Chapter 15

The Making of Lord Harry James Potter Part 2

Lord Voldemort had not slept a wink in the last night. He kept remembering about the events of the last few days. The magical burst and following that, his soul being totally removed from his body and then it kept floating in a vast magical nothingness. It was far worse than those years he had wondered in nothingness. Those years had not been that bad because most of the times, for nearly 9 years, he wasn't even aware of who he was.

It was only because of the growth of magic in Harry did he slowly come into his memories. He had always known that part of his life force was somehow trapped with the Potter boy. More than that, he had never been able to reach his previous level of power. He had tried hard, performed several rituals to get back to his previous levels, but was unable to do so but after the last incident, as soon as he had been recalled into his body; he had felt power coursing thru him. More than he had ever felt in his body.

He had been trying to postulate the reasons for this happening. There were several theories that came into his mind. One was that the limbo had some how fused some magic into him. Second was that whatever the magical wave was, it had increased his own magical core. But the theory he himself believed was that when the killing curse had backfired, part of him had stuck in with Potter. And someway, somehow, that part of him had become free from Potter. That part which had held some of his powers. Due to extra rituals that he had performed, he had become more powerful than he was when he returned to form. Now, as his power had returned to him, he had become a lot stronger. Dumbledore was but a mosquito.

He was forgetting the most important part of this theory. Today, he was alive just because he had been linked to the potter boy. That small part of his self, which was in Harry, was what had anchored his soul to this plane all the time. Without that part, he surely would have died. Now he had two major questions, one, how is it that the curse was rebounded. Countless mothers had died saving their children, yet in the history of magic, this had never happened. And the latest question was what had happened that had broken the bond between him and Harry?

He had to know. He had to be prepared. He cannot let go of all of his hard work now, especially when the fates had given him a chance to start life again. He simply could not, not finish his task.

He again turned to read the tome that he was earlier engrossed in. He had to know.

Severus had returned to the school and went straight to the Dumbledore's office. He had to let him know that the dark lord was back and by the look of things, he was quite better than he had seen him in a long time, probably ever. It was not a good thing. A stronger dark lord did not bode well for him. He had been in between both of them for so long and so many truthful lies that even he wasn't sure of which side he would be on. He had lost his identity so long ago that sometimes he could not even remember those days when had not been involved. Since the day he had grown old enough to understand, he was taught dark magic. By the time he had entered Hogwarts, he was probably better than any student there as far as the knowledge of dark arts and potions was concerned.

But at hogwarts he faced the ridicule from his peers. He had always been reserved. But the attitude of several students at hogwarts revolved around baiting him or playing praks on him. He never responded to them but he never found out when he became bitter and reclusive to the extreme. His loneliness had driven him to excellence and stoked his ego and pride.

All this drove him to be better than everybody else. It was this desire that had made him to be the best potions master in the Europe and probably all over the world and this is why he turned into a double agent. It was a thrill knowing that he was smarter than everybody else, especially those dorks who called themselves the marauders, had made his life hell at Hogwarts and thought themselves to be the smartest. It was only this rush which had somehow landed him between the two most powerful wizards of the time.

He sometimes wished he could tell them what a fool he had made off of all of them, not at Hogwarts but in the real life. His drive for revenge gave him the biggest adrenalin rush. And boy was he successful.

Dumbledore was getting worried. Harry hadn't been seen since yesterday. As his own phoenix was involved, he could not even blame anybody. On the contrary, people were asking him of his whereabouts. Although not many people had known Fawkes, it was not exactly a secret either that dumbledore had the only known phoenix in the area.

Molly had, on the other hand, gone ballistic on him. He did not want to remember it though. When that woman started, god save onybody on her bad side.

He had tried all scrying spells he knew, tried to call upon Fawkes but all was of no avail. He had come up empty handed. So now, here he was, sitting in his office, with nothing but the worries that were piling upon him.

He was still lost in his thoughts when he saw Severus enter his office. He looked a bit uneasy. Maybe something was wrong. Snape was in a very special position in this war. There were two sides and he was the go between without the benefit of the immunity the ambassador enjoys. Though both sides didn't do much with him and in return, he kept the things which were required to be kept a secret, at least most of the times.

That was the reason that Snape had been the potions master was still teaching. There is a muggle adage "keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer." Severus, by far was a in the latter category. However, Dumbledore did hope that when the day of decision would dawn, he would make the right decision. Despite all, he was an interesting person to know.

As Snape entered the room, Dumbledore looked up and saw Severus. He was looking tired. Though he was far from his usual when he had suffered from the Cruciatus.

