Harry Potter & The True Power

Chapter 5 : The Night After

Author's notes:

Warra: I would like to thank you to be first ever reviewer. Your response did urge me to write these five chapters at such a pace.

PrettyEyedStoryTeller: thanks. I will try to keep in mind. I always like constructive criticism. Yours is welcome.

Kei Ikari: Thanks.

To say that Snape was shocked was an understatement. There were too many things which had gone awry in the last hour or so. From that massive backwash only Dumbledore seemed to suffer from to the potter's eyes and now this. The only common factor he could find was the potter brat. But this was neither the time nor the place for that. Bella and Peter were looking at him. They were the senior most death eaters left at the moment.

He made a decision. "Bella, you make sure that everything keeps running and the healer keeps his mouth shut. The dark lord won't want this to become public knowledge. Peter, you keep your mouth shut, if you can stop ratting out." Bella nodded. Peter acquiesced. "I will go and look at the scrolls which might shed some light at this whole fiasco"

Then he turned to the healer and said "I hope for your sake you can keep everyone here silent. A word and…" he stopped, seeing the look of abject terror on the healers face. Give me record of master's condition. The healer nodded. Waved his wand at the lying down Lord Voldemort and then took out a scroll, mentioning another spell. Snape took the scroll, nodded and walked out the way he entered.

Fawkes had reached his home. In a magical part of the mountains, he quickly flew to the nest. There, at the top of the huge nest, sat an imperial golden phoenix, their ruling lord. At his side were several other phoenixes, some were colored red and golden like him, some deep blue, some purple and so many more. Fawkes bowed his head and took approached the center of the congregation. The lord phoenix, who was also known as Xarobian, nodded. Everybody had approached as soon as they had heard the communiqué from Fawkes. Nobody knew it but officially Fawkes was the phoenix's ambassador to the wizarding world. Phoenixes were by no means extinct. They valued their privacy and wanted to stay from the wizards. They had found these bipods with little power but huge with ego and arrogance, not some-one they would like to associate with. They rarely had any integrity. Hungry for power, they were known to betray their own kin. It was not their way.

Looking at everybody, he started, "I would like to thank you for your gathering here at such a short notice. Today, I witnessed the event we all have been expecting for a long time now. There was a power surge today, epicentered at the young wizard we all know as Harry Potter. The magic released was of such high intensity that normal wizards did not even feel it. The only two wizards who felt it was Albus Dumbledore and Tom Riddle. Albus nearly died from some kind of backwash. I believe it was from the blood wards at the Dursley residence being totally decimated. As we all know, this has happened only once, nearly 3 millennia ago." Everybody nodded. Nobody liked to hear about that incident. It had caused such an event that nearly led to the decimation of life on this planet.

"The other I believe was Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I have seen the wizarding plane. It seems he was also affected from this surge. So much so, that his soul is stuck in some-kind-of-a-limbo. This I haven't even heard of in similar circumstances. I believe the fates are up to something.". Fawkes stopped, giving all the pertinent information to the phoenix council. The lord, Xarobian, looked thoughtful. He said, "We thank you for your information. We will consult with the council of the elders and get back to you." Fawkes nodded, bowed paying his respect to all and flew away. As soon as he reached across the magical influence of his home, he flashed to Hogwarts, appearing just in front of the perch. Yet today, he lay down on a small rug which he used when he wanted to relax. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. It had been an exciting day. He hoped the Chinese wizards were wrong.

Inside his apartment, Dumbledore had already finished his rest. Though recovered, he still had some parts of his body announcing their existence. Never before had he been magically or physically taxed to this extent. Not even while he was fighting Grindewald. Inside, the time had already started its normal pace. The time turner had been used again in a very small period of time, without giving it the chance to charge up with the ambient magic. It would need another 12 hours before he could safely operate it. Albus shifted into the lotus position and started meditating, letting his unconscious determine the true nature of the events. He was very worried about the blood wards as well as the strong energy backwash he had felt. While he was with Harry, he could not determine much. His magic at that point had been pretty much been numbed by the vicious attack on him. He needed to arrange all the facts before going out and facing the responsibilities of the wizarding world. He closed his eyes and started with seeing his magical core. True, he felt. It was brighter and bigger. Probably because the blood wards were no longer draining him and 15 years of continuous drain had made his core used to such an output. He slowly started to push his magic through his body, visualizing the magic flow thru his blood to all parts of the body, sensing several pain centers. The magic slowly removed all such blocks and in less than 10 minutes, he could feel his body feel better than anytime he remembered in along time. Now that the body was fine, he slowly tried to replay the entire series of event in his mind. But nothing made sense. He could feel there was connection but it seemed it was just out of grasp. He thought again of the series of events. His coming out of sleep, The Hogwarts wards binding to him like they had just now when he had come out of the stasis, the coming on of the blood wards at Harry's residence and then the sudden overwhelming of his magic. Then the source of magical blood wards, the orb containing a few strands of lily's hair which he had used to anchor the protection he had felt lingering in Harry's body after the attack, just after tom was vanquished for the first time. He still wasn't sure of how that had happened, but he had felt a presence similar to that of lily's magic in Harry and was sure that it was some kind of ancient magic which had protected Harry from the unforgivable Avada Kedavra. He had taken a few strands of lily's hair (as they would not deteriorate with age). He could not put a stasis field. It would interrupt with blood magic he had attempted. Then he bound the wards to the Dursley residence. This was the reason he insisted that Harry return here every year. The text he had used to make the blood wards was incomplete and that was the best part about them. If even he didn't know the ways of this particular magic, it wouldn't be possible for others to undo it very easily. But now, everything was gone. He would have to think of new ways to protect Harry till he was ready to face. But fate always found ways to put Harry in the middle of everything tom did. And then he thought of the power surge. Why had he been the only one to feel the backwash. It was true that he held the wards but even if they broke, it should not have been sufficient to put him in the state that he had been. There needed to be much more power in the energy wave. He tried to meditate for a while but could not find the solution. Though he did feel it was just out of grasp, lingering some where at the periphery.

