Harry Potter & The True Power

Chapter 3 : The Explanation

Harry slowly opened his eyes. He saw the same eyes he saw every-time he looked at himself in the mirror, looking back at him. But these were different. They had so much love , hope and strength in them. His eyes used to be same but he wasn't sure anymore. Last time he looked, his eyes were paling due to grief and sorrow. More than that because of the guilt he felt.

He felt as if she could look in the very depth of his soul. And then a word escaped his lips, the one word he had often said when he cried in his sleep, when he hoped for deliverance from Dursleys, even when he wanted to die because nobody loved him and he couldn't take it anymore. "Mom!".

The woman in red smiled and nodded, holding her arms out. In an instant, Harry got up and embraced his mother, tears slipping out, flowing out and soon both of them were crying. Both of them didn't remember how long it had been. But Harry felt light. Happier then ever before. It was like catharsis, and all the poison in him had ebbed out leaving him healthier than ever in a long-long time. For the first time in his life, he was happy.

"How?" he asked. Really not understanding what had happened. How was this possible. For an instant, he felt that this might be one of new traps laid down by snake-face to do something. But that suspicion went away faster than it came in. one look at his mom was sufficient to remove all doubts. He did not believe for one moment that she was a trap. He might not understand it, but in the heart of his heart, he knew she was his mother.

Lily looked down at her son. Having waited for so long to be free to tell her son of the events of his life, of consoling him of the torture her bitch-of-a-sister put on her only son, to hug him when he was sad, laugh with him when he was happy and do what all mothers and sons do.

"Here, come sit here with me". She motioned to the side where a couch appeared in the same white color that her clothes were made of. She took his hand, got up from the sitting position and went and sat on the couch. Harry went to the couch and lay down with his head on her lap. Feeling the love he had never remember feeling, forgetting almost everything else.

"Our story starts when you were born on the 31st of July. Nearly at the midnight. There was another child born nearly 10 minutes earlier. You know of whom I speak of.". Harry nodded. He knew the other child was Neville Longbottom. "Anyway, as soon as Albus found out, he came to us and told us the prophesy that Trelawney had foreboded. Although, Albus said that it might be any one of you both, deep in my heart, I knew it would be you. There was less than a minute left in July when you were born and remembering the prophesy, I was sure as only a mother can that it was you."

Harry nodded, remembering the prophecy that Dumbledore had shared with him at the end of last term, "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…. and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…. and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…."

"As the month dies", he murmured, nodding. Seeing that Harry understood, lily continued. Both Jim and I, were a worried lot. Though your father, typical of him tried to assuage all my fears with his devil may care attitude, I knew he was scared for all of us. He didn't worry about himself, but for us, he couldn't be but not worried. "Anyway, " slowly wiping a tear that had formed under her eyes, " we moved out of potter manor to a little known place in the vast potter holdings you know, Godrics Hollow and made peter the secret keeper, thinking we had outsmarted everybody, but you know…", she stopped for a sec feeling the intense emotion of reliving the whole ordeal. Although she had come to accept the facts, it was still painful. Harry got up and pulled her into a hug, tears again flowing through his eyes.

"but how are you here, where-ever we are, that is?", Harry said as both of them got hold of themselves a bit. "Ah, yes!" lily continued. "as I said, it was your dad who took these steps. I on the other hand turned to charms. You know they were my best subject. I tried to postulate a defense against avada kedavra. Look, what avada kedavra does is encapsulates the essence of the wizard or the witch or anybody, call it their soul if you will and separates it from its body. Without the soul, the body dies automatically. So I thought that if somehow, two souls could occupy the same body for a very small time, then the curse would take in the dominating soul and kill it, leaving the other soul in the body thereby enabling the original host to live."

"you mean to say that you possessed me!" .

" I wish it were that easy. I did a few experiments with a few monkeys but they all failed. You see, possession occurs when one soul temporarily takes over the body but is still separate. In that event, the earlier soul had closer links to the body. It was always the one affected. No, what I had to do was to find a way to transfer my entire essence, my magic, my soul and become closely linked with you. I researched ancient scripts and created my own spells and finally thought that I had come up with the perfect solution. It was a spell I never ended up naming, where I would transfer my souls and magic to your body. It is a one time spell and cannot be undone. I believed that if I could come into your body seconds before you were hit by the avada kedavra, I would die in you place and you would be alive. I also tried that whom-so-ever tried the curse on me would get locked in with my soul and would die with me" Lily stopped. Pausing wondering how really different it had actually worked out to be.

"So what actually happened". Harry looked with open awe at his mother who could do things other people had not even contemplated. He wanted to know now.

"what happened was that as voldy was asking me to give you to him, I cried imploring him to not hurt you, what I actually was doing was to initiating the spell for transfer and just in the nick of time. When the Avada Kedavra actually hit me, my body was already dead, for I had shifted into you. But instead of instantaneously trying to kill you, he gloated up a bit." At this moment, lily started to cry, her shoulders shaking, head down. Harry once again tried to comfort her and said, " if you aren't comfortable, we don't need to do this."

"No" said his mother, taking control again, "let me finish."