"He is back and he looked far more powerful than ever before; even more powerful than he was at his peak. I really don't think you are even on the same stage anymore. I guess he can now be a mage." Severus gave his report in a monotone. He really didn't care one way or the other, although the dark lord's curses are going to be far worse than now.

Dumbledore looked even more worried than earlier. As a matter of fact, he had definitely paled. Smiling a bit, Severus turned and walked out.

Harry had never been at the receiving end of such fury from a person he cared about. He had stopped listening to the Dursley's long time ago and now, a man, whom he had started to love as a grandfather was really putting it into him. Worse than that, he was right.

"What the hell were both of you thinking? Don't you have any idea what could have happened. Don't you ever try it again without consulting me again? It took me more than four years to get your head straight, that too, when your mother was helping me for most of the time. I have been meditating for two hours to get into balance. Your mom is going to be out for a lot longer. I really should…"

A very big smile of relief crossed his face and he really didn't care if he was given the proverbial 12 tasks his ancestor had to do to atone for his sins. His mother was fine, and that was all he really cared about.

After never knowing any parent, he had found her. Loosing her was not something he wanted to even think about.

Looking at the smile which had appeared on Harry's face, Merlin nearly blew up in rage but then he looked closer and understood. He was even more amazed at his grandson. He was not afraid of the most powerful wizard, but was afraid for his mother. His capacity to love was totally amazing.

"I guess I need to get the ball rolling now", he thought to himself.

"Harry, lily is going to be fine. She is just resting. She went crazier than I did inside your head. She should be awake in an hour or so. I will see you again in that time. In the meantime, you should rest a bit more. If I am right, today is going to be a very big day for you.

Harry nodded and went back to lie down on the bed. Merlin disappeared with a woof.

The burrow was filled with a kind of lethargic energy. The disappearance of Harry had pushed them in a defensive mode. Everybody was worried sick. Everybody was just going thru the motions. The twins, Gred & Forge tried a few of their funnier pranks on Ron to get a bit of emotion out of him but to no avail. Every one of them was silently feeling guilty over not being with Harry. The only reason they had come was to be with Harry after Harry reached the Grimmauld place. They had failed. No-one, not even Hermione, thought about the fact that he had gone with Fawkes from the lobby at Gringotts. Not the whole Wizarding world would have been able to do much about it.

The only good thing was that because of this, Ron had matured a bit and both Ron & Hermione started to spend a lot of time with each other. As Harry was no longer with them to mediate, they had to learn to speak with each other, setting aside all their anger and frustration.

Ginny was keeping quiet. She was no longer looked like the spark of life of her family. She had withdrawn unto herself. Everybody thought it was because of Harry.

Rita Skeeter was hopping mad. She had been her most devious. She had reserved space and tried to put in her articles at the last time. But she found out later that her editor had felt something afoot. It was a precautionary move since her absence for a year. She wasn't aware that he had put a minder on her. He was under orders from the powers that be, Cornelius Fudge as well as Dumbledore , not to rock the boat. Daily Prophet had enough accumulated losses.

When she had made a special late entry request, he had asked that all news be cleared especially thru him. He had seen the articles and a few minutes later, she was fired.

On her way back, she decided to look into quibbler.

She entered the quibbler building and asked the receptionist "Is Mr. Lovegood in?"

"Ah! Miss Skeeter. I am sorry but Mr. Lovegood is not in. Can I take a message?" the receptionist said in the most helpful manner. The fortunes of quibbler had turned around after Rita Skeeter's article on the boy-who-lived. She was quite a celebrity now, especially as it was rumored that she had gone into hiding for a year after getting death threats from death eaters.

"When can I see him? It is urgent." Asked Rita again.

"Not for another 4 weeks. He has gone with his daughter to their annual vacation. If he calls in, I will be sure to take a message. If you give me your floo address, I will ask him to call you as soon as possible."

Rita gave the receptionist her floo address, then dejectedly, she apparated to her apartment. She had to find Harry potter. He had to know the truth and to clear her conscious, she had to apologise.

It had been nearly an hour when Merlin reappeared back into Harry's room. Harry looked very peaceful. He hadn't the heart to but Merlin shook his shoulders lightly, waking Harry up.

Harry felt somebody shaking him up and found himself looking again into his grandfather's eyes. Only this time, there was laughter in them rather than the fury he had witnessed the last time around.

"Let's go meet your mother, son!" Harry nodded, closing his eyes and again, he reappeared in the same plain. His mother was still asleep, though was moving a bit now.

"Mom! Hey Mom! Get up now, will you?" Harry very gently patted her mother's forehead and then proceeded to repeat what he was saying. Slowly lily's eyes opened and she saw her son standing over her. Snapping her eyes open, remembering what had happened; she jerked up, pulled Harry into a hug, and cried. She had been very-very scared.