An hour or so later, he stood up, took out his pensieve, and with the help of his wand, putting his memories in there. Then he jumped in. "He must break this conundrum." was all he thought at the moment.

Harry was sleeping like a log. For the first time in a week or so, there were no nightmares. He just slept. Sometime later, he felt somebody calling him. In his slumber, his vision shifted to a nice cottage, two storied, with a small garden with several kinds of flowers and trees standing in all there splendor in the front porch. It looked very familiar. Then he saw the door open and found his mother. She looked flushed. Just like when someone had cried a lot and washed their face, or if someone had exercised. He thought it was the former however much he would have liked it to have been the latter.

Harry smiled. He would have to get used to smiling his true smile. He walked to her and they embraced, feeling secure in each others presence. Harry entered the room without speaking a word. It was a beautifully decorated parlor. It was decorated in blue and beige. It had a light hearted feeling. There were two comfort chairs and a sofa in between. There was a beautiful rug just in front of it. There were several wizarding photos of his father and mother with him in their arms. They looked very happy. He felt a bit uncomfortable now. He now recalled that they were probably in his mind, which was being used by her mother. He did not know whatever was actually happening. But things were going to be much clearer.

He raised his head and found his mother directly looking at him. She was smiling this little smile which he had seen previously several times on Ginny. It was like when she knew what he was thinking. Just the thought of Ginny reminded him of the fact that since all this ordeal had started and his life had once again been turned on its head for the second time in nearly a week, he had never once thought of his friends, those who had not cared about there own safety but had fought by his side in the Department of Mysteries. He looked up again to see even a bigger smile on his mother's face. He felt his face reddening up. "What!" he said exasperated and then both of them ended up laughing their hearts out. "Come on Harry! You should open your eyes. You should never let a good thing pass by. But this can wait a bit. I have been seeing what you have been seeing. I guess we need to discuss what we should do and what to do about our, uh, situation. You wouldn't want me in your mind when you end up snogging a girl you like, would you? " her eyes were sparkling with mischief and Harry had turned redder than Ron's hair.

Nodding, not knowing what else to say, Harry waited for his mom to continue. Stifling her smile and assuming a serious face she started to count her many point agenda. "As far as I can see, we have the following problems. First, we need to understand that whole different colored energies and that golden ball that came up when everything merged. Believe me, I have never even heard of such a thing. All I know is that it's your power, more than any thing I have ever seen. But having power and knowing how to use are two different things, which brings us to our second point, your training. With the prophecy and everything, we need you to train. And we need time. You just cannot fight years of experience and a huge amount of power based on 5th year school education. Voldemort has undergone so many rites and rituals that I think even he doesn't know what he is. But we cannot afford to underestimate him. I want you to live a long and happy life, son." Several tears had escaped her eyes by then. She shook her head and then raised her finger to her lips, to stop Harry from saying anything. In a second, she wiped her eyes and cleared her throat and continued. "I know you don't know Harry, but your father comes from very old wizarding bloodline, older than the founders of Hogwarts. The details are in our family vault. I can't enter it. Only someone with the potter bloodline can. Then there are your friends and your happiness. This perhaps is the most important thing of all. When we fight, we must know what we fight for. Abstract ideals only take you so far. And don't think of distancing yourself from your true friends. We made the same mistake. We tried to distance us from Sirius, Remus and Peter, after we found about the prophecy. Look where we ended up. Peter betrayed us thinking we would not be supporting him, Remus distanced himself thinking like a fool that after having you, we didn't trust him, a werewolf, around our son. Only Sirius never cared about what we said. He was your godfather and would never let go. You were the apple of his eyes. Don't feel guilty about his death. Cherish your moment with him. He should be one of the reasons you fight. The reasons to fight should always be love." Now even Harry's eyes misted over the mention of his godfather. But his new found bond with his mother had really matured him to some extent.

"So what do you suggest we do?" he asked.

"First you must get more information about what happened to Dumbledore and Voldemort. I have always seen fate present you with the right direction at the right time. I guess we should see what happens. In the meantime, I will try to think of a plan. I had so many of them when I was locked in that cage, thinking what I would do to help you. But last night's development has thrown everything out of the window." she smiled.

"But try and get to Gringotts tomorrow. In our will, we mentioned that your custody should go to Sirius. And if something happened to him, you were to be emancipated as soon as you reached the age of 15. There are several heirlooms you could look at and see if anything could be of use to you. Take care, potter family has always had close relations with all kinds of our magical brethren. Close your eyes when you reach the vault. We will see what ever is to be done then. Don't forget to get some muggle money. We need to get you out of these rags." For the first time he saw that even in this mental world, he was dressed shabbily. His Hogwarts robe was not out, as mentally, he was still in the Dursley's mode." Nodding he leaned back and closed his eyes. When he opened it, he was back in his/sirius's room. So much higher was his comfort level now that instead of feeling the extreme grief that he would have felt just a few hours ago, he smiled at the portrait of Sirius on his bike, turned his head into the pillow and went back to sleep.

Fawkes snapped out of his sleep when he received a message from the phoenix lord. He looked at the cabinet where Albus was and found him jumping into the pensieve. Smiling to himself, he flashed again and very soon he was again in the presence of the lord of the phoenix, Xarobian. Just behind him was one of the most sacred phoenixes of all times. He was not of any color but energy seemed to envelope him. He bowed his head and curtsied to the king of all phoenixes, Zarafin, also known as Merlin.