Lily wiped her eyes again. She began," because, he took longer than expected, both our souls began to form a bond. I tried to resist but magic has a mind of its own I guess. And when he did fire the curse, it encapsulated both our souls. But we were two and you my son are very-very powerful, even at that age. Instead of killing us, it encaged me until just now when your magic broke thru and freed me and put a block on your magic."

Harry's mouth was again opening like he wanted an entire team to play football in it.

"but that is not all, is it? You are still hiding something from me." Harry sensed that by the way his mother was avoiding looking him in the eye." Yes", she nodded. "remember the last part of the charm.". Harry looked uncertain and slowly a look of understanding entered his mind and he said," you mean Voldemort's soul has been locked with mine and that's how he survived."

"Yes" lily nodded. It's all my fault.

" no it's not. You are the reason I…uh, we are still alive. So what will happen now, as a matter of fact, what actually just happened?"

"What happened, my son was that due to all the love, pain and hate, not to mention any food or water forced your magic to do its work for you. Your magic started to call upon all that was at its disposal. Just now, when you lied down, you were going to go into a magical comatose, fearing this, all your magic tried to save you and in this endeavor, broke the encapsulation the avada kedavra had put upon both of us. Your breaking the constraints started a chain reaction and I was freed. More than that, look at your forehead, the mark is thinning, and I believe that Voldy's anchor to our soul has also been removed."

Before Harry could say anything, his mother said, " look I need you to wake up. I believe Albus would have felt the change in blood wards. He would surely be sending someone across to you. Get out from here, we are never coming back. I need to think about something."

"okay, but I bet you, I would probably be at St. Mungo's or Hogwarts right now. It's been hour since we met".

"Son, it's been less than minute in real time. We are two souls, unencumbered with the limitations of our bodies. I doubt if more than a minute has passed. We will just erect some shields around your mind. I will call upon you as soon as you are safe."

Harry again looked bewildered by the whole explanation, but bobbing his head up and down said, " so how do I go back?".

"Just imagine it silly. Remember, magic is more than jus words, It is not charms, transfiguration, spells or wands. Neither is it potions, arthimancy or astrology. Magic just is. It is the key to your heart, mind and your soul. Those who have been given the power to do so, do so without reason, without will and without . if wizards and witches alike try and use it with hope, intent., determination and a little imagination, magic is a power so great, it transcends all restrictions set upon it by people who believe themselves to be better than others." She smiled, pulled Harry down a bit, kissed his forehead and patted his cheek. Harry closed his eyes and sooner than he thought, he opened his eyes, looking straight into the eyes of his own personal devil, Snape.

"Professor Snape, har", he felt somebody saying into his mind.

In his office, Dumbledore was still reeling from the effects of the backwash. He was very tired. Normally a wizard's magic was a very important source of energy to his body. More so, for a wizard of his affinity with magic. At the moment he was feeling very much like a person would be feeling after removal of one of his limbs. It was very disorienting. Slowly, the numbness in his magic was starting to go down. He looked over to the golden perch were Fawkes had been sitting for some time now, looking at his old friend. Albus looked at him, asking for help. Fawkes raised his head and let loose a beautiful phoenix song, giving some energy to albie.

Gathering some strength from Fawkes, Albus stood up again. Fawkes, knowing from their mental connection, what to do, sat on Albus's shoulder, clutched him and flashed both of them to the source of all this mayhem, just outside the Dursley's residence at no.4, privet drive.

It was 12:05 am.

In the remote island, in the castle, the new strong hold of Voldemort. The healer in charge was casting several spells on the lying body of their lord. He was transfixed. He had never seen anything like this. It was as if the soul had left, but the body lived. He had heard of something similar, but needed to do more research. In a strange bout of competency, he said, the master is fine. He must be doing some ancient magic. Apparently everybody was satisfied and started to leave. All but Belliatrix. She looked at the healer. He motioned her to wait.

"what has happened to the dark lord. Tell me or help me my lord, you won't have pieces of your own body to pick up", threatened Belliatrix in a cold voice.

" I don't know. It seems as if his soul is not here. But the body is surviving.i remember reading about it, but I need to consult several scrolls before confirming anything"

"You have 1 hour." She turned and walked away. No-one saw the glee on her face.

It was 12:05 am.

Nearly a minute ago, both Minerva and Severus flooed to a secured room in the leaking cauldron inn. It was under fidelus charm and had its own exit in the back way with a notice me charm automatically put on anybody who exited it for 30 seconds. They rushed out and apparated to the entrance of the Dursley residence. Mad-eye moody was already waiting for them. There didn't seem to be any wards. They alohamora'd the door and before petunia could say anything, moved fast across the living room, onto the stairs to the room where mad-eye said, he could see Harry lying down on his bed. Though the vision was a bit hazy, probably the magical eye needed an updating charm. No sooner had they entered the room, they smelled an odd smell. Mad-eye stopped seeing properly with his magical eye and had to close it down a bit. Before anybody said anything, Severus bent down to look at an obviously fit looking Harry, and before another word could be said, he saw the eye lids open. The eyes now were not the dead looking ones he had seen a week ago. They were alive, powerful and an emotion he was not very familiar with, Happy. They were "Lily-Eyes". He gasped and fell back.

" Hello Professor Snape! What brings you up my humble abode?" he said with mirth dancing in his eyes, nearly giving Severus his second coronary of the day.

It was 12:05 am.