She had always cherished her son when she was alive, worried for him while she was trapped inside him and had come to respect him in the time that they had. But during their last visit, they had become friends and any prospect of loosing him had nearly pushed her over the edge. She was not worried about dying. She just wanted Harry to live happily. If it meant that she had to die for his life or his happiness, she wouldn't blink an eye.

After finding out the possible repercussions their excursion, she had been horrified and filled with guilt. Not only was it her idea, she was also the parent. She had caught hell for it from Merlin. They had worked like maniacs for nearly five years. She was scared and was weeping when exhaustion had even forced her soul to rest.

Now, as she saw her son, she felt as if she could live again.

"Harry! Darling! I am so sorry. I am so-so sorry! It was entirely my fault. I nearly killed you. What kind of a mother I am?"

She was continuing in the same flow when Harry put a hand over her mouth and stopped the run of her guilt.

"I am fine mom, I am fine"

She cried for a bit and then settled down as she saw Merlin there as well. She bowed her head in guilt.

"It's okay lily. Maybe I was a bit too harsh the last time. I know there is no possible way that you would knowingly endanger your son's life. But there are far more important decisions to be made today."

Both Harry and lily sat on the couch which had reappeared with their house as soon as her mother had woken up and Merlin was now sitting opposite both of them.

"I know that it has been a very eventful two days or maybe a lot more than for you two. But remember it's been less than forty eight hours since the power explosion experienced by Harry. Now it's the time for planning our strategy. Against the dark lord, you cannot hope to survive if you are not powerful enough to defeat him. But there are other aspects of this which we should think about."

"First, let me tell you that it was a very good plan of yours. The time difference and the exponent to which it has been achieved in soul magic has not been replicated anywhere else in the degree which we are talking about. However, it still has its limitations. You may not compress more than 1 year in a day. That would be around forty minutes of the day.

"Next is the control of your power. During the soul time, we cannot use magic. It's only thought. Inside your mind will mimic the effects, but outside, in the real world, you will have to practice very hard. You have the power inside you. Now you have to build channels to deliver it outside. There is an artifact which may help. It was once mine. I think it may be at Hogwarts. I will find out. If you can use it, it may be sufficient to anchor your powers and give you control. It's a minor ritual.

"You also need to build up your physique. Though it's the mind which controls the magic, it is the body which develops it. For that, you will need physical training. You will need to be trained in several techniques used by some of the muggle races. As they don't have magic, they find alternatives to magic. They are a great race unto themselves.

"You will also need to be educated in politics. I have spoken with several people and politicians have been your bane. You are a lord now. You have to know all the rules and how & when they are to be broken.

"You will be taught all muggle studies and sciences as well as all kind of magics. You have special powers. We will find them and train you for them. In short, Harry, we will make you one of the most knowledgeable people in the world. I have access to the phoenix libraries and you will be taught there as well as I have access to several people who can help you with all the studies and knowledge. They can do it in soul time while lily is there.

The last sentence nagged at Harry. Before Merlin could continue, Harry put up his hand, stopping Merlin. He was having a sinking feeling towards something. He wanted to be very sure that whatever he just implied was not true or that Merlin had not meant it that way.

Merlin on the other hand was impressed. He had not thought that Harry might catch him. He had found something while in the soul-time and believe it or not, he was so much anguished by what it portended that he was angry. Angry not only at himself; but also for giving an unbearable pain to this fine young man.

However, now he had been caught. In the heart of his hearts, he was glad. He did not want to hide anything from Harry and this was no small thing.

He bowed his head, thinking then opened his eyes. He looked squarely at both mother & son sitting right across him, looking so much happy. He had never seen them content in all the memories he had seen of Harry. While regrouping Harry's mind, both him and lily had virtually seen all of Harry's life.

Lily had known all except for his perceptions as an infant. What he had seen had really amazed him. All the knowledge he had gained thru this had helped him a lot in planning for Harry as well as choosing people he wanted Harry to train. While in the final stage of confirming the mental status of Harry, he had found something he had never hoped to find. He found the reason because of which Harry had such problems doing even the simplest things. The reason why Harry couldn't do the simplest things, but in times of great need, he could do wondrous things.

Not only was his body being used by lily, so was his mind. And if ever Harry had to reach his full potential, if ever he had to gain control over his immeasurable power, he had to remove the very essence of his mother from him. He had to be the reason that his mother would cease to exist.

Otherwise, there was no hope, no hope at all.

Author's Notes:

PS: Let me know what you think is going to happen. The chapter is nearly ready, so lets see if anybody can guess with the proper clue/s left in the story.

I would like to thank all of you for the support. The questions you ask will be answered in the coming chapters. I will try to accommodate your suggestions if they are accomodatable.

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