. Thanks for reading and please